himself. All the strength and quickness that made him so deadly on land was useless against the rage of the ocean. It was too late. Those few seconds he'd spent fighting off the curse again had given death the head start it needed. Ian roared with fury as he watched Alice get sucked past the rim of the chasm. Alice!
You stupid bastard. The voice of his teammate, Ryland Samuels, cut through the despair trying to consume him. We don’t have time to fish you out of there. Don’t you have a fucking angel to save? If you let her die, I will carve you up myself. There was a loud crack and black light flashed from above the surface, and then Ryland's steel machete was streaking through the water, leaving behind a trail of foamy bubbles. Catch a ride before my woman dies. I threw the damn thing as hard as I could, but it won't keep up the speed long in the water.
Your woman? Fuck that. She's mine. Get your own damn woman. Ian lunged for the machete as it passed by him. His fingers closed on the engraved handle, and he grunted as it yanked him forward, nearly ripping his shoulder out of its socket. He ducked his head against the current to cut down on drag, turning just enough to keep Alice in his range of vision as she fell into the crevasse. He was gaining on her. Getting closer. Closing the gap. Come on! He reached for her mind, but there was no connection. He couldn't access her again. What the hell? She was his soul mate. Why was she so inaccessible to him?
Closer and closer. Almost there—
He reached the rim of the crevasse. Only yards away—
The machete began to slow down, and Ian let go of it as Alice began to pull away from him again. No! He called out his mace and hurled it past her. It slammed into the side of the crevasse just below Alice, its handle sticking out from the wall of the cliff. Alice crashed into it, like a tree branch breaking her fall. She bounced off it, and for a moment, his heart stopped. Then she grabbed it, locking her arms and legs around it, using his mace to resist the pull of the chasm.
Her hair was still streaming toward the bottom of the chasm, and the mace was bending downward, barely able to resist the force that was pulling them. Ian had a second, maybe two, to make it happen. He put on a burst of speed, swimming as hard as he could toward Alice, keeping his gaze fixed on his mace. Calculating how long he had until it was torn out of the wall.
Now! A split second before it ripped out, he threw his second mace. It hit right below Alice, and as the first mace tore away from the wall, she landed on the one he'd just thrown. She clung to it, her entire body wrapped around it as she fought against the sheer strength trying to suck her down. Black clouds swirled around her, demons waiting until she broke, so they could take her soul.
This time she's mine, Ian growled as he called back the mace that was free-falling into the chasm. It slammed into his hand just as he reached Alice. He smashed it into the wall, anchoring himself, then grabbed Alice, wrapping his arm around her waist just as his other mace was torn out from under her. She threw herself around him, her lean limbs wrapping around his neck and waist, her face buried against his chest. Her naked body plastered against him.
Jesus. For a split second, he couldn't move. He was overwhelmed by the shock of feeling her body against his. The heat from her body penetrated his clothes, and her skin was soft and vulnerable beneath his arm. The strength of her hold on him was riveting. It felt so right the way she was holding onto him. This was it. This was what he'd been pursuing for so long. Alice. In his arms—
She slipped slightly in his grasp, the movement jerking him back to the present and the force of the current still pulling on her. Shit. What the hell was wrong with him? He was a warrior, and this was battle, not time for a little nookie.
Ian immediately called back his still-falling mace. He sheathed it into his arm, beneath the brand that matched it. One arm was