Cold Blooded

At the last minute, Rourke angled the scooter, swerving hard to the right. The light exploded behind us, rocking us in our seats and bouncing the moped off the pavement.

“Hold on!” Rourke yelled. “I’m going to have to take this corner hard.”

I locked my arms against his chest, turning my head in time to see another light arcing toward us in the sky. I watched as it changed course to follow us as we bounded onto the street.

“She lied!” I screamed. “This thing isn’t spelled! It’s probably Maggie’s toy scooter.” Fury radiated through me and fur erupted along my arms. “The sorcerers have my signature, they know where I am!” We would’ve had a chance to outrun them if we’d been on Rourke’s motorcycle, but on this thing we were sitting ducks.

“Not for long,” Rourke roared. We took the curb, Rourke wrenching the wheel as we went.

One jump and we cleared the boulevard.

One more and we hit the lake.

4

Rourke and I both leapt off the Vespa right as another explosion rocked the embankment we’d just crossed. The impact flung us far into the lake.

“Stay under—” Rourke managed before we splashed down, both of us plunging feetfirst into the water.

The force of my landing shook my equilibrium and I whirled around in the cold, discombobulated for a few beats. I steadied myself, throwing my arms out to get my bearings, and opened my eyes. It was dark as night and the water was murky, full of algae and weeds. My wolf had fed me a constant stream of adrenaline since we’d left the garage, but another shot hit my system with warm, delicious heat. My muscles coalesced under my skin and my nails sharpened. I glanced around and spotted Rourke just ahead of me. I took off after him, kicking my feet powerfully as I swam. Taking a swim was becoming a new norm for me. I just hoped there were no Naiads in Lake of the Isles.

If there were, it was going to be a long-ass swim.

Two more strokes and the water behind me exploded, pushing both of us forward in a rush. But the Orb wasn’t on mark. The water had masked me, however slightly. Rourke had been right to dump us into the lake. It was the only chance we had.

But we couldn’t stay under indefinitely.

As I swam farther, the need to take air into my lungs pressed painfully against my diaphragm. Rourke motioned me with his hand. I came up beside him. He pointed to the surface and then to himself. We needed direction.

I nodded and he shot to the surface.

He was back under in a moment. Rather than try to explain, he grabbed my arm. We took no more than ten strokes and the water became shallower. He gestured to some concrete pilings and indicated up. We both bobbed to the surface under a small bridge. I gulped air into my lungs.

“I want you to swim to the far side of the lake.” He pointed toward the east. “See those islands? Swim between them. I’m going to find us a ride. The bombs aren’t looking for me. When you get across, I’ll be waiting.” He pulled me close and kissed me roughly. His mouth was hot on mine after the cold water had chilled my lips, but it ended too quickly as he pressed me back under just as the sky above us lighted with several more Orbs.

I kicked hard, using the bridge footings to jettison me into the lake. The bombs exploded behind me. Okay, we need more speed. On a thought, I switched control to my wolf. She was ready, and my full Lycan form was almost instantaneous. It took us only a few minutes to reach the islands with her in control. We veered close to the shore of the southernmost island and I had to risk taking a quick gasp of air. Light started streaking toward us immediately. Her reaction time was much quicker than mine and we dove fast, going as deep as we could, but it was still incredibly shallow between the islands.

Water exploded directly above us.

That was too close. She swam hard, guiding us to the bottom. We touched both feet on the ground, half walking, half swimming. My lungs started to ache as more explosions peppered the lake.

Fairly quickly the depth leveled out, and as we neared the main shoreline, the bottom began to incline steeply. We were close. No matter what, we run once we clear the water. If we don’t see Rourke, we follow the road. The street ran one way around the lake. We would follow it until we saw him. He would be there.

I shot out of the lake at a dead run.

The shoreline merged into a small hill, and I covered the expanse of the grassy slope in a blur, bounding over a park bench in one leap, morphing back to my human form in an instant. I gulped in deep breaths as I sprinted toward the road, hitting the asphalt right as a car screeched around a corner. It was coming toward me fast, going the wrong way on the one-way street. Several arcs of light hit the sky from the east at the same time. This was going to be close. The car raced up to me and did a 180, tires spinning. The passenger door popped open and Rourke shouted, “Get in!”

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted several petite figures running up the street behind the car. Tally’s white hair flowed out behind her. She was in the lead and yelled, “Go! They’ve put a containment bubble over the lake. We’ll get you out.” Several spells shot up from the witch’s fingers and the Orbs around us exploded into nothingness. “Take the car due south at full speed. Don’t stop. We’ll break a hole in the barrier right as you hit.”

I threw myself into what appeared to be a black Porsche and slammed the door.

Rourke wrenched the wheel to the right. “Here we go.”

I grabbed on to the handhold above my head as the car flew forward. I was sopping wet. Lake water leaked off of me all over the interior of what smelled like an extremely expensive car. “Where’d you get this?” I asked as Rourke took a curve at seventy.

“Tally had it waiting. Seems little Maggie had another vision.”

“Bless that possessed child.” I glanced in my side-view mirror. I could barely see the witches on the road behind us.

“Brace yourself. We’re going to hit this thing hard.” Rourke gunned the car forward. A shimmering mass loomed in front of us. The air wavered like a mirage on a hot day, but other than that there was no indication anything was there. A human wouldn’t be able to detect it.

We hit it at 120 miles per hour.

A huge sound, like a sledgehammer crashing down on a mountain of glass, echoed around us. I instinctively covered my face with both forearms, expecting the windshield to spray us, but it held. There was a blast of red light, which must have come from the witches, and electricity shot through me like a bolt of white-hot lightning.

As we broke through to the other side, the force of it pinned me back in my seat, taking my breath.

The car had absorbed the brunt of the impact, or we would’ve fried in our seats. “Thank goodness this car is spelled,” I called over the ebbing noise of crunching glass and metal as we sped away.

“We should be less detectable now that we’re out of their enclosure,” Rourke said. He took the next curve at a hundred and the car slid sideways. “Tally guaranteed on her life this car was spelled. Your signature will be cloaked as long as you stay inside.” He turned to glance at me briefly, his eyes blazing. “Angie dies if I ever see her again.”

As nice as that was to hear, I pointed ahead. “We’ve got company.” Roughly three blocks ahead, a wall of sorcerers blocked the road. There was no doubt they were sorcerers because they were all bald and were decked out in flowing robes. Plus they all held wicked-looking staffs pointed directly at us. “My signature may be cloaked, but this car is not invisible,” I said. “These guys can see us just fine.”

“These cowards were positioned here to keep the shield up, nothing more.” Rourke stamped on the accelerator and the Porsche sprang forward. The speedometer jumped to 140 as we closed in.

We were on them in seconds. They scattered, springing out of the way, swinging their staffs in unison. Blue