Exile: Sídhí Summer Camp #3 (18 page)

“
And miss the all the fun?”
Sarah
asked innocently, laughing at his look of disbelief.
“I’d love a
walk through the woods.”

They slipped away from the group. The trees
closed around them, giving her the privacy she’d been hungry for
without realizing it.

“Better?” Nick said with large, superior
smile.

“Think you know everything, huh?” she asked
quietly, enjoying teasing the big vampire that was hers.

He chuckled. Touching the smooth skin of her
cheek, he said, “Maybe not everything, but I plan on enjoying every
minute learning more.”

Giving her a gentle kiss, he tugged her
forward, but she held her ground.

Leaning toward him, she wrapped her arms
around his neck. “I am so not finished with this discussion,” she
said, kissing him full on the lips.

His groan of pleasure melted her from the
inside out. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her close and
deepened the kiss.

Days could have passed. She had no clue as
his lips made her mind cease functioning.

The sharp breaking of a branch brought her
head up at the same time Nick broke off the kiss. His harsh growl
mingled with hers.

The screaming laughter of a troll shattered
the air, releasing the smell of rotten eggs. The hulking brute
stood ten feet away. The pitch-black skin of the troll rippled with
contained strength. The dirt troll, aptly named for the mole-like
burrows it created, shrieked another challenge, long, black claws
slashed the air.

Sarah stepped forward.

Behind her, Nick growled. His hand clamped on
her shoulder.

Extending her bear-like claws, she raised her
hands and crouched in a defensive position. “I’m better equipped to
handle him.”

His harsh growl made his words difficult to
understand. “I know that, but that doesn’t mean I like you fighting
that thing,” he said snappishly, leaving the remaining part of his
statement, about vampires always defending their mates,
unspoken.

“Consider it a lesson in technique,” she said
with a soft chuckle. Darting forward, she dipped under the trolls
long arms and slashed the creature’s side, leaving four deep
grooves.

Dancing backward, the troll followed her
through the trees. Slash. Duck. Kick. The fight was over before she
worked up a sweat.

That’s when five more trolls dropped to the
ground, surrounding her.

^____________

Nick bunched his hand into a fist. He knew,
honestly knew, that Sarah could kill the troll. It didn’t stop him
from needing to protect her.

Something dropped around his neck and jerked
him off his feet. He clawed at the thick rope encircling his neck.
The three-inch coil tightened around his throat and shook him.
Another length wrapped around his shoulders then slid quickly
around his waist and legs.

That was no rope.

The fork-tip of a scaled tail, copper with
black rings, dangled in front of his eyes. A man’s face appeared in
front of him. His triangular face bulged and the lower half dropped
open as the lamia hissed at him, baring long, dripping fangs. The
snake-man tightened its coils, pushing the air from Nick’s lungs,
cracking his ribs.

At the sound of running footsteps, the lamia
whipped its head toward the sound. Nick struggled, but it didn’t
hinder the snake-man as the creature pulled his dangling body up
into the thick foliage of the furble tree.

Jared and Mitch, closely followed by girls,
raced below the snake’s hiding spot, running toward what sounded
like a dozen trollish screams of high-pitched laughter.

As soon as the girls disappeared from view, a
woman stepped into the clearing below him. “Get him down,” she said
in a quiet hiss of words. “Hurry! Bruxcilla said the trolls
wouldn’t last long!”

The coils loosened and he dropped to the
ground with a bone-jarring grunt of pain. Two pair of hands, one on
each side of him, jerked him to his feet. He hissed. Gritting his
teeth against any additional show of pain as his abused ribs
groaned in protest to the rough treatment.

The woman turned and hurried toward the
beach, but not before Nick caught a good look at her copper-colored
skin and slit-pupil eyes, another lamia, a Sídhí with the ability
to morph the lower half of their body into that of a snake.

He fought against them, but with the silver
binding his strength, he didn’t stand a chance against two adult
Sídhí.

The roar of a khatt echoed through the
trees.

