Page 12 of The Firebrand
Both warrior-like men studied Braelyn as if she might go kablooey.
“Is anybody going to answer me?” She shook off their concerned stares.
Rein tramped up to her and once more placed his palm against her temple.
“Hands off.” She swatted at him.
“It’s not working.” Chay grinned, his teeth straight and dull, unlike the man he’d called a wampirus.
“What’s so damn funny, ylve?” Rein paced, dragging a fist across his short hair.
“You. The all-powerful Firebrand. The spell guru. Brought down by a human. The guys will love this.” He rested the crossbow on his hip.
“Okay. Rein. Chay.” Braelyn gestured with two fingers toward her eyes. “Try to focus. I want a serious answer.”
Rein shifted his stance, his weight more on one leg than the other. “Could you just be quiet a minute while I think? Damn, you talk a lot.”
Braelyn tapped her foot in the grass.Tap. Tap. Tap.“Think faster. I’m going to scream for help unless I get a believable explanation. Who are you and where are we?”
Chay smoothed a finger along his upper lip, looking thoughtful. “Straight up. You aren’t on Earth anymore, Braelyn. This is Scath. You saw Rein here capturing a Kalli from Darque, the fur ball over there.” He pointed. “The wilding crossed illegally into your realm. Normally, Rein would zap you so you’d forget. You would be on your way, and he would return to Scath. That’s the truth.”
“Yeah?” Braelyn scrunched her brows together as she looked at the Kalli struggling against invisible bonds. “The hairy thing with horns or something and a … you know … sticking straight out is a Kalli. You’re an ylve, and you’re a trifecta. We’re standing in a forest on Scath, and Toto snapped his leash in Kansas. Is that it?”
When they both nodded, she yelled, “How gullible do you think I am?”
Braelyn squared off against both men but pointed her finger at Rein, shaking it. “My world is the only world. No monsters there. No ylves. No vampires or warlocks or incubi. No Scath. No Darque. Come up with another explanation. Are you both soldiers at a secret experimental facility?”
Rein drew back his lips, long fangs dropping. “What are these?”
Braelyn brushed aside a momentary fear. “Lots of kids wear those fake things. Hell. Some people even get their teeth filed into sharp canines.”
Rein growled and a chill skittered across Braelyn’s skin. When he raised his hand, palm up, her sneakers left the ground and she levitated five feet above the field. After a few moments, her tennies rested on grass again.
She sucked in a breath, unable to keep tears from blurring her vision.Damn. She hated to cry in front of people.
Chay punched Rein’s shoulder. “Why did you do that, man?”
“The Earther didn’t believe us. Would you rather I bury a fireball in her gut? I’m not up on parlor tricks or nonlethal spells.”
While they argued, Braelyn pulled a one-eighty, bolting toward the woods.
In a flash, Rein blocked her path, locking onto her arm. “Where are you going?”
“I don’t know. Away from here. Away from you.” She jerked her elbow out of his grasp. “Take me home.”
Rein’s voice softened. “I can’t do that.”
To steady a rapid heartbeat, Braelyn spiked fingers through her auburn hair. She checked for her small diamond stud earrings.Yep. Still there.She checked for her sunglasses.Gone.Next, she ran her hands down her T-shirt and sweats as if they needed straightening. Her kidnapper had brought her to an alien world, if she could believe these two.
Impossible.
“Where are my Gucci sunglasses?” She touched her head and looked at the surrounding ground. “And I demand you return my phone.” When meeting the unknown, focus on tangibles. Another hard-learned cancer lesson. Sunglasses. Cellphone. Earrings which she now twisted. Clothes which she smoothed again. These were her mental targets, her reality checks.
“How the hell would I know where they are?” Rein crossed his arms, ran a tongue over his fangs, and fixed eyes on Braelyn, tracing each curve like an artist. Or sexual predator. He snarled, diving into his pocket to retrieve her cellphone. “Here. Take it. But it won’t work.”
“I was wearing my glasses before you mauled me. Gucci. Very expensive.”They were a gift to myself when my tumor went into remission the last time.
“Submit a voucher.”
