Wicked Flames (Solsti Prophecy) (19 page)

Kai’s love radiated through their mate bond. “That was a pretty intense situation.”

“Yes, and then on top of that, your eyes look exactly like Nic’s,” Brooke stared into Ashina’s green eyes, then Nicole’s matching ones. “You two are a perfect mirror of each other.”

“And to think you were in such grave situations?” Raniero shook his head. “Nicole, if I knew who you were, I’d have sent you straight back to Earth the day I met you. I can’t believe you fought Vipers!”

Kai smirked at him. “That’s the thing,
Grandpa
. These two don’t listen. They get an idea in their heads and you can’t stop ‘em. So you may as well accept it.” He winked at Brooke. “It usually works out for the best anyway. Right, baby?”

“Right.” Brooke smiled at him.

“Yeah, and you don’t even know the meaning of the word stubborn until you meet Gin,” Nicole added.

“Oh my god.
Gin
. What are we gonna tell her?” Brooke said. “’Oh, by the way, our biological grandparents are demons?’”

Nicole grimaced. “Oh man. This isn’t good. I mean, it’s great!” She turned to Ashina. “I’m overjoyed to find all this out. But Gin…may not be.”

“That’s okay,” Ashina said. “It’s overwhelmin—”

“It’s not okay.” Nicole’s tone was grim and resigned. “She needs to understand her talent is a blessing, not a curse.”

“Has anyone heard from Mathias?” Brooke asked.

“No. But that’s not unusual.” Kai stretched his arms. “When he’s on a job he usually only talks to Arawn, and only if necessary.”
 

“This is kind of important. Maybe you should call him,” Nicole said pointedly.

“Then again, maybe we should
not
throw too much at Gin.” Brooke said. “She doesn’t have much time. It’s gonna be a fast learning curve for her as it is. Just getting her to accept her true self is a huge hurdle.”

“I say we let Arawn know,” Raniero said. “I’ll talk to him, since I’m the proud grandpa.” He grinned at Nicole and Brooke. “And we’ll let him decide how to handle the information.”

“Sounds good,” Nicole said. “But I can’t call you Grandpa. Isn’t there a Demonish word for it?”

Raniero turned a sweet smile on his mate, then they both turned to Nicole and Brooke. “Yes,” he said. “Grandpa is
Hoto
.”

“
Hoto
.” Nicole sounded out the unfamiliar word. “I like that, but I may stick to Raniero.”

“Either one is fine,
Khali
.” Ashina smoothed Nicole’s blond hair.

“
Khali
?” asked Brooke, but she already had a guess as to what it meant.

“Granddaughter.” Ashina’s smile radiated pride as she kissed Nicole, then Brooke, on the cheeks. “We love you.”

C
HAPTER
19

M
ATHIAS
GAVE
HIS
ORDER
TO
the barista who, like the rest of the staff, wore reindeer antlers on a headband. Bing Crosby’s rich baritone filled the shop, crooning about the wonders of winter. On the wall behind the counter, colorful Santa hats cut from red construction paper decorated the wall, each one bearing a name in thick black marker. A sign above them thanked those who had donated to Toys for Tots. On the first line of hats, front and center, a hat read “Ginny B.”

She was everywhere in this town. If he concentrated, he could detect her scent from two days ago. Hell, he’d debated whether to take a shower in his hotel room, because that would mean washing her sweet scent off his skin. In the end, he took the fastest shower of his life, knowing he was on his way back to her.

“Two large Brazilian rocket fuels and two cranberry muffins to go!” the server announced his order cheerfully.

Mathias scooped up his items and headed outside to his car. In less than sixty seconds he was at Gin’s front door. He pressed the buzzer.

Her voice crackled through the tinny speaker. “Yes?”

He put on a serious voice. “I come bearing coffee and dirt.”

“Mmm, just what I ordered!” The lock on the door clicked and he opened it slowly, half expecting Muffy to come barreling out. But there was no sign of the wayward terrier.

He walked up the stairs and into the second floor hallway, detecting the apple fragrance of bath wash mixed with Gin’s own cinnamon scent. She opened the door before he got to it and cocked a hip.

He sucked in a breath. Her skin was dewy and glowing, and her hair hung in damp waves past her shoulders. She wore a green V-neck sweater that clung to her curves and tight dark-washed jeans. Holy hell. “You look great,” he said as he neared. Then he looked down.

