Through The Veil (15 page)

Marcus couldn’t believe his eyes. A Predator stood in the
water with them. How had he not heard it? And what the fuck was it doing out
during the daytime? He immediately backed Lori under the waterfall where there
was a hidden cave, hoping the beast wouldn’t follow them.

The Predator stalked so close he could see the crazed
madness flowing out of its green eyes. It was huge. He thought longingly about
his sword, lying on the ground on the other side of the pool. He had no way to
defend them except with his body and that wouldn’t end well with the Predator’s
long dagger-like claws and teeth. He couldn’t fly them out. His wings were too
wet.

He continued to push them slowly backward. Luckily, the
Predator seemed as surprised to find them there as they were to see it. Seriously,
these things were never out during the day. What was it doing here? And how was
he going to keep it from hurting Lori? He couldn’t watch another female die at
the hands of one of these things.

Right now it just watched them with wary eyes while it panted
and snarled. Marcus turned his head slightly and whispered to Lori, “We’re
going under the falls. There’s a cave there. As soon as you spot it, I want you
to run into it.”

Her tone sounded low and just as urgent as his. “I won’t go
in there without you. You’re already bleeding enough.” She lightly touched his
back just to the side of where the Predator swiped at him.

He couldn’t help but flinch as pain seared through the
muscles on his back. He had no idea how deeply he’d been wounded, but it sure
as hell didn’t feel good.

“That thing is huge. I won’t leave you out here to fight it
alone. We either go in together or not at all.” Her voice echoed her steely
resolution.

He gave a quick nod. These things were big, but they weren’t
fast. The cave opened up to the other side of the hill. They may just be able
to outrun it once inside, if it decided to follow them.

As they darted under the waterfall, he quickly spotted the
cave right where he remembered it to be. He hadn’t been in it in years, but he
quickly steered Lori toward it as the Predator screamed and splashed after them
in pursuit.

 
“Marcus, what’s
happening?”
Malcolm called to him across their mental link.

“Predator at the falls attacked us. Meet us at the back
entrance of the cave. We’re escaping that direction, but he’ll be right behind
us. Be ready when we come out.”

“I’ll grab a couple of Warriors and be right there.”

Luckily, these falls ran over one of the area’s natural
ley
lines. Veins of crystals ran along the ridges of the
rock formations inside the cave. The crystals naturally glowed from within the
earth and lit their way as they ran hand in hand. The Predator continued to
lumber behind them, yelling his displeasure. But his bellows were becoming more
and more distant the further they ran. They were going to make it.

They skidded to a stop.

Fuck!

A wall of fallen rock blocked their escape. There had been a
cave-in sometime in the years since he’d been inside this cave. Why hadn’t he
considered this?

“
Dammit
,” he cursed.

His mistake could cost Lori her life. He wouldn’t allow
that. Not again. He had no choice, but damn, he’d just started to feel alive
again. He would have to go hand-to-hand with the creature just to give Lori a
fighting chance of escape.

She turned and panted. “Are there any other ways out of
here?”

“No.” He grabbed Lori by the shoulders and pulled her in for
a quick hard kiss. “I’ll distract him while you get out. Just head back to
Springlake
. They’ll take care of you.”

“No!” She turned back to the wall and lifted her hands to
touch it.

“Lori, there are no other options.”

“Yes, there is. Hang on!” Suddenly the crystal along the
walls flickered and brightened. Lori’s violet eyes glowed with the same
flickering energy that flowed along the
ley
lines.
Whatever she was doing tapped into the Earth’s power.

Suddenly the stones shifted to create an opening and she
turned to him. “Go. Quick. I can’t hold it long. I’ll be right behind you.”

He knew she had a special ability, but he never would have
guessed. Now the Veil and her escape through it made sense.

“Marcus, hurry!”

He shook himself out of his stunned stupor and crouched
through the hole she’d created. She followed behind him. Right after they made
it through, the hole closed back up and Lori sank to the ground, leaning against
the now-closed wall.

