Alex stood abruptly, shaking with anger. “No, you ass! Yes, I assumed you were Coteri and a warrior when we first met but I swear I never saw you before nor after that night we shared. I felt a connection with you that I’d never felt before and, stupid me, I threw caution to the wind. Even having been trained since birth in what Coteri do to Valta, I decided to go with my instincts, trust you and spend the evening with you. And it was the best damn night of my life, you bastard. And now, knowing how you truly feel about me and my kind, it’s a night I’ll regret forever.” Alex dropped into her chair and crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to meet Tre’s eyes.
The silence in the cavernous room was deafening.
Isla cleared her throat and broke the building tension. “Let’s start this again, shall we? You two will have plenty of time to discuss your trust issues but for now we have more important matters to address.”
Alex brought her gaze back to the small woman seated before her and nodded, more than ready to focus her attention on something other than Tre.
“Now tell me, dear. What is it that makes you believe we are the evil party in this affair? What is it you have been told?”
Alex leaned back in the chair and let out a deep sigh, her emotional center now shattered as she didn’t know what to believe anymore. And just how could she possibly summarize her entire belief system and upbringing into just a few short sentences? The feelings that had been bred into her since birth, to hate and fear the Coteri. The education she’d been given to help her to research how to strengthen the Valta through breeding with the human race, all in an effort to protect her kind from the evil Coteri by increasing their numbers. She felt scattered. And that confusion made her angry. Angry with her brother for using her for his own twisted purposes. Angry about all the lies she’d been told. Angry with Tre for diminishing what they’d shared. And even angry with the petite but regal woman in front of her, demanding truths she wasn’t prepared to face.
“Fine,” Alex said with a bite in her voice. “You’re consultant to the Coteri king? How about what he did? I know how he raped a human woman, threw her away and only recently found out she had become pregnant and raised his child on her own. How he sent his warriors to America to abduct his now-grown daughter, brought her back to Germany and force-bred her with one of his warriors. Where is she now? Where is the baby she had, and what are you doing to them? He did exactly what you are accusing me and my people of doing, yet he sits on a throne while I’m being held against my will and interrogated in a dirty warehouse, faced with the threat of torture and death. How can you possibly think I would give you any information when your own king harmed a human woman and his own child in such a way?”
Isla sat back in her chair and stared disappointingly at Alex. “That’s what you were told? And by your brother and mother, of course. How ironic that this is the story you choose to use as your defense. The very reason we are looking for the women and possible hybrid children is because of the king’s daughter and granddaughter. Oh, Alex.” Isla shook her head. “You couldn’t be more wrong.”
Alex watched as Isla stood and walked toward Tre. She whispered something and Tre handed her his cell phone. Confused about what was going to happen next, Alex leaned forward, trying to catch what they were saying to each other, but couldn’t hear.
Isla turned and walked back to her. When she sat across from her once again, she turned the face of the cell phone toward her. Alex looked at the picture on the screen in confusion, then back at Isla. “Who are they?”
Isla smiled. “That is Mina, the king’s daughter, and his granddaughter Vivienne. Both are alive and well and living in the castle under the Royal Guard’s protection from your brother, Luca, who kidnapped and tortured Mina before she was rescued by our warriors.” Alex sucked in a startled breath at that last piece of information. It couldn’t be true, could it?
Isla continued. “The story behind her arrival in Germany is not what you were told, child. Roderick loved Mina’s mother until the day she died of heart failure. It was only to protect her that Roderick never acknowledged the existence of his daughter. However, he kept in constant contact with Julia, was always aware of Mina and the life she was living, and fully provided financially for both mother and daughter. He even sent a female warrior to watch over Mina and guard her in secret throughout her life, since he couldn’t be with her because of the danger posed by the Valta. Once Julia died, however, and he learned of the grief his only daughter was bearing alone, Roderick made the decision to bring Mina home and teach her about her true heritage.”
Isla ran her fingers over the phone’s screen and brought up another picture. This one was of a gorgeous man with piercing green eyes holding the little girl. He had a huge smile on his face as he held the little girl’s hand to his cheek. His adoration of the child was obvious. “This is Mathias. He is Mina’s mate, one she took without her father’s knowledge and before she even met Roderick. He’s a general of the Royal Guard, and Vivienne’s father. Mina wasn’t raped or force-bred, Alex. She is in a loving mating with a man with whom she has voluntarily chosen to spend the rest of her life.”
She held up the phone and Tre immediately plucked it from her fingers. “It seems you are a victim in this as much as the human women have been. Your poor mind has been filled with stories of the Coteri, which unfortunately and in actuality are what your brother and mother have been doing for decades. Darling girl.” Isla leaned closer, “your brother tried to rape and kill Mina before Roderick even had the chance to see her in person. Luca abducted her from Mathias, beat her and would have done much worse had Mathias and the other Coteri warriors not found her in time. She bore his scars for a long time and still carries the emotional scars to this day.”
Alex shivered at what the woman was telling her. What she had seen yesterday didn’t fall far from what Isla was revealing to her now. Her brother had spoken with ice in his veins about what was happening to those women in the marsh lab. He didn’t care what they were going through or that his men were brutalizing them while they were drugged into oblivion. All he cared about was successfully breeding the Valta with the humans. Strengthening his numbers. Trying to see what gifts would result from any hybrid children. She felt sick to her stomach.
