Tempting Gray - Untouchables 02 by T. A. Grey Page A

the best chance I had would have been to try to get a read off
anything in the morgue, but seeing as that’s ground zero of destruction that’s
out of the picture. I’ll have to walk around touching everything since I have
no one specific object to touch. This could take forever. Or I might not be
able to find it at all.”
    “Then let’s not waste any time,” Grayson said.
    He left the room, checking for any sign of
Donato’s men. Immediately she began touching the walls—anything to pick
something up. Her breath caught. “This way I think!” She darted ahead of him.
He cursed and ran after her. She zoomed down the hall and made a sharp turn
taking them down a spiral staircase.
    “Arabella, let me stay in the lead.”
    She sent him an aggrieved stare. “Please don’t
say my name. You sound like my father when you say it. I go by Ara.”
    “Hush!” he commanded, his senses picking
something up. Someone was headed for them and fast. “Quickly!” He grabbed her
hand and took off down the narrow stone corridor. Sticky spider webs wrapped
around his face. Along the way Ara touched everything she could with her free
hand.
    He turned the corner and she sucked in a
breath. “The other way. Go right! I think I saw something. A hidden door. The
image came and went so fast I don’t know what I saw though.”
    He turned them the correct direction, his skin
prickling with apprehension. He’d gotten his client killed and then his bruid .
No one else would die because of him. Even if he had to sell his damned soul he’d
do whatever it took to ensure no one else joined them.
    They were rushing down the corridor so fast
that when Ara stuck out her hand to touch a chipped, dusty vase on a side table,
she inadvertently knocked it over. The crash sounded far too loud for his
liking as it slammed to the ground.
    “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, her small hand
flexing in his.
    An animal’s growl echoed off the wall as if the
sound had skipped a long ways to them. Another growl came, this one sounding
much closer. “We have to go.” Shapeshifted Weres, especially more than one of
them did not help his odds and he counted on keeping his promise to her.
    Ara took off running. This time he kept close
pace behind her as they zigzagged deeper and deeper into the catacombs. They
passed rooms of entombed corpses, hundreds of years old. It smelled like
mildew. At least this deep the horrendous lemon and flower odor vanished. He’d
rather smell the rotten corpses than ever have to smell lemon and flowers
again.
    She tripped on a jagged stone and shouted. Gray
corrected her swiftly and pushed them on. That shout just revealed their
location to their enemies. Time was running out.
    “We’re getting close,” she whispered back at
him, panting. “I can feel it.” Her flashlight lit her way, also something he didn’t
like but couldn’t fault her for. Her vision in human form lacked pathetically
compared to his. He was a creature of the night.
    A howl crooned through the halls. The hair on
his arms stood on end as he pulled them to a stop. She squeezed his hand tighter,
probably not even realizing she did it. “They sound closer. Quick, this way!”
She turned and tugged on his hand, but he didn’t budge.
    “You need to go and hide. I’ll find you after
it’s done,” Gray said.
    “W-what do you mean after it’s done? Are you—you
can’t mean to send me off by myself and sacrifice yourself like a lamb!” Her
concern for him surprised him. The fact that she’d care at all.
    Gray flashed her a grin as dark as this damned
place of death. “I won’t be sacrificing anything.”
    Surprise flashed across her face. She had a
very expressive face; she revealed everything and hid nothing. It was a curse
in the hands of the wrong person. He wanted to warn her, tell her to be wary of
her weakness, but he shouldn’t. To help her in any personal way would be to
show her consideration.
    My bruid’s burnt ashes still linger