Circle of Desire (Damask Circle 3)

“And give her time to set more traps? How sensible is that?” She looked around. “Have you seen my backpack anywhere?”

He ignored the rush of annoyance and said as calmly as he could, “No.”

“Then we’d better look for it. We’ll need the stakes if the soul-sucker attacks.”

“Kat—”

“No.” She crossed her arms, her expression a picture of stubbornness. “We’re wasting precious time standing here arguing, you know.”

“I can pick you up and carry you out.”

“And I can slap your ass across the cavern and go on by myself.”

And she probably would, if he didn’t give in. “God save me from obstinate women,” he muttered and swung away to find the backpack.

It was wedged into what remained of the fissure he’d hidden in earlier. He swept it up, then walked back down to her. “At least get out of those wet sweaters.”

She raised an eyebrow. “And run around the tunnels topless? As much as you might enjoy that, I don’t think so.”

“As much as I definitely would enjoy that, that wasn’t what I meant.” He took off his coat. His shirt was relatively dry, and if he got too cold, he could always shift shape. “Wear this.”

She hesitated, then handed him the pack and quickly exchanged her sweaters for his coat. Though it was loose everywhere else, the coat squashed her glorious breasts flat, and she glanced up with a grin. “Well, I guess this proves your chest is not as large as mine.”

“I’d be worried if it was.”

He handed her the pack and she got out several stakes, handing them back to him. She pulled out one more, shoved a couple of chains and what looked like stones into her pocket, then tossed the bag aside. “Everything else is smashed.”

Little wonder, given the small space the backpack had ended up in. “You ready to go?”

She nodded. He caught her hand and led her toward the exit, only to stop when the smell hit.

“That’s not good,” she said softly.

It certainly wasn’t.

The cavern beyond was filled with dead men.

KAT SWEPT HER GAZE ACROSS THE CAVERN. THERE HAD TO be ten of them, if not more. At least she now knew where all the dead men from the cabin had disappeared to—they’d been waiting in the shadows to see if she escaped the trap.

“No, they weren’t.” Ethan’s expression was grim as his gaze met hers. “And I certainly would have smelled them if they’d been anywhere else close by.”

She studied him for a moment, wondering if he realized just how well he was reading her surface thoughts. “There’d be more than one exit from this place.”

“Probably.” His gaze went back to the zombies. “What do you want to do?”

“There’s only one thing we can do.”

He looked at her, concern deeper in his nut-brown eyes. “You sure you’re up to it?”

Given the fact that it felt like there were a dozen madmen pounding away in her head, she was sure she wasn’t. But it was either face the dead men or stay here shivering.

She forced a smile. “At least fighting will warm me up.”

“I guess there’s that.” He glanced at the zombies again. “I’ll head left, you head right. Hopefully, we’ll meet in the middle.”

“Just remember: those stakes won’t kill zombies.”

“That I’ll remember.” He shoved them through the belt loops of his jeans, gave her a quick, hard kiss that left her lips tingling, then jumped over the wall and ran at the zombies.