by Grant, Donna
He turned on his heel and left the couple alone. Already the Fae army was stretched thin, but he would send out more of his men to look for the women.
The Shields were doing all they could do. He needed to arm them with as much information as he could.
Chapter Eleven
Shannon’s head ached as if twelve dozen marching bands played inside her mind.
Her vision was blurred, and she feared she had a concussion. It was nearly as bad as when she had been hurled into her current place, though at the time she hadn’t realized she had been traveling through time.
If only she hadn’t walked into her room without checking to see if Benton had returned, for he had been waiting for her.
As soon as she had thrown herself on her bed to try and manage some rest, he had yanked her off it by her hair. Her instinct had been to cry out, but she feared Cole might hear her. As much as she wanted him to save the day, he had a village to save.
Besides, she knew Benton wouldn’t kill her. Not yet.
“Tell me why you weren’t in bed,” he had demanded, his nose practically pressed against hers.
She tried to jerk out of his grasp, which only managed to anger him more. “I heard the guards and went to see what was going on.”
“You know better,” he ground out. “I told you to stay inside your chamber at all times, no matter what you hear or see.”
The anger blazing in his black eyes frightened her. If he knew what she had seen that night, and that she had nearly escaped, she had no doubts he would kill her on the spot.
He shoved her away from him. Shannon, unprepared to be thrown off balance, fought to keep her footing. Her hand found the bedpost just as she began to fall. She righted herself and turned toward Benton.
The rage that had overtaken him still had him in its hold. She knew then she wouldn’t come out of their altercation without some kind of wound.
“I told him to keep you locked in the dungeon,” he said as he stepped toward her.
“He wouldn’t listen to me. Said he had enough to worry about.”
“Who?” she asked, her voice shaky with fear.
Benton laughed evilly. “You know who, don’t try to play coy with me.”
“The
Baron?”
Benton nodded and took another step toward her. “You aren’t nearly worth the coin he pays me to keep you here.”
Before Shannon could register that he had raised his meaty fist, it came flying at her. Her teeth rattled as her head swung around and her feet came off the ground from the force of the hit.
The real pain came as she started to fall and hit the corner of her head on the edge of the bed post. Pain lanced its way through her body, but she knew more was to come and quickly curled up in a ball.
There was a loud thud as something heavy hit the floor.
Dimly, she heard something move in her room. Slowly, so as not to cause herself more pain, she moved her head and saw an outline of a man standing over what appeared to be Benton lying on the floor.
“Shannon?”
Her eyes misted with tears at Gabriel’s voice. “Yes,” she managed to squeak.
As she started to sit up, Gabriel was there beside her, his hands on her arms.
“Don’t,” he warned. “You need to lie still for a moment.” She watched him pull out a black velvet bag that he laid on the floor, untied, and then opened. Inside was an array of dried herbs, flowers, and God only knew what else.
There were also tiny vials of liquids, crushed things, and whole things.
“What are you doing?” she asked, now unable to move her cheek from Benton’s hit.
“Helping you,” he said as he lifted one vial, measured a bit of it into a small bowl, then reached for a dried flower, then began to mix it.
“Benton,” she started, but he quickly silenced her with a look.
“He won’t remember being hit in the morning. That I promise you.” The pain was nearly too much for her now. She wasn’t the type of person to reach for any kind of pain medicines, but right about now she was wishing for something just so she could blink without throbbing in pain.
A coolness met her cheek, and she opened her eyes to see Gabriel spreading something on her face.
“It will fade the bruise and be healed by morning. How is your head?”
“Hurting,” she ground out, not wanting him to see just how much pain she was in.
“That I won’t be able to heal overnight, but I will be able to help with the pain and begin the healing quicker.”
Shannon no longer cared if he sewed a rabbit to her head. The ache had spread everywhere. Even her hair hurt now.
“Shannon?”
She heard Gabriel calling to her as if from a great distance, but she couldn’t answer him. Then she stopped trying all together. The darkness was much better than the hell she lived in.
The next thing she knew, she woke to find the sun just coming up over the horizon and Benton banging on her door. True to his word, Benton didn’t remember a thing after her beating.
Shannon set the empty ale mugs down and walked to the kitchen. On her way, she walked by a mirror. No bruise marked her face, and the cut on her forehead was small compared to what she knew it must have looked like last night. She owed Gabriel a thank you.
