Return of the Assassin (All the King's Men)

by Lynne, Donya

  "What makes them so special? I mean, why the concern that they're coming here?" Sev said.

  Gina touched his arm and spoke before Micah could. "They're terribly violent." Her thoughts ran instantly to Armand. "Even half-bloods can be—"

  "Half-bloods?" Lakota sat forward. "There are no half-blood Dacians, honey. Dacians are purists. Always have been, always will be, and they don't mix bloodlines. It's why everyone thought they'd gone extinct."

  "Yes, there are half-bloods," she shot back. "And I should know."

  "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Lakota glared at her. "What? Are you the resident expert on Dacians now? Is that it?" He frowned and curled his lip as he looked away. "You know what, I'm sick of your shit, anyway."

  Malek growled and everyone instantly calmed, knowing how dangerous he could be given what they'd all witnessed earlier.

  "Shut up, Lakota," Micah said, keeping his voice even but firm. "You're just being antagonistic. You know as well as I do that even the Dacians took mates outside their clan, particularly with their allies, the Thracians."

  "Yeah well, the Thracians are extinct, so they don't count."

  Micah glared at him. "They even mated outside the Thracians, Lakota. Yes, it was extremely rare, but it happened, so shut up." He cocked his head to the side, and his navy eyes studied her.

  Lakota held up his hands in surrender. "Fine. Shutting up." He sat back and huffed.

  Micah rolled his chair toward Gina, and the compassion in his eyes nearly broke her. Why was he looking at her like that, with such sympathy, with such understanding? He touched her hand, and for the first time Malek's head spun toward her. His gaze blistered where Micah touched her as if he had felt it from across the room and wanted to cut Micah's hand off.

  "Do you want to tell us how you know half-blood Dacians exist, Gina?" Micah said, his voice gentle. She almost couldn't bear his kindness. Outside of Trevor and her own parents, few looked at her with such sympathy, and she wasn't used to it, especially within this crowd. And after all the tough ass e-mails Micah had sent her, he was the last person she expected to show her any big-hearted consideration.

  Biting her lip, she squirmed under his gaze. Somehow he knew the truth. Somehow he had seen her past. How? Was there a file on her somewhere she didn't know about? Had Micah gone digging for information on her?

  "Ssshh, Gina." He softly tapped the side of her head, beside her eyebrow. "I can see inside. I can't help it, and I'm sorry I can, especially now, but that's how I know."

  Malek tensed and growled, but Micah ignored him.

  Everyone in the room sat in silence, staring at her, except for Trevor, who bore a pained expression and kept his gaze on Micah.

  "Leave her alone, Micah," Trevor said.

  Gina held up her hand. "No, it's okay, Trev."

  "Gina, don't," he said.

  She shook her head. "I'm fine, Trevor."

  Micah leaned closer. "You don't have to share it with anyone else, Gina," Micah said. "I won't make you. But it might do Wonder Mouth over there," he nodded toward Lakota, "a world of good to hear exactly how it is you know so much about Dacians." He cast a glance over his shoulder at Lakota. "And it might just shut him up, too, and give him a greater appreciation for you."

  "Doubt it." Lakota quipped out the words with a roll of his eyes.

  She regarded Lakota. His tone said he had no interest in what she knew, but his body language oozed curiosity, as did that of the others. Micah had put her in the spotlight, whether that had been his intention or not.

  Panic threatened to take her in its grip, and that was when she knew she had to speak. She couldn't hold Armand inside, anymore. It was time to let him go. Tears burned her eyes, and her breathing turned harsh as she fought back the panic and pain.

  Malek frowned from across the room. The look in his eyes was one of concern, but the firm set of his jaw bled contempt. What an odd mix. The guy didn't seem to know whether he wanted to help her or tell her to get lost.

  She cast a glance back toward Lakota and steeled herself, setting her jaw. "I know half-Dacian's exist because…" She took a deep breath. "Because I was mated to one."

