INTO THE FIRE (Forbidden Love)

by James, Danielle

She scampered to her knees as she wiped the sand out of his face. She leaned down and listened. He was breathing. His heart was beating. She knew that it would be because she could feel him inside her.

  “Oh Cowboy what have you gotten yourself into now?” she whispered by his ear.

  The sounds of the fighting were still loud in her ears, even this far away. Antonio was dead. There was no question about it. Vampires didn’t do well against fire. How many more would die? How many were already dead?

  Leigh’s heart tugged at the thought. These people were her family. They were hers to protect. Rebel would live, as long as he didn’t get hurt anymore. There was only one thing she could do. If Rebel had been conscious he would have killed her for even thinking it. But he wasn’t conscious, was he.

  She kissed Rebel on the lips and stood up. She brushed the sand from her body and headed back to the house.

  The fighting was still raging on. Leigh looked around with a new perspective. All this was for her. Her damned fault and her mess to clean up. She would not, could not have the blood of anyone else on her hands.

  She walked to the middle of the beach and screamed for Merrick.

  As soon as her voice left her throat Merrick heard it. His massive dragon head whipped around and his eyes landed on her. With a flick of his wings he was sailing her way. Leigh fisted her hands at her side and willed herself to remain still. She was certain Merrick was going to snatch her up and fly away with her. He did not.

  Instead, he dropped straight down from the sky, landing in front of her. Well, well, well… what do we have here? Merrick said in her mind.

  “It’s me you want!” Leigh shouted up at him. “Take me and leave them alone!”

  And why would I do that? He asked.

  “Because I will go with you,” she said. “Willingly.” The last word seemed to choke her throat and made her stomach lurch.

  Hmmm, he pondered for a moment with a sadistic grin. I think I will take you. He roared the order for his army to retreat and almost instantly the fighting stopped. The weres backed off, the faeries shot into the sky and the vampires stood statue still.

  Angel and his crew were shocked by the sudden silence.

  “I want your word Merrick,” Leigh shouted. “No harm to my family, and you get me.”

  Agreed, he said as he snatched her up and spread his wings.

  “No!” Angel shouted as he ran for Leigh.

  “No Angel! Stop!” she shouted with her hand up. “This is the only way.”

  The army Merrick assembled stood still and watched until he lifted Leigh up into the sky and flew south. They stayed until he was out of sight and then slowly retreated.

  Angel stood there helpless to stop it. He was in shock. Damn Leigh. And where the fuck was Rebel? No way he would have let her go like that. A sick feeling settled in his stomach. The only way Rebel would let his mate go would be if he were dead. And Angel couldn’t see him. He reached out to him with his mind, but got nothing in response.

  Hell, Antonio was dead, Gage was bleeding, Rebel was missing and Leigh sacrificed herself to Merrick. God only knows what he would do to her once they were alone. And what when he found out Leigh was pregnant?

  Yeah he knew he wasn’t supposed to know, but having a strong mind allowed him to hear thoughts not intended for him. He didn’t do it on purpose, but sometimes they came through just the same.

  Angel looked around the beach with a heavy heart. There were dead weres and vampires littering the beach. The sand was dark brown, stained heavily with blood and ash. His eyes rested on the pile of ash that used to be his brother and dear friend. How much blood would have to spill before the world realized that mating sometimes crossed species? When would the discrimination end? Cross-species mating for the supernatural world was no different than interracial marriages for humans.

  It was a sad day in the vampire world. The humans would be upset as well. He watched as Jacque tended to Gage’s injuries. “Jacque!” he cried out. “Get Gage in the house and check on the women! Sebastian? You’re with me!’

  Jacque did as he was told as Angel and Sebastian set out to look for Rebel.

  TWENTY FIVE

  The sand shifted and sucked at their feet like quicksand. Even with their preternatural speed they had trouble maneuvering through it. Their eyes searched along the shore and even out on the water for Rebel.

