“’Tis not a birthmark,” Brodie replied, scowling. “I?can feel?that much.”?He pulled his hand away.
“Of course it is,” I said,?folding my arms across my chest and?trying to pretend as if I didn’t miss his warm, gentle touch. “I’ve had it since I was born. What else could it be?” Everyone’s obsession with my birthmark was freaking me out.
“What you got there is an aberration,” Brodie insisted. “But that doesna change the fact that ‘tis no birthmark. There’s holy energy simmering within. Someone tried to hide it by disfiguring the original mark. But it will come back, as soon as ye awaken it again.”
“And just how do I do that?” I asked as I buttoned up my shirt.
“How should I know? Yer the Sentinel, not me.”
“And just what is a Sentinel?” I kept hearing that term, and I was getting tired of everyone acting as if I should automatically know what it was.
“It’s a warrior, lass,” he said. “Pretty damn good ones too. I should have known you didn’t have your faculties about you. Otherwise, those Demonkin couldn’t have touched ye, let alone held you like they did.” He?pressed his index finger into the mark on my chest again, which was still peeking out through my torn shirt. Another tingle shot through my body, but I ignored it. “That’s yer proof right there—a holy branding that?no man could ever inflict. It’s not a birthmark, lass—it’s yer birthright.” He scooped a hand through his hair. “Can ye not even talk to yer angel?” He shook his head when I just stared blankly. “No, o’ course not. That would be too easy.”
He dropped his hand, and I gaped at him, trying to process the answer he’d just given me. I was a Sentinel, a warrior who was supposed to have an angel with me who could help me fight… what? Demons? Demonkin? I didn’t even know if they were the same or different. This wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be.
But given everything I’d seen so far, it wasn’t that crazy. Despite the insanity of it all, something inside me leapt, as if rejoicing. Could this be the real reason behind my insatiable desire to serve and protect? Had I found my true calling?
“If I am a Sentinel,” I said slowly. “Wouldn’t it be best to find others of my kind, so I can learn more about what I am and how to fix this? If there truly is something wrong with me, I mean.” A light bulb went off in my head as soon as I spoke the words. My seizures… I’d always thought that if I could find out what was wrong with me, what was causing them, then they would disappear. Could they be connected to this lost past of mine?
“Aye, we’ll find them,” Brodie agreed. “But right now, I need ye to come with me.?If those Demonkin find the current circle, which they probably will once they come to their senses, they’ll follow us here. We need to be gone before that happens. I’ve got a car over there,” he added, jerking his head toward the other end of the field. “Come with me, and I’ll take ye somewhere safe.”
He grabbed my hand, and the touch of his skin against mine sent another rush of warmth through me. My gut told me to do what he said and follow this trail of craziness to its source. But there was a little voice in the back of my mind screaming that this was insanity. That this man was a stranger, and that smart women didn’t get into strange cars with strange men, even handsome ones.
It would be so nice if Brodie was the answer to all my prayers. If he could truly help. But I didn’t know if I could trust him, and he’d taken me to the middle of nowhere, away from anyone and anything I knew, without so much as a by-your-leave. How did I know that he didn’t have ulterior motives? Those EMTs were supposed to rescue me, but instead, they’d kidnapped me. What if Brodie’s handsome face and charming grin were blinding me to the truth—that he was no better than they were?
A loud noise echoed from beyond the circle, and I jumped. Immediately, Brodie’s grip on me tightened, and he hauled me roughly across the line. Panic seized me. I yanked back, then slammed my elbow into his face. Roaring, he clutched at his bloody nose, and I took advantage of the distraction, kneeing him in the family jewels. He dropped to his knees like a stone, and I sprinted away, fear driving me faster than the wind. Going for the balls was a low blow, and I didnotwant to see what would happen if he caught me.
“Stop!” Brodie called, his voice hoarse with a desperation that sent a chill through my bones. “He’s going to kill ye, lass!”
Ignoring him, I put my head down and kept running. I was tired of being hauled around by men and told what to do. It was about time I took my life into my own hands.
6
Arabella
My heart gallopedas I shot through the field in record time and burst into the forest that lurked just at the perimeter. The narrow paths between the trees and the roots sticking out of the ground slowed me a little, but I didn’t stop. No way was I stopping. I couldn’t allow myself to be taken to a strange place where I had no idea what was going on. I was a capable woman, and I was going to find civilization, determine where I was, and figure out how to get back home.
My breath came faster as I charged up a steep hillside, and I clutched at my ribs as they began to ache again. Dammit, it would be nice to have another one of those strange healing patches Brodie had given me.
As soon as I thought those words, the air in front of me started to shimmer. I skidded to a stop just as Brodie stepped out of nothingness, fully formed in all his muscular, tattooed glory. My hands slammed against his chest, and he gripped them hard, fingers digging into my wrists. The expression on his face was absolutely thunderous, and I swallowed hard against the ball of terror in my throat.
“Ye might be more trouble than yer worth, lass,” he growled, a vein pulsing at his temple.
“Then maybe you should let me go!” I shoved at him, but he didn’t budge. Dammit! Where was my gun when I needed it?
“Trust me, lass, ye dinnae want me to go. Ye won’t last half a day on yer own, and I can’t have yer death laying on my chest for the rest of my nights.”
“Fine.” I yanked my hands from his grip and crossed my arms over my chest. “I absolve you, then! What I do is officially no longer your concern. Not that it ever was.” I glared at him, not sure why the hell he was so interested in me. How did he even know I was in trouble, anyway?
“Oh, is that how it is?” Brodie threw back his head and laughed, his broad shoulders shaking. “The girl who doesn’t even know where she comes from thinks she can give me the night off?” He leaned in close, so close that I could smell him. Musk, sweat, and something uniquely earthly filled my nostrils, and the combination made me strangely lightheaded. “I dinnae take orders from ye, lass,” he growled, his eyes sparkling with rage.
”Then who do you take orders from?” I insisted. “Who told you to come and rescue me?”
“Gaia herself, of course.” He scoffed, as though that were obvious. “We Druids take our orders from Mother Earth. And for reasons that she hasn’t shared with me, she wants me to protect ye. And so I shall, even if it’s against yer will.”
He lunged for me, and I sidestepped him with a speed that shouldn’t have been impossible. Before I knew it, I’d driven my shoulder into his shoulder, and my palm beneath his chin, forcing him off balance. My other hand slammed into his kidney from behind, and he went crashing to the ground.
Holy Jesus. How the hell did I do that? My heart jackhammered in my chest even as I twisted his arm behind his back. I’d had years of training in hand-to-hand combat before my epilepsy started, but I’d never moved this fast in my life.
