by Sharon Kay
“Fuck!” Arawn bellowed. He stood next to Wolfe and scowled over the male’s shoulder at the tablet screen that only showed bouncing darkness. “We can’t see shit. Where are you?”
“Confirming your position, Ember.” Wolfe tapped a red dot on his screen. “Turn left ninety degrees.”
“Copy that,” Ria’s voice carried strong and sure through their comms. “Venom’s with me.”
She sounded fine but she was on the run and he hated every second of this. That was too close. And she wasn’t to the safe point yet. “How far is she?” he demanded.
Mathias paced in front of Wolfe, eyes alight with anger. “She’s not far. But more guards are pursuing.” He paused and drew a deep inhale. “Twelve Ghazsuls. And eight canines.”
On cue, the excited howl of hellhounds pierced the night, punctuated by one yelp. Then two.
“Change of plans.” Scorpio’s voice echoed over the comm link. “Picked off two hounds and there are several more. Following them on foot.”
“Copy that, Venom.” Wolfe watched the red dot. “Two hundred fifty yards. Ember, keep going in the direction you’re going. Venom is behind you.”
“Good. It’s getting crowded out here.” She sounded pissed. “He should try running in four inch heels.”
Arawn couldn’t sit still and listen to Ria running, potentially in danger. What if she got tired before she usually did, due to being laid up for a month? “Aleksai, you stay here with Wolfe. Everyone else, come with me. Let’s give our girl a hand.”
He didn’t wait for the others, just trusted that they’d be on his heels. Mathias, Brenin, Nevo, and Jude followed him, two on each side and slightly behind him. He led the charge, his body moving on the instinct of primal possessiveness. Logic be damned. His body roared to find her. And then kill her pursuers.
Loud voices yelled. Ria screamed a curse and they all heard a boom over the comm link.
She had to be close but the trees concealed her. “Mathias? Wolfe?” he growled.
“Straight ahead,” Mathias snapped.
“She should be in visual range, sir. One hundred yards directly in front of you—”
A boom, then a flash, lit the night in the distance ahead. Fuck! What was going on?
“Changing course!” Ria yelled into the comm. “I’m turning right. No idea which way that is except away from these fuckers.”
Right? That would be his left. Arawn veered in that direction. Mathias kept pace and the others followed.
This area was just outside the borders of Thane’s property. Thick overgrown bramble bushes made it ugly to navigate. “Ember!” he yelled into the dark.
No response. Thorns scraped deeply into the skin of his arms as he shoved branches aside. The baying of hounds and the shouts of males carried clearly on the night wind. In fact, the canines were close enough he could smell their wet-dog stink. But no orange blossom.
“Hunter, where the fuck is she?” Arawn’s fury vibrated through his muscles.
“Close. Safe. Thank the gods.” Mathias gestured left. “Over the—”
Another flash and blast rocked the ground. Explosive spell charges? Seemed like overkill for two Watchers…then again maybe Thane wanted to show off his strength.
The Ghazsuls were close enough to see. Arawn motioned his men to take cover, then use their demonfire in a methodical pattern. The enemy wouldn’t know who the fire came from, only that it was from a Lash demon.
Brenin hurled a fire ball, hitting a Ghazsul squarely in the chest. Mathias did the same, hitting a second one, and the group of Ghazsuls roared in protests and charged toward them.
“Arawn.” Ria’s voice whispered into his earpiece and it was the sweetest fucking sound he’d ever heard.
He pressed the device closer into his ear. “Princess? Where are you?”
“Look up and to your left.”
He signaled his Watchers to carry on and he stalked several yards to the left. A massive oak tree rose above the brambles, its bark carrying the sweet orange scent of Ria. He’d been upwind just two seconds ago.
Relief coursed through him as he looked up to see one silver heel and her ankle wrapped in blue rope. “Ah, fuck. Get down here. I’ll get that thing off.”
“Give me your shirt first.”
He resisted an explicit comeback with all his strength, only because he knew Wolfe and anyone else on the link would be able to hear him. Pops of fire and yells of downed Ghazsuls screeched from behind him and he yanked his T-shirt over his head and tossed it up.
