A_Taste_of_Decadence_ARE

by Blake_Harte_Quinn_Ryan_Rylon

  Shade whatever-his-last-name-was was sex on a stick. Lily closed her eyes when she stopped at a red light and tried to compose herself. What was she doing?

  Oh, yeah, thinking about that sexy man who’d asked her out on a sort-of-date. He had the body of a swimmer, long, lean, and lickable. Well, she guessed lickable. But, uh, yeah. His darkened skin looked to be natural and not from the sun or a tanning bed. Thank God. She didn’t want to date whatever the male equivalent to Snooki was. His midnight black hair hung slightly past his shoulders and swayed in the breeze. Every time she had placed a domino on the board, she’d wanted to reach up and brush her fingers through his hair or down his cheek. He would speak and then give a small smile that had begged her lips for a taste. One look from the man with the ice-blue eyes, and she melted into a puddle.

  Oh, his eyes.

  They were a crystal blue that seemed to fracture like diamonds from the iris and spiraled into a concentric pattern. She’d never seen anything like them. Simply breathtaking. And, when he stared into her eyes….

  A horn honked behind her. She cursed and opened her eyes.

  She really needed to get her head out of her behind. She was supposed to be driving for goodness sake. With an apologetic wave to the car behind her, she pressed on the gas and continued on her way to work.

  Glenn had called her frantically asking her to come to work and take a look at that blue dust sample he had given her several days before.

  Lily pulled into a parking space at work, turned her car off, and closed her eyes. Her body still pulsated from the night at the bar; though why she didn’t know. Had the eight of them truly been struck by lightning? Or, was it just a trick of light and a strong wind? Lily didn’t know, but so far, other than feeling both rejuvenated and exhausted at the same time, there didn’t seem to be any side effects.

  She grabbed her purse, locked her car, and ran into the building, careful of the cracks on the ground. If she got through this task early enough, she still had time to clean her living room again before Jamie and Becca showed up for dinner. The girls were coming over to watch a TV show and talk about guys. Well, at least that’s what they usually did. Maybe not tonight. Storms had a way of changing things.

  When she got to her desk, she locked up her purse, took off her jacket, and pulled on her lab coat. She knew she was alone in the building. A shiver ran up her spine. Though she was an independent woman, being in a large lab alone wasn’t her favorite thing in the world. She unlocked her top drawer and pulled out the sample Glenn had given her.

  Lily held it up to the light and squinted. What the heck was this stuff? The silver and black flecks interspersed throughout the blue dust seemed to glitter without the assistance of light. Odd.

  She shook her bangs from her eyes and shrugged. Well, if she couldn’t tell what it was from looking at it, she’d rely on the NMR and data analysis. After all, if people could identify soil and material samples with only their eyes, she’d be out of a job. Lily figured she’d use a dual probe and tune it to carbon and hydrogen. Both of those elements were the most common in materials and would give her a decent basis for what she was trying to identify.

  Humming under her breath, she set the sample on her workbench and started to tune the probe. Chemistry wasn’t all beakers and explosions. Sometimes she felt like a mechanic with all the wrenches and wires everywhere. After a couple hours, she had the NMR ready for the sample and spun it up to start running the scan.

  She sat back in her seat at the computer to watch the scan. It would take a few hours to get everything, but she could at least watch its progress for a bit. Shade’s face and his piercing blue eyes flashed across her mind, and she groaned.

  Dear Lord, that man was too sexy. Why had he been in the park that morning? Just going for a walk? She had almost left when Jamie texted saying she didn’t feel up to playing dominos that morning, but for some odd reason, Lily had stayed a bit longer. Oh, and she was so glad she had.

  Damn Glenn for calling her at the most inopportune time. The thought of being on a motorcycle scared her more than flying, but she had really wanted to be behind Shade with her body wrapped around him. She groaned and bit her lip. She shouldn’t be having so many dirty thoughts about a man she didn’t know; though he did look sort of like the stranger she had envisioned in her dreams…

  No, she didn’t want to think of that.

