bout.
Son of a bitch!
Her fingers unfurled and the claws that ripped into his upper arms were sharp, deadly weapons. He looked down, not surprised to see long talons taking the place of her fingers.
Every hair on his body was electrified and his instinct to defend and destroy kicked in big-time. He began to pant and his body broke out in a thin sheen of sweat.
Skye’s nails drew blood and he cursed under his breath. Fuck! He had no time for this shit. Jagger twisted his hips and pushed, effectively flipping Skye over so that she was now trapped beneath him.
She began to buck wildly, her strength surprising him. A chill slithered up his body and Jagger stilled, his head whipping around as the jaguar inside hissed in anger.
The space was empty. But he knew better. There was something there. It wasn’t human or animal. Whatever the hell it was, it was definitely otherworld.
His eyes scanned the entire length of the canopy and his ears listened closely as he struggled to calm the woman beneath him.
The air seemed to dissipate, as if some force was sucking it out into a black hole. Frustration gnawed at him but Jagger kept still. He’d seen and dealt with many things in his life and knew the only way to defeat an unseen enemy was to keep a cool head and look for the perfect opportunity to attack.
Timing was everything.
Skye suddenly stopped moving and his gaze quickly returned to her. Inside, the animal railed against him, wanting out, feeling panicky, as if under attack.
Her eyes widened in fear. Her lips began to move, whispered words falling from between dry lips, and he bent down closer in an effort to hear her.
She spoke in a language he’d never heard before, an ancient tongue. The rhythm was awkward, the sounds guttural and sharp. Her voice was rough, unlike the melodic timbre he’d grown accustomed to.
Her eyes were trained on a point behind him but they remained unfocused. As her voice rose the vivid blue receded, the color invaded by an insidious black that seeped into the orbs, leaving them dull, opaque.
She began to shake violently, her head thrashing from side to side, and Jagger began to fear for the woman beneath him.
“Skye!” he whispered hoarsely, using his legs to pin her down as his hands gripped her face hard. She continued to fight him, her body flushed with a fiery heat, the skin slick with her sweat.
The wind picked up and her hair began to snake out, catching the breeze as it whirled around the two of them. Skye continued to ramble wildly, the words nearly shouted. Her face had become a deep red and he noticed small slashes of blue returning to her eyes.
He lowered his head until he was nearly touching her and held her face between his large hands. “Fight it! Snap out of it!”
What the hell was going on?
His heart nearly stopped as the woman beneath him went rigid, her body arching against his. The veins in her neck stood out in stark relief and when she went limp, fear shot through him.
Jagger began to shake her violently, not thinking that his own strength could be damaging. She felt like a rag doll in his arms and frantically he felt for a pulse, feeling such a rush of relief when he found it that he began to shake as well.
He held her close to his chest, feeling the animal inside relax as the threat disappeared, retreating back to wherever the hell it had come from.
Skye’s teeth began to chatter loudly and big, fat tears fell from her eyes. He looked down at her, surprised to see her focused on him. The blackness that had been there was gone, but was replaced with such pain and terror that it gripped him hard.
What was it about this woman that had him yo-yoing like a wet-behind-the-ears teenager? One minute he wanted nothing more than to kill her and in the next, protect her with his very life.
He rolled over once more, bringing her with him, cradling her against his chest. There was no resistance.
He could hear her whispering and Jagger listened in silence as she repeated a phrase over and over again. It left him cold.
“Azaiel is coming. Azaiel is coming.”
Who the hell was Azaiel?
He lay like that for several long minutes. Skye nestled into the protective shadow of his arms and he rested his chin on the top of her head. He could hear her heartbeat, its erratic pulse slowing until it banged out a slower, calmer rhythm. Her breathing normalized as well, and when she started to squirm, he let her go.
She pulled away, leaning against the tree bark, her shadowed eyes meeting his. She opened her mouth to speak and whispered, “Thirsty.”