“Rowan…” Nadia said quietly behind me.
Why was she scared? We were winning. Kind of.
The door upstairs opened, filling the silence with a screech of bending metal.
y tense body relaxed as about a dozen, full-sized wolves streamed into the room, leaping over the stairs and Walton’s body in their haste to take control. They spread out, securing the corners and the people. Chuckles attempted to keep a knife to Hannah’s throat, but with a quick snap attack from two of the wolves, he dropped it fast. This maneuver, and their constant bearing of teeth, were an obvious guide to how little disagreement they were going to put up with.
Holy crap. The pack was amazing in how well they worked as a unit. No wonder their paychecks were so much higher. They were so worth it. I’d been an idiot not to call them in earlier.
I was more than happy to put my hands out for all to see under threat of their impressive fangs. Time to let them take over. Relief raced through my exhaustion, taking my feet out from under me. We were saved. I wasn’t sure how, but we were.
Then Paul Rigel in all his dark, alpha glory stepped onto the top stair. He clenched his fists, and his movements were precise. His eyes swept the room, taking it all in and landing on me last. His gaze was penetrating. I smiled the best I could and waved weakly.
“Took you long enough,” I quipped as strong as my voice would allow.
Concern took away part of his hard expression. He strode down the stairs, confident his furry friends would keep the bad guys in check. “You missed our phone date.”
I stared at him with a tilted head until it hit: in all the torture and fighting, I’d forgotten to call him. Not that I could have, anyway.
He’d reached the bottom of the stairs and put a hand on my shoulder. “I told you working together is always safer.”
I smiled. “Thanks.” I would have to say that a thousand times to make him for saving our lives, but, for now, the one would do.
He helped me to my feet and led me to the stairs’ bannister. I leaned on it, and when he was sure I could stand on my own, he left me without a word about my weakened state or dress. I owed him another thank you.
“Rowan?” Lyle shouted from behind me, his voice twisted and screechy.
“Present and accounted for.”
He picked his way over Walton and gathered me in his arms. “Oh, thank God.”
I patted his back, unable to keep a grin from splitting my face. Of all people to help the homophobic wolves find me, I wasn’t surprised it was him.
“Jesus, girl, what happened?” he asked when I pulled away.
“I’d like to know that as well,” Rigel said, bristling like a rabid dog as he paced toward Martha and Chuckles. They were both on their knees, Rigel’s pack circling them with teeth bared. Hannah was still between them, uncertainty and tears all over her face.
“As would I.” A familiar voice rolled from above.
I froze.
Standing like the King of the World he was, Romaric surveyed us all from the top of the stairs. Beside him, his scion was busy typing on her tablet. Even in this nightmare, they acted like business-as-usual. Tension slipped back into me. What was he doing here?
I turned to Devon for clarity–and gasped.
Devon was still slumped over, unconscious. He was thin, at least thirty pounds thinner than he’d been when we arrived. His skin was pale and sallow. His cheeks were hollowed out, and his lips were colorless. Capillaries around his face had burst from the electricity mottling his skin around his eyes and mouth. His lips, chin, and chest were stained with blood he’d spat out.
Words caught in my throat. No, this wasn’t right. He couldn’t be this weak. He couldn’t look this… dead. I wanted to scream and shout for him, but I choked on sobs trying to force their way out. We’d done it. We’d beaten them. But he didn’t know. He was fully slumped in his manacles, not coming to. How was that possible? There was no reason to pretend anymore.
Devon?
Nothing.
Devon, talk to me, please. I pried into his mind, my pulse racing. No dream, like before. Not even the white noise of hunger leaked out. Had they done it? Was our bond broken? What would a broken bond mean? I needed to hear his voice in my head again.
Devon! Tears burned my throat. My pulse raced. I’d pulled all that energy from him. Could I have… What had I done?
Romaric cleared his throat.
I took a deep breath. With Devon out, I was the only official DEC member who could make a report. I shifted my eyes back to Romaric. He glanced between Devon and I several times. Finally, his eyes focused on me and narrowed. I swallowed at the intensity in them.
