“How is that even possible?” her mom asked.
“It’s part of her Fae heritage,” Raven explained.
Her mom studied her for a moment, but didn’t look at all happy about the idea of her going. “Fine,” she finally relented, and Lexi suspected it was only because her mom was thinking of the safety of the vampires under her care. “You can come with us, but we’ll bring extra guards.”
“Zane will take care of me,” Lexi assured her.
“Zane?” her mom asked.
“He’s this guy who saved my life when I got here.” Lexi’s cheeks heated. “He’s also a shapeshifter.”
“Yes, I’ve met him,” her mom said. “He hardly seems like your type.”
Lexi let out a sigh. “He’s perfect for me, but I keep screwing things up with him. Now, for example, I refused to let him come with me, even though he needed to be here for me just as much as I need him. I’m pretty sure I make him crazy by refusing to give in to what’s between us. The thing is, he completes me in some inexplicable way.”
Her mom nodded. “Then I guess this means you won’t be going back to Fangri La with me.”
Chapter Seventy-Four
Lexi couldn’t shake her unease as they traveled to Treasure Island with her mom’s guards. Part of that unease might stem from the fact that Connor hadn’t been at all happy about letting them go without sending any of his own guards. While Lexi’s mom had insisted that she’d only brought along people she trusted completely, Connor wasn’t willing to trust anyone in Fangri La, not with everything going on.
Unfortunately, Lexi hadn’t been introduced to most of her mom’s guards, so she couldn’t really get a feel for them. Their group was traveling in three jeeps. She and Zane were in the middle jeep with two guards.
“Something isn’t right about all of this,” Zane said quietly as he looked around.
“I agree,” the driver, Misty, added. “Something’s felt off since we got to this area.”
The other guard, a male vampire who hadn’t offered his name, snorted. “You and your stupid feelings. The only thing off is that we’re worrying about petty squabbles in this territory. Eleanor should be more worried about the people trying to take over back home. We’re all fucked if that happens. Instead of heading to Treasure Island, we should be hauling ass back to Fangri La.”
“This could be related,” Misty argued.
The sound of gunshots interrupted their argument.
Misty reacted quickly and steered the jeep off the road as bullets rained out from the trees. The bullets managed to hit tires on the other jeeps. While the jeep behind them rolled off the road, the one with Lexi’s mom managed to pull to the side of the road.
Quickly parking, Misty rushed off to help the others out of the jeeps.
Lexi felt the rising panic as evil approached, but she fought it back and forced herself into the calm state she needed for a fight.
“Are you ready?” Zane asked as he scanned the trees while they both armed themselves.
The bullets had stopped, so whoever had fired clearly didn’t want to kill them, at least not yet. She suspected they’d find out what their attackers wanted soon enough.
Chapter Seventy-Five
Zane suspected their attackers were out of bullets. From what he’d heard, guns were hard to come by, and the same was true for ammunition. Still, he was glad Connor had insisted he and Lexi wear Kevlar vests. While a bullet probably wouldn’t kill either of them, he’d rather not take any chances.
“This certainly is a stroke of good luck,” a blonde vampire at the head of the group emerging from the trees called out with a condescending smile.
“Carmen,” Eleanor greeted her with a regal tilt of her head, giving no other reaction to Carmen’s arrival. Zane had to give Lexi’s mother credit for being tough. They were seriously outnumbered, and two of Eleanor’s guards had been badly injured when the third jeep overturned, but she still stared down Carmen like she had nothing to fear.
“And your lovely daughter is with you,” a male added as he moved forward to stand beside Carmen.
Zane scented the air, doing his best to be discreet. He was trying to blend in with the other guards, but the male’s interest in Lexi didn’t sit right with him, and he had a hard time keeping the growl from erupting from the back of his throat. This one might look like a vampire, but his scent told a different story.
