Wicked Waves: Solsti Prophecy #2 (35 page)

It’s okay, love. It won’t last long.

They swirled in a slow, rotating motion, seeing nothing but wispy fog. Then with a tiny pull of gravity, his feet touched solid ground.

The cloudy tendrils parted, revealing the eerie sight of ghost trees mixed with green leafy ones. The sky was the same gray color as the mist. A weak sun fought to break through the thick clouds.

Ashina looked around, eyes wide. “Parts of Evena look like this.”

Johanna tilted her head and gazed at Ashina. “I have no idea why he brought you
here
.”
 
She held up her hands to stop Raniero’s retort. “I’m just sayin’, I’d really love to take you somewhere nice. Like Rivkin. That forest is
beautiful
. And the wood nymphs that live there sure know how to have a good time.”

“Your suggestion is duly noted, elf.”
 
Rivkin
. The friendly wood nymphs exuded sex, but couldn’t hold a candle to his woman.

Johanna nodded. “This concludes the terms of our contract, demon. I’d be happy to transport you and your mate in the future.”

“Thank you, Johanna.” Ashina pulled the elf into a quick hug.

With a wink and a crack of her gum, their tiny porter disappeared in a swirl of fog.

Ashina looked up at him with expectant green eyes. “Now what?”

“Now we take a little walk. I need to find someone.”

“Find someone…for my father?”

“Yes.”

“You won’t…”
 
Fear picked up where her words trailed off, snaking through their bond.

“No, love. No more killing.”
 
He took her hand and her palpable relief washed over him. “But I need to talk to this guy.”

They followed a faint semblance of a path for about a mile. Raniero reached out with his senses, finding nothing at first. A faint trace of pine lingered in one area. Elves.
Since when do elves hang around Stroehm?
 
He shook his head.

A half mile further, he caught the unmistakable scent of a Lash demon. And oddly, it was entwined with the reek of a large group of Serus demons. The Lash scent teased the edges of his memory, but the overwhelming stench of the Serus kept recognition just out of reach.
What the hell?

Raniero crouched, hands on the ground. The group was close. If his mark was surrounded by a horde of Serus demons, the job would get tricky. Not that he hadn’t been in worse spots before.

A warmth in his heart cracked through his lethal calculations.
Ashina
. How could he expose her to this?
 
But the raw tug of their connection burst like a shining star of clarity in his soul. Now that he’d found her, he could never leave her. Hell if he’d let any Serus demons near his mate. He glanced around the gray landscape, needing a place to hide her.

“I don’t want to be away from you,” she said, knowing his thoughts.

“And I don’t want you in any danger. Well, not more than necessary.”
 
He surveyed the boulders scattered on rolling hills, silver-gray flashing among the green.
Damn
. The foliage wasn’t thick enough to hide in, thanks to the dead trees. “Can you climb?”

She wrinkled her cute little nose. “Of course. I grew up playing in trees, hiding from my brothers.”

“Come here.”
 
Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he guided her to a massive, healthy sugar maple. He put his hands on her hips to lift her to the lowest branch, but she didn’t get that far. She wrapped her legs around his waist, their lips meeting for a tender kiss laced with her worry and his frustration.

He hated to pull away from her soft lips. “Wait for me here. Do
not
leave without me.”

“I don’t like this.”

“Me neither, love.”
 
He hoisted her to the branch and handed her one of his daggers. She shimmied higher, thick-soled boots giving her traction against the bark, until her feet disappeared into the green leaves. “Stay safe. I’ll be right back.”

If Cale never saw another silver ghost tree, he would die a happy demon. The endless repeat of gray and green, combined with the pine scent of the four elves he’d picked up, had gotten under his skin. And now he had two Serus guards who never returned from their patrol. He was ready to kill someone.
May as well be Kai.

A burst of heat against his chest made him freeze.
What the hell?
 
He looked down. The amulet had been quiet for almost a hundred years.

He fingered the thin leather strap around his neck. The pewter orb that hung at his sternum contained a few drops of his daughter’s blood. It had been easy to collect. The bitch bled like a sieve when he hit her. And she deserved it, after giving up her virginity to that Lash soldier. Daughters weren’t good for much except a marriage alliance, and she’d ruined that.

