The Curse by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Dianna Love

them. Her face suffused with concern and confusion. With the change in subject and reminder that he’d been out of touch for three weeks, she withdrew emotionally.
    He tried not to flinch at the abrupt change in her emotions, the loss of her warmth and happiness so near.
    He should be glad for the uninhibited welcome he’d received and not expect more, but he wanted her body back against his. “I told you, I’ve been healing. I’ve only been conscious twenty-four hours.”
    “Why didn’t you call me?”
    “I don’t have a phone yet. That’s why I came to see you in person.” And his guardian spirit had been none too happy about Storm going out while still recovering, but he had to know for sure that the danger that stalked him and now threatened Evalle had not harmed her.
    He didn’t know why the witch doctor would target Evalle, only that she did.
    Now that the crazy bitch had tracked him to Atlanta, had she discovered that he cared for Evalle and planned to use that against him?
    If that were the case, why hadn’t the witch doctor shown her face by now?
    Didn’t matter. He planned to find her first.
    Evalle asked, “Have you been in a hospital?”
    “No.” He’d just as soon not discuss his healing any more than he had to, like explaining who had been tending to his wounds. Going back to Evalle’s earlier comment, he asked, “What did you mean by my e-mailing you again ?”
    “The e-mail I got from you the night they let me out of VIPER prison.”
    “So they did lock you up?”
    “Yes.”
    Storm had tried to tell her Tristan would screw her over. “Why didn’t you tell Sen where Tristan and his bunch of renegade Alterants went? He could have caught them.”
    “Only Tristan and his sister are Alterants,” she corrected. “The other two are Rías. I couldn’t hand them over to win my freedom.”
    A growl climbed up Storm’s throat.
    Evalle moved her shoulders in a dismissive way. “And do you really think sending Sen after Tristan would have mattered? The last thing Sen would do is something to keep me out of prison. He was thrilled when I had to face the Tribunal empty-handed.”
    If Storm had been conscious, he’d have gone crazy trying to find Evalle when she was locked away. Blood would have flowed. “How’d you get out of prison?”
    “Macha offered me a deal that she’d petition the Tribunal for Alterants to be a recognized race—”
    “That’s great.”
    “—if I can deliver evidence to support our origins and bring in Alterants to swear loyalty to Macha, specifically Tristan.”
    “You’ve got to be kidding.”
    “I wish I was.” Evalle swallowed and winced, which drew his eyes to her neck.
    “What the hell happened to your throat?” He lifted his finger to her raw skin. That move drew him close to her again, so close he’d have to be a stone to miss the flutter of excitement that sheared off of her.
    His ego enjoyed the momentary stroke.
    She waved a hand at her throat. “A Svart troll jumped me tonight and wrapped a chain around my neck.”
    The jaguar inside Storm woke and pushed at his skin, wanting to kill whatever had hurt this woman. He’d never before had the animal who shared his body notice a woman this way, not after what the witch doctor had done to him and his father. But his jaguar shared Storm’s protective urge when it came to Evalle.
    He ran his fingers gently over the skin on her neck and she shivered. “Did you kill the bastard?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good.” Though he’d have liked to hunt and dismember that troll himself. “What’s a Svart?”
    “Some kind of black-ops mercenary troll.”
    “You get extra points for killing those, like in a game?”
    She laughed at his teasing and the sound woke his heart with a jolt. Shoving a handful of hair over her shoulder, she said, “No, just extra bruises.”
    With her soft and pliable again, he wanted one more kiss. He lowered his head, touching his lips to hers and smiling over the way she leaned into