Page 40 of Mated
My fists clench to punch him in the jaw.
“Tanner!”
My head whips over as Nisha’s voice rips through me.
She hauls ass over the field, her eyes wide and color in her cheeks. I let my beer fall and run to meet her in the low grass.
I grab her shoulders, slowing that insane forward momentum. Her sneakers slide in the loose dirt and small stones as she stumbles. My hands tighten over her arms. “What?” I demand, searching her face.
“Daisy,” she gasps. “Attacker.Ciorcal.” She motions frantically behind her as she continues to pant past her exertion.
My buzz from the demon liquor vanishes.
I shove her toward Caine. “Stay with her,” I snap and take off for the ancient trench.
Chapter 18
Nisha
Tanner’s body disappears in a cloud of dark mist and impenetrable shadow. Faster than Daisy, a midnight panther soars out the other side, his massive paws devouring the earth as he sprints like lightning toward the basin.
I start to pivot and go after him. A strong, hot hand closes over my upper arm.
“Bad idea, pet,” Caine says. He pushes me behind him, already shoving a cellphone into my chest. “Call Lilah.”
I grasp his phone with shaking hands. “I can help. I can—”
He whips around, eyes glowing with blood-red light as small sparks of fire seem to whirl in their depths. Orbs of the same hellish mix fill his hands. “You’re still mostly human. The cat will kill me if you get hurt. Call Lilah and tell her to have Gage turn around. And stay here.”
The last is a rushed order as that brilliant red glow surrounds him in a bubble. He rises into the air, encased by an unearthly shimmer, and zooms after Tanner. I sputter as he all but disappears into thin air.
My fingers blanch around his phone. It creaks. “Shit.” I loosen my grip to keep from breaking the little device and fumble to unlock it.
The background wallpaper is a familiar face. Lilah gazes across what appears to be a well maintained courtyard, her dark hair up in a loose ponytail as she converses with Ruin. Even though Ruin has been cropped mostly out of the frame, he’s easily recognizable.
My stomach knots. Seeing the photo is like reading the demon’s diary.
I quickly pull up the contacts. Thankfully Lilah is simply under her name and not some cute nickname or something.
She answers on the first ring. “Hey, Caine. Everything okay in the wonderful world of beasts?”
“Lilah? It’s Nisha.”
“Nisha?” Her confusion comes across the line loud and clear. “Where’s Caine?”
I exhale, bolstering myself. “Caine is currently chasing Tanner who is chasing a rabid cat and Daisy. I have no idea how far they’re going, but I’m pretty sure someone or something is going to be dead by the end of all this, and—”
“Where are you?” Ruin’s voice is like a punch in the gut. But it washes away some of my fear, reiterating my years at the station. Years I spent desensitizing to every hard and jarring call. I catalogue all the emotions coursing through me, accept them, ignore them, and square my shoulders with resolve.
“Silver Rock, sir.”
“Good girl. Now I want you to round up the pack.” What sounds like a car door slamming fills the speaker. “Especially the alpha. Tell him what happened, but don’t go into the woods alone.”
I start off, sneakers pounding the dry ground. “Got it.”
“And Nisha?”
“Yeah?” I barely pant.
