Refuge(57)

Tristan nodded and ordered everyone to head to the common areas until Sahir said it was safe to come out. All I wanted was to find the nearest shower and scrub myself clean, but as soon as Sahir knocked out all the karks, we’d be needed to bag them before they woke up again. Dutifully, I trailed behind the others instead.

“Ouch!” I jerked my head to one side when a kark flew at my face and nicked my ear with its sharp little teeth. I put my hand to my ear and frowned when my fingers came away red. “The little bugger bit me!”

“It must have scratched you by accident. Karks don’t bite people,” Sahir said, fitting his mask over his mouth and nose as he waited for everyone to clear out.

Needles of pain stung my forearm, and I gasped at the white creature latched onto my sleeve, its pointed teeth digging into my skin. I let out a yelp and grabbed the little body to yank it from my arm. It squeaked and twisted, frantically trying to break free from my hand. “What is up with this thing?”

No sooner had the words left my mouth when another kark flew into my chest. I batted it away, but it did a one eighty and came at me again. I snatched it up in my other hand, and it went nuts like the first one. My first thought was that these things really were demons and no one had bothered to tell me. Why else would they be acting so bizarre around me? But if that was the case, my power would have freaked them out a few minutes ago instead of putting them to sleep.

“Ow! What the hell?” I yelled as, from out of nowhere, five or six karks dive-bombed me, and I had to throw up my arms to protect my head. “Sahir, will you spray these things before they try to eat me.”

“I told you, karks don’t – ” Sahir broke off when dozens of the creatures flew at me from every direction like a swarm of angry hornets. I cried out and tried to run for cover, but I could not see past the mass of white bodies around me. Over the squeaking and flapping wings, I heard Sahir yelling, but I was too busy fending off his harmless karks to pay much attention to what he was saying.

A few seconds later, something large collided with me and I flew backward. Instead of hitting the floor, I found myself circled by a pair of arms and pulled against a hard body, bracing me from the impact. My rescuer and I rolled over once, ending with me on the floor and his body covering mine. I didn’t need the flutter in my head to tell me who was holding me tight against him and shielding my body from attack with his own. I suddenly found it hard to breathe, and to my dismay I was pretty sure it wasn’t from the fall.

“I don’t give a damn. Just do it,” Nikolas barked at someone, and I felt the angry rumble deep in his chest. He lowered his head, and his warm breath fanned my cheek. “Cover your mouth and nose. Sahir is going to spray around us.”

I pressed my face into the crook of his shoulder, acutely aware of his body against mine and the fact that I had never been this close to a man before. Unless you counted that time I healed Roland, but I didn’t think holding a half-crazed werewolf fell into the same category.

“There are too many of them,” Sahir said a minute later in a muffled voice.

“Keep spraying us,” Nikolas ordered.

“I can’t. It’ll poison you two if I spray more around you.” I heard Sahir move away. “I’ll do what I can to reduce their numbers. What the hell is wrong with them? Why are they only going after her?”

“I don’t know.” Nikolas shifted his weight and surprised me by leaning in and sniffing at my hair first and then my hoodie. How he expected to smell anything over the stench was beyond me. “Something smells off here.”

I could not contain my snort. “You think?”

Instead of smiling like I expected him to, he reached down and grabbed the bottom of my hoodie. “What are you doing?” I demanded in a panic when he started to lift it up.

“I think something on your clothes is making the karks behave like this,” he explained without stopping. “I can detect something that doesn’t smell like you or their droppings.”

He knows my scent? That revelation shocked me so much I forgot to protest further, and Nikolas used that opportunity to quickly yank the hoodie over my head and fling it away from us. Despite his body heat, I shivered as cold from the marble floor seeped through the back of my T-shirt. A few karks used the opportunity to squeeze beneath him and latch onto my hoodie, but as soon as the piece of clothing flew away, they followed it.

“Jesus, look at that.” Buried beneath Nikolas, I couldn’t see what Sahir was referring to, but his tone sent another chill through me. “They’re still trying to get to her. Whatever it is, it has to be on her T-shirt, too.”