by Dianna Love
Clawing with her other hand, she gritted against the pain and found a three-inch deep crater with her fingertips.
Would this nightmare ever end?
On second thought, she shouldn’t be wishing for a quick end while dangling off a mountain.
Everything hurt, and her shoulder burned hot from the demon bites, but at least she was not falling.
For the moment.
Sucking hard breaths in, her arms and body shook from the terror of clinging to a mountainside. Fighting a crazy demon had only pissed her off, but almost falling to her death sixteen hundred feet down?
Yep, that took the starch out of her.
Her dark hair blew all over the place and covered her face. She’d lost her ponytail band somewhere along the way. That might be a plus if her wild hair kept her from seeing just how much trouble she was in.
She had to heal her shoulder, but to do that required calling up her beast. She’d done it many times, but it was a lot harder while terror from the height spiked through her body. It wouldn’t work with her insides in chaos.
She needed to calm down.
This would be a great time to shift into her gryphon form and fly away from the mountain face, but there was the stinking permission problem again.
Also, she might crash before fully shifting and getting her wings to function properly.
Sweat ran down her neck in spite of the chilly temperature.
Blood trickled from her hand where her weight forced the rock edge to cut into her fingers. She had to get out of here before it severed all the digits.
But she had nothing to push against with her kinetic power to shove herself up from this spot. She calmed down and called out telepathically. Tzader, can you hear me?
She heard something garbled in her mind.
Bad sign. She should be able to reach a Belador, especially Tzader. Her shoulder felt on fire from the demon saliva.
Was that interfering with her ability to use her telepathy?
She had no way to tell anyone how to find her. By the time Adrianna sent someone, would they even know to look on top of the mountain?
Something bumped her arm and she jerked. She tried to look up, but couldn’t see anything with her hair doing a Cousin It imitation.
If the demon was still alive and coming for her, she had no tricks left up her sleeve and no dagger for backup.
“Hold on!” a hoarse voice shouted down.
Her heart thumped with hope.
But if that was a human ...
She didn’t have time to think long on someone being in danger if the demon still lived. Tiny pebbles bounced over her body ahead of the sound of someone’s boots scuffing down the side of the mountain in a hurry. Now she realized what had bumped her arm. A rope.
Who had gotten here so quickly, and with a rope?
“Hold on, sweetheart.”
Could it be? She blew hair away from one eye to see Storm lowering himself down next to her, slowing as he came closer, carefully reaching for her.
Her heart held a celebration.
She smiled in spite of being in pain and terrified of falling. Amazing what love would make you overlook.
When Storm was level with her, he hooked an arm around her waist and said, “I’ve got you.”
The greatest three words in her world right now.
She took a deep breath of relief and sagged into him.
“Can you climb up the rope?”
For him, she could move this mountain. “Sure.” She grabbed and her hand slipped, slick now with blood.
Storm cursed. “Why haven’t you healed your wounds?”
“I haven’t caught my breath long enough to call up my beast for healing.” That sounds so much better than I’ve been too petrified of falling off this mountain to calm down long enough to call up my beast power.
She’d wasted her breath.
Storm had the ability to tell if she was lying and that answer had barely skated near the truth, but rather than call her on the lie, he said, “Let go of the tree and heal your wounds while I hold you.”
Before Storm, she’d trusted only two people—Tzader and Quinn, Beladors who were like brothers to her.
Storm held a place in her heart that no one else had ever claimed and no other man ever would. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder, curving into him as she released her other hand, hissing at the pain.
He muttered something darker than his last curse and started chanting softly in his native Navajo language.
As soon as she relaxed, she got busy calling up the beast energy that flowed through her body, repairing the shoulder muscles first, purging her body of the poison from the demon bite, then sealing the cuts on her hands and the torn skin on her belly. Her shoulder and hands would still hurt for a while, but she’d be able to function.
When he kissed her temple, she realized he’d stopped chanting. He held her tightly for a moment then eased up and asked, “Ready now?”
“Definitely.”
“Push up on my shoulder to get started.”
Going up was only slightly less terrifying than sliding down, but she kept her eyes on the rock and the rope. She had to get back over the fence, but thankfully, half way back the incline leveled out enough for her to move faster. When she finally reached actual level ground, she released the rope. Storm had tied it to an observation post where people could look through mounted binoculars.
She hurried ahead toward the platform where the cable car had parked, but Storm appeared right beside her just as she started to clear the fence enclosing the platform area.
Storm caught her good arm and pulled her around. “Whatever it is will wait, and must be long dead since I didn’t see anyone or anything on my way to you and nothing is out here causing havoc.”
Too tired to argue and thankful to see Storm again, she let him draw her into his arms. But how had he ended up here at this moment? “How did you—”
“I’m done waiting for this.” He covered her mouth in a hungry kiss, taking her under so fast she drowned in the feel of him.
What a way to go.
