Page 20 of Wicked Bonds

Have I been there before?she asked herself.Or is this just one of Vera’s mental tricks?It was so hard to know what Vera had altered in her past, how much of it was real versus fabrication.

When Vera reached for Balthazar, he took a step back. “Do not touch me unless you’re planning to fix the memories you’ve already altered.”

She sighed and shook her head. “It’s not like I enjoy it.”

“Could have fooled me,” he retorted, the anger in his voice surprising Leela. She’d not heard him use that tone before. Although, she normally only observed him in intimate situations. And while they were both clad only in towels, the burning sensuality between them had dialed back several notches upon Vera’s arrival.

Which also fascinated Leela.

Balthazar almost always took on a role of allowing anyone and everyone into his bedroom.

His brown eyes swirled with darkness as he met Leela’s gaze.

She swallowed, the intensity radiating off him suffocating yet enthralling at the same time.

“I want my memories back,” he said. “Until that happens, Leela’s mind remains open.”

Her lips parted. “That’s not—”

“Fine,” Vera agreed. “Whatever it’ll take to make you bothmove. We’re running out of time.” With that pronouncement, she disappeared.

Balthazar stared at the space she’d just vacated, eyes narrowed. “How do you think they found us?” he asked, his voice low.

“I don’t know,” Leela admitted. “That’s why I asked that question.”

He fell silent for a moment, then nodded as though he accepted that explanation. But his expression as he glanced at her in the next second suggested he had a theory.

She frowned at him.How do you think they found us?she thought at him, arching a brow.

He shook his head in response before saying, “Get dressed.”

Part of her wanted to protest the command, but a prickling of unease skated up her spine. It radiated from her rune—the one that whispered danger when it approached.

Trackers.

She swallowed, her fear of being found an icy prick to her senses. She’d hidden herself for centuries, escaping the most profound of the tracker line with an ease she prided herself on.

But they’d found them now.

How?she wondered again.

A pair of jeans and a tank top appeared in her vision, both of which were held by Balthazar. They weren’t her clothes but an outfit he’d retrieved from the dresser beside them.

“These appear to be your size. Almost as though someone knew we would be in this room, at this precise moment.” He handed her a sweater next. “Also your size.”

She peeked around him to find another outfit in the drawer, one that appeared to be for him.

Skye, she thought.

He grunted, whether in agreement or not, she wasn’t sure. She’d never seen this side of him—the part that made him a leader of his kind.

Hydraian politics were much more laid-back in nature in comparison to those of the Seraphim, and even the Ichorians.

The Hydraians valued power and age, naming the oldest of their race as Elders. Balthazar was among that group, his several thousand years of existence marking him as revered and well respected. Yet he always maintained an easygoing air, delicately handling disputes with a loving touch rather than one of reproach.

Balthazar snorted, interrupting Leela’s mental assessment. “There are all manner of discipline, Lee. Not all of them are violent.”

He stepped into her personal space, making her acutely aware that she hadn’t put on her clothes yet, while he’d spent the last minute pulling on a pair of jeans.