Kalindra (GateKeepers) Read Free Page B

a huge four poster bed piled high with pillows and blankets–he hadn’t known a bed could fit that many pillows. She’d even allowed him to shower with soap and actual shampoo. He was definitely not going to ask where the woman found Herbal Essences this far away from civilization.
    When she’d shown him the room, she hadn’t mentioned anything about staying there. Clearly that meant she wanted him to explore. Or, at least, certainly wouldn’t mind. And if she did mind, she should have said something. Not like he was psychic.
    Pushing his luck. Always pushing. One day he’d push too far and wind up dead. Today had almost been that day. Might still be that day. He had no idea what the harpy would do to him once she discovered his secret.
    But that didn’t mean he had any intention of stopping. A grin split his face as he stepped out into another hallway, his heart pounding in his chest in a familiar heavy rhythm. This was the kind of danger he lived for.
    Well, maybe not anymore. After seeing some of the creatures from the other world–and realizing they all feared her, the harpy gatekeeper–he probably should behave like a proper prisoner. At least until he could escape. And he would escape.
    Whoever said “ignorance is bliss” hit the nail on the frickin’ head. He’d give anything to go back to being a man who craved adventure, feeling secure in his strength, in his intelligence, and in his place in the world. The man he’d been a mere nine months ago.
    Nine months. Hard to imagine so much had changed in so short a time. But it had. He no longer believed humans were at the top of the proverbial food chain. Creatures like the harpy, the vampires, and all the others he’d recently learned were real…they were the hunters. Humans were merely prey. Only a handful of men and this harpy woman, one guard for each of the four gateways between the two worlds, stopped the entire extinction—or worse, enslavement—of the human race.
    And to think, men like those he’d taken through the gate tonight actually thought they could take the good of the other world and leave the bad. That they could strip Outremer for everything useful and live to tell the tale. Cameron had made a tidy profit catering to men just like that. All he’d had to do was show them a gem or two–the same gems that littered the mountains in Outremer–tell a couple tall tales about the beautiful women and exotic plants and animals, and men had tripped over themselves to give Cameron money to take them to the world of dreams. Even the warnings he’d given after hadn’t diminished their obsession with crossing the gateways. But in the end, they’d learned their lesson the hard way. As had he.
    He closed his eyes against the guilt tightening his chest. It wasn’t his fault. At least not entirely. But he had shown people the world on the other side of the gateways, shown them the good and left off the bad more often than not. He should have known he could only profit off his knowledge for so long before he was found out.
    The secrets of Outremer had been his responsibility, and he’d failed.
    Thank God, the harpy had succeeded in her duty of protecting the gate. No matter how much he hated her, hated all the monsters like her, he could at least appreciate her dedication to duty. Respect the good she’d done guarding one of the four gateways between worlds. Better than he’d done as the keeper of the shard.
    But it was a new day, figuratively at least, and he was a new person. No more tours of hell for him. In fact, if he never saw the other side of the gate again, it would be too soon. From now on, he’d be the perfect keeper until he found someone worthy of guarding the shard. Someone more worthy than him.
    Light spilled into the hallway from an open doorway at the end of the corridor, and like a moth to a flame, he moved toward it.
    A pounding noise broke the silence of the night, coming from the room he was about to enter. He paused. Maybe