Order of the Omni: A Supernatural Romantic Suspense Novel (The Immortalies Book 1) Penny Knight (100 best novels of all time TXT) 📖

rate that I feel vibrating rapidly, that shows she isn’t as confident as she portrays. She’s testing me. She is trying to figure out the extent of danger she’s in. A brave and clever tactic.

“Listen.” I soften my tone. “I’m not here to harm you. I am here to help.”

“Right,” she says, under her breath.

“The man that attacked you at the house was dangerous. More so than you can imagine.”

She rubs her temple with one hand and her shoulders slump.

“Fine, whatever.” She moves the chair and sits. “Let’s just get this over with.” Her finger brushes over the cut on her neck and her eyes lock on the table.

I dare say this side is just as endearing as the first time I met her. She was trying to portray a different version of herself then, but here she is. Stubborn, fiery and sexy as hell. My body responding in all ways, unable to tear my eyes away from her pursed lips.

Stop, I need to reel that in and concentrate on the task at hand.

“What were you doing at the house?” I ask. She doesn’t look up and does not answer. I look to the friend.

He does a double take of Elita, then looks back at me and sighs.

“Work,” he simply says.

“Work?” I try to keep my patience as I also sit. Maybe I will be less intimidating to him. Her eyes peer over to me, then to him, watching.

“We had an assignment to copy the hard drive,” he says. That is news. Investigating the disappearance is one thing, copying data is another.

“Topher!” Elita says.

“What?” He raises both hands in the air. “That dead dude took it from me, anyway. And then, this bloke.” He points towards Broderick, “set the place on fire, so it’s not like it matters now.”

“True,” she shrugs. Then faces forward again.

I look to Broderick. Fire is news to me. He nods and confirms his statement.

“I see,” I say. My eyes dart back and forth from these two. Elita is stoic, giving nothing away unlike her friend Topher. He keeps tapping his leg under the table. He’s nervous. They don’t trust me, which of course they wouldn’t, they’re both very smart.

I’ll need to find another way, and there will be plenty because this will not happen again. She needs to stay under my watch, I want her here at the hotel. But there is no way she will come willingly. I won’t be able to get more information from them, I know that.

Looking at Elita, she must feel my gaze on her and looks up.

“Stay here. I’ll be back.” I say.

She rolls her eyes. “Like we have a choice?”

A crooked smile forms on my lips. “I will be right back, and then I will take you home.” She perks up and her mouth parts.

With that, I stand and leave. Broderick follows right behind me. Once the door closes, I turn to him.

“Give Fallon and Warrick her address from the file. Tell them to go to the house and make a mess of it like they are looking for something.”

“Are you sure?” He frowns.

“I want her here and she won’t just come willingly.”

Broderick nods.

“After they’re done, tell them to send word. Get the car ready and we will take them home.” Finally, things are falling into place. Tonight is an opportunity I’m going to take full advantage of.

“Should I find some free rooms?”

“No, have the staff prepare the guest bedrooms in the penthouse.” Broderick’s eyebrows raise. “We can keep a better eye on them.”

“I bet.” His lips turn up. I just stare at him and he shakes his head. “I’ll get right to it.”

Once the door closes, I turn to Topher, eyes wide.

“What?” He throws his arms up.

“What the hell. Why don’t you tell him our whole life story while you’re at it?”

“Maybe I will, I can tell him the time you almost burnt your wooha off.”

I punch his arm.

“I didn’t burn it off.” My voice raises and Topher laughs.

“You put that cream on for ten minutes. What did you think was going to happen?”

I blow out a long breath and run my hands through my hair. “Anyway,” I say through gritted teeth, “you remember what happened tonight, funny man?”

His face falls as it hits him how close we came to a not-so-great night.

“Yeah,” he says. “This is all so crazy.”

“I agree. Whatever we walked into is way beyond anything we were prepared for. Now we won’t know what was on that computer, either.” I shake my head.

“Well,” he reaches into his pocket and pulls out the small external hard drive.

“I thought you gave it to that guy?” My eyes widen and a smile forms on my lips.

“I gave him the drive of the first computer we worked on.”

“Topher, you are a bloody genius!”

“Well, duh, we know this.” I laugh and a wave of relief floods through my tight muscles. A small victory, one I am going to grab hold of and cling to. After such an out of control few days, the bar is set low.

“We can’t let anyone know about this. Ok?” My eyes drill into his to emphasise its importance.

“I know,” he says.

“Here,” I extend my hand for the drive. “I’ll stash it down my bra.”

“Pfft, please. If I were a straight guy, that is the first place I would look.”

“If he puts his hand down my bra. I will chop it right off.”

Topher laughs. “Yeah, right. You’ll be like, ‘Please sir, can I have some more?”

I punch his arm, again.

“Ok, ok,” he says as he rubs it. He hands me the drive, and I put it in my bra, safe and sound.

I take a long, deep calming breath and close my eyes.

“Hey,” he pulls me back.

“Yeah?”

“How are you feeling?” He nods to my neck. “I was so scared.”

My fingers flutter over the small graze. I thought it was game over.

“I was scared, too,” I say. “He was so strong. It was like trying to fight against steel arms wrapped around me.”

“Fuck.”