Surrendering: A Regent Vampire Lords Novel, Book #1

by K. L. Kreig

  He continually tried calling out to Kate, but she wouldn’t respond. He knew something was terribly wrong. “Hang on my love. I’m on my way.”

  They quickly made their way down the steel staircase in complete blackness. Kate was a level down, but Giselle was straight ahead at the end of the hallway. Thane and Henry had their orders. They would flash Elle home and Henry would return to help them while Thane stayed with her if necessary. If not, he’d return also. Big D was at their new location, ready to tend to her.

  In short order they had made it to the lower level without incident. His only thought was getting to his mate. The second was eliminating Xavier, but only after Kate was safe. The fact they had run into no rogues at all was disconcerting. Something definitely didn’t feel right. They were feet away from the room that held Kate when all hell broke loose behind them.

  Ren was pinned to the ground by an unknown force and Sulley was in hand-to-hand combat with a rogue the size of a lord. There were three more gigantic rogues tearing down the hallway toward them and Dev had a sudden fear for Ren’s safety, stepping protectively in front of him.

  “Save your mate, my lord.”

  “Looks like I need to save your ass first.”

  “I’ve got it covered, my lord.”

  “Yes, I can see that.”

  Sulley and Dev made quick work of the rogues in the hallway, freeing Ren, only for more rogues to rush them from either side. A feeling of vertigo assaulted him and he had to fight to remain upright.

  “Go, my lord. We can take care of this.”

  His men could handle this, so Dev didn’t waste another second. “Kate, I’m coming.”

  Dev swiftly closed the gap between him and where his mate was being held, kicking the door open.

  What he saw inside was completely unexpected, freezing him in place with terror.

  Kate stood before him in the middle of the room, clothes torn to the point of barely covering her. She was covered in bruises, her right eye completely swollen shut. Tears streamed in rivers down her red face. If all of that wasn’t bad enough, what paralyzed him with fear was the fact that Xavier had her completely pinned to him, one arm around her neck and another around her midsection. The arm around her neck forced her head to turn at a grotesque left angle.

  Dev had been completely unprepared for this. Ren hadn’t sensed any vampires with Kate.

  “You broke our deal, brother,” Xavier sneered.

  Dev focused solely on Kate. “Are you okay, love?” She wouldn’t answer. “Kate, answer me, please.”

  “If you’re trying to talk to your luscious mate, I’m afraid Katherine can’t really communicate at the moment. You see, I have some tricks up my sleeve too, brother.”

  “Kate, blink twice if you can hear me.”

  Two blinks. Thank God.

  “I’m going to figure a way out of this. Hang on, love.”

  How could he rescue her without causing paralysis? One wrong move and her head would be severed from her spinal column. Snapping a vamps neck didn’t cause death, but it did cause permanent paralysis. And throwing an illusion wouldn’t work when Xavier literally held Dev’s entire life in filthy hands.

  “I’ve spent the last five hundred years fantasizing about the day I would end your life, brother. The same way you effectively ended mine when you ratted me out like the slimy traitor you are.”

  Dev remained silent, never taking his eyes from Kate.

  “We could have ruled the world together, Devon. We are among the strongest, oldest and most powerful vampires alive. We could have had it all. We could have been kings. But you had to have a fucking conscience. How can you stomach living side by side with humans? They are animals! They are our food!”

  Dev continued to ignore Xavier’s rant. He had to figure out how to get out of this mess. “It’s going to be okay, love.”

  “Hmmm, I’m not so sure it is going to be okay, my sweet,” Xavier whispered in her ear. He licked her cheek, studying Dev the entire time.

  Dev saw red. How dare Xavier touch his mate in such a manner. Dev made a slight move toward Kate and Xavier jerked her back toward him more firmly, making her wince.

  “You’ll never make it in time before I snap her neck. And I’m not sure how much fun I would have fucking a vegetable. Never tried it before, but it could definitely be worthwhile. But I really do like my bitches to put up a fight.”

