by Dia Cole
My mouth dropped open. “You couldn’t possibly have seen that. It's pitch-black out there.”
“I have excellent night vision.” He caught my eye through the rearview mirror. “And right now I’m really enjoying the view.” He lowered his gaze to my legs.
I couldn’t help laughing. The big guy was endearing as hell.
Gabriel looked at his watch again. “We can’t waste time out here.”
He needs a chill pill. “Why are you so worried about the time? Are you late for a date or something?”
He twisted around, his single dark eye pinning me to the seat. “Every hour we sit here, more infected are dying and reanimating. And trust me, princess, we don’t want to be trapped on the interstate when the people around us start dying.”
I swallowed hard.
Liam made a scoffing sound. “Ignore him. Gabe is always doom and gloom.”
Gabriel glared at Liam. “Shut your hole, put the hazards on, and pull out onto the shoulder.”
Liam batted his eyelashes at Gabriel. “I’m waiting for the magic word.”
“Please,” Gabriel ground out through clenched teeth.
“Now was that so hard?” Liam said, cranking the steering wheel.
It was clear through their interactions that the two men were friends. That was strange because they seemed like polar opposites. Despite his intimidating size, Liam was warm and friendly. Gabriel, on the other hand, could give snow frostbite.
Loose gravel crunched under the tires as Liam drove forward. We passed dozens of other cars, some honking at us in obvious irritation.
A few minutes later, Liam was forced to stop due to a Jeep blocking our path. Several dozen yards away, an overturned tractor-trailer was engulfed in flames. The semi must’ve been traveling north when the driver crashed into the concrete median blocking traffic from both directions. The orange glow from the smoldering fire illuminated two guys approaching the semi.
Gabriel cursed. “Fucking idiots. What do they think they’re doing?”
As if answering his question, one of the guys, who looked like he hadn’t seen the other side of seventeen yelled, “The driver’s still alive.”
Using a crowbar, the older guy, a potbellied man in a hunting cap, pried open the semi door.
Flames roared from the vehicle and a broad-shouldered woman stumbled from the truck. Fire covered her from her bald, blistered head to her charred cowboy boots. Impossibly, she lurched forward.
“Drop and roll,” the fat guy shouted to her as he tried to beat the flames out with his jacket.
The truck driver snarled and tackled her would-be savior to the ground.
I felt the blood leave my face. “Oh hell!” The truck driver is one of them.
The fat guy screamed as he caught fire and the truck driver snapped her jaws around his throat.
Gabriel cursed. “No good deed goes unpunished.”
The teenager stood in shock for a second and shouted, “Dad!” He rushed over in a futile attempt to pry the burning woman off his father. When that didn’t work, he retrieved the crowbar and swung it at the woman’s head.
The sickening crunch of metal against bone made me gasp.
Oh, God. I held my hand to my mouth as bile climbed the back of my throat.
The woman released the neck of the fat guy and rolled to her feet. Even with her skull partially crushed and fire consuming her body, she charged the teenager.
“Get back!” he screamed, swinging the crowbar like a bat. He backed up a step before realizing he was trapped between her and the burning semi.
In the distance, the fat guy stirred and slowly stumbled to his feet. Ignoring the fact that his shirtsleeve was ablaze, he gnashed his teeth and lurched over to where his son was barely holding off the advancing truck driver.
The people in the surrounding cars watched in shocked horror. None of them made any attempt to help.
“And so it begins,” Gabriel announced in a dark voice.
“Someone needs to help the kid!” I cried, fumbling with my seat belt. I could at least distract the zombies so the teenager could get away.
“Mason, make sure she stays in her seat,” Gabriel barked. “Liam, take care of it. Shoot them in the head, apparently body shots don’t do shit.” He shot Mason a withering look and gave Liam a handgun with a silencer attached.
I stared at him in shock. What kind of guy carries a gun with a silencer?
The kind you don’t want to be stuck in a car with, my subconscious answered.
