Eve of Warefare by Sylvia Day Read Free Book Online

like listening through water, feeling through gloves and smelling through a head cold. Maybe she’d acclimatize to the loss of heightened sensation after a while, but for now, she felt disconnected and out of sorts. It would take her more time to be sure, but she was resigned to the fact that she’d turned a corner somewhere and she couldn’t go back. Without the Mark, she’d always be looking over her shoulder and second-guessing everyone she crossed paths with, wondering if they were an Infernal because she no longer possessed the senses required to identify them.
    She heard him come up behind her. He set his hands on her shoulders and gently turned her around.
    Groaning, she dropped her forehead against his shoulder. “I need to talk to Reed. This is happening so fast and he needs to know what’s going on.”
    “He knows. If you think he avoids eavesdropping for politeness, you’re way off base. I’ll admit that you’re probably the closest he’s ever come to caring more about someone else than himself, but that’s not your problem. You don’t have to be the only hope he’s got of being happy. He has to figure that out for himself.”
    “I don’t think you know him as well as I do.”
    “I know I’d kill him again before I’d let him have you,” he said fiercely. “See if he’ll make the same effort before you say your vows to me.”
    Reed, she called out. Talk to me, please. We need to discuss this.
    She waited for long moments, but he didn’t answer.
    Alec dropped to one knee and her heart stopped beating. She forgot to breathe until the room tilted, then she sucked in air with a huge deep breath. He reached into his back pocket and withdrew a ring box. The moment the lip snapped open, she covered her mouth with her hand. A solitary princess-cut diamond sat within a simple platinum band. Sized around two-carats, it so perfectly fit her tastes she wanted to weep at the sight of it. Her reaction to the ring was just as ferocious as the one she’d had the night before, but for a very different reason.
    “Angel, would you—”
    “Yes.”
    Five
    The phone rang less than five minutes after Eve left a message with Adrian Mitchell’s secretary.
    She answered immediately and shivered at the sound of the smooth, warm voice on the other end of the line. The power the man wielded caused a tangible response, even without the Mark’s enhancement to her senses.
    “Eve,” he said. “Adrian Mitchell.”
    “Hi. We’ve got trouble.” She explained how Zaphiel had stripped her of the Mark. She didn’t mention Alec’s lack of power, unable to say it aloud out of fear for his safety. If something happened to him . . . “Assistance would be appreciated.”
    “I already have someone on you, although I doubt Cain needs the help.”
    “You do?” She looked at Alec with brows raised. “Did you have me followed?”
    “Of course. Changing to the Jeep threw us off a bit, but as it turns out, I would have found you anyway.” His tone was wry. “I’m told you’re a former agnostic, but I’m sure you’ve learned by now that some things fall into place despite the odds.”
    Since she was living that fact now, she couldn’t disagree. “Thank you.”
    “Not necessary. You got stuck in the middle of a pissing match that has nothing to do with you.”
    “Yeah,” she said wryly. “That happens to me a lot.”
    It was five minutes after six when Alec rang the Andersons’ doorbell.
    The smell of barbeque on the grill and the sounds of conversation and laughter had begun a half-hour before, but Eve and Alec had spent time getting the house ready for any unwanted visitors.
    The door swung open and revealed Pam, who looked smart in a pair of white capris and a sage green shirt that matched her eyes. “Hey. Come on in. Terri’s in the kitchen being an overachiever.”
    Eve held up a bottle of wine, Alec carried a six-pack of Blue Moon.
    “My kind of neighbours,” Pam said, grinning. “Come this way, Eve.