“Emailed to you,” Lance answered for them.
She nodded and Marcus let her stand after she elbowed him in the gut. She left the kitchen and entered the dining room, knowing even if Gia had gone, she would have left the laptops behind. They were there, on the small table set up as a desk in the rear of the room.
She turned hers on and, when the laptop hummed to life, opened her email account. Marcus grabbed her a chair from the table and then leaned forward to read over her shoulder. It was a measure of how much she’d come to accept him. A few days ago, she would have laid into him for attempting to access Order information.
The reports were written in a standard, drab fashion completely at odds with the excitement of the events they described. They described entry points, casualties, kills and the destruction of all the bodies.
Dupree and the lupines entered as she finished the final report. He leaned heavily against the wall.
“Sit down, damn it. Looking at you makes me tired,” she snapped and, with a wan grin, he complied. She was amazed to see him on his feet at all. He shouldn’t have had any kind of immunity having never been a victim of demon poisoning before.
Luke teleported in. She rose from the desk and moved to a chair at the head of the table as the rest of the house’s occupants began to trickle in. Concentrating on Dupree rather than give in to the temptation to flay off Luke’s skin with the sharp edge of her tongue, she ignored everyone else.
“This shouldn’t be possible,” she said softly. “You shouldn’t be conscious.”
“No. I think putting the poison on a blade dilutes it enough so our systems can fight it faster, and then build the immunity. We need to get the scientists on that.”
She nodded. “Take care of it then. Until Gia comes back…” She let the thought trail off, but turned to glare at Luke. He held his hands up in a motion of surrender and backed up to lean against the wall, but she couldn’t help feeling he found her anger amusing. He responded to her suspicion telepathically with a soft and sober no. She took a steadying breath, feeling Luke’s worry and anger. He knew Gia had left because he’d pushed her so hard. Winter wasn’t sure if she should throw up her hands in exasperation or throttle him, and—story of her life—she didn’t have time to decide now. She’d deal with him later.
Turning to Mitchell, she got down to business. “Your numbers? We’ve got twenty more dead and I don’t have an accurate count of the demons killed.”
“Fifteen of ours. Fifty-one demons dead. It’s impossible to say how many there were to begin with, but I’m guessing at least one hundred, and none affected by the day lethargy.”
So half of the demons had escaped. “Ben?”
Baron took over, shaking his head. “We did a final pass through the tunnels before sealing them. No sign of Ben anywhere.”
“Shit,” she muttered. “So I’ve got at least fifty demons loose who aren’t defenseless during the day. Plus Ben.”
“Yeah.”
Lance leaned forward. “I keep hearing Ben was there, but I never saw him.”
“He was there,” she said grimly. “He’s found a way to cloak himself.”
He scowled. “That’s not a skill he got at the merging.”
“No.” And that was a problem. Skills could be developed, but they didn’t appear out of nowhere.
Commander? It was a polite telepathic query.
Yes, Nadia?
I found something, but Gia said to discuss it only with you and Dupree.
Well, wasn’t that interesting?
Quiet until I say otherwise.
Of course, Commander.
“Fuck.” She looked at Dupree. He wouldn’t be one hundred percent for a while and with Gia gone it was time to expand her inner circle. “He must have had that skill and just kept it to himself for some reason,” she said with the sinking feeling she didn’t want anyone else to pursue the matter until after she’d talked to Nadia.
“Find Ben,” she ordered Lance. “But don’t go after him by yourself.”
He looked like he wanted to argue, but just nodded his head. “Yes, Commander.”
She stood, preparing to leave. “Full alert. Hourly checkins.” She sighed. Damn it, Gia. “We need to set up a team to monitor those, someplace secure, and report to me or Dupree.”
“I can handle it,” Kara said. She pointed to the computers and folded-up comm center. “Everything’s already here.”
