Fear of Fire and Shadow (The Fade #1) - Samantha Young Page 0,52
touch like Haydyn’s cat, Z, when one of Cook’s cakes was in the vicinity.
A hot rush of tingles exploded across the top of my skin as our eyes connected. My stomach flipped. I couldn’t breathe.
Clearing my throat, I pushed his hand away and stood, brushing past him with such force I almost knocked him on his ass. There was a mirror above the fireplace, dirty and broken, but it had enough of a reflection to show the red-and-purple swelling on my right cheek. Beautiful.
I sighed and caught Wolfe’s eyes in the reflection. “Is it almost time?”
He nodded, frowning. A strange tension sprung up between us. If I were honest with myself, it had been there since we’d been taken by the Iavii. For someone who had spent the last decade quarreling with Wolfe, I had never once been this ill at ease around him. I didn’t like it. Not one bit. I was so afraid of what it meant, so afraid of disappointing my family’s memory.
The key turned in the door lock and Kir was there, smiling and befuddling me even more.
“You ready?” he asked, shutting the door and striding in, every inch the confident rookery gang leader.
I didn’t look at Wolfe. “Yes.”
“Great—” Kir cursed under his breath as he reached me, his hand cupping my chin. “That looks bad this morning.”
Feeling Wolfe’s burning stare, I tipped my chin out of Kir’s hold. “I’ve had worse.”
“I remember.”
Not in the mood to take a trip down nightmare lane with him, I put my hands on my hips, trying to exude the strength I wasn’t feeling. “All right, so now what?”
“Now you make your escape. Remember”—his eyes moved between us—“to get out, you take a left, a right, and the back door is at the end of the hall. I left it unlocked.” He stared at Wolfe. “When you attack me, you have to make it look real.”
Wolfe’s expression grew taut.
Kir sighed. “I mean it, Wolfe.”
“Is it really necessary?” the captain asked.
Kir pulled back his shoulders. “Yes.”
Wolfe frowned.
A dark mischief entered Kir’s eyes. “Fine. Then I guess I’ll just have to make you want to.”
Abruptly he caught me around the waist and I squawked in undignified surprise. I pushed against his hard chest as he crushed me to him, his other hand winding into my hair to bring my lips against his in a hard kiss. The hand on my waist slid down my back and squeezed my bottom.
Fury flushed through me, and I was just about to knee him like I’d kneed Vrik when his body was wrenched from mine. I watched as Kir soared across the room and straight through the door. That’s right. Straight through the door.
I gaped. Kir collapsed around the wooden splinters of the door in the hall and then groaned as he drew himself into a sitting position.
“Come on.”
I blinked down at the large, familiar hand wrapped around my wrist and then up at its owner. An extremely angry Wolfe.
He led me out through the fragments of the doorway, into the hall, and then pushed me behind him as furious yelling filled the hallway. Jesper hurried toward us with Nalia at his back. Wolfe stared them down in concentration. I felt the heat of his energy blast into me as he threw the two thugs back up the hallway with the force of his thoughts. They crashed against the back wall and crumpled in an unconscious heap on the floor.
Hearing Kir groan, I turned and gasped as he clasped his hand over the wound on his arm.
“Are you all right?” I made to rush toward him but Wolfe tried to pull me in the opposite direction. “Hey!”
“I’m fine, Rogan,” Kir assured me, wincing as he pushed a large chunk of door off him. “Go. Just go.”
We shared a long look as Wolfe continued to haul me up the narrow corridor, and just as we turned left, I mouthed “thank you,” unexpected tears threatening to spill over. He gave me a small smile and a nod just before I lost sight of him.
“You can move things with your mind,” I hissed at Wolfe as we hurried along the next hall.
“Be quiet, Rogan.”
I raised my eyebrow at his tone. I could either argue with him or get out of there. Mind made up, I yanked my arm free and picked up my skirts. As I ran, Wolfe ran with me, and we burst out through the back door.