Avet, Danica - Ain't No Bull [The Veil 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) (34 page)

Grant didn’t want to discuss anything else. “Can you get us across the field without being seen?”

The demon lord studied Grant carefully. “Why would I want to do that?”

I will not kill the demon lord. I will not kill the demon lord.
He should’ve known Duffy wouldn’t do something just because Grant asked. He opened his mouth to beg the demon lord, but was interrupted by Saga who stepped up to the older and much taller Duffy.

“Duffy Sinclair, you old bastard, you’d better get us to that shack, or I’ll make sure everyone knows about that tithe you paid during the Gold Rush.”

Grant never thought he’d see the demon lord shocked, but that’s exactly what he looked like as he stared at Saga. “S–Saga Ingvar?”

A dangerous smile crossed the Amazon’s face. “It’s Saga DeLacey now, but yes.” She stepped closer to the demon lord. “You either help me and these people get to that shack, or everyone in The Veil will learn about you and—”

Duffy slapped a hand over Saga’s mouth, the whites of his eyes showing. “Don’t say it! I’ll take you!”

Letting out a sigh of relief at Duffy’s strange capitulation, Grant sent Saga a nod of appreciation. She ignored it of course, contrary woman, but he knew from this moment on, he’d do his best to be more tolerant towards her and Rosetta.

Duffy shot Saga a mean look before raising his hands to the sky. Demon lords knew spells and magics that the rest of the Veil was uncomfortable with. Everyone shifted slightly as the demon somehow ripped a hole in the fabric of space and time. He entered the tear, dragging the group with him.

In mere moments, Grant found himself in front of the shack. Nausea churned his stomach, but he fought down the urge to hurl. Ricky didn’t fare so well, leaning over behind a stack of firewood to puke. Saga glared at the bear, her face green.

Duffy was gone, which wasn’t surprising. If Saga had dirt on the demon, he’d want to be as far away from her as possible. Oh well, he shrugged, hopefully the demon wouldn’t close the bar and move somewhere else. He had a feeling he’d need a drink after this operation.

“
Ma fouine
is not inside,” Fallon stated once everyone either emptied their stomachs or controlled their nausea.

Grant slipped between Rosetta and one of the other Amazons to peer through the window. It was a mean, primitive room. It was more like a line shack than a cabin with only one room and the necessities to spend the night. It was hard to tell what had been in the room because everything in it had been destroyed.

“What’re we waiting on?” Rosetta asked impatiently, her sword in hand.

Lifting his foot, Grant kicked the door open. The smell of scorched wood scented the air. It was obvious the explosion they’d heard and felt in the woods had originated somewhere in this area, but the shack remained standing.

“Must’ve been warded,” Ricky muttered as he followed Grant into the house, pushing Saga aside.

Grant stood in the center of the room, breathing deep. The smell of bear was nearly overwhelming and combined with the acrid scent of smoke, it was almost impossible to distinguish other smells. Then he caught a whiff of rose. Isola. She’d been here.

Turning back to the others, Grant saw they were studying every part of the room, trying to pinpoint where Isola might have gone. Though he trusted the Amazons and Fallon to find his mate, it was the fairy that caught his eye.

She stood in the center of the shack, her eyes laser bright. “There’s a trapdoor in the corner.”

Everyone stopped, swiveling around to stare at the fairy walking towards the far corner of the shack. Grant arched an eyebrow at Saga, who shrugged.

Shikoba squatted down, moving things out of her way and sure enough, she uncovered a trapdoor. “I can’t tell how many are down there, but it’s a big tunnel,” she muttered as she traced the edges of the trapdoor.

Saga stepped forward and gently urged the fairy to her feet. “I need you to get out of here, ’Koba.” The Amazon’s eyes were steady and clear on the fairy. “Go back and tell Lucian about this. Council needs to know there’s more going on here than we originally thought.”

The fairy’s eyes were sharp as they studied Saga. “You also don’t want to have to tell Malachi you got me killed.”

“Um, right, ’cause your sister would kill us, and I’m not ready to die. Okay?”

Shikoba rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She glanced at Grant. “Good luck, minotaur.”

“Thank you, Shikoba,” Grant replied, bowing deeply.

“Kick some ass,” Shikoba told the Amazons, bumping knuckles with Rosetta before she disappeared into the dark shadows of the room.

Grant looked at the group left and nodded. This would do nicely for a rescue. Isola would be saved. Even now he could almost feel her through the fragile bond she’d forged with him.

“Let’s go get her.”

* * * *

Izzy ducked and rolled across the wide corridor, just barely missing the hand that swept down at her. Heart thumping as adrenaline coursed through her body, she pushed to her feet and prepared to defend herself.

It was the female, a nymph if her appearance was any indication. Izzy blinked. This little bit of thing had defeated Dov?

“So you’re the one my sisters were talking about,” the nymph said as her golden brown eyes assessed Izzy coolly.

Feigning indifference, Izzy relaxed against the wall. “You mean the brainless wonders? Yeah, I’ve had the pleasure of wiping the floor with them.”

The nymph didn’t rise to the bait. If anything, the look in her eyes said she agreed with Izzy, which was a shocker for sure. She let her eyes drift to the darkened corridor behind the nymph, wondering if Dov was dead. And what did the two of them want Grant for anyway?

“You were a part of the equation I didn’t take into account,” Avyn said conversationally as she summoned a ball of fire. It hovered above her hand, the flames greedily licking at the air. “The minotaur would have been easily controlled if you hadn’t interfered.”

