by Dia Cole
He picked up on the second ring. “Vana?”
The sound of his deep rumbling voice wrenched my heart. How can he rattle me after all this time? “Hi, Nathan,” I managed to say through clenched teeth.
“Are you with Liam and Gabriel?”
“Yes, and Mason,” I said with all the calmness I could muster.
“Good. They’re going to take you to a property up in the mountains.”
The mountains? “But that’s hours away.”
“The farther away from town you are, the safer you’ll be. As soon as I get Mira, we’ll join you.”
“Where is she?” I asked, my throat tightening with worry.
“With her new nanny,” he said in a clipped voice. “We’ll see you shortly and then you and I will talk. I have a lot of things I need to tell you. I’ve missed you…I want you back.”
A million different emotions flashed through me—confusion, pain, anger and a dump truck full of bitterness. “You’re a few months too late for that.”
“Vana.” My name sounded like a plea on his lips. “I’m sorry. I can explain everything.”
My breathing grew ragged. “Fuck you.” Tears swam in my eyes as I thought of all those anguished nights I’d dreamed of him begging me to take him back. “You told me that I meant nothing to you and now you mean nothing to me.”
“Vana, I—”
A loud crash sounded through the phone and our connection went dead.
5
Liam
I’d never been a jealous man. In fact, I’d long come to terms with the fact that my size intimidated females, both human and Lykos alike. Other than the rare female or two whose curiosity temporarily overwhelmed their fear, they avoided me like the bogeyman I’d become. Over the years, I’d gotten used to seeing other males chosen by females. So why did the sight of Doc’s arm wrapped around Havana’s slight shoulders make me want to rip the offending limb off and beat him with it?
As if feeling my glare in the rearview mirror, Doc looked up. “Is something wrong, Liam?”
I enjoyed the scent of anxiety wafting off the smaller male. He might be better-looking, and a doctor, but we both know who was deadlier.
Gabe looked over at me. “Why are you giving that poor male The Look, brother?”
I feigned innocence. “What look?” The other Enforcers told me I wore a particular expression before going after someone who had the misfortune of pissing off Tasha. It was a running joke back among the rest of the Enforcers that Liam’s Look was enough to stop a male’s heart from beating. If only. It’d make my work far less messy.
“Ease up or Mason will piss his pants,” Gabe chided. “That’s an order.”
I swallowed back my growl. Gabe was one of the few who could speak to me like that without fearing for his life.
The dark-haired male gave me a puzzled look. “What’s going on with you?”
I shrugged. Normally, I maintained an ironclad hold on my emotions. But seeing Doc plastered all over Havana set my teeth on edge. “The female is pretty,” I said trying to offer an explanation.
Gabe grunted in understanding.
My gaze shifted back to Havana. Pretty. That was an understatement. I’d never seen a more stunning female in my life and that included every Lykos female in our faction. But that wasn’t very many if I was being honest. There were at least five males for every female, which meant that most males remained unclaimed like me. It was the female’s choice after all and no female would ever choose a freak of nature like me. Having the reputation as the killer of killers probably didn’t help my cause either.
But Havana didn’t recoil in horror at the sight of me. Well, I guess she had, but later she’d touched my cheek. I couldn’t remember the last time a female had touched me. The feel of her soft hand against my skin would fuel my fantasies for the next month.
Of course, now Doc was holding her hand. I glanced up in the rearview mirror and growled.
Doc flinched. “What is it?”
I scowled at him. “She doesn’t need you pawing at her.”
The smaller male let out an indignant sniff. “I’ve never pawed at a female in my life.”
He probably hadn’t needed to. Lucky bastard. No doubt females threw themselves at the handsome male wherever he went. I gritted my teeth. “Just give her some space.”
Doc dropped Havana’s bandaged hand and shame pounded through me. She’d been injured on my watch. I should’ve protected her better.
Seeming to sense my darkening mood, Doc wisely moved to the other side of the seat.
