Read Warrior's Heart: Iron Portal Series (Paranormal Romance) for Free Online Page B

back, Vince saw that a few bushes they’d passed a moment ago were moving. Shit. The dog was on their scent and closing in. Probably had a visual.
    “You’re going to need to cloak both of us.” He pointed to a fir tree straight ahead. One of its lower limbs looked strong enough to support both of them. “There.”
    He hoisted her up, pushing her lush bottom to help her as she climbed above him. They’d just reached the limb and sat down when the dog arrived, barking and leaping at the tree trunk. Zara gasped and flinched. Vince wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
    With his nose pressed to her hair, he closed his eyes for a moment and breathed her in. She smelled like fresh rain and honeysuckle, instantly stirring up old memories of the nights they’d spent making love and staring up at the stars.
    Her small hands gripped his forearms as the dog barked below them, foam and saliva flicking off its muzzle. No doubt, it would rip them to shreds if they fell. He scanned the forest but didn’t see Palmer. Yet.
    “How long does the cloaking process take?” he asked her.
    “As soon as I focus my energy, it’s instantaneous,” Zara said, not taking her eyes off the dog. “You didn’t happen to bring the bolt cutters, did you?”
    “No, why?”
    She glanced at his ankle. “To cut off the metal cuff.”
    He’d honestly become so accustomed to having it around his ankle while on the chain gang that he’d forgotten it was even there. “We can worry about that later.”
    Zara nodded, frowning slightly to herself, but before he could ask her what was wrong, they heard shouts through the trees. Palmer was coming.
    She grabbed his hand and threaded her fingers through his. Almost immediately, a tingling energy traced up his arm and encompassed his entire body. The margins of his vision became slightly skewed, as if he were wearing a new set of glasses and needed to get used to them.
    “There,” she whispered. “We’re cloaked.”
    “That’s it?” he asked incredulously. She wasn’t invisible to him like she had been before. She looked exactly the same.
    Back when they were together, she’d only been able to cloak herself. He wasn’t sure what he had expected, but he’d assumed it’d be...different. Like peering through a heavy veil or a cloud or something.
    “Just don’t let go,” she said, “and he’ll never see us.”
    “I won’t let go of you, Zara.” Ever.
    Soon, Palmer was crashing through the underbrush. He stopped at the base of the tree and looked up to see what the dog was barking at. His brows were drawn together into one continuous line, his face red from exertion.
    Zara gripped Vince tighter, her short nails digging into the back of his hand. Her skin was softer than he remembered. He stroked his thumb over hers and held his breath, hardly daring to breathe.
    “Adolf, find.” The man pointed into the woods.
    The dog didn’t budge, just kept looking up the tree and barking. Could the animal see them, Vince wondered, or was it just their scent he was responding to?
    “What the hell is wrong with you? You’ve been doing this all week.” Palmer kicked at him, but Adolf skirted out of the way. He repeated his command but the dog still refused to obey, its menacing bark leaving no doubt what it wanted to do to them.
    The man made a loud sound of exasperation and moved past the tree without snapping the leash to the dog’s spiked collar.
    What the hell? Surely Palmer wasn’t just going to leave the dog here, was he? It wouldn’t hesitate to rip them to shreds if they attempted to climb down.
    Zara’s comm device suddenly crackled.
    Vince’s body went rigid, his breath catching like a tumbleweed in his dry throat. Without letting go of him, she quickly flicked off the device. She squeezed his hand twice as if to say, “I’m sorry.”
    Palmer spun around. With narrowed, rat-like eyes, he approached the tree again. His gaze traveled up the trunk right to where they were