Outlaw (A Tale of the Talhari Book 2)

by Heather Elizabeth King

  She tightened her legs around him, lost herself in the feel of being so completely taken.

  She cried out his name, too far gone to control herself.

  Their tongues met and bright light flashed before her. He claimed her so thoroughly she thought she’d explode. His tongue darted in and out of her mouth, accented by his thrusts. Pleasure came at her in waves, each stronger than the last, each powerful enough to pummel her into a higher level of abandon.

  Teetering on the edge, the orgasm churned within her, closed in, then drove her over the edge. She came hard, bucking beneath him. They writhed together, mouths joined and bodies locked. He thrust harder. Again and again, until thrusting deep, he held fast and emptied himself into her.

  On a long groan he collapsed on her, gasping for breath.

  Bleu listened to his gentling breathing as calm returned to her. She panted. Gloried in the feel of his hot wet body on her.

  She admitted, if only to herself, if this were a dream, she never wanted to wake up.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  She woke with a start.

  “Looks like you’re feeling better,” Umberto said. “You’ve got that sparkle back in your eyes.”

  He was dressed again and looking entirely too pleased with himself.

  She was feeling better. The throbbing in her head had receded and strength was returning to her limbs. Had it been the sex?

  “I’m still bound.”

  He leaned over her, fiddled with the chains. One arm fell free of the cuff. The next followed shortly after. But before she could draw her arms to herself to massage her wrists, Umberto began rubbing the raw flesh with the tips of his fingers. “Does that feel better?”

  It did, but she was so confused. How was it she kept giving in to him? She begged, actually begged him for sex this time. She knew she should try to get out of the house and into the forest. She knew she needed her CU. Wolf had taken it with him when he’d left the room. But she didn’t want to leave. She wanted to stay with Umberto, curse him. What was happening to her?

  “Why did you bring me here?” she asked.

  He leaned forward to kiss her, but she turned her head away.

  She was surprised at the hurt that showed in his eyes. “I am so confused right now. I have no idea what’s really me and what you’re making me feel. I’ve never reacted to a man the way I’ve reacted to you. I don’t understand what’s happening to me.”

  He stared at her for a few moments, then seemed to come to a decision. “We need to talk.” So saying, he sat up and stared levelly at her. “Despite what you might think, you’re not Talhari, Bleu.”

  She shook her head, denying his statement. “What do you know about it?”

  “Do you know what a psychic embed is?”

  “Of course I do.”

  He lifted a brow. “Do you, now? Why don’t you enlighten me then?”

  “If I tell you, will you release me?”

  He threw his head back and laughed. “Absolutely not. This conversation isn’t for my benefit, it’s for yours.”

  “Ah, so it’s for me. Nice try, but too bad. I’m not releasing classified information to you.”

  “All right then, I’ll tell you. But before the embeds, let’s deal with your enhanced physiology. You’ve got Intel S—smart steel—built into your skeleton. The Talhari stole the design from the military, so it’s been created with technology the average person won’t know exists for at least ten years. They’ve also manipulated it, added to it. Talhari Intel-S makes you stronger and faster than any un-enhanced human. I’ve seen Talhari who could leap onto five-story buildings, fell a tree with his bare hands and never break a sweat.” He paused to study her face. “You’re still with me?”

  She nodded.

  “In addition to your enhancements, it’s pretty hard to kill you. Because your job is to dispatch pesky blood drinkers, your immune system has been given a bit of a boost, just in case a vampire manages to overpower you and suck your precious blood. You heal faster than a normal human, you never get sick, and for every thirty years, you age one. Essentially, you’re a living, breathing superhuman.”

  “So you’ve done a bit of research. Big deal.”

  “Let’s talk about you then. You spent your last three years training under Gaia Knight. You received your CU one year ago, your enhancements nine months ago—which is why you haven’t mastered your new strength yet—and you weren’t scheduled to get your embeds until you proved yourself worthy on this mission.”

