Kieran reached for her. “Rachel…love, come here. Let’s talk about this.”
“Get away from me. There’s nothing to talk about. I have to go.”
She reached for the robe and had it on quickly as Kieran and Devon both moved toward her.
“You aren’t going anywhere. You will come here and we will talk this out. You’re terrified. Even I scent it.” Devon spoke as if he fully expected her to obey him.
Fat chance. She was not going to sit around and talk about how something inside of her had murdered people and how much that terrified her. “Red,” she called moments before Kieran could reach her.
Devon’s mouth opened in shock and she felt a pang of guilt at the hurt in both of their eyes as they both stared down at her in silent Os of shock.
“Rachel?” Kieran reached for her, but she jumped up and grabbed a robe.
“Red, red, red.”
The door crashed open and three Lycan enforcers burst into the room. Owen wasn’t far behind them. “What did you do?” one of the Lycans demanded. Their teeth elongated and their claws were out as they confronted Devon and Kieran.
“Calm down, enforcers,” Owen said in his calm but authoritative voice. “You will not fight in my club. Dylan, get Marcus on the phone, now.”
“Rachel?” Devon asked, but she didn’t answer him. She backed toward the door as tears of regret fell down her face. It was over now. Soon Marcus would know everything and he’d send his own enforcers after her. She ran past the Lycan enforcers into the hall while holding her robe closed.
She had to get out of there. She was so stupid to think the evil in her was gone. She made it to her car and her hands shook so bad she could barely get her door open. She’d left her purse in her unlocked car, because there were no threats of theft here. Nothing escaped the supernatural race's security and a random human wandering around would have been escorted away from their property.
“What have I done?” she asked herself as she opened her car door. Collapsing into the driver’s seat, grief came crashing next and caused her chest to hurt as she heaved out painful sobs. Gone. It was all gone now. She’d found what she longed for and it was cruelly ripped away from her.
Getting into her car, she started it up and quickly left the parking lot. “Where can I go? They’d trace my card if I went to a hotel.”
Mom and Dad, her inner voice whispered. “That’s right! Mom and Dad just moved, and I have cash for gas. I’ll be safe at home.”
She drove the short distance back to Wolf Creek, North Carolina, and changed her clothes. She half expected someone to stop her, but she made it in and out of the house without anyone questioning her.
Relief swamped her and she hopped on the interstate and headed west toward Texas. Home. She would go home and hide as her heart healed and she tried to forget.
Chapter Six
Kieran and Devon rode in Kieran’s BMW following Marcus’s pickup truck and several of the enforcer’s trucks and bikes. It might seem like it was a friendly gathering at a lodge in the woods, but it was anything but.
After Rachel said her safe word and ran out, it took a lot of explaining to keep from getting their asses kicked Lycan style. Once Dylan showed up, they were able to talk him into taking this somewhere private. If a fight did break out, they didn’t need the humans seeing their brand of justice. Now, despite how desperately they wanted to go and find her, they followed the enforcers to Marcus’s pack lands.
Marcus was a fair alpha though. He ran one of the largest packs, second only to Sam Dalton’s pack in Texas. Sam’s pack wasn’t just one small town in the northeastern part of the state. His pack ruled several towns east of Paris. Only the Vampires that never touched humans dared to venture around that part of Texas. Marcus’s pack had far more tact and could be reasoned with, but Sam’s enforcers were lethal, since many of his enforcers were also council enforcers and hunted down threats to supernaturals everywhere. Only the Lycans with the strongest talents could serve as a council enforcer. They could compel humans as easily as alphas and Vampires, and some could even sense emotions like some Vampires could.
Sam’s pack co-existed with many humans who remained unaware that any mythical creatures existed in their towns and counties. If a human saw something, a little bit of memory tampering fixed the problem.
Devon got out of his truck and his gaze moved to Logan’s motorcycle already parked. The two Vampires looked at each other for a moment. Kieran gripped the steering wheel. “I guess we need to try and straighten this mess out.”
