Chapter 33 Dimitri #2
Rune’s finger was cold against mine as she looked up at me through those frost-dusted lashes. “Do you trust me?”
“Of course.” The words scraped through my throat.
She leaned down and sank a fang in. Her venom poured through me.
The magic inside me surged to meet it, snapping like a live wire.
Heat rolled up my arm and into my chest. I wanted, Fates, I wanted to pull her closer, to feel whether her pulse would jump under my tongue the way mine just had for her simple touch.
“Breathe,” she whispered as she straightened, and her finger pressed further into mine where she bit, lingering half a heartbeat too long.
I exhaled a relieved breath as the bitter cold retreated.
The world around us snapped back into place: snow hissing somewhere above us, the chant threading through even the ice, the team shuffling on snow. But I was warm…and maybe a little dazed.
Rune released my hand, but my magic chased after her as she stepped back. “Everyone good?” she asked, her voice steady again.
A chorus of yeses came from us, and a few dazed mhmms.
“How long will this last?” Lorian asked, rolling his shoulders as Eleanor scooted closer toward him like she was in his orbit.
“An hour,” she replied easily.
“What about you?” Hawk asked with a frown.
“Basilisks are usually immune to their own venom,” Zuko muttered, his orange eyes flicking over her. “Unless it’s not a harmful kind.”
Raze choked. “Uh, true.”
“Can you use it on yourself?” Slater asked.
“Already did,” she said easily. “I just excreted it from my fang and bit my tongue.”
Fuck. Why did that turn me on?
“Let’s move,” I muttered and led the squad deeper into the mountain’s throat, heat blooming under my skin like a fucking gift.
Because it was.
“We need to be fast. The cold dulls reflexes, and Rune’s venom won’t last forever,” I told everyone as we walked further into the crack.
“We need to be stealthy,” Rune countered. “The mountain listens. Ice fae enchantment, remember? You make noise, it tells on you.”
“Yeah, but we’re loud as it is. We need to be quick,” I insisted. “They probably already heard us.”
“Can you be a little optimistic?” she huffed.
“I’m being realistic,” I shot back. “We can’t fuck up this mission.”
Slater raised his hand before smacking it on the ice wall and dropping it. “Stealth is good. It’s a whole spy vibe. I like spy vibes.”
“Spy vibes are good, but Dimitri has a point,” Koa said quickly, siding with me. “The sooner we find the cultists, the sooner we can grab that relic.”
Zuko shrugged toward Rune. “Stealth sounds fun.”
“Of course you two would side with her,” I grumbled under my breath.
“I actually think Dimitri’s right,” Raze muttered.
Hawk, Lorian, and Aura agreed with me.
Eleanor crossed her arms and stayed quiet, refusing to be counted on either side.
“Fine, your way wins.” Rune crossed her arms in a pouty but adorable way.
The chanting got louder as more sunlight splashed in. Snow hissed overhead, white lines slanting across the mouth of the crevasse as we emerged. This side was a wasteland of broken ice and rock with a large ice bridge over toward another snow-covered clearing.
One of the rocks twitched in my peripheral.
“Oh, fuck,” Hawk squeaked.
“Sick,” Raze mumbled.
“Oh! Oh no,” Eleanor breathed out.
A saber-tooth unfolded from behind a snow-coated boulder, its fur frosted white, with canines as long as daggers.
Its breath made smoke-rings in the air as it padded closer, tail lashing once behind it.
The sound it made was weird. It was too quiet for that much muscle, and I assumed it had adapted to the fae enchantment on this mountain.
“Get back!” Lorian moved forward in a ripple, shifting from man to bear in the span of three seconds. Brown fur burst across him, much darker than the snow. His paws punched ice-cracking craters as he slammed into the large-toothed cat.
They went down in a tumble of ice and snow. The cat twisted, shoulders rolling as it clawed at Lorian’s belly.
Lorian reared, swatting with one massive paw. His claws carved sparks off rock before he landed another hit.
The cat flew back, digging its claws into the ice and pushing itself forward faster.
“Lorian!” Eleanor’s voice broke on his name, and she moved toward him.
“Elle, stop!” Aura hooked an arm around her waist, feet digging into the snow as she hauled her back. “Do not get in the kill zone.”
“Kill zone?” Eleanor gasped, breath shaking.
“She means Lorian’s going to kill it,” Koa assured her.
“Give him space to do that,” I barked, but the cat slid, jaws snapping for Lorian’s throat.
Lorian met the attack head-on.
He let the tiger’s bite hang off his heavy fur, turned, and body-checked it into a boulder hard enough to shake snow loose from the ledge above and fall down on them.
The saber-tooth hit the rock, letting go of Lorian before springing up to attack again.
