Highland Son (Highland Sorcery: A New Dawn) by Clover Autrey Page B

good enough…have to be sure…what if you’re wrong?”
    Alexander squinted his eyes open to two figures hunched near a sloping attic type wall, their heads close together. Jewel and some man spoke together quietly, their closeness suggesting they knew each other very well. Uneasiness stirred in Alexander’s belly. He didn’t like the feeling.
    “…have to take a chance sometime…before Sheppard finds more men the caliber of Hank and Richards.”
    “Are you prepared…wait, he’s rousing.”
    Jewel rushed to Alexander’s side, her knees pushing into his arm where he lay on a lumpy cushion, one of those old pool-side lounge cushions that had been placed on the dusty floor. “How do you feel? Still achy?”
    “The drug should have cleared his system by now,” the stranger, a light-haired man, spoke from behind Jewel’s shoulder, eyeing Alexander curiously. “Here.” He passed an aluminum soda can to Jewel.
    “Can you try to sit so you can drink this?” she asked. “It’s water,” she added when he merely frowned at her, even while his throat contracted in thirst just thinking of a sip of water.
    “Still don’t trust me?” She went for a teasing tone, yet the quaver to her voice gave her away. She wanted his trust. And in truth, she had it. He wasn’t sure why exactly, or why so suddenly, but he did trust her.
    But she was with strangers he didn’t know, and Sheppard— The events of what brought him to this point slammed into his awareness like a bullet. Oh déithe . Sheppard and the Sifts. He’d been staked out on that chain link fence like a gobbler for the monsters’ feast. And Dez and Ethan…
    He bolted upright in a panic. The muscles of his abdomen clenched in agony. “My men,” he rasped, vocal chords as raw as scraped leather.
    “Easy.” The guy with Jewel was on the other side of the thin cushion now, trying to ease him back.
    But Alexander wasn’t one to take being staked out while his friends were threatened lying flat on his back. “No. What’s happened? Where are they?” Tiny dots of perspiration pebbled his bare chest and arms. He fought the shaking in his limbs just sitting up brought on.
    “The tremors will pass.” The guy’s eyes were sympathetic. “Aftereffects. I should know,” he added bitterly.
    Alexander snapped his face toward him. “My men,” he gritted, fearing the worst.
    “Sheppard still has them,” Jewel supplied and something loosened in Alexander’s chest.
    “They’re alive? They weren’t given to the Sifts?” It took monumental effort to voice that fear past his lips.
    The man shook his head. “They’re human. Sheppard would kill them outright before giving them to the creatures. He’s conscionable that way.” Anger streamed from every pore of the guy. Alexander suspected he’d feel it even without the enhanced senses of a sorcerer.
    “So they—“
    “He wouldn’t have them killed,” Jewel said quickly, flashing a distressed look to the guy. “Not right away. Not until he gets what he wants.”
    Gets what he wants . Alexander’s stomach clutched harder. “He has to know Dez and Ethan would never join him.” Not after what Sheppard did to him.
    “He’ll want as much information he can get on your location in California.” The guy crossed his arms and cocked his head, a hind of calculation in his light eyes. “Is it true? There’s a large gathering there, large enough to take on the beasts?”
    So Jewel told this guy about that. And why wouldn’t she? They gave the appearance of being…close. A stab of jealousy that he had no right feeling burrowed into him. What the hell? He had no business thinking about her in these kind of terms.
    Frowning he looked down at his hands. His wrists were bandaged where the ropes had been. He shook his head, reasoning through the worry at hand. Ethan and Dez. He’d figure out who this guy was later and how far he could be trusted.
    Jewel obviously trusted him and damn it, he trusted her, even