Oh. Shit. Redas gasp had Dayns heart dropping, even as guilt knotted tight and sharp in his gut over what hed done to Keely. Not just because of the feeding and the cover-up, but because he saw the politics now. You son of a bitch. Youre going to use this to boot her out, arent you? I bet youve just been waiting for a good excuse.
The wolfsbene was flowing hard and fast in his veins now, but there was nowhere to run. He went for his crossbow, bringing it up.
Kenars eyes lit with vicious fury. He signaled the pack forward and shouted, By Right of Threatkill them!
Dayn nailed the closest beta in the haunch, aiming to wound but not disable. As the male went down howling and snapping at the bolt, Dayn grabbed Redas hand. Come on!
They made it only a short way before the ranks closed again. Reda had his back, fending off the creatures with sweeps of her unstrung bow as he sent two more bolts into the crowd. And over his shoulder, he said, Im sorry, Reda.
But apologies didnt fix anything, did they? Never had.
Grief and guilt rose up within him like old friends as he pulled his short sword. Im going to try to make a hole. Be ready to run and hang on to that map. Because she would be running without him. There was no way Kenar would let him live now.
Dayn. Redas voice was choked, but that was all. And he didnt blame her for not knowing what else to say.
Roaring, he swung the weapon in a glittering arc and surged forward with her right behind him. He made it through the first rank, knocked aside a big beta in the second, and
Without warning, an arrow seared so close that he felt the vibration on his skin as it passed him and carved a nasty furrow across the next animals back.
Ware the woods! Kenar yelled as another arrow sang past and glanced off the shoulder of an older wolfyn in the outer rank.
Not stopping to question the rescue, Dayn grabbed Redas hand and hauled her toward the gap that had just been punched in the line. Come on!
They flew across a section of open road, then across to where a huge rock face rose up thirty or so feet to a sloping plateau. With the wolfsbene flowing through his veins and the entire Scratch-Eye pack lunging after him, Dayn made it up the sheer stone face in two big bounds, dragging Reda with him.
They crested the top and charged along the downslope, which put them on a narrow ridgeline with dense scrub on either side, forcing the pursuing wolfyn to run parallel to them, howling and barking in challenge, anger and threat. But Dayns heart pounded and his muscles burned, propelling him faster than any human, faster even than most of the wolfyn. And Reda matched him stride for stride.
They soon outdistanced the bulk of the pack, until only a few of the fastest wolfyn were keeping pace where the ridge swept lower to flat ground and the scrub thinned along a narrow plateau that ended in the canyon: a wide chasm that was spanned right at this point by a narrow rope bridge.
As they charged down the steep incline and their pursuers closed on either side, Dayn said, Stay behind me, but keep up. If we can make it across that bridge, we can pull the pins from the other side. There were other ways across, but they involved a half days detour. She made a noise that might have been assent, might have been a whimper, but there was no time to stop and discuss options.
And there werent any other options.
Dayns pulse throbbed, thudding in his head and beneath his skin, and power seared in his veins, urging him on. When they broke from the last of the trees to the flat plateau that led to the bridge, there were only two wolfyn still following. Those two, though, closed in fast. Then, as if choreographed, they split and attacked, one from each side.
As they leaped, Dayn shouted, Down!
He and Reda hit the dirt and the wolfyn actually collided in midair. The larger one drove the smaller back and down; they landed hard a few feet away and scuffled.
Dayn dragged Reda up, ready to run again, then stopped dead as he saw that the two wolfyn werent struggling to get up and continue the chase. They were fighting.
And one of them was Keely.
The battle was short but vicious; within seconds, she rose to her feet, leaving the other lying stunned and still. Then she shimmered and changed, becoming her familiar self. Except that she suddenly looked entirely unfamiliarstill tall, gorgeous and stacked, buthe didnt know what the but was, actually. It was there, though.
She looked at Reda. Youre his guide?
So he tells me. The women shared a look that excluded him, left him baffled.
You knew? he demanded of Keely. How? Then, because there was only one possible answer, he said, Candida told you.
She wanted someone else to know, in case anything happened to her. When the witchs servant came, I pretended I didnt know, and tried to think of a way to get a message to you, warn you of what was going on, but I couldnt.
The guilt was a raw ache inside him. Im sorry. I would have told you everything, butKenar.
Kenar, she agreed. And there was something in her voice that hadnt been there before. Anger, maybe, or defiance. He wondered whether that was new or if, like her collusion with Candida, there were layers to her that he hadnt seen.
