Raintree

by Linda Howard

Cloaking himself with a spell of invisibility, blocking both his physical and psychic presence, Judah proceeded deeper into the forest. The trained warrior within him took over completely as he neared his destination. He paused as Pax Greynell crept up behind Mercy and wrapped a dark cord around her slender neck. She had been too deep into an empathic trance to sense her attacker’s presence. Grasping the cord, she struggled to loosen it, but to no avail.

  Judah ran with lightning speed, removing his dagger from the jewel-crested sheath inside his jacket as he raced to save the life of a woman who belonged to him in a way no other woman ever had or ever would. She was his and his alone. Only he, Dranir Judah Ansara, had the right to kill her.

  Just as Mercy had been taken by surprise by her attacker, so was Greynell. Judah shoved the dagger deep into his back, puncturing a kidney, killing him without a second thought. Mercy gasped for air when the cord around her neck loosened. Her assailant’s body dropped onto the pavement at her feet, crumpling into a dead heap.

  Hurriedly, Judah blasted Greynell’s body with an energy bolt, crushing it to dust.

  Judah had accomplished his mission. It was time for him to leave. But he hesitated. For only a split second, but it was long enough to sense that Mercy was in trouble. Weakened by the healing miracle she had performed on the accident victim, Mercy was not only dangerously weak, but because of fighting Greynell with what little strength she’d had left, she was quickly fading into an unconscious state from which she might not recover.

  Acting purely on possessive instinct, Judah grabbed Mercy before she fainted. The woman in the truck was still alive, healed by Mercy’s magic. She slept peacefully at her dead husband’s side.

  The shrill cries of multiple sirens warned Judah to escape. But he could not leave Mercy. If he did, she might die. He, and he alone, could revive her.

  Sidonia decided that if Mercy had not returned by midnight, she would call Dante. Dr. Huxley had phoned two hours ago to ask if Mercy had gotten home all right.

  “I know she’d been to the site of the accident, because the only survivor told me that Mercy saved her life,” Dr. Huxley had said. “I don’t understand why she didn’t wait for me. She knows I would have made sure someone saw her safely home if she was too weak to drive herself.”

  “You’re worried about my mother, aren’t you?” Eve said.

  Sidonia gasped, then turned and faced the six-year-old, who was standing in the doorway between the foyer and the front parlor. “I thought I put you to bed hours ago. Did something wake you?”

  “I haven’t been asleep.”

  Intending to take Eve back to her bedroom, Sidonia marched toward her. “It’s past eleven, and time for all good little girls to be fast asleep.”

  “I’m not a good little girl. I am Raintree.” Eve narrowed her expressive green eyes. “I am more than Raintree.”

  A foreboding chill rippled up Sidonia’s spine. “So you have said, and I have agreed. So let’s not talk about it again. Not at this late hour.” She grasped Eve’s hand. “Now come along. Your mother will be upset with both of us if, when she comes home, you aren’t in bed.”

  “She will come home,” Eve said. “Soon. Before midnight.”

  Sidonia lifted an inquisitive eyebrow. “Is that right? And you’d know that because…?”

  “Because I can see her. She’s asleep. But she will wake up soon.”

  Was Mercy out there somewhere, alone and weak to the point of unconsciousness? Was that what Eve saw? “Do you know where she is? Can you tell me exactly where I can find her?”

  “She’s in her car, the one Uncle Dante gave her,” Eve said. “It’s parked somewhere dark. But she’s all right. He’s with her. Touching her. Taking care of her. Giving her some of his strength.”

  “Who…?” Sidonia’s voice quivered. “Who is with your mother? Who is giving her some of his strength?”

  Eve smiled, the gesture equally sweet and impish. “Why, my daddy, of course.”