And she wasn’t going anywhere. She left it unsaid but it was clear she’d finally accepted she was staying right where Dupree wanted her. That was fine with Winter if the younger woman could take over some of Gia’s duties. It made sense actually. She knew all the hybrids; she’d be pretty damned useful. But it wasn’t Winter’s house and she wasn’t certain Marcus would appreciate the Order invasion continuing.
Go for it. It’s fine.
Thank you.
You can thank me later. The thought was accompanied by a mental image of lasciviously wagging eyebrows that almost made her laugh out loud.
“Set us up in here,” she told Kara. Marcus’s dining room would serve fine as her headquarters.
“See to your security. I’ll check in on everyone later,” she said, dismissing the quad. “Lance, stick around a minute.”
The rest of the conversation would be kept as close to the chest as she could manage, and of the four members of the quad it was the newest one she trusted most. She smiled at Mitchell and Baron. “Thanks for your help. Dupree will be staying here. If we find out anything, I’ll let you know.”
Mitchell narrowed his eyes, his expression saying he knew she was keeping things to herself. She didn’t intend to, planned to catch him before he left, but she needed the quad gone. He must have seen something on her face, because he only nodded, stood as the rest of the table did. The quad began to blink out of the house and when they were all gone, the lupine turned to her, arms crossed over his chest and scowling. She shook her head and motioned everyone to follow her. There was a more comfortable place to continue the conversation and she was worried about Dupree. He shouldn’t be out of bed yet. He should be resting.
Marcus, Luke, Kadall, Mitchell, Dupree, Baron, Lance and Nadia all crowded into the office behind her. Marcus sat behind his desk while she perched on its edge, watching, worried, as Dupree gingerly sat down on the couch. The others took the remaining seats or leaned against the walls and waited until Dupree looked up and met her gaze.
“What are we keeping from the rest of the quad?”
“I’m not sure yet. Nadia?”
The historian cleared her throat and everyone turned to look at her. She flushed a little under all the scrutiny and froze up.
“What is it?” Dupree pressed.
“I’ve been going through the old scrolls, looking for information on warlords.”
Winter had forgotten all about that.
“And?”
“In the very old ones—” Winter suspected Nadia was talking about the scrolls they’d discovered really were part of the banned texts, “—the first generation of the Order, there were rumors of knights going rogue and stealing others’ powers by ingesting their heart and brains. There are letters about it actually, between the council and a regional commander.”
The idea made Winter’s stomach roll and she forced down a surge of bile. No wonder the early generations of elders had tracked down those scrolls and destroyed them. Some information was safer kept secret, especially among a people prone to evil and insanity. How the hell had Ben got his hands on those scrolls?
“Christ on a stick,” Lance muttered. “I’ve never heard that before.”
Nadia nodded. “It’s only popped up in these papers. It looks like the idea was ruthlessly suppressed. We know the Order starting bonding mates about fifty years after it was formed.”
“When the first knights would have started going rogue.”
“Yes.”
Winter dragged a hand over her face. Just freaking wonderful.
“Have you told anyone else about this?”
“Gia knows. I went to her as soon as I found it.” That was fine. Gia would keep the knowledge to herself.
“Okay, assuming this is true. Who had the ability to make himself invisible?”
“Maris,” Lance said.
The room fell silent while everyone thought over the ramifications.
“There’s more,” Dupree finally said, breaking the silence. “Tell them what you skipped in there, Winter.”
She smiled. Dupree must have heard part of her conversation with the warlord. “How much did you hear?”
“Enough to know none of this is random.”
A reminder. Dupree kept his own secrets.
“Right,” she said softly, keeping her gaze on his while speaking to the others. “The warlord talked during the fight. This isn’t random. It seems like he was looking for me specifically.”
Mitchell frowned. “Why?”
Between the battle and catching up on sleep, she hadn’t had much time to think it over, but she shared her theory. It was more of a hunch than anything. Instinct. “He called us soul stealers. Said, or implied at least, that the souls we merge with are sometimes, um, occupying a body already, I guess.”
