Page 12 of Last Ride of the Umbra Fae

Vessa

Ifelt Ryder’s looming presence at my back, the darkness creeping in the shadows as he watched me. This beautiful and disastrous man seemed far too invested in everything I did.

“I don’t trust him.”I opened the bond, shuddering at the shame curling through me, desperate for a distraction.

“Not so flustered anymore, Vessa?”Raven’s voice was a smooth salve to my discomfort. His chuckle was slightly flirtatious, sounding satisfied. I took a step back into the comfort of his wings. He stretched them wide and yawned.“He is looking at you like a lion does a lambchop.”

I continued searching for the wool blanket I thought I had strapped to my mare. A chill swept down my spine at the sound of Ryder’s heavy riding boots and the clashing of his spurs with every step he took toward me. With my back facing him, I smirked as I continued to unfasten the strap.

Raven cawed, his call of warning.

“A little slow on your game, bird.”

“I believe this is yours,” Ryder said, cool, deep, and debonair. When I turned to meet his gaze, the stars hung in the irises of his pale-blue eyes as his dark hair flowed around his face. Feelingthe night’s cool air seeping into my coat, I grabbed the blanket without saying a word, unrolled it with a hard flick, and then wrapped myself in it.

I swore he laughed as I walked away.

We all settled for the night, taking spots around the fire. Pa had always been good at making them, keeping the flame low enough to keep us hidden from those who sought us out but warm enough to bring us comfort throughout the night. These lands were vastly different from what I was used to as the sun moved to make room for the moon. I’d imagined it would feel like living in some far-off place—on another planet, perhaps.

Darkness always had a way of bringing a barren cold and memories with it. As I lay with my gaze to the stars, I couldn’t help but rememberthem…and how my sister and I would nestle on each side of Ma’s arms.

“These are stories from the stars, my moon. I want you to always remember them, keep them here, in the same light you remember me.”She would point to the space where my marking of the full moon was. “Remember who you are when night falls, and let your power guide you.”

My eyes stung as the back of my throat swelled. Inhaling a deep breath, I turned away from the moon and looked toward the fire, watching the way its sharp edges violently flared and danced against the cool night air.

In my line of sight was Ryder, nestled up against a rock, eying me from under the brim of his hat, pulled down a little too low on his face, as if he sought privacy yet still kept an eye on who was around him.

I didn’t trust him, but in the same notion, I couldn’t stop looking at him as the flames flickered between us. He was a predator in our den. Every shadow cast by the glow of the fire highlighted his well-defined, chiseled face. I sensed the darknessin his eyes, possibly a mirror of my own. We all had tormented pasts, a shared one most of us never wanted to delve into.

There was nothing soft about Ryder; he was rugged and brash. But that sliver of a smile told me somewhere beneath his hard exterior was someone who had once been worthy of knowing, long before he had become whatever the fuck he was now.

A vessel. A ghost of the good man he used to be.

I felt the weight of Raven land on my hip, settling himself to perch for the night. I knew he would stay nearby with this ruthless cowboy around. Although my eyes began to drift shut, my gaze remained on Ryder.

“Good night, bird. Until dawn,”I said through the bond.

“Good night, moon.”

9

Vessa

Iwas jolted from sleep when a filthy, meaty hand cupped over my mouth. The taste of sweaty flesh dug into my teeth, and it was enough to make me want to hurl. The mark on my sternum burned as shadows wrung out in silence. An orange glow caught my eye as a man picked me up by the neck. Pain seared against my mark as sweat formed over my face. Looking down, I saw fire churning inches from me.

Fire Fae.

I desperately looked for Pa, but he was nowhere to be found.

“Raven!”A desperate call, but I was met with silence as I observed that Ryder was also gone.

I was dragged by my neck with a rope doused in fire magic. The more I moved, the hotter it grew. He was using the power ofLam.

Every time my shadow attempted to strike him, pain lanced through my body.

A struggle sparks the ring of fire,something in the cadence of the wind whispered to me—a faint call brushing against my mind as the moon’s glow cast over us. The searing memory of burning flesh came flooding back. I did my best not to struggle.

At the other end of this rope was a masked bandit who smirked at my sneer. The creases between his eyes showed me he was grinning, taking pride in what he had caught.

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