by Dannika Dark
“My sis kicked some serious Mage ass,” he finally said.
This kid was too much. I leaned back and pinched his cheek as he turned his head shyly away.
“Guess this means you can treat me like a brother now, huh?”
“Finn, I love that we’re related, but it wouldn’t have mattered if we weren’t. I loved you already.”
“You won’t have to worry about that piehole dad of yours,” Simon chimed in, wiping blood from his leathers with someone’s shirt. “If the cells are empty in the Breed jail, he’ll be one of the first to fill them. The Mageri is contacting the local Packmasters to discuss his sperm meddling. Well done with the speech, Finn. For a minute there, I thought you were going to throw up all over those swank shoes.” Simon patted him on the back and followed the crowd out the doors.
“How is it you’re still alive?” I asked Finn again.
He averted his eyes and looked at the broken windows above. “It was Adam and that gift of his. That’s pretty coolio what he can do—I thought I was toast.”
My eyes scanned the crowd and I stood on my tiptoes. Logan towered over everyone and pointed. “He’s there, by Leo.”
Before he said Leo’s name, I was running. “Adam!”
He swung around and looked smashingly handsome with his unruly hair and brown eyes. I no longer noticed the scars because all I saw was Adam. That’s what happens when you love someone—you see only the good in them and none of the rest matters.
I skidded to a halt and clasped his hands in mine. He looked weak, his energy low from healing Finn with his rare gift as a Healer. I smiled and touched his scruffy face and leaned in for a fierce hug.
“You need a shave,” I whispered.
He tucked his face against my neck and I felt the warm press of his lips against my skin. I moved my head away and kissed his cheek.
“Thank you, Adam.”
He cupped his hands around my head and gave me his warm, signature look. It melted me as I thought about how far we’d come from when we first met. “He’s your brother. I wanted you to two to be able to walk out that door together. I know what it’s like to lose a sibling, and I wouldn’t wish that kind of pain on anyone.”
Maybe Adam’s salvation wasn’t finding his sister’s killer, but bringing my brother back to life.
“Go on, woman. Get some rest.”
He patted my cheek, smiled, and turned away into the crowd.
Logan appeared beside me and hooked his arm around my waist.
“I’m fine,” I assured him.
“You’re two steps away from falling flat on your face. Now let me carry you, female.”
“I’m going to walk out that door, Logan, on my own two feet. Then you’re going to fill me in on what happened over a plate of Chinese food.” I yawned and leaned against him. “Then I want my slipper socks on and Max curled up…”
My voice trailed off in a low murmur and Logan lifted me into his arms. “As you wish, Little Raven. But you can forget the socks. Your feet are all mine to warm, as is the rest of your luscious body.”
***
I had fallen asleep in Logan’s arms on the drive home.
Home.
We were free. The Overlord had granted Logan a pardon and asked to speak privately with us at a later time. When Logan told me what had happened, I was beside myself. I had no memory of Nero’s death and Logan suggested I might have given myself up completely to instinct in that moment of grief. My inner animal, or whatever, had taken complete control.
Discovering Novis was a Unique was an unexpected revelation, but pieces began to fit together. In a crowd full of Breed, including Vampires, he’d told Logan not to reveal his secret. I remembered conversations I’d had with Novis in public. Ones I felt should have been private between us, but he had assured me no one would be able to hear. Novis possessed the ability to use his energy shield to block sound without significantly depleting his core light. While he could have used this gift without our knowledge in a Breed club, he never did. Looking back, it would have attracted attention if someone had spotted our table but couldn’t hear our conversation when walking by. In a human establishment, few paid attention. As an ancient Mage, Novis had spent his entire life understanding his gift and learning how to use it. While we were both Uniques, he was not a Shiner like me and couldn’t harness lightning. Novis was one of the other three types of Uniques that Page knew of, although I don’t know what name he went by, or if one even existed.
Page had once revealed that Uniques often inherited the gifts of their Creators, which explained why many were also Creators. I hadn’t inherited that gift, but I didn’t care. I already had my hands full with being a Unique Mage with Chitah and Shifter blood. I’d shifted once during my creation as a Mage, and if that was the only time I’d experienced my Shifter abilities, I wondered if flipping my switch would ever happen again. I guess only time would tell what I was and was not capable of doing.
Maybe none of it mattered. Maybe all that really mattered was lying in bed with Logan tangled around me.
He didn’t seem as surprised as I thought he’d be about my relation to Finn. Logan hinted that he’d had his suspicions from a similar scent we shared, but it was so muted he couldn’t be one hundred percent certain.
I slept for eight hours straight before Logan woke me up because of an urgent phone call. Sunny said if she couldn’t speak with me, she was going to hobble her pregnant fanny all the way over to the house. Logan left me alone so I could talk with her privately. She seemed at peace knowing that Nero and his men were gone and said Knox would have been proud of what we had accomplished. According to Sunny, he would have said, “You did a good fucking job.” I chuckled, because that was exactly the kind of thing Knox would have said. I wanted to tell her about Kane, but I was mentally exhausted. Being pregnant with twins and having already gone through enough emotional distress, I was afraid of slamming Sunny with even more things to worry about. Kane could wait until after the babies were born.
