Kael grunted as I bounced hard off his back. Too caught up in my thoughts, I hadn’t noticed him pause. He turned and looked at me with a smile on his lips.
“You know, it’s a wonder you haven’t stepped on a cobra or something.”
I shuddered, recalling the den of snakes I’d had to crawl through. “Don’t say that.” I glanced around, hoping for a hint of civilization but seeing nothing except the same grasses and dotting of trees. “Why are we stopping?”
“It’s going to be dark soon. We need to make camp. We should reach Nairobi tomorrow.”
The last thing I wanted to do was spend another night in this place, but I also didn’t want to end up hyena chow by trekking through the dark. Besides, I was exhausted. Even though my shoulder hadn’t been poisoned by the demon, the wound still hurt, as did the cut on my hand from traversing the underground pathway to the hidden altar.
“Sit down, Livvie.” Kael’s voice wasn’t demanding, but soft and quiet, almost as if he were pleading. His eyes were wide as he watched me. I couldn’t argue with that face.
I folded myself to the ground as he went to a nearby acacia tree to scrounge up fallen wood. I hoped demons wouldn’t crash our party this time around. I could use a night of uninterrupted sleep, even if it was in the open air and on the hard ground. After Kael returned with an armful of fallen branches, I stretched my legs out in front of me and watched him.
He seemed different, somehow. Not in appearance, though he had managed to find clothes which actually fit him before we left the lion shifter pride. It was more like my perception of him had changed.
I tilted my head as he carefully piled kindling in a patch of earth he’d cleared of grass and debris. It was the strange bond I now felt with him, but something told me it had nothing to do with the fact we had been bound not only as a sorceress and her guard, or that we had been former lovers in that past life. It was something else…
“You going to tell me why you’re staring at me?” Kael said suddenly.
I didn’t bother denying. “How did you know I was staring at you?”
He chuckled. “I could feel it.”
“Is that a shifter thing, or because we seem to be, uh, more connected?”
Kael glanced up at me for a brief moment, then turned his attention back to the sticks. “Don’t most people know when they are being watched?”
“I suppose so.”
My partner brought forth a spark, then a flame using only a flint from the packs with all the expertise of a survivalist. He placed more firewood amongst the flames and waited until he was certain it wouldn’t go out before standing.
“I’m not sure what’s in those packs to eat, but it likely isn’t fresh. I’m going to hunt something down.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t see how you can kill something like that.”
“It’s in my nature. Don’t worry, I won’t eat it raw in front of you.”
Gross. “Please, don’t. I enjoy my antelope steaks medium-rare.”
“You’re kind of odd, you know that?”
I climbed to my feet and jabbed him in the chest with a finger. “Hey, I’m not the one plucking something from the menu with my teeth.”
Kael grabbed my hand and held it to his chest. His gaze captured mine, gripped it as strongly as his fingers wrapped around my own. “You are a fascinating woman.”
I laughed softly. “You just said I was odd.”
“Odd is fascinating.”
His warm breath brushed against me. I’d closed the distance between us without even realizing it. “Calling me odd is not a good way to get me to kiss you, you know.”
Kael’s lips were so close to mine, I could almost feel his smile. “And who says I want to kiss you?”
I pressed my lips to his. Energy wanted to explode from me at the taste of him, the strength of his grip, and heat of his mouth on mine. Kissing Kael sent tremors through me, and left me feeling unsteady.
Damn, even the earth seemed to be moving beneath my feet.
Kael broke apart from me with a startled expression and gripped my shoulders before I could be knocked backward. I glanced around frantically as a loud groan filled the air.
The earth was moving.
The ground lurched and jumped beneath us as an earthquake growled beneath the dirt. My feet shuffled in an attempt to keep my footing, but my bones seemed to rattle and I collapsed to the ground. A grunt whooshed from my lungs as Kael landed on top of me. He rolled off but kept one hand on me as his gaze danced frantically around us.
The cries of birds and beasts echoed through the air. Sparks from our small fire rose into the air like fleeing fireflies. I rolled to my stomach and gritted my teeth against the jostling. As I peered out into the shadow-swathed landscape, a sensation of trepidation rippled through me.
This was no mere act of nature. I could sense the dark power tainting the atmosphere.
“Vehrin is doing this,” I said. I was barely able to get the words out. Kael jerked a nod beside me.
The dark mage wasn’t nearby, but I knew without a doubt this was his doing. The third key must have been more powerful than we assumed.
A horrible sound, like rocks scraping together, deafened me. Kael shouted something, but I couldn’t make out his words. He tugged hard on my shoulder, and pain lanced through me. I attempted to bat him away, but his fingers dug in, and in the next moment, he was pulling me against him.
We rolled a few feet before coming to a stop. I picked my head up from his chest and peered over to where we were laying just a moment before.
A giant crack had ripped its way through the earth, and we’d nearly fallen into it.
The ground continued to shake violently. Why was the earthquake lasting so long? We had to get somewhere safe, but where? There was nowhere we could go. Being out in the open had to be the safest place, right? There were no trees, rocks, or buildings to fall on us.
My heart leaped to my throat as the ground shifted beneath us. We started sloping downward as the earth gave way, tipping us so we fell into the massive crack.
“Kael!”
With one arm still around me, he pawed at the ground with the other. His fingers grabbed fistfuls of grass, but it was no use. I cried out as the earth opened out from under our legs.
I risked a glance down, and fear tightened my throat. There would be no surviving a fall from this height. I’d never been so afraid of descending into the waiting arms beneath the ground.
“Hang on,” Kael said through gritted teeth. His grip tightened on me, his fingers digging into my ribcage. My own were clenched into his shirt.
Another terrible growl sang through the air, and no matter how tightly we tried to hold to each other, the tremendous jostling loosened our grips. I slid farther down and just managed to dig my fingers into the ground enough to keep from falling to my death as the rest of my body dropped over the crumbling edge.
Kael’s broken voice hollered my name as I lost my grip. I dangled over the endless pit, both my feet swaying in the split open land.
The pads of my fingers ripped against the shivering rock and grit of the earth as I fought for purchase. Dirt rained onto my face. Kael reached for me. His arms jumped wildly with the swaying ground. I was afraid to let go long enough to reach for him.
“Livvie, give me your hand.” He grimaced as he strained to reach farther.
I shook my head. He was going to fall, too. The muscles in my arms strained as the unnatural earthquake tried to shake me into the bowels of the earth. I kicked my feet, but the toes of my boots found nothing to use as leverage.
“I’ll get you,” he said.
I took a chance and reached for him with one of my hands.
I wanted to cling to Kael’s promise, but as I reached for him, I knew it was no use. Fear writhed in me, and somehow I knew it wasn’t entirely my own. I stared up at the man who was absolutely terrified at the thought of losing me.
“I’m sorry,” I said. I tried again to reach him, but I only fell farther. I was going to fall to my death.
I’d never seen Kael’s eyes so wide. “No!”
He surged forward, and just as his hands clasped around mine, we both plummeted.