HerMatesEmbrace (16 page)

Chapter Fifteen

Cami opened her eyes. She saw the light blue floor moving
slowly below her, but her feet never touched the stone. A tingling flutter
moved through her belly as she turned the corner. She felt light and
weightless, almost as if she floated through water.

She knew she was dreaming, but not a normal dream. The
detached sensation and an inability to control any part of it told her that
this was a vision. She needed to see something, but she had no idea why.

She drifted through the lower part of the fortress. Her
eyes moved over the halls and doors, trying to spot whatever was drawing her
away from normal sleep. She didn’t know where she was going. A feeling pulled
at her, tugging her through the building.

Alarm coursed through her as she approached the thick
entrance doors.
Were Laed and Kynar here?
Before she could do more than
wonder, the panels swung open wide. Cool, moist night air brushed against her
skin and a soft breeze caught her hair and flicked it up around her face.

Clouds filled the sky, but she could see without any
problem. Even better than she should be able to without the moon or stars
shining overhead. The feel of the wind and even the scents around her seemed
almost as real as if she’d walked outside. It was so strange. The first drops
of a light mist began falling and she’d swear she felt the drops hit her arms.
She looked down, but her body wasn’t there. It never was in these visions.

She floated across the darkened ground, drawn past the
stables and arms area within the walls of the Thent. As she approached the
thick defensive walls, the drawing pull lessened. Whatever she needed to see
was nearby. What had drawn her out of normal sleep and to this spot of all
places?

She looked around trying to see what was here. Inky dark
shadows covered this corner of the wall. Nothing moved. She saw no one pacing
the walk at the top of the wall or any sign of trouble. It was darker here than
anywhere else along the wall, though.

A small pulling sensation along her spine gave her the
only warning. She soared upward, yanked as if by an invisible string. Her
stomach tightened and she clamped her mouth closed on a scream. The fields and
houses spread out beyond the wall, but movement near the base of the wall
caught her attention. She narrowed her eyes as she saw someone climbing the
wall. At first, she didn’t know how the person was doing it, but then she saw
the rope attached to a hook.

Now.
The word echoed through her mind as she flew
backward, jerked back into her body.

Cami woke gasping for air and her arms flailed for something
to grab. Sitting up, she grimaced. She hated that. Her heartbeat began to slow,
but she knew she couldn’t go back to sleep.

She’d felt the immediacy in that dream. It wasn’t meant for
a day from now or two days. That was happening right at this moment. Swinging
her feet out of bed, she felt almost the exact same pull as in the vision to go
to Linc and Colm’s room. It was important. She had to warn them and make them
believe that there was trouble or someone was going to get hurt or killed.

Almost before she realized she was moving, she rushed out
the door and headed down the hallway to their room. The driving urgency almost
pushed her to fling open the door and rush into the room. Common sense stopped
her short of that. Both men were armed and warriors accustomed to battle.
They’d perceive a threat in a person bursting into their room and react
accordingly. She didn’t want to get stabbed or cut by one of their swords or
knives due to sheer stupidity.

Knocking on the door, she waited outside, shifting nervously
from foot to foot as the time lengthened.

Colm woke to pounding on their door. He didn’t need to look
outside. It was still fucking night time. A growl rumbled in his throat. When
he was home and not out fighting, he liked to enjoy the chances he got for an
uninterrupted sleep.
This better be important.

Rolling out of bed, he grabbed the knife off the small stand
on the side of the bed and walked over to the door. He knew Linc was awake. He
heard him reach for his weapon. Opening the door, he looked out and was stunned
to see Cami. She stood out in the hallway. Her hands were clasped tightly
together and she stared at him with wide eyes. She looked a little pale,
although that could havebeen the dim lighting.

“Cami, are you okay?” His first thought was that maybe her
thigh was cramping again. She looked a little tense, but didn’t seem to be in
any pain. It was too soon for her to come to them because she realized she
belonged with them.

