by Laken Cane
No.
Now she was the killer of whatever the fuck I wanted her to kill.
And I wanted her to kill the humans. Silverlight had changed, and so had I.
She sliced through the air in a deadly silver arc, her halo sending those closest to her flying. I felt a grim satisfaction—joy, even—as I registered cries of pain.
Rhys’s attackers lost interest in him immediately. They dropped him and scattered.
And I went after them.
Perhaps I wasn’t myself.
Perhaps.
But someone grabbed me from behind and then Clayton was murmuring into my ear, forcing me calm, forcing me…normal.
“Control yourself, Trinity. They will lock you away if you kill the humans.”
I shuddered against him and allowed Silverlight to dim as he slid his arms around my waist. He talked quietly to me, soothing me, and held me until I regained control. I let Silverlight slip back inside me.
“Okay,” I whispered. “Okay.”
I rushed to Rhys and fell to my knees beside him, trying with everything inside me to force away my rage and put my attention on the fallen supernatural.
I wanted to be the protector—not the killer.
“Rhys,” I cried.
“Trinity,” he murmured. His eyes were swollen shut, and blood covered his face and throat like a scarlet mask. “Get me out of here, quickly.”
I didn’t question him. “Help me get him to my car,” I told Clayton.
Clayton glanced around. “I’ll be right back.”
He was back in seconds with one of the EMT’s cots, and Captain Crawford was at his side.
“How is he?” the captain asked.
I ignored him. I had plenty to say, but I didn’t want to fight with him in front of a crowd.
He didn’t press.
He helped Clayton lift Rhys onto the stretcher, and I led them toward my car.
“Fuck,” Rhys muttered. “Hurry. Hurry.”
His voice was thick with pain and urgency, and I had no idea what he needed.
“Trinity,” he murmured, as they finally rolled him to a stop at my car.
I put my face close to his. “Tell me what you need.”
“No humans.”
I straightened and eyed Crawford. “We’ll take it from here. He wants you to leave.”
“I need to—”
Clayton faced him. “Keep everyone back.” The curious humans were walking closer. Humans, camera phones…and a news van.
I groaned as it slid toward us like a deadly shark in the water. “Frank, handle it,” I said.
He said something under his breath but gestured at the other policemen, and they finally began controlling the crowd.
Clayton helped Rhys into the back seat of my SUV and then slammed the door shut. “Let’s go,” he told me. “Get us out of here.”
I began shaking as I drove us away from the scene. I was fine during a crisis, but when it was over, delayed reaction sort of kicked my ass.
“Don’t turn around,” Rhys said, his voice cracking. “Don’t look at me.”
Clayton reached across to grip my leg, and we stared straight ahead as I took us back to Bay Town.
We never once looked into the back while Rhys did what he needed to do to heal himself.
He’d said not to look at him.
We would not look at him.
There were sounds of meaty splats, crunching bones, and gushing fluids. Once, Rhys groaned in agony, and his voice changed to something…primal. Something animalistic. Something unrecognizable and fearsome and somehow terrible in its darkness.
Clayton squeezed my leg when I tensed. “It’s okay,” he told me. “He’ll be fine.”
But what is he? I wanted to ask. I didn’t. Rhys would tell me when he could. If he could.
And finally, Rhys spoke, his voice normal, strong, and familiar. “Trinity, I’m afraid your new car is going to need a cleaning crew.”
I laughed with relief and lifted my stare to meet his in the rearview mirror. “Then we’ll get a cleaning crew.”
We stared at each for so long that Clayton finally reached across to take the wheel. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Rhys’s dark ones.
“Hi,” he murmured, finally.
My lips trembled as I fought tears. “Hi.”
“I’m okay, love.”
“I’m sorry you were hurt.”
His stare softened, finally, and he smiled.
I took the steering wheel and put my stare back on the highway, my relief stronger than my rage and my fear, but just barely.
“Things have to change,” Clayton murmured.
I nodded, echoing Angus’s words from earlier. “It’s time.”
War was coming.
And I stood firmly on the side of the supernaturals.
Chapter Four
The Power of His Sex
Angus called, and I hesitated before I answered. I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t break down as soon as I heard his voice.
I took a deep breath, let it out slowly, then answered the phone. “Angus.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked, immediately.
“They attacked Rhys,” I whispered.
Somehow, he heard me. “Is he alive?”
“He’s healed himself.”
“Come home.”
“We’re almost there.”
He hung up, and when I pulled into the way station driveway, he was standing in the yard, waiting. He strode to the car, yanked open my door, and pulled me into his arms. “What the fuck did they do to you?” He was shaking with fury and maybe a little fear.
I blinked back tears. “It’s Rhys’s blood.”
Before Rhys could get out of the car, Angus, one arm around me, pulled open the back door. Rhys was okay, true enough, but he was bloody, messy, and unsteady.
