Her eyes snapped open, and she stumbled back, hacking up smoke, her lungs on fire. She wiped at her streaming eyes and groaned, her breath hitching as her body finally caught up with her mind.
Something cool pressed into her palm. A glass. She drank, the icy water sliding down her burning throat. She coughed again, shivering as the freezing air slipped under her jacket.
When her vision stopped swimming, she blinked her watery eyes, taking in the stark whiteness surrounding her?—
And froze.
The silver-haired barbarian from yesterday—all dangerous swagger and raw power—stood a few feet away, watching her.
“What did you do?” she choked out, her voice rough from the smoke and coughing.
“Saved you, I believe,” he drawled. “Go ahead, thank your supreme being for this great deed, the one who prevented you from becoming toast on a pyre.”
Ash blinked watery eyes.
Was he serious?
With that chiseled jaw and sharp cheekbones, he looked like an angel who got booted out of Heaven for being too bloody fine, but really? All she wanted was five wretched minutes to regain her sanity and get fresh air into her smoke-filled lungs.
“I didn’t need help,” she snapped, gingerly pressing her fingers to her throbbing temple where that lout had punched her. “I was almost free.”
A gleam brightened his eerie, claret eyes. “I beg to differ.”
Ignoring his obvious amusement, Ash sipped more water and stiffened. Hehadgiven her the glass, was helping her, or so he said…
She narrowed her eyes over the rim, eyeing him suspiciously. “What do you want?”
“Want?” He folded his arms across his broad chest, the muscles shifting beneath his black t-shirt. A stylized tattoo of a sword inked on one massive biceps peeked out from under the sleeve. A slow smirk appeared on his ridiculously handsome face. “I believe I already told you—you are mine. So, save you, I must.”
“Ugh, I can’t deal with you right now.” Ash gingerly pressed the chilled glass against the burning bruises on her wrists—from the rope burns or her own power, she didn’t know—exhaling at the cool relief. “Where am I?”
He remained near the almost denuded oak tree, snow settling on his shiny hair and dusting his shoulders. “No yelling if I tell you.”
She scowled. “Like you so kindly pointed out, I was about to become toast?—”
“Quite crisped, too, I believe.”
“Christ, you’re a colossal pain in my backside.” She knuckled her burning eyes, and he chuckled.
“You’re in an abbey in the mountains.”
Her head shot up, her mind spinning, and she staggered back a step.
“Have you lost your ever-loving mind?” she yelled, but it came out more as a squeak with her throat hurting.
He shrugged. “You wanted the truth.”
Ash dragged a shaky breath, rubbing her hot face in a vain attempt to calm down. Nothing worked. She lowered her hand, and those eerie eyes locked on hers, unblinking. Everything inside her went tight.
Right now, he didn’t evenlookhuman. All her instincts screamed,Run.
Not human?
God, she bit back a groan.The smoke’s clearly messing with my head.
“Think, little vixen.” His gaze drifted over her face, slow and deliberate. “Youpossess psychic abilities. How else wouldIget you from the Himalayas to the Tatra in seconds flat?”
Ugh. He just had to point that out.
