Page 93 of Forged in Deception

FORTY

ASHER

Lightning split the sky, flooding the valley with light as Asher approached the cabin.

An old chair was shoved under the doorknob on the outside, which was a good sign that Lily wasn’t the one inside.

His heart soared.

Paul couldn’t have locked himself in there.

It had to be her.

He yanked the chair free, but before he could open the door, he leapt backward, narrowly avoiding a flaming piece of kindling that Karlin had just swung directly at his head.

“Yo! Cool it with the stick!” he shouted, raising his hands in surrender.

He’d been expecting a warm welcome. Maybe even a kiss.

Oh well.

He smiled as he looked her over, relieved just to know that she was safe.

She was missing her lab coat, and her outfit didn’t look very warm, but aside from that, she looked just as stunning as ever.

And, judging by the swing that had almost connected with his face, she still had some strength to spare.

“I’m so, so sorry,” Karlin stammered. “It was supposed to be a torch.”

She leaned out of the cabin, tossing the dishcloth-wrapped stick out into the rain. The flame flickered against the sand for a moment before burning out, filling the air with yet more smoke.

“I’m surprised you managed to light it with whatever terrible fire you have going in there,” Asher joked. “You can smell the smoke a mile away.”

“Ha. Whatever. You’re lucky I didn’t knock you out.”

Karlin was trying not to smile, but he could see how happy she was to see him. He wondered how long she’d been trapped in here alone, but before they caught up, he seriously needed to get dry.

“Are you going to invite me in? And maybe help me find something I can use to bandage my knee?”

She stepped back at last, allowing him to slip through the door before closing it behind them.

The fire in the woodstove was far from raging, but at least Karlin had managed to keep the smoke traveling in the generally correct direction. After the chill of the rain, the old building felt almost cozy.

They spent a few minutes rooting around the cabinets until they found a dust-covered roll of paper towel and used it to wrap Asher’s leg as well as they could.

“You scared me, Axel. I thought you were Lily,” Karlin said, collapsing onto one of the chairs. He followed suit, all thoughts of further banter forced immediately from his mind.

“Why did Lily lock you in here?”

He listened for several minutes as she recounted the events of the night, and then he took his turn doing the same. But whenthe moment came to tell her that Cora had mentioned some kind of ritual killing was about to take place, he hesitated.

He hated the thought of scaring her even more. She’d already been through so much stress. Then again, she deserved to know the extent of what they were dealing with.

Before he could figure out how to share the grim news, however, Karlin interrupted him. “What did Cora inject you with?”

“I have no idea. She just said it was a sedative.”

Karlin pressed a finger to her lip.

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