Dark Passion Rising

by Shannan Albright

  She heard the snick of a lock behind her and looked over her shoulder at Marcus. He screamed sex, leaning against the door with his arms folded across his chest and small smile playing on his full lips.

  Suddenly she felt shy and, to her horror, felt her cheeks grow hot.

  “Nice room, it’s… well, nice,” she finished lamely. His deep laugh made her turn to face him.

  “Laugh it up, big guy.”

  Raising both hands palms up in a sign of surrender, he moved toward her and lowered his hands to her borrowed shirt. His fingers worked the buttons free and exposed the pale swell of her breasts. He let the shirt fall off her shoulders to her feet.

  Without a word he bent and caught her behind the knees, lifting her up and cradling her to his chest before striding to the bathroom. He set her down on the cool tile and busied himself adjusting the three shower heads in the stall. Warm steam soon filled the air, swirling over Tambra’s naked body.

  “What are you doing?” she asked quizzically as he removed his jeans. Her eyes devoured the slabs of muscle that ran down his healing chest to his jutting cock. Just the sight of him made her pussy clench and go wet with need.

  “Obviously taking a shower,” he replied wryly. “And since we are in the middle of a drought, I thought to do my part in water conservation.”

  “Wash my back and I’ll do yours,” Tambra laughed as she stepped into the pulsing jets of hot water. She groaned in delight as the water pounded on the sore muscles of her neck and back.

  “I plan on more than washing you, my sweet,” he murmured, nuzzling her ear as his body pressed against hers.

  She moaned in pleasure as his hands found her breasts, plucking at her sensitive nipples, his erection nestled between the cheeks of her ass. She almost complained as one of his hands left her breast only to slide down her torso and land between her legs, his fingers stroking lightly through her slick folds.

  “You’re already wet for me,” he whispered huskily, his breath coming faster as he rubbed himself against her.

  She moved quickly, her hands scrabbling through his wet hair as she rose up to claim his lips in a hungry kiss. His hands cupped her ass, pulling her up close. She wrapped them around his hips. He pushed her up against the tiled wall and she looked down to see the large, plum colored hood of his cock slip past her folds, the sight of him scorching her with need. The muscles of his abdomen rippled as he worked himself into her, and her hands dug into his back as she lost herself to the pleasure that was building low in her belly.

  He thrust home with a groan, slowly retreating only to thrust back in again. Their breathing grew ragged as they both rose higher, their need becoming one pulsing drumbeat, pounding harder and harder until they found release together.

  With tender hands they washed each other and, once dried, Marcus led her to his bed, lying there beside her with his hand cupping her face as he stared at her in wonder.

  His voice was rough as he spoke words he never had spoken to another woman in his life. “I give you everything that I am, Tambra. My heart, my soul and my body are in your keeping. My beloved, I hold you now, and for all time, above all others.”

  Tambra’s heart lurched in her chest at his declaration. Her tears rolled down her cheeks, where he brushed them away with tender hands.

  “Damn but you have a way with words!” she gave a shaky laugh, then with all her heart in her expression, she held his gaze. “I can only say, I love you with all my heart and soul.”

  Marcus bent his dark head and captured her lips with his in a long, drugging kiss, filled with everything he felt in his soul. Once again passion rose, obscuring everything but their escalating hunger.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Marcus sat in the cavernous family room in a large, wing backed chair, his long legs stretched comfortably in front of him, unable to hide his smile of content. He could not recall a time in his life when he felt so complete. Tambra was his.

  Even though she had only left to give notice on her apartment, he missed her. He had made her promise not to confront Miguel until he could be there to ensure that everything went smoothly. She had grudgingly agreed, not liking it, but understanding his concerns.

  Marcus eyed the men in his room, noting the dark looks and frustration simmering just below the surface of each of them.

  “Alright, is there anything new to report?”

  Zeke’s head popped over the top of the computer monitor, his face grim.

