by Sharon Kay
Mathias shook his head and spoke the words to the spell that would open the portal. In seconds, a giant shimmering ring opened in the air. Six feet in diameter, its surface was wavy with rainbow streaks. He stepped in, and Caine repeated the process.
Arawn rubbed his thumb over Ria’s knuckles. “Ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” She grimaced. “When will I get used to this?”
“Another hundred times, maybe.” He winked and activated the portal. Tugging her hand, he pulled her in.
The effect was like the floor dropping out from under you. Ria yelped and turned toward Arawn, burying her face in his chest. He didn’t like that the process made her feel like vomiting, but he relished the feel of her pressed against him like her life depended on it. They tumbled through darkness punctuated by occasional flashes of color. In a minute it was over, and they landed with a thud on the grass behind Watcher HQ.
Ria had landed on top of Arawn and, like yesterday, she rolled away instantly. Arawn hopped up to join her, though he knew she probably didn’t want an audience. He crouched beside her. “You okay?”
She was kneeling, staring at the thick green grass. “I…I think I am.” She breathed out a big sigh and pushed her hair out of her face. “Wow. Yeah, I’m okay.”
In his peripheral vision, he noted Mathias and Caine standing several feet away. Then he registered a familiar voice and the thump-thump of running feet.
“You found them!” Gin dashed across the back lawn, stopping at Mathias’s side.
Ria got to her feet, sexy blue eyes pinning him. “So…what now?”
He could interpret her question a million different ways, but the uncertainty in her eyes told him she meant it about them, not about Watcher business. He took her hand. “About our team? We need to find our missing men.” He leaned closer, drawing her scent deeply into his lungs. “And about us? We’ll talk later today. I promise.”
She smiled. “Okay. I know you’re busy. And Gin is going to interrogate me…”
“Hey!” Right on cue, Gin joined them and flung her arms around Ria. “I was so worried about you. This is the second time you’ve made me worry like a mother hen. No more.” Her stern words were softened by the palpable relief that filled her voice.
Ria chuckled. “I’ll try.” She looked over Gin’s head at Arawn. “Will we have a meeting?”
He nodded. “War room. One hour. Inner circle, Gin, Alina, Sebastian, and everyone involved in last night’s op. I’ll have Ana send a text.”
“Ooh, I get to sit in.” Gin grinned.
“You get to sit in all the time, Einstein.” Ria smoothed her hands down her shirt. “And now we really need your braininess. Thanks for the clothes, by the way.”
“Hey, I knew none of these guys would think like a girl and remember that you started this whole assignment naked.” Gin shook her head.
No way I’d forget. Arawn rubbed the back of his neck and met Ria’s eyes, dancing with a secret smile for him.
“I need a shower,” Ria murmured, and started toward the building.
“I need a minute with Arawn,” Mathias said, coming up behind Gin.
Gin’s brow furrowed and Arawn would bet money that they were conversing through their mental connection. It was funny, seeing other mated pairs talk this way had torn at his heart after Lottie died, but now it barely registered. It was simply what mates did.
“Okay, see you in a few.” Gin waved and walked away, breaking into his thoughts and leaving him with one of his most trusted men.
One of his most valued and lethal men, who had turned a rare dark look on him.
“What.” Arawn stated the word, not as a question.
“What the hell are you doing?” Mathias spoke through clenched teeth. “She’s not your plaything. You do not sleep with her and then—”
“I’m allowing this attitude for one reason and one reason alone, Hunter.” Arawn stared hard. “You’re her older brother. You think you need to protect her.”
“You don’t know what I think!”
“I can surmise,” Arawn growled. “And I expect no less than for you to look out for her. But Ria is an adult.”
“You have your own females on speed dial.” Mathias eyes took on the glow of anger. “She doesn’t need to be one of your groupies. At your beck and call for when you need to fuck.”
