Trio of Seduction. Cassie Ryan
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a last look around at the top floor of the house, she took the stairs two at a time, and almost as an afterthought, grabbed her father’s framed military medals off the wall and tucked them under her other arm.
She pulled the garage door shut behind her and set the house perimeter alarms before she turned back to the gun safe. The shoebox and the framed military medals fit snugly in the bottom drawer after she rearranged the Japanese throwing stars and the nunchucks. The drawer slid easily closed, which allowed her to close the heavy safe door and click the entry pad back in place over the combination dial.
With a last wistful look at her PT Cruiser, she slid into the Humvee and fastened her seatbelt. “Hold on tight, Shiloh. This may be a bumpy ride.”
Kiera drove until her eyes stung with fatigue. Shiloh purred softly on the passenger seat beside her, where he had curled, dozing through four changes of license plates, three stops for gas and one indulgent stop at a drive-through Starbucks for an iced venti caffe latte with a quad shot of espresso.
“Damn cat. A lot of help you are.” She scowled at the peaceful feline, who seemed to only purr louder at her words.
Her headlights cut a dim path through the darkened haze of predawn, and she almost missed the slightly obscured gravel driveway to the safe house she and her father had set up in case of emergency. There were actually seven of them in different locales, but she chose this one since it was the closest to home.
The Humvee barely fit down the small gravel road to the cabin, and the screech of low hanging branches brushing the side of the vehicle made her jump until her tired brain made sense of the noise. After a few winding curves, the headlights shone on a small log cabin with a tiny attached garage.
Adrenaline surged back into Kiera’s veins as her gaze swept the perimeter for any sign of something out of place. When nothing jumped out of the shadows at her, she stopped the Humvee and slid out of the driver’s side with the Ruger her father had given her cradled in her palm. She disengaged the safety and started forward with the muzzle of the gun pointed down and to the side.
The strong scent of pine and rich earth filled each breath, and she breathed deep since the smell brought back cherished memories of time spent camping with her father.
Something brushed her right ankle and she bit back a scream.
Then her mind processed the identity of the orange streak that raced toward the front door of the cabin.
Shiloh.
“Fucking cat,” she muttered under her breath. My own fault for not shutting the car door . He would have to fend for himself if he wasn’t careful.
Her gaze swept over everything, cataloging distances, possible hiding places and escape routes as she went.
The attached garage was manually operated with a handle that had a keyhole in it. It marred the rustic simplicity of the log cabin next to it, but since a garage would make it easier to conceal the Humvee, she really couldn’t complain. The windows of the two-story cabin were dark, and large thick trees and foliage enclosed the sides of the structure, casting it in further shadow, since only slivers of moonlight peeked through the thick cloud cover.
With the Ruger a comforting weight in her hand, she carefully made her way around the side of the cabin where Shiloh had disappeared. She slid in between the side of the cabin and close-growing trees, thankful for the generous cover the forest provided.
Her tennis shoes crunched softly against the pine needles that padded the forest floor, but she detected nothing out of place.
When she reached the back corner of the house, she approached the porch that ran the full length of the cabin and overlooked the lake.
Soft sounds of the water lapping against the shore blended with the crickets and the lone hoot of an owl in the distance. She peered across the lake, but even in the weak moonlight, she could see there were no boats breaking the glossy surface.
Kiera turned her attention back toward the porch, which was supported by large round beams of thick wood since the ground veered sharply down toward the lake. This would be a great place to watch the sunrise and sunset—after she made sure there was no one here who wanted to kill her.
Details…
She crouched, her gaze sweeping under the porch to make sure nothing hid between the large wood supports. She found nothing but overgrown vegetation and rocks.
The hair on the back of Kiera’s neck prickled along with a strong sense of being watched.
She straightened, her Ruger coming up to firing position.
Two wide orange eyes stared back at her from the porch, over the barrel of her gun.
“Mrowwr.”
Kiera’s hands shook as she slowly lowered her arm and briefly considered strangling the cat. “I should fucking shoot you,” she whispered to Shiloh through clenched teeth.
The cat stretched and padded to the back door, where he promptly sat and began to clean his paws.
A few deep breaths calmed her heart enough to allow her to finish her perimeter check. When she found nothing out of place, she unlocked the front door and systematically checked each room of the small cabin.
Only a few dust bunnies greeted her, so she pulled the Humvee into the garage, unloaded half her cache of weapons and closed and locked the door behind her before venturing back inside the cabin. After a last quick look around, she set the alarms and stumbled upstairs to the master bedroom.
Her eyes burned and her limbs felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds each. She collapsed on the bed, not even bothering to kick off her shoes. Shiloh jumped up beside her, curling against her stomach, and she closed her eyes, sighing as the soft purrs soothed her to sleep.
Ryan stepped through the portal back onto his home planet of Tador and winced as bright sunlight surrounded him. Gooseflesh marched down his arms at the sudden temperature change, and he stepped off to the side to leave room for the Klatch guards who followed him. It took a few minutes for his eyes to adjust to the bright clear day after the inky blackness of the between .
For some reason, he always forgot Phoenix and Tador were on opposite schedules. Most likely because the bone-chilling cold of the between —the portal between the two worlds—took all his energy and attention just to traverse.
Fatigue weighted his limbs, and he briefly considered stopping by his rooms for food and sexual sustenance. As a Klatch witch, he needed sexual energy to survive and thrive just as much as he needed food and rest. However, whereas before tonight his fantasies had always been filled with soft willing women with dark hair and lavender eyes, they now featured a hellion with blond hair, deep blue eyes and sensual full lips.
“Here.” Gavin handed Ryan a small leather bag. “There’s some cheese, bread, fruit and a small skin of wine. That should hold you until you return from your discussion with the Seer. She is out at the waterfall looking for the hidden alcove mentioned in her childhood journals.”
No one had been more surprised than Ryan to find out the imaginary friend he had played with as a child had actually grown into a flesh and blood Earth woman—not to mention a powerful seer. Before the Seer and Prince Grayson were married a few weeks ago, Katelyn had found mention in her childhood journals of a hidden alcove with a statue that related to the Triangle that could save Tador.
Apparently, the Seer was finally getting around to searching for it.
Everyone hoped whatever lay in that alcove would help them unravel some of the mystery behind the Triangle and all it entailed.
Queen Alyssandra had taken a big chance reinstituting the Triangle she had only read about in some of the ancient queen’s journals. But the planet of Tador was too far gone for her to fully heal it on her own. She knew she needed Ryan and Grayson’s help to institute the Triangle and heal Tador.
And it couldn’t happen soon enough, if Ryan had finally found the Healer.