Beyond the Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #6)(79)

“Impossible.”

“Nothing is impossible,” she softly countered. “Although some things are more probable.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Just how long have you been down here?”

“An eternity.”

“You…” His words were bit off as a chilling scream ripped through the caves, followed by a violent earthquake that sent Caine sprawling on the hard floor. Pressing a hand to the lump on the back of his head, he regained his feet and glanced warily at the ceiling. It was nothing less than a miracle that they hadn’t been buried beneath an avalanche of rock. “What the hell was that?”

Standing in the middle of the cave as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred, the pureblood pointed a finger toward the swirling glyphs.

“Crossroads.”

Caine’s sharp laugh echoed through the suddenly still air. The woman might be beautiful and fascinating, but she was as crazy as a loon.

“Is it in the prophet handbook that seers have to mutter complete crap?”

She blinked. “There’s a handbook?”

“Christ.” He shook his head. “What do you mean by crossroads?”

She again pointed at the designs that had started to pulse and churn with a nauseating tempo.

“Leave now and you have a chance of altering your future.”

“And if I stay?”

She met his gaze squarely “You die.”

Even expecting the prophecy of doom, her simple words hit Caine like a punch to the gut.

You die…

For the past thirty years he’d believed that immortality was in his grasp. Hell, he’d become downright cocky, taking insane risks.

Like trying to kidnap the King of Weres.

Now he smiled wryly as his mortality smacked him directly in the face. Obviously he should have been paying more attention to his rotten karma, rather than placing all his bets on a vision he’d completely misread.

“Of course I die,” he muttered. “And what happens to you?”

She shrugged. “Fate.”

Caine’s brows snapped together. The thought of his imminent death pissed him off. The thought that this woman might be harmed…

Unacceptable.

“Well, screw fate,” he growled, kicking off his running shoes.

Her green eyes widened with something that might have been female appreciation as he stripped off his T-shirt.

“What are you doing?”

He tugged off his jeans, tossing them aside. “I’m done trying to make an impossible dream come true.”

Perhaps sensing his reckless determination to go down in a blaze of glory, Cassandra moved to frame his face in her hands, her expression troubled.

“I told you, nothing is impossible.”

Her touch sent a shocking blast of awareness through Caine, nearly sending him to his knees. Christ, it was like being struck by lightning.

A damned shame he could sense something very large and dangerous charging through the tunnels toward them.

A gruesome death might be worth a night with this woman.

“Maybe you’re right, Cassandra, my love.” He savored the beauty of her delicate features, lingering on the vulnerable curve of her mouth. “After all, you’re about to witness a miracle.”

“What miracle?”

Bending down, he kissed her with a fierce regret.

“For once in my miserable life, I’m going down a hero.”

He stole one last kiss, then, with a defiant howl, Caine shifted and prepared to meet death.

When Harley opened her eyes, she was briefly bewildered by the cupid-painted ceiling above her.

Lying on the oversized bed with silk sheets and a fluffy comforter that was perfect to burrow beneath, she battled through the fog still clinging to her brain.

She remembered being in the caves. Kind of tough to forget. It wasn’t every day a woman had to fight a demon lord. Not even in her crazy world. And then there had been a mad dash through the caves, barely staying ahead of the thunderous cave-in.

After that…

She had a vague memory of stumbling over Darcy and the vampires in the upper chambers. They had swiftly bundled Harley and Salvatore in a Hummer and headed back to Chicago. And then there was nothing.

She had no recollection of arriving at the mansion on the outskirts of Chicago. Or being tucked in bed.

And she most certainly didn’t remember being stripped naked.

The last of the fog was seared away as Harley became aware of the warm body laying next to her. With a jerk, she rolled to the side, not at all surprised to discover Salvatore.

Even without the heat brushing over her bare skin, she would have known he was near. The essence of him was branded deep inside her.

Unnerved by the sensation, Harley allowed her gaze to drift over the finely chiseled face, a familiar need stirring as she took in the thin aquiline nose and full sensuous lips. With his raven hair spilled across the pillow and richly bronzed skin glowing in late afternoon sunlight, he might have looked ridiculously pretty if not for the savage power that hummed just below his sophistication.

Intent on her survey, it took Harley a moment to notice the amused gold shimmering beneath his lowered lashes.

Her heart did an alarming flop and she instinctively tensed, preparing to scramble out of the bed.

As quick as she was, however, Salvatore was quicker.