The Wind's Call (The Broken Lands #4) - T.A. White Page 0,85

a composed voice that belied the inner quivering from the scare he'd given her.

"It seems I’ve found a rat," Caden agreed.

Eva frowned. "Now you sound like Ajari."

"We’re going to kill you both," the man mumbled, pushing himself upright as Caden looked on with a bored expression. "You're going to regret this."

Caden and Eva said nothing as they watched him.

"Was he the only one?" she asked.

"No."

"And the others?"

She didn't have to see his face to realize he was smirking at her. She sighed. That probably meant the rest were already dead, or so close to it that they no longer mattered.

One thing you could say about the Anateri’s commander; he was efficient and thorough.

Eva supposed she should have regretted the loss of life, but it was difficult when she knew these men would have gladly killed them, likely after torturing them for a while.

The flutter of wings from above announced Sebastian's presence as he landed several feet away. He blended in with the night, appearing to materialize out of it as silently as Caden had.

"So good of you to show up," Eva said sarcastically. If she had never seen the mythological again, she wasn't sure she would have been missing out. So far, he'd generated little more than further problems she didn't need. The wonder of his existence didn't quite make up for everything else.

I am here when it matters, he said in her mind.

Eva choked on her surprise, Caden's voice droning into a blur as she found herself staring in amazement at the Kyren.

"You can talk," she gasped in a whisper so only the Kyren could hear her.

The Kyren's expression was condescending as his tail swished behind him.

She climbed to her feet. "For how long?"

Why hadn't he spoken to her sooner? It would have made this entire journey so much easier.

For forever.

"And this is the first time I'm hearing about it?" she asked in outrage.

His ears flicked. You weren't ready to listen before now.

"Bullshit," she hissed.

"As interesting as this is, perhaps you can postpone your conversation until later," Caden said, from several feet away where he waited next to the man he’d caught. "We have more important things to discuss with our visitor."

Eva gritted her teeth, knowing he was right. "This isn't over. We're going to have words about this later."

Even in the dark, she caught Sebastian's arrogant expression.

She ignored him, focusing on the man at Caden's feet, a shadow against the darker night. The moon was high, the sky cloudless.

"What do you want to do with him?" Eva asked with a bravado she didn't necessarily feel.

Caden was the expert in these types of situations. She imagined he had a lot of experience at interrogating prisoners. It made sense to follow his lead.

"First, we ask him who he is and what he wants," Caden said, crouching down in front of the prisoner.

The man spat at Caden. The commander didn't move, didn't shift, but Eva sensed the menace rolling off him. It was a riptide threatening to drag a person into the deep. Not something you wanted to mess with. She was glad she wasn't the one facing him right now.

"And if he doesn't answer, I have ways of getting it out of him," Caden said, pleasure in his voice.

Eva shivered at this aspect of Caden. A side of him she knew only his enemies saw. Necessary as it might be, it still managed to strike fear into the heart of her. She almost pitied the poor bastard who'd been hunting them.

CHAPTER TWELVE

"You should go," Caden said, his voice quiet and gentle in the darkness. "You won't want to see this next part."

Eva hesitated, tempted to listen. She had enough nightmares. Did she really want to add to them?

A glance at Sebastian stopped her. He stood ramrod still, not even his tail twitching as he breathed hard, staring at the man on the ground. A pinprick of the faintest red flared deep in his eyes. Shivers snaked down her back at the grim reminder that humans were far from the top of the food chain up here.

"I'll stay," Eva finally said. "I have a feeling these men had something to do with Sebastian's wounds when I found him. It's important to know all I can."

"Eva, go. I'll tell you everything you need to know later," Caden urged. There was only kindness in his words.

She shook her head, knowing he couldn't see her.

"I may be just a Lowlander, weak in your eyes, but I can do this. I can hear what he