Page 4 of Awakening Storm

And if she peeled back her feelings further, she wanted to do something reckless for once in her life, like stare death in the face and having survival be all that mattered.

She shook her head. That’s how much someone could crush you.

Then there was the million-dollar prize she’d win if she managed to return alive . . . That would certainly lift her worries about making her business work.

She took a deep breath. “Okay, Mr. Savage. Let’s go.”

He flashed his trademark smile. “Great! We must leave immediately,” he said, following her to the entrance while the camera crew trailed behind.

“And we will. However, I believe I need my passport,” she said with a wink. “Which is at home.”

He laughed. “Ah yes. That’s right.”

She traipsed into the parking lot with Savage and the cameramen following behind her. Terri, Joy, and some of their students followed, too, and they hurried forward to line the walk.

“Be careful,” Terri called out.

Rhianna raised a playful eyebrow. “Hey, I’m a second-degree black-belt. I know how to handle myself.” She pulled her shoulders back. Before she’d moved to Auburn, she’d even volunteered at a college in Bellevue, teaching a women’s self-defense class.

Terri tugged a hand through her hair. “Yeah, but still . . . Anything can happen.”

“Have fun,” one of her students shouted with a wave. The others joined in.

“I will!” She blew kisses to them with both hands and then slid into the back of the designated black SUV.

Her hands shook a little as she settled into the seat and watched her support group fade from view out the window, wondering if she’d ever see them again.

* * *

Aidan’s stomach growled, and he glanced at his watch.6:42.He’d gotten home later than he’d expected and now was late for an inner tree meeting with his brothers. Crap.

He turned and hurried up to the main house, Takeshi at his heels. Moving through the kitchen, he grabbed a peach from the fruit bowl and exited into a passageway on the other side of the room, which led to the tree.

At the subterranean entrance to his Divine Tree, Aidan paused for acknowledgment of his inner tiger and eagle. A drop of sap penetrated his extended wrist in recognition, and he scooped up Takeshi as the tree allowed them entrance.

“Benison,” Custos welcomed.

Aidan nodded. “Benison.”

“Your brothers have been summoning you,” the Divine Tree went on.

Aidan sighed. He wasn’t used to rushing. There were few things that required urgency when one lived alone on an island. Still, he hurried to meet his brothers, heading down into the catacombs deep within the tree. Custos had already engaged his special link with the other ten trees throughout the world, each of the brothers appearing on a screen so the others could see him.

“It’s about time,” his brother Venn said when Aidan came into view of the group.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Aidan apologized.

Ian, another of the Hearst brothers, chuckled. “Had your nose is some book, did you?”

Aidan had expected the ribbing. He, more than any of his brothers, enjoyed math, science, and philosophy. Which seemed strange since he was married to this island off the northeastern coast of Japan where his Divine Tree resided. But by studying every book he could get his hands on—and there were a lot with the age of computers—the world had opened to him.

He may be confined to an island, but it had all the comforts of any modern establishment, and then some. Hisdelegatowas his connection to the outside world, and he did a fine job of getting him everything he needed when he couldn’t build it himself.

“I just returned from my journey to the mainland,” Aidan explained.

“You left your tree unguarded?” Venn asked.

Aidan shrugged. Each of their Divine Trees was positioned in a special place with some near rare portholes into another universe, and as Guardians, they were to protect the trees of life from any intruders. He folded his arms over his chest. “There hasn’t been anything happening here. No sign of anyone who shouldn’t be here. And things have been quiet with Theodora. I’m sure Custos would know if anything was up.”