“Of course.”
He spoke to Warren once more. “You got a place you can stay through the day because Fergus called in just before you reached my office. It seems Julio’s got some of his men laying in wait at Caldion. Looks like the station was the first part of the plan. I’m guessing they’re after you.” He then turned to Kiara. “He could sta
y at your refuge.”
“You told him?”
“Earlier. At the station. You okay with me telling him?”
She glanced at Warren. “I am. Just wish you’d known all along.”
“Well, I know now.”
“You will be safe there. I’ve got it hidden behind a strong security spell.”
Roberts glanced around. “You’d better get going before Julio figures out what happened and starts searching the air. I’ll be in touch.” He nodded once then took off heading northeast.
Kiara took Warren’s hand and without asking permission, she once again pulled him into her cloak.
He shouted this time. “Why did you do that?”
Look behind you?
He turned and saw a force of ten men headed in their direction. Shit. Roberts said it exactly right.
Kiara tugged him in a straight-up direction. He followed her lead until they were both forty feet higher. Seconds later, the crew fired at their previous location.
She released his hand. My refuge isn’t far from Caldion. She turned in the air as she spoke and began to fly north.
He caught up with her and flew alongside her. He tried to picture where her refuge might be. He knew all the houses and their occupants in an eighth-of-a-mile radius around his compound. Where did you say your refuge was?
I guess I didn’t.
He heard it then, a strong hesitation, almost reluctance, but he wanted an explanation. It felt like betrayal to him. He would have stopped her midair to get an answer, but the monsoon storm was winding up and getting closer. Besides, he wanted as much space between them and Julio’s men as he could get.
The wind was really starting to blow.
He glanced at her. He was bristled up and could feel lines of fur along his cheekbones and down his back. His reaction was as much a result of their recent escape as from her typical witch secrecy.
He’d had many conversations with Kiara about her witchness and his dislike of Elegance Territory. She tended to agree with him. But she’d also helped him to understand that it was the dark witch covens and those warlocks and wizards who had embraced the dark side of their powers that had given them all a bad name.
Even so, he was pissed to learn she’d built a refuge in Savage he didn’t know about.
Yet even as he had these thoughts, the part of him that was pure male felt a troubling amount of excitement that he’d be spending some alone time with Kiara. Sex came to mind, as it always did with her. He tried to tamp down his desire, but his damn mating-cycle was acting up.
Of course, the real trouble, as he saw it, was that he believed in the goodness of Kiara’s heart. She cared about their world and tonight she’d put her life on the line to save species different from her own alter curse.
He liked her. Hell, he admired her.
But she was still a damn witch.
And a powerful one.
And she’d built a secret refuge in his territory without saying a word all this time.
To say he had serious mixed feelings about the woman, was to say the least.
They were high enough in the air that by the time they cleared the central pine forest he could see the Sand Pit. They had reached the northernmost part of Savage, where the twelve main packs had built a large arena for major dominance battles. Fergus had defeated a wolf in this pit, a vile man who had illegally taken over the Gordion Pack through an attempted murder. Mary, a fae from Revel Territory, had found Fergus in a brink-of-death state in the Graveyard. She’d called on Warren to save him with a transfusion.