“How in the hell are we going to accomplish this, Sid?” Cady demanded.
Obsidian sighed deeply, a frustrated sound. “I haven’t got a clue.”
“Shit. It’s hard enough to kill the damn things. I can’t even begin to imagine how we’re gonna actually catch one.”
“Maybe we can just buy a really big dog crate and haul it home with us that way,” Steffy offered with a shrug.
Cinder reached over and hauled Steffy up against his side, giving her a loud kiss on the temple. “Wow. Problem solved then. Well done, darling.” He gave her a boyish wink with those facetious words.
Steffy rolled her eyes, but reached down and patted his buttocks lovingly.
Emily watched the entire exchange from a few feet away, though it felt as though she was a thousand miles removed from the scene. With instincts honed by years in police work, she studied their surroundings, being careful to note every possible entrance and exit should a Daemon choose to take them by surprise.
“Can we knock them out, maybe? Use tranquilizers or something?” Cady ventured.
“Their bodies are not biologically active, aside from their beating hearts. No drug will affect them.” The Traveler answered her question, moving with the shadows to come and stand behind Emily as she walked the perimeter of the small copse of hedges in which they found themselves.
Emily tried not to feel stalked by the tall, dark man. Tried and failed.
“Well I’m fresh out of ideas, dammit. How have they been captured in the past, Traveler?”
“Bring them to me. Fight who you will to keep yourselves safe. I’ll take care of the capturing.”
“Well then. Emily, you ready to bring home the bacon?” Cady asked with a grin.
The woman enjoyed her work far too much it seemed.
“Sure.” Emily’s hand instinctively moved closer to the butt of her handgun.
“Just do what you’ve been doing, I guess. We’re bound to run into some of the bastards before too long.”
Emily stepped forward, intending to lead the group out of the copse. To where, she wasn’t sure yet. She didn’t think it mattered anyway. She’d just wander the streets until she came upon some threat. It may not be a glamorous plan, but it had worked for her this far. After only two steps, however, The Traveler’s hand descended upon her like a weight, though his grip was gentle enough. Her vision dimmed and her heart thudded in her breast.
She tried to convince herself that she felt no fear at this man’s touch.
He leaned in close, too closely for their audience to hear his soft words. “Tread carefully. If you should need help, call for me and I will come.”
“Thanks, but I can handle this,” she answered through gritted teeth. The Traveler’s hand fell away, and it seemed her heart and lungs resumed their natural function. She sighed unsteadily and led the group deeper into the shadows of the buildings around them.
What a dangerous man this Traveler person was. Emily had noted that Cady seemed quite close to the strange being, but this obvious trust between the two was of no consolation to her, especially not after his visit last night. Could The Traveler be trusted? Was he really worried about her? And if so, why? What was his interest in her?
And how in the world could she get him to lose that interest, especially when she wasn’t sure what had sparked it in the first place?
For the time being, she had no answers and a million other questions besides. But she’d be damned if she let it interfere with her purpose here right now. She was here to help discover this Daemon threat and the reasons behind it. That was all that should matter to her now. She vowed it would be all that mattered to her. Period.
* * * * *
Three a.m. rolled by and there was still no sign of the Daemons. The group of Shikars insisted that they take a short rest—Emily suspected they took the rest for her sake, as they looked as hale and hearty as ever while she felt completely burnt out. They sat perched on a street curb and Cady passed out small round pieces of fruit to each of them.
“Numese fruit. They’re a variation of the apple family. The Shikars grow them in huge groves underground. I can’t see how they live and bloom without natural sunlight but they seemed to do well enough without it,” Cady supplied.
Emily took a tentative bite of the round, black fruit and was surprised by its deliciously sweet flavor. She finished hers first and Cady supplied her with a second.
“Shikars don’t metabolize as fast as humans, therefore they don’t eat as much or as often. Steffy and I still eat more than we probably should, hanging on to our human habits, I guess.”
“Plus I like to eat just for the taste of food in general. I don’t quite see it as fuel like Shikars do. Not yet anyway, and I rather hope I never do,” Steffy said, her German accented words nearly unintelligible around a mouthful of fruit.
“Food is a necessity, like water or air,” Obsidian said flatly.
“You big faker. I’ve seen you sneaking from my stash of chocolates, don’t think I haven’t,” Cady threw out.
Obsidian smiled, looking sheepish. The expression changed his entire appearance and Emily was moved to notice how dashing and attractive he looked when he didn’t look so stiffly righteous. “I didn’t think you wouldn’t notice. After all, you count every piece like they were precious gems.”
Emily was jerked from her silent appraisal of the Shikar leader when Edge cleared his throat. She’d almost been able to ignore his presence in the past several hours. She’d certainly tried her best to, anyway.
Edge moved to sit next to her on the damp curb. His exceedingly long legs looked awkward in the position he chose, his knees up against his chest. Emily smiled slightly and he sighed, repositioning his legs so that they sprawled out before him.
“Being short has a few advantages,” she admitted, gesturing to her own small stature.
“Yes, well, I daresay you could never win a foot race against me. Shorty.” He smiled at last, his teeth flashing white in the dark.