“Agent Brady,” he said, “I am unaccustomed to being kept waiting. Report.”
“Yes, sir.” I brushed sweat from my forehead with shaky fingers. “We were invited here by Walton under the DEC shield to discuss one of the murdered girls’ cases. Upon arrival, we were attacked, poisoned, and taken here. He and Martha LeAngais–over there–were working with Chuckles, the douchebag next to her.”
Romaric raised an eyebrow and shifted his gaze to Chuckles. Chuckles attempted to speak, but a low growl from a wolf stopped him.
I continued. “He and his friends came here from Brazil, attempting to create unregistered scions. The nice girl between them–who probably wants to be anywhere but here–is Hannah Warner, our missing girl. They tortured and experimented on her as well as Devon, Nadia, Carson, and me. It’s been fun.”
The words had started pouring out, and the last quip was out of my mouth before I remembered who I was reporting to. Well, dammit, I needed sleep and had been through hell. Romaric could live with my more colorful briefing. I hoped.
Glancing up at him, he shook his head, taking in Carson, Nadia, Devon and me in turn. “Brazilian, eh? We have been expecting moves by Rojajah for a while now, but not quite like this.”
Romaric switched his gaze to the real bad guys in the room. “Such direct violations will not be tolerated. Do your job, Lieutenant Rigel, and I expect a full report from everyone here, including Shuvalov” –he glanced at Devon again–“when he has recovered, of course. Say… Monday morning. Be thorough.” He turned to leave.
“We will have our answer. You cannot leave us to rot!” Chuckles called out to Romaric.
The wolves flashed their canines, growling at him.
Chuckles replied by showing his own teeth, but kept his eyes on Romaric’s back.
Not bothering to turn, but pausing long enough to speak to Chuckles over his shoulder, Romaric answered with a level, matter-of-fact tone. “As I recall, you all believed we should take care of our own and not meddle in each other’s problems. I respect your wishes. And yes, leaving you to take care of your own is exactly what I, and the rest of the families, will continue to do.” Romaric and his scion vanished from sight.
Catching Lyle’s gaze, I twitched my head toward Devon. Lyle slipped his arm under mine and helped me to Devon’s side. My hand shook as I reached up and moved his hair from his forehead. The ache in my chest was unbearable; I’d gladly take another shot from the electricity rod if it meant seeing the guy I cared for–the guy I loved–awake and smiling like he had on the ride to Walton’s. How could they do this to him?
In a rush, I ripped off part of my hospital gown and tried to wipe the blood from Devon’s mouth. He was always so clean. I couldn’t let him go out like this. My breathing became more rapid the more I scrubbed at the dried blood, and soon a tear was streaking my cheek.
Lyle put a hand onto of mine, stopping me. I stared at him with wide eyes, and he gave my hand a squeeze. He motioned to the room with his head. Oh yeah, the others.
Rigel stared at me with his eyebrows drawn together.
Wiping the tear from my cheek angrily, I shook my head. “Paul, can we cut them loose, carefully?” I asked. “Hannah is going to need medical attention too. Any chance you brought an ambulance team with you?”
“Leena,” Rigel comman
ded.
Instantly, a tawny wolf to my left turned into a petite brunette girl. She approached Rigel’s left hand, stopping about two steps behind him.
Good choice. Hannah would be more comfortable with a girl after all this. He was as good at his job as he claimed.
“Ms. Warner?” Rigel said, extending a hand to Hannah. “If you would, miss, this is Leena Christian. She will escort you upstairs and to the waiting ambulance. If you would like, she’ll stay with you at the hospital, too, until you feel safe.”
After quick glances at the two vampires beside her, Hannah accepted his hand with a weak smile and nodded. He pulled her from the grouping. She walked on her own volition, and as she passed me, she smiled and said, “Thank you.”
I smiled back. “Any time.”
Leena led Heather upstairs and into the open air of safety. I smiled bigger. Hannah had been through hell, but she’d be all right. She was made of stronger stuff than most.
