Sun Catch Her (Book 1: Three Rivers Deep series) COMPLETE

Chapter Forty-Five

My footsteps carried me out onto a square balcony, dress shoes clip-clopping loudly. Frowning at the noise of my heels, I kicked them off to the left of the closing door and paused to study my surroundings. I was surprised to find not a single couple had wandered out into the privacy of the eloquent space, with its attractive stone railing and thick roof. This was nice.

Going to the railing, I leaned on it to stare out into the gloom of the woods above a twenty-foot drop off, the tree branches pressing close against the building. The wind was becoming increasingly fitful, hurling itself headlong into the thick of the forest, causing the hillside to roar and nearby tree trunks to creak. Much of the sky was unseen even through the last vestiges of an autumn-ravished canopy, and yet I knew it was clouded over with the cold front nearly upon us.

And Micah and Alex were out in the middle of this—Micah battling the elements, Alex pursuing his cousin who had twice wronged me.

An anxious sound escaped me, and I hugged an arm to my stomach when a wave of nausea-laced worry made me sway on my feet. I know, but I can't do anything about it, I implored of the doves in my middle, my twin souls. The nausea had suddenly awakened them, and they seemed to be furious with me. Pecking at my inability to do anything to affect the current situation, their usually low-key presence now bombarded me.

It was odd, and I couldn't put it into words, but somehow, they were "all up in my conscience" working it over. The concerns of each were discernable: that Micah might be in grave danger caused anxiety in the one, the soul who longed to claim him as her mate, while the other was vexed over Alex. The degree to which he might be hurting because of the poorly timed kiss made that soul twist with agony, she so sorely needed to see the grievance mended. I pitched forward, doubling in half. It was agonizing, the wrenching pain of being split apart. I gasped for air when another wave of sickness moved through me, one soul thrashing against the other, my core becoming super-heated from the friction of it all. The dress of aether and silk gave out a single, hard pulse, followed by a throbbing where the fabric fit snug around my waist. So not good.

Had it gotten incredibly bright all of the sudden? Thinking somebody inside had flipped on the balcony lighting, I looked up to see there was no overhead light fixture.

What was that? I snapped around to stare into the dark woods where a howl reminiscent of rusty hinges and creaking things pierced the leafy roar of the wind-swept trees. The bright light on the balcony stirred with my movement. I pried my attention away from the woods to gaze down at myself. Glowing, I was glowing white light, tinted with green.

Crap. It was the same powerful radiance my body exuded last night while I fought off Bettihemae, but it was much brighter and had added color now.

The aether seemed to be having an amplifying affect. The tint of my aura's light was green approaching blue. A blue ambience should have been impossible. The coloring of a devvi's aura was supposed to stop at green. Despite Micah's dark matter coat, the blue-green light was leaking out all around.

Face going tight with panic, my head jerked up at another insistent howl, closer this time, and I let out a shudder, taking a step away from the railing. This howl...it didn't sound like any animal I had ever heard.

"They are hunting you."

Gasping, I whirled around. A lank silhouette rose from her crouch on the railing to the left of me. Her features cast in shadow, Bettihemae easily jumped down. Her sundress was in tatters, and there was a fresh cut on her cheek. It mirrored the one she gave me tonight. Apparently Alex had caught up with her. So the act of retribution was now complete?

Cheddar, this isn't good. I studied her composed demeanor, not believing it for a moment. There was no hint of anger in her smooth expression, mouth a soft rosebud, jaw relaxed. The wound had already stopped bleeding, though there was a little dried blood crusting its edges. I shivered and would have turned from her as my thoughts touched upon the barbaric punishment system the devvis subscribed to, but I couldn't avert my gaze. There was a strange intensity coming from those glittery eyes. Something unexpected. Something that conveyed concern.

"You need to come with me," the she-devvi crooned with a hand extended, as if she expected me to simply take it.

"What?" I gripped the stone railing and glared at her fingers as if she had extended a snake on a stick. "No. No way!" Automatic aversion; mistrust had been firmly embedded. I shook my head and wrapped Micah's coat tighter around me.

Bettihemae took a step closer. "You may be a half-breed, Aurora, but I have never thought you to be a halfwit." This was said with an even tone, but I could see her annoyance was building.

"You need to be moved to a safe place," she explained further. "The umbrae, akin to my Sheeshoe, who live in this valley have sensed your aura. They are gathering en masse at the top of the hill and will come crashing through this spot at any moment like wolves on the hunt, instinct driving them to feed upon that which has whipped them up into such a frenzy. Trust me, I can keep you beyond their reach. You can hold onto the coat but take off that dress and come with me."

An offer too good to be true. Suspicious, I studied her soul to make doubly certain of her so-called goodwill, my current reading telling me she was indeed being sincere. And yet, the short- term history of discord between us kept my feet firmly planted.

"You didn't tell your lightning-buck you were glowing last night at the greenhouse, did you? He would never have clothed you in aether otherwise."

"My aura is supposed to be bright," my reasoning was uncertain over the insistence of another howl. The crosscutting winds twisted the sound out into a long, ravenous wail.

"It's not supposed to be visible to the physical eye," she snapped, impatience mounting. "Right now your aura is glowing brighter than the industrial background ambience. You are the most vivid light in the valley, piercing every umbra through with hunger."

"You would save me because?"

Her impatient expression abruptly went soft with resolution. "Because, Alexander wants to become your mate...but you want them both, don't you?" The side of her mouth quirked as if she found something funny about our shared drive to plow our way through a field of men. "After that little display back at the greenhouse, it's pretty clear that you've been equally paying mind to their advances. Well, if you want them, then simply take them. It will be interesting to see if you are she-devvi enough to manage—" she was cut off when another howl rose, a savage cry for blood that chilled us both to the core with its urgency. My death grip on the railing was suddenly knocked free when a panicked Bettihemae gave up on persuasion and blurred into motion to tackle me.

I gasped and reared back, her impulsive assault triggering a fear response in me. She struggled to gain hold while I fought like a wildcat, a shriek of protest thick in my throat. I seemed stronger than last night. Either that, or she was weary from fighting off her cousin, and as we grappled with each other, nearly evenly matched, our desperate struggle saw us flying backward over the railing.

Panicking, I let out a terrified squeal when my legs went up over my head. I caught a glimpse of the ground, but despite the heart-stopping whoosh of air, the impact never came. Instead, a pair of stark blue eyes met mine as I was stolen from gravity's unbiased grasp.

Alex.

I heard Bettihemae thump hard, and I turned in Alex's arms to see she had landed headfirst in an overgrown bush.

"Brace yourself, Eos. I've got to get you out of here." He hoisted me around onto his back as a crashing sound approaching through the forest sent him into determined action.

I threw my arms around his neck, and he took off beneath me like a bullet, aiming downhill through the trees.

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