Leaning back, she looked into the downpour, blinking to see.
The face of a young man with short brown hair and odd, bright-gold eyes looked down at her. He was dressed in nothing but a loincloth attached to a rope belt. Tarzan?
Rain and ice struck her face.
None of it seemed to bother him.
He offered a hand. "Give me your sword. I will pull you up."
Not a chance she was handing over her only weapon.
His face twisted and changed from the stranger with creepy eyes to Quinn's face, then back to the stranger.
Was he doing that or was her mind wishing so hard for Quinn that she was doing it?
She shoved her feet around frantically for purchase and one landed on a loop of rope.
"Hurry, miss, before you fall."
"No." Pushing up, she found another foothold and leaned in to slide her hand up for a higher grip.
Maybe he was a mirage that would disappear if she made it to the top. That sounded like a good game suggestion.
Rain and thunder held a war party.
As she got closer to the stranger, his body began altering from human to ... beast.
Clearly, the Keith wasn't going with the mirage idea.
The beast warped into something with jaws wider than her head, black eyes that still looked human but with red outlines. Tusks shot out from each side of his jaw and curved down.
Claws tipped his hands, which changed right in front of her to paws more suited to the four-legged body he shifted into. He snarled louder than a lion's roar and slashed a massive paw at her.
She clung to the rope with one hand and sliced off the leg he stuck down at her.
No explosion of sparkles this time.
Crap.
His body contorted again, keeping the hideous head, but changing into a twenty-foot-long orange serpent that slithered down the bridge.
She whacked at the body, but her blade bounced off the glistening orange scales. Clinging now with both legs twisted into the ropes, she was still a good eight feet below the ledge she needed to reach. The downpour of rain gushed over her.
Jerking around, she leaned over to see what her slimy friend was doing.
The monster serpent kept growing longer and longer until his body had woven itself in and around the dangling bridge she clung to, giving his hideous head a perfect support as he curled back up.
He bit her boot, yanking her foot back and forth.
She clutched the rope, fighting panic, and jammed her other boot hard at his nose, assuming he had one.
Keeping a stranglehold on the ropes and the sword, she saw no way out of this. The longer she struggled to hold on, the more fatigued she became and the less mobility she had for fighting.
The beast-serpent growled, sinking its fangs deeper and yanking the boot free, exposing her foot. She pulled her bare foot up closer and kept kicking at him with the other boot, trying to break his fangs.
Two snapped off.
He had a mouthful left.
He ripped the other boot off and spit it out. The boot fell forever, lost in the oblivion of fifteen-foot waves crashing everywhere.
The serpent lunged up and wrapped around her body. He circled her waist then lifted his head slowly to eye level.
She couldn't breathe. He coiled tighter.
Scales had now run up onto his head. She wouldn't be able to lop that off.
He reared back, jaws open.
With the serpent holding her in place, she was free to use both hands. She flipped the sword with the point sticking out.
His massive open maw dove at her.
She drove the blade deep into his throat.
He tried to bite down, but she twisted the blade back and forth, using all the strength she had in both arms.
She heard a loud pop.
Bright lightning shards shot from what had been a serpent monster.
She smiled.
And fell.
Nothing held her.
She flailed around to grab the tangle of ropes. Her heart jumped in her throat as she slid downward. Lunging, she caught the rope with both hands and yanked her body to a stop.
The sword went tumbling end over end out of sight.
Rain splattered her face.
She hung there, unable to do anything except breathe. Slowly, the rain subsided. The sun came out and the river below calmed.
But her sword was gone.
Clinging to the ropes, her heart raced. She didn't want to accept losing and she'd keep going, but logically the challenges would become more difficult.
She'd barely survived this one, even with a sword.
Leaning back, she looked up fifteen feet and realized she hadn't survived this yet.
Her arms burned and her body ached.
She wouldn't win another fight, maybe not even if she had the sword. She would never see Quinn again.
"Don't think that way," she barked at herself.
Quinn might be out here, fighting just as hard. Besides, one of them had to live to find Phoedra.
Struggling with every move and wheezing for air, she started making her way up, hand over hand. It felt like forever before she finally got to the cliff and hauled herself along the rope until she could fall down on the thick vegetation.
That seemed like a cushy place to die.
Her back continued to burn from demon poison, but she didn't care.
All she wanted to do right now was wait for the end.
When it didn't come right away, she cursed herself for being a wimp and stopping. Pushing to her feet, she weaved a bit, but she was standing.
Looking over her shoulder, she took in the beautiful vista of mountains in the distance with splashes of green as it fell away to the quiet stream below.
Not a bridge in sight.
Can't go back that way.
Shoving wet hair off her face, she wiped water from her arms, but the heavy humidity continued to give her a steam bath. One button held her shirt together and her pants weren't in much better shape.
The vest was gone.
Her last weapon--the scarves--had vanished with the vest.
She hoped there were no poison stickers ahead since she had no shoes, either.
