The closest shape sprang, knocking Josey to the ground. Both Josey and Emily screamed, but Emily was too far away to help. Free attacked, but the little Border collie stood no chance against the larger wolves.
The wolves ignored the dog, shaking her off with almost human movements, staring at Emily as she continued screaming Rydere’s name. Screaming for help.
One was behind her as she turned and ran; she could feel it’s hatred, feel it’s breath as it burned against her skin. So close.
She tripped, slamming hard to the path. Gravel bit into her skin, mud soaked her white tunic. The beast behind her pounced, his teeth inches from her neck, his weight pinning her. She grabbed for a stick inches from her on the path; she swung, but it jerked the branch out of her hand with its teeth.
She fought, certain she was going to die, ripped to shreds by some beast her mind refused to identify.
She screamed; the word on her breath his name.
Then it was gone, and she heard a voice yelling her name; yelling at her to run, to get inside and get help.
She stumbled to her feet as Rydere attacked the first of the beasts surrounding her. He slashed with his knife, doing more damage than she’d have expected. Another man passed her with a keening cry, a warrior yell of both anger and despair, as she neared the doors. Cormac.
Hands pulled her inside the building. Theo held her. Thank God. “Josey! You have to help her! Help him!”
“Stay inside! Go to the king’s suites and stay there! The alarm has been sounded, and there is no one in this tribe that won’t die to protect you. Go!”
Emily couldn’t leave, not while knowing that Josey was outside, hurt. That Rydere might be. She could see everything that was happening through the window. Rydere still fought, though he was bloody. God, what if they killed him? What would his people do? What would she do? He couldn’t die, he couldn’t. He couldn’t.
Aodhan and several men tried to pull her away from the door before storming into the gardens. But Emily had to watch.
She screamed as Rydere went down beneath the largest of the wolves. Aodhan struck out, killing the animal. The wolf’s body dropped to the ground and turned into that of a man.
It was the last of the wolves. Cormac ran in, Josey cradled in his arms, not stopping to give Emily a chance to check on her cousin. Aodhan and Theo lifted Rydere between them, wrapping his arms around their shoulders.
Emily held the doors open as they pulled him inside. “Rydere?”
He lifted his head, relief visible in his pain-filled orange eyes. “Rajni, are you hurt?”
“Just bruises, I’ll be ok.” Emily tried to fight the urge to run her hands over him, to check for injuries herself. The urge was too strong and she started at his shoulders, her hands touching as much of him as she could. “How badly are you hurt?”
He didn’t answer and she saw that he'd fallen unconscious.
“We’ll take him to your suite, Dahn Emily,” Theo said. “Run ahead, see that he has clean clothing. Have Jambu fetch bandages and warm water. Go on. We'll bring your Rajni.”
****
She felt useless when they stripped the ruined clothing from his body. Aodhan had called for a doctor and a blonde woman arrived five minutes later.
“He’ll need blood,” the doctor said after stitching the worst injury. “But he should be fine in a few days, a week at most. He was lucky. If you’ll excuse me, I need to assist with my brother’s Rajni.”
Aodhan turned to Emily. "Go to your cousins, Dahn Emily. They have need of you."
"But he—" She wanted to go to her cousins, to be with Josey, but Rydere looked so vulnerable.
"We will care for him." Aodhan smiled reassuringly. "And when he is settled we will come to you. He needs much blood, and we know our feeding is still uncomfortable to you. Go."
His hands were insistent as he nudged her toward the door. Theo was just visible leaning over Rydere. Emily left.
****
Mickey and Mal waited outside the suite Josey had been sharing with Cormac.
"Em!" Mickey threw her arms around Emily and held tight. "Oh God, we were so worried. Are you ok?"
"Bruises. Josey?"
"The doctors, healers, are with her." Mal rubbed the chill from her arms as she stared at the closed suite door. "They won't take her to a hospital, Em. They say it would be too hard to keep Josey safe there after blood tests have been ran. That the human doctors can’t help her now anyway."
"Have either of you seen her?" Emily shoved the thoughts of her and her cousins not being human away.
When they shook their heads no Emily opened the door. No one stopped her, and she hadn't expected anyone would. Rydere had said she was their queen, after all. "Come with me."
Cormac stood by the head of the bed, his face harsh and pale. Terrified. The female doctor—healer—and another hovered over Josey.
"How is she?" Emily asked.
"Hanging on," the blonde woman said. "She's young and healthy and seems to be fighting to stay with us. She has a chance."
"Just a chance?" Cormac demanded, his eyes still trained on Josey's blood and dirt-streaked face.
Her cousin looked so young and vulnerable on the green silk comforter.
"I won't lie, Cormac. You could lose her; they intended to kill her in the most painful way possible and they got a good start. If she had been alone in the gardens, we wouldn't be here now. Whatever—whoever—distracted them saved her life. See she's fed as often as she will take it. Keep her wounds clean, and she should pull through. Her recent humanness is in her favor. You're looking at a month minimum recovery time. Probably closer to twice that."
