He lifted his chin. Faking a smile, he tried to keep his lips from trembling. “We’re tough—the toughest. We’re Kyllwoods.” His voice cracked, but he kept the smile in place. “It’ll be okay, Zane. I promise that we’ll be fine and Mom will, too.” He wasn’t sure how he’d make that happen, but he fought better than any demon or vampire his age, and that had to mean something. He’d use that gift and get even better. Stronger. Until he was unbeatable.
Zane’s chin lifted, and he held out both hands.
Logan grasped his hand and then grabbed Sam’s in his other one. They were brothers. No matter what happened, no matter what he had to do, he’d be what they needed him to be. If Zane needed him to be a good soldier, then he’d do it. Anything to protect his brothers and their mom.
Sam dropped his chin. “This is going to get bad for a while. Really bad.”
Logan shivered. Sometimes Sam knew stuff he shouldn’t. The future couldn’t be already set…they had to be able to build their own lives. Yet he’d learned to listen to Sam. “Will we live?”
Sam nodded. “For a while, anyway. We just have to remember why we’re doing this.”
Zane looked at them both. “Brothers.”
Logan straightened his back, his senses settled. That was that, then. “Brothers,” he vowed. Forever.
Logan jerked awake and coughed out mud. He hadn’t thought of that day in years. Turning his head, he spit out more mud. What in the world? Rolling over, he blinked as rain pummeled his face. Memory returned, and he jumped to his feet, swaying as dizziness rolled through him.
He reached out blindly and pressed his hand against a spruce tree. The smell of the storm, wild and tamarack-scented, grounded him. Straightening, he wiped mud off his face and stared at the two soldiers still on the ground. Surprise and then anger scraped down his back.
Mercy had knocked him out.
He’d just gotten his ass handed to him by a fairy small enough to put in his pocket and carry around.
He shook his head and stars flashed behind his eyes, cutting deep. Blood flowed down the side of his face, warming his skin despite the icy rain. It had been so long since he’d lost a fight that the shock of it kept him immobile for several moments.
Then fury roared in.
The woman had hit him with a branch and left him with two soldiers who wanted him dead. If they’d come to first, they might’ve cut off his head. His anger strengthened, mostly at himself. He hadn’t taken her seriously, and she’d kicked his ass.
Looking around, he found her footprints in the mud. He lifted his head and caught her scent. Wild gardenias.
Shaking off the pain, he turned to track her. The woman knew where Sam was, and she knew what the deal with his niece was. Protecting his family was all that mattered to him. Nobody in this lifetime or the next would hurt Hope Kyllwood.
He’d do anything and everything to ensure that—which meant capturing Mercy. Again.
Never again would he underestimate her. When he caught up to her, and he definitely would, he’d show her that one simple fact.
* * * *
Pain rammed into Mercy’s feet with each new rock, while the wind beat at her as if it was on Logan’s side. Her hair whipped around in the rain, which had become so dense visibility was almost nil. She tried to keep to the rocky shoreline as much as possible. There had to be a cabin or two somewhere around there. Logan had said people fished from the island.
Of course, he hadn’t said where the island was located.
The lake that Sam had dropped them into had been freezing—snow pack, or maybe glacier?
Lightning crashed through the darkness. Something brown caught her eye two trees ahead. With her heart racing in her freezing body, she shoved her way past them and almost started crying in relief.
A hand-hewn cabin nestled amid a large outcropping of rocks. It was dark and deserted, its boards hanging precariously in several places.
But it was shelter from this stormy night.
She stumbled over more rocks and reached the front door. No porch. No steps. The door was about a foot up, and she easily swung it inward. No lock, either. Shaking almost violently, her panties and bra soaked through, she crossed into the silent, dark cabin.
She sensed him before she saw him. Turning out of pure instinct, she caught sight of Logan charging through the doorway behind her. Her shoulders slumped. She had finally found shelter after hours of running, and here he was. Her victory was so short-lived.
And she was not even the slightest bit pleased that the soldiers hadn’t killed him. Nope. Not at all.
Rain matted his dark hair to his head, and water slid over the incredibly hard planes of his body. He looked her over, head to toe, then glanced around.
