Therian Promise

by Cyndi Friberg

  She would be safer once she chose her mate and the bonding would make her stronger, but she could take as long as she liked to make that decision. As long as they kept Osric away from her, of course.

  “So what’s my next step?” Ava asked after a long pause.

  “When we return to the sanctuary, I’ll take you to the vault,” Erin explained.

  “That’s where you keep all the artifacts and your journals?”

  “Yes. If you react to the artifacts as Carissa did and if you’re able to read the ancient language, it will prove you’re worthy of your calling.” Erin didn’t look old enough to be Kyle’s mother. There wasn’t a strand of gray in her brown hair and her face was still unlined. Her eyes were the same vivid green as her son’s, but hers possessed a thoughtful wisdom Kyle had yet to achieve. Dressed in jeans and a fine-gauge sweater, Erin appeared far too normal to be clan healer and Historian.

  Ava looked at her sister, amazed by the changes evident in her bearing and demeanor. Carissa had always been fun loving and adventurous, but the quiet confidence Ava sensed now hadn’t been there before. “You just looked at the journals and suddenly you could read them?”

  Carissa shook her head. “The change began as soon as I stepped into the vault. I could feel the power calling to me, stirring something deep inside. It’ll be the same for you. I know it will. We’ve always done everything together.” She smiled and playfully pushed Ava’s shoulder. “Why should this be any different?”

  They sat in Jake’s living room, enjoying the fire’s relaxing warmth. The day had turned out cool and rainy, and everyone was worried about Ian, who was gathering information at the secluded complex. The other men had split their time between strategy sessions in the kitchen and internet searches in Jake’s office.

  “Has anyone heard from Jake?” Ava asked after a short pause. “Or Enya, for that matter. They must both be going crazy by now.”

  “I spoke to Enya a couple of hours ago,” Erin told her. “Jake and his men are still hunting, but so far, no luck.”

  “Did they call the police?” Even with her unusual upbringing, it seemed like a natural reaction. When someone was in danger, the police were notified. “Even if they’re only human, police tend to be aggressive whenever children are involved.”

  Erin shook her head. “Involving humans in our problems gives them access to our lives. We live among them, but we are not part of them. The less humans know about us, the better off we are.”

  A shiver slipped down Ava’s spine and she rubbed her upper arms. Despite the crackling fire, she suddenly felt cold. “I’m going to go grab my hoodie and a pair of socks. I’ll be right back.”

  “We should probably scrounge together something for lunch. I’m sure the men are getting hungry right about now.” Erin and Carissa headed to the kitchen as Ava turned toward the stairs.

  The upper level was quiet, almost eerily so. Ava hurried to the bedroom she shared with Kyle and found her favorite hoodie. Summit County Outfitters was emblazoned on the front of the bright red garment. She ran her fingers over the stylized letters with a sigh. All the time and energy she’d poured into the store seemed like part of another lifetime. Accounting anomalies and slow suppliers seemed extremely insignificant compared to kidnapped children and confrontations at gunpoint.

  She found a pair of socks and crossed to the bed. One look at the rumpled covers sent heat cascading through her body. Her feelings for Kyle grew deeper and more specific with each passing moment. It wasn’t just the pleasure they shared—though she’d never imagined sex could be so amazing. Each time they joined, their link expanded and she was drawn deeper into his mind. She shared his thoughts and memories and felt what he was feeling. His strength and nobility had been apparent from the start, but she also experienced his compassion and tenderness. He wasn’t just protective of her. He jumped to the defense of any person in need of his strength.

  With a dreamy smile curving her lips, she sat on the edge of the bed and pulled on her socks then wiggled into the hoodie. Noon had come and gone while she spoke with Carissa and Erin. Ian should return soon and she was anxious to hear what he’d learned. Kyle was sure her spontaneous teleportation had guided them toward something important and she was curious to find out if he was right.

