Warrior's Heart: Iron Portal Series (Paranormal Romance) by Laurie London Read Free Book Online

sitting. If Zara’s cloaking didn’t hold, they’d be in plain sight. Not only would they haul his ass back to the Institute, but more importantly, they’d have Zara now, too. He could hardly bear the thought of her being in the same room with the doctor. What the holy hell was he thinking agreeing to this half-baked plan of hers?
    A large blue jay cawed and flew to a nearby branch. Zara flinched, but Vince held tight. The bird cocked its head and looked straight at them, then squawked once more and flew off.
    Palmer sighed and dropped his gaze. Leaning against the tree trunk, he pulled out his comm device. “Talk to me. Tell me you found him.”
    “Nothing,” said a voice from the speaker. It sounded like Godfrey, one of Palmer’s men. “It’s as if he disappeared into thin air.”
    “Damn,” Palmer muttered, shaking his head. The dog continued to bark. “Will you shut the hell up?”
    “You sure Crawford isn’t hiding nearby?” said Godfrey through the speaker. “Sounds as if Adolf has located him.”
    “Trust me. Crawford isn’t here. The stupid mutt is just confused. Been pulling this shit off and on all week. Must be going senile.”
    “We’re going to need to call this in,” said the other man. “The army needs to know.”
    Palmer mumbled something under his breath about being fired. “Let me make a sweep on the other side of the tracks first. I thought he was on this side, but maybe with all the confusion, I got it wrong.”
    When the call ended, Palmer clipped the leash to the dog’s collar and gave it a hard jerk. Adolf yelped as the collar’s spikes dug into his neck. “Let’s go, you worthless mutt.”
    Once they were out of sight, Zara let go of Vince’s hand, and almost immediately he could tell they were no longer cloaked. The tingling sensation was gone and the edges of his vision had returned to normal. The dog continued to bark, but the sound faded as Palmer dragged it further and further away.
    “Damn, that was close,” he said, turning to her. “Let’s get the hell—”
    Zara was holding her head in her hands.
    Panic shot through his veins as he gently put his arms around her again. “What’s wrong?”
    “It’s...nothing. Just a little headache, that’s all.”
    No, it wasn’t. This had been too hard for her. “I thought you said you’d cloaked another person before.”
    She pointed to the steel cuff around his ankle. “Yes, but not with…dense metal objects. Makes it…more difficult.”
    He cursed to himself. If only he’d known. He should’ve cut the blasted thing off when he’d had the chance. Like she had wanted to do in the first place. Now she was paying the price.
    He helped her out of the tree, but once they were on the ground, her steps faltered, and she kept a hand to her head as if to contain the pounding.
    This was not going to work.
    “Climb on,” he ordered, crouching down in front of her.
    “I’m too heavy. I’ll only slow you down.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous.” Without waiting for a response, he hooked his arms behind her legs, pulled her onto his back and stood. She clung to him, leaning her head close to his. Damn, this was nice.
    “Which way?” he asked, forcing himself to focus on what they needed to do to get out of here.
    “South…a few miles through the forest,” she whispered, her breath tickling his ear. “My car...hidden.”
    He headed off in that direction, trying not to make too much noise in the underbrush. He thought about the dog’s erratic behavior again. It occurred to him that she might have had something to do with it. “What did you do to Adolf?”
    “Been messing…with him…all week. That way, when it came time to get you, the guards would simply think the dog was confused again. The dog who cried wolf.”
    Clever, but foolish. “What the hell is wrong with you, Zara, coming in and toying with Adolf like that? Do you have a death wish or something?”
    “I just hope they don’t hurt him. It wasn’t his