  Angel finally saw a shape hunched over in the darkness. There was no question that this was not Rebel. It was female. As they approached, Angel could see the slender build and long red hair. What little of her skin was showing had a shimmer to it; a strange glow that seemed to radiate from within.

  She heard the vampires approaching and looked their way. She stood to greet them. It was then that Angel saw what she had been bent over. It was his brother. Rebel.

  “What have you done to him!” Angel demanded.

  “I have done nothing to him,” she replied. Her voice was soft and sweet, and Angel could swear he heard music in her tone. “I was only checking to be sure he lives.”

  “Well, as you can plainly see, he is alive. Now get away from him,” Sebastian commanded as he pushed past her to verify Rebel was in fact alive and okay.

  “He bears the mark of a mated vampire,” she continued as if Sebastian had not spoken.

  “No shit,” Angel snapped.

  “The dragon, he swore the female was his mate, but she bears the same mark. The exact mark as this vampire.”

  “That’s because she is Rebel’s mate.”

  “Why would he lie? Does he not know that she is not his?” she asked.

  Angel didn’t know what to make of this fae. She was beautiful and kind, and he could swear he saw tears forming in her eyes. “Merrick is a sadistic fuck, Miss Fae. He knows she is not his, but he believes if he cannot have her, no one else will either.”

  “He’s nothing more than a virus on the entire planet,” snarled Sebastian.

  “I fear I must apologize,” the fae said quietly. “We were led to believe the girl was being held against her will, that she had been brainwashed. There is no way to fake a true mating.”

  “Whatever,” Sebastian said, “we gotta get him back to the house.”

  “Agreed,” Angel said.

  “May I accompany you?” the woman asked in her lilting voice. “I may be of some assistance to you.”

  Angel didn’t know how he felt about that. Just moments earlier she had been fighting his family and now she had pulled a complete 180. He could not read her mind and her voice bared no evidence of lies, but it was common knowledge that faeries were tricksters. But they were also known to have incredible power and if she truly was remorseful and wanted to help, she would be an incredible asset in getting Leigh back. And they would get her back. It was one of those things that went without saying. Leigh was family. And the baby she carried in her belly would be the first of her kind in history. Hell no there was no way Merrick was getting the opportunity to hurt them. The woman could help them get into Merrick’s hidey hole, wherever that was.

  Of course, Rebel would know where to find Leigh. It was part of the bond they shared. But he wouldn’t wait for a plan. He would run balls out into hell to get his mate back. He would have to be restrained until a plan was formed and the woman could be the key.

  But if her intentions were bad, she could be the death of his family.

  Angel rubbed his temples in an attempt to make the drum solo stop. He watched Sebastian pick up Rebel from the sand and carry him in the direction of the house. The woman stood still as stone while she waited patiently for Angel to grant or deny her permission into his home.

  “I don’t know,” he muttered. “How can I trust you?”

  “I don’t have an answer to that,” she replied. “Listen to your instincts. What are they telling you? I can let you into my mind, but you would still not know the truth. All I can offer is my word that I want to help. I was misled and I am quite unhappy about that. I do not mislead yo
u now.”

  Angel sighed a long, uncertain sigh, but motioned for her to follow him. “If I let you near my family…”

  “I understand,” she cut him off.

  The pair walked in silence along the beach back to Angel’s estate. He couldn’t help but watch her. The way she moved was surreal, almost as if she floated. The wind didn’t tousle her hair and her feet didn’t shift in the sand. The moonlight shimmered across her skin like a thousand crushed diamonds.

  “Serena,” she said, breaking the thick silence.

  “Excuse me?” Angel said.

  “My name is Serena.”

  “Angel.”

  “I know.” She looked up into the stars and her eyes twinkled in their reflection. If she weren’t a filthy fae, he would have thought her beautiful. “What can I do to make you more at ease?”

  “Help us,” Angel said. “Help us find and get Leigh back.”

  She nodded her agreement as they approached the sliding glass doors to the house.