“Watch yourself.” Arawn stepped into Mathias’s personal space. “It’s more than that.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
Arawn flexed his fist, tempering his anger at being talked to this way, in deference to Mathias’s closeness with his sister. “Still figuring that part out.”
“Wrong answer.” Mathias shook his head and a low rumble emanated from his throat.
“But I will figure it out with her. I respect her. Your brotherly concern is duly noted.” Arawn drew a deep breath.
Mathias glared. “Her scent is all over you. And yours is on her. Everyone will know. I don’t want her to be the day’s hot gossip topic.”
“Not sure if this will make you feel better but she expected you to call us out.”
“Fuck! Now you’re us? Goddamn it.” Mathias propped his hands on his hips. “What are you doing? First it was sitting in her room every day while she was unconscious. People finally got over that little oddity, and now you two are a walking billboard for hooking up.”
Raw, possessive anger flared. “Do not,” Arawn snarled, “ever. Refer to Ria as my hookup. Or as my fuck.” Breath sawed in choppy bursts from his mouth. “Are we clear?”
Mathias didn’t back down from Arawn’s dominance. “If that’s not it, then tell me what in the fucking hell you’re doing with my sister. Are you planning to mate her?”
Arawn paused. The woman settled his soul and made him want to beat down doors to be with her. He didn’t understand it. But the idea of mating again had been absent from his mind for so long, the word seemed foreign.
It is possible to mate again. The words of Whysper, the oldest witch he knew, echoed in his head. Whysper had been working at HQ in the spell group when Lottie had been killed. Arawn had angrily dismissed her words at the time. But now…
Arawn shook his head. “I can’t answer that.”
Rage shone from Mathias’s eyes. “Motherfuck—”
“Don’t.” Arawn held up a hand. “Don’t finish that. Do you have any idea how pissed she would be if she knew you were saying this, trying to plan her life for her?”
Mathias squeezed his eyes shut for a second then opened them. “I don’t want to see her get hurt.”
“Neither do I. I’ll do everything in my power to prevent it.” Arawn flicked a glance up to the blue sky, where puffy white clouds scuttled as if they were in a race. “She and I are figuring this out, like I said. This is new for both of us.”
Mathias cursed under his breath and dropped his head back.
“But right now, we have three men missing. I need you to get your head together. We need to find them and you’re my expert.” Arawn clapped a hand on Mathias’s shoulder. “Ria will tell you the same thing. Those are her comrades out there and she cares about them.”
Mathias looked him in the eye. “I know that. But if I hear one word—and you know I will, since I have a direct link to her best friend—that you hurt her…” He shook his head.
“If I hurt her, you get the first swing for free,” Arawn said. “Though I have a feeling you’ll get whatever’s left of me after she’s done.”
“Damn right.” Mathias shrugged off Arawn’s hand. “Shit.” He shot Arawn a sideways glance. “You know I respect you.”
“You better.”
“But I don’t need to know about you and her fu—”
A growl vibrated from Arawn’s mouth.
“Yeah. Fine. I get it. Shit.” Mathias started back to the building. “Sometimes I wish I could turn off my nose.”
Arawn snorted and stayed where he was, rooted in place by Mathias’s question. Are you
planning to mate her?
Was he?
Could he?
It wasn’t something most mated pairs planned. It just happened. All of a sudden, attraction or lust morphed into something so vital and vibrant that you couldn’t live without it.
Most didn’t want to live without it, if they’d had the joy of knowing that deep bond.
Shit, he was the leader of the entire Lash race. He could do whatever the hell he wanted.
The question was, what did Ria want?
Scorpio coughed and the painful motion jarred him to consciousness. He drew in shallow breaths. His body felt like he’d been tossed around by dragons and his mouth was as dry as the desert. He opened his eyes to an unfamiliar shelter.
The scents of dirt and fresh water teased his nose, and the events of earlier assaulted his mind. They’d been fighting hellhounds near Thane’s property. Then explosions, a portal, falling into the rocks. Broken ribs. Gashed leg.
