Blackthorne (The Brotherhood of the Gate Book 1) by Katt Grimm

of where she was and the impossibility of her situation. Ellie Mae was also unaffected by the spell and got up to stand between the brothers, examining Manius’ shoes in an unconcerned manner. A trail of slobber marred the shiny leather of the shoes and the front of his immaculate slacks immediately.
    Blackthorne snorted as his brother backed away from the dog and tried to wipe the side of his shoe on the carpet. He could swear the bloodhound was grinning.
    “Why do you keep trying to hurt her when you know you can’t touch it unless she digs it up for you?”
    Manius responded in the stillness, one regal eyebrow raised. “Because I can. And every time I make a play for her, I get to watch you scramble to save her. It’s amusing.” With a vicious grin, Manius turned his back on his brother and walked away, wiping at his trousers and muttering. “Damned animal.”
    Blackthorne stepped forward and held out his arms, chanting softly. Rhi flew again through the air to land in his arms. They crashed to the ground, winded but unhurt. He rose to his feet again to watch his brother walk out the door and step into the waiting Hummer at the curb.
    Rhi sprawled for a moment at Blackthorne’s feet on the padded carpet. Ellie Mae anxiously nuzzled her face and hair.
    Rhi stared at the frayed ends of the rope that had been a brand new, unblemished climbing rope not ten minutes before when she had checked it. The essence of climbing for Rhi was the silence and tranquility of the act. All thoughts, worries, fantasies, and conversations left her mind during a climb. All she could think of was the next move. All that she could hear was her own heart beating in exhilaration. There could be a Greek wedding being held beneath her, she wouldn’t hear it while she was climbing. That peace was now lost.
    She rolled her eyes. Why was she surprised? Of course a virtually unbreakable rope broke when Blackthorne was holding the other end of it. As for the floating in the air thing?
    Definite hallucination. I need to cut down on the coffee. She ignored his outreached hand, preferring to stand on her own.
    Nate ran over from the desk, babbling. The other patrons of the gym joined him to gather in a circle and babble with him. Rhi stood in the center, facing Blackthorne, her face turned upward, her eyes challenging the inscrutable look on his face. She hadn’t said a word.
    He spoke first, his now ice-cold eyes mocking. “I assume you think I had something to do with this.”
    “I assume I’m better off if I keep my distance from you and whatever kind of mojo’s following you around. Excuse me.” Rhi turned to gather her gear into her bag. She spoke loudly to the small group gathered. “Thank you all so much for observing our ‘safety’ demonstration. Please consult Nate here about the chances of that happening to you.”
    She gathered everything, refusing all offers of help. Once her gym bag was stuffed full, she made her way to the door. Ellie Mae cast Blackthorne another mournful look before lumbering over to stand by Rhi.
    Blackthorne stood nearby throughout her preparation, observing. To her surprise he hadn’t left mysteriously as was his wont.
    She threw her bag over one shoulder and addressed him once more. “Well, I think this makes us even.”
    He had lost the arrogant angry look that dominated his features their every moment together and instead looked at her sadly. “Even for what?”
    “You seem to be angry with me every time we meet. Now I can blame you for these ‘accidents’ every time I meet you.”
    His strong features held emotions that froze her for a moment…an image she had seen before in a dream of the past. “My anger makes all the sense in the world, Raven.”
    “My name’s Rhi. As you have already known from the first moment we met.” She walked out the door and started to cross the street with her dog to the Blazer.
    His voice stopped her. “You don’t have any questions about what happened