Warrior's Heart: Iron Portal Series (Paranormal Romance) (15 page)

T
he trail
from the Haven into the mountains was rugged, not much more than a game trail with slight dips and indentations in the underbrush. However, Vince could’ve found their destination with his eyes closed.

They hadn’t been walking for long when he became aware of a low thrumming just under his skin, and although it had been ages ago, he knew exactly what it was. The portal called to him like a radio beacon and he was the receiver, which was how he’d found the Granite Falls portal that led him to Zara.

He rubbed the goosebumps on his arm. Yeah, the Impedio must be completely out of his system now.

He’d been fly-fishing with friends one summer the first time he felt the hum of a portal. Hobs and Jamie were on one side of mountain stream, and he had just crossed to the other side to get a better angle at the pool behind a downed tree. His fish intuition was usually pretty accurate; he knew there were rainbow trout in those depths.

His first cast had gone a little too far to the right—it was liable to get caught in the snag as it drifted downstream—but his second cast was perfect, placing the hand-tied fly atop the water in the center of the pool. Hobs had given him a silent thumb’s up, not wanting to make any noise. As he waited for the telltale shimmering shape of a fish to rise from the depths and take a bite, he’d heard a faint hum, a far-off, even sound like the buzzing of an insect. Batting a hand instinctively around his face, he’d glanced around looking for angry bees. He’d stepped on a hornets’ nest once, so he was always wary of buzzing noises.

“Do you guys hear that?” he’d called.

Hobs had glared at him silently. It was Jamie who spoke, holding a hand up to his mouth. “I don’t hear anything.”

He’d shrugged it off and made a few more casts, but the moment he went still, he heard it again. Reeling in his line, he’d set the pole down, climbed up the low river bank behind him and scanned the sky through the trees. “Are you sure you guys can’t hear that? It sounds like a helicopter.”

“What would a helicopter be doing clear out here?” Hobs had asked, his face contorted with impatience. He took his fishing very seriously and Vince was breaking the quiet rule.

“I don’t know. Rescuing a stranded hiker or something?”

“Well, I don’t hear anything,” Hobs had said after a moment.

“Me either,” Jamie chimed in.

Fine. Vince didn’t push it, even though the humming persisted. They ended up catching and releasing several nice rainbows before heading back to Jamie’s car parked at the trailhead. As he’d lain in bed that night, he couldn’t get the memory of that sound out of his head, so he made plans to go back later on his own.

If only he hadn’t told anyone after he found the portal. Hell, he didn’t even know what a Talent was back then. He should’ve known something was wrong when Hobs started asking him all sorts of questions about the portal a few years later. By that time, he’d met Zara, so he’d downplayed his discovery, saying he didn’t really remember. How was he supposed to know that Hobs’ father was an army official in charge of rounding up latent Talents?

Vince was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice that Darius was getting tired. Asher had, however, and hoisted the boy onto his shoulders, then pretended not to notice he was heading straight toward a low-hanging branch.

Darius clung to him. “Watch out!”

Asher ducked at the last minute, and Darius shrieked with laughter.

Vince felt a tinge of jealousy. Asher was a fun, carefree guy, unencumbered by a dark past that consumed him. A much better father figure than a man whose only goal for the past ten years had been revenge.

After side-stepping a thick patch of blackberries, the tiny hairs on his arms prickled. They were getting close. A large stump nursing two cedar saplings lay straight ahead and behind that, the terrain became rockier, angling sharply upward, the mountain simply rising out of the ground.

Rickert pointed. “It’s up there.”

Asher set Darius down and the boy ran the rest of the way. Glancing over at Zara, Vince noticed the tiny lines of tension around her mouth. “Nervous?”

She nodded. “A little. Haven’t been back in years. Once Darius goes through, we’ll be staying there. Our lives over here are gone.”

Guilt gnawed at him as he reached out and rubbed her shoulders.

If a teenager couldn’t be trusted to keep his mouth shut about a portal, a little boy certainly couldn’t. Vince couldn’t forget the serious ramifications his presence had on Zara and Darius’s lives. Had they parted ways once they got to Reckless, Zara could’ve continued on with her life as it had been. She’d be at the library and doing the occasional job for Mariah, and Darius would still be in school. Sure, she may have faced some routine questions from the authorities because of the car, but she could’ve come up with a plausible story. Who would ever think that a single mother working at a library would be involved in the high-profile escape of a prisoner anyway?

