“Damn right, we are.”
When she stepped away from me, I released her. I started to turn away when her voice stopped me, “I’m yours too, Hawk.”
I grinned at her, but she was already admiring a wicked-looking machete. Still, I couldn’t stop smiling as I walked over to Corson and Bale.
“Did you talk to Caim?” I asked them.
“Yes,” Bale said. “He’s going to try to find Raphael or a way to get him here sooner.”
“Good,” I said as I glanced around the library. “Hopefully we won’t need him.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Aisling
Nestled within Hawk’s arms, I listened to the muffled sounds of the others as they tossed and turned in their sleep or snored. The moonlight spilling through the floor-to-ceiling windows only ten feet away from us was the only source of illumination in the library, but it revealed most of the mattresses spread across the floor.
Trying to sleep in this place was challenging enough without having Hawk’s body draped protectively around mine. The last thing I should be thinking about in this stifling building was sex, but my body pleaded with me to roll over and take him inside me. I was almost to the point where I didn’t care who saw us, but while sex in a public place sounded like fun, sex with others watching did not.
Plus, there was the possibility a half-man, half-bull monster could show up and wreak havoc any second now. That was enough to tamp down my growing desire even as Hawk’s fingers slid through mine and he gripped my hand.
Someone coughed in the shadows, and a sob came from somewhere to my right. I almost threw aside the blanket and bolted to my feet. I couldn’t take the oppression of this place or the hopelessness of these people anymore. Instead, I burrowed closer to Hawk and tried to shut out the despair enshrouding the building.
His lips nuzzled my cheek as he cradled me against him. Locked in his arms, I didn’t feel as overwhelmed or sad and melted against him. And then, I felt the faintest vibrations in the floor.
I held my breath as I waited to see if something would follow it, but I didn’t sense anything else. I was starting to relax when I felt it again and, behind me, some books rattled on a shelf. Someone cried out, and the sobs became louder as the next vibration caused the metal in the pile of weapons to click.
I realized the vibrations were the steps of the minotaur when the next one caused the light fixture overhead to sway. The next step rattled the glass in the windows. Through the shadows, I saw people sitting up on their mattresses before pushing themselves to their feet. Something about the resignation encasing them caused sorrow to rise in me.
They were already so defeated. I hadn’t let myself think about what would happen when the minotaur arrived, but no matter what, I would not let myself accept the inevitable fate they’d chosen.
It was time to kill a beast and get out of here.
Hawk’s breath tickled my ear as he spoke. “Stay close to me.”
“If you stay close to me,” I whispered.
“Always.”
He kissed my cheek before releasing me and rolling away. I instantly missed him against my back, but I shoved my feet into my boots and tied them while I tried to shut out the muffled sobs of those around us.
Their acceptance of their inevitable deaths irritated me, but it unnerved me too. There were some strong and powerful demons here, yet they were as convinced as the humans that the minotaur was unbeatable.
I tried not to think about that as I slung a rifle over my back before lifting a spear. I’d picked out both weapons earlier in the hopes they would keep me from having to get too close to the beast. I raised my palm before me and willed a ball of fire to life.
The flames danced across my face as I made it grow before shrinking it again. I’d practiced with it every day, and it was a lot stronger since I bonded with Hawk, but I didn’t know how effective it would be against the minotaur, and I preferred not to get close enough to use it against the beast. Still, if that thing grabbed me, I’d torch its ass.
“Come on, everyone, outside,” Randy said.
I glanced at Hawk when he moved closer to me and rested his hand on the small of my back. The minotaur’s next step caused a book to tumble off a shelf; it hit the floor with a bang that caused me to jump.
Get your act together. You’ve trained for this and worse.
Then why did I feel like the virgin sacrifice climbing up the mountain to throw herself into the erupting volcano to appease the gods? The gods would be greatly disappointed ifIwas their virgin sacrifice; the volcano would probably belch me up.
We fell in at the back of the group as everyone funneled down the stairs to the swinging doors below. Nadine remained sitting on her mattress with Oliver on her lap. The boy clung to her, but no tears streaked his face as he watched everyone walking past.
And then we were going down the stairs and out the front doors to the street below. Leaves and dust covered the cracked asphalt, and the weeds poking through large patches of the road made it more green than black. I hoped no one broke an ankle on the broken street as we gathered in the middle of it.