“What the hell was that thing? It looked like a yeti!” she
gasped.

“A yeti?”

“Yeah, you know, Big Foot.”

He still reeled after watching her move a wall of rock. He
never would have guessed she could do something like that with her ability as
an Other. “That was a Predator. They showed up after the Veil, but they don’t
come out during the day. Ever. This isn’t good. We need to get back to the
village and issue a warning before someone gets killed.” But for now they were
safe—thanks to Lori.

“Okay, just give me a minute,” she said weakly.

Marcus noticed she didn’t look well at all. She appeared
extremely pale and her breath continued to come in gasps.

He crouched down beside her. Her gift obviously came at a
very high price for her physically. “Hey, are you okay?” He laid a hand against
her forehead to make sure her fever hadn’t spiked again.

She glanced at him and whoa, her eyes glowed a vivid purple
in the dim light. “Your eyes…”

She lowered her lids and ducked her head as if to hide them.
What was her world like that something so incredible had to be hidden?

He slipped his fingers under her chin and lifted it. “Your
gift is amazing and to see your power emanating out of your eyes is even more
beautiful,” he reassured her. “But you didn’t answer…are you okay?”

She gave him a timid shrug. “Yeah, but doing that,” she
waved her hand at the wall, “wipes me out. I’ll admit though, normally I would
be unconscious after that kind of effort.” She looked confused as she glanced
around the interior of the cave.

“That’s probably because of the
ley
lines.” He traced one of them along the wall and could feel the prickles of
energy flow under his fingertips. “If you’re like us—and I’m guessing at some
level you are—your powers will be enhanced when you’re in an area with
ley
lines.”

“
Ley
lines? Is that what the
glowing crystals are?”

“Yes,
ley
lines are naturally
occurring energy lines within the Earth.” He drew her hand up so she could feel
the vibrations beneath the stone.

Her eyes widened when she touched it and immediately her
color became better.

“They fall in straight lines across the world’s tectonic
plates. It’s believed that the Earth’s energy is channeled through them.
Bethany thinks the Veil came through them and that’s why our powers and their
strength are affected by them. That’s also why we think they glow now. There’s
energy pulsing through them all the time trying to heal the Earth.” He looked
at her with a tilt of his head. “It’s probably why you aren’t as worn out now.
The
ley
lines strengthened your power.” There were
other things they’d learned over the years by using the
ley
lines to strengthen them. He’d need to spend some time practicing with her so
that she wouldn’t get so wiped out when they got back to the village.

“Oh, wow.” She sighed as she turned her hand over in the
glow of the light. “That’s amazing. I had no idea. And the
ley
lines are everywhere?”

He nodded, which caused a pull across the wounds on his back
and he winced.

“You’re hurt.” She struggled to stand and ducked around to
examine the wound on his back.

Hissing at her light touch, he mentally connected to
Malcolm.
“It will just be us coming through, so don’t let anyone kill us
when we come out.”

“From the pain I’m feeling from you, I’m guessing
someone already tried that. Do you need me to come in and get you?”

“No, it’s already too tight in here. We’ll be out in
just a minute.”

“You’re bleeding a lot.” Lori’s voice rang with concern.

“It’s okay. I don’t think it’s really deep. Malcolm’s
already on his way.”

“He is? I didn’t hear you discussing anything with him.”

“That’s probably because you were otherwise engaged. You
know, rearranging the natural order of the wall, which I can see drained you.
It probably affected your ability to tap into our link. He could sense trouble
and called out to me. He’s supposed to be meeting us at the cave opening.”

“Did you warn him about the yeti, Predator-thingy lurking
around?”

He chuckled at her description, although none of this felt
that humorous. “Yeah, I told him. He’ll be sure to keep his sword on him. My
first mistake. He’ll probably bring one of the other Warriors with him, too.
Are you okay to walk now?”

“Yeah, I actually am.” She looked at the glowing
ley
line with curiosity and he couldn’t resist showing her
just a bit more.