  TWO

  Mercy Raintree was even more beautiful than she’d been in her early twenties and far more dangerous. Despite her present weak state, Judah sensed the tremendous power within her. She was, as he had suspected, a woman who was now his equal. Odd that he, her rightful destroyer, had saved her from one of his own clan, that at this very moment he was restoring her strength when he could easily break her neck or drain the very life from her with a mere thought. And he would kill her—when the time was right. When the Ansara attacked the Raintree and annihilated their entire tribe. Unlike the Raintree, the Ansara would leave no one alive, not a single man, woman or child. But he would be merciful to his beautiful Mercy and take her life quickly, with as little pain as possible.

  While she lay in his arms unconscious, he probed her mind but found it impossible to gain entrance. She had placed a block between her and the outside world, a shield to prevent anyone from listening to her private thoughts. If he tried harder, he could possibly destroy the barrier, but why should he bother? It wasn’t as if he needed information from her. If not for Greynell’s foolish actions, he would never have been here with her. Hell, he wouldn’t be within a thousand miles of her. For the past seven years, he had made certain their paths never crossed, that he stayed far away from the North Carolina mountains and the Raintree home place.

  Her eyelids flickered, consciousness fighting for dominance, her mind trying to come out of the shadows. But Judah knew she would not awaken fully for many hours. After the combination of such an arduous healing and her struggle for her life, her mind and body could not recover without rest, not even with the surge of strength with which he had infused her. She lay in his arms, helpless, completely vulnerable. But she was not without her weapons, protection far more potent than the psychic barrier that safeguarded her private thoughts.

  If Greynell had succeeded in killing her, all hell would have broken loose. Literally. The death of a Raintree princess would have played havoc with the senses of all who were Raintree, especially Dante and Gideon. A host of her clansmen would have swarmed home, to the sanctuary. What if the Raintree Dranir and his younger brother suspected the fatal blow had come from an Ansara? He dared not risk even the slightest possibility that Mercy’s premature death could warn the Raintree of the Ansaras’ resurgence.

  Judah looked down at her. She was resting peacefully against him as he sat with her in his lap on the passenger side of her vehicle. Her head nestled on his shoulder, her slender arms limp at her sides, her full, round breasts rising and falling with each breath she took.

  He skimmed her cheek with the back of his hand.

  Memories he had forced from his mind by sheer willpower years ago broke free and reminded him of another time, another place, when he had held this woman in his arms. When he had touched her, had tutored her, had taught her…

  He had known who she was when they first met, and the very fact that she was a Raintree princess had whetted his appetite for her. She’d had no idea of his true identity, and the fact that she’d succumbed to his charms so easily had amused him. She had been practically an open book to him, unable to completely shield herself, her abilities still immature and only partly tamed. He, on the other hand, had protected himself, deliberately keeping his true identity and nature from her. They had spent less than twenty-four hours together, but in that short period of time she had become like a fever in his blood. No matter how many times he’d taken her, he had still wanted her.

  “You were a bewitching little virgin,” Judah told the sleeping Mercy. “Sweet. Luscious. Ripe for the picking.”

  Caressing her long, slender neck, he allowed his fingertips to linger on her pulse.

  Judah…Judah…

  Hearing Mercy telepathically whispering his name stunned him. He tightened his hold about her neck, then suddenly realized what he was doing and eased his hand away from her.

  On some level, she sensed his presence. That was not good. How could he explain what he was doing here, why he had just happene
d to be on a back road in the North Carolina mountains at the exact moment some madman tried to kill her?

  He had to take her home and leave her in safe hands before she awakened. If she recalled anything about him, perhaps she would believe she had simply dreamed of him.

  Did she ever dream of him? Or was he nothing more than a vague memory?

  Why should I care? This woman means nothing to me. She didn’t then. She doesn’t now. She was only a fleeting amusement for me.

  An amusement that had haunted him for far too long after their one day and night together. He had been unable to forget awakening from a deep sleep and finding her gone, his bed empty. He’d been angry that she had run away and curious as to why. But common sense had cautioned him not to follow her. And for many months afterward, he had wondered if she had somehow realized who he was—her deadly enemy—and had fled to warn her brothers of a mighty Ansara Dranir’s existence. But neither Dante nor Gideon had hunted him down and sought revenge for taking their sister’s innocence.

  She did not know who I was.

