Wicked Waves: Solsti Prophecy #2 (27 page)

The other Serus struggled against Kai’s hold, to no avail. The more it moved, the closer Kai came to breaking its arm.

“Who is Cale working for?” Kai growled.

The demon responded with a string of curses.

Mathias got in the demon’s face. “Wrong answer,” he barked, lifting his palm to summon a dancing ball of demonfire. He brought it close to the Serus demon’s bare chest. “Let’s try that again.”

Kai grimaced. He didn’t want Brooke to see them extract information from the Serus. She had grown a little more pale as she watched them. “You should look away, Sprite,” Kai called. He half-expected her to object, but she sat down next to the boulder and stared at the scrubby gray grass in front of her.

With an iron grip on the Serus, Kai held him still while Mathias brought his orange fireball closer to the creature’s gray skin.

The scent of charred flesh filled the air. A scream wrenched from the Serus and echoed off the surrounding trees. The demon gasped in short, desperate breaths. “He talks to a female.”

“Name.” Mathias growled, moving his hand away from the Serus.

Shrieking, the Serus garbled its words. “He-he calls her ‘m-my lady’ or…or ‘my queen.’
 
Never says her name. He delivers—”

“Delivers what?”
 
Mathias produced a second ball of demonfire in his free hand.

“The captives,” the gray demon moaned, its feet kicking up pebbles as it struggled to get free.

“What does she want with them?”

“We don’t know!
 
Only that she wants them alive. One time Cale called them her ‘guinea pigs’.”

Kai and Mathias exchanged a
what the fuck
look. “Where do you deliver them?” Mathias punctuated his question with a dose of demonfire to the demon’s gut.

The Serus howled. “Don’t know!
 
He uses his porter to move them.”

“He has his own porter?” Kai asked.

Mathias snorted and extinguished his demonfire. “What
doesn’t
that bastard have?”
 
He raked a hand through his dark hair. “Why is Cale searching this area?”

“He searches everywhere. We’ve been all over the realm. This is one place we haven’t been yet.”

No doubt because hardly anyone lives here
. Kai looked at Mathias, who nodded in silent agreement and dropped the weakened demon. It hit the ground with a moan and rolled into a fetal position, eyes closed. Mathias walked over to find out if its friend had any more secrets.

Kai strode to the side of the path where Brooke sat and lowered himself to the ground next to her. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”
 
He wanted to pull her into his arms, but after the way he and Mathias had worked over the Serus, she might not want anything to do with him.

She swallowed and raised her head, her gray eyes searching his face. “I guess you had to, right?
 
I mean, those two were part of the group that captured us and handed us over to Draven. If you guys didn’t do something…”

Needing contact, he reached for her hand. “My line of work gets violent sometimes.”

She nodded, looking resigned, and picked at a thread on her jeans. “I understand. Seeing it up close was intense, but I guess I have to get used to it.”

His chest tightened at the thought of her getting accustomed to death, and the ways in which the Watchers extracted the information they needed. He wanted to protect her from the darkness of his world.
It’s a little late for that, unfortunately
. He opened his mouth to speak, but her words stopped him.

“That’s why I’m here, right?
 
My sisters, too. Something awful is coming, and we need to fight it.”
 
Her tone grew flat as she recited the legend they’d all heard a hundred times.

“That’s what Rilan says.” He trailed his hand up her arm and brought it to her cheek. She turned her face into his palm and sighed. “Whatever is coming, we’ll take it down,” he murmured.

She didn’t respond, her eyes focused somewhere in the distance.

“Brooke, what you did to his breath was amazing. You pulled the water out, right?
 
Like what you did to the grass?”

“Yeah.”
 
She gave him a small smile.

He dropped his hand to her shoulder. “You neutralized one of the most predatory species on Torth. You negated their best weapon. Your power is…” He shook his head, unable to find an adequate word. “Your power rocks.”

A flash and a popping sound came from the path, followed by quiet crackling. The familiar sounds told Kai that Mathias had gotten all he could from the two Serus, and had used his demonfire to end their existence. Brooke turned toward the noise, but Kai blocked her view with his body. “Mathias is taking care of them.”