Devon nodded. “I doubt they will let us spend time with her again. Something we did scared her.” Devon shook his head. “I don’t know how to get her back, but I know she’s our mate.”
Kieran squeezed the steering wheel. “I want to fight them all and take our mate back. If they tell us no, I won’t be able to accept that. I won’t stop until we find her.”
Devon opened the door of the car. “I agree and feel the same. That will not help us right now though. We have to figure out what we did to frighten her, and make sure she is all right.”
Kieran gave a short laugh. “You’re giving out sound advice and I want to fight? When did we reverse roles?”
When they made it out of the car, they approached the circle of Lycans “Marcus, I don’t know what they told you, but—” Kieran started.
Marcus held his hand up and stared at his enforcers. “Owen had Dylan get ahold of me to let me know what was going on at The Underground. I called you here to make sure things didn’t get out of hand. I know the reputation you two have, so I want the facts before I allow anything to happen.”
Devon ran his hands through his hair. “How is she?”
Marcus seemed to ignore them, looked at Kieran, and said, “Tell me what happened. Why did Rachel yell her safeword?”
Kieran sighed and held his hands up in helpless frustration. “We talked, had sex and when we were going to talk some more, her fear spiked suddenly and she screamed red. We weren’t even touching her when she started yelling red.”
Marcus looked thoughtful for a moment. “What were you discussing? She’s been through a lot, you know. Yerel doesn’t think he’s uncovered everything that has happened. Perhaps you triggered something.”
Devon’s gaze met Marcus’s. “We asked her how she managed to get out of Lycan territory with her abilities. I do have to say, I am quite shocked you let her out of your sight. No wonder my uncle abused her so badly. There are nefarious Vampires who will sense her abilities and will try to use her much in the same way.”
Kieran felt the first bit of aspersion when confusion crossed Marcus’s face. “What abilities?”
Kieran felt his eyebrows rise as shock tore through him. “You don’t know?” He glanced over at Devon, who looked as shocked as he felt. “Well, this explains a lot.”
Devon looked at Kieran with wide eyes. “They don’t know either. How can they not know?”
Kieran nodded with equally wide eyes. “We didn’t know either until we kissed her. I assumed everyone knew that night I sensed it. She ran away then, as well.”
“Know what? What do you mean she ran before?” Marcus’s tone made it clear he was losing patience.
Ignoring him, Kieran continued, “Could it be that she isn’t fully magical?”
Marcus huffed out an exasperated breath. “You have ten seconds to explain yourselves, or I am throwing you in my jail.”
Kieran glanced over at Marcus. “Rachel isn’t human, at least not completely. We thought you knew, but she is a channel. When we asked about her abilities, she panicked and said her safe word.”
Marcus paled and backed up a step. “No. You’re sure?”
“Yes. We didn’t even notice it until we’d tasted her. Before that, she smelled and looked completely human.”
“Fuck,” Derek said and then turned as he dialed his phone.
“Where is she, Marcus? Is she okay?” Kieran’s apprehension was turning into dread, as the
tension in the air grew thicker by the moment.
Marcus had his phone out and was texting for a moment. When he finished, he looked up. “Yerel is on his way here. I am not sure how this got past him, but it did.”
“Where is she, Marcus?” Devon demanded.
“I don’t know.” Marcus looked more than a little unsettled as he admitted that. “When Dylan went to check on her, they couldn’t find her. Security cameras captured her leaving right after the incident. She was extremely upset.”
Fear and anger raged in Kieran’s heart. His sweet Rachel was out there alone, unprotected, and terrified. She had no idea what she was, or how much danger she was in. She had no way to protect herself. Strong supernaturals sought after channels due to their ability to absorb energy and give it to another supernatural. Their parents saw the energy while they were still infants, and protected them. Why wasn’t she? Where were her parents? They would have known, since only supernaturals could give birth to a channel.
