Deryn dove to the ground and shimmied under the tent. There was a loud ripping followed closely by the overwhelming feel of evil behind her.
“Deryn!” Kane called out. “Get down!”
Turning, she spotted him running full force at her with Alejandro next to him. Both drew weapons and aimed at something above her. Suddenly, the evil thing seized hold of her hair and lifted her clean off the ground. She thrust the make-shift stake she had upwards. It lurched backwards, taking her with it as it let out an ear piercing scream.
She considered letting her power out but held back. Instead, she thrashed out, doing her best to kick it without looking like she was a pro. No one could know she was a slayer. The thing holding her flipped her over. When she saw its face and realized that it was a face that haunted her dreams, one of her vampire attackers, she screamed.
The events of that night came flooding back to her. The way they’d beaten her, bitten her, did things to her that she never wanted repeated again. Laughter erupted from it, causing her to scream again. Its voice was identical to one of the vampires who attacked her.
It hissed as blood dripped from its neck. The broken piece of wood, or stake, was stuck in halfway. Gun shots ran out around her. At first, Deryn assumed they had gone with a ‘kill anything that moves’ stance but when she felt the presence of something else evil near her she knew they were firing at a second enemy. The thing holding her slashed out and caught her shirt, ripping it from her body with ease, leaving her in only a bra and panties.
They began to whisper in the ancient Avatarian dialect. The minute her mind registered what she was hearing, she gasped and screamed out. “Like fucking hell!”
More shots rang out. “What did they just say?” Alejandro asked.
“They said she’d make a fine mistress for their master,” Kane said, sounding as disgusted by it as Deryn was. “And that they would enjoy taking her as much as the men whose faces they now wear once did.”
The force of what felt like a freight train slammed into her, knocking her free of the enemy’s grasp. It wrapped its body around hers and cradled it protectively as they hit the ground. As strong arms slipped around her and the varying scents of the jungle filled her head, Deryn exhaled. “Alejandro?”
“I’ve got you, amorzão. You’re safe,” he whispered, his voice sounding like music to her ears. “Look, they’re going. It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
Kane appeared next to her. “Stop calling her that. She’s not yours, Alex. I told you that if you wanted something to fuck that you needed to look elsewhere. Deryn deserves better than a man who has never had a steady girlfriend in his life.”
Deryn shook her head and did her best to calm down. “I-I dreamt of them coming for me last night. I ... I ... can’t go through that again. I can’t....”
Alejandro kissed her forehead. “Sleep.”
“But I’m not...” The last thing Deryn felt before she surrendered to a dream-like state was a warm, fuzzy, comforting feeling and magik enveloping her.
Chapter Seven
Something nudged Deryn’s leg, pulling her from a deep sleep. Looking down, she found Che there and gasped. The minute he looked up at her she sensed what he’d come to warn her about--Alejandro was in danger.
Deryn didn’t bother getting dressed. She took off running out of her tent and down the narrow path, searching for Kane’s, doing her best to concentrate on counting the tents as she went. She stopped outside one. “Three or is that four? Please don’t tell me that I still can’t remember how to count.”
“Kane?” she asked in a hoarse whisper. “Kane, please. I need your help.”
He didn’t answer.
She felt it then, something was coming.
“Kane, please, they’re coming for Alejandro. I know you’re upset with him for something but you don’t want him dead. He’s your friend. Please help me keep him safe. Watch over him while I lead whatever is coming away. Please.”
No answer.
Deryn’s temper soared. “Fine,” she unzipped the tent and entered, “you want to be this way that’s fine by me.” The area was too dark to make out much more than a silhouette on the bed but she didn’t care. He was sitting up and rubbing the back of his neck.
Marching straight up to him, she took a stance. “You stubborn son-of-a-bitch. I can’t believe you’d let one of your closest friends be hurt because you have this insane need to I don’t even know what--annoy the hell out of me.”
He placed his hand on her hips and fire shot through her lower body. Gasping, Deryn tried to back away. “Kane? What’s going on?”
