Free Cloak of Deceit: An Alex Moore Novel by Gwen Mitchell Page A

person? I laughed out loud.
    Not like that has ever happened before.
    But then I thought of my nightmare, my psychic “awakening.” I remembered the feeling of all of the voices trying to reach into me and shuddered. If that was the Grigori, I wanted no part of it. I had already picked my side, putting my stock in the Undead Knight. I assured myself the decision had nothing to do with the attraction I felt. Julian had helped me so far, and I wanted to trust him. Maybe I wanted to imagine something was there a little too much, but as long as I didn’t let my body do the thinking, I could handle it.
    As for the psychics — one problem at a time: avoid execution by the Cloak, then deal with my cerebral solicitors.

Chapter Six

    J ulian gave me space for the few hours we waited for Derek. He must have sensed that hovering would just make me more antsy. Even after I had my fill of quiet reflection, he stayed on the phone for over an hour, and I didn’t want to interrupt, so I locked myself in the back bedroom. I decided to take advantage of my unsupervised time and distract myself by snooping. I poked through the drawers, cupboards, and medicine cabinet for clues about my mysterious host. His boudoir wasn’t very forthcoming with personal details, which tickled my curiosity even more. I would have settled for finding out how old he was, or what his last name was. But I also happened to be very curious if there were any other women in his un-life.
    “Ah-ha!” I felt a thrill of triumph upon discovery of Julian’s little black book. But thumbing through it, there weren’t any names that seemed to be attached to friends, much less women. There were no dirty magazines. I lifted the comforter to look under the bed. Not even a speck of dust. What a neat freak. Cleaning must have been where he channeled all of his sexual energy.
    I flopped onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. He definitely had sexual energy. There was no way a man that sexy didn’t. He just kept it under tight control. I should have been thankful for that. It was hard enough to concentrate when he wasn’t trying to get my attention. Maybe he had very particular tastes and fulfilled them elsewhere? I’d never asked what he was doing at the Sweat Shop that night.
    I’d been positive he was flirting with me during our workout — not just to distract me, but really flirting. As in, he couldn’t help himself. The timing was awful, and I’d been beating myself over the head with the reminder of my decision not to get involved with him. Of course I would imprint on the first person to take me under their wing in this new world. I would be dead twice over if not for him. He seemed nice. It didn’t help the situation that he was totally yummy. Ever since he’d streaked past me after his shower in nothing but a towel, all wet and flushed, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about spreading him out and licking the moisture from every dip and hollow of his inconveniently-gorgeous body.
    But judging from my past history — and reaffirmed by my most recent dating disaster — as soon as I found myself that attracted to a man, I should beat feet the other direction. Only, I didn’t have that option. Julian’s house was too small to ignore his appeal entirely. A few states would have been better. Maybe an ocean. I couldn’t tell if it was my Undead instincts driving it, or just the direness of my situation, but my libido was riding me hard.
    A thought occurred to me, and I held my breath. Did Undead have sex?
    “Whoa.” I sat up. My manual was in the kitchen. But then I remembered Cody. Of course they did. They had to. Cody would never give up sex. But maybe Julian had taken a vow of celibacy or something. I snorted. “That would suck.”
    “What would suck?” Julian said from the doorway.
    I jumped like a cat stirred from a nap by a vacuum, then glared at him, trying to recover some grace. “Holy hell! Would you stop doing that?”
    “You should be