Summon Toren(37)

The mare suddenly reared again.

Joe’s face tightened with his determination to finally pull the trigger and he took deliberate aim.

Sam launched herself at him with superhuman effort and reached him in the split second before the firing pin fell. She hit hard, knocking his arm up and over to send the bullet harmlessly into the air.

The mare wheeled toward her foal and one forehoof struck Toren in the side of the head. He went suddenly boneless and started a slo-mo slump to the dirt while the mare leapt over him.

Sam started toward Toren but a heavy weight crashed into her before she could reach the fence. Going to her knees from the impact, she realized Joe had tackled her. His fist came out of nowhere to land a glancing blow to her jaw.

Toren struck the ground, limp, as Sam's vision blurred. Fear for Toren drove her to fight unconsciousness. She had to help him…



** ** **



CHAPTER ELEVEN



Skylar let her head fall back against the headrest of her truck seat. God, she was so sick of running. If anyone had told her a year ago that she'd actually miss the rodeo circuit, she'd have laughed. All her life, every single day had been filled with competing or preparing to compete. And when she wasn't working her ass off to get to national level rodeo queen pageant competition, she was studying to earn her first Bachelors of Science at seventeen.

And none of it mattered any longer. Life had changed drastically when her mother remarried just eleven months after her father's death in a car accident, but it didn't get bad until her mother died from a freak case of food poisoning. A bit over a month later, her stepfather had insisted she wear the sexy revealing new gown he gave her and go to dinner with him. Except it wasn't dinner. An exclusive club had been closed for the night for a special event. The evening culminated in a silent auction. Skylar and two other young women were up for sale.

Refusing to sit and brood any longer, she climbed out of the truck and headed into the little diner. The sign said they had computers and internet access. Maybe she could find a job to tide her over a little while before she had to hit the road again. Before her stepfather's goons gained too much ground on her and closed in.



** ** **



Kassern stood with his hip propped against the counter watching the woman he loved devour her breakfast with uncharacteristic aggression. He knew it was time to bring her in, that all her symptoms said it was the right thing, the safe thing. He’d wanted to ask her about how she truly felt but had no appetite for it. She'd grown especially moody since he first mentioned having her tested. Yesterday, she'd made Devyn cry, bitching at her for not making a fresh pot of coffee. Something was definitely going on with her, and the endless possibilities terrified him.

A bleary-eyed Troy wandered into the kitchen searching for the cup of strong coffee that seemed to help wake the human in him. Barely aware of where he was going, he bumped into Karly's chair and stumbled to the other side, over balanced and stubbed his toe.

Karly leaped to her feet. "Watch where you're going, asshole!" She drew one fist back and, before Kassern could stop her, punched Troy in the solar plexus.

Troy's breath exploded out in a whuump! as he bent double in reaction.

Kassern grabbed Karly's other arm and jerked her back.

"Let me go, you bastard." She wrenched her arm away from Kassern and stomped out the door.

Kassern tracked her footsteps to their room feeling like the twenty-two foot distance spanned eternity. "You okay, man?"

Troy grunted with a few gasps of shaky air. "Who pissed in her cereal?" He rubbed at his abdomen, slightly bent over still. "Yeah, I'm okay. Question is, is she okay?”

The voiced concern coupled with the sensation of her presence leaving their hide-out sent Kassern on a turbo-powered flash after her. His panic doubled when he realized she'd not only left their safe location, she'd left the shielded area he and Dorn had so carefully prepared to mask their presence from the demons. She might as well have sent up a flare announcing their presence, since she should have known he would flash after her, using angelic power.

He really didn't want to fight with her again, but there didn't seem anything else he could do about it. Alerting Dorn and his quad of their compromised position, he proceeded with extreme caution and appeared directly in her path grabbing hold of both her upper arms, prepared to use force. "Baby? You’re not okay, I’m taking you to the Grotto of Aesculapius.”

Karly halted and glared up at him. "What? Because I sucker punched the Bible-thumping fag? Really?" She shook her head and tried to free herself only to curse under her breath and bare her teeth at him.

"You know I love you, right? I’m not going to let anything happen to you but this isn't like you." He grabbed her hands and held fast.