Hot Knights

by Rue Allyn

  • • •

  The familiar soft cushion of leaves rustled underneath Tera, and for a moment, she nestled into them, basking in the peaceful reminder of the forest. Curling into the soft ground, she suddenly remembered that she had originally collapsed on cold, hard cement. Tera leapt up from the ground. The warrior was before her, crouched on his feet, not like a predator but as if relaxing, admiring the view. Then the being/demon/whatever stood to greet her. Damn, she really wished he hadn’t.

  His chest was still bare. His long, muscular torso was accompanied only by black leather pants that hung way too low on his hips not to be distracting. Forcing her gaze back up, she was met with the sight of his strong, broad shoulders that had, apparently, carried her at least five miles to the island.

  “You obviously have not inherited Artemis’ hatred for men, have you, Dryad?” His cocky eyes sparkled with amusement, but his mouth gave no hint of a smile.

  Her face flushed in mortification, only to be replaced by anger. “I was merely disappointed that I had left no bruises,” she smirked, “and that the lovely gashes I gifted upon your neck have healed much too quickly.”

  Now the warrior did smile, and she nearly recoiled from the gorgeous sight of it. Goddess help me. Reaching into the long interior pockets of her leather coat, her hands came up empty. “Where are my weapons?”

  “You mean the silver knife you nicked me with?”

  Nicked? Grrr. Tera made a mental note to buy a much bigger knife, even if it didn’t fit conveniently in her clothing.

  He stepped closer to her. “I hope you are not referring to the pointy wooden stick or can of pressurized contents. They hardly seem like weapons.”

  “That can of pressurized contents is quite effective against brutes like you. If you don’t deem it a weapon, then why don’t you let me have it back?” She held out the palm of her hand.

  The bluish gray-eyed warrior paused for a moment. “I suspect that you will use it on me, but I admit that I am curious.” Tera watched the warrior reach into his back pocket and toss her the tiny can. With every centimeter his massive form moved, she couldn’t help but watch the muscles in his body flex.

  “Well, you just took the fun out of pepper-spraying you by so eagerly volunteering.” Instead of dousing the guy right in the eyes as she had planned, she sighed and put the mace in the pocket of her leather jacket. When the warrior frowned slightly, as if disappointed he would not learn about the impact of the can, her curiosity piqued. “Who are you anyway?”

  “I am Sabin Grey of the Knights of the Fog. We are warriors who keep the peace in the Portal Realm. My men keep the beasts at bay, from going places they shouldn’t. Except in this case, one escaped.”

  Tera thought she heard a growl come from the Knight.

  “So, you’re like a prison guard? An immortal prison guard perhaps, judging from your well-healed injuries?”

  “Yes. I have achieved immortality.”

  “Achieved immortality?”

  The man called Sabin folded his arms. “Yes. And since I am immortal, it’s obviously a very long story. May I have your name first, Dryad?”

  “Hmmm. You’re the first ever to call me a Dryad so that’s kinda fun.” She delighted in trying Sabin’s patience although she barely knew him. Flirting was new to her, but it was already proving to be the most effective tool in her arsenal against the formidable immortal.

  • • •

  Sabin turned, but she leapt toward him and put a hand on his shoulder. The soft touch of her palm on his bare skin was electric, and he stopped dead in his tracks.

  Then, her full, crimson lips spoke and he heard the name that would plague his mind for the rest of his days. “Tera, Agrotera.”

  “The hunter.” The Dryad’s big green eyes seemed determined to keep his presence. “Agrotera suits you, Dryad.” Raking his eyes over her long body, he realized that perhaps searching out the Nunanish would not be such a miserable experience after all. “You complained about the quick healing of my injuries. Let me tell you, I have never been more regretful, Dryad, that I do not have wounds for you to gaze upon like a trophy.” He stepped closer to Tera, breathing in her feminine scent; she smelled smoky like myrrh, and sweet like wisteria.

