“If you want to be part of the League, you’ll need to get used to gating,” Cara interjected. “And you’refromthe middle of nowhere, young man.”
He huffed an easy laugh. “Nailed it.”
I rolled my eyes. Ahead of Cody loomed a structure. An archway created from stacked stones, and it looked new.
“Here we are,” Cara said as we all halted before it. She dug in her pockets and emerged with something that glimmered in the sun’s dying rays. She handed them to me and Matt.
My handful sorted into two glittering crystals, each on a leather thong.
“We need ’em to pass through,” Matt explained.
“The second one is for Trix,” Cara said. “You can put it anywhere, as long as it is touching her skin.”
I put the haversack down and leaned to tuck it between her collar and her neck, making sure it was secure.
Cara glanced at Matt and then back at me, holding out her hand. “The crystals will permit you to pass through, but each realm operates in its own time. If you want to still be in the same place and time with whoever you entered the gate with, it is a good idea to hold on to each other.”
That definitely sounded like one of those useful facts to be filed away for future reference. I went to pick up the haversack, only to find it was already slung over Matt’s shoulder. He now carried three bags without breaking a sweat.
“I can carry it,” I protested.
He shrugged. “No issues. You’ve got your bouncy mouse.”
When I raised a brow, he pointed to Trix. “Not a roo, I realize, but close enough.”
I sighed and reached down to pick up Trix, cradling her beneath my arm. I was not ordinarily a touchy-feely person, but I reached out to clasp Cara’s hand. She had a hold of Kitani with her other, and the female Sabre already had her arm around Cody’s waist. I had no hands left, and I doubted Matt would want to hold hands with Cody...
Something hard and warm draped over my shoulders. Where it brushed against my neck, it was like being touched by a live wire. My entire body tingled. I shot a surprised look up to Matt, and his eyes glowed emerald back at me.
Dammit, and I’d just got my breathing calmed down. I wanted to object, but although my mouth opened, no words came out. To be honest, his arm felt too damned good.
Still, he must have picked something up. “This okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, fine.” My voice came out a full octave higher than usual.
“Everyone ready?” Cara asked.
Cody didn’t wait for an answer. He stepped beneath the archway—and towed us all through the gate.
7
Anna
The gate soaked me in icy cold, and then savage heat. A glow that permeated everything, and the sensation of being yanked through time...
Solid ground beneath my feet, and I blinked, trying to unbedazzle my eyes.
“I bloody hate gates.”
The smooth, accented baritone emerged somewhere above my right ear as my senses slowly reverted to normal. The voice sent strange tingles through me, and my beleaguered brain coughed up the incongruous fact that this guy could likely sing. No one would be able to understand him, but he’d be wonderful to listen to.
Cara released my hand, and the heat receded to a single focus—Matt’s arm across my shoulders.
Trix whined, and the arm lifted away. Why did my heart hurt when it did so? My responses were truly screwed.
Behind us stood a stone archway that mimicked the one we’d entered through. But we certainly weren’t in Kansas anymore.
I put a wiggling Trix down and surveyed the gravel path stretching before us. A setting sun sent brilliant rays across a vivid blue, crescent-shaped lake, and beyond it stood what looked like dense forest. Leaves atop trunks, so I guessed they counted as trees, anyway, and quite tall. The path wound across a wide-open meadow of nodding wildflowers, with the occasional smaller tree supported by guy ropes, as if freshly planted. Dotted throughout the tall grasses, stumps revealed that the forest had once extended over the entire region. Who had cut it down?