Turning back to the manacles, I realized I was not going to be able to pull them off the wall. “Paul,” I said, “if you would be so kind as to retrieve the keys from your new friends over there. I’ll set the vampires free while you read Mr. Chuckles and Martha their rights.”
“Mr. Chuckles–” Rigel started.
“My name is Corsair Jimaverez.”
“I don’t care,” Rigel countered. “The keys?”
“Thomas had them,” Martha blurted.
I glanced at Lyle, pleading with my eyes.
“Eww.” He sighed, but retrieved the keys from Walton’s corpse.
“Martha LeAngais and Corsair ‘Chuckles’ Jimaverez–” Rigel began again.
“How dare you, cachorro. I am the Hand to the North to–”
Growls and barks filled the basement.
“I like this Rigel guy,” Lyle teased as he handed me the shackle key. “I’ll get Dudley Do-right out of his cage.”
Rigel’s deep voice rose out with authority over the growls of his pack. “You are both under arrest under my authority from the Department of Energy Conservation and the League of Reclaimed Nations. You’re guilty of somewhere between fourteen and eighty counts of a variety of crimes, including kidnapping, assault, battery, murder, and blood theft, plus multiple counts of violations of the International Treaty of Chicago, and will be remanded to the Council of Vitae for punishment. My guess: execution by sun or beheading. If your Master is present, he or she may speak for you.”
“I doubt they will,” I interjected as Devon’s second manacle released. He fell into me, and we both tumbled to the floor.
“You okay?” Lyle and Rigel called out together.
“Peachy.” Right now, my body was still numb. Come morning, my response might be totally different.
I pulled Devon’s head onto my lap. He was cold and unresponsive and way too heavy for me to lift. We were going to stay right here until someone helped, and that was perfectly fine with me. Anything to keep us together until he woke again.
Rigel reached to the back of his uniform and pulled out two silver cuffs. I would bet my badge they were rune-inscribed like my zip sets, even though that would trap shifters in their current form as well.
“Henry, Andy, get these bastards on the ground,” Rigel barked.
A large gray wolf and his smaller rust-colored friend leapt from behind the vampires. Using their large paws, they pushed Martha and Walton onto their stomachs and held them down. The sound of my captors’ grunts was intoxicating. I couldn’t help but grin.
With quick efficiency, Rigel caught each vampire’s hands and cuffed them behind their backs. The wolf pack was so ordered that, now the bad guys were caught, four wolves turned back into their two-legged forms without being asked. One of them was Lyle’s friend, John.
Rigel stopped the words about to come from my lips by interjecting over me, “I’d like you to meet the newest member of my pack, John Abaleen.”
John nodded at me as he took up a flanking position behind the prisoners. He gave no sign he knew me. When I eyed Lyle, my best friend turned away, his face tight and focused on the task at hand.
“John was integral to out tracking your location in time,” Rigel continued. “When he petitioned the pack, he brought me the dinner invitation Walton sent to you and Devon. Unfortunately, that was only hours ago. Then it was just a matter of tracking down this location.”
Still in wonder, I shook my head. Eventually, the mostly furry pack lead the prisoners upstairs and out of our lives.
Rigel strolled over to me as Lyle helped Carson free Nadia. “Need some assistance?” A soft, gentle expression came over his face. We had to appear pathetic to garner so much concern.
“You mean more than you’ve done by coming and getting our collective asses out of this pit? Nope.”
He smiled and tipped an imaginary hat on his head. “Just doing my job, ma’am.”
My face spread into an honest smile. That was really how he felt. He hadn’t given up, even with Romaric at his heels. I met his eyes for a long moment.
After a few seconds, he turned away.
“Actually, could you help me find my clothes? I would really love to leave here wearing something other than this stupid gown.”
He genuinely looked pleased. “I’ll see what I can find. The evidence team will want to get down here soon, but I’ll try to hold them off a bit longer.” He glanced at Nadia and then Devon.
“Thanks again.”
With a nod, Rigel hurried up the stairs, his hands in his pockets.
