Pepper made a loud noise that I’d never heard a horse ever make before. Then Mika made the same haunting shriek. Their cries pierced my ears as I scrambled to my feet.
“No!” Cade yelled.
“Cade, what’s happening?” I stumbled forward as the black dots slowly faded.
“Don’t move, Senna.”
The warning in his voice sent a chill through me, and I froze. When my vision cleared, my hand flew up to my mouth, stifling a sob as I watched Mika and Pepper’s legs disappear into the sand.
Cade jumped off Pepper, and the ground immediately swallowed his feet. Holding onto Pepper’s bridle, he reached over to Mika. His face twisted as he stretched his arm out, his fingers inches from Mika’s reins. “Come here, Mika.”
“Mika!” I cried as she let out a desperate squeal, calling for me.
“Don’t, Senna!” he cried when I took a step toward her. “You’ll sink. I’ll get her.”
Tears streamed down my face as I watched helplessly. Mika thrashed her head, making her sink faster into the sand.
With a frustrated roar, he lunged forward and took hold of her bridle. “Come on, Mika!”
“She can’t move,” I said as the sand slowly crept up her and Pepper’s chest. “Mika.”
Mika stilled. She gazed at me with big dark eyes as if wondering why I wasn’t helping her.
“Cade, please.” I inched closer to her.
“No, Senna! I’ll get them.” His face turned a bright red as he trudged through the sand. It was up to his chest.
“Cade!” He was going to die trying to get Pepper and Mika out.
He placed his hand on Mika and the other on Pepper. Even as the sand swallowed their chests and then their necks, his voice was steady and gentle. “I have you. I’m not letting go.”
“Cade, take my hand.” My voice shook as I sobbed. I knew I didn’t have the strength to pull them all out, but I had to try. I couldn’t lose them.
I reached out, stretching my arm out as far as it would go. The tips of our fingers touched. Our eyes locked. In that moment, it was as if I could read his heart. It wasn’t my magical gift of seeing what people coveted. This was different. It was the connection of two souls. Souls that wanted nothing more than to care for the ones they cherished the most.
And then, he was gone.
“Cade! Mika!” I screamed as the sand covered them, not leaving a trace of their existence. I yanked off my crossbow and robe and was about to jump in after them when a strong arm clamped around my waist and jerked me back.
“It’s too late, Senna,” Lukas said in a low voice.
“No, it’s not. Help me get them. Where’s Big John. Big John!” I cried, beating against his arm as he dragged me away.
“He can’t hear you. He’s miles away. I came back to see what was taking you so long. We have to go. You can’t risk your life for them.”
“There’s still time if we hurry. Please, Lukas. Help me.”
He turned me to him, keeping a grip on the tops of my arms. Drawing me close, he spoke to me as if I were a child. “Listen to me. Cade would tell you the same thing if it was me that fell into the quicksand instead of him.”
I shook my head in disbelief. He wouldn’t budge. Who was this man? He looked like my best friend, the one who had always been willing to help those in need.
I glanced over at the quicksand. It rippled down into itself. There was still movement. They weren’t dead. I sensed it.
“Cade would go after you. You know he would. Now let me go!” I stomped on his foot. He let go, a slew of curses pouring from his mouth as he grabbed his foot.
I reached the edge of the quicksand, about to dive in, when the familiar chorus of voices sounded in my head, telling me what to do. Taking a deep breath, I concentrated on the sand, willing them to come out.
“What are you doing?” Lukas asked as he limped to my side.
“I’m getting them out,” I said, hovering my hand over the ground.
“How?”
“I don’t know.” But I did know. I just couldn’t explain it. I focused my innermost being on Cade, Mika, and Pepper’s safe return. I willed the sand to part and for them to come out. It was what the voice told me to do.
Seconds past as Lukas and I stood at the edge. There was nothing but the glaring sun searing the exposed skin on my hand and face and the frantic beat of my heart about to break in two.
“Senna...”
I held up my hand and stopped Lukas from saying any more, not wanting to hear his doubts.
