Page 31 of Bound By Love
When the creature’s fingers gripped the grate as if it were going to lift it away, Saber smiled as he pulled his sword free. The black stone glistened in the glow from the restaurant.
Despite its obvious bloodlust, the Savage stopped moving as its eyes fastened on the stone. Then its gaze flicked to Saber, and instead of emerging from the storm drain, it ducked down and vanished into the shadows.
Saber closed the distance between him and the drain. The slap of feet pounding against concrete retreated as the Savage disappeared into the maze of tunnels that he was sure the demons had built below.
This whole city probably sat over the top of a pit leading straight into Hell, and they hadnoidea. When he was with them, the demons moved around a lot, but he was beginning to think things had changed.
Saber wasn’t surprised when Caro came to stand beside him. He’d known she wouldn’t stay away for long, not his mate.
“There’s something down there,” he said.
“We already knew that.”
“No. It’s more than anything I ever experienced with them before. I have no idea how I know it, but I do. There’s something down there, and it’s bad.”
Caro gazed into the grate as she processed this information. “Do you think you’re somehow sharing Brie’s gift or tapping into it? I know she receives visions, and I assume they make her more intuitive.”
He would have vehemently denied it at any other time, but he’d never get the image of those burning woods from his mind. It remained so vivid he could smell the fire and hear the crack of the falling trees.
“I don’t know,” he muttered. “But I haven’t survived five hundred years because I can’t spot danger, and it’s down there… building.”
“To what?”
“To the end.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
Caro gulped as she shivered.She could picture a sea of lava and death building beneath them as Hell threatened to take over.
“We should have brought Brie here,” she said. “Maybe she could have seen something to help us.”
“I don’t want her here.”
“She’s going to have to fight, Saber. She has no choice, and neither do I.”
He scowled as he pulled her away from the grate. “I know that.”
“There’s a difference between knowing and accepting. It’s time to start accepting it. Maybe we should call and have her and Asher join us.”
“No, it’s too late to deviate from the plan. If no Savages follow us back tonight, then we’ll bring her with us tomorrow.”
The Savage had run, but it would spread the word of what it saw. The demons would soon know he was here and possessed something they craved.
“Let’s head back toward the waterfront,” he told Caro.
She released the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. Together, they walked back to the waterfront, where the streetlights and glow from the open businesses sparkled off the water.
The boats docked in the marina bobbed on the gentle rhythm of a waveless sea. Now that summer was over, there weren’t as many boats, but they still decorated the water.
The cobblestone streets were filled with cars and people as they strolled from one place to another, laughed, and danced in the night. It was all so beautiful and peaceful despite the noise and music.
It was almost impossible for Caro to believe monsters lurked beneath them, but she’d been down there. This beauty was hiding an insidious evil just waiting to spring.
She recalled Saber telling her the demons and Savages had taken over some towns. Had they moved in and taken many of the residents here too?
It wasn’t a large city, but it was still a lot bigger than some small town in the boondocks, but had they gotten their tentacles into the people here? She gulped as she realized it was a good possibility.
“Some of these people might be working for them too and reporting about us,” she whispered.
