Standing, Cara unsnapped her jeans, pushing them down enough to show the mark.
“What the heck?” Emma rose to her knees, poking the flesh. “A tattoo?”
“Um, kind of.”
Emma prodded harder. “What does ‘kind of’ mean? What is this design?”
Cara studied the intricate design. “It’s the Kayrs marking. The design appeared on his hand, then on my ass during, um, well …”
Falling back against the wall and sliding down, Emma gasped. “You let the man brand you?”
Cara yanked her jeans back up. “I didn’t know about the branding until too late.” She rolled her eyes, sitting near her sister. “I was otherwise occupied.”
“Holy crap.”
Yep, that about summed it up. “I know. Apparently vampire mating involves biology—the exchange of fluids, a marking, and now I have his defenses.”
“Oh my God! Are you a vampire?” Emma’s eyes went wide and blue.
Cara snorted. “Of course not. Vampires are born, not made.”
Emma relaxed. “Will you age?”
Shrugging, Cara straightened her top. “Not very fast, if at all.” She cleared her throat. “It’s good you know, Em. I’m pretty sure Dage has plans for you to wear his mark.” God help the king.
“Then he can plan to lose his balls.”
Yep. The king had his work cut out for him. Cara sighed.
Time moved too quickly, and they both jumped to their feet as the door swung open and Lorcan filled the space. Both women moved to shield the other from the monster facing them with a mean looking gun in one hand. With a sigh, Emma won the battle and put Cara behind her, whispering, “Save my nephew.”
Cara stumbled to a stop.
“Emma, come with me.” Lorcan nodded at Cara over Emma’s head. “I promised you I’d let your sister go, sotie. She’s free to go.”
“I’d rather stay here,” Emma said angrily, knowing as well as Cara that Lorcan had no intention of letting her go free.
“Too bad. Come with me now, or I’ll shoot you both.”
“You’d shoot your future mate?” Cara challenged.
“Yes. The gun is set to stun, but you never know what kind of damage a Kurjan weapon will have on a human.”
Or an unborn child.
“We can’t risk it,” Emma muttered. She raised her voice, “Don’t worry, Cara. I’m sure he has better plans for me than death.”
“Of course.” Lorcan gave up the pretense and gestured Emma forward. “You’ll like my cousin Franco. You’re a perfect match.” He laughed at his own joke.
Emma turned and gave Cara a quick hug. “I’ll see you soon.” She turned and followed Lorcan out of the room.
Tears filled Cara’s eyes as the lock slammed home. She closed her eyes on a sob as she leaned against the far wall and slid to the floor.
“It’s all right mate, I’m coming.”
Chapter 33
“I’m scared,” Cara whispered into the empty underground room. The Kurjan facility even smelled of brimstone and decay—pure evil.
“I know.” How in the world could they communicate like this? It didn’t matter—thank God they could talk again. She would discuss the fact that he had short-circuited her communication skills with him later.
Cara closed her eyes and leaned back against the stone wall before placing both hands against her stomach. How could she not have known? It was so obvious. What would the Kurjan virus do to the baby? She shielded her thoughts about the baby from Talen before she reached out again. “How close are you?”
“Five minutes,” came back clearly. Concern and anger rode through the words.
God, she hoped she had five minutes until they injected her with the virus. She bit her lip to keep from sobbing and tried not to wonder what was happening to Emma. She reached out with her thoughts, with her heart, and found nothing. Where was Emma?
Talen would arrive in time. She was so stupid—why hadn’t she turned to him for help in the first place? They should’ve made a plan together.
The silence hung thick and heavy in the room as she waited. For what, she couldn’t be sure. Emma would stall Lorcan as long as possible to keep him from injecting Cara with the virus, and she hoped her sister didn’t get herself killed in trying to protect her.
She concentrated again on Talen and saw Dage, Conn, and Jase running away from a black helicopter toward a small farmhouse surrounded by fields. With a start, she realized she saw through Talen’s eyes. He was coming.