  She flipped off the light in the bedroom and stepped out into the hall. Blinking quickly as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she focused on the light at the top of the stairway and hurried down the corridor. One of the bedroom doors opened ahead of her and a tall man stepped out into the hall. For a moment she thought he was Ian then he turned and she caught a glimpse of his face.

  Easily as tall as Ian yet more heavily muscled, the stranger stared at her with bright golden eyes. The rest of his features were lost in shadow, but there was no escaping his shimmering gaze. Ian’s eyes were marbled with gold. Even Kyle’s gaze had gold flecks. But no other color marred this man’s irises. His hair swept straight back from his face into a thick ponytail and he emanated strength and menace.

  She glanced behind her, looking for an escape route as she decided whether or not to scream. If she pushed her fear across their link, Kyle would come running.

  “Name’s Payne. You smell like Kyle.” His rumbling voice was oddly accented and conveyed curiosity not danger. Still, she stepped back as he moved forward.

  “How did you get in here?” She sounded more composed than she felt. The house had been locked down tight ever since they arrived, even more so since Bruce’s failed attack. This man would have tripped an alarm unless someone let him in. So who was he and why was he here?

  “Through the back door.” He chuckled, the sound surprisingly warm. “Relax, láska. You have nothing to fear from me.”

  Swallowing past the lump rapidly forming in her throat, she nodded in reply and tried to rush past him.

  He stuck out his arm, pressing his palm against the wall as he blocked her path. “You are Ava, yes?”

  She turned her head and looked up into his face, trying to appear impatient not terrified. “I’d rather talk downstairs.”

  Angling his body toward her, he moved closer, surrounding her. “Erin’s cub shares your bed. His scent is unmistakable. But I think your choice is not yet made. Will Kyle be your mate?”

  “It’s none of your business. Let me pass.”

  Someone flipped on the light and Ava glanced past his arm and found Carissa standing at the end of the hallway. “You all right?”

  With obvious reluctance Payne lowered his arm and inclined his head toward Carissa.

  “What are you doing here?” Carissa seemed surprised to see him, but she obviously knew him and wasn’t threatened by his presence.

  Now that Ava could see him clearly, she felt even more uncertain. With strong, masculine features and those strange golden eyes, he appeared more overtly feline than the other Therians.

  “Ian told me to meet him here. It would seem I have arrived first.”

  Carissa accepted the explanation with a nod and motioned to the stairs. “Everyone’s in the kitchen. We were about to make lunch.”

  He paused and looked at Ava again, his gaze caressing and warm. “This will end when you make your choice and not before.” Not waiting for her reply, he ambled down the hall and disappeared into the stairwell.

  Ava pressed her hand over her pounding heart and walked toward her sister. “Who is he? Why would Ian ask for his help?”

  “Did he touch you?”

  “No. I don’t even think he was trying to scare me, he just…”

  “Payne doesn’t have to try.” Carissa smiled. “He recently took over the largest lion pride in North America. I don’t know why Ian called him. Let’s go find out.”

  Ava followed Carissa down the stairs but froze in the archway as they reached the kitchen. Carissa crossed to the table and sat down next to Quinn, unaffected by the spectacle before her.

  Ian stood near the sliding glass door leading out onto the deck. He was drenched, hair pla
stered to his head, and his wings were folded back behind him. Blood darkened the feathers of one wing and Erin examined the wound as Ian grimaced and grumbled.

  Unable to help herself, Ava just stared. She’d seen him transform from eagle to man, but she’d had no idea he could do…this. His jeans hung low on his lean hips, leaving his sculpted chest and washboard abs bare. Even dripping wet and wounded, he looked like an angel. Or maybe a fallen angel. No messenger of God would appear so damn sexy.

  She waited for the tingling rush or the warm tension Kyle always elicited in her, but all she felt was a superficial acknowledgment of his esthetic appeal.

  The scraping of wood against wood drew her attention to the table. Kyle pushed back his chair and crossed to her. “Keep staring like that and he’ll challenge me. He doesn’t have to worry about us being in sync if I’m dead.”