  Kate looked terrified and she started sobbing softly.

  “I won’t let him hurt you, love.”

  “You are one sick motherfucker.” Dev was trying to keep his cool, but he felt himself falter slightly. It was clear Xavier had the upper hand at the moment.

  “I thought we’d already established that, Devon.”

  “Me for her. That was the deal.” At this point, he just needed to get Kate away from Xavier. The fight outside of the room continued to escalate and Dev had the first twinge of real concern. He wasn’t sure either of them would make it out alive of this FUBAR situation.

  “Me for her, Xavier.” He had to keep him talking…distract him.

  “Yes,” Xavier sighed. “That was the original deal. Until you broke it by trying to sabotage me. Now I’m afraid there is a new deal on the table. Well…the only deal, really.”

  “And what might that be?”

  “I have been forced to spend the last five hundred years living underground like a lowly sewer rat. All thanks to you. My body has been ravaged beyond any repair, also thanks to you. I have spent the last half a millennia waiting, plotting, anticipating my revenge. And I couldn’t have written a better ending to our rivalry if I’d tried. I am going to relish watching you suffer as I fuck and bleed your mate right in front of your eyes. I will let my men line up and use her over and over again. You will watch the life slowly leave her body, unable to save her. And when her body finally gives out and you watch her die, I will enjoy torturing you to the brink of death, only to bring you back again so you can suffer her loss in perpetuity. I will show you no mercy.”

  He had to get Kate away from this psychopath. He just needed to get him to release her. If he could get her out of his grip, he had a chance at saving them with a powerful illusion, but he couldn’t risk it while Xavier held her life so precariously in his hands. He obviously had no idea Kate was his daughter and that was definitely a secret they needed to keep.

  Dev felt the power Xavier unleashed. This had been his worst fear—that he would be immobilized, unable to help his mate. So while he could feel Xavier’s power—nothing happened. He still had the ability to move. And, he realized, so did Kate. She’d been struggling in Xavier’s arms from the moment he walked in.

  He could see the confusion could Xavier’s eyes, but Xavier quickly recovered. Dev was confused as well, but wasn’t about to reveal that little fact to him. The upper hand may just have shifted to him slightly.

  No sooner had that thought crossed his mind when the unthinkable happened. He watched helplessly as Xavier sunk his fangs into his mate’s neck, but just as Dev was charging to free her, Xavier wailed and threw Kate across the room, where she landed in a still heap on the floor.

  Dev only had seconds to react, as Xavier stood clawing at his throat. He threw the illusion that he’d turned his back on Xavier to tend to Kate, who still lay in a crumpled pile bleeding on the ground, when instead he already had her safely in his arms, and unable to flash inside for some reason, ran outdoors where he flashed them the hell out of there and back to the safety of their new home.

  Chapter 62

  Kate

  It had been over a month since Dev rescued her from Xavier’s clutches, who still remained alive unfortunately. They never did understand why Xavier threw her across the room after he bit her, but she recalled him hissing, like he was hurt. Big D had enlisted the help of the scientists they’d recovered to help figure it out. They were also trying to determine why Xavier’s powers didn’t appear to work on either her or Dev. None of them had ever run across this befor
e. Whatever the reason, they were grateful or there may have been a very different ending.

  She was devastated to learn of Leo’s death, but thankfully everyone else had returned safely, albeit a little worse for the wear. Ren and Thane had completely recovered from their injuries within a couple of days.

  Giselle, on the other hand, had been in very bad shape and it was touch and go for a week. So while she’d finally recovered physically, she was still recovering emotionally. She wouldn’t speak of what was done to her in the short time she was in captivity. She’d been very withdrawn.

  Giselle and Detective Thatcher had apparently gotten close in the weeks before holy hell erupted, but now Giselle wouldn’t even speak to him. He called her constantly, even trying to get Dev to intervene, but nothing would sway her. Kate felt sorry for the detective. He seemed like a nice guy. She actually found herself wishing the ice queen would reappear. At least that would mean she was getting back to normal.

