by Danica Avet
The same recruit spoke up. “GE Kincaid told us to remain behind so the Chieftain would be safe. She told us not to leave our post.”
Bianca’s head cocked to the side as she studied the young werewolf. “Kill them.”
The recruits tried to defend themselves, but a dozen battle-hardened males dropped into the room and slaughtered them right before Lucian’s eyes.
He hadn’t even realized he was about to throw open the grate he was hiding under until he felt Malachi yank him down. They scuffled for several minutes before Lucian came back to his senses.
“Quiet, Luc,” Malachi breathed in his ear. “We won’t be able to get Ruby out of here if we’re caught.”
Lucian nodded grimly, his heart bleeding for the young lives just lost. “I think one of them might have gotten away. A young female Halfling.”
“Good, then she’s probably alerting the GE’s. C’mon, let’s find your Chieftain before Harrity and the gang decides to take care of her.”
Ice encased Lucian’s heart at the thought of his mate in Harrity’s hands. “Let’s go,” he said grimly.
They slipped through a grate in the kitchen, which was deserted. Lucian was pretty sure he knew where Ruby was being held and led Malachi to the second floor. Except when he got there, the rooms were empty and showed no signs of having been used. The ice in his heart spread to the rest of his body.
“She’s not here,” he rasped, hatred and pain coating every word. Malachi gripped his shoulder, offering sympathy, but Lucian shrugged it off. “I should’ve kept her with me.” He ran a hand through his hair, tugging slightly and trying to think of where else Bianca might have put his mate. Thinking wasn’t coming easily to him. Thoughts of what Harrity and the others could be doing to her kept whirling around his head.
“Pull it together, man,” Malachi said harshly. His eyes glowed red as his demon side began to show itself. “Is there any other room that Bianca might put her? Somewhere she wouldn’t be able to escape from?”
Lucian racked his brain. Then his head shot up. “The Oculum’s quarters!”
He raced out of the room, Malachi hot on his heels. They sped through the mansion, making sure they avoided the voices celebrating Bianca’s triumph. Up three more flights of stairs and down the long, barren hallway, Lucian and Malachi ran as if their lives depended on it. When Lucian saw the steel door at the end, he flung himself against it, trying to weaken it somehow so he could get to her.
“Hold up,” Malachi said, pulling Lucian away. From his pocket, he withdrew a small vial of green liquid. “I got this stuff from one of Bianca’s friends a few years ago.” He removed a dropper from the top and dribbled only a few drops into the lock.
After several minutes of checking back for Bianca’s followers, Lucian watched the lock melting away as though it had never existed.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart. He could almost smell his mate through the steel. When he opened the door, he was almost overwhelmed by her essence. She’d been in this room, he thought, looking around frantically for signs of her.
“Ruby,” he called out hoarsely. His voice seemed to echo back to him. The bed was rumpled from where she’d slept, though the sheets were long cold. He and Malachi split up, Lucian searching the room and Malachi heading to the bathroom.
“Holy shit,” Malachi whispered, causing Lucian to run into the spacious chamber.
“What the hell…” he breathed.
A huge hole behind the bathtub showed someone had busted through. Following his nose, Lucian crawled through the opening, ignoring the tight fit and numerous cuts from the broken tiles.
Once Malachi was through, they stood still for several minutes, letting their senses soak up the deserted passageway.
“Several women, it smells like,” Malachi said unnecessarily.
They followed the passage until they came to a spot where it intersected another. “Which way?” Lucian growled, impatient to find his mate.
Malachi sniffed again. “There was another demon in here…an incubus,” he murmured with a frown. “Fallamhan?” he called out loud.
A man materialized in the passageway, his body glowing softly. “Malachi,” the incubus mumbled. “Oculum-se,” he said with a nod at Lucian. “What’s up, Malachi? Why are you using my secret name?”
Lucian didn’t wait for Malachi to reply. He simply grabbed the pretty-boy incubus by the shirt and lifted him off the ground. “Where. Is. My. Mate.” he growled, his voice falling to a deep bass.