Clearly, Lexi also sensed something was wrong. Zane was in tune enough with his mate to notice how she stiffened. She had good reason to be uneasy. Zane felt the power radiating from this Fae, and knew he was powerful enough to be a serious threat. At the moment, his power was muted while he took the form of a vampire, but he could shed that form at any time if he needed to.
“Enough with your games, Carmen and Alistair,” Eleanor snapped. “Why don’t you tell me exactly what you’re after?”
“Power,” Carmen told her with a casual one-shoulder shrug.
The one she’d called Alistair hadn’t once taken his eyes off Lexi. “I suppose that’s true enough, but we both have different things in mind. Quite frankly, I don’t give a fuck what happens with your vampire politics. At first, it was fun, but I’ve grown bored with these games. All I want is to take what’s mine and leave this retched place.”
Carmen’s pale skin turned bright red, and she spun on Alistair. “Leave? We have a deal!”
“And you’re getting what you want,” Alistair stated with a dismissive wave of his hand. “You can handle things without me now. I’m taking Arawn’s daughter and leaving.”
“I don’t think so, Talon,” Lexi said, and the Fae’s eyes widened with surprise. It would appear they now had a name for the Fae, thanks to Lexi.
“You know my name.” Talon smirked. “Now, that is a pleasant surprise. For a while, I wondered if you were too weak to be worth my time. You didn’t even notice me watching you. It’s a relief to realize I was mistaken about your strength. Come to me, Alexa. It’s time for us to leave this place and let these weak vampires fight it out. This doesn’t concern our kind.”
Lexi snorted and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that’s so not going to happen, dick wad.”
Talon’s eyes flashed with anger and changed to a sinister shade of red as his hair lengthened, becoming a silky black. At the end of the transition, he was more than half a foot taller, broader, and Zane wasn’t quite sure how to describe his appearance. Talon was captivating in a frightening way. It was almost impossible to look away, and Talon’s smirk proved he knew the effect he had on those around him.
“This is all yours, Alexa,” he told her with an arrogant gesture toward his body. “Now, be a good little half-breed and come to your master.”
Lexi laughed this time, and Zane almost laughed too when he saw Talon’s look of bewilderment. “Is that the best pick-up line you can come up with? Seriously, I don’t play master and servant games with anyone. I also don’t take orders from any man.”
Talon’s jaw clenched, and he glared at Lexi. “You are mine!” His shout made it obvious he was losing his temper, and Zane was right there with him.
“No,” Zane practically growled. “Lexi is mine.”
“Yours?” Talon scoffed with an arrogant lift of an eyebrow. “Do you honestly believe a puny little pussy cat like you is enough for Alexa? Mutt or not, she can’t be that stupid. You think that rather than living like a queen with me she’d choose to live in some little hovel in the woods with you? Even serving me, she’ll have more than you could ever hope to give her. She’d never agree to be yours.”
Zane wanted to argue, but Talon’s words brought all of his doubts to the surface. Lexi hadn’t admitted to being his, and he had to wonder if she ever would. Was Lexi too far out of his reach? With sudden clarity, Zane realized that Talon was using some sort of Fae magic to magnify his doubts. Fighting against the magic, Zane tried to remind himself that Lexi was his. It was only his touch she sought. Still, the dark magic wrapped around him, nearly smoth
ering him in despair.
Talon grinned and moved closer. “I see the doubt in your eyes, shifter. Give up on her. She’ll never be yours, so you should just go home and find a nice female who’s more your kind.”
Now that Talon was close enough, Lexi lashed out with a vicious roundhouse kick that sent him stumbling back. “Fuck you and your Jedi mind tricks, asshole. Don’t ever talk that way to my mate again,” she snapped, and just like that, the blanket of despair lifted.
Zane grinned despite their situation. His mate was tough as they came, and she’d just publicly accepted him. There was no way he could die after that.
“You heard my mate,” Zane chimed in. “She will never be yours.”