  TWENTY SIX

  It was a cluster-fuck. That’s what Leigh would have called the commotion inside the house. The women were running this way and that trying to get Jacque the supplies he needed to see to his fallen brother. Someone had thankfully used the fire extinguisher and put out the fires in the house.

  Rebel was already restrained and quite pissed off about that. Gage was on the make-shift operating table that had once been the kitchen table. He was bleeding out from several deep gashes in his chest and belly and Jacque was moving as fast as he could to stop it. Jessica was defrosting O negative in the microwave as Brea was setting up an IV drip for him.

  Jade was in the corner with Rebel, singing to him. Her voice had a special calming quality that undoubtedly was keeping Rebel in place. That, and the fact that Rebel would never risk hurting the child. Whomever decided to have Jade babysit was a fucking genius.

  “Oh my,” the faery said.

  “Who the fuck let you in here!” Jacque shouted at her without taking his hands off his task. “Get out!”

  “I let her in,” Angel said.

  “Why??”

  “Because she can help us, and right now we need all the help we can get.”

  “I’ll fucking kill you bitch,” Jacque snarled, “I will rip your fucking heart out and eat it with a fucking spoon while you are still alive to watch.”

  “Jacque!” Angel shouted, “Concentrate on Gage! What’s the word?”

  “I don’t fucking know! If I can’t stop the bleeding he’s gonna fucking die. I’m pumping O neg into his shit as fast as possible, but it’s pouring right the fuck back out! I can’t sew his ass up fast enough!”

  “Please,” Serena said, “Let me help you.”

  “Fuck off and die,” Jacque said as he finished stitching another slash in Gage’s chest and moving on to the next one.

  “Help him,” Angel said, ignoring his man’s protests. He had already lost one brother, he wasn’t about to lose another. He just prayed that he was making the right decision by letting the faery help.

  Serena placed her hands on Gage’s temples and closed her eyes. She whispered some faery chant under her breath over and over again.

  “I swear I will fucking cut you if he dies,” Jacque said while rethreading the needle.

  “Jacque, do your job and let her do hers.”

  “She ain’t got a job here,” he growled.

  But even as he said it he knew she was helping. The bleeding, while it had not stopped, had slowed substantially. Gage’s blood pressure was steadily climbing. He wanted to think it was because he had stitched the worst of the bleeders, but deep down he knew it was that damned fae spell she was chanting.

  Fucking faeries.

  But Jacque didn’t have time to look a gift horse in the mouth. It was all he could do to keep stitching. First, save his brother. Then kill the bitch.

  “What else can I do?” Brea asked as she wiped a red, sweat soaked lock out of her face.

  “Check on Rebel,” Jacque replied. “He needs you now.”

  Brea walked into the living room where Rebel was chained up in the corner. She took Jade into her arms and scooted right up beside Rebel until their shoulders touched.

  “You really don’t want to be that close to me,” he warned.

  “You won’t hurt me,” she said, “and you won’t hurt Jade.”

  “That’s playing dirty and you know it,” he snapped.

  Brea looked at his face. He was covered in yuck. His brow rings had been ripped out and his nose was likely broken. His upper lip was fatter than the bottom, and a slow trickle of blood was making its way down his temple. Nothing life threatening though. Under the sand and dirt and blood, she could see his pain. His mate was gone and he physically needed to get her back. He could break his restraints if he wanted to. It was the will of his family keeping him put.

  He knew Merrick would not immediately hurt Leigh. But when she didn’t shift to fight him off, he would start asking questions. And when he discovered that she was pregnant, only God knew what he would do with her. What would he do with his unborn child?

  He had to get her back before that could happen.

  “He won’t hurt her,” Brea said as if she could hear the litany in his head. “They are safe for now.”

  When Rebel just looked at her, she said, “She told us about the baby.”

