He laughed again while intensely watching her face, his eyes alert and strangely interesting. ‘Ahern my man, can I walk with Miss Wyatt for a bit?’ he asked without even looking away from her.
‘Keep your guards from her, Ari, or else. And no bloody tricks.’
He helped her from the horse, introduced himself and asked her to just call him Ari. He put out his arm and she took it politely, not even a little scared of him. It seemed the only vibes she was getting from him were curious ones. If he attempted anything silly, she knew she could protect herself as he had not taken her powers, and yet she felt it would not be necessary as there was a feeling of peace for just these few moments, while he satisfied his need to know her better.
‘You are almost angelic. Are you sure you are human?’ he asked.
‘I’m sure my persona is not why you’ve stopped in your attack. Granted my magical form may be a big part of that but there is something more pressing on your mind.’
‘You’re very perceptive. Ahearn has chosen his new member well. I’ve heard you are Aldebaran’s daughter and yet you fight against him. Is that wise? I’d hate to see someone as mesmerising as you have a short-lived life. Your father is very powerful.’
‘The old wizard may think he’s my father but that is yet to be proven. If I’m a chip off the old block he may just need to rethink what I may actually be capable of.’ She tempered up a little, thinking about Pops and what he did to her on the last trip.
He stopped walking. ‘You’re a tough little thing. Maybe I need not have bothered to stop and warn you after all.’ He sounded amused.
She giggled to lighten the moment. ‘However, it was very thoughtful of you so, now answer my question. Why would someone as caring as you want to hurt the Scooby Doo brothers?’
He roared laughing. ‘I have seen that cartoon. Very funny. And now to answer you: it is all about the money, angel girl. Nothing personal.’ He turned and walked back with her. ‘Well, it is time we got back to me running and you trying to stop me.’
‘Or you could call it off and end this peacefully.’
He stopped again. ‘Are you trying to use your beauty as a bargaining tool?’ he said, raising his eyebrows.
‘No, not at all but if you don’t ask, you don’t get. I thought it was worth a try,’ she gave him an amused expression that lit her eyes up further.
When they reached the team, Kayden was standing calm and unrattled.
‘Your soldier is proposing I end this peacefully. I stand to lose a lot of money, Ahearn, so I propose an offer. I get to spend a few hours with your new soldier and I’ll leave the dogs to someone else. This is a one-off offer and non-negotiable. I also promise she will be treated with the utmost respect and delivered back to you unharmed.’
‘Good try, Arietis but she is taken and I doubt if I could trust you for a second, never mind a few hours. If you call this attack off, Aldebaran will just send another in your place so why should we waste our time with you?’
Arietis eyed Cassie. ‘If you don’t ask, you don’t get,’ he said with a smirk.
She giggled. ‘Nice throwback,’ she said as he helped her back on Starburst.
‘To spend a bit of time with such beauty would have been worth the bounty but so be it.’
Cassie reached out to steady him as he suddenly staggered and clutched at his stomach. Then for some unknown reason he buckled over in pain.
‘Ahern, get her the hell out of here,’ he growled. ‘Aldebaran has felt me weaken and is trying to work through me. I’ll hold him back. Go!’ he said louder.
Kayden had them off the star in seconds. Looking down, Cassie saw Arietis double over again and groan in pain. She wondered what Pops was doing to him and what his next move would be now that Art had helped them get away. Kayden was giving Cassie instructions so she had to ignore Arietis and concentrate on what he was telling her.
You’ll be safe in our circle, so stay in the middle of us. Men, it’s coming, so concentrate and link with me now. He sent the urgent response to them.
An electric blue light wrapped around each of them and as Kayden yelled, it was as if it stretched out, joining them all as one. The black, cloud-like blanket came for Cassie. She practically ducked, it came so close but as it hit the blue glow from the Cloud Riders it just seemed to dissolve against the barrier they projected around her.
We’ve foiled Aldebaran’s attempt to grab Cassie from us and it’ll take him some time to work out how we did it. She should be fine while we go get our boy. He’s powering up, getting ready to run, so watch him, men, he’s using massive amounts of flame to take off full speed. Cool your body temperatures so the heat doesn’t penetrate your skin.