  She stared at him, open-mouthed. Her fist clenched at this violation of her private life. “You’ve been studying me?”

  “I know that you grew up an orphan. You spent the first sixteen years of your life in various foster homes. You tried your hand at college for a while, but it wasn’t a good fit. During your second year of college you met Alma, the female recruiter for the Talhari that services the New England area. She spent the next year and a half wooing you, slowly initiating you into the order. At twenty, you faked your death so you could join the Talhari as an apprentice. Am I right so far? On second thought, don’t answer. I know I’m right.”

  “You pried into my life.”

  He laughed again. “Are you saying you haven’t pried into my life, and Dario, Mathias, and Erik’s?”

  Ignoring this, she jumped to the central point. “So essentially you’re telling me that the vampires have files on the Talhari?”

  “There are vampires and there are bloodsuckers.” He smiled at her. “Did you think you could waltz in and kill us without a fight?”

  She didn’t answer.

  “I’m an old man, Bleu. You don’t get to be as old as me without acquiring a few survival skills over the years.”

  “And my embeds?”

  “Embeds are the crux of the matter. Embeds are the supposed implants that make it possible for hunters to communicate telepathically.”

  Right again, she thought.

  “Embeds are nothing more than a genetic alteration. You’d go from superhuman to barely human at all.”

  “That’s a lie.”

  “It’s not. But you don’t have to believe me. I’m going to show you the truth tonight.”

  “Why should I believe anything you say?”

  “Because I am Talhari, not Kyle and Nick. Kyle and Nick belong to a branch of the order that has broken off. The Talhari elders do not agree with the use of embeds, which should have been the end of the discussion. They’re not safe. They cause extreme violence and genetic alterations. But there are others in the order who disagreed with the elders. They think the elders made a mistake and have decided to go forward on their own. They think embeds are a move to the future of fighting Undesirables.”

  “Undesirables?”

  “That’s what we call any supernatural creature. Further, the Talhari order was started by vampires.”

  “You lie.”

  “Vampires who do not kill. That’s what I am. That’s what all of Forsaken are. There are humans in the order now, and that’s why we’ve adopted the use of Intel-S. To make them as impervious to harm as the immortals. You think you were sent to kill us, but you have it wrong. We’ve been sent out by the Elders to persuade any rogue to return to the order. If they refuse, they’re to be dispatched.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “There’s a civil war within the Talhari. You got caught in the middle of it.”

  He stared at her for a beat, and then his fingers were light on her again, stroking the insides of her arms and sending lovely little frissons over her skin. “You really don’t remember me?”

  “No, I don’t remember you.”

  “You don’t remember our wedding day?”

  “I’m not Simone.”

  “Wolf told you.”

  “I saw the painting. We may look alike, but I’m not her. I can’t be.” Should she tell him about the dreams, she wondered?

  “Someone’s coming.”

  She was so caught up in her th
oughts that she almost didn’t hear what he’d said.

  Then someone called him from the hall. “Umberto!”

  He froze.

  “Umberto!” the voice called again.

  With a heavy groan, he pulled away. “Something is wrong. We have to go down.”

  She tried to shake her head to clear it.

  “Can you stand, Bleu?”

  “Stand? Go down where?”

  “Downstairs. I think Nick is awake.”

  Nick’s name was like a splash of ice water. “Kyle?”

  “He died in the attack.”

  She grabbed the clothes he gave her. Jeans and a t-shirt and boots.

  Kyle dead? “Nick? He’s here?” she asked as she changed into the clothes.

  Umberto got to his feet. “He is. We caught him and four others at the raid two nights ago.”

  “And you’re just telling me now?” She’d been lying with him, enjoying his touch while he held her teammate captive.

  “Umberto!” Wolf pushed through the door and came to a sliding halt beside the bed. “They’ve escaped.”

  Umberto swung around. “What? How is that possible?”