With a quick nod, Liam took the weapon and stepped out of the vehicle.
Mason rebuckled my seat belt. “There’s nothing to worry about. This is what Liam does.”
“What? Kill zombies?” I gasped.
Mason flashed me an enigmatic smile as we watched Liam step around the Jeep and fire two shots. The two burning figures collapsed to the ground unmoving. As the teenager stared at the smoldering corpses with a dazed look on his face, Liam shouted, “Is the Jeep yours?”
“My dad’s,” the teenager answered his voice cracking.
“I’m going to move it,” Liam said, walking around toward the back of the Jeep. With a quick push, he shoved the vehicle out of our path. Then as if he hadn’t just killed two people and moved a several-thousand-pound vehicle with his bare hands, Liam marched back to the SUV and slid into the driver’s seat.
“Oh my God!” It was too much. People dying and coming back as zombies. Being in a car with a bunch of strange men who carried guns. I struggled to catch my breath.
Mason gathered me in his arms. “Shh. It’s okay. The young man is unharmed. Just breathe.” He smelled like rain. The fresh clean scent filled my senses, calming me with every breath.
I laid my face against his chest, feeling uncharacteristically drawn to him. Although I was usually the last person who trusted strangers, there was something about Mason that made me feel safe and protected. I definitely couldn’t say the same for Gabriel.
The dark-haired man scowled over at me. “Happy now, princess. We stopped it this time, but you see what happens. All it takes is one infected. They attack and kill another person who reanimates and together they attack and kill more people. The entire world will be in anarchy by sunrise and within a week the majority of the population will be infected. The world you knew is gone.”
Mason shot Gabriel a hard look. “Bloody hell, lighten up, mate. Can’t you see she’s hyperventilating?”
Gabriel sniffed and turned back around.
Numbness overtook me as Liam looked at me in the rearview mirror. In the dim light it looked like his eyes were glowing again.
My breathing grew choppier. Is he even human?
“Are you okay?” Liam asked, looking back at me with concern.
“She’ll be fine,” Mason said in a soothing voice. “Havana is a strong, courageous woman.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” I said unable to stop my body from trembling.
“I know you were going to try to save that boy. That takes courage.”
“Or stupidity,” Gabriel muttered from the front seat. “Let’s get moving.”
Liam slowly drove us past the smoldering bodies and wreckage. The traumatized expression on the teenage boy’s face stayed with me. Is this what the world is coming to?
The sound of a siren rang out in the distance.
“Step on it,” Gabriel ordered.
Liam hit the gas and we sped off into the night.
7
Gabriel
The woman has to go. I twisted around to see that Havana had fallen asleep curled in Mason’s arms. The doctor stroked her long dark hair with a look of naked possession on his face.
Next to me, Liam let out a low rumbling growl. My fellow Enforcer watched the rearview mirror more than the road. In all the years I’d known him, I’d never seen him react like this to a female.
She’s dangerous.
The effect she had on these males was unprecedented. And they weren’t
alone.
Just breathing the air tinged with her exotic musk tightened areas low in my body that I’d been denying for years. The fact that my lust would awaken for this female defied reason. Who was she? I replayed the conversation I’d had with Nathan before we embarked on this mission.
Hours earlier, the Alpha male was just pulling out of his driveway when Liam, Mason, and I pulled up to his estate near the foothills. I’d jumped out of the SUV and jogged over to Nathan’s expensive sports car.
The Alpha male rolled his window down and glared at me. “I’m on my way to a dinner party. What do you want?”
Most Lykos males would piss themselves when visited by two of the deadliest Enforcers in the territory. Not Nathan. Instead the male eyed me with a look of annoyance on his face.
“Tasha wants us to bring you home.”
“This is my home,” he said, baring his teeth in challenge.
I sighed. This won't be easy. But then when is dealing with Alphas ever easy? Thankfully, the strongest of us were rare as hell. Our faction only counted Tasha, her son, Tyberius, and Nathan among their ranks. Knowing that any more mention of Tasha was sure to meet with further resistance, I tried for another angle. “The Council has ordered all Lykos back to their factions.”