She shook her head. “It’s not me. Something’s wrong.”

Colm heard the stress in her voice and put his hands on her
shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

“There are two men coming over the wall. It’s not Laed and
Kynar.” Her words tumbled out in a rush so fast that he almost didn’t
understand her.

She couldn’t have seen anyone. There wasn’t a window in her
room. He could tell she was agitated. She shifted from foot to foot. Her
shoulders twitched beneath his palms as if she wanted to slip from his hold and
move. Her eyes glowed golden, showing her heightened anxiety.

“What do you mean there are two men coming over the wall?
How do you know they’re coming over the wall? How did you see them?” He
tightened his hands to get her attention.

Her eyes locked on him and she swallowed. She paled a little
and then seemed to come to some decision. “The same way I know you don’t want a
true mate. I saw it.”

He narrowed his eyes at her answer. She’d seen it. “Were you
still awake?”

“No, I was asleep.” Her eyes narrowed and her hand lifted.

He opened his mouth to reassure her that it was only a dream
and that nothing was wrong, but she must have seen something on his face. He
had a feeling that she wanted to grab onto something, but he wasn’t wearing a
shirt. Instead her finger poked into his chest and she took a step forward. Her
head tipped back and her lips tightened into a straight line. From the
tightness in her body, that might be because she was trying not to yell at him.

“It wasn’t only a dream. It’s the exact same way I knew how
to find you and that I know I’m most definitely not your usual type.” Her lips
curled and a growl rumbled in her voice. “I know because I’ve seen it. Believe
me, there are times I wish I’d never had any of them and there are definitely
things that I wish I didn’t see or know. It’s true. If you don’t go out there
or send someone out there to check on it, I will go. They’re not here to say
hello and then climb back over the wall.”

“What are they after?” Colm turned to find Linc standing
behind him. He’d pulled on a pair of pants, but was barefoot and bare-chested.

“I don’t know. That’s the frustrating part. I can never tell
unless something’s said. It mainly only gives me scenes and what’s said. I
can’t hear thoughts. I don’t know what’s intended. There’s not some all-knowing
voice that tells me what everything means. I just see it.” She glared up at
him.

“They’re coming over the wall. Do you know where?” Linc
asked the question slowly and calmly.

“Past the stables, across the practice field and it’s near a
corner of the wall. I didn’t see anyone moving on that section of the wall, but
once I saw those men, I wasn’t really looking.” She closed her eyes as if she
was visualizing the area. “It’s cloudy and dark out there. If you don’t want
them to see you before you spot them, you’re going to have to go without lamps
and torches.”

“I know the spot you’re talking about.” Colm did know where
she was talking about, the exact area. It was a spot that was supposed to be
patrolled regularly. “I’ll go see if there’s someone there, but how do you know
that the danger’s immediate and not in a couple days?”

“I don’t get a lot of clues, but occasionally there’s a
sensation or a word that pops into my head. When I was trying to find help and
it led me to Dovosh, I got the feeling that I needed to hurry or I could miss
you. This time it was ‘now’. I don’t think there’s much room for interpretation
there.”

“Doesn’t sound difficult to decipher to me.” Colm looked at
Linc. He didn’t know how much of her visions he could trust. “Stay here with
Linc until I get back.”

The visions were still new to her. She hadn’t told them
enough to know if they were always right, but he did know that she’d been
rushing to get to the city. She’d been waiting for them for days. He hoped that
while he was gone, Linc could calm her down. Her eyes flared with light. He
didn’t want her to lose control of her power again. She already doubted her
ability to control it. If she really began to believe she was a danger to
people, she’d leave. Or try to, at least.

She nodded. “But my magic isn’t a problem right now.”

“How did you know? Are you starting to be able to tell when
your eyes are glowing?” Colm frowned.

“No, it was the way you looked at me. You kept staring at my
face and frowning. Well, when you weren’t looking as if you doubted my sanity,
that is.” She shrugged.

