“It’s up there,” she said softly.
He followed her gaze and could only shake his head in wonder at the artwork adorning the ceiling. This he could see, without any trouble. It wasn’t concealed by magick.
The entire universe, it seemed, had been depicted with an enormous sun at its center. And in that center was an opening big enough to let something through. Something small.
Like an eagle.
A feeling of dread erupted inside of him, and he took a step toward her.
“You’re not doing this alone.” His breathing became heavy and his voice deepened, echoing loudly into the chamber. “I won’t allow it.”
Skye shook her head and her voice was tense. “There’s no choice.”
Jagger took another step toward her even as his eyes began to shrewdly inspect the cavern. He might be able to slip through the opening in his jaguar form, but how the hell was he going to get to it?
“Fuck!” he shouted, exasperated and pissed off. “I won’t let you go alone.” He clenched his hands together and his face darkened with emotion. His eyes glowed as a ferocious snarl erupted from deep within his chest. “I won’t.”
He nailed her with a look that brooked no argument. “It’s not acceptable. There has to be another way.”
His mind worked furiously, but as he glanced up at the opening again he bleakly wondered what it was he thought he could accomplish. He wanted to protect her and felt helpless at his inability to do so.
“There is no other way, Jagger.” Skye bit her lip and shook her head. “I have to do this, otherwise …” Her voice trailed away until there was nothing but the heavy weight of silence between them.
He closed his eyes, not wanting her to see his pain. His weakness. Inside his soul, the
great jaguar stirred, agitated and alarmed. “If anything happens to you …” he whispered roughly, not able to finish his sentence and articulate what his mind was thinking.
She closed the space between them in one quick movement and grabbed his face with an intensity that hit him hard. Her scent, so unique and exotic, clung to his skin like he’d been wrapped inside of her, and his body responded ferociously.
His arms went around her, pulling her into his hard embrace with a passion that reached to his core. This was no ordinary woman he held. She was otherworld. An eagle knight. He had to trust that she knew what the hell she was doing.
His lips glanced over hers like a soft whisper and when she opened beneath him, he groaned into her mouth. “Return to me,” he said, and then he kissed her long and hard, until she broke from him, her breaths exhaling from her chest in a rapid rhythm that sounded almost painful.
He saw the sheen of tears that clung to her eyelashes. They looked like jewels sparkling against the glare of the sun. They tugged at him and yet his eyes hardened until he knew his animal was shining through.
He wanted her to know how dead serious he was.
“If you’re not back here within the hour, I will rip this entire fucking mountain apart.” He bared his teeth and growled. “Do you understand? I’ll kill anything that stands in my way.”
She tried to look away from him but he gripped her chin hard, and even though he knew he was most likely hurting her, he was barely able to stop himself from grabbing her and taking her the hell away from everything.
Screw the eagles and the jaguars and the dirty magicks who bedded down with the demons. Fuck them all.
His mental rant was short-lived. “I will come for you,” he said simply, his eyes drowning in the huge expanse of blue that stared back at him in silence.
Skye nodded and grabbed his hand, gently prying his grip loose with her fingers. “I have to go; there’s not much daylight left and I need to shift.” She inhaled deeply and stepped back, turning from him as she began to shed her clothes.
Already the mist was crawling along her golden limbs as the ancient magick took hold. She could feel the raptor inside begin to stir and she moved away, calling to her animal, welcoming the power that accompanied the change.
I love you.
The words fell from her lips but the sound that erupted from her mouth was a chortled cry that echoed sharply against the walls of the cavern.
Her wings unfurled and with a sweep of them she rose gracefully into the air, circling around, her talons extended as she swept by her clothes and satchel. She easily scooped them up.
There was no way in hell she was going to greet the underworld in the buff.
She rose ever higher in the cavern, her shadow casting a macabre display along the wall, and without another glance downward, she disappeared through the opening.