Simon wandered into the room and sat on the bed beside me. He brushed my hair back and kissed my forehead, right before licking my eyelid and making me push him away.
“Scared the piss out of me, love. I thought you were going to kill us all.”
I turned on my side and smiled. “If you’d been wearing the leather collar, I would have just killed you,” I replied in a husky voice, clearing my throat.
“Nah. The leather collar would have been too formal. Give me your hands.”
I lifted my arms and put my hands on the pillow beside my head. Simon placed our palms together and began lending me his healing light. Tiny threads of blue light transferred between our fingers and palms as I began to feel the energy move through me and replenish the power within my own core light. Borrowed energy would always leave your body eventually, but in such a weakened state, it was needed to speed up a slow recovery.
As Simon fed me his light, I clasped my fingers over his hands and gave him a warm look. “You have impeccable timing,” I said, remembering how close the Regulator had been to beginning the execution.
“First of all, if I ever see you on your knees again, it better be with someone’s jolly in your mouth and not a blade at your neck. Justus sent me a message that the sentencing was scheduled and I had to haul ass. We’ll talk about this later, but no one is worth dying for.”
“We’ll have to agree to disagree,” I said, understanding his anger as much as I did his skepticism about love. “I didn’t think you’d find anything that would help Logan and me, but I was hoping you’d dig up something on Finn’s father… my father.”
“Wouldn’t call him that, love. Donors don’t count. A father is someone who raises you with integrity and wipes your bum.”
“That would be Justus, minus the bum wiping.”
“The Mageri should have their plates full with taking the case off our hands.”
My voice softened. “Do you think they’ll ever find out who’s behind it
all?”
He blinked and I noticed how Simon had nice lashes. “The labs might be more widespread than we thought and could span countries. We’ll keep shutting them down one at a time until they have no place left to go. You can’t expect to catch all the crooks. Otherwise, we’d have nothing to do but sit around and watch Godzilla.”
I admired the walls in my room, painted like a forest of narrow trees. Behind the bed was a wall of beautiful stones. Track lighting perfectly illuminated the room, making it seem as if I were really in the forest. The only thing that stood out was my red chaise, which sat against the wall by the door. Justus had done such a wonderful job at making my room a special place—a retreat.
I had no desire to meet Rupert, the man who shared my DNA. Justus was the only father I’d ever need in my life.
“Simon, I’m sorry for being a bitch.”
He laughed like a hyena and scooted so he could raise his left knee on the bed. “That’s what makes you so appallingly desirable.”
“I’m serious. I should have never walked in on you like that. If you want to play naked Twister in your house with some hussy, then that’s your business.”
His mouth turned to the side. “Hussy that one was for mouthing off to you. Just think of sex as a recreational pastime and you won’t get your head stuck in all the muck of relationships and worthiness. I have no need for all that.”
“You don’t think you’ll fall in love someday?”
He scrunched his face and looked toward the ceiling. “I don’t think I’m capable of love, to be honest. I just don’t have it in me like you do. No woman has ever made me feel more than a hard-on. I care for you and all that, but not the way you see love. Sometimes a person is too damaged to work like everyone else.”
“You’re not damaged, Simon.”
He winked. “Perhaps one day I’ll meet a lady who can best me at chess, then we’ll see if I have a challenge on my hands.”
I had opened my mouth to say something when the door flew open and Christian came barging in.
“Get the feck out.”
Simon glared over his shoulder. “Bugger off.”
The look on Christian’s face made me shudder. It was stony and pale—mixed with his black eyes and dark hair, it made him impossible to ignore.
I touched Simon’s arm and tried to drag his attention away. “Simon, I think you’ve given me enough light. Can you check on Logan and make sure he’s not burning down the kitchen? I need to be alone with Christian.”
An irritated look flashed in his eyes and he let go of my hand and hopped off the bed. As he passed by Christian, Simon paused and slimmed down his eyes. Simon was fairly tall, so he had a slight advantage in height, but not by much. “If you upset her, I’ll tether you and stake your naked body to the ass of an elephant.”
Christian smirked. “That anxious to see me nude?”
I laughed and moved to sit up, propping the pillows behind me. Simon could be so random. After he slammed the door, Christian held his spot for an uncomfortably long time. My Mage energy was all out of whack, so I couldn’t tell the time. I guessed it was daytime judging by the dark shades poking out from the pocket of his trench coat. Vampires had no trouble walking around in daylight; Christian said it only pierced their eyes. He didn’t wear sunglasses in all instances. I suppose he felt it would impede his ability to see what was going on, so he endured the discomfort.
“The self-sacrifice of staying behind bars for your dearest love I could stomach, but when I heard you had knelt before the higher authority and offered your head, I wanted to take it myself.”
“Christian…”
His hand flew up. “Silence. If it’s one thing you learn in this life, it’s that we only get one. Don’t get swept up in the romantic notion of giving your life up for another. This isn’t the picture show.”
“You do it all the time,” I pointed out.
“I put my life on the line for a paycheck. There’s honor in what I do because my purpose is to thwart the wicked intentions of others to do harm.”