“Oh,” she said in a quiet voice. “Do you need to help him?”

“No.”

“Good.” She scooted closer, wedging herself between his thighs until she could press her face against his chest. His arms went around her shoulders and he kissed the top of her head. Her scent engulfed him. This was where she belonged. Curled in his arms, after fighting at his side.
 
My woman
.

Kai blinked.
Where had that come from?
 
He had never felt a flicker of possession for a female before, and that was just fine with him. But as he gazed down at Brooke nestled against him, her sweet strength warmed his heart. Something primal stirred in him.

He didn’t know what it felt like to be in love, but he didn’t want to spend a single day away from her. He needed to keep her safe. He would die to protect her. She was vulnerable, but she was brave. And, gods above, she was beautiful. He never wanted another male to touch her.
Ever
.

Mathias walked over to them, hands on his hips. “She okay?”

Brooke jerked at the sound of his voice. “I’m fine.” She moved to stand. One of her legs buckled and Kai sprang up to steady her.

Mathias raised his eyebrows. “We need to think about where we’re going to stay tonight. The nearest safe house is a few miles from here. If we keep moving, we’ll make it there before nightfall.”

“I’m fine,” Brooke repeated.

Kai wasn’t convinced, but he kept his mouth shut. He’d carry her if she got too tired, whether she liked it or not.

C
HAPTER
19

“A
RE
WE
STAYING
IN
A
cave again?” Brooke asked, rubbing her temples. After walking for an hour, they stood on a rocky ledge in the fading gray light. Mathias had checked his gem phone and declared they were
here
, but she saw only a sheer rock wall punctuated by vertical fissures.

“A cave?” Mathias raised an eyebrow and shot Kai a smirk.

Kai glared at the dark-haired male and muttered something about any port in a storm.

“No, Brooke. I think you’ll find this to be a step up from a cave.”
 
Mathias grinned at her, then turned and traced the rocky surface with his fingers. He slipped a hand into one of the fissures and a low rumble emanated from the rock.

The entire length of the crack widened. It opened about two feet–plenty of room for Brooke to enter, and enough for the men if they turned sideways. She frowned, uncertain at the pitch black that lay inside.

“After you,” Mathias said, gesturing for her to enter.

She shook her head. “I don’t want to go first.”

“As you wish. But this is a Lash safe house. There’s nothing to worry about.”
 
Mathias sidled into the dark maw.

She turned to Kai, who gave her a nod of encouragement. His brown eyes twinkled. “He’s right. All our safe houses are warded. This place may as well be a fortress.”

“All?
 
How many are there?”

He shook his head. “Not sure. They’re scattered across Torth, since nighttime gets pretty nasty. We never know how far out we’ll be on a patrol or when we’ll need shelter in a hurry.”

She nodded and walked into the inky opening, keeping a hand on the rough wall. After several feet, she spotted a glow which highlighted a sharp turn to the right. Coming around the corner, she blinked at a passage dotted with softly glowing orbs attached to the wall.

At first she thought they were bare light bulbs. But as she looked closer she saw no base, glass, or even any fixtures. The lights resembled demonfire, the way they bobbed gently, but they were white.

“What are these?” she breathed.

Kai chuckled right behind her. “Our version of basic lighting. We call them fire bulbs. They’re for your benefit.”

“Oh. Um, thanks. I guess it’s nice to be able to see in whatever cave you happen to take shelter in…”
 
She trailed off as she turned to him. Heat rushed through her body at the memories of last night’s cave.
Does he feel it too?
 
Her answer came in the soft whiskey glow of his hungry eyes as he leaned over her, one hand resting at her hip. He reached for a lock of her hair, twining it through his fingers, tugging her closer.

A rumble sounded from behind her and she jumped. Kai cleared his throat. “That’d be Mathias closing the front door. Let’s get you into the main quarters.”
 
His hand settled at the small of her back, guiding her forward.