Cale had ensured they both suffered, though. With the spelled necklace created by his personal mage, he’d be alerted if she ever left her shithole of a new home. And the Lash had become his forced employee, on the threat of the girl’s life.

The mage had added her blood to the amulet and worked his sorcery on it, creating a virtual magic trip wire. And this was the first time the thing had fired up. He cursed, not needing the distraction of his wayward daughter on top of everything else.

“My lord?” One of the Serus guards appeared at his side. “Do you wish to stop?”

Cale opened his mouth to say no, but as he took a breath, he caught the scent of a Lash male. He held up one hand in a silent command.

He scented the air again. Yes, one male Lash demon. No trace of the female fae. Maybe she was dead. She was secondary to Kai, anyway.

Cale turned to his guard and kept his voice low. “There’s a Lash male in that direction. Take ten men with you and circle around behind him. Form a perimeter. If he gets past you, I’ll kill you myself.”

The guard paled and nodded. With a gesture to his men, they filed silently into the trees.

Motioning for half the group to stay put, Cale led a small contingent toward the Lash scent. Every predatory instinct flared to life as he stalked forward. The rogue male’s scent grew stronger.

Cale stopped next to a huge leafy oak.
So close
. He could almost feel the tension rolling off the other demon. Standing still as the gray boulders that covered the landscape, he waited.

A breeze started and stopped, rustling only the highest leaves in the trees. Cale would wait all day if he had to. He rarely found prey that was a challenge to track. Kai may be a pain in his ass, but the hunter inside him reveled in this chase. And then there was the bounty.

Fifty yards ahead of him, the bushes shook and a tall figure emerged. A figure with dark hair, not blond.
What the fuck?

“Raniero?”
 
Cale didn’t know what pissed him off more, that the quarry wasn’t Kai, or that his own merc had found him first. And hell, that was why Raniero was the best.

“I didn’t expect to find you here, my lord.”
 
The huge, scarred demon’s voice held respect that didn’t reach his eyes. Raniero was the only one of his employees bold enough to meet his gaze. Cale allowed it, because of the hollowness reflected there. An emptiness he himself had created a century ago.

Raniero’s eyes roamed the Serus demons before returning to Cale. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. Cale didn’t miss the flicker of surprise that Raniero quickly masked.

He strode close to his merc. “Your job is to follow my orders. Find Kai. And if you breathe one word of my traveling companions to Arawn, I will kill the one you hold so dear.”

Raniero’s eyes hardened. He reeked of a female. Probably one of his many conquests. Cale could always use that little tidbit against him, too. Remind his daughter that she was just one of many.

“Perhaps you should track him with me.” Cale took a step closer to Raniero. This wasn’t a request. The female’s scent rolling off his merc’s skin tickled his nose. It was familiar and yet not, as if he recognized a paragraph in a book he’d never read.

“I work better alone.”
 
Raniero’s words were curt.

Cale rubbed his jaw and focused on the demon before him. “That may be what you prefer, but soon we’ll part ways. Our terms are almost complete.”

“And I have never failed you.”

“True.”
 
Cale studied his trained killer. Wariness tingled in his veins. That sweet female scent wafted in the air, taunting his mind. He’d smelled it before, but something about it was different now…
 
A new flare of heat warmed the amulet at his chest, reminding him of why Raniero worked for him in the first place.
Wait
…

“You’re staying wi—” His head whipped around at a crash in the trees to his right.

His ten Serus guards, the ones who had made the wide circle, dragged a female into view. She struggled against their hold, but she was a tiny thing. Evidently a feisty one, too. One of the guards bled from a fresh cut on his cheek.

Dark hair flew when she tossed her head.
No fucking way
.

His eyes narrowed as he took in his daughter for the first time in a hundred years. A growl rose in his throat. He spun to stare at Raneiro, whose olive skin had turned unnaturally pale. The merc’s dark gaze was locked on the girl.

Cale stalked toward Ashina, fury heating his blood, fists clenched. “You were banished.”

Fear flickered in her green eyes before she schooled her features into a brave mask.

