A Job From Hell (Ancient Legends #1)

would kill her in a heartbeat if
it weren’t for a few Lore rules that kept immortals from attacking each other.
    “Amber’s my responsibility,” I repeated,
quietly.
    “Your scent’s too strong. They’d spot you
in a heartbeat because they’re probably expecting you to come to her rescue. Look
at it this way—” Clare paused until I glanced at her “—if anything
happened to you, she’d stand no chance against them.”
    Thrain cleared his throat to get our attention. “Not trying to interrupt
your touching display of concern for one another, but I’m a busy man. Either we
get going now , or I’m off.”
    “We’re going,” Blake said. “There’s no need
to wait. We can discuss the details during the drive.”
    “Goody. Follow me.” Thrain headed for the door, calling over his shoulder, “And try to keep up.”
    Kieran laughed. “Ever hear of NASCAR? I
invented it.”
    I glared at him, but he just shrugged and
jumped up, car keys dangling from his fingers. Throw in the word ‘drive’ and
Kieran was ready to start the engine.

 
    ***

 
    We drove up the Scottish coast, heading
north, past one long strip of trees on both sides of the highway. The air
smelled of rain and salt. The moon hid behind heavy clouds in the pitch-black
sky.
    “We’re in the middle of nowhere. No wonder
we never found them,” I mumbled.
    “We’re slowing down,” Clare said from the
backseat. “This must be it.”
    “Where?” Kieran asked.
    Clare pointed at the darkness stretching to
our right. “The mountains.” The brake lights in front of us came on as Thrain pulled his SUV onto a track and stopped.
    “Don’t say anything to piss him off. In
fact, don’t do anything to screw this up,” I said to my brother.
    “Come on.” Kieran parked the SUV behind Thrain’s . “Give me a little credit.”
    “Give you some credit? If you protected Amber
the way you should’ve we wouldn’t be here.”
    “Drop it, Aidan. You’re not helping. Now,
let’s go,” Clare said. I exited after her, lingering near the vehicle.
    “We’re close. I can smell their faint
scent,” Blake whispered.
    Kieran snorted. “That makes one of us. All
I smell is dog shit.”
    Leaves rustled. The long grass swayed in
the wind. “You know this is the craziest thing we’ve ever done,” Clare said,
wide-eyed.
    “That you’ve done,” I said. My work as a bounty hunter usually involved more than trekking
through the Scottish Highlands.
    “Exactly,” Kieran said. “Like Aidan, I live
for this kind of stuff. If you want adventure, I’m the guy for you.”
    “I just hope Thrain doesn’t screw us over and feeds us to the wolves,” Blake mumbled.
    I nodded. “Me too. I can’t believe we’re
putting our lives in the hands of Cass who picked this winner.”
    “She says he’s the best shape shifter there’s
ever been,” Kieran said. “Yeah, right.”
    “We haven’t seen him shift shapes, so quit
judging a book by its cover.” Clare’s blonde hair shifted in the wind, floating
around her like a halo, as she turned to stare at Thrain .
    Kieran snorted. “The best? I find that
rather hard to believe. The dude can’t even grow a beard, he’s never seen a
brush, he’s never heard of an iron, and—”
    Clare cut in. “Classic bad boy, very sexy.”
    “I call it unkempt ,” Kieran said. “Don’t tell me he can’t afford a pair of
jeans that haven’t been put through a shredder. What’s taking him so long
anyway?”
    I cocked my head to get a better view. “He’s
fumbling around in the glove department.”
    “I hope he’s looking for a map and not a
weapon,” Blake said, leaning against a tree.
    I turned to face him. Blake must be
nervous. That was about as much as he talked in weeks. “You don’t have to join
the mission. I’m not twisting your arm.”
    Blake pointed at Thrain’s car, ignoring my statement. “He’s coming.”
    We watched in silence as Thrain marched over to join the waiting party, eyes
glittered in the moonlight. “It’s up there,” he said, pointing at the dense
forest on the mountain behind us. “We need to reach the trees before the clouds
clear again.”
    “A midnight stroll—how romantic,”
Kieran said.
    I followed the others up the path,
pondering over what the demon called a plan: find a way in, save the lass, find
a way out. Maybe avoid a guard or two in the process. Didn’t sound like much of
a plan to me, but I wasn’t one to argue as long as we didn’t leave