He breathed a sigh of relief that Sarah had
help. The shifter might not like Sarah, but if Mitch fought the
trolls then Beth would be in the middle of the fight as well. His
exile might be deadly, but no one, not even Sarah, could fight a
troop of wild trolls and win.

He shifted in their tight grasp and managed
to shove his foot between one of his capture’s legs.

Cursing, the man stumbled.

“Stop playing around,” the woman said,
glaring at her companions. “I’ll not be punished by the masters for
your inability to control a single vampire.”

As they crossed the tree line, Nick knew he’d
better come up with something and fast. The woman had already
reached the jet skis and was pushing them into the water.

Lengthening his fangs, he chomped the nearest
bit of coppery flesh.

As Nick shoved venom into the fleshy part of
the lamia’s arm, the man shouted, cursing Nick and all his
brethren.

A lamia’s fangs were dangerous in an attack,
but held no venom. It had been a sore spot of contention between
the two races for eons.

The man’s grasp lessened as the venom
attacked his nervous system, causing extreme pain. His cursing
turned frantic, as he desperately tried to get Nick off his
arm.

Sarah ported onto the beach. She glanced at
the woman then turned her attention on the two men.

Striking outward with a swift kick, she
smashed her foot into the chest of the uninjured lamia.

The man flew backward.

Nick jerked his teeth out of the
bitter-tasting flesh and struggled to break the man’s hold. His
release came too easily.

Using Sarah’s attack on his comrade as a
distraction, the injured snake-man lunged at Sarah.

Nick smashed his fist into the man’s jaw just
as Sarah slashed her claws across the snake-man’s exposed neck.

The lamia dropped to the ground, spurting
blood from a severed artery.

“Are you okay,” Nick demanding, glancing down
her slender length looking for damage.

She snorted, literally snorted, before she
said, “I’m not the one the lamias decided to kidnap.”

Shrill screams erupted from the bushes.

Beth roared.

Blood spewed past the greenery.

“Well, that’s one more down,” Nick said with
a grunt of satisfaction.

“Crap,” Sarah snapped softly and lunged
toward the beach area.

The female lamia shifted, turning her lower
half into a thick coppery coil. She slipped off the jet ski and
into the lake.

Sarah was half a second behind her.

“No!” Nick roared, but it was too late.

Sarah dived into the water after the
snake-woman.

As he ran toward the water, he heard the
other teens swarm out of the forest like a nest of furious
hornets.

The water churned and Sarah flew up, out of
the water with the lamia’s strong tail wrapped firmly around his
mate’s throat. The fact her eyes were ice-cold kept him from
panicking.

As he rushed into the water, Sarah twisted
and slashed the muscled-tail with whitish claws, ripping through
the flesh as if it were paper. Blood sprayed everywhere, but
Sarah’s move had the desired effect or so Nick thought.

The tail released Sarah.

She dropped into the water with a resounding
splash.

He struggled through the hip deep water to
reach her afraid the snake-woman would attack while Sarah was off
balance. He’d fight a dhark lord, much less a lamia, to keep his
mate safe.

She shot up. A snarl covered her face as she
searched the water. “Where is she?” Sarah asked, a deep growl
rumbled across the water intensifying her demand. “You cut a
lamia’s tail and they always attack. Stupid creature left instead
of attacking. What is with that?”

Her eyes bore into his and he couldn’t help
the tense laughter that escaped. “Dang it woman, here I was praying
the lamia would leave and you want her back.”

Her lips twitched and she chuckled softly as
his arms wrapped around her. “I wasn’t finished with her.”

They turned toward the beach in time to see
Mac’s sudden arrival, and his display of temper.

“So much for having one of them to question,”
Sarah said with a huff of exasperation.

The next
morning, Sarah was awake and headed toward the commissary before
anyone realized she was gone. Halfway there she slipped off the
path and ported to the small chamber in Guardian Alexander’s
castle.

Lizzie, Guardian Alexander’s mate, stood by
the window. “Knocking at the front door is considered polite
behavior for all Sídhí races,” the brunette said sharply. Her tone
held a note irritation, and a hefty amount of fear.

Guardian Alexander appeared in front of his
mate. “Do not ever appear in my home without warning,” he said,
baring his very human teeth as the room filled with his growl of
warning.

