Tall, Dark & Apocalyptic (10 page)

Its companions reacted swiftly, their attention torn immediately from Yeira and Audie as blood lust spurred them to attack the dead vulture, tearing at it with their razor-like beaks and claws. Warm, red blood, and other things, sprayed Audie and the woman screamed. “Now,
run
!”

She didn’t wait to see if he listened. Yeira took off running toward a distant line of scruffy looking trees.

Audie stood for another beat, his gaze locked on the cluster in the sky in amazement. But he quickly realized the roiling, shrieking mass of carrion eaters in the sky would soon work their way through the dead vulture and turn their attention back to their human prey. Audie started after Yeira.

Yeira was nearly to the tree line and would have probably made it already except she kept looking back to monitor the hunter. Damn the man! He just stood there with his knives drooping, staring at the distraction she’d created to save them. “Kord!” she screamed, but he ignored her. Swearing softly, Yeira stopped running and turned, wondering if she was going to have to run back and fetch him.

Finally, he seemed to realize that he needed to get moving and he turned, running full out in her direction. When he saw her watching he swung a hand toward the trees. “Move, move!”

Yeira’s gaze widened in horror as the vultures finished their meal and turned their eerie red gazes on the fleeing hunter. “Well, shit!”

She started running back, having no idea what she was going to do to help him but determined not to leave him behind.

“No!” he shouted. “Go.” He turned as the first vulture struck and swung his knives, scoring a hit on the thick, scaly leg but not managing to avoid the raking claws.

The hunter flinched as his attacker raked three long furrows down his arm and swung around to avoid the snapping beak.

He came around with knives flashing and sliced two quick, bloody grooves into the wide chests of a pair of the birds. They swung sideways with a squawk of pain and two others took their place, beaks and claws flashing toward Audie.

The memory of how the hunter had looked the last time he’d gotten between her and the carrion eaters brought panic rising into her throat, choking her.

A familiar pressure started deep inside Yeira’s belly, a biting pressure that burrowed its way toward the surface, desperate for release. She gritted her teeth against the building energy, reluctant to let it loose for the hunter to witness. The power yanked at her insides, wrenched them so that the agony bubbled from her lips in a helpless cry, and Yeira dropped to her knees, clenching her fists as fire licked up her spine.

A strident scream pierced the air and Yeira’s head came up. The hunter was airborne, clutched in the claws of two of the giant birds and in danger of being ripped into two flailing pieces.

Remarkably, she realized it hadn’t been the hunter screaming. His knives still flashed as the birds flapped their wings and tried to rip him apart, and he’d managed to score a couple of minor hits. One of the birds, in particular, had crisscrossing wounds on its chest, but they weren’t deep enough to spur the other vultures’ blood lust.

When the third vulture dove toward the tableau, Yeira lost the battle against her magic. She straightened and, with a scream, flung her hand up and shot a silvery stream of energy toward the plummeting bird.

The vulture exploded, sending gore in a wide arc and shocking the two birds holding Audie into dropping him and diving for the bloody refuse.

The rest of the kettle of vultures joined the fray and Yeira ran toward the hunter, helping him up as he shoved himself, painfully off the ground. “What the hell just happened?”

“No talking. We need to get into those trees before they finish their snack.” She ducked under one of his heavy arms and looked into his face, her heart skipping a beat as he turned a speculative gaze on her. “Can you run?”

He nodded and they stumbled together toward the trees a hundred yards away.

The vultures were still screaming and fighting over their unexpected meal as Audie and Yeira slipped under the strange looking trees. Audie felt a snap of some kind of power over his skin as they breeched the tree line. Fat, white flowers with orange centers hung low from the trees’ sagging branches. They crushed the fallen blossoms underfoot as they stumbled past and the crushed flowers sent a peppery aroma into the air.

Yeira stopped beside a sparkling, blue creek that wound across one end of the strange forest. “We can rest here.”

Audie looked skyward as a new round of frustrated shrieking sounded. The vultures circled high above the softly swaying branches of the droopy trees, their eerie red gazes hopefully scouring the ground. “We need to find shelter. It’s only a matter of time before they come in here after us.”

Yeira crouched beside the creek, cupping her hands and filling them with the clear blue water. She took a drink and splashed it over her face. “They won’t come in here. The marauders don’t like poivron trees.”

Audie looked at his arms. The bloody gashes hurt like hell but they weren’t bubbling and seething like his face the last time he bumped up against the disgusting birds. “You sure that water’s safe?”

Yeira looked at him, her bright blue gaze sliding over his wounds. “The reborn cleaned the poisons from this wood and coated it with cloaking magics. It’s protected and safe.” She looked around, a slight frown on her face. “For a while anyway. With the nest gone I feel the magic waning.”

Audie followed her lead and crouched beside the creek, submerging his hands and dousing his wounds with the cool, clean water. It stung but seemed a better alternative than infection.

Yeira disappeared and came back a moment later holding one of the fat, white flowers. “Here, give me your arms.”

“Why?”

Her gaze snapped with temper. “Seriously? You don’t trust me yet?”

He did trust her. Against his better judgment. But Audie wasn’t about to admit that. He shrugged. “Simmer down, woman. It was a simple question.”

She shook her head, clearly disgusted with him. “The poivron flower has great healing properties.” Yeira dug her fingertips into the flower’s center and ripped it in half. A thick gel oozed out of the orange middle and a sharp, peppery scent thickened on the air.

She dipped her fingers into the gel and reached for his arm. “This might sting a little.”

Her soft, tapered fingers slid over the ragged, red scratches on his forearms, gentle but firm. The gel went on cool but quickly heated on his skin, so much so that Audie grimaced from the heat. “You sure this is a good idea? It feels like it’s burning me.”

