Page 32

thirty-one

People around us. So many people.

“Rune, I-I-I…” I couldn’t speak, could hardly blink as the shadows faded and slowly revealed that we were sitting on that couch alone.

“Did we…did they…” I couldn’t even ask.

“Did anybody see you come on my lap?”

Heat in the pit of my stomach. I turned to Rune, about to scream my guts out at him, until I saw his face. Those bloodshot eyes. Those mauve lips that tasted better than anything in the universe.

“No, Wildcat. Nobody will ever see you like that except me.”

I sucked in a deep breath. Yes, that sounded exactly right.

Except… “You’re not yourself. You drank too much wine,” I whispered, afraid that he’d confirm it. Terrified that I was right.

The corner of his lips turned up. Slowly, his hands moved away from my ass and to my thighs, and his left one found its way underneath my dress.

“Rune, what…”

His fingers were against my thigh. I stopped moving, stopped breathing, only watched him and waited…

Until he touched me. Until his finger slipped between my soaking wet folds, and he ran it all the way down to my entrance, then up again.

My bottom lip was between my teeth, so I didn’t moan. God, I was burning. I was melting. His hand was on my pussy and suddenly I didn’t care if anybody could see it. Suddenly all I wanted was for him to keep going.

He didn’t.

Much too soon, he pulled his hand from under my dress and brought his middle finger to his lips. His middle finger coated with my juices.

His eyes never left mine when he slipped it inside his mouth and licked it clean.

My body raged. The need for him grew threefold within the second. There was fire in his eyes, and damn it, I wanted to get burned.

Then he closed them and moaned. “You are as sweet as death,” he told me. “Just like I knew you would be.”

Suddenly he sat up, arms wrapped around my waist, carrying me with ease. A scream stuck in my throat and I wrapped my arms around his neck, hid my face behind my arm.

God, I didn’t want to see anything anymore—I was tired of being so out of control of myself. I didn’t want to see.

“She needs to clean up. Take us,” Rune said.

I didn’t even look to see to whom he was speaking. I just stayed there wrapped around him, wet and pantie-less, shaking with embarrassment and need.

“Now is the time,” he whispered in my ear as we went—so low I barely heard it.

My heart paused.

“Time for what?” I whispered back.

“To leave.”

Holy shit—finally.

As soon as his words registered, my mind was perfectly alert again.

I raised my head just a little to see our surroundings. The same—everything was the same.

Except Lorei was nowhere to be seen and the people were more drunk than they had been before, so there were a lot more of them moving about with drinks in their hands, dancing and barely walking, falling on couches—and on people’s dicks.

“How?”

“I received word. We only have to get to the border.”

Chills ran down my back. “From who?”

“Don’t take long,” said the man who had led us to the back of the room, down the narrow corridor where the bathroom was, and farther down the door to the basement.

“ Shshsh,” Rune whispered, and he was right. I didn’t really care who was waiting, but I was going to do everything in my power to make sure we got to that border.

The door closed behind Rune. He let me go, and at the same time, shadows spilled from his lit-up hands and moved to the door, sealed the corners and the keyhole.

Then Rune grabbed my face in one hand and held me in place as he came closer until our noses touched.

“You did so well,” he whispered, then licked my lip the same way I’d licked his earlier.

My entire body came alive. How in the world was it even possible that I wanted him so badly still? Even more than before. So much more.

But Rune let go of me and moved away too soon. “Clean up quickly. I’ll wait here.”

Fuck!

My eyes closed and the memories rushed through my mind. I swallowed hard and stepped back.

“You, um…” I looked down at his pants. “Are you going to clean up, too?” I’d come all over him and even though I couldn’t see it because of the dim lights and his black pants, he had to be a mess as well.

“I’d rather not,” he said, eyes gleaming, that almost-smile on his lips. Then he reached for the leather ties of the cloak and whispered, “Turn around.”

