by Cynthia Eden
Rayce turned to face his prey.
Kale. Rayce had finally found the bastard who thought he could take Lila. He recognized the prick’s voice.
The man was tall, with broad shoulders and a powerful build. His dark hair swept back from his high forehead, and his eyes gleamed.
“At the first sign of danger,” Kale continued darkly, “he attacks.”
I’m the one who will attack.
“Speaking of attack…” Kale lifted his hand and motioned behind him. “You should check your flank.”
Rayce glanced back. Wayne leapt forward, but…Wayne looked very, very different. His eyes were black. His fingers were tipped with claws and blood dripped from his mouth.
“I decided Wayne would be more useful if he was all new and improved.” Kale shrugged. “So I gave him an upgrade.”
Wayne flew forward, but Julian intercepted him. The panther crashed into the guy with a roar.
And Rayce went for Kale. For the bastard who thought he’d take Lila. The wolf charged at him, and he sent Kale crashing to the earth. His fangs went for Kale’s throat just as—
Kale vanished.
The wolf fell to the snow.
Snarling, he jumped up again, whirling to look for Kale. The bastard wasn’t throwing off any scent, but Rayce saw him, standing about ten feet away. He bounded toward the bastard, and his claws slammed into Kale’s side.
Blood dripped down onto the snow. Kale grabbed him, and held Rayce tight. “Did you really think you were going to be strong enough to stop me?”
I fucking am. He bit down hard, tearing into Kale. The bastard screamed. And then…
Ice came from Kale’s fingertips. The ice flew at Rayce, surrounding him, sinking past his skin and seeming to flow straight into his blood. Rayce could feel his vessels constricting, could feel the ice inside of him—
“You still don’t even know what I am, do you?” Kale whispered. His breath was cold against Rayce’s cheek. “What does an angel become when the wings are gone and there’s only the emptiness left? The void that nothing can fill?”
Rayce transformed. There was no choice. He had to shift in order to heal and escape the ice. When Rayce shifted, Kale’s grip loosened on him.
And then Rayce sliced his claws straight into that prick’s chest.
Kale blinked. Shock flared in his eyes. Then he glanced down. Rayce’s claws were deep into him.
“Demon,” Kale whispered. “That’s what I became…” He looked back up at Rayce and his eyes glowed. “And what she is.”
There was a sharp cry from behind him. Rayce looked back to see Julian on the ground. Wayne was above him, and the guy held a gun to the panther’s head.
“Some habits die hard,” Kale murmured. “You give a man that much supernatural power…and he still goes for the gun you tossed at his feet. Humans…”
Wayne’s finger was squeezing the trigger.
Rayce leapt for him. He drove Wayne to the side just as the gun exploded. Julian gave a quick, sharp, pain-filled cry.
Wayne snapped at Rayce with his too-sharp teeth. Fuck that. Rayce yanked the gun from him and fired. Point blank range. Wayne fell into the snow.
Then Rayce was charging for Kale once more but the guy…he barely seemed to be more than a shadow.
“She’s not here any longer.” Kale’s shout was angry. He was wavering, just…vanishing… “I will find her. I need her.”
Rayce fired. He squeezed that trigger again and again. The bullets blasted toward Kale but—
Kale was gone. He’d vanished. Fucking disappeared.
“Uh, Rayce…” Julian called. “Hate to break it to you, but Wayne’s not dead yet.”
Rayce spun back around. Sure enough, Wayne had risen once more. He had a hole where his heart should have been, but the guy was on his feet. And coming right at Rayce.
Rayce lifted the gun and fired it at him. The bullet slammed into his forehead, and Wayne went down, hard.
Julian peered at him. “He’s not a vamp.”
No, he wasn’t.
Julian glanced up at Rayce. “So what in the hell is he?”
“He’s dead,” Rayce said flatly. Wayne didn’t concern him. Kale was gone again. Gone and he’d said he was going to find Lila. Oh, the hell, no. Rayce lifted his head up, gazing at the sky. Before Kale had attacked, Rayce had heard Lila’s scream. She’d been overhead, he was sure of it. Overhead and flying away in the arms of a fucking dragon.