She refused to just sit and wait to be rescued. So, she jumped up and headed for the door with determination—a quick twist of the knob confirmed it was locked. She searched for something to pick the lock, but only dirt and stone walls stared back at her. With a sigh, she returned to her former seat and shut her eyes to concentrate on Talen.
Her eyes slammed open with the door. Lorcan stood in the opening with three bloody red scratches slashed down one side of his inhumanly pale face, his eyes the color of dark death.
“It looks like my sister kicked your ass,” Cara said smugly from her seat.
“She got in one while I got in several,” Lorcan retorted, yellow fangs flashing in the muted light.
“Where is she?” Cara still didn’t move, dread pooling in her stomach.
“On her way to meet her destiny. Franco has very specific desires in a sotie, and believe me, killing her would have been kinder.”
“You know at some point I am going to kill you, right?” Cara asked, tilting her head to the side.
Lorcan’s laugh crawled over her skin like the legs of a centipede. “You are welcome to try, sotie. But as I expect you to be pregnant within the first couple of months, I assume you’ll have your hands full.”
Cara struggled to contain herself. What would he do when he discovered she was already pregnant? Assuming the baby survived the virus. Oh God, where was Talen?
Lorcan’s boots made a dull thud against the earth when he stalked forward and yanked her to her feet. His claws dug deep into her arm. She pulled back only to have him force her across the room and into the tunnel where he tugged her behind him for several moments before stopping in front of another small wooden door. He pushed it open to reveal a hospital type room with bed, monitors, and a tray holding two syringes filled with amber liquid. She stumbled as she noticed the restraints attached to the bed.
Lorcan tracked her gaze. “So you don’t harm yourself as the virus takes hold.”
Fear rushed through her, and she tried to yank her arm away. “Let me go.”
“Don’t be silly,” Lorcan said congenially. He pulled her farther into the room and lifted her almost gently onto the table.
Cara kicked out hard with both feet and connected with his legs. With a growl, he backhanded her across the face, throwing her on the big bed and quickly securing one of her hands in the thick leather restraint. Raw pain echoed through her face, and she shrieked as he pinched the skin on her wrist. She struck out with her free hand and scratched her nails down the already healing marks on his face, whipping her body in protest as Lorcan grasped her wrist in a painful grip to secure the other restraint. Cara struggled uselessly against the hard mattress for a moment before searing him with her gaze.
“You are such a complete prick,” she said with feeling, her wrist and face smarting. The smell of bleach and antiseptic swirled around and threatened her stomach. Bile rose from her belly.
Gingerly touching the fresh marks scoring his face, Lorcan flashed sharp yellow teeth. “And you’re an undisciplined bitch who should know better.” He reached out one razor sharp nail and ripped her T-shirt down the middle. “Hmm. Maybe we’ll get to know each other before you’re injected with the virus. Though, I prefer red lace to white cotton, sotie.” His gaze deepened to purplish red as he leaned down and grasped one breast through her bra in his clawlike hand.
Pain bloomed through her chest. Cara cried out Talen’s name as fear almost choked her, whether out loud or in her he
ad she wasn’t sure.
“I’m coming, mate.” He sounded cold, determined, lethal.
Cara drew strength from his voice and started to struggle just as Lorcan hissed and yanked back his hand as if burned. He took a surprised step away from the bed and put both hands to his head as if in agony.
“That mating allergy is a bitch, isn’t it Lorcan?” Cara said triumphantly, pulling against the restraints, blocking his pain with tattered shields.
“I had wondered if it were true,” Lorcan muttered as he dropped his hands. His eyes sharpened to red. “Well, I guess we will have to wait until the virus takes its course, Cara.” He nodded at the two shots with large needles on the tray next to her head. “Our physician will be here shortly to administer one—I’d do it myself but I keep forgetting the correct order of the injections. We wouldn’t want you to turn into an orangutan, now would we?” He laughed at his own joke.
“Fuck you,” Cara said with a mean grin.
Lorcan stepped closer to the bed, his face turning livid.
“Go ahead,” Cara taunted softly. “Touch me. Try it.”
His eyes raked her but he didn’t move closer. “Oh I will, don’t you doubt it.”
