by Skyler Andra
“Right.” Knoxe clapped, regaining our attention. “Nomical, you help me cuff these bastards, and we’ll portal them back to the Guardians. Pascal, you and Tor go find Raze.”
Chapter 32
Astra
“I want to go with him.” Despite the subsiding pain in my shoulder, which could be a hindrance if I needed to fight again, I didn’t want to be sidelined.
Before Knoxe could protest, I headed deeper into the cavern, fighting the prickling sensation in my spine. Tor quickly caught up to me, glancing at me with a pinched, worried expression, but I told him with my eyes not to fight me on this. They’d saved me, and now, I wanted to return the favor if Raze needed us.
With my amulet lighting our path, we made our way into the murky depths where the cavern tightened in height and width. As we went deeper, something slammed then crashed.
“Hurry.” Tor quickened his pace. “Raze is fighting that thing alone in the dark.”
A sinking feeling settled in my stomach. He’d not said many words to me since I’d arrived, but I didn’t like to think of Raze being at the mercy of the vamp. I hoped with all my heart I wasn’t about to witness another Guardian casualty.
The sounds of a scuffle carried as we reached a fork in the cavern, splitting off, one path narrow, the other not as constricted.
“Crap. Which way?” I asked.
“Dunno,” Tor replied. “It sounds like he’s trapped in both.”
“Okay,” I said, my heartbeat soaring. “How about you take the left, and I’ll take the right.”
“We shouldn’t split up.”
“I’m Supergirl, remember?”
“Yeah, but you’re hurt…”
I crossed my arms, dampening the light from my amulet, dangling between my boobs. “Are you worried because I’m a girl?”
“No.” He scrunched his face.
“Because you kissed me before?”
Red washed his cheeks.
I pecked him on one before disappearing down the right cavern. “Supergirl can handle herself.”
He sighed, and his footsteps retreated. His torch light bounced as he disappeared behind me.
It wasn’t smart to split up. I was at a severe disadvantage if another vamp got me. But hey, it couldn’t be worse than busting my shoulder and getting bitten. Besides, I wasn’t exactly a smart girl. A smart girl would never have agreed to help Luna retrieve a magical parchment.
Now that I was here, that my appeal had failed, I had to make the most of this. And by make the most of it, I meant showing my strength, my courage, and my tenacity. The guardians, the prison, even Knoxe were not going to beat me down and win. I had to do this. To prove myself.
I kept my feet light, so as not to alert the vamp.
A noise came from the depths: the stomach-curdling sound of a carnivorous, predatory animal growling and snarling. Cold chills ran through my veins, solidifying my blood. Crap. What new horror had I fallen into?
Clutching my amulet, concealing a portion of it within my palm, I squinted into the darkness. I continued in the direction of the beastly growling. Soon, I came across two shapes in the cavern. One of them I recognized as the tall, lanky escaped vampire, lying amid the rocks, with his throat torn so severely he was all but decapitated. My eyes widened, and I stumbled backward into the wall, hand over my mouth to suppress a scream.
Ahead of me, the shape of a man—but not a man—a beast, stood on hind legs. Fur-covered the arms and legs, ears pointed upwards, a long snout closed, covering a full set of fangs, and glowing red eyes. A lycan. His head snapped in my direction, and he snarled viciously.
I scrambled along the wall. My mouth fell open, but no words came. What to do, what to do. Break the beast down chemically? I’d have to be quick… really quick. This thing had torn the vampire’s head off. Time stood still, and I couldn’t move. My anxiety peaked and I scrunched my hands together. I doubted I’d have much chance to mount a defense before it tore my throat out.
The situation didn’t permit a further reaction. The head and paws of the creature distorted and morphed, shedding fur, and changing shape like clay or putty melting away. Then, Raze crouched over the vampire’s body, naked.
“Oh my god.” I gasped. My pulse jacked up another three hundred beats, and I couldn’t hear a thing over the pound in my head. I swear I was about to faint from the motion.
He glared at me with eyes almost as predatory as those of the wolf he had been a second ago. “No one knows,” he growled.
And without another word, he snatched up his uniform lying a few feet away and dressed. My gaze slid over his muscled form, paying close attention to the bulge between his legs.
“You get a good enough look?” I couldn’t stop staring at his impressive package.
“Yeah.” I exhaled, crouching in the dark, my blood racing in my ears.
I’d just seen something I wasn’t meant to—something bigger than his cock. Oh, God, Astra, stop. I rubbed my face, shaking away the image etched into my mind. Of his beast form. Of his perfectly muscled body. Of that huge…
I’d also just seen something that obviously no one else in the team had seen. Implicit in Raze’s short, sharp words was the threat not to tell. No gantii had ever been a member of the Guild. Blaze, my instructor back at the Shadows had inherited djinn powers through a freak accident—a djinn by ability but not by nature, a man who was still human.
How had no one noticed Raze was a Lycan?
He brushed past me, leaving me standing with my mouth agape. Crap, I had to go back with him. I had two choices: keep his secret or expose him. I didn’t know which to do. His tracking skills proved useful to the team. They might be needed to hunt down Styx and the rest of the vampire coven.
I blundered after him, running into him and Tor at the fork.
Tor moved across to hug me. “You found him, Supergirl.”
“Sure did.” I gave him a fake smile.
Raze glared at me as if daring me to unmask him. But I didn’t.
We continued through the cavern to the main chamber where Knoxe had tracked down the mothman’s family. They huddled together chittering to one another. The mother ran a hand over the head of her children and pressed their foreheads together.
