“That’s one sexy ensemble,” I joked, attempting to silence the fear gnawing in my gut, making eating impossible.
“The Mistress wouldn’t want her harem looking hotter than she does.” Connie smirked. She looked thoughtful before unbuttoning her shirt enough to reveal an ample eyeful of cleavage.
She’d managed to make herself look sexy in a basic uniform. Dillon would appreciate her efforts even if Jazmine didn’t.
Rather than worrying about my appearance, I took special care to gather the items necessary for cracking the case and proving my innocence. Wrapping Jazmine’s wig snuggly around my right calf, I stretched the sock up to my knee, securing the hairpiece.
The kakis pants were wide-legged, providing enough space for me to move with ease. I adjusted the cell phone in my bra and slid Joshua’s sketches into my back pocket, eager to get on with the big event.
In a few short hours I’d be one of two things: Dead or Alive.
At least we didn’t have to wait long before Dillon reappeared with my least-favorite escort, Mr. Tall and Rude. I trooped after my captors, Connie at my side, providing a hint of security.
The air of anticipation in the compound was palpable. Women dashed from their classrooms intent on reaching the great outdoors. I couldn’t blame them. I felt like running too.
I scanned the hallways. The number of mutant guards had increased. I decided it was time to let Connie in on the full extent of my silent communication capabilities.
Hey, don’t panic and don’t look at me. I’m speaking to you telepathically.
Chloe? Despite my warning she glanced my direction. Thankfully, in the bustle no one seemed to notice.
None other. I don’t have time to explain how I do this.
O-k-a-y, she agreed sounding somewhat reluctant.
Where did all these extra guards come from? This is going to make it difficult for me to do my mating magic.
Can you talk like this to anyone? She asked.
Anyone who is of the animal persuasion.
Does Deb know? Connie sounded wary.
We’d reached what had to have been the school’s cafeteria/gym. Neat piles of clothing were stacked throughout the room. Changing room? I asked Connie silently.
Yes. And you didn’t answer my question.
She knew about some of my abilities, enough to know I could reach out to Zane following the mating ceremony and with any luck contact a vampire friend.
We were guided though doors that opened to reveal what could have been a picture book scene under different circumstances.
Dillon steered Connie into the night, leaving me to admire my surroundings with my favorite sidekick, who for the moment was intent on standing at my side.
An expansive, grassy field, freshly mowed, stretched past an old playground. The forest beckoned in the distance. The summer sky was clear, and the stars spread seductively overhead, the moon their master. A bonfire popped and crackled, shooting sparks upward, surrounded by women in uniforms.
As evidenced by the discarded clothing, others, already in mutant form, romped through the field, remaining inside the ring of armed guards. Their ranks expanded to cover at least half a mile in all four directions. Anyone attempting a mad dash to freedom would be executed.
The gun-totting watchmen were a serious reminder that this was no high school, homecoming bonfire. This was a way, granted, a pretty cool one, to further manipulate those in servitude to The Mistress.
So absorbed by my surroundings, I jumped when a heated hand clamped around my arm. “Enjoying your little recess,” Jazmine purred. “Try not to be too frightened when everyone takes off their clothes and shows their inner beauty.”
Struggling to control any sarcastic rebuttal, I nodded, remembering Deb’s extensive efforts to convince Jazmine of my mutant phobia. It was show time, and I had a starring role to play. I wasn’t hoping for an Oscar, merely survival.
“They’re all going to turn into mutants?” I asked.
Jazmine tossed her head back and roared with what I considered unladylike laughter. “Why, of course they are. Don’t worry, though, I’ll protect you from the wolf monsters.” Her grip tightened on my arm. “Won’t you join me at my table?”
She didn’t wait for my answer, instead prodding me to an elevated platform that featured a table set up for six, and a good-sized podium.
What I hadn’t counted on was her wanting to hold my hand all night. How the hell was I going to do my moon mating ritual with her stuck to my side?
Deb, Connie, can you both hear me? I’d blasted more than one enemy at a time with my mind powers, but had never mentally spoken with more than one animal at time.
