Page 37 of Last Ride of the Umbra Fae

“There will always be danger at every corner, no matter what side you’re on or what you do. We are living in a time when nothing is safe anymore. I’m sure your father thanks the gods for blessing you with such a gift.” He gestured to my magic-honed hands with a stroke of his thumb. “You are quite the storm: dangerous but worth the risk.”

24

Ryder

“It would take a whole lot more to kill me, Desert Storm.”

I’d nearly given myself away. My heart had lurched in my chest the moment I’d felt her power thrum against it. I’d almost slipped; my own fucking words were a constant, growing reminder of the job that had to be done.

We spent the rest of our day stealing glances at one another and occasionally going over the plan. Every so often, End’s Wrath would ask me to run through it again, as if he were looking for any cracks in my façade. I felt a sliver of him trying to slip through as I was snagged by Vessa’s gaze, but I worked the walls of my mind so well that nothing could get in.

Every time Vessa looked my way, it sent a whip of guilt striking across my thoughts. I was starting to feel like a damn failure, a constant rise and fall, trying to define where the lines were being crossed. My thoughts wandered to her slick heat against my tongue, to her luscious, soft lips on mine, to the flash of horrors etched behind her piercing purple eyes. She said she was the devil, but so was I. Two souls caught in a world of two biomes, where there was only space for one.

“Bang, bang, cowboy. You’re dead.”

Her words would grow to haunt me. I would have to carry her death as a shadow of my own amongst the rest of the souls I’d taken. I was crossing every fucking line with the two most dangerous fae.

The stars began to stroke the sky as the sun descended upon the horizon. It was less than an hour’s ride until we reached the walls of The City of Donia. I was locked inside an hourglass, feeling every grain of sand pelt against my face.

With my hands on the reins, leather creasing at the grip, I reminded myself I had a job to do. I needed to get my fucking head straight and leave my heart and cock in the Desert of Miera.

“Raven needs to shift so we can pass through the gates without suspicion. It’s not every day you see a woman with a large bird as a companion,” I said. Raven responded with a caw that sounded more like a protest as he beat his wings. She caught my glare and laughed.

“Anything worth sharing?” I asked, all humor drained from my face.

There was a long pause as if their conversation continued.

I scoffed, resting an elbow on my thigh. “Well, Sunshine?” I drawled, looking straight at her.

She slowed her mare until she rode beside me. “Looks like I’ll be riding with you.” She smirked before veering off to the side. End’s Wrath and I followed suit. We all rode in silence as the clamor of the horses’ hooves galloped against the ground.

“Raven has never ridden a horse before, and he’s too big to sit with me. I trust my mare will be a better mount. They are familiar with one another.”

Raven drifted down into a plume of dark shadow and appeared on Vessa’s horse in his male form. The bastard was too tall. He shifted uncomfortably in the saddle as Vessa handed him the reins. “She knows where to go. You don’t need to worry about giving her any commands. I’ll do them for you.”

He gave a simple nod. I chuckled. Far from being a cowboy as I watched him gain balance, gripping the saddle horn for dear life. He was dressed far too clean for these parts of the land.

“I have a lot more respect for riders,” Raven said.

Vessa chuckled as she mounted my stallion, hauling a firm leg over the saddle.

With a flashy smile, she looked back and jerked her chin. “Come on, cowboy. We have a city to see.”

I smirked, slipping the toe of my boot into the stirrup, and mounted behind her. I slid my arms around her waist, and the space between us was no more. Her look alone was enough to kill me, but as soon as we took off riding, it confirmed she rode hard and fast with everything she did. My cock might have twitched at the thought.

The excitement in her voice was like being tossed into the middle of a burning forest. The sense of foreboding bloomed in the pit of my stomach, flaring into the sky—a heat so intense that I should have already been digging my own grave, digging hers right alongside mine.

25

Vessa

Ryder and I rode together ahead of Pa and Raven, spending my last moments of freedom with my hat off, ears exposed to the wind.

I couldn’t have ridden any faster into the dark, ignoring all sense of warning as Pa’s words echoed in the back of my mind. I knew what I was getting into, I knew everything about this part of the world was dangerous, and I was ready to face it head-on.

That glimmer of a perfect life had never had enough water to bloom nor soil to grow. It’d been snipped before it ever had a chance to thrive in these dry lands, but I still happened to be breathing this air. Surviving all of this had to have been for a greater purpose. I’d felt the world shift beneath my feet when the stone of Eternal had been removed, just as everyone around me had been sent aflame. Beyond the walls of The City of Donia lay a fate that only the hidden spaces of my soul could recognize. I’d allowed myself to align with all elements given to me, harnessing the power ofAno, using light to guide the way. Having been born on a blue moon, my soul was tethered to both sides, fueling the boundless dark ofama, the power my sister once had. That piece of her would always remain within the shell I had become, and I embraced all that she’d never had a chance to be through theeyes that told me, for some crazy reason, she could still see. I was the light to her dark. This was when I felt her most, when all else was gone and the luminescence of my power beamed beneath the rising moon upon my hands, ears, and soul.

In the vast expanse of the desert, this feeling ended beyond those city walls. This was one final release before I headed into the belly of the beast.

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