Free Dark Flight (The Shadow Slayers) by Cassi Carver Page A

a female here.”
    “Why would there be a female here? Raleon’s females are all accounted for, and no other females would be stupid enough to come here alone…unless they planned to stay.”
    Gavin’s grip shifted to Kara’s waist and he pulled her close to his chest, as if to protect her from even the thought that these men could try to hand her over to their king.
    “She wasn’t alone. I smell another silver-wing. Though it wasn’t as if she could have flown here on her own two wings anyhow.” The men snickered, and it made Kara want to plant her boot where the sun didn’t shine.
    “Do you want me to get a tracker? Maybe we can figure out where they flashed to.”
    “No. If they come any closer to the palace, we’ll alert Raleon. As it is, I’m not sure he would care to be bothered.”
    “Well, as long as we’re here…” the first man said to the second as he sat in the shade of the fawn and fished a flask from his pocket.
    The other man laughed. “Where did you get that?”
    “The females’ nest on the surface. The king stocks the good stuff for them. When I do transport, I take a little for my trouble.”
    Kara tugged her arm in the direction of the clue she’d uncovered in the rock. Gavin’s grip tightened, as if to say no.
    Kara ran her hand over his biceps and pinched hard. She felt the tremor in his chest, as if he held back his laughter. Finally, his hands smoothed down her sides and over her ass, until she went wide-eyed, wondering just what in the hell he was up to.
    A moment later, she flipped into the air, suspended by her ankles with Gavin apparently flying her over the spot on the fawn where she needed to finish her work. Unfortunately, it was only inches from the back of the silver-wing’s head. Shit! But she asked for it when she’d unleashed the Jaws of Life on Gavin’s arm.
    She very gently scraped the stone again, rubbing the pad of her finger over it without making much of an impact as she tested whether the guard would notice her. When he took a long swallow from the flask, she scraped harder, making a chunk about an inch wide fall just behind him, narrowly missing his shoulder.
    She sighed, and gentled her motion again as her blood began pooling in her head. The shape of the glittery vein in the rock was much like a crooked line, and for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out which way they would turn it on the map to get them to where they needed to go next. But then again, there was still a little chalky coating she needed to uncover.
    “I still smell her,” the guard next to her said.
    “Yes,” his companion agreed. “She is a strong-smelling female, whoever she is.”
    Kara stifled her growl. She wasn’t sure if that was a compliment coming from a silver-wing, but where she grew up, those would be fightin’ words. It was all she could do not to flick the next chalky bit into the man’s hair. When she paused, contemplating it, Gavin gave her a little shake. For the sake of her throbbing temples, pounding with excess blood, she got back to work.
    When she’d at last uncovered the entire design, she took a mental snapshot of it and shimmied her ankles a bit, signaling to Gavin that it was time to go. The next thing she knew, she was being dropped on her head on his big silky comforter on Mercury Island.
    She rolled onto her side and rubbed her neck. “Uh? Why am I here?”
    “Because if they do have any trackers skilled enough to follow our trail and get through our wards, I’d rather them show up on an island of three hundred warriors than at your apartment.”
    “Ah. Good thinking.” She drew up her knees and maneuvered to the side of the bed to sit. “Okay, let’s try to plot this on the map.”
    “Did you get a good look at the design?”
    “Good enough, I hope. Did you?”
    “No, I couldn’t see it with your—” his gaze grazed her hips and the curve of her ass as she sat, “—legs in the way.”
    She pulled out the map and unrolled it, then