Then a shrill alarm sounded throughout the underground tunnel, and he jerked a phone receiver off the wall. “How many?” His face tightened as he listened. “No, I sent four with Franco’s mate.” He growled low. “Take care of them.”
He replaced the receiver before rounding on Cara. “We checked you—there are no tracking devices on you. How did they find you?”
Cara widened her eyes on his swirling purple ones. He didn’t know about the ability to track mates? She shrugged. She sure as hell wasn’t going to tell him.
Lorcan looked at her a moment before lifting one of the syringes and moving it into her line of vision. “You know, if these are injected in the wrong order or even at the same time, the human system pretty much shuts down. With unimaginable pain.”
Cara struggled to contain her fear and keep her face calm while lying on the white bed. “I’ve seen the tapes, Lorcan.”
“I see.” He smiled. “Well, that was before we learned to give the injections a day apart—there’s a less likely chance of death.”
“Death would be preferable to staying with you, Lorcan.”
He pushed reddish black hair over his shoulder and gave a deep sigh. “I plan to guarantee that, Cara.” He again flashed yellowed incisors. “You will beg for death by the time I’m through with you.”
“Seriously?” Cara forced out a laugh. “That’s the best you’ve got?” Her voice lowered into an eerie imitation of a movie monster, “You will beg for death, my pretty …”
“Silence!” His shout echoed inside the small room as he leaned over her and pressed the needle to her neck. She glared mutely up at him while the alarm screamed through the underground hell.
Lorcan swore and reached for the phone again. “Do you have them?” He swore again. “Why the hell not?” He slammed the receiver down, turning to her. “You’ve become quite the pain in the ass, Cara. It’s a good thing your daughter is prophesized, or it’d be easier just to kill you.”
“You’ll never get my daughter.” Pure conviction rang through every word.
Sharp canines flashed. “Oh, I wouldn’t be too sure. You haven’t met her mate, my son Kalin. The boy is truly focused, truly gifted.” Pride slithered through Lorcan’s purple eyes, along with just a hint of fear. What kind of evil would this monster fear?
A chill skittered down Cara’s spine followed by pure rage. Her baby would never end up in the hands of monsters. Then a boiling wave of heated fury reached her from the tunnel.
The door burst open with a bang and before Lorcan could turn, large hands grabbed him by the neck and threw him across the room to land with a loud thud against the opposite wall. Talen’s gaze raked her and then hardened at her ripped shirt and bruised face.
“I’m all right,” she said softly, trying not to be frightened by the desire to kill dancing in his topaz eyes. The sound of battle could be heard in the tunnel outside where eerie cries of pain echoed. Talen swiftly reached down and sliced through both restraints before turning to face Lorcan, who slowly rose to his feet.
“You’ll never get her out of here alive.” Lorcan wiped blood from the corner of his mouth with a fast swipe.
“Think not?” Talen’s voice was unrecognizable. It was animalistic, guttural, and promised pain. Cara gulped as she scrambled to sit up on the bed.
Lorcan took a slow step toward the door.
“You won’t make it.” The words were barely out of Talen’s mouth when Lorcan lunged for him and the two hit the tray, knocking the shots to the ground before crashing into the wall. Talen grabbed the phone receiver and viciously wrapped the cord around Lorcan’s neck before yanking from both sides. Lorcan connected an elbow to Talen’s face, knocking his head back into the wall, before clawing through the phone cord and jumping for the door.
Talen was on him before he cleared the doorway, and the two went down to the ground with fierce growls and struggling limbs. Cara cried out as Lorcan threw Talen over his head to land with a crash against the tunnel wall. Rocks rained down upon them all.
Talen flipped to his feet, bunched and tackled Lorcan to the ground with a blood curdling roar, landing a foot from where Cara still sat on the table. She tracked the furious flurry of punches between the two by counting the sound of bones breaking and skin flaying open. Blood flew in wide arcs to decorate the stone walls and soak into the dirt floor until Lorcan connected with a solid crack to Talen’s wrist. The knife went spinning, throwing up wisps of dirt as it went.