“Still, stay here. I want to know that you have someone
close by in case someone did get over the wall and past me while I’m looking.”
Colm smiled and pulled on a shirt and boots. He grabbed his sword and walked
out the door.

“Take some men with you.” Linc called after him.

“I was planning to.” Colm called back. If he had to go out
tonight, he was dragging a few men along with him. And if there wasn’t someone
patrolling that wall regularly, there was going to be trouble for those on
sentry duty.

Colm headed out into the hallway. He didn’t know what to
believe. She seemed certain. Anxious and a little stressed, but confident that
what she dreamed was the truth. By the time he made it downstairs, he was
almost certain that this was going to be a simple walk around the walls to make
sure the walls hadn’t been breached.

A small part of him warned him not to dismiss her
premonition, but he needed proof before he began to trust her visions. Even
though he was skeptical of her dream, he wasn’t going back to bed. He was too
experienced to take chances and head back to the room without even a cursory
check. He gathered a few men from those on night duty within the
Thent
and went out to investigate.

The moment he stepped outside, a shiver raced up his spine.
The chill in the air had nothing to do with it. Clouds blocked most of the
moonlight making the courtyard dark. Just as Cami had warned. He still had his
doubts, but he headed for the stables.

Just after he passed it, an unfamiliar scent teased his
nose. Human. He raised his head and inhaled deeply. Two of them. He couldn’t
locate them exactly, but the scent was much too strong to have drifted on the
wind from the forest.

He stiffened. There was someone trying to get into the
Thent
.
He growled, but inside he was stunned to find that she’d been right. It did
make him wonder exactly what she’d seen or heard in her dreams to enforce her
belief that he didn’t want a true mate.

Not that she was wrong in that belief. He hadn’t wanted to
chance finding a real mate. The connection with Linc left him open enough to
the pain. They were warriors. It was possible one of them could be killed. He’d
been a coward by trying to avoid possible pain in the future and admitted it
now.

With a grimace, he focused on the strange scent on the wind.
He looked over at the three men with him and saw that they’d also picked up the
smell of the intruders. He nodded to them. They silently began to move through
the shadows toward the wall.

He took little satisfaction in the fact that his eyesight
would be better than any human’s on this dark night. They had breached the
walls of his home and meant to harm someone here. His fingers clenched around
the hilt of his sword.

Anger pulsed through him. Part of him wanted simply to cut
them down where he found them. He couldn’t do that as much as it would satisfy
the territorial part of him. They needed to know what the men were after.

Colm could think of at least two groups who’d want inside
access to the
Thent
. The most recent and most probable would be the
family of the woman they’d taken from the gate town. They wouldn’t know that
she’d live in a house outside the walls. Of course, if it had been him, he
would have watched for at least a day to know where exactly his target was. Of
course, it could be the other group or someone entirely different.

Colm clung to the dense shadows as they crossed the practice
field. His eyes scanned for any sign of movement along the wall. The intruders
were there somewhere. If he could smell them, they were already within the
Thent
.
He wanted to get them before they had a chance to harm anyone. It wasn’t often
they had notice before something such as this happened.

Movement along the base of the wall caught his eyes. It was
hard to tell if it was wishful thinking since the shadows were especially deep
there. As he watched, he saw it again. The two shadowy forms hugged the stone
wall and stuck to the darkest areas. Moving in spurts the two men moved one at
a time across the open spaces. Colm sent two men to secure the man in back
while he and the other guard approached the man leading.

The man in back called out and took off running. He must
have seen some hint of movement. Colm didn’t watch him. He drew his sword and
rushed for the first invader as he too began running. Colm followed and the
other guard ran almost beside him. They intercepted the man as he tried to slip
around the stables.

Colm didn’t know where the man thought he could go within
the walls. There wasn’t anywhere he could hide that he wouldn’t be found. The
rogue drew a knife from his belt. Faced with the sharp end of two swords, he
didn’t seem to be intimidated.