  Severin's gasp, Malek's growl, and Lakota's indifferent snort were nothing compared to the burst of air that broke from her lungs a moment later. This was the first time in decades that she admitted aloud that Armand had been her mate, and a weight lifted from her soul. Was that all it took to purge herself of him? Did she just need to talk about him to rid herself of the pain and suffering?

  A lightness settled over her heart. Until today, her family and Trevor were the only ones who had known about Armand. She had kept him her dirty little secret all these years.

  Armand had caused her so much pain. He had beaten her, taken her fertile womb, had almost killed her, and held her a prisoner of fear for so long she had been afraid to even utter his name after his death.

  It was like the séance games human youth played. Turn off the lights, look in a mirror, and say Witchy-Poo over and over and over until, suddenly, the image in the mirror is no longer yours, but that of a witch you've called forth from the dark realm. Only in Gina's case, the name was Armand, not Witchy-Poo, and she had no desire to ever call him forth again, fearing that by talking about him as her mate, he would rematerialize and take his place in her life again, to pick up his torture where he had left off.

  She glanced around, first at Micah, and then Trevor, and then Severin, Lakota, and Malek, whose gaze grew stormy with an emotion Gina couldn't identify. Hate, loathing, anger, malice? With the war raging inside him, she couldn't tell.

  But one thing was clear. Every male in the room—except maybe for Severin—knew what she had gone through. They knew the kind of mate a Dacian male was, and only a Dacian female was tough enough to handle a male of her kind. Sure, Armand had only been a half-blood, but he'd been all Dacian when it came to genetics. And those genes had favored the more brutal, ancient clan.

  Armand had told her more than once that he had wanted to take a Dacian mate. He was just as repulsed by his bond to her as she was, but even for all his toughness, he couldn't fight biology. When the mating call hit him, he had to answer.

  She glanced at Malek, who averted his gaze.

  Armand had reminded her every day with his fists how much he hated having her as a mate. It was his father's fault, he'd always said. His father had been a European vampire. His genes had given Armand his propensity to mate outside the Dacian clan, and Armand had cursed his father's name until the day he died for handing down such blasphemy.

  The irony was that it was his mother's fault for giving him impure bloodlines. She had struck out in a rebellious fit of vengeance against her own mate. Gina never learned the whole story, but she had seduced Armand's father while he'd been in his calling with another female. How she did that was a secret she took to the grave, but her retaliation against her mate for whatever he had done to spurn her was what caused Armand to be born a half-blood. But Armand could never blame his mother for his impure genes. She was Dacian, so she was perfect. That left Gina to pay the price for his mother's betrayal.

  "My God," Micah said, obviously seeing all that Armand had done to her. He looked sick. Angry but sick, as if he wanted to kill the guy before throwing up on him.

  "It's over. It's done." Gina looked down at her hands, folded on her lap. They were trembling from the adrenaline rush created by voicing such a long-held and painful secret.

  She had come to Chicago looking for answers to her panic attacks, not to absolve herself of demons. Armand's memory had left her cold, unfeeling, and empty for years, just like her womb. But now she didn't have to carry that burden, anymore. She could finally release him, and she felt lighter for having done so.

  Her gaze lifted toward Malek again. This time, he didn't look away. He stared at her, and his emotions roiled within the dark brown depths of his eyes. A flicker of compassion passed over his face, and then flashed away as his features hardened and h
e broke eye contact.

  Whatever was going on with him seemed to do with her, and he appeared to be at war over how to feel about her return. At first he behaved like a protective mate, then he hated her, and now he vacillated between both extremes, acting like he wanted to take her pain away but then give it right back a heartbeat later.

  Micah squeezed her hand. "Thank you for sharing that, Gina."

  She pursed her lips and glanced at Trevor, who offered her a tender grin and a reassuring nod. "I needed to," she said. She hadn't realized just how badly she had needed to open up about Armand until just now. This felt like a breakthrough moment.

  "I know." Micah took a deep breath, patted her hand, and then rolled his chair back to behind the desk. "Okay, so…" He blew out a heavy exhale and slapped his palms on the desk with an air of finality. "We have Dacians either here in Chicago or on their way. I'll inform King Bain, but we'll need to be on alert. The king will probably send one of his own teams to the airport to monitor arrivals, but I'm sure we'll be asked to assist in the city. Who knows how they'll come here or how they'll travel while they are. Trevor." He pointed at him. "I want you to work with one of our CGI artists so we can get some pictures of what to look for."

