needs to be safe. And not only her. You’ll need to take her daughter and mother, too.”
Terri gasped in surprise.
Rune’s mouth worked as if he longed to tell her no, but to his credit, he remained quiet until he muttered a curse and simply asked, “Anything else?”
Pride in his woman prompted Torin to smile at his friend’s fury.
“Yes,” Shea snapped, unamused. “They’ll need money and I want to know where you’re taking them.”
“Money’s not a problem,” Torin replied. The Eternals’ god, Belen, saw to it that his warriors had all they needed to survive in a human world. “As for safety, there are places. Sanctuaries.”
Shea looked to Torin, demanding, “Where?”
He scanned the area again, knowing time was short and the guards would soon locate them.
“The closest one is in the Uinta Mountains of Utah,” he said. “The camp is well hidden. Both witches and human women are welcome to hide there. It’s far from civilization and the witches there have laid down wards and protective spells so that their camp is overlooked by those who would search for them.”
She nodded and looked at her friend. “Terri? Is all of this okay with you?”
The blonde shot a wary look at Rune. She had little choice but to risk going with him. It was that or die, never seeing her child again. Torin wasn’t surprised when she spoke.
“Sounds good. And thanks for getting my mom and Amanda out, too.” Her gaze shifted around the prison enclosure, briefly taking in the bodies of the fallen women. She shivered and swallowed hard, lifting her chin in a show of defiance. “Always wanted to live in the mountains. Besides, the farther from here, the better.”
“We go, then,” Rune said. First, he reached out one hand toward the chain around her neck. “This must come off.”
“If we don’t get rid of the necklace, the white gold will drain Rune’s powers slowly, making it harder for him to protect you and your family,” Torin said.
“Do it.” Terri tilted her head to one side and barely flinched when Rune’s fingertip blazed into flames that touched her skin and didn’t burn. The necklace dropped unheeded to the ground. She lifted one hand to rub her neck, then stared at Rune as if wondering if she was jumping from the frying pan into a living, breathing fire.
“Trust them,” Shea said and those two words filled Torin with pride.
Rune held out one hand to Terri. “If we are going, woman, we must go now.”
“Right.” Terri linked her fingers with his and as the flames rose up to swallow them, Shea actually heard Terri laugh.
“Now are you ready?” Torin asked, reaching out his hand to free her of the draining white gold links at her throat.
Gunfire erupted in the distance. Shea took a breath and nodded. “God, yes. Let’s go.”
Flames raced from his body to the links against her neck. Seconds passed; then she sighed as the hated necklace dropped free of her body. “That feels much better.”
Guards shouted, women screamed and yet more gunfire blasted the air. Wrapping her arms around Torin’s neck, Shea held on tight and whispered, “Get us out of here.”
With a whoosh of sound and a bright flash of flames, they vanished.
Chapter 17
“Madam President, the director of the Terminal Island detention center is on line two. He said you’re expecting his call?”
Cora Sterling, first female president of the United States, looked up at her chief of staff. She gave him the warm, motherly smile that had gained her the trust of a nation and allowed her to be at the epicenter of a historic election. “Yes, thank you, Sam. I’ll speak to him in a moment.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The tall, handsome man nodded and left the Oval Office.
Cora sat on one of the twin pale blue upholstered sofas placed opposite each other. A reading lamp burned softly on the nearby table and the latest sheaf of papers sent to her by the Senate was scattered across the cushions beside her. I love this room, she thought, as she stood up and crossed the navy blue rug with the presidential seal embroidered into it.
Being here, in the White House, was something she never took for granted. She’d worked hard to get here. To belong here. Though at times it all still felt surreal. A widow with a grown daughter, Cora had always been an ambitious woman—but this, she thought wryly, went well beyond her ambitions.
The sound of her heels was muffled as she walked with a confident stride to