  Sabin watched her strong, yet soft features, betray the conflicting emotions she was obviously feeling. He knew that she was attracted to him, and he could not fault her taste. But he also saw a proud reluctance to acknowledge his obvious admiration of her.

  “Maybe I could give you new ones.” The Dryad’s eyes glittered bright green and he looked down to see her claws out once more.

  “If you mean to further excite me, you are succeeding.” His eyes didn’t waver from Tera’s challenging glare. He leaned down just enough to whisper into her ear. “I like claws.”

  In a swift movement, the woman lashed out with her claws to give him a new outlook on her primal fingernails. Catching both her arms, he spun her so that the back of her body was pressed against him.

  “While I would delight in having your hands on me, I get the idea that you test my manhood. Let me assure you that although I am a Knight, you are stirring a beast.” Feeling the curve of her backside molded perfectly against his body, Sabin nibbled her ear as she struggled to get out of his grip. “You should know that fighting only excites me. As a gentleman, I know that the only way to conquer a woman in battle is to make her weak in the knees with pleasure.”

  She moaned, a low carnal sound resonating deep in her throat. The sound made him hungry, and distracted. In a rush, his sensual stream of thought was interrupted by her gorgeous head slamming into his chin. With the successful distraction, Tera used her freed hand to punch him across the face. Instead of continuing the fight, she merely stood tall, her fists balled at her sides proudly. “And as a lady, I know the quickest way to conquer a man in battle is to play to his stupidity. Since men don’t think with their minds, they think with their—”

  He tackled her to the leafy ground, covering every inch of her body with his own. Her eyes went wide as Sabin pressed a strong hand against her mouth to muffle her cries while she struggled against his body. But he wasn’t looking at her. Instead he scanned the perimeter, until the scent of smoke hit them both. He could just barely see the tree that had a deep flaming indentation from a weapon of some kind.

  “Stay down, Dryad.” Sabin released the woman and pulled out his astral gun as he ran toward the invisible attacker.

  Chapter Six

  Tera watched the large, half-naked warrior tear through the forest like a madman. She couldn’t see an attacker, but obviously the warrior named Sabin did. His long, leather-clad legs wove through the brush as he wielded the strange gun.

  Normally, she wouldn’t back down from the fight, but as she lay on the ground, she was unsure where and what the fight actually was. But the rebel in her had absolutely no desire to do as Sabin advised, and so she sprang up, leaves falling from where they had clung to her body. She ran after Sabin in a blur through the trees.

  As if he sensed her, Sabin stopped dead in his tracks and turned in her direction. His eyes were ablaze like blue fire, but instead of screaming at her, he turned his focus quickly back in the direction he ran, aimed his gun and fired. The streaming bullet left a trail of glittering white-hot, fiery dust until finally it completely dissipated. Tera watched in shock as a demon appeared with a giant bullet hole in its chest. The monster had seemingly manifested out of thin air.

  The beast was almost as tall as Sabin, but its long, naked body was twice as wide. Bulging muscles stretched across the crimson-skinned demon. The creature’s head was massive with enormous black slits for nostrils and white, glowing eyes. The monster roared in pain, baring needle-like teeth, its bulbous head giving birth to curved horns that elongated and came to a point.

  Sabin rushed the demon now that black, oozing goo poured out of the wound. The bleeding beast tried to raise a defense against him, but the Knight of the Fog was a rush of speed and str
ength. She watched as Sabin’s strong hands gripped the creature’s wide head by the horns and twisted hard. The grotesque head tore right from its shoulders. Sabin dropped the severed skull and the demon’s broken, bloody body collapsed next to it before completely dissipating. The only hint that the monster ever existed was a blackened stain covering the leaves on the ground.

  Too busy standing like an idiot, watching what had unfolded, Tera hadn’t even realized that Sabin had taken off again. She quickly followed in the direction where he’d gone. When she jumped over a sheer drop, she saw him once again with a gun in hand. She still saw no one that he might be shooting at.

