Renegade

by Nancy Northcott

  “I can’t stand the idea of another massacre.”

  Neither could he. “We’ll go, then, but the moment they come after us, we’re out of here.”

  “Absolutely.”

  They exchanged a grim look. “Be careful,” she said, before kissing him quickly.

  “You, too. Let’s go.” If only he could hold her just a second longer, but any time wasted might cost them their lives.

  Shielded, they ran toward the sounds of battle.

  The deafening brrrr of automatic weapons fire meant multiple armed defenders. Mage energy in a rainbow of colors clashed with brown-gold ghoul power in the air. A stocky female mage, shield shimmering around her, gutted a ghoul the old-fashioned way, using only her sword. Ensorcelled arrows arced toward the ghoul compound, exploding against ghoul shields.

  There were no defending mages in sight, but he could feel their power, even their conflicted emotions inside the compound, damn them. They might not like helping the ghouls fire on other mages, but they were doing it. Why?

  Valeria stepped up beside him. “Do you feel that mage energy inside?” she shouted. Energy crackled along her sword. When he nodded, she whipped that power at the nearest gun emplacement inside the fence. It exploded, and a feral grin lit her face.

  Exultant, he took out another gun emplacement the same way. As he turned to her, ghouls raced out of the nest, blasting muddy gold energy. From behind Griff, mages came running towards them. He stepped in front of Valeria to attack the nearest ghoul.

  “Crap,” she muttered and swung left to meet another ghoul attack.

  “It’s Dare,” someone shouted. “Nail him.”

  Story of his life, and he was damned tired of it.

  Blue energy zipped from his left. Diving clear, he tucked and rolled. A woman and three men in mage camos, shielded magically, charged at him.

  “Valeria, let’s go!”

  She didn’t answer, and he wouldn’t leave without her.

  He rolled to one knee and focused power through the staff’s slanted X rune, naudhiz, to keep the force at the minimum necessary to stop them. The burst knocked them down. And out, he hoped.

  A dozen or so mages still stood, firing on the enemy.

  Where the hell was Valeria? Gripped by fear for her, he peered through the energy haze.

  Val’s energy blast knocked three charging ghouls flat on their backs. A chill flickered over her neck and she spun around to see a ghoul almost on her. She ducked his blast and stabbed through his shields, gutting him.

  Where was Griffin? How had they gotten separated?

  “Over there,” someone shouted. “Dare. Get the fucker!”

  The words rang above the din of battle. For a single instant Val’s heart stopped. Her blood chilled. She’d known the risk going in, had blocked it as she always did before a battle, but she couldn’t block it out now.

  He could die out here.

  She couldn’t, wouldn’t, lose him.

  Oh, God, where was he?

  Translocating in a battle zone was dangerous. Shielding dissolved during the position shift. But she had to reach him quickly. She picked a spot in the direction the mages who’d yelled his name were heading, then translocated. Emerging several yards ahead of them, she spotted Griffin six feet away on her left. Thank God.

  Shielding again, she fired as she ran to him, a focused beam of blue that illuminated the ghoul it struck. “We have to get out of here,” she shouted. A sweep of her blade laid down a wide scythe of repelling power and blew two shielded mages backward. “We’re distracting the mages more than we’re helping them. I don’t want to engage directly.”

  “I don’t either. Flash to the car, and I’ll—”

  A flare of brown-gold energy burst through the woods, behind the mage forces. Ghouls in black skinsuits charged, muddy yellow energy pouring off them, stabbing into the mages. Cutting them down.

  Ghouls could not translocate. If they were behind the attackers, they’d been lying in wait all along. The traitor mages’ power must’ve kept her and Griffin from sensing them.

  She and Griffin exchanged one enraged look as they fired together at the ghouls. Behind a large oak lay a figure in mage camos, face concealed by the tree. Val darted around it.

  “Darren,” she gasped. She dropped to her knees by the young man who lay sprawled out on the ground, bleeding from his belly.

