White Fire: Timewalker Chronicles, Book 5 by Michele Callahan Page A

could easily imagine the attorney spending long nights with her feet up, reading in that chair. Two photos were on the wall, and one of them, she was sure, was Angeline.
    “ Hair like black silk. Eyes golden amber. Tall…”
    And there she was. The woman who’d held Ajax’s heart for centuries. Emma had to give her credit. She was gorgeous. And smart. A real blue blood on Itara. An Immortal. And very, very well organized. “She must have taken the soul stone with her.”
    Ajax closed the last drawer silently. “Unfortunately, I agree.”
    “So, now we have to find her.” Emma pulled her new cell phone from her back pocket. She’d picked it up while shopping with Katherine, and was glad she had as she hit speed dial. “Katherine? It’s Emma. Didn’t you say you knew someone who could find people who didn’t want to be found?”
    Katherine’s answer gave her a much needed boost of confidence. “Yes. My boy Drew can find anybody.”
    “Nice. Her name is Angeline Dupre. She’s a corporate attorney in Denver and her office is off Lincoln, but she’s not here. Out for a week. I need to know where she is, and I need to know today. It’s kind of an emergency.”
    “No problem. I’ll get him on it. I’ll text you as soon as I get something from him.”
    “Thank you.” Emma hung up and shoved the phone into her back pocket. “Okay. It’s not here. I doubt anything of real value is here. She seems like the kind of woman who’d be way too careful for that. Let’s go.”
    Ajax didn’t move and she was forced to look at him. “Why is it an emergency, Emma? Why do you need the stone so badly?”
    Emma debated what to tell him and what not to. No one but her parents and Bran, and apparently she needed to add Celestina to this list, knew what she could do. She didn’t feel comfortable sharing everything with him, but she didn’t want to lie, and she didn’t want him to downplay the importance of finding it. She had to have it before the Crux. She was too vulnerable without the ability to jump.
    “It’s a soul stone.”
    “Yes.”
    “It’s mine.”
    “But what piece of you is locked within it, Emma? What power does it hold?”
    “I don’t want to lie to you, Ajax.”
    “So don’t.”
    Emma sighed. “Let’s just say I need it back by tomorrow, or, according to Celestina, it’ll be a bit too easy for Droghan to cut off my head.”
    “I would never allow that.”
    “Well, my guess is you won’t be there to stop him.” She walked to stand beside him and grabbed his hand. The wave of heat that flowed through her at the simple touch just made her angrier. “Get me out of here, please.”
    “When did you speak with Celestina?”
    “This morning.”
    “When? And why would I not be with you to fight Droghan? Why did she not speak to the rest of us?”
    “Probably because you’re a bunch of hot-headed, stubborn males who don’t listen to reason.”
    That stung, she could tell by the angry crease between his brows. “Is Nicodemus included on this list of stubborn males?”
    “Does he have a penis?” Her cell phone buzzed in her back pocket before he could come up with an answer. Katherine. Damn, the woman hadn’t been kidding. Five minutes. Tops.
    Emma read the text and looked at Ajax. She was done playing by these Immortals’ rules. Her entire life had been dictated by them. First Bran, even before she was born, and then the Triscani, who’d hunted her every minute she was breathing, Celestina stole her jump power, and now, Ajax toyed with her heart like a kid with a yo-yo. No. She was tired of that game. Time to take back control of her own life, and to do that, she needed that soul stone.
    “Ajax, I need you to take me back to my apartment for some clothes.”
    “Why?”
    “Because Angeline’s in Seattle at a corporate conference, and these beach shorts and sandals just aren’t going to cut it up there.”
    And if she had to fry some Triscani or other Immortals to get to Angeline,