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Whoever it was, they were still far enough from the vehicle that I managed to slip back to my original lookout unseen.

Hidden once more behind the tree, I peered at the car. I could still hear the tormented cries of the native inside the vehicle. Perhaps the person heading this way was a friend. Perhaps they were bringing help with them. Perhaps I would not need to intervene, and I could go home soon.

The injured human made more noise, all of it indistinct.

Muffled, I realized.

I hadn’t heard them sooner because their cries had been muffled.

A friend wouldn’t muffle his injured comrade. He’d want people to hear so that help could come sooner.

Foe.

I didn’t have time to think of the implications before a great beast of a man cleared the forest to my right.

I was wrong to think the person tromping through the woods was a blundering human. I stared at the man as he headed to the vehicle, utterly captivated. He was human, yes, butfearsome. Someone like that wouldn’t have to mask their presence. He was surely the most dangerous thing out here.

Other than me, that was.

I watched him cross to his car, my heart in my throat. I couldn’t say why exactly I was so terrified. Besides the fact that physically he was bigger than me, he couldn’t possibly wield the kind of magic I could.

But he had that look about him, the same look mercenaries and assassins of my world had. Fierce. Stoic. Frightening. Only on a human face it looked particularly cruel and emotionless.

Shame he was handsome. Those features were wasted on someone who would slit your throat before he’d make small talk.

He moved to the rear of the car, which directly faced me. I took in the broad expanse of his corded back as he removed his helmet, setting it on the roof of his car before he unlocked the doors. It was odd, seeing a human that strong, that toned. Most of them looked soft,domesticated.

Not this one.

He swung the rear doors open.

Finally I caught sight of the person inside.

I shoved my fist into my mouth to silence my cry.

That wasn’t an injured human.

It was an Infernarus.

Chapter 3

Asher

Inside my Hummer,trussed up like a turkey, my prisoner winced against the light, his eyes still bruised from the beating I’d given him earlier to get the location of the portal.

In a bucket by the wheel well, his severed hands sloshed in an inch of blood.

Could never be too careful.

I fanned my nose against the stench of ash and blood. “Since you led me to the right spot,” I said, “I’ll make your death as quick and painless as possible.”

My prisoner thrashed against his bindings, jerking like a bull, rocking the truck back and forth. His duct-taped mouth screamed garbled obscenities.

“What was that?” I said, cupping my hand over my ear. “Buddy, you got to speak up.”

He screamed louder, his cries muffled by the tape.

“Nope, still can’t hear you—”