Page 27 of Shadow Caster
“Stop!”
A barrel-chested, bearded man huffed into the clearing followed by a woman dressed in a dark cloak. He was clutching a sword that seemed like a little bit of an overcompensation, if you get what I mean.
“Don’t hurt it,” beard guy shouted. “I can wrangle it.”
But the beast lay still, its neck at an odd angle.
Archer stepped away from the hound. “Too late for wrangling. Any more escapees we need to know about?” he snarled. “You have one job, Redmond. One. You almost got these cadets killed.” His gaze flicked to me briefly before returning to Redmond. “Are there any more?”
Redmond looked over at the cloaked woman, then to the fallen hound. He shook his head and stood taller. “No. Wecaughtthe other youngling, which is what we asked you for help with. Catching, not killing.” He sounded pissed.
Hyde’s expression was unreadable. “My priority is the cadets at this Academy.”
“You used to care about these beasts once,” Redmond threw back.
“But now they’re your problem,” Hyde said.
“We should get back.” The woman’s voice was smooth and calm. Something glinted green on her chest. An amulet? The mark of an official weaver. “We need to check the warding and dispose of the dead.”
“You need to report to Brunner,” Archer said. “She should know about this breach.”
Redmond held up his hands. “Wait a second, Archer. I came to you for help because of your expertise at wrangling these hounds. You know me. You know I don’t make mistakes. This is hardly a breach. A few younglings escaped their pens before I could get them into the catacombs. We dealt with it, so why bother the administration?”
Archer crossed his arms and glared at Redmond.
“You owe me, Hyde.”
Archer’s shoulders relaxed. “Damn you. If this happens again …”
“It won’t. Mariana and I will get the body back to the stables. Thank you for your assistance.”
Archer made a sound of disgust deep in his throat and turned his attention to me. He strode over, and then his impressive frame and his lethal aura were pressing in on me, surrounding me so it was hard to draw breath.
He stopped a foot away, forcing me to crane my neck to look up into his scarred face. That close, it was easier to see his Tuatha ancestry. The hard, chiseled features, the pout of his mouth, the slightly flared nostrils, and thick dark lashes. He had been beautiful once, was still beautiful beneath the scars that slanted diagonally across his face. His eyes were what captivated me, though. A color somewhere between blue and green were hard with anger.
He looked down his nose at me. “You’re lucky to be alive, cadet.”
His tone was low and abrasive to my senses, but in a way that sent shivers of desire down my spine. Shitting heck. I took a step away from him but not before I caught a whiff of his citrus aroma and the sweet scent of blood rushing beneath. A sound somewhere between a groan and a moan escaped my lips. I clamped my mouth shut and stared up at him, mortified.
He arched a brow and then his lip curled slightly. “You got lucky. Next time you see a huge fucking fomorian hound, run.” He turned away and strode toward the tree line. “Get back to the dorm,” he called out as he vanished between the trees.
The two cadets with Lloyd said something to him, then jogged off after Archer. Lloyd headed toward Minnie.
Harper’s silver shield had vanished, and Minnie ran into her brother’s arms.
“Damn it, Minnie,” Lloyd snapped. “Fucking hell. I thought … Oh, God.”
They hugged tight, and my gaze went to Harper, whose eyes were dazed and fixed on her friend.
Myfriend.
But if not for that shield …
Everyone knew how Bourne feyblood powers worked. They were more Tuatha than lower fey, and they had something called the shining—a defensive halo that enveloped them in protection when they were in mortal danger. It came in very useful as a Nightwatch agent. But what many people didn’t know, and what I knew – due to my time in the slums with all its dirty secrets—was that the shining could only be extended to protect a loved one.
Loved one.
Harper loved Minnie, and from the look on her face a moment ago, it wasn’t in a platonic way. It was obvious Minnie had no clue. The jealousy and prejudice I’d thought had prompted Harper’s bitchiness toward me was much more than that. It was pain.