Chapter Seventy-Six
Lexi knew kicking a powerful Fae was probably a bad idea, but there was no way she was going to stand there and let that asshole insult Zane, or use some fucked up Fae magic on him. Oh yeah, she’d seen the magic moving around Zane like a dark cloud, and that was so not okay. Before that, she hadn’t fully understood what it meant to have Zane as her mate. Probably because no one had ever really threatened him around her. Now, she realized she’d protect Zane with her life, and it looked like that chance might come sooner rather than later.
“Kill everyone except my female,” Talon barked out, and the vampires with him attacked.
Lexi was about to hurry to her mom’s defense, until she saw her mom grab one of the vampires in some crazy wrist lock. Then she watched as her mom kicked the vampire in the back before sending him crashing into a tree. Clearly, her mom had learned to fight in the last century and didn’t need any help.
Zane was facing off with two vampires and holding his own, while they all seemed to be staying away from Lexi. She decided that wasn’t going to work and jumped into the fray. She attacked a vampire who was coming up behind one of her mom’s guards. The female vampire was caught completely off guard when Lexi’s stick slammed into her arm. Lexi was still somewhat clumsy with the sticks since the weight was off from what she was used to, but she figured they were her best weapon at the moment. The vampire howled and turned on her with a crazed look. Fangs dripping with saliva, the vampire lunged at her, but Lexi sidestepped and brought the stick up to strike the vampire. When the vampire stumbled forward, Lexi slammed the sharpened end into the vampire’s back where the heart should be. The vampire dropped to the ground, and Lexi removed the stick just before another vampire grabbed her by the hair and tried to pull her close to his fangs. Allowing her weight to fall back into the vampire, she was able to throw him off balance. While she’d hoped this would give her time to pull away, he held tight and took her to the ground with him.
Zane had finished off the vampires he was fighting and was facing off with Talon, so Lexi tried to be quiet as she struggled to free herself from the vampire’s grasp. Three strange vampires burst from the woods, and one of them slammed his fist into the nose of the vampire holding her, giving her enough time to go up on her knees and slam the stick into the heart of the vampire she’d been fighting.
“Thanks,” she told the vampire.
“No problem,” he said, taking in the surrounding scene. “Which ones should we kill? The only ones I recognize are the shapeshifter and Eleanor. I figured you were on the right side since you were fighting an undead vampire.”
Lexi quickly pointed out those who were on their side since there were fewer of them. She had no clue who these new vampires were, but she saw the widening of Zane’s eyes when they joined the fight, so they probably weren’t Connor’s people. There was no time to ponder that now. Even with the extra help, they were outnumbered, but it appeared they weren’t outmatched.
Everything went to hell fast. One minute, they were gaining the upper-hand in the fight. The next, a vampire hit Lexi from behind, knocking her to the ground, and that was all it took to make Zane lose focus. In the blink of an eye, she saw Talon use what looked like a sword with a glowing black blade to slice through Zane’s body. The world seemed to move in slow motion as she rushed toward him.
“Zane!” Lexi screamed, dropping to her knees beside him, not caring about the imposing Fae looming over her with a sword. All that mattered was helping Zane. She tried to put her hands over his chest wound, but it was huge, and blood kept pouring out of it. “Please don’t die, Zane.”
“I’ll save him for you,” Talon offered from her side, his voice gentle and coaxing. It was at that moment she noticed that the background noise was gone. Looking around, no one was moving, and a hazy red mist surrounded them. It was as if Talon had pulled them from the present into some sort of limbo so they could have their conversation uninterrupted.
“You did this to him,” she accused without taking her eyes off of Zane. She could practically see his life slipping away.
“And I’m the only one who can save his life,” Talon said. “If it weren’t for my interference, someone would have already come to release his soul. I can save him. We can call it a gift for my new pet. What do you say, Alexa? Do you want to belong to me?”
Lexi shuddered in disgust at the thought of what this monster was suggesting in a perfectly reasonable tone while the man she loved was dying. Zane couldn’t die. He was too full of life to die, but his heart was weakening. His eyes opened, and his lips parted as though he might speak, but he couldn’t seem to get the words past his lips.