  Griffin sprang to cover her as she checked the wound. It was too severe for her to heal with a simple spell, but infusing healing energy would mend some of the damage. It might keep him from bleeding out. The young mage’s eyes opened slowly, dark wells of pain in his brown face.

  “Be still,” she said. “Let me—”

  “Bitch.” He shoved her hands aside. His face contorted with the effort of forcing out words. “Set up…you…traitor.”

  Her chest tightened as though he’d punched her.

  Griffin fired at the advancing enemy, and her skin tingled as he drew more power from the woods. “She’s no traitor, kid.”

  The mage spat. “Bast—bastard.”

  “Let’s go,” Griffin said. “Valeria.” The mages were scattering. A couple of dozen ghouls were advancing, now within thirty yards.

  She stepped up beside him to whip an arc of lethal green energy at the ghouls. Two stumbled backward as it rebounded against their shields. One fell.

  To Griffin, she said, “We can help Darren if we get a little space.”

  “Risky, but saving even one matters.” He locked an arm around her waist. “Grab him.”

  Val bent to grip the wounded mage’s arm with her free hand. Griffin’s power surged, and he flashed away with them.

  As they emerged in a clearing, he surveyed their surroundings. “We’re on the side where the mages left their helos, about fifty yards from the action. Should be far enough.” He took up a guard position facing the battle.

  Darren moaned, but he didn’t seem to have the strength to fight her off any longer.

  “I’m no more a traitor than you are, Darren.” She crossed her hands over the bloody wound.

  “Sanere.” A brilliant silver light flowed over the young man’s torso. Though she couldn’t heal him completely, she had provided a stopgap until the medics reached him.

  She leaned down, panting, as she grabbed her sword. “I am no traitor, but you need to find out who is.”

  “The mages are retreating,” Griffin said. “We should, too.” He locked an arm around her, building up power. “Going,” he snapped, and flashed them out.

  They materialized halfway down the mountain. Breathing hard against rage that threatened to choke her, Val pushed away from Griffin.

  “We have to get out of here,” he said behind her. “Valeria? You okay?”

  “Yes.” Damn, damn, damn. “Knowing mages would help ghouls kill our own kind is one thing, but seeing it…”

  He drew her into his arms, and she dropped her face onto his shoulder, drawing in his familiar scent. They were safe, for now.

  Griffin was safe.

  The fear she’d pushed back tightened her throat and chest. With it came painful clarity. She was in love with him. Couldn’t allow anyone to harm him. What the hell was she going to do now?

  Chapter 16

  Sure you’re okay?” Frowning, Griffin tipped Val’s chin up to peer into her face.

  “I’m fine.” She stepped clear of him, lowering her eyes in case her roiling emotions showed. He wouldn’t want her to love him, to have any deeper ties to him. She wasn’t thrilled about it, but she wouldn’t run from it, either. She would, however, pick her moment for telling him.

  “That kid was only saying what he’d been told, honey.”

  The memory burned, but she nodded. “I know how it looks. Of course Darren thought I lured them there.”

  Griffin dropped a kiss onto her forehead. “After that healing, you should rest here. I’ll go back, see if there are captured survivors I can shake loose. It’s daylight. The ghouls will b
e weaker.”

  “Even so, the odds are too one-sided.” The enemy would be on guard. Worse, any mages he freed would turn on him at the first opportunity. “Besides, we don’t know there are captives. We’re leaving. If we run into trouble along the way, I don’t want you waiting around for me. Leave me if that’s what it takes for you to get yourself to safety.”

  “No chance.” He crossed his arms over his chest, his face stony. “I got you into this, so I’ll be damned if I don’t see you clear of it.”

  Her pulse quickened. She set a hand on his chest and felt his sudden, sharp intake of breath. “Is that the only reason?”

  “It’s reason enough…but no.” He pulled her to him, and his mouth covered hers in a hard, deep, possessive kiss.

  Val held him close, relishing the strength of his body as he held her.

  The kiss broke, and he brushed his mouth lightly over her forehead. “Let’s go.”

