by Lara Adrian
“Marina,” he growled tersely.
He didn’t let her go. Not even when she had righted herself on the path.
His arms wrapped around her, one braced against her back, the other circled around her shoulders. The briefcase hung limply in her hand, the only thing keeping their bodies from pressing against each other in the dark.
A strange silence drew taut and heated between them as Cain’s unearthly gaze caressed every inch of her face. Her heart pounded relentlessly, awareness throbbing in her veins.
Every wild imagining she had about kissing this dangerous Breed male came rushing back to her again as his eyes lingered on her mouth. Her breath raced shallowly through her parted lips, and to her utter shock, she heard herself whisper his name like a plea.
As angry and confused and uncertain as she was about everything else that had happened in the past several hours, this much she was sure of. She wanted Cain to kiss her.
She needed it with an intensity that rocked her.
Slowly, with fury and torment etched in every harsh line of his face, he bent his head toward hers.
Then he went still.
Even his breath seemed to pause in that same instant.
A growl built in his chest, a wary, defensive sound that vibrated so powerfully she could feel it in her bones.
“We’ve got company.”
No sooner had he said it than a large figure peeled away from the shadows of the surrounding thicket. Then another, and another.
Cain released her, but kept her close. Three immense Breed males hemmed them in, two in front and one in back. Their eyes crackled with bright amber sparks, and their bared fangs glowing stark white against the night.
One of them, a tall male with a mane of thick, copper hair and a trimmed beard, expelled a sharp breath.
Then he stepped forward as the leader of the group and clapped Cain hard on the shoulder. “Son of a bitch. What the fuck brings you back here after all these years, brother?”
CHAPTER 6
They say you can never go home again. For the past eight years, Cain had been certain he’d never have to test the theory. He had stayed far away, determined he would never step foot anywhere near the sprawling, secret sanctuary hidden in the middle of the Everglades.
He didn’t want to be here now, either.
So much for best laid plans. Since he’d first set eyes on Marina Moretskova, he’d been doing a lot of things he knew he damned well shouldn’t.
Not the least of which being the fact that he had nearly kissed her a moment ago. If not for the interruption of the three Breed males who surrounded them on the path, he’d probably have his mouth locked on hers right now.
Big mistake, letting her get under his skin.
One he had no intention of repeating.
He couldn’t allow himself to care. Especially if he meant to keep her safe and alive.
He only hoped returning to this place tonight wasn’t a mistake too. But that decision wasn’t about him. It was about her, about ensuring whomever had her in the crosshairs would never be able to reach her.
“I wouldn’t have come,” Cain told the trio of vampires, all former Hunters like him. “I need a safe house. This is the only place I know I can trust.”
“Sounds urgent.” Bram, the behemoth Breed male with the crown of thick, red waves falling to his shoulders had been first to speak when they arrived. Now, he grunted in acknowledgment, his grim gaze assessing. “What kind of trouble are you in, brother?”
“Not me.” Cain glanced beside him. “This is Marina. Someone tried to kill her tonight in Miami.”
“Jesus.” Bram scowled, the low curse hissing past his teeth and fangs. He looked at Marina, who stood ramrod straight at Cain’s side, as indomitable as a queen in spite of all she’d been through the past several hours. “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head. “I survived. I wouldn’t be able to say that if not for Cain.”
He steeled himself to her praise, and to the tender gratitude he heard in her quiet voice.
The other big male standing next to Bram, a mountain of dark brown skin and lethal power named Logan, cocked his head as he looked Marina. “I’m guessing that accent’s not local.”
His broad mouth quirked, then he spoke in what was clearly fluent Russian. The male’s unique gift was an instant, endless understanding of any language. Right now he was charming the hell out of Marina in her native tongue, eventually hooking his thumb in Cain’s direction. Whatever he said made her dart a glance at Cain, then smile.
