“You can’t do this alone!” she rebutted. “You need me.”
Worry settled in his chest at the same time as acceptance. What could he say? He did need her. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I don’t want anything to happen to you,” she countered. “And you can’t go after Rock alone. You’ll both die.” She pinned him in a stare. “So what’s the plan?”
He shook his head and smiled to himself, not about to let her see him do so. She was a little warrior princess in the making. Protecting her was definitely going to be a lifetime endeavor.
Rinehart pointed to the Beasts crossing the beach to their far right. “We follow them to Walch and hopefully, Rock.”
“You think he moved Rock to a new location?”
“He’s still got military in his makeup,” Rinehart said. “He moved him. I’m sure of it. We’ll find the place and then wait for the right moment.”
Rinehart found that right moment nearly twelve hours later—a long time to wait, considering Rinehart had a good view of Rock hanging from the ceiling of the warehouse they’d tracked him to, his body bloodied and lifeless. The warehouse doors had been rolled open to expose him. It was clear that Rock was bait, and bait they didn’t have a choice but to take. His first instinct upon seeing his fellow Knight like that had been to charge in and cut him down, blast through the Beasts and take him. Then logic had taken hold, and he had endured the wait for the cover of night.
They planned to have Laura cave in the front wall to create a distraction. “You’re sure you can do it?” Rinehart asked.
“I’m sure,” she said. “Just be careful.” He kissed her and didn’t give himself time to worry about leaving her alone. He crawled through the woods toward the warehouse to make his move. As planned, the minute he arrived near the side of the warehouse, Laura did her thing. The walls began to rumble. Rinehart waited for the collapse that didn’t come. Instead, the walls kept shaking, so hard it felt like an earthquake. With a mental shrug, he decided that would have to do.
He drew his sword and rushed the warehouse, ready to be charged by the enemy, but no attack came. The walls stopped moving abruptly, and he hoped like hell that Laura stayed her position and waited for him.
He moved toward Rock’s bloodied body, the sight of him far grimmer up close. The wound in his gut was deep; blood oozed from it, pooling on the ground. Rock needed Marisol before he bled to death. And Rinehart was going to get him to her.
Rinehart reached up to cut Rock down, feeling a renewed urgency about Rock’s condition.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Walch spoke from behind him. “He’s wired with some pretty heavy firepower.”
Rinehart turned slowly to find Walch alone. Walch held up a remote control. “One wrong move and boom.”
Rinehart digested that bit of news with a sickening feeling in his stomach. Rock was wired with a bomb. Interesting, though, that Walch hadn’t blown them both up the minute Rinehart had entered the building. “What do you want, Walch?” he asked, certain there was an agenda behind his actions.
“Wanted,” he corrected. “We both know the patients are gone. But not their doctor. I saw her powers. The shaking walls were a dead giveaway that she is here. My soldiers should retrieve her shortly, so you can be together. Though I have to tell you, I haven’t decided on your fate. Push this button or hand you over to Tezi? I really have to weigh the rewards and get back to you.”
“They’ll never touch her,” Rinehart said, certain of his mate’s skills.
“Rinehart!” Laura yelled, appearing in the doorway with a Beast holding each arm. “He has a bomb.”
“He knows,” Walch said drily, and quirked a brow at Rinehart. “She really did take to you quite quickly. One little mention of your destruction and she restrained herself.” He motioned to the Beasts. “Tie them both up.” He smiled at Rinehart. “Tezi will find two Knights a worthy sacrifice, I believe. I should save you for him. He has a wicked way with a knife, I hear. All that Aztec history of his. Likes to cut the hearts out, you know?”
A Beast tossed Laura against Rinehart, and he caught her, keeping her from falling, but he didn’t look at her. His gaze was riveted to the doorway, and he found Lucan standing there, a lethal menace crackling off him. Laura seemed to sense him, too, her attention reaching for the door. “Lucan,” Laura whispered.
Yes, Lucan. But had Lucan come to take them to Tezi or to aid their escape? A question quickly answered as Lucan shouted across the room. “Walch!” Lucan yelled, drawing his sword as he walked toward them. “Time to die.” Rinehart could see the anger in Lucan, the resolve to kill Walch.
Walch laughed, appearing unfazed. “Three for one. I love it!” He pointed to several Beasts. “Take him!”
Suddenly two snakes slithered off Lucan’s arms. Laura gasped at the sight as they watched the snakes transform into two beautiful females with silver-clad bodies and silver eyes. “Tezi said Walch is ours to take,” the Demons said, looking up at Lucan. They stepped away from Lucan and joined their fingers together. Walch collapsed onto the ground and started screaming in a painful fit. The Demons sashayed to his side and squatted next to him, each resting a hand on his shoulders. He disappeared with them, and so did the remote to the bomb.
Rinehart launched into action. With one swift movement he raised his sword and sliced Rock’s hands free, then wasted no time turning to meet the sword of a Beast that was charging at him. Lucan was doing the same. The soldier in him remotely assessed the situation, tallying his adversaries and counting four more Beasts.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a Beast charge Laura. A moment later it flew across the warehouse. She repeated the action one Beast at a time, until those four were in retreat.