The rocky corridor turned left, and they walked straight into a large living room. Brooke stopped and stared in wonder. Two leather couches flanked one corner near a flat screen television. A coffee table and an end table sat in between them.

Another corner held two computer screens. The walls were stone here as well, but they had been polished smooth and hung with tapestries. More fire bulbs illuminated the walls and even dotted the high ceiling, which had been left rough.

The other end of the room flowed into a modern kitchen equipped with appliances and furnished with dark granite counters. A hallway branched off the living space, continuing deeper into the rock. The fire bulbs bobbing in the hall allowed her to make out three doors.

“Wow,” she murmured. “This is amazing.”

“It’s small, it’s comfortable, and more importantly, it’s safe,” Mathias said. He stood near the computers, which were booting up. “The rooms have showers, and you should find clean clothes there, too. We keep extra stuff around. Never know who we’ll end up tangling with.”

“Extra clothes for you guys, you mean?” she asked. A shower sounded wonderful. And the prospect of clean clothes made her deliriously happy. But what were the odds that they stocked women’s clothing?

“For you, too. We have female warriors.”
 
Mathias shot her a grin, his fingers pausing above the keyboard. “You guys eat. I have to call Arawn.”

Despite the long day, Brooke felt ready to do a jig at the prospect of bathing. How many days had she been wearing this shirt?
 
She smiled and breathed deeply, her muscles relaxing for the first time since she woke up.
In Kai’s arms
.

“I need a shower before I eat,” she declared.
I’m not going to stand around for one extra minute in these clothes
. She couldn’t suppress a grin as she started down the hall to the bedrooms. “Be right back!” She ducked into the last door.

Brooke barely registered the bedroom’s décor as she beelined for the bathroom. Pausing to open an armoire, she surveyed neat stacks of T-shirts and pants and found a set that looked like it would fit.
As long as it’s clean
.

In the bathroom she spotted clean towels, soap, shampoo, and assorted toiletries.
All the essentials, check
. Peeling off her dirty clothes in a rush, all she could think about was scrubbing the grime from her skin. She jumped into the shower and cleaned up in record time.

When she finished, she donned the fresh clothing, left her hair damp, and headed back to the living area. Mathias sat at the computer. Kai stood near him, hands on his hips.

“He shouldn’t be that hard for you to get a hold of. You’ve got rank and all that shit,” Kai said.

Mathias snorted. “
All that shit
is right. His assistant said he was in a meeting. Something about the Neshis on Earth.”

Kai turned as she walked into the room, his gaze raking her from wet hair to bare feet.
 
“You smell better.”

She scrunched her nose, and met his eyes, remembering his words from several nights ago. “You don’t. And what about the Neshis on Earth?”

“That’s what Mathias is trying to find out. Right now, we don’t know anything more than we did before.”
 
His tone was serious, but his stare radiated heat. “Let’s get you something to eat.”
 
Prowling to the kitchen, he opened the freezer door and rummaged inside.

She walked around the stone island and stood next to him. He was taller than the fridge and almost as wide, the muscles of his arms flexing as he dug deeper into the icy recesses. All that power, and he was focused on feeding her.

“There’s chicken, pasta, lots of frozen veggies…anything sound good?” he asked.

You
. “Um, I’m not really hungry right now.”
 

He closed the door and turned to her. “You sure?”

She nodded and his lips quirked into a smile. “Well, you can always grab something later if you want. It
has
been a pretty long day.”
 
He raised his hand to her shoulder and traced a line down her arm, stopping to tangle his fingers with hers. “You had to deal with some things you’ve never seen before.”

“I saw my first witch.”

“And your first elf.”

“Saw the witch make the elf disappear.”

His fingers tightened around hers. “You handled everything really well, Brooke.”

His thumb rubbed slow circles on her wrist, and she gazed up into his chocolate brown eyes. She inched closer to him. The warm, early morning memory of his body wrapped around her filled her head, made her heart pound against her ribs. “Out of all the new experiences I had today, I have a favorite,” she murmured.

His eyebrows rose and his head tilted to one side. “Which one?”