An hour later the doctors left, after having examined Cormac's injuries. He sat by the bed, his eyes trained on Josey the entire time his hands were being stitched.
Aodhan and Theo arrived shortly after. Mickey threw herself into Theo's arms, sobbing. He rocked her until she calmed. Aodhan's hand rose to hold Mal's shoulder and pull her closer; for once she didn't pull away.
Emily was afraid to ask the question on the tip of her tongue. Aodhan seemed to understand. "He's...better. He's sleeping, now. But he asked me to check on you one more time."
"I'm fine, just bruises." They'd almost died, just that quickly, and she had only bruises to show for it. "I need to change clothing. I need...I need...to see..."
Mickey hugged her. "Go, Em. I'll stay here with Josey. So will Mal."
****
The suite had been darkened, only one light burning when Emily entered. Guards had been posted outside their door and bars covered the windows.
Rydere slept, stretched over the center of the bed. His large body took up so much of the space. Large and strong. Thank God or the goddess he was always mentioning. Cotton pants rode low on his hips, barely covering anything. His bandaged chest rose and feel with even rhythm. His body was strong, healthy, toned.
She shuddered as she remembered how he had looked fighting the wolves; how fiercely he'd battled. How he'd yelled at her to get inside where she would be safe. Was that why he'd rushed outside? To save her?
Instinctively she knew it was. Her fingers were gentle as they ran over the bandages, over the damage he’d gained while protecting her and Josey.
His body stilled beneath her exploring hands. She looked at his face, seeing his eyes burning as he stared at her. He lifted his hand to her face, rubbing at dirt she hadn't realized she'd missed. "Emily, my love? Are you hurt?"
"No."
"How is your cousin?"
"They say she should pull through." Emily's breath shuddered out as she pulled her hands back. "In time."
"Guess you won't be leaving soon, after all." His words were soft, his hand gentle as it traced the cut on her lip. "If I could, I'd kill those Lupoiux bastards all over again for what they've done to you and your cousin."
"What were they? And why...Werewolves."
"Lupoiux. We've fought with them for millennia. I knew you'd be a target as soo
n as word of your existence got out. I'm sorry, Emily. For not keeping you safe. I should have."
"You couldn't have predicted what happened."
"Your home wasn't safe from me, was it?"
"No." And it hadn't been, but she understood him now. It might not have been noble, or honorable, what he'd planned for her, but she understood it now. Wasn't she now feeling her own stirring for vengeance against the creatures who'd harmed her cousin, harmed her…harmed Rydere? "But I almost understand why you did it. My grandfather must be stopped."
"And I had no right involving you in my battles with him."
"But if you hadn't, we wouldn't be here right now," Emily said.
"No." He tightened his hold on her hand. "I wouldn't have found you. I wouldn't have known I had my Rajni in this world. I cannot regret that, Emily. I regret what's happened between us, that I've hurt and frightened and taken from you. That your cousin was unprotected and nearly killed because I failed you. But I cannot regret having found you."
Emily didn't doubt he spoke the truth. It was in his eyes and the tension of his body. She'd moved closer as he spoke, until she was curled against him. "I'm not hurting you, am I?"
"No. But you can't stay long." His tone was filled with regret as he brushed his lips over her forehead.
"Why?"
"Because I am not strong right now, and I need you too much."
Emily tensed, then before she could stop herself she leaned closer and covered his lips with her own. He jerked in surprise. His hands wrapped around her upper arms and he pulled her over his chest, careless of the bandage. He took control of her like he'd done from the very beginning.
Emily didn't care. He was alive, she was alive, and she wanted to feel it.
Her hands slid into his hair, pulling his head closer to her.
He tried to pull away. "Emily...I won't be able to stop myself again."
"Shh. I don't want you to." She recovered his mouth with hers, then pulled back when he shifted to lean over her. "But don't hurt yourself."
"I won’t hurt myself by loving my Rajni." He pulled her tunic over her head, then flicked open the front clasp to her bra.
His hands were just rough enough as they cupped her breasts and squeezed. Emily arched against him, hungry for him to take her in his mouth. He obliged.
“Do not stifle how you want your Rajni, my dove. Tell me. Better yet—show me.”
Emily did just that.
********
Coming Fall 2011…
ReAwakening
Chapter One
Hours of planning would culminate in just a few moments, and Rathan Malickus felt the tension and adrenaline coursing through his body. It had been years since he'd had any such adventure.
"You are sure this is who you seek, then?" he asked of the second man waiting upon the mountain that overlooked the small town of Dardano, Colorado.