My head tingled, energy thrumming through my body. Again, something unpredictable was happening. I suspected my powers extended beyond anything I’d ever imagined. Talking to two or two hundred wouldn’t be an issue.
I can hear you. Loud and clear, Deb answered.
Me too! Connie confirmed. Dear God, she’s got you cornered.
I saw Connie watching from about twenty feet away.
It appears I’m her hot date for the evening. I need you to create a distraction. It has to last long enough for me to seal the mating.
You’ll know when, Deb assured.
I hoped they could pull it off, because right now the air duct was looking like the better option.
“Entertainment! Start the entertainment!” Jazmine barked through a handheld microphone. “You’ll love this,” she whispered to me.
Awkward didn’t begin to cover how I felt seated like a pagan god atop a created dais. Jazmine, dressed like a queen, was presiding over her loyal subjects. I wanted to vomit. How had Zane ever found anything appealing about her?
A low growl rumbled at the bottom of our platform. Martin’s German Shepherd glared up.
The despicable dog that’d caused my coma-catastrophe reminded me of Martin’s dog; I mentally screamed into the shepherd’s head, I hate you! Then to make sure the beast knew I meant business, I slammed a vision of me shaving off all his luscious fur into his doggy mind. The growl turned into a yelp, and he fled into the crowd.
“Dog? Jazmine …” Martin whined from below.
I swallowed a snort when I realized the dog’s name was Dog.
“I don’t care about your damn dog, Martin. Get the entertainment started,” Jazmine ordered.
I stifled my laughter. Martin was an idiot. He was the one man on Logan’s board stupid enough to fall into the clutches of someone like Jazmine. How together they managed this growing empire was beyond my comprehension. I was still missing something, or more accurately, someone.
Alcuin. He was the traitor. He had to be.
Before I could contemplate further a woman screamed, “Oh no, you don’t! I like him! He’s mine!”
The other voices subsided as the altercation accelerated. With grace, Jazmine dropped to the ground, slinking toward the distraction. My distraction!
I crept down the stairs, hoping the commotion would serve its purpose.
Dillon roared, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t belong to anyone, and not either of you.” Ouch! I knew Connie wouldn’t like that shocking proclamation regardless of the reason. Dillon sounded like he meant every word.
The yelling escalated as I headed the opposite direction. As planned, everyone was drawn to the potential dogfight, the animal part of them unable to resist the impending bloodshed.
I found a dark corner by the school, blocked from view by a shield of overgrown Emerald Green Arborvitaes, or as some referred to them, “Instant Privacy” trees. I slipped between them and ducked, praying their promise of privacy would apply to me. There wasn’t much time remaining. The girls could only argue so long before a full-fledged fight was expected.
“Tonight, as I look upon this amazing moon …” I stalled. This was ridiculous. I was talking to the moon. How would proclaiming my love for Zane under a full moon bind us together? The whole idea was absu
rd. Why am I thinking about this now? These don’t feel like my thoughts. This isn’t me.
“Mating with a werewolf is not in your best interest, my beauty.”
Turning, I faced the voice’s soothing source. I knew right then who’d been planting the confusing thoughts. Damn it! I’d wanted to talk with Valamir, but not until after I’d completed the mating ceremony, and not now when I was on a life or death time schedule.
“You!” I snapped. “I’ve been held hostage for days and you choose now to ride in on your white stallion. And who are you to tell me who or what I can mate with?” I was beyond tired of being bossed around. I didn’t care if the delectable man towering over me had two very pointy teeth. I was saying my bit before he or someone else tore me to pieces.
“You should watch your tone, my dear. I may lust for you and your blood, but I do not take kindly to disrespect.” He glowered, arms crossed.
“Go ahead! Do me a favor. At least I’ll have a moment of ecstasy while you’re sucking me dry. Go on! Bite me!” I took a very dangerous step forward and tilted my neck in submission.
He shrugged, fangs extended. “I think I will have a bite, since you’re offering.”