He walked up so that he stood directly behind her. He
grabbed both her hands in his own and pressed their full palms down onto the
glowing lines. Even standing behind her, he felt the pulse of energy through
her body.

Her voice echoed her awe as she said, “Whoa!”

He knew what it would do, but the power of it flowing
through her surprised even him. He’d never felt this kind of surge before. It
was heady and powerful and his cock responded to both the energy and the
closeness of her body. Considering how badly his back hurt, it said a lot about
her effect on him that he could think anything sexual at this point in time.

He needed to think about something else, quickly. He’d be
seeing his brother and one of the other Warriors soon and they’d give him hell
if he walked out of this cave with a hard-on. He backed away from Lori.
“Remember this. Your power came from the Earth and the Earth can help you when
you use it. We’ve charted the area’s
ley
lines.
Remind me later and I’ll show it to you and show you how to find some of the
local ones, but now we need to head out. Malcolm’s getting close.”

He could feel the blood soaking into the waistband of his
shorts. They needed to get back to the village quickly and get it taken care of
before he had his own infection. Who knew what kind of disgusting germs were in
the claws of that thing?

When they exited the cave, both Malcolm and
Griff
stood there, waiting for them. Marcus smiled at them,
“I sure am glad to see you two.”

Malcolm immediately circled behind him to examine his wound.
Griff
had his sword drawn and stood guard for the
group. He glanced suspiciously at Lori, but kept his attention outward on the
forest surrounding them. While Malcolm poked and prodded at his back, Lori
moved to his side and stroked soothingly up and down his arm. It kept his mind
away from the painful ministrations his brother performed on him.

“Is he going to be okay?” Lori asked. “There’s so much
blood.”

“It’s a ragged wound, but it’s not very deep. I’ll clean it,
stitch it up and he should survive.”

“Should survive?” Marcus asked drily. “I like your positive
bedside manner.”

Malcolm chuckled.

Marcus shook his head and turned back toward
Griff
. “We need to issue a warning to the village about the
waterfall.”

“Already done. Garrison, Eric, and Aaron are headed down
there now to see if they can find the Predator. Was there anything different
about him?”

“Besides the fact that he came out during the daytime? No,
nothing. Actually, after the initial attack, he seemed as puzzled by us being there
as we were to see him.”

Malcolm urged them to go. “We need to head back and get this
taken care of, Marcus. Are you okay to fly?”

Marcus stretched his wings. It didn’t feel good, but he
should be able to do it. “I’ll be fine, but I need you to carry Lori.”

“Okay.”

“But be sure to keep your hands where I can see them.
She’s mine.”

“Duly noted,”
his brother replied in a droll tone.

“You may want to note that I can hear you again AND I
don’t belong to anyone,”
a feminine voice said.

His brother’s laugh grated along his nerves.

“Bastard,” he muttered under his breath. Malcolm just
laughed harder.

When they got back to the village, they headed directly to
the infirmary. Brooklyn met them there to assist Malcolm. She already had the
sutures prepared for his arrival. They laid him face down on a bed. They
reluctantly allowed Lori to stay, since she insisted. Everyone in the room
could tell from her stance that they were going to have to physically remove
her if they wanted her out.

Malcolm started cleaning out the long, ragged wound. With
every swipe of Malcolm’s hand, Marcus jerked and hissed. Damn, this hurt like a
bugger.

Malcolm took a deep breath. “Marcus, this is a mess. You’ve
got four, long, deep scratches along your spine which curve around and across
the backside of your left ribcage.
 
It’s
not that deep, but it needs stitching and that’s going to take a while. It’s
going to be really painful. I know you don’t usually like to take medicine, but
I’d like to give you a little something to take the edge off.”

Marcus started to shake his head, but Malcolm interrupted.
“You’d be doing this for me as much as you. Remember, I can feel your pain
across our connection. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ll be able to do this with the
level of pain you have right now. As it is, your pain is echoing across my
nerves and if I get shaky hands then everything is just going to compound upon
itself.”