He splayed his hands over her skin and pulled her down towards him.
“Kane, did you hear me? They’re coming for Alejandro. If you don’t want to help me then point in the direction of where he is. I’ll go to him. But if I fight here the other soldiers will sense me.” She tightened, not wanting to remember the last time she’d found herself surrounded by nothing but supernaturals. “I think you’re wrong. I think you and Onnie are the only ones who can see the truth about me. They’ll think I’m a monster. They’ll hate me. Vonni hates me because she knows the truth. The others will side with her. I know it.”
“Shhh,” he whispered, sliding his hands up and under her tank top.
Deryn pushed his hand down. “Why did you leave my tent? I woke before and you told me that you wouldn’t leave. That you’d stay so I could sleep. Thanks for that,” she said, sarcastically. “You bitched at me when I asked why Alejandro wasn’t there and told me that you’d been the one with me since we were little, not him--yet you jet the minute I fall back asleep. Thanks for that.”
He skimmed his hands up her sides and brushed the underside of her breasts. “What the fuck has gotten into you? And why the hell am I liking it?”
A manly chuckle came from him as he tweaked her nipples with his fingertips. Drawing in a sharp breath, Deryn did her best to calm the fire that now burned within her. She backed away fast, tears filling her eyes. “Kane, why are you acting like this? Why are you refusing to help me? Alejandro is your friend.”
Che began making noise outside of the tent and Deryn dropped down to her knees, searching the floor with her hands for signs of Kane’s weapon chest. “Dammit, Kane. Where the hell are your weapons? I have to prove I’m an Åricus or Alejandro is a dead man. I watched him die in my dreams over and over again before I was asked to come here. I won’t let it happen in real life.”
She stilled, waiting for him to say something snide. He didn’t so she continued, “I didn’t know how to tell you that I was dreaming about one of the men on your team. You get so upset whenever the subject of other men comes up and I didn’t want you to tell me I couldn’t come here. Don’t be mad at me, please. I didn’t mean to keep it from you. I just didn’t know how you’d take the news.
“For months I thought I was going crazy, inventing him in my mind, until I got a call from a woman claiming to be Alejandro’s mother. She begged me to come to this realm and watch over him. She said that she’d lost one son already and couldn’t bear the idea of losing anymore.”
Deryn wrung her hands and paced around the tent. “How did she know how to find me? And why did she tell me his name was Marido? She told me that my Marido was in danger and that I was the only one who could help him. I know I have the right guy because I highly doubt there can be two men that unbelievably perfect in the world. Well, there was someone who looked a lot like Alejandro holding his mother while she cried over the news of his death in one of my dreams but it wasn’t him--maybe another brother or something. I don’t know. They have great genes.”
She shook her head and focused. Now wasn’t the time to think about how much she wanted Alejandro carnally. No. Now she had to keep him safe. “What I do know is that I can’t let anything happen to him. Do you understand?”
He just sat there, not saying a word.
She took a deep breath. “Kane, I will continue to stay in full sun, to walk among
men and women who have every right to hate me for what my ancestors have done to theirs if it means Alejandro makes it home to his mother. She just wants him back in one piece. Oh, and something about lots of grandbabies but she talks really fast when she’s worked up. Don’t laugh at me but like several times I could have sworn she said that we had to give her at least five. We? I heard that wrong, right? Because I can’t ... well ... never mind. Anyways, his mother also tends to blend languages when she’s upset. I don’t speak Portuguese so I miss most of what she says when she’s excited. But for her to contact me and know who I am isn’t something I’m willing to blow off. Say you’ll help me. Please.”
Again, he remained silent.
Deryn sighed. “Kane, his mother knew that I was not only born a slayer but a descendent of the Avatars, an original slayer. She knew that I have the blood of beast master in me too and that’s why I can communicate with animals the way I do.”
It was his turn to draw in a sharp breath.
“She also knew all about the vampire attack on me all those years ago. The one that happened the night of the prom.” She hated bringing that up and knew Kane wouldn’t want to hear about it but he needed to.