Emily snorted. “What about the first night we met? I chased your ass down without any trouble.” Her side had cramped for an hour afterwards, but he didn’t need to know that.
“Ah. But I let you catch me then.”
“What? No way. I caught you fair and square,” she protested indignantly.
“I stopped running because I realized the Daemons would very likely attack you if I left you unprotected. I was right. They ran from me, but when you paused to shackle me, they came running back. To you. It was easier for me to take a stand while I kept you in my sight, protected.”
“You ran for something like two miles. I caught you fair and square when you got tired of running and slowed down.”
Cinder broke into their conversation then, laughing. “Edge is an excellent runner, Emily. He’s fast and has a hell of a lot of endurance.”
Emily rolled her eyes. “I should have expected one of you to stand up for his ego. I’m a pretty good runner too, you know. I was first in Track and Cross Country in my high school. Not to mention the police academy. It’s not like Edge lost to just any old human girl.”
“Yeah! You should see Em’s body. It’s a powerhouse. I’d kill for muscle tone like hers. I believe she could beat Edge’s ass any old day she wanted,” Steffy defended, flashing Emily a big, supportive smile.
Emily blushed as every male eye turned to her and looked her over from head to toe. Clearing her throat she tried to steer their attention away from her body. “Yes, well, he wasn’t that easy to catch,” she admitted.
“Edge can run a twenty-six mile marathon in under seven minutes. I don’t think any human could outdistance that, no matter how good they are.”
Steffy elbowed Cinder in the ribs and he winced. She sent Emily a sympathetic look in apology.
Emily looked sharply at Edge. “That’s impossible,” she scoffed.
“I’m a Shikar. Nothing is impossible.”
Once again Emily snorted, but rose as she did th
is time so that she could look down upon him. She suddenly felt the need for some advantage, however imagined it was. “I’ll believe it when I see it.” She turned to the others as Edge rose at her side, making her heart race dizzyingly. He was standing so close she could smell him, a delicious mix of sandalwood and fresh, ozone-rich rainwater. She barely refrained from taking a long breath of his intoxicating scent. “I’m rested. Can we please get back to business?”
“Coward,” Edge teased softly as she turned away from him.
Against her better judgment she turned and locked her gaze with his. “You wish.”
His features softened and an expression akin to worry fleetingly crossed his face. “Yes, I do.”
Emily started, taken aback as she was. “What?”
“I do wish you were a coward. Then you would not be here. You would be safe.”
“I’m no more safe working the night beat as a cop than I am here with you guys,” she gritted out disdainfully before turning and marching resolutely away from him.
So it was that she missed his last whispered words; not that he’d intended for her to hear them. “That’s where you’re wrong Emily, though I hope you never realize just how wrong.”
The rest of the night, Emily avoided Edge like the plague. But every so often she would glance up and find his unflinching gaze resting on her. It took every ounce of willpower to ignore the shiver of awareness that raced down her spine whenever she caught him staring. But she managed. Just.
Chapter Ten
“We’ll simply try again tomorrow night. And the night after that, and so on, until we succeed in our objective.”
“Why don’t we just take a trip to the Gates and see if we can’t capture one there?”
Tryton appeared to give the idea some thought before shaking his head. “No, Cady. I want to use Emily as planned and you know she cannot survive those lands. I want one of the Daemons that have been after her, to see if they are any different from those that have come before.”
“We shall try again tomorrow night, Elder,” Obsidian promised.
The group parted, but Emily lagged behind with every intention of speaking to Tryton alone once more.
“Go and seek your rest, Emily.” The Traveler came up at her elbow for he, too, had waited behind. “You’ll get your chance for more questions later,” he added, as if reading her mind.
Emily clenched her hands against the impulse to rip back that blasted cowl he wore. She hated talking to someone whose face she could not see. But she merely nodded her assent and turned to leave the room.
The long dark hallways of stone surrounded her like a womb as she meandered her way back towards her new apartment. It was so silent here one might never suspect that over a thousand Shikars called this place home. Emily had yet to see any faces other than those belonging to her teammates, but Cady and Steffy both had told her quite plainly that there were indeed many Shikars in this strange underground world. Men, women and children abounded…but the unattached Warriors lived on this side of the city, where Emily now lived. Like an odd military barracks.
The only sound was the weary tread of her own feet on the stone floor. Which is why it was so surprising when someone reached out from the shadows behind her and grabbed her arms in a strong, unbreakable grip.
Edge spun her around and backed her up against the nearest wall.
“You scared the shit out of me, Edge.” She wriggled in his grip but his fingers only dug more deeply into her flesh, not hurting her—not yet—but holding her firmly in place.
He looked at her long and hard, causing her heart to trip with a sudden, elemental alarm, before swooping down to claim her lips in a kiss.
This was no gentle kiss. Nor was it merely a fiery, passionate one. This was a war on her senses, a war Edge had declared upon her, and the battleground was her mouth. He took her lips like a conqueror to the spoils. And with them he took her every sense and held them captive to his slightest erotic whim.
