He licked the smudges and his breath caught. A gentle frisson coasted through him, lighting his blood. While it wasn’t the kick-in-the-balls sensation Reynner had mentioned when he’d first tasted his mate’s plasma, his heart thumped hard at the possibility.
Leya had to be a Chosen.
But he needed more to be sure.
How the hell did he ask her for blood after what just happened? She’d likely stab him with his own dagger and take off again. He wanted to kill those fucking demoniis again for ruining everything!
No matter. His grip tightened on the book. He’d use what he had.
He sure as hell wasn’t letting a valuable Chosen slip through his fingers.
CHAPTER4
The cool,late noon breeze did little to curb Aerén’s ire as he dealt a counterblow to the sword coming at him, the powerful clash of their weapons reverberating through the tranquil place in upstate New York.
“Shit!” Reynner swore, barely evading the dismembering blow. “Why exactly are you trying to remove my innards? You’re out of the noisy city and have the quiet you wanted.”
Explain to the warrior about his encounter with a certain female last night and the utter failure it turned out to be? Just thinking about it amplified his frustration. How could something straightforward become a canyon the size of Élendium to navigate? And Élendium was a fucking huge continent!
“Hell!” Reynner leaped back from another dangerous blow, flashing up a hand. “Before I get decapitated, let’s call a halt.” Chest heaving, he rested his sword against a shrub and refastened his loosened hair.
“You need to Ground, sire.”
Aerén cut Thiorr a flat look for stating the obvious. The warrior, who’d turned up in the early hours of the morning, folded his arms over his chest, not in the least bit fazed.
He thrust his weapon into the grass and swiped his sweaty face on his biceps, then realized he didn’t have his damn shirt on and scowled, causing Reynner to cock his damn eyebrow again. So, his powers were out of whack, and he was freakin’ sweating, something his kind never did. He just wished they’d eff the hell off his case!
“I can’t go back to Empyrea to Ground. It’s too risky.” How he managed a calm tone, he had no idea. “The portal is skewed and could spew us out weeks or months too far into the future when I return.”
“The mountains in Exilum work well enough,” Reynner pointed out.
Aerén shook his head. “Not anymore. They aren’t giving me what I need.”
Besides, he had an intractable female to hunt down.
“Your kind of power cannot seep out, not even a smidgen,” Reynner warned. “You’ll hurt, if not kill, a mortal.”
“I’m aware of what can happen!”
“What’s going on?” Thrase cut into the tense air. “You’re not your usual calm self.”
Aerén snagged his tee from the porch railing next to where Thrase stood with Thiorr and swiped his face and body, then unclenched his jaw to speak. “I think I might have bumped into a Chosen last night.”
They all stilled.
“Riiight,”Reynner murmured, amusement glinting in his navy eyes.
“There’s noriiightabout it!” Aerén tossed the shirt over his hot face, blocking Reynner’s amused grin. Great! The warrior thought Leya was his potential mate. He had no plans to take one.
Yup, this was Reynner’s payback for all the shit Aerén gave him when Reynner refused to claim Eve as his mate, plain and simple. And there was the little matter of Aerén flirting with, then kissing Eve.
“Don’t tell me, she didn’t melt into a puddle at your feet?” Reynner drawled. “We all know the females follow you like a shadow here, back on Empyrea, anywhere. No coercion needed.”
He ignored the baiting, flinging his shirt over the railing again. “Demoniis appeared.”
“What?” Reynner growled, losing the smirk.
“You mean they materialized right on the street, with humans about?” Thrase stepped off the cabin’s porch, his silver-streaked pewter hair gleaming in the late noon sunlight. “Ballsy of them.”
