lack of saintliness. The things he could do with those fangs made her melt in sensual pleasure.
“Thank the goddess,” she said in husky tones.
His fingers circled her wrist, as if preparing to tug her against him. Then, with blatant regret, he loosened his hold and stepped back.
“Okay, let’s get this over with.” His expression was grim. “Then you owe me several centuries of uninterrupted peace.”
She sent him a regretful glance. There was no way in hell she could stay out of trouble for centuries.
“That seems highly unlikely.”
“A week?”
She grimaced. “We’ll see.”
Turning to head toward the shimmering doorway, she halted abruptly as Basq brushed his fingers down the curve of her back.
“Chaaya. It will destroy me if you die,” he warned in low tones. “Please be careful.”
She pulled out her spear, glancing over her shoulder to meet his worried gaze. “I swear.”
* * * *
Brigette couldn’t judge how long they fell through the darkness. It might have been a second, or several centuries. Time had no meaning in the space between dimensions. She did know that she was unprepared when the void spat her out and she landed flat on her back.
The impact was enough to knock the air from her lungs and rattle her teeth.
Shit.
For a second she sprawled on the mossy ground, gazing up at the dark, star-splattered sky. Where was she now? Her world? Another dimension? Pluto?
She took a second to absorb her surroundings. There was a distant hoot of an owl, and the soft footsteps of a fox as he scampered away. A warm breeze brushed over her, carrying the scent of rich earth and sage.
It was home. No, wait. It was home before it’d been destroyed by the beast.
And her.
With a low growl she shoved herself to her feet and glanced around. She half expected to see her village. It all felt so familiar. Instead it was…
Different.
With a frown she studied the dozen rough huts with peaked thatched roofs that huddled around a large pit that blazed with an enormous fire. Her village had been much larger and created out of stone and mortar. It’d also been built on the edge of a cliff, not in the middle of a flat plain surrounded by mountains.
This place might have been one of the dozen human towns that had been near her home.
“I hate jinns.” Levet climbed to his feet, giving his wings a disgusted flap to shake off the clinging moss. “Tricky beasts.”
Brigette’s body ached from the abrupt landing, but the mere thought of the jinn made her insides melt with a nearly forgotten hunger. Through the long centuries of being infected with the corrosive evil, Brigette had lost the ability to feel like a woman. Or a wolf. The jinn had painfully reminded her of all she’d sacrificed.
And only emphasized her acute need to rewrite the past.
“They’re not so bad,” she muttered.
“Fah.” Levet sent her an annoyed glance. “You only say that because you think he is soapy.”
“Soapy?”
Levet wrinkled his snout, as if struggling for the proper word. “Dishy. Oui. Dishy.”
“He was gorgeous,” Brigette admitted without hesitation.
“All jinns are gorgeous,” Levet told her. “It is one of their most annoying qualities.”
“And sexy,” she added, enjoying the melty sensations that continued to ooze through her. Levet snorted. She pointed an accusing finger at him. “Don’t pretend you didn’t notice.”
“Oui. I noticed. Just as I noticed he sealed my lips shut and dropped me like a sack of potatoes in this…” He spread his arms wide and glanced around. “Place.”
Brigette shook away the memory of the jinn along with the male’s last troublesome warning. She had a destiny to change.
“Do you know where we are?” she demanded.
Levet tilted back his head to sniff the air. “Another dimension,” he finally announced. “This one is very old. And very small.”
Brigette scowled. Why would the oracle bring her here?
“Can you sense Chaaya or the vampire?”
Levet firmly shook his head. “They are not here.”
Brigette impatiently drummed her fingers against the side of her leg. “Are we alone?”
Levet started to nod only to stiffen as he glanced toward the narrow road that led over a nearby hill.
“Non. There is something approaching.”
“Something?” Brigette didn’t like the sound of that.
Levet spread his claws as if baffled by what he was smelling. Brigette ground her teeth in frustration. Once upon a time, she would have been able to recognize anyone or anything from miles away. But since her wolf had gone into hibernation, her senses were dulled.
“It is not a demon,” Levet at last muttered.
“A witch?”
“Maybe.”