In the back of her mind she wondered what Cole would have done had he seen Benton beating her. That first night, he hadn’t known her, yet had stopped them from hitting her. And just now, once he had seen her cut, the fury that had blazed in his beautiful chocolate eyes had sent a thrill through her.
Cole was the type of man to stop anyone from hitting a woman. And though she knew she wasn’t special to him, she allowed herself to believe it for just a moment.
Benton yelling her name brought her back to reality. By the time she reentered the dining room, Cole was gone. She hated that she missed him, a man she barely knew but a man that held her spellbound with his sensual smile and body that exuded sexuality.
And his kisses. She couldn’t even think about them without feeling moisture between her legs.
While she wondered how she could have managed to allow Cole to talk her into returning to the tavern as she placed plates of food in front of a table of men, the conversation caught her attention.
“She got away,” one of them mumbled. “First time that has happened.”
“Aye,” another added. “She told her family that it was two men that killed the guards and freed her.”
Another snorted. “Two men. I doubt that. ‘Twould take twice that amount to take out twelve of the castle guards.”
“Still, I’d like to meet these men.”
“Who do you think it is?” the one Shannon served asked.
She tried to see his face but wasn’t able to see anything other than a big, bushy salt and pepper beard.
“I wish I knew,” someone said.
“They’ll come again tonight. The beast will need to be fed twice after what happened last eve.”
Shannon couldn’t help but shudder at the man’s words. He was most likely correct. She itched to find Cole and give him what little news she had.
She tried to ignore the fact that she wanted to give him much more than news.
* * *
Cole drummed his fingers on the trunk of the massive ash tree as he stared at the castle. Usually, castles hummed with activity from the village and within, yet this…castle…wasn’t usual.
A creature of pure evil dwelled within, and the person responsible for its appearance was hidden inside as well.
“Not for long,” Cole mumbled as he watched the guards change at the gatehouse tower.
His gaze moved to the six other towers as the guards changed there as well. The towers were entirely too tall to climb, and the round shape would make it doubly hard.
He and Gabriel’s disguise as monks might be able to work again, but just in case they needed another rou
te, Cole was going to find it this day.
He leisurely walked through the forest until he reached the castle, then he strolled around the castle. It was heavily defended, the walls thick, the towers high, and the guards plenty. But every fortress had a weak spot.
The forest surrounded the village and the back half of the castle. The castle was built on a rocky incline that gave it added advantage to any army trying to attack.
It was at the back of the castle, in the dense forest, that Cole stumbled upon a stone wall that protruded from the castle into the forest. Curious, Cole followed the stone wall through the forest until it connected once again to the castle.
As he contemplated just what was inside the wall, the roar of the creature sounded. Cole jerked. The creature was near, very near.
Immediately, Cole began to climb the wall. He had gotten half way up when he heard movement behind him. A quick glance showed the red tunics of the castle guards.
With a curse, Cole dropped to the ground and quickly hid.
Cole watched from his hiding spot just a few feet from the wall as the baron and his men walked up.
“Are you sure?” the baron turned and asked one of the guards.
“Aye, my lord. He had dark brown hair, and he was trying to scale the wall.” Gyles narrowed his eyes on the guard. “If there was someone here, he is still in the forest. Find him,” he bellowed.
The guards hastily fanned out into the trees. All but one.
Cole watched as Gyles and the man spoke in hushed tones, and though he tried to catch something of their conversation, he heard nothing.
Gyles turned and walked back to the castle, but the guard stayed and looked into the trees as if he could see through them and find Cole.
Cole looked the man over. He stood well over six feet, and his massive frame could crush a man’s skull. This one Cole and Gabriel would have to watch out for.
He waited until the huge guard turned and left, then Cole crawled from the thick underbrush near the castle wall and stood. He glanced at the wall and thought of trying again to climb over, but the sound of the guards thrashing in the forest quickly changed his mind.
* * *
Cole found Gabriel at the back of the tavern watching Shannon. “How is she?” Gabriel regarded him a moment. “She is fine.”
“What happened last eve?”
Gabriel pushed away from the tree he leaned against and ran his hands down his prized bow. “As soon as I saw what was going on, I intervened. I told you I would protect her when you couldn’t, Cole.”
“She got hurt.
“And I treated that as well.”
Cole sighed and turned away. “Thank you.”
“Tell me, my brother. Why does she mean so much to you?”
“I wish I knew,” Cole answered softly.
