Chapter 1-1
Sentinel
Pam, Meeka, and Ian, thanks for the boot in the butt. And to Robbie, thanks for believing in me.
Chapter 1
A flash of light against the darkening sky made Jason rein in his horse. He had seen a lot of weird things happen during harvest season, because Arkansas was home to a sparse and kooky population. Something that looked like a fireball falling to the ground was outside even the normal level of strange. The thunderheads looming purple in the distance had convinced him it was time to head inside for the day, but his damned curiosity prodded him to watch the fireball come down.
Just as the thing sped out of sight above his pumpkin patch, the ground heaved, and Set danced aside with a started snort. The sound reached him a second later as Jason shushed at the big black horse, a roar so loud his ears rang as he tried to get Set under control.
“f**k was that?” And no, Jason didn’t want to know why he expected Set to answer him. Still, the horse seemed to be of the same mind as he pranced and pulled against the tightly held reins, nickering to Jason or the world in general.
Well, that answered Jason’s question. “Okay, we’ll go and see the thing. Maybe it was a meteorite?”
Jason prodded Set into a canter in an effort to avoid the clusters of pumpkin mounds that packed the field like sardines. Set was family as much as Jason’s brothers were and he refused to force him through the loose dirt pitches and maybe break an ankle.
The backyard and stable passed in a blur and they flew through the first couple acres of the massive pumpkin patch. Almost smack in the middle of the sixth acre, the rings of destruction started. Pumpkins overturned and torn from their vines marked the outer boundary. Gently reining in his horse, Jason guided Set through the mess at a careful walk, wincing at the sheer amount of crop lost.
He scrambled out of the saddle the second they reached the center of the crater, and had to grab a stirrup to keep himself upright. It was not a meteorite.
Wings.
The huge appendages spread in a black oil spill across the ground. Flight feathers were as long as his arm and splattered with pumpkin guts, but where was the monstrous bird such large wings belonged to?
Jason didn’t worry about Set when he dropped the ground tie. The horse would not wander away from his human without good reason and Jason didn’t want to chance some nasty, unknown parasite on the wings getting a hold of his companion. Set simply huffed and dug his nose in Jason’s back to get him moving, as if annoyed that Jason was looking out for his safety. Damn horse was too aware for a mere animal, in Jason’s opinion.
He crouched and shuffled on the balls of his feet to the longest inky feathers stuck over the crest of the shallow depression in the dirt. They were so damned beautiful and he couldn’t help himself. Soft, silky warmth glided across his skin as he slid his hand into the feathers, instead of the stiff bristle Jason was expecting. The damn things looked like they belonged on a raptor.
A gentle tug didn’t move the wing when he tweaked the feathers, not even a twitch of life. Jason had to know, though, so he fisted feathers in his sweaty hand and yanked.
“Holy s**t,” he breathed as the wing slid away.
The man curled underneath the feathers was beyond beautiful. Even in the weak light, the deep olive of his skin shone under grime from the pumpkin patch, stretched taut over a heavily muscled frame. Long, curly, raven-black hair partly obscured a Persian face. He was wearing the strangest clothes, a metal and leather top that split and left his side exposed with no fastenings that Jason could see. The fact that the large feet were bare was weird too. The guy looked like a boxer, but how did he get into the patch without his shoes?
Jason gently brushed the being’s curls away from his face and neck, exposing the swan-like throat. He took a chance and lightly pressed his fingers to the spot just below the hinge of the jaw, and blew out a hard breath when he felt a heavy, slow beat.
Jason sat back on his heels and pulled out his phone. Danny and Levi were out of town until tomorrow, but Adam would work. He pressed the button and Adam picked up after the second ring.
“I thought you’d be back at the house by now, Jace.” Little s**t never bothered with a greeting when Jason called. “The weather report is calling for a bad storm within the hour.”
“Yeah, I was heading in. Something happened.” Jason paused, not sure how much his brother would believe. He decided to keep it simple until Adam saw the man. “I found someone in the middle of the patch. He’s out cold and it’s getting too dark to tell how banged up he is, but he’s in desperate need of some clean up. Meet me at the door in about twenty minutes, okay?”
Adam groaned. “You and your strays.” Jason was willing to bet Adam was rolling his eyes. “Fine. Ten minutes. Haul ass.”
The beep of disconnection echoed down the line, but Jason would lecture his brother later, after he dealt with the problem at hand. He fetched the extra horse blanket he kept in Set’s saddle bag, and spread it out as flat as possible. He tucked the giant wings as close to the man as feasible and rolled him belly down onto the blanket. Jason was no slouch, and the man wasn’t close to the weight he was expecting with so much mass, but Jason grew winded anyway from simply rolling him.
Wrapping the blanket the rest of the way around the being, Jason lifted him up and cradled him close as he picked his way back to Set. “Hey, Set, kneel down, would you?”
Set obeyed the command with easy grace for such a big horse, making it a simple matter to lay the stranger across the animal’s wide back. Set got to his hooves without difficulty when Jason gave a crisp snap to the reins.
A roll of thunder cracked the quiet twilight. Jason hopped into the saddle and rearranged the man to lounge against chest, head tucked under his chin and body held tightly in place. “Let’s get home before this storm breaks. And I’ll get you something nice for all the extra work you put in tonight.”
The horse whickered to Jason, in thanks or exasperation was anyone’s guess, and Set gave them a smooth ride home.
