Read Online Guardian by Shannon Mayer - Free Book Online Page B

together?”
    “That burning of the field, was that you?” Liam asked, his voice remarkably calm. Maybe he finally had his wolf under control. That would be a bonus.
    “No, no. That was the hunters. They burn it in timed flares to keep enemies at bay.”
    Liam gave me a lifted eyebrow. “I told you it was booby trapped.”
    I waved off his smug ‘I told you so’. “Timed, how?”
    “They have it set for movement. Something touches the ground and the flare goes out in that direction, following whatever is there.” He waved one hand in a line in front of him to emphasize his point.
    Shit, they had it motion-sensored with a magical fire. That was going to be hard to go around.
    “Any way you can disable it?” Fingers crossed he was a powerhouse like Milly or Pamela.
    “No.”
    A thought began to form inside my brain, one I knew Liam would not like, nor condone.
    “Who runs the fire? If they are as weak as you say, there has to be someone always watching to put the power into something like that.”
    Val waved hand back and forth. “It is a little thing, simple. A spell lain on a pair of eye-glasses and set into a window. Break the glasses, spell is broken.”
    My lips twisted around as I considered the possibility.
    “Rylee, don’t even think about it,” Liam growled. But he was too late. Not only was I thinking about it, I was pretty sure it would work.

Chapter Eight
    The three of us stood on the edge of the glade. I was sweating, nervous for the first time in a long time when facing a magical problem. Normally, I just walked through whatever spell we faced, disabling it in the process. What I was facing was not just the spell, but what it was throwing at me. Again, normally that wouldn’t bother me.
    But fire was a bitch to deal with, magic or not. “So if I don’t trigger this, they won’t know we’re here, right?”
    “You think you have extra light feet?” Val asked, and I realized he was smiling, only the skin on the one side was too tight and it looked more like a grimace.
    “Something like that,” Liam said softly. “If the fire comes, you get your ass back here.”
    I saluted him, tried not to think about the ‘what ifs’. My Immunity to magic had been known to fail here and there, though that happened less the older I got. Which didn’t mean today wouldn’t be the day it would decide to leave me high and extremely dry and flammable.
    Weaponless, I stepped onto the field. The first few steps were fine, but I felt the heat from the previous fire through the soles of my boots.
    Sweat dripped down my cheeks, and the cold winter wind chilled it, though the fire opal kept it from freezing. With each step my confidence grew. Fuck, this was actually going to work. Until I heard Liam shout behind.
    “No, Val!”
    I spun to see Val trotting after me. Oh, shit, he thought it wasn’t just me. He reached my side and then Liam was there right behind him.
    “Rylee, we are getting off this fire hazard, right now.”
    We were more than halfway to the castle. “Fuck, let’s just book it. Stay behind me.” I bolted toward the castle, the two men behind me. A steady hissing caught my ears. “Liam, what is that?”
    He didn’t answer me, Val did. “That is the fire coming—I thought you stopped it!”
    “I did, you idiot, but only for me!”
    The three of us turned on the speed as the first pillar of flame ripped down the length of the field to the left of us. I banked hard to the right. “Head for the moat!”
    “No, there is a water dragon!” Val yelled back.
    Oh, for fuck’s sake.
    “Then blast the door open.”
    Another burst of flame burst down the right side of us, so close the scent of burnt hair wafted to me. I threw myself to the left, the two men still following. Val took a shot at the drawbridge, hitting it in the middle. What an idiot.
    “Aim for the chains that hold it up, witch,” Liam snarled. I kept my eyes peeled for the next shot of fire.
    A small cut in the castle, likely