Page 15 of Last Ride of the Umbra Fae

I side-eyed him. “Why not?” I asked, putting my hat and gloves back on before leaning forward and reaching for my horse’s reins, sensing his searing stare at the curve of my back. Sucking in a sharp breath, I continued, “Just because you’re a cocky fucking bastard doesn’t mean you should be forgotten.”

The remark drew a laugh from him. A glint of a pearly smile peeked from his shadowed jawline, but I kept my poker face on.

“So what are you trying to tell me, Desert Storm? That after all this is over with, you’ll want to remember me?” His tone was smooth and sultry. He caught something in my expression that made him ride slightly closer. I swallowed hard as his scent enveloped me. Somehow, even after all the bloodshed, he still managed to smell clean. I looked down at the bloodied mess I was covered in.

He must have had heat exhaustion, because he then said, “I can guarantee, after all this, I’d like to remember you. If I had to slice another man’s throat to be in your orbit, I’d do it. I’d sever the chords of anyone who was ever tempted to touch you again.”

Well fucking damn.

My breathing hitched. I wanted to look his way, but I was afraid if I did, it would be a one-way ticket inside his pants. My back stiffened. I couldn’t lower my guard over a few heated words, but dammit, he made it easy. The air suddenly felt thin, and the space between us simmered with coiling heat. I needed to ride away before I became a moth dumb enough to fly into his flame.

For the next three days,we managed to ride without another disruption as we closed in on Journey’s Cliff, a resting place further north. After riding in silence for a few hours, I’d finally had enough. Though my veins felt like they were on fire, I made my next moments memorable.

“Let’s place a bet,” I said to Ryder, grinning. “I’ll race you two miles out. If I win, you tell me a piece of your story.”

The suggestion clearly piqued Ryder’s interest.

“And what happens when you lose?” His smirk sent warmth pooling below my belly, as if I could see everything he’d like to do. He was looking at me like I was some sort of prize to be won, possibly a wild animal to tame, but there was no taming me.

“Trust me, asshole. I won’t.” With that, my mare reared, and I took off riding.

I heard his horse gallop behind me, but I left him in a cloud of dust. I felt the adrenaline wash over me as I rode faster acrossthe desert beneath the hard and blazing sun. My horse’s mane whipped against my face as I leaned into her lead.

When the timing was right, I felt no fear as I let go of the reins and held my arms out to the wind. I had no wings to catch me, but I rode as if I did, pretending my life wasn’t in peril as I felt the dirt pelt harder against my face. I was dangerous when I didn’t care. This was the side of me Pa and Raven feared, but to me, it was the best feeling in the world.

I heard the devil himself hoot and holler as a storm behind us rumbled, a thunderous warning growing across the terrain. He was gaining speed around every curve of the land, chasing at my heels like a disastrous nightmare. The hair rose on the back of my neck as a chill swept down my body. I felt the whisper of his power, like unseen tendrils reaching for me. Peering back, the ominous clouds were gaining speed. And so was Ryder.

I grinned.

Maybe I could finally wash some of this blood off me. Ryder’s hat flew back, flicking rapidly like a trapped firefly caught on his drawstring.

Good. I hope that slows him down.

And it did. By the time I’d faced forward, I had hit the two-mile mark. Sensing it in my bones, I leaned back in the saddle and gave the reins a gentle pull for my mare to slow to a trot and then slowly came to a stop.

“Woo-hoo! You’requitethe storm.” His voice wrung out as he dismounted his stallion, still relishing the rush of adrenaline. The spurs on his boots chimed as he sauntered my way. With beads of sweat above his brow, he put his hands on my mare and stroked her mane. Surprisingly, she didn’t pin her ears back, but I tried not to be disappointed; I wouldn’t have been opposed to her kicking him.

“Well,” he said with a labored breath, “looks like I owe you a story.”

12

Ryder

The rain came pouring down in thick sheets, as if the Vale itself had opened up to wash away my sins. All in good nature though. I didn’t blame the gods if they were really up there. I was going against everything that was ever spoken among the fae. Long ago, they had all been united—fae of fire, water, umbra, earth, and wind; the elements that unified these lands—until that peace had been stripped away. With the Eternal stone of longevity in the hands of humans, this entire planet was on the brink of destruction. Every day, I wished I could pull off a big enough heist to allow me to slip out and spend the rest of my days on a piece of land where none of this shit mattered. Being a killer would always be a darkness tainting the very blood in my veins.

I would get my prize eventually. Throwing out little things like tonic were the breadcrumbs that would lead Vessa to her fate and earn me enough nara coins to get the fuck off this continent. All her answers were held in The City of Donia, a sanctuary and a thriving city up north. With three days until Journey’s Cliff and another short travel until we reached our destination, I had plenty of time to peel apart every layer that made Vessa who she was. By the time I placed her in Fang’s path,we would know why her people had gone through such great lengths to keep her hidden.

As she began to unknowingly show me little pieces of herself, I was starting to see it. The power, the darkness coiling. Something inside her was rising. I didn’t know if it was driven by grief, but I saw it every time she looked my way. She was dangerous and fragile at the same time. I wanted to break her and leave her undone, but I couldn’t do it until we fit together all the missing pieces of the puzzle.

We rode hard through the rain for the next hour, stopping beneath the foot of a mountain next to a flowing stream where she finally washed the caked-on blood off her body. We gave her the privacy she needed to change into a fresh pair of clothes.

As she strode back toward her dark mare, the tight, little, buttoned-up top that highlighted the swells of her perfect breasts had her moon tattoo on full display. A deep shade of crimson that complemented her soft bronze skin and a dark, leather, corset-looking thing buckled across her torso at the same short height of that thin top I’d love to unbutton. A holster carrying her weapons was strapped to her side. Her beautiful onyx hands dripped with a power most men wished they could possess. She had it all. The way her tight leather pants fit like a glove made my cock twitch. Thank the gods I could hide it beneath my coat from where I stood. I leaned up against a tree to partially shelter from the drops of rain, now faint, but an annoyance nonetheless.

The burns spanned the entire length of her right arm, from above the wrists of her magic-honed hands to the curve of her shoulder. She flicked a daggered stare my way, brows furrowed with a look that said,“Fuck you to every realm of hell,”as she continued to search through her bags.

“Are you always such a nosy prick?” The sound of Raven’s voice was jarring.

Gritting my teeth, I turned to find him sitting upon a massive rock on the other side of the giant oak tree, and noticed a few random palm trees beyond that. This part of the Miera Desert was a fuckery of confusion. Like Mother Nature had been indecisive and had just thrown out a bunch of random seeds to see what the hell would grow. Seeing Raven crouched on the top of that boulder in his fae form elicited a deep chuckle from me. The asshole resembled a bird perching.

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