because the air he’d given me was gone and I was struggling again.
He frowned and his fingers seemed to search for a clasp, for anything that would get the collar off my throat and into his hands. If I hadn’t been drowning, I could have explained to him that the collar had been magically closed and there was no clasp. It would be around my throat until my mortal body rotted, and even then it would mean nothing. It would be a simple piece of jewelry, the magic that animated me having long since passed back into the universe.
He pulled again and I felt that tug against the back of my neck. He frowned and suddenly the sprites closed in, trying to help him break the collar free. I could feel their desperation. They wanted the collar, needed it. Their cold hands slid along my skin and I felt their nails at my throat.
And then they were gone, the sprites pulling back as though they’d been touching something on fire. Only the each-uisge continued to pull. His eyes were on the metal around my neck and they were lit with something I couldn’t understand. He looked to me as if I should help him.
I couldn’t help anyone. I couldn’t breathe.
He seemed to understand that I wasn’t going to last long, and his hands moved to my face. He started to bring me close, to give me another breath of life, buy himself more time to steal my magic.
Before his mouth closed over mine, his eyes flared and I was suddenly free. That was when I realized the each-uisge was the one caught now. A dark head was at his throat and strong arms wrapped around his body. His arms and legs kicked, shifting from human to equine and back before my eyes. He was trying to fight but there was nothing he could do.
Marcus Vorenus’s head came up as he ripped the male’s throat out. Right before the world went foggy with blood, I saw those fangs of his, saw his will as he began to move toward me. He let his foe go and the each-uisge started to sink down into the depths. The vampire turned his attention to me.
But I couldn’t fight anymore either. I felt him reach for me as I dragged water into my lungs and I drowned.
Chapter Eleven
Kelsey
I ran in the direction I knew Marcus had gone. I wasn’t worried about Dev. He could keep up, but if Summer was in trouble, then it was likely Marcus was, too. That meant I had a job to do.
I ran, ground pounding under my boots, and I tried to let my senses open. I cursed inwardly because I should have already done this. I should have taken the opportunity to memorize Summer’s scent, but I’d been busy fighting the first group of assholes I’d seen and then freaking out about the fact that I was probably pregnant.
Definitely pregnant.
When a Green Man tells you you’re knocked up, you should believe him. It’s not something they tend to joke about, or at least not the one I knew.
“Do you see her?” Dev easily kept up with me, but then I hadn’t gone all out.
Up ahead I saw what I needed to see. A man was standing at the edge of the big lake. “No, but there’s Marcus.”
It was odd to see Marcus looking anything less than perfect. He was always dressed to the nines and pressed and polished. But his clothes were decidedly wrinkled and his normally tamed hair was wild and I watched as he dove into the lake.
What the hell was he doing? Could he even swim? I’d never seen him swim before. I’d seen him lounge by a pool, but he’d never gotten in. He was a hot tub guy, but it wasn’t like he did any swimming in there.
“Where is Summer?” Dev asked, his breath even despite the fact that we were sprinting at this point.
I leapt over a fallen log, my whole being focused on getting to Marcus. “I don’t know, but I have to think she’s in that lake. Why else would he jump in? I don’t think he decided he needed to suddenly cool off.”
“Oh, goddess.” Quinn picked up the pace.
When the man wanted to move, he was like the wind. I wasn’t moving as fast as I could, but I was pretty close. “Why would she jump in a lake?”
I could see her telling Marcus to jump in a lake, but