Free Yield the Night by Annette Marie Page B

The new voice shivered under Piper’s skin, rubbing across her bones. She smiled, elated even through the drug haze.
    Walter, Mona, and the rest of the Council retreated rapidly from the back of the dais, two of them falling down the steps in their haste. Mona pointed with a shaking hand.
    “You!” she shouted accusingly.
    A shadow fell across Piper. She looked up. Ash stood beside her, terrifying in black fatigues, an armored vest, and black armguards. Twin swords at each hip. A black wrap covered the lower half of his face.
    Piper beamed up at him.
    He kept his eyes on Walter, dark irises searing the Gaian leader.
    Walter straightened sharply. “You may fancy yourself her rescuer, but—”
    Breaking off mid-sentence, Walter plunged a hand into his jacket and whipped out a gun, finger already on the trigger. Ash didn’t even move. His punch of magic smashed into Walter, knocking him off the dais. The gun flew out of his hand.
    With a dismissive glance at the fallen man, Ash stepped in front of Piper. His gaze swept over her face before locking on her eyes. He slid his hands lightly down her arm. With a tickle of magic, the bindings holding her to the chair disappeared. As soon as she was free, she clumsily raised her arms toward him. He gently scooped her out of the chair, lifting her effortlessly into his arms as he turned. Beyond him, people were stampeding out of the room through the double doors.
    “You can’t have her.” Mona’s voice shook as she stepped in front of him. “She doesn’t belong to you.”
    “Nor does she belong to you.”
    “You can’t—”
    “Oh come on ,” Lyre said, appearing behind Mona, making her start violently. He’d crossed the room unnoticed by the Council. “You think you have a claim to Piper? You kidnapped her. Now that’s motherly love.”
    “She belongs with—”
    “With whoever she wants to be with. Now get out of the way.” He gave another flick of his hand and his spell knocked her on her butt.
    Ash strode off the dais with Piper cradled in his arms. Most of the room had emptied, but before he could take more than a few steps, the doors banged open again. A squad of men in black uniforms rushed in, armed with short assault rifles.
    Shimmers coated Lyre’s body as he pivoted. His glamour vanished, one hand already pulling an arrow from the quiver hanging on his shoulder. He smoothly nocked it before letting the arrow fly. In a blink, he had a second arrow nocked. He drew the dark fletching to his cheek and loosed it.
    Each arrow pierced a soldier’s shoulder, pinning them to either side of the doorframe.
    The rest of the squad stopped dead, their attention torn between the writhing men pinned to the threshold and Lyre’s mesmerizing daemon form. The incubus drew a third arrow, and in a flash he fired it. It hit the top of the doorframe. The arrow glowed bright gold—then exploded. The doorframe collapsed in a rain of plaster and concrete.
    “Zwi, lights,” Ash said.
    The lights went out, plunging the room into total blackness but for the dim glimmer coming off the windows of the nearest skyscrapers.
    Unfazed by the darkness, Ash strode toward the wall of windows. The air crackled ominously, and then there was a boom of sound, a shocking explosion of power, and the shattering of glass. A cold wind swept inside the room through the smashed windows.
    He stepped onto the ledge, a twenty-five-story drop just inches away. Lyre hopped up beside him, back in glamour, with the wind whipping his hair across his eyes. Zwi flew out of the darkness and landed on his shoulder.
    A sudden flash of light illuminated the room.
    “Stop!”
    The two daemons glanced back as Mona ran toward them, a light spell in her hand.
    “You can’t have her!” Mona shouted. “She belongs with us!”
    Ash looked down at Piper. She smiled. He turned to Lyre and they clasped hands. Together, they sprang into empty space and silent night.

CHAPTER 7
    F LYING was cold. She absorbed little of