by Lexi C. Foss
I removed my palm from her thigh and wrapped it around the back of her neck instead, pulling her in for a long, sensuous kiss. It’d become my indulgence. She ran her tongue along my bottom lip, smiling at the slight bump in my skin.
“No biting,” I whispered. It’d become her favorite thing to do, but I couldn’t afford to show the weakness today.
“That just makes me want to bite you more,” she admitted.
“I’m still healing from the last one,” I reminded her. It seemed to take about twelve to fourteen hours for her bite marks to fully disappear. The one on my lip now had been created during sex before we went to sleep. After receiving Damien’s message upon awaking, I’d told her not—
“Sire,” Rick said in Polish, drawing my attention to him. “We have company.”
“Where?” I asked him, also in Polish. He spoke English but preferred his native tongue. My Polish wasn’t great, but I understood it well enough.
He gestured with his chin to his mirror. “Behind us.”
“How far are we from the tower?” I asked as I reached around Willow to grab her seat belt and buckle her in.
“A mile and a half,” he said while checking his mirrors again.
I grabbed my belt just as he jerked the car to the side. “There’s another!” he shouted, still in Polish.
Clicking myself in, I said, “Floor it.”
His foot hit the gas, causing us to soar down the street as I pulled my phone from the pocket of my suit jacket. I selected Damien’s name, hitting Dial.
Ring, ring.
“Ryder!” Willow shrieked.
I looked left just as a vehicle crashed into my side of the car. Fuck! The world spun around me, my equilibrium shifting violently. Another hit came from behind, the impact causing the belt to bite into my neck.
Another jolt sent us careening in the opposite direction, stirring a brutal wave of nausea inside me. Willow yelped, her soft cry lost to the echo of shattering glass and general chaos.
Blood rushed to my head, the metal buckle digging into my hip as the belt fought to keep me in my seat.
It took me a minute to realize we were upside down, my bag on the ceiling of the car. We’d finally stopped spinning, but the sound of nearby doors slamming told me we were about to experience a lot more than a car wreck.
I didn’t think; I acted, unbuckling myself to reach my bag and yanking open the zipper. Damien’s message today had arrived with a hint of urgency, making me wonder what chaos awaited me. So I’d packed appropriately.
“Rick,” I said, voice low.
No reply.
He must have been knocked out by the impact, his air bags taking up most of the front two seats. Willow whimpered beside me, her fingers fumbling for the buckle.
“I’ve got you,” I whispered, reaching up to help her down.
Settling her beside me, I pulled out two guns from the bag—I already had a third strapped in a holster at my side—and handed one to her. Then I went to my stomach to take in our situation outside.
Willow followed my lead, her dress doing nothing to save her from the glass. I at least had a suit on, but there was no time to try to shield her. We’d already used precious seconds just to get ourselves into this position and properly armed. The only item in our favor was the slow approach from our assailants. They weren’t sure what sort of condition I was in, and they were being smart about not rushing over to check.
I glanced backward at my feet, noting the other side of the car. We were pinned up against metal siding, suggesting a building had stopped our roll.
Right. That left only one way to go.
“Stay here and shoot anyone who comes near you that isn’t me,” I instructed her in a hushed tone. Her lycan ears would allow her to hear just fine. The vampires outside, not so much.
I cracked my neck to the side, loosening my stiff muscles from the original impact, and mentally calculated the angles of each approaching assailant. I could see five from my current position but estimated at least three more based on the number of times we were struck and the manner by which they’d attacked.
Some of those doors had sounded damaged. Others had not.
Which meant a party had been sent after me.
The question was, did they want me alive or dead? Because that would play into what they did next.
Hmm, they hadn’t opened fire on the gas tank yet, which was what I would have done if I wanted my victim dead. And their slow approach suggested they were instructed to take me, not kill me.
That gave me a slight advantage because I had no compunction about destroying them permanently.
The scuffles of shoes sounded, the assailants creeping closer.
I could still only see five sets, their approach suggesting their amateur training. They were extremely close together, making what I had to do next far too easy.
Five, I started counting down. Four. Three. Two…
I fired a bullet into the ankle of Idiot One, sent a second into the calf of Idiot Two, and shot a third into the shin of Idiot Three. Idiot Four and Idiot Five took off to the side, giving me the distraction I required to quickly crawl out from the rubble, my gun already aiming in the direction of their general trajectory.
Bam. Bam.
I rolled behind the front of the car, quickly checking my periphery and back. Clear.
Then I focused on the groans.
Their sounds told me where to fire next, making clean shots to their heads almost too simple.
Where are your buddies? I wondered, glancing around, searching for the rest of them. There was no way someone had been ballsy enough to send only five men after me.
Except, I found no one else. “You’ve got to be shitting me.” Talk about insulting. Who the fuck had this brilliant idea? I stood up from my crouch, looking around. “Seriously, is there no one else?”
Aside from a few people peeking out their doors and windows at me, it appeared we were alone.
I stalked over to the men behind this shit show of an operation and gaped. “Vigils?” I glanced around. “Someone sent humans to kill me?” What the ever-loving-fuck is wrong with people?!
