Page 86 of Artemis' Bow
“That’s it, my love. Keep screaming for me.” He reaches between us, circling my clit in rough staccato movements. “Fuck, I’m gonna come.”
“Come with me,” I pant.
I kiss Jayden again, plunging my tongue in his mouth as he slams into me over and over. He presses his thumb against my clit and sparks light up my arms as everything turns black around the edges and I fly over that edge into oblivion.
Jayden pulls me into his arms and lays my head on his chest over his heart. “Sleep now, my love. We have no idea what dangers tomorrow will bring.”
21
“What are we even looking for here?” I ask with a grumble.
“There’s some kind of magical disturbance but I can’t be sure. It’s bad, though, and if we don’t stop it, then San Antonio is going to look like Tuscan,” Adrian says.
“Nothing looks out of place here, though.” Jayden scans the street in front of us.
The sun is shining here, but even first thing this morning the heat was overwhelming. At least in the SUV the AC is blasting and we aren’t dying in the scorching triple digit weather. It shouldn’t be upward of one hundred degrees in the spring.
“I suppose we should park somewhere and take a look around?” I ask. “Are you sure this is the right place, Adrian?”
“Yeah, this is the place I saw. We definitely need to get out and scout the area for anything disastrous.” He shrugs.
“Okay.” I sigh. “Jayden, let’s find somewhere to park.”
We park and get out of the vehicle, all on high alert. I glance up at the clear blue sky and a shock of red and gold burns like flickering flames against the backdrop.
“This is no coincidence,” I mumble, still watching the bird fly in circles over our heads.
“Shit, it really is following us, but who sent it?” Jayden asks.
“I don’t know but we leave it alone unless it attacks us. We don’t know for sure that it has nefarious intentions.”
The forest opposite the parking lot is still, almost too still. “Shouldn’t there be some kind of noise in the forest?”
Greyson tilts his head to the side and shakes his head. “It’s like the forest is holding its breath. There are no birds chirping or scurrying prey animals. It’s complete silence. That’s odd.”
“It also answers our questions about whether we’re in the right place.” I peer into the trees but there isn’t even a rustling of anything.
It’s creeping me out. Forests are supposed to be teeming with life.
“Let’s go walk through the creepy forest. This should be fun,” Raven says with fake cheer.
“That’s the plan.” My shoulders slump.
Jayden squeezes my arm in comfort. “It will be okay. One thing at a time, remember?”
“Yeah, one step at a time. We are closer to Artemis’ bow than ever. We just need to get through all the hurdles to get there. It’s no different than any other mission we’ve been on.”
We stalk into the forest, and I reach for my lightning bolt charm, unfurling my whip. Everyone else has their weapons drawn already. We form a circle, keeping our backs to each other as we pick our way through the forest.
“Help,” a thin reedy voice calls.
I tense, holding my whip at the ready as a dryad comes racing between the brush. I don’t loosen my stance or put the whip away. Dryads have been less than friendly to us in strange forests in the past. Raven goes rigid beside me, her feelings about a dryad running up to us much the same.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“They are destroying everything. My poor forest,” the dryad cries.
“Who?” I ask, glancing at my friends in confusion.
