Page 100 of Darkness Bound (Night Prowler 5)
In a horrified whisper, Morgan said, “Oh my God. Do you think something happened to her?”
Jacqueline said, “What’s going on here?”
Xander and Morgan looked at her, but Hawk had already been watching her, since the moment he stepped inside.
“It didn’t work,” he said dispassionately, glancing between her and Morgan. His voice was cool, his expression was neutral, but there was something strange in his eyes. Something that, if she hadn’t known better, almost looked like . . . relief.
“No. It didn’t. Now will you please tell me what’s happening?”
“I have to go to him. He’ll be expecting me,” said Morgan, smoothing her hands over her hair. She’d turned pale in the past few moments. Xander stared at her, concerned.
“We’ll both go. Don’t worry, amada, it’s going to be fine,” he murmured, and pulled his wife into his arms.
Jacqueline looked away. Even that small gesture of affection felt too intimate, as if there were no one else in the room but the two of them.
Xander said, “Hawk,” and jerked his chin at Jacqueline. Then he and Morgan left without another glance in her direction.
Hawk crossed the room quickly, holding out his hand to her. “We have to go.”
Automatically, Jack backed away. He stopped dead in his tracks and lowered his hand.
“Do you think I’m going to hurt you?” he asked, voice gruff.
Jack’s heart was pounding. She was confused, her brain felt addled, and having him near was short-circuiting what little logical thinking ability she had left. With him in it, the room felt too close and warm, decidedly uncomfortable.
“I’d prefer not to travel on your shoulder, if you don’t mind,” she answered, avoiding his question. He looked her over, his jaw tight, then nodded curtly.
“There isn’t a bridge to my home from here, but there is one that leads to Morgan and Xander’s. It would be . . . best . . . if you stayed there for now.”
He didn’t look as if he thought it would be best, but she nodded anyway, relieved yet also oddly disappointed she wouldn’t be going back with him to his own spare, masculine space.
That’s it. You’ve officially lost your damn mind!
“Follow me,” he said, and turned to leave. Jack hesitated, but then did as he instructed, walking quickly to keep up with his long strides. Once outside, he took one of the four suspension bridges through the trees in the opposite direction they’d originally come from. Below on the forest floor, a steady stream of people was also moving in this direction, and Jack stared down at them, fascinated.
She asked, “Who is Leander? And why is Morgan afraid of him? And what’s this about a Queen?”
She thought she heard an aggravated exhalation, but couldn’t be sure. The throbbing beat of drums drowned it out.
“Leander is the Alpha from another colony. Most of the members of his colony in England have already relocated here due to the threats against us, but he and the Queen and a few final families were left. The Queen is exactly what she sounds like: a Queen. The most powerful one of all the Ikati. Who apparently is missing.”
They were moving quickly through the trees, passing house after ingenious tree house, following the network of bridges deeper into the forest. Jack was too busy trying to keep up to spend too much time marveling at the beauty of it all. She jerked away from the left-hand guide rope with a strangled scream as a hairy brown spider as big as a crab crawled up from under it.
Hawk halted when he heard her. He blew out a breath when he caught sight of the spider. “It eats fruit,” he said, then turned and walked on. Over his shoulder, he added, “As for Leander, you could say his relationship with Morgan is . . . complicated.”
“Complicated?”
“He once ordered her killed for treason.”
Jack sucked in a shocked breath.
That’s how we met. He was an assassin, I was his mark. Funny, isn’t it, the strange ways love stories can begin?
Oh God. This place was like one of those Korean melodramas her neighbor Mrs. Lee watched on TV, all murder plots and espionage and crazy royals. How on Earth had she ended up here?
“He’s not going to hurt her now, though, right?” For some reason, the thought of that made Jack’s stomach turn over.
Hawk muttered, “You can never predict what an Alpha will do.” He stopped at the trunk of a tree where the bridges split in four directions. “That’s it.”
