Giguhl emitted a scandalized whistle.
I jerked toward Adam, forcing him to meet my glare. “Excuse me?”
“Please. You’ve made no secret of the fact you want Lavinia dead. Maisie getting kidnapped gives you the perfect excuse to pursue that goal with abandon.”
My voice went nuclear winter. “If all I care about is killing Lavinia Kane”— I pointed behind us in the general direction of Jackson Square— “why is she still breathing? If all I care about is killing her, why am I advocating trading Tanith, which would take away the opportunity for a showdown? And if all I care about is killing my grandmother, why would I bother taking any direction from the Queen or the Council? I’m a godsdamned assassin, Adam. Do you really think I couldn’t launch a covert operation to kill her on my own without the complications of partners or saving Maisie?”
When I finished speaking, Adam stood silent for a few moments. The air between us was so cold and tense it might as well have been frozen. The paper bag crinkled as Giguhl shifted uneasily and looked between us to see who’d strike first. Finally, Adam blew out a breath. “How does it feel?”
“What?” I barked.
“Having someone accuse you of being a blind idiot who’s only motivated by selfish interests.” He mercilessly held my gaze. “Doesn’t feel good, does it, Sabina?”
I swallowed that bitter pill with a grimace. “No.”
Giguhl stuck his head up between us. “Can we stop beating each other up long enough to remember that we all want the same thing? We’re a team, remember?”
Before I could answer the demon in the affirmative, Adam added, “This won’t be the last or worst surprise we’ll face from Lavinia.” He grabbed my hand. “We can’t let her screw with us. And we have to stop beating each other up every time we’re scared or angry.”
I squeezed his hand back. “You’re absolutely right. Of course.” I sucked down a deep breath, hoping to cleanse away the lingering smoke of anger and fear. Looking from Adam to the still-tense Giguhl I said, “Sorry, guys. I guess I just don’t handle scared well.”
The corner of Adam’s mouth lifted. “Actually, you handle it better than almost anyone I’ve ever met.”
His words made me choke on my calming breath, which released in a snort. “Riiight.”
“Now let’s go back and get some sleep. Tomorrow we’ll get a head start before sundown with Zen’s contacts. If we’re lucky, we’ll find Maisie before the moon is high.”
I tried to feel comforted by his optimism. But the truth was, luck and I hadn’t been on speaking terms for a long time.
7
The next evening, I woke to the dulcet sounds of a snoring demon. Groaning, I rolled over and pulled a pillow over my head. Probably I should have gone to the living room and told Giguhl to knock it off. But my body refused to move. Another volley of snorts wormed its way through the layers of goose down over my ear. Who was I kidding? Giguhl and snoring went together like mages and magic.
I tossed the pillow to the ground and stretched. When my hand hit something warm and hard, I yelped and jerked my head to the side.
“Mornin’, sunshine,” Adam said. He was turned away from me, which afforded me a lovely view of golden skin, broad shoulders, and rippling muscles.
“What the—” I said.
He turned toward me, and whatever I’d been about to say evaporated on my tongue. Oh, gods, the front view was even nicer. His torso drew my eyes like a magnet. I peeked lower, but the sheets covered him from the waist down. I wondered if he’d notice me pulling them back to do a commando check.
“Earth to Sabina?” he said, amusement lacing his tone.
“Hmm?” Then I blinked. My gaze snapped back up to his sleep-rumpled face. “Wait, what the hell are you doing in my bed?”
The night before, sleeping arrangements had been based on gender. That meant I got the bedroom, with its double bed, while Adam and Giguhl got the larger sleeper sofa in the living room.
He nodded toward the wall, which practically vibrated with the noise coming through it. “He’s been doing that all day.”
I rubbed at my eyes and yawned. “So you decided to disturb my sleep instead?”
“Sabina, I came in here three hours ago. You’ve been out the entire time.” Adam rested his head on his biceps and smiled like he knew a secret. “You talk in your sleep.”
“Do not!”
“You totally do.”
My cheek flared with heat. “What did I say?” My brain scrambled to recall dreams, but I couldn’t remember any.
He shrugged. “Actually, it was more like sleep mumbling. I couldn’t make out any words.” He raised an eyebrow. “But rest assured, I’ll be paying better attention tonight.”
“Good luck hearing me from the floor, mancy.”
He sat up then. His hair stood in adorable little tufts all over his head. “You’re joking.”
I shot him a look to assure him I wasn’t.
“Oh, I get it. You don’t trust yourself alone with me.”
I stopped halfway out of the bed. “If you mean I don’t trust myself not to punch you, you’d be correct.”
“Did you know physical threats are a sign of sexual interest in some cultures?”
I shook my head at him but smiled despite myself. “You’re insane.”
He lay back with his arms behind his head, which only served to give me a better view of the manly banquet that was Adam Lazarus. “Am I? Or am I so close to the truth it’s scary?” He was smiling in a teasing way, but his words had an edge to them.
Of course, and I’d never admit this to him, he was totally right. But his teasing made panic flair in my gut. “Fine. You want to sleep in this bed?” My feet hit the floor and I marched into the bathroom before he could respond. “It’s all yours.”
A few minutes later, I spat out a mouthful of toothpaste and glared at my reflection. “Don’t even think about having sex with Adam.”
This was not the first time I’d had to have this little conversation with myself. The attraction between us had been growing steadily over the last couple of months. Many of my initial arguments against pursuing anything with him still applied, including the fact that a mixed-race union between my parents had resulted in both their deaths and a lifetime of bullshit for me. Granted, I was only half-vampire, and with each passing day I lost a little more of the bloodsucker identity I’d once wrapped around myself like a security blanket. Hell, before things had gone south in New York, I’d seriously been considering throwing caution to the wind and making a real go with Adam.