The tightness in my chest eased. Unable to stop the impulse, I adjusted the mirror so I could better see the object of my obsession. There she was in a tangle of long dark hair. Her short black dress barely covered the tops of her tanned, toned thighs.
The sight of those long legs had me squirming in my seat.
Havana looked up and our gazes tangled in the mirror.
For a moment, I lost myself in her eyes. Back in the alley, I didn’t notice their color, but now I could see they were a deep brown. Beautiful. Just like every inch of her. My heart pounded as I imagined her seeking comfort from me instead of Doc.
I’d put my arm around her and draw her against me. She’d sigh and pull me close and—
“Watch the road!” Gabe yelled, startling me back to reality.
I jerked the wheel to the left narrowly avoiding a car that had stopped in the middle of the street. “Sorry.”
Gabe cursed. “This was such a bad idea. I should’ve found a way to refuse Nathan. No way do we need to deal with a female like her right now. Look at you and Mason panting over her instead of focusing on our mission. She’s the last goddamn thing we need.”
He was wrong. Havana was the only thing I needed. Fuck all those other females. Their fear and rejection no longer mattered. I’d been waiting for this female all my life and now she was here. I tightened my fingers around the steering wheel. She’s mine and no one, not even the doctor in the back seat, is going to get in my way. But… What if she doesn’t want me? Doubt crept in like shadows. No female had ever chosen me—why will she be different?
As if sensing my inner crisis, Havana said, “Thank you again for rescuing me back in the alley. I owe my life to you, Liam.”
Her caramel-coated voice electrified every vein in my body. “I couldn’t let any harm come to such a beautiful woman,” I said proud of myself for delivering a line worthy of even the smooth doctor. “I apologize again for scaring you. My size can be intimidating.”
Next to me, Gabriel snorted.
I fought the urge to punch him in the arm.
Havana smiled. “I find tall men incredibly sexy.”
The curve of her blood-red lips made my heart beat wildly. She likes me. Fuck. She likes me. What if she’s the one? My mate. I’d never heard of a human bonding with a Lykos before, but there was a first time for everything. I didn’t share the same hatred the majority of our kind had for humans nor was I intimidated by the Council’s law against interbreeding with them. The only reason I’d never approached a human woman before was because they seemed to eye me with the same fear Lykos females did. But Havana wasn’t looking at me with fear in her gorgeous eyes.
I took a deep breath inhaling her heavenly scent. The sweet fragrance teased my senses and made my aching cock stand at attention. Down boy, I commanded, hoping that Gabe didn’t look over and see the tent pitched in my pants.
A quick look told me I was the last thing on Gabe’s mind.
The dark-haired male looked out the window, agitation rolling off him in waves. “The majority of the human population was vaccinated yesterday or earlier today. Within twenty-four hours they will die, reanimate, and attack any living thing they encounter. Do you know what that means, Liam?”
His words sucked the air out of the car. Immediately, my hard-on deflated. “The world is fucked.”
“Pretty much. I hope Nathan knows what he’s doing.”
“O
f course he does,” I said automatically. The Alpha male always knew what he was doing. He was one of the smartest, strongest, and most courageous males in our faction. My trust in him was absolute and my appreciation to him for introducing us to Havana would endure for much longer than tonight. I thanked the powers that be that she was no longer his. An unclaimed female could choose any male. Including me. I grinned.
“At least one of us should've gone with him.” Gabe drummed his fingers against the armrest of his seat so hard, his claws extended and dug into the leather.
I sent him a sharp look. Revealing ourselves in front of humans carried a death sentence. It wasn’t like Gabe to be so careless. “Brother?”
He jerked up in his seat and fisted his hands. “We should’ve forced him to come with us like Tasha ordered.”
I gave Gabe an incredulous look. Just because Tasha ruled the faction didn’t mean we could force Nathan to do anything. Male Alphas were almost as powerful as their female counterparts. With one thought Nathan could force Gabe and me to fight each other to death. I shuddered at the idea of harming one of the few males I called friend. “He wanted to save his babe,” I said softly.
“To what end? It’s just a matter of time before Tasha goes after the child.” Gabe let out a harsh breath no doubt reliving the horror of his past.
