Gia was right, and worse it was so much more than a typical demon hideout, complete with roads and buildings and alleys all hidden underground. How long had they been down there? How many were there? She did a quick calculation. They were down to two hundred hybrids in the extended area and she could utilize maybe half of them. Many served in noncombat positions and she wouldn’t risk them. Then she’d need to leave guards in case of another demon attack. If she gathered the noncombatants in three or four locations with around ten guards at each she could field sixty hunters.
“Okay.” She took a deep breath and steeled herself. Marcus was going to be pissed. “Divide the noncoms into four groups. One at the lab, one at the cave. Your lair?” she asked Mitchell and he nodded his assent. “One with the lupines.”
She met Marcus’s gaze and he nodded. “And one with the nightwalkers. Ten guards on each group.” Ten was a bare minimum and she wasn’t happy with it, but it couldn’t be helped. “The rest of us go in at noon. You in?” she asked Mitchell while avoiding Marcus’s gaze, already feeling his fury rise. Again, Mitchell nodded.
“Absolutely not,” Marcus ground out between clenched teeth. “We won’t be able to join you at that time.”
Marcus wanted to throttle her. Was she crazy? Never mind, he told himself, don’t even ask. Of course she was. Which didn’t even begin to lessen his wrath. She didn’t have the right to risk herself like this. He’d been far too lenient. She was watching him, head slightly cocked to one side, expectant expression on her face, and he realized she wanted to pick this fight. Why?
He jerked his head toward the dining-room door. “My office.”
Her eyes narrowed to angry slits, defiance clear in every taut line of her body. God, she was incredible. He wasn’t about to let her get away.
Now Winter. Or I can haul your ass upstairs for a more…private discussion.
He let the sensual need, the craving that never stopped, color his voice and felt her respond despite her rejection of it, despite how much she didn’t want to feel it too. But it got her moving, probably more because she was afraid he’d embarrass her in front of everyone than anything else. She stopped at the doorway and looked at Gia before preceding him out the door.
“Get things moving.”
Gia nodded and he noticed the way she studiously avoiding looking at Luke. “Will do.”
Marcus followed Winter into his office and was careful to close the door softly rather than give in to the urge to slam it shut. The booming sound would have been very satisfying but probably wasted on her. She waited with her arms crossed defensively over her chest, every muscle tensed for flight.
“It has to be done this way,” she said before he could start.
“No.” He growled and stalked closer to her. His voice was cutting. “I can’t make sure you remain safe during the day and you can’t be trusted to watch out for yourself.”
She winced and he experienced a pang of remorse. Maybe he was being too harsh but there didn’t seem to be any other way to get through her thick skull.
“Look. I’ll hardly be alone. I’ll have the whole quad with me and sixty soldiers. Plus Mitchell and his men.”
He saw her realize her mistake as soon as the words escaped her mouth. She pressed her lips together and waited while he got control of the beast in him that wanted to rail and rampage and tie her up for her own safety. It was a bad time to remind him of the lupine alpha, to remind him the lupine would be in a better position to guard his mate than he would. No. He couldn’t live with that, any of it. He shook his head, struggling to control his temper.
“No. You stay here. They can handle it without you.”
She looked at him like he was insane, like he’d suddenly grown horns or turned into some creature she didn’t recognize.
“I’m the Commander. Marcus, I can’t stay behind. These are my people at risk and my people taking the risk. Forget it.”
He fisted his hands and swung away from her, felt his grip on his emotions loosening. The walls undulated and he took a deep centering breath. He entered her mind softly, whispered sorry, but was completely unwilling to risk her life again. She shocked the hell out of him, was ready for him throwing up a wall he couldn’t get around without damaging her mind. He wanted to roar his fury. She stood tense, ready.
“You’ve been invading my mind for two months. You keep claiming I’m yours.” She paused as if searching for words. “But you still don’t see me. You either have no idea who I am or you just don’t care.”
“That’s not true.” He saw her all right. She was reckless, with a dangerous disregard for her own safety, willing to risk her life for others who shouldn’t matter as much to her as he did. She was selfless in a way he would have admired in anyone else, but had a hard time accepting from his mate. He wanted to be the center of her world, not on the edge of it.
She smiled but it was bitter, sad. “You would really prefer if I was that selfish? That uncaring about anyone else? How long would you respect that woman?” She huffed. “Well, guess it doesn’t matter. You don’t respect me as I am.”
Jesus God. She didn’t really believe that did she? Except…she obviously did and he’d let her. He’d fought her, her devotion to her people at every turn when she was only doing what he’d do in her position. Fuck. He was an ass. And she was right. He didn’t want some insipid follower, a woman who didn’t or wouldn’t think for herself, stand up to him when necessary. He was going to be hard enough to deal with as it was.
“One mark, Winter. One little cut and I’ll take it out of your ass later, I promise.”
She smiled. “I promise to be careful.”
He scowled. That wasn’t what he’d asked for at all.
“And you stay connected with me the whole time you’re gone. No blocking me out.” Maybe he’d be able to get to her if she needed rescuing.
