Eve of Destruction by S. J. Day Read Free Book Online Page B

up here?”
    “Yes, we truly are. Gentlemen in the duplex on the left, ladies to the right.”
    “I hope none of you snore,” Izzie muttered.
    “Why can’t we stay in the nicer neighborhood?” Laurel asked.
    “For the ladies’ benefit?” Romeo added.
    “And scare the noobs with our mad ways?” Ken scoffed.
    “Mr. Callaghan is correct.” Gadara walked to the rear of the van and opened the back doors. “Our hours will be erratic, we will often be armed, and we are an eclectic group. We want to attract Infernals, not mortal curiosity.”
    “I wish I could stay,” Alec said. “Sounds like fun.”
    Eve looked at him. He offered a reassuring smile and she made an effort to return it. Although she had never in a million years imagined the scenario she presently faced, there was no point bitching about it. It was what it was. She would just have to make the best of it.
    “Yeah, right,” Richens grumbled, picking up his backpack and hefting it over his shoulder. He hit the back of a guard who was unloading equipment from the Suburban. “Sorry, bloke. Unintentional.”
    Ken collected his duffel. “Yer a lot of feartie-cats. I’m chuffed o’er this holiday.”
    “Of course you are,” Claire said. “You are insane. Hand me the burgundy bag,
s’il vous plaît.”
    Returning to her car, Eve hit the trunk release on her remote and rounded the back to get her duffel bag. Alec beat her to it, whipping around her and catching the handle before she could.
    His gaze met hers. “You know I always have my cell on me. Call me anytime, no matter what the hour.”
    The last thing Alec needed while moving in for a kill was to be distracted by a phone call. She shook her head. “Don’t worry about me. You just take care of business and come back in one piece.”
    “You gonna miss me, angel?” he purred.
    She smiled in answer. She felt the same way about Alec as she did about her training—she was afraid to commit herself too fully to either. Lose one, lose them both. He was a fixture in her life only as long as the mark was, and keeping the mark wasn’t an option. Marks lived outside the normal order of man. They couldn’t die of natural means and they couldn’t create life. Eve wasn’t prepared to accept that.
    But those were concerns for another day. Right now, a man she cared deeply for was heading into danger.
    “Of course I’ll miss you,” she said. “Be careful.”
    “Listen.” He set his free hand atop her shoulder. His eyes were hot, his mouth firmly set. “You’re a natural. I know Raguel hasn’t bothered to tell you that, but you are. You have an innate talent.”
    “I got killed!”
    “But not before you sent the dragon back to Hell,” he reminded. “You know how few Marks can make that claim? I’m probably not supposed to tell you this. In mentor training, they’ll most likely tell me to tell you to follow the rules. But I’m telling you to follow your gut, you hear me?”
    Eve stared up at him, arrested by his intensity. “Follow my gut?”
    “Yeah.” Alec tapped a blunt fingertip against her temple. “And your head. You’re a smart cookie, angel. Fuck the rules and go with your instincts.”
    She nodded. He kissed the tip of her nose. “And miss me. A lot.”
    A moment later, he was pulling away from the curb and she was left alone with her classmates. Eve trudged up the drive, steeling herself for a week of being emotionally isolated.
    Ken was shutting the rear doors of the van when she joined the rest of the group at the end of the driveway.
    “Divide by gender,” Gadara said, “and begin preparing the homes for habitation.”
    “Where are you going?” Laurel asked, frowning.
    Gadara’s brows rose at her tone, but he replied calmly, “To the commissary.”
    “You need to be military to shop in the commissary,” Edwards advised.
    “I have clearance, Mr. Edwards.”
    “He’s an archangel,” Izzie muttered, “not an idiot.”
    “Sod off.”
    Eve smiled at the