CHAPTER 14
Talon couldn’t describe the relief that blasted through him as the roof access door finally opened and Sherry came rushing out of it. He was across the flat roof as quickly as he could manage, tearing up the distance between them and sweeping her into his arms before she had even noticed him. She gasped, struck his chest as he hauled her up against him, and then melted into him when his mouth found hers and she realised who he was.
Her hands slipped over his bare shoulders and up the nape of his neck, and he growled low into her mouth as he kissed her, a thousand hot tiny shivers dancing down his spine in response to her caress.
A little moan escaped her, teasing his ears and stirring thoughts of carrying her away into the deeper shadows.
She suddenly pressed her hands to his shoulders and broke away from his lips, and he growled and tried to seize them again, unwilling to give them up when he needed her fiercely, had been going out of his fucking mind waiting for her to show up and show him she was safe.
“Talon.” Her soft delicate voice was so serious that he stopped trying to kiss her and lifted his eyes to hers. They held a grim edge, one that sent a different sort of shiver down his spine.
Did she know about his secret?
His heart started a thunderous beat against his chest, his palms sweating where they pressed against her backside, holding her off the ground and against him.
She swallowed hard, glanced at the others as they came to meet them, and then looked back into his eyes.
“Archangel… I’m sure it was a moment of weakness… that she just wanted whatever relief they promised…”
He didn’t like the sound of that. “What?”
Her sombre expression and the fear he could feel trickling through their link had his emotions switching from worry she had discovered the truth about him, to fear she had discovered something terrible about someone else.
Somewhere else.
They couldn’t have.
“Not the pride,” he whispered, his throat so tight that he barely squeezed out the words.
“There’s still time. They only dispatched a team today.”
“Bleu.” He set Sherry down and turned to the elf.
The dark male stood like a wraith in the darkness, his violet eyes cold and deadly. “Whatever you need, you will have it.”
“I need to reach the pride. I can tell you a nearby portal.”
Bleu nodded. “It will be enough.”
“I’m coming too.” Kyter shoved his fingers hard through his sandy hair, positively growling the words, and Talon nodded, because he wasn’t about to turn the jaguar down. His kind were strong, warriors to the core after everything they had been through, and Talon would need his fighting talent if he was going to protect the pride.
Most of the tigers there weren’t warriors. They were females, and children. Easy targets for Archangel hunters.
“We’re coming too,” Iolanthe corrected her mate and stepped up beside him.
While Talon didn’t want to turn her down, he had a problem with her accompanying them. “If you come… the others. I need them safe.”
They weren’t free of Archangel yet.
He looked at Agatha where she stood beside Klay, half his size. The bear could fight. Talon had seen him take down three Archangel hunters the night they had been snatched from the fae town. But Talon knew the male would be distracted with protecting Agatha. Bears were territorial about any female, highly protective. Klay and Agatha had bonded during their time in the cells, sharing the same dry humour and exchanging tales.
Although, Agatha told him tales of the video games she played, and he told her stories of his real-life adventures and brushes with death.
“Not a problem,” Bleu said and before Talon could ask what he was going to do, fearing he meant to teleport the others away from the rooftop to somewhere safe, draining himself and risking not being able to teleport him to the pride, the elf turned to the demon mercenary and spoke in his tongue.
Whatever he was saying, the demon didn’t look particularly pleased about it. Reluctance shone in his near black eyes, a corona of purple-red shimmering around the edges of his pupils, a sign his emotions were getting the better of him.
The male said something back at the elf, and glanced at Agatha. Tore his gaze away. Glanced again.
His black horns flared, curling around the lobes of his ears.
Aggression.
Talon hadn’t realised that the male felt such a thing towards Agatha. Had she pushed the demon too far with her silly name for him? Demons could be a ridiculously proud race.
The huge black-haired demon took hold of Klay’s arm, and reached for Agatha. He hesitated, his fingers flexing in the air between him and the witch. On a growl, he seized her arm, and they all dropped into a black hole in the ground that closed behind them.
“He agreed to take them back to the fae town.” Bleu turned to him.
Thank the gods. He could focus now, wouldn’t have any distractions when he reached the pride and would be able to fight with a clear mind.
Or at least he hoped he would be able to.
“I don’t like how the demon’s horns flared with aggression.” He looked back at the spot where they had disappeared, a ripple of worry running through his blood. If the bastard hurt Agatha, Talon would hunt him down.
Bleu cocked an eyebrow. “Aggression? Believe me, the last thing Valdaine is feeling towards the little witch is aggression.”
If it wasn’t aggression, what was it?
The answer hit him like a tonne of bricks.
Oh.
Talon wasn’t sure which to be more shocked by—the fact that he knew the demon’s name now, or the fact the male wanted Agatha.
He had the feeling that adventure was about to come and bang down her door.
He would have to warn her once his pride was safe. A huge obstacle still stood between him and achieving that.
Bleu and Iolanthe could only teleport directly to somewhere they had visited before. The elves had to rely on using the fae portals dotted around the world to access somewhere new to them.
“The nearest portal is in Ullapool… but it’s a long way from the village on Tèarmann.” Close to fifty miles in fact, and Talon wasn’t sure Bleu would have the strength to teleport him to Ullapool and then onwards, leaping short distances to the furthest point he could see until they reached the pride village.
Bleu’s violet eyes lit up. “Kincaid’s estate?”
The elf knew the old werewolf? Fuck, he was glad to hear that.
He nodded. “He gave us refuge on a section of his estate to the south west, away from his home… separated by a lake and a mountain.”
Talon hoped that was enough to keep Kincaid safe from Archangel. The werewolf had done a lot for his pride, and he didn’t want him and his family being dragged into this mess.
