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He could find no Anarki on this side of the river They were all near her, and she’d been so brave when he left His distraction h to draw therabbed the nearest branch with one hand and lifted hi down the branch toward the junction of several branches, he positioned Sabelle’s white sweater in the shadoooden valley, then leapt to the ground and darted to the next tree

Thankfully, no shouts frons of discovery--yet

Cla a cold sweat of fear for Sabelle, hearound for one of the younger li one above, he climbed toward it

"Over here!" he heard fro!"

Tied out onto the liile wood, right in thewith his primal scream

"I hear the through a few of the trees on the other side of the river and shaking branches,as much noise as possible, he listened as a horde of Mathias’s minions worked back toward hi leaves with his boots

Finally, he heard the Anarki racing in his direction By the tiured out it was a ruse, he and Sabelle would be long gone Hopefully

In a flash, he teleported back across the river, to the base of the tree in which Sabelle huddled She’d solden curls behind her back so that only the crown of her hair glowed in the ht For both war her knees, clothed in dark denirabbed one of the sturdy low-lying branches and reached for the next one above it, then hauled hi yet?" she whispered "They fell for your ruse"

He held up a finger to stay more questions, just in case some of the Anarki had remained behind to keep watch on this side of the river He and Sabelle couldn’t afford to give away their position or give the evil underlings chasing the their hands on the Doomsday Diary Since a woranted, even the commencement of doomsday if she had the proper power and passion, they could not afford to allow Mathias anywhere near the book again

Balancing his big feet on branches that flanked Sabelle, he reached down and lifted her into his arms She drew in a sharp breath and tensed, but quickly forced herself to relax He settled her in his lap, pulling her back against his chest into the war

Ice tried not to notice how bloody soft she was, how the bottom curve of her breast brushed one of his thu scent He willed his erection to stand down, but around her it was no use Sabelle got him hard Every time It had been that way since he’d first laid eyes on her Might as well get her used to that now He wasn’t certain how long they’d be alone together, how ht be before they reconnected with Duke and the rest of the Doo detected threw a serious wrench into every plan he’d y, however, he worried about What would he do when his e he obtained from sex? His usual outlet was hundreds of kilometers away And Sabelle sat in his lap

Impossible Somehow, he’d have to rile her up and have her send all her furious energy to him in lieu of the sexual kind It wasn’t optimal He’d rather cut off his arer her than insult her with his touch

"Don’t ht into her ear Dear God, even her hair smelled incredible "I think they’ve fallen for my distraction, but I want to make certain that there are no Anarki on this side of the bank before we e just north of here"

She nodded "Thank you for acting when you did They were creeping close"

Ice shuddered, iht have done when they realized they held htened his arms around her and breathed her essence in deeply No one, least of all Mathias, would ever touch a hair on her head

But in order to keep that vow, he had to get them out of this valley alive

CHAPTER THREE

THREE BLESSEDLY SILENT MINUTES passed, punctuated by the occasional sound of Anarki across the river, still beating the trees to find hi rolled in The temperature dropped Ice feared rain soon He could withstand it, but Sabelle … Bloody hell He needed to get her to shelter quickly

Cla down fro the bite of the early Dece for her and s else to offer her … but wasn’t that abetween them?

"Take this" He handed his sweater up to her "Put it on"

She shook her head "You’ll freeze"

Ice stared Who cared? She ue Put it on"

Reluctantly, she grabbed the warm sweater, and he watched with perverse pride as she donned it Miles too big, it all but sed her whole, but the fact it touched her skin made him harder than an iron pike

Bloody stupid bastard She’s surviving, not letting you put so up handfuls of e in case they were spotted fleeing froainst the cold sludge, but applied it as evenly as possible Sabelle watched hi, he reached up for Bra him out of the tree As much as he hated the ood for him But it couldn’t be helped Damn bad luck that none of them had realized that, when Mathias briefly possessed the Doomsday Diary before Sydney had stolen it back, he’d had a witch write in it as well

Securing Brarasp, he reached up to help Sabelle to her feet He caught her around the waist, and she slid slowly down his body Bloody hell, she sed--the blonde was a succulent fruit so beautiful, shesouth of his waist

Get yourthey had no ti like hell that he had to dirty her "Tuck your hair inside the sweater, princess We’re going to run for it"

Quickly, she did as asked, then he crouched and began to run Sabelle round as they trekked north, away from the river Away from Mathias

They put one foot in front of the other for atheir way out of the valley Behind hiin to breathe heavily They had at least another three kiloo, and he prayed she could endure He could use his ic to carry both her and Bram, but since they’d traced the book via teleportation, he feared using any ic around the Doomsday Diary--at least until he knehat Mathias’s witch had written

"You’re doing well Keep going I’ve got you" He squeezed her hand

She squeezed back "I won’t let you down"

Ice whipped his gaze back to her She was running for her life and cared about him? The woman amazed him Hoas it possible that she and Bram were even of the same blood-line, much less shared a father? In his eyes, Sabelle was indeed a princess But Bra