  “Sorry.” She pushed her emotions into Kyle’s mind so he’d understand her reaction was platonic. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

  He gave her a quick kiss then ushered her to the table.

  “I didn’t know he had wings.” Then the more important issue pushed to the forefront of her befuddled mind. “How was he injured?”

  “He was shot at,” Ian supplied the answer with a knowing smile. Apparently he hadn’t been oblivious to her rude behavior. “Bullet creased the top of my wing.”

  “You were searching the wilderness—like that?”

  He spread his wings and lifted his chin, his gaze narrowed and bright. “Is there something wrong with ‘this’?”

  Erin slapped his chest and reached for the top of his wing, which now arched well above her head. “If you’re finished preening, I’m sure Jake would appreciate me closing your wound. You’re dripping blood all over his floor.”

  Ian folded his wings again and turned so she could reach the seeping wound. “I had a backpack full of equipment.” He motioned toward the pack sitting by the door. “It’s rather hard to strap that onto an eagle. I had to wear it backward, but at least I kept it on.”

  “Has anyone ever taken your picture when you’re flying around like that?”

  The phrase made him chuckle then Erin pressed some gauze to his wing and he hissed. “I try to be careful and I fly fast enough that the pictures tend to blur. If I have a long distance to go with little or no cover, I shift into a bird.” He glared down at his nurse, obviously tired of her ministrations. “Are you about finished?”

  “We both know what will happen if you put them away dirty.”

  He shuddered. “Definitely don’t want to go through that again.”

  “What happened?” Ava whispered the question to Kyle, but again Ian answered. Damn the man had good hearing.

  “I ignored several small wounds and just absorbed my wings. The next time I unfurled them they were both infected and excruciating. Worse, I couldn’t absorb them again until they healed completely, which meant I was cooped up for almost a month.”

  “It’s a raptor thing,” Kyle told her. “If the rest of us are injured in one form, generally shifting to the other eliminates the wound.”

  “It works that way with me too if I transform into a bird,” Ian corrected. “It’s only the partial shifts that are tricky.”

  “It’s not that I’m not entertained,” Payne cut in, “but I do have other responsibilities.” He looked at Ian expectantly. “Why have you summoned me?”

  Erin finally pronounced Ian’s wound clean. He furled his wings then slowly absorbed them. “Give me a minute to change and I’ll explain everything.”

  “Would you like something to drink?” Erin asked their newest guest. Payne shook his head so she joined them at the table.

  Ian returned a few minutes later in dry clothes, damp hair returned to some sort of order. He picked up the backpack and brought it to the table unzipping it as he began. “I entered the exact location into the GPS so we can use it to find the place tomorrow.”

  Tomorrow? They were going to raid the mysterious complex tomorrow? Dread washed over Ava. Even if she weren’t directly involved in the raid, everyone else would be in danger.

  “I took pictures of every room visible from the outside and I’m sure we can extrapolate the missing spaces. There are three teams of two guards. They rotate between interior and exterior positions with six hours off in between.”

  “Where do the guards go when they’re off duty?” Quinn asked.

  “The barracks are connected to the vehicle shed. I got a look inside the shed at one point and saw two Jeeps, several ATVs and various maintenance equipment.”

  “So, we take out the guards two at a time and—”

  Ian stemmed Quinn’s suggestions with an upraised hand. “Hear the rest before you plan a strategy.” Quinn nodded, but tension arced between the two.

  Do Quinn and Ian dislike each other? She looked at Kyle.

  Long story. I’ll tell you later.

  She nodded and returned her attention to Ian.

  “The upper level is living quarters, the ground level offices and laboratories.”

  “Laboratories?” Erin sounded surprised. “As in microscopes and test tubes?”

  “Yes, and pretty damn sophisticated from what I could see. I’d convinced myself we were wrong, that this place has nothing to do with us, then Osric stepped out of the elevator.”

  “Are you sure it was Osric?” Quinn asked the question they were all thinking.

