white stripes weren’t too uncomfortable.
He was folding up his dirty
clothes and stashing them in his bag when Ginny ended her call.
She stared at the phone for a
moment. To think that just a few short hours ago, if anyone had mentioned
demons she would have thought they were nuts. But the conversation she’d just
had with Ed Marks had thrown an entirely new light on the situation.
She heard Alton behind her.
She’d been vaguely aware of the sound of the shower, and the thought of him in
there naked might, at any other time, have made her crazy.
Not now. There was just too
much weird, unbelievable, and truly scary stuff going on—but when she turned
around, she almost dropped the phone.
He was on the other side of
the bed, his fair skin glowing and damp from the shower, his long hair hanging
loose over his shoulders in thick, wet, streaky blond tangles. A fitted pair of
knit boxer shorts hugged his slim hips and muscular thighs, but they didn’t
come close to hiding the rest of him.
He certainly looked human,
though surprisingly muscular. She hadn’t expected the ripple of muscle across
his chest, the dusting of pale gold hair connecting two perfectly shaped, coppery
nipples, or the hard ridges defining his flat belly. Water beaded on his skin
and glistened in the perfect dip of his navel. A darker line of hair trailed
down from the indentation and disappeared beneath the elastic band of his
shorts.
Ginny swallowed. She raised
her chin and caught Alton grinning at her, obviously well aware of what she’d
been admiring. She felt heat rising from her chest to her cheeks. “I just
talked to Ed,” she said. Or tried to say. She cleared
her throat. “Eddy and Dax are somewhere up near Grant’s Pass, Oregon. There’ve
been reports of cats and dogs acting crazy, sort of like what we’ve got here in
Sedona.”
Alton walked around the bed
and sat on the side closest to her, totally unconcerned about the fact he was
wearing nothing but his underwear. “I was afraid of that,” he said. “There’s a
place I’ve heard of in southern Oregon. Eddy says it’s just a tourist spot, but
in Lemuria we’ve long been aware of it as a lesser vortex. It’s similar to
Mount Shasta—the same idea, anyway, though not as powerful. The demons must
have created another portal to cross through from Abyss.”
She would not look at anything
but his eyes. It was impossible to carry on a conversation with all that
beautiful bare skin so close—so clean and damp and utterly touchable. At least
he had gorgeous green eyes. She could do this. Maybe.
“Where’s their entryway here?”
His grin spread even wider and
she was sure he knew what she was thinking. How much she wanted to look and
touch and even taste. She was not going to go there. Absolutely
not.
“Bell Rock,” he said. “Though it might not be the only one. There are multiple
energy vortexes in this area, but I found and sealed a portal in Bell Rock on
my way here from Mount Shasta. We use the portals to move between dimensions—they’re
powered by the energy of the vortexes, and no, I have no idea what causes the
power. They are what they are—and where they are. That’s how
I got here so fast, using the portal in the Shasta vortex. All of them
connect on another dimensional plane. When I entered at Shasta and exited at
Bell Rock, it was the equivalent of about a hundred yards down a tunnel. In
reality it’s over a thousand miles.”
“I know. I flew here in a jet,
remember?” She still couldn’t believe she was having this conversation. It was
just wrong on so many levels, beginning with the fact he was sitting here
practically naked and they were talking about interdimensional travel. It would
be so much easier if he’d just put his jeans back on…and if she could go back
to thinking he was nuts. Unfortunately, everything was making such a weird kind
of sense, she had to believe. Especially after talking to Ed.
Eddy’s dad had sounded
He was folding up his dirty
clothes and stashing them in his bag when Ginny ended her call.
She stared at the phone for a
moment. To think that just a few short hours ago, if anyone had mentioned
demons she would have thought they were nuts. But the conversation she’d just
had with Ed Marks had thrown an entirely new light on the situation.
She heard Alton behind her.
She’d been vaguely aware of the sound of the shower, and the thought of him in
there naked might, at any other time, have made her crazy.
Not now. There was just too
much weird, unbelievable, and truly scary stuff going on—but when she turned
around, she almost dropped the phone.
He was on the other side of
the bed, his fair skin glowing and damp from the shower, his long hair hanging
loose over his shoulders in thick, wet, streaky blond tangles. A fitted pair of
knit boxer shorts hugged his slim hips and muscular thighs, but they didn’t
come close to hiding the rest of him.
He certainly looked human,
though surprisingly muscular. She hadn’t expected the ripple of muscle across
his chest, the dusting of pale gold hair connecting two perfectly shaped, coppery
nipples, or the hard ridges defining his flat belly. Water beaded on his skin
and glistened in the perfect dip of his navel. A darker line of hair trailed
down from the indentation and disappeared beneath the elastic band of his
shorts.
Ginny swallowed. She raised
her chin and caught Alton grinning at her, obviously well aware of what she’d
been admiring. She felt heat rising from her chest to her cheeks. “I just
talked to Ed,” she said. Or tried to say. She cleared
her throat. “Eddy and Dax are somewhere up near Grant’s Pass, Oregon. There’ve
been reports of cats and dogs acting crazy, sort of like what we’ve got here in
Sedona.”
Alton walked around the bed
and sat on the side closest to her, totally unconcerned about the fact he was
wearing nothing but his underwear. “I was afraid of that,” he said. “There’s a
place I’ve heard of in southern Oregon. Eddy says it’s just a tourist spot, but
in Lemuria we’ve long been aware of it as a lesser vortex. It’s similar to
Mount Shasta—the same idea, anyway, though not as powerful. The demons must
have created another portal to cross through from Abyss.”
She would not look at anything
but his eyes. It was impossible to carry on a conversation with all that
beautiful bare skin so close—so clean and damp and utterly touchable. At least
he had gorgeous green eyes. She could do this. Maybe.
“Where’s their entryway here?”
His grin spread even wider and
she was sure he knew what she was thinking. How much she wanted to look and
touch and even taste. She was not going to go there. Absolutely
not.
“Bell Rock,” he said. “Though it might not be the only one. There are multiple
energy vortexes in this area, but I found and sealed a portal in Bell Rock on
my way here from Mount Shasta. We use the portals to move between dimensions—they’re
powered by the energy of the vortexes, and no, I have no idea what causes the
power. They are what they are—and where they are. That’s how
I got here so fast, using the portal in the Shasta vortex. All of them
connect on another dimensional plane. When I entered at Shasta and exited at
Bell Rock, it was the equivalent of about a hundred yards down a tunnel. In
reality it’s over a thousand miles.”
“I know. I flew here in a jet,
remember?” She still couldn’t believe she was having this conversation. It was
just wrong on so many levels, beginning with the fact he was sitting here
practically naked and they were talking about interdimensional travel. It would
be so much easier if he’d just put his jeans back on…and if she could go back
to thinking he was nuts. Unfortunately, everything was making such a weird kind
of sense, she had to believe. Especially after talking to Ed.
Eddy’s dad had sounded
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