Warmth pooled in my belly and spread down my thighs as his teeth sank in. This wasn’t what I wanted, was it? Death by vampire? No. I’d simply challenged the wrong foe ¯ one older, stronger, and ultimately sexier.
My eyelids fluttered shut and I allowed myself to drift away, floating on waves of pleasure and pain.
Dying in his arms made death seem delightful.
Chapter 42
Dying without telling the world how much I loved Zane was unacceptable.
Through the fog-like-dizziness of severe blood loss, the words I’d longed to speak floated from my mouth, barely audible: “Zane, I love you … you. I want to be your mate, your wife, your everything. It’s too …” My next word, late, was drowned by Valamir’s snarl.
He released me and leapt back.
I straightened up, an unfamiliar power coursing through my limbs. A ripple of heat ringed my ankle, forming what felt like an anklet of fiery metal.
Ignoring the vampire’s snarls turned hisses; I bent to examine my leg. I yanked the red wig from my stocking and tossed it at Valamir, who despite his discomfort caught it with ease.
A circle of sigils bordered my ankle. They seemed to writhe on my skin like miniature snakes. Unable to restrain my curiosity, I touched the foreign markings and was sucked into a portal of black nothingness. Not the response I’d expected.
Valamir, the bonfire, Jazmine, everything had vanished.
I stood somewhere, but nowhere.
For the first time, I noticed a metallic taste in my mouth. Searching my recent memories, I recoiled. At some point during Valamir’s little blood bath, I’d consumed his tainted blood, and then I’d activated the mating mark. The repercussions of these two interrelated actions would without question cause some future abnormality ¯ yet another group of bizarre gifts or talents to unwrap.
Approaching footsteps drew my attention. Despite the gloom, I was able to make out a familiar figure. My worries were swallowed by the joy exploding like fireworks in my heart.
Zane.
No longer held hostage by fear, I raced toward him.
Flinging my arms around his neck and wrapping my legs around his waist I clung to him, tears streaming down my cheeks. Our lips met and he kissed me with such ferocity I thought he might devour me whole. I felt his presence everywhere. My tongue strokes matched his, and I wondered how I’d ever thought Valamir had anything over my werewolf.
“Princess,” he murmured stroking my hair. “We don’t have long …”
Ignoring his warning, I pulled his head down and kissed him with zeal. Forget the mutant war; I wanted my man.
His hands roamed, leaving trails of sizzling pleasure in their wake. I arched, pressing my pelvis against his hardness, embracing a refreshing, new brazenness. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered between kisses. “Can you forgive me? I love you.”
Gentle but firm, he held my shoulders, untangling himself from the web of my arms and legs. “I forgave you the minute I thought I’d lost you. Alcuin broke his code of silence.” Zane gazed down at me, his eyes glowing amber.
At the mention of Alcuin, panic returned, overriding my passion. “Don’t trust him! He may have sold us out.”
“He’d never …” Zane paused, looking thoughtful. “He said he’d explain everything this evening. Logan wanted to speak with him first about the spell he suspected we’d translated from the coins.”
“Just Alcuin knew my whereabouts.”
“Speaking of, where are you, right now? This place …” he glanced around, “is a temporary dimension where mates are united if they’re not together when the final markings appear. I always thought it was just a legend. It seems the legends are real.”
I noticed then that the darkness was receding, and Zane was fading with it. “I don’t know where I am. Some abandoned school on an Indian reservation in Washington. Jazmine’s the redhead.” I blurted.
He nodded. “I know. Chloe …”
“Zane! No!” A rush of anger tore through me as I was swept away, back to the school.
I felt cheated. Would we ever have time together, alone, without some supernatural tsunami looming over us? Would we even survive? Now that we were mated, the idea of living without him was intolerable.
To make matters worse, Valamir was waiting where I’d left him, looking smug, surrounded by the overgrown shrubbery. I could hear shouts in the distance.
“Your fighting friends have lost the spotlight and your captors have noticed your absence,” he announced, as if I wasn’t well aware of the mess I was in.