  The look in her pretty violet eyes told him everything. What Leigh had told them. What she had done to save his family. It cut like a hot knife through his chest and crushed his soul. The pain in his chest was so heavy he thought he might break under the pressure. It was like there was a dark all-sucking void that would collapse on itself it weren’t made whole again, and fucking fast. There were so many things Rebel wanted to say. So many things he wanted to do. He wanted to thank Brea for understanding what he could not say. He wanted to fight, to run, to kill something. He wanted to scream. The swirling emotions inside him had to get out, one way or another. But he didn’t scream. Instead, he did something he had not done since the night he became a vampire. He dropped his head into his hands and cried.

  Sebastian wrapped his arms around Jessica and watched his brother cry from across the room. He could only imagine the pain Rebel must have been feeling. For a mated vampire, his mate was his whole reason for existing. He couldn’t begin to even fathom what his life would be like if he lost Jessica. He would have no life. Not only was she is perfect match in every way, his soul mate, but she was his sole source of blood. Sebastian was one of those vampires who could only feed from his mate and any other blood would make him violently sick.

  Angel had lost Brea for a short time in the beginning of their relationship. He had done everything possible wrong. Brea was not as open to the mating as his Jessica had been. For those short weeks Angel had lain there in the bed, nothing more than a shell, slowly starving to death and literally dying of a broken heart. Thank God Brea had come back to him.

  He squeezed Jessica tighter. She turned her head to kiss him and her scent blew across his nose. He loved the way she smelled. So did his inner animal. It never failed to drive him insane with lust and hunger. But this time, it made his heart ache. He even felt guilty holding his mate while his brother suffered.

  “We will get her back,” Jessica said, knowing what Sebastian was thinking.

  “I know,” he said. And he did know it. The only thing to work out was the how, when, and how many of Merrick’s lackeys would he get to kill.

  An exhausted Jacque emerged from the kitchen. His face was dirty and stained with blood. His shirt was also covered in blood. Gage’s. He wiped his hand across his forehead and left a white streak in its wake. “I got him all patched up and another bottle of O neg pouring into his veins now. Angel and the faery bitch are in there. Now we wait and see. I think the worst is over now,” he told everyone and no one in particular as he dropped down on the couch.

  “Thank God,” Jessica breathed. But she knew just like everyone el
se, the worst was yet to come.

  TWENTY SEVEN

  What the fuck had she gotten herself into this time? Leigh stared at the three inch shackles around her ankles and wrists. Of course, Merrick had one of his faeries spell them so that she wouldn’t be able to shift out of them. Not that she planned on shifting anyway.

  And since when did Merrick associate with fucking faeries any damned way? He had always been a loner, but more that he was the most prejudice mother fucker she ever met. In the past, he would have never trusted the fae to help him. Why now? Who knew, and she didn’t much care. All she wanted was to go home to Rebel.

  She couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing now. Surely he was awake. Pissed off for sure, and hopefully not on his way to find her. She knew there was no way that he would let her go, but she hoped that his family would have the sense and the strength to stop him from flying in after her in a blind rage. It would mean certain death for him.

  They would need a plan, and a damned good one. They would have no trouble finding her. Rebel would always be able to find her. She was thankful that little tidbit was a secret from Merrick. As far as he knew, the vamps had no idea where he was staying. And they didn’t. But he hadn’t taken the time to do his research on vampire mating. Hell, as far as Merrick was concerned, she wasn’t really mated after all. How could she be when Rebel was just a stupid blood sucker, right? There were a few other things he didn’t know about. Like how Rebel had taken on some of her magic. He could levitate. He could eat food. He could be out in the sun. The newest of his abilities was the power to move things with his mind. Not even his family knew about that one yet. He hadn’t learn to control it so he didn’t use it around anyone else.

  Not that all that would help in getting her the fuck out of this dungeon. And that is precisely what her cell looked like. A good old fashioned medieval dungeon. She was chained to the wall in five by five cell made of cement blocks. She had watched where he flew her on the way here. She was certain she was somewhere in Texas.

  “Welcome home Leigh,” Merrick sneered as he approached her cell. “How are you feeling on this lovely morning?”