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

by Lynne, Donya

  "Pinch me," she said, feeling weightless.

  He laughed. "What? Why?"

  "Because I must be dreaming."

  They both broke into laughter again as he started the truck. "You can't be dreaming, because if you are, then so am I. And I refuse to accept that this is a dream, piccolina."

  "Then take me home and get these wet clothes off me and show me how awake I am." She leaned back as rain dripped from her soaked hair into her eyes and down her cheeks, and she skimmed her fingertips from her neck down to between her breasts.

  His gaze followed her hand and turned smoky. The button-down sweater she had borrowed from Sam's closet hugged her chest, and she already knew her nipples protruded against the soaked fabric.

  "I see your point," he said.

  An instant later, he had the truck in drive and the wipers on at full blast. Even then it was hard to see out the windshield.

  After a couple of minutes, it was clear the storm had intensified and they weren't going to get anywhere fast. Sheets of monsoon-like rain pelted the truck, along with pea-sized hail.

  With a coy giggle, she glanced across the seat and lifted her hand to the top button of the light sweater. "Oh, Malek," she sang.

  His gaze flicked sideways at her, and arousal fired to life as his eyes landed on the button as it popped free and revealed a hint of cleavage.

  "We're not going to make it home, are we?" he said at a stoplight. He leaned toward the windshield and glanced around as if looking for a place to park.

  "I don't mind a quickie in an empty parking lot." She reached across the console and squeezed his thigh. He practically jumped the red light as his foot hit the gas. Luckily the light turned green an instant later, and he proceeding through the intersection.

  "Damn, female." He took a heavy breath.

  "This rain is coming down awfully hard." She released another button. "Oops."

  His breath hitched when he glanced to find even more of her breasts exposed. "Fuck this. You're killing me here." His gaze shot back around, and he strained to see out the windows.

  A couple of minutes later, he parked the truck in a shadowed, mostly empty lot under the 'L.' They weren't the only ones looking for a little public privacy, though. About twenty yards away, an SUV with fogged windows was parked, and shadowy figures moved and rocked against each other in the front seat.

  "Come here often?" she said as she slipped another button free.

  "Never." He reached for her. "But many do." He winked and pulled her onto his lap and slid his warm hands under her sweater. "I never thought I'd be one of them, though."

  "First time for everything." She pressed her groin against the hard length inside the sweatpants he had borrowed from Micah's closet.

  "We patrol here every night. Lots of action." His hands eased around to her back and pulled her down.

  "Oh?"

  He nodded.

  "Do you think one of your buddies might happen by and see us?" She brushed her lips against his, not worried in the least.

  "Let them."

  She grinned against his mouth. "Exhibitionist much?"

  He chuckled and kissed her. "No. I just don't care."

  "Why not?" She burrowed her hands under his shirt.

  "Because I've never been so goddamn happy."

  The storm had intensified, and rain and hail pounded the roof of the cab. Lightning flashed every couple of seconds, and thunder boomed like explosions in a war zone, but it was all peripheral noise compared to what was happening inside the cab. The only storm that mattered was the one that roiled under her, whose hands now gripped her breasts and squeezed, whose hips rocked against her with an urgency she felt all the way to her bones.

  Was this really happening? Had she finally found love? Had luck really smiled down on her for once? Never before had she known such joy. And to think she had fought this. How foolish.

  "God, pinch me," she whispered against his ear, winding his wet hair loosely around her fingers.

  "I already told you," he whispered back, "you're not dreaming."

  "I don't believe you." She rotated her hips around in a slow circle, making him moan.

  She wanted to believe him. She really did. But bad luck had followed her through her entire life. Everything good that happened to her seemed to come with an out clause, where good fortune bailed out and left her hanging with the short end of the stick. Armand, Gabe, what she had done to Sev and Lakota, her defunct womb. So many aspects of her life had been tainted with bad luck and ill fate. Could she really count on good fortune to smile on her for once?

  "Piccolina, you're not dreaming." He spoke softly against the side of her neck. "We're together now. It's over. The past is over. It's just us, and we have our whole lives to look forward to." He kissed her skin. "Nothing bad is going to happen anymore. Trust me. I'll take care of you."