Her body revved up and she’d love to snap her fingers and land in their bed, even if it meant teleporting, which she liked almost as much as heights. Not even. But teleporting was not one of her powers.
His hands ran up her back, strong fingers holding her and letting her know just how much he’d missed her while he was away.
She’d had very little experience with kissing until Storm showed up in her life, or with being touched for that matter, but she craved his kiss and touch. Craved the way he held her, with both power and tenderness. He drove his fingers into her hair, which had to look like she belonged in the psych ward by now, but he didn’t seem to notice.
His kiss became gentle, and now he devoured her in slow bites. Her world spun on its axis and settled into a comfortable roll as he slowed the kiss, nipping at her lips. She had a hand on his chest. His heart pounded at a savage pace and she knew it was for her, all for her.
She would never be anything like the chic Adrianna, but Storm had made his choice for his mate. Me.
She needed to keep that thought front and center.
When he stopped, he dropped his forehead against hers. His hands still held her in a possessive grip, and he let out a hard breath. “You scared the hell out of me.”
Scared the hell out of her, too, but now was not the time to admit that. Now was the time to convince him she was fine and to soothe him. She knew only one way to push Storm’s mind away from her brush with death.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into the kiss again, enjoying her own private feast on his mouth.
He was warm and hard and all hers.
When she shivered this time, it had nothing to do with the brisk wind whipping around them. His body burned like a furnace.
Right here, in his arms, was all she needed. It was the one place she felt safe when safe had never been in her vocabulary.
; When he’d moved into her underground apartment a week ago, chaos had erupted in the brief hours he’d been there before Tzader had called for Storm’s help tracking. Living together wasn’t going to be as simple as she’d thought, and what had once seemed perfect for her and a pet gargoyle now felt cramped, since Storm had moved in and Quinn’s cousin, Lanna Brasko, was also staying there.
He broke the kiss once more and turned to eye the cable car. “I shouldn’t have let you talk me into leaving.”
“Tzader needed you to help the Beladors.”
“He assured me you’d be safe while I was gone.”
“He sent Adrianna to help tonight.” And this was why she’d convinced him to go help Tzader’s team. She needed Storm to give her the space to perform her duty without him hovering.
That’s going to be a tough sale after tonight.
She’d fought too hard and too long to be accepted as an equal among the Beladors, and now that she’d finally achieved that, she would not let anything make her look weak. Storm had argued that they were VIPER partners, and that should trump his leaving for any other reason.
But they’d gone from being partners to mates, which meant he couldn’t be objective about her role with VIPER.
Storm wanted her locked up somewhere safe.
That wasn’t happening, and it was just another issue they had to figure out.
Sirens blared at the base of the mountain.
She swatted hair off her face and muttered, “Sen’s going to love this.”
“Screw him. We all have a job. His is cleanup.”
When any of the agents ran into a problem that required powers or majik they didn’t possess, Sen got called in. No one Evalle knew had any idea where he came from or what he was, other than difficult, arrogant and a walking grudge against Alterants.
Or maybe Evalle was the only Alterant who brought out his hostility.
But one flick of his fingers and the cable car would be restored and functioning. Then Sen would remove any memory of tonight’s demon from the security guard, wake him up from his half coma, and erase any memories from any other people who’d seen Evalle almost fall out of that cable car.
Storm gently brushed her hair back and smoothed it behind her ear. His face lost its moment of charm and turned serious. “What the hell were you thinking to go chasing something solo?”
She knew he was just protective but that comment still got her back up. They had to find a middle ground on this, because she would not sit on the sidelines while other agents stuck their necks out.
She calmly reminded him, “I had backup.”
“Where?” He opened his arms and looked around. “I don’t see Adrianna anywhere up here.”
Sarcasm just pissed her off. She tried for a logical counterpoint. “You were the first real partner I had in VIPER. I’ve worked solo for a long time.”
“Not anymore.”
She clamped her lips to keep from arguing. She wanted to spend a nice evening with him. Not fight about something that would not change.
He wouldn’t let it go. “You can’t be chasing demons with no backup.”
She stepped back and crossed her arms. “Since when?”
“Since becoming my mate.”
They’d had this disagreement by phone three days ago.
He didn’t want her working alone. Ever.
She was not going to be treated like some princess who couldn’t deal with a few cuts and bruises.
Storm had been overprotective before they were mated, but he’d seen her kill things bigger than demons. She wouldn’t lose her temper with him, but she was not going to start calling in help every time she had to face something preternatural.
She didn’t want him to take issue with Tzader either.
Wait a minute. Tzader should have told her that Storm was back in town. “Did you tell Tzader when you arrived?”
“Yes. That’s how I knew you were here. I asked him not to tell you so I could surprise you.”
That was sweet.
He glanced at the cable car then back to her, angry again. “And I’m the one who gets surprised when I find you close to falling sixteen hundred feet.”
She pushed the topic away from her near death. “How did you make it back into town before tomorrow morning?”
