Warrior Rising. Pamela Palmer

Whatever you’re most afraid of appears. It may not be real, but damn if you don’t think it is. I found myself surrounded by Esri who weren’t there, and nearly run down by an eighteen-wheeler. In the forest.”

      Musical laughter trilled beside Harrison. Ilaria’s laughter. The sound caressed his senses, stroking him inside and out. He struggled to ignore her and failed, unable to forget what Charlie had told him earlier, that she’d been incarcerated in a village no bigger than a football field. For three hundred years. No wonder she couldn’t quite contain her smiles or laughter. She must be ecstatic to be free.

      Even though they were essentially holding her captive.

      His gaze slid to her, lingering on the creamy pale flesh of her cheek and the long expanse of silken neck peeking out through the soft cascade of curls. He breathed in her scent, sweet gardenias, and felt things tighten low in his body as his gaze dipped lower, to the ripe swell of breasts beneath that amazing gown.

      “So fill me in on what’s happened while we were gone,” Charlie said, drawing Harrison’s attention back to where it belonged—anywhere but Ilaria. A keen speculation lit Charlie’s eyes. Harrison pretended not to notice.

      “We’re all but certain Esri came through some of the other gates last month. Reports of sexual assaults and abductions have skyrocketed in five very specific locations, all in northern Europe. London, Copenhagen and small towns in close proximity to three stone circles, one each in England, Scotland and France.”

      “You think the circles were originally erected as an attempt to defend against the monthly Esri invasions?”

      “Seems likely, doesn’t it?”

      “Yeah, it does. So, tell me about the Sitheen recruits.”

      “Kade’s been traveling almost constantly, from one military base to another, and from police station to police station. Once we’ve exhausted the most likely places to find trained warriors, he’ll expand the search.”

      “How many has he found?”

      “Six. We lost one last night during the battle. One of the Marceils’ arrows went right through his eye.”

      “Damn. So who do we have other than Brad and Tom? Handy that Tom’s a pilot, by the way.”

      “It is.” Tom was flying the jet, Brad keeping him company. “Norm is a retired firefighter in his seventies. He and Myrtle hit it off as if they were made for one another.”

      Charlie smiled. “A bit of romance?”

      “No doubt about it. The other two are brother and sister. Paige is a detective with the Richmond police, mid-forties, and a crack shot. Frank is her brother, also a cop, though not as fit. Still, he knows what to do in a fight.”

      “Who did we lose?”

      “A young navy ensign. The most promising of the bunch.”

      Charlie swore softly. “Myrtle couldn’t help him?”

      “The arrow punctured his brain. He was killed instantly. Myrtle’s a gifted healer, but she can’t raise the dead.”

      Harrison went on to fill his brother in on the full battle, struggling to forget the woman who sat beside him, which turned out to be an impossible task. Her presence filled the air.

      He and Charlie were still talking an hour and a half later when the movie finally finished. Tarrys pulled off her headphones and stood up. “I need to move around.”

      Charlie watched her, the look in his eyes all predatory male. “I’ll go with you.” He rose and looped his arm across Tarrys’s shoulder, the air crackling between them. “Maybe we can find something to eat.”

      Harrison grunted. If it was food on Charlie’s mind, Harrison was a chimpanzee. More likely, his brother was planning to join the mile-high club. If he hadn’t already.

      As the pair walked off together, Harrison turned to find Ilaria watching them with a speculative and knowing gaze of her own.

      “Do you want the headphones off?” he asked her.

      That gaze turned to him, heat swirling in the depths of her eyes. “For now.”

      His pulse began to speed even before he reached for her. If only he could assign the task to someone else. Bracing himself, he lifted his hands and took hold of the headphones, that soft-as-silk hair of hers teasing and caressing his sensitive flesh as he pulled them away.

      Her gaze never left his, her eyes hot as sin as her tongue slowly licked her lips. “They’ve gone to find a place to mate in privacy. It’s the first chance they’ve had since we came through the gate.”

      “You don’t know that. They may be looking for food.”

      One pale eyebrow rose, hot laughter dancing in her eyes. “Are you truly so naive?”

      Harrison scowled. “No.” He sat back in his seat, his eyes still caught in hers. His gaze turned rueful. “I’m sure they’re doing it, too.”

      Answering humor flickered in eyes that steamed even as they danced with mischief. “I’m attracted to you, human. More than I’ve been to any male in a long, long time. While your brother mates with the Marceil, let me take you inside my body.”

      Her words all but blew away his rigid control, a glorious picture erupting in his head of him pulling her gown up to her waist, freeing himself, then pulling her down to straddle him as he pushed deep, deep inside her heat. Blood throbbed in his veins, beating a carnal pulse as he grew harder and harder and harder.

      “I’m not having sex with you.” His words were little more than a growl, his voice choked with desire.

      Her eyes dimmed. Not enough that anyone else would probably have noticed, but he did.

      “Because I’m Esri.” It wasn’t a question.

      “Yes.”

      She looked away, stealing the heat of her gaze. “That’s too bad, human. You would have found pleasure with me. We both would have.”

      Begging his body to settle down, he sat back in his seat. “The name is Harrison. Not ‘human.’”

      She watched him. “You’re not like the others, Harrison. You have a power they lack. A power unnatural to humans.”

      His heart gave an awkward thud. “What do you mean?”

      In her expression he saw absolute seriousness for once. When she spoke, the seductive tone was missing. “I don’t know. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt. Familiar, yet not, and deep within you. Nothing that’s ever risen to the surface. Perhaps nothing you’ll ever be able to reach.”

      As badly as he wanted to tune out her words, he couldn’t. Because he already knew.

      Most of the Sitheen had discovered strange gifts that had apparently been passed down to them from their Esri ancestors. Larsen’s premonitions of death, Jack’s ability to talk to his ancestors, Myrtle’s healing ability. Neither he nor Charlie had appeared to have any Esri gifts. Until he’d touched the draggon stone and felt a strange thrill of recognition, as if the power in the stone had welcomed him. He’d only touched it once, as he had the other six stones. The latter had sent an unpleasant crawling sensation climbing into his head from the base of his skull.

      Both times, he’d asked Charlie if he felt anything. Both times Charlie had denied it. Harrison preferred to think whatever he’d felt was just his imagination, but he’d never really believed it. And he’d never stopped wondering what it meant.

      The princess’s assertion that there was something strange going on inside him just confirmed his own suspicion. And he couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or bad. While he wanted nothing to do with Esria, he’d be a fool to ignore anything that might help them win this war.

      The question was could he trust a word the princess said? He