It didn’t matter what a person had experienced in life, getting beaten nearly to death by a raging, hate-filled crowd while cops looked on…that was going to be a little traumatic.
The two men stared at each other for a few thick seconds, communicating something that I was not really part of. Clayton came to stand at my right side, then wrapped his fingers around my free hand.
Now that he was free, he couldn’t seem to get enough physical contact.
Angus reached into the car and pulled Rhys out, and I flinched when Rhys gave an almost silent moan.
Leo stood on the porch, watching as we approached. “Everybody okay?”
“Yeah.” Angus’s voice was cold, and we all knew that coldness wasn’t directed at Leo. “We’re good.”
“Dinner will be ready in half an hour,” Jin said, sticking his angular head out the doorway.
I thought food would be the last thing anyone wanted, but Rhys walked a little faster when the smell of cooking meat wafted toward us. In the beginning, I’d thought no one would allow a flesh-eating Jikininki to prepare their food, but I was wrong about that, as well.
It had taken me a few days to eat anything Jin touched, but the guy appeared careful in the kitchen. And he washed his hands.
Rhys patted his back pocket, pulled out his cell phone, and grimaced. “I’m afraid I’ve smashed another phone.”
Clayton handed him his phone. “Calling someone to pick up the cars?”
I hadn’t even thought about the fact that both their cars were still in the city. “I don’t like either of you going into the city,” I said. “It’s not safe. Whatever you need to do there can wait until…”
They just looked at me.
There was no until, really, was there?
Rhys put the borrowed phone to his ear. “Alejandro. I need a favor.”
Angus and Clayton stood together discussing what had happened, and I silently watched them all. Worried about them all.
“I’m going to clean up,” Rhys said, after he gave Clayton back his phone. He hesitated, then held his hand out to me. “You need to clean up as well.”
My heart began to thump.
/> Rhys was the only one of the five I had not yet connected with through sex. I was both nervous and excited about the inevitable bonding.
More excited than nervous.
“Shane just arrived,” Leo said.
I took Rhys’s hand. “Can you catch him up?” I asked Angus.
He leaned over to kiss my forehead. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
I nodded. “I’m fine.”
“Go clean up and we’ll talk at dinner.”
Shane walked in, and his stare sharpened immediately. “What’s going on?” He tossed his keys onto the breakfront and took my shoulders, giving me a kiss when I offered him my lips. “Why are you bloody?”
“Angus will tell you. I’m going to clean up for dinner.” But my breath caught as my gaze lingered on his face. Shane was my hunter. “I love you,” I murmured, without really meaning to.
He frowned. “Trinity?”
I shook my head. “I’m okay.” But I was getting a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, a feeling of dread and worry. Maybe it was just the events that’d happened. Maybe it was the realization that things were going to get worse before they got better.
Maybe I was just afraid for my men.
Whatever it was, it hurt my heart.
Rhys squeezed my hand. “Come with me, love.”
I heard Shane asking Angus what the hell had happened as I left the living room, my hand tucked securely in Rhys’s strong grip.
We met Jin coming down the hallway. “I’ve started a warm bath in the master bedroom. Don’t be late for dinner.”
“Thanks, Jin,” Rhys said.
The big bathtub was filling rapidly, and sweet-smelling bubbles swelled and fizzed. I sat down on the edge off the tub and ran my fingers through the water, not looking at Rhys. I had no idea why I was so nervous. “Jin is a helpful sort.”
Rhys grunted and kicked off his shoes. “He’s afraid you’ll expel him. This is his home now, and he doesn’t want to leave it.”
I looked at him, surprised. “I would never make him leave. I didn’t even know I could. I’ll talk to him.”
He pulled off his ruined shirt and then pushed off his pants. “He’s the only spirit I know of who was able to stay after he came through. I doubt even he knows why.”
“I’ll talk to him,” I repeated, absently. My stare lingered on his body.
God, his body.
He was smooth and lean, his muscles defined, and tattoos covered his arms and chest. He had yet to remove his underwear, and I found myself holding my breath as he hooked his thumb in the waistband.
“Come here, Trinity. I want to show you something.”
“Oh, my.” It didn’t take me all day to get up and hurry to him.
He laughed and took my hand when I stood beside him. He carried my fingers to his chest, above his heart. “This.”
He’d had a sword tattooed on his chest, and my name was written on the blade. I traced the tattoo tenderly. I knew that when I met his stare, my heart was in my eyes.
“It’s beautiful.”
He smiled down at me. “It makes me happy to have you there.”
I slid my hand over his chest to his defined abs and then lower, pushing just the tips of my fingers into the waistband of his underwear. He sucked in a breath and his body tightened, but before I could go farther he caught my wrist.
“Not yet,” he said. “As badly as I want you, it’s not the right time.”
I stepped back, crossing my arms to keep from touching him. “Why is it not the right time?” I was genuinely curious. Rhys was different, and he was mysterious. I wanted to know his motivations. I wanted to know him. “And for the record,” I added, “I want you, too.”
