“Get her!” a voice roared. “Kill him!”
That flash of blond hair. Fuck!Flaeron. The bastard charged down the slope, face distorted with fury—then the ward force slammed into him and hurled him back.
“Come on, Ash!” Race urged.
She grunted, stretching for him, and her fingertips brushed his, slick with sweat?—
Her beautiful eyes darkened with terror as she slipped back. “Race!”
No!With everything in him, he lunged, pain ripping through his shoulder, but he locked onto her coat’s sleeve. “I got you!”
He hauled her forward.
Together, they plunged through the portal.
They crash-landed onto the abbey courtyard in Romania, the humid darkness giving way to a blinding white world. Packed snow crunched under their weight, the bitter cold a shock after Lemuria’s heat.
With a thought, Race slammed the gateway shut, its hiss fading into silence.
“Ash!” He shot to his knees and turned to her. She lay next to him, curled into a fetal position, her hands still sparking. “Are you okay?”
“We-we made it,” she rasped, her teeth chattering.
Falling snowflakes dusted her soot-streaked face, her soft, golden beige eyes marbled with residual lightning. But her smile, though tremulous, made his own take form.
“Of course, we did.” He put a palm against her cheek, letting his warmth flow through her. “Did you imagine any other way?”
Another shiver racked her, and she half laughed, half groaned. “We must make quite the sight, uh? You, bloodied, me, soot-covered, like we dug our way out of a coal mine. Next time, I’m keeping themorvaenstone against my skin—less trouble.”
Amusement lit through him as he scanned her for any wounds. “But you did well, taking that guard down?—”
“Of all the ways I figured we’d find you,” a familiar voice drawled, cutting him off, “ravishing a female in the abbey’s courtyard, in the snow, wasn’t one of them.”
Race groaned and hung his head. Of course, he couldn’t avoid the taunting bastard when he lived here as well. “Piss off, Dag.”
“You do know you have an arrow in your shoulder?” his fellow Guardian asked.
“What?” Ash’s eyes widened, and she scrambled to her knees to circle around to his back.
Race reached behind and yanked the arrow free, his teeth gritted at the sting. “Surface wound. I’m fine.”
He flung the arrow aside, rose, and helped Ash to her feet. She frowned at him, then turned and eyed his fellow Guardian curiously.
Dagan, with his whipcord warrior braids falling past his waist, was a sight to behold.
Just as well the Sumerian ex-god was mated, or Race might have to kill him.
A pale, redheaded female hurried outside, the faint scars along her jaw to her ear stark in the daylight. Relief lit her face when she saw him. “Race, everyone was so worried.”
“Shae,” he greeted. “Good to know I was missed.”
She laughed, and Dagan slipped his arm around her. “What happened?” he demanded. “Michael’s on a warpath.”
“Can’t talk now. I’ll be back soon. Ash, c’mon.” With a deep exhale, Race lifted his hands, mentally opening a portal?—
“What are you doing?” Ash gasped. “Those guards will come through after us.”
“Different gateway.” He reached back and tugged her closer. “This one drops us on Long Island. Too far to dematerialize.”