When they got to the base of the cliff, Asher lifted an excited Darius up the rocks.

“I see it! A cave.”

Zara turned to Vince. “Ever since he was little, he’s been fascinated by them. His favorite books from the library were ones about caves and spelunking.”

Vince grinned. He’d been fascinated by caves as a boy, too.

Once they climbed up the rocks, Olivia pulled a flashlight from her backpack and handed it to Darius. “Can you light the way for us?”

“Yes!” Darius snatched it from her and ran to his mom. “I can’t believe we’re going into another world. I’m so excited. It feels like someone’s tickling my arms and legs with feathers.”

Her smile looked forced. “I know how you feel, buddy. I’m excited, too.”

Darius stood in the mouth of the cave and snapped on the light. “Do you think there will be bats inside? Wow, look. Stalagmites.”

The temperature inside the tunnel had to be twenty degrees colder than outside. And damp. Zara managed to zip up Darius’s coat before he charged ahead. After several twists and turns, a rock wall loomed ahead of them. They’d come to the end. Vince’s heartbeat cranked up a notch.

They all gathered in the narrow alcove and Asher explained to Darius what was going to happen. “See that indentation in the wall? That’s what I was telling you about.”

Darius shined the light over the surface. “It looks like normal rock.”

“I know, but it’s not.”

It was decided that Rickert and Neyla would go through first. Several small storage lockers were stacked against the wall. Rickert opened one and reached for the belt of his leather kilt.

“What’s he doing, Mom?” Darius whispered. “It looks like he’s taking off his clothes.”

“He is, honey. When you go through a portal, whatever you’re wearing disintegrates, so you have to take it off or…well, it’ll be gone anyway. Besides, it gives them something to put on when they come back through.”

Following Asher and Olivia’s lead, Vince, Zara and Darius turned their backs to give Rickert and Neyla some privacy.

“See you on the other side,” Neyla called from behind.

“We’ll be waiting for you,” Rickert said.

A rumbling noise came from deep inside the rock. When they turned around, Neyla and Rickert were gone.

Darius tugged on Zara’s sleeve. She bent down and he whispered something in her ear, which made her smile. “Boy, you really
are
excited.”

Now it was Vince, Zara and Darius’s turn. Vince sat on top of one of the lockers and took off his boots.

“Does it hurt, Mom?”

“I’ve only been through a portal once—with you a long time ago. It felt strange, but, no, it didn’t hurt.”

Darius’s eyes widened. “I went through a portal?”

“Yep. But you were really little, so you probably don’t remember.”

Zara stood behind Darius and removed the rest of her clothes. As Vince folded them and placed them into a storage locker, she put her hands over Darius’s eyes.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“You don’t need to see your mom naked,” she informed him.

“We’re ready,” Vince called to Olivia and Asher.

“Okay,” Olivia replied from around the corner. “We’ll be right behind you.”

The three of them stepped into the tiny alcove. “See you in Cascadia.”

With a nod of his head, they touched the wall in unison. Instantly, a frisson of energy ran over Vince’s skin, and the ground beneath his feet fell away. He was struck with the simultaneous yet contradictory sensations of flying through the air at dizzying speeds yet being perfectly still.

When he opened his eyes a moment later, they were in Cascadia, all right.

A large man stood over them, holding a deadly broadsword.

A
lthough it had been
eight years since Zara had been in Cascadia, it all came back to her in a flash. The damp, earthy smell that settled over her skin and seeped into her nostrils. The sound of horses nearby snorting and stamping their hooves.

And, yes, the pounding in her head. She didn’t dare open her eyes yet. Not ‘til the spinning subsided.

“Toryn, they’re with me.” It was Rickert’s voice.

“Yes, sir.”

She heard a scrape of metal on metal and the rustle of fabric.

Darius tugged on her hands. “Mom, we’re here.”

“Yes, honey,” she managed to say through the fog.

A cloth was thrust into her hands, but she wasn’t sure what to do with it.

