Dark Warrior by Rebecca York

corner of her vision, she could still see Ames looking frantically around for an escape route, as the Ionians surrounded Tessa. Joining hands, they made a circle of power, protecting their sister from harm. Ames cut his losses, and ran back toward the van.
    Layden made a grab for him, but he shook the man off, jumped into his vehicle, and roared away, the back door still flapping as he sped out of the parking lot and toward the gatehouse.
    The guard stepped out, his gun in his hand. “Stop or I’ll shoot,” he shouted.
    Ignoring the warning, Ames kept barreling toward the gate.
    The guard raised his weapon and fired, the sound of the shots like firecrackers, but Ames ducked low and kept going.
    As he approached, the guard jumped out of the way, and the van roared past, snapping the wooden barrier before continuing down the access road in a cloud of dust.
    Sophia was torn between her sister and Jason, who still lay on the ground.
    “Stay with him,” Tessa whispered as she saw the distress on her sister’s face.
    Sophia had no idea what to do as she crouched over him. Try to wake him? Or was that dangerous?
    Bending toward him, she touched his cheek and asked, “Jason. Are you all right, Jason?”
    His eyes blinked open and focused on her. After a moment, he answered, “I’m fine.”
    She looked at the pool of blood that was collecting under his head.
    “Your head is bleeding. You need to go to the hospital,” she murmured.
    “No. I’ll be okay.” His voice sounded groggy. He reached up to touch his scalp, then brought his hand back, his fingertips smeared with blood. “Remember, I’m a vet. I know head wounds bleed a lot.”
    “And you know you were unconscious. You might have a concussion.”
    He shrugged, then winced.
    When he tried to sit up, she put a firm hand on his shoulder. “Lie still.”
    Paramedics, who had arrived with the fire trucks, came trotting up. “Out of the way, miss.” They began working over Jason, and Sophia took several steps back, watching his eyes follow her.
    “They’ll take care of you,” she said, then added, “Thank you for saving Mrs. McFadden—and Tessa.” She knew that the thanks were inadequate. He’d risked his life twice in the space of a few minutes for women he didn’t even know.
    She could see he wanted to talk to her, and she wanted to talk to him, but how could they say anything personal in front of the gathered Ionians? As far as anybody knew, he was only the new vet. Nothing more to her than that.
    And what was he to her, exactly?
    She wanted to find out, but that was impossible now.
    “Later,” she mouthed, then turned to her sisters.
    Cynthia was speaking to Tessa, asking what had happened, and Tessa repeated the story.
    “I think this is like the attack on the road,” she finished.
    “When a Minot went after Sophia. Only it was supposed to be me.”
    Cynthia glanced at the crowd around them, not just Ionians, but guests and also Layden.
    “We will talk of this later,” she said, obviously aware of the listening ears. “I have . . . other duties.”
    “Of course,” Tessa murmured.
    The circle of Ionians closed around her again, and Sophia knew that they were sending her reassuring thoughts, but they would have to discuss this later.
    As Sophia thought about the implications, she shivered.
    Ames had tried to kidnap Tessa. Did that mean Tessa had really been the target the other night, since she was supposed to go to the meeting? And only chance had put Sophia in harm’s way?
    Cynthia strode over to one of the firemen, asking what he had determined about the origin of the smoke.
    “It was definitely arson,” he said. “We found a pile of wood shavings and other debris that had been set on fire, but it looks like it was designed to create more smoke than flames.”
    “I guess that’s lucky,” she answered.
    To get everyone’s attention, Sophia thought. So he could go after Tessa. And he obviously hadn’t cared if someone else—like Mrs.