5

A caramel scent rushed over me as I passed a group of blackberry bushes at the other side of the rock garden. Up ahead, through the bushes and trees, I glimpsed a blonde head.

Nevan would not hurt the girl. I wouldn't allow it. My hand instinctively went to my gun. Maybe I couldn't kill him, but I could damn sure injure him.

My pulse thundered. I pumped my legs faster, despite the pains in my thighs. Got to catch up. Stop him, help her. A small branch thwacked me in the face. The sting made me wince, but I forged onward. This girl wasn't me. Nevan wasn't Calder. I knew these facts, but none of it mattered. I had to stop him from — doing whatever the hell he was planning to do to her. I sped past the vortex and its stone benches. Feminine laughter echoed through the woods from ahead of me.

An instinct impelled me to glance at the spot where I'd found the dead man. My throat tightened, but I had no time to spare on those thoughts. I stopped at the railing beside the falls. Foam sprayed up to tick on my skin and clothes. Where were they?

Laughter. It bubbled out of the woods to the left of the falls. A narrow game trail wended through the trees there. I rocketed down it. Weeds lashed my legs and I raised my arms to block branches from hitting me. Partway down the trail, I halted. If I wanted to discover Nevan's true intentions, I ought to sneak up on him — conduct a little surveillance, catch him in the act. I might intervene before he… did whatever.

My heart pounded so hard I could barely breathe. I tiptoed down the trail. Voices murmured, too far away for me to make out words. Soon though, I spotted a clearing straight ahead and slowed my pace even more. I took care with each step, so I wouldn't snap a twig or smack a branch in my face again. At the clearing's edge, I ducked behind a thick aspen, peeking around its bulk.

Weeds, tall and fragile, quivered in the breeze. High above, a squirrel chattered a warning call. The blonde knelt on the soft grass on the opposite side of the clearing, her back to me. The "old man" leaned on his cane a few feet from her, near a fir tree.

The image of the old man crumbled away, revealing Nevan.

Holy heaven. What was he?

Nevan posed with one arm extended, his palm braced on the tree and one ankle crossed over the other. A shaft of sunlight blazed across his muscled chest.

He reclined his head, impassive. "Don't be afraid, Sandy. I mean ye no harm."

The gentleness of his tone didn't match his assumed posture. I studied him, noting the way his free hand clenched and loosened repeatedly. His shoulders were stiff and he avoided Sandy's gaze, his own darting here and there.

Sandy's features had slackened, her lips parted. She pitched forward, eyes large. Her full lips split into a dazed grin. "Whoa." She drew out the syllable into a long, breathless word. "What are you?"

"Ah… " He dragged a hand over his cheek. "We'll have time for that later."

Her grin mellowed. She undulated a little, like a cobra enthralled by a snake charmer.

Nevan coughed and scratched his head. I watched his chest inflate with a deep breath, which he let out little by little. I'd expected him to be confident and easygoing, as he had been with me. The man across the clearing from me behaved the way someone would if he were… ashamed.

No. I had to be misreading him.

With a quick nod, as if he'd reached a decision, Nevan closed the distance to Sandy. He cupped the girl's chin in his hand. "I need to ask you a question. Consider it carefully. Can ye do that?"

"Sure."

His long body descended as he knelt before her. Sandy's head blocked most of my view, so all I could glimpse was the top of his head. I must see his face. The reason baffled me, but the need clawed at my chest. I lowered into a crouch and crept around the clearing's edge, behind the trees and bushes, until I found a good vantage point. My skulking brought me closer to the duo, alongside them at at a slight angle that granted me a better view of her face than his. Sandy's pupils had dilated into black disks, nearly consuming her irises. Her hand rose to her throat and her fingers lightly caressed her flawless skin.

One corner of Nevan's mouth crimped downward.

Sandy, oblivious, puckered her face. "What's the question?"

His shoulders buckled forward. He ducked his head and his fingers dug into his thighs. I had the weirdest urge to hug him.

Dammit. I refused to empathize with him. This man — creature, thing, whatever — was manipulating Sandy. I didn't know how or why, but I was witnessing the effects.

Nevan lifted his head and squared his shoulders, his face now a mask of polite detachment. Yet when he spoke, sensuality infused every word. "I want to take you somewhere you've never been before. A special place. You belong there." He took hold of her hands. "Will you come with me?"

She blinked a few times in slow motion. Her tongue sneaked out to moisten her lower lip. "Can my boyfriend come with us?"

Nevan's gaze was nailed to hers, but a muscle in his jaw twitched. His voice stayed sultry, if a bit forced. "No, child, you will return to your lover afterward. This is for you alone."

"What's your name?"

He huffed out a breath, his gaze switching to the trees on my side of the clearing. His gaze homed in on mine and my heart thudded. He saw me.

Sandy, lost in her own realm of reality, said, "Don't you have a name?"

Nevan shut his eyes briefly, then swiveled his focus to me for a heartbeat before he turned back to Sandy.

I hugged the tree, desperate to see but dreading what I learn.

Grasping Sandy's shoulders, Nevan tugged her closer. She tilted her head back, her lips open, eyes unfocused. He bent his head and pressed his mouth to hers.

He was kissing her? I ground my teeth. I shouldn't care. I didn't care. Only one thing mattered — protecting an innocent girl from a predator.

I stormed into the clearing, yanked the derringer out of its holster, and whipped it out from under my shirt. I flipped the safety off, leveling the muzzle at Nevan. "Get the hell away from her."

My shout ricocheted off the trees.

One half of his mouth cinched up into a smirk.

With my right hand clamped around the Colt, I braced it from underneath with my left. "I mean it. Move or I'll shoot."

My gun was a few inches from his head. I poised my finger over the trigger, tensed, ready to take hold and squeeze if necessary.