“Don’t even think about it, Marcus. It’s too far. None of us have been there. Even if you got the image from me it would be too easy to make a mistake. And it’s too deep.”
He didn’t respond. He knew the risks better than most. He couldn’t teleport directly from the house to the downtown center. The distance was too great and the distance one could travel was proportionate with one’s power. Not even he was that strong. Then there was the problem of depth. Teleporting through earth was difficult. The travel through several tons of dirt sapped power, and the deeper you went the faster the drain. But it might be possible if he got close enough, and he could get close enough.
The hybrid offices in town were at the edge of his limits, but he could get there. Luke too and he’d take him for backup. The demon lair wasn’t far from there and hopefully it wasn’t too far underground to reach.
She frowned thoughtfully and he realized he hadn’t shielded his thoughts from her. “You think that’ll work?” She shook her head. “No. It’s too dangerous. If you got stuck in between we wouldn’t be able to get you out.”
He shrugged. “I’ll wait there anyway. Let the guards on duty in the building know so I don’t have to kill anyone. I still don’t like this plan.”
She approached him, stopping just an inch away before lifting her hand to stroke the side of his face. She spoke softly. “I know. But you know it’s the best way. The demon lethargy will be at its highest point around noon.”
Yes, it would. All but the strongest of the demons would be mostly useless, defenseless while the sun was at its zenith. It was a sound plan. He approved of it, he just didn’t want her to be a part of it. But if he was going to celebrate the things he loved about her, he had to take the things he didn’t too. It was a package deal. He should have seen that before.
He turned his head and pulled one of her fingers into his mouth. Lightly sucked the digit and released it with a bite. She groaned and pressed closer, hands running up his back and moaned for entirely the wrong reasons when someone banged on the door.
“Shit,” she muttered, pulling away and stalking over to answer
it.
Dupree leaned against the wall on the other side. He sauntered in without a word and handed a sheet of paper to Winter. She accepted it without looking at it, following Dupree’s progress as he paced to the sidebar and poured himself a stiff drink. She arched both eyebrows as she glanced at the paper with distaste.
“What is this?” she asked him.
He downed the contents of the glass and poured another before answering. Downed it too. “Dental impressions. From the remains.”
She frowned and looked down, turned greener and greener as she read. “Oh my God.”
“Yep,” Dupree answered. Marcus took the paper and read it silently, pulling her up under his arm when he finished.
“I’m sorry. I know he was your friend.”
According to the report some of the bite marks at all three scenes matched Ben’s records. Incontrovertible proof that Ben had gone rogue.
“How were they able to match them?”
“Standard procedure,” Dupree answered. “Any time someone new joins they give blood and dental impressions. It’s sometimes the only way to identify a body.”
Dupree poured another shot. “Certainly has come in handy this week.”
Winter cringed at the matter-of-fact tone, at the image it no doubt invoked. She grew jittery and pulled away.
“You have a gym around here?”
“Yes, but you aren’t going to spend the next two hours beating the shit out of Mitchell.” He grinned. “I might like to see that, but not tonight. Not with you going in there in a few hours.”
She glared. “I need to work off some steam.”
He knew the perfect way to do that, but she wasn’t in the right frame of mind. He had another idea. “Let’s go run.”
Her smile was slow in coming, but nearly knocked him down with its radiance.
“Let’s do it.”
Winter, unable to contain a surge of excitement, took the hand he offered and followed him from the house, down the back hall and outside. For the first time in years, she paused and saw the night. Took it all in. The sky was a starry, brilliant expanse above her and the world around them stretched out in a million shades of green, enticing her. Beckoning. The air was filled with pine and gardenia, with the big blooms on the roses that climbed up the back of the house. It was quiet, but not eerily so. Cicadas sung, the breeze whistled through the trees.
She stepped off the porch, wondering why she was noticing the beauty of the night for the first time in decades. Maybe it was the upcoming battle, which she knew could be her last. But she suspected it wasn’t. She suspected it was the man at her side who’d awakened her senses in so many other ways. Why not this too?
He led the way across the lawn, into the trees and a small running path. She followed, urging him faster and faster. They ran for two hours. She was surprised when the path ended on the opposite side of his lawn, one big loop.
Instead of going inside he walked to a swing under an arbor, patted the spot next to him till she followed and joined him. She still felt antsy, knew it was the demon clamoring for more control, for the violent emotions it craved.
Marcus pulled her across his lap and she felt his erection pressing hard against her backside. Her body responded immediately, lust roared to the surface, fed by the demon and she struggled for control. She didn’t want what was between them influenced by the beast, tainted by it.
She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her go, wrapping his arms around her and nudging her head until she laid it against his shoulder. They were still and quiet for several minutes, but as each second passed by she was fighting her demon half more and more. She squeezed her eyes shut, prepared herself for the argument that would come when she insisted he release her. She needed distance between them. Touch was just making her struggle harder. She never got the chance to protest. He took the wind from her sails.
“I need to feed,” he whispered, his breath blowing across her ear, fluttering her loose hair.
