Free Misfortune Cookie by Casey Wyatt

glinting off his funky-colored eyes. “Is that a challenge?”
    Again, my body bloomed for him. Desire curled my toes. I tucked my hands behind my back so I wouldn’t reach out and touch him. I fake yawned. “I’m really tired. Mind if we go home?”
    “Of course not. Tell me, what is your derby name?”
    “For someone who doesn’t know anything about roller derby, you sure catch on fast.”
    “I never said I didn’t know anything. I merely expressed surprise that it had made a comeback.” He paused at the door and arched an eyebrow, waiting.
    I cleared my throat. “Lucky LiquidateHer.”
    His laughter echoed in the empty gymnasium. “Seriously? Oh, cariad , that suits you.” He cupped my cheek with his palm, hot need flashing over his face, then his lips descended on mine. Liquid heat coursed through my veins. He teased my mouth open with his tongue. I pushed against his body, eager for more.
    Power hummed between us. A sense of ‘rightness’ flowed into me. I wound my fingers into his hair, savoring the satiny feel of it.
    Velvet-hot lips trailed a path down my neck. Every nerve ending in my body begged to be touched. Luca stopped at my collarbone, teeth nibbling at my sensitive flesh. My nipples hardened, painfully tight.
    “Touch me, please.” The demand slipped out of my mouth before my brain could overrule me.
    Luca dipped his head down, tongue teasing the sensitive flesh behind my ears all while his hands glided up underneath my shirt.
    “Yes,” I hissed, bowing my back as the heat of his palms scorched my skin.
    A loud boom sounded, vibrating the building. Overhead, lightbulbs sizzled then exploded, plunging the space into total darkness.
    I’ve been scared before in my life. Many times. But never like this. Deep, primal fear slammed into me as if all the hope and good things in the world had been ripped away.
    “Luca?” I hated the waver in my voice.
    “Don’t move.” Eerie eye shine emitted from his pupils. He placed his body in front of mine.
    Heavy thuds shook the ground, rattling my knees. The wall behind me exploded inward in a spray of metal and stone. An unseen force yanked me backward, launching me into the roof of a car. Metal buckled, glass shattered, and all the air in my lungs expelled in a single violent burst.
    Pain lanced my back. Black spots floated before my eyes. Immobilized, I sucked in air with short, panicked pulls. The brands on my palms sprang to life. Power buzzed over my skin.
    “Radiance!” Luca sounded far away and muffled.
    Suffocating darkness loomed ready to suck me into its depths.
    A Luca-shaped whirlwind streaked by and collided with the shadow creature approaching me. With an ear-splitting roar, it batted him away, crashing him into the chain-link fence.
    Though my bones had knitted together, making it possible for me to move, I was trapped in the twisted wreckage of the car.
    Heavy footsteps clomped toward me, its relentless march undeterred. The ground quaked with each step. I half expected to see a T-rex standing over me. Instead, a dark man-like creature, at least twelve feet tall loomed overhead. It raised its arm. A double-sided battle-axe glinted in the dim light.
    I was dead.

Chapter 4
    One way to learn more is not to hide your ignorance.
    “Be gone, draugr !” Luca smashed into the towering monster, hurtling them both to the ground. The battle-axe cleaved into the pavement with a sharp crack.
    From my reclined angle, I saw the draugr’s brawny arm rise. With a dull thwack , Luca was slapped like an errant fly into the building. Glass windows exploded under the force of Luca’s landing.
    With a rending tug, I freed my body from the wreckage and fell to the ground. I leaned against the remains of the car door, breath hammering in and out of my chest.
    Where was Luca?
    I needn’t have been concerned. He shot across the parking lot and tackled the draugr behind the knees. Luca and the monster traded hard body blows. I don’t know how the draugr