Talon/Xavier (Bayou Heat) by Alexandra Ivy, Laura Wright Read Free Book Online

as Isi. She smiled wryly. At least they had one thing in common. “You’re not evil.”
    “Great.” Isi shrugged, just wanting to be done with painful conversation. “If you could convince the crazy cats in charge I’m one of the good guys, I’ll be on my way back home.”
    Ashe reached out her hand, her expression filled with a wistful yearning that tugged perilously at Isi’s heart.
    “We’ll figure this out,” she promised. “Together.”
    Isi instinctively backed away. She wasn’t ready to give Ashe what she so obviously desired.
    A sister.
    “Yeah. Whatever.” She continued to back toward the door. “I have to go.”
    Ashe dropped her hand, her gaze searching Isi’s face. “You look better.”
    Isi came to a reluctant halt. “I was. Now…” She swallowed her words. There was no way in hell she was going to admit that there was something about Talon that eased her illness. “It doesn’t matter.”
    Ashe bit her lip, her lids already beginning to droop. “I’m worried I’m draining you of your strength and that’s what is making you sick.”
    Isi shrugged. “Don’t sweat it, I’m tough.”
    Her sister struggled against the rising tide of weariness. “Isi—”
    “I’ll come back after dinner.”
    Isi slipped from the room, but lingered until she was certain her sister was deeply asleep.
    It wasn’t that she cared whether or not Ashe might feel alone. Or need something before Raphael returned.
    It was just…
    With a muttered curse, Isi headed out of the clinic and straight to the cottage.
    This entire place was making her nuts.
     
    ***
     
    NEW ORLEANS
     
    Talon ignored the closed sign clearly displayed on the door of the voodoo shop. He wasn’t a man who let pesky barriers stand in his way when he wanted something. Still, he was civilized enough to use his lock-picking skills to deal with the door rather than just kicking the damned thing open.
    Glancing up and down the narrow street, he slipped inside and shut the door behind him. There would be witnesses to his B & E, of course. The specialty shops that lined the streets weren’t so busy that the proprietors weren’t aware of what was going on in neighboring stores. He could only hope they’d wait to see if he tried to walk out with a bag of loot before they called the cops.
    Halting just inside the door, Talon immediate realized he wasn’t alone.
    Despite the heavy scent of incense that hung in the air there was no missing the smell of two human males. Or the sour stench that marked them as enemies.
    Walking past the rows of leather-bound books, crystals that came in every size and color, ceramic pots that were filled with Isi’s potions, and voodoo dolls, Talon silently paced to the body art room at the back of the store.
    He hesitated at the open doorway, scanning the brightly lit room for hidden danger.
    There wasn’t much to see. The walls were covered with a variety of tattoo patterns and framed pictures of happy customers. There were two narrow massage tables covered with white paper, and rolling cabinets that held the paraphernalia needed by the tattoo artists.
    No hidden closets or cupboards.
    And best of all…no exits.
    Curling his nose at the strange odor that clung to those humans who carried the Mark of Shakpi, Talon turned his attention to the two men who had yet to notice his arrival.
    Idiots.
    One was seated at the end of a table. He was a young, blond-haired man with the hard muscles of a dedicated bodybuilder. He had a dozen tattoos running up his arms and around his thick neck, but he wasn’t at the shop for another.
    No. The second man who was standing in front of him was holding a small metal rod with a flat piece of metal at the end.
    A branding iron.
    And Talon would bet his left nut it had a raven design on it.
    A stupid, sharp-edged disappointment sliced through him before he was sternly reminding himself that he’d come to Isi’s shop precisely because the elders suspected Isi was connected to their