The curve of her lips was faint and brief, but it was also the first sign of relaxation he had seen in her since they’d met. He’d spent several hours with her—had saved her life not once, but twice—and yet she’d met him with mistrust and resistance at nearly every turn.
It took Logan less than a minute to pull a gorgeous smile out of her. No doubt by cutting on Cain. Not that he hadn’t earned a lot of scorn and denigration the last time he was here.
“What’d he say to you?”
Logan ran a hand over his skull-trimmed black curls and winked at her. “Just saying hello, brother.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Cain replied. He didn’t like being left out of the joke, but he had bigger problems than trying to mitigate the other male’s easy charm around Marina. He looked over at Bram, the de facto head of the group. “She’s got the mark. That’s the only reason I brought her here. Marina’s a Breedmate.”
“Yours?” The question came from behind Cain, voiced in a deep, smoky rasp.
He turned to look at the Hunter in black jeans and a matching T-shirt who was studying Marina with more than a little intrigue. Razor’s tousled light-brown hair was longer than he recalled, beachy tangles adding to the big male’s untamed aura. His steady, calculating gaze refused to release Marina.
Cain took a step, placing himself between his Hunter brother and her. “No, Raze. She isn’t mine.”
Although the statement was true, he couldn’t explain the jab of possessiveness that sank into him as he faced down Razor. He wasn’t a threat to her. None of the Breed males living here would do anything to hurt her. Cain trusted that much as surely as he trusted himself.
Hell, probably more.
Bram rubbed his bearded chin. “Tell us what happened in Miami. Last we knew, you were living in Las Vegas.”
The newsflash that his old friends had somehow been keeping tabs on him took him aback. Not that he should be surprised, considering the group of former Hunters had turned the art of intelligence-gathering and high-value private security operations into a lucrative business after they’d walked away from Dragos’s lab.
Still, considering the circumstances surrounding his absence, the pain he’d left in his wake, Cain didn’t think anyone would give two shits about where he’d ended up. He sure as hell wouldn’t have, if the tables had been turned.
“I left Vegas a couple of months ago. Been on the road taking a breather before I decide where I’ll settle next.”
Razor grunted. “Did you leave town before or after that lowlife casino owner you worked for took his swan dive off the roof of his own building?”
Even Logan picked up on the thread. “I don’t know about that, Raze. I’ve heard rumors saying another Hunter had a hand in ending Leo Slater.” He crossed his arms over his massive chest and eyed Cain. “You ever cross paths with Dragos’s enforcer while you were in Vegas?”
Cain felt Marina’s gaze on him as the other men spoke. He shrugged off all of the speculation, figuring he could fill in the blanks about Slater, Asher, and the rest of his time in Vegas later on—if he stuck around that long.
Bram seemed to be on the same page as him. “Let’s save the twenty questions for another time. There’s only one important thing we need to know right now. Who the hell is trying to hurt this woman?”
“We can’t be sure yet,” Cain said, glancing her way and giving her a reassuring nod that she was in safe hands here. “Earlier tonight, some
one took a shot at her in the swimming pool of the hotel where we both happened to be staying.”
Logan exhaled a sharp expletive. “Someone tried to kill her in a public place? Damn. That’s a serious move.”
Cain inclined his head, grave. “I made sure the sniper missed his mark, but the bastard got away without leaving a trace. Then a few hours later there was another attempt. This time by someone Marina knew and trusted.”
“One of my bodyguards,” she interjected. “I knew him for more than ten years. None of that mattered to Yury tonight.”
Her voice was steady as she spoke, but Cain could still hear the edge of disbelief in her tone. He could still hear the hurt, as much as he tried to pretend otherwise.
“I heard the scuffle in Marina’s suite. When I found her, she was staring down the barrel of her bodyguard’s pistol.”
Bram listened in silence, but Cain saw the male piecing things together in his mind. “Public hits. Bodyguards turning traitor. A beautiful Russian Breedmate marked for death and in need of asylum. Got a feeling I probably don’t want to know what’s in that briefcase.”