  Judah gently maneuvered Mercy so that she sat in the SUV’s passenger seat. He lowered the back of the seat until she was half reclining; then he fastened her seat belt. She whimpered. His stomach muscles knotted painfully. He hated the fact that after seven years, he could still remember the sound of her sweet, feminine whimpers when he had taken her the first time. And the second time. And the third…

  After starting the Cadillac’s engine, Judah shifted gears, turned the vehicle around and headed back up the country road. He would take Mercy home, leave her there and return to Asheville. He had no desire to stay in the United States any longer than necessary. His place was at Terrebonne, the home of the Ansara for the past two hundred years. Once the jet had landed on the island, he would call a special council meeting. Cael and his followers had to be stopped before their foolish actions endangered the Ansara and destroyed Judah’s future plans to annihilate the Raintree.

  Cael wanted to be the Dranir. Everyone knew that his older half brother believed he had been cheated out of the title by a mere chance of birth. Cael was first in line to the throne, a fact that greatly concerned Judah, who by now should have married and fathered a child. But while he could easily protect himself from Cael’s evil machinations, he hesitated to put an innocent child’s life in peril. Once Cael had been dealt with and the Raintree eliminated, Judah would choose an appropriate Dranira and procreate.

  Within five minutes of following his instincts and driving toward his destination, the high iron gates protecting the entrance to the Raintree sanctuary came into view. Judah slowed the SUV, then hit the button inside the vehicle that opened the massive gates. Before driving through, he spoke quietly, reciting ancient words, conjuring up a potent magic. With Mercy asleep at his side, he drove onto the private road that wound around and around up the foothills, all the way to the top of the highest hill, where the royal family’s house presided over the valley below, like a king on his high throne.

  Lights from the veranda welcomed them, informing Judah that someone inside was waiting for Mercy, possibly concerned for her well-being. A husband? Had she married another from the Raintree clan, or had she chosen a mere human as her mate?

  What did it matter? Whoever was now a part of her life—lover or husband or even children—they would all become Ansara targets and would die with Mercy on that fateful day. Judah parked the SUV, got out and rounded the hood. After opening the passenger door, he lifted Mercy up and into his arms. She nestled against him, her actions seeming to be instinctive, as if she believed herself safe and protected.

  Judah hardened his heart. He would not allow this beguiling creature to tempt him. She was only a woman, one like so many others. He had bedded her, as he had bedded countless women. She was no better. No different.

  Liar, an unwelcome inner voice taunted him.

  Cael cursed violently as he tore apart his living room in the seaside villa in Beauport, a place he had called home since Dranir Hadar had acknowledged him as his son. His unwanted, illegitimate son. He was the bastard from an affair the Dranir had had before he’d wed the beloved Dranira Seana. Judah’s sainted mother had died in childbirth, after suffering several miscarriages. Miscarriages caused by a curse put upon Seana by Cael’s mother, Nusi, an enchanting sorceress. Upon learning of her wicked little spells, Hadar had ordered his former mistress’s death—a public execution.

  Cael clenched his teeth, anger from his childhood and from the present situation consuming him, his rage threatening to explode from within. How was it possible that Judah had frozen his telepathic abilities? How dare he do such a thing! His brother was far more dangerous than Cael had suspected, his powers far greater. If Judah could control Cael’s inherited talents, then he had to find a way to protect himself from his younger brother’s machinations.

  Growling like a wounded bear, Cael shoved his fist through the wall, tearing apart plaster that shredded as if it were tissue paper.

  “Temper, temper,” Alexandria said, her voice mocking.

  Cael whipped around and glared at her as she stood in the open double doors leading to the patio. “You’re like a snake, Cousin, slithering silently about, sneaking up on unsuspecting victims.”

  Alexandria laughed, the sound even deeper and more throaty than her gruff voice. “You’re not my victim, but from the way you’re acting, I believe you must be the victim of some vile magic the Dranir has conjured up to prevent you from warning Greynell.”

  Cael stormed across the room toward his cousin. “What do you know?”