Rune leaped forward into the mix. She took three steps and vaulted off a knee-high rock, palms pushing off the boulder as she launched herself into the air. Her hands pressed off Lorian’s large bear shoulder before she landed on the fucking cat.
Everything slowed down, and all I could hear was my own pulse. I watched her run her hands over the cat’s body in a long petting motion.
The saber-tooth screamed. Its whole body convulsed like a plucked wire. Rune used the tremor to launch herself off its back, twisting backwards.
The cat’s claws swiped through the space where she’d been.
She landed in a low crouch, suit-protected feet whispering on the ice.
The cat staggered toward her two steps as steam curled from its mouth in a long, ghostly ribbon. Its muscles shivered. It blinked before its legs simply folded.
Its large body collapsed into the snow as it fell into a deep sleep.
Lorian stayed a bear for a moment, head swinging toward Rune. He huffed, nodded, and then shifted back into his regular form.
“That was impressive,” he said, voice roughened from the shift.
“No,” Slater cut in, hand over his heart. “That was—okay, yeah. Fine. Impressive works. Marry me, venom baby?”
“Get in line,” Zuko scoffed, eyes bright. “She’s definitely marrying me, right, pretty little poison?”
Rune stood up and smiled at them.
“Fuck.” Koa dragged a ragged breath, fingers raking through his hair. “Rune, how did you learn to move like that?”
Rune blinked those golden eyes like any of that was normal. “I trained with the agents growing up. Shifting into my basilisk form is my last resort in a fight. My venom’s easier to distribute like this anyway.”
I realized I was already moving and put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing once. I tried to ignore the butterflies it gave me. “Nice work, lethal darling.”
She looked up at me and smiled, and my heart skipped a beat. “Thanks, overachiever, but I didn’t kill it. It’s just sedated.”
“Good,” Eleanor breathed before going over and checking Lorian over. “Does it hurt?”
“I’m fine,” he grunted. “The academy suit stopped any serious injury. Though, I’m amazed it still works in my shifted form.”
“Let’s keep going,” Hawk said, his tone steadier than the hesitance in his eyes.
We trudged forward, cutting a trail through wind-shaved snow. Ten minutes later, we reached a cliff and belly-crawled to the edge. Below us was what we’d been searching for.
Glowing runes pulsed on the ground like a heartbeat.
The cultists stood in a circle, chanting. In the center stood a pedestal with an obsidian diamond-shaped relic on top of it. Red-black light pulsed within.
Rune’s lips curved into a smile, showing off her fangs. “Found them.”
Zuko grinned as he stared at her. “We did.”
Slater’s chaos manifestation, that black snake, slid off him and slithered down toward them. “He’s scoping it out.”
“I don’t even know what they’re saying.” Koa swallowed audibly.
My jaw flexed once. I recognized that Fates-damned chant. “Forgotten tongue.”
Raze’s expression was steady. “Can we kill them?”
“Do we have to?” Hawk muttered.
“We get the relic and book it.” Aura’s gaze was narrowed on the relic with wary curiosity. “We can’t stay long enough to fight.”
“Down the left,” Slater announced our next move as Snakey came back to him, coiling around his neck before fading out. “Shadows from the mountain will cover us that way, and we can slowly make our way toward the relic.”
“How?” Aura asked with a hint of fear in her tone. “It’s at the center of all those vampires.”
“Speed,” I answered. “We’ll have to swipe it and run.”
“They’re distracted,” Eleanor added. “Maybe Snakey can grab it for us?”
“He can.” Slater nodded.
“Beats a race against vampire speed,” Raze agreed.
“That’s what I was thinking,” I said.
“Well, we have vampire speed on our team, too.” Rune’s gaze met mine, and my heart did a flip—a fucking annoying feeling.
“I’m not leaving my squad behind,” I stated simply.
No fucking way.
“Worst-case scenario, overachiever?” She thinned her lips into a line.
“Fine. Last resort,” I grunted, but I knew I wouldn’t be the type of agent who left his squad behind to complete a mission if I could help it.
We slipped along the ice-covered rock, pressed flat, breath ghosting. The vampires’ chant thudding like a second pulse.
Their creepy camp opened below, filled with runes, smoke, and the stink of old blood.
One vampire stopped mid-step and sniffed the air.
“In here,” Lorian hissed, pointing toward a crack between two stone pillars.
We shoved into the crack without a second thought. There were ten bodies and not enough space, but we managed.
Rune’s spine hit the mountain, and somehow I ended up caging her in with Slater crammed tightly at my back.
“Don’t take advantage of your position with my mate,” Slater whispered, almost teasingly.
“Shut up.” My chest brushed Rune’s on the inhale, and I couldn’t help but feel the swell of her breasts.
Slater chuckled like he knew exactly what mental battle I was fighting.
Fuck.
I was too close.