The Summer King Bundle 3 Stories - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,68

fist, but before I could do anything, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. The other Ancient was on his feet and in a blink of an eye, he was right in front of me.

I jumped back, but with him, I wasn’t quick enough. Gripping the front of my dress, he lifted me up as I shoved my right hand out. He caught my arm as my feet left the floor.

“Crap,” I whispered.

Then I was flying.

This was going to hurt.

But I didn’t hit the wall. Caden was suddenly there, between me and what most likely would be a whole lot of broken bones. The impact with him knocked the air out of my lungs. Pain burst along my side as he brought me to the floor. Our gazes locked.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, and then pulled back before I had a chance to figure out what he was apologizing for.

Caden spun and spread his arms to the sides. Both Ancients were on their feet, coming between him and Neal and Aric. What the hell was he doing? I started to sit up, inhaling deeply and catching the scent of… the scent of fire and smoke. An orange-yellow aura appeared around Caden, outlining his entire body.

An enormous amount of heat blew backward, lifting the strands of hair from around my face. “What the…?”

The glow intensified until my eyes watered, but I couldn’t look away from what I was seeing. A flame licked out from Caden’s hand, rippling into the air and spitting sparks as the fire took the shape of a…

A sword.

A freaking flaming sword.

With the grace of a dancer, he spun with the sword, and a flash of bright light rippled out as the sword arced high. I caught a glimpse of Neal. His eyes widened as he stumbled a step, backing into the wall. He said something in their native language.

“Well, hell,” Aric drawled. “That changes things.”

And then the light and heat were too much. Throwing my arm up to shield my eyes, I scooted back against the broken booth. Only when the heat pulled back did I lower my arm and open my eyes.

The two Ancients were dead, heads separated from their bodies, and Caden and I were alone. Aric and Neal were gone.

There was also no sword.

Slowly, Caden turned to me and those eyes of his—the same amber color of the fire—glowed. And as I stared up at him, I had no idea what I’d just seen, but I knew it was something big.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah.” I was still sitting on the floor, arm frozen in the air. “Are you?”

Caden nodded, but as his gaze shifted away from mine and the muscle along his jaw ticked, I didn’t think he was telling the truth.

At all.

Chapter 24

“I didn’t trust Neal, but I didn’t think he would be stupid enough to work with Aric.”

I somehow resisted the urge to point out that I had thought the name Rica was suspicious as hell from the moment I saw it as we hurried down Decatur Street.

Caden’s hand was wrapped firmly around mine as we cut around groups of people strolling on the street. When we’d left Thieves, I expected everyone to be running screaming from the building since the fight had not been quiet, but when we slipped out the back door, I could hear the conversation from the bar area. Those people had no idea that a fight to the death had just taken place with a freaking flaming sword.

Caden stopped suddenly, beside a sleek black SUV parked a block from Thieves, and opened the passenger door. “Get in.”

I looked at the SUV and then at him. “You have a car.”

One eyebrow rose. “Is that so surprising?”

“Not as surprising as the flaming sword,” I muttered.

He shot me a bland look, and I climbed in and buckled up. I watched him jog around the front of the SUV. He was behind the wheel in seconds, glancing over at me as he hit the ignition button. The moment our gazes connected, they held and I let myself just for a couple of seconds really think about what had just happened.

Who I’d just seen.

“It’s him,” I whispered as the engine rumbled. “Aric was the Ancient who attacked me and my mother.”

Caden reached over and cupped my cheek. He didn’t say anything as he drew his thumb along my jaw.

“I can’t believe it.” A messy, raw knot of emotion formed in my chest. “It was him.”

“I’m sorry. I really am,” he