Page 10 of Awakening Storm

•

His arms morphed intopowerful wings that caught the current of air and lifted him off the ground. The rest of his body changed at the same time, and he could feel the tiny pinpricks of feathers forming, not actually painful but perceptible. The process was seamless, and it was natural for him now, although it wasn’t always so. In the beginning, he had to learn how to fly like any baby bird. Trial and error had been a bitch.

He dug his talons into the ground to gain purchase before he launched into the air. As he did so, the earth shook with a vibration he felt deep in his bones.

Aw, shit. That isn’t good.

His whole body was suddenly alert and on guard. If his guess was correct, someone had just broken through from the Riam dimension. And that someone was probably the sorceress, Theodora. Depending on her intent and mood, the experience ranged from a minor earthquake tremor to a sonic boom.

She’d taunted him in the past, trying to persuade him to give up secrets from the Divine Tree. Now she would want this woman. He was sure of it...just as she desired all humans who passed through the Dragon Vortex.

He tensed. In every instance when someone had visited the island, sorceress Theodora had taken them to her alternate universe, Riam. He didn’t actually know what the place looked like, for no person who had ever been here left again. As far as he knew, the only way in or out of Riam was through Theodora. Custos had told him it was a place of continuous fighting and the people she took there became warriors.

Aidan flew in a high circle over the woman and the pup. Neither paid any attention to him.

If Theodora was visiting his island, experience told him it was the woman who drew her here. As he banked, his gaze swept the area. The sorceress materialized from the mist shrouding the trees. Slowly, she descended to the ground. Her long black dress hung in strips around her ankles, however, the bodice fit perfectly to her body.

Fear for the woman’s safety struck him hard. Theodora was a mix breed of siren and Valkyrie who had been given the gift of magic from the Demon Prince, and she was like a dog sniffing out a bone when it came to visitors to the Dragon Vortex. The chilling sorceress hadn’t wasted any time seeking out the female, either. Maybe it was simply coincidence, or maybe with the approaching Age of Atonement, she’d been waiting for an opportunity. For what, he didn’t know. Another go at trying to get knowledge from the Divine Tree, perhaps? He had stopped her last time, but not without Custos’ help.

An odd expression crossed Theodora’s face as she paused, seeming to admire her surroundings. He wondered what went through her malicious mind. Her features relaxed and her eyes shone florescent green. Something seemed to hold her in check, as if she were testing the waters. Could that be because she knew he was watching?

Aidan flew to a branch where he could see both the female and the sorceress, although it would be like watching a tennis match if he had to turn from one to the other.

A snap of a twig alerted him someone was on the move and he jerked his gaze to the woman. She was walking through the trees, Takeshi close behind her. Suddenly she paused, talking as if to herself. But then she took the portable camera from her brow and turned it toward herself, and he realized she was documenting her actions for some reason.

“It’s day one here in the Dragon Vortex, and I’ve settled in at my overnight location. The fire is going—” she looked up at the impending storm “—but I’m not sure how long it will last. I’ll probably get rained out any second. And as you can see, I have an unexpected friend.” She reached down and stroked the pup’s head.

On the heel of her words, large drops began to fall from the sky. A few intermittent splotches at first, and then the rain started to come down faster, each plop a little smaller and more intense than the ones before. She ducked beneath the ledge, curling her limbs in under the cover of the rock. “And that’s it for now. Rhianna Mori signing off from day one ofOn Your Ownin the Pacific Ocean.”

So that was her name.Rhianna. He tossed it around in his thoughts, liking the sound. Pretty, like her.

But the rest of what she’d said was beyond him.

Theodora strolled right into Rhianna’s camp, halting a few feet away from him. Rhianna didn’t so much as shift her gaze. She just stared straight ahead.

Aidan tensed. Theodora was invisible to humans unless she chose to reveal herself. One of her many sorcery powers. And she usually only revealed herself when she was going to do something horrible. He had to get her to leave before she did something irreversible.

It’s been awhile, Aidan said, mentally transferring the conversation to her.

Yes. Now what have we here?she asked.

Go back to your world, Theodora.

She turned her head to look at him and smiled wickedly. With a raised eyebrow, she asked,Now why would I want to do that?

It was verbal play, he knew; she didn’t truly want an answer.

She doesn’t know anything about our worlds,he said roughly. Let her be in hers.

Perhaps.

She was taunting him. Theodora loved to play games . . . and change rules. The encounters he’d had with her over the centuries left him with a lot of uncertainties. To his understanding, according to Custos, the people who she’d taken by force into her alternate universe were not dead, nor completely alive, but somehow they simply existed. She kept them as her pets.Or more like entertainment. But the truth was, he’d never been to Riam, so he wasn’t certain.

He only sensed he didn’t want Theodora to capture this woman.

Rhianna placed the recording equipment inside a bag—he hoped it was waterproof—and then unwrapped some sort of snack bar and ate. Eyeing Takeshi, she broke off a piece and fed it to him. “What do you eat out here? How do you survive?” she asked softly. There was a fresh innocence about her that made his chest flutter. He tried to shake off the feeling. He couldn’t be drawn in, couldn’t care. He just needed to send her on her way.

But something within him resisted. As ridiculous as it seemed, he felt something for this woman. Maybe it was her beauty, or the fact that all the other humans who had come to the island had been men. Maybe it was protectiveness that stirred inside him at knowing if Theodora took this woman, he couldn’t leave his tree and venture after them.