On her feet were socks with a pattern of cats wearing Santa hats and sunglasses. “Nice socks.” Gods, she was adorable.

She jutted her chin. “They’re festive. Oh!” Her eyes widened as she glanced to his hands. “You brought muffins too!” She licked her lips. “Dirt. Coffee. And muffins. Did Santa send you to me?”

No, Arawn did
. He leaned down to kiss her sweet mouth. “Maybe.”

She took his hand and led him inside to the kitchen. “Eat first.”

After the dinner she’d made last night he wouldn’t need to eat for two days. But he could make room for a muffin with her, and he polished it off in record time.

“Wow, you were hungry,” she commented.

“You worked up my appetite.” He winked.

She blushed, delicately picking one last berry from where it stuck to the paper, and ate it.

His eyes swept her up and down, watching her throat move, taking in the chestnut tendrils of her hair. He’d love to drag her back to the bedroom and stay there for a week. Maybe when this job was over and she was on their side… He tossed their muffin wrappers into the garbage can in the corner. “I’m still full from last night, actually.”

She got up to wash her hands and turned back to the table, eyes zeroing in on the dirt. “Now let’s take a look at this.” She opened the gallon size Ziploc bag and sniffed it. “You gathered this with your hands, right?”

He tilted his head. “How else would I get it?”

“No, I mean, were you wearing gloves? Whatever has been in contact with this dirt, if it was still active, could have also been in contact with your skin.”

He shook his head. “No gloves. Is that bad?”

“I’m not sure yet. Have you had any skin irritation since touching this?”

“Not a thing.”

“Okay, that’s good. No high alkaline content then.” She popped on a pair of safety glasses.

He stared. Why did she look insanely sexy in those?

Misreading his look, she shrugged. “Habit. And we don’t know exactly what is in here.”

“No, it’s not that. You look…”

“Like a nerd.”

“Fuck no. Never.”

“Like a scientist?”

He leaned forward. “Sexy.”

“Really?” She turned to him, a mix of mirth and doubt in her green eyes.

“Yes, really. I’ll ask again, how do your male students get anything accomplished with you in the room?”

She smiled and shrugged again, poking at the plastic. “This is the grass that was growing when you found it? Before it got all mixed up in this bag?”

“Yes, it was standing up straight and healthy.”

She frowned. “It’s still green. But you found it a few days ago. Wait, what day?”

“Thursday.”

“Thursday…then it should have a duller color than this. Look at how bright it is.”

He nodded. “Odd.”

“Mmm-hmm. I need to take a closer look.” She took a spoon from a drawer and picked up the bag. “Follow me.”

They went to the living room where she sat at her desk, pulled her microscope close, and turned its tiny light on. With the spoon, she scooped a few grains of soil and set them on a slide, then placed it on the scope and peered through the viewer.

“Hmm.” She frowned. “I need to look at this grass.” She opened a drawer and took out a plastic art box. Popping the lid, she flipped it open and selected an exacto knife.

Next she carefully pulled a blade of grass from the Ziploc bag and laid it on the cutting surface. She made two cuts across the grass, resulting in a wafer-thin cross section. Using tweezers, she lifted it onto a slide, then added a drop of water and put it into her scope. She leaned down and adjusted the magnification.

Mathias waited, holding his breath, studying every blink of her long eyelashes.
What will she see?
Rilan didn’t even know.

“That’s weird,” she muttered, and readjusted her focus.

“What’s weird?”

“Something with the channels…I need to look at another one.” She cut a cross section from another blade of grass and looked again.

“Channels?”

“The channels that draw up water to hydrate the plant. They’re enlarged. I’ve never seen this, not even with aquatic plant species. And…” She looked at him. “This indicates there may be enzymes present that shouldn’t be there. I need to get a better look.” She got up and grabbed the dirt. “The lab has an electron microscope. Let’s go.”

She took a coat from the hall closet and started to shrug into it. He was behind her in a heartbeat to help her. “Whoa, there’s no rush.”

“Yes, there is! This is exciting!” Her eyes sparkled, then she took in his face and her smile dimmed. She nibbled her bottom lip. “Oh. Well, maybe only to me. I know not everyone gets into dirt the way I do. Would you rather do something else?”

Hell no
. He grinned. “No way. I want to see what’s going on.”

