13
Malin wantedSurah to stay home in the evenings. Geza's anger, the increasingly murkypolitics.…
“I don’t like it,” the Prince said. “And you refuse aguard.”
“I have my own when I need them,Malin.”
The gargoyle's lip curled. “Humans.”
Surah refused to give in. “This work is important. How much time do you really think we haveleft?”
Leveling a hard glare at her, Malin replied, “Will it matter if someone gets it in their head to kill you in order to hurtme?”
They compromised. Surah–baffled and bedazzled at the speed with which her mate could work–walked into a newly appointed basement laboratory the next morning. Stopped.Stared.
Turned back to Malin,incredulous.
“When did you get all this done? Wait–where did you get the supplies? Oh my God–who touchedmystuff?”Surah rushed into the lab, rapidly going through items familiar andnew.
“Calm down. Cole coordinated most of the move. And you still have a lab at the campus, all the supplies we took will be replenished shortly.” Malin crossed his arms. Surah turned and looked at him, recognizing the stubborn expression. “So you have everything you need here–there's no need for you to leave the house for awhile.”
“Are you kidding me, Malin? I mean, do you really expect me to stay on the grounds for the next...however long until this stuff blowsover?”
Malin paused. “Not necessarily thegrounds. More like the house. Mylove.”
“You’reinsane.”
The Prince lowered his arms, moving forward. “I prefer the term practical.Protective.”
“I’m a scientist. A doctor. I prefer to use factual terms.” Surah sighed, blowing air into her tousled bangs. “Jeeze, this is going to take some getting used to. The basement. Like a batcave.”
“There's a direct entrance to the back of the house with a small loading dock. I thought it would beconvenient.”
“Well.” Surah closed the distance between them, placing her hands on Malin's shoulders and pressing a kiss to the male's mouth. “Go away, Malin. Evidently, I havehomework todo.”
Surah didn’t quite believe Malin had pulled off the set up of an entire working lab overnight. But she'd let the Prince get away with that fiction if it amused him. Soon she was deep into her research, realizing after a while that she did actually need to go back to her lab on the campus. There was equipment and documents there she could bring over herself and set up. Probably Cole had just delayed the transfer because replacements hadn’t come yet–it wasn’t like the stuff could be ordered onAmazon.
She messaged Malin and snuck out of the house, taking one of the ground transports just as a reply–which she ignored–came through the cell. Surah figured she had maybe a good two hours to ignore Malin before her lover's temper boiled over. If there was one thing the Prince hated–it was beingignored.
Surah gave Cole a list of supplies and equipment to load into the car, and closeted herself in her area to get some work done while her assistant took care of the gruntwork.
“Yo, boss lady,” Cole said, poking his head into thelab.
Surah blinked, glancing at her watch to see that an hour had already gone by. “Taking off for thenight?”
“Yeah, me and my girl have a date. I've got everything on your list loaded and added a few things I thought you might need. Tracking says the replacements will be here tomorrow–your dude must have deep pockets,yo.”
“Deep something, anyway. Have fun.” Her wrist unit pinged a few minutes later. “Here.”
“Surah, you need to leavenow.”
“What? Malin, look, I understand you’re worried,but—”
“Damn you, listen to me!” Surah shut up, sitting up straight on her stool. “I’m on my way, but you need to leave now. Kausar is withme.”
She didn’t need to hear anything else. “I’mleaving.”
Shedding the lab coat, Surah grabbed keys and hightailed it out, on high alert. Her ears strained for sound as she paused right outside the door of the building, eyes sweeping the orange lit parking lot for movement. They'd tried during daylight the last time; maybe because they figured if he had gargoyle allies, they'd be at rest for the day. At night her enemies would be at the height of theirstrength.