Mitchell looked at Baron who shrugged. “News to me.”
“So why you?” Kadall asked, but she was watching Dupree, saw him reach the same conclusion she had.
“Because some of us are…different. Stronger. Faster. Have more psychic strength than any of the rest. Winter is one of those. And the demon she merged with, that the other really strong ones merged with, must be…” He didn’t finish the thought. He didn’t need to.
“Warlords,” Baron said in a soft awed voice into the quiet room with an accompanying whistle.
She nodded, leaping to another conclusion. “Ben, too.” She met Dupree’s gaze. “You and Gia.” The three of them had always been uncommonly tough.
He nodded. “Probably.”
“Commander,” Nadia interrupted, voice trembling a little with barely repressed excitement, and Winter looked at her, cocking an eyebrow when she didn’t continue. She seemed to give herself a little shake before continuing. “I haven’t been through all the scrolls yet. After I found…the other stuff, Gia locked the banned ones in the safe. But that’s not all. I put everything that wasn’t a part of Ben’s official catalogue, everything that came out of his vault, into that safe.”
“You think the information we need is in there?”
“I can’t say, but I’m willing to bet if we have it, that’s where it is. Before he went rogue, it’s something Ben wouldn’t have wanted to be general knowledge. To keep y’all safe.”
Winter narrowed her eyes. “You too I bet. You didn’t get an average demon soul when you merged.”
Nadia shrunk back. “Me? I don’t think so.”
Winter shook her head. She should have seen this before. Nadia may be a noncom, but her mind had a pure, powerful strength. She was one of their strongest telepaths. It made the circle of people who needed to be on higher alert even bigger.
“We don’t have a lot of telepaths who can match you.”
Dupree sighed, easily following her train of thought. “And I’ve run with you, Nadia. Not many of us can keep up.” He exchanged a brief glance with Winter before turning back to the historian. “You just earned yourself extra self-defense lessons.”
She didn’t look the least bit happy about it either.
“The strongest among us, the ones with the most unique abilities…that’s a lot of people to keep extra vigilant,” Lance put in.
“And Ben knows who we are. Who all of us in this region are,” Winter said.
“We need a carefully worded warning,” Dupree responded.
“We need Gia,” she growled, glaring at Luke.
Dupree only shook his head. “Don’t have her. Give me a couple days to get back to full strength then we’ll speak to the ones we suspect privately. We can emphasize the possibility of personal attack without saying a whole lot.”
Did they have two days? She felt Marcus’s assurance he would be at her side, but she was reluctant to drag him into hybrid matters any more than she had. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him; she just didn’t think her people would accept him mated to their commander.
We’ll deal with those problems as they arise.
Maybe. It would be better if it was Dupree who went with her on those visits however and they all knew it. Despite her worries about Marcus being accepted, it was damned good to know she wasn’t alone, wouldn’t ever be alone again.
“Two days,” she answered Dupree but cocked an eyebrow. “Think that’ll be enough time? Push yourself and you’re no use to anyone.”
His expression closed, eyes flinty. “I’ll be fine.”
Prickly. Why were all males so damned prickly? She sighed. “Fine.”
She decided to take her own unspoken advice. The last few days had been exhausting, and she felt better, but with the immediate danger over she wanted to sleep for about a week. Or twelve hours at least. She stood.
“Later then.” She met everyone’s gaze as she looked around the room. “And let’s make sure we keep this information to ourselves.”
“The council?” Lance asked.
She hesitated. “I’ll make a report to them when it’s time.” But not before Nadia went through all the secret and forbidden scrolls. Winter was pretty sure when the council heard about them they’d demand she hand them over or destroy them. She wasn’t doing that until she was armed with every bit of information possible.
“Y’all get out of here. Everyone’s exhausted.”
She hugged Mitchell briefly, ignoring Marcus’s tension as she did. The lupine was a friend, nothing more, and she wasn’t a nightwalker female. He’d have to accept that sooner or later. He stayed still, didn’t even bitch at her mentally. She almost smiled. Progress.
