Read Online The Curse by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Dianna Love - Free Book Online Page A

not been this careful prior to being injured, so he must have good reason to be so now. She’d lost a lot of sleep over his possible death. If this kept him safe, she’d do it.
    That didn’t mean she’d have dinner with him.
    She had too much to sort through right now and no time to waste figuring out her screwed-up psyche. Cranking her motorcycle, she reached up to lower her face shield, but Storm stopped her with his hand on hers.
    Then he leaned close and said, “Plan on dinner … at my place tomorrow night. I’ll post the address in an e-mail draft.”
    She waited for him to step back, then she dropped her face shield and drove away, glancing at her rearview mirror.
    The sidewalk was empty.
    Storm had disappeared into the night again.
    After pushing her bike through yellow lights the whole way to the Iron Casket, she parked in an open spot far enough from the front door to study the lay of the land.
    The pair of behemoth bouncers guarding the entrance missed little. With the boss they had, their lives literally depended on their performance. Even now she’d bet they were making a mental note of how long it took her to peel out of her jacket.
    Last time she’d been here, she’d come close to a throwdown with the owner, Deek D’Alimonte, over Kardos, a teenage male witch who had foolishly taken an interest in Deek’s sister.
    Committing suicide by torching yourself would be an easier death for a man than being caught sniffing around the sister of an immortal centaur.
    Evalle had just barely managed to extricate herself and wisecracking Kardos from that tight spot. Deek hadn’t forbidden her from coming back, but he wouldn’t be happy to see her either. With a little luck, she’d slip through unnoticed.
    She headed for the door. Tristan had picked a perfect place to meet. Deek allowed no weapons, and no use of majik or powers, inside his club. Tristan didn’t have to worry about being surrounded by VIPER agents or a battle with Evalle.
    When she’d first transferred to the southeastern region of VIPER, she’d been warned about Deek. That he’d been in this area long before VIPER formed the Coalition and he’d refused to join it. He took no one’s side but his own. Rather than face Deek as an enemy when VIPER was still in its early stages, they’d struck a deal. Deek agreed to be neutral territory if a summit meeting was ever needed. In return, he had full autonomy within his domain.
    In other words, stay out or enter at your own risk.
    Weapons could be found with a body search, so she left her spelled dagger hidden on her bike. When she reached the entrance, she handed cash for her cover charge to one of the Goth giants guarding the door and walked in.
    Inside the two-level, glittery nightclub, which had a soaring open center, music rocked the walls with heavy bass and screaming guitars. Sweat and alcohol leaked from the pores of gyrating dancers. Deek had pulled out all the stops to turn a basic warehouse into floor-to-ceiling sparkly when he’d dated a Fae woman, but that had been before the ugly breakup.
    No Fae allowed now, thus the reason for the tongue-in-cheek name Iron Casket, since Fae majik supposedly would not work around iron, and Deek would kill anyone who broke his rules.
    Calling this crowd Goth would sound too homogenized for the creative types that packed the dance floor, crowded the bar and filled dark pockets everywhere.
    Waitstaff circled the room carrying casket-shaped trays filled with drinks in crystal glasses. Evalle waved off two before a familiar voice close behind her said, “Don’t you ever dress for going out?”
    “Some of us have to work,” she said, turning to find Tristan, who had taken his wardrobe for tonight more seriously than she had. He wore a long-sleeved, button-down shirt in a saturated bloodred color, black dress pants and dark sunglasses. He’d wised up after a month in civilization, now hiding his Alterant-green eyes at night, even though his eyes