Cara instinctively jumped off the table and dove for the knife while the two beings grappled ferociously on the dirt floor. She grasped the handle and pivoted as a crunch accompanied Talen throwing his elbow into Lorcan’s nose. The monster screeched in pain. Clutching the knife against her chest, she inched along the wall, looking for an opening in the thrashing bodies.
“Stay back,” Talen growled as he plunged his fist into Lorcan’s face.
She froze against the wall, ready to jump in and defend her mate. The instinct to do so was so overwhelming she nearly ignored the slight warning flowing through her brain. Janie’s voice, echoing with an ancient pulse, threaded throughout her consciousness. But the words eluded her.
Her mind reeled. What did Janie want her to know? What had she said? Cara’s thoughts scrambled through the last month to finally land on the first day they’d been at headquarters. Janie had given a warning from the Earth. What was it? She gasped, remembering and turning just in time to turn to see a Kurjan soldier appear at the doorway clutching a long bladed knife. Talen crouched over Lorcan with his hands in a vice grip around the Kurjan’s throat, slowly choking the life out of the monster—with his back to the door.
“Watch your back!” She screamed Janie’s warning at Talen before throwing the knife with all of her might. The blade landed with a sharp thud in the Kurjan’s throat. The Kurjan soldier turned incredulous reddish-purple eyes on her, reaching up with both hands to yank the weapon out of his throat with a bloody gurgle. Her ten years of playing softball had finally come in handy. Thick red blood flowed down his chest as he smiled sharp canines, twirled the knife around to clasp the handle, and started toward her.
Talen was on his feet and had Lorcan in a headlock before Cara could blink—his swirling golden eyes focused on the new threat. The soldier took a half-step forward and froze in place, his face transforming from excitement to horror. Then, with a ferocious twist of Talen’s arms, Lorcan’s neck broke with a loud snap.
Talen let Lorcan’s body fall to the floor with an unconcerned air as he advanced on the still frozen enemy. He kicked an impressive boot into the side of the Kurjan soldier, who went down to the ground with the sound of thunder. Lacking even a hint of mercy, Talen yanked the knife out of his hand, plunged it into his throat, and ripped his head off. Blood sprayed toward
all four walls. Cara couldn’t look away as Talen turned, tipped Lorcan’s head back, and slashed from side to side.
Lorcan’s head dropped to the ground and rolled to the far wall. Cara bit her lip, bile rising in her throat, the room beginning to spin. She tried to focus her thoughts, control her reactions. Grey fuzziness edged into her vision, and she swayed until darkness kissed her and she was out.
Talen gave Lorcan’s head a swift kick as he stood to his feet to see his wife passed out on the hospital bed, the vicious purple bruise all but spreading across her delicate cheekbone. He swore and then leaned down to lift her in his arms as Conn ran into the room, a thick cut marring his jaw.
“Is she okay?” Conn asked with concern as he reached down and grabbed the still full shots to place them gingerly in a leather bag.
“Yes,” Talen said abruptly as a blood-covered Jase appeared at the door.
“Come on, they’ve sent for reinforcements,” Jase said urgently, wiping red off his face with his saturated sleeve. “Not my blood,” he answered his brother’s unasked question.
Talen nodded and followed Jase through the tunnel with his mate in his arms and Conn at his back. Silence reigned around them—he was fairly sure they’d dispatched every Kurjan still at the facility to hell. Except for the one currently being interrogated by Dage. That Kurjan’s screams echoed high-pitched and loud through the tunnels as they ran for the exit—then silence. Dage must have retrieved the information.
Chapter 34
Cara jostled awake safe and secure in Talen’s arms as he ran out of the farmhouse into the sun. She breathed a sigh of relief, realizing the clouds had burned off in the early afternoon hour. The Kurjans couldn’t come outside now.
Dage waited by a large black helicopter while Jase and Conn jumped into the front. “Where’s Emma?” she asked Dage.
His eyes narrowed to silver daggers on her. “Gone. They flew her out of here earlier headed for Franco’s headquarters up in Nunavut.” He tossed his gun to Talen, his hands going to the fasteners on his dark vest.
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