  He fired three more shots, sending the strange fiery bullets through the air in three directions. Once again, a trail of crystalline white fire showed where the bullets had gone. In the blink of an eye, three more of the same beastly demons were sinking to their knees, shot cleanly through their chests. Black blood oozed like molasses from the gaping holes in the red muscular bodies of the grotesque creatures. The wounds obviously were not fatal, but Sabin was. The warrior rushed them, once again snapping necks and ripping off heads like a feral beast.

  When he dropped the last head on the ground to create yet another damp, blackened spot on the forest floor, he sheathed his gun. Sabin’s chest heaved from either exhaustion or excitement. The look in his eyes as he turned to face her implied the latter and her knees threatened to give out.

  “I told you to stay down, Dryad.” The warrior stalked toward her, twigs and leaves crunching under his combat boots. She tried not to stare as he came closer and closer, appearing bigger and bigger. Staring at his muscular stomach was somehow much less erotic than meeting his feverish gaze.

  “What the hell was that?” She finally gathered her courage. From now on, she’d take charge of the situation. After all, she was the Bay Area Badass, not him. “I have prowled Alameda and many parts of the Bay Area for years to keep my community safe. I have never seen anything like that.” Before he could interrupt, she continued. “As a matter of fact, I didn’t even see the demons, so how did you? How did you shoot them when they weren’t even there?”

  Sabin took a step closer to her, almost as if he did it just to unnerve her. “You obviously don’t take my Knighthood very seriously. Various demons and other dark creatures travel between worlds through the Realm of the Fog. Would you prefer a band of complete nit-wits guarding the Portal Realm?”

  Slitting her eyes, she wondered if he was being an asshole or trying to be a comedian. She swore she could see a mischievous gleam in his icy-blue gaze. “Well, it seems like only a nit-wit would rip apart four massive demons in about sixty seconds only to let a gangly Nunanish get past him into a forbidden realm.”

  “This is a fact that leaves me contemplating the impossible. As you stated, it did happen, but why? With each moment that passes, I am more convinced that something more significant is at work.”

  “Excuses, excuses.” Tera put a hand on her hip. “Now, tell me about the demons.”

  “As a Knight of the Fog, our eyes are trained to see many things. I recognized their presence. As far as getting a good shot, I aimed for where I saw their auras. Most creatures have them, even the undead. My weapon renders their bodies incapable of hiding because it lights their forms from the inside,” he described. “Your world is far behind when it comes to weapons technology. The human place is more self-destructive than useful.”

  “Well, despite your aggravating cockiness, I have to agree.” She looked up at Sabin, meeting his confident regard. “Where can I get a gun like that?”

  The corner of his mouth turned up a little, obviously appreciating her taste in artillery and desire to wield his weapon. “You don’t understand anything yet, Dryad, but I would be happy to show you the extent of my weaponry if you choose to aid me in navigating your plane.” He grinned mischievously. “Created by the Goddess of the Hunt herself, I believe that I am lucky to have been found by you. Some would say it is more than luck, but fate perhaps.”

  “Ummm, let’s go with luck for now. Yep, you’re lucky to have me indeed.”

  Before she could finish her playful remarks, she was swept up off the ground by Sabin’s strong, calloused hands. His large palms gripped the leather on her thighs as he pressed her back into the nearest tree and consumed her lips with his own. Parting her full lips with his tongue, he dived.

  Caught completely off-guard, she wasn’t prepared for Sabin’s strong hands and expert tongue. Her back hit a tree with much force and the air that was hiding in her lungs escaped in a moan. She had never kissed a man before. Artemis had taught her long ago that men of all kinds were the worst kind of filth, and so she had remained chaste. But now the soft, determined lips kissing her with such reckless passion were becoming a welcome feeling. She didn’t fight; instead, she lost herself in the unexpected pleasure that sent shivers through her body. Then, sadly, the warrior retreated. He looked deep into her eyes and his seductive blue gaze glittered with amusement.