“I had everyone on the troll killer team push around the clock for the last two days so I could get back early.”
That’s why he looked so tired. She had to leave all the heavy talking until tomorrow and just get him home. “Did you get the killer?”
“Yes, but he was dead when we found him. I’ll tell you about that later. I left the group so I could return faster on my own.”
She thought on that. “Did you shift and return as a jaguar?”
He nodded.
“Why? They had vehicles.”
“They also stop all the time to eat and for every other reason. Worst road trip ever. Tzader told me where you were supposed to be, but you weren’t with Adrianna when I got here.”
She caught the undertone to expect more conversation later and held her tongue so he could get it all out. Storm was the most patient man on the face of the earth when it came to her, unless he thought she was in danger.
She’d been living in a dangerous world her whole life.
That was not going to change anytime soon.
Storm said, “Adrianna pointed out the skyride and told me you’d gone after something you thought was a demon. I took off and reached the skyride platform just as your cable car was too far out for me to leap and catch. I ran to find the trail up the back side of the mountain while you took the scenic route.”
She knew how preternaturally fast he was, but that surprised even her. “Where’d you find a rope on the way here?”
“When I saw you hanging off the damn mountain, I raced back to the skyride building and used majik to open the storage area that had rescue equipment.” He studied her. “What were you doing hanging from a cable car when you hate heights?”
When had he figured out she was freaked by heights? She growled. “I didn’t do it intentionally. I can now take dangling from a cable car and clinging to the side of a mountain off my bucket list.”
She totally missed with lightening the mood.
The fierce look in Storm’s eyes went up another level.
She put her hand on his crossed arms and said, “I would have hung there until someone came along. I was not going to let go and lose you.”
His eyes softened and he swallowed hard. “I’m glad you didn’t let go.”
“Never.”
He looked as if he wasn’t convinced and started to say something, but didn’t get the chance.
Power flashed around them in a burst, and a rogue wind slapped their clothes.
Chapter 4
That whip of power could only mean that someone had sent Sen to deal with the mess on top of Stone Mountain.
Evalle reminded herself that killing the VIPER liaison would only delay her going home.
She took one look into Storm’s eyes, which had immediately darkened. He knew who had arrived, too, and she’d have her hands full keeping peace between these two. She took a breath and prepared to face Sen as she turned around.
Storm stepped up beside her, but at least he didn’t try to step in front of her.
Sen’s body materialized near the platform thirty feet away and on the inside of the fenced area. He stood in black jeans, boots and a black short-sleeved T-shirt, oblivious to the cold seeping into Evalle’s body. His hair, often a different length within a twenty-four hour period, now fell loose around his shoulders. Today he stood almost six-six, and would tower over most of the agents. She’d seen him shorter, so he’d probably chosen uber-tall today just for her, so he could lord his position as if she and Storm were cockroaches avoiding his boot heel.
Sen cast a glance around then said, “Tzader called me from a Tribunal meeting. This better be important.”
So either Tzader ha
d heard her signal for help after all, or Adrianna had made the call.
“I caught a Réisc Dubh demon stalking humans around Memorial Hall,” Evalle replied, giving Sen as simple a statement as she could to limit what he’d criticize.
“If that’s true, what’re you doing up here?”
She clamped down on her irritation at his immediate suspicion with anything that involved her. “The demon walked around with a glamour then jumped into the cable car. When I tried to contain him, he attacked me and somehow got the cable car moving. We fought all the way up here.”
Sen stood with his arms crossed. “A Réisc Dubh and even you couldn’t stop him?”
Sen made her sound like a bumbling fool, but this Réisc Dubh had not been what she’d expect from that kind of demon. “He was glamoured to the point that I couldn’t tell his race at first, but once I realized what he was, he showed his form, and was tougher to take down than he should’ve been. He had more power than any demon I’ve faced before. He ripped up my shoulder before I finally killed him by stabbing him with my dagger.”
“Who else saw him besides you, Alterant?”
Storm stiffened at Sen using the word Alterant as if it were a slur. When Storm moved forward a fraction, Evalle squeezed his arm in a silent plea not to engage. Sen had shown his god-like powers more than once and Evalle didn’t want him flexing his muscles. With a tiny finger flip, he’d smashed Storm, in jaguar form, up against a brick wall.
Evalle had thought Storm died, and he almost had.
Storm had assured her Sen would never get a second chance to kill him, but keeping these two apart would be better for everyone involved.
Storm let out a breath that sounded threatening, but he eased back off the balls of his feet. His body was still rigid with the urge to act, but he kept his temper restrained.
Sen chuckled.
Tension swept from Storm.
You are such a jerk, Sen. She’d have to deal with having asked Storm to back down in front of Sen later, once she and Storm were alone.
Sen repeated his question. “Who else saw the demon?”
“Just me. Why?” Evalle confirmed.
“The Tribunal doesn’t want Beladors retaliating against the Medb by conjuring up bogus demon issues.”
