Lian/Roch (Bayou Heat) by Alexandra Ivy, Laura Wright Page A

his cat as he sailed over the railing of the balcony and prepared to battle a goddess.

 

     
    Chapter 7
     
     
    Sage ran her fingers over the glyphs, desperately trying to ignore the vicious roars and occasional snarls of pain that filled the air.
    She didn’t have claws or teeth. Or even a damned gun.
    For now, the only way to help Lian was by concentrating on the scrolls.
    She was so close, the symbols forming into words in her head as a tingle of power raced through her blood.
    This wasn’t a history of the Pantera as she’d first assumed. Or even a detailed explanation of how to destroy Shakpi as Lian had hoped.
    This was…magic.
    Lost in her thoughts, Sage didn’t sense the approaching man until he lightly tapped on her shoulder.
    She jerked her head around to discover a tall man with milky brown skin, blue eyes and dark hair that was closely buzzed to his scalp.
    Xavier was the Geek she’d been in cyber contact with for the past four years. Of course, she’d assumed he was another researcher, not a mythical puma shifter.
    “What are you doing?” the man snapped, his expression grim as he towered over her. “You need to evacuate.”
    “No.” She turned back to the scrolls to point toward a hieroglyph shaped like a bluebird. “What does the word Hielar mean?”
    With an effort, Xavier leashed his obvious desire to be in the clearing below with his pack mates.
    “Hielar?” His brow furrowed as he searched his mind for the answer. “In the old language it meant ‘come.’”
    Sage felt a flicker of hope.
    Was it possible she was on the right track?
    “Come or summon?” she demanded.
    “What are you suggesting?”
    “I think this is a spell.”
    Xavier stiffened, suddenly offering her his full attention. “A spell to get rid of Shakpi?”
    She gave a shake of her head. “No. To summon someone.” She bit her bottom lip, touching her fingers to the glyphs. The strange prickles continued to race through her body, as if urging her to speak the words, but the symbols remained frustratingly out of focus. “Or something.”
    “Dammit.” Xavier glared at the scrolls in frustration. “I was so certain these could help.”
    “I think they can,” she insisted.
    He shook his head. “Dr. Parker, I appreciate you traveling here and trying to decipher the scrolls, but the last thing we want is to risk summoning some unknown spirit.”
    She flinched as she heard a heavy body crash into a tree below.
    She was a scientist at heart. The sort of person who depended on logic and fact. Which was why she’d tried to suppress the magic that bubbled deep inside her for so long.
    Since arriving in the Wildlands, however, she’d allowed herself to lower her barriers and ‘see’ the scrolls with her emotions, not the eyes of a researcher.
    At the beginning she’d thought she’d sensed the lingering echo of the goddess because she assumed Opela had written the scroll.
    Now that she realized it was a spell…
    Well, the only reasonable explanation was that it was meant to summon the elusive goddess.
    “Even a spirit that has the same power as Shakpi?” she asked.
    Xavier made a sound of impatience. “There isn’t any.”
    “Her sister.”
    Not surprisingly, the large male glared at her as if she’d just committed sacrilege. Even though it’d been centuries since Opela had disappeared from the Wildlands, the Pantera deeply mourned her loss.
    “Opela sacrificed herself to imprison Shakpi,” he said in harsh tones.
    Sage reached out to lightly touch his arm. She didn’t mean to offend Xavier, but she didn’t have time to do this in a more diplomatic way.
    “You don’t truly believe she’s gone,” she insisted.
    He scowled, no doubt assuming she was arguing semantics. “Not completely gone, but—”
    A loud yelp sounded from below. Lian. Sage pressed a hand to her heart. She could physically feel his pain.
    “Oh hell,” she breathed, sending Xavier a pleading glance. “We have to do