Page 5 of Of Pixies and Promises
The thought of her blood soaking into the crunchy soil made his stomach curl. For some stupid reason, he was reminded of Silver. Just a flash. Then he was back in the present and backing up, getting closer to the pixie. Her garden scent grew stronger. Why wasn’t she flying away? He glanced over his shoulder and glimpsed a pale face, frozen limbs, and dormant wings.
Fear.
He’d seen that look in the eyes of his kills a thousand times right before he popped a bullet into their head. All fae knew about the magic cutting metal bullets humans used. If she tried to fly, Brian would shoot. She was in her human-sized form and an easy target. Maybe she didn’t have enough mana to shrink to the bug size. Or maybe she was just afraid.
He nabbed her delicate wrist.
“Come with me,” he growled. “When we’re done, you’re free to go.”
Big violet eyes blinked at him.
“Are you insane, Sid? She’ll find a way to escape.” Brian retrained the rifle on them.
What the fuck? Sid glowered at Brian.
“Put it down, Brian. I’ve got this.”
“Move, or I’ll shoot through you, Sid.”
“Brian.”
“We can’t afford to get caught. We need the rest of the cobalt supply.”
The pixie mumbled something under her breath. Sid strained to catch it, but then he smelled fuel. His gaze swept down, registered the damp soil, and knew the pixie had cut the fuel line during her tinkering. Before his eyes swept back up, before his lips could part to shout a warning, Brian squeezed the trigger.
The gun fired.
Chapter
Three
The explosion woke Nyra’s survival instincts, jolting her into action. She drew on the last drops of mana in her personal well and shrunk to the size of a dragonfly, hoping she would be small enough to avoid injury from the blast.
Only she wasn’t alone.
The handsome human was still attached to her wrist. When she shrunk, her magic flowed into him. He shrunk too. Hot fiery air scalded their backs, and they were thrust upward. As gravity took hold, she tested her wings.
They worked.Not burned.Still holding the human, she flew like a drunkenmanabeedeeper into the forest. Ferns swallowed them. His weight pulled her balance off-center, messing with her balance. All she could think was to fly… escape the explosion, escape the humans with their forbidden magic-cutting metals. Escape danger. They crashed and ricocheted into plants and trees, slid down fronds, and eventually tumbled into mud. Pain burst in Nyra’s back.
My wings!
Crushed. Blinking through blinding agony, little sharp cries burst from her lips. She rolled to a sitting position and the large, flat frond she’d landed on shuddered. Big dew drops wobbled.
The human—Sid, one of the others had called him—had fallen next to her. He groaned and reached for his head. His tied hair was all messed up. The giant frond shuddered again. Dew drops from higher up the frond slid toward them, gathering momentum as liquid collected. Sid’s hand slammed onto the leaf as he pushed himself upright, but his quake signed their fate.
Water cascaded onto them. Sid’s eyes widened as he found Nyra’s. A thousand thoughts passed in a fleeting second. They were too small to withstand the torrent. Danger was coming. Possibly death.
He would have taken a bullet for her if she hadn’t accidentally shrunk him.
Maybe it wasn’t an accident. Maybe she’d wanted to save him as he’d intended to save her. As the water hit, she thought she might have liked to talk more to this human.
They slid down foliage into the underbrush of the lush forest. Sid’s heavier body went faster, shooting past her. He had the sense to grab her so they wouldn’t lose each other. She hoped. Nyra tucked her battered wings and tried to protect them, but everything hurt. A bump in their leafy slide shot them into the air. Nyra screamed. Real panic entered her voice. Without her wings or mana, she was at the mercy of gravity—every pixie’s nightmare.
Sid tugged her close. Strong arms enveloped her. Suddenly, her fear became contained in the muscular arms of a human. She clutched his shirt, squeezed her eyes shut, and rode out the dips and turns of their slide, ignoring foliage whipping by.
They landed hard in squishy mud.
Sid groaned beneath her. His chest heaved as he took in great lungfuls of air.