Fallon’s nostrils flared slightly. “You’re the one she’s mated to,” he commented casually, as though it was nothing for him to be held suspended in the air by a vampire.
“Damned right I am,” Lucian growled again, banging the incubus against the wall. “Where is she?”
The incubus sighed deeply. “She was here with some Amazons. One of them called me.”
“Amazons?” Malachi asked curiously but was cut off by Lucian.
“Did you touch her?”
Now anger flared in the incubus’ eyes. “I do not touch mated females, couillon.”
“You’d better not,” Lucian replied, ignoring the insult to his intelligence. “Where did they go?”
“I don’t know,” Fallon told him, the honesty in his face encouraging Lucian to release him. Once on his feet, Fallon straightened out his clothing with quiet dignity. “She was with a group of Amazons I have seen before.”
“Why was she with Amazons? Did they break her out?” Malachi asked impatiently.
Fallon flicked him a glare. “I didn’t stop and make small talk with them,” he answered through clenched teeth. He looked straight at Lucian. “I did notice, though, that she strongly resembles the queen of the Blood Maiden tribe.”
“How do you know the queen?” Malachi asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
A wicked smile crossed Fallon’s face. “I know all the women in my territory.”
“Where?” Lucian demanded.
Fallon sighed, rolling his eyes slightly. “Vermilion Parish. I believe that tribe has a permanent camp near Black Lake.”
* * * *
Lucian was already speeding down the passageway by the time Malachi wrapped his mind around the idea that Ruby was an Amazon. “I should’ve guessed,” he said sheepishly and looked in the direction Lucian had run in. He looked back at Fallon. “Wanna tag along? It’s bound to be fun.”
Fallon frowned and folded his arms. “I guess you finally told him.”
Malachi shrugged. “Yeah, he was coming to kill me for Bianca, so I figured he should at least know the truth.” His form wavered as he dissolved so he could appear back by the car they’d taken to the keep. “So, do you want to come? I’m sure Lucian will make an ass of himself, and that’s worth the trip.”
“Fine, fine,” Fallon breathed.
They dissolved and appeared next to the Jeep Malachi kept for rugged driving. Five minutes later, Lucian was behind the wheel and they were speeding through the night.
“What are we going to do about Bianca?” Malachi asked as he bounced around the front seat. Lucian was going to tear the damn car apart if he kept driving this way, he thought with mild amusement.
“I’ll notify the rest of Council about what’s going on. Hopefully, she doesn’t know where to find Ruby, and I’ll have time to hide her.”
“Um, do you really think that’s possible? I mean, she’s surrounded by the toughest babes in the world. I think even Harrity would hesitate to take on a whole tribe.”
“I don’t give a damn. I’m her mate, and it’s my right to protect her like I should’ve been doing all along,” Lucian growled, his eyes flashing red.
Fallon let out a long-suffering sigh and stretched out on the backseat as though he were about to take a nap. Malachi just coughed softly, watching the scenery pass. “It’ll take us several hours to get there, and by then it’ll be daylight. You won’t be able to help her much.”
“Shut up,” Lucian
snarled, his foot punching the gas pedal.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ruby sat on her bed with Briggs snoring next to her. She didn’t want to think about Lucian, but her heart wouldn’t let her not think about him. The few hours of passion they’d had were welded to her memory, and nothing was going to tear them out. Ruby had a feeling she’d fallen too deeply in love with the damned vampire, and she’d be miserable forever knowing he was with that bitch.
“He isn’t going to marry her,” Pagan said from the doorway to her tent.
Wiping a tear that had slipped down her face, Ruby glared at the other woman. “You weren’t there when he left me with the Council. He tried to force me to agree! What kind of mate does that?” she demanded loudly.
Pagan sighed, flopping down on the ground and stretching her legs in front of her. “He’s a male, Ruby. They don’t think like we do. You should know that. I mean, hell, you’re an Amazon. Not just an Amazon, but the beloved, newly returned niece of the queen. Isn’t there something in you that says men are stupid?”
A watery laugh escaped Ruby. “Yeah, something does, but he never came to see me, and I know he was there.”