  Lily blew out a breath and shifted in her seat to take a look at the sample. For whatever reason, Glenn wanted these results like last week. She looked at the screen and frowned.

  What the hell?

  There was nothing. No peaks. No shifts. Nothing.

  Not a stitch.

  No carbon or hydrogen in the entire sample? Almost everything on earth had carbon and hydrogen, if not one, then the other. She couldn’t think of any mixture that had nothing in it.

  What the heck was it?

  * * * *

  Shade ducked as the tip of the sword flashed near his neck. He lifted his lips in a smile and pivoted, his wings catching a draft and bringing him higher than his opponent. He gripped the hilt tighter and flexed his arm, swinging his blade at his attacker in a firm stroke.

  Ambrose changed direction, the blade missing his torso by millimeters. Shade threw back his head and laughed.

  “You’re getting slow, old friend,” he called through the wind.

  Ambrose didn’t crack a smile, merely tilted his head. “I gave you that one, yet you still missed me. You are not paying attention.”

  Shade curled his lip. “I’m paying attention just fine. Don’t make excuses.” He knew Ambrose was right. Shade had too many things on his mind, and he wasn’t sparring up to his full potential.

  “Is it the woman?”

  Shade froze for just a second in the air, the wind blowing through his hair, before he sheathed his sword and lowered himself to the ground behind the house he rented. They were in the back yard and hidden in a copse of trees so the humans couldn’t see. He didn’t have any neighbors near him so it worked.

  “Shade?” Ambrose prompted.

  “I’m fine. I met with her in the park and learned a bit more about her.” Like the way she blew her bangs from her face when she got nervous. The way her eyes grew bright when she ran high on emotions.

  Ambrose landed beside him and quirked a brow, saying nothing. Damn him.

  “I don’t know what she knows about the dust, but I will find out. I’m going to meet her at her favorite bar, a place called Dante’s Circle, tomorrow night. I’ll see what I can get from her then.” And find out any other personal information he could.

  They folded their wings into their backs and walked into the house. Shade went to the kitchen to grab two beers from the fridge. His friend took their swords and placed them in their cases. They drank their beers in silence; Shade’s mind was chaotic, his thoughts convoluted with images of Lily’s green eyes, soft curves, blue dust, and the war that could come if he couldn’t find the answers they desired.

  Shade took another drink, the brew sliding down his throat, quenching his thirst. “Did you find anything out about the storm or that odd feeling you had about the origins of the dust?”

  Ambrose shook his head then took the last gulp of his beer. “I’m still searching on the lines of your dust issue. Something is not right about this. As for the storm, I don’t think it was a normal storm by any means. The electrical currents were too high and not the kind created in a normal weather storm. I believe a bolt of lightning struck, but I’m, as yet, unsure of where it originated, but I will find out, trust me.”

  Shade nodded. Of course he trusted Ambrose. His white-winged friend was about the only one he could trust.

  “Do you want to come with me tomorrow night to Dante’s Circle?” Shade asked.

  Ambrose nodded. “I think I will. I’d like to meet your Lily.”

  Shade’s pulse increased. “She’s not my Lily.”

  His friend lifted a brow. As usual, his friend saw ri
ght through him.

  No, Lily wasn’t his, but that didn’t mean he didn’t wish it.

  * * * *

  Striker paced in his atrium, his drab brown wings trailing on the floor. Fury coursed through his veins.

  He hadn’t liked the intensity of that storm. Something was wrong.

  He’d been down to earth, hiding in the clouds and checking on the lab tech’s progress with Shade’s dust, when that lightning storm had come out of nowhere. The rain had drenched his wings, almost sending him crashing to the ground. He curled his lip at the thought. He’d almost had to walk on the earth like a mere human.

  Striker shuddered.

  He wasn’t a pathetic human; he was an angel. Practically a god. Oh, and once war came, he’d be their ruler, their god. His plans would come to fruition, and he’d own the council. Striker’s body shook with anticipation.