Nevan touched one fingertip to the derringer's muzzle. "Your little weapon will do no good. But you know that, don't you?"

"A couple slugs in your skull might slow you down."

"I've caused no harm to the girl."

I planted my feet wide. "Let Sandy go."

He spread his hands, palms up. "She came here freely and she may leave whenever she wishes."

The girl still rocked in place, hands on her thighs. She licked her recently kissed lips, as if anxious for another taste of Nevan.

"Bastard," I muttered under my breath.

"Lay down your weapon and let me explain."

I indicated Sandy with a jerk of my elbow. "She's hypnotized or enthralled or whatever. Release her."

"The enchantment will wear off in a moment."

My gaze boomeranged from Nevan to Sandy and back again. His arms fell limp at his sides. He looked away and gave a half-hearted shrug.

I sank to my knees beside Sandy. Setting my pistol on the ground, I grasped her shoulders and shook. Her pupils had returned to normal, but she kept mooning at Nevan.

"Wake up!" I jostled her again. "Snap out of it, Sandy."

Her eyelids fluttered. Her slack expression solidified. She touched a finger to her lips, surveying the surroundings, then rubbed her forehead. "Where am I?"

Nevan flinched when I glared at him. "Would you care to tell her how she got here?"

He slid back into a sitting position, his legs bent before him, and fiddled with a weed.

My face tightened, a sure sign I was frowning. "Will she remember any of this later?"

"No." He ripped the weed out of the earth, tossing it aside. "The enchantment ensures no memories of me remain in the mind of the… uh… "

"Victim?"

He murdered another weed, but crushed this one in his palm. "If you give her instructions, she will follow them with no recollection of any of this later."

"How convenient for you." At least I could spare Sandy the memory of being used, for whatever Nevan wanted from her. I snapped my fingers to get Sandy's attention. "Listen. You went for a walk and got lost, but found your way back to the main trail. Go back to your boyfriend and forget this ever happened."

Sandy nodded, chewing her lip. She pushed up onto her feet, shuffled around, and hiked back down the game trail. I grabbed my gun and started after her.

Nevan sprang up to seize my arm. "Where are you going?"

"To make sure Sandy gets back okay." I grated the words out between my grinding teeth. "Not that you give a damn."

"You've got the wrong impression of me." His fingers relented a bit. "Please, Lindsey, allow me to explain. This is my duty — "

"Screwing with a woman's head and kissing her while she's half-conscious? That's your job?" My skin crawled at the thought of what he might've done if I hadn't intervened. I threw my arms up to shed his hands. "When you have a crappy job, you quit."

"Have you resigned from yours?"

"I have no choice. I need the money." I backed away several steps. "Besides, I don't abuse vulnerable women for a living."

"Believe me, I have no choice either."

My hand ached. I realized I'd been gripping the gun tighter. Loosening my fingers, I stomped closer to Nevan, until I had to crane my neck back to glare at him. "My job may suck, but I don't do anything morally reprehensible."

He wiped my spittle from his chin. "I am bound to my duty, by magic. Skeiron, my king, forced me into a bargain from which there is no escape. He throttled back my powers to prevent me from disobeying him."

"What a fabulous excuse." I raised the derringer, muzzle aimed at the sky. "Stay away from Sandy — and me."

I spun away from him and stalked off down the trail. In what seemed like seconds but must've been a few minutes, at least, I broke out of the woods into the rock garden. Once in the parking lot, I paused to collect myself.

Good luck with that. Nevan's voice echoed in my mind, his words from earlier even more relevant. My dignity and self-control shredded the instant I found him with Sandy. Maybe he lured women to clearings all the time to hypnotize them into making out with him. Afterward, he probably lugged them off to a cave and shackled them to the wall so he could debase them in private. Whatever his motives, I refused to engage in his machinations anymore.

Across the parking lot, Sandy's boyfriend was helping her into the passenger seat of a Jeep Cherokee.

Nevan had kissed her.

I stomped to my car, a cherry-red Chevy Malibu parked at the periphery of the woods, just inside the gravel parking lot. I moved to unlock the door, only then realizing I didn't have my keys or purse. I'd left them in the shop, because my shift wasn't over yet.

A creature squawked.

My every muscle went rigid at the familiar cry. I scanned the sky for the source. Where in blazes had the noise come from? The hairs on the back of my neck lifted. I swung my head to the right, to a pine tree at the forest's edge. A raven perched on a low branch, its weight dragging the limb down to within feet of the ground. The fading sunlight glinted off the bird's black eyes. Its gaze bored into me, ripping a shiver through my body.

I tried to pry my attention from the raven, but I couldn't. Its eyes pinned me in place, freezing my will. The raven squawked again.

"Shoo," I said, unable to move my eyes, much less wave a hand at the beast.

The bird swooped down onto the roof of my car. It waddled toward me, its talons ticking on the roof. The bird approached so close it could've snapped my nose off with its beak if it wanted. Instead, the raven pitched its head left and right. Its beak popped open.

The creature screamed.

My ears rang. I stumbled backward, tripped, and plummeted onto my ass. I struck the ground hard and I choked back a cry.

Red flames exploded in the depths of the bird's eyes. It leaped onto my chest. Talons sank into my breasts. They would've punctured my flesh, if not for the barrier of my shirt and bra. I dug my fingers into the gravel, but my body ignored my commands to move. Gravelly sounds emerged from the raven's open mouth. My mind insisted they were words, scrambling to comprehend them. The noises coalesced into clipped syllables.

"Guardian — not — yours." Its talons penetrated deeper, pulling a gasp out of me. "Stay — away."

The bird launched off me with a thrust that forced the breath out of my lungs. The beast swooped low over me. Its wings scraped the crown of my head.

The raven blasted off into the sky, out of sight.