I grimaced. Our vicious ruler tolerated no other Alpha females in her territory. Not even her own offspring. It was common knowledge that the only reason Mira lived was because it gave Tasha leverage over the powerful Alpha male she still desired. “That must be why Nathan wants us to go to Sanctuary instead of Winterhaven.”
Gabe let out a noncommittal noise. “Tasha will torture us if we return without Nathan.” He rubbed his eye patch.
Tasha would probably torture us anyway. When bored there was nothing she liked better than to inflict pain on anyone around her. I dared voice the dangerous idea that had been worming its way into my mind. “What if we didn’t go back?” Tasha would have her hands too full dealing with the chaos of the apocalypse to worry about two missing Enforcers. We could make a fresh start. One where I wasn’t forced to brutalize and kill Tasha’s enemies. One filled with a beautiful human female who didn’t fear me. I glanced back at Havana who’d rested her forehead against the glass of the window. What’s she thinking about?
Gabe gave me a sideways look. “And what would happen to your mother, brothers, and their children if Tasha found out you’d slipped her leash?”
The bitch will kill them all. I let out a heavy sigh. Even though they’d washed their hands of me a long time ago, I still cared for my family. “So what’s the plan then?”
“We head to the lodge at Sanctuary. When Nathan meets us, we’ll have to convince him to give his child to Havana.” Seeing my sharp look he added, “She was the little girl’s nanny. Anyway, then we bring him and Mason back to the settlement as ordered.”
I laughed. “And how exactly are we going to convince an Alpha to give up his babe?”
“If he wants his child to survive, he’ll see reason.” Gabe took a deep breath and let it out. “It’s the child’s only hope. Tasha will never let her live—surely Nathan realizes that.” The catch in his voice told me he was thinking about another babe. One that hadn’t survived Tasha’s ruthlessness.
“But how will the females survive on their own?” My chest tightened as I glanced back at Havana. She was on the phone again. I wondered who she was calling.
“We'll find them somewhere safe to hole up, get them supplies, and hope like hell Tasha never finds them.”
“Right,” I said, a hollow feeling in my gut. I could only imagine what Tasha would do to Havana if she were to find her protecting Mira. The sheer fact the human woman had a romantic relationship with Nathan would be enough to earn her a painful death at Tasha’s hand. Or mine. I flinched imagining Tasha ordering me to kill Havana. I can’t let that happen. White-knuckling the steering wheel, I stopped at a light.
A commotion across the street caught my attention. Near the crosswalk, a mob of people surrounded a homeless-looking woman. She shouted at them and rammed them with her shopping cart. The largest male in the mob tackled her to the ground where the rest of them piled on top of her. Bile rose in my mouth. “Ah, hell.”
Gabe turned on the radio to muffle the homeless woman’s heart-wrenching screams. “This town will fall by morning. We don’t want to be here when it does.”
I glanced back to see if Havana had seen the grisly sight, but thankfully she was still on her phone.
Deciding that Havana’s safety was my only priority, I slammed my foot on the accelerator and burned rubber until we got to the interstate.
6
Havana
We’d been traveling for at least three hours. First Liam cut south to the interstate, and then he took it north until we ended in bumper-to-bumper traffic. The past forty minutes, we’d barely crept forward an inch. It wasn’t as if we could even pull off and wait it out at a rest stop. This far north of town there was nothing around us but open desert dotted by the occasional cactus and sagebrush.
I’d used the time to repeatedly call Sydney, Donna, and Max. No one had picked up. Filled with helpless frustration, I surfed the web reading horrifying story after story of people dying and coming back to life only to kill others. Feeling sick to my stomach, I left Sydney another message. “Syd, I hope you’re okay. I’m headed up to Nathan’s place in the mountains with some friends of his.” I looked at the time. “Shit, by now you’re probably at the airport. Please, please avoid anyone who has gotten the flu vaccine and if people start acting weird, get the hell away from them. I love you, girl. Call me as soon as you can.” I ended the call with a sigh.