  She smiled, closed her eyes, and let herself fall into his reassurances. Maybe he was right. It was time to look forward to a better, happier time with him. "Make love to me, amante."

  "God, yes." His mouth pressed against her skin, and his hands lowered to the waist of her pants. "Forever."

  He had just begun to push against the elastic waistband when something landed with a deafening crash in the bed of the truck and shook them so violently she knocked her head against the roof. Malek's hands shot out and grabbed onto the dash on either side of her.

  "What the fuck?" He spun and looked out the back window as he let go of the dash and pulled her against him.

  Gina glanced over his shoulder and saw the silhouette of a man through the fog and rivulets of rain on the glass.

  Oh no. This could only mean one thing. The Dacians had found her. How had she forgotten about the Dacians? How could she have put her fledgling mating with Malek in danger like this?

  The male leaped and landed on top of the cab, and the roof caved, and she cried out as she tried to figure out what to do.

  She and Malek were trapped.

  "Get down, Gina!" Malek palmed the back of her head and held her close as he ducked to the side.

  He reached toward the glove box, but before he could get to it, the driver's side door whipped open and cold, strong hands grabbed her by the back of the neck and forearm.

  "No!" Malek's hands flailed as he tried to keep hold of her, and suddenly, she was the rope in a game of tug-of-war. Malek and her assailant grappled to keep hold of her as rain pelted her face, stung her eyes, and drenched her exposed torso. But for all Malek's mated strength and retaliation, the weeks of suffering had taken their toll. He was too weak to hang on, and when Vaydon leaped from the roof of the truck and put a choke hold on him, her hand slipped from his grasp.

  "Malek!"

  One second she was reaching for him, and the next she was airborne. Head over heels, she tumbled in open air like a ragdoll.

  "No!" Malek roared as she crashed into the wet pavement and rolled until she came to a stop in a deep puddle.

  Every muscle protested, and when she tried to push off the pavement, pain bolted through her leg. She screamed and fell back into the puddle as she clutched her fractured knee.

  "Not so tough now, are you? Gina."

  As the burn of broken bones trying to mend themselves flared to life, she glared up into the mercurial, vicious gaze of one nasty Dacian. Searcy. Behind him, Vaydon held Malek by the throat, and even though he was in full-on mated male aggression, he was no match for Vaydon in his weakened state. And she had no weapon to defend herself.

  Searcy knelt down in front of her. His long hair was soaked and plastered to his face, and the ends whipped in the wind. He reached out and ran his fingertips down her jaw to her chin, where he took hold and lifted her face into the driving rain. "I know it sounds cliché, but…we meet again." He paused, and unbridled fury darkened his eyes. "Armand's murderess."

  Lady Luck hadn't smiled on her, after all. Once again, what was briefly good and perfect in her life turned to dust. Without a miracle, she was as g
ood as dead.

  * * *

  Malek struggled against the hold the Dacian had on him. Why couldn't he break free? He was a mated male, for God's sake. He should be stronger than this.

  A third pair of boots thunked down on the rain-splattered pavement, timed perfectly with an ominous crack of thunder and flash of lightning. As large, heavy raindrops pounded his face and eyes, he looked up into the familiar face of the female he had taken home from Four Alarm the other night. Lorena.

  "Well, well, well." She took two measured, hip-swaying steps toward him and kneeled down. "If it isn't the sheep in wolf's clothing." She tilted her head to one side as her expression shifted into mock concern. "What's wrong, Malek? Not strong enough to break out of Vaydon's meager little grasp? A tough, mated male like you?"

  Across the parking lot, Gina growled at Lorena's back. "Get away from him, you bitch."

  A tinkling of malicious laughter rang from Lorena's throat, and she looked over her shoulder. "I could say the same to you, little one. But then…you're already way over there. And Malek's here. With me." She caressed his cheek, but he jerked his face away.

  The second Dacian clamped a hand down on Gina's throat just as she lurched to attack. The sounds of choking were like death in Malek's ears, and he fought to wrench free. His mate was in trouble, and she was hurt. He could feel the pain in her body from here. Gina needed him. Now!