  “I am unable to raise anyone on the Tribunal and there has been no contact at all with any of the other Enforcer units in Europe. Not a good sign.”

  “How long?” Marcus demanded, sitting up straighter in his chair.

  “Last contact was twenty-four hours ago from the Enforcer unit of Were-bears in Transcarpathia. They reported an outbreak of violence in a settlement near Badov. The leader of that unit, Uric Dragasha, reported they were going in to do damage control.”

  “I can’t get a hold of my step-father Nicolai either,” Tegan interjected. Nicolai Evonavich was one of the thirteen Tribunal leaders that oversaw all the Enforcer units throughout the world and, though they kept sporadic contact since his mother’s death, Tegan had been attempting to contact him off and on for days and only gotten his voice mail.

  Ryes cursed, his voice a deep rumble. “If all the Enforcers are having the same problems then something needs to be done quickly.”

  “And what exactly can we do? We have no clue as to what is happening over there,” Adrian, always the voice of reason, chimed in.

  “Adrian is right. Without any intel, we are fighting blind,” Marcus agreed.

  “I have been thinking about the night you got jumped, Marcus. Who knew where you were going?” Adrian abruptly asked.

  “No one, why?”

  “I find it hard to believe that it was just a coincidence. There is a pattern here, and once we discover what that pattern is, the better equipped we will be to fight it,” Adrian explained.

  Marcus carefully went over that day in his mind, thinking back to everyone he had spoken to before he left the house that night. He came up blank. Someone had followed him without his becoming aware of it. The idea made him uneasy and immediately his thoughts went to Tambra.

  Adrian must have been watching his face closely because he pounced on his reaction. “What is it?”

  Marcus opened his mouth to voice his worry for Tambra, but his cell going off interrupted him. With a frown, he grabbed it from his pocket and looked at the display before answering.

  “Damien, where the hell have you been? No one has been able to reach you.”

  The static on the other end nearly deafened him. He could barely hear Damien.

  “—can’t talk long…have to warn you. Tribunal is dead or in hiding. I don’t know…all hell’s breaking loose. Prepare!”

  The line went dead. A feeling of doom rode Marcus hard as he looked at his men.

  “Zeke, bring up the news feed for Rome,” Marcus said slowly, trying to wrap his head around Damien’s words. Surely he had heard him wrong. The Tribunal either dead or in hiding?

  "What the fuck!” Zeke yelled, spurring the other Enforcers to gather around the monitor that displayed the chaotic scenes before their startled eyes.

  A city street crowded with screaming people, running from what looked liked at least twenty ferals, Vampires and Weres, filled the computer monitor. The banner below read “CNN Rome, Italy”. They all watched as two Weres caught up with a man and literally tore him in two. Zeke clicked another link and a similar picture replaced the one they were viewing. This was in Paris, another link went to Russia. In every clip, the bloody scene played over again with every known Breed in existence. The full impact became clear to them as they watched the horror unfold. Mankind now knew they were under a real threat from something they had never believed could exist.

  May the Gods help us all, Marcus thought. This could spell the beginning of the end for all Breeds. Nothing would stop the humans
from hunting them down and slaughtering them all.

  “Shit! What now?” Tegan cursed, raking his hands through his dark hair.

  "We prepare,” Marcus stated grimly.

  Marcus’s cell went off again and he quickly turned it to speaker phone.

  “Damien?”

  A deep chuckle sounded on the other end before a vaguely familiar voice filled the quiet room, his Hispanic accent thick as he gloated. “Have you seen the news lately?”

  “Who the hell are you?”

  “Such temper. We never met, but I can assure you I know who you are, Marcus Valerian. Leader of the mighty Enforcers, elite of the Tribunal. What a joke. Where are those all powerful leaders now? I’ll tell you where. Dead. Or hiding, like the spineless cowards they truly are. We will find them and make them watch as we tear everything they built down to the ground.”

  Fear trickled down Marcus’s spine as the identity of the caller registered.