Knoxe crouched beside them, chatting in a gentle voice. One of the few times I’d seen him be gentle. Then I remembered the way he’d picked me up when I‘d tripped. The way he’d looked into my eyes. The way he’d touched me for longer than allowed. Pascal wasn’t the only one not well. Something had come over Knoxe. A spell of kindness.
“Did you dispose of the vampire?” Knoxe said to Raze, clapping him on the shoulder.
“Yep.”
“Good.” Knoxe nodded as if pleased. “The mothman’s wife gave me a lead on Styx.”
Raze patted the leader on the shoulder. “That’s great, man.”
A momentary relief swept over me. With the rest of the team, Raze posed less of a threat. But that could all change if I opened my mouth.
I cast him a knowing look—more knowing than anyone else down here. This, I decided, was no time to be giving his secret away. The Guardians had other problems.
Sighing heavily, Knoxe said to me, “Gave him a little extra assistance there, did you?”
I thought he’d chew my ass off for disobeying an order.
“Yep,” I said softly, searching his expression for congratulations, for gratitude, even for a hint of approval.
“Not a bad job,” he said.
Not bad? I reduced half the vamps to molecules! I guess I had to be satisfied with what little crumbs he gave me. No “Thank you,” not “Good thinking,” and certainly not “Welcome to the Guardians.” Just not a bad job.
Well, it was something…
To the group, he said, “We’re done here. Let’s move out, take back a few vamps to question and get back to the Guardians.”
And without another word, he started back the way we had entered.
Pascal and Raze fol
lowed Knoxe. I lagged a bit behind, but not so slow I would lose them.
Tor fell behind the group to walk with me. “So, what do you think, Supergirl? Think you did all right?”
I started to say something but snapped my lips closed. My gaze lingered on Raze’s broad, strong back. In the depths of those caves, I’d stumbled onto a secret he’d hidden from the rest of the group and most likely from the entire Guild of Guardians organization. They had no clue as to what they were harboring. The team thought him their comrade and brother-in-arms, traveling and battling alongside them. No one suspected who or what it was they trusted with their very lives.
The Guild of Guardians was charged with hunting unearthly beings and keeping the world safe from them. Guardian leadership wouldn’t permit having a gantii as a member. I had no idea what they’d do if they learned of his true nature. How did he even get to be a Guardian in the first place?
Raze glanced over his shoulder. The smoldering in his eyes said he didn’t care for me knowing his secret. If I remained in this group, sooner or later it was going to come between us—words and perhaps more.
Tor wrapped an arm around my waist and squeezed to his side. Initially, I’d thought he was hot, my superhero wet dream, then I’d hated him for the prank he’d played on me, and his honesty and sincerity about his feelings had surprised me, and then fucking Devon assaulted me… and then we slept together… and now he was a hero… and I was his prison bitch… and I liked it.
“So?” Tor pressed me, completely oblivious to Raze’s deadly glares. “How do you think you did on this mission?”
Hmm. If I said I passed with flying colors, they might scoff at the full-of-herself newcomer they didn’t fully trust or accept. But if I spoke critically of my performance, they might agree and that would be worse. Damn. I was screwed no matter what I said. Oh well. I might as well be damned for what I really thought.
“I held my own out there,” I replied, but not with conceit. “Despite the injury.”
“Held your own, did you?” Tor smirked. “Hey, boss, you hear that? Supergirl thinks she held her own.”
Knoxe glanced over his shoulder. I watched for his reaction to my words. His opinion mattered the most. He watched me without much of an expression, and I wasn’t sure whether it was a good sign or a bad one.
He glanced again, frowning for a moment, and I wondered whether he ever smiled. Then he said to me, curtly and simply, “So far, not bad.”
And there it was again. I could have taken that as faint praise. But this time he’d added, so far. It could have been my imagination, but maybe he was starting to accept me—just a little. His expression betrayed nothing more. I had to be happy with that because I saw myself sticking around for a little longer.
“I think we deserve a beer,” Tor suggested. “What do you say, Supergirl?”
“I’m up for that!”
And that was all the welcome I needed…for now.
The End - thanks for reading!
Look out for Hindsight’s a Witch coming later 2020 and Witch Hunt a prequel novella with the boys.
About the Author
Never say never. That's Skyler's attitude, and she fills her heroines and heroes with that same philosophy. Skyler is an Aussie who loves traveling and her goal is to one day visit every country in the world. When she's not writing, she's snuggling with a good book and her furbabies. At heart she's a gaming nerd, Pilates and martial arts enthusiast.
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Are you curious to read the other novels by Skyler?
Operation Cupid completed series
Battlefield Love
Quicksilver Love
Awakened Love
Stupid Cupid - a short story
Operation Hades
Lady of the Underworld - coming Oct 29th 2019. Preorder here https://books2read.com/u/mBOQyA
Lord of the Underworld - coming early 2020.
Guild of Shadows series
Darkfire
Wildfire
Crossfire
Hearthfire - available by signing up to my newsletter http://eepurl.com/dCOqkb
Hellfire
Guild of Guardians - a Guild of Shadows spin off
Witch Hunt - (coming 2020).
Life’s a Witch
Hindsight’s a Witch (coming 2020)
Fire & Shadow Series - sexy archangels!
Fall From Grace
Fall From Darkness
Dark Reflections series (part of the Haven Realm Universe)
Born into Darkness - a Snow White retelling
Dark Fae Legacies (an Evil Queen retelling)
Poisoned Legacies - available in the Once Upon a Fairy Tale Night collection coming Aug 2020.
More to come in 2020!
Heart of Frost (A Snow Queen retelling coming Nov 2020).
Haven Realm series
Charmed- an Aladdin retelling
Claimed- a Little Mermaid retelling