The moment it struck the man, light bathed the small shaft with an orange glow. A glow that came from the man's skin ...
Kateri wanted to run while they fought, but she couldn't. She felt as frozen as Enrique had been in her lab. Her entire body tense, she watched closely, praying the newcomer was friend and not foe.
She was so over her foe quota for the day, and it was barely noon....
As she watched, her gaze went from the twisted, hideous raven mocker to the man it fought. Swathed head to toe in black, he was even larger than the raven mocker. Because of the eerie glow he was giving off, she couldn't make out his features clearly, but his long black hair was loose, falling to the middle of his back as he turned and dodged, then attacked the raven mocker with movements so graceful they reminded her of a dancer's.
The raven mocker slashed at his throat.
In an elegant, quick move, the man jerked back.
Instead of the raven mocker cutting his throat, it caught his bone-and-turquoise necklace, and snatched it free. It flew through the darkness to land on the ground at her feet.
Kateri picked it up, then froze as her gaze focused on the silver circle that held the imprint of a thunderbird.
From the east, the Thunderbird will fly into the direction of the death lands. Beware the Thunderbird, child. For in his path, all will perish. None can stand against him.
Not even you.
Her grandmother's words had barely whispered through her head before the warrior caught the raven mocker a blow that caused it to explode into bright, flickering flames.
The man turned toward her.
In that instant, her heart stopped beating as she clearly saw his entire body. His eyes were as black as his hair and clothes. Every line on his handsome face sculpted to perfection, he held the expression of a merciless fighter who was more used to taking lives than saving them.
And as he focused that cold, dark gaze on her, she felt the hand of death brush her cheek.
For all time ...
This was the man who always killed her in her dreams.
Ren froze as his gaze locked with the woman's. When Cabeza had called and told him the Ixkib, or ghighau as she was known in his language, had been found and then lost, he'd envisioned her as an elder woman. It was what she'd always been in the past.
But never had he foreseen this....
Or anticipated her ...
Her presence slammed into him like an unexpected fist in his gut. This was the woman in yellow who'd killed him in his visions. Time and again. The one whose gentle touch always paralyzed him for her lethal blow.
One she'd never failed to deliver to him with a smile on her lips. "I'm here for you." That voice haunted him as his head reeled from a reality he didn't want to face.
By her hand, I will die. And he couldn't deny it. His precogs were never wrong.
Never.
And in the flesh, she was even more beautiful. More compelling, she had her long, dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. Strands that had come loose during her capture and escape curled around her face in an attractive mess that begged him to sink his hand into it and see if it was as soft as it appeared. And even though she was well muscled for a woman, she was tiny. The top of her head barely reached the middle of his chest.
Just like in my dreams.
Still, even knowing that she would eventually kill him, he couldn't bring himself to harm her. Not while her sweet scent filled his head. There was something about her that appeared soft and delicate. Fragile.
Or so he thought until she narrowed those dark eyes and lunged at him with an object in her hand.
Reacting on pure instinct, he fell back, allowing her to unbalance herself when she didn't make contact with his body. He clamped down on her wrist with enough pressure to control her attack, but not enough to harm her. And as he held her immobile, he realized she was hurt and bleeding.
Badly.
He would have admired her bravery and spirit even if she wasn't wounded. The fact that she fought when others would be on the ground, crying, said a lot about her character and resolve.