"Yes." Rand Taniss kept his lupine eyes focused on the headlights traveling away from the town. Only one car was visible on the small highway for many miles. That car was their target. "Jambu said these two are the closest to the king and his advisors."
Rathan nodded. "Vengeance is entertaining, is it not?"
"That's not what I would call it."
Rathan shrugged. He viewed things differently than the once-human Rand. Demons lived for things such as vengeance. That it wasn't his vengeance, but Rand's that he sought mattered little. "Ah, but you are Lupoiux, not Demon."
"They are getting closer. Do you remember what to do?" Rand smirked, alluding to the running joke between the two about Rathan's considerable age.
"Please, this pitifully simple plan of yours is nothing compared to the maneuvers I once orchestrated." Rathan had been a general in his father's demonic army until the uprising back in Galveston in 1900. He'd been a displaced king since then. "We are stopping a car, and taking two women hostage. What is so difficult about that?"
"These are not human women."
"Dardaptoan. Still weak compared to my kind." The women were of the Dardaptos race, an ancient race that had inspired the silly human legends of vampires. Five times stronger than humans, the Dardaptoan women where not stronger than any of the other non-human beings in the world. But the Dardaptoan males, they were a worthy foe for either Lupoiux or Demon.
It was the male family members of these women that were the true targets of vengeance.
Two weeks earlier, Rand's family home was invaded, and four of his female relatives taken by Dardaptoan males. His relatives were defenseless human women in their twenties. They'd not stood a chance against the Dardaptoan king and his three advisors. Rand's two sisters were among them, and since the Dardaptoans fed on humans there was no hope to get them back. Rathan mourned the four women more than he'd thought he could. They'd made him a part of their family so easily.
"So we will meet up in a week, then?" Rand paced in a small circle, the move so canine that Rathan smirked again. Lupoiux werewolves were so animalistic it was a wonder they were considered civilized at all.
"At the retreat, yes." The plan was decidedly simple. They each would take one of the women, abandon the car, and hike in different directions. They would meet atop Taniss Mountain with their captives three days hence. In the meantime, Rathan was free to do whatever he wished with his captive. That was what he was truly looking forward to.
Rathan was Incubus, a sub-species of demons who fed from two sources--women's sexual fantasies, or sex with women. It had been a while since he'd been given free rein to feast.
Rathan didn't feed from the women located on Taniss Estate. They were all servants of Rand's human family, or they were that family and he had made a promise to his friend a decade earlier to never eat from his family. He could occasionally brush against the Taniss women in fantasies, but not full-fledged dine.
He suddenly felt starved. "Come on, let's do this then."
"Good luck, my friend." Rand flashed into wolven form then lifted his auburn muzzle to the moon. A long, undulant howl split the air before the werewolf raced toward the highway.
****
Kindara rested as the miles passed. Her head hurt from the strain of the last two weeks and her daughter had insisted on driving. Kindara hadn't the strength to argue with the stubborn child. Plus, Jierra was excited to be taking her first trip away from Dardano and had wanted to drive. How could any mother have said no?
This trip could potentially provide so much for the Dardaptoan people that Kindara felt the anxiety close in once again. Her people needed better medical care. They needed antibiotics, sedatives, pain relievers, fever reducers, all of it. For such an advanced species, they'd been unable to create even the most rudimentary medications. Human medications just didn't work on the Dardaptos.
Kindara was her tribe's chief healer, and the burden rested on her shoulders. A week earlier, that fact had become even more abundantly clear when her sister-in-law had been attacked by Lupoiux wolves. With no antibiotics it had been grim. Only the fact that Josey was a recently converted human who still possessed human antibodies in her blood had made a difference; had she been born Dardaptoan she probably would have died.
Kindara couldn't let that happen to her brother. She'd lost her own Rajni, her own mate Iavius, almost twenty-nine years earlier. She'd not want anyone--especially her family members--to experience that pain. She and Jierra were making the two hundred mile drive to Denver to speak with an ancient witch about a possible strain of antibiotics the Dardaptoans might be able to use.
Her daughter was humming along to a human song playing on the radio, her fingers drumming the wheel. Kindara smiled. This girl was her life, the only reason she'd gotten past her Rajni's death was Jierra.
She'd been a squalling infant when Kindara's brother had placed the newly orphaned Jierra in her arms two years after Iavius's death. The child's parents--cousins of Kindara's--had been killed by the same vicious monster who'd taken Iavius. As the female head of the family, Kindara was responsible for
finding homes for any orphans. She'd found one for Jierra the instant she'd touched her. This was her child, and always would be.
"You have horrible taste in music."
"No, I have younger taste in music. Who was the most popular composer in your youth?" Jierra laughed after she asked. "Beethoven."
"I preferred Mozart. I heard him play once. It was spectacular."
"You look pretty good for your age, then."
"Don't I, though? You'd better watch the road."
"There's no one around for miles, Mother." Jierra increased the speed.
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