  “I don’t know. But we have to track them before it’s too late. We can’t let them escape. Our location will be blown.”

  “This isn’t good.” Umberto clasped her hand and started forward at a run.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  She ran down a narrow stone stairwell behind Umberto, with Wolf moving briskly behind them. The corridor was so constricted she doubted she could raise both arms and hold them out without her knuckles smacking into stone. The walls were damp with moisture, seemed to perspire in the sweltering June heat.

  A series of dim lights were hung along the ceiling, casting low light around them. It was just enough for her to see the steps and the way they spiraled down, deep into the earth.

  “What have you done to Nick?” she asked for the third time, and was unanimously ignored for the third time.

  In truth, she didn’t know how wise it was for her to be descending an unknown stairway with Umberto and his guard. If the Talhari knew what she was doing right now they’d question her sanity. That was, if the Talhari as she knew them were really the Talhari.

  Still, over the years she’d learned to trust her instincts. When you grow up an orphan, you learn to read people. Pick up on their vibes, good or bad. Usually she could tell when someone was out to hurt her. Usually she knew when to back off. She wasn’t getting any negative vibes from Umberto or Wolf. Fact was, she’d never felt like she was in danger when she was around Umberto.

  At long last they reached the bottom of the stairs. The first thing she noticed was that it wasn’t much brighter down there than it had been on the way down.

  A warm, large hand prodded her to the left. “This way, Bleu.”

  She glanced over her shoulder at Wolf, who was motioning her toward the left hallway where Umberto had gone. She spied dim light at the end of the hall, but beyond that she couldn’t see anything. “Is Nick in there?”

  Wolf shook his head. “He was in there.”

  She walked quickly, keeping her eyes and ears open for anything amiss. Though she didn’t think she was walking into an ambush, she was poised and ready for one.

  The moment she entered the room, though, she came to a stop. Erik, Mathias, and Dario were there. And they didn’t look happy.

  The room was alight in candlelight, making Bleu wonder what these guys had against electricity. Was artificial light too strong for their vampire eyes?

  The room was long, maybe a hundred or so feet, with small chambers set to the left and right at ten foot intervals. Erik, Dario, and Mathias were standing in a loose semicircle in front of the third chamber on the left.

  She twisted around until she could see Wolf. “Was he in there?”

  Wolf nodded.

  The hand that closed around her bicep made her stiffen. In reflex, she went for her blade, and then remembered it was gone. Confiscated.

  “Bleu,” Umberto said, tightening his grip on her arm and pulling her toward him. “I want you to stay close to me.”

  The knowledge that Nick and four others had been imprisoned within these walls confused her even more. She didn’t know how she should feel or where her loyalties should be. True, she’d dreamed of Umberto, and he had a portrait with her face on it, but she was supposed to be loyal to Nick and her team. She should have shrugged Umberto’s hand off and pushed past him, but she didn’t. Like it or not, she was beginning to believe his version of things. He knew too much about the order, too much about her, to completely doubt him.

  Mathias, the tallest of the four, sneered. The sharpened points of his fangs protruded dangerously over his lower lip. Despite his spiky, white hair and the army green cargo pants he was wearing, he looked deadly. His jetty eyes were fixed on her face and he didn’t seem altogether pleased with what he saw. “I don’t think this is a good idea, Umberto. The minute she gets a chance she’ll do whatever she can to help them.”

  Dario, tapping one raven nail against the wall and holding a large black bag in his other hand, nodded. “I understand she’s aroused certain feelings in you, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for her to be here. We need to figure out which way they went, find them, and put them down. We’re not here to babysit.”

  “It’s like I said,” Mathias continued. “We should have put them down as soon as we got here instead of waiting around for her to wake up.”

  “I want Bleu to see with her own eyes what they really are.” Umberto studied the room.

  “What do you say, Erik?” Dario asked.