I did. He took the cloak off my shoulders slowly. Without it I felt so damn exposed, and the buttons of my dress were still undone.

Just as turned on and embarrassed as before, I went to grab a pitcher. Every inch of my body was aware of his eyes on me. My cheeks were on fire when I finally went to the stall and started to clean myself up. The water was cold, but I didn’t even notice, didn’t consider asking Rune to warm it up. And when I was done washing my hands, too, he put the cloak on me again, tied it over my chest like we had all the time in the world.

All the while he looked at me, and my own eyes didn’t even blink, afraid I’d miss a single second. Afraid I’d forget just what he looked like the moment I looked away.

I wouldn’t, though. The memories of him had taken over my mind completely and in such a short time.

“She will go back to the cage now.”

Again, I looked up at him, certain I’d heard him wrong, but no. That was exactly what Rune said to the incubi waiting for us outside the bathroom door.

Behind them were two vampires—the men whom that red-headed incubus had been jerking off at the same time earlier, and fuck, they looked like they could hardly stay awake as they leaned against the wall and waited for us to move away. They were probably here to clean up, too.

“Only her?” one of the incubi asked Rune.

“Only her,” he confirmed.

I bit my tongue to keep from saying anything. He knew what he was doing. I was going to trust him and keep my mouth shut.

So, the guards nodded ahead. “Move.”

Rune walked with me, and the vampires finally stumbled into the bathroom. By the sound of it, one of them fell as soon as they entered, but the guards and Rune didn’t seem concerned. I kept my head down as we went deeper into the corridor, trying to imagine if there was any way I could escape from that cage by myself if Rune really was going to leave me alone. The closer to it we went, the more my anxiety took over, but at least I wasn’t as turned on as before. Mostly I was just scared shitless of being all alone in a cage in that basement.

Then one of the incubi opened the door, and we were walking down the stairs, and those cages were right there. The part of me that thought I might have imagined the whole thing died quickly.

The closer to them we got, the more my legs shook. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, I turned to look at Rune, to beg him with my eyes not to leave me here all alone. I was terrified of who else might come downstairs while he was busy, terrified that nobody would hear me scream.

But Rune wasn’t looking at me. He was looking down at his hands, the light in them.

The shadows that suddenly sprouted out of his fingers pushed me back and created a wall in front of me before I’d taken a full breath.

I must have passed out momentarily because I don’t remember exactly how I ended up sitting on the floor with my hands around my head, while people screamed nearby.

Men screamed and bones broke and the sound of something heavy falling against metal rang in my ears.

It was over so fast for me, which was another reason why I thought I hadn’t been awake for most of it. It was over, and the thick wall of shadows that had been in front of me for who knew how long faded away all at once to reveal Rune.

A bloody Rune with his shirt torn as he reached out his hand for me. “Time to go, Wildcat.”

I put my hand in his. He pulled me to my feet. “Don’t look,” he told me because I was looking. “You don’t have to see?—”

He meant see the body pieces of the three incubi all over the floor. See that.

My heart almost beat out of my chest. There was blood and a cut off head near a body and one with the face so beaten in I couldn’t even tell who it was. My hand closed over my open mouth.

“You…y-y-you did that?”

Rune pulled me toward the stairs. “Yes. Look up. Keep moving.”

No remorse. No regrets.

I looked up to the door at the top of the stairs as he pulled me behind him only because I didn’t have the stomach to see more of what he’d left behind.

Everything changed so fast, yet again. And I didn’t have the stomach to face the fact that I didn’t know who this man was at all, either.

A cold-blooded murderer. He just killed three men within minutes, left them in pieces all over the floor, and he didn’t bat an eye about it.

Rune.

Rune did that.

Then we were outside in the corridor, and my hand was in his, and he was basically dragging me along. My legs refused to work, and my mind was full of the images in that basement, all that blood, the body pieces, the crushed skull of the incubus. I didn’t see, couldn’t see what was in front of me if I tried.

