Fear the Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #9)

Fear the Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #9) Page 25

She battled back the tears as she pushed him away. “You have to go.”

“Fine,” he sighed.

With one last scan to make sure the park was empty, Caine crawled out of the Jeep and took off at a swift trot. She waited until he reached the edge of the woods, knowing he would glance back before disappearing from view.

Once certain he wasn’t going to come charging back, Cassie hastily clambered into his seat and put the Jeep into neutral. She clutched the steering wheel, gnawing her bottom lip as she resisted the urge to stomp on the gas. Caine would hear the change in the engine even from such a distance.

Refusing to glance back, Cassie concentrated on keeping a straight line as the Jeep rolled with excruciating sluggishness across the parking lot and back onto the access road. Only when she was near the interstate did she offer a silent plea for the fates to keep Caine safe, and shoved the gearshift into drive, taking off with enough force to lay rubber.

Chapter 10

Despite being shifted into his wolf form, Caine could feel the panic claw through him as he reached the end of Cassie’s trail and realized that it had doubled back.

God dammit. He’d wasted nearly an hour running along the highway, desperate to catch up with the Jeep and massacre the bastards who’d kidnapped his female.

Now he was forced to halt and reassess his limited choices. With a snarl of impatience, he padded behind a hay bale and shifted, careful to remain hidden from the passing cars. For whatever stupid reason, humans were far more shocked to catch sight of a naked man standing in a field than a massive wolf.

Sucking in deep, shuddering breaths, he wiped the sweat from his brow and tried to think through his mind-numbing fear.

When he’d first heard the squeal of tires he’d been terrified that Cassie had accidentally knocked the Jeep out of gear. He’d burst out of the woods expecting to see her driving in circles around the parking lot or, gods forbid, crashed into a tree.

What he hadn’t expected was to find she was gone.

Just . . . gone.

The parking lot was empty, with no scent of any intruders and no sign of a struggle.

For long minutes he’d stood in the center of the parking lot, baffled.

If Cassie had been attacked, why hadn’t she fired the gun? Or at least screamed for help?

And why couldn’t he catch their scent?

Then, with a growl of sheer fury he’d shifted and gone in pursuit of Cassie’s rapidly fading trail.

What the hell did it matter who or how or why Cassie had been kidnapped? All that mattered was finding her before she could be hurt.

Now he had to wonder if he’d been deliberately led on a wild-goose chase.

And if he had, what now?

He was debating the question when there was a faint rustle directly behind him. With a snarl he whirled around, his teeth bared in warning.

The sight of the tiny demon with oblong black eyes and fair hair pulled into a tight braid standing in the hay field did nothing to soothe his desire for blood.

“You.”

“Yes, me.” Yannah smoothed her hands down her pristine white robe, her lips pinched in disapproval. “Although I don’t know why I bother. I specifically warned you not to be separated from the prophet. And yet, here you are with Cassie nowhere in sight.”

Why the aggravating . . . bitch.

Caine clenched his hands, too infuriated to care he was completely nude. Or that the hay bale was poking his bare ass.

Instead, he was savagely reminding himself this demon had enough power to destroy him with a thought. And as much as he might want to shake the tiny creature until her pointed teeth rattled, he couldn’t rescue Cassie if he was rotting in hell.

“Do you think I deliberately left her?” he demanded. “She disappeared.”

Yannah snorted. “It doesn’t matter how you were separated, only that you find her.”

“What the hell do you think I’m trying to do?”

Yannah shrugged. “It looks to me like you’re running in circles.”

Caine tensed. How the hell had she known he was running in circles? Unless . . .

“Have you been spying on us? Do you know where she is?” He stepped forward, glaring down at the tiny heart-shaped face. “Has she been kidnapped? Is she hurt?”

“No and no and no and no.”

He trembled, his wolf straining to be released to return to his hunt. With every passing second Cassie’s scent faded a little more and the beast didn’t give a shit that this demon might or might not hold information that could help them find their female.

“Then what happened to her?”

The black eyes widened. “It would seem that she dumped you.”

“Dumped?”

“Isn’t that how you say getting rid of an unwanted partner?” she asked with faux innocence. “Dump, chuck, give the ol’ heave-ho?”

“Yeah, I got the meaning,” he ground out. “I just don’t know why you think Cassie would dump me.”

“She drove off and left you at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere.”

Caine hissed, refusing to allow the smallest suspicion to taint his mind.

It would kill something inside him if he thought Cassie deliberately abandoned him.

“She must have been kidnapped,” he said with more force than necessary, reminding himself of their passionate night together.

There was no way a woman would so eagerly give her innocence to a man she intended to discard at the first opportunity. Hell, they’d still be in that bed if it hadn’t been for the damned vision.

Caine sucked in a sharp breath, realizing he could pinpoint the precise moment that Cassie had changed from his sweetly generous lover to a distant stranger who could barely look him in the face.

Clearly sensing his revelation, Yannah narrowed her dark eyes. “What is it?”

“The vision.”

“A prophecy?”

“Yes.” With a muttered curse he shoved his fingers through his tangled hair. “I knew something was wrong. Gods. I should have forced her to tell me.”

“Hey.” Yannah snapped impatient fingers. “You can wallow in self-pity later.”

His low growl rumbled through the air. “You are—”

“Charmingly blunt?” she interrupted with a hint of warning. He was nearing her line in the sand. They both knew he didn’t want to step over it.

With an effort, he leashed his frustration. “Do you know where Cassie is going?”

“No, but you do.”

“Me?” He scowled at the ridiculous accusation. “If I knew, I wouldn’t be running in circles.”

“I knew you were all brawn and no brain.” Yannah shook her head with profound disappointment. “You’re lucky you’re so pretty.”

His hand dropped, his fingers curling into a tight fist. He wanted to hit something. Or better yet, kill something.

“God dammit, we’re wasting time,” he rasped. “Why can’t you just tell me?”

“Because I don’t know.” She held up a hand as his lips parted with an angry protest. “I only know that you know.”

“Crap,” he muttered. “You’re making my head ache.”

“She must have said something,” Yannah said, utterly unapologetic. “Think.”

Caine bit back his angry words and forced himself to recall what Cassie had said about her vision. For all he knew this Yannah was a crazy-ass demon who was following him around to make his life hell. But if there was even the slightest chance she could help him locate Cassie, then he’d jump through hoops and dance the mambo if that’s what she wanted.

“All she said was that she had a vision and we had to travel west.”

“Just west?” Yannah appeared troubled. “That’s a little vague.”

“You think?”

A choking power filled the air, wrapping around Caine with enough strength to warn Yannah could easily crush his every bone.

“Careful, Were.”

He waited until the power had receded enough he could draw in a breath. Only when he was reasonably confident he wasn’t about to become a mangled corpse did he speak. “She’d obviously decided to take off before . . .” He lost track of his words as he actually considered the time line. “Wait.”

“What?”

He stared blindly over the recently mowed field, mentally walking through the morning from the moment that Cassie woke in his arms.

“She started acting strange after her vision.”

“And?”

“The vision must have convinced her that she had some task she had to deal with alone.”

“Yes, yes.” Yannah waved an impatient hand. “Quite possibly.”

“So when she said we had to travel west she must have been trying to throw me off her trail.” He frowned, not entirely satisfied with his logical conclusion. “But why the elaborate scheme? Why not sneak away from me while I was cooking breakfast?” He sorted through his chaotic thoughts, brutally ignoring his snarling wolf, which was nearing the edge of a meltdown. “Oh, I’m so stupid,” he at last muttered.