Munro (Immortals After Dark #18) by Kresley Cole

            “What made you tense up, then?”

            “I need to reach a portal to my home in Louisiana.” Via Quondam. “But a number of demons are between it and us.” Though he hated lying to his mate, he would do whatever it took to deliver her out of this forest. “There’s a waterfall nearby. We can wait them out behind it.”

            She rolled her eyes. “Scared of a few demons?”

            “With a mortal in tow, I’ll take precautions.”

            “Do you often abduct humans?”

            “I avoid them at all costs.” Munro’s mind flashed to an image of the mortal babe he’d found centuries ago. Of tiny hands reaching for him . . .

            “You’d do well to avoid me,” Kereny said. “Even if you somehow succeed in kidnapping me, I will never accept you. You might win in the short term, but you’ll lose in the end.”

            “And you’ll be alive. I can work with that.”

            “I was bent on killing you before you abducted me,” she snapped. “What do you think I’ll be like now?”

            “Alive.”

            “Yet you won’t be for long, immortal. I promise to be very bad for your health. I will fight you forever.”

            He held her gaze. “Then I’ll have to convince you of my charms.”

            “Charms? Oh, wolf”—she gave a bitter laugh—“even in the Lore, some things don’t exist.”





SEVEN





            After several more miles, the Lykae slowed. “There’s a drop-off ahead.” He came to a stop at a cliff that fronted what looked like an abyss. “I’m going to step down. Prepare yourself.”

            They must be thousands of feet up! “No. I know of a way around.” A hidden cutout snaked between two mountains, leading to one of the circus’s scouting outposts. Once she reclaimed her blade, she could drop the wolf, then hitch a ride right back to the fairgrounds. There’d be no portal to Louisiana for Ren. “We just have to go—”

            He stepped off into nothing.

            She choked back a screech and clawed his bare shoulders, her hair whipping around her ears.

            Falling!

            Still falling—

            The wolf’s feet finally hit the ground. Hit wasn’t the right word. He landed, his legs absorbing the impact with ease.

            Between breaths, she snapped, “Du-te dracului, devil wolf!”

            “Go to hell?”

            She leaned in until their faces were inches apart. “Hell is where you belong, you insufferable, shit-eating mutt.”

            Instead of being insulted, his eyes glimmered with fascination. “A clan seer once predicted that my mate would be a harridan. I’m starting to see the appeal.” His voice dropped to a rumbling burr as he added, “Never imagined my female’s tart tongue could be so invigorating.”

            His words gave her shivers. Was she light-headed from plummeting so far—or from his dizzying intensity?

            She grew acutely aware of all the places their bodies touched. His hand cupped her high on her thigh. His shirtless chest pressed against her breasts.

            “I’ve waited a long time for you, wee harridan.”

            How long? This immortal might be decades old—or centuries. She parted her lips to ask, but when his gaze dipped to her mouth, her thoughts fled. Was he going to kiss her?

            This male was a monster, and yet she wondered what his kiss would be like. When she absently wetted her lips, he groaned, and that heady mix of fear and thrill zinged through her belly.

            Then she remembered herself. Immortals were spellbinding; that was part of their danger. Resisting his supernatural magnetism, Ren murmured, “I’ll put this in wolf parlance for you: kiss this bitch, and she will bite.”

            Clearly still debating it, he studied her face. Whatever he saw in her expression made him think better of it. He sped on.