“You think our enemy has them?” he asked, even knowing the question was ridiculous.
Mercier and Rosalie would have contacted Parish if they were going to be late.
No way in hell they would just have dropped out of contact.
“What other explanation—” Raphael’s words broke off on a low growl, his claws piercing his skin as a foul odor filled the meadow. “Do you smell that?”
The stench was impossible to miss.
It warned their enemies were near.
“Intruders?” he muttered, his gaze searching the shadows between the trees.
“No. Shakpi.” Raphael sent him a warning frown.
Your Shaman just ran out of time.”
God. Damn.
Could they just once get a break?
Lian shook his head, frustration a toxic knot in the pit of his stomach.
“The translations aren’t done.”
Raphael flexed his claws. “I’ll try to slow her down, but we need a miracle to stop her from escaping.”
There was a burst of mist and sparkling colors as Raphael shifted into a massive puma with caramel fur and golden eyes.
Lian didn’t bother to watch Raphael bound across the meadow toward the cabin where they’d stashed Chayton’s unconscious body.
He was already headed toward the Suits’ headquarters. Once he’d checked in with Sage he would join Raphael in his battle to try and halt the goddess from escaping the Wildlands.
Reaching the large mansion he released his claws and climbed the post of the balcony. Then, vaulting over the edge of the balustrade he was bursting through the French doors.
Sage had clearly just entered the room, the white gloves dropping from her hands as she caught sight of his somber expression.
“Lian, what is it?” She crossed the floor to stand directly in front of him. “What’s wrong?”
“Shakpi is awake.”
She made a sound of shock, her head turning to glance toward the scrolls neatly laid out on the table.
“She can’t be,” she argued. “It’s too soon.”
“Look at me, sweetheart,” he commanded, cupping her cheek with his hand and urging her back to meet his searching gaze. “Have you discovered anything that can help us?”
She bit her bottom lip. “I’m just now learning how to translate the symbols to sounds.”
“What does that mean?”
“I can phonetically pronounce the glyphs, but I don’t know what they mean.” Distress darkened her eyes to slate. “I’m sorry. I failed you.”
His brows snapped together as he wrapped her in his arms and rubbed his cheek on top of her head.
Dammit. It was bad enough he’d thrown her into the middle of their war with the evil goddess. He wouldn’t have her blaming herself for something that wasn’t her fault. Especially when he was the one who’d lured her away from her work.
“Don’t say that,” he chided. “Even if Shakpi escapes, these scrolls might help us prepare our defenses.” Lifting his head, he peered down at her pale face. “We need you, Dr. Parker.”
She gave a small nod, then abruptly wrinkled her nose as a blast of putrid air swept through the open French doors.
“Good lord, what is that?” she muttered.
Grabbing Sage’s arm, he gave her a push toward the far door. “Run.”
“What?” She dug in her heels, looking at him as if he’d lost his mind.
She wasn’t wrong.
The mere thought that Shakpi was headed in this direction was enough to send him over the edge.
The evil bitch was supposed to be trying to escape.
It’s what she’d done the first time they’d tried to hold her captive.
Snatching the phone from his pocket, he sent a quick message to his mother.
“Go to my family,” he rasped. “They’ll take you back to your home.”
She was shaking her head before he ever finished speaking. “No, I’m not leaving you.”
He glanced over his shoulder, a shudder of revulsion wracking his body as Shakpi reached the edge of the clearing.
“Don’t be stubborn.” He jerked his attention back to the female who was making his heart squeeze with terror. He could face a thousand crazy-ass goddesses before he could contemplate the thought of Sage in danger for even a second. “There’s nothing you can do here.”
Her chin tilted. “I’m not helpless.”
He fisted his hands. Where the hell was this coming from?
He was impulsive and always ready to dive into danger headfirst. Sage was supposed to be the sensible, cautious, blessedly logical one.
“You can’t stop a goddess,” he pointed out in rough tones.
She remained stubbornly in place. “Can you?”
“Sage.”
Without warning, she moved forward, going on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips.
