The trees on either side of the path swayed. Branches reached across, barring the way. The ground began to shudder and quake.
“Get down.” Logan lobbed another grenade at the barrier. He turned and huddled the women close to the ground. The Amazons were almost upon them. Shrieks accompanied the explosion. Though farther from the blast, the warriors behind them dropped to the ground, hands clutching heads.
Mari fell to her knees. “Damage to the valley forest weakens us.”
Of course. Elizabeth had said they were connected to the valley on a cellular level. Logan lifted Mari by the arm. “How far?”
Mari pointed up the hill. A hundred yards away, a cliff face rose out of the ground. “There’s a secret opening up there that leads out of the valley.”
“Good,” Logan said. “After we pass through, we’ll blow the tunnel and block their exit.”
An arrow sang past his head and embedded itself into a tree. The Amazons had recovered and were gaining ground. Logan pulled the handgun from his pocket, aimed and returned fire. He pushed Liz up the hill, then glanced sideways to ensure Mari had recovered and was keeping up. Although not a warrior, her long Amazon legs churned up the incline.
Ten feet from the cliff, arrows hailed down on them.
“We’re not going to make it,” Elizabeth called out, firing her gun.
Logan scanned the rock wall in front of them. No opening. They were trapped.
Chapter Eight
“Mari! Where is it?”
A spear whizzed through the air and hit the ground inches from Logan’s feet. He ducked behind a tree. “Mari?”
“She’s been hit,” Elizabeth shouted.
Crouching, Logan rushed to her side.
Mari reclined in Elizabeth’s arms. An arrow jutted from her shoulder.
“Get me to the rock wall.” Mari wheezed. Blood spread with alarming speed across her chest.
Logan tucked her wounded arm across her body and scooped her up, surprised at how easily he carried her substantial frame. From his arms, Mari reached a shaking hand toward the rock. Her palm began to glow. She closed her eyes and pressed her hand to the wall. A fissure opened, revealing a narrow corridor.
“Hurry.” Mari’s voice was weak. Logan glanced down. Her wound still bled copiously, saturating his shirt as well as hers. Liz rushed into the cleft. Logan followed.
Ten feet into the rock corridor, he stopped and turned. “Liz, get the dynamite, place it near the opening and light it.”
“We’ll have to run like hell.”
“I know.” Logan clenched his jaw as she followed his instructions. “But they’ll be here any second.”
They sprinted through the tunnel. The rock corridor was short, barely fifty feet long. Just as they burst into a clearing on the other side, the explosion rocked the jungle. Behind them, rock tumbled, closing the path into the valley.
“We made it,” Elizabeth gasped. The first tinge of daylight filtered through the hole in the canopy over the clearing. She grabbed his arm as she stared at Mari. “Oh, no. Mari.”
Logan set the Amazon down. Mari’s eyes were closed. Her color had faded to the same pale gray as the dawn sky. Her breath barely rasped in and out of her throat. Around the arrow’s shaft, Logan covered the wound as best he could with both hands and applied pressure. “We need to stop the bleeding. Can you remove the arrow?”
She shook her head. “The arrow must have hit the artery. If I remove it, Mari will bleed out in minutes.”
Elizabeth’s jaw clenched and her face paled. “Just hold her a minute.” She reached into her small pack and pulled out a vial of golden liquid.
“Where did you get that?”
“It was in my lab. I didn’t have time to go back to the falls for more.” Elizabeth’s voice shook as she unscrewed the cap. Her eyes glistened with moisture. “I wanted to take it back to the States to study it. I have some plant samples in my bag, but none of those will save Mari’s life.”
“You realize that could be the cure for cancer you’ve been looking for all your life?”
“I do.” She held the vial over Mari’s shoulder. The tears she’d been holding back slid down her cheeks. “But I can’t let her die. She’s been my only friend for two years, and she risked everything to save us. My research isn’t as important as her life. On the count of three, pull the arrow out. One, two, three.”
Logan yanked the arrow free. Mari cried out in pain. Elizabeth immediately poured the liquid onto the wound. A small cloud of golden mist formed over Mari’s injured shoulder. The bleeding ceased. The skin began to knit from the inside out. In less than a minute, the only sign of the mortal injury were the bloodstains on Mari’s clothes.
Elizabeth emerged from the hotel bathroom after her first hot shower in two years. “Where’s Mari?”
“Sleeping.” In the room next door. “Heavily.” Logan’s eyes hooded over with desire.
“The healing process seems to be exhausting. What are we going to do with her?”
Logan lifted a shoulder. “Beats me. For now she’s safe. Paulo is on guard outside the door.”
“Think they’ll come for her?”
“Maybe, but they can’t possibly have gotten out just yet. Let’s worry about that tomorrow.” Logan cut her off with a finger on her lips. “Mmm. You smell incredible. Like a ripe peach.” He reached for the lapels of her robe and slowly opened them. He admired the supple body hidden beneath. “My God. I’ve waited a long time for this.”
Eyes full of heat, his thumbs brushed her nipples. Pleasure speared straight to her core. “You’re not tired?”