Shrugging, Pagan slipped off her boots and massaged her feet. “There’s no telling with Luc. I’ve known him for a few years, and he’s not exactly an open book.”
Ruby did her best not to quiver with jealousy. Had Pagan and Lucian ever…?
“Ugh. No!” Pagan said, correctly reading the jealousy in Ruby’s face. The absolute disgust on her face was plenty of confirmation that Pagan and Lucian had never shared an intimate relationship. “I hate men more than your relatives do, girlie. But Lucian isn’t so bad, I guess. He’s got this code of honor that’s ridiculous to keep up with.”
“Yes,” Ruby said haltingly.
“He has this need to protect everyone. It caused hell with me when he and I first began running into each other. He thought I should stay at home and let Mortimer take care of me.” She snorted loudly. “As if. Mortimer’s so busy mixing his potions and doing his experiments he wouldn’t notice if a…werewolf broke into the house.”
Ruby noticed her hesitation and knew Pagan had been about to say “bomb went off” but didn’t because of her parents’ deaths. Sympathy warmed her heart, pushing her heartache away, and she studied the other woman carefully. Pagan was beautiful, and the blue hair just enhanced her uniqueness.
“The thing is, Ruby, if you find your mate, you should grab a hold of him and never let go. I don’t know how it is with Amazons, but I knew your mom, and she was totally into your dad, so Amazons must have some sort of mating bond. For vampires, it’s like breathing air. You live for your mate. You live to make each other happy. It’s a beautiful thing,” she breathed, her gaze turned inward, no doubt thinking about her parents. “If you’re mated and─” she sniffed slightly─ “from your smell, bonded, you can’t just let Bianca take Lucian from you. I don’t know what the hell that woman was thinking, but I can promise you Lucian never gives her a passing thought.”
Ruby was quiet for several minutes. “My family tells me I need to take revenge on the person who locked me away.”
Pagan licked her lips, her gaze thoughtful before slowly nodding. “I get that. It’s the way things are here.”
“That’s what I’m told. However, if I punish the person directly responsible, it would be Lucian.”
Pagan sucked in a shocked breath, realization blooming on her face. “Oh, man, you’re right. He did trick you…a bit.”
“I’m going after Bianca,” Ruby confessed softly, her eyes on Pagan’s ethereally beautiful face. “I’m not doing it because of Lucian, but because she was planning to kill me, and because her death would improve the world.” Ruby hoped that was the truth and she wasn’t just fooling herself.
“I hear that, so when are we going?” Pagan asked eagerly, stuffing her feet back into her clumpy boots.
“I haven’t decided yet, but I’m not involving the entire tribe in this.”
“The hell you’re not!” Izzy cried from somewhere on the other side of the tent. She burst through the flap and tripped over Pagan, who was still on the ground. “Umph,” she grunted as she landed face-first on the floor of the tent.
“Hon, you need learn to make better entrances than that,” Rosetta sniffed from the doorway. She minced into the room wearing an extremely short skirt in leopard print with an equally brief leopard print top. That it was actual fur made her look like a cross between Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C. and Brendan Fraser in George of the Jungle. “Sweetie, you’d better think twice about not letting the other girls know about your plan. They don’t like secrets ‘round here, and with you being part of the royal family…” She paused, shrugging one broad shoulder. “Trust me, it wouldn’t be pretty for you when you got back. Your Nana would be so fired up…” She shuddered.
Ruby fought a giggle at Rosetta calling Bretina ‘Nana’. The word conjured up an image of a tiny ancient woman with a bun and knitting needles, far from Bretina’s robustness. The women looked at each other and laughed anyway. Briggs continued snoring.
The feeling of camaraderie was so pleasant, Ruby relaxed.
“So what do y’all suggest?” she asked, absently scratching Briggs behind one ear.
They spoke up all at once. “Challenge her to a duel.”
Ruby nodded. “I guess that’ll have to do it. What do I do about her magic? She can paralyze me in a heartbeat.”
Pagan frowned. “That sucks,” she said gloomily. The other two nodded. Pagan brightened up. “Mortimer might have something that makes you less susceptible to spells.”
“You think he’d help?” Ruby asked doubtfully.
