Her Warriors by Bianca D'Arc Read Free Book Online

a whisper.
She got the feeling this was a secret he didn’t share lightly.
    “I would spare you that pain if it is within
my power. If there is anything I can do to help you and your
brother, I will do it. You don’t even need to ask.”
    She lifted her head from his chest then and
looked up into his icy blue eyes. She had thought them cold at
first, but in truth there was a white-hot fire behind his gaze that
warmed her, even as it enchanted her.
    “I’m so sorry, Geir,” she whispered, raising
one hand to cup his stubbled cheek. She saw the devastation in his
gaze as he thought about his lost brother, and his determination
that she would not lose hers. Why he should care so deeply for her
family was hard to fathom, but there was a sort of connection
between them. Perhaps it had been forged in the battle when Geir
had been the only one left standing to help them all get down the
mountain. But it had been there even before—when she’d decided to
trap him inside her final spell—a dome of protection that he wasn’t
able to break alone.
    She had wanted to protect him. She had kept
him from his duty to the Nyx, but somehow he had never chastised
her for doing so. All she had known at that moment—low on energy
and desperate to keep those she cared about from further harm—was
that she must protect him too, regardless of how mad he would be at
her later.
    But he hadn’t been mad. He had taken her,
Beau, and her brother, to safety after the battle was over. He had
also looked after them while helping with the logistics of mop up.
He’d had duties to the Nyx and his fighters, but he’d always found
time to check on her each day they’d been in North Carolina. When
he’d left for New York, she had missed him and coming here today
had been a bit like coming home, for some odd reason.
    She found herself moving upward, reaching on
tiptoe as his head moved downward. Their lips met in the middle, in
a sweet kiss that turned suddenly hot. The gentle man turned into a
wildcat in her arms and her body responded in kind.
    This so wasn’t the time for this, but
by the same token…it totally was. She had wanted to kiss Geir for a
long time, though she had never really acknowledged the thought
until this very moment. He seemed as hot for her as she was for
him, his mouth claiming and demanding, where she never would have
guessed such passions ran beneath his calm exterior. He was fire in
her arms rather than the ice he often portrayed, and she loved it.
She loved that she could drive him to such an unpracticed, real response.
    And then he had to go and wreck the whole
thing…by purring.
    Jacki broke away from his kiss and tore
herself out of his arms. It was hard to do, but her mind was in
turmoil once again. She had to find clarity. She had to think .
    Seeing her opportunity, she fled through the
kitchen door and took off through the back garden. The woods were
beyond, and they were calling her name. She entered the thick
forest, glad to know that Geir hadn’t followed. At least not
closely, if at all. She couldn’t hear him at any rate. Which was
good, she determined. She needed to be alone. She had to find some
kind of equilibrium so she could deal with everything that had
happened in such a short amount of time.
    She felt a pull in the direction that led up
the mountain and she followed it, not really caring where she was
going. She just needed to wander a little bit, and this was as good
a direction as any to go.
    She should have been surprised, but wasn’t
really, about fifteen minutes later when she stepped into a
clearing that held a small stone circle. And even more importantly,
Bettina was in the center of it, looking for all the world as if
she had been waiting for her.
    Jacki felt an enormous sense of relief fill
her being as she walked into the circle and went to Bettina,
reaching out to her with both arms. Bettina took her hands and
Jacki immediately felt a jolt of calm, pure energy reach out to
her,