Traffic stopped, and the woman bolted.Zeus’s bollocks!Piers grabbed the blond who leaped after her, hauling him back with a snarl. The dark-haired one darted wide, jumped a barrier, and chased her.
The ruffian he’d caught had some combat training. It was enough to break free and land a blow to Piers’s ribs. The son of a Cyclops must’ve thought that was it, because he tried to sprint away again. Piers yanked him back and punched him in the jaw. The man stood there like an idiot, his mouth ajar. Since he was pressed for time, Piers shifted his weight and cracked his elbow into the man’s nose. Not the most sporting of moves, but effective. The big thug squealed like a piglet. He clearly didn’t know how to fight someone who could fight him back, which was probably why he was preying on a weaponless and fleeing woman.
Pink’s frightened stare and panicked little breaths struck him anew, right in the gut this time. Piers spun into a kick, slamming the man in the head with zero remorse and probably harder than he needed to. The lout crumpled.
“Asshole.” Piers turned without a backward glance and ran after the dark-haired man and the woman.
He barely beat the magic and made it across the road before the glowing red hand propelled the traffic forward. He pumped his arms, pushing for as much speed as he dared with frost slicking parts of the hard ground. Cold air filled his lungs, biting his chest from the inside out. He grimaced. What a time to have an aching everything.
Just when he feared he’d lost her, Piers caught a flash of bright color. He followed, slipping once and nearly falling. People jumped out of his way. That was helpful, but not knowing the lay of the land infuriated him. In the blink of an eye, the blue-eyed beauty could disappear, and he’d have no idea where to go, or how to find her.
Or if she was still in danger.
Pink skidded around a sharp corner. Piers followed, sliding but somehow keeping his balance and coming out running. The woman moved fast, with nimble surefootedness even on the sometimes-icy surfaces. Piers barely gained on her. He didn’t see the second warrior.Warriormight not be the term merited, but he wasn’t about to underestimate the second ruffian-for-hire just because the first had been incompetent.
Pink ran as though Zeus’s thunderbolts dogged her heels, and Piers chased her down another narrow street between high buildings. The times he lost sight of that bright, puffy garment and bouncing yellow mane made his pulse race even faster. She turned a corner up ahead, and he pushed himself to his limit, his lungs working like bellows. He turned the same corner just in time to see the dark-haired man pounce out at her from a side alley. The thug slammed into her, sending her sprawling across the pavement.
Piers didn’t know where the wordpavementcame from and didn’t care. His heart exploded with her scream. He drove into the man like a battering ram, shoulder first, head lowered. They scraped across the pavement.Holy gods!He exhaled sharply.
Piers blocked out the pain of several fresh, raw abrasions and jumped to his feet. So did the ruffian. The man drew a knife. Piers drew his sword.
The other man’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not real.”
“Try it,” Piers growled.
The coward tossed his knife aside and pulled out a smallish black thing Piers could only assume was a better weapon. But what kind? He didn’t see a blade. Was this magic?
“Get down!” Pink screamed.
Piers ducked as she darted in and slammed a wooden plank into the thug’s hand. The man dropped the weapon.
Piers kicked it aside. The black thing slid under a big refuse receptacle that smelled even worse than the rest of Apple. The hired thug leaped for his discarded knife. Faster by two steps, Piers swept it up first, finding himself in the pleasant position of being double-bladed while his enemy had nothing.
“Who the hell are you?” The man’s eyes darted to the alley he’d just popped out of. If he thought Piers was going to let him run back down it, he had another guess coming. “Fucking lunatic.”
“I like that name better than Zorba,” Piers said.
Pink laughed. The sudden burst sounded a bit hysterical, but she still laughed, and Piers’s chest swelled with it.
He glanced at her. “Does he live or die?” Piers figured he should give her the choice, since he didn’t know much about this. He kept his blades pointed in the right direction.
Her frantic laughter abruptly wilted. “Wait? You’re serious?”
Piers didn’t kill for sport or enjoy it, but when it came down to eliminating threats that could come back to haunt him—or her—he was dead serious. He nodded.
“You can’t justkillpeople,” she whisper-hissed, moving closer to him. She gripped his arm, trying to move him away from the ruffian.Warriorwas definitely a stretch, and Piers wouldn’t credit the man with the moniker. Either of his younger sisters could’ve kicked this man’s arse from here to Olympus. As for his brothers… Griffin would’ve snapped his neck, no questions asked. Carver would’ve gutted him.
Something deep inside Piers shifted uncomfortably at the idea of Griffin. But why? He’d been riding toward Griffin and Cat, and then… Nothing. He didn’t remember what happened.
Pink tugged again, but Piers didn’t budge. “Come on,” she said, pulling harder.
“He was going to kill you.” Piers wasn’t the bloodthirsty sort, but he was tempted to make an exception if it meant keeping the woman safe. “He’ll try again.”
“No! I wasn’t! I won’t!” The man shook his head, raising his hands in surrender. “I just want the crystal. That’s it. Then it’s over.”
“Can you give him the crystal?” Piers asked.
She shook her head, her blue eyes wide again.
