Dark Possession - Aja James Page 0,72

out of the lake below. More reinforcements arrived, amongst them the New England Hive’s Hunter and Head of Security.

Now was not the right time.

No, she intended to wait to catch two birds with one stone. They would make fantastic additions to her soulless army.

She had amassed plenty of foot soldiers, but few generals. The Paladin had healed from his previous injuries, many of which Medusa herself inflicted during and after her transformation (to test out her newfound powers, as it were), but he was only one. She needed many more.

She could hardly wait to collect them.

*** *** *** ***

Winged-men could fly pretty damned fast!

This was one of many of Eveline’s scattered thoughts as she held on for dear life traveling at the speed of a 747.

Well, okay, maybe not quite so fast.

She really wouldn’t know. Since she was clutched in the arms of a savage brute rather than safely ensconced inside the first-class cabin of a premier airline. Emirates Airlines had the best service, but Singapore Airlines had the best-looking flight attendants, in Eveline’s considered opinion. Not that she traveled all that frequently, but when she did, she liked to do so in comfort, her recent trek through the Middle East notwithstanding.

Which was to say—Eveline did not enjoy flying full-speed ahead in the current manner!

It felt very fast, with the sharp, icy wind in her face, even though she tried tucking most of her exposed skin into the surprisingly hot chest of the bird-man. Into the crook of his neck, to be precise, which the torn collar of his shirt laid bare.

He had a very nice chest, if she were to be completely honest. Not as nice as Ramses’, of course. But then, she really didn’t have that many muscular, hard, warrior male chests in her experience to compare to. She liked the intellectual type of males, after all. This current stone-hard chest she was trying to bury her frozen nose in was an anomaly.

Well, since meeting Ramses, she’d been having quite a few unusual experiences.

Where were they headed? Was Eveline’s next thought. They were flying west from the American Falls, that’s all she knew. It was still very dark, and there were few stars visible. But with what she understood of astronomy, she could piece together that they were going west.

Maybe.

She thought about asking her…captor? Carrier? Winged Conveyance? Angel of Death? But she didn’t want to open her mouth and risk sucking in a blast of cold air. And she figured he wouldn’t either. Since she was no telepath, she couldn’t attempt communicating with him mentally. And if he was one, he didn’t indicate a desire to speak to her.

Why he was carrying her off to some unknown location was the logical question that followed.

She hadn’t meant to interfere with the Challenge, heedful of Rhys’ warning…

All right. She had. But really, the slippery, misbehaving scrolls just jumped out of her backpack to the events below.

Truly!

You try juggling scrolls while zipping through the skies at a few hundred miles per hour in the talons of a giant eagle!

She’d opened her backpack and retrieved them because she was hoping she could absorb some bright ideas on how to stop the Challenge through osmosis, by touching the parchment and getting helpful visions. None came when she held them, however, unlike before in the library.

And if she sort of, kind of, wished they’d catch fire and targeted their destination towards a particular individual as they hopped out of her cold-numbed fingers…well…people had thoughts all the time, didn’t they? She had no idea the darn things would actually do what she envisioned. (Never mind that she had a track record of witchery in her past, and had been known to cast a spell or two when pressed.)

Her magic didn’t always work. Who knew they’d work exactly as she intended right then during the battle? Sheer coincidence and luck were all it was. Nevertheless—and she’d stick to her story ’til the bitter end—her interference might have ticked off the bird-man currently absconding with her person.

But why carry her to a secret destination?

If he was angry, he could just beat her up or drop her from the sky to her death (please don’t!). Why cradle her rather carefully (if tightly) against his chest as he flew off with her?

This was when Eveline’s overactive imagination took over.

What if he was stealing her for his bird-wife? He was obviously Gifted with an animal spirit—specifically that of an eagle. If he could transform parts of himself, he was likely