AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are you sure you don’t want me to accompany you the whole way?” he asked.
“That’s just ridiculous. I know the way. I prepared for months. My senses are great. I can hide when it calls for it.Youhave a job, and you don’t have to risk it just to save my ass. I might be gone for days, and you can’t be gone for days from work when you are just a rookie. I can save my own ass.”
Everything she said made sense, contrasting with the niggling feeling in him. That overprotective side pulsed, ready to argue.
“But—”
“No buts. Do you think me that helpless?”
“Of course, you are not helpless,” he protested. “But we are talking about a mountain containing who knows what. We are talking about a magical key and, if the myth turns out to be true, a man who holds power beyond anyone’s understanding and might not be as heroic as he was written.”
“You just said he was a fairy tale,” she said, exasperated.
“So are Fae, shifters, and vampires. So, pardon me if there’s a ten percent chance that I do believe this nonsense.”
Daria harumphed, scowled, and shook her head. She also competently swung across the branches he used, her blindness not a deterrence as she listened to every creak and rustle to know what to grab and where to land.
“Accompany me to the mountain’s starting point, since you are already here. That’s it.”
There was no room for argument in her voice, so he didn’t argue. They continued swinging until there were no more trees left and they were on the edge of the forest, where he tapped her shoulder and waited until she crouched beside him on the thick branch they had landed on.
“Tell me what you see,” she said.
He scanned the horizon, different from the last. Here there were no grassy fields but plenty of bushes extending in all directions, green and lush in their natural environment…perhaps too lush. When he spotted flowers to his right, his senses sharpened.
“Tell me what you smell,” he countered.
“Rain. It’s coming.” She sniffed the air and paused. “Flowers. They smell great…oh.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know. I sense it, I don’t smell it. Energy.” She reached out as if to touch it, then grasped another branch before she could topple over. His hand snapped up to grip her wrist, then let her push up so she could lean forward and crane her neck. “Lots of energy.”
The spaces under her eyes were no longer dark, bringing relief that at least the effects from her overexertion of magic were temporary. He wondered if they hurt, puzzled over how the effects extended internally. Was it painful? Was she tired? Would it continue to take a toll on her until she had no magic left? His fingers itched…then reached out, touching the once-dark spot.Soft. It was as soft as the cheek he lay his thumb on, and he couldn’t help but think that she was fragile.
But she was also warm, signaling life. She wasn’t fragile, proven over the years as she stood by his side, never backing down from whatever fight he had—whether it was to protect his clan, to protect a specific barrier spot, or whatever mental struggles that came with trying to stay on top in every aspect. That warmth always translated to courage for him, the one thing Daria never lacked, no matter how dire her situation was.
Warm. So warm. Sometimes, addictively warm.
“What are you doing?”
He realized he was caressing her face, an instinctive move to search for where he could soothe and return all that warmth to her. Her lashes fluttered, so confused, her vulnerability coming to the surface and gripping his. He froze. She didn’t move a muscle.
“Charlie?” she prompted. “Are you preparing to sweet talk me into not going?”
In a snap, he let go of her face and cleared his throat. The world returned to normal as he saw where her brain went.
“No, you are way beyond sweet talking,” he said sincerely. “I was just checking for injuries. We don’t want others smelling your blood from a mile away.”
Humor lit her features, a joke on its way. Then she froze, too, body hardening in the blink of an eye, torn between scurrying off and leaping forward. Holding on to her, Charlie scanned the horizon once more and felt a coldness settle in the pit of his stomach.
The once-calm area was no longer calm as a figure came out of the bushes: small, tanned, definitely a child. Another child followed, then another, the three seeming to play some game that sent them running around frenzied between bushes and bursting into small giggles. Then adults were there, dressed in erratic patterns sewn together with dirt on their faces and a definitive, subtle glow in their eyes.
“Shifters,” she whispered.
“Shit. Wolf shifters. They areveryterritorial and stay in droves.”
Which meant, again, that they needed to leave—especially before the testosterone-prone men arrived. Sadness flashed on her expression, but she didn’t protest when he backtracked and led them away until they were back in safer territory. His bear clawed the whole way, sensing the wolves more strongly than the vampires.
