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"Like my brother," he answered softly. "I'm not him. I promise you that. You never have to be afraid of me. I love you, Alexandra. I always will."
Gingerly he took her beautiful face in his hands and kissed her. She felt so good in his arms, against his lips, he could have kissed her forever.
But behind them, Luna's throaty growl put Kade's combat instincts on high alert. He felt the slightest shift in the air as he drew away from Alex and moved her behind him on reflex-Just as a large, dark shape dropped out of the sky. Several yards away from them, the Ancient landed with fluid grace on his feet in the snow. Baring his teeth and enormous fangs, the deadly creature fixed his amber gaze on Kade and hissed with murderous intent.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Alex screamed.
Terror clenched her as the Ancient's glyph-covered legs contracted into a low crouch, amber eyes bathing Kade in awful light.
"Alex, get out of here."
She swallowed on a throat gone bone dry. "W-what?"
"Go!" Kade ordered her, his eyes rooted on the threat in front of him. "Get back in the plane, take off. Get as far away from this rock as you can. Go now!"
Fear poured through her veins, but her legs refused to move. She couldn't abandon Kade like this, no matter what he said. No matter what he faced. They would face it together. "I'm not leaving. I won't--"
"Damn it, Alex, go!" he snarled, reaching for one of the big semiautomatic pistols holstered under his parka.
He moved with a speed she could hardly follow. One second his hand was slipping into his unzipped coat, the next he was holding the gun in front of him, squeezing off a hail of several rounds. But the Ancient was faster, even than Kade.
He dodged the gunfire, and then his powerful legs pushed off the ground in a lunge that would have sent him crashing into Kade--should have, if not for the sudden blur of movement that was Hunter. The immense Gen One warrior careened into the Ancient from the ledge above, tumbling them both to the snowy ground in a confusion of tossing, rolling chaos.
They struggled together, nearly an even match in terms of strength and power, both of them fighting as though prepared to battle to the death.
Kade moved into the fray just as Hunter took a severe swipe to the base of his neck and shoulder. Blood spurted from his wound, which only seemed to make the Ancient grow more frenzied, its eyes wilder now, fangs elongating further. It reared its great head back and opened its jaws on a furious howl. Kade fired a shot, and instead of the Ancient striking again at Hunter, he had to spend precious effort dodging Kade's bullet.
Alex blinked, which was all the time it took for the Ancient to have his fingers wrapped around Kade's pistol. Metal crushed in his fist, then, using a power she could hardly fathom, the otherworlder flung Kade bodily through the air. He landed at the sheer edge of the cliff, his head split open on the rock, bleeding above the temple.
"Kade!" Alex cried, heart freezing to ice.
He tried to get up, but it was a clumsy, disoriented attempt. He slumped back down with a groan. One misstep and he would be lost.
"Kade! Oh, God--don't move!"
Snow swirled all around, the storm having worsened to near blizzard conditions since they'd landed. She could just make out Hunter's large shape as he came up off the ground to lunge at the Ancient again. On a vicious hiss, the creature wheeled around and thrust the big Gen One away from him. Then the Ancient began to prowl toward Kade at the edge of the cliff's steep drop. Alex's heart wanted to explode out of her breast as she inched her way nearer and nearer to her plane. She wasn't about to run, not even now. She was scared as hell, more than she'd ever been in her life, but she had to do something--for Kade, and for his brethren--no matter how insignificant her actions might prove to be against this threat.
be against this threat.
She grabbed the loaded rifle she kept in the back of the plane.
Raised it as the Ancient stalked closer to where Kade was now trying to drag himself up once more. She couldn't let the creature reach him.
Alex pulled the trigger.
The gunshot cracked like thunder in the snow-tossed darkness.
The Ancient hadn't seen it coming. His large hand was pressed to his chest, but blood seeped through his fingers.
The otherworlder curled his lip back and snarled. Then he started prowling forward again ... no longer toward Kade, but toward her and Luna near the plane.
Alex heard the howl of wolves from somewhere close. So many voices. At least half a dozen or more. She heard them, and could almost hear the beat of their paws rising up through the bitter cold of the storm and the chilling terror of the situation playing out on the ledge.
Alex knew the wolves were near, but she hadn't been at all prepared for the sight of them, suddenly rushing up from the craggy slopes below. The pack charged en masse, leaping in tandem at the same target: the alien creature who roared with outrage as the eight predators attacked.
And as the wolves bit and tore and jumped at the Ancient, another adversary came over the ridge from below.
