Keepers & Killers (The Alchemy Series) by Donna Augustine Page A

pulled me with him to his elevator.
    "Why not my place?"
    "I don't have the time or patience for this game right now. You can come with me or stay behind."
    "I 've got the book," I said as I dangled it in front of me.
    "And I could take it from you in less than a second." He stepped into his private elevator and held the door open.
    I knew he'd put up a fight if I took off to my place, which technically was still in his place. I  was also pretty sure he'd win. It was so freaking annoying. I ground my teeth together as I stepped in after him.
    "I thought we were supposed to be partners?" Both of us watched the floors and tick by while I waited for an answer.
    "We are," he finally said.
    "Then why do you keep getting to make all the calls?"
    He looked down at me with a smirk. "Because, I'm the senior partner."
    I looked back at him. "One of these days, I 'm going to be strong enough to kick your ass."
    "You 'll get strong, but I wouldn't hold your breath for the day you'll be able to take me. Baby, I've got skills you can't even imagine," he said and the look in his eyes sent a chill through me.
    And just like that, I couldn 't look at him. It seemed like lately everything sounded sexual. Part of me wanted to call him out on it, but what if it was just in my head? Nope, the idea of him not having any clue on what I was even calling him out on was way too humiliating. It wasn't like he was trying to come on to me at all. What if my subconscious had some weird crush on him and it was all in my head? No. Not saying a word.
    "How did you do that back there? Like you were wearing a shield or something," I asked diverting the subject.
    "Everything has an electromagnetic field that repels or attracts, just like magnets do. I just amped mine up for a couple of minutes. I can extend it further when I'm attached to someone but only a certain distance."
    I stared down at my hand, wondering if I could do it too.
    The elevator doors slid open and we found Buzz, Ben and Dodd already waiting inside the penthouse. All playfulness left Cormac's expression the moment we stepped into the room.
    "Get Vitor. Tell him he needs to get over here ASAP," he told Buzz and then turned to Ben. "Go down to Kever. Tell him to put all portals on lock down. No transporting until further notice."
    Only Cormac, Dodd and I were left in the room when he dropped the bag, that held the single book we had managed to get from the wolves, on the table. "I hope it's worth it."
    "What is it?" Dodd asked Cormac.
    "I have no idea but we just pissed off a whole lot of wolves."
    "Sca ry looking wolves," I added.
    It might have been misplaced nervous energy but laughter that I couldn 't seem to stop startled to bubble up in me. Cormac soon started to laugh as well as we stared at the book we'd just stolen, that we couldn't touch, read, and had no idea if it would even help.
    I laughed even harder when Dodd let out a scream as he tried to touch it.
    "What's wrong with you two? You couldn't give me a heads up on that one?" he said as he shook his hand trying to alleviate the pain.
    I pulled out a chair, stared at the book and thought about what Cormac had just said. I hoped this book was worth it. My eyes fixated on it, I barely registered the sound of two chairs sliding against the floor as Dodd and Cormac joined me.
    The three of us just sat there, trying to figure out a good way to approach it. Cormac stood and grabbed a pair of tongs from the wet bar, but when he tried to open the cover with them, he dropped them quickly and shook his hand.
    I tried next with a long spoon I found, but barely even lifted the cover before the pain became overwhelming. We could touch it with other instruments, but opening it was turning out to be impossible.
    "This is stupid." Dodd said after a few more minutes passed. "I 'm just going to open the freaking thing. If I get stuck on it, just push me off like they do with people getting electrocuted." He reached over again and put his hand on it.