Thanks for helping us get away, he said, knowing that must have been her. His eyes went to the still form of the unconscious wolfyn. Will you get in trouble?
Ill blame it on you. She glanced back along the ridgeline, where growing howls warned that the rest of the pack was regathering. You should get across the bridge and pull the pins.
Thats the plan.
Which way are you headed?
Northwest, he said without hesitation, giving her his full trust, though far too late. To Meriden Arch.
Northwest, he said without hesitation, giving her his full trust, though far too late. To Meriden Arch.
She nodded. Ill tell them you went south, then. Well head for the log crossing down by Candle Pass.
That would put the pack a solid half day behind them. Ill owe you one. Hell, I owe you, period. He paused. Keels, Im sorry about the mindspeaking. I justI had to feed.
She shrugged, and her voice held only wolfyn practicality when she said, I was pretty freaked out when Candida first told me, but she helped me get over it. And in the long run, it was a fair tradeI used you for sex, you used me for blood. Thats what people like us douse each other.
It was a hell of an indictment. And he couldnt deny it.
He swallowed hard, very aware that Reda had drawn away from him; her arms were wrapped around her body as if she was freezing and she stared out over the chasm as if she couldnt look at him. He wanted to pull her aside and tell her that wasnt how it had been between him and Keely. Except that it was exactly like thatshe had nailed it. They had used each other, and each been content with the deal. Now, though, with the wolfsbene running in his veins and Reda in the picture, the arrangement echoed cold and bloodless.
He didnt have the luxury of time to pull her aside, though, or even try to reason through the sudden change inside him. They needed to move now, talk later.
To Keely, he said, Be careful, okay? And be happy.
Go. Her amber eyes went from him to Reda and back. And heyyou be happy, too, okay?
He didnt know how to answer that, so he just nodded. Thanks for everything. Business deal or not, you helped make the past twenty years bearable. He didnt kiss her goodbye, just as he had rarely kissed her hello. Theirs had never been that sort of a relationship. Instead, he nudged Reda toward where a low line of trees hid the edge of the canyon. Come on. Keely will buy us as much time as she can, but we need to get across the bridge and drop it from the other side before the pack gets here.
She didnt say a word as they jogged toward the trees, but he didnt know for certain if that was because she was shell-shocked by the wolfyn attack, upset over the Keely thing, or something else. Or all of the above.
But he did know for certain that his arrangement with Keely had nothing to do with his feelings for Reda. One had been business and practicality, while the other was entirely impractical and ill-advised. Yet even knowing that, he couldnt keep his eyes off Reda. Part of it was the wolfsbene, yes. But most of it was her.
He wanted to crowd her, nip her, hurry her along. Instead, he stayed by her side, pacing her and guarding her flank as they reached the chasms edge and headed for the bridge. There were enough trees that they didnt get a clear look at the spindly structure until they were nearly on top of it.
Reda stopped dead, her face going stark in the moonlight as she said, Oh, hell, no.
Its safe, I promise. But, admittedly, it wasnt the most inspiring sight. Four long ropes were strung from one side to the other: two suspending a sparse walkway of wooden planks that glowed nearly white in the moonlight, and two more lines at shoulder height for balance. Shorter lengths tied at gallop-stride intervals supported the fluid structure, which moved and rippled in the air currents that convected up from the depths. He nudged her forward. You can do this. Ill be right behind you.
No. She backed up until she bumped into him, her back to his front, stirring heat and echoes of the earlier kiss he was trying to keep at the edges of his mind. Theres got to be another way.
There isnt.
What if
Hearing the first ominous hunting howl behind them, he came around in front of her and cupped her face in her hands. We need to keep going forward, Reda. Its the only way.
He had meant only to take her attention off the bridge, but when he touched the soft skin of her jaw, heat washed through him, and something deep inside said, Mine. And when her eyes came up to meet his, need tightened to a fist in his chest, and that same something said, Now. He didnt fight the urges, though maybe he should have. Instead, he crushed his lips to hers, swallowed her gasp and took them both under in a kiss that shouldnt have been pure perfection. But was.
ONE SECOND REDA WAS terror-stricken, and the next she was on fire.
There was no transition, no warning, nothing but the sudden press of a hard male body and the demanding shape of his lips and tongue against hers. She should have yanked away, but couldnt find those synapses amid the heat and needy, greedy desire that flared instantly through her.