Free Red Night ((Book 1) Timewalker Chronicles) by Michele Callahan

told him he would have to save her. Come hell or high water, he intended to do just that.
    After a deep breath, he squared his shoulders, shook off the drugging effects of her lips, and reached into his jacket pocket to pull out his link to the invisible army surrounding them. With a flick of his wrist, the earpiece slid into place and he was instantly sucked into the Colonel’s world. Alexa didn’t know it, but the Colonel had a lot more than two men here. How the Colonel had pulled it off, Luke had no idea. But almost half the staff had been replaced with his people. Professionals. Killers. Experts. And every single one of them, from the parking garage to the kitchen, was on the look-out for Mr. Matthew Kline and the bug conceived with a pipette and a petri dish.
    That left him free to follow his passion, and make sure she stayed out of trouble. The mark on his chest was a homing beacon. The Shen was cooling. She was getting too far away. Alexa Antwyr would hate to know that he could sense her presence, or lack of, through the strange matching mark on his chest. Eternity. Protection.
    He smiled.
    She was the flame.
    He was the moth.
    Time to dance.
    * * * * *
    Alexa had been to enough of these things with her father to know how the game was played. She could smile and make small talk with people she didn’t know. Flirt. Lead anyone in a conversation to talk about themselves so they’d have nothing to say about her later. And she could conserve her energy until she really needed it. Already, she’d circuited the room twice and seen no sign of her prey. Neither the Colonel nor Kline were anywhere to be seen. Hunting two men made her feel like a femme fatale from a bad horror movie.
    Why hide? According to the picture the Colonel’s man had shown to Luke, Matthew Kline was young, in his twenties, and handsome in a boy-next-door kind of way. Maybe he had a thing for blonds?
    No. That would be too easy.
    She drifted closer to the dance floor and the grand piano in the recessed area behind it, an untouched champagne glass in her left hand. A tall, elegant woman in a blue sequined dress with dark skin and hair was singing about love and the blues. The Blues. Whatever the hell that was. Just wondering made her homesick.
    But then there was Luke. He was here. In this world. Following her around the party. Did he think she was blind? Or perhaps he hoped his presence would keep her out of trouble. Hah! Just thinking about him made her smile. And made her want to stay.
    Luke thought she didn’t know about all the Colonel’s men. He’d forgotten one important thing. The Colonel didn’t know she was involved. She’d been the one eavesdropping on all of the Colonel’s private conversations this afternoon. Not Luke. She was the one who knew who Matthew Kline really was and just how far the Colonel would go to protect him. Knew, and wished she didn’t.

Chapter Seven
     
    The heavy red and gold carpeting muffled her footsteps. Brilliant city lights glowed outside the floor to ceiling wall of windows overlooking downtown. Many guests hovered near the windows to enjoy their view from the twenty-first floor. None of those people were of any interest to Alexa. They were in her way.
     
    Auxiliary rooms beckoned to her from behind their closed doors. The one man she’d been determined to shadow this evening had managed to weave his way into the crowd and disappear. Luke was still following her around like a guard dog. She loved him for it, but she also knew she’d never catch her adversary if Luke’s shadow was pacing hers all night. The mouse won’t play until the cat’s away.
    Seizing an opportunity, she slid into one of the stalls in the ladies room, and vanished. A vivid image of Luke cursing outside the door in about five minutes forced her to suppress a giggle. When he realized she’d given him the slip he was not going to be happy. A small smile curved her lips. He was the first man to ever treat her like she was