he desperately needed the life-giving substance freely given. He carefully closed the wound with his healing saliva.
“Thank you.” Traian acknowledge simply. He held out his hand to Gabrielle. She stared at him in horror, shaking her head, even stepping back. “Hurry. We have to go now.”
“Gabrielle,” There was warning in Jubal’s voice.
She didn’t look at him, but rather at her sister. “Do you trust him, Joie?”
Joie looked up at Traian, noting the lines etched in his strong, timeless face. The dark depths of his eyes. Old eyes. Eyes that had seen too much. He was a man who had been alone too long. She was a looking at a warrior. A man of honor. Joie reached out to brush a caress along his jaw with her fingertips. The touch jolted him. Jolted her. Heat flooded her body. Electricity arced between them, lightning flashing in their veins. Instant awareness. They smiled at one another in understanding.
“I would trust him with my life, Gabrielle. More importantly, I would trust him with yours. Please go with him now. I’ve got that bad feeling I always get when we’re in danger.”
Gabrielle took Traian’s hand, and allowed him to draw her to him. Jubal stepped close so Traian could wrap an arm around him.
Traian leaned close to Joie. “I will be back immediately. Do not attempt to engage the enemy. They must not get their hands on you.” There was an underlying urgency in his voice. Dark eyes stared intently into hers. “Be safe, Joie. I need you to be safe.”
He was taking her family to safety for her, when everything in him demanded he take her first. Joie understood his look immediately, recognized how difficult it was for him to do what was important to her rather than to himself. There was a storm of emotion churning inside him, yet his features remained tranquil. Only his eyes burned with intensity. With possession. With promise. With passion.
His mouth fastened on hers, a hard kiss that staked his claim on her. That kiss told her he meant to have her and nothing would stand in his way. She felt his body tremble and tasted his passion, tasted his fear for her. She tasted safety. He would come back for her, brave anything to reach her. Even in the midst of the unknown, in that moment, she felt protected.
He pulled away abruptly, lifting her brother and sister easily, as if they were no more than children, shifting into a creature with wings, half man, half bird, and flying across the abyss into the dark where she could no longer see him.
Joie was left standing alone on the edge of the precipice with the darkness pressing down on her—with the strange rhythmic clicking and the dripping water. Heart pounding and mouth dry, she turned toward the sound, shining her light to see what was behind her.
In the small confines she could see water trickling from the side of the cavern; it was not clear, but a milky yellow, and gathered into a foul-smelling pool. She moved cautiously, positioning herself to keep an eye on what was gathering there. Something evil. Something alive.
The water rippled in response to a dark disturbance below the surface. The pool darkened into an oily substance, revealing two red orbs glaring with terrible malevolence. A chill crept down her spine. The hair on her arms stood up.
Traian. Automatically, without conscious thought, she reached out for him, showed him the pool with its macabre secrets.
Move! Get out of its line of vision, Joie.
Chapter Five
With absolute horror, unable to look away, Joie stared back at the flame-red eyes stalking her from the small dark puddle. The eyes were real, watching her, some terrible apparition set on her destruction. She had never seen so much malice, or so much black hatred pouring from any entity. Her body rebelled, sickened by the evil emanating from the thick slime.
At Traian’s warning, she tried to wrench her gaze away, but it was impossible. She was trapped, unable to break eye contact with the red flames. Her airway began to close, choked off by an invisible noose. Instinctively her hands flew up to her throat as if she could pry unseen fingers from around her neck, but there was nothing there. As white stars flashed across a black background, Joie realized dizzily she had only precious seconds to break the invisible hold on her throat. She reached for her knife, following through in one smooth motion with a throw directed by