Read Rebel's Desire (Iron Portal Paranormal Romance Series) (Iron Portal Series Book 4) for Free Online Page A

people heading to dinners and cocktail hours. It was still too early for the rowdier nightlife crowd.
    An array of tantalizing aromas greeted them when they got to the Circus District. Indian curry. Italian pasta. Vietnamese pho. New Seattle seafood. Neither Toryn nor Sean had eaten anything since they left the Iron Haven, so they might have to grab something from one of the street vendors soon.
    Sean stood on the corner and looked up and down the street several times. In one hand was Toryn’s leather coat, the one that Keely had worn for a short time. She’d looked so charming, so enticing, with his large jacket draped over her curvy, petite frame, he thought, and a sudden wave of possessiveness surged through him.
    “Don’t you have to smell it or something?” Toryn asked, confused.
    Sean shook his head. “It’s more of an energy marker that I’m trying to match up, not exactly a scent, although that’s the easiest way to think of it.”
    “So are you getting anything yet?” He was unable to keep the impatience out of his tone. Sean had told him it would be a long shot, but that didn’t keep him from hoping for success.
    “No.”
    They started at the edge of the District, walking the area in a grid pattern so as not to miss a single side street or alley. There were no skyscrapers in this part of town, just a bunch of historic five- and six-story buildings that had clearly seen better days. Sean told him that it had once been a trendy part of town back before the big earthquake hit and turned much of it to rubble.
    They had just passed a boarded-up building with a bright orange condemned sign tacked to the front when Sean stopped.
    “What?” Toryn asked, almost bumping into him. “Do you have something?”
    “I can’t tell,” the other man said, frowning. “But I’m picking up something familiar. It’s coming from somewhere over there.”
    Toryn turned his attention in that direction. There was a nondescript building across the street and next to it, a small patch of open space that the city called a park but which was actually only a few benches and a square of grass.
    He scanned the people, looking for that telltale mane of red hair. Nothing.
    Several food trucks were parked on the curb, but he didn’t see her in any of the lines either. Sean was saying something about being hungry, but Toryn wasn’t listening.
    Maybe Keely was inside one of the stores. There was a vegan donut shop that offered palm readings, a pawnshop that promised top dollar for the wedding ring your bastard ex-husband gave you, and Mental Travel, an agency that promised you the vacation of your dreams.
    When he saw the tattoo parlor at the far end, he remembered the butterfly tattoo on Keely’s shoulder. Was that where she’d gotten it? Maybe she was there now. A surge of excitement shot through him at the thought of coming face-to-face with her again. But if not, maybe the people inside would know her and could put him in touch with her.
    “Listen, I think I may know where she could be,” he told Sean. “If you want to go grab something to eat, I can meet up with you later.”
    Although he was starting to trust the guy a little more, he didn’t want him hanging around if he did run into Keely. Not if he could help it. There’d be introductions, explanations. It would be easier if he were alone.
    Disappointment flashed in Sean’s eyes for a moment before disappearing. “Why don’t you take this then?” He handed Toryn a cell phone.
    Toryn stared at the device but didn’t take it. Iron Guild warriors didn’t use cell phones. Before the Iron Havens were built, warriors had nowhere to keep material possessions on this side of the portal. But more importantly, the Pacifican army was known to monitor and eavesdrop on cell phone conversations, and they couldn’t take that risk. Not when the location of portals and the lives of Cascadians were at stake.
    “I jail-broke it,” Sean explained. “Then rerouted the network