Rinehart sliced his blade through the air and took the head of the Beast he was battling. Lucan quickly managed the same. The two Beastly bodies lit up in flames and turned to ash.
Lucan yanked a cell phone from his pocket and tossed it to Rinehart. “In case you don’t have one handy. Call for a ticket home.”
“What about you?”
His expression was blank. “It’s too late for me.” He said nothing more, turned and walked away.
“He needs help now, Rinehart!” Laura’s yell had Rinehart turning away from Lucan, already dialing the phone. She was leaning over him. “I can’t feel any air at all.”
Jag answered the line quickly, and by the time Rinehart hit the end button, Jag and Marisol had appeared. Marisol leaned over Rock and sobbed, her hand going to the wound on his stomach and lighting there.
Jag turned as Lucan reached the exit. Lucan seemed to sense his presence. He turned to Jag and saluted. Jag stood there, utterly still, and Rinehart knew he was hurting. Jag cared about his men. He’d die for any one of them. “He retains his soul,” Jag said softly.
“Yes,” Rinehart said, having thought the same thing. He’d seen Lucan’s eyes, and they were not that of a Beast. “I don’t know how, but they have him captive.”
Jag said nothing more, but he didn’t have to. They both knew the war had changed, shifting in a way only time could define, in a way that threatened to reveal a battle of enemies once considered friends.
Marisol looked up at Jag and nodded. “It’s time.” She didn’t wait for an answer. She and Rock shimmered out of the room.
Rinehart grabbed Laura’s hand, noting her worried expression. “They went home,” he told her.
Jag reached out and touched them. “Where we all need to be right now—home.”
They disappeared from the warehouse, finally departing the island.
They appeared on the lawn of a ranch house. Rinehart immediately pulled Laura close, fitting her beneath the shelter of his shoulder as Jag released her hand. But her heart still raced as they waited for Rock and Marisol to appear. “Where are they?” she asked. “We have to go back.”
“They are fine,” Jag assured her. “Marisol is caring for him someplace more suita
ble than the front lawn.” He smiled. “Rock will recover fully. Marisol’s gift of healing will have him well in no time. But you were a big part of getting him here to safety. And we thank you, Laura.” He held out his arms to the surroundings. “Welcome to Jaguar Ranch. It is your home if you wish it to be.” The screen door opened and Laura looked to the porch as Kresley, Blake and the twins ran down the stairs to greet her. A moment of sadness over Carol’s absence washed over her, but she clung to the hope that the others would now be safe.
She looked up at Rinehart a moment, a feeling of belonging filling her she could hardly comprehend. He kissed her head and she darted away to greet everyone. She could feel a new beginning forming, a new place called normal. And she thought she just might want to call it home.
Epilogue
Rinehart stood in the back of the sparring studio and watched Laura match blades with Kresley, both doing remarkably well for having never touched a sword until six weeks before.
When finally they completed their matchup, Laura pulled off her mask. Her cheeks were flushed, and her auburn hair spilled wildly down the white protective gear she wore. Beautiful, Rinehart thought. His mate was beautiful.
She smiled at him and set down her helmet. “That’s all for me,” she told Kresley.
Kresley pulled her helmet off, as well, and frowned. “Fine,” she said, sounding as if she were disappointed. “The twins are supposed to be here anyway.” She eyed the clock. “But they’re late. Again. They spend all their time working with Marisol and all those healing herbs.” She placed her sword across the rack on the wall and crossed her arms. “Blake spends all his time in Jag’s library. Which is fine and all, but I really think they need to learn to use a sword.”
Laura’s expression sobered. “Everyone is not as hell-bent on learning to fight the Beasts as you. Besides, you don’t even need a sword. You have fire.”
Kresley’s lips thinned. “Fire might not be enough.”
Enough for what, Rinehart wondered. Lucan hadn’t been seen or heard from since the island, and with each passing day Kresley grew more focused on fighting. She was going to go after Lucan. He could feel it in his bones. And nothing good would come of it. She would get herself killed if they didn’t stop her.
He shook off the grim thoughts and watched Laura discard her gear, his nerves on edge over what he was about to do. The first night at the ranch had been the only one they had spent apart, and it had been a miserable one. She’d come to his room the next night and stayed after that. They’d become closer with each passing moment. And he loved her. He loved her with all his heart. He believed she loved him, too, but he desperately needed to know for sure. He couldn’t fall any harder and survive her departure.
“All ready,” Laura said, walking toward him. She wore black jeans and boots along with a snug-fitting T-shirt, and somehow looked just as classy as she did in her high heels and skirts. She pushed to her toes and kissed him. “What’s this big surprise you have for me?”
“It’s not a surprise if I tell you,” he chided, stealing one last kiss, fearful it would be one of his last, trying not to hold her too tight, or press his lips to hers too hard.
She frowned. “What’s wrong?”
He laughed. “You’re always analyzing my feelings.”
She nodded, lips pursed. “Right. So what’s wrong?”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door, their destination the Jeep waiting out front. Laura drew to a halt on the porch, staring into the near distance. Marisol and Rock stood beneath a tree in intimate conversation. “They love each other,” she said. “It doesn’t seem right that a Healer would be forbidden such a thing.”