Her response was to dip her fingers again. “Give me your other arm.”

Audie held her determined gaze for a moment and then reluctantly did as she asked. A small smile curved her lips as she observed his reluctance. “Don’t be such a big baby.”

Audie’s irritation with her spiked, but her soft fingers rubbing his torn skin soothed it quickly away. Somehow the heat from the gel she was applying had moved south, causing a secondary fire in his groin.

“Take off your pants.”

Audie blinked, his eyes widening as he realized she was serious. “Um, I don’t think…”

She gave an exasperated sigh. “Don’t worry, hunter, your virtue is safe with me. Those need tending to.” She jerked her head to indicate the deep gouges on his thigh.

“It’s okay. I’ll deal with them later.”

“No. The vulture’s claws aren’t poisonous like their saliva, but they’re hotbeds of disease. If we don’t cleanse and medicate those gouges right away you’ll get a raging infection and might even lose your leg.”

Audie swallowed hard. “Give me the flower, I can do it.” The heat in his groin flared and his cock thickened, jerking under the sticky leather pants. How did he warn her that he was commando under the leather?

“I swear to god, I’ve never seen such a baby. I promise I won’t look at you.”

Irritation flared again and Audie gave her a mean smile. “Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Audie shoved to his feet and reached for the band of his pants, tugging the fastener open. With his gaze fixed on Yeira’s so he could watch her reaction, he dragged his battle pants over his hips and down his thighs.

Her pretty gaze widened. She sucked in a breath as his rock-hard cock popped free, dancing on the air between them.

Yeira licked her lips, murmuring, “Good god in heaven.”

Audie lifted an eyebrow. “I tried to warn you.”

“Shut up, Hunter.” She swallowed visibly, her gaze never wavering from his cock. “Just shut the hell up.” Her delicate fingers twitched as if she wanted to reach across the space and touch him. Suddenly Audie wanted that too.

The poivron flower drooped, forgotten from her suddenly nerveless fingers. Yeira momentarily forgot that she’d promised not to look. It seemed all she could do was look at him…at it. It was gorgeous, massive, long and thick. The head was half as wide as her hand and a thick, purple vein bulged on its underside. Beneath his thick shaft hung a huge pair of softly-furred balls.

Yeira’s pussy compressed with sudden need. Her stomach tightened under an almost incomprehensible wave of lust.

She swallowed hard and blinked, realizing she’d been staring for several seconds. Clearing her throat with embarrassment, she tore her gaze away and looked toward the ground. The fat, white flower lay in the dust, its glossy petals beaded with the precious liquid she’d been planning to use on him.

She swallowed again and her gaze lifted. To treat his wounds, she’d have to work mere inches from the jutting shaft. Dangerously close. Just the sight of it made her mouth water for a taste. Her fingers tingled with the need to touch.

“Um…maybe you should do this yourself.”

A smug, sexy grin split his handsome face. “Afraid you won’t be able to resist my…um…charms?”

Anger spiked and Yeira bent over to grab the dropped blossom. “I was only thinking about you. But if you’re going to be an ass—” She stalked toward him, glowering as she carefully avoided looking at the impressive package jutting from between his legs. “This might sting a bit,” she told him with a mean little smile. He stood perfectly still, not making any attempt to move so that she could reach his muscular thigh without touching his naked cock.

Yeira assessed the landscape. The triple furrows of torn skin, already angry looking with the onset of infection, were close to his inner thigh. She blinked, realizing how close the vulture had come to ripping a much more sensitive part of his anatomy. Glancing up, she met his dark, unflinching gaze. There was no evidence there that he was thinking of the close call. His eyes held heat and his square, bristled jaw was tight. She skimmed a look over his chest, noting the shallow breaths. He was obviously much more affected by the idea of her touching him than he was letting on.

That made Yeira feel a little better. At least she wasn’t the only one who thought her groin might spontaneously combust at any moment.

She eyed the wound and the delicious appendage hanging in front of it. “Maybe you should sit down.”

But the damnable cur shook his head. “It hurts when I sit.” His wide mouth twitched as he fed her the line, and he attempted to look pitiful.

If she wasn’t so mad she would have laughed. “Right.” Glaring at him, she dropped her gaze again to the problem at hand. Maybe she could approach the wound from the side.

“Are you going to do this, or not?” His voice sounded strangled, breathless.

Yeira pulled air into her lungs and dipped her fingers into the center of the poivron flower, coating the tips with the clear gel. It was cool on her fingertips and made her skin tingle. She swallowed again, her gaze sliding reluctantly over the dense, purple head of his cock. A drop of moisture glistened over the hole at its center, and she experienced a sudden, unwanted vision of what it would be like to lower her head to that glistening drop, swiping her tongue over it.

Yeira frowned, shaking off the unbidden thought. “This is going to sting a bit.”

“You already told me that?” He lifted his arm and she noted some of the angry redness was receding.

His implication that she was stalling galled her. Yeira moved to the side a few inches and snaked her hand out, touching the long, angry wounds and rubbing the healing gel over them.

Audie sucked in a breath and twitched. The warm, heavy weight of his cock hit her arm and Yeira stilled, her gaze sliding to it, unbidden.

Audie seemed unaware that she’d shifted her focus from the wound on his thigh. His eyes were closed as he rode out the pain. Yeira jerked her attention back to the job at hand, relieved he hadn’t caught her staring.

She gently rubbed the rest of the gel into his skin and quickly straightened. Her hand brushed the head of his cock in her haste. The glistening drop of pre-cum slipped onto the back of one finger, just at the knuckle. Yeira stepped back and, without thinking, lifted the finger toward her mouth.

“Thank you.”

She jerked her hand downward, guilt making her pulse pound. The hunter bent down to tug his pants back up and Yeira almost whimpered.