This had to be a nightmare.
But no. Nope. They were all mortals.
I returned to the car, bending down. “Come out here,” I told Willow, my tone underlined in an annoyance I couldn’t hide. Because this was just fucking wrong. “Grab my bag.”
She worked to obey, her hiss of pain reminding me that she was not properly dressed for this operation at all. “Shit.” I squatted. “Hold on.” I shrugged out of my suit jacket and handed it to her. “Lay that on the ground and crawl across it.” I gentled my tone just enough for her to know I wasn’t displeased with her but with our entire situation. “Rick?” I called to him.
Still no reply.
“Damn it,” I muttered, standing again to go look at the cars that were used to ram us. Four total with two unconscious mortals inside the more damaged of the vehicles. They must have been knocked out on impact. What a ridiculous operation.
Willow yelped as she tripped over her heels, landing on the hard cement. I returned to her, noting her destroyed outfit and the blood coating her skin. It made me want to kill the mortals again. This time, slowly.
Fortunately, her immortal genetics were already working to heal the superficial scrapes.
“We need to find you something better to wear,” I said just as a hum fell over the city. I blinked, looking around, trying to locate the source as everything went pitch black.
Willow jumped, the hairs along her arms standing on end as electricity sizzled through the air.
I narrowed my eyes. “This was all a distraction.” One meant to keep me from reaching the tower before the real show began. I shook my head. “That wicked cunt.”
“What is it?” Willow asked, her voice holding a slight tremor. “Why…? Where did all the lights go?”
“She cut the power to San José,” I said, a smile flirting with my lips b
ecause I couldn’t help but be a little bit impressed. “She probably shut off power to my entire region, actually.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Lilith,” I explained. “She’s showing me that she holds all the power—literally—by shutting off our access to her resources.”
“She can do that?”
I snorted. “Apparently. See, the vampires and lycans used a similar tactic when fighting the humans during the reformation. They cut the mortals off at their knees by removing their access to their precious technology and then proceeded to show them why our kind is superior by forcing the humans to essentially fight with their hands alone.”
However, the problem with employing this tactic now was that I didn’t require Lilith’s electricity or power to fight. I had my own.
“She assumes I require her resources,” I added out loud. “Proving she knows nothing about me.” I bent to evaluate Rick’s position. He was in bad shape in there. Sighing, I opened my bag to retrieve a knife, then went to work on cutting him free from his belt and the bags around him.
“You’re fucking heavy,” I groused, yanking on him to pull him free. He wasn’t breathing, his neck twisted at a bad angle from the accident. It was going to take him hours to recover, marking him as useless in our plight.
I stood and went to the closest establishment to bang on the door. A few of the patrons had peeked out through the windows during the whole situation, none of them trying to help. Further proof this region had gone to hell under Silvano’s reign.
A short blonde human answered the door with her head bowed. “Yes, Sire?”
“Do you know who I am?” I asked her.
“My superior,” she replied immediately.
“Your royal,” I corrected her. “Look at me.”
Her fear permeated the air, her limbs beginning to shake. “I-I’m sorry, My Prince. I didn’t… I didn’t know…”
“Look at me,” I repeated.
Her tremor became a full-on quake of obvious nerves as she attempted to draw her focus up to me. She got as far as my mouth, her head seemingly unable to lift any higher.
I decided to let it go since I didn’t have time to waste on this nonsense. “Where is your owner?” I asked her, hating the question but knowing it was one she would understand.
“Here, My Prince,” a feminine voice replied from the stairs as a dark-haired vampire navigated the dark with flawless ease. “To what do we owe the honor?”
“A bunch of Vigils decided I needed to make a detour,” I growled. “Or did you miss the chaos outside?”
“I heard it,” she admitted, her cheeks blossoming with red splotches. “I… I didn’t know how to react.”
An honest answer rather than an excuse. That fact alone just saved the woman’s life without her ever knowing it was at risk due to my growing wrath. “I need your help,” I told her.
“Anything, My Prince,” she said.
“I hope you mean that,” I replied, taking in the rest of the room. There were five other humans, all appearing to be in relatively decent health. Another point in the female’s favor. “What’s your name?”
“Patricia,” she replied.
“Patricia,” I repeated, glancing around. “What kind of an establishment is this?”
“A hair salon and spa.” She moved from her perch on the stairs, heading down the rest of the steps before turning left to go open a door toward the back of the lobby area. My night vision allowed me to see the series of chairs and supplies beyond.
“Your humans cut hair?”
“They do,” she confirmed.
I glanced at them again. “They don’t offer blood?”
Her eyes seemed to cloud over. “Only when a client demands it.”
“Like Silvano?” I guessed. Several humans visibly trembled at the mention of his name.
“He was a former patron, yes.”
My jaw clenched, aware of what he probably required during his visits. “I see. Well, I have a task for you. Come with me.” I turned to find Willow kneeling beside Rick. She’d arranged him in a way to facilitate his healing. “I have two tasks, actually,” I said as I walked toward her. “My pet needs functional clothes and tennis shoes, and I need someone to watch over Rick while he heals.”
