Frozen Heart of Fire by Julie Kavanagh Page A

question warranted, but he didn’t want unnecessary rumors circulating about his older brother. He didn’t want to disturb him either, but Josh would want to know about it. “I’ll get him myself. Don’t let the woman leave.”
    The lift was lavish with deep, cream carpeting and expensive pale wood inlay on the walls. Joshua didn’t stint on luxuries, but he drew the line at tinny music so Noah travelled in silence to the top floor where his brother lived. Only a few moments passed and Noah was stepping into his brother’s private apartment and heading to the room where Joshua slept. A soft tap on the door was enough to snap the other man from whatever slumber he had managed to catch.
    “Josh, you awake?” Noah paused in the doorway. His brother was unreasonable when he didn’t sleep well, and lately Joshua had barely slept. There was no telling what kind of mood the older man might be in. He was a dangerous man at the best of times and there weren’t the best of times.
    “I’m awake.” Joshua sat up in the huge bed, his hand pushing a mass of unruly hair from his face. “What’s wrong?” Noah wouldn’t have woken Joshua if everything was going right because he was a clever, capable man and perfectly able to manage the club and business in Joshua’s absence.
    “There’s something I need you to see,” Noah said enigmatically, backing into the living area as Joshua climbed agilely out of the bed. He was a tall man, long of limb but lined with taut muscle. His hair was dark, like his brother’s, like all of their kind but the tendrils thickly covering his head turned from black to red and orange at the very tips. As he sauntered nonchalantly after his brother, his head shone like the very pits of Hell, flames licking through the shoulder-length waves of hair.
    “Brendan, can you relay that tape to Joshua’s laptop?” Noah muttered into a handheld device and, with a flick of a button, the images of the unknown woman flashed onto the huge, sleek plasma on the far wall, relayed through the expensive laptop resting on the desk in the far corner. Joshua settled into the comfy couch despite his near nakedness; he wore nothing but boxers.
    “Well, that’s interesting.” Joshua leaned forward as the images passed over the screen. He turned to stare at his younger brother, an eyebrow raised. “She’s not human,” he said.  It wasn’t a question.
    “She’s still here; do you want to see her?” Noah awaited his brother’s decision. How important did Joshua think this was?
    “Might be wise,” Joshua announced. “Give me five minutes and I think both of us should go talk to the magic lady.”
    The shower was hot, just as he liked it but he didn’t notice for his thoughts were full of the woman with the cold blood. That’s all she could be. Joshua knew of all other magical races and any of them would have announced themselves to him or one of his team, as a courtesy and to safeguard their lives. His mind leapt through the list of species other than human and he couldn’t think of a single one with her lack of body heat. All the security equipment running throughout the building had the technology to detect every known species of non-human beings. Joshua Ravenwood of the Xandry clan was reputed to run a closed shop, and any race other than human would be wary of stepping into Ravenwood territory. He stood for two minutes under the steamy water, lifting the need for sleep from his mind but seconds after stepping out, his body was dry, a boon of his unusual blood. Three minutes later, he left the sumptuous apartment, heading into the lift with his brother. They wore matching white shirts and dark trousers, their taste in clothes explaining their link if their similar good looks weren’t enough.
    Noah whispered into the upmarket walkie-talkie as his brother took a deep breath, fingers rubbing at his forehead. The dark headache hadn’t faded but as the doors slide open, his hands dropped to his side and