I can do this. I will do this. I was the daughter of a powerful witch. I could make the wind bend at my will. I took down an army of hunters.
“Cade.” My voice was a hoarse whisper. My hand trembled as every single cell in my body called for him.
Then I saw it. A hand emerged from the sand.
“Help me, Lukas!”
His eyes widened with surprise.
“Lukas!” I slapped his arm.
He blinked and turned to me. “Wait. I have an idea.” He took a rope from Milo’s saddle and tied it quickly around my waist. “Be careful.”
I leaned forward, my body hovering over the sand as Lukas held onto the rope. My fingers brushed against Cade’s. I could feel energy flowing from his fingertips. Like magnets pulling to each other, our fingers latched as one.
“I got him!”
As Lukas pulled, I kept my hand locked tight with Cade’s. I wasn’t going to let go of him. Ever.
Slowly, he emerged from the sand. First, his arm and shoulders. Inch by inch, Lukas and I drew him out until finally his sand-coated head emerged.
He gasped, sucking in air. When we finally got him to solid ground, he laid on the ground coughing, his entire body encased in mud and sand.
“Drink this,” Lukas said, handing him some water.
He shoved the bottle away, shaking his head as his sad blue eyes gazed up at me.
“I couldn’t get them.” He coughed, barely able to get the words out.
“Mika.” I turned back to the sand, holding my arm out again, waiting for the magical powers that helped me get Cade out to work with Mika and Pepper. There was nothing. Why couldn’t I get them out?
“Mika, please.” Angrily, I brushed away the useless tears that rolled down my heated cheeks. I could do this. I could save my best friend.
“Senna,” Cade’s soft voice murmured.
“Don’t say it.” I couldn’t stand it if Cade said the words. He loved the horses just as much as I did.
“I lost them. I’m sorry.”
Not Mika. Not my Mika. My body shook as it fought back against the wave of anguish that threatened to drown me. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe it. No, I could do this again.
Where are you? I called out to the voices who were remained silent.
Between my cries, I heard Milo’s mourning whinny behind me. He knew what I didn’t want to believe.
Gently, Cade placed his arm around my shoulders and I broke. He brushed his hand through my hair as I shook against him. My sweet, precious, stubborn horse was gone.
Water droplets splashed onto my head. I looked up, wondering if rain was even possible in the cursed desert.
Cade’s stoic face looked out into the sand. A tear rolled down his cheek, leaving a streak. “I couldn’t save them.”
I latched my hands onto his. He squeezed back as we both stared out at the quicksand. His grief was mine. The power of it was overwhelming. I was shaking so hard I didn’t realize the ground was trembling until Lukas told us we needed to leave.
“We have to get out of here. The ground’s caving in,” Lukas said, tugging Milo away. Milo stomped his hoof and grunted, refusing to leave.
“No, it’s not. Look.” Cade stood, helping me up as we tried to keep our footing beneath the trembling ground. Still holding hands, we stepped back in awe as the mound of sand grew higher.
There was a final hard shake and in one blow, it whirled into a sma
ll cyclone, sweeping the sand off the mound. It vanished. In its place stood Mika, eyes wild, sand flying from her shaking body.
Pepper lay unmoving at her feet.
21
Cade was becoming a part of me. I wasn’t sure when or how it happened. Sometime between burying Pepper and now, something shifted.
As we rode in silence with Cade straddled behind on Mika, I was keenly aware of presence. He was all around me. His delicious masculine scent that was uniquely him filled my senses. His steady breath whispered against my ear. The deep rumbling of his chest as he cleared his dry throat. His strong hands rested along the curves of my waist as if they were made for him.
A feverish heat burned through my veins at his touch. I wanted him to stop. I wanted him to never let go. It was making me crazy. With each mile we passed, I felt myself sinking deeper into the realization of how important Cade had become to me. I wasn’t scared anymore about what we faced when we arrived at Vegas. What I feared now was bigger than that. It was growing more and more, digging into my soul, and it was suffocating me.
