It gripped his chest, icy claws with razor tips. The unspeakable agony dropped him to his knees and ripped a cry from his throat that he couldnt suppress.

“Beg.” Pleasure purred into Kanes voice. “Beg for mercy. Crawl for it.”

With what strength he had left, Jordan lifted his head, stared straight into Kanes eyes. “Kiss my—”

His vision dimmed. He heard shouting over the roaring in his ears, felt a flood of warmth over the hideous cold.

And the fury of Kanes voice seemed to scream through his mind: “I am not finished!”

Jordan fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

“JORDAN! Oh, God, oh, God, Jordan, come back.”

He thought perhaps he was on a boat, one that rocked fitfully in the sea. He might have drowned, he supposed. His chest was on fire, his head dull and throbbing. But someone was bringing him back, pressing warm lips to his. Dragging him back to life whether he liked it or not.

But why the hell was a dog barking like a maniac out in the open sea?

He blinked his eyes open and stared up at Dana.

Though pale as glass, she was a welcome sight. She was running a trembling hand over his face, pushing it through his hair as she clamped her arms around him and rocked.

Outside the closed bedroom door, Moe barked and threw himself against the wood.

“What the hell?” he managed and stared dully when she began to laugh.

“Youre back. Okay, youre back.” Hysteria was trying to bubble and brew in her chest. “Your mouths bleeding. Your mouths bleeding, and your chest, and youre—youre so cold.”

“Give me a minute.” He didnt try to move, not yet, as hed already discovered that just turning his head brought on a hideous wave of pain and nausea.

But what he could see was a blessed relief. He was in

Danas bedroom, sprawled on the bed, mostly over her lap, while she clutched him to her breast as she might a nursing baby.

If he didnt feel as though hed been run over by a truck, it wouldnt have been half bad.

“I was dreaming.”

“No.” She pressed her cheek to his. “No, you werent.”

“At first… or maybe not. Stretch, you got any whiskey around here? I need a shot.”

“Ive got a bottle of Paddys.”

“Ill give you a thousand dollars for three fingers of Paddys.”

“Sold.” Her laugh was too close to a sob for comfort. “Here, just lie down. Ill get it. You need to cover up, youre shaking.”

She hauled the covers over him, tucked him up like a bug in a cocoon. “Oh, Jesus God.” She shook herself as she dropped her forehead to his.

“Two thousand if you get it here within the next forty-five seconds.”

She fled the room, and Jordan figured he couldnt be in such bad shape if he could still appreciate the beauty of a naked Dana on the run.

An instant later Moe leaped on the bed and tripled every ache in his body. He started to curse, then settled for a sigh as the dog growled low, sniffed all around the bedcovers, then slurped Jordans face.

“Yeah, thatll teach us to boot you out of the bedroom just because we want to have sex in private.”

Moe whined, bumped Jordans shoulder with his nose, then turned three ungainly circles and settled down at his side.

Dana sprinted back, a bottle in one hand, a glass in the other. After pouring considerably more than three fingers of whiskey, she hooked an arm behind his head and lifted the glass to his lips.

“Thanks. I can handle it from here.”

“Okay.” Still, she eased him gently back against the pillows before lifting the bottle again and taking a long pull straight from it herself.

She imagined the heat of it hit Jordans belly just as shockingly as it did hers. Steadier, she went to the closet and pulled out a robe.

“Do you have to put that on? I like looking at you.”

She didnt want to tell him her skin felt as if it had been rubbed with ice. “We shouldnt have locked the dog out of the room.”

“Yeah, Moe and I were just discussing that.” He laid his hand on Moes wide back. “Is he what woke you?”

“Him, and your screaming.” She shuddered once, then sat on the side of the bed. “Jordan, your chest.”

“What?” He looked down at himself as she eased the covers aside. There were five distinct grooves, like a talon pattern, over his heart. They were shallow, he noted, and thanked God for it. But they bled sluggishly and were viciously painful.

“Im messing up your sheets.”

“Theyll wash.” She had to swallow, hard. “Id better take care of those cuts. While Im at it, you can tell me what the hell he did to you.“

She went into the bathroom for antiseptic and bandages, then just braced her hands on the sink and ordered herself to breathe until she could manage it without feeling like she was sucking razor blades into her throat.

