Scent of Salvation (Chronicles of Eorthe #1) by Annie Nicholas Page B

into the darkness and went still.
    Kele descended the stairs at a leisurely pace. She passed his hidden position,   carrying fresh clothes and a drying cloth as if going to a bathing room. He noticed Susan was not accompanying her. Would they have imprisoned her? He somehow doubted it. Kele seemed to actually care about the human’s well being.
    So did Ahote, but for other reasons. If that male laid one hand on her… Sorin’s heart screeched to a halt. Where had Ahote gone after locking him to the wall? Why was Kele leaving the human female by herself?
    Taking the steps three at a time, Sorin followed Susan’s scent up two levels and across a hanging-rope bridge to a broken wooden door.
     
    Susan blinked at the ceiling. Feeling sorry for herself wasn’t making her problems go away. She’d have to cope with being a stray until she could figure out a new plan. Maybe her skills as a scientist could give her an advantage? She could try to re-invent the light bulb.
    Shit, she’d have to re-invent electricity first.
    The door to Kele’s room shattered open again. Susan’s heart stopped as she stared at the opening, half expecting to see Chaska there once more, but found a silver-haired sex-god from her darkest fantasies standing in the doorway. He wore a short, leather, kilt-like skirt that bared enough thigh she’d be tempted to lean back and take a peek under it. A long, thin scar swept across his face from his forehead, over his eye and down his cheek with a matching small one across both lips. Sweat soaked his dirt-smudged skin and glittered in the candlelight. “Sorin?” Hot damn, she hadn’t really noticed his maleness until now. She’d been looking at this world through fear-goggles all day.
    Ahote was sexy but Sorin was an untamed animal.
    His chest heaved as he scanned the room. “You’re alone?”
    She sat up slowly. “Yes. You just missed Kele if you’re looking for her.”
    His piercing amber gaze met hers. “Why would I want her?” He shoved the almost-unhinged door closed behind him with one hand.
    Why indeed? Susan swallowed a lump in her throat and glanced at the pallet she lay upon. “Last I saw you were chained up. Are they letting you go?” She highly doubted the pack would release a strange male within their den unaccompanied. “Kele should be back any minute.”
    Sorin crossed the room with two long strides.
    Her heart skipped as she scurried back against the wall. All the self-defense classes she’d taken in college vanished in a flash of girly panic.
    He knelt in front of her and shook his head. “I’m doing this all wrong. I know I am.” He held out his hand toward her but didn’t touch. “There’s not much time before they discover I’ve escaped. Come with me.” He audibly grounded his teeth. “Please.”
    “You’re escaping?” She stared at his hand, and a glimmer of hope bloomed. “And you want to take me?”
    “Yes. Let’s go.”
    She reached for his hand, then hesitated. “The Payami will treat me like a stray. Why do you want me?” Not grabbing his hand was the hardest thing she’d ever done. She was a woman overboard, and Sorin was tossing her a life saver.
    He made an impatient noise. “My people are sick. I have no healer. You falling almost into my lap in my greatest time of need—”
    “Your Goddess didn’t send me, Sorin. I’m from another world, not Heaven.” She grabbed his hand. “But I might be able to help anyway.” Finally, something she could understand and do. “I’m not a healer but I understand things your people might not.” Like bacteria and viruses, disinfecting areas and quarantining the sick. “Let’s do this.”
    A huge grin spread across his face, and it devastated her. The pure joy in his eyes made her realize how desperate Sorin was, and she’d just given him hope. He pulled her to her feet with one hard tug and stood to catch her in his solid arms.
    Pressed against his bare chest, Susan couldn’t find enough oxygen in