Page 3 of Another Damned Storm
The storm was miles away. It took several seconds for themuffled thunder to reach me, but something about that storm still managed to put my hackles up.
I turned toward the island and looked at the blue sky. It was like night and day. The sun shone brightly, and the brilliant colors of the surrounding plant life were a vivid reminder of how beautiful the island could be.
When it wasn’t trying to kill me.
Turning back toward the storm, a fresh chill washed over me. “That’s kind of creepy.” I needed to remember to talk to Hook about this. Then again, if I didn’t get my ass moving, he would catch up with me in time to have that conversation right there on the beach.
But there was no way in hell I was letting him win this game. The only problem was I was struggling with deciding on the next place to go. Where could I flash to where Hook might not find me right away? Preferably somewhere that didn’t take a shit ton of energy because I was dragging.
My thoughts were interrupted when the ground beneath me began to shake. “What the fuck?” I put my arms out to steady myself, trying to convince myself the wobble in my voice had nothing to do with fear.
I’d never been in an earthquake before, but if that was how it felt, count me out. The shaking churned my stomach and gave me that half-drunk, woozy feeling I got when I’d had one too many shots of tequila. The same feeling that pretty much guaranteed I’d be nursing a hangover the next morning.
That was what finally made up my mind. “Back,” I breathed. I needed to go back to the spot where I last saw Hook.
I tried to focus my mind and energy on that dark spot in the forest and the tree he pushed me up against. On the warmth of his body. “Please still be there,” I whispered, closing my eyes.
The next instant, searing heat washed over me. Sulfur filledmy lungs. The ground beneath my boots crumbled, and my eyes flew open as I let out an involuntary scream.
Panic smashed into me like an out-of-control semi hitting one of those runaway truck ramps in the mountains. It burrowed through skin and muscle right to the heart of one of my worst fears.
“Shit!” I was teetering on the edge of a crater. And what was glowing in the bottom of that scary ass, oversized pothole?
Glowing hot lava.
“Mother shit fucker!” I’d had too many nightmares of being burned alive when I was a kid to think clearly. I fell on my ass and shuffled backward. The only problem was, the more I dug my heels in, the faster the ground gave out beneath me.
2
HOOK
It was easy to overlook some of the benefits of having godly powers when you’d had them your whole life. However, the ability to heal quickly after the woman who stole your heart kneed you in the family jewels? That was certainly something for which a cursed soul like me could be grateful.
The pain lasted barely a second. It was the fact that she’d done it, the shock of it, that knocked me off balance. We’d been working on her skills daily. Flashing, fighting, and at least one other ‘F’ word came to mind. That was something I would never tire of with Never Darling.
The rest, however, was a constant reminder that just because she had new powers, it didn’t mean she was out of danger.
It was true that she was safer in some ways. She was much more durable, for one. From what I had gleaned from Nerebis’s warning, and the limited research I’d been able to do since that day, I’d surmised it was still possible for her to die. If and when that happened would be entirely up to her, unless by some twisted miracle the council of gods deigned to intervene.
The deities that made up the council were the most powerful in history. Their combined power could reverse the spin of agalaxy. If they deemed a god a big enough threat, they could destroy them.
It was an unlikely scenario, but if their attention were to turn to Never in a threatening way, they would have to go through me to take her. Never might be stubborn to her own detriment, and have a mouth on her that made half the men on my ship blush, but she was also mine. And I adored every rough edge of her.
Pulling in a calming breath, I gave her a short head start. A little reward for besting me. She was getting better at this game, and though I should have been making it more challenging in light of her newfound ruthlessness, I simply couldn’t bring myself to punish her today.
When several seconds had passed, I focused my mind and magic on her. The beach was utterly empty, but that wasn’t what sent a prickle of warning racing up my spine. Another damned storm was coming.
They weren’t uncommon in the Nassa. The realm had always been subject to natural weather patterns, just like every other realm. Lately, though, those storms had become erratic and more than a little troubling.
Sometimes they manifested out of nowhere. Other times they grew slowly but became so violent I was convinced the only thing holding my sturdy ship together was the magical wards protecting it.
This one looked more ominous than most. The towering wall of clouds closing in on the island was almost black along the bottom, and the electricity in the air, even from miles away, tugged every hair on my forearms to attention.
Out of the blue, a jolt of panic trapped my heart in a vice. Never had been hiding from me, physically and mentally, but with the fear pouring through our connection, our little game ofhide and seek was officially over. I latched onto the feeling, her emotions, and used them as a beacon to guide me.
The flash that brought me to her was jarring, and my heart made a flying leap into my throat when I saw her scrambling on the edge of a precipice leading into what would inevitably be a very painful, albeit temporary, demise.
I reached out and snatched her by the back of her jacket, dragging her away from the edge as her hands and feet scraped the ground frantically searching for traction.