  The more Val thought about the battle and the discoveries of the day before, the angrier she became. She paced the room she shared with Griffin at the small, shabby Rest Rite Inn with fury simmering deep in her gut.

  He’d said little since the battle, mostly letting her fume. Now he sprawled in a chair, seemingly deep in thought. “What forces do the reeves have left?” he asked.

  “Not enough to do anything that matters.” She glared at the AC unit under the window. Kicking it might make her feel better, but then they’d have to pay for it. Besides, it was cooling the tiny room and bath even though it wasn’t cooling her temper.

  Over its hum, she added, “Damn it all, they didn’t counterstrike after that disaster at Milledgeville, but they sent a team—wasted a team—damn it! How have you stood it all these years? How did you learn to walk away, to go on?”

  “As the old cliché says, you do what you have to.” His voice was harsh, but his eyes were full of regret.

  She blew out a hard breath. “That sucks.”

  “No argument here.”

  He caught her arm and drew her down onto his lap. “Let’s forget it for a while,” he said before pressing his lips against hers.

  The hard, blistering kiss triggered an eruption of heat in Val’s belly, and her blood seemed to sing in her veins. She gasped. His tongue slid into her mouth, plundering, demanding more.

  She ran her hands over the broad, warm expanse of his back and pulled his shirt from his jeans. Her fingers fumbled for his belt buckle.

  He palmed her breasts, and her brain fogged. When it cleared, she lay on the bed, with Griffin tugging off her shirt.

  “If they’d hurt you out there,” he said in a raspy, strained voice, eyes burning as he yanked her jeans and panties off, “I’d have blown them all to hell.”

  She stared at him, stunned, and he kissed her again. When he covered her body with his, the weight of his muscular frame ignited her entire being. She clutched at him, ran her hands over his back. Today was theirs. Just the two of them now, no politics, no battles, no deaths.

  “Shirt,” she managed, tugging it as he kissed his way down her neck. “Jeans, too.”

  He removed her bra before he pushed himself to his feet. “Remember where we were.”

  Remember? She always would. The possessive, almost fierce look on his face shot straight to her heart. Smiling, she traced the edge of one of her taut, aching nipples with a fingertip and savored the desire blazing in his eyes.

  He dropped his shirt, and she let her gaze roam the sculptured lines of his chest and arms. She knew how those curves and planes felt against her skin. How they tasted.

  Aching with the need to touch him, she said, “Hurry.”

  He pushed his pants down and stepped out of them. Below the hard plane of his belly, his cock jutted from its nest of dark hair. Her inner muscles tightened.

  She sat up, reaching for him. Setting a knee by her thigh, he leaned down to take her mouth in a greedy kiss. He lowered himself on top of her, pressing her back into the bed with nothing between them now. His hard chest flattened her breasts, its soft dusting of hair teasing her nipples, and his erection pressing into her mound.

  The simmer in her rose to craving. Val moaned, holding him close as she turned her face into his neck and nibbled. Shuddering, he made a wordless sound that deepened her pleasure.

  “You go to my head like a drug,” he murmured, cupping her sex. “Seductive. Sweet.” Suddenly, he groaned. “I can’t wait any longer.”

  The words made her own need spike. She writhed under him, her hands roaming his body. “I don’t want you to.”

  Watching her face, he slid inside of her.

  “Yes,” she gasped, lifting to take him in deeper. “Griffin.”

  Possessive triumph filled her heart and glinted in his eyes. She twined her legs around his hips, taking him all the way. Still, she wanted more.

  His mouth found the tender spot at the hinge of her jaw and sent flash fire through her, tightening her body around him.

  Val whimpered at the hard heat of him filling her. Having him inside of her felt so good, so right. As nothing ever had. I love you, she thought but knew better than to say the words aloud. He’d shown no sign of feeling the same way, and telling him how she felt would only make things awkward.

  He nuzzled the curve between her neck and shoulder, then nipped it gently. Quivering in response, she slid her palms over his sculpted shoulders and down his firm sides.