It swished into the leaves and she grabbed it. One long leg after another, she saved her bare thighs from scraping on the rough bark by using the magic rope to rappel. Silver heels bounced off the trunk and toned biceps bulged as she descended. She dropped the last foot, landing gracefully in her killer shoes, to stand before him.
For a heartbeat, he just stared. He didn’t know if she had ever looked more sexy. In the middle of an op, blond hair mussed and with a leaf stuck in it, wearing only his T-shirt and high heels. He cleared his throat. “You okay?” He stepped closer.
“Fine. At least until that fucker used this.” She glared at the glowing blue rope.
“Smart to use it to get yourself up there.” He eyed the long length of rope. One end was still wrapped around a branch up above, and the other was around her slender ankle. She was trapped, until he got the damn thing off. Wasting no time, he spoke the Demonish words to break the binding spell. All his Watchers knew the spells; the problem was that you couldn’t invoke one to release yourself.
Just one of the reasons he usually sent his warriors out in teams. And one of his hesitations in using her tonight. But she’d done the job.
The rope fell away and Ria grabbed the end and gave a tug. The other end was twisted tightly in the tree. “Do we need this?” she asked.
“Nope. I’d rather kill than restrain.”
“Got it.” She looked over his shoulder and gods bless her, she didn’t bat an eye at his deadly remark. This woman knew him that well. “Looks like they’ve got this for the moment.”
“Ember is back with the team, confirmed?” Wolfe asked through the earpiece.
“Copy that.” Arawn turned to the firefight behind him. Two Ghazsuls were left, and Nevo finished them off with twin balls of demonfire. The rest of the Watchers turned their attention to the six hellhounds that growled and snapped their jaws. The beasts were dumb and nasty and had an annoying habit of catching and eating Lash demons’ fire balls. Made them tricky to kill.
Mathias lobbed a ball of fire at one but threw it underhand, so it hit directly in the canine’s belly. With a yelp and a pop, the dog was ash. The others did the same, or else threw their knives.
“Wrapping up here, Wolfe, and then—”
Boom!
A blast, louder than the others, shook the ground so hard Ria stumbled into Arawn. A deafening roar followed, accompanied by a flare of light. Shockwaves hit next, and a pulse of magic sent everyone tumbling to the ground.
What the hell? Arawn started to curse, but his voice dissipated in the wake of the noise. If these were explosive spell charges, they were among the most potent he had ever seen. He wrapped an arm around Ria, crouched next to him.
The earth stilled for a moment. Arawn’s ears buzzed. Twenty yards away, his men got to their feet, mouths moving with words no one could seem to hear. Brenin gestured angrily toward Thane’s house, yelling something.
Tucked under his arm, he felt rather than heard Ria. The pitch of her voice made her ribs vibrate and he turned to try to read her lips, when apprehension slithered up his spine. Everything was too quiet. The Watchers looked around, wary. Nevo turned toward Arawn, mouth moving in a question. Should we go back?
The earth gave a tremor so tiny, Arawn wasn’t sure if anyone else felt it. “Down!” he yelled, but he couldn’t hear his own voice.
A fresh wave of power knocked him into a backwards somersault and it was all he could do to hang on to Ria as she rolle
d with him. They hit the ground hard, jostling and jolting, and suddenly they were falling…
Falling farther than they should be able to, given that they were on the goddamn ground.
Everything went black. Streaks of colored light streamed by.
Shit.
They were in a portal.
And he had no idea where they were headed.
C
HAPTER 12
NAUSEA ROLLED RIA’S STOMACH AS she and Arawn tumbled through the portal. Where in the world were they going? Part of her hoped he’d activated one of the pre-spelled transportation amulets that the Watchers often carried, magically coded with the coordinates for Watcher HQ.
But on a deeper level she knew that wasn’t what happened. Arawn would never bail on his team. Not until every one of them was already safely headed home.
Saliva filled her mouth. Gods, she hated portals. Not used to it at all, she usually vomited upon landing.
Not something she wanted to do in front of Arawn.