  That damn storm could prove annoying. There was something in the air that didn’t feel right. It was almost a sense of foreboding. The way that lightning had struck that building felt off. The place had brightened for all eyes to see, yet no one seemed to have had noticed for they hadn’t come from their homes to see the problem.

  Something else was at play.

  But what?

  Damn it. He didn’t have time for the unknown. All these questions were not in his plans. Whatever it was would have to move out of his way because he needed the lab tech to find something and Shade to take the fall. Without that, Shade and his dear friend, Ambrose, would still be in his way.

  Something that could not be allowed to happen.

  Striker stretched his wings, the dull brown fading behind the sunlight. He would have to take matters into his own hands and make sure the woman did what she was told. After all, he couldn’t trust the humans as far as he could throw them, and due to his strength, that was far. It would still be fun to test that theory. The human woman would do what he wanted, or she’d learn the hard way. Striker smiled. Yes, that would be nice.

  Chapter 7

  Lily eyes drifted shut, and she let her head fall against the headrest. The day seemed to be dragging, never ending. Her body felt like someone had dragged it behind a bus. She’d spent most of the day sitting in her lab trying to figure out just what the heck it was Glenn had given her. None of the readouts made any sense. It was nothing like she’d ever seen, and the computers couldn’t figure it out. She’d left it running with another scan overnight to see if she’d made a mistake, but she doubted it. She was OCD enough that things like that didn’t happen often, if at all.

  A knock on her window brought her out of her thoughts.

  “Lily?” Jamie asked through the window. “Are you okay?”

  Lily sighed. Was she? She hadn’t felt the same since the lightning strike, but she didn’t want to say anything else to anyone. What if she were the only one? What would that mean? Frankly, her work issues seemed to be the cause of some of the aches in her body. Her friends didn’t need to hear it. It wasn’t that they couldn’t understand what it was she was experiencing. Well, maybe they could understand, but not really. She’d never could go into details with them about her chemistry theories because their eyes always seemed to glaze over. That seemed true about most people.

  She wasn’t commenting on her friends’ intelligence. No way. Her friends were some of the most brilliant women she’d ever met. Lily just had a different skill set than they did. It wasn’t like Jamie would ask her to help her shelve books at the store. Lily might love to read romance novels, just not as much as Jamie, and she couldn’t run a business like the quiet woman. They were all so different; it was a wonder that they were all such close friends.

  “Lily? What’s wrong?” Jamie rapped on the window again, and Lily shook her head.

  “Sorry, I’m fine.” Lily grabbed her purse, checked her faint makeup in the rearview mirror, and opened the door.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Jamie frowned, brushed her hand against Lily’s arm and squeezed.

  Sometimes Jamie was more like a sister than a best friend. Lily didn’t know what she’d do without her.

  “I’m just tired. It was a long day, but I’m better now that I’m here and ready to get a drink.”

  Jamie gave a small smile. “If you’re sure.” They walked down the sidewalk toward Dante’s Circle’s front door. “You look nice tonight. Any special reason?” She smiled knowingly.

  “Oh, shut up. You know the reason, but really, do I look okay?”

  Jamie pulled her to a halt and looked her over, biting her lip. “Let me see…skinny jeans? Check. Cute flowing top that shows off your curves without making you look skanky? Check. Hot ankle books with that clasp I love? Check. Hair flowing and make up done? Check. Yep, you look incredible. I can’t wait to meet this dominos player of yours. Shade.” She sighed the last word and fluttered her lashes.

  “I knew I never should have told you.” Lily fake-scowled.

  The night before, Jamie and Becca had come over to watch their weekly airing of Grey’s Anatomy so they could stare at the sexy blue-eyed doctor, Avery. Forget “McDreamy” and “McSteamy,” they wanted “McBlue-Eyes.” They hadn’t watched most of the show. As soon as Lily had told them of her last-minute replacement dominos partner, Jamie had hit mute and demanded in her quiet way every detail of Mr. Shade.

  Lily had described every detail she could. From the way he’d smile and crinkle his eyes to the way the wind touched his hair just right.

  And his eyes.

  Oh, his eyes.