They sat in silence watching Shannon through the open windows for a time. Cole didn’t know where the protectiveness for Shannon had come from. He protected all women and children, but with Shannon, it was different.
He told himself it was because she had been brought here without her consent, but he knew it was much more than that. He just didn’t want to dig and find out the truth.
Not yet.
“There’s a wall in back of the castle,” he said to take his mind of Shannon.
Gabriel glanced at him. “Where does it lead?”
“Into the forest, then back around to the castle. From what I can tell, it makes a large circle.”
“Odd don’t you think?”
“Very. I heard the creature within and tried to climb the wall but wasn’t able to get in before the guards came. There’s a man we need to keep an eye out for.”
“Really?” Gabriel asked, his interest peaked. “And who is this man?” Cole turned to look at Gabriel. “You’ll recognize him on site. He has to be the largest man I’ve ever seen.”
“Hmmm,” Gabriel said. “I’m looking forward to meeting him. We’ve done enough watching and listening. I’m ready for battle.”
Chapter Twelve
As soon as Shannon spotted Cole, she wanted to run to him and share everything she had learned that day, which was more than she expected.
Knowing she needed an excuse to go to him, she brought him a mug of ale, trying to make it appear as though she wasn’t in a hurry.
It had helped her to know that all during the day, Cole had been there, watching her, protecting her. Oh, she knew Cole and Gabriel changed positions so Cole could gather a look around, but she liked to delude herself into thinking it was only Cole watching her.
She leaned as close as she could to Cole as she sat the mug next to him. “I have information for you.”
“How are you feeling?”
She blinked, not thinking she heard him correctly.
“Does your head ache?” he asked.
“No,” she whispered. The happiness that swam through her body at knowing he had been worried about her was intense.
“Meet me in my chamber after midnight,” he said just before she straightened.
Joy leapt in her heart until she realized they weren’t meeting to make out, but so that she could give him the information.
What is wrong with me? I’m acting like a man thinking of sex all the time.
She blamed it on Cole. Men like him shouldn’t exist. He kept her mind jumbled and her body in constant need. But she would have to remember he wasn’t for her.
Her eyes met his, and for a moment, she could have sworn she saw desire there.
She told herself as she walked away it was because she wanted to see the desire.
She was quickly becoming a wanton, something she had never imagined herself to be, and with a man she hardly knew.
* * *
Aimery had called a gathering of his generals. In order for the Fae to stay ahead of this game the evil played, he needed to give his generals as much knowledge as he could.
“Any news from your scouts,” he asked them.
Michyl rose. “My scouts sense the evil, but have found nothing they can fight.
The evil seems to know our next move before we make it.” Aimery thought over Michyl’s words. If it was true it meant either the evil was able to read their thoughts, or they had a traitor. And neither option was good.
“My men are watching over Stone Crest,” Sebastian said as he stood. “No evil has ventured there since the gargoyle, but if the Chosen are to be held there, I’ll need more men.”
“Then more you’ll have,” Aimery said. “Dom, how go your scholars on discovering where the creatures are trapped?” Dom slowly shook his head. “We’ve searched many realms, Aimery, but have found nothing yet.”
Aimery fisted his hands. He had hoped by now they would have more information. “We have a long road ahead of us, men. If the evil is too scared to fight us on our own realm, we need to keep the Shields armed and ready to battle when needed.
Any information, no matter how trivial you think it might be, needs to be brought to me.
It was that trivial information that led us to discover the Chosen ones.” He waited until they left his office before he put his head in his hands and sighed.
How he longed to find out who the evil was and end this.
* * *
Shannon thought the night would never come. The anticipation of meeting Cole had helped to make the evening pass, but once she was in her bed, all she could think about was seeing Cole.
She could well imagine the seconds that ticked by as she waited. Without her watch, she had no idea when it was midnight, but she stayed as long as she could before creeping out of her room and up the stairs.
Just as she had expected, Benton had left a few hours after the inn had closed for the night. It was the only reason Shannon felt safe enough to leave her room, that and because she knew Gabriel watched her.
She raised her hand to lightly knock on Cole’s door when it was suddenly thrown open and he jerked
her inside.
“About time,” he murmured as he looked first one way then the other down the hall before closing and barring the door.
“I didn’t know what time it was.” Just being in the room with him sent her body on overload. She crossed her arms over her chest to try to hide her nipples that had gone hard as soon as she touched him.