She turned into his arms and clutched his bare shoulders in a death grip as they hurtled through disorienting darkness. She recited a random release spell in her mind, just to take her thoughts away from her stomach’s rebellion.
Slam!
They hit the ground hard. Ria instinctively rolled away. Bad enough she was going to hurl in front of him, better to not do it on him.
She crouched on hands and knees and before she could breathe, his boots were beside her. She waved an arm, trying to get him to leave. He may have said something. She couldn’t tell. Her ears buzzed like she’d been next to a speaker at a rock concert for eight hours.
Deep breaths. Recite a spell. Go over different chokeholds. Don’t barf. Don’t barf.
Arawn’s hand landed between her shoulder blades, caressing her spine, gathering her hair. She melted a little at the gesture as much as she was embarrassed by its cause.
He knows I’m not used to this.
Ah, shit.
Her muscles wobbled like jelly. She lay down on one side and allowed her heavy eyelids to slide shut. And, miraculously, the nausea lessened a fraction. Strong fingers swept her hair away from her face and a cool night breeze soothed her overheated skin.
Deep breath. Okay. I’m okay.
She let out a huge sigh. This time, at least, she’d keep her lunch down. Thank the gods.
Cracking one eye open, she saw Arawn hunkered down beside her. One hand stroked her hair, the other rested on his bent knee. His hair blew in the breeze as he scanned from left to right. At his hip, a dagger sat securely in a leather sheath. The ridges and slabs of muscle in his upper body were gloriously defined and honed as he crouched, probably registering every detail of their surroundings.
For now, she would take a greedy second and visually devour each testosterone-laden inch of him. His delicious scent curled up from the shirt she wore, making it impossible to think about anything else. Maybe that’s what kept her nausea at bay? A girl could hope.
She drank in his enormous biceps, rippling as he moved to caress her hair. Each sinew and tendon were clear to her, despite the dark—Lash demons could see as well at night as in the day. When he moved his arm back, she was treated to the lickable washboard of his abdominal muscles and his trim waist. Nothing soft about Arawn. All muscle. All warrior. All predator.
“Where are we?” She spoke, but she didn’t hear her own words. Her throat felt fine…no, the problem was her hearing. Her ears were ringing. Wait…her earpiece…memories rushed back in a tangle of images. “Wolfe!” she said, reaching for the tiny device. He’d know where they were. The earpiece had a tracker—
It was gone.
Arawn looked at her and pointed to his own ear. Explosions. I can’t hear either, he mouthed. No earpiece.
Shit, they must have fallen out in the portal. “Where are we?” she repeated, trusting him to figure out what she was saying, and hoping he had an answer.
I don’t know. He grimaced as she read his lips.
Ria pushed up to sitting, tugging his T-shirt as far down her thighs as it would go. At least it covered the smudgy mess of paint that had once been her “feathers.” She looked around, assessing the situation as best she could. Trees. Lush, leafy healthy ones. Flat terrain. She automatically tried to listen for the bubbling of a river and heard only the dull thickness of healing eardrums. Damn.
She drew her arm back to reach into a pocket for her phone…again, out of habit. She scowled.
Watching her, Arawn stood and reached into his own pocket. He frowned, finding nothing, and checked another pocket. Again empty. Glaring, double checking, he let out a curse that she almost heard.
She scrambled to her feet next to him, grateful for the intricate straps that held her shoes on in the portal. The heels and the T-shirt were all she had…wait. She pushed a hand into the tangles of her hair and found the bobby pin camera. No telling if it still worked though, and even if it did, they could no longer hear Wolfe. The tiny knife in her shoe completed their minimal arsenal.
She held out the bobby pin to Arawn. He glanced at it and shrugged. No way to hear them. He pointed to his ear.
“I know.” She sighed, shoving the pin back into her hair.
Arawn rested his hands on his hips. No phone. No amulet. No way to get back. No way to figure out where we are.
“Nothing looks familiar to you?” she asked. She held on to a crazy hope that since he was so old, he’d recognize something in the geography here.
He shook his head. We can’t stay here out in the open.
