Read Online Hers to Claim by Patricia A. Knight - Free Book Online Page B

called ‘leeches.’
    The shadows from the mountains purpled and then, like a candle snuffed, darkness closed around them. The six, diaman crystals glowed brilliant yellow-amber and an indistinct glow connected the individual stones. Gentle light illuminated the entire circle and cast shadows from the horses and the trees. All of them sat cross-legged on the bedrolls and distributed the water and food they’d brought with them.
    “Have you ever seen leeches, Adonia?” Hel broke a piece of bread apart and ate it, chewing slowly. His gray eyes, blanked of expression, held hers. Adonia slowly shook her head.
    Steffania shuddered. “ Imagine a ravenous, foul miasma. Add intelligence, blood-red eyes and a round maw of jagged teeth and you have a soul-wraith. It envelops its prey in a gray fog, and when it departs, nothing remains but a desiccated corpse. They prefer human flesh, but they’ll feed on anything warm-blooded.”
    “Their victims sound as if their souls are being torn from their living body, hence the name soul-wraith. I encountered them on the battlefield of Yarudda during the Haarb wars.” Ramsey took a swig from his water bottle then raised it in a mock toast. “To the Haarb for gracing us with soul-wraiths and fell wolves.” Ram filled his mouth, rinsed it, then spat the contents onto the ground.
    The horses stirred, uneasy on their picket line.
    “And the leeches have found us,” Hel murmured without looking up.
    Adonia glanced toward the horses and froze as horror snaked down her spine. Ghosting around the perimeter of the diaman crystals were swarms of gray shadows and multiple pinpoints of red. Occasionally an amorphous shape would charge the light barrier, only to dissolve and reform. “So many of them.”
    “Yes. They like the cold and the long nights in the upper elevations. I’m not sure how we can kill them. I had hoped that re-energizing Torre Bianca would eradicate them. They cannot live in our Mother’s light, but now…” Hel shrugged. “I don’t know.”
    Steffania stared at the perimeter, her arms wrapped around her legs, her chin resting on her knees. Her casual manner reassured Adonia—until she spoke. “Those wraiths scare the shit out of me. A mission went wrong and two of my men and I floated on a raft in the Topaz Sea on the planet Aquarion. Great, thirty-foot, megaton sharks circled us for days, their black fins slicing the water mere feet from our raft. Cortez fell asleep and his foot trailed into the water. They dragged him under in seconds.” Steffania shook her head and looked away. “Poor bugger. I can still hear his screams—see the bits of flesh and body parts come bobbing to the surface. I feel like I’m back on that raft.” She shuddered convulsively.
    “Vixen.” Ramsey held out an arm to her.
    She stood and moved to sit between Ramsey’s legs. Ram wrapped his arms around her and snugged her close. He nuzzled into the hair behind Steffania’s ear and said something in a low baritone. 
    Adonia didn’t know what Ramsey murmured to Steffania, but the woman ’s whole demeanor changed. She gave Ram a look of such love that Adonia’s heart ached. The red-haired mercenary relaxed into her husband’s arms, laid her head against his chest and closed her eyes. Goddess, to have someone whose words would banish all fears? If only I could possess that. What would I give to be so loved? She sighed. Anything. Her gaze strayed to the ravening leeches testing the limits of the diaman border and tried to suppress her fear. It would be a difficult night.
    ~~~
    Adonia sat up in disgust and almost accused those sleeping around her of shifting every pebble and stone to beneath her bedroll. After what seemed hours of non-productive tossing and turning, and determined not to disturb the other three, she stood and gathered her blankets together to move. She glanced toward the perimeter. Ravenous eyes stared back. A flurry of shadows hurled themselves at the diaman crystals’