  “Miguel Suarez, you son of a bitch! Where is Tambra?”

  “Ah, so you do know me. Bueno, I find it better to know the name of the man who will kill you, do you not agree?”

  “If you harm so much as a hair on her head, you will die. That I promise you,” Marcus ground out.

  “Oh, she is quite well, I assure you. I have no intention of harming such an exotic creature. We have been planning our little rebellion for a long time and Tambra is the key to all that. But of course, you wouldn’t know about that would you?”

  “What do you want Miguel?”

  “World peace, equality of the breeds, and the death of all Enforcers would be a good start, but I don’t think you would be so willing to give me that would you, amigo?”

  “Where is she, Miguel?” Marcus demanded again, grinding his teeth in an attempt to keep his rage in check.

  “Do not worry. She will be very well taken care of. She will be known as the one to save the Lycan race. A very auspicious moment do you not agree?”

  “Where is Tambra?” Marcus shouted into the phone, losing the tenuous control he held.

  “Come and get her if you can. She’s at the Library Gentlemen’s Club on Industrial Road. It’s closed for renovations so we won’t be interrupted. Oh, and, Marcus? Come alone.”

  The line went dead. Marcus wanted to scream his rage. His knuckles were white around the cell phone and it was with great effort that he loosened his hold. He looked up and locked onto Cody, his face a mask of fury. Tambra’s friend stood rigid, his hands balled into tight fists at his side.

  “Where ever you go, I go. She is my friend,” Cody declared hotly.

  “She is my mate!” Marcus growled back. “I will not jeopardize her safety.”

  Adrian’s calm voice cut in between them. “We all want to see Tambra safe. We are all going, but we need a plan first.”

  “Yes, we will plan,” Marcus agreed, he voice dark.

  “And we need to know why Tambra is so important to them,” Tegan added, moving to stand by Cody.

  “I think I know why,” Christophe broke in. All attention turned toward him. “Have you wondered why no cross Breeds exist?” The Enforcers around him remained silent and he continued, “I believe there are more of them out there than we could ever know, but for whatever reason they are either hiding, afraid they will be seen as abominations and put to death by our Tribunal or by their own Breed leaders, or they simply don’t know what they are yet because they’ve had nothing kick start their change. Tambra is a cross Breed, both Lycan and vampire. Her blood is powerful, but her offspring have the potential to be even more powerful. They could potentially strengthen weaker blood lines, even blood lines that are going extinct like the Lycans. If Tambra were to breed with a Pure Blooded Lycan, their offspring would become more powerful than any known Lycan in existence, possibly overthrowing our entire social structure. Ultimately, through her children, the Lycans could rule every Breed. They would rule and humans would be placed on the low rung of the evolutionary ladder. That’s why they are eliminating the Tribunal and then us. In order for them to succeed they need to destroy the old order for the new one to rise.

  “Gods save us, if Christophe is right, then who’s to say that more crossbreeds are not out there somewhere?” Ryes spoke up, his deep baritone voice rumbling like thunder.

  “That is a very real possibility, my friend,” Adrian agreed solemnly. “And if that is the case, then they are in real danger. But first we need to focus on the threat at hand. It’s time to make our plans.”

  ****

  Consciousness came to Tambra in degrees as she fought the cloying darkness that surrounded her. Her back was pressed against cold metal and her wrists were tied tightly behind her. She could tell her bonds were cutting into her circulation by the tingling in her fingers. She struggled weakly to free her hands, but whoever had tied her up had done a good job. She wasn’t going to get free anytime soon.

  Nausea roiled through her, and her head pounded furiously. Taking a shaky breath, she opened her eyes and groaned aloud as a blinding light burned into her retinas.

  Where the hell was she?

