Enemy Mine (Mending The Veil) by Kelliea Ashley Page A

sadistic bastards like you. When I have intel on her coven I will check in, but if they want the location of the coven and its High Priest, her father , they’ll back off and let me do my job.” He pulled back to meet the big man’s eyes. “Tell them word for word, or I’ll be coming for you, Ray. And next time you threaten Rissa, I’ll feed you to the cat myself.”
    He quickly delivered a series of punches to the big man’s face, until he was sure the man was unconscious, but still breathing. He turned his head to look at the tiger, shaking his head as he found the white tabby sitting beside them with a rather pissed expression on her feline face.
    “Thank you.” He pushed himself to his feet, flinching as just taking a breath hurt. He looked toward the house, a feeling of relief and warm affection easing his discomfort as he watched Rissa’s dark curls flying in the air as she ran toward him.

Chapter Eleven
    Rissa stumbled to a stop a few feet from where Travis was swaying. He looked like he’d been hit by a freight train! His eyes were both darkening, one swollen almost completely shut, his lips were split and bleeding, and there was a deep gash on his forehead deep enough for stitches. She examined him all over; concerned as she saw him wince when he took a shallow breath.
    “Don’t cry, Rissa. I’ll heal.” He tried to smile, but flinched instead. Her gaze went to the prone body behind him.
    “Is he...?”
    “He’s unconscious, but he won’t stay that way for long.” Travis glanced behind him as well.
    He should have let me kill him. Rissa watched as Theo jumped up on the big man’s chest. The cat stared down at him with a low hiss before both paws reached out to deliver a series of blows to the Guardian’s cheeks.
    “Theo!” Rissa’s shocked call brought the cat back to her senses. Theo turned, slapped the man’s face with her tail, jumped to the ground, and proceeded to kick dirt on him with her back feet as if she’d just left the kitty litter box.
    Travis’s deep chuckle beside her only got a snotty twitch of the cat’s fluffy white tail as she walked past them to the cabin. Rissa’s gaze caught his good eye, as the other was red and swollen shut, and smiled herself. Relief that he was alive–battered, but alive – made her let out a deep breath. He was safe, they were safe, and the Guardian was still breathing. Her soul was still pure, her magic intact, and she owed it to the man before her.
    “Thank you, Travis.”
    “Tell you what, you can thank me once we’re on our way out of here. He won’t be out for long.” He angled a look at the unconscious man behind him.
    “You should have let Theo kill him. He’ll be on our trail, hunting us down like deer.” Her teeth bit into her lower lip as his split lips pulled into a frown. “Hunting me down,” she corrected herself.
    “Killing him would only bring more of them down on us.” He shook his head as he reached out to place his hands on her arms. “I bought us some time by keeping him alive. We have to get out of here.”
    “How have you bought time?” Her stomach flipped with suspicions that would not go away. Could she trust him not to turn on her? Was he really trying to gain her trust to get to her father, though she’d already told him that wasn’t going to happen? Did he already know how she loved him? She was so tired of hiding it that she decided to give up trying as she watched him smile at her with split lips.
    “I lied to him. I told him I couldn’t complete my mission if I was being shadowed and hunted. They’ll leave us alone, for now.”
    “If we run away together, you need to know I’ll be cut off from my family. My father won’t help us, won’t acknowledge me as his daughter. I’ll be dead to him, Travis. You won’t get into the coven by running off with me.” There she’d told him straight out. If he was playing her for the fool, it was for naught because she wouldn’t be a connection to the