Page 30 of Taken By Raider Kings
Keep your mind on your problems, and not on her clothes.He paused, looking at an emergency exit and weighing his options.The building was five stories tall; they were on the fourth floor.
“God,” she whispered, right before she collapsed again; he kept her upright.“You lied to him.”
Duh.“Of course I did.What else was I supposed to do?”
“Is Zach really your name?”
Sharp girl.“It really is, sweetheart.The one I was born with, even.”Family name.We’ll get around to that.
“Why are the lights fuzzing out?And the… the things—” The only thing that alarmed him more than how pale she’d turned was the dreamy, disconnected way she was asking questions.“Like scarves.”
We hit the jackpot with you, honey, if you’re already that far along.“You’re seeing the spirits, themajir.And theupirmake the lights go.They prefer to hunt in darkness.”
“Hunt?”
“Us.”
“Oh.”She nodded, calmly enough, and drew a breath, as if to scream.
He couldn’t take the chance and shoved her against the wall, covering her mouth.The fine tremor running through her infected him, as well.His other hand curled into a fist, and he stopped himself from ramming it through whatever paste was masquerading as walls around here just in time.
“Listento me.”A snarl ran under the words.Her throat-cut fear was taunting what little control he had left.“I need everything I’ve got to get us out of here.I’ll keep fighting so long as you stay with me.Right here.”He stared into her shock-glazed grey eyes, disregarding her glasses, pushed askew by his palm.“Youstay with me.Understand?”
Something flared in her pupils.It was a spark, struggling out from under the terror.He willed it to stay, but the tiny point of light was extinguished almost as soon as it arrived, and he heard the soft rotten drumming of their feet.More of them.Jesus, what’s going on here?
“Okay,” she whispered, when he peeled his fingers away.“Fine.Stay with you.All right.”
Relief warred with fresh rage inside his chest.She looked absolutely hopeless, but still soldiered on.“Good girl.”He did something he’d wanted to do since the moment he’d first glimpsed her in the crowd—leaned forward, pressed his lips to her forehead, inhaled the smell of her hair.Clean, fresh, female; even with the sharp sawblade of fear underneath, a single breath held the power to calm the animal inside him.
Goddammit, she smelled like shebelongedto him, and he didn’t have time to take it easy, ease her along.The lights were dimming rapidly as theupirmounted every upward path, floor by floor, a pressure like an approaching storm.
She blinked up at him, owlish, and some sense had filtered back into her pale gaze.“What did you do that for?”
Because I wanted to.“Come on.”Up the last flight of stairs, a locked door he kicked once to crumple, metal tearing with a screech.Cold sleet-drenched air poured past them as the lights failed completely, night reaching into the building like spilled ink.
“They’refloating,” she whispered, in an awestruck little voice.
Oh, yeah.She’s gonna be a live one if she’s seeing that so soon.Need to feed her and get her settled somewhere she can shaman-sleep.Wind cut across the rooftop, and he glanced out.The best bet was off across the flat expanse toward a likely corner.The three-story building over a narrow alley was the best route; it had cover and he’d be able to take that drop easily, even carrying her.
Still, he paused for a moment.There was nothing to be gained by running blindly.Ifhewas hunting someone, he’d have a lookout on the roof.
There.A patch of foul-smelling shadow in the lee of an air-conditioning vent.Sophie shivered, actually moving closer to him and pulling her jacket close.
He hadn’t even given her time to change her clothes.
Better start treating her nice, Zach.It’s your responsibility.
Yeah, sure,he told himself.First let’s get us out of here in one piece.Hard to treat her nice in the middle of a melee.“Stay with me,” he whispered.“Okay?”
She nodded, curls falling in her face, and he had the urge to brush at strands, see if they were as soft as they looked.
Then he dragged her out into the cold, deliberately stumbling as if drunk or wounded, and the lookout took the bait just as he’d hoped.It came streaking out of the darkness, disturbing the flung silver pellets of icy rain, and Sophie didn’t even have time to scream before he shoved her down and away, grabbing two fistfuls ofupirand letting the Change bloom inside him like glass daggers.
It answered one question, though.The blood-heavy parasite was a little older and more experienced than the rest, and it had come straight for Sophie, not even veering for Zach as the biggest threat.
They wantedher.
Its claws burned as it turned on itself, a rubbery snake of bloodlust; he took the hit without caring, low on the side, turning so it grated on ribs instead of opening up the vulnerable belly.In a normal fight this would be the time for noise, a roar to spur him on.But not now.