  Squinting into the light, she realized she was on some sort of stage, a spotlight aimed directly on her. Shadowy shapes of tables and chairs were positioned around her, all empty. Trying to pierce the thick black shadows beyond the ring of light, she made out the darker shape of a bar. The floor was carpeted, but she couldn’t see any color. The spotlight shining in her eyes leached everything out into a flat plane of blacks and grays. She leaned her head against the stripper pole she was tied to and closed her eyes against the light. She was in the old Library Gentlemen’s Club, and it was closed for renovations.

  It came back to her in pieces. The meeting with her land lord. Going to her apartment to collect her things. The thug in the living room. The chloroform soaked rag.

  Tambra heard Miguel’s smooth, accented voice come to her from deep in the shadows of the room, cutting through her like a blade in her heart.

  “Miguel?” She turned toward her long time friend. “You knew all this time?”

  “Of course. It was I who came across your parents that night. I had been recently turned and found some Weres sniffing around in an alley. Your parents were already dead, but you were quite alive, crying out from under your mother’s body. I knew you were Lycan by the scent of your parent’s blood. I decided to place you with your father, where I could watch over you. What a wonder you are, Tambra. Just look at you! Magnificent beyond anything I could believe possible.”

  Her tears threatened to spill, but Tambra held them back.

  “The special diet. You wanted to keep me from Rising, but why?”

  Miguel stepped out of the shadows and approached her with a smug smile.

  “Timing, everything is about timing, querida. You couldn’t know until I had everything in order. Temple sees only the small picture. His every action dictated by the continuation of the Pure Bloods while Weres are treated no better than slaves. I needed to suppress your Rising so Temple would not know you were right under his very nose. I began organizing the Weres, teaching them techniques to control the animal inside. When Oren came to me, disgruntled over Temple’s leadership, I saw the perfect opportunity to set my little rebellion in action. I needed a catalyst to jumpstart your Rising. Oren was the perfect choice. He had been looking to challenge Temple for leadership. All I needed to do was present him with an unrisen Lycan who could sire his child, temporarily put your overprotective partner out of commission, and well, you know the rest. Oren believed a successful birth would give him the support necessary to challenge Temple for leadership. A pity he didn’t live long enough to see what changes he was responsible for. Not that I would have allowed him to live, he would have been worse than Temple. At least Temple shares the same belief that the Tribunal and their precious Enforcers need to die. On that we are in perfect accord. But there will be one small twist to his plans.”

  “What about my father? Did he know what I was?” Tambra coul
d barely utter the words. The sense of betrayal pressed heavily on her heart and she wondered if she really wanted to know the truth.

  “Your father was so desperate for a child he didn’t even question me when I brought you to him. Really quite touching, the way he loved you so. He didn’t even question the vegetarian diet I put you on.” Miguel shook his head with disgust. “He was a weak man, putting his love for you above all things.”

  Her relief was short lived as she saw Miguel through new eyes. Anger coursed through her blood stream. This man, whom she had once loved like a father, had willingly destroyed everything she held dear. Her hair moved around her, the strands snapping like whips. If only he were just a little closer she could grab him. She gritted her teeth in frustration at her helplessness. She didn’t do helpless, and wasn’t about to start now. There was a way out of this and she was determined to find it.

  “We are going to need to tame that hair of yours before Temple arrives. Hmm, what to do, what to do.” Miguel pulled out a knife from the back pocket of his jeans and held it up for her to see, his intent clear on his face.

  “The choice is yours, querida. Let me bind your hair or I shall simply cut it off.”

  She willed her hair to lie still, spilling over her shoulders to pool in her lap. She glared at him.

  “Marcus will come for me.”

  “I’m counting on it. Once he is here you will have a front row seat to his execution. He and his precious Enforcers will die and a new world order will take their place.”

  She saw the manic gleam in his eyes and wondered how she could have ever missed it.

  “You are insane!”

  “No, querida, passionate. There is a difference.”

  Miguel moved closer, his dark eyes cold and calculating as they swept over her. Had her hands been free, she would have clawed his eyes out.

  “Yes, you will do quite well. We will have you with child in no time. There is going to be quite a demand for you. You will make me quite a powerful man.”