Valiant Heart by Angela Addams

body suddenly sluggish.
    Ariana ceased her chanting, bringing the other women to silence. “Great Goddess Artemis, mother to us all, we thank you for your wisdom and your strength in our mission. We honor you with the blood of youth.” She pulled her sickle from her back before slipping it under the doe’s neck. She slit its flesh in one effortless stroke. Blood pooled as the animal slumped.
    The warriors each unsheathed a blade of their own.
    â€œAnd blood of power,” Ariana said. She pulled her sickle across her palm, wincing as it bit her flesh before she tilted it over the pool of doe blood, hers mingling with its.
    Lance jolted out of his stupor, watching with horror as Kelly did the same, angling her blade in a way that was going to cut too deep. Her cry of pain made him jump. He quickly moved to her, pulled her back and out of the circle, her hand cradled in his.
    â€œKelly! What have you done?” Her hand was splayed open, blood gushing. “Fuck!”
    She smiled at him. “I’ve never done that before, I think I went too deep.” Her eyes rolled back and he caught her before she fell.
    â€œDamn it, Kelly.” He lowered her to the ground, tilting her hand to let the blood drain from her palm. He was filthy—nothing on him clean enough to wrap the wound. He lifted her hand to his mouth, then licked along the cut, his mind focused on using his tongue as his method of mending her wound. He’d never done it that way before—why the hell would he? But as he licked along the cut, he felt his power rising. He used his lips to pinch the wound together and his tongue to send his magic in. Once he got into a rhythm, he closed his eyes and let the magic lead him.

Chapter Ten
    Ambushed
    I watched with disgust as Lance seemed to kiss Kelly’s wounded hand better. He was so blissful in his task that he didn’t realize he had a crowd. His hand was on Kelly’s hip, embracing her as he tenderly cared for her wound.
    What kind of moron cuts that deep anyway? I scoffed to myself, not at all wondering what his lips on my palm would feel like.
    Nope, not at all.
    A few of the Huntresses shot me careful glances, gauging if I was going to react. I was seething, wanting to rip them apart, so fucking jealous that I wanted to break something, like Kelly’s face. It was getting worse, these feelings of ownership, a need to possess Lance every time he showed her the least bit of attention. What was killing me, though, was that before I knew he’d been playing to some extent—teasing me with Kelly, this time was for real. He cared about her, was tending to her without thought, love evident in his actions. My heart felt like it was crushing in on itself, like I was losing something I never had in the first place.
    Do something , my gut screamed. Take your man. I pushed that nagging voice back and instead I rolled a shoulder, easing the tension down my spine, resheathed my weapon and walked away.
    â€œI’m going to go clean up. Save some of the meat for me.” I snatched up my bag and left the camp.
    Artemis had blessed us with a power surge, our sacrifice appeasing the Goddess, Kelly’s blood in particular pleasing her immensely it seemed. What I’d told Kelly earlier in the day was true; the Goddess had taken a keen interest in her plight, guiding us so that we had no choice but to help Kelly regain her strength and find her missing mate. What we didn’t know was why.
    It was obvious to us that having a former Order leader in the hands of the enemy was dangerous. However, we’d never been in league with the Order in the first place so why it was a concern for the tribe, I couldn’t say. And if Queen Val knew, she wasn’t saying anything either. Although we’d always chanted, sacrificed and prayed to Artemis, it had only been in the past few months that she actually had begun to speak back to us, sending messages, that, although