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Arion pawed at Freya’s leg. As he stared at her, his amber eyes grew round. She bent down, ran her hands through his fur, and sighed.
“Not yet, friend,” she cooed. “It’s too risky to unleash that form. You know what it does to you.”
Arion hissed and sat back on his haunches.
“My idea,” Freya said and stood, “is slightly less risky.”
I didn’t have the time or energy to dig into whatever conversation she’d just had with her cat.
“Freya,” I said, “just tell us your plan.”
“Just be still and have some trust, all right? It’ll be a lot easier if you don’t fight me.”
“Freya—”
She muttered a spell, and a familiar hum filled the air. She pointed her open palms at my feet, then lifted her hands. Air flowed around me like a whirlwind, then whisked under my feet. It grew so powerful, it lifted me a few feet off the ground. I nearly fell on my face, but another gust of wind kept me upright.
“Squeeze your core, cowboy,” Freya instructed. “You need to balance!”
“I did not agree to this!” I shot back.
Even Cadence chewed on her lip in concern.
“You sure about this?” she asked Freya.
“Positive,” the witch answered without a moment’s hesitation.
If I didn’t want to strangle her, I might’ve been impressed by her ability to lie out of her ass. If she were so sure of this, she would’ve waited to get my permission.
Freya moved her hands toward the lake, and my body followed. Without another option, I did as she asked and fought to keep my balance. I teetered but didn’t fall. When I was pushed over the lake, my stomach dropped.
After that first little push, the air moved much more quickly and whooshed past my ears. I flew over the water and through the fog. I gasped in terror, and a scream hovered in my throat. I barely contained it. If I survived my trip over the lake, I didn’t want to be killed by vampires.
The landscape blurred past me, and suddenly, I was dumped on the lake’s rocky shore. I landed with an oomph, but, other than getting the breath knocked out of me, I was okay. I pushed to my feet and scanned the lake for Cadence and Freya. They were mere specks across the massive body of water, then fog obscured what little view I had of them.
After a few heartbeats of silence, worry tightened my chest. I paced the rocky shore. When I was on the brink of losing my sanity, they appeared over the tranquil waters. Cadence sat in Freya’s arms like a child much younger than her age. Arion sat on top of her. Once again, Freya’s strength surprised me. There was so much of it wrapped into such a tiny body. They reached me in no time and landed gracefully by my side.
“That was awesome!” Cadence exclaimed.
“Why didn’t I get a landing like that?” I asked.
“Maybe because I could barely see you,” Freya argued. “Just be grateful I guessed where the shore was correctly.”
A smile tugged on the corners of her lips. I rolled my eyes and stormed toward the rocky mountain before us.
And she calls me reckless.
“I hate to interrupt your dramatic exit,” Freya called, “but you’re going the wrong way. We need to head east.”
Cadence giggled like a maniac.
I sighed but turned to the left and followed Freya’s lead. Silently, I wondered why I’d ever wanted to kiss her in the first place.
I had grown familiar with the ache in my body from the endless days of hard travel, but the rocky terrain made me miss the soft ground and gentle slopes I’d complained about days ago.
The vampire’s mountain was desolate and bleak. Black rock sloped sporadically to the mountain’s peak, which was concealed by fog and snow. The sky was gray, and the air was still. Nothing roamed the craggy rocks, and the lack of life was stifling. The temperatures were strangely colder on this mountain.
The ground was loose in places, so I walked directly behind Cadence in case she fell. Luckily, she was a better climber than me.