Alex looked up at Tre, searching for any hint of support. He didn’t waver but his gaze had softened from his earlier confrontation. He stood there, staring intently into her eyes with his arms crossed over his chest, seeming to will her to believe the words she was hearing. Confusion racked her brain and all she wanted to do was confront her mother and brother about the allegations being thrown at them by Isla and the Coteri. She’d lived apart from her family for much of her life, but how could she have never seen this side of them?
She prayed she was doing the right thing, but no matter whether there was truth to what she was being told or not, one thing was clear. The human women being held at the marsh camp needed to be freed.
Alex straightened her spine and looked back at Isla. “What will you do with the women if I tell you where they are?”
Isla smiled and placed her delicate hand on Alex’s knee. She immediately felt warmth run up her leg and into her chest. It gave her a strange sense of peace in the decision she’d already made. “They will go home, Alex. We will care for them, treat them, then wipe their memories as best as we can before we send them home to hopefully lead full and productive lives.”
Tre walked to her and kneeled by her side, his eyes pleading with a sincerity she couldn’t ignore. “Please, Alex. Tell me where they are. I swear to you, on my honor, they won’t be harmed.”
Alex felt her throat tighten as she looked into his beautiful, amber eyes. “What about me, Tre? Can you swear the same to me? Are you going to hurt me when this is over? Are you going to leave me here to die by the hands of the warrior outside, who so obviously wants to see me pay for what some of my kind have done?”
Tre shook his head, his face hardening. “No one will t
ouch you, Alex. I swear. Please. Tell me where Nic is.”
Alex reached out and placed her hand on his cheek. He didn’t recoil or jump back from her touch, which surprised her given his reaction when he’d learned who her brother was. In fact, he leaned in to her hand and covered it with his, causing her heart to ache at what she wished she could have with this man. Could she trust him to keep her safe? Did it matter, when the lives of innocent human women were at stake?
“She’s important to you.” Alex didn’t state it as a question and Tre didn’t respond. She sighed and pulled away, knowing in her heart that this wasn’t going to end well for her, even if she helped them. But she had to do this. She had to help free those women. “Fine. Give me your phone. I’ll enter the GPS codes and you can get to them quicker. But go in from the sky. They won’t expect that.”
Chapter Nine
After Alex had entered the codes on his phone, Tre bolted out of the warehouse to find Jude and Michael. “I’ve got their location. Get Marcus, Seth and Dev over here. We’ll head out at dusk. Jude, I want you to take Alex and Isla back to Royal. Alex stays in my room and doesn’t move.”
“What the fuck, Tre? I have to fucking babysit?”
“You got a fucking problem with following orders, Jude?” Tre got in the warrior’s face, his adrenaline on overdrive with all he’d just learned, along with the possibility of getting Nic and the others safely out of this nightmare. “Yes, you have to babysit. She goes in my room and doesn’t move. Got it?”
“Fine. But you owe me for this. I was so fucking jacked-up to kill some Valta my dick is hard.”
Michael backed away, palms up in surrender. “Dude!”
Jude threw his hands out to his sides and gestured up and down. “What? You don’t get hard before a battle?”
Michael curled his lip at the warrior, his prominent canines on full display. “Nothing about this gets me off, dickwad. I just want to get Nic out of there in one piece.”
Tre looked over at Michael and sighed. This was not a situation he’d thought he would have to deal with. Obviously Michael had something going on with Nicolette and that was why she had asked about him at the bakery. Stupid fucker. If Nic had become attached, how would he tell her she couldn’t be with Michael when he couldn’t tell her the truth? And how would he keep Michael away from her without sending his ass back to Washington? Tre decided to deal with that mess later, after they rescued Nic and the other women. He walked toward the SUV and grabbed his water bottle. He was waiting for the other men to show up when another thought crossed his mind. Tre knew he needed to break ties with Nic to keep her safe, but then his thoughts shifted to Dev. No way was that man going to give up Thea. Not a chance in hell. Which meant the two sisters were going to be brought into their crazy world whether he liked it or not. Tre took a long pull from the lukewarm water and cursed fate. Shit.
* * * * *
Dev hung up the phone and looked across the room at Thea. She was sitting on the window seat, looking out into nothing. She had showered in his room after she’d awakened and her dark hair now fell in thick waves down her back. Her eyes were still swollen from her tears and her clothing from the day before was a wrinkled mess but all Dev wanted to do was gather her in his arms and hold her.
Thea had been a part of his life for the past three years and he was just now realizing how much he wanted to keep her there for the rest of his years to come.
She turned toward him and asked, “Any news?”
She was both mentally and physically exhausted, yet she refused to give up hope. Her faith in him astounded him and he wondered just how much she really knew. Thea had told him she’d overheard several conversations and that was what had brought her to him when Nic was taken. But what exactly had she heard? He walked toward her and ran his hand over her hair. “Yes, darlin’. We have a possible location, so I have to leave. Jude will be here if you need anything, but don’t leave. Promise me you’ll stay right here until I return.”