She was afraid her heart would never restart but its beat returned at a fast, furious rate. She knew he was offering her something, offering her respite more than himself. She didn’t know much about nightwalkers, but she knew this one, she’d been in his mind. He could go without feeding for days. No, he knew she needed to release the pent-up energy and so he made it more than an offer. Made it his own need. He chuckled.
“That’s normally true. But I find I crave your taste.”
She tilted her head back, supported by his arm she felt free floating, and studied him. Since she was addicted to him, the feel of him in her mind and body, it only seemed fair. Slowly, she nodded and he leaned closer, inch by excruciatingly slow inch, until his mouth touched hers, until his tongue stroked hers. Until she couldn’t tell where he started and she began and she no longer cared.
She whimpered under the onslaught, the overwhelming need that swept through her, his and hers, commingled in a way that could only intensify it, escalate it. She finally realized, finally, that she might be able to live without him but she didn’t want to. And she didn’t want some half-measured, some half-hearted attempt at a bonding that wasn’t pure and true.
She wasn’t sure if she could offer herself whole, wasn’t sure if she had that in her anymore, but knew it was worth the effort to try. Knew he would drive her crazy in and out of bed, knew he’d fight her every time he thought she was endangering herself. But she also knew, because she’d been in his mind even if she’d refused to see the man he truly was, that he was determined and devoted. That he would never give up on her, never let her retreat into herself. Never leave her to stand alone.
So she surrendered.
She felt the bond snap between them. Strong. Unbreakable. Where before they’d simply been able to connect mentally now they were connected. Her mind to his mind. She had a second to marvel, to stroke mental fingers over it, this bond nightwalkers created with their mates. They’d have to complete the blood bond of her people, but that was simply ceremony now. This bond protected her. She was safe. Joy filled her as he swept her away in a sensual desire she knew would never abate. Never fade. Never die.
Chapter Thirty-One
A couple of hours later Gia watched Winter reenter the dining room with that satisfied expression a woman only got from great sex. She felt the briefest pang of jealousy—she’d been having exceptional sex up until Luke went crazy on her—but deftly pushed it away to deal with other issues. The room was in chaos, but in another hour or two, it’d be controlled chaos. Her domain.
Since only a few of the hybrids and none of the lupines were strong telepaths they were setting up a command center similar to what the human military would use. Right now it was mess with wires and cables running all over the nightwalkers’ dining room. They were using four attack groups, two lupine and two hybrid, all four on different frequencies. She would monitor all of them from the control panel. Winter’s, Dupree’s, Mitchell’s and Baron’s mikes would be set up to scan all channels.
They’d found some drawings of the old underground in the city’s records archives and she’d placed a transparency of a street map over it. It was spread out across the table being examined for possible entry points by Dupree, Mitchell, Baron and the quad. Winter joined them when she entered. Gia was relieved Marcus didn’t follow the commander into the room. Hopefully, Luke would continue to stay away too. She had no idea what he was doing. She refused to care what Luke was doing as long as he left her alone. Yeah right. That was working out well. Grinding her teeth, she bent under the radio console and rearranged wires that she had plugged in the wrong places.
Luke brushed against her mind. He didn’t try to enter, but she felt curiosity in his touch as much as the recently constant anger, and realized she’d unconsciously reached out for him. Damn it. She had to do better than that. Concentrate on the work. Slamming up shields against him, she jerked to her feet, banging her head on the sharp edge of the desk.
“Damn,” she muttered, rubbing the gr
owing knot while reaching for the power switch. With a burst of static it crackled to life. Hell yeah. She was smarter than the stupid machine. She was in her element now. Grinning, she picked up one of the small earpieces and twisted the dial to the right frequency, held it to her ear and then pushed a button on the board. “Testing.”
Her voice came in loud and clear in her ear and she went to work on the next nineteen. When four sets of twenty were complete, she turned to Dupree, who was organizing the evening surveillance on the downtown area, and the soldiers who would take over for them when the sun came up. Dupree was still bent over the map, but quietly arguing with Kara who stood at his shoulder.
“Dupree,” she interrupted. He gave her a look of gratitude as he walked over, ignoring Kara who didn’t follow him because Winter quietly pulled her aside and whispered to her. Kara grew paler with every word. Gia would hate to be on either end of that conversation.
“How many do you need?” she asked, indicating the earpieces.
“Forty. Twenty for each shift. Five-man teams.”
“You got it.”
“As soon as you’re ready, I’m sending out the first shift.”
She nodded and pulled a chair up to get at it, noticing Kara leave the room as she did. “Decided what to do about her yet?”
Dupree scowled at Kara’s retreating back. “She keeps bugging Winter to rescind the edict.”
Gia shrugged, meeting his gaze. “Not gonna happen.”
“Thank God,” he muttered under his breath.
He looked calm and in control, but Gia could feel his struggle. He was good at hiding it, containing it, better than anyone else she knew, but they’d been friends for sixty years. Probably no one else realized how close he was to giving in to his demon, but she did. She couldn’t stand the idea of losing Dupree. She and Winter would have to hunt him together and she just wasn’t sure she could do that if it came down to it. Time to be nosy.
“She can save you, you know,” she said softly.
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