Luke, what the hell did you do?
“Uh, no, he’s still not dead,” Julian said, voice sharp. “He’s moving again.”
And sure e-hell-nough, the guy was twitching. Rayce’s eyes narrowed as he stalked toward Wayne’s jerking body. His claws came out. They slashed.
This time, stay dead.
Chapter Twelve
She was chained in a cell. A small, dark cell that just had a bed, a toilet, and a miniscule sink. Nothing else. No window. No chair.
Golden manacles were tight around her wrists. Tight and oddly warm.
“Don’t look at me like that.” Luke winced. “Seriously, you have the look a puppy must give an asshole human right after its been kicked.”
“I’m not a puppy.” Lila was a prisoner, and she hated it. She’d been a prisoner before, kept in a cell, tortured. Forgotten. This couldn’t happen to her again.
“You’re the one who tried to freeze me, remember? Me and Leo.”
She shook her head, sending her hair flying back over her shoulder. “Since when do you care about what happens to Leo?”
Luke’s face hardened. “When he dies, I’m gonna be the one killing him, not you.”
Then maybe I’ll kill you both. “Where’s Rayce?” How long had she been in that cell? It had seemed as if he’d flown forever before they’d gotten back to his island home. Key West. He’d taken her all the way from Colorado to Key West.
A giant freaking dragon in the sky. He’d flown too high for humans to see him. Had he shown up on any radar? An abnormality that would never be explained? How many times would humans just overlook the paranormal world that was right in front of their faces?
“I’m sure Rayce is just fine,” Luke assured her. “Julian will give him any backup that he needs.” Luke waved vaguely toward her. “Rayce’s job was to bring you to me. That was the plan. The only mission he had. I’ll be sure to let him know the job is finished. He can move on now.”
His job was to bring you to me. Lila shook her head. No, no, there was more to Rayce than just that. More to them. She wasn’t just a job to him.
Was she?
But Luke had already turned his back on her. He was heading for the door. He was just going to leave her chained up in that cell. For how long?
Unfortunately, she suspected the answer…
Forever.
“He’s not going to let you do this.” The words burst from her.
Luke stopped near the doorway.
“Rayce will get me out.”
Luke glanced back at her. “Why would he do that? Why would he go against me…for you?”
She stared at him.
He did a double-take. “No.” Luke shook his head. “No. No way. The werewolf…he seduced you? He actually convinced an angel to have sex with him?” He gave a little laugh. “And here I thought Leo was just being his delusional self when he threw out that line.”
It hadn’t been seduction. It hadn’t been about control or power. Just pleasure. They’d both wanted each other.
Luke laughed. “I am impressed. Didn’t think he had it in him…”
“Get. Out.” He wouldn’t destroy the image she had of Rayce. Not as some beast who’d seduced her but—
“You know what he is, right?” Luke put his hands on his hips as he filled the doorway of her cell. “A killer, straight to his core. When I took you away from the cabin, that’s what he was out doing. Killing. Not because he wanted to avenge you or any noble shit like that. Rayce doesn’t do noble.”
The
cold rage flooded through her.
“He kills because he likes it.” His gaze dropped to her hands—and to the manacles that bound her. Those manacles were heating up even more as he spoke. “He killed his own family, do you know that? For your first lover, you chose a beast without a pack.”
“I thought you were his friend.” The ice was all around her now but those manacles—they burned and they seemed to hold her new power in check.
“I’m the Lord of the Dark. I have no friends.” He rolled back his shoulders. “Though this little talk has been a fun test run. I’ll admit, I was curious to see if you could blast right through those chains. It’s good to know you can’t.”
Test? Her mouth gaped. Before she could question him, Luke had left the cell. The door clanged shut, and she heard some sort of electronic beep a moment later. She rushed forward, as far as the chains would allow. Each manacle was attached to a chain that hooked into the back wall.