“Zara? You okay?” The concern in Vince’s gruff tone was palpable. He put her arms into some sort of garment and slid it over her head.

“I’m…I’m a little dizzy is all.”

“She’s got a touch of the Iron sickness.” Rickert’s voice again. “Everyone gets it to one extent or another when they cross through, some worse than others.”

Hands on her elbows, Vince gently guided her down two steps and had her sit on a cold stone bench. Only then did she crack open her eyes, careful not to let in too much light.

They were in a small stone antechamber not much larger than the apartment at Reckless. Above where she sat was the portal they’d just come through. Unlike the Pacifica side, there was no doubt what this was. The indentation was flanked by two bare-chested men in kilts brandishing large broadswords at their hips. Iron Guild warriors. They were guarding the Cascadia side of all known portals now. No one came in or out without their knowledge. A rustic wooden table was topped with dozens of candles that cast a warm, flickering glow on the walls. The whole place was almost alter-like.

Sunlight streamed through a low doorway to her left. It appeared to be the only way in or out. Darius would be able to walk through without stooping, but a tall man would have to go on his hands and knees.

Neyla, dressed in a simple blue shift, was helping Darius roll up a pair of drawstring pants that were much too big for him. “Once we get back to the castle, I’ll get you some clothes that will fit better,” she promised.

Vince was lacing a pair of leather breeches. She couldn’t help noticing how well they fit.

A broad-chested man stood next to him. Like the guards, he, too, was wearing a leather kilt and carried an enormous sword, but rather than being bare chested, he wore a loosely tied white tunic. He held out a pair of leather moccasins.

“Here,” he said gruffly, shoving them at Vince. “Is Asher coming behind ye?”

Vince took them, knelt before her, and slipped them on her feet in Prince Charming fashion. “Yes, with Olivia.”

“And Conry. We can’t forget him. He’s there too.” Darius jumped from one foot to the other, hardly able to stay still. This whole experience was so exhilarating for him.

“Then ye’d better move on. This wee place will not hold all of ye.”

The instant the words were out of the man’s mouth, the air in the room crackled with electricity. Vince grabbed Zara’s arm and propelled her toward the doorway where Rickert and Neyla were standing with Darius.

“I want to watch them come through, Mom,” he said. “Can I?”

The man in the white tunic started to protest, but Rickert interrupted him. “Fine with me, Toryn.” Then he followed Neyla out of the low doorway.

A loud snap echoed against the walls and then…

“Toryn, man, you waited.” Asher’s voice boomed behind her. “Did you miss me?”

“Miss ye?” Toryn snorted. “Like a toothache.”

With a giggle, Darius pulled Zara down to his level. The sudden movement made her head pound even more. “Mom,” he whispered loudly. “He’s naked. I can see his peen.”

Trying not to laugh, she patted the top of his head. “Yes, I’m sure you can. But don’t stare. It’s not polite.” She’d have to remember to tell him that he was likely to see more than that over here. The people of Cascadia were much more open about their bodies and their sexuality than they were in Pacifica.

Conry bounded over to them and licked Darius’s face. “Hey boy!”

A few minutes later, she was outside, where bright sunlight scraped at her eyeballs.

“Jesus, Zara.” Vince cradled her head against his chest, shielding her face from the light and stroking her hair. “You look sick.”

“How did you go back and forth so much the summer we met?” she asked weakly. “This is brutal.”

“Doesn’t seem to affect me.”

A small pouch was thrust into her hands.

“Have some dried
ogappa
,” Neyla said to her. “It’ll help settle your stomach and calm your equilibrium.”

Ogappa
? She’d forgotten all about the fruit. They didn’t have it over in Pacifica. Fishing out a small piece, she popped it in her mouth and chewed. The mango-like morsel was sweet and perfectly dried, with just the right amount of chewiness. She ate another piece. She’d forgotten how much she loved
ogappa
.

“Mmmm,” Darius said. Evidently, he liked it too.

“Everyone okay?” It was Olivia’s voice.

“Zara’s got a touch of the Iron sickness.” Vince’s voice rumbled from his chest. He sounded worried.

The air stirred in front of her as cool, healing hands cupped her forehead and temples. Almost immediately the pounding in her head subsided. Zara opened her eyes to see Olivia standing in front of her.