“You’re running out of time, Alexa,” Talon warned, rubbing her hair between two fingers. “Do I save him or let him die?”
“Save him,” Lexi breathed out.
“Ask nicely first,” Talon ordered smugly.
“Please, save him,” she whispered before leaning forward to brush her lips across Zane’s.
“Understand that if I save him, you are agreeing to come with me,” Talon clarified, as if she could forget what he wanted. “You’ll be a loving pet to me, especially in front of your father. You will do what I say. Do you agree?”
“I’ll do anything to save him,” Lexi agreed without looking at Talon.
Talon nodded and reached forward to run a hand along Zane’s wound. Lexi watched as the skin knit itself back together until it looked as though he’d never been injured. The jagged material on his Kevlar vest and the blood staining his clothes were the only evidence of what had happened.
“It’s time to go,” Talon said, reaching out a hand to her.
Lexi stood but hesitated to take his hand.
“You gave me your word,” Talon practically growled as his red eyes darkened with anger.
“I’m not ready to touch you,” Lexi admitted, and she was surprised when Talon laughed.
“You’ll get used to it soon enough,” he assured her. “Take my hand now, or I’ll reverse what I just did.”
Trembling ever so slightly, Lexi placed her hand in Talon’s and walked beside him as the hazy red mist formed into a tunnel. She saw the world begin to move faster with each step they took, until she stepped through a doorway and the portal to her life with Zane closed.
Chapter Seventy-Seven
Zane sucked in a deep breath and grabbed his chest, expecting to find a huge gash, but he found only his exposed chest and the sticky residue of his own blood. That’s when the hazy memories of Lexi making a bargain with that bastard Fae came rushing back.
“Lexi!” Zane shouted. Looking around, he saw that the fight was coming to an end, and most shocking of all, Abram and some of his vampires had joined their side. If it weren’t for Abram, they’d probably all be dead. What he didn’t see was Lexi or Talon, but he somehow knew he wouldn’t. When he tried to stand, his legs gave out from under him, and it was Abram who crouched beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“You might want to stay down until we make sure you aren’t still bleeding,” Abram advised.
“I’m not bleeding,” Zane insisted.
“Then you might want to stay down until you recover some from all that blood you lost,” Abram amended. “Fuck me. I didn’t know shifters could
heal that fast, but you were torn up by that sword.”
“Lexi,” Zane said desperately. “Where is she? She was with me just a minute ago.”
“The hot fighter with the long blonde hair?” Abram asked.
Zane nodded.
“I’m pretty sure the guy with the red eyes took her,” Abram replied. “They just kind of disappeared. One minute, they were both by you, and the next, all I saw was hazy red shit.”
“No!” Zane screamed, but it sounded weak. When he tried to get up again, he collapsed to the ground. “I need to get to her.”
Abram motioned for two of his vampires to join them before pulling out his phone. “Make sure he doesn’t get up,” he ordered them.
“Connor, it’s Abram. I’m about three miles from the bridge. Eleanor’s group was attacked, but they’re mostly okay. You need to send some medical attention, and someone to help the shifter. He’s losing it. Someone took his woman.”
Abram hung up without waiting for a reply and turned back to Zane, who had finally given up on fighting the vampires who were holding him down. Healed or not, he’d apparently lost too much blood.
“Lexi,” he rasped out just before he lost consciousness.
Chapter Seventy-Eight
Ten days.
That’s how long Lexi had been stuck in the Fae realm. The day Talon had brought her here, she’d been terrified of what he planned to do with her, but he’d simply told her all her needs would be taken care of and assured her he wouldn’t force her to do anything she didn’t want to. While she’d been tempted to point out that he’d pretty much forced her to come with him in the first place, she’d decided to keep her mouth shut. She wasn’t being raped or beaten, so why push her luck and make Talon angry? That was the last time she’d seen him, and she still had no idea what he expected from her. He’d made a point of calling her his pet several times, so she was scared about what would happen when he finally decided to return to her.
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