I wasn’t the only one who noticed the change.
Lukas rode beside us, taking turns between scanning the horizon for hunters and staring at me with that disapproving gaze of his.
Even Big John had noticed something was different when we stopped at the town where he was waiting. He didn’t say a word as he watched Lukas yank food packages off the shelves in one of the stores we explored and shove them in his bag. It wasn’t until Lukas demanded that Cade ride with him that Big John stepped in saying it would be better if Cade stayed close to me. It was all I could do to not smile at Big John’s words.
And that was the problem.
I wanted the arrogant archangel who compared humans to horses and who hated witches. It was no use pretending I would ever see him again. The real Cade sat behind me, grieving for the horse he couldn’t save. The real Cade cut a piece of his hair and wove it with material from his robe to bury with Pepper, explaining it was a symbol of honor to someone who had passed.
Cade shifted, his hands gently squeezing my waist as he moved, making my stomach flutter. Memories of Hannah with Sylas filtered through my mind, and I couldn’t breathe. That was not at all how I felt about Cade. Sylas was in love with Hannah and she with him. What I had with Cade was different. Yes, I cared for him. But it wasn’t any different than how I felt about Lukas or Big John.
Was it?
Hannah’s charred wings flashed through my mind.
No, it wasn’t any different.
“We’re getting close,” Lukas said as he pointed to the horizon. Through the haze of the heat, a faint outline of buildings emerged. They were massive. They made the guardians’ temple look like a child’s toy.
“Will there be guards at the entrance?” Big John asked. “Perhaps we should ride ahead.”
Lukas shot a glance at Cade and me before answering him. “The city isn’t guarded. There’s no enemy to protect it from.”
“Still, we should look it over and make plans for how we’ll proceed to the demon lord’s watchtower,” Big John said.
“I agree. We should take caution, especially since we are so close,” Cade added.
Lukas frowned as his eyes darted from Cade to Big John. He was fighting against wanting to do what he knew was the right thing to do and not wanting to leave me alone with Cade.
“It’s okay, Lukas. We’ll be right behind you,” I said.
“Fine,” he snapped and flicked his reins against Milo’s back, harder than I’d ever seen him do before, leaving us in a cloud of dust. Big John looked to me, shaking his head, and rode after him.
The sand whirled around us, sending Cade into a coughing fit.
“Here, take this,” I said, handing him the rest of my water. “The throat feeling any better?”
“It’s still a little scratchy.” He cleared his throat before taking a swig. “I don’t know how much more water I can drink. Any more and I’ll probably float away.”
I chuckled. “Just think of it this way, you’ll be nice and juicy by the time we get to the city.”
“More like nice and sloshy.”
He laughed. I smiled at the sound of it.
See, it wasn’t bad. We were just two friends talking. It was nice.
We rode for a while in silence. As we got closer to the city, the haze dissipated and I could see some of the buildings more clearly. One of them was in a shape of a pyramid. The sun reflected off the black glass, sending periodic flashes of light. I squinted, trying to make out the other buildings, when I saw it. Standing tall as if touching the sky was the tower.
My heart leapt into my throat. It suddenly became very real. We were headed straight into the demon lord’s territory. A place that until a few days ago, I didn’t even know existed, to destroy a curse that even my own mother couldn’t break.
“We can do this,” Cade whispered into my ear, sensing my apprehension.
I let out a breath. “I know. I just got a little freaked out for a moment.”
“Want to know a secret?”
“What?”
“I’m a little freaked out, too.”
There was a pang in my chest at the desperation in his voice. For Cade, this was more than breaking a curse. This was about killing his brother. I placed my hand over his, squeezing it lightly.
“There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you,” he said. “About the quicksand.”
“Okay, but you better hurry. We’re almost there. I can see Lukas and Big John waiting underneath some sign over there.” Big John stood underneath the shadows of a blue sign with a large orange-red star on top of it. He waved to us, motioning that it was safe to continue.