Moving forward, she climbed over fallen trees. This place felt like a rain forest. Her hair and clothes were wet, but the temperature was at least tolerable.
She discovered something positive about all this humidity. Before long, she felt fairly clean.
But the demon juice was working on her, because she was losing energy with every step. Her muscles felt leaden.
How long before this ended?
Keep thinking about Quinn.
Got it. She'd learned to trick her mind to get past pain by taking it to a place that felt good. She imagined being with Quinn in a pretty place where they could stroll through the woods. Flowers were blooming and birds chirped. They came to a lovely clearing where they sat down, then Quinn started kissing her. He took her clothes off and started making love to her.
"Really?" She shook her head. "I wonder if I'll still have fantasies about him when I'm dead."
She tried to make light of it, but she regretted not telling Quinn that she'd missed him over the past six weeks. That he was special to her. If she truly bared her soul, she'd admit that she wanted to find out what it would be like to make love for real with a man that fantasies couldn't match.
Her miserable conscience piped up. That's not all you want to find out with Quinn. You want a relationship.
"No," she argued with herself. "I'm not so selfish as to want something more with Quinn when I would be a liability to him because of this demon blood."
That shut her conscience down.
She scanned the jungle constantly for some path or sign that she was moving in the right direction, but nothing stood out as obvious so she kept her heading.
It didn't take long before she came upon an arched door.
No building, just the door.
Right.
Leaning to the left, she looked past the door to find more of the same jungle.
"No weapon. What am I supposed to do now?" She waited for a tree to start talking, but nothing answered her. "Screw it." She reached for the wrought iron handle and pushed, then pulled, but the door would not open. "Really?"
"Open Sesame."
Nothing happened.
Heh. It had worked for Ali Baba.
Scratching her head, she considered everything she'd seen until now and finally came up with only one idea.
Lifting her fist, she knocked three times.
The door whipped opened and she was yanked inside.
Chapter 24
--------
"I've been sick with worry." Quinn hugged Reese, so damned glad to see her. He'd tried to tell himself it was because he felt responsible for Reese's safety, but that only contributed to his being a crazed lunatic waiting for her to arrive.
He had begun to believe he'd lost her.
The possibility of her dying here threatened to bring him to his knees, and that had rattled him.
He never wanted to go through the longest hour of hell again.
Her hair and clothes were drenched. She dug her fingers in, holding on to him. "I was worried about you, too." When she pulled back, her wild gaze raced over him with urgency, clearly taking in his ripped, dirty clothing and the gashes, now healing, on his lower arms. She started to say something, then shook it off.
"What, sweetheart? Just say it." More than anything else, he wanted to kiss her at this moment.
Not true. After the battle he'd fought to reach this point, his body throbbed with the desire to drag her underneath him and feel her as he shoved deep inside her.
But Reese needed comfort, not to be ravaged by a wild man.
She'd fought just as hard to be here. She'd battled her way through unimaginable obstacles, though hopefully not as bad as the ones he'd faced. That had been the deal he'd cut with the Keith when Quinn discovered he had to run a deadly gauntlet and that he couldn't prevent Reese from running an obstacle course, alone, too. Quinn had been offered the chance to lighten her challenge, but that meant his course would be even more difficult.
Reese cursed lightly under her breath, then muttered, "I earned this." She lifted up and kissed him.
Well, hell. Who was he to say no to that?
When Reese kissed, she gave it her all.
No holding back.
She did everything with her whole being and kissed him now as if she wanted to imprint her mouth in as many spots as she could. It was more like imprinting her very soul on him and binding their bodies in this one moment.
More, sweetheart.
Quinn swept his tongue past her lips to entangle hers. She tasted of life and hope. Her warm body molded to his, letting him know she wanted him just as much.
That was so damn hot.
He felt everything about Reese. Her presence demanded his attention and he gave it willingly.
In many ways, this was a new sensation for him, to feel what he did for Reese.
He'd been a machine for too long, doing what was required of him and allowing no room for impulsive actions.
No chance to feel true emotion.
He wanted more than what he'd had with Kizira when they'd first met as young adults.
Talk about unhealthy relationships. That one deserved its own category.
It was in this moment with Reese that he realized the difference between what he'd experienced in the past and what he felt now. The sad truth was that Quinn's own burden of guilt and shame over his secret relationship had kept him from moving on emotionally. His heart had wandered around lost while he'd clung to his grief and focused on duty. He'd denied himself any semblance of a normal life, justifying his actions as being necessary to perform his duty.
He'd betrayed his people even though he hadn't known who Kizira was that first time.
For that, he'd truly believed he deserved no one.
But then Reese had burst into his world, planted her feet with force and refused to tiptoe around his pain or ignore the subject of Quinn's own self-delusion. Reese had refused to be ignored, period.
He had no words to describe the fear he'd experienced in the past hour of waiting with no idea if she'd survive the Keith's maniacal game. Quinn had paced constantly, listening for any small sound alerting him she'd survived.
Reese had her hands in his hair and on his face now.