  “Lucky indeed, Agrotera.” Reeling from the mind-blowing kiss Sabin had caught her off-guard with, Tera recovered when she caught the cocky glint in his eyes. In a quick movement, she whipped out her can of mace and sprayed him in the eyes.

  “Ahhh. Gods be damned!” Sabin coiled over, his eyes no doubt a watering mess of pain.

  She secretly relished the element of surprise that had allowed the once-eager Knight to experience her “can of pressurized contents.” Looking up at Sabin, her mouth was tight with a mischievous smile. Sabin’s vivid aqua irises were masked by a pink cloud, complements of the mace.

  But the pink fog in his eyes dissipated due to the rapid pace of his immortal healing. “So you granted my earlier request, I see. You’re a cheeky Dryad.” When his eyes fully cleared, he smiled. “The mild annoyance was worth the salivating experience we shared earlier. And your beautiful smile.”

  “We weren’t sharing anything. You stole a kiss from my lips and man-handled my body. You’ll be navigating San Francisco by yourself unless you promise to cease indulging your primal instincts.”

  “Gods, why did I have to fall for a woman born of the world’s fiercest man-hater?”

  “How dare you speak of her in such a way! She is a goddess. And if she were awake or watching, surely you would be vanquished where you stand by her golden bow.”

  “Dryad, you seemed a willing accomplice to my affections. But no matter, for now I agree with you, we must get to the business of the Nunanish. The demons are not usually so wise, but for some reason, this one has gone into hiding and I cannot detect it since it deals no violence.”

  “Which reminds me. How the heck did we get here? Never mind. I’m calling a cab,” she said as she whipped out her Blackberry and began punching the keypad.

  “I walked. People on your plane are not accommodating to bipedal transportation.”

  “Traffic is bad enough on the Bay Bridge without some shirtless Fabio strolling down the express way.” Finally, the cab service answered.

  “Yeah, I’m calling for a pick up on Yerba Buena Island.” Tera never took her eyes off her newfound Casanova. His kiss had been both thrilling and infuriating. “Actually, I’m right near the marina. And I need to request a van.” She glared at Sabin. She definitely needed as much space as possible between them.

  When the call ended, she slipped the phone in her pocket. Sabin’s eyes raked over her body. “Don’t look at me like that.” She smirked. “Unless of course, you want mace round two.”

  “I want another round of something. But it’s not the spray device.”

  “Oh, you think you’re cute,” Tera offered her “obviously not impressed” face.

  He spoke in a sensual tone, but his words held a trace of amusement. “No. Not cute. Ruggedly handsome, and perhaps a bit mysterious for the standards of your realm.” He put his hands in pockets of his leather pants. “Have you no questions, Dryad?”

  “I prefer the strong, silent type. For sure.”
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br />   He shut up, but his silence unsettled her even more. Tall and brooding, he looked capable of doing something brash and destructive.

  She searched his face for an answer to her inner debate. “I changed my mind. What’s your game plan?”

  “I’m going to tie you up and use you as bait.”

  Okay, not where she thought the conversation was headed.

  He erupted in laughter. “I’m not serious, Dryad. I doubt a Nunanish could have a care about a tree-dwelling nymph.”

  “Is that supposed to be an insult?”

  “No. I know the difference between a Dryad and a nymph.”

  “Enlighten me.” Curiosity gnawed at her.

  “Well for one, Dryads are chaste. And until I met you, I heard that they were soft-spoken, elusive creatures.”

  “Elusive creatures? You make my kind sound like hideous, tormented beasts.”

  “Definitely not hideous.” She watched his eyes betray a hint of humor. “And not tormented, at peace. Dryads hide to preserve themselves and their forests.”

  “You think I don’t know that?” Impatience stirred in her gut. “I did hide. But one can only watch so much death before she sheds her cowardice.”

  “What death have you seen from your forest?” he asked.

  “How about the murder and abuse of the tribes that hunted in my woods? Have you ever seen good people, people that love the earth, taken from it?” She spoke, her words numbed from years of practice.