His lips were like fire on hers, sliding against hers with a power as ravaging as any flame set to timber. He gathered her so closely to him that she lost all breath but that which he gave to her from the depths of their kiss. He moaned against her mouth, a broken, desperate sound. Her heart fluttered.
Despite her surprise, despite all her promises to herself that she had no attraction to this man after the way he’d treated her, she felt herself melt into his bold embrace.
As her body softened, so did his fierce hold upon her. Where before he had sought to conquer, now he sought to coax, to tease, to seduce her into his possession. His tongue slipped passed her swollen and bruised lips to sample the secrets within, while gifting her with his own seductive flavor.
His thumbs brushed the sides of her breasts as his hands held fast to her upper arms. Her nipples immediately hardened into diamond bursts of sensation. His kiss deepened as if he sensed this response in her, and his erection pressed hot into the curve of her tummy. It was then she realized that he held her suspended off the floor with merely the strength of his hands and the tight press of his body against her. He was so strong.
But then so was she. Her stubborn will reasserted itself and she began to push against his embrace.
At last she tore free from his kiss, mouth swollen, breath coming in short pants. “Let go of me,” she gritted out, turning her face away when he would have moved in to resume their kiss.
He merely leaned down and licked a long hot line down the exposed curve of her neck. His mouth came to rest in the pulsing hollow of her throat, where he nuzzled her deliciously. Her knees would have given out if he hadn’t been holding her off the floor.
“I said let go!” She bucked wildly against him and then had to bite back against a moan as her pubis rubbed erotically against the root of his hardness.
Edge pulled back with a feral sound of impatience. “I couldn’t stand your ignoring me tonight.”
“I ignored you because I didn’t want anything to do with you. Especially anything like this.”
“You lie. You’re just as hot and wet for me now as you were the other night.”
Emily shrieked indignantly and squirmed free of his hold. “I don’t want anything to do with you, you jerk,” she lied.
“Have me, Emily. Have all of me. I know you want me. Why fight so hard against our attraction? Why hold a grudge over my stupid words, when my actions are far more honest than my runaway tongue?”
“Because!” She cringed upon hearing her own childish response.
“I told you I was sorry for how I treated you. I did it because I was angry that I wanted you so much. There, that gives you power over me, knowing how much you affect me. Use that to your advantage, take me to your bed.”
“I don’t care how sorry you said you were. I never would have, uh, ooof, grrr!” she stuttered, all eloquence escaping her.
“Fucked me?” he supplied helpfully.
“Yeah! I never would have fucked you, if I had been thinking clearly. I was a mess. I hadn’t slept for days. It was a huge mistake.”
“Whether you intended to have me in such a swift, animalistic encounter is irrelevant. You wanted me. You still want me. Desire can cloud one’s better judgment, but it rarely defies the goals of the heart. We would never have coupled if you hadn’t felt some attraction to me. And there can be no doubt that I desire you.” He gestured to the hard rise of his cock beneath the painted armor he wore, which did little to disguise his ardor. “Why fight against each other in this? It will gain us nothing.”
“My heart is retarded. It doesn’t know what it wants. My brain is the important part of me in all of this mess, and it’s screaming at me to stay the hell away from you.”
Edge grabbed her once more as she turned to flee. He pulled her by the wrist to face him, reaching up with his free hand to lightly stroke the side of her face. “I can’t stop thinking about you.” His voice cracked, and Emily felt her heart stutter in response. “About how you felt in my arms. I regret
my angry words to you more than I can ever say. But I swear, I would do anything to make amends here and now.”
“Make amends all you want. But that doesn’t mean you’ll ever get in my pants again.”
“Did I make you so angry that you have lost all desire for me?” he demanded, jerking her tighter against him. He towered over her so that she felt dwarfed, but she faced him squarely, trying her best to ignore the wicked burn of his erection as it pressed against her.
And that quickly, her resolve crumbled. His eyes were Shikar eyes, but the emotions within them were naked and all too familiarly human. He wanted her, as much or more than he admitted. It was clear on his face, and in the tender anguish that swam in his gaze.
Emily felt her mouth tremble and fought to subdue the telltale evidence of her softening emotions. “We don’t know each other, Edge. You have no idea what kind of person I am, nor I you. But one thing is for certain—you’re not human, and I can’t ignore that. Please…just forget about what happened between us. I’m not in the market for a lover and I know you don’t want me—a human. For however brief a tryst we would share, our differences are too many to keep it light. Let it go.”
“I haven’t had my fill of you yet, and I won’t let it go until I do,” he said angrily.
Emily gritted her teeth and hissed out a long breath of air. “Now that’s where you’re always gonna lose with me, Edge. You let your temper get the better of you and then you take things just one step too far. The more I talk to you, the less I seem to like you.” She pried his suddenly tight fingers away from her wrist. “And that does not bode well for your lame attempts at wooing me, now does it?”
“I’m sorry,” he bit out, sounding not at all apologetic.
“Me too, Edge.” She felt the need to strike out at him, to hurt him with words as he seemed so skilled. “Because you were the best piece of ass I’ve ever had. Too bad your personality isn’t as attractive as your cock.”
Razor's Edge, Book 3, The Horde Wars Page 9