Instead, he watched as she took the lead. His senses were on alert and he knew they were alone except for a woman waiting down the street. Sabrina began to run when the woman stepped out to stand by the streetlamp. The woman was tall, her skin dark, her hair black as night. A faint whiff of power encircled her. She opened her arms to Sabrina and she hugged her tight.
There was no denying the bond of friendship between them. He was glad she had that kind of closeness in her life. She would need it when this ordeal was over and he was gone.
His chest ached and his steps slowed. He didn’t want to leave her, but what choice did he have? Maybe the Lady would allow him to stay with her for the next forty years or so until Sabrina passed from this realm. He would petition the Lady if they survived Hades for the next twenty-four hours.
He glanced at the sky. Probably twenty hours now. Might as well be a lifetime. It was much too long. “We need to go.”
Sabrina had never been happier to see a familiar face in all her life. With everything that had happened lately, being involved in an attempted mugging on the way here was anticlimactic. She hadn’t even been scared for a second, not with Arand standing next to her. It had almost been comical to watch the two men falling all over themselves trying to get away from him. Hopefully, they’d think twice before they tried to rob someone else.
Tilly held her close. “You okay, sweetie?”
“I’m honestly not sure.” What else could she say? The last few weeks of her life had been crazy, but tonight topped them all put together. And she had the deep sense of dread that this was only the beginning. Things were going to get much worse.
“What did Jessica tell you?” Sabrina cringed at the thought of that conversation. It was a wonder her friends didn’t think she was nuts.
“Enough.” Tilly’s dark eyes found Arand lurking in the shadows beside them.
Sabrina cleared her throat. “This is Arand.”
Tilly released her and stepped back, sizing Arand up from head to toe. “So this is what an immortal warrior looks like. Not bad, girl.”
For some unaccountable reason, Sabrina felt her cheeks growing warmer and prayed it was too dark for Tilly to notice she was blushing. There was no way for Tilly to know she’d had sex with the guy, and even if she did, so what? They were both adults.
Arand’s voice was low and gruff. “We need to go.”
“This is Tilly.” Why she cared if he liked her friends was beyond her, but for some silly reason she wanted Arand to like Tilly.
Her friend held out her hand. “Pleased to meet you, Arand. Jessica’s told me a lot about you.”
Arand started to take Tilly’s hand, but Sabrina didn’t like the look in his eyes and stepped in front of her friend. That didn’t stop Arand. He simply lifted her off her feet and set her aside before facing Tilly. “What do you know about me?”
“Relax, big guy. Jessica did some research online, plus that girl has books on everything paranormal.” Tilly turned to Sabrina. “She found a website online devoted to the Lady of the Beasts and emailed them in case they could help.”
Arand grabbed Tilly’s shoulders. “What website? Who did she contact? No one must know about us.”
“The message was vague enough so that if they didn’t know about you and the curse it wouldn’t make any sense.” She shrugged out of Arand’s grasp. “But if they are your friends, they might be able to help.”
Tilly held out a set of keys to Sabrina. “Take the car. I’ve put a few things in the backseat, just some food and candles and some stuff Jessica said you might need. Jessica is going to come over when she’s ready and we’ll find a way to get to you.”
Sabrina shook her head. “No. You guys stay out of this. You’ve already done enough.” No way did she want to be the cause of her friends getting hurt.
Tilly leaned in to hug her again. “Does he really turn into a wolf like Jessica said, or was that just one of those metaphorical things?”
Sabrina laughed and hugged Tilly tighter. “He really does turn into a wolf, a huge gray and black timber wolf. But he’s all alpha in other ways too.”
Tilly’s throaty laughter eased some of the stress weighing Sabrina down. It was such a comfort to have good friends. “I take it you’ve already tried him out,” she whispered.
“Women, I am standing here and can hear every word you are saying.” A quick glance at Arand confirmed he looked more than a little put upon.
“True?” Tilly whispered.
She nodded. “He’s got enhanced eyesight and hearing and I’m not sure what else. He can also conjure a huge sword.” One look at her friend made her smile broaden. She knew what Tilly was thinking. “I’m talking about a real sword, not his…male attributes.”
“Hey, as long as he can conjure both, he’s a man worth having around. You take care of yourself.” Tilly turned toward Arand, her hands on her hips. “You take care of her, Loup Garou, or I will track you down and skin you alive.” The fierceness of Tilly’s declaration took Sabrina aback and brought tears to her eyes.
Arand studied her friend for a moment and then gave her a slight bow. “You have my word.”
“Good enough. Now get going.” Tilly turned and went back into her house, leaving Sabrina and Arand alone.
“Come on.” Sabrina hurried around to the driver’s seat, unlocked the door and climbed in. Reaching across, she went to unlock Arand’s door, but the lock popped open before she could reach it. She raised an eyebrow in question. “Handy talent.”
Arand lowered himself into the seat and shut the door. “I do have some powers.”
She started the car and yanked on her seatbelt. Safety first, even if Hades himself was after her. She pulled out onto the road and started toward the city limits. A quiet snick broke the silence and she glanced over to see that Arand had fastened his seatbelt too.
“Tell me about your powers.”
“What do you wish to know?”
Sabrina stopped at a red light and drummed her fingers against the steering wheel. “I’m not sure. What can you do? What can’t you do? Where do you come from? Anything and everything?” When the light changed, she accelerated slowly. No way did she want to get pulled over by the cops for speeding.
Arand sighed and peered out the window. She realized that even now he was scanning, watching and searching for any potential danger. He was a true warrior and protector, always on alert.
“The Lady of the Beasts created us.”
“Were you born or did she poof you out of thin air?” Somehow it was impossible to imagine Arand as a small boy.
He gave a short bark of laughter. “I guess she poofed us out of thin air, as you put it. We came into being fully grown male warriors, each of us with certain skills and, of course, paired with an animal.”
Sabrina went over everything he’d told her, trying to get it straight in her head. “There was a jaguar and a phoenix, you said.” The memory of all he’d told her was muddled and she needed to get all her facts straight.
“Yes, there are seven of us. Roric is the white tiger and our unofficial leader. Then there is Marko the bear, Leander the lion, Stavros the jaguar and Phoenix.”
Counting in her head, Sabrina knew that Arand was one short. There was one he hadn’t mentioned. “Who are you leaving out?” There was something he’d told her, something important that she wasn’t remembering.
“Mordecai the serpent.” A low growl punctuated the words. “He has betrayed the rest of us and joined Hades.”
Now she remembered, and her stomach rolled over. “He’s the one who killed the woman who freed him.” It was easy to see why she’d tried to forget him. No way did she want to contemplate such a fate. There was no way she could fight off Arand if he decided to kill her.