“If I ever need to warn you of something, I
don’t think you’ll like the result,” Sarah said with a cold voice.
Her lips tilted, hinting at a merciless smile. She glanced at
Lizzie’s white face and felt a shaft of regret. The woman had been
through hell, and Sarah didn’t like adding to that grief. “But from
now on, unless it is an emergency, I will knock.”

“Thank you,” Lizzie said, stepping from
behind the large man. Her fingers trembled as they grasped
Alexander’s arm, contradicting the calm words.

“Yesterday, we were attacked by trolls and
lamia. We were at one of the picnic areas near The Maze,” Sarah
said, quickly stating the purpose of her visit.

“Yes, we heard,” Alexander said with a hint
of annoyance in his voice. “Brianna, the young shapeshifter, has
become a permanent fixture in Chief Henderson’s office.”

“She’s been talking to the dragon in charge
of the camp?” Sarah questioned, wondering what else the little
troublemaker had been up to around the camp.

He snorted. “Not talking with him,
complaining to him about everything and anything.”

“We’ve put a warning out about the injured
lamia,” Lizzie said, her voice growing stronger as she settled into
a role she appeared to be comfortable with doing.

“The trolls were just a distraction. I wasn’t
the target, Nick was.”

The guardian nodded his head in agreement.
“They’ve targeted your mate.”

Sarah let the mate comment slide. She wasn’t
ready to discuss what happened with the Dyrst’Lye dragon he
sent.

“You mean your partner has targeted my mate,
or am I mistaken in believing Guardian Clara acted on her own and
not on your orders,” Sarah said quietly. She thought she could
trust Alexander, but preferred to err on the side of caution. Her
gut insisted the gray dragon she hit with javelins, the troll’s
mistress, and Guardian Clara were all the same person, but she
needed a bit more evidence Alexander wasn’t working both sides to
trust him completely.

Alexander growled and took a single step
forward before his mate tugged him to a halt.

“Clara took great pleasure in torturing me,”
Lizzie said, fire burned in her soft brown eyes. “She is no longer
a guardian and is now on our Most Wanted List.”

^____________

Sarah grabbed a few items from the
well-stocked commissary and reached the cabin just as the girls
were serving breakfast.

No one said anything about her late arrival
and Nick seemed to understand her need to be alone. She settled
next to him at the table and he told her the details for the days
agreed upon activity, which amounted to a full day at the lake.

Breakfast didn’t take long, not when everyone
wanted to hit the beach. They hadn’t been in the water very long
when Cabin twenty-four arrived and challenged Sarah’s cabin to a
game of water volleyball.

Unbelievably, Sarah and her team lost the
first game. The day at the beach raced by, and before she knew it,
it was mid-afternoon.

Mitch blamed the third lost game on Beth,
which caused a flare of tempers among the few shifters watching the
game. The blond-haired walking-mountain shrugged and demanded a
rematch.

Other cabins joined the fun and players began
rotating between games.

Energized and exhausted at the same time,
Sarah dropped to the brilliant red and blue beach towel Nick had
spread-out for them when they first arrived at the beach. Keeping
an expressionless face during the games had proven impossible.
Sighing in disgust, she admitted she had finally stopped
trying.

Her eyes found Nick among the players of the
current game. He waved and threw her a kiss.

Lips twitching, she pretended to catch the
invisible caress. By the end of summer, her rep would be shredded
to pieces. Damage control would be a nightmare.

“Want to grab some bottles of water for
everyone?” Katie asked, as she dropped onto a nearby beach towel.
Her eyes flickered to Jared as he hit the ball.

Sarah agreed and they headed toward the
cabin.

Deciding to add sandwiches, they took a lot
longer than planned. Finally finished, they piled sandwiches
(sealed in small bags), plastic bottles, and the contents of the
refrigerator’s small ice bin into a big plastic tub. Each girl
grabbed a side of the bulky tub and carried the hot pink container
toward the beach.

Emily met them halfway. Her eyes were wide.
Sarah caught a hint of fear in them.