Heat whipped across his skin at her touch.
By the goddess, he wanted this woman. Here. Now.
Nipping his lip, Reese said, "Stop thinking about anything but me."
Damn, he loved that demanding side of her. No one compared to Reese when she wanted something. No one.
Quinn growled, "Yes, ma'am," then reached for her ragged shirt and ripped it open, leaving her bare except for a frilly bra.
She gasped and looked at him with wide eyes.
That caused him to look around and realize where they stood. In the Keith's realm.
She latched onto the collar of his shirt and yanked him down to eye level with her. "What's wrong?"
"This could be happening because of the Keith's realm influence, like back in our guest room."
"Do you really think that?" she challenged, breathless.
"Honestly? No."
"Me either." She lunged up, smacking his lips with hers, hard enough to make him laugh. She grumbled about having to do everything herself.
Not on his watch.
He wanted her to feel as much as he did right now. He'd known beauties that a king would go to war for who could never reach inside Quinn and grip his heart the way Reese had.
One minute she massaged his heart with tenderness and in the next she crushed the brittle parts so they couldn't re-form into the hard shell it had been for so long.
Reese had blown into his life like a breath of fresh air with a sharp bite. She'd pushed and prodded, forcing him to acknowledge feelings he'd long denied.
Reese was a force that called to him on every level as a man.
A woman he wanted in his world.
For more than just this mission.
Fighting through the Keith's live-or-die game and wondering whether Reese would survive her challenges, had shown him that.
She might not trust him entirely yet, but he was willing to trust her and take the first step in keeping her close.
Quinn clasped her face in his hands, taking over and kissing her with fierce abandon.
But his conscience wouldn't stand down. It reminded him that Reese deserved to know what he felt for her before he continued pawing her.
His body argued for talking later.
She pleaded, "Touch me, please, touch me. I want to feel your hands, Quinn."
Evidently, their bodies were in agreement.
Her heated words snapped the thin resistance tugging on his fevered mind and locked his conscience out of the picture.
His hands were just as happy to join in as his mouth. He popped her front-clasp bra, appreciating the easy access, then filled his hands with her breasts.
"Oh, yes," she moaned between kisses.
Her hands joined the party, pulling his tattered shirt apart. He slowed his attention to her breasts just long enough to shrug out of it.
She grabbed his hands and brought them back to her glorious breasts, demanding, "Me, me, me."
He grinned in spite of the heat building between them. He lowered his head to take a nipple into his mouth and tease the tip with his tongue until it stood erect and happy.
The throaty sigh she released did him in.
Now he was glad the room he'd been stuck in while waiting for her had a bed and a bathroom and food on a table. There were candles. Quinn had lit one in the bathroom and had been on the way to light more out here when he'd heard three knocks.
He had no idea how she'd known to knock, but that had been the key to opening the door.
The
Keith had left Quinn a message in his battlefield indicating that if Reese made it to the final point with Quinn, the Keith would send for them between three and one hundred hours after she arrived.
That wizard had a twisted sense of humor.
The only relief he'd given Quinn was to inform him that time stood still while Quinn was in the Keith's realm. If he and Reese survived and left with Phoedra in hand, or at least information on how to find her, the time and day would be the same when they departed as when they'd arrived.
Quinn hadn't missed the Keith's specific point of if he allowed them to leave.
Reese hooked her arms around his neck.
Quinn lifted her by her hips and she wrapped her legs around him. She moved her hips against his surging erection in a rhythmic motion that no man could resist. He could feel her steamy body and smell how much she wanted him.
She reached for his snap. "Off. Now!"
Smiling at her, he shucked his pants then nipped her ear. She bit his shoulder. Using one hand, he tore off her thin, shredded pants.
The instant realization that no underwear shielded her heat untethered him completely.
Now they were bare to each other.
Time to get serious.
He wanted to see her face when he brought her to orgasm.
Hooking his hands under her, he lifted her sweet body until he could take a breast in his mouth and suck hard on her nipple.
She trembled and clenched her legs around his ribs. The sound that came out of her was so erotic it shot heat through his groin.
He lifted her further, forcing her to unwind her legs.
She grumbled and grabbed a fistful of his hair.
Staring intently at her, he backed her against the wall and ordered, "Put your legs on my shoulders."
With a little twisting, which was no problem for a woman as athletic as Reese, she slid a leg over each shoulder.
That brought her most delicious spot up to mouth level.
He dove into her heat, using his tongue to torment the sensitive layers. She gripped his hair and cried out. Her legs hooked tighter around his shoulders and locked him to her as she arched backward.
Lost in pleasuring her, he kept teasing her near the edge and pulling back, then pushing her closer again and again. He could do this for hours.
She fisted her hands in his hair. "I can't handle any more."
Her legs shook with strain.
He wasn't stopping to argue.
"Quinn! Please do it," she pleaded and ordered at the same time.
Damn, this woman would drive him crazy and he'd go happily. With one last lick, he toyed with her sweet spot once more then gave her what she wanted.