Cain held his old friend’s sober stare. “If there was anywhere else I could take her, I’d already be there.”
“I don’t doubt that, considering how long you’ve stayed away.” Bram rubbed his bearded chin, then he nodded. “Come on, then. We can talk some more inside.”
The term among the Breed for family mansions and private compounds was Darkhaven. The shelter they approached now, hidden deep in the swamplands, was somewhere between a fortress and a communal estate. Enclosed within a secured perimeter wall lay more than twenty-thousand square feet of living space. All of it surrounded by acres of wilderness and marshes, impassable except to the small group of former Hunters who had built the sanctuary together and settled here after escaping the program two decades ago.
This Darkhaven had been the only home Cain had truly known.
Memories crowded in as he and Marina walked the rest of the way with the others through the swamp toward the hidden sanctuary. The Breed males leading them into the compound had been his closest friends, his only family. Half-brothers, in fact. As was the case with all of the Hunters, each of them had been born from a different Breedmate mother but sired from the same Ancient otherworlder imprisoned in Dragos’s labs.
Cain hadn’t realized how much he’d missed the place until he strode inside the main residence with its exposed timber beams and crisp white walls. Beams and walls he’d helped to put up alongside his brothers.
Including the one former Hunter he hadn’t seen yet tonight.
Bram led the way into a spacious, open-concept living room. Leather chairs and earthtone-upholstered sofas situated atop an autumn-hued rug had replaced a Spartan hodge-podge of rustic furnishings on bare wood floors.
Cain noted other numerous improvements to the overall aesthetic that had been lacking when he’d last been there, too. Tasteful artwork on the walls. Beautiful handmade pottery bowls and urns perfectly placed around the room and in the entryway. Framed photos and filled bookcases beckoned a closer look, while accent pillows and soft woven throws invited casual gatherings and long conversations. All of it spoke of a comfortable, feminine touch.
At his side, Marina took in every inch of the room too. Although Cain had come to think of her as guarded when it came to showing her emotions, she didn’t even attempt to hide her awe. “It’s so lovely. I didn’t expect to find such a beautiful place here.”
Bram smiled. “My brothers and I merely built it,” he said, gesturing to Cain and the others. “All the credit for turning our man-cave into a proper Darkhaven home goes to my mate, Lana. She’s in her studio throwing some new pottery, but I’m sure it won’t take her long to come and find us.”
Cain could hear the adoration in the male’s deep voice. If anything, it had only deepened over time. That a cold assassin like Bram was able to find a love like the one he shared with Lana was something of a miracle.
But Cain knew all too well that it could also be a curse.
One that could pit brother against brother, as it had between him and the male everyone seemed careful not to mention in front of him now.
“Where’s Knox?” He glanced at his brothers, figuring it was as good a time as any to address the elephant in the room. “I assume if he was here, he’d already be trying to put a knife in my back.”
Not without good reason, although no one said as much now.
“Who’s Knox?” Marina asked, wariness furrowing her brow.
“A former Hunter, like the rest of us,” Cain told her. “We all escaped together when Dragos was killed and the lab was destroyed. Knox is my half-brother, same as these other men.”
“Why would he want to kill you?”
A reasonable enough question, but one that carried more weight than she could possibly know. Cain couldn’t hold her searching gaze. “Long story. Not important. Where is he, Bram?”
“That’s anyone’s guess. He still crashes here on a semiregular basis. But even when he’s around, it’s not unusual for him to disappear for stretches of time.”
Razor smirked. “Probably a good thing for everyone that he’s gone, now that you’re here. Knox hasn’t exactly been fit for company these past several years.”
Since the accident, he meant.
Since the death of the woman Knox loved more than anything else in the world.
Regret pressed down on Cain as the memory of the horrific wreck looped in vivid detail in his head. He had been haunted by those memories all this time. He didn’t want to imagine the kind of torment Knox had endured since that terrible night.
