Blood Trinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Dianna Love Page A

jeans … jeans he filled out nicely.
    His alpha presence doused the wave of male lust that had flashed through the room when Adrianna had entered.
    “Have a seat,” Sen instructed the new members.
    Adrianna took a spot on the couch next to Trey, using the motion to show off her shapely legs.
    May Macha bless Trey because he ignored Adrianna. That was a happily married man.
    Evalle expected Storm to stand only because his mysterious appearance reminded her of Lucien, who rarely sat, but Storm sauntered across the room and settled next to her, stretching out his long legs. She didn’t think he was much over six feet tall, but he packed a lot of man into that space.
    And why was she noticing that about him if he was a new agent?
    I think the sun boiled my brain.
    Swinging her attention to Sen, Evalle started to lean back when she felt the stuffed leather behind her head move with Storm’s arm sliding across. Sheconsidered sitting upright and stopped herself before reacting. Never wise to show any reaction that could be misconstrued as apprehension around another nonhuman.
Let no one see your weakness
—it was the one code she’d never break. Storm didn’t touch her, but that presence she’d felt when he’d walked in barged into her space.
    What exactly was he?
    And what were his powers? …
    Sen cleared his throat. “Now that everyone is present, pay attention so that I don’t have to repeat myself. We have a problem here in Georgia.”
    “Again? Can’t the demons find a new place to play? I hear New Orleans is dying for some action. And New York’s nice this time of year,” Trey muttered.
    For some reason, Evalle couldn’t resist taunting him. “What’s the matter? Married life making you soft?”
    Trey cut an annoyed glance at her, then cocked a cynical smile. “If that was the case, we’d all chip in to find
something
to marry you.”
    “Enough.” Sen’s no-nonsense stare struck Trey, then drifted to her.
    A short, deep laugh rumbled out of Storm.
    Evalle’s eyes widened at his audacity. Somebody should give him the Sen Survival 101 talk.
    “The Ngak Stone—”
    “‘Nack’ like ‘knick-knack’?” Casper interrupted him.
    Sen cut a vicious glare at him. “The Nah-yak”—he enunciated slowly, then spelled it so that they’d understand the term—“Stone was lost in Atlanta during an unsanctioned battle two years ago.” Sen paused, his condemning gaze now firmly affixed on Trey, who sighed and covered his eyes with his hand, as if knowing what was coming next. “The stone will choose a new master soon. It has boundless power and moves through history with a certain autonomy. It’s believed this stone caused the Yellow River to flood China four thousand years ago when a high-level adviser inside the Yao Dynasty stole the stone from a Tibetan monk with intentions of using it to multiply their crops and build an empire that could not be defeated. The Yellow River flooded the next day, killing the thief and washing the rock away. But the stone must have been extremely angry over its theft because the Yellow River still floods to this day. And don’t get me started on what it did to Vesuvius.
That
is the kind of power we’re talking, people.”
    Sen paused while a grim murmur buzzed through the room.
    So that’s why we’re here?
Evalle schooled her face to be concerned and not show her relief that she hadn’t been exposed. Thank the gods, Sen hadn’t found out about the demons or their quest for an Alterant …
    Yet.
    But that relief was only minor given the severityof what was happening. The Ngak Stone showing up again created all sorts of deadly possibilities, especially for the Beladors, since the last person to hold it had been a Kujoo warrior.
    I think I’m getting a migraine.
    Because the last thing she needed thrown into this mix was a bunch of angry Kujoo running around town with an all-powerful weapon, trying to settle an ancient score with the Beladors.
    But at least this meant