And maybe that was for the better.

Darkness and voices and music—it all turned chaotic in my overwhelmed mind. Cold air slipped down my throat and then I tried to blink, tried to see where we were, what was happening, but Rune pulled me to the side quickly and stepped closer until my face was right against his chest. He put the hood of the cloak over my head, then brought a finger to his lips to tell me to remain quiet.

His hands lit up and those shadows wrapped around us just like before. With his glowing fingers, he raised my chin until I was looking at him, at his beautiful face that made my heart skip too many beats.

I have no idea who he is, said a voice in my head.

Then he mouthed, run.

When he turned and moved around the corner of whatever wall we’d stopped by, I didn’t think. I just forced my legs to move as fast as they could.

Shadows all around me, blocking the view of my surroundings, but he seemed to be able to see exactly where he was going, and my hand was still in his. The sound of chatter and laughter and sex was in my ears together with the music still, but with every step we took, it was getting more and more distant.

With every step we took, I realized how much the sight of those men had shocked me.

The shadows faded away.

A single bird made of white light flew right next to my head. At the sight of it a small scream escaped me, and Rune continued to drag me forward, led me toward the darkness, toward the empty buildings ahead that could have been the same ones near which that imp had transported us. The bird moved with me at the same speed—and then something else flew right to the side of it.

Something that looked a lot like a knife.

Rune turned to look back. I did, too.

I shouldn’t have.

Succubi and incubi were running toward us, at least ten that I could count. They were running and they were throwing knives at us as they did—but that wasn’t all. The sound of horse hooves hitting the ground, and loud neighs filled my ears, and my heart all but stopped.

Four incubi riding horses were approaching the ones chasing us on foot impossibly fast, and they were going to get to us before two minutes were over.

“Look ahead, we’re almost there!” Rune called, but he was wrong. I saw the trees in the distance, the dark ones ahead, not the ones full of colorful leaves that belonged in Cloakwood.

“Cloakwood!” I cried because those trees were far closer than the ones ahead.

But Rune said, “They’ll follow us in Cloakwood. Look ahead!”

My heart squeezed. The bird remained with me as more knives flew around us, somehow missing us every single time, which made me think Rune and his shadows had something to do with it. But I focused my energy on running so I didn’t ask—until the sound of those horses behind us became too close.

Once more, I looked back.

They were right there, even though those trees were now close. So fucking close.

Hope ran from me, disappeared all at once. We weren’t going to make it. I was sure of it.

Then Rune moved.

One moment we were running hand in hand, and the next he stopped, gripped my forearm with his other hand, and he pulled me aside. I had no clue what the fuck was happening, and I had no strength to even try to stop it when he spun me around twice, then threw me.

He threw me in the air like I weighed nothing, almost pulling my arm off my torso completely in the process. My mouth opened, but I couldn’t scream. There was no voice in me, and even my heart didn’t beat as I watched him raise those glowing hands at me. As I watched those shadows shoot out of him and come to wrap me into a spinning tornado as my body flew higher and higher, then began to fall.

I was falling and I couldn’t see where. The bird was with me, but the shadows were too thick, and I couldn’t see what was below me, where I was falling to. Where Rune was.

The fucker threw me. He threw me away from those incubi—and how in the fuck was he going to get away now?

He was fast, that’s how. I had been holding him back, that’s why.

God, please, let him be fast…

All thoughts left me when I fell against the first branch, which meant trees were under me. The shadows disappeared and I slammed onto another branch with the back of my head, which turned me to the side a second before I hit the ground. The pain that shot from my right leg made me scream before I opened my eyes. The bird was there, flying in circles over my head, and my leg felt like it was burning for real.

Rune .

Rune was not there with me.

I pushed myself up on my elbows, and the pain in my leg doubled. I gritted my teeth to hold back another scream and I blinked my eyes, tried to see what the hell had happened.

