Scent of Valor (Chronicles of Eorthe #2) by Annie Nicholas Read Free Book Online Page B

rolled over and peered between bars. How had he ended up in a cage? He grabbed the cold metal and tugged with weak arms. Outside, a vampire ran through the gunpowder smoke with a musket at the ready. He aimed at a white shifter in feral form as she raced low to the ground toward him.
    Kele? What was she doing in his nightmare? “Duck!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.
    The vampire’s shot barely missed her as she hit the ground at his warning.
    She then jumped the bloodsucker and tore his throat out with the practiced grace of a seasoned hunter. The sheer violence shook Peder to the core. The Kele he knew didn’t have these fighting skills, or taste for blood. What had happened to her?
    He stared as a group of vampires carried shifters to his cage and dumped them in with him. None seemed familiar. There hadn’t been a battle between shifters and vampires on these lands for a century. What caused this?
    “Don’t shoot her! That pelt will bring us more money than the golden one.” A vampire dressed in rusted chain mail stepped into his view. He lifted a tube to his mouth and blew a dart into Kele’s neck.
    Shaking the bars, Peder cried out as Kele fell to her knees. He rubbed a sore spot on his throat. He’d seen that vampire in the mountain pass separating Apisi lands from the Temple. He had more vampires with him now. When he’d taken Peder, there had only been four of them. Peder didn’t recall this cage, one drawn by horses, but his memory was still foggy.
    Kele’s gaze rose slowly and met his. Her eyes widened as she mouthed his name but no sound reached his ears. If he was to die now, at least, it would be with the knowledge that she hadn’t forgotten him.
    Shifter blood soaked Temple soil. The packs would call for retribution. He fought the cage walls and only gained bruised shoulders for his effort. “Kele.” He reached for her as two vampires carried her to his cage. Only then did he notice the bars separating their prison.
    The bloodsuckers tossed her into the other side with the females.
    With his arms between the bars, he pulled her body close and stroked her soft, pale fur. He’d wanted to stop her mating ceremony, but not at this cost.
    “Hey, the gold one’s awake.”
    “The dart must have just nicked him last time.”
    A sting landed between his shoulder blades. The fog closed in but he clung to Kele through the bars. Somehow he’d save her. He’d find the hunter hidden inside him and bring her home.

Chapter Seven
     
    The cramps in Peder’s shoulders seized him awake. Groaning, all he managed was to roll onto his back, which made the pain much worse. He couldn’t move his arms. Metal cuffs clasped his wrists tight behind his back, almost stopping the circulation to his hands.
    By the dark moon, where the fuck was he now? He blinked the fog from his vision. If the vampires kept striking him with their darts, he’d become an expert at waking dazed and confused. There were other skills he’d rather perfect.
    He tried to move his legs. His ankles seemed bound but not as snugly as his arms. If the opportunity presented itself, he could shuffle at a snail’s pace, then the vampires really would have a hard time catching him. He let his head fall back against what felt like grass and blew out a frustrate breath.
    The bloodsuckers had dumped them all on an open field. A fire roared close to some tents where Peder could see his captors preparing tools in the heat of red coals.
    Kele!
    He twisted around, ignoring the blinding pain in his arms until he squirmed into a seated position. He spotted her white coat only two shifters away among the sleeping bodies. Quiet as a mouse, he crept on his knees. Panting, he lay next to her until his cramped shoulders eased into a dull roar. He buried his nose into her soft fur and took a deep breath.
    Under the sheen of fear still coating her body, he scented prickly evergreen mixed in with the bite of winter. Kele was his breath of fresh air. She