“And you don’t think that’s what I was doing?” I objected, folding my arms.
Christian walked forward with a steady gait. “Foolish woman. Do you honestly think your death would have restored honor to that family?”
“No, but it would have saved his life,” I bit out, taking a belligerent stand against his tone.
His Irish accent became thick with anger. “And what of yours? Jaysus wept, you offered your head on a plate. Do you think I do that for a living? I fight for the life of the one I’m hired to guard, but I also fight for my own life. I don’t give it up freely. I don’t hand it over like a parting gift so that another might live,” he said, fluttering his lashes before rolling his eyes.
“Maybe if you loved someone, you would.”
He drew closer. “Love is nothing but a festering wound. If you were my youngling, I would teach you that the greatest men in history died for naught. It’s what humans write about in fairytales to remove the pain and truth of what love really is. Love destroys men. It robs them of sound decisions. It takes away their power and weakens their spirit for all the times it must be tested.”
I scooted up in the bed and gripped the covers. “Is that what this is all about? I’m not your youngling, Christian. That’s someone you’ve turned. I took a lot of blood from you, maybe more than you’ve ever given to anyone, but I’m not a Vampire. Let go of that sense of entitlement you have on me. You spend too much time meddling in my personal affairs for someone who doesn’t give a shit about love or friendship.”
He blinked and I could almost hear faint whispers coursing through my veins. His lips slightly parted and his eyes lowered.
“Aye, you are not a Vampire,” he said in a gruff voice. “But part of me will forever course through your veins. Do you not… feel me?”
He stepped closer and brushed his fingers across my bare leg. My blood warmed and I felt a faint connection to Christian I couldn’t articulate.
“I’ve tasted your blood, Silver,” he said in a soft whisper. “I know a part of me is still within you. Vampires don’t share our blood like you’ve seen in the movies. I’ve never given so much of myself to anyone.”
His fangs descended when he sat on the bed beside me. Christian pressed the tips of two fingers against my neck, feeling my pulse—even though I was sure he could hear it.
“I’m a Mage, Christian. You could never turn me into a Vampire. I may have your blood, but I’m not your youngling. You have no control over my life. You’re my guard, and you’ve clearly gotten your feelings mixed up because of something you’ve never experienced.”
He leaned so close he was only a breath away from my mouth, but his voice was dark and rapturous. “What does the Chitah have that I do not?”
I looked into his bottomless eyes and my blood ran cold like ice. “My heart.”
Christian sat back, regaining his usual tone. “Your fireworks show is the most talked about in town. That’s some trick with the lightning.” His jaw set and he stood up, turning his back to me. “Clearly it’s a waste of time to try to knock any sense into you.”
“Or you,” I suggested. “Thanks for coming to see me. I know you care in your own demented way, but I need to outline what does and does not exist between us. I don’t want you looking at me as if you own me.”
Christian walked across the room and gripped the doorjamb, glancing over his shoulder with brooding eyes. “That’s not the look I was giving you, lass.”
Chapter 29
Page warily looked up from her spot in the back seat of the car. The Chitah in the driver’s seat winked at her in the rearview mirror. Two days had passed since the attack on the representatives of the higher authority. Word had spread fast and she’d learned of it through a phone call from Justus, but he didn’t divulge the details. She got those from her neighbor down the hall. Maybe Justus didn’t want to worry her with the gruesome facts, but she was horrified to discover Si
lver had almost been executed and that Finn had nearly died.
Almost, if not for Adam.
Her neighbor’s friend had witnessed the attack and narrowly escaped with his life. It was known among the Mage community that Adam was a Healer, but it wasn’t widespread that he could heal all Breeds. People were talking about it as much as they were marveling over what Silver had done with the lightning.
Butterflies tickled Page’s stomach as the car pulled in the driveway of Justus’s home. His ostentatious garage was nestled amid a canopy of beautiful trees, the branches glowing orange from the setting sun. She noticed some of the trees near the building had been cut down and thought it was a shame he lived underground and couldn’t enjoy the natural beauty of the forest.
“Do you need help getting out?” the Chitah asked. He hadn’t revealed his name since showing up at her door with a message from Justus.
She peered through the windshield and watched the garage door open as Justus ducked underneath.
“No, I’m good. You don’t know what this is about—why Justus has summoned me?”
He turned around and winked. “Just doing a favor for a brother.”
Page unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door. Justus reached in and gripped her arm, helping her out of the car. The blustering wind made her squeal as it whipped her hair to the side. She leaned against him when he cranked up his Thermal abilities. Justus tapped on the hood of the car and it backed out.
“What’s this about?” she said, teeth chattering. “Is someone hurt?”
“Allow me to escort you inside where it’s warm,” he said, guiding her toward the garage. “I want to offer you my gratitude for assisting with the tests that freed my Learner.”
Page smiled as the garage door closed behind them. “It’s hard to say no to Simon. He can be quite persistent. Luckily our equipment is more advanced than what the humans have, but if I’d known the sentencing was on that same evening, I’d have worked faster.”
“You did an excellent job uncovering the truth about Finnegan’s father, as well as the additional testing from the Chitah eggs.”