“There is something about Marisol’s past we don’t know,” Rinehart said. “Some wrong she is meant to right. That is all she has ever said about it. But Marisol is aware of why the rules are as they are for her.”
“I see,” Laura said, studying the couple a moment before looking at him. “Why does she fear the twins? I sense it every time they are near her.”
Rinehart’s jaw set with tension. “She says there can be only one Healer in this realm at a time.”
Laura frowned. “But there are three of them.”
“She believes that the twins can exist together, and that soon she will not.”
“Oh, no,” Laura said, her hand going to her throat.
He tugged her to the Jeep. “Come with me now. Your surprise awaits.”
A smile quickly returned to her face as she willingly followed. The ranch was one of the largest in existence, stretching for miles and miles. But they drove only a mile this day, and they pulled to a halt in front of a small white house. A work in progress, but Rinehart and Des would finish it soon. They’d put priority on the pavilion-style building next to it, and completed it that morning. And that pavilion was her surprise. Or part of it, at least.
“What is this place?” she asked, climbing out of the Jeep before he could help her out. She had an independent streak the size of Texas. Not that he minded, but he wanted her to know he was there for her now, and he tried to show her that in any way possible. Like getting her door—when he could manage to beat her to the punch.
“You’ll see,” he said, taking her hand.
She hesitated a moment before letting him lead her forward, her hand brushing his cheek, telling him she was aware he was nervous, but deciding not to push him. Damn, how easily she read him.
He opened the door to the building and flipped on the light. Fancy white tile sparkled under the masses of special lighting he’d had installed. Laura followed him in and stared in wonder at the large black marble lab tables, rows and rows of glass cabinets filled with supplies and, with Jag’s help, every kind of equipment she could ever desire. The temporary lab they’d set up for her upon arrival faded in comparison.
“It’s wonderful,” she said, rushing forward to examine a microscope on the lab table closest to her. “This must have cost a fortune.”
He leaned on the wall and tried to appear nonchalant. “I told you we could provide you with all the resources you need. It’s yours, if you want it.” He hesitated. “But read the letter on the table first.”
She peered at him tentatively, and then picked it up. Frowned at the name on the envelope, and then tore it open as if it excited her. His heart lurched in his chest. She was excited. She would leave him. At least he would know where she was, he told himself. But his heart wanted to explode.
Laura quickly read it, and then looked up at him. “It’s a job offer from Scott and White hospital in Temple. They seem to think I want to use my research to help cancer patients. You’re the only person I’ve ever told my thoughts to on that. The only person who knows I believe it can translate to answers in that field. How would they find that out?”
He could barely get the words out. “I wanted you to have choices, Laura.”
Instantly, her eyes teared up, and the letter fell to the ground. She launched herself across the room and into his arms, hugging him and then staring up at him. “I want to help people, but I choose to do it by your side. I choose to do it right here in this lab.”
He didn’t let himself feel relieved or happy. Not yet. “There will always be more than science here, Laura. There is war, and that won’t change.”
“I’ll never get used to you and the others going out to fight every night, or worrying for your safety. But it helps a lot to know you’re immortal.” She grinned mischievously. “And that you aren’t too macho to let me come save you if I have to.”
He laughed, pleased with that answer, so happy it took him a moment to choke back the emotion enough to speak. “I love you, Laura.” He dropped down on his knee and pulled a box from his pocket and flipped the lid open. A diamond sparkled between the black velvet crevices. “Marry me. Laura. Choose to be with me this time. I want to finish that house next door for us. Be my wife.”
“Yes,” she said. “I do choose you. I love you.”
He slipp
ed the ring on her finger, and then stood up, pulling her in his arms and kissing her. And for the first time, he knew this was forever.
The Knights of White series
Available Now!!
The Beast Within
Beast of Desire
Return of the Beast
Beast of Darkness
Demon's Seduction
Captive of the Beast
Beast of Fire
More from Lisa Renee Jones
The Inside Out Series If I Were You
Being Me
Revealing Us
His Secrets*
Rebecca’s Lost Journals
The Master Undone*
My Hunger*
No In Between
My Control*
I Belong to You
All of Me*
Dirty Money Hard Rules
Damage Control
Bad Deeds (August 2017)
End Game (February 2018)
Careless Whispers Denial
Demand
Surrender*
Tall, Dark and Deadly Hot Secrets
Dangerous Secrets
Beneath the Secrets
Deep Under
Pulled Under (November 2017)
Falling Under (December 2017)
Secrets Exposed (Loosely connected book)
The Secret Life of Amy Bensen Escaping Reality
Infinite Possibilities
Forsaken
Unbroken*
*eBook only
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones is the author of the highly acclaimed INSIDE OUT series. Suzanne Todd (producer of Alice in Wonderland ) on the INSIDE OUT series: Lisa has created a beautiful, complicated, and sensual world that is filled with intrigue and suspense. Sara’s character is strong, flawed, complex, and sexy - a modern girl we all can identify with.
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