“How could she know about that? Only Onnie, you and I know what happened. Well, now Issac does too but he doesn’t count. But she knew. Alejandro’s mother knew.” Deryn sniffled and wiped her cheeks as a stream of tears started. “She knew things that only I know. How hurt I was by your words and how much I wanted to stay with the man I ran into outside of the bar but...” She stopped and covered her mouth.
“Ohmygods, Issac helped me understand who that was. It was Alejandro--her son. It makes sense now. We’re all linked somehow. I don’t understand it but she does. She knew that I wasn’t aware of who or what I am back then. And that I’d never seen a vampire before that day. She knew I was too scared, too terrified to even scream when they attacked me.” She sobbed uncontrollably. “That I shut off at some point, unable to deal with what was going on and that when I blinked again--it was you, Kane, that was next to me, covering me, trying to keep the sun from burning me anymore while doing your best to find a spot on my body that wasn’t injured.”
He caressed her tenderly. “Shh.”
The feel of danger increased as did the need to see to Alejandro’s safety.
“Kane, his mother knew what the vampires did to me.” Putting her head down, she took a deep breath. “She knew details about what they did to me that I have never and will never tell you. Secrets I’ll take to my grave. His mother also knew how they tried to turn me into one of their own kind so they could keep doing the horrific things they’d started.”
Deryn lost her battle to maintain any sort of composure. “Kane, she said that Alejandro killed almost all of them. And that she could prove it. That all I had to do was ask him to see the locket that he keeps with him, the one he took from a group of vampires he killed fifteen years ago--the locket has a picture of me with my mother and grandmother when I was just little in it. She said that he kept it in there to remind him of me--she said he knew me somehow.”
She covered her mouth and stifled a random cry. “Do you really want to let something happen to the man who kept them from coming back and finishing what they started with me?”
Kane didn’t respond.
“Please believe me, Kane. Onnie was there one of the days that Cecilia, Alejandro’s mother, called me. She heard us talking. She knows that I was asked to watch over him. I also described what the man looked like in my dream to Onnie. When we got here she took one look at Alejandro and came rushing to find me.” She was desperate for him to believe her. “How do you think I knew about Samurai Soto?”
Cupping his cheek, Deryn let out a soft laugh. “Cecilia told me. She also said that he hates it when you call him Alex-V because it reminds him of the brother he lost--who you now fill in that spot in his heart, Kane. He thinks of you as family. Don’t let anything happen to him. Please I can’t protect him against all of them while I’m fighting off shifters stationed here too.”
Che went nuts outside of the tent. “I have to find Alejandro!”
She tossed her arms around his neck and squeezed tight. As Deryn went to press her lips to his cheek, he turned his head, causing their lips to brush. Before she knew, he had his tongue in her mouth and she liked it way more than she should. He tasted so rich, so pure that she wasn’t sure she’d get her fill before she had to go. This wasn’t right. Pushing on his chest, Deryn shook her head. “Kane?”
“No,” he said, capturing her mouth with his again. This time with more aggression. Deryn went to move away but found his arms wrapping around her, pulling her back into him.
As her raised nipples grazed his bare chest, Deryn hissed. The sensation was too much. Her inner thighs quivered a second before her pussy began to moisten. Fighting what seemed so natural, Deryn pressed her fingers between their mouths, breaking the kiss.
Her breathing was ragged at best. “This ... isn’t right. I, we, this isn’t us. We agreed that things could never be sexual between us, Kane. We both agreed that it could and would cost us our friendship in the end and that it wasn’t worth it. You know all of this already so snap out of whatever this is and help me.”
Che raced into the tent and up Deryn’s body. She had him in her arms before she knew it. He carried on, screeching and clawing, unintentionally.
“Ouch, settle down, you’re hurting me, Che. I know the tomb guards are coming.”
As her mind read his, she shook her head. “No!” She touched Kane’s chest. “Kane, they have Fulk and several others. Ohmygod, what if they have Alejandro?”
She didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, Deryn ran full force out of the tent, carrying Che as she went. As she hit the end of the row of tents, she found the open clearing that doubled as the camp courtyard.
At least thirty tomb guards stood around the circle staring at their captives who were on there knees. All except Fulk. No, he was chained and spread eagle between two large posts. It was obvious that he’d put up a hell of a fight and taken an even bigger beating.
“They look human.”
Turning, Deryn found herself staring into emerald green eyes. “Alejandro? You’re okay?” She tried to hide her excitement but failed.
“And you’re in your undies and a tank top.”
“Umm, I couldn’t sleep and, uhh, oh forget it. Do you want to die tonight or live to see another day?”
“Interesting question.” He motioned towards the guards. “If they have their way I think we’ll all be having issues. I’d normally say that these guys don’t look the least bit intimidating but considering they have Fulk, a one man incredible hulk, chained tells me they’re good.”
All of the guards wore loincloths, gold bands around their arms and held various types of sword-like weapons. Several had whips, while others had chains. It was a nightmare.
One of the guards with a whip struck out at Fulk, catching his face and tearing it wide open. Deryn went to charge in, only to find Alejandro’s pinning her in place. “I have to help him. They’ll kill him.”
“Tell me what I can do to help,” he said, quietly.
“You’re not going to make fun of me for being a bookworm and tell me to get behind you?” Deryn was too stunned come up with anything beyond that. Her gaze slid over his caramel-colored steely chest. Each muscle was so well-defined that the urge to touch him, to just feel his skin against hers was great. He was exactly how he was in her dreams. A small bit of black curls started below his navel and disappeared beneath the tops of his camouflage pants.
“Dr. Murray, how can I help you?”
She kept her gaze trained on his lower half. Licking her lower lip, a low whimper tore free from her. “You can promise to wear a shirt while you’re around me and to stop looking at me like that.”
Alejandro pushed down slightly on the tops of his pants, exposing a dark thatch of hair. Deryn’s entire body lit with need. Closing her ey
es, she swallowed hard. “That’s not helping.”
“When we touch, do you feel some sort of energy pass between us?” he asked, keeping his pants pressed low.
Denying it would have been so easy. Deryn didn’t. “Yes, but I think it’s this place.”
“Why?”
“Because I felt it when Kane touched me tonight--just a minute or so ago. I’ve never felt that with him before but I felt it here. It must be the place.”
A sly smile spread over Alejandro’s lips. “Yeah, must be.”
“Tell me why this is more important than Fulk and the others.”
Alejandro took a deep breath. “Can the tomb guards sense someone’s mate? Even if they aren’t officially mated yet?”
“I don’t know. Can you sense them?” she asked, doing her best to keep her gaze on his face, not his torso.
Alejandro nodded. “If the bond they share is strong enough, then yes. I can. Why?”
“Because the Avatars molded man in their image. That goes for the tomb guards as well. According to what I’ve been told, the guards are various forms of shifters. Some are even vampire-like. It stands to reason that a powerful shifter from our realm, our plane, would posses skills closely related to them. One with a blend of magik in them would be even closer to what they are.”
“Don’t walk out there, Doctor. Kane is coming. Wait and we’ll go in together.”
Sighing, Deryn shook her head. “I won’t risk Fulk or the other men they have out there. And I won’t risk something happening to you. I just need to prove that you aren’t my taimar and that I’m a ... umm ... yeah.” She couldn’t believe that she’d almost spilled her secret that quickly.
“So, what if you can’t prove that I’m not your taimar, your marido?”
Deryn froze. “What did you just say?”
“I asked what would happen if you couldn’t prove that I’m not your husband?”
Her eyes widened. “Oh fuck, it’s not a person’s name. It means ... ohh,” she clutched her stomach, “you’re married?” Shaking her head, she let the tiniest of laughs escape. “No pressure there, Deryn. Someone else is waiting on him to come home. She could have told me that.”
Shifter Fated Mates: Boxed Set Page 72