Derek got off the phone. “There is no sign of her anywhere. Anna has been trying to call her, but her phone goes straight to voice mail.”
Sickening dread consumed Kieran. Mortef was looking for Rachel and if he found her, she had no way to protect herself. What had they done? Of course she ran. The fear he felt coming off her after the sex they’d shared added to the sick feeling in his heart. If they didn’t find her before Mortef, or someone just as twisted, she would be used as a weapon. Evil supernaturals like Mortef didn’t care for treasures like her. They used them until their bodies and minds were shattered and then tossed them away. Kieran had seen more than one channel that had been misused. Why didn’t he see the trauma in her? Now that he knew what she was, the evidence screamed at him. Her catatonic state for so long, the fear, and how slow she was to recover were all classic trauma signs of a channel that had been badly abused.
“We’re going after her. If you dare try to stop us, I will fight my way through you.” Devon turned to head back toward the car.
“Where will you start looking?” Marcus asked. His eyes held no malice, only curiosity.
Hopelessness filled Kieran. They didn’t know anything about her, or where she’d run to. Devon’s shoulders started to slump. “I can’t just give up. She’s our mate.”
Surprise filled Marcus’s face, and his head tilted as he studied their faces. “You’re sure?”
Kieran and Devon both nodded. “We both had to fight the temptation to bite her, and not to feed. The small taste we had while kissing confirmed that she is our mate.”
Marcus held his hand out toward the cabin. “Then come inside. Let’s talk this out with Anna and Yerel. Maybe we can figure out a good place to start looking for her.”
Chapter Seven
Rachel glanced at her phone once again to make sure she turned onto the right county road, since this part of Texas was full of them. It wasn’t long ago that her parents sold their large cattle ranch and downsized to a smaller farm.
The arrow indicated she needed to turn and she slowed down. She dialed her mom’s cell phone and she answered on the first ring. “Hi, baby.”
“Hi, Mom. I just turned onto the gravel road.”
“Oh good. I will wait for you at the end of the driveway. It’s really easy to miss. Just keep driving for about two miles.”
“Okay, thanks, Mom.”
“I am so happy you’re home, baby. I was worried when you were gone for so long.”
“Well, I had a bit of an accident.” Tears flooded her eyes. She couldn’t remember what Anna had told her, and it felt like she was lying to her mom. A Vampire attacked me, Mama, and I did terrible things. I felt people die, and I had to hide for a while. I still feel so very wrong, and I’m scared I’ll never be me again. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell her mom everything, but Lycans had very strict laws. She knew it was for good reason, people feared what they didn’t understand. If the public knew about werewolves and Vampires, they’d do their best to wipe them out.
As she rounded a curve in the road, she saw her mom standing in the middle of the gravel road, waving a neon pink flag. She laughed as she stopped the car, and her mom got in.
Her mom grinned hugely at her, and then gave her a worried frown. “I’m so glad you’re here, baby girl.”
She gave her a shaky smile, afraid if she spoke, she’d break down. She turned under the metal archway with a large star of Texas in the middle. The driveway curved through the trees for a quarter mile before it opened up to Texas prairie grass.
“Just pull into the carport next to the barn.” Her mom pointed at the large carport that was more like another barn without the walls.
She parked, got out of the car, and looked around. “I thought you said this was a small farm?”
“Well, the last ranch had four hundred and seventy acres. This one is only sixty.”
“Sixty, huh.” She glanced around at the barn that held a couple of horses that were eating, and cows grazed in the field. It seemed even in retirement, her parents couldn’t give up the farm life.
Her mom smiled and absently brushed her hands against her legs as if to sweep the dirt off them. Life on a ranch in Texas was dusty. After a lifetime of ranching, it was a hard habit to break. “Matt lives out on the back half of the property and helps us with the place. We don’t see him often though. Between taking care of the herd, and hanging out with his friends in Paris, he’s rarely around. Addy still lives at home, of course, and she is also a big help. Your father made himself a putting green to help occupy all his free time.”