  Trevor nodded. "I have a few snapshots of them on my camera from my surveillance, too, if that helps."

  "Yes. I want those pictures. In the meantime, I want you taking up residence here in the dorms. Sev will take you to get your things later. I'd locate you in our new underground facility, but it's not fully operational, yet, and it's too risky. Right now, all we've moved is part of the medical wing, as well as part of our Intelligence Department. One other thing." He looked around the room. "It seems the lab Trace and Io busted up last week in Arizona was using a lot of vampires from Chicago as test subjects, which means all those reports of missing vampires and day walkers we've been getting? Well, now we know where they were going. Which also means Bishop and Apostle have feet on the street here helping them collect lab rats."

  "Wait a minute," Gina held up her hand. "What? Are you saying the drecks are kidnapping vampires and sending them to some lab in Arizona?"

  "Were," Severin said. "They were. We busted it up."

  Micah spun his chair around to face her again. "A lot's happened since you've been gone, Gina." He glanced toward Malek, who looked away, and then turned back to her. "We had a bit of excitement when drecks tried to kidnap Princess Miriam. Io and Trace ended up in a lab in Arizona when a vampire working with the drecks accidentally sucked them into his vapor tunnel with the princess. Trace pretty much annihilated the place, but they were holding vampires and day walkers in cells and were conducting experiments on them. Quite a few have died, but we were able to save others, and found out many of them were from Chicago."

  "What were they using them for?" she said. This was messed up. And now she and Trev had dropped two Dacians onto the feeding grounds, as well.

  "We don't know specifics," Micah said, "but whatever it was, they weren't trying to find a cure for cancer."

  "Shit." She sat back. Whatever the drecks had cooking, she had a bad feeling it was only just beginning.

  "My feelings exactly," Micah said to her with a wink. Then he leaned over, patted her knee once, and swiveled his chair back around. "Okay, so let's go. Let's get out there and see if we can't catch two Dacians and some drecks who've been stealing our people to turn them into guinea pigs. If you do, bring them back, and I'll question them personally." He grinned. "They won't be able to hide shit from me."

  Trevor held out his hand. "Wait. What about Gina. If I'm staying here, where is she staying?"

  Micah tossed her a cursory glance as if he'd forgotten about making accommodations for her. "It's too dangerous to keep her here after what happened before." He shifted his gaze toward Lakota. "Too many people want to hurt her after what she did to Severin. Isn't that right, Kota?"

  Lakota grumbled and flicked a haphazard glance her way, but the bite seemed to have fled his bark after hearing about her ex-mate. Not that she needed any sympathy, but toning down his rabid dog routine was a nice side benefit to getting Armand off her chest.

  Trevor sat forward on the edge of his seat. "Then I'll stay with her in the hotel."

  A low rumble vibrated from Malek's chest, which he quickly tramped down when everyone turned toward him.

  "No," Micah said, shaking his head. "Too risky. The Dacians will track you, if they haven't already, and I won't take the chance that either of you will be killed in my city. No way." He paused, and Gina got the distinct feeling that what he was about to say next would cause an uproar. He turned and looked at Malek. "Gina will stay with you, Malek."

  The air froze, and it felt like no one dared to breathe for half a second, and then…

  "Fuck you, asshole!" Malek shoved away from the wall and got in Micah's face as Micah jumped out of his chair and met him head-on.

  "You'll do it, and that's an order!" Micah said.

  "I don't need a babysitter." Gina was on her feet.

  "I'm not her guardian." Malek yelled over her.

  The room exploded into mass chaos as everyone tried to shout over everyone else.

  Severin jumped off the couch and took her hand as Trevor darted around the desk to run interference. "I'll take her home with me. Arion and I—" Sev began.

  "Like hell you will!" Both Malek and Micah said at once, swinging around to face him.