There was a small slit in the cell’s door—just a few inches wide, maybe five inches long. That slit let her see Luke’s face. “Then…then you didn’t mean what you said about Rayce! You were just trying to get me to attack!”
“Sweetness, you can’t attack, not as long as those manacles are around your wrists. They keep your ice at bay. Didn’t we just prove that?”
He’d been trying to make her angry. Pushing her buttons. So he hadn’t meant—
“And I meant every word.” Luke inclined his head. “Rayce is a killer. He’s as dark as they come. I should know, right?”
Truth.
And he left her there. She could hear the sound of his footsteps as he walked away.
***
Rayce had wasted valuable time going back to the cabin. Lila hadn’t been there. Neither had Luke. Rayce had tried to call the bastard again and again—but Luke hadn’t answered his calls. The Lord of the Dark had sent him to freaking voicemail. Voicemail! Like he had time for that crap.
So twelve hours later, too many plane and helicopter switches fucking later, Rayce bounded off the helipad on Luke’s private island. The place was just as beautiful as ever, a perfect paradise surrounded by miles and miles of the bluest water he’d ever seen.
As blue as Lila’s eyes.
Lila. He’d been thinking about her every moment. Been damn well desperate for her. And when he stalked toward the main house on that island—Luke’s compound—Rayce’s claws were out. He was in the mood for a battle.
And then Julian stepped into his path.
“Keep your control,” Julian urged him. Julian had been with him for every second of the cursed journey back to the island. As Julian stood before him, the wind blew the panther shifter’s hair back. “Talk to Luke first. Give him a chance to explain what’s happening.”
He knew what was happening. “Luke took Lila.” The rage was there again, threatening to break past his control. “He took her when my back was turned.”
“Yes, but he wouldn’t hurt her. I was in that cabin—I saw him and Leo working to save her. You really think they’d save her one moment then kill her the next?” Julian shook his head, seemingly answering his own question. “No, no way. Something else is at play here.”
“Get out of my way.” He needed to see Lila. Right the hell then. Every moment that he’d been away had pulled at him, tearing at his insides. When he’d been with her, he’d given her the mating bite. A selfish move, but then he was a selfish bastard. He’d wanted something for himself. He’d wanted her from the first minute he saw her.
His beast had known what she could be, would be, to him.
“Luke probably brought her here so that he could protect her.” Julian was still defending the guy. And trying to talk me down. Since when was Julian the calm one? “Maybe he realized just what Kale was, and he brought Lila here so that she’d be safe. You know his island is the safest place on earth.”
Because after some recent trouble, Luke had made sure only the most powerful magical safeguards were in place at his island paradise.
“I’m just saying…let’s take it easy until we find out what’s happening.” Julian’s face was strained. “Don’t attack first and then ask questions. Start with the freaking questions, okay?”
Nothing was okay, but Rayce drew in a few deep breaths. Focus. For her. The chopper sat behind him. The house waited before him.
“I’m not exactly feeling easy.” But Rayce rolled back his shoulders. Lila had to be in that house. He hadn’t caught her scent, but she was there. Where else would Luke take her? Rayce released another slow breath and stalked toward the entrance of the house. The place was like a mini-damn-palace because if there was one thing Luke believed in—it was excess.
The door was open, as if Luke had been waiting for him. Rayce’s feet tapped across the marble floor, and he glanced up at the gleaming chandelier.
“The place is too quiet,” he said. He turned his head to look back at Julian. “Rose should be here, right?”
Now concern flashed across Julian’s face. “Yes.”
But Rayce wasn’t picking up her scent—or even the scent of the woman who’d been unlucky enough to actually fall in love with Luke. “Mina isn’t here, either.”
Another sign of trouble.
“Luke!” Julian bellowed. Obviously, Rose not being there was a serious problem for the guy.
“Yes…?” Came the drawled response from up above. And suddenly Luke was leaning over the fancy railing on the second floor. “You called?”
Rayce had called dozens of times. The dick just hadn’t answered the phone.
Luke gave him a small smile and began to slowly descend the curving staircase.