“You were also instructed to never set eyes on him again.”
 
Cale stopped in front of her, towering over her slender frame. The guards gripped her arms tight.

Ashina remained silent, defiance shining in her eyes.

Cale’s arm trembled, his fist aching to connect with her face. “You remember our deal, girl?
 
You remember what happens if either of you defy me?”
 
His voice grew loud, rage pouring into it.

The air pressure shifted behind him and cold metal pricked his neck.

“Touch her and die,” Raniero hissed, his voice low and full of menace.

Cale turned, not caring that the movement pushed his flesh against the merc’s sword. “And you’ll be next. Have you looked around?”

The Serus demons encircled them, poised for his command. Raniero’s eyes were stone as he stared back at Cale.

“You’re outnumbered, demon. Kill me, and both of you will take a nice long poisoned breath. Or my men might dismember you first. You’d probably prefer that. Do you know what Serus toxins do to your lungs?”

“I’ve killed hundreds of your enemies over the decades.” Raniero kept his voice cold and calm.

Cale recognized that calm. His merc’s tactical mind controlled his actions. And that’s exactly what made him the best. He didn’t let emotion get in the way. But this time, the one thing that mattered to him hung in the balance.

Cale smirked. “You just couldn’t wait, could you?
 
What’s a few more months?
 
I’m sure you could find another whore to fuck while you waited.”

A tiny muscle ticked in Raniero’s jaw. “Your daughter has never been a whore.”

“You made her into one, demon. Or did you forget?
 
Fucking her in the trees, like an animal?”

“Let her go!” Raniero roared, the air vibrating with rage, his control gone.

Cale smiled. He enjoyed getting under the other demon’s skin. “You still work for me, Raniero. You’re on the job. You swore to adhere to my terms. And you just violated them.”

In a blur of movement, Cale ducked and twisted. Raniero’s sword stung as it scraped his skin, but the superficial cut was worth it. He grabbed Ashina.

Pinning her against his chest, Cale barked a command to his top Serus. The gray-skinned demon exhaled a cloud of poison and blasted it at Raniero’s face.

The merc dropped to avoid the toxic mist. He didn’t succeed.

Choking gasps escaped Raniero’s mouth. Cale knew instantly the merc had breathed only a small amount, but even a slight puff of Serus toxin was excruciating. Raniero rose, still holding his sword. That was a credit to the man’s strength in battle. Cale would regret cutting this business relationship.

Drawing a dagger from his hip with one hand, Cale yanked Ashina’s head back. He pressed the blade to her throat.
 
Who knew how long these two had been together, but it was time for it to end. “You know what happens if you violate my terms.”

“No!” A vicious snarl tore from Raniero’s mouth.

A brave effort
. Cale didn’t miss the irregular sawing of his breath, or the way Raniero’s eyes took a split second longer to focus.

“But lucky for you, I’m flexible,” Cale continued. “Listen to me, demon. I’m ordering you to finish the job. Kill Kai. And I’ll let her live.”

C
HAPTER
25

B
ROOKE
STUMBLED
THROUGH
THE
SMOKY
haze of her dreamscape. Images shifted before her eyes, flicking from black and white to color like a television set about to die. Trees loomed ghostly gray. Vivid green. Back to gray.

Shouts carried across the forest. Dread seized her legs, rooting her to the ground. Where was Kai?

Figures darted around the edges of her vision, blurred shapes that gave no indication of friend or foe. She swiveled to her right, drawn by a force she couldn’t name. Kai was there. That direction. She just knew it.

Her feet loosened from the earth’s grip and she ran, following the invisible tug on her soul. She hurtled through brush. Branches slapped her face and stung her hands, but she propelled forward.
He needs me
. The urgent feeling squeezed her lungs, growing stronger.

She ran around an enormous dead oak and froze. Her mouth dropped open to scream, but no sound came out.

Blood poured from a wound in Kai’s shoulder and one arm hung limp. He struggled against the hold of a demon whose eyes flared bright as stars. Dark wavy hair fell about his shoulders. The pale silver of a fine scar decorated the side of his face. And he held a blade to Kai’s throat.