  She’d talked to Erin by phone a few times in the last month. The only thing she could tell her was that she’d met someone and was spending all of her free time with him. She knew eventually she would have to end their friendship, as she couldn’t reveal anything about her new life. That saddened her. Her one consolation was that Kate and Olivia had become quite close. She’d also talked to her parents several times by phone and because Xavier was still loose, Dev had put some protective detail on them, for which she was grateful.

  After their ordeal, Kate talked to Dev about her desire to offer a women’s shelter to the women they had rescued, so they could acclimate back into society before returning to their homes, if they chose. He supported her one hundred percent and they devoted a whole wing of their new estate to the venture. Even thought she wouldn’t technically need a license or anything to provide counseling, given the vampire world was different than the human world, she’d still submitted her final dissertation paper and waited on comments. She hoped to defend next month and graduate with her Psychology PhD at the end of this spring semester. She’d come so far and put in so much effort, quitting so close to the goal line didn’t feel right, whether she needed those little three letters after her name or not.

  She walked down the halls of the shelter, checking on the girls, as she’d done daily since they’d been brought here.

  “How are you doing today?” Kate asked Sarah softly.

  “Better. Each day gets a little better.”

  Kate had been thoroughly confused when Sarah had told her she hadn’t been raped. When they talked about what Kate had seen, Sarah said some powerful looking vampire walked into the room right before anything happened and shooed everyone else out, telling them he had the privilege that day. And then he simply unstrapped her, covered her in clean ratty clothes and carried her back to her room. Untouched. Unharmed. And that’s where Sarah stayed until her rescue. Why would a bloodthirsty rogue protect a woman they’d kidnapped to be a baby breeder? And why weren’t the other women that lucky, because none of them were. It didn’t make sense.

  Kate rubbed her shoulder tenderly. “I’m glad.”

  “Can we work on the dreams again today?”

  “If you think you’ll be up to it. I don’t want to push you.”

  “I want to. It’s the only thing that makes me feel like I have some semblance of control,” Sarah replied, tears in her eyes. Even though Sarah hadn’t suffered the same physical fate as the other girls, she’d still been significantly traumatized.

  Sarah had confided in Kate that she’d dreamed of a very elusive man, whom she’d dubbed her knight in shining armor and he helped her escape, at least in her mind, when she was held captive. Kate knew what it was like to dream of gorgeous men, so of course she wanted to help Sarah hold on to anything that would help her heal. And giving her control over something—anything—would help.

  “Of course we can work on them, Sarah. I’ll be back after I check on the other girls, okay?”

  Sarah hugged her tightly and held on for dear life. Tears sprung into Kate’s eyes. She’d formed a strong bond with a few of the other girls after the ordeal, but particularly with Sarah. She was almost like the sister she never had. One other girl was also very dear, but Kate had a very difficult time not letting the guilt eat away at her. She pulled away from Sarah. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

  She walked down the hallway cheerfully greeting the girls who had their doors open. Instead of the dingy, dirty filth they had lived in for weeks, months and even years in a couple cases, their accommodations were plush, homey, safe.

  In all, they’d rescued fifteen of the twenty-nine missing girls. They guessed the others were kept at another one of Xavier’s hidden locations and while it killed her to know there were still girls out there suffering the same fate as the ones they had just rescued, she had to be content for now that she could at least help a few of them. She was confident they would find the others soon. It had become an all-out obsession of all the Lords.

  When she reached the last door on the left, she knocked softly.

  No answer.

  “Jamie, it’s Kate. Can I come in?”

  No answer.

  Kate could have easily gotten into the room if she wanted to, but that wasn’t the point. These women needed control back in their lives and if they wanted to remain locked in their rooms they had that choice. Of course they tried to coax them out daily, if for nothing else but to eat. Jamie would only allow food to be brought to her. She hadn’t left her room and hadn’t talked to anyone since her rescue, but that didn’t stop Kate from trying. Every day.