  Maybe she could memorize the feel of his weight on her and the bulk of his arms around her. The hard, precious fullness of his flesh in hers.

  He lifted his head. The blue of his eyes darkened and softened, and her heart swelled with love for him.

  “Griffin,” she murmured. She tugged his head down, angling her own so their lips met, opening for him.

  The kiss was long and deep and sweet, drawing her in—drawing him in—until the magic they shared vibrated with tenderness, with longing and possibility. Without breaking the kiss, he drew back. She whimpered her protest into his mouth, and he surged forward.

  When he lifted his head again, his pleasure lit his eyes. Need rolled through the depths of her body. He drew back again, his craving etched in the taut lines of his face as desire clenched her lower body and rocked her hips upward.

  Back and forth they went, moving together, each sensing the touch the other wanted, and pleasure became need became desperate passion. Still the look between them held, exposing her reactions to him and his to her and drawing the two of them closer.

  The sounds of their ragged breathing, the mingled groans and cries of pleasure as their pace quickened, the scent of him on her, all went straight to her heart. Yet Val wouldn’t look away. She couldn’t.

  He pounded into her, hard and fast, giving in one instant and taking, making her ache with desire, the next. Fierce with possession and demand, his eyes burned into hers, and still she wanted more.

  Frantic, she met his thrusts, bucking urgently beneath him. The shared magic between them sparked and built in the air, in her soul, until she not only saw the pleasure in his face but felt its echo in her own body.

  She sensed him reveling in the fullness of her breasts under his chest, the way her taut nipples rubbed him as he rode her, the grip of her thighs on his hips. Even as he withdrew, she ached for him to thrust back into her, to feel her soft, wet heat sheathe him. He was close to coming, she realized, fighting it for her sake. Wanting her to tip first.

  It was too much, almost overload, but she still couldn’t look away. Legs tightening around him, body arching, Val gasped.

  With a groan, he thrust deep, grinding their bodies together. His head snapped back, his eyes blanked, and then the tidal wave of shared pleasure crashed through her. Behind her eyelids, red became black became golden starbursts and then faded into sweet nothingness as her climax ebbed. Still she felt him with her, floating and savoring together.

  When the world faded back in, their bodies were still joined. Griffin’s face rested in the curve of her neck. His warm
, uneven breath whispered over her shoulder, and his heart pounded hard against her chest.

  A faint sheen of moisture coated their bodies, companion to the musky, delicious sex aroma in the air. Together, their heartbeats slowed. Their breathing eased, and his flesh slid from hers. Val’s lips curved in a contented, easy smile.

  Despite everything that had happened, in this place, in this moment, only the man in her arms and what she’d shared with him mattered.

  Drowsily, she slid her hand up into his hair to stroke it. She loved the feel of the inky black, thick, soft strands under her fingertips. Val sighed. If only they could hold on to the rightness of this moment. But maybe feeling this way was a leap, beyond what he wanted.

  His lips moved against her neck in a lazy kiss. “It’s not a leap,” he said softly. “It’s just complicated.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. “I didn’t say that aloud.”

  He raised his head. They stared at each other.

  “Weird,” he said at last, shifting off of her. He settled at her side, close, but not touching.

  “Very weird.” She eyed him carefully. Right now, she didn’t mind a little distance. “Has this ever happened to you before?”

  “No. I can’t explain it. I wanted to be as close to you as I could, feel everything, while I made love to you, but I didn’t try to do anything magical.”

  “Neither did I. But you’ve just summed up what I was feeling, too. Except I felt the magic building between us in a way it never has before.” Wrinkling her nose, she added, “Not that I have a lot of experience. Either way, this awareness is new to me, too.”

  He brushed her hair gently out of her face. “I haven’t been with many women since Allie died. I’d forgotten how sweet this could be.”

  He’d loved Allie. Maybe someday he would love Val, too. “So what are we going to do about this?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “We go with it. Test it. See how far away we can sense each other, catch specific thoughts. How we can block it for privacy in our own heads. It could be useful.”