The gray light of predawn glowed faintly outside the cave entrance. He took a slow breath, testing how deeply he could inhale without numbing pain…Huh. Better, but not by much.
He rolled to his back to check his leg, and abruptly froze. Above him, the earthen roof glowed with yellow phosphorescent lights. Hundreds of tiny specks…He turned to the back wall and saw more of the same. In his pain-haze before, he’d missed them.
The rocks and soil contained deposits of the mineral adamite. The yellow, or sometimes green, crystals were commonly used in spells. Not many others had use for the stuff.
And if he was in an adamite cave, he was near Bronwy.
He hadn’t been here in years. Not since completing a job for his former master that involved eliminating a high-ranking individual. Shit.
He patted his pockets, all of which were empty. Between the blast and the fall, everything was gone. No phone. No amulet to get back home. And the first people he’d find probably wanted him dead.
Voices outside tensed his muscles. He wasn’t in fighting shape, but he’d sit here hurling demonfire if it came to that. He ground his teeth and pushed up to a sitting position against the back wall.
The voices changed in tone, surprised exclamations punctuating their words. Then quiet. But footsteps drew nearer. Whoever they were, they weren’t very stealthy. Maybe they weren’t predators.
They stopped near, but not in front of, the entrance. Hatred at his immediate physical limitations burned as bad as his leg. He inhaled, trying to determine their species, but he was too deep in the cave to catch their scent. Times like this, he wished he had Mathias’s nose.
Male and female voices spoke in low tones. Scorpio strained to pick apart the words and only discerned the word Lash.
“Come out, demon,” a male voice called. Low and rough, with the weight of authority.
Scorpio didn’t move. Normally he’d already be out, relishing a fight with whomever. But he wasn’t back to fighting shape and had no idea how many waited for him.
“You left a fucking blood trail like a flashing sign out here,” the voice spoke again. “We’re surprised a dire wolf hasn’t eaten you yet. Get out before you bring the whole pack into our back yard.”
Goddamn it. With fire licking up his thigh, he gritted his teeth and stood. He had to duck his head to avoid brushing the top of the cave. Might as well see who he was up against. He’d go to them, but he’d fight like hell.
He summoned a ball of demonfire and held it at the ready, inching his way to the entrance.
A breath of wind whooshed into the cave then, rooting his feet in place. It carried the scent of cedar. Witches.
And another scent, swirling in like a tangible force. One that nearly dropped him to his knees. Sweet, intoxicating, honeysuckle and woman. The fragrance teased over his mouth and nose, lighting up his body like a Roman candle. Pulsing with promise, warmth, and possession, and need.
What the fuck?
“Goddamn it!” the male voice outside growled. “We’re out of time.” He quickly recited words to a spell and magic crackled the air, rousing Scorpio from his trance. A blue orb of flames shot into the cave and he jerked back to avoid it. Drawing his arm back, he flung his fire at it and it bounced off.
Witch fire. When the ball hit him, it would sting and stun. Not something he wanted to experience again.
He darted for the opening, right leg stumbling and wound screaming.
Several sets of legs were visible out front. The endless rocks along the bank came into view.
A blast of magic hit his back and he grunted. Shit! Need to outrun it!
He dropped to his knees in the soft dirt as the sensation of a thousand fire ants coated his shoulders and spine. “Fuck!” he roared. His ribs exploded in new pain and his leg wound felt warm and wet.
Darkness danced at the edge of his vision and he fell heavily, hands hitting the ground in an attempt to break his fall. The scent of honeysuckle intensified, chased by heaviness in his limbs that he knew would drag him under. His shoulders sagged. A need to identify the source of that seductive floral pushed at him, fighting against the spell.
He tried to look up into the faces around him, but his vision had gone blurry.
Need her…
Everything slid sideways and the numbness took over, erasing all conscious thought.