Logan slowly shook his head. “Knox’s problems go deeper than losing Abbie. He’s heading for disaster the way he’s going. It’s not like we all don’t see it coming.”
“You want to be the one to tell him that?” Raze scoffed. “If you poke the beast, brother, you better be damn ready for the fight.”
“What’s all this talk about disasters and fighting?” Bram’s Breedmate entered the room and stopped short, a big smile breaking over her pretty face. “Oh, I don’t believe it—Cain!”
Petite and dark-haired, with deep brown eyes and smooth olive skin that hinted at her Seminole roots, Lana was even more beautiful than Cain recalled. She was also heavy with child. That didn’t stop her from rushing across the room with a happy cry to greet him.
She threw her arms around Cain’s neck in a welcoming hug. “God, it’s been so long! What are you doing here?” Letting him go, she turned that bright, warm smile on Marina. “I’m sorry. Hi, I’m Lana.”
“This is Marina,” Cain said. “We just drove down from Miami.”
“Oh.” Lana’s eyes went wide. “How interesting.”
Bram cleared his throat. “There was some trouble up there tonight, love. Cain and Marina are in need of safe shelter.”
“Well, you have it,” she told them resolutely, zero hesitation. Her glance moved back to Cain, going uncomfortably tender on him. “This is your home, after all. It always will be.”
Her kindness humbled him. Eight years ago Knox had lost a lover when Abbie died, but Lana had also lost her best friend. Where Cain’s brother put the blame squarely—and aptly—on him, Bram’s Breedmate still looked at Cain with the same care and compassion she always had.
It made him twitchy, feeling the undeserved warmth of her regard.
“We won’t be staying long. A day or two at most.” At least, that was his plan. Whether he left Marina in his brethren’s care while he hunted down whomever wanted her dead, or if he would personally see her returned home to her family in Russia while he eliminated the threat to her life, he hadn’t yet decided.
“You must be exhausted, Marina,” Lana remarked to her. “I’m sure you’d like to relax somewhere and freshen up. Maybe have something to eat or drink?”
“Yes,” Marina said. “That would be nice. Thank you.”
Cain frowned, realizing only
now how drained she looked and sounded. Shit. And he hadn’t even thought to pause and offer her something as basic as water or a moment to catch her breath.
She’d been through hell on repeat tonight. First by the two bastards who tried to kill her, topped off by a long drive and a trek through the muck of the swamp with Cain snapping and snarling at her at nearly every turn.
That is, when he wasn’t fighting the urge to kiss her. Even now, his veins still thrummed with the force of his attraction to her. Not good. Not for him, and most certainly not at all good for her. Letting desire cloud his focus could be deadly. Hadn’t he already learned that lesson in spades eight years ago?
If he needed any reminders that he was singularly unsuited to be responsible for someone else’s well-being, he had plenty as he watched Marina turn and leave the room with Lana.
As for the mistake he’d nearly made earlier tonight when he’d been less than a second from claiming her luscious mouth, it wasn’t going to happen again. It had been a momentary weakness, one that would only jeopardize her safety and his own sanity if he gave in to it.
No, Cain assured himself. He was qualified for one thing in this life—dealing death.
The sooner he could get busy doing that, the better.
CHAPTER 7
Clutching the handle of the aluminum briefcase, Marina followed Bram’s beautiful Breedmate out of the room where Cain and his brothers continued what seemed to be a somewhat uneasy reunion.
Although everyone had been kind enough to her since she’d arrived, she didn’t know what to make of the guarded mentions of the missing Breed male, Knox, or the bad blood that obviously existed between him and Cain. Honestly, she wasn’t sure what to make of anything she had seen or heard since her life had taken such an unexpected detour earlier tonight in Miami.
Being around Cain didn’t help.
It was hard to think clearly about anything when he was near. God, sometimes the intensity of the man made it hard for her to do so much as breathe.