What the hell had happened to him? Had he taken his parents place in the rebellion that, despite dwindled numbers, continued to make things difficult for Morgana?
She took a step toward him.
Lucan materialized in front of her, blocking her way as he drew his sword.
Briana sucked in a breath, her body tightening under the onslaught of surprise, relief and hurt that pummeled her. She thought she’d heard him on the street, but couldn’t quite wrap her mind around him being up here too.
She forced herself to take a step back even though the cat wanted to rub against him until he ran his hands down her flank. The woman wasn’t nearly so welcoming, the sting of his rejection still too fresh in her mind.
“Lucan, don’t.”
Vaughn snarled at the press of the blade against his throat. “I don’t think your friend plays well with others, B.”
“It’s okay.” She touched Lucan’s arm, the muscles more rigid than the sword easily capable of taking her friend’s head. The familiar etchings on the blade made her frown, but the questions that came with the discovery were forgotten when she noticed the material wrapped around his knuckles was stained with blood.
Lucan’s gaze shifted to her—his eyes more black than green—and stared just long enough to remind her of what had happened between them only a short time ago. Her heart slowed to a painful rhythm that made her chest ache to hold his gaze.
He finally turned his attention back to Vaughn even as he spoke to her. “You know him?”
“He’s a friend.” A reckless childhood friend who’d chosen the wrong moment to stalk her the way he had when they were kids.
As her tracking skills had improved, Vaughn had found it increasingly difficult to take her by surprise. No doubt he would gloat over this minor victory, regardless of their current predicament. Getting in trouble had never stopped Vaughn from appreciating the adventure.
Angling his body toward Briana, Lucan kept his sword where it was. “Are you hurt?”
She held onto the pointless,
Vaughn flashed his teeth in feral warning at Lucan.
“Maybe the wolf needs a rabies shot.”
Briana glanced up in search of the voice, eyes widening at the sight of Nessa in one of the blossom-covered trees nearby.
The huntress perched on a gnarled limb. The red shirt she wore with her black pants had been ripped along one shoulder, barely held together where claw marks made both sides of the fabric nearly see-through.
Had Mac done that?
A vine slithered around the limb next to the toe of Nessa’s knee-high boot, but either the huntress didn’t sense the tree’s innate magic or she wasn’t threatened by it. The vine skimmed her boot just as she dropped to the ground, the tip of it lashing out and just missing her back.
Briana made a mental note to give all the blossom-covered trees a wide berth as Lucan finally lowered his sword, giving Vaughn the opportunity to stand.
“A rabies shot
Vaughn angled his dark head, his grin as cocky as ever. “Best show you’ve ever seen.”
“If I wanted to see a real purebred specimen, I’d go to a dog show.” A burst of blue formed in Elena’s palm. The sorceress closed her fist and fired it like an all-star pitcher directly at Vaughn.
Her friend staggered back from the force of it, then clutched to his chest the towel that materialized, laughing. He glanced at Briana. “I think I just fell in love with the rookie.”
Elena made a gagging sound.
Briana’s head spun with the surreal turn of events. It still felt like only moments ago she and Lucan had been alone, her body on fire and her heart ready to make any sacrifice to be with him.
Between one scorching moment and the next, everything had come crashing down, leaving her scraped raw and forced to face the harsh truth she’d been denying for months—she and Lucan had no future.
She’d been in denial for weeks, convinced that if she didn’t think or talk about him then she wouldn’t have to deal with the situation. If she didn’t acknowledge he was her mate, she could stay in control of her feline instincts and keep her heart intact.
How blind she’d been.
Lucan turned his back on the others. His gaze flicking down her body then back up. “Okay?” he mouthed, and she couldn’t decide if she was grateful or not he kept the exchange between the two of them.
She managed a nod despite the temptation to admit she was anything
Could Emma be right? Had they all been marked to compete in the Gauntlet?
The reality of that possibility was nearly as troubling as her own fate now that Lucan had made it clear where they stood.
Putting some much needed distance between herself and Lucan, she edged closer to Vaughn, her gaze falling on the same Fae glyph branded on the back of his shoulder. He wrapped the towel around his waist and turned his attention to the already healing wound on his leg, distracting her from the glyph.
Had he been shot? “What happened?”
“Hunting or fighting,” Nessa guessed her eyes narrowing in speculation.
“There are no rules against either, huntress.”
Briana had to drop her gaze over a foot to notice the Korrigan who’d joined them at some point.
Who would be next? The Easter Bunny?
As crazy as that sounded, she couldn’t rule anything out at this point. Highly dependent on their magic, Korrigans left their territory about as often as the fictional fluffy-tailed, chocolate egg lover. Beyond their borders it was far more difficult for them to entrance and enslave other immortals.
Barely four feet tall, the fairy with reptilian red eyes smelled faintly of rotting oranges. The cat snarled softly at the back of Briana’s mind. There was no way to know how far they were from Korrigan territory or how strong his magic was here. She kept from making direct eye contact knowing it would give the Korrigan a distinct advantage if he was as powerful here as his home.
So a wolf, cat and dragon gargoyle, a sorceress, huntress, Korrigan, wraith and an enchantress—Briana finally spotted the blonde wearing a clingy red dress that made the shimmery fabric appear painted on—all together in one place.
The only immortal race missing was the Fae. Did that explain who their abductor was? It certainly offered no clues to explain why Briana knew some of those gathered, and knew them fairly well. That couldn’t be a coincidence, could it?
The Korrigan strode right up to Nessa. “What has your bitch goddess done now?”
“Back the Tonka truck up, short-stack. Nobody said anything about Rhiannon being responsible for this.”
Elena smirked at Nessa’s insult, but her expression quickly morphed to one of distaste as the dragon lowered himself to the ground, his back resting against the stone half wall that separated one section of the courtyard from another.
He closed his eyes and tipped his face up to the sun.
The sun…
She shot a glance at Lucan from the corner of her eye. He watched the dragon intently, unveiled fury darkening his expression until he looked right at her.
“Kellagh the Black!” Nessa growled.
Briana wasn’t usually grateful for the huntress’s innate need to go looking for a fight, but she was all for whatever kept Lucan from asking questions.
Nessa reached back for the sword she would have removed in Pendragon’s, and stalked toward the dragon