  Several minutes went by. She knew Jamie was at the door, afraid to open it. They’d been through this routine daily since the girls had been rescued. Jamie Hallow, the girl presumed dead eleven years ago, all the while a captive of Xavier’s, was among the fifteen girls rescued. Jamie had a very long road of recovery ahead of her and had yet to talk about any of the things that happened. Kate was particularly surprised to discover Detective Thatcher and Jamie had been dating at the time of her disappearance. Jamie had refused to talk to him as well and he wasn’t taking it well. Between Giselle and Jamie, the detective was a mess. He was such a nice guy, she felt for him.

  She provided soft words of support and comfort to Jamie through the door, same as she did every day. She hoped at some point, she would trust Kate enough to at least open the door and have a face-to-face conversation with her and that eventually Kate might get her into the on-site counseling they provided. She wouldn’t give up.

  It was 7:00 p.m. before she left the shelter and she was exhausted as she joined Dev for dinner. She hadn’t been herself for weeks, dealing with nausea and fatigue, and yesterday she asked Big D to take some blood and run a few tests. She saw him daily now that he worked with her at the shelter. Her stomach turned at the food sitting in front of her and she finally knew why, but she still couldn’t believe it. She was thrilled, but scared shitless.

  “Any word on Esmeralda?” Kate knew Dev was upset with himself for leaving her at Xavier’s compound, but obviously his only thought had been of her rescue. They hadn’t seen her since. Had she been captured? Had she just run away, knowing how furious Dev was with her? Not that Kate was too happy with the bitch either. Trying to get her killed so she could have her mate. If she ever laid eyes on this witch, she wouldn’t be held responsible for what she’d do. Kate insisted the next witch Dev partnered with be an old hag. And she was—smile—complete with a huge wart on the tip of her nose.

  “No. Nothing.” He paused, adding, “I don’t want to talk about her. How was your day, love? You look exhausted.”

  She beamed at her wonderful, sexy mate. Ever concerned about her wellbeing. “I’m great. Had a very productive day with a couple of the girls. No progress yet with Jamie, but I hope she’ll come along soon.”

  “Good to hear. Don’t think I didn’t notice you’re not eating again. You really need to talk to Big D, Kate. I’m getting worried about you.”

  Thi
s was it. How would be react? He never talked about wanting kids. She looked at her plate as she spoke. “I did, actually.”

  Dev dropped his fork, leaping across the table to pull her into his arms. He was so overprotective.

  “Something’s wrong. What’s wrong? I can tell something’s wrong.”

  She couldn’t help but laugh. “Wow. Pessimist much? Nothing is wrong, Dev. Everything is…wonderful actually.”

  “Wonderful? You’re sick all the time. You barely eat. You barely have enough energy for making love. That is not fine. That is not normal.”

  “Actually…in my condition, it is.” She watched his face carefully to see if he understood what she was telling him.

  “What do you mean, your condition? Vampires don’t get sick, love.”

  She pulled away. Men were idiots sometimes. “Oh my God, you are so dense! I’m not sick, Dev. I’m…I’m…” She took a deep breath and spit it out. “I’m pregnant.”

  His face would have been funny if she wasn’t scared he was going into shock, so she rushed to explain.

  “I know we didn’t talk about kids, but I’m happy about this, Dev. I think it’s a blessing. Big D said it was probably because I was never blooded, but he didn’t know for sure. I don’t really care how it happened anyway. Say some—”

  She squealed as he picked her up and spun her around the room. “You’re pregnant? You’re pregnant! Holy fuck, I can’t believe this. I’m going to be a father. How is this possible?”

  “It’s a miracle,” she mumbled into his chest. “Dev, you’re making me dizzy. Put me down, please.” He mumbled “sorry” and set her down but didn’t let go.