  “You tell me.” Ian pulled a camera out of his backpack, scanned through several shots then slid it across the table to Quinn.

  “That’s Osric.” Quinn handed it to Erin who looked at the picture then handed it to Kyle.

  “Unbelievable,” Kyle whispered under his breath.

  Ava had no clear memory of Osric’s appearance, so she didn’t bother looking at the picture, wasn’t sure she was ready for all the feelings his image might unleash. “You mentioned an elevator. Is there an underground level?”

  Ian nodded. “I’m pretty sure there is and I’m just as sure that whatever they’re protecting is kept down there.”

  “Is Osric working with the Abolitionists?” Carissa rubbed her upper arms, clearly upset by the possibility.

  “I can’t imagine what he would gain by indulging those lunatics,” Ian said. “I think it’s more likely this is something else entirely, a threat we were unaware of before.”

  “Wonderful.” Erin sighed. “Devon may or may not be missing, Jake’s sisters have been kidnapped, and the Abolitionists harass us at every turn. The last thing we need is a new enemy.”

  “We can’t ignore this.” Ian scooted closer to the table. “I’m just guessing at this point, but it’s a pretty educated guess. Osric is obsessed with the possibility of creating a true Therian. He failed on his own, so he’s recruited humans to help him.”

  “Or the humans recruited him.” Kyle’s anxiety spiked, rippling across their link and setting Ava on edge. “I don’t think Osric has the connections to set something like this in motion. A secret lab in the middle of nowhere guarded by men with automatic weapons? Sounds military to me.”

  Ian didn’t argue, nor did he agree. “We won’t know anything for sure until we see what they’re hiding.”

  “And how do we do that without getting ourselves killed?” There was a little less challenge in Quinn’s tone now, but Ian still bristled.

  “If you don’t have the balls for—”

  Quinn flew out of his chair and was halfway across the table when Carissa grabbed him. “Cut it out!” She didn’t have the strength to pull him back, but she didn’t let go. “If you two can’t work together on this, we’re all screwed.”

  Both men huffed, but Quinn returned to his seat and Ian proceeded to ignore him.

  “You’ve been on-site,” Erin prompted. “You know what we’ll be facing, at least to some extent. What do you suggest we do?”

  “Even if there’s nothing but storage in the basement, we’re outnumbered and out gunned. Trying to amass a
larger force would take too long and compound the logistical nightmare. Our only hope is the element of surprise. We need to use distraction and deception to slip in under their noses. We strike fast and hard, preventing them from calling for backup.”

  “How well did the shooter see you? Haven’t we already lost the element of surprise?” Quinn’s tone was low and even while hostility still smoldered in his eyes.

  “You got a better idea?” Ian snapped.

  “It’s a reasonable question.” Erin’s expression communicated warning even more eloquently than her words.

  Ian sighed. “They were shooting at shadows. There’s no way either of them saw me clearly.”

  “What if we need backup?” Kyle asked. “We have no idea what’s waiting for us once we step off that elevator.”

  Clearly frustrated by the continued objections, Ian sighed. “So we’ll have backup stationed far enough away to avoid detection yet close enough to assist if we’re overwhelmed.”

  “Are you talking ground or air support?” Payne asked. He’d remained quiet through most of the conversation, silently watching as the others worked out the kinks.

  “Air would be best, given the impossible terrain,” Ian told him. “Do you still have access to those sorts of resources?”

  “It will cost you, especially if you want them here by morning.”

  Ian looked at Erin and she nodded. “This thing with Osric has gone on long enough. Make the call.”

  “If that’s all you needed from me, you could have told me on the phone.” Payne smiled, his eyes shimmering like antique coins. “Am I distraction or deception?”

  Ian returned the smile. “A little bit of both.”

  Chapter Nine

  Kyle decided to barbeque for dinner, which drew all the men out onto the deck. “There is something about cooking over an open flame that men can’t resist,” Erin said with a chuckle.

  “Brings out their inner caveman.” Carissa laughed.