  Erik’s perfectly formed elfin features were fixed in a disinterested frown. His brown suede pants and loose, beige shirt gave him an earthy beauty. “What could she possibly do? She doesn’t have her embeds yet, she’s practically human. And the others are gone. I don’t see why we’re standing around talking.”

  Practically? “I am human.”

  “See what I mean? She has no idea what’s going on. She’s helpless as a baby.”

  Mathias mumbled something under his breath, and then said, “She has her enhancements, so don’t underestimate her.”

  As if Mathias had just reminded Umberto that she wasn’t completely helpless, he tightened his hold on her arm.

  Wolf crossed to Dario and took the black bag, speaking in his rumbling baritone as he moved. He took what she’d thought were four automatic handguns from the bag and began passing them out to the others.

  Mathias stalked toward them. She thought he would have advanced until he was chest to face with her if Umberto hadn’t been standing beside her. As it was, he’d only left a scant five inches between them. He leered down at her. “Fine, bring her along. But if you try anything, sweetheart, I’ll vaporize you myself.”

  That just did it. She was tired of being spoken to as though she were a baby, and she was long past tired of not knowing what was going on. She grasped Mathias by his shirt and shoved him back. “Try it.”

  He fell back a few steps, but to her annoyance, remained standing. Damn vampires were a lot stronger than they looked.

  When he seemed on the verge of approaching her again, Umberto stepped in front of her. “She never got her embeds. You know that, Mathias.”

  “Did you check?”

  “I’ve tasted her blood, you ass. It’s pure. And Wolf has her CU.”

  Mathias continued to leer, then took a grudging step back. “Okay, she’s safe.”

  Erik shoved the chamber door open with a booted foot. “I’m going to start searching the rooms. They couldn’t have gotten far.”

  “They have to be somewhere inside.” Wolf turned and started for the stairs. “The lycan would have alerted me if anyone had tried to make if off the property. I’m going out to monitor the grounds.”

  Bleu’s mouth fell open. “Lycan?”

  Again, she was ignored.

  “Fifteen minutes,” Umberto announced to the room. “
I’m going up to search the main floor. Dario, you do the second floor. Then we meet in the courtyard.” Still holding onto her, Umberto gave her a squeeze. “Trust me when I tell you that your friends are more dangerous than you think.”

  She tried to pull free, but he held her firm.

  “You’re staying with me, Bleu. It’s either that or I take you back to your room in the tower and chain you to the bed and lock you in. I won’t have Nick find you and take you. And you know you won’t break free. Those chains were designed with Talhari in mind. Your choice.”

  “Fine. We do this your way.”

  Mathias moved past her to the far side of the room and began searching the small chambers along the opposite wall.

  Dario started for the stairs, and she was ready to follow, but Umberto held her back. “After this, I’ll explain everything to you.”

  “I’m counting on that.” She let Umberto lead the way out of the room and toward the stairs, allowed him to transfer his hold from her arm to her hand and mount the stairs in front of her. “What do you plan on doing if you find them?”

  He didn’t answer.

  They reached the main floor. She saw expensive carpets in hues of beige, maroon, and forest green. Antique furniture, paneled walls, and an overall feel of wealth and privilege dominated the space.

  They continued forward. As they moved, Umberto searched the rooms, moving with a preternatural speed she was hard pressed to match. She had a sense he wasn’t going as fast as he could, that he’d slowed himself in consideration of her.

  After they’d made a full circuit of the first floor, searching the parlor, living room, dining hall, kitchen, and library, Umberto came to a halt at the grand front entrance. His eyes were darting in every direction, but he made no move.

  She spied the doorway leading out to the yard, turned slowly with him so instead of facing the front door, they were looking at the curved stairways to the second floor. On the second floor, an ornate black and gold railing formed a fancy balcony from which a person could stand and survey the foyer below. The balcony was barren of furniture. Beyond the balcony, a hall led deep into the body of the house.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.