  “Oh, dear, dear. Judah really did freeze your powers, didn’t he?”

  “He did not!”

  “Perhaps only your psychic powers were affected, especially the telepathic ones. You weren’t able to warn Greynell, were you?”

  “Have you spoken to Judah?”

  “No, I haven’t spoken to him,” Alexandria said. “And there is no official word from him. But Claude received a telepathic message from our revered Dranir, and I just happened to be with him at the time.”

  Cael paused, a good three feet separating him from his uninvited guest. “You never just happen to be anywhere.”

  Her lips curved in a closed-mouth smile. “I made a point of staying near Claude because I knew that if Judah contacted any one of us, it would be our dear cousin.”

  “If you expect me to beg you for the information—”

  “Don’t fret. I expect nothing from you now. But when you are Dranir, I expect to rule at your side.”

  “As you will.” He closed the gap between them, reached out, circled her neck with one hand and drew her close. Close enough that his lips brushed hers. “You will be my Dranira.”

  Sighing contentedly, Alexandria wrapped her arms around Cael’s neck. “Greynell is dead. Judah killed him to prevent him from disposing of Mercy Raintree.”

  “Fool. Son of a bitch fool. He destroyed one of his own to save a Raintree. The council will—”

  “The council will be called into a special meeting once Judah returns.”

  Cael sucked in a hard, agitated breath. “For what purpose? To investigate the assassination attempt on his life? He will learn nothing. There is no trail leading back to me.”

  “Claude told me that we, the council members, must band together with Judah to stop the renegade factions within the Ansara clan. Judah truly believes we are not ready to fight the Raintree.” She looked directly into Cael’s eyes. “Are you sure we are ready, that we can win if we go to war on the day of this year’s summer solstice?”

  Snarling, Cael tightened his hold at the back of her neck. “There is nothing Judah can do to stop us. Not now. There are warriors in place, ready to strike. Even if Judah managed to stop Greynell, he cannot stop the others. Even he cannot be in two places at once.”

  “Just what do you have up your sleeve?” Alexandria’s heartbeat accelerated. Cael sensed her excitement.

  “Tabby is in Wilmington t
aking care of Echo Raintree. And then, on my command, she will eliminate Gideon.”

  “Tabby is a wild card. What if you can’t control her? She takes perverse pleasure in killing. She could easily draw attention to herself.”

  “Tabby knows what I will do to her if she fails me.”

  “Our success might well depend upon removing the Raintree royal siblings before the great battle, yet all three are still alive and well.”

  “But not for long.” Cael grinned. “Dante is in for quite a surprise tonight. And once Judah returns to Terrebonne and is consumed with other matters, I will send another warrior to take care of Mercy.”

  Sidonia heard the car drive up and park. She had taken Eve back to her room and tucked her in for a second time, warning the little imp to stay put, but she doubted the child was asleep. Eve was concerned about Mercy, just as she herself was.

  Pausing at the front door, Sidonia, peered through the left sidelight and gasped when she saw a large, dark man walking toward the veranda, an unconscious Mercy in his arms. The only vehicle in sight was Mercy’s Escalade, so who was this stranger and why was he with Mercy?

  Closing her eyes, Sidonia called for her animal helpers to awaken and come to her. Within minutes, by the time the stranger set foot on the veranda, Magnus and Rufus, her fiercely faithful Rottweilers, appeared in the yard, one on the right, the other on the left, flanking the veranda.

  Sidonia opened the front door, took one step over the threshold and faced the stranger. He paused as if he’d been expecting her, and his gaze connected with hers. He was not Raintree. His eyes were steel gray. Hard and cold, with no sign of emotion.

  “I’ve brought your mistress home, old woman,” the man told her, his voice a deep, commanding baritone.

  No, he was not Raintree, but neither was he a mere mortal.

  A tremor of unease jangled Sidonia’s nerves. If he was not Raintree and he was not human, that meant…

  “You assume correctly,” he said. “I am Ansara.”

  Sensing Sidonia’s fear, Magnus and Rufus growled.