The Last Warrior (Shifters Unbound #13) - Jennifer Ashley Page 0,99
trips to Paris, then. “Are you really all right? Dickhead—I mean, Ivor—didn’t hurt you?”
“He did hurt me, but I weathered it. Am weathering it. What I need for you to do is keep my daughter safe. It is what I have charged you with.” Her voice turned steely. “Don’t fail me, Ben.”
“I want her safe more than you understand. Any hints on how to fight your ex?”
“With magic. Lots and lots of magic. Your Tiger man should be able to help.”
“Tiger man is down. Or at least, trapped in some sort of warped air, or space, or whatever.”
“Is he?” Lady Aisling’s tone became thoughtful. “Or is he?”
“I don’t know. Can’t see anything. What kind of magic can we use? Does Rhianne have it?”
“She has more than she believes. It is why Ivor wants to trap and use her.”
“Noted. Any way you can cross over to this world and help us bring him down?”
“That would be a mistake,” Lady Aisling said decidedly. “If he and I began to battle there, it might destroy half the human world. I rather like that world the way it is.”
“Yeah, me too,” Ben said.
“Then we understand each other. Do take—”
She broke off as a male voice cut over hers, growling words in Tuil Erdannan Ben didn’t understand.
“Who the hell is that?” Ben demanded.
Lady Aisling returned. “My gardener, Akseli. He is being very solicitous of me. Insists I cease speaking to you and rest. My housekeeper is glaring daggers, so I will go. Bring my daughter to me in one piece.”
With that admonition, the crystal in Ben’s hand went silent. Ben held it up to the light, studying it a moment, before he heaved a sigh and tucked it once more into his pocket.
When he turned to the ring of trees, he found Ivor watching him, having heard the entire conversation. Ben saw a spark of—was it fear?—in his eyes.
Was he afraid of Lady Aisling? Any sane man would be. Or her instructions? Or the crystal itself? Something to think about.
Ben vanished his clothes and burst back into his goblin form. His stretching skin hurt where it had burned, splintering Ben’s already shredded temper.
Ivor’s energy was building—Ben could feel it in the earth, in the tingle of the ley line.
Shit, the ley line. Ivor, the bastard, was going to tap the magic of the ley line, part of a magical net that encircled the world. Who the hell knew what would happen if he did that?
Best never to find out.
Ben charged at the circle, batting aside the arrows fired at him. Walther really needed to get a new hobby.
Ivor had to know the arrows wouldn’t penetrate Ben’s flesh, but a good archer could slow Ben down and give Ivor time to do what he wished. Ben couldn’t turn aside and whack Walther back to his ancestry without losing the chance to stop Ivor.
He heard Rhianne bellow a shrill cry, saw her turn to skim herself at Walther. Walther let loose arrow after arrow, and Rhianne spun and dodged. She was drawing his fire, Ben realized, so the other goblins and Ben could get to Ivor.
Ben dashed into the circle of trees. At the same time the sky seared with lightning. Thunder crashed, once more shaking the ground.
Ivor turned, sword in hand. “Give her up. You can’t win.”
“It’s not up to me,” Ben said. “Rhianne makes her own decisions.”
“You know little about Tuil Erdannan women. Or Shifter women, for that matter. Without their mates, they are nothing.”
“Oh?” Ben steadied himself while looking for a chance to rip Ivor’s head off. “How’d that work out for you and Lady Aisling?”
The rage in Ivor’s eyes told Ben he’d scored a point. Lady Aisling was home and safe, while Ivor puttered around the human world trying to kidnap his own daughter.
“What’cha doing in here?” Ben asked him casually. “Cracking open the ley line?”
“Drawing its power into me.” Ivor lowered his sword point to the ground. “I will use it to flatten your Shiftertown and this human city, if Rhianne does not come to me.”
“Yeah?” Ben hid a qualm. Ivor could do it, he had no doubt. “How about I bounce you on your face instead?”
“Goblins. Always so violent. If you like the earth as much as you say—enjoy it.”
Ivor swiped the sword across the grass. A fissure opened in the dirt, widening and lengthening on its own, the ley line shimmering the air.
Ben scrambled backward to keep from falling into the abyss. Ivor had done this exact thing at the