Chapter 18
EIRA
I knelt beside the still body of Chad and cursed away the tears that threatened to fall. His body was not the only lifeless on the ground. The entire field was soaked in the blood of Lycans I’d called friends for so many years.
My fingers feathered over his open glassy eyes and closed them so he could rest more peacefully. The initial bullet wounds in his chest should have been something he could’ve recovered from, but the darts had incapacitated him enough for the soldiers to slit his throat.
Emotion welled inside me, and I wipe away tears from my face. They continued to trail down my cheeks, and I let them go. These were my friends. Family. I’d been with the Mason pack almost twenty years. Fighting by their side to save their kind from those who would hunt and kill them.
My species were natural loners, but I’d never been able to turn away from anyone who needed help —human or Other. Rose was right on that account. I’d been protecting people for so long I couldn’t remember a time when I hadn’t.
Killían’s hand rested on my shoulder. “What can we do, Eira?”
I swallowed a sob and tried to clear my battleground of a mind. “There.” I pointed to the edge of the forest about twenty yards in front of me. “I’ll dig the graves if you can help move their bodies and find some stone to mark the site.”
“I’ll let the guys know. We can dig the graves if you need to take a moment.”
My head started shaking. “No. We don’t have time to wait. I’ll do it.”
I blurred from his side to the rear door of the SUV I’d ridden in. I pulled the large steel shovel from the storage area and then blurred to the spot next to the tree line I’d pointed out. It was a beautiful ridge overlooking the bank of the river. It would be a good place. Peaceful.
I had the graves dug a few minutes later. All twelve.
Ten people were missing, and I prayed that they were still alive.
The men gently placed the bodies inside the graves, I took a moment to say a prayer to the old gods for each lost friend then covered them with the cold soil. One by one, Mikjáll followed along behind me, burning the names of the fallen into the large stones he’d pulled from the riverbed.
I leaned against Killían, watching as Mikjáll burned Chad’s name into the flat rock he’d found to mark the Lycan’s grave. The heat from the young dragon’s finger burned hotter than a blowtorch and singed the rock permanently. It was the best that could be done for now. Later, we would return for them and bury them closer to home. For now, they were protected from the elements and wildlife.
A low howl echoed from the forest behind the graves. I turned toward the sound and took a deep breath.
“It’s Lycan,” Travis said, reading my mind. He and his brother shifted in mere moments, their clothing faded into fur, and they bounded into the brush on four paws.
“Mikjáll, can you see them?” I turned to the tall, dark-haired Drakonae male.
He met my gaze for a moment, his eyes blank and without emotion. Then I watched as his eyes glowed flame orange, and he focused his gaze into the forest where Travis and Garrett had disappeared. His heat vision would allow him to see through the brush.
“They are nearly to the wolf. I can see them running.” He took a step to the side, like he was trying to see around something. “They’ve gotten to him and all three have shifted to human form. The third is moving slowly. Travis and Garrett are supporting him as he walks.”
“You don’t see any other heat signatures?” Remembering how Manda had used witches to cloak the soldiers last time we were here made me nervous. If they were using magick to fight now, everything had changed. We had to fight magick with magick, which meant risking exposing even more of our kind to humans.
“No. They are the only people around for miles.” He looked toward me, and his eyes returned to their natural brown shade. “Even if there was a spell, I could see through it. We are alone.”
Relief and thankfulness for the dragon settled into my heart. I touched his arm. He jerked, but didn’t pull away. “Thank you for coming to help.”
His brow creased, and he shrugged away from my touch. “I am here to take my vengeance on the man who took my wife from me. If I can help others he has wronged in the process, Isòl would approve.”
“She wouldn’t want you to die before you succeeded in making Xerxes pay.”
“Don’t worry, little vampire. I won’t.”
The corners of his mouth turned up into a wicked smile. Had my blood not already been cold, he could’ve iced it over. His anger came from a place I’d been at one time. Alone. Frightened. Everything I’d know had been taken from me. If Xerxes were anything other than a Lamassu, he’d be a dead man the second Mikjáll walked into the same room with him. But as it stood, I feared for the carnage we might see if Mikjáll loosed his wrath in Savannah, the military base of the SECR.
“You better not turn into a fucking fire-breathing lizard while we are trying to break the Masons out,” Alek said from across Chad’s grave. “Not only is that a stupid idea, the SECR has weapons you’ve never even imagined. I remember how your mother almost died. Two holes in her stomach, both the size of a man’s fist. It took old blood magick to save her. Stick close to us, like we’ve trained you, Mikjáll. Time for vengeance may come soon or it may come later. You must be patient or your thirst for it will destroy you and us. As Eira has said, your beloved would not want that.”
I glanced to Alek. His hair was shaggy, and he had at least two days of stubble on his face. At first glance, other than his large size, no one would think he was anything other than human. But it was a perfect facade. He could shift as quickly as the Lycans, but was much more deadly. Unlike the wolves, he was bigger —weighing in at two-tons of bad-ass winged lion-eagle. Diana told me she’d seen him stop a brawl outside the Castle with a mere display of his Gryphon body. The two Lycans in question had separated and disappeared from Main Street Circle before he’d returned to human form.