“Where’s Rose?” Julian demanded and for a guy who’d just told Rayce to be easy…the panther sure sounded as if he were about to lose his own control.
“She’s enjoying a lovely trip to Paris. Nothing like Paris in the winter. Sure, humans say spring is the time to visit, but they’re wrong. To truly appreciate the city, you need to go in December. When the town is lit up for Christmas, it’s absolutely gorgeous.”
“What the fuck?” Julian shook his head. “She’s in Paris? Since when?”
“Since my lovely Mina decided to take a last minute shopping trip there. Mina has grown close with your Rose, so…they went together.” Luke’s voice was perfectly controlled. Calm. Easy. As if he were saying…what’s the big deal? “Don’t worry, I’m sure she’ll bring you back a present. And the ladies went first class. I gave them my private jet. Nothing but the best for them, right?” Luke was at the bottom of the stairs now.
Rayce felt his wolf clawing at his insides. “You’re lying.”
Luke’s eyes widened. “Call them. They’ll tell you exactly where they—”
“You sent them away, didn’t you?” Rayce snapped. “Because something bad is going to happen. You wanted them clear so they wouldn’t be in danger.” Mina was the most important thing in Luke’s life, Rayce knew that. He’d seen how the guy broke when Luke had nearly lost her. Sure, Luke was powerful—but love could weaken anyone.
And Luke had grown weak with his Mina.
Luke’s expression hadn’t changed.
“You wanted Mina safe, and you know Julian would go for your throat if Rose was in jeopardy, so you sent them both away.” Rayce kept his arms at his sides. He was trying to ask questions first, just like Julian had said.
But I want Lila.
Luke’s gaze drifted to Julian. “I figured having one of you at my throat was enough.” He rolled one shoulder in a shrug. Then his stare turned back to Rayce. “And something bad isn’t going to happen. Something bad has already happened. Let’s be clear on that point, shall we?”
“You know Kale got away,” Julian said. He shuffled forward. “The bastard just vanished. Right after he said he was a demon. Dropped the bombshell and did a poof routine on us.”
“Thought he might do that,” Luke murmured, showing absolutely no surprise.
Julian nodded. “So tha
t’s why you brought Lila here. I told Rayce that. You were trying to keep her safe because you knew Kale would try for her again—”
“No.”
Simply that—a flat, cold denial. And Luke’s eyes were just as cold as they stared at Rayce. “Your job was to find the angel.”
“I did find her.”
“But then she stopped being an angel. She was in the world too long. And the world…” Luke sighed. “It wasn’t very kind to her, was it? Nothing but pain and blood. Attacks that didn’t stop.” He took a gliding step toward Rayce. “Then she was left in the snow. Shot and battered with wings that couldn’t fly any longer. She fell into that icy bank, and then the snow covered her.”
While he’d been right beside her. “Where is she?”
Luke’s smile held an evil edge. “You slept with her.”
Every muscle in his body locked down. “Don’t really see how that’s your business.”
But Luke just raised his brows. “You’d be surprised at what can matter to me.”
Rayce’s gaze cut around the quiet house. He still wasn’t catching Lila’s scent.
“Didn’t think it would happen. I’ll admit that. The news caught me by surprise. You were her first, right? I’m assuming you were because, you know—angels.” Luke shrugged. “They don’t do the whole worldly pleasure bit too much and—”
Rayce’s claws went for Luke’s throat.
Luke didn’t even flinch. He just smiled. “See…told you. I figured it would be better if only one of you went for my throat.”
“What have you done?” Rayce demanded. If Luke had hurt Lila…
Luke’s smile faded. “It’s hard. Harder than you realize…keeping track of all the dark ones in the world. Trying to make sure they don’t cross the line and attack innocents. Punishing those who have it coming. And it never ends. A cycle that just goes on and on…I try to catch everything. I really do, but sometimes, there are individuals that can slip past even me.”
Julian had closed in on them. “You’re talking about Kale. That bastard said he’d been around since before you were on the earth.”
“Um…he is old. Pity he hasn’t faded to dust.”