Under the horrendous circumstances, and not sure what else to do, I begged. “I know you hate me. I’m sorry, but I love Zane. You’re gorgeous, sexy, and all that, but you keep biting me.” I shook my head, hoping to clear it enough to make sense. It was obvious by Valamir’s twitching mouth that he was fighting to keep from smiling.
“Will you help me, please?”
“Chloe, I have never refused the passionate plea of a lady. True, you are, for the moment, not mine. But I have an eternity to win your favor. So, I’ll start now. What do you want of me?”
“That wig! Will you take it to Plum Beach and give it to Detective Davis or Officer Tate? No one else. Especially not Agent Green,” I warned. Loud voices and stampeding feet were drawing closer.
“It would be my pleasure. Anything else?” He let his gaze linger on my breasts a moment too long, despite my rejection.
I was frantic, there had to be something more I could request, a way to take advantage of his attraction. “Will you return and help us get out of here?”
“And what will I get for my efforts?” His lip curled. “You’ve asked me to complete not one, but two tasks, Chloe Carpenter. And Vampires, although chivalrous, at times, do not offer their services for free.”
Panicked by the chaos closing in, I sealed our deal with something far more dangerous than a kiss. “I’ll owe you a favor when you need it.” I realized too late that I’d pretty much left the door wide open. A favor for a vampire could mean any number of things. How could I be so stupid?
“It is as you wish.”
The glittery trail that was Valamir vanished into the night sky, leaving me to face a furious Jazmine and her army of traitorous mutants.
Chapter 4326
Surrounded by Jazmine, her private guards, a perspiring Martin, and an assortment of mutant women wasn’t reassuring. I didn’t see Connie or Deb anywhere. I hoped their attention-diverting-scam hadn’t been uncovered. Dillon was suspiciously missing as well. I was, however, more than a little happy to see Martin’s dog cowering off to the side, too afraid to approach any closer. My fur-shaving vision had castrated the now pathetic pooch.
“What are you doing back here?” Jazmine demanded. “Escaping isn’t possible, or practical in your case.”
She appeared uncertain how to handle my strange behavior. What was I guilty of? Playing Hide and Seek.
Ignoring her question, I pierced her mind’s barrier, and rather than scanning her current thoughts, I reached for her memories. Seeking the actual school’s location, I flipped through thoughts like a file clerk scanning files in a filing cabinet.
For some reason, I now understood my multiple, mind-manipulating capabilities, and they were beyond anything I could have dreamed up. Evidently, the official mating ceremony and blood sharing with an ancient bloodsucker had enhanced my supernatural skills.
Supernatural — I’d never dared attach that particular word to what I did.
Confident in my abilities, for the first time, I blasted my exact location to Zane, Logan, Misty, the two M’s, and even Stryder, who should now be working with the others. This was instant messaging at its best. I could have avoided all the discomfort my cell phone was causing inside my too-snug bra had I known the extent of my own preternatural messaging system.
The confirmations poured into my mind, affirming they’d received my mental memo loud and clear. They were coming. All of them. Except Logan. His RSVP wasn’t amongst the others. Then I remembered; Alcuin was meeting with him about the coins. What if Logan had been injured, or worse, by the vampire?
“Is there some reason you aren’t answering me?” Jazmine grabbed my wrist, twisting.
“Ouch!” I yelped, hesitating for a moment, before firing a mental-missile into her mind. No one was going to grab or grope me again without my permission. I’d had enough to last a lifetime.
She dropped to her knees, clutching her head. Her pain-fueled shrieks slicing through the night.
Bull’s-eye! At last Jazmine was where she belonged, bowing to me.
Martin, to my amazement, took charge. “Somebody, do something! Call our onsite medic! Now! Jazmine, honey, talk to me. What’s happening?”
She continued to writhe; her screams turning to whimpers as her eyes rolled back, revealing the whites.
I could sense she was struggling to shift into her werewolf form, but whatever I’d conjured kept her trapped.
I Kissed a Dog Page 29