weapons when we can and resort to magics only when there is no other option. We, each of us, are prepared to accept the karma of what we do-to ensure that we are not wiped from the earth.”
“You believe you can hold this camp against all intruders?”
She smiled. “It wasn’t easy for you to get in, was it?”
“Hell, no.” He grinned suddenly, remembering the warrior women who had dropped from trees to challenge him. “Still not easy to know who to trust, though.”
“True enough.” She looked back at the camp, tidy log cabins with lamplight falling through the windows to lie on the ground like gold dust. “But the turned witches-traitors-are still few and far between. We’ll survive, as will the other Sanctuaries around the world.”
“It’s bad times,” Rune said softly.
“True again,” Karen agreed, then looked out over the mountainous view. “But we’ve lived through bad times before. We will this time, too. Now that the Awakening is here, everything will change.”
He slid a glance to her. “How much do you know?”
She smiled. “More than you think, less than I’d like.” Shrugging, she continued, “The story of the last great coven has been handed down from mother to daughter throughout the centuries. We all know about the chosen few. And the tasks they must complete to ensure the safety of this world. We don’t know who they are, but we know the time is now.”
Rune snorted a laugh. He and the other Eternals hadn’t considered that the witches had kept a chain of information going throughout the centuries. But they should have. Witches were clever women. And it didn’t pay to underestimate a clever woman.
“The Sanctuaries hold libraries of spell books. Shadow books,” she was saying. “We’ve saved the ancient tomes and added to them over the years. If the chosen ones need help they’ve only to seek out a Sanctuary.”
Intrigued, he stared at the short woman beside him. “You’ve been preparing for the Awakening all along?”
“Of course,” she said. “We all need the Awakened ones to succeed. If they fail… everyone loses.”
“Good point,” Rune said. But they wouldn’t fail, he told himself grimly. He and his fellow Eternals would do everything in their considerable power to ensure that their witches prevailed.
Karen laid one hand on his forearm. “Tell them, Eternal. Tell the chosen ones that the Sanctuary libraries can be accessed by a dimensional spell.”
“Dimensional? Hell, that’s what got us into trouble in the first place! Opening portals into other worlds is a bad idea.”
“It is,” she agreed, with a shake of her head. “But that’s not what I mean. Sanctuaries have all been equipped with a dimensional hotspot, so to speak. A way for us to share information.”
“You manipulate dimensions?” Rune asked, astonished at the level of power in the tiny witch before him.
“Combining our magic makes us stronger,” she pointed out. “If the chosen ones need our help, they’ve only to be close to a Sanctuary to open the portal.”
Rune stared down at her, admiration shining in his eyes. “You amaze me.”
“We do what we can with what we have,” she said with a nod. “But in the end, we are all prisoners here. In these safe spots around the world. Cut off from families, friends, hope. The question is, how long will we have to hide? How long, Eternal?”
“Wish I knew.”
It all depended, Rune thought, on the Awakening. On the coven coming together again, to end what they’d begun so long ago.
If that happened, then they would have proof to show the world that witchcraft could be an ally. That witches themselves could be trusted to help when the world needed it most.
He shifted his gaze back to the shadow-filled valley. No pressure, he told himself.
Chapter 32
“What was that?”
The moment his magical flames winked out, Torin cursed viciously and pushed Shea to the ground, covering her with his own body. Her breath came fast and frantic from beneath him. He felt her fear and shared it. Not for himself. He’d been battling evil for eons. Spilling blood was nothing new to him. But seeing Shea terrified and knowing that there were humans somewhere near who wanted her dead filled him with a fear he’d never known before. It tainted every breath.
“A grenade,” he muttered, keeping his voice low, though there was clearly no need for stealth. The sound of the fire at the motel below roared into the night like a caged, starving beast.
He looked down at her wide, frightened eyes and wanted to kill whoever had brought her to this. In the span of just a few days, she’d been captured, tortured, chased and shot. And now someone had blown up the room she was in.
“Enough.” He planted a hard, fast kiss on her mouth and then stared into her eyes. “Whoever launched the grenade into our room is probably still down there. I’m going to find them.”
He lifted his head to peer over the rock behind which he had Shea hidden. Looking through the trees, he could see what was left of the motel. His blood turned to ice, then an instant later, began to boil.
The room he and Shea had been occupying was an inferno.
The rest of the place didn’t look much better. There were screams and shouts as people ran for their lives. But Torin was looking for those who would be running toward the flames. Whoever had tried to kill them would no doubt want to check the scene, make sure he hadn’t failed.
Which meant Torin was going hunting.
“Stay here,” he ordered, rolling off Shea to come to his feet in a crouch. He stared down at her and saw shadows from the intense light of the fire race across her features. “Right here, do you understand?”
She pushed up, swept dirt and pebbles from her cheek and stared at him. “Why? I might be able to help.”
“I need you safely here while I find those responsible.”
“And do what? Kill him?”
“Not until we’ve had a talk.” He wanted information. He’d removed the tracker from Shea’s body, so how did the assassin find them? He had to know which agency was funding this hunt. And he needed to know how to stop it.
Shea looked at the conflagration, flames shooting high into the air, sparks lifting, flying in the wind toward the trees, which were already beginning to smolder. She grabbed Torin’s arm and hung on. “Forget about finding him. There’ll be others here soon. Firefighters. Police. Let’s just go. Now. While they fight the fire.”
“Go where? Shea, if we don’t stop this here, whoever is behind it will only follow us.”
“Who cares?” she shouted it, but her voice was lost in the surrounding clamor. “Everybody in the free world is already looking for me, Torin!”
He went down on one knee beside her and grabbed her upper arms hard enough to leave an imprint of his fingertips on her skin. Just touching her grounded him in a way that nothing else ever had. Knowing she was his now gave him strength that even his god would tremble at. He looked into her green eyes and felt love wash through him. Love like he had never known before.
“You are my heart, Shea,” he said, sliding his hands up to cup her face in his palms. “I will do whatever I must to see you safe.”
She covered his hands with her own. “Do you think you’re any less important to me? Don’t go down there, Torin.”
“I have no choice. No one will harm you. Ever.” He leaned in and kissed her hard. “Do you believe me?”
A second, then two, ticked past as he waited, staring into the eyes of the woman he’d hungered for throughout time.
“Yes,” she whispered, meeting his eyes. “But-”
