“Uh-huh.” He nodded. “Best I can tell, we’re near Castle Crags, only about twenty miles from the gateway to Taltos.”
“Where’d we come from?”
He pointed to an area north of Susanville, scribing a circle with his finger. “I’ve moved around a bit, but I’ve stayed in this same basic area for the last couple of years. It was safe enough—until you showed up.”
She ignored his comment. “Do you suppose the Lemurians know we’re here?” He shot her a look that said he thought she was smarter than that. She tried again. “Have you ever been there before?”
“No. Told you I’ve kept my distance.”
If you’ve done that, why come with me now? It didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Aislinn turned her attention to Rune. “Why’d you go to the gateway?”
“Because I wanted justice—for Marta.” Aislinn was just about to ask him another question when he added, “They sent me away.”
She considered digging deeper, but it upset Rune to talk about his last bond mate. She saw it in the squared-off way he stood. Instead, she got to her feet. “I’m going for a walk. I need to think. If we’re going to be there tomorrow, I have to figure some things out so maybe the Old Ones will answer my questions.”
She felt Fionn fall into step next to her before she’d gotten a hundred yards from the flat rocks near the rushing creek where they’d eaten. He circled her waist with an arm. “You don’t have to do this,” he said.
She snorted. “Yeah. I’ve been thinking the same thing. I can turn tail and run back to my little hovel, fight when they call me, and spend the rest of my time hoping this will all go away.”
“Except it won’t.”
Aislinn stopped walking. She turned to him and laid her head in the nook between his shoulder and neck. After the briefest of hesitations, he pulled her close. His breath was warm in her hair. She wanted to kiss him. To lose herself in sensation so she wouldn’t have to think about all the rest. But that was the easy way.
Moving back so she could meet his gaze, she said, “How about this? I’ll go there by myself tomorrow. You can take the animals and return to your home. I’m sure I can find it again. It’s easy to find places I’ve been before.”
“What will you do after you get to the gateway?”
She shrugged, trying to lighten the edginess nagging her. “Play dumb. Like I didn’t understand what Metae meant. Ask a few questions about my magic and how to deal with things like D’Chel. I’ve met up with two of the dark gods in the last few days. Makes sense I’d be rattled about it. Maybe the Old Ones have an anti-sex charm or something.”
When he didn’t say anything, she hurried on. “That way, there’d only be one of us hiding secrets from them.” Rune would be safe, and I wouldn’t have to worry about them hurting you, she added silently, surprised by the strength of her feelings for him. She hadn’t known Fionn all that long. She didn’t understand why it felt so important to protect him.
He pulled her to him again. This time, she laid her head against his chest. The beat of his heart sounded loud in her ear. He knotted his fingers in her hair and kissed her forehead gently. He’s just as scared as I am, she realized. Scared to love. Scared to lose anything else to the scourge that’s taken over our planet.
Twining her arms around his neck, she slipped her fingers under his hair, and then turned her face upward. With an inchoate moan, he covered her lips with his and kissed her. His tongue plumbed her mouth; she sparred with it, licking and sucking. His breath was sweet. He tasted of summer meadows and something spicy and exotic she couldn’t name. Her body heated under his touch as he ran his hands down her back and cupped her ass, drawing her firmly against him. The swell of his erection pressed against her lower belly.
This time when she reached between them to touch him, he pressed himself into her curved fingers. She sensed something untamed in him that ran close to the surface. He kept the energy tightly reined in, but need simmered, barely contained. She felt the shift when he released whatever brakes he’d imposed on his sexuality. Aislinn opened her eyes. His had darkened to midnight. Hunger blazed from their depths. He pushed her down onto the ground. Shoving her clothing aside, he latched onto one of her nipples, suckling and nibbling, and then switched to the other.
Her back arched. She wound her arms around him, trying to draw him closer. Electric sensation sparked from his mouth on her breasts, setting her nerve endings on fire. She buried her hands in his hair and rained kisses down the side of his face. Ever so slowly, he moved his mouth upward to her throat and mouth.