Immortals After Dark 03 - No Rest for the Wicked

With scars and rough hands. She bit her bottom lip. And if she continued staring at his powerful, sculpted body, she was in danger of spontaneous orgasm.

    “Bride, I never thought I’d ever say this to you, but you must focus.”
    The way she was staring at him, little fang pressing against her plump bottom lip, eyes flashing silver, was making him crazed.
    “O-of course.” She faced forward. “I’ve got this one down.” One last glance over at him, and she muttered a curse. “Lookit, the instant the rocks go, these three will attack. Fast. You’ve got to trace immediately.”
    “They look slow.”
    Without turning, she said, “They want to look slow. You trace, and I’ll dive out, okay?”
    “Will they chase you outside?”
    “They won’t be able to see in the sun very well.”
    “The rocks are about to go,” he grated. “Get back—”
    Sunlight shot in like a beam. Luckily, it was late in the day. He lunged back, leaving her room to leap for the hole. She shimmied out. But the basilisks charged with phenomenal speed, all three reaching the chamber and leaping with claws bared.
    The largest crashed through all the rocks after her. Dust and rubble exploded into the air. Sebastian couldn’t see her, only heard snapping jaws, then spied her as she ducked. Jaws slammed shut just over her head.
    Sebastian dove for her into the sun, swallowing a bellow of pain, snatching her ankle. Just as he was tracing them, she kicked him in the face and scrambled away.
    Before he could stop, he disappeared without her, then sent himself right back into the fray. Even half-tracing, he could barely see in the light. His skin burned as though splashed with acid.
    The basilisk had disappeared? Kaderin was on her tiptoes at the very edge of the cliff, arching her back to keep from falling. Before he could get to her, she’d righted herself, skipping along the edge. She’d tricked it into falling?
    The smallest one and the other were venturing out, blinking and hissing at the light. He dodged swiping claws to trace back into the dark at the other end of the cavern, then yelled for them.
    When they sprang back inside the tunnel, he dropped onto his back beneath the larger one and thrust his sword up at its belly. A death blow, planted between scales as big as plates. Gutted. He yanked the blade back, rolling out of the way.
    With a wet roar, it pitched backward onto the small one, trapping it. Sebastian shot to his feet, tracing to the last basilisk. As it scrambled to get free, claws frantically digging into the ground in front of it, Sebastian raised his sword over its neck.
    It froze, then slowly turned its head to blink slitted eyes up at him. There was fear there.
    Kaderin probably would have killed it already—and would likely see him as weak if he didn’t.
    “ Oh, bloody hell, ” he muttered, leaving it behind and tracing for her.
    Damn it, he would not return later and free it.
    Then, into the sun once more, swinging his head back and forth to find her as his skin threatened to catch fire. The pain was grueling. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a cave above the ravine. He traced in, doing his best to half-appear.
    Even though he watched from the edge of the cave, the sun still reflected off the sand and rock, killing Sebastian’s already damaged eyes, but he could tolerate it for a minute, maybe two, in this form.
    He spied the largest basilisk twitching at the bottom of the ravine, with its head exploded against a rock. Kaderin was still on that ledge. Just as Sebastian was about to bellow at her in fury for kicking him, her gaze locked onto something in the ravine. Her face grew cold. A predator. That’s all his mind could come up with to describe her.
    Kaderin began pumping her arms for speed, sprinting until she became a blur. Blinking against the light, he didn’t quite believe his eyes when she dove into the same ravine as the dragon.
    He traced down, scouting another overhang, just in time. In front of him, twenty feet away, the siren gave a cry of surprise—just before Kaderin landed on her back, audibly knocking her breath free of her lungs. Kaderin had her knees dug into Lucindeya’s shoulder blades, an arm tightening around her neck.
    Just when he’d decided to brave the sun and trace Kaderin from there, Lucindeya jabbed up with an elbow. Somehow, Kaderin ducked around and missed it. She eluded any defensive move the siren had. She needed no help.
    All around Kaderin, heat boiled up