Izzy snorted. “You obviously don’t know Grant.” She shifted slightly, letting her body loosen. She had a feeling this little conversation wouldn’t last much longer and she wanted to be prepared for the upcoming fight. “The imps were a surprise.”

A cool smile curled the nymph’s lips. “I wish I could take credit for that, but the bear came up with that disaster.”

“And where is Dov?”

One of her auburn eyebrows rose. “So you know him. I wondered why he was making off with you.” She cocked her head to the side. “Are you his missing mate?”

“Um, no.” Izzy balanced on the balls of her feet. “As far as I know, Dov doesn’t have a mate.”

“That’s a shame. It would’ve been fun to torture you for him. Ah well, the best laid plans and all that.” She gave a negligent flick of her hand, sending the ball of fire shooting towards Izzy.

Izzy, ready for the attack, sprang away from the wall, just barely avoiding being lit up like a Christmas tree. She was weaponless and sore from Dov’s rough handling, but there was no way she’d let a
nymph
do her in. It would be like dying at the paws of the Easter Bunny. She was not going out like that. Hells no.

With that thought in mind, Izzy ran straight at the nymph. She had to incapacitate the woman, but she had a feeling Avyn was a much better villain than her sisters had been.

Two feet away from the nymph, Izzy fell back as a wall of fire appeared between them. Shit. This was exactly what she worried about. Avyn was a cool customer who knew how to use her powers for offense and defense.

Izzy scrambled away from the ring of flame. She was a sitting duck out here. She didn’t know if Avyn could maintain the ring and shoot her fireballs, and she didn’t want to find out. As she watched, the ring of fire expanded until it covered a twenty-foot diameter. The flames shot up to varying heights between two feet to eight, scorching the floor, walls, and ceiling of the corridor.

The heat from the fire seeped through the tunnel and sweat broke out on Izzy’s face. The nymph looked as though she were taking a stroll through a breezy meadow. Of course the fire wouldn’t affect her, it was her element.

How to break the crazy bitch’s concentration?

As though some divine being heard her question, a large shadow loomed behind the nymph. It rose to terrifying heights with deadly claws and razor sharp teeth. The grizzly bear’s massive body slammed through the flames as though they were nonexistent.

Avyn must’ve seen Izzy’s eyes widen because the ring of fire faltered for a moment before she turned around to see the beast lumbering towards her. Her scream of fear echoed along with the feral roar of the bear.

* * * *

The group huddled at the foot of the ladder leading into the tunnels. They were in the center of a long hallway that stretched north and south from the ladder. There were no torches, no lanterns, nothing to lighten up the gloom which made the sense of evil and despair clouding the air stifling. It seemed to press down on Grant as he tried to get his bearings.

“Is this a spell?” Rosetta asked.

Fallon frowned, his silver eyes gleaming in the darkness. “It is something, yes.”

Saga, who stood next to Grant, didn’t move, didn’t speak. One look in her eyes and he wondered if the tough Amazon had a phobia about being underground. When she glanced back at him, he saw the wildness and panic growing in her eyes.

“You should go back up,” he told her in a low voice so the others wouldn’t hear.

She shook her head. “Izzy needs me.”

He admired her willingness to overcome her fear for a friend, but he didn’t want any weak links. If they were distracted because Saga freaked out, Isola would suffer for it.

“Someone needs to stay here to make sure we’re not followed down.”

The look she cast him was filled with disbelief and just a hint of relief. “Maybe you’re not a total asshole, minotaur,” she murmured as she took a step away from him.

“Saga’s staying here to guard our backs,” Grant announced to the group. Rosetta looked between him and Saga as though she knew what was going on, but surprisingly, she said nothing. “Ricky, you stay with her in case your deputies show up.”

Saga’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head at the last bit, but Grant didn’t give her time to protest. Nodding to his cousin, he led the rest of the group to the right of the ladder. There were scuff marks in the dirt that spoke of recent travel. He prayed it was the correct direction.

They reached the end of the corridor to see it took a sharp left turn. The air was thick with menace, the darkness lending a spooky feeling to the tunnel. Grant glanced back the direction they’d come from to see Ricky and Saga staring after them.

He waved to them before following the corridor. He couldn’t believe there was a system of tunnels like this near his home. It seemed more like the kind of thing you’d see in a Hollywood movie than in
Eustis
,
Wyoming
. The stone walls were smooth and worn as though they’d been there for generations. The floor was well-worn and dusty except for the large footprints the group followed.

A wall loomed before him before the tunnel jutted off in opposite directions. He didn’t know which way to go, left or right? If they went left again, they’d be closer to where they began. He frowned at the ground, trying to see the footprints, but they were mysteriously absent.

Grant froze his body tense as he heard a scream accompanied by the roar of a maddened bear ring through the tunnels. The scream was one of sheer terror. Isola. His heart quickened, pumping adrenaline through his veins. No, he couldn’t lose her. Not yet.

He was running down the right corridor before the scream died. The change came over him between one step and another, his hooves falling out of his boots and ringing on the flagstone floor.

Nearly mindless with the need to reach and protect his mate, Grant stormed down the tunnel, following the rose scent of Isola. In spite of his speed and single-minded focus, his eyes took in the various spots where someone had been dragged through the accumulated dust. At one point, he saw a streak of blood in the dirt and felt his heart stop. Gods, she had to be okay, or he’d go mad.

The sharp, metallic scent of blood hovered in the air the further down the tunnel they went. It took all of his strength not to gag at the stench of blood and singed fur.

“Shit!”

It was Isola’s voice, a hoarse shout followed by the thump of a body falling to the ground.