It was a gentle caress laced with the promise of a future.
Oh…hell.
“You do what you do and let me do what I do,” she commanded in soft tones.
In that second, she could have ordered him to stop the world from turning and he’d have done everything in his power to fulfill her wish.
Accepting he’d lost this particular battle, he turned to run out of room, shifting into his cat as he sailed over the railing of the balcony and prepared to battle a goddess.
Chapter 7
Sage ran her fingers over the glyphs, desperately trying to ignore the vicious roars and occasional snarls of pain that filled the air.
She didn’t have claws or teeth. Or even a damned gun.
For now, the only way to help Lian was by concentrating on the scrolls.
She was so close, the symbols forming into words in her head as a tingle of power raced through her blood.
This wasn’t a history of the Pantera as she’d first assumed. Or even a detailed explanation of how to destroy Shakpi as Lian had hoped.
This was…magic.
Lost in her thoughts, Sage didn’t sense the approaching man until he lightly tapped on her shoulder.
She jerked her head around to discover a tall man with milky brown skin, blue eyes and dark hair that was closely buzzed to his scalp.
Xavier was the Geek she’d been in cyber contact with for the past four years. Of course, she’d assumed he was another researcher, not a mythical puma shifter.
“What are you doing?” the man snapped, his expression grim as he towered over her. “You need to evacuate.”
“No.” She turned back to the scrolls to point toward a hieroglyph shaped like a bluebird. “What does the word Hielar mean?”
With an effort, Xavier leashed his obvious desire to be in the clearing below with his pack mates.
“Hielar?” His brow furrowed as he searched his mind for the answer. “In the old language it meant ‘come.’”
Sage felt a flicker of hope.
Was it possible she was on the right track?
“Come or summon?” she demanded.
“What are you suggesting?”
“I think this is a spell.”
Xavier stiffened, suddenly offering her his full attention. “A spell to get rid of Shakpi?”
She gave a shake of her head. “No. To summon someone.” She bit her bottom lip, touching her fingers to the glyphs. The strange prickles continued to race through her body, as if urging her to speak the words, but the symbols remained frustratingly out of focus. “Or something.”
“Dammit.” Xavier glared at the scrolls in frustration. “I was so certain these could help.”
“I think they can,” she insisted.
He shook his head. “Dr. Parker, I appreciate you traveling here and trying to decipher the scrolls, but the last thing we want is to risk summoning some unknown spirit.”
She flinched as she heard a heavy body crash into a tree below.
She was a scientist at heart. The sort of person who depended on logic and fact. Which was why she’d tried to suppress the magic that bubbled deep inside her for so long.
Since arriving in the Wildlands, however, she’d allowed herself to lower her barriers and ‘see’ the scrolls with her emotions, not the eyes of a researcher.
At the beginning she’d thought she’d sensed the lingering echo of the goddess because she assumed Opela had written the scroll.
Now that she realized it was a spell…
Well, the only reasonable explanation was that it was meant to summon the elusive goddess.
“Even a spirit that has the same power as Shakpi?” she asked.
Xavier made a sound of impatience. “There isn’t any.”
“Her sister.”
Not surprisingly, the large male glared at her as if she’d just committed sacrilege. Even though it’d been centuries since Opela had disappeared from the Wildlands, the Pantera deeply mourned her loss.
“Opela sacrificed herself to imprison Shakpi,” he said in harsh tones.
Sage reached out to lightly touch his arm. She didn’t mean to offend Xavier, but she didn’t have time to do this in a more diplomatic way.
“You don’t truly believe she’s gone,” she insisted.
He scowled, no doubt assuming she was arguing semantics. “Not completely gone, but—”
A loud yelp sounded from below. Lian. Sage pressed a hand to her heart. She could physically feel his pain.
“Oh hell,” she breathed, sending Xavier a pleading glance. “We have to do something.”
He hesitated for less than a heartbeat before giving a sharp nod of his head.
“Say the spell.”
That wasn’t what Sage had been expecting.