Read Online Sorceress Rising (A Gargoyle and Sorceress Tale Book 2) by Lisa Blackwood - Free Book Online Page B

this.”
    Gregory’s
thoughts touched hers, confirming what she feared. “I do not care for the
emotions I’m picking up from the humans. Extract yourself now or I will deal
with them myself.”
    “Dammit. I
love you, but you can be such a pain in my ass! At present, I’m not in any
immediate danger.”
    “Yes you are.
Their leader is thinking of taking you to a secure site where there are many
more of his kind. I can see it clear in his thoughts.” Another huffing rumble issued from the darkness behind her.
    “Stay out of
this. I’m leaving. They don’t have any reason to hold me at the moment. Don’t
give them one.” Out loud she cried, “Bear!” As she
hoped, it was enough to draw everyone’s attention away from the area where
Gregory was making a tree shake. She bolted for the pooka and worked loose the knot
that tied him to the thick branch.
    The pooka arched
his neck and sniffed at her fingers. “In the future, I’ll instruct you on
how to create a proper safety knot. You wouldn’t be having trouble if you’d
done what I told you.”
    “Stop fussing
with the pooka and get out of there now,” Gregory
injected from an unknown location.
    “Quiet! Both
of you.”
    Lillian jerked
on the knot until it came free and then she hauled the pooka around by his
head, uncaring if she was being rude. As she and the pooka made it past Major
Resnick’s position, she glared at him. “Tell your men to fall back. It’s
probably the same mother bear I saw earlier. Don’t have your men shoot the poor
bear just because she’s protecting her young.”
    She didn’t wait
to see what they would do, instead storming on down the path that led to
civilization, and probably more uniformed military types, but she didn’t have
any choice. Not if she wanted to find a peaceful end to tonight’s outing.
    “Let her pass,”
Major Resnick called, “Everyone fall back, nice and slow. Get the other dog out
of here, and then bring up the tranquilizer guns.”
    The forest
around Lillian came alive as a second military team she hadn’t even known was
there eased out of their hiding spots. She didn’t even try to hide her shock,
it probably looked innocent enough. Beside her, the pooka started trotting, his
motion more up and down than forward in his excitement. Lillian didn’t think
his agitation was an act. She had the impression of big guns, night vision
goggles, and more camouflaged fatigues.
    As Resnick
continued to call out orders, the military unit split in two. Four men spread
out to take up the rear and guard the others’ retreat, always keeping
themselves between the main group and Lillian’s ‘bear’. Presently, her ‘bear’
was following a few paces behind the last human. While Gregory was actively
cloaking himself in shadows and magic, he didn’t bother to hide his presence or
his simmering displeasure from her, and she had a difficult time keeping her
eyes forward.
    Gregory worried
for her safety, and she in turn worried for the humans should he decide they
were an immediate threat, or they were simply too close to her.
    “They most
certainly are too close.” Gregory’s annoyance came
clear across their mind link. “You said you would extract yourself from
them.”
    “I tried.
They followed. They’re not going to just let me walk off into the forest.
They’re like burrs or gum; I think I’m stuck with them.”
    “Find a way.” Gregory’s thoughts were almost a shout.
    She covered her
flinch by pretending to swat a mosquito. “Something else is wrong. I know if
I was in immediate danger, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, and the
poor soldiers wouldn’t know what hit them. They’re not the enemy; they simply
have a job to do. But you know that, or they would already be smoking black
smudges on the forest floor. So what’s really bothering you? Are they leading
me to a prison cell?”
    “No.” His short answer told her nothing useful.
    “Then what?”
    “Some of them
watch