Thea swung her legs from the window seat and stood. She surprised him when, without warning, she wrapped her arms around his middle and leaned in to his large frame. “I’m not going anywhere, Devereux. I’ll be here when you return with my sister.”
He could feel her warmth radiating through his body, and felt his chest expand in pride at the level of faith she obviously had in him. Dev hadn’t felt heat from a woman in a very long time. Oh, he spent time with them. Wined and dined them. Fucked them when he felt the need. But feel anything for them? That had been foreign to him for decades. What was it about this pixie of a Southern Belle that had changed his entire outlook on emotions?
He looked down at her and slowly lowered his mouth to hers. The kiss was gentle and sensual. Meaningful. He moved his lips away from her mouth and slowly passed over her soft cheek to her neck. He sucked the delicate skin between his lips, forcing himself not to mark her as his right then and there, and licked. He inhaled her scent and squeezed her in his arms before lifting his head to gaze into her beautiful violet eyes. “I’ll be back, Thea, darlin’. And then you and I are going to have a long talk.”
* * * * *
The men had been assembled and Tre was about to jump out of his skin. Blood rushed through his veins, his heartbeat pounding like a bass drum, and all he could think about was getting Nicolette back. She was hurt and taken and she had no idea it was because of him. What she must be going through was unimaginable. Knowing firsthand what Luca was capable of made his stomach roll.
“Hey, Tre. Everyone’s ready.” Dev walked up and slapped a heavy hand on his shoulder. “This one’s all yours, warrior. Tell us where you want us.”
Tre appreciated his general’s faith in him and his understanding that this mission was personal to Tre. He gave Dev a quick nod, then walked toward the crowd of Coteri warriors primed for battle. They were strong, capable, loyal men, all ready to defend their race in the name of their king and to protect the innocent humans who’d been caught in this ugly conflict.
Tre immediately thought about Talon and wished his friend were by his side right now. There was no stronger fighter, and Tre wanted the best of the best for this mission. They hadn’t seen each other in a long time, not since Talon had received the Pacific Northwest region as his own to govern. Tre grinned at the thought of his friend. Finally with the woman he loved and now a general. A much-deserved rank based on what he had accomplished where the former general, Killian, had failed.
That was another mystery they were embroiled in solving. Killian had all but disappeared after the battle to rescue Chloe had gone down on the small inlet island Luca was using in Washington. No remains had been found and there had been no contact from Killian whatsoever. The man had been an enigma when he was in command and disappearing without a trace had only added to the mystery. Chalk it up to the list of shit they were all dealing with right now. Head back in the game, man, he chastised himself.
After reviewing the location of the marsh camp with the men, Tre decided to move in from the Gulf side, masking themselves as wrens. They could blend in easily with the birds already there, and hopefully the Valta wouldn’t sense them until they had the chance to attack. The safety of the human women was paramount and they had to get this right on the first strike.
They all took flight with the exception of Marcus, who would follow the highway down to Port Sulphur with one of the SUV’s to transport the women back to New Orleans. Even in flight, Tre felt trepidation about what was to come. Battle always made him skittish but this was different. He wasn’t going in like a bat out of hell, thrashing his way through Valta bodies, even though that was precisely what he wanted to do. This time he had to be careful. Leash his beast and guarantee the safety of three human women—one of whom meant the world to him.
Just as the sky was turning orange in the sunset, they landed within the cypress trees of the marsh, about one hundred feet away from the camp, exactly where Alex had told him it would be. A few warriors shifted into wolves and
made their way across the shallow sludge of mud and stagnant water. The rest remained in their avian form and jumped from tree to tree, hoping to blend in with the rest of the bayou creatures.
Michael had gone ahead and completed a recon of the area to determine which building housed the women. He punched through the tree line in his raven form and circled frantically above, drawing unneeded attention from anyone happening to patrol below. Tre quickly shifted into his dominant hawk form and took flight. Something was wrong if Michael had risked being seen above the trees.
Tre quickly circled the raven and guided him away from the thick cypress trees and out to an open canal, finding an old dock to land on. Once they’d shifted back to their human forms, Tre immediately grabbed Michael by the shirt and jerked him forward. “What the fuck are you doing, Michael? They could have seen you!”
Michael brought his arms up and broke Tre’s grip. “Get your hands off me, man. I saw Nic and lost it, all right? They didn’t see me. I was too fast.”
Tre ran his hand through his hair and blew out a frustrated breath. “Where is she, Michael? Are the other women with her?”
Michael turned away and looked at the rotted boards beneath his boots. “No. She’s alone. In the farthest shack to the east.” The rest came through gritted teeth. “Tied up. On a bed. Only covered with a sheet. The other two are in the main building, together in the far north room at the back.” He quickly turned and faced Tre. “I’ve got to get Nic outta there, man. Now.”
Tre saw the pain in Michael’s expression. Heard the worry in his voice. Something had definitely happened between Michael and Nicolette, and Tre knew without a doubt that the man in front of him would stop at nothing to get her back. Same as any Coteri male would do if their mate was in danger.
Infinite Desire Page 8