Dark Possession - Aja James Page 0,91

for the quick glance Ramses had thrown her way when they’d landed in the crater, he hadn’t acknowledged her presence again. It was as if she wasn’t even there.

If they were going to come to blows any second, she’d do everything in her power to intervene, because she really didn’t want Ramses to get wounded further, and she also didn’t want the stranger to get dead. (Her money was on Ramses for the win, because come on! He was muchisimo badass and if she was forced to pick sides, she’d definitely pick him).

But she also felt that the potential demise of the eagle-man would be a rotten shame. Her instincts told her that he wasn’t evil. He needed help. Most of all, she’d felt vicariously through her dreams that Ramses hadn’t wanted to kill him the first time. He regretted the outcome of the Challenge thousands of years ago. If, of course, this was indeed the same warrior.

The two males faced off with massive bodies tensed to engage. Ramses’ hands were clenched into fists at his sides, the loose rocks around his feet jumping to do his bidding. He could probably launch those like bullets at his opponent.

But the eagle-man’s massive wings would probably deflect the onslaught like a shield, because despite their fluffy appearance from afar, there was a hard, leathery quality to the outer feathers. Those wings were half-open now, looming over his shoulders like an impenetrable armor, ready to lash out if he chose to use them as weapons.

Eveline thought fast. Surely there was a reason for her to be here at this time, with these two males. She had a role to play. She needed to figure out what it was. And she needed to do it fast!

She edged herself in the direction of the eagle-man. She was much closer to him than to Ramses, probably by design when he’d released both of them upon landing. With a snap of his wings or arms, he could easily reach for and enfold her.

“Listen,” she began, trying to get his attention when she was a couple of feet in front of him.

But it was hard, because he was very tall, even taller than Ramses, maybe close to seven feet. And she was unfortunately very short. Irrelevantly, she thought of Ramses calling her “little sprite” and almost smiled. She wanted to hear more of those nicknames from him. She wanted to come up with more endearments to call him too.

Which bolstered her determination and stubbornness to find a way out of this mess without undue bloodshed.

“Down here, eagle-man,” she called up to him, taking the last step to close the distance between them and putting her hands on his chest to get his attention.

Immediately, though he was several yards away, she heard Ramses’ warning, territorial growl.

She chose to ignore him.

“Hey!” she persisted, jumping up a little and waving her hand in front of the eagle-man’s face.

Finally, his gaze shifted away from Ramses to look down at her, though his head was tilted in such a way that he knew exactly where Ramses was and could still track him out of the corner of his eye.

“You brought me—us—up here for a reason, didn’t you? Just tell me what it is. I’d like to help you if I can.”

“Eveline.”

She understood Ramses’ low command. He wanted her to go to him. He was livid with fury that she’d chosen to go to the Challenger instead.

The eagle-man understood too. In response, his wings extended and folded over both of them, though he didn’t touch her anywhere. It was clear from the move that he wasn’t going to let her simply walk away now that she was in his space.

So Eveline pretended she didn’t hear her Mate.

“Tell me,” Eveline whispered urgently.

As she did so, the symbols on the eagle-man’s left side glowed even brighter than before, as if they were written in flames.

“What does it mean?” Eveline asked, staring unblinkingly into those burning words, almost in a trance.

The warrior didn’t answer, continuing to look down at her.

“Is it because Beasts choose not to speak in human tongues? Is that why you won’t tell me?”

He gave no indication that he understood what she was saying, but his black, blank stare seemed to glint with something like awareness, a flicker of feeling that was there and gone.

Helplessly drawn to the now blazing symbols, Eveline didn’t even realize her hand was reaching out until her fingertips grazed the eagle-man’s left forearm right above the words—

She gasped at