Page 44 of Soulbound Shadows: Part 2

“John Galehaut,” Evangeline reported in a low voice. “Gale to his friends. Magical bounty hunter. Half-fae, probably giant. Magical training of a witch, sense of morals of a fairy. We’ve crossed paths before.”

I grimaced. “Will he let you go?” I whispered back.

“One way to find out,” Evangeline said grimly. She stepped forward and took off her hat. The disguise shimmered away.

“Hey, Gale,” she said. “We don’t want any trouble.”

“Oh, good,” Gale said. “Neither do I. Got no business with you, Ange, I just need the vamp.”

Evangeline squared her shoulders and planted her feet, staring up at the man. “How’s the eye healing up?” There was a barb in that, I could tell. Retaliation for being called Ange, probably.

Gale barked out a laugh. He ran a hand over one of his eyes, wiping away a glamor. That side of his face was now a web of blue-gray scar tissue around a snow-blind eye. “I figured you’d want a chance to see your handiwork,” he said, then slid the glamor back into place. “It’s been great catching up, but I am here on business. This is your last chance to get out of my way.”

Evangeline didn’t move.

Gale nodded, then drew a crossbow. The bolt he fired went straight for Evangeline. He barked a command in a language I didn’t know, and the bolt split into three pieces and parted around her, heading straight for me. I dived out of the way and the bolts slammed into a utility pole behind me, burying themselves into the faded wood.

Evangeline was readying a spell, but as she threw it at Gale, he shouted again and the cobblestones rose up in a wall between them, forming an arc around Evangeline. The blast of magic she’d thrown ricocheted back to her, and she dispelled it angrily before it could hit.

Now I recognized the language. It was the tongue of the stone giants, and anyone who was born to it could bend the rocks to their will. I was willing to bet that if I checked the bolts in the man’s quiver, I’d find them all to be flint-tipped.

Gale barked commands like a shepherd at a trained sheepdog, and the cobbles were responding, trying to herd me and Evangeline together. Pothos was too tired out to do more than hiss and swat at stray pebbles that got too close. Evangeline was?—

Evangeline was holding back.

I had seen her fight before—more than I would have liked—and I could tell she wasn’t even using all the strength she’d had before her ascendancy. Was she going easy on the half-giant? Was there more history between them than I’d initially thought?

There wasn’t time to dwell on it. The stones were closing in around us, and Evangeline wasn’t using enough power to get them out of our way. I shoved against one, and it barely moved. Ah. Now, that could be useful.

I grabbed onto the cobbles and vaulted up, springing to the top of the swarm of stones. I moved faster than I’d expected. The top of the makeshift wall was ten feet above the ground, and balancing on top of it put me far above Gale’s head. How dare he? How dare he try to hurt me and mine?

I threw myself at him.

I aimed for his head, intending to grab onto him and cover his good eye, but I’d judged my own trajectory wrong. Instead of wrapping around him, I slammed into him with enough force that he was thrown back to the ground, although he managed one hoarse shout that got the cobbles to rise up and soften our fall. An unexpected advantage, and one I couldn’t throw away.

The stones around Evangeline had dropped to the ground, but even without Gale directing them, they formed a heap five feet high. Stone giants. My mind raced. What did I know about stone giants? They were hardy and usually kept to themselves. Practically impossible to kill. But they had to have a weakness. Everything had a weakness.

“Get him over to that shop!” Evangeline called, clawing her way over the pile of stones. They slipped under her, but she kept her balance. Gale was still dazed, but he tried to shake me off. I grabbed him by the ears and slammed his head down against the stones once, twice. He groaned, not going limp, but no longer focused enough to grab for me.

I climbed off him, prepared to try to drag him, but when I grabbed him by the ankles, I could move him easily. The stones he’d called up to stop his fall were acting as a fulcrum, I realized. I hefted experimentally—his weight was significant but manageable. With a massive heave, I threw him across the square to the shop Evangeline had indicated.

Gale’s bulk slammed into the metal boxes set against the wall of the shop, and sparks flew. He bellowed as he dropped to the ground. A few of the boxes cracked and swung open, revealing some sort of wiring I didn’t care to identify.

“Come on!” Evangeline grabbed my hand and started running. I followed her on autopilot, and then there was the now-familiar jolt of teleportation.

I shouldn’t have been able to do that, I thought as we made our way back to the safe house door. I was strong, but not that much stronger than the average vampire. I shouldn’t have been able to take someone of that size down so easily. I certainly shouldn’t have been able to throw him.

I followed Evangeline up to our shared room in something of a daze. As soon as we’d entered the building, Pothos leaped down from her shoulders and began trotting around the place, apparently exploring his new stomping grounds.

There was a moment of stillness. The frenetic energy from our mad dash and unexpected fight coursed threw me, and Evangeline was still panting from the exertion. Our eyes met. Her cheeks were flushed from running through the cold, her lips slightly parted.

The shimmering soap-bubble of stillness popped, and we surged toward each other. We crashed together in a rough, open-mouthed kiss. Evangeline’s skin was still cool from the fall air, and for a nonsensical moment, I wished I could warm her, wished I could give her that comfort. Her lips were cold, but her tongue was hot and alive in my mouth, and when I sucked at it, she groaned, lashes fluttering.

I had more or less lost any spatial awareness beyond my immediate vicinity, so it was something of a surprise to find myself up against the wall. I leaned back against it and tugged Evangeline closer. She moaned and dragged her lips across the hinge of my jaw before doing something devastating with her tongue at the spot below my ear. I hissed and buried my hand in her hair so I could tug her mouth back to mine.

I’d never felt like this after a fight before. So strong, free, damn near unstoppable. My thoughts, such as they were, were all of Evangeline. Not just the taste of her or the familiar floral scent of her magic, but of how ferocious she was when she had to be. In another time, she could’ve been a warrior queen.

In this time, she had her head thrown back as I left a trail of teasing nips and licks down her pale throat. The heady thudding of her pulse seemed so loud, it should’ve filled the entire room. Our legs were tangled together, one of her thighs pressed against the hard line of my cock, her hips grinding forward. I reached between us, fitting a hand into the narrow space where she moved against me. The heat of her radiated through the layers of fabric as her blood rushed south and she grew slick and eager for me. I crooked the tips of my fingers into the fabric, and she gasped, her hand clenching on my shoulder.

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