“I’ll talk to y’all later,” she told the lupine and his second in command then left the room.
Marcus followed her with that quiet stealthy glide she was starting to get used to. It wasn’t the first time he’d made her feel like she was being stalked. Her shiver was one of anticipation. He might hunt her, might even catch her, but it was a capture she craved, one she looked forward to.
He didn’t speak when they entered the room. The only sound that broke the silence was his heel kicking the door shut. But he didn’t need to say anything. She felt his need, his anger, his fear, his love. His acceptance.
She set her weapons down, removed her boots and socks, then tugged the shirt over her head, careful of the long cut across her torso. He still didn’t speak, but he didn’t have to. His eyes did it for him, all heat and want and carnal desire. He didn’t try to hide anything from her. Butterflies took flight in her stomach. To be needed that much…it was a responsibility she’d never expected.
She reached for the top button on her pants, but paused, meeting his gaze. Aren’t you going to get naked and have your way with me?
His eyes flashed a warning. So it was said a little archly. So what? Here she was offering herself to him and he just stood and watched. She didn’t mean to share the thought, but he smiled.
You test my control. Just let me look for a minute, baby. He pointed to her pants. Take off the rest.
She hesitated.
Winter.
It was a seductive whisper in her mind, a lure she couldn’t fight, but when she dropped the pants and shimmied out of her panties, he didn’t move an inch. Just stood and stared.
“Well?”
“Beautiful.”
No smile, no change in his expression, but he finally moved. He stopped close enough she could feel his heat but not close enough to brush up against her. Unless she moved, unless she closed the distance between them. She lifted her foot to do just that but he stopped her.
“Stop. Give me a minute to just look at you, Winter.”
She crossed her arms o
ver her chest, suddenly uncomfortable. Unsure. He reached for her arms and pulled them to her sides. “Don’t do that. Don’t hide yourself from me.”
She bit her lower lip. Shit. She’d thought she could do this, thought in the middle of that battle with the demons she could handle an emotional attachment. Could handle him. But faced with it, she wasn’t so sure. She felt exposed. Vulnerable. Yet oddly unafraid.
Then he smiled and he reached for her, pulled her flush up against his body. His cock was hard and throbbing against her belly, but his hands were gentle. Tender. And his eyes…did she deserve that kind of love? That much devotion?
“Doesn’t matter if you think you deserve it or not,” he said before his mouth covered hers, before his tongue thrust in to tangle with hers.
You have it.
She lifted her hands to grip his shoulders, to hang on for everything she was worth, because while she didn’t believe she’d earned this, she wasn’t about to let him go. She was too selfish. Too greedy. And he belonged to her as much as she belonged to him.
He didn’t take his mouth from hers, that wonderfully talented tongue stayed right where it was, but she heard the growl in her mind. Satisfied. Triumphant. A little cocky and a lot self-assured. It was almost like a purr, a chant in her mind, mineminemine, over and over again.
A week ago, hell days ago, she would have been furious. But now a laugh bubbled up in her throat. It was a sound of joy and of satisfaction. Of belonging. This nightwalker touched her soul in ways she’d never imagined possible. And he touched her body the same way, with the same reverence.
Marcus couldn’t hold back any longer, on fire with the need to possess her. He backed her up to the dresser and lifted her to cling to the edge, then stood back to remove his clothing with jerky movements. Too fast. His zipper rasped over his erection and he thought he might come then and there, before he even got inside her. He should have waited to get naked as she put it, because now that he was he couldn’t slow down, couldn’t stop, and he wanted this to be so good for her that every other experience faded to nothing.
Feminine laughter in his mind. That’s already happened. She shared what she was feeling with him. Love and lust. Fire and passion. The euphoria of feeling her in his mind was enough to make him combust. Then her hand was wrapped around him, her other hand pushing him back so she could jump off the dresser.
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