I did.

Rune had thrown me all the way to the trees that had grayish leaves on them and bark that was almost completely black. I’d fallen just behind the first row—and I was going to kick his ass for this as soon as he found me. I was going to give him a piece of my mind the moment I saw him, but…

The bird faded as it flew near my head. My heart stood still, and I looked up, focused ahead.

Rune was surrounded by horses and a shitload of succubi and incubi, and they were all fighting him.

Red hot pain shot up my leg when I moved, but I didn’t care. Standing up was out of the question, but I was going to drag myself on my elbows all the way to him. I was going to fucking murder him for throwing me away, knowing those creatures would get to him—but first, I was going to help him murder them. In whichever way I could.

That’s what I told myself as I continued to drag my body forward, eyes on Rune so that I saw the way he moved, so incredibly fast. I saw the way he ducked and leaned back and jumped to try to avoid the hits coming at him from possibly more than ten incubi who had formed a circle around him. More waiting on the sides, watching.

My heart all but exploded when he hit the ground on one knee. I didn’t see how or who hit him because I was trying to get to him faster, but Rune was on one knee and some of the incubi were already moving away to reveal whom I thought was Rogue holding him by the hair.

Something glistened under the weak moonlight in his other hand—a knife as big as the one Helid had tried to fight those monkey monsters with.

I about lost my mind.

The thought of those people killing Rune was completely unfathomable to me. My fingers dug into the ground and the heat that came over me erased any trace of that pain that had paralyzed my leg completely.

No. There was no way in any hell that these people were going to kill Rune right now, regardless of who he was or what he’d done in that basement. I would die first, and I wouldn’t hesitate.

The next moment, heat shot from my chest and toward my arms, gathered in the palms of my hands. They began to glow a warm yellow light and right now I couldn’t care less who saw or if this was even real—I was going to do something to stop this. Rune was not going to die while I lay there and did nothing. Fuck that.

So, I closed my eyes and prepared to release whatever had built up inside me, even if it killed me, too.

Then I heard the footsteps coming from behind me.

Everything came to a halt. My eyes opened and I realized my hands were dipped all the way into the slightly wet soil, and I was still lying on my stomach, and Rune was still there on his knee…

And darkness so much thicker than Rune’s shadows was spreading all around me like waves moving out of the forest and toward the incubi.

Tendrils of darkness shot forward and covered the ground as if they were living things, and the incubi saw. They stopped just like I had, froze completely, as the person responsible stepped right to my side.

Slowly, I raised my head to find a woman dressed in black with her hands forward, glowing white.

“You fucking leeches,” she said, her voice light as a feather.

She continued ahead, out of the forest like she couldn’t even see me lying there.

Incubi ran toward her, knives and swords in hand. She remained calm, her step never faltering, and I almost screamed at her to watch out.

But when they stepped onto the darkness she’d covered the ground with, they stopped. They let go of their weapons. Wrapped their hands around their necks while their eyes rolled in their skulls like they were being choked.

Seconds later, they fell to the ground like all their strings had been suddenly cut. I could see it, not just because they’d come close, but because the sun was already on the rise, and the sky had begun to lighten up.

The closer to Rune that woman went, the more that darkness spread until it reached him. By then, the remaining incubi had already retreated, and the horses had run away. Rogue was walking backward with that knife in his hand still, and Rune was alive, a hand over his knee as he waited for the woman to approach him.

The darkness disappeared, slipped into the ground when she reached out her hand for him. Rune took it and jumped to his feet. Said something, but they were too far away for me to hear it, and it was too dark to read his lips.

The incubi were not coming back, and those who’d tried to attack the woman and had fallen weren’t getting up, though I could tell their chests were moving. They were still alive.

My eyes closed and my body let go of me, and the soil underneath my cheek actually felt nice.

Somehow, we’d gone through that and we were both still alive.

For the moment, that’s the only thing I cared about.