the need to safeguard her. Hold her in the circle of his arms, safe from anything that might harm her. But more even than the need to protect her was the ancient, pulsing demand to claim her body again and again. To drive the mating brand to completion.
To finish this quest.
Because only then would she be completely safe.
“Rune. Problem?”
Torin’s voice shattered his thoughts and jerked him back to the present. An Eternal like Rune, Torin had been the first of them to brand his Awakened witch and find their shard of the Artifact. Together, he and Shea had returned the black silver to Haven—the coven’s home in Wales.
Wales, with its lush greenery and crashing waves against timeworn cliffs, was a long way from here, Rune mused. In more ways than one. In Wales, there was safety. The coven’s home offered exactly what its name implied—a haven. Here, in Mexico, Rune felt danger creeping ever closer. His sharp gaze swept the dark, empty desert around him. The emptiness was a facade, he knew. There was life out there, behind every rock and bush. Snakes, coyotes, wildcats—not to mention the kind of predator that walked on two legs. Hunters roamed these darkened sands. He could feel it—a hum just under his skin that warned of an encroaching menace.
But from where?
“Lots of problems.” Rune’s gaze narrowed on the sliver of moon shining down out of a black star-swept sky.
“What?” Torin’s voice was taut, expectant.
“I’ve got Teresa. We’re in Mexico, going to head to Chiapas to see her grandmother in a day or two.”
“And?”
“Most recently? We stopped in a village for supplies and got made. A couple of the townspeople tried to earn the reward for capturing a witch. I took care of it and got Teresa to Finn’s cave.”
“Sounds fine. So what happened?”
“Just got back from that village. Went for more supplies. Somebody had been there. Took out the whole place.” Shaking his head, he narrowed his gaze on the mountain where Teresa waited for him. “Every last soul dead.”
“Fuck. Any idea who?”
“No.” Grinding his teeth, Rune continued. “There’s more, Torin. I was going to call you about this, anyway, even without the dead village. Elena Vargas, a friend of Teresa’s, was killed in Sedona. She was a doctor, Torin. Not a witch. She helped us out and no more than an hour or so later she was dead.”
Seconds of silence ticked by before Torin said, “How was she killed?”
“Looked like she was strangled. But not before she was tortured.” He hissed in a breath at the memory. He hadn’t wanted to show Teresa how her friend’s death had affected him, but it had. The woman had died because she had helped him. For that alone, Rune owed her justice. “Arm and hand broken—but Torin, one side of her body was burned to a crisp.”
“Say again?”
“You heard me right.” The image of Elena’s body rose up in his mind again and he didn’t like what he was thinking. Hard not to go there, though. “There’s no way that was done without magic. Unless the guy had a portable blowtorch he carried with him.”
“Damn it. What the hell is this?”
“I don’t know,” Rune admitted. He wiped one hand across his jaw and then scrubbed the back of his neck. “I hate even thinking this, but—is there any chance that one of the Eternals has gone rogue?”
Chapter 34
“No.” The answer came back fast, imperious. Torin had long been the de facto leader of the Eternals. He was the one who had kept most of them from losing their minds during the long centuries of waiting. He was the one who had found his mate first. Their union had set them all on the course that had been charted for them eight hundred years ago.
And now Torin was a voice of reason when Rune really needed one. Because ever since he’d seen Elena’s body, he’d been half convinced that one of the hunters chasing him and Teresa was an Eternal. How else to explain the controlled burns? If he was right about that, then the Awakening itself was in a world of hurt.
“Not a chance,” Torin said flatly. “We’ve all been tight for centuries. We know each other too well. If one of us went off the reservation, then we’d all know about it. Damn it, Rune, this isn’t one of us. There’s got to be a sorcerer or a demon working with the hunters. It’s the only explanation.”
“Maybe.” But it hadn’t felt like a demon