  Lorena's laughter grew louder, joined by another clap of thunder. "You already have your hands full, Gina. Perhaps you should worry more about what Searcy is going to do to you than what we're going to do to your pesky little boyfriend." She turned her gaze back to his.

  And that's when he realized…Lorena was a Thracian. He had missed that before. But now, with his clear mind, he caught the unmistakable whiff of the ancient clan and identified it for what it was. Not only were the Dacians not extinct, but neither were the Thracians. This didn't bode well. Not for the king, AKM, and especially not for him and Gina. He had to get free. He needed to save his beloved from disaster.

  Overhead, the 'L' rumbled by as he pulled against Vaydon's grip. But it was useless. He couldn't break free. He was too weak. The weeks of suffering had drained him, and he wasn't strong enough to be the mate Gina needed him to be to save her life. But he wasn't going down without a fight, because if he fought, the odds were better they would kill him, too. And he needed them to kill him if they killed her. Because he couldn't live without her. He wouldn't.

  With a fierce growl, he strained toward Lorena. "I'll kill you if you hurt her."

  The inner corners of her eyebrows lifted as her lips pouted in fake sadness. "Awe, you're no fun." The expression faded from her face as she leaned closer. "I smell her on you, Malek. The little whore. You were about to fuck her, weren't you?"

  Fury boiled in his veins and he doubled his efforts to break away from Vaydon and strike Lorena down. "You will not speak of my mate in such a manner." A lethal hiss spit through his rain-drenched lips. If he could kill just one of them before they killed him, the encounter would be a success.

  "And if I do? What? What will you do to me, Malek?"

  His hair hung over his eyes, and rain poured in rivers down his face and streamed off his chin. When he spoke, his voice rumbled with deadly malice. "I will kill you."

  She laughed. "That would be a neat trick, Malek, seeing that you're not even strong enough to break free of Vaydon's grasp."

  He tripled his efforts, and for a moment, he gained the upper hand. Vaydon grunted and strained behind him and nearly lost his grip. The sudden fear in Lorena's eyes thrilled him. All he wanted was to get to her, kill her, make her pay for what she had done to Gina. And then he would turn his wrath on the Dacians. But just as he was about to wrench free and lunge for her, Vaydon kneed him in the back and took him down to the pavement again.

  Motherfucker! His cheek pressed against the wet pavement, and Vaydon's weight crashed down with an elbow between his shoulders. He cried out as pain throttled his spine, and then he was hefted like dirty laundry from the ground, locked in Vaydon's hold once more.

  The amused smile that crossed Lorena's features burned with contempt and confidence. "You see, Malek. It's useless. You lose, and now you'll pay."

  Behind her, Searcy rose to his feet and dragged Gina by the hair into a kneeling position. "Lorena. Hold her."

  Malek's breath came in rapid bursts and sprayed water away from his face with each urgent exhale. Time was running out. He could feel it ticking away in slow motion, like shattered glass blown from a window, but suspended in weightless animation.

  Lorena kept her eyes on him. "I want you to watch, Malek. I want you to see as we take away the one thing that is most important to you."

  No. He couldn't lose Gina. Not like this. Not at all. He only just found her. If he lost her, he would die.

  Lorena sashayed to where Searcy held Gina down on her knees execution style. Gina clawed at his arms and hands, but he ignored her struggles as a horse would a gnat.

  His eyes met Gina's and locked. She was his mate. He had promised her not ten minutes ago he would take care of her and that everything was fine. And now he had failed to keep his promise. What kind of mate was he that he couldn't keep her safe?

  With a sad, defeated shake of her head, she dropped her hands to her sides. She looked resigned to her fate.

  Urgent gasps broke from his lungs as Lorena took Searcy's place and yanked Gina's head back, forcing their connection to break. He couldn't see her eyes, anymore. The windows of her life. Desperation rankled his muscles, but he couldn't break free. He could only watch. He had failed.

  Searcy took a step forward and sneered at him. "Pitiful. You're a pathetic excuse for a vampire, Malek. I will soon put an end to your kind, but for now…" He turned back toward Gina. "Now I will avenge my nephew's death, as well as your harlot mate's attempt on my son's life." He pulled a sheathed knife from his coat and slipped the blade from its leather scabbard.