Mortimer’s twin just rolled her eyes with a snort. “Trust me, if he’s been working on anything, he’d love to try it out.”
“Um, yeah, but I don’t want to die so he can experiment.”
“That would suck,” Izzy agreed solemnly.
“You’ll just have to try it on someone else before you meet Bianca,” Pagan answered vaguely, pulling out her cell and flipping through her contacts.
Her conversation with Mortimer was brief and angry, but in the end the scientific-minded vampire agreed to let Ruby test one of his potions and even suggested a couple of magic users to practice it against. “He’ll be here tomorrow night with a couple of his mage friends, and you can give it a shot,” Pagan affirmed after hanging up with him. She stood gracefully, unfolding her long legs and once more looking like the badass she was. “You’ll need to run through some drills and, if I know your family, they’re going to be hard on you.”
Izzy and Rosetta agreed happily. “You’ll wish you were dead.”
“Yeah, girl, you’ll almost wish we hadn’t saved you,” Rosetta inserted gleefully.
Ruby glared at all three of them. “You guys really, really suck.”
They spent several long minutes chatting and Ruby was so comfortable with them, she didn’t even stop to think how strange it was that there was a drag queen in the Amazon camp. She must’ve frowned because Rosetta caught her expression with a charming grin.
“Just got to wondering how I got here, huh?”
Nodding slowly with a blush climbing up her face, Ruby apologized. “I’m sorry to be so rude,” she began, but Rosetta and Izzy giggled, waving away her apologies.
“I was a performer on Bourbon Street and I was good,” Rosetta said with false modesty. She pressed one large hand to her fake bosom, adopting an innocent expression. “Then, one night I got in a bit of trouble with a centaur, but I swear, I didn’t know he was a centaur. Anyway, we got in trouble—boy was that fun—and when his father found out, I had to pay restitution. Here I am thinking I’d have to crack open the checkbook a few times, right? No, indeed! They shipped me here! As you can imagine, I wasn’t what they were, um, needing in camp, so they tried to get rid of me right away.”
Rosetta paused, an expression of fond remembrance crossing her face. Iz
zy grinned in memory.
Sniffing and nodding, Rosetta continued. “They tried everything from locking me in a trunk and dropping me off in the middle of the Quarter to trying to buy me off with jewelry! It didn’t matter, though, I refused to budge. Finally, this little one here couldn’t take it anymore and asked me why I wanted to stay. What else could I say? I love their clothes! They needed a little help though ‘cause, honey, these women didn’t know anything about skin care!” She sounded so horrified Ruby and Pagan laughed uproariously.
Izzy just rolled her eyes and elbowed Rosetta. “Anyway, once they realized I wasn’t going anywhere and I had no expectations, they grudgingly allowed me to stay. They made me train with them, though, which was almost enough to send me running for my life. I’m an entertainer, not GI Jane, but you can’t tell these ladies anything! And, then, they tried to get me to stop wearing revealing clothes! Can you imagine?”
Ruby shook her head with a grin. Rosetta sounded as though they’d asked for her to cut off her right arm.
Izzy laughed hard. “Remember what you wore on your first day here? You had these six inch platforms on─”
“I loved those shoes. I’ll never forgive Macy for wearing them to go hunting!” Rosetta cut in, pouting just a little.
“This fuchsia micromini skirt, and a silver and pink leopard print halter top.” Izzy laughed more. “She walked into camp, oohing and aahing over our leathers and boots and next thing we know, she wouldn’t leave.”
Ruby and Pagan were giggling with them, imagining Rosetta gushing over the dominatrix style clothing the Amazons preferred.
“We couldn’t get her to go home. Every time someone trussed her up and packed her off to New Orleans, she was back the next day with more outfits and make-up! She held make-up and skin care classes and after that, there was no getting rid of her.”
“I’ve made it my business to take care of the beauty in this camp,” Rosetta claimed loftily. “Before I came here, they used bar soap to wash their faces!” She looked so horrified it sent Ruby and Pagan off into laughter again. “Now, they all take care of their skin and let me coordinate their outfits when they’re allowed to go to town. It’s fabulous!”