“Someone, help me, please,” she croaked, tears sliding down her face.
But no one was coming. After all, she was supposed to die…
A half-dressed Race appeared in the courtyard where Lore stood near the balustrade, still scrying for the blight who’d taken Nia.
“What the hell happened?” Race pulled on a t-shirt. “You’ve been guarding her like a dog with a bone, and I know you’re fucking her?—”
Lore slammed his fist straight into Race’s jaw.
The Guardian’s head snapped back. Black scales glided under his skin.
“Never speak of her in that manner.”
Race snorted, moving his jaw as the scales faded. “It can only be your bros who’ve taken her. The question is, why?” His eyes narrowed. “The Celestial Realm has been known to kill mortals born of angels and humans, who possess the powers of angels…and she is psionic. Shit, man, I’m betting my dragon’s scaly ass those twits from above asked you to take her out!” He laughed. “You’re so fucking screwed once Nia gets wind of it.”
Lore shut out the idiot’s remark, regretting asking him for help. But the truth hit hard, and he rubbed the ache in his chest, shooting out his senses again…Come on, come on. Where are you, Nia?
As if in response to his desperation, a faint thread of fear tugged at him.
Nia!
He flashed from the abbey, following the pull, and reappeared in a dark space with an earthy smell. A damp mountain cave.
“You tracked her here? Never mind, I can pick up her vibes, too,” Race said.
Lore scowled at him. He didn’t want Race topick upanything about Nia, just to find her before he truly lost her. Angels worked fast with a direct death order.
Her scent was strong, and her terror hit him hard.
He scoured every recess in the cave?—
A coppery odor flooded his nose. His heart pounded as he crouched and touched the fresh, wet splotches on the dirty granite ground.
“She’s hurt!” he rasped, her spilled blood his own agony. “He will pay.”
“Then let’s find the fucker,” Race growled.
Lore shot to his feet and dematerialized from the cave to the ledge of the mountain. He scanned for her over the sweeping lands.
“Lock it in, man.” Race appeared at his side. “You’re throwing off enough rage to alert your brethren to where we are.”
Jaw clenched, Lore pulled every bit of his fury deep into his psyche, shields bolted, and continued scanning for Nia.
“So, he’s hiding her somewhere in the Abode of Snow?”
“What?” Lore took in the raw, frigid beauty of the surrounding mountainous range, trying to track Nia’s energy, needing a vibration to follow. Whoever had taken her was skilled at concealing her.
“It’s the name of this place,” Race said. “Legend is that the shrines here are also revered as the Abode of Shiva.”
Lore hoped to the heavens that whoever this deity was, he kept her safe because Lore had already done a dirt-poor job of it?—
A faint, pained cry drifted in the air, ripping through his soul. Nia!
His wings broke free. Lore soared off.Hold on, Nia. Hold on.
A moment later, he landed outside the crumbling ruins of a temple. It didn’t appear that humans visited the place anymore, not with nature reclaiming much of it. A jungle surrounded them. Trees loomed, branches tangled above, leaving only the bare bones of a decaying shrine.
A snake hissed and slithered past his foot. Several were coiled around the boughs.
