“I might not have been. Glenna. They must be watching. I heard her in my head.” Hoyt held out a hand to help Larkin to his feet. “If you wear that, they’ll smell us a half league away. You’ll need to... wait, wait.” And his smile came slow and grim. “I’ve an idea.”

The black wolf crouched over the bloody figure, and from outside the rear of the stables, sent out a low howl. In moments, a vampire armed with a battle-ax opened the door.

“What do we have here?” He glanced over his shoulder. “One of the wolves brought us a present.”

Facedown, Hoyt let out a quiet moan.

“It’s still alive. Let’s get it inside. No need to share it with the others, right? I could use something fresh for a change.”

As they stepped out, the second spared the wolf a brief grin. “Yeah, good dog. Let’s just have a—”

He exploded into ash as Blair rammed the stake through his back and into his heart. The second didn’t have time to lift his ax before Hoyt sprang off the ground and sliced his sword through its neck.

“Yeah, good dog.” Blair mimicked the vampire, and added a quick ruffle of Larkin’s fur. “I say we stick with a winner, use the same gambit on the next outbuilding.”

They had nearly identical results with the second building, but on the third, only one came out. It was obvious by the way he glanced surreptitiously back at his post that he intended to keep the unexpected meal for himself. When he rolled Hoyt over, the unexpected meal put a stake through his heart.

Using hand signals now, Blair indicated she would go in first, with Hoyt covering her.

Quick and quiet, she thought as she slipped inside. She saw the other guard had made himself a cozy nest with blankets and was taking an afternoon nap in what she thought was a dovecote.

He was actually snoring.

She had to bite back the half a dozen smart remarks that trembled on her tongue, and simply staked him while he slept.

She blew out a long breath. “I don’t mean to complain, but this is almost embarrassing, and a little bit boring.”

“You’re disappointed we’re not fighting for our lives?” Hoyt asked.

“Well, yeah. Some.”

“Take heart.” Larkin stepped in, surveyed the area. “There are nine in the cottage, where we’ll be severely outnumbered.”

“Ah, thanks, honey. You always know just what to say to perk me up.” She hefted the battle-ax she’d taken from the first kill. “Let’s go kick some ass.”

Bellied down behind a water trough, Blair and Hoyt studied the cottage. The wounded man/wolf gambit wasn’t going to work here, and the alternate they’d agreed on was risky.

“He’s already gone through a lot of changes,” Blair murmured. “It starts taking a toll.”

“He ate four honey cakes.”

She nodded, hoping it was fuel enough as the dragon landed lightly on the thatched roof. Larkin shimmered free of it, then picked up the scabbard and the sheath for his stake. He signaled down to them before swinging down to peer in one of the second-story windows.

Apparently, Blair thought, he didn’t have to change into a monkey to climb like one. Larkin held up four fingers.

“Four up, five down.” She moved into a crouch. “Ready?”

Keeping low, they rushed to either side of the doorway. As agreed, she counted to ten. Then kicked in the door.

With the battle-ax, she decapitated the one on her right, then used the staff of it to block the hack of a sword. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a ball of fire flash into Hoyt’s hand. Something screamed.

From overhead, Larkin and a vampire flew off the loft to land hard on the floor. She tried to hack her way to him, took a hard kick in her healing ribs. The pain and the force knocked her back into a table that broke beneath her weight.

She used the splintered leg to dust the one that leaped on her. Then she threw the makeshift stake, striking one that rushed Hoyt from behind. She missed the heart, swore and shoved herself breathlessly to her feet.

Hoyt thrust out with a back kick that made her warrior’s heart sing. When the vampire fell, Larkin finished it with a sword clean through the throat.

“How many?” Blair shouted. “How many?”

“I took two,” Hoyt said.

“Four, by the gods.” Even as he grinned, he was grabbing Blair’s arm. “How bad?”

“Off my game. Caught my ribs. I only got two. There’s another left.”

“Gone out the window above. Here, sit, sit. Your arm’s bleeding as well.”

“Shit.” She looked down, saw the gash she hadn’t felt. “Shit. Your nose is bleeding, mouth, too. Hoyt?”

“A few nicks.” He limped toward them. “I don’t think we’d need worry overmuch about the one that escaped. But I’ll be doing a spell to revoke any invitation. Let me see what I can do for your arm.”

“Spell first.” Breathing through her teeth, she looked at Larkin. “Four, huh?”

“It seems two of them were mating, and distracted with it when I came through the window. So I had them both with one blow.”

“Maybe we should only count that as one.”

“Oh, no, we won’t.” He finished tying a field dressing on her wounded arm, swiped blood from under his own nose. “Jesus, I’m starving.”

It made her laugh, and despite her aching ribs, she wrapped her arms around him to hug.

“T hey’re fine.” Glenna let out a shuddering breath. “A little battered, a little bloody, but fine. And safe. Sorry, sorry. But watching it like this, not being able to help... I’m just going to have a short breakdown.”

As promised, she buried her face in her hands and wept.

Chapter 7

E scaping, Cian left Glenna to Moira. In his experience, women dealt best with women’s tears. His own reaction to what they’d seen in the crystal hadn’t been fear, or relief, but sheer and simple frustration.

He’d been delegated to do no more than watch while others fought. Cozied in the bloody parlor with women and teacups, like someone’s aged grandfather.

While the training sessions were some level of entertainment, he hadn’t had a good fight since they’d left Ireland. Hadn’t had a woman in longer than that. Two very satisfying ways of releasing tension and energy had been denied to him—or he was denying them to himself.