Patricia gasped upon seeing Willow, her eyes narrowing at what she would recognize as an illegal creation.
“Are we going to have a problem?” I asked her, arching a brow.
“N-no, My Prince. No problem.”
“Good.” I went to Rick and carefully picked him up so I wouldn’t undo Willow’s attempt to reset some of his disjointed bones. Yet after a few steps, I realized that was futile. He’d need to be completely realigned again.
“I’ll find her some clothes,” Patricia said, disappearing into her establishment again and up the stairs as I entered with Rick.
The humans inside quickly moved to the side, one going as far as to open the door at the end for me with his head bowed. “Is there a bed or something I can lay him on?” I asked the male.
“Yes, My Prince,” he said, leading me to another room that appeared to be set up for massages. I sniffed the air for any signs of foul play in the room and only found the too-sweet aroma of fragrant oils.
The mortal pulled a handful of towels out from a cabinet and went to work on trying to pamper the table. I nearly told him to stop, but his tremors had me striving for patience. These humans were all terrified of me.
Fucking Silvano, I thought, angry all over again.
When the kid finished, I laid Rick down and nodded for Willow to come inside. She’d been observing from the threshold. “Can you help me?” I asked her softly.
She replied by joining me and running her hands over Rick in a similar manner to how she had the servant girl after she’d been whipped. “Where did you learn this?”
“University,” she replied, focusing on his neck first.
“They have medical classes?”
“No.” She looked up at me. “But I had a lot of exposure to broken bones throughout the years. Some of us chose to help.”
I frowned, not liking the sound of that. However, now wasn’t the time to press for more information. “I’ll be right back,” I promised her, leaving to go retrieve my bag from the street. I dug inside it to find a phone that wouldn’t rely on Lilith’s network to operate, then I dialed Damien again.
It rang twice before he picked up.
Only it wasn’t him on the other line.
“Hello, Ryder,” Lilith greeted. “How nice of you to call. It’s been a few weeks since we last spoke.”
31
Willow
The polite clearing of a throat had me glancing at the doorway to find Patricia waiting with clothes. I finished setting Rick’s leg, then turned toward her. “Thank you,” I said softly, unsure of how to act around her. Ryder and I had agreed on me playing the submissive role in public, but that was before the attack on the street.
Rather than turn to leave, she joined me in the room and walked over to light a candle in the corner. I didn’t need it to see, but the human in the room visibly relaxed. He had gone to stand by the wall, silently awaiting his next order.
“What’s your name?” Patricia asked.
Apparently, we were going to have this conversation while I changed. All right, then. “Willow,” I said as I set the clothes on a chair. My dress was glued to my skin by my dried blood, making it a rather painful process to remove.
Patricia moved to a sink and dampened a towel with water before handing it to me. “Here.”
“Thanks,” I replied, wary.
“You must be new,” she said after a beat. I glanced up at her, confused. “You remind me of myself when I first changed,” she added. “Timid. Uncertain of how to address the beings who are no longer your superiors.”
I swallowed, unsure of how to respond to that. So I focused on removing my dress instead.
“You didn’t win the Immortal Cup this
year,” she murmured. Not an accusation, but more of an assessment. “And you smell like a lycan but have the grace of a vampire.”
Since that wasn’t a question, I continued minding my own business and sort of wished she would, too.
“Are you all right?” she asked softly, the concern in her voice giving me pause as I finished wiping the blood away from my legs. My dress was in tatters on the floor, the lace unsalvageable.
I looked up at her. “They were superficial scratches. I’m healed now.”
“That’s not what I meant.” She bent to pick up the fabric and threw it in a nearby bin. Then she went to wash her hands. “The first twenty-two years, there was no Immortal Cup. It’s something they don’t tell you. But they had to go through an entire generation of brainwashing before they produced a prime crop for the fight. Six were actually chosen that year to win, not two. Lilith said it was to reward the first successful graduating class.”
I watched her as I drew on a pair of stretchy black pants, curious to know where she was going with this.
“Jace was given first pick. Then Kylan. And finally, Silvano.” Her eyes took on a faraway gleam. “I’d wanted to be a lycan, but Silvano felt otherwise. He dragged me back here…” She swallowed, blinking away the memory before locking gazes with me. “I’m just saying, if you need someone to talk to, I might understand more than you think.”
“You were in the first Immortal Cup?” I asked, awed by that revelation.
“Yes. Year twenty-two.” She straightened then, her face going blank. I understood why the moment Ryder’s minty cologne touched my senses. He entered with a phone to his ear, his expression flat.
I pulled a shirt over my head, then frowned at the violent energy wafting off of him. His facial features indicated he was fine, while his body radiated a primal energy underlined in murderous intent.
He nodded toward the exit, indicating I should follow. Then he turned without a word.
“I should go,” I said as I quickly put on the socks and shoes she’d brought me. They were a little snug, but they worked better than the heels I’d kicked off outside earlier.