He couldn’t shift here or in Savannah without risking exposing his species to the public. He knew this. I knew this. But at the same time, I knew he’d do whatever was needed to help save my friends. He wouldn’t have come otherwise.
Jared would do the same.
Mikjáll was the only wild card. I’m not sure either of them knew exactly what would happen if and when he saw Xerxes.
Travis and Garrett emerged from the woods with a Lycan male I recognized. Somehow he’d escaped the carnage. Not all of it, judging by the gaping holes in the front of his shirt. He’d taken at least three rounds.
I stepped forward. “Patrick?”
He raised his head. “Eira. You made it, too. I thought I saw you go down before I dragged myself into the trees.”
The MacKay brothers stayed next to him, supporting Patrick’s weakened body. The wounds had sealed over and were healing, but he appeared to still be in a great deal of pain. Every time he moved his face twisted into a grimace.
“I barely made it out. Why are your wounds still causing you such pain?”
“The bullets are still in there,” he groaned. “I’ve stayed in wolf form to avoid attention by any passing humans, but I couldn’t cross the bridge. The soldiers at the TR gate would’ve shot me.”
“We’ll take you across into Texas so you can see a doctor ASAP,” I said.
“What?”
“We have allies with the soldiers,” I assured him. “They will help you.”
Patrick lowered his eyebrows, suspicion blanketing his face, but he didn’t say anything. Just nodded and let Travis and Garrett help him to the SUV.
I straightened up and pushed down the emotions bubbling at the surface. Focus was needed now. The warrior emerged, stepping in front of the woman. The weight of Killían’s sword was fortifying. It was time to fight.
Now we just had to make it across seven hundred miles of highway without drawing the SECR’s attention, then hunt our way through the military-base city of S
avannah, and search out where they were holding my friends.
Chapter 19
XERXES
“You killed them!” Manda exclaimed as I followed her into the hall of cells in the SECR Federal building’s basement.
It had been used for dog kennels, but I’d had Manda order it to be remodeled with reinforced steel cells and a natural gas-fueled cremation chamber to discreetly dispose of bodies without public knowledge.
“They were going to be executed anyway.” I shrugged, irritated with how distraught she was over the death of less than a dozen Lycans. “There’s still a few left. The one you and that vampire bitch are friends with is one of them. She’ll come for her. And when she does, I’ll find out who has my dagger and why the witches can’t locate it.”
Her behavior suggested she cared more deeply for them than I’d realized, possibly was still hiding information from me.
“Charlie is still alive?” She glanced up me, a hopeful glimmer in her lavender eyes.
“You’ve gotten too attached to these wolves.” I pulled a knife from the sheath at my belt and held it out. “Now you’re going to kill her and the rest of them personally. I never want to see another fucking Mason wolf in the SECR.”
Her head shook, and she stepped away from the weapon. “She might know where the dagger is. She’s more valuable alive than dead.”
I growled and reached out with my empty hand, grabbing the retreating Djinn with my magick. She struggled for a moment before stilling in my grasp.
“Don’t you think I already asked her?” I pulled Manda’s trembling body closer until I could run the blade up the soft creamy skin of her neck and down along the top of her collarbone. The blouse she wore was black, but her neckline gapped enough for me to see her ample cleavage.
My dick hardened, and I considered pushing her up against the bars of one of these cells and fucking her right then and there. Charlie’s death could be postponed by a few minutes.
“Eira will come for her,” Manda squeaked out. “If Charlie doesn’t know where the dagger is, Eira will.”
Tears streamed, streaking her perfect complexion with black lines. I could smell her fear and feel her terror. It only made me want her more, but she had a point. If I killed the Lycan bitch, Eira would have no reason to risk coming into Savannah after her. I knew the dagger was still near Sanctuary, but the team I’d sent never came back.
I wanted that dagger, but I needed to let off some steam before making any more chess moves. I sheathed my knife and shoved Manda against the cell wall to my right. The beginning of a scream bubbled in her throat, but I tightened my hold around her neck to mute it.
Charlotte Mason glared from behind the bars of her cell a few yards away. I flashed the Lycan female a grin before focusing on the angry and terrified female in front of me.
“Go up to my room and wait for me there.”
Manda stumbled when I let her go and fled for the door.
I walked down to Charlie’s cell and turned to face her. The door at the end of the hall opened and closed as Manda fled the room.
Charlotte averted her eyes and moved to the corner farthest from me.
Nowhere was out of my reach, though.
“You better pray that vampire comes for you. If she doesn’t, your death is going to be frustratingly long and drawn out while I dream up my next plan to find her and my missing property.”
“Fuck off.”
I snorted, amused by her confidence. “I plan to. Should I go a round with you before I do Manda?”
Her eyes widened, but she didn’t respond.
“Perhaps later, once I catch your blood-sucking friend.”
“Even if Eira knows where the dagger is, she’ll never give it to you. Not even for me.”
“Your mutual Djinn pal thought otherwise. She seemed to think you were the perfect bait for luring the vampire.” I leaned against the bars and rolled my neck, popping several vertebrae. “You’d be surprised the length people will go to save someone, especially if they let emotions rule their actions.”