She knew what fear was now. Shed felt it when the storm had ripped over the island and the black sea had rushed to take her. But even that, she realized, even that bone-deep terror, had been a shadow of what shed gone through when the shocked agony of Jordans scream had torn her out of sleep.

She fought back her tears. They were a useless indulgence when action was needed. Instead, she gathered what she needed and went back in to tend his wounds.

“I brought you some aspirin. I dont have anything stronger.”

“Thatll work. Thanks.” He downed three with the water she offered. “Look, I can handle this. I remember you dont do well with blood.”

“I wont be a baby if you wont.” Ignoring the queasiness, she sat down to mop him up. “Talk to me, and Im less likely to pitch over in a faint. What happened, Jordan? Where did he take you?”

“I started out somewhere else. I cant quite pull it back, so maybe I was dreaming. I was walking. It was dark, but with a full moon. I think it mightve been up at the Peak. I cant remember for sure. Its hazy.”

“Keep going.” She concentrated on his voice, on the words. On anything but the way the cloth she was using reddened as she pressed it against the cuts.

“Next thing I knew, it was broad daylight. It was… sort of the way I always imagined the transporter in Star Trek works. Instant and disorienting.”

“It wouldnt be my favorite mode of transportation.”

“Are you kidding? Its got to beat the hell out of… Christ on a crutch!”

“I know. Im sorry.” But she gritted her teeth and continued to swab the disinfectant over the cuts. “Keep talking. Well get through this.”

Alarmed, Moe deserted the field by slinking off the bed and crawling under it.

Jordan did his best to breathe through the pain. “The Curtain of Power. I was behind it,” he said and told her.

“You provoked him? Deliberately?” She sat back, all the interest and concern on her face shifting into irritated impatience. “Do you have to be such a man?”

“Yes. Yes, I do. Added to that, he was going to do whatever he was going to do. Why shouldnt I get a couple of swings in first, even if they were only verbal?”

“Oh, I dont know. Let me think.” Sarcasm dripping from each word, she tapped a finger to the side of her head. “Maybe because… hes a god.”

“Andyoudve stood there, of course, hands folded, having a polite conversation?”

“I dont know.” She blew out a breath and finished the bandaging. “Probably not.” Deciding that shed done her best, she bent over and dropped her head between her knees. “I dont ever want to have to do that again.”

“That makes two of us.” Stiff, still achy, he turned so he could run his hand up and down her back. “I appreciate it.”

She managed what passed for a nod. “Tell me the rest.“

“You just cleaned and bandaged the rest. Whatever he did felt just the way this looks. Actually, it felt considerably worse.”

“You screamed.”

“Do you have to keep saying that? Its embarrassing.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I screamed, too. I woke up and you were—it looked like you were having a convulsion. You were dead white, bleeding, shaking. I didnt know what the hell to do. I guess I panicked. I grabbed you, started shouting. You went limp. Almost as soon as I touched you, you went limp. I thought—for a minute I thought you were dead.”

“I heard you.”

She stayed where she was another moment, fighting back tears again. “When?”

“After I hit the dirt the second time. I heard you calling for me, and it was like getting sucked back into the old transporter. I heard him, too, right as I was fading out. I heard him, but more inside my head: „Im not finished, he said. „I am not finished. And he was royally pissed. He couldnt keep me there. He wasnt done with me, but he couldnt keep me there.”

“Why?”

“You woke up.” Reaching out, Jordan ran his fingers over her cheek. “You called me. You touched me, and that brought me out.”

“Human contact?”

“Maybe as simple as that,” he agreed. “Maybe just that simple—when the humans are connected.”

“But why you?” She picked up the cloth and dabbed at the cut on his lip. “Why did he take you behind the Curtain?”

“Thats something we have to figure out. When we do—ouch, Dana.”

“Sorry.”

“When we do,” he repeated as he nudged her hand away, “well have more of the pieces for this particular puzzle.”

* * *

SIMPLE or complex, Dana needed answers. With Moe hanging his head blissfully out the passenger window, she drove to Warriors Peak to get them. Research and speculation were one thing, but her lovers blood had been shed. Now she wanted cold, hard facts.

The trees were still bright, and their color splashed across a dull gray sky layered with sulky clouds. But more leaves littered the road and the floor of the forest.