A Heart of Ice (Araneae Nation) Read online

  Cartilage crunched and blood streamed down his chin. Shock widened his eyes. He groped at his face on reflex, releasing his hold on me. His nails sliced furrows into his cheeks. While he was stunned, I whirled out of his reach and ran for it. I cleared three yards before his enraged roar made me jump.

  “Thierry.” His voice boomed.

  I wish I had said something clever, but I’m pretty sure I squeaked like a mouse with a cat hot on her tail. Incubi as a race were passionate, hotheaded. Shaw as a man was competitive, driven. Talk about your explosive combinations. Attributes that made him a great instructor also made him an apex predator.

  And I was feeling hunted.

  It was a new experience for me, and I didn’t like it much.

  Ignoring the snarling on my heels, I pushed until my thighs screamed and my legs were rubber. I ran until the tower was in sight, and I caught a second wind. The growling behind me increased, and so did my speed. Bursting into an open area, I hesitated at the sight of my classmates huddled together.

  A slender woman of Japanese descent stood nude under an umbrella covered in plump cardinals. I guess Shaw had found the fox shifter after all. Damn it. Now she would be stuck retaking the exam. The only thing more competitive than a pissy incubus was a kitsune whose 4.0 GPA had just plummeted.

  “Move your scrawny ass,” Mei screamed at me. “You’re the last woman standing.”

  Our classmates picked up her cries and began cheering for me. I appreciated the support, but the clapping and whistling made it impossible to hear Shaw’s approach. Looking wasn’t an option. I had to watch my footing or risk tripping. He was downwind, so I couldn’t scent him. I was running blind.

  Panting through the last dozen yards, I hit the corroded ladder beneath the tower and hauled my body up toward the hatch in the center. My foot slipped off a rung and hit something. I glanced down to find Shaw squinting up at me through one eye. His other was shut tight under a muddy boot print.

  Crap. I climbed faster, hands slipping on the wet metal. At the top, I groped for a latch but found nothing. I wedged my shoulder against the side opposite the hinges, took another peek at a slavering Shaw, then rammed the hatch until the lock buckled and the narrow door burst open. I swung inside, bouncing the wood off Shaw’s face as he tried to join me. I winced in sympathy. It was a pretty face.

  Wood splintered and metal groaned as Shaw ripped the door from its hinges and hurled it away. There were four open slots about two feet high and six feet wide on each side of the tower. The pole was mounted in the center of the roof, so that’s where I headed. I slid through one gap, careful of my footing on the slippery tin. Grasping the pole with one hand, I used it to haul myself up the tower’s side.

  “Not so fast.” Shaw wrapped his palm around my ankle.

  “Knock it off,” I snarled. “You’re going to make me fall.”

  His other hand clutched my upper thigh. “I’ll catch you.”

  “My hero,” I grated between clenched teeth.

  I tried kicking where his face should be, but he wrestled with my foot until he popped off my shoe. I wriggled until the second shoe joined the first. His fingers dug into the denim of my soaked jeans. My fingers tightened on the slick pole. Using his grip to balance me on the lip of the open window, I flung out my other arm, locking both hands around the pole and hoisting myself higher.

  Shaw’s hands crept up to my hips, smoothing over my ass in his search for the pocket where my flag was kept. Two inches lower and he would win. I hated losing, so I brought my knee up hard under his jaw and braced that heel in the window, kicking up and launching myself onto the roof.

  While Shaw cursed at me and threatened to bend me over his knee—kinky—I found my footing. Standing tall and proud, I snatched the limp flag from its hooks with a whoop. Glancing down at the cheering cadets, I spotted Mei’s mile-wide smile and swung my soggy prize over my head with glee.

  In hindsight, the victory dance was overkill. One minute I was shaking what my momma gave me. The next I was crashing through the thin roof and toppling over the jagged edge. Shaw tried to catch me. The ground managed the job for him.

  Some hero he turned out to be.

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  A Heart of Ice

  © 2014 by Hailey Edwards All rights reserved.

  Edited by Sasha Knight

  Cover by Kanaxa

  Interior format by The Killion Group

  http://thekilliongroupinc.com