Cade reached around me and took the reins. He drew them back, slightly signaling Mika to slow down.
“It’s private,” he said when I looked back at him quizzically.
My heart flew back up into my throat again. He noticed something was happening between us, too. Or maybe not and he just wanted to make sure I knew my place. I took a breath, determined to point out that we had a good friendship and nothing more.
“What is it?”
“Why did you bring me up first?”
Deep blue eyes swirled with emotion as they waited for my response—an answer I didn’t even want to admit to myself, much less him. I turned forward, feeling my already heated cheeks grow hotter. “I didn’t. I mean, I was trying to bring all of you back.”
“How did you do it?”
“It was like before with the hunters. I was being guided on what to do. It’s a force deep within me that I somehow harnessed. I concentrated on moving the sand so you could get out.”
Long fingers tugged at my hood and slowly slid it off my head. The scruff on his check rasped against my face as he leaned in. I shuddered and closed my eyes, taking in every breath, every touch, every whisper as his lips brushed against my ears. “I felt you, Senna. I was surrounded by darkness. I tried to open my wings, but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. Then suddenly, you were all around me, within me. It was like you were in my soul.”
“I…I don’t know what to say.”
“I can’t explain it either.” His voice was low, melodic, lulling me to him. “Whatever your power is, it brought me back.”
He paused. His breathing quickened as if he was afraid to say anything more. He shifted, gliding his nose across my hair, and inhaled. I stilled, taking in each delicious sensation of his touch until he rested his forehead against the back of my head.
His chest rumbled as he argued with himself. I couldn’t hear what he was saying and was about to ask when he let out a slow breath. He placed his hand on my stomach and drew me into his chest. “It brought me back to you.”
The wind gently blew around us as he held me for a few seconds, seconds I secretly wished were a lifetime, before he dropped his hand and cleared his throat.
“Uh, well, I thought you should know. Let’s go, Mika.” He click
ed his tongue. “Maybe some insight will help you get in touch with your gifts.”
Before I could react, Cade had Mika galloping so fast we were at the sign that read “Welcome to the fabulous Las Vegas” before I could catch my breath. When I saw Big John shirtless underneath the sign and Lukas standing behind him about to plunge a knife into his back, all thoughts of what just happened with Cade flew out of my mind. I jumped off Mika and ran to them.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Camouflage,” Big John winced as Lukas slid the knife along across his shoulder blades.
“We need to blend in.” Lukas flicked the blood off his knife. “It’s a large city, but the demon lord’s army of hunters keep track of all the angels. They’ll know something is up if they’re found with their wings intact.”
“Can’t they just keep their wings in their back or whatever it is that angels do?”
Big John shook his head as he stood. “Remember what Lukas said about angels giving up their wings as tithing to the demon lord, Rahab? All who do will have a scar.”
“I don’t understand. Wouldn’t the wounds heal?”
“Not when the wings are cut off with this.” Lukas held up the knife. A thin purple paste lined the edges. “Like I said, the demon lord keeps track of his people. You’re next.” He pointed the blade to Cade.
“No, wait.” I stood between Cade and an all-too-eager-looking Lukas. “Are you sure about this? Big John is still limping from the arrow that hit him.”
“Lukas is right,” Cade said, taking off his robe and shirt. “Let’s get this over with.”
Cade gazed at me, his face stoic as Lukas moved behind him. I bit down on my lip, holding back a cry as his face twisted in obvious pain as Lukas dragged the blade way too slowly across his shoulder blade. His muscled abdomen tensed, emphasizing each lean muscle of his stomach.
“You’re hurting him, Lukas,” I said.
“I’m fine,” Cade grunted between gritted teeth.
“You are not.” I rushed to Lukas. “Knock it off. You’re cutting too deep.”
“Have to make it look real,” he said, shoving my hands away when I attempted to snatch the knife away from him. He sunk it into the other shoulder, dragging it slowly before pulling it out. “There. I’m done. You can wash up now.”
Archangel's Fire Page 12