  Malek lunged forward, pushed Trevor aside as he tried to block him, and ripped Sev's hand away from hers before grabbing her and pulling her across the room. Away from everyone else.

  "She's mine." The voice that growled out of Malek's throat didn't even sound like his. As if he were possessed by a demon. "Don't. Touch. Her."

  Malek's behavior was beginning to scare her. He wasn't the same, gentle guardian he had been before. In fact, he looked more likely to hit her than protect her, even as he threatened to hurt anyone who came near her. The duality made her nervous. This was how Armand had been on his good days. He had pretended to be her protector, when in reality he had been her possessor. Big difference there. And she never wanted to be anyone's possession ever again.

  What made things harder was how Malek bounced back and forth. Good cop one second, bad cop the next. He was giving her a headache. He was like a tennis match, the ball flying back and forth, back and forth. Game, set, match. She needed a timeout.

  "Good. It's settled then." Micah turned to the others as if nothing had happened, leaving her in Jekyll and Hyde's grasp.

  "What's settled?" Malek said, snapping out of whatever possessed stupor he had been in.

  "Gina's going home with you."

  Malek turned his gaze down to hers as if he had no idea how she'd gotten there, then frowned. "No. No way." He pushed against her.

  She'd had enough of this shit. She batted his hands away and spun out of his grasp. "What's your goddamn problem, asshole?" She gave Malek a shove that sent him back against a filing cabinet. "Goddamn! You act like my mate one second and like you want to throw me in front of a train the next." If this was the way he was going to behave, then deal off. She didn't want him. He'd had his chance and he'd blown it, so it was time for Plan B. She jabbed her finger at his surprised face. "Let's get this straight, jackass. I don't want to be mated. Got that? I have no interest in being your doormat for you to wipe your feet on whenever you want to kick me around. Fuck you and your moody-assed bullshit." She gave him another shove and stalked away, hands on her hips, head down. Then she swung back around. "I thought you were the nice one. What the hell happened to you?" She threw her hands up and looked away. "You know what? Forget it. I don't care, anymore."

  But she did care. That was the problem. And no matter what lies she said out loud about not being interested in mating, deep down, she wanted him. Even now, if he touched her, pressed his lips to hers, or even so much as gave her a look that hinted that he wanted her to scratch an itch on his cock…oh God, but she would take whatever he gav
e. And one look at Micah let her know that he knew it, too. The guy was clearly trying not to smile.

  As for the rest of the gawkers in the room, they stared in stunned silence at her outburst. But no one seemed more shocked by what she had said than Malek, whose expression swam between perplexed, pissed, and apologetic.

  She stepped up to him, not ready to end her pent-up tirade. In fact, she felt like she was just getting started, and not even Micah's knowing smirk was enough to stop her. "You were so nice before, watching over me, not letting anyone get near me for fear they'd hurt me, and now you want nothing to do with me. Well, kiss my ass. I'm out of here." She spun, marched to the door, flung it open, and barged into the hallway.

  If she didn't get out of there and find some less tense air, she was going to blow a fuse. Not only that, he had hurt her. Maybe everyone else in that room besides Micah would believe her lies, but she couldn't hide the truth from herself. Now that she had seen Malek again, she felt as drawn to him as a squirrel to a nut. And wasn't that a fitting analogy? Because Malek was seriously nuts. Even so, she felt as if an invisible thread connected her to him…as if she'd been following a trail of bread crumbs that led to him.

  Lucky her.

  Malek wasn't the male she remembered. What had happened to the sweet, protective male Malek had been before? He was anything but now.

  She was stupid to have held even an ounce of hope that she could be someone's mate again. She had wanted so desperately to believe Trevor and give Malek a chance—to run free as Trevor suggested—but the more she was around Malek, the more upset she became. Because, damn it, he reminded her of Armand. She had been physically attracted to Armand, too, but he had been a monster. And now Malek looked like he was shaping up to be just the same. He didn't want her. He just wanted to possess her. Just like Armand had. To hell with that! She had been right to keep her distance, even from Malek.

  So then why did each step she took away from him stab her heart with pain and fill her nerves with panic?