Free Immortal Coil by C. I. Black Page B

brought her cheek to Grey’s and hissed. And for a moment she didn’t feel entirely human. No, it was Hunter, not her. There was something feral, something primal about him. Part of the same whatever it was that she’d glimpsed when he’d lost his temper in the hotel. He filled her thoughts, as if his soul was too big for her tiny body.
    Grey grabbed the front of her coat, pulled her in until their chests touched and hissed back. Then he shoved her back and widened his stance. His tongue flicked out between his lips.
    She heard herself chuckle. “I thought you were giving up that habit.”
    Grey shrugged. “Where have you been?”
    Now it was her turn to shrug. Against her will.
    Damn it. She wanted her body back.
    Hey. Hunter. He didn’t answer and she could sense him determined not to let anyone know anything was wrong. But, damn it, it was her body and he’d promised not to take over. Well, if nice wasn’t going to work, maybe force would. She’d done it before, if only she could remember how. She pressed against his consciousness, but couldn’t break his hold on her.
    “I’ve been on assignment.”
    “Yeah, well, Regis has been trying to call you.”
    “Things got complicated.”
    “I can see that. You never struck me as a gender hopper.” Grey glanced over his shoulder at the archway. “Have you had the new digs long enough to connect to the earth’s magic?”
    Hunter’s emotions surged, and it felt like it had something to do with magic, but Anaea couldn’t place it.
    “If I’d been in this body long enough do you think I would have gone to Jade to enter Court?”
    “Shit.”
    “What’s going on?”
    “There’s been—”
    “Hunter,” a new voice called from down the same hall where Grey had come from. Hunter recognized the voice as his Prince’s, but his emotions about the man were mixed.
    Anaea thought about the primal, feral aspect to Hunter. Perhaps man wasn’t the right word. He’d said he was from a race of spirits. He hadn’t said what kind of spirits, although if he hadn’t been human, she had no idea what else he could be.
    A swarthy, heavyset man, Prince Regis stepped into the chamber dressed like Henry VIII. Or maybe it was his girth that made him seem like those pictures of the English king. Half a dozen men and women in a strange array of historical garb, all matched to Regis’s orange, beige, and gold, clustered behind him.
    Both Hunter and Grey dropped to one knee and bowed their heads.
    Anaea struggled to twitch a finger, blink her eyes, something, anything, that would get her back in control.
    “I see your hunting was complicated.” The Prince motioned for them to rise.
    Anaea put all her will into not standing, but Hunter remained in control.
    “To put it mildly,” Hunter said. “You’ll need a second body for the rebirth ceremony. Tell Pearl ’s doyen the Major Green Coterie can have her hoard.”
    The image of a tall woman, a hooded cloak shadowing her face, flashed into Anaea’s mind.
    Regis narrowed his eyes, the only indication Hunter might have said something he didn’t like. “I see. But you got Saber?”
    “Yes. Would my Prince like a report?”
    Regis faked a yawn. Hunter had seen that too many times to count. “Not personally. You’ve been called to wasu tahazu .”
    A small, hunched man in an orange and black harlequin costume shoved through the crowd, clapping hooked, arthritic hands. “Goodie, goodie. A fight.”
    “I’ve what?” Indignation washed over Anaea and what little flashes she’d received of Hunter’s memories were cut off.
    “That’s what I was going to tell you,” Grey mumbled.
    The small man cackled.
    “Who?” Hunter’s fury boiled around her, and he clenched his hands, fighting to control it.
    Anaea unclenched her right hand. Strange, she’d have thought his emotions would have made his grip on her body stronger. She seized her chance and shoved him to the back of her mind.
    Not now! he growled.
    This is my body and