“I’ll never be that tired.” He knelt at her feet and nuzzled her belly. Dampness gathered between Elizabeth’s legs. His lips brushed her hipbone, moved lower. Hot breath passed over her sensitive flesh. “That scent is killing me. Is it fruity body lotion or something?”
“No.”
He lifted one leg, hooking it over his shoulder. His tongue delved. Elizabeth arched as he licked her tight bud of nerves. Her knees wobbled.
“I can’t get enough of you, Liz.” Logan pushed her back onto the bed and spread her thighs. His mouth found her sex again and suckled her. The orgasm built hard and fast, rushing through her like a tornado.
Before she could recover, he covered her. Equal parts desire and distress shone in Logan’s eyes. “I have to be inside you. I can’t help it.”
With eyes closed, he pushed into her, impaling himself in one long thrust. Rearing back, his hips rocked into hers.
“Liz.” He shouted her name and picked up his rhythm.
Elizabeth felt another climax building. She tightened her legs around his waist. The wonder at being joined with Logan again was as joyful to her as the pleasure rocketing through her body.
She reached for his shoulders to pull him close for a kiss. Her body tensed, the orgasm bursting through her.
Above her, Logan shuddered. His eyes opened. And glowed. Glowed? He blinked and it was gone. Had she imagined it?
“Liz, I don’t know what came over me.” He pressed a kiss on her lips, his eyes blue as ever. “That water did something to me. Changed me. I’m stronger. All my senses are sharper. I feel like I could hunt down a boar with my bare hands and kill it for your dinner.”
“Probably easier to order room service.”
Logan laughed. “But not as impressive.”
“What you just did was impressive enough for me.” Elizabeth pressed her cheek against his strong chest. “We don’t know what the long-term effects of the waters will be. Let’s just take it one day at a time, okay?”
“Okay.” Logan kissed her again, his tongue licking at the corner of her mouth.
“I’ve got something for you.”
“Again? Already?” She gave him a wicked grin.
He didn’t return it. His expression turned serious as he reached beneath the pillow and pulled out a small box marked with the name of the hotel gift shop. “I love you, Liz. I want to spend the re
st of my life with you. I have the real thing at home. I just need to know that some day you’ll be mine.”
Logan opened the box. The small faux diamond sparkled in a beam of sunlight that slipped through a gap in the curtains. “I promise not to rush you into anything. I’ll wait as long as you need me to.”
Liz stared at the ring. Joy, love, ridiculous happiness made tears well in her eyes and wash away two long years of sadness and regret. Never again would she put anything before her love for Logan. Her smile spread as she looked up at him.
“I love you, too. I am yours. Always have been, always will be.” She let him slip the ring on her finger. She stared at it for moment before gazing into his eyes and pressing her lips softly to his. “I think we’ve both waited long enough.”
Epilogue
Mari opened her eyes to a dim room in what Dr. Elizabeth had called a hotel. It was lovely in ways she had never imagined. Soft fabric covered the windows, and the floor was covered with a woven mat that protected her bare feet from the cold tiles.
She threw back the bed covers and sat up. Her body, refreshed from many hours of sleep, responded with a new force, an energy that flowed through every muscle, every limb.
As she stood, the energy pulsed. The movement of her blood through her veins sent tingles straight through to her fingers and toes. Mari flexed. She’d need to practice using this new strength. Practice with gun and blade would be necessary, as well. Though she wasn’t a warrior, all Amazons were trained in the use of weapons, but Mari was out of practice.
That situation must be remedied.
Because the question wasn’t if the Amazons would come for her, but when.
About the Authors
Many years ago, Melinda Leigh left a career in banking to raise her children and never looked back. Her paranormal romance and romantic suspense fiction has won numerous writing awards. She is an avid martial artist, holds a 2nd-degree black belt in Kenpo karate, studies Brazilian jiujitsu and teaches women’s self-defense. She lives in a messy house in the suburbs with her husband, two teenagers, a couple of dogs and one neurotic cat with an inexplicable fear of ceiling fans. With such a pleasant life, she has no explanation for the sometimes dark, disturbing nature of her imagination.
Rayna Vause is fascinated by the paranormal, though she loves a good romance as well—which probably explains why these two elements regularly crop up in her writing. The perpetual student, she took fiction writing classes and steeped herself in reading tales of love conquering all before attempting to write her own story. Now, Rayna divides her time between crafting stories of sexy men finding their way to love, and penning the adventures of kick-butt heroes and heroines who overcome impossible odds. Naturally, she mixes in a bit of the supernatural.
When Rayna isn’t writing or being bossed around by the two cats that allow her to live with them, she’s attending karate classes, planning her next trip to Disney World or indulging her obsession with video games.
Where no great story goes untold.
The variety you want to read, the stories authors have always wanted to write.
With new releases every week, your next great read is just a download away!
Keep in touch with Carina Press:
Read our blog: www.CarinaPress.com/blog
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CarinaPress
Become a fan on Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarinaPress
ISBN: 978-1-4268-9302-5
Copyright © 2012 by Rayna Vause and Melinda Leigh
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
www.CarinaPress.com
Amazon Heat Page 7