“South entrance, Io.” Bleu took hold of him and Sherry as Iolanthe nodded, and had teleported them before Talon could say she wasn’t coming.
The elf landed hard in a dark forest, immediately released them and dropped to his knees on the leaf litter.
Iolanthe and Kyter appeared a split-second behind them, and the female rushed to Bleu the moment she spotted him on his knees. “Brother!”
Shit. Talon couldn’t exactly ask Bleu to take Sherry home now. Even Iolanthe was showing signs of fatigue, her fair brow dotted with sweat.
“Quit fussing,” Bleu muttered as he grabbed her shoulder and pulled himself onto his feet. He swayed a little as he brushed his knees down but managed to remain on his feet. “Stupid tiger is stronger than he looks. I didn’t expect that sort of drain.”
He swatted her hands away when she tried to keep hold of him.
“I’ll be fine.” Bleu succeeded in brushing her off him.
Mostly because she planted her hands on her hips and glared at him, her face darkening to reveal just how much she doubted that.
“Ah, leave him be. You know you can’t stop him when he wants to do something.” Kyter weathered the black look Iolanthe threw over her shoulder at him. “Look, he’s already back to being annoying.”
The female elf fixed her focus back on her brother as he produced a long black blade out of the air and swept his hand along it.
The damned thing turned into a spear.
Talon really had a lot to learn about elves.
“This isn’t your fight,” he said and both of the elves turned murderous glares on him. He held his hands up at his side. “I’m just saying. You have orders not to reveal the involvement of elves in what happened. If any of the hunters from Archangel see you—”
Bleu smiled coldly, flashing sharp fangs. “Oh, they won’t see me.”
Damn. As much as Talon wanted to turn him down, he also didn’t want to get on the elf’s bad side, and he needed all the help he could get. If the male wanted to bloody his blade a little, Talon wasn’t going to stand in his way.
Iolanthe drew a short black blade from the air, and then produced a longer silver one. She tossed it to Kyter, who caught it in one hand, and grinned at her.
“Is this an order not to go all jaguar? You just don’t want the lady tigers seeing me in all my glory.”
She huffed at that.
By ‘all my glory’, Talon figured he meant naked and not in his feline form. Female tigers wouldn’t be interested in a jaguar, but they were drawn to warriors, their instincts pinning them as viable strong mates. A naked Kyter would probably draw some unwanted attention from them.
Iolanthe teleported another shorter silver blade into her hand, walked over to Sherry and held it out to her. The female elf nodded when Sherry took it, her violet eyes flashing with confidence and strength that she imbued into Sherry with only a handful of words.
“Stick them with the pointy end.”
Sherry nodded, flexed her fingers around the bound leather hilt of the sword, and took a deep breath.
His stomach lurched at the sight of her swinging the blade, and the thought of what was about to happen, and every instinct he possessed had him stepping towards her, driven to stop her.
“You don’t have to do this. You could stay here.” Where it was safe. Where Talon wanted her to be, far away from the fight.
She shook her head, determination shining in her blue eyes. “Not going to happen. I’ve had my share of training. Besides, I have the best back up in the business.”
Kyter growled low at that.
Like hell Sherry was talking about him.
Although Talon did appreciate that the male would be keeping tabs on her too. Not that Talon intended to let her out of his sight, or away from his side.
“Got one of those for me?” He turned to Iolanthe.
“I thought you would go all tiger… but if you want a weapon.” She held her hand out in front of her and a huge broadsword appeared in it. “I figure you can handle this.”
Hell, yes, he could.
He took the weapon from her, growled as he felt the weight of it and gave it a few test swings. Damn. It was a nice blade. Made for cutting down anyone who stood in his path.
He would use it well.
“This way.” He pointed in the direction of the pride village with the sword.
Bleu, Iolanthe and Kyter took off, leaving him alone with Sherry.
He swept her into his arms and claimed her lips, needing to feel them against his, needing to taste her and know that she was with him, and to thank her for wanting to fight for his pride.
She smiled against his lips. “Let’s go do this.”
He caught the hidden meaning in her words—and then they could have some much-needed alone time.
He was up for that.
Pride first, pleasure later.
“Hold on.” He didn’t give her much of a chance to do that as he kicked off, leaving her shocked gasp somewhere back in the woods.
She wrapped her arms and legs around him and clung to him as he raced through the forest with her. Gods, she felt good all pressed against him like that, clinging to him. He banded his free arm around her and held on to her too.
He would never let her go.
The lights of the village flickered through the thick trees ahead of him in the valley.
The scent of blood hit him before the screams reached his ears, and the roars of the warriors as they fought.
He growled low in his throat, his fangs elongating as rage poured through him, fury that Archangel had dared to bring this fight to his doorstep and were attacking innocent members of his pride, females and children who couldn’t defend themselves.
He sprinted harder, determined to reach the village and end the battle.
Determined to save his people.
A mighty roar sounded, sending the birds flying from their roosts above him.
A shiver danced over his arms and down his back.
Grey.
His younger brother.
He pushed himself to the limit, adrenaline pumping now and his instincts seizing control. His senses honed, sharpening until he could feel every single person ahead of him and could almost pick them all out one by one.
Another roar answered the first.
Unmistakable.
Byron.
A garbled scream followed it, one of the Archangel team if the sudden spike in the scent of mortal blood in the cool night air was anything to go by.
Talon shifted Sherry slightly away from him to protect her hearing.
Unleashed a roar of his own to answer his brothers.
To let them know he was coming and he wasn’t alone.
He broke into the clearing where the village stood.
Stopped dead as his gaze tracked the first Archangel hunter he spotted and saw their target fighting another, the naked silver-haired male stood with his back to them as he battled the mortal with his bare hands, utterly unaware they were poised to strike.
“Grey!”