“You’re worried about her?” Mason asked studying me with his deep blue eyes.
“Yeah. Don’t you have any family to worry about? A wife or girlfriend?” I tried to act like I wasn’t fishing for info on his relationship status.
He smiled. “No. I haven’t had time for romantic relationships in years.”
“Oh,” I said, happily surprised that the doctor was single. I could almost hear the ghost of my mom chortling in my mind. He’s quite a catch, Vana. Reel that fish in. “What about parents? Siblings?”
A shadow crossed his face. “No. I…I'm estranged from my family.”
I could tell it was a sensitive subject for him so I switched topics. “Did you grow up overseas?”
He chuckled. “Did my accent give me away?” In response to my weak smile, he said, “Yes, although I was born in the States, my adoptive parents raised me in England. I came back to locate my birth family,” he paused, “and never left.”
“Don’t you miss home?” I’d never been out of the country. Hell, I’d never been out of Arizona, but England looked fascinating from what I’d seen in movies and books.
“Yes, I do.” Mason sighed and ran a hand through his tousled blond hair.
“Winterhaven is his home now,” Liam said, giving Mason a long look in the rearview mirror.
“Is it near Sunridge?” I asked naming the popular ski resort town in the mountains where I assumed we were heading.
Liam shook his head. “No. It’s far north of the resort, deep in the San Angelo mountain range. It’s pretty isolated.”
“Never heard of it,” I said apologetically.
“That’s a good thing,” Gabriel muttered.
“Is that where we’re going?”
Gabriel twisted around in his seat. “No, we’re headed to Sanctuary. It’s a lodge about ten miles from Sunridge.”
“Sanctuary. It sounds like a BDSM club name,” I said with a weak laugh.
“You’d know,” Gabriel sneered.
“Yeah, I would,” I replied not about to let his cutting words bother me. I’d been on the receiving end of judgment for years. I was used to it. “What about your family? Assuming you weren’t just abandoned on the street when your parents realized what an ass you were.”
In
the driver’s seat, Liam stiffened.
A cold mask settled across Gabriel’s face. “They’re dead.”
It was my turn to feel like a jerk. “Oh. Sorry. My parents are dead too. Well, my mom anyway. I never knew my dad.” I clamped my mouth shut. No one wants to hear your life story, Vana.
“Is Syd your sister?” Mason asked in a gentle voice.
I shook my head. “No. I was an only child. Sydney’s my best friend and roommate.”
Mason gave me a reassuring smile. “I’m sure she’ll hear your message and call you soon.”
“I hope so,” I said, looking down at the phone in my hand. Trying to keep the anxiety at bay, I said, “So how do you all know Nathan?”
The vibe in the car flipped as if I’d turned a switch. All three guys pressed their lips together and turned their attention to the surrounding cars. You’d think I’d asked them how much money they made in a year.
Liam broke the awkward silence. “We're all from Winterhaven and we work with Nathan occasionally. Well, at least Gabriel and I do.”
“Oh.” I let out a relieved breath. Given how weird they’d acted, I almost expected them to admit to being ex-lovers. They must work for the same company. I didn’t know much about Nathan’s job other than it kept him incredibly busy and involved a lot of travel. That’s why he’d hired me to care for Mira. He often needed an overnight nanny during his business trips. God, I hoped Mira was okay. I hadn’t seen the little girl since the breakup. My throat closed up as I envisioned her scared and alone with those…things attacking her.
Mason made a soothing sound and brushed a lock of my hair from off my face. “You need to relax, Havana.”
I rolled my eyes at him. Right. Like that'll happen. The world was ending and I was just supposed to be all Zen about it.
“What the fuck is the holdup?” Gabriel said, slamming his hand against the dash in a very un-Zen-like fashion. “We need to keep moving.”
Liam opened his door, letting a cold rush of air into the vehicle. Seeming immune to the chill, he stepped out and peered at the line of cars ahead of us. As if he could see anything in the darkness. After a minute he slid back into his seat. “A semi overturned about a mile down the interstate.”