Lyle handed me a bottle of blood. “He’ll need the real thing and from more sources than just you by the looks of it, but this is a start.”
I nodded but couldn’t find my voice as I glanced down at Devon’s hollow face again. He looked like a three-day-old corpse. I frowned. I needed to feel something from him soon. For so long, I’d hated how easy it was for him to butt into my head, but now… I’d give anything to hear his voice.
I tipped his head and poured blood down his throat, no more than a sip at a time so he wouldn’t choke. Things had changed between us, and I wasn’t sure yet how or why.
Nadia and Carson embraced. They whispered softly to each other and absently petted each other. The restraint she showed by not tearing out his throat astounded me. Instead, she clung to him and kissed him like any woman in love. They were happy. When they separated, he helped her to the bottle of blood that had been her focus for so long. Carson watched her drink long pulls as her throat worked furiously. His face was full of love and concern. Whatever the species, they had something special. I turned away from their private moment as he caressed her cheek and wiped away the blood that had trickled down her lips.
I stared at Devon’s unconscious form in my lap. It had taken kidnapping and torture to make me see just how close we really were. Romaric’s intense look at the two of us–it had meant something. Did he know we were broken?
What were we going to do now?
held onto Will’s shoulders as we watched Devon in the hospital bed. Shahid stood guard over all of us. His guilt had made him a pain in the ass–he protected us constantly now. I tried to get him to understand it wasn’t his fault, but he just nodded, scanned the room, and got back to work. This mood of his better not last. Still, I was grateful for the care he’d taken of Will while we’d been missing. He had broken protocol and worked with John to get the party information to Rigel in the heart of the DEC.
Will knew we’d been gone, working on a case, and that we’d come back looking worse for the wear. That Devon had been unconscious. He was worried and was trying to be strong and not show it. His stiff posture and the strength with which he was holding onto my hands spoke louder.
Tubes and wires were plugged into Devon all over, and three IV bags forced blood into his system, reanimating his cells. The doctors assured us he would be fine, and in the last few hours, his cheeks had become less pale and more filled out.
I had my own IV bag attached to my right hand. It was reh
ydrating me with liquids, nutrition, and vitamins. After all, Devon would need a proper feeding soon. The nurses kept reminding me as if I didn’t know how this worked.
I straightened, my heart fluttering, when the beeping on Devon’s machine picked up a bit. After a few seconds, his eyes fluttered open. He scanned around until he focused on the ceiling. Then he glanced over and found us standing next to him. A smile formed on his thin lips.
“Hello, William. Are you watching over your sister?”
Will’s face lit up, and, as if Devon made everything safe again, Will let go of my hands and flung himself onto the bed.
“Careful,” I called out. “Don’t pull anything out!”
“Hush,” Devon admonished as he hugged Will back. “He knows what he’s doing.”
Surprising me again, Devon hugged Will tighter and closed his eyes, drowning in the feeling of the small boy’s love. From our bond, I felt a rush of contentment, happiness, relief and… love. Before, Devon had to open up his thoughts to me. Right now, it didn’t look like he was doing so. Could I feel what he was feeling? Or was he letting me feel all of it, and why?
My stomach twisted. “Devon?”
“Shahid, are you haunting the door back there?” he said instead.
Shahid stepped forward, stiff and staring just over the bed instead of at Devon. “Yes, Consillar.”
Devon nodded his head, but sadness crept into his eyes. “So, that’s how it is? We’re back to titles?”
Shahid continued to stand strong, but his hands fisted at his sides. Devon’s gaze flicked to Shahid’s hands, and I too inspected the bodyguard’s grasp. He was holding something.
Devon nodded again. “All right. We’ll discuss this later.”
Shahid’s head twitched as if he’d like to say more, but he took a breath and moved back to the door. Devon stared after him, his frustration showing nowhere but within our bond. It slowly morphed into determination. He was already forming plans on how to fix this. I was proud of him, and still worried that I could hear his thoughts.
“Infaris Shahid, please escort William to get something to eat. I think some hot chocolate would go a long way,” Devon said.
Of Scions and Men Page 27