f concern for you of course.
A laugh burst out of her. God, how she’d missed him.
Stepping back, Morana didn’t turn, just stared at him. “You sure you’re okay?”
A genuine smile grazed his lips under the beard. “I will be.”
Morana nodded. “Any leads? Should you be here?”
Dante shook his head, pushing his hair back over his head and Morana watched it fall back again. “I’m working on something but can’t tell you much. Have you talked to Amara? Is she fine?”
The wind whooshed around them as Morana considered him seriously. “No, I haven’t. She hasn’t been reachable since she got the news.”
“She thinks I’m dead?” Dante asked, his eyes narrowing.
Morana shook her head. “No, but she disconnected. I’ve been giving her space but it’s worrying me now.”
Dante looked up at the sky as though asking for patience, muttering something like, “the things I do for her,” before looking at Tristan. “Find her while I get this shit done.”
“On it,” the man behind her said.
Morana looked at both of them before Dante squeezed her shoulder. “I’ll see you guys soon.”
Nodding, she watched him silently move and disappear into the woods, a man his size moving with the grace one wouldn’t expect from his body. She looked around the place she stood in, before turning to her lover.
“What is this place?”
“This is where I used to escape sometimes,” Tristan said, his head tilted to the side. “Dante followed me here one day, stubborn bastard, and it became our spot.”
Morana tilted her head to the side, eyes locked with his. “Did he seem a little off to you?”
“He’s in the zone,” Tristan spoke quietly, taking a step closer to her. “Listen, I have to go out of town for a few days. It’s a lead and I’ll tell you if it pans out.”
Oh, she didn’t like this. Didn’t like the idea of him going away at all.
He was on the same page. “With Dante gone, I don’t trust anyone here. I want you to check into a hotel for the night.”
Morana saw the seriousness in his eyes, blinking. “I’ve slept alert for years before I met you, Tristan. I’ll be fine.”
“I don’t doubt that,” he rubbed his thumb over her lips, his eyes intense. “But I need to be able to focus on my task and not worry about you.”
“You’ll worry about me?” Morana asked, her voice cracking. She forgot sometimes in the flood of her own emotions that he felt for her too.
He didn’t say anything, just pressed his lips to hers, answering her without words. “Check into a hotel anonymously. Don’t tell anyone where you’re going. Vin will drop you off.”
Morana nodded, preparing herself mentally, an ugly feeling unfurling in the pit of her stomach.
“If something happens to you, caveman,” she told him, looping her arms around his neck. “I’ll kill you myself.”
She saw a flash of his dimple before her eyes closed and her mouth got busy.
The hotel she checked into was the same one she’d stayed at the first time she’d come to Tenebrae to kill Tristan weeks ago. Smack in the center of the city, it was a tall, luxurious building that catered to the wealthy and vetted every guest that checked in. Booking herself a room was a breeze for her.
Walking into the opulent lobby, her heels clicking on the polished marble floor, a red wig hiding her dark locks, Morana dragged her small suitcase behind her, holding a few clothes and her tech stuff.
“Trina Summers,” she introduced herself, giving her false name confidently. The lady behind the reception smiled and handed her the key card. One stay at this hotel was going to put a dent in her savings but once things calmed down, she was sure she’d be able to work again. While she knew Tristan had money, she wanted to be able to pay for her life herself.
Keeping her eyes alert, Morana looked around the lobby inconspicuously and saw all the people, so many of them clueless about the underbelly of the criminal world she lived in. A few suspicious-looking men lingered here and there, and while she kept her eyes on them, she didn’t pay them too much attention.