  Malek recognized the knife at once. He and the others called it the Reaper's Blade. A knife made of ancient alloys and magic, its one purpose was to kill vampires not of Dacian descent. There was no remedy. No way to reverse its effect. Once it broke a vampire's skin, death was certain within hours.

  Gina curled her lip at Searcy then spat at him. "That's what I think of your nephew, as well as you and your son, you bastard."

  "Feisty to your last breath, aren't you? I'll enjoy your death…for Armand's sake, as well as for mine and Vaydon's. I don't need ones like you lurking in the shadows when I take back the throne." Searcy paid a cursory glance over his shoulder at Malek. "That's right," he said. "Your king's time has come to an end. As has yours and hers." He turned back toward Gina.

  Time slowed. Malek saw the blade lift, saw Gina's head fall back as Lorena pulled her hair. That exquisite neck, so pristine and smooth, lay bare to the glint of the knife as lightning lit the sky. Thunder cracked angrily as if Mother Nature decried the separation of two souls she had taken such care to bring together, especially after the efforts expended to get him and Gina out of their own way to let their love flow.

  He no longer felt the rain batter his face, no longer heard the thunder as it boomed. Malek's sole focus was Gina. As if trying to hold on to her last moments of life, all he saw was her. All he heard were her breaths.

  And then he heard her whisper, "Malek…I love you."

  A moment later, the ancient blade sliced a crimson trail from the side of her neck, diagonally across her sternum, to the inner swell of her breast.

  Slow motion. Everything drew out as if in slow motion.

  Her scream of agony erupted like the howl of a banshee as the poison broke in her body.

  "GINA!" He strained, and the muscles in his arms tore as he fought to break free.

  Vaydon grunted behind him but kept hold, practically pulling one of his shoulders out of its socket.

  Lorena shoved Gina's head forward and released her hair, as Gina spasmed and clutched h
er chest. Searcy wiped the blade on his pants and stepped to the side as Gina fell face-first in a puddle. With a self-satisfied sneer, he glanced toward Malek. The pompous expression on his face said it all. He had won. Gina was as good as dead.

  Malek's brain snapped, and the world popped back into real time, no longer in slow motion. Gina's body rested in a flowing river of puddled water that rolled toward a drain, and she convulsed as rain continued to pound her from above. As if to add insult to injury, Searcy reared back and kicked her in the abdomen. She flew back from the blow, but didn't even have the strength to cry out as she merely rolled back onto her stomach. Searcy discarded her and strolled toward him as Lorena's laughter mingled with the rain and thunder in a mockery of sensory onslaught.

  "Motherfucker! I'll kill you! I swear to God, I'll kill you!" Malek's tears mixed with the rain that ran down his face.

  Searcy resheathed the Reaper's Blade and tucked it away as he stepped up and knelt down in front of Malek. "You cry for her." He scoffed, smearing his fingertips over Malek's face. "Weakling. You disgust me."

  Malek glared at him, then up at Lorena, who joined them with a sickening grin on her face. "Why?" he said.

  He wanted to wipe that satisfied smile off her face.

  "Why what?" she said. "Why did you kick me out of your bed?" Her brows lifted innocently. "Or why did I seek revenge on you for doing so?" She shrugged and fondly tucked Searcy's wet hair behind his ear. "And while I was at it, I secured the future of my own personal interests."

  Malek gulped back a cry of mourning as he looked at Gina's shivering form lying in the puddle. Was that what this was about? Had Lorena really turned Gina over to the Dacians because he had kicked her out of his bed? Was she so psychotic that his refusal to fuck her had led to Gina's inevitable death?

  "Awe, the lightbulb comes on," Lorena said, pleased with herself. She crouched beside Searcy and stared at him. "Now you will learn how I felt, Malek. Now you will see how it feels to lose what you only just found." She paused and gave Searcy a little pat, as if she were petting a dog. "But unlike you, I've found a suitable replacement. You never will…and you will die. Just as she will by morning." She bobbed her head in Gina's direction.