rather had been buried deep in the owl’s body. She moved quickly, rising to join the strange, eerie fog that surrounded the large series of passes along the mountain range.
A loud crack followed by a single command sliced through the heavy fog. Show thyself.
The air shimmered around her. The droplets went iridescent. Julija had been trained to obey that voice, that command. Without real thought, she started to shift.
Stay with me, Isai whispered. Feel me with you. He cannot have you.
Shocked that she’d nearly obeyed her father when she knew better, Julija clung tightly to Isai. I’m with you.
10
A series of loud cracks like lightning whips echoed across the sky and reverberated down through the canyons. Isai held the cat low, murmuring soothing reassurances to the huge female. Phaedra had one venomous talon hooked into his thigh, but she’d gone still, realizing they were being fired upon. She’d heard the sound of gunfire before and she’d seen the results.
“That’s a girl,” Isai praised, his mind more on keeping the image of fog in Julija’s brain than on his predicament with the cat. He hadn’t yet given the animal his blood, so he couldn’t fully read her, but she’d gone docile. She was too thin, clearly starving. “We have to stay here, hunkered down, you might as well feed.” He offered his wrist. He hadn’t closed the laceration and blood still beaded there.
Phaedra looked at him in much the same way her mate had, studying his face, looking for a trap. These cats had been so abused by their creators that they had little trust—like Julija. His woman. She was in the thick fog moving overhead and he wanted to send her somewhere safe while he dealt with those hunting them.
He’d known there was a trap. He had hoped to get the shadow cats out before it was sprung. He’d protected his lifemate first and then reached out to the cats. He would have killed them both immediately had Comet not responded.
Why are you called Comet? he asked the cat.
In the form of a shadow, the male made his way to Isai and made his presence known by pressing close to his mate. She didn’t look up from where she was licking frantically at the blood beading on Isai’s wrist, but she did press back against the larger male.
Fast. The image of speed came into Isai’s mind. There was no bragging. The cat stated facts.
Isai felt his woman move in his mind. She felt sweet. Compassionate. Wholly feminine. Her touch warmed him unexpectedly. How are we going to get out of here with the cats? Can you make them like the fog as well?
He had no intentions of leaving, not until he had engaged the enemy. He knew there was at least one, but more likely two. One to handle the rifle and probably a partner, a spotter. I will settle you in the distance and return to fight these people. We do not want them biting at our heels while we search for the book.
Feminine outrage filled his mind. You will not settle me in the distance. I am perfectly capable of helping you. In fact, I’m probably better at dealing with them than you are.
He was careful to keep the thought that she hadn’t dealt with them ever from the front of his mind. If she’d been capable, her family would already have been annihilated. She might have the power, but she lacked the compartmentalization needed to kill. Also, they had programmed her to believe they were all-powerful. Especially her father.
“Enough,” he said regretfully to the female cat. She needed more blood. More food. More care. He couldn’t shed his body and enter the cat’s while keeping the fog surrounding them and Julija safe. “As soon as we are in a safe place I will see to your injuries,” he promised.
Move to the very edge of the fog.
He waited to see if Julija would do as he commanded. They were new. She was more of the modern world than he was. Mage women were powerful in their own right and as a rule were not in the least subservient to men. He wasn’t asking for obedience from his woman, but in a battle, he expected to be the general.
He felt her hesitation, but then she moved slowly within the thick fog, going in the direction of the slight breeze. Movement was very slight, and she moved sluggishly, not wanting to draw attention.