“You’d be surprised by how far our kind will go to fight a soul-sucking, tyrannical asshole.”
A smiled tugged at the corners of my lips. “I look forward it.”
Chapter 20
EIRA
Morning drew closer as we stopped just a few miles outside of Dublin. We’d just barely pulled off the road into a grove of trees before being seen by a military patrol, and the guys insisted we stop for a few hours at an old farmhouse off the highway we’d spotted a few minutes earlier.
The last thing I wanted to do was stop. We were so close. Every moment put Charlie and the others in more danger, but even Travis and Garrett agreed with the others that it would be better if we waited out the day and entered Savannah under the cover of night.
I had to agree with that reasoning. Seven armed people walking together were going to be suspicious enough at night, but the day wouldn’t afford us any cover. None of them knew the area except me, and even though daytime would be easier to coordinate, I personally preferred to move about in the dark. Most of the guys with me did as well. In fact, Killían would probably be the only one at a disadvantage.
We pulled to a stop in front of the dark farmhouse. The porch light flashed on, and I one racing heartbeat hid just inside the door. The scrape and click of a shotgun being cocked reached my ears next.
The door flew open, and I blurred from my seat in the SUV to the angry man aiming his long-barreled shotgun straight at Killían.
Wresting the gun from his hands before his finger could pull the trigger, I put it behind me and grabbed his face, forcing him to make eye contact.
“You will be quiet. You will do exactly as I say. When we leave, you will forget you ever saw me and my friends.”
His pupils widened under my influence. His rapid breath and racing heart slowed to a normal pace.
“Now invite us inside and be hospitable,” I whispered.
“Y’all come on inside,” the man called out, his tobacco flavored breath sickening me in the process. “I’ve got leftovers in the fridge if you’re hungry.”
Releasing his face, I stepped away and followed him through the door with a quick glance over my shoulder. Travis, Garrett, and Killían were right behind me, shaking their head. The other three guys were grabbing bags from the back of their SUV.
“Will that work on us?” Travis asked, a frown darkening his voice. “I’ve never actually seen a vampire do that before, though I hear it happens all the time over at the Castle when they send visitors home.”
We walked into the open living room of the farmhouse, and I leaned against the wall. Killían stopped next to me while the other guys sank down onto the oversized couch across the room and groaned, stretching out their legs.
“It works on anyone I’ve met so far. There are some witches that know how to ward against vampire influence. So the magick is out there, but I’m unfamiliar with the process. Humans are the easiest, though. Influencing an Other takes a great deal of energy, and only a very old vampire would have a chance in hell of it working.”
“You’re pretty old,” Garrett added.
“Yes, I am.” I flashed him a smirk, and he frowned as I continued. “But there are very few of us who have survived through history as long as I have. You have several in your town because Rose has invited them, but the average vampire has only been alive a couple of centuries. Most never choose to train and become more than they were as a human. It makes them easy to kill, even by human standards. And only a select few of us can obtain daylight enchantments.”
Travis folded his arms over his chest and glared at me.
“You have to admit, it’s a helpful ability. Like your mind-reading.” I paced the hallway, trying to convince myself not to run out the door and all the way to Savannah by myself.
“Yeah,” he huffed. “But I can’t read your mind.”
I shrugged. “All the better for me.”
“Eat and
rest,” Killían growled. “Since we have a few hours to kill, I intend to take advantage of them.”
The other guys mumbled some lewd comments, but smiled and waved us off.
Killían’s arm looped around my waist, and he nuzzled my neck. Gods, he smelled so good. His strong pulse beat just below the surface, and his blood’s scent was sweet to my nose. Hunger reared up inside me, a ravenous lion pacing in its cage. Only blood would help take the edge off my nerves, but I worried if I fed now, I would lose control.
“I’ll take first watch,” Alek said, taking a gun and moving toward the front porch. “Mikjáll, you take the back. The rest of you rustle up some food.”
Everyone began to move, and Killían tugged me down the hallway of the house.
“What are you doing?”
“I need you, and I intend to find a bed to have you.”
I smiled, leaning forward and taking a kiss. His lips met mine in a frenzy, and he shoved me up against the wall.
“What about the bed?” I mumbled into his mouth.
He turned a doorknob, and we glanced into a small bathroom. Continuing down the hall, we did our best not to knock framed photographs off the wall as we went. The next doorknob led to a bedroom. His arm tightened around my waist, and he lifted me from the floor, carrying me through the doorway and closing the door behind us.
The full-sized bed in the room groaned as we fell on top of it, our mouths attempting to taste every inch of the other’s body while our arms were locked in a frantic embrace. Shirts flew off. The rest followed moments later. We were starving for each other. Neither of us could strip naked fast enough.
“Mine.” He growled, sliding down the length of my body to nibble at my hip as he slid a hand up my inner thigh. He dipped two fingers between my slick folds, curling them forward to tease that wonderful spot that weakened my knees.
A slow moan slipped between my lips, and I dug my fingers into the blanket covering the bed.
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