The Wind's Call (The Broken Lands #4) - T.A. White Page 0,141
Eva doubted fleeing would be as simple as their release had been. Two of them might be able to take to the sky, but they wouldn't make it far.
Sebastian nuzzled the third mare, his large eyes coming to Eva's.
You've done your part, Caller. I'm sorry to have misled you. His mental voice was warm, the sound of a crackling fire.
She sensed his regret. He knew he couldn't fight off the coming army. That didn’t change his resolve to try. He might not win, but he'd give his young mates as much time as he could for them to get to safety.
It wouldn’t be enough, Eva realized as the mare let out a low grunt of pain. Sweat showed in her coat.
She was in labor.
"I can't leave them," she said.
"You can't stay." Caden's expression was implacable. "There's no way I can fight them all."
The admission seemed pulled from him. She could practically hear the pain as he admitted his limits. At any other time, she would have teased him for it. The imminently capable Anateri unable to conquer a foe? It was practically unheard of.
Unfortunately, he was right.
The trees might hide them for a time, but they also made their position impossible to defend. Eventually the enemy would catch up and surround them. There wasn't a thing they could do to stop it.
It would be so easy to give up. She owed the Kyren nothing.
"You should go," she told them. She included the fox in her glance.
There was no way the Kyren would make it without her. Maybe, just maybe she could save the mare and her unborn foal. One thing she did know. She wasn't running. She was done with that.
If it meant her life, so be it.
She nodded again. "I'll stay. There are a lot of hiding places for a single person. I’ll be fine."
"If you're staying, I'm staying," Jason said.
She shook her head. "No, it'll be easier if it’s just me."
She didn't need any more deaths on her conscious.
She met Caden's gaze. His thoughts were veiled, his expression impossible to decipher, even after the night they'd spent together. A night she was suddenly grateful for. If she was to die today, better she had even a brief taste of his affections.
"Go," she told him softly, unable to hide the brief glimpse of her heart. One that was becoming more and more attached to him the longer she spent near him. He was a thorn that refused to pull free. "The Kyren are what they want. They'll focus on us, giving you time to escape. Bring the others if you can."
She hesitated. She should leave now, turn her back and walk away before she talked herself out of this.
She found she couldn't. If this was to be her end, she wanted something to take with her into the darkness.
She stepped close, her hands trembling as she cupped his neck. He looked down at her, a wild emotion in his eyes that she couldn't quite define.
With a thumb, she caressed the streak of blood on his jaw, her eyes moving over his features trying to imprint them on her brain. Of all the men she thought she might one day be attracted to, this fierce creature had never entered into her head.
He was impossible to tame, simply because he liked the way he was. Violent, deadly, little emotion. The ones he had were intense and as likely to consume as they were to feed. But she'd seen glimpses of softness, of caring. He wasn't the monster he pretended to be.
After a lifetime of finding and caring for lost things, he was the latest, perhaps her greatest work.
She pressed her lips to his before she could falter.
They were firm under hers. Hard but unexpectedly warm. They softened as the chain he kept on himself yanked free. He jerked her closer, his fingers tunneling into her hair as he adjusted the angle of her head.
Joy and happiness bubbled up like little fizzy pops.
Her breasts tingled where they pressed against his chest. Hard where she was soft, holding her with a gentleness at odds with the fierce warrior persona with which he faced the world.
Her passion and strength matched his as they came together. Her feet never left the ground, but for a brief moment, connected in this way, she soared.
When her heart came back to ground, she stepped away.
His eyes were nearly black with suppressed emotion as he stared at her with a wild hunger and fury.