“Okay. This way, you can see the science building.” She bounced on her toes and opened the door. “I’ll drive, since I have a faculty permit.”

“No.”

Her jaw dropped. “What?”

“Not getting in your matchbox car again.” He draped an arm around her as they walked down the hall. “Grab your permit and get your cute ass in my ride.”

She laughed and bumped him with her shoulder. “My Bug would be insulted by that, but I won’t tell her.”

“Good idea.” Her scent wrapped around him and her enthusiasm was contagious. He hoped it would remain after she figured out what had happened to the dirt.

Ten minutes later they walked into a bright gleaming building. Out of habit, Mathias reached out with his senses.
No supernaturals here but us.
Gin greeted a few professors and led him into an empty lab.

“No class today?”

She shook her head. “The schedule is all goofy because of finals. We’ll have this room to ourselves for the day.” Gin busied herself immediately, tossing her coat onto a desk and washing her hands. She pulled on latex gloves and popped on her safety glasses, then got out tools and the bag of dirt.

She scooped what looked like a teaspoon’s worth into a clear plastic dish, then uncapped a glass bottle. Measuring a small amount of clear liquid into a graduated cylinder, she mixed it in with the dirt.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Extracting solution. A standard soil test can take forty-eight hours, per state regulations, but I can test for certain nutrients in a few minutes. I’m checking the phosphorus level first.” She recapped the bottle and pulled a blade of grass from the bag. “Now, while that’s working, let’s take a closer look at this grass.” She cut a fresh cross section of grass, set it on a slide, and walked over to a table-mounted instrument as big as his torso. A computer screen sat next to it.

“That thing is a microscope?” he asked.

“Yep.” Gin sat at the table. ”We call her Bertha. She has—no joke—a million times more magnification than my light microscope at home.” She put the slide into the machine. “Okay, Bertha, show me what’s going on with this grass.”

She talks to her equipment
. He shook his head. Some might find it weird, but again he found himself thinking she was adorable. Silly and smart. She strove to uncover truths. They had more in common than she realized.

An image popped up on the computer screen. “This is amazing,” she murmured.

“What?” It looked like a bunch of wavy lines to him.

“Remember what I said about the channels being enlarged? That shouldn’t be possible. This plant is able to suck up like, ten times the moisture and nutrients of regular grass.” She turned to him and tapped a finger on her chin, her expression pensive, as if she could read the answers on his face. “But it’s December in Illinois, and plants need sunlight to perform photosynthesis…”

She got up and walked over to the soil.

Mathias followed her there, even though he didn’t follow her explanation at all. Hell, he was no scientist. “Photosynthesis…plants need sunlight for something?”

“To make food. Yes, but the winter solstice is nearly here, so we’re at minimum daylight hours right now.” She peered at the liquid in the plastic dish and dipped a strip of pink paper into the mix. Perplexion painted her face. “That can’t be right. I need to repeat this.” She scooped another sample of dirt into a fresh plastic dish and repeated her process with the extracting solution. She turned to him, brows knitted. “Where was this grass, exactly?”

He blew out a breath and debated telling her about the water treatment plant. Would she think that was strange? Ah, hell. “In a wooded area. There was a water treatment plant nearby.”

She folded her arms over her chest, looking at the computerized image from the microscope and back to the soil on the table. The wall clock ticked in the quiet room.

She checked the dirt again with a fresh paper strip. “Same results. I’ve never seen anything like this. The phosphorous level is way too high. That’s one indication of over-fertilizing. It should prevent the plant from retaining enough iron and zinc, but judging from its healthy color it has plenty of iron.” Pausing in her rapid-fire explanation, she looked up at him. “This is like a super-plant. Extra nutrients and hydration allow it to grow healthy in the dead of winter.”

So a dose of magic somehow altered the plant’s physiology?
He rocked back on his heels. “Sounds like a mystery made for you.”

Gin opened her mouth to speak, but stopped as her cell phone trilled from her coat. She picked it up and checked the screen and smiled. “Hi, Ria.” Her expression changed to one of concern. “Oh no.”

Mathias’s hearing allowed him to hear Ria perfectly.

Oh shit
.

Ria’s voice trembled through the phone. “…my mom got a lot worse overnight. Can you come with me today? Please, Gin. I need to go and I can’t do this alone.”