Trapped(4)

    Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance by Jennifer Ashley, Alyssa Day, Felicity Heaton, Erin Kellison, Laurie London, Erin Quinn, Bonnie Vanak and Caris Roane
    
 


 
CHAPTER 2
The sudden shift to flight mode, faster than Alesia had ever experienced before, sent a wave of nausea flowing through her. But that was a small price to pay for staying alive.
The fae part of her knew extremely well that all three wraith-pairs were right on their heels.
Using telepathy, she pathed, Let me turn in your arms, Zeph. Let me see what’s going on behind us. Maybe I can help.
He released his iron grip just enough to allow her to turn so that she faced backward.
How far away is the lead pair? he asked.
A hundred yards.
Good, that should give us enough time.
Time to do what?
To get to my house.
Oh, that’s right, you live even closer to the diner than I do. The lead couple is moving fast. They’ve gained by at least a third of the distance.
Maybe without realizing he was doing it, Zephyr pathed a long string of obscenities straight into her head.
She blinked a couple of times, but didn’t say anything. Given the circumstances, he’d earned the right to let loose a little.
What about the other two? Same distance?
Alesia glanced past the lead pair. Much farther behind but, Sweet Goddess, the lead couple is moving incredibly fast. I think the bonded mate is a vampire.
That would explain it. He might even be close to mastyr level, which means he has more power. We’re going to have a fight on our hands.
Zeph, he’s gearing up his battle frequency. I can sense it.
We’re not far, about half-a-minute away.
But Alesia could see that the lead wraith-pair would reach them well before they arrived at Zeph’s house. She could also sense that the vampire’s hand-blast energy had sufficient power to take them both out of the sky if he decided to fire at them.
She felt suddenly sick at heart because she knew what she needed to do, but it went against everything she believed in. Yet, if she didn’t act, the part of her that was fae knew they would die.
How close are they? Zephyr had tensed up.
Just hold us steady, I’m going to do something.
Alesia, what the fuck do you mean? Oh, shit … Am I feeling a battle vibration coming from you?
Yes, you are. She hated revealing the truth that she had some battle chops, but she had no choice. Just keep flying at top speed. I’ve got this.
She stretched out her left arm, bracing herself against his chest and pressing her arm into his shoulder for balance. She let her battle energy build and as the vampire fired, she released her own stream, sending a blue wave pulsing toward the wraith-pair.
Their frequencies met in the middle and her whole arm felt as though it was on fire.
Zeph pathed. We’re almost there.
She didn’t know how long she could keep it up, but suddenly the vampire’s blast gave way and she watched as her battle energy struck home and he started tumbling through the air. His bonded wraith-mate shrieked as she headed after him.
Got him, Zeph.
Good job.
But the other two pairs are still in pursuit, maybe two hundred yards away now.
Hold on. We’re not far from my house and I need to shift direction.
She clutched at his shoulders, grateful for the warning, since he jerked in the air and sped straight down. Her stomach lurched as she closed her eyes, then she saw stars, a lot of them.
The next thing she knew, she was lying on her back on a soft carpet, staring up at a round, metal ceiling and hearing wraiths shriek outside the house.
She sat up, but dizziness swept over her and she put a hand to her head, breathing hard. She glanced around and saw that Zephyr sat at a nearby desk, his laptop open. He worked the keys like mad.
The next moment, she heard screaming outside then everything fell silent.
She looked up at the ceiling once more. “What did you just do?”
“I fired up an electrical charge.”
Rising to her feet, she continued to stare up at the interlocking metal supports, waiting, but nothing happened.
Zephyr flipped through images on what proved to be his security screen. “They’re gone. As they should be. Dawn’s about to break in the east.” Wraith-pairs, thank the Goddess, usually shut down when the sun came up.
Relief washed through Alesia in a wave so powerful that if she hadn’t moved to sink into the corner of the nearby couch, she would have dropped to the carpet once more.
She leaned forward, burying her face in her hands. Her arm still hurt and tingled something awful. Even her spine felt like fire had run through it.#p#分页标题#e#
A moment later, she felt something cool tap her fingers. “Here. Drink this.”
Opening her eyes, she saw that Zephyr had poured something amber into a tumbler. She took the glass readily, not caring what was inside, put the glass to her lips and threw back what proved to be whisky. She came up sputtering and coughed a couple of times. But the alcohol content did its work and put a quick ease through her body.