  His crystal-blue eyes put Avery’s to shame.

  “You’re my best friend,” Jamie continued. “If you meet Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome, then you have to tell me. It’s written in the friend code. I’m sure of it.”

  Lily wrapped an arm around her friend’s shoulder. “Sure, but you’ll have to do the same.”

  Jamie rolled her eyes. “Like that would ever happen. I like lighter hair anyway.”

  They reached the door and walked in. Lily stopped and looked around the place.

  Everything looked like it had before the storm.

  What the hell?

  How had Dante cleaned everything so fast? They tables and chairs were set where they should have been, the pool table was fixed, and a group of men were racking up the balls. The wood paneling gleamed in the lighting, with not a nick in sight. The pictures were back on the walls set in new frames.

  Dante stood behind the bar filling a drink order, but his attention lay solely on Nadie as she frowned at him. Why was she frowning again? Something was going on between the two of them, but Lily didn’t know what.

  Lily walked toward the two and put her hands on her hips.

  “Dante,” she called.

  He turned his head, grinned, and topped off the beer.

  “Good to see you, ladies,” he crooned.

  Nadie rolled her eyes and took a sip of her club soda.

  Jamie went to sit at their normal table, and Lily shook her head and joined her.

  “Dante,” she started again, “how on earth did you clean up everything so fast?”

  He shrugged and brought over their drinks before they even ordered them. “I couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t that big a deal.”

  “It was. I mean, look at the place. I don’t know how you did it. How did you do it this fast? I thought I was supposed to help.” For some reason she felt put out. It wasn’t rational.

  Dante leaned over and kissed her forehead, and she blushed at the brotherly feel. “I know, sweets. I’ll make sure to make a mess later that you can clean up.”

  “Stop patronizing her,” normally calm Nadie ordered.

  Dante raised his hands in surrender and backed off. “Let me know if the three of you need anything. Are the rest of your girls coming in?”

  Lily shook her head. “No, just the three of us tonight.”

  He smiled and went back to the bar.

  “He’s such a jerk sometimes.” Nadie scowled.

  Lily raised a b
row and looked at Jaime, who had an equally confused expression. What the hell? Nadie was the quiet and reserved one. What had Dante done?

  “Is there something we should know?” Jamie asked tentatively.

  Nadie froze then blushed, a red that flamed out straight to her ears. “No.” She coughed. “No, not at all. I just didn’t like the way he teased you about your OCD.”

  Yeah. Sure.

  “Okay, if that’s all.” Lily didn’t believe her one bit, but she didn’t want to step on any toes. Nadie would let her know what was going on when she felt comfortable. She wouldn’t push. It would only further alienate her friend.

  “How is everyone feeling?” Lily asked. She’d been feeling slightly off since the lightning strike or whatever the hell that was. Were the others feeling the same?

  Nadie shrugged. “Fine, I guess. I don’t really know what I’m expecting to feel. I don’t feel any different, but I think the fact that I don’t feel bad makes me feel like something’s wrong, you know?”

  Lily nodded. “Exactly.”

  “It was just a freak storm,” Jamie added. “We’re fine.”

  The three looked at each other as unease settled in Lily.

  “So, did Lily tell you about the real reason she’s here tonight?” Jamie asked, a sly smile on her face, breaking the tension.

  Lily scowled and threw a pretzel from a bowl that had been on the table when she got there, which the black-haired beauty promptly ducked.

  “Hey!” Dante called out. “This isn’t the lunchroom cafeteria. No throwing food.”

  Lily blushed and refrained from throwing one at him. If Becca or Faith had been there, they would have done something, but she didn’t have it in her.

  “Tell me, Lily.” Nadie smiled. “Why are you here?”

  “Can’t I just come here to talk with my friends?”

  “She met a man!” Jamie giggled.

  “Ooohhh.” Nadie joined in the laugher.

  Lily covered her heated face with her hands. It was as if they were twelve. Dear Lord. It wasn’t like she never dated. She was old enough to have some experience. Okay, very, very, little experience, but geez.