Nathan’s amber eyes widened. “Everyone?”
I nodded. “They believe the worst is coming.”
“You mean—”
“Yes,” I said, answering his unspoken question. “Liam and I just came from extracting Dr. Wheeler from the hospital. The entire place is swarming with infected. This town has twenty-four hours at most.” Nathan couldn’t be surprised at this news. For the past few days social media and television had played nonstop footage of hollow-eyed humans attacking and eating each other.
Nathan cursed and glanced at his Rolex. “I thought we’d have more time.”
I shook my head. The entire human race was out of time. “If we don’t get on the road now, there’s a good chance we’ll be trapped in Saguaro Valley.” And although we were immune from the virus and could easily take out a few attacking infected, even the strongest Lykos would fall under a massive horde. At that thought, a chill crept through my jacket and swept down my spine.
Nathan ran a hand through his hair. Although the silver streaks in his dark hair had looked strange on him when we were boys, now it only added to his distinguished look. He reeked of money and prestige from his tailored suit to his perfectly manicured hands.
I, on the other hand, probably looked like a bum leaning on his expensive car with my black leather jacket and eye patch.
Stiffening, I reminded myself that I was the head Enforcer. Only the best fighters in the faction were handpicked for the honor of being the Alpha female’s personal guards. Although if I was being honest, indentured brute squad would probably be a better term for what we were. “Look, you need to come with us. The mountains are covered in ice. That vehicle won’t make it to Winterhaven.”
“We’ll take the Rover,” Nathan said, clicking a button on his dash. Behind us a door rolled up revealing six gleaming vehicles inside a vast garage.
I barely stopped myself from drooling over the sight of a cherry-red Porsche parked between a green Range Rover and a silver BMW. Must be nice to be Alpha. A bitter taste coated my tongue before I reminded myself that Nathan wasn’t like Tasha. He’d never abused his power and had abdicated his seat on the Council in order to save his only child. That he’d gone toe-to-toe with Tasha and survived made him a hero in my book. If he wants to drive himself, fine.
“I’ll ride with you.” I started to telepathically relay the change in plans to Liam when Nathan said the words I’d been dreading.
“First, I have to go pick up Mira from her nanny’s house.”
Tensing, I said, “Tasha didn’t lift Mira’s banishment.” How any mother could condemn her child to death was beyond my reckoning. I rubbed my eye patch as pain flared in my right eye socket. The constant throbbing ache was something I’d learned to manage except in moments when I was reminded of my greatest anguish.
Nathan froze, a fierce expression crossing his face. “That fucking bitch.”
I couldn’t agree more. But it didn’t change one fact. “You can’t bring Mira back to Winterhaven.” If he did, Tasha would kill her immediately. Or even worse, force me to do it. My chest grew tight as I thought of my sister’s child. Isla never had a chance.
“I know,” Nathan said, rubbing his temples. “I’ll take her to Sanctuary.”
“The mountain lodge?” I asked unable to keep the incredulousness out of my voice. The luxurious vacation home had been built as Tasha’s personal retreat.
Nathan nodded. “She’ll be safe there.”
In theory he was right. Although the forty-acre property and ten-bedroom lodge was impressive on its own, like all Tasha’s homes, it was equipped with a below ground doomsday shelter. Only one problem. “Tasha will find out.” This time of year, Tasha made frequent trips to the lodge.
Nathan growled. “I won’t let that happen. Mira and Havana will be safe there.”
“Who?”
“The female you’re going to pick up for me tonight.”
My mind swirled in confusion. “Who’s Savannah?”
“Her name is Havana James, and she’s a human that I want you and Liam to pick up on your way out of town.”
“You want us to bring a human woman to Sanctuary?” I repeated slowly. My mind couldn’t grasp that he would ask such a thing. The act of bringing a human to one of Tasha’s homes would be nothing short of suicidal.
