Phantom Wolf

Chapter 8

“How are we getting there? The village is south, at least fifteen miles from here. We can take a chicken bus, but the closest stop is a mile away,” Kelly told him.

Focusing on cutting a hole in the leather holster, Shay didn’t answer. He finished and slid the Sig into the holster. He put on the khaki shirt. Untucked, it would serve as a jacket, hiding the gun.

The others had left after changing the tire on the Rover. Dakota had ordered Shay to sanitize the scene. So he’d burned the bodies with magick, erasing any evidence of a firefight taking place, just in case some happy locals chanced upon the place.

And then he took a powerful magnet he’d tucked into his pack and ran it over Kelly’s hip. Senator Rogers had no way of knowing the GPS chip had been designed so the SEALs could easily disable the transceiver if they needed to. Because sometimes the Phoenix Force couldn’t risk being found and have norms come after them.

Just like he didn’t want anyone else right now coming after Kelly.

“Going to hump it until we can swipe a vehicle. We’re too visible for public transport.” He shrugged into his pack and glanced at her widened blue gaze. “What?”

“Hump it?”

“Hoof it. Military slang.”

“Ah, got it.” She removed the hair clip, finger-combed through the strands and secured her long hair. “You’ve changed.”

In some ways. But not others. The old pull of sexual attraction still hung between them, crackling like a live wire. Shay wiped his face with his shirtsleeve. He didn’t know if the heat was making him sweat or the woman standing a few feet away.

Probably both.

A hint of shyness lingered in her blue gaze, contrasting with her confident demeanor. She intrigued him, this Kelly who was both courageous and intelligent. No longer the bashful girl whose sweet kisses had inflamed his blood. She’d grown into a striking woman, features and manner stamped with purpose.

He’d thought he could forget her. But this new Kelly fascinated him even more, whetting his sexual appetite in ways he’d never anticipated. The primitive male urge to chase and conquer flared to new life.

She wanted nothing to do with him.

He wanted to do everything to her. With his hands, and his mouth.

Sex was out of bounds. Shay tamped down the stray thought. Concentrate on the job, and pretend she’s a guy.

Bending over, Kelly rummaged in her pack. The move pulled her jeans tight over her deliciously rounded bottom. A sharp spike of desire hit like an arrow. He’d loved cupping her ass when they’d been together, holding her close as they kissed. Once he’d hoisted her up against the wall of his father’s elegant study, holding her beautiful bottom steady as he’d driven into her, Kelly’s tiny, excited cries bouncing off the stern portraits of his ancestors.

Shay bit back a hiss. Okay, thinking of her as a guy would not work.

But he was a professional, and this was a mission. He could deal.

Kelly knelt on the ground and spread out the map she’d retrieved. “The village is supposed to be here....” She pointed to a small pen mark closer to the border of Nicaragua and rattled off the latitude and longitude.

Despite circumstances that would rattle the nerves of a strong man, Kelly remained calm and focused. She was single-minded in her determination.

So was he. They had a job to do.

He consulted his GPS. “We’re going to follow the river we passed on the way here. There’s a footpath along the banks. We’ll avoid the main road, head into the woods and go south.”

“Can’t we just hitch a ride?”

“Locals gossip. Strangers create talk, and we need to lie low, keep the villagers from knowing we’re coming.”

“Locals are less trouble than what we might face. The more time we spend in the woods, the more likely our trail will get picked up.”

He went instantly alert. “By who?”

“By what. An ilthus. One followed me to my employee’s house. I killed it, but when there’s one...”

“There are others.” He thought all they faced was a hard trek to the village in rough and unknown terrain. Now there could be creatures on their tail. What a total GF. “Dammit, Kelly, why didn’t you tell me before?”

Kelly flushed at the rough, commanding tone he used when pointing out royal goat flusters to other SEALs. “Excuse me, I guess it slipped my mind when you handcuffed me.”

Whoa, okay. Shay dialed it down. Way down. He softened his voice. “Tell me everything you know about these things. I’ve never seen one.”

“An ilthus is a creature transformed from a normal animal. It’s a mutated creature, created by dark magick. It’s twisted and malformed by power, its mind melded to do the bidding of the one casting the spell.”

“Deal. Give me the 411. Small, or large? Are we talking moose or squirrel?”

“Think squirrel with big teeth and a malformed body. They don’t like using domestic animals, because those have a connection to humans. Smaller animals are easier to manipulate, and less obtrusive. Mostly they’re sent as scouts to sniff out the trail of a target.”

He glanced around the deserted roadway, the high rise of ground and the forest. “So if I see a cute, furry rodent armed with teeth the size of dinner knives and an attitude, I’ll know to feed it peanuts and bullets.”

The ghost of a smile touched her mouth. “They prefer pistachios.”

Shay checked his sidearm and screwed on the silencer. “I should have read my horoscope. ‘Be sure to pack enough ammo. You will run into deranged mutant squirrels and lightning bursts from crazy Arcanes with ego complexes. Oh, and be careful crossing the street. Make sure to look both ways for oncoming evil overlords.’”

A laugh that sounded suspiciously close to a sob tore from her throat. “Bullets won’t help much. Magick does, but you drain your powers trying to fight them, and before you can recharge, whap! The evil Mage overlord throws you under the bus. Or in this case, down the stairs. Thump, thump.”

Insight hit him. “That’s how they got you, isn’t it?”

“I was on the yacht, trying to free Billy. Nearly made it, but I ran into a little problem. Oops,” she whispered.

“When your team raided the island. I wasn’t suntanning. I heal in sunlight and was dumped out there to heal, so they could...”

Bile rose in his throat.

“They could what?”

No answer. Shay clasped her shoulders, forcing her to turn and meet his gaze. “Kel, what did they do to you?”

Shadows haunted her eyes. “They wanted my contacts. I wouldn’t tell them. They found them anyway. And they kept...beating me. They’d dump me into the sunlight to heal and then start over.”

Rage filled him. His hands shook with the urge to kill the Arcanes all over again. Kelly was innocent. And she’d said nothing about the beatings, the torture. He gently cupped her cheek, feeling soft skin beneath his calloused palm.

“Hell, I had no idea. The triskele didn’t protect you?”

“I’d given it to Billy to protect him. I could take what they gave me. Until the last time. Billy gave it back because I guess I looked a little worse for wear.”

Kelly had taken the brunt of the beatings. The gorge rose in his throat, along with protective rage. He wanted to hold her close, whisper promises that no one would ever hurt her again.

“I got through it thinking of you. The times before, when we were together. I remembered how much you cared, and then I remembered how much I missed you,” she whispered.

Red suffused her face.

“I thought you had no more feelings for me,” Shay said quietly.

Kelly struggled to contain the moisture brimming in her eyes. But a tear slipped free and cascaded down her cheek. It dropped onto her shirt, a splash of acid on his heart.

She turned around. Shay gave her shoulders a comforting squeeze. He wanted to enclose her in his arms and promise no one would ever hurt her again.

But he couldn’t. Because eventually, he’d have to turn her over to the Mage authorities. And this time, he’d be the one hurting her.