Chapter Twenty-Two

The sun slipped into the desert sands, and Issa pulled a slow breath into his lungs. He rolled over, expecting to find Muriah. He frowned, his eyes opening.

The bed was empty.

He scanned the room. “Muriah?”

Silence answered, sending a chill through his body. He got out of bed, still naked, but impervious to the cold. Nothing would warm him but…blood. His thirst clawed to the forefront. Following the enticing scent, he found Muriah unconscious on the floor at the foot of the bed.

He knelt at her side, lifting her into his arms. His pulse raced with adrenaline and concern. A thick trail of fresh blood ran down from her nose, and tracks of dried blood came from both ears. What happened?

Then he noticed the tablet and the dagger on the floor.

She’d used her gift while he slept.

Issa stroked his cool fingers down her cheek. He could hear her heartbeat, faint and slow, but present. “Muriah?”

He waited, but she made no response. Carrying her to the bed, he laid her down and covered her with a blanket. He noticed her palm was also cut, although it appeared she’d stopped the bleeding. He reached for her mind, knowing he’d hit a wall, but he had to try.

Nothing. A blank canvas.

Stroking her hair, he kissed her forehead. “Come back to me.”

What if she couldn’t come back? Muriah was mortal, precious. Fragile. If she’d pushed her mind too far, this might be a sleep she didn’t awaken from. Fear turned his stomach.

“Fight, Muriah.” He waited, and finally, in desperation added, “Please.”

If he drank from her, he might be able to reach her mind through the blood connection and determine the damage she’d sustained. But he hesitated. A week ago, he would’ve sank his fangs into her flesh without a second thought. But now? Muriah had lured him into her world, into her reality, not as a god, but as a partner, a man.

A man who cared about her. He couldn’t peer into her mind without her consent.

But she hadn’t treated him as a partner. She still didn’t trust him to protect her while her power zapped her strength.

Issa got up from the bed, pacing the floor. A guttural cry of rage and frustration brewed inside him until he roared through the empty tomb. Helplessness was as foreign to him as fear.

He raked his hand through his hair, grumbling under his breath. He never should have allowed himself to care for a mortal. This path led to madness. He understood that, but he’d ventured in anyway.

He would never be able to escape the pain of her loss. Never.

When had his heart become hers? He wasn’t sure, but that didn’t change the reality. He’d fallen in love with the woman. Not an infatuation or an obsession like his affection for Ch’en had been. This was deeper, richer, a slow burn, until he was consumed with desire to be near her.

And eternity without Muriah was a torture he didn’t want to face.

His mental state deteriorated until he swung like a pendulum from blind rage to inconsolable sorrow. How could she have taken such a risk? If she had waited, he could have watched over her and pulled the objects out of her hands before the damage was done.

Deep inside, the jaguar roared, aching to relieve Issa of the pain. He welcomed the beast, allowing his animal spirit to come forward. The air around him electrified, warping his image as he shifted from a man into a regal, solid black jungle cat.

The jaguar fed off of his agitation and worry, pacing the stone prison beneath the desert sand. His intense emotions left the large jungle cat edgy. Swishing his tail, he climbed the steps leading to freedom. The large stone remained in place. The jaguar growled, rising up on his hind legs. He dug at the edges of the stone with his claws, leaving behind deep gouges, but the stone remained unmoved.

The cat’s eyes glowed crimson as he came back down the stairs. He moved to Muriah’s side, nudging at her body with his paw, careful his claws avoided her skin. She didn’t move. His tail twitched as he sniffed at her neck.

Growling, the jaguar took out his frustrations on the bed, burying his claws into the side of the mattress and shredding it. He lost interest in the bed and moved to one of the bookshelves. Hauling himself onto his hind feet, he mauled the books with his front paws, knocking them to the floor in a frenzy.

Behind him, something groaned.

…

Muriah blinked, wincing. Her eyes were dry and her mind scrambled. She turned her head and her breath caught. She was still inside the tomb.

With a giant, black jaguar. Issa.

“Issa?” Her voice croaked. She cleared her throat, doing her best to bury the fear. “Issa. You’re in there, right?”

The cat dropped to the ground silently and strode over to the bed. What was left of it. She fingered the shredded side of the mattress. “Did you do this?”

The cat chuffed, raising a giant front paw to his mouth. He licked it slowly, never taking his attention off her.

Muriah shimmied in the bed, trying to prop herself up to a sitting position. She rubbed her temple, wishing she could dampen the bells ringing in her head. The hair on her arms rose and she noticed the air around the jaguar wavered. In a smooth movement, the jaguar morphed into a tall sculpted man.

Issa came to her bedside. “Muriah. You are back.”

She nodded, frowning as she took in all the damage around her. “What did I miss? It looks like a tornado blew through here.”

Issa cast a dismissive glance over his shoulder. “You were unconscious. I feared you slipped into a coma.”

“So you redecorated?”

“I was disappointed to see you took such a risk while I slept.”

She ran her tongue across her dry lips. “This looks a lot closer to rage than disappointment.” She met his dark eyes. “I’ve been using my power my whole life. I don’t need to be babysat while I touch something.”

“You also told me we were partners in this, and yet you put yourself in danger, knowing I was helpless to come to your aid.” His jaw clenched, cutting off anything else he might say.

“I didn’t promise to use my power while you were with me. That’s not how I work.”

Issa walked over to his clothes, his deep voice soft, almost an afterthought. “I thought I’d lost you.”

This was the point in a relationship when she ran. Usually, it was mutual. Whatever this was between them, it wasn’t going to last. They saw there was no real future. Didn’t they?

She watched him from the bed as he pulled a shirt over his chiseled, tanned body. Her skin warmed. “I did it for you.”

The words surprised her. They slipped out before she could think them over. Issa straightened, his heated gaze meeting hers. Muriah swallowed an unexpected ball of emotion. “Apep wants to punish you by forcing you to hurt me. That was his threat on my voicemail.”

“I would die before I hurt you. He could not force me.”

“But if something happened to you, all the Night Walkers would die, right? That’s why Gretchen is carrying the Night…child?” She paused, choosing her words carefully. “The visions are getting stronger. I didn’t plan on holding the tablet so long.” All true. She only left out the part about the excruciating pain. “I needed to see one last face.” She took his hand. “We’re close to stopping him.”

Issa came back to her, sitting on the edge of the mauled bed. His dark fingers laced with hers. “You cannot push yourself like that again.” He squeezed her hand. “Please, Muriah.”

He said please. Never in a million years did she imagine the word please would warm her heart. “We need to get back to the Khan el-Khalili. I have another contact there, and he had the second tablet. We need it.”

“Had?”

Muriah nodded, rubbing her forehead. Her head still throbbed. “That was what I pushed for. That man who came to The Dimension’s Den when we were leaving. I thought he was a detective, but he actually works for the government.”

Issa frowned. “You saw him in your vision?”

“Yes. While I held the tablet, I saw where it’s been. My other contact gave a tablet to Agent Bale. I couldn’t tell from the vision if the relic the agent had was the one we have now or the missing tablet we need. Either way, this is the best lead we have.”