he grabbed her shoulders and held on. “You’re not to go into the streets. The feds are out there somewhere, looking for you.”
“And the longer we stand here arguing, the closer to town they get.”
“You’re not foolish enough to believe they are the only ones on your trail, are you?” he argued. “There are more. Already in the city. Looking for you.” The men in the desert were no doubt still in the air, headed for the city—but their compatriots could be anywhere. “Here, in the dark zone, it will be nearly impossible for them to track you. Magic is muted here, so whatever they’re using to locate you won’t work in the zone.”
“How big is this zone?” she countered quickly.
“Several blocks.”
“Then we’re still good. My friend’s clinic is two blocks from this house.”
Irritated almost to the breaking point, Rune demanded, “Who is this doctor?”
Teresa gave him a fast, brilliant smile as if she knew she had won this round. “Elena Vargas. She’s two blocks over. She’ll help. I know she will.”
Rune still didn’t like it, but he liked even less the idea of his power draining further. There was a question he must ask, though. “How do you know this friend isn’t the one who turned you in to the Magic Police?”
She laughed and the sound was so unexpected, it jolted through Rune like a hot, luscious summer wind.
“Not a chance. Elena’s known I’m a witch since we were kids.”
He didn’t like it, but she was right that the longer they waited, the more dangerous it was. And if he were to go with her, they would only attract more attention. Even in a city the size of Sedona, a man like Rune wouldn’t go unnoticed. His size alone would attract attention.
The idea of her venturing out alone went against every one of his instincts, yet the sooner he was rid of the white gold, the sooner his witch would be safe again. “Fine, then. Go. But hurry—and speak to no one but your friend.”
“I’m not an idiot, Eternal,” she told him, already headed for the door. “And if we’re going to be together through this quest of ours, then you’d better get used to the idea that I don’t take orders well.”
She opened the door, slipped out and was gone an instant later. So she didn’t hear Rune mutter, “But take them you will.”
Chapter 3
He hated letting her go alone, but if he refused, he risked her safety anyway. When a choice is not a choice, all that is left is fate.
Trusting in fate was not something that came easily to Rune. Through the centuries he had chafed at the years of atonement that had followed the coven’s disastrous actions. His witch and her coven had sentenced themselves to centuries of separation from their magic. The Eternals had been condemned to remain on the fringes of the lives of the women they had been created to protect—and to love.
Now that the long wait was over and their time was finally here, he trusted only himself to keep Teresa safe.
He looked out the window, scowling at the driving rain, and experienced for the first time a sense of helplessness that nearly crushed him. He wasn’t accustomed to encountering any situation he couldn’t muscle his way through. Now, his woman was out on the streets while he was forced to wait.
But as he waited, nothing was keeping him from attempting to heal himself. Dropping to his knees, he leaned forward, bracing his arms on the floor as he concentrated on the shards of metal embedded in his back.
The poisonous sensation of the white gold felt as though it was moving, tracing through the veins of his body like acid. He hissed in a breath, closed his eyes and gathered his waning strength, focusing it on just one of those shards.
His mind arrowed in on the bullet, which had flattened upon impact with his body. The magic pooled inside him and narrowed into a thin ribbon that pushed against that invading shard.
With his eyes closed against the dragging pain and the pull on his magic, Rune groaned as the bullet slowly inched free of his flesh. Every movement was agony. Every twist of the metal tore at him. The drain on his powers was staggering, making him feel no better than a useless mortal.
Rune dragged in a ragged breath as the first of the white-gold shards fell from him to clatter onto the floor. His gaze dropped to the tiny piece