“This is Cassandra.” Caine moved to place a protective arm around the Were’s shoulders. “Cassie, this is Laylah.”
Laylah flashed a strained smile. Now wasn’t the time for chitchat.
She didn’t have a clue what had yanked her from the mists, but she did know she wasn’t near far enough from her aunt and the attacking Sylvermysts.
“Well, it’s great to meet you, Cassie, but I’m kind of in a hurry.”
“Wait.” Without warning, Cassie reached out to grasp her upper arm, her grip astonishingly strong. “You’re meant to be here.”
Laylah’s eyes narrowed in anger. Obviously the Were had wanted her at this godforsaken gas station in the middle of nowhere.
“Are you the one who pulled me out of the mists?”
“Easy, Laylah,” Caine growled. “Cassie is just the messenger.”
“For my aunt?”
“Aunt?” Caine looked genuinely confused. “Where the hell did you get an aunt?” “I ordered her off eBay,” Laylah snapped, tugging away from the Were. She didn’t trust either one of them. “Who sent you?” “Fate,” Cassie murmured.
A flash of lightning struck the steel pole that supported the rusting sign in the shape of a hamburger.
With an awkward movement, Caine pushed himself between Laylah and his companion.
“Dammit, Laylah, don’t wig out, she really does mean fate.”
She grit her teeth. “Caine, I’m not in the mood to be jerked around. Tell me what’s going on or I swear I’ll fry you.”
“She’s …” He hesitated before the words were seemingly ripped from his lips. “A prophet.” Prophet?
Well, that was a conversation ender.
Laylah sucked in a startled breath, her powers faltering.
“She sees the future?”
“Only in glimpses,” Caine warily admitted, clearly driven by a primitive need to protect the beautiful Were. A dangerous position.
If she truly were a prophet then she would be considered a holy grail among the demon world.
“I thought they were extinct,” she said.
“Most people thought the same of Jinn mongrels,” Caine pointed out dryly.
Laylah grimaced.
Couldn’t argue with that.
She turned toward the Were who possessed such an eerie resemblance to Harley.
“So if you’re not completely out of your mind, why has some mystical fate brought me here?”
She shrugged. “I don’t have a clue.”
“Great. Then fate’s out of luck …”
“No,” Cassie hastily interrupted. “It’s the child.” Laylah’s gut twisted in fear. “What about him?” “He’s in danger.”
Laylah frowned. That was the prophecy?
“Not really a newsflash. Why do you think I was trying to get away? If you hadn’t interfered …”
Caine’s growl trickled through the air. “Careful, Jinn.”
Cassie waved aside her champion, her expression troubled as she touched Laylah’s arm, insanely indifferent to the danger of being so close to the stasis spell that surrounded the baby.
“Don’t be blinded by the obvious threats. There are more than you suspect.”
“Perfect,” Laylah muttered, then she jerked back in alarm when the crazy Were placed a hand directly over the spell surrounding the baby. “Hey. What are you doing?”
The woman’s eyes flared with a blinding white light. “The Gemini.”
Laylah stepped back, cradling the child tight against her chest. Hidden threats? Gemini?
It was the sort of babble that she would expect from a fake prophet, not the real deal.
“I don’t know what that means.”
“The alpha and the omega.” Cassie shrugged, her eyes returning to normal. “To find the end you must return to the beginning.”
Chapter 17
A cold prickle filled the air, sharply reminding Laylah she already had enough known enemies to worry about without adding mysterious ones.
“Okay. I really need to be on my way.”
Cassie shook her head. “Not yet.”
Caine spun toward the empty fields, catching the unmistakable scent of vampire the same moment as Laylah.
“Cassie, someone’s coming.”
“Tane,” Laylah breathed, relief slamming through her that he was safe.
Caine lifted his brows in surprise. “A friend of yours?”
“He’s not alone,” Cassie said, thankfully diverting Laylah from the need of explaining her complicated relationship with Tane.
“That damned gargoyle,” Caine muttered, his head tilted back as he sniffed the air. “And … what?”
“Darkness,” Cassie breathed.
Caine swore. “We’re out of here.”
Cassie lifted a restraining hand as Caine reached to toss her over his shoulder.
“No, Caine. I must speak with the vampire.”
Laylah might have admired the tiny woman’s ability to tame the once rebellious cur if she hadn’t been consumed with the sight of the infuriated vampire who was barreling toward her with a strange fey tossed over his shoulder and a gargoyle on his heels.
It wasn’t a sight you ran across every day.
“Damn you, Laylah, you’re supposed to be …”
“Don’t start with me, He-man,” she warned, wisely shifting backward as Tane tossed aside the unconscious fey and glared toward Caine. Two alphas in the same space was never, ever a good thing. “It wasn’t my choice to be here.”
Tane moved to stand directly between Laylah and Caine, his frigid power lashing through the air.
“I thought I caught the stench of dog.”
Caine’s eyes glowed with the inner light of a pureblood. “You want a piece of me, bloodsucker?”
Laylah grabbed Tane’s arm. “No, Tane. We don’t have time for a pissing contest.”
With a blithe disregard for life and limb, Levet waddled between the two predators, studying Caine with a puzzled expression.
“Hey, I know you.” He rubbed his stub of a nose. “Mon Dieu, what have you done to yourself?”
Tane scowled. “What’s going on?”
Laylah and Cassie shared a glance of mutual female exasperation.
“Long story short, this is Caine who had a run-in with a demon lord who transformed him into a pureblood,” Laylah said.
Tane stiffened. “The cur who held you captive?”
“She was never my prisoner,” Caine snapped, as if offended by the accusation.