Two went down. The third stumbled her way with murder in its bloodred eyes. She shifted that way, was just ready to let loose, when the hound’s eyes bugged out and he froze, then dropped to the ground at her feet.
Her adrenaline pulsed in the out-of-this-world range. A rustle echoed from the edge of the trees. She drew her bow that way, then saw Orpheus stalking toward her. A quick glance down and she realized his blade stuck out of the back of the hound at her feet. She scanned the tree line again and spotted the lead hound—the big one—lying bloody and dead amid the brush.
Relief was swift and consuming. As consuming as it had been when he’d swooped her into his arms after she’d come out of that frozen pit and kissed all thought right out of her mind. “How did you—?”
“I thought we agreed you’d wait for my signal.” Orpheus crossed the snow with a frown. He looked like a man, like the sexy devil-may-care man she’d come to recognize and even anticipate, not the daemon she’d expected.
He stopped when he reached the last hound, braced his boot against its back, and yanked his blade from its flesh. After wiping the beast’s blood on its fur, he sheathed the blade and set those sexy, smoky, smoldering eyes on her.
Eyes that were so familiar and definitely annoyed. “Well? And you can stop pointing that damn thing at me anytime, Siren.”
She lowered her bow, couldn’t seem to quell her racing heart. “I expected something cataclysmic like, I don’t know, a daemon to charge out of the trees or something.”
“Sorry to disappoint you. Next time I’ll try to remember you like blood and gore more than flesh and bone.”
She didn’t. She liked him. More than she should. And she was way too relieved that he hadn’t really betrayed her to think clearly yet. “Your daemon didn’t want to come out and play after all?”
His jaw tightened. Emotion flashed in his eyes before he tamped it down, but she noticed, his eyes didn’t shift to green as they normally did when he was angry. “Guess not. Must have shriveled in all this cold.”
The sarcasm hit her as defensive, not playful. “You used the earth element, didn’t you?”
“That and a little witchcraft. You can thank me later.” He patted his pocket. “This thing comes in handy now and then.”
Yeah, she could see that. Not that the knowledge that he held it eased her racing pulse.
Her hands shook as she depressed the end button on her bow, stuffed the rod it became into her boot. Why couldn’t she stop thinking about that kiss? About the fact he was standing next to her now looking like a hero? She glanced away so she wouldn’t be distracted by those eyes. “I meant to ask, how is it you’re able to use witch—?”
A rumble echoed through the trees. On instinct she scrambled for her bow, swiveled. But Orpheus’s hand against her arm brought her head around. That and the heat from his fingers searing her skin. “Easy, Rambo Girl. That’s a chopper. My guess is the authorities have arrived.”
The accident. Right. There would be humans looking for the missing passenger train.
“We should get back before Maelea decides to run,” he said as he let go.
Maelea. With one sentence he’d just reminded her what they were all doing here. Whatever thought she’d had about telling him to touch her again disappeared like the moon setting behind the mountain.
They reached the forest edge and stepped onto the tracks in tandem. Choppers were parked beyond the wreckage. Rescue personnel moved survivors from danger to safety. But the activity didn’t catch her eye. The woman standing still as stone at the end of the train did. The one with her arms folded across her middle, her eyes focused right on them. The one Skyla had pretended to protect so she could tag along on this little adventure. The one Orpheus seemed to have some protective instinct toward.
“Well, at least she didn’t run,” Orpheus said, heading in Maelea’s direction.
“Yeah,” Skyla muttered as she followed. “Aren’t we lucky?”
***
Sin City lived up to its name in every way imaginable.