C
HAPTER 16
AN HOUR LATER, RIA SAT at the conference room table between Brenin and Wolfe. Gin and Mathias sat across from her, and farther down were Caine and Alina. Alina looked like death warmed-over and rested her head on Caine’s wide shoulder. On her other side sat Alina’s father, Sebastian, the vampire lock picker extraordinaire. Next to him was Willow, who leaned across the vampire and stroked Alina’s arm.
“It gets better, honey,” she said. “It’s only tough in the beginning.”
Alina forced a smile and nibbled at a cracker.
All of Arawn’s inner circle were present, except for the three missing men. Out of habit or on purpose, the chairs they usually occupied were left empty, a reminder that the Watchers were up against something big.
Arawn strode in like a dark knight, freshly showered but wearing his usual scowl. Gods, he looked like a walking poster for sex and danger. Her mind flooded with images of him last night, fucking her until they were both breathless. Then keeping her close all night. Always touching her in some way. She bit her lip and her body stirred. Last night had begun as an accident but she looked at it as a gift and, greedily, she wanted him again.
Ana trailed him and took a seat at the front of the room, data pad out to take notes.
Arawn stopped at the head of the table and looked at each member in turn. His eyes softened a fraction when he got to Ria. He set both hands on the table and leaned forward.
“Last night’s op was successful in that we discovered a message concealed in the statue. But the exit strategy was compromised and now Scorpio, Jude, and Nevo are missing. Our priority is finding them. Fife, explain your theory on the spell charges.”
Fife ran a hand over his wispy white hair. “Explosive spell charges were used in an attempt to stop our fighters last night. But these are charges unlike any I’ve seen.”
The room went silent except for Alina crunching on her cracker. Fife had never been unable to create a counterspell, or extrapolate the ingredients for a spell. He was the expert, like Mathias-level expert, of spells.
“The spells went beyond light and sound. Based on the unplanned locations of Brenin, Mathias, Ria, and Arawn, I believe the spells released a burst of magic that not only scrambled the coordinates of the transportation amulets, but managed to open portals.”
“So our guys could be anywhere in the realm?” Willow asked.
“Or on another realm,” Fife said. “We should consider ourselves lucky that Brenin and Mathias landed in a populated area and could find a phone, and that Ria’s hairpin gadget worked long enough to transmit coordinates.”
“So if the others haven’t called in,” Ria said, “we a
ssume they’re in the middle of nowhere and lost their phones, or…compromised.”
“They’re probably in three different locations,” Caine said.
“We need to consider all possibilities.” Arawn paced in front of the table. “We’ll search everywhere. Hunter, you’ll be the point man on this. I’ll give you a partner and every day you’ll examine a different region, town, whatever. It may take time, but this problem has your name all over it.”
Gin squeezed her mate’s hand and smiled up at him.
“You’ll start in the less populated areas, where you can cover a lot of ground quickly. I’ll send you out with Raniero today.” Arawn glanced at the olive-skinned warrior with the scar down the left side of his face.
Raniero nodded, expressionless. Ria knew he, and anyone in this room, would have her brother’s back. Raniero, who had been forced into a mercenary lifestyle by his mate’s sadistic father, would be a formidable partner.
“But first, I want you two and everyone here to read this. Maybe you already have, but read it again. Ana?” Arawn didn’t look at his elven secretary but instead at the wide screen on the wall behind him.
An image popped up. A screen shot from Ria’s hairpin camera.
When the moons weep
When the dead have gone to rest
Where light forms blood
And stone is steel
Beware the poison
When my kin wield
The eastern wall
The sword, revealed.
Ria shook her head. It made no more sense now than it did last night.
Murmurs crept around the room as the cryptic message sunk in.
“So, this means the sword exists?” Gin asked.
“I think it means Verdak had a place he intended to hide it. Whether it’s there or not is another question,” Ria said.
“Okay, humor me because I’m the only one here who hasn’t heard this story growing up,” Gin said. “The first two lines are on the tomb now, and that’s why people camp out in cemeteries? They think it refers to dead people?”
