Page 65 of Marked
“Jeans,” he says.
I step back as the meter continues to shrill it’s warning. The SUV presses into my spine. I flow around it to the back hatch and try to see through the tinted glass. They stand close, gazes fixed on the side of the car.
Sliding my boots off, I stand in the tall grass and shimmy out of my jeans. I hold them out to the side. “Now what?”
A naked sword slides into the waistband and carries them away. I huddle at the back of the car, untying my shirt to try and hide my underwear.
There’s a lot of masculine swearing. I glance around the vehicle.
A small metal circle hovers in the air over Gage’s outstretched hand. The men pace him, gazing at it.
“Human made,” Gage mumbles. “But well crafted. This, gents, is a simple but powerfulamplicatorcharm.”
Tanner nods. “There is no scent on it but hers. And something musty. Stale.”
“Perhaps she acquired it in Carnage?” Horan asks, sword at his side.
Ruin shakes his head. “We were ... pretty close in that closet and we didn’t–” He trails off with a string of vehement swearing. “She had it before that.”
My face heats at the memory of his hand on my ass. At the fear that was seconds from choking me. Or the fast change of terror to lust.
“Any other fast swings in emotion?” Gage asks, turning his palm this way and that.
Ruin’s handsome face contorts and he motions them farther away. “Her fear–” His voice fades in and out. “She has every reason to worry–”
“I know Vic is in jail– Maybe it amplified that–” Tanner mutters.
Gage purses his lips and studies the little charm more.
Caine growls. “Can you please destroy the bleeding thing?” he roars, pressing a dagger filled palm to his temple. “It’s like a raucous symphony in my fucking head.”
Gage glances at Ruin and he nods.
The Fae motions the others back as his body fills with light. The sun builds just under his skin and his platinum hair picks up on an invisible breeze, one that brings fresh mown grass to me on the draft. Emerald fire fills his palm. It roars upward, engulfing the charm until black smoke and ash is all that is left in its wake.
Caine sags, and I can’t help the twinge of sympathy as my desire lessens marginally.
Poor guy–
Strong fingers close over my mouth as a long arm loops in a vise-like grasp around my waist. “Don’t make a sound.” The voice is hard and little more than a breath in my ear. I’m lifted and tugged backward.
I rail, twisting and turning as muffled shouts leave me. The hold tightens, choking them off.
“Lilah.” Ruin walks around the car, jeans in hand, as he tries and fails not to look for me. He stops dead.
Frigid gold light fills his irises, and his fangs appear against his bottom lip. The dark barrel of his gun finds its way into his hand. “Don’t move!” he says coldly.
The others race around the car, weapons at the ready. Tanner dissolves into shadowed mist and leaps out, his massive panther body like slick oil in the sun as he stalks through the grass. His dark lips peel back on glistening white teeth.
Gage crouches, thick legs wreathed in more of those strange flames as Horan raises is sword in a two-handed grip. Even Caine has twin daggers in his agile hands. And gone is the teasing demon. His face is haggard, like he hasn’t slept in days, but there is nothing but cold malice in his gaze.
“Release her,” Ruin snarls.
The hand on my mouth turns bruising. “I can’t do that.” The voice, louder now, is just a scratchy whisper. Rasping and almost damaged.
Ruin shifts.
The man takes a pace back. “Come closer and I’ll snap her neck.”