“True.” She nodded. “Which way should we go?”
Torth’s two moons were dark tonight, not even slivers in the sky. The velvet night above was scattered with plentiful stars. Ria was thankful her vision hadn’t been affected by the bright light that accompanied the explosion.
Arawn took her hand and she didn’t think twice about it. They weren’t just two fighters on a mission gone wrong. No, their dynamic had shifted. Into what, she still wasn’t sure. But if she had to get lost with anyone, he’d be at the top of her list.
He led her toward the semblance of a path through the trees. Grass and loose dirt covered the ground, and Ria was glad there were no more of the thorny bramble bushes that Thane had. Going through them had been like running a barbed wire gauntlet, and she was grateful the scratches on her arms and legs from her mad dash had already healed
Hand in hand they walked. Ria relied on years of training to guide her feet soundlessly, though her ears gave no confirmation if her effort had succeeded. Stealth was key in Watcher work. And right now, she and Arawn couldn’t tell if they had company.
She scanned one side of the forest while he watched the other, falling into a pattern of teamwork all the Watchers practiced. This was no casual nighttime walk. Until they were able to take cover, they were vulnerable to the potential hordes of nasty creatures that roamed Torth at night.
A pungent smell reached her nostrils at the same moment that Arawn squeezed her hand. They both stopped. Alarm slithered up her spine and she turned to him.
His nostrils flared as he met her stare. Eyes hardened to those of the warrior he was, he mouthed the name of one of the worst nighttime predators on Torth. Dire wolves.
Fucking hell. As if being lost without communication devices wasn’t bad enough, it had to happen at night. And they had the extra helping of bad luck to run into dire wolves. Their stench was somewhere between a skunk and wet dog, and the only reason he and Ria weren’t already fighting for their lives was that they were downwind of the things.
She nodded, her blue eyes radiating thought, not fear. “We need to get to higher ground.” She looked up into the trees.
Completely focused on her lips to read what she said, he blinked in surprise as his ears registered the sweet sound of her voice. Faintly, but there. Thank the gods. “You’re not exactly in climbing gear.” His focus dropped to the long length of her nearly bare legs.
“You don’t think I
can climb in this?” Her chin jutted defiantly as she studied his mouth, still reading his lips. “I was in a tree when you found me, remember?”
“You had a rope.” He fought to keep a smile off his face. Such a tough girl.
She folded her arms. “Now I have you to give me a boost.”
He shook his head, knowing exactly what he’d see if he gave her a boost. She wore his goddamn shirt and fuck-me heels and nothing else. That was the sexiest thing he could imagine…but he had no business thinking that now. Now when they were about to face off against an unknown number of dire wolves.
He shoved a hand through his hair. “Fine.”
She looked at him with a flicker of surprise.”
“You wanna climb, go ahead.” He winked, planning to kiss any scrapes off her sweet thighs later. “I’ll give you a leg up. You see how many wolves are out there. I’ll stay here and keep an eye out.”
“Okay.” She squared her shoulders and marched to a towering sycamore tree.
He followed, taking a second to devour her hips swaying beneath the black cotton. A tiny twig was twisted through her blond curls at the back, and he opted not to tell her. It looked…cute? No, he didn’t do cute.
She turned suddenly and caught him staring. She arched a brow and pointed up. “I can’t quite reach that branch.”
The lowest branch looked to be about nine feet off the ground. He moved in front of her and placed his hands on her hips. “My hearing’s starting to come back. Yours?”
She shook her head and scowled.
“Okay. You can call down to me, but I can’t communicate with you unless you’re in my line of sight. I don’t like that.” He flexed his fingers into her curves, itching to do more. “So make this a quick up and down. Lucky for you, the bark’s not as rough as some of the other trees.”
“I know.” A grin tugged the corners of her mouth up. “Why do you think I picked this particular tree?”
A growl started low in his throat as her eyes took on a faint blue glow. His body heated at her teasing tone, but he tamped down the thought. The wind could change at any second, making them the center of sharp-toothed canine attention. “Up,” he grunted, and lifted her off the ground.