Chuckling, she turned her attention to the two-story house. It was a mixture of stone and log cabin. The pillars on the front porch were stone on the bottom and brown painted wood at the top. The cemented porch expanded the length of the house and had a built-in stone fireplace in one corner and four ceiling fans along the expanse of the porch.
Two golden Labs ran enthusiastically toward her. She knelt down and held her arms open. “Gus! Rufus! Come here, boys.” They whined and barked as they both tried to get into her lap as their tails whipped back and forth.
“There are my boys. How are my boys? Oh my, you’re so big now!”
Barking, the two dogs jostled for the best position to be able to lick her face. She spent a few moments giving them the deep scratches they loved the most and letting the dogs love on her before she stood up.
Her little sister, Addy, stepped out onto the porch, and the dogs both ran up to the door and back down the steps of the porch between the two of them.
Even though her features were completely different, and they had different biological parents, Addy was still every bit her sister. Her parents could not have children of their own, but that never stopped them from getting the family they wanted. All three of them had been orphaned, and had found a loving family out of that tragedy.
Addy wore shorts, which showed the scars on her legs from the multiple surgeries to fix her legs after the car crash that killed her parents and siblings.
She smiled at her sister. For just a moment, Addy was the tiny, broken little girl who cried for her mom. She remembered the nights their mom rocked both of them in the oversized rocker recliner and hummed softly to them as Addy mourned the loss of her parents.
Addy arched her eyebrows at her. “It’s about time you came home. I thought you didn’t love us anymore.”
She pulled her sister into a hug. “You’re silly. I was just busy. Unlike you, you spoiled rotten little brat, I have to work for a living.” She stuck her tongue out and winked as Addy stared at her with one eye squinted to show she was not amused at her sister’s wisecrack.
Addy shook her head as she laughed. “Right,” she said sarcastically. They both laughed as they embraced one another in a tight hug. God, she never thought she’d miss her little sister’s sarcasm.
She crossed the porch with her mom and Addy before she entered through the wooden front door. The interior of the house looked much like a log cabin with a massive
stone fireplace and grand staircase. “Way to downsize, Mom.”
Her mom laughed and pulled her further into the home toward the great room that had a wall of windows and glass doors that showed off the view of pasture and trees.
The faint sound of a ringtone drifted down from upstairs. “That’s for me. I am going to go and hide in my room for a while,” Addy called before she ran up the stairs to the second floor.
She could smell a pot roast cooking. Her mom put them in a slow cooker, which filled the house with the wonderful aroma of roast, vegetables, and broth. If her mom stayed true to form, there was bread rising in the kitchen to go with their meal.
She closed her eyes for a moment and it hit her all at once. She swallowed the thick knot that formed in her throat as tears stung her eyes. When she was living that unspeakable nightmare, and had hidden in her mind, this was where she went. The safety of home. It may have been a different house, but the smells and feeling of safety was the same.
“Hey.” Her mom lightly placed her hand under her chin and gazed into her eyes. “Baby girl, are you okay?”
She threw her arms around her mom. “I’m so happy to be home. I can’t really talk about it, but it was awful, Mama.”
“Oh, sweetie.” Her mom rubbed her hands up and down her back as she held her.
“Karen, did I hear our girl?”
“Yeah, Dean, she’s home.”
She lifted away from her mom to see her dad walk into the foyer. “Daddy.” Rachel ran to him and felt the love and safety of her father’s arms around her.
“Hey, pumpkin. What’s with the tears?”
“Nothing really. It’s just been a really hard few months, and I am so happy to see you.” Home, she was home and safe. While she was happy to be home, her heart and soul cried out for the two dominating Vampires she’d left in Tennessee. Fresh tears fell as the pain of missing them lanced her heart.
* * * *
Vampires' Embrace [Southern Supernatural Alphas] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) Page 9