With shaky hands, she rubbed her burning eyes, feeling as desolate as the mountain. When she awakened this morning, everything had come flooding back, and she sought the one person who’d turned out to be her anchor. But Lore wasn’t around.
A Watcher’s descendant?
Michael’s message said she supposedly was.
As much as she wanted to ignore it, the roiling energy within her and that pyro ability said otherwise. Something was happening to her.
Was that why Kas wouldn’t leave her alone?
Her stomach heaved, and the toast and cold cuts she’d eaten rushed up her throat.
With a moan, she bent over, struggling not to puke. The bastard wanted her for the angelic blood she allegedly carried.
As she straightened, a gust of wind slammed into her, and she stumbled, hitting the slippery surface?—
“Eeep!” she shrieked as she went skidding, spinning like a top across the slick layer of ice. Her heart jammed in her throat, she scrambled for purchase, for anything to hold onto?—
And crashed into a snow pile.
Breathing hard, she lifted her head.
Oh, God!Too close to the edge. Another foot, and she would topple over.
Cautiously, she eased backward…
A creak echoed, and she froze.
Another groan ripped through the air. The crack split the icy ground, forming a fault linebehindher.
Oh shit, oh shit!Nia scrambled to her feet. The wind picked up.
A deafening boom ricocheted, like boulders colliding. The ice shelf she was on broke free, and she fell, along with massive chunks of frozen earth.
“Noooo—”Held in the grips of mindless terror, she plummeted like a weighted kite through the dense, vaporous mist.“Lore, help me!”
The wind tore at her flesh. The sounds of splintering chunks crashed far below her like glass fragmenting.
“Lore!”she screamed as she careened downward, past the hovering mist.
Lore, please, please.
She spun like a top in the air current, descending faster?—
No, his full name,the thought shimmered into her mind. “Loráed,help me, please…”
Tears leaked, and the treetops far below approached at an alarming rate. The winds whined in her ears, and she shut her eyes.
He wasn’t coming.
Death was moments away?—
Powerful arms snatched her from the air. They soared upward. With a hoarse cry, Nia threw her arms around his neck and held on tight. “Y-you came.”
Hot tears coursed down her cheeks. Her heart thrashed violently against her sternum, unable to let go of her horror. She buried her face in his neck and sobbed…
When the tears dried out and the eerie quietness filtered through her chaotic emotions, she became aware of more. Smooth skin over hard muscles and wonderful body heat surrounded her. And that familiar scent of the great outdoors, of citrus groves and the infinite, seeped into her.
Another tremor ran through her. With her head resting on his chest, hiccupping a little, she blinked her blurry eyes and found they were back in the courtyard, under the leafless tree. Lore sat on the bench with her on his lap.