Nathan fished a phone from his pocket and tapped on it. “Yes, I’m texting you a photo of her along with the address to the club where she works. She’s dancing there tonight.”
“Dancing? As in stripping?” My voice rose several octaves. Has the Alpha lost his mind?
“Yes,” he replied, his voice sharp as a blade. “She used to be Mira’s nanny. She’s special…very important to me.” He looked up at me with an intense look in his eyes that spoke volumes. Clearly his relationship with this woman hadn’t purely been a business one.
I shook my head. “I’m sorry. That’s impossible. We have our orders.” Alpha or no Alpha, what he was asking us to do would not only incur Tasha’s wrath, but also violate every cardinal rule we lived by.
Nathan stepped out of the sports car with a lethal grace that had me backing up a step. Although on the shorter side for an Alpha, he was nearly eye level with me.
Refusing to meet his gaze, I stared at the setting sun behind him. It looked like the mountains were being dipped in fire.
“Look at me, Gabriel Perez,” he said in a voice that rang with power.
Unable to fight his will, I glanced into Nathan’s eyes. They glowed with the same golden hue as the sun. “You’ll pick up Havana James, you’ll bring her to Sanctuary, and you won’t let any harm come to her. Do you understand?”
The compulsion in his words was so strong it reverberated in my skull like a gong. I gritted my teeth knowing it was futile to resist Nathan, just like it’d been futile to resist Tasha’s horrific orders all those years ago. I bowed my head. “Yes, sir.”
“Mason and Liam, swear to do the same,” Nathan called out to the SUV in a voice filled with Alpha power.
“Yes, we swear, sir,” the two males answered in unison.
Nathan bared his teeth in a facsimile of a smile. “Good. I'll pack and pick up Mira. We’ll meet you at Sanctuary and then we can discuss the plan.”
Just great. I’m sure whatever “the plan” is will get us all killed. Biting my lip, I nodded, stepped out of his way, and walked to the SUV.
Both Liam and Mason looked slightly dazed when I got back into the vehicle.
Liam rubbed the side of his head. “Fuck. Looks like we’re picking up a female.”
“Yeah,” I said, grounding my molars together. I can’t believe Nathan used compulsion on us. When Tasha found out he’d circumvented her orders, there’d
be hell to pay. For him and for us.
Shaking his head, Liam followed my directions to the club. By his silence, I could tell he was livid. Of course, that was before he’d met Havana. Now he couldn’t pry his eyes away from the female.
“Eyes on the motherfucking road,” I reminded him for the twentieth time.
The big man punched my arm hard enough to leave a bruise and focused his attention back on the road.
With a heavy sigh, I glanced behind me and saw Mason tightening his arms around the woman.
Havana shifted in her sleep and her already sinfully short dress climbed farther up her thighs. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to look away. With a growing sense of dread, I realized she was no Atavus.
There could be only one explanation for why she was affecting me, Liam, and Mason this way. She was a latent Lykos who had yet to go through her transition. It was exceedingly rare for one of our kind to be found among the humans, but it happened. Hell, the doctor sitting behind me was evidence of that.
Once Havana went through her first transition, she’d instinctively seek out other Lykos. Or we’d hunt her down attracted by her scent. Havana couldn’t be more than a week or two away from her transition. I could smell it in the intoxicating musk of her skin. I shuddered, my claws extending and retracting.
Just being around her fogged my mind with lust. It’s got to be the pheromones.
When females transitioned for the first time, they entered their first heat. There was a reason they went into seclusion during that time. It drove every unrelated, unclaimed Lykos male in a ten-mile radius mad with lust. I would never forget the first time my sister transitioned and went into heat. My father and I had to guard her all night fighting off her would-be suitors.
Shit. Alpha order or not, there was no way we could bring this female back to Sanctuary. The three of us would tear each other apart to have her while we waited for Nathan to arrive.