Moonshadow (Moonshadow #1)(97)

As she turned around again, clenching her hands in frustration, Nikolas dug into his pack and pulled out a bottle of water. He thrust it into her hands. “Take a minute. Drink.”

Accepting the need for at least a brief break, she moved down the hall a few yards, away from the others, while she tried to think. Robin jumped to the ground and ran through the rooms in the corridor. The puck appeared to be searching too.

Sophie dropped her pack and eased into a sitting position, with her back against the wall. Sticking her knees up, she propped her elbows on them and buried her head in her hands.

Nobody said anything, but she felt like such a failure. It was her fault they were all trapped inside the house. She shot off her big mouth and speculated on things that she didn’t know enough about, and because of her, all their lives were now in danger.

Well, and hers too, but by this point, she felt like she deserved whatever she got. She couldn’t even find the stupid shift nearby even though it felt massive, like all the other shifts put together.

Another low rumble began, shaking through the house. It vibrated through the stone. She felt it in her ass and through her ankles, coming up from below.

Coming up from below, in the earth, just like the massive shift.

Robin caught her attention. The monkey was loping in circles, inside one of the cells. As she stared at him, he slapped the floor with both hands.

Excitement lifted away the dread. She leaped to her feet. “I’ve got it! The shift is below us!”

Quick footsteps came up from behind. At first she thought it was Nikolas, but then hard hands like manacles circled her neck, choking her. Her attacker spun her around so that they faced the other men, clamping her back against his chest with a hand around her throat while out of the corner of her eye, she saw him reach for the knife in his belt. He drew it and held the tip to her jugular.

They were all so much faster than she was. It happened so quickly she barely had time to grab hold of his forearm.

Several feet away, she caught a glimpse of the others—Gawain, Braden, Thorne, and Nikolas. That meant Ashe was the one who had taken her hostage.

The men lunged down the hall toward them. Nikolas’s expression turned savage.

“Back up,” Ashe barked. “Back up, or I’ll break her neck! I mean it, Nik—I’ll snap her like a twig. Back the fuck up!”

The men jerked to a halt.

“I’m going to murder you,” Nikolas whispered.

His eyes blazed, and his features seemed to… shift?

She blinked. He looked wrong somehow, monstrous, with talons instead of fingers. She had heard sometimes Wyr partially shifted when they were under extreme emotional stress. Was that what was happening?

“We’re going to walk to the front door, you and me,” Ashe growled in her ear. “And then we’re going to walk out of this godsforsaken place. I don’t have to hurt you if you cooperate and they keep their distance, understand? What happens to you is your choice.”

Oh sure, except for the knife to her throat, and by the way, what would happen to her once Ashe got to the front door? He couldn’t let her go and still hope to escape Nikolas, and she had a feeling Morgan would no longer be quite so friendly and nonthreatening if and when they came face-to-face again.

Which spell should she use, telekinesis or confusion? The tip of that knife pressing into her flesh was awfully pesky. Even if he got confused by the spell, he might still retain enough presence of mind to press it home.

Oh man, this was going to suck.

She had to do both actions simultaneously. Bracing herself back against his chest, she pushed as hard as she could against his forearm, lifting the tip of the knife momentarily from her throat—just an inch, but hopefully it would be enough. With her other hand, she reached back and smacked him upside the head.

The blow lifted them in the air and sent them flying back several feet. As Ashe crashed into the wall, his hold on her loosened. She crashed into Ashe, which wasn’t quite as bad as stone, but it was still bad enough. A line of burning pain flared along her collarbone as the edge of his knife ran across her upper body. They fell in a sprawling tangle of arms and legs.

She didn’t have to win this fight. All she had to do was get out of the way. Kicking free of him, she rolled and kept rolling.

A heavy weight slammed down on her. Ugh!

She got ready to smack Ashe with the other telekinesis spell, but then she realized the man was covering her body with his.

“Easy, lass,” Gawain muttered in her ear as he sheltered the back of her head with both hands. “I’ve got you.”

Overhead, there was a cyclone of savage movement and breathless cursing. She tried to turn her head to see what was going on, but Gawain’s hands were in the way. She gasped, “I can’t see.”

“Hold on.”

As the fight shifted down the corridor, Gawain lifted off her. Hooking one arm around her waist, he picked her up and ran several feet away. Only then did he set her on her feet, and together they turned to the confrontation.

Nikolas was the cyclone, but she knew that before she ever laid eyes on him. He had drawn his sword and was slashing with vicious, brutal accuracy at Ashe, who gave way down the hall and parried as well as he could with his knife.

“Did you tell the Light Court where I was going to be on the road to the solstice gathering?” Nikolas asked. “When I showed up that night, you asked me if I had taken the M6.”