His grin flashed wide and white, then he sobered. “I wanted you to come in here because I need to tell you some things. I can’t tell you what I am, but I can tell you the reason why I can’t tell you.”
“Okay.”
“My power lies in my…secrecy. I was told—as was my father and his father before him—that we were cursed centuries ago. Each time someone sees my power, part of it trickles away.”
I walked to the tub and turned off the water. “Your abilities weaken when you show them?”
“Yes.”
“That sucks, Rhys.”
He laughed. “Indeed it does.”
I gestured at the bathtub. “Climb in. We can talk as you soak, then I’ll find another bathroom and take my shower.”
He didn’t argue. “I adore the tension between us, but having you naked with me in my bath would be too much, even for me. And I have had decades to practice control.”
I swallowed hard as he started to take off his loose boxers, which, in my opinion, hid way too much. I looked up at him when he hesitated.
“Could you…?” he asked.
Surprised, and not a little disappointed, I averted my hot gaze. Dammit.
“May I ask why?” I murmured, when he was in the bathtub, hidden beneath tons of froth and bubbles. “Why I can’t see it?”
He closed his eyes and leaned back with a groan, then opened one eye to peek at me. “Some of my power is in my cock. And the last thing on earth I want is to lose any of that.”
I gaped at him. “I…you’re saying…” I couldn’t seem to get the words out. “Power in your…” I gestured at his hidden parts, then perched once more on the rim of the tub. “If I see your dick it will weaken your power? Its power?”
“Yes. Until after we physically join.”
“How have you kept from losing its power before when you…” I swallowed hard, shocked at how painfully the image of him between someone else’s legs stabbed me in the heart. “Or is it just me?”
“It isn’t connected to my power as a supernatural,” he said, amusement in his dark eyes. “They are separate. Were someone to see me in a different state—as you did on the island—it would not affect the power of my sex.”
I shivered. The power of his sex.
I licked my lips, a little overheated. That he affected me—without even touching me—was extremely obvious. And exciting.
And hot.
“You were weakened because I saw you on the island?”
“Yes.”
“What about when you fought the demon? We all saw you change into those…” I shivered. “Those blades. Did that also weaken you?”
“How do you think a group of human men got the upper hand on me?”
“Understandable if you can’t shift or anything in front of them…”
He snorted. “Before showing myself to you and the others, I’d have slipped away from that mess without a single wound.” There was pride, fierce and bright, in his eyes. “My kind are some of the most powerful beings on earth. At least, we were before a tribe of mystics nearly wiped us out.”
I had so many questions. But first… “So you always have sex in the dark?”
He laughed, and his voice, low and hot, caused my stomach to tighten. “It’s not just the seeing, Trinity. It’s the knowing that can cause the lessening of power. And definitely the feeling.”
“And that means…”
“I’ve never shared that power with anyone. You will be the first.”
Once again, I could only gape. “You’re a virgin?”
Oh, how that thought pleased me.
“I will mate with one woman in my lifetime. That woman will be you.”
I put my hand to my chest. “And…” I cleared my throat and tried again. “And when might that be?”
Not that I was in a hurry or anything.
Right.
How strange was it that I loved one man who’d fucked too many women to count and another man who’d fucked no one?
No one.
Again, I shivered. I felt hot, but my skin was covered with goosebumps.
He picked up a sponge, smiling. “When you’re strong enough for it.” He ran the sponge over his chest. “When I physically bond with my love, my curse will break. I will show
the world what I am and what I can do. I can’t become what I am without first becoming one with my intended. But I cannot become one with my intended without killing her. You see my predicament.”
I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. It was too much to take in at one time. I was the answer to his problem, but he couldn’t claim me without killing me.
I stood. “How will I get ready, Rhys? Are you enormous? I don’t see how—”
He threw his head back and guffawed. Finally, he controlled his laughter and answered me. “I’m just above average in size, Trinity. But I am exceptional in power and I am unmatched in need.” He grinned again, and his grin was hungry, hot, and impatient.
Something dark lingered in there. Something that made me think if he were just a little less honorable, he’d bend me over the sink and take his chances.
I left him to his bath and his thoughts and was halfway through my shower before I realized he hadn’t answered my question.
How would I get ready for Rhys Graver?
Chapter Five
It Begins
“Silverlight comes when I need her,” I told them, over dinner. Night had awakened quietly, and it watched us with a somewhat sinister eye through the large dining room windows. “And she’ll kill anyone I need her to kill.”
“She comes for death,” Rhys said.
“Not only for vampires?” Shane asked.
I said nothing. Not because I was unsure of the answer, but because I was caught for a second on his face. His lips. His eyes.
And I forgot what we were talking about.
“Trin,” Angus said, frowning at me. “What’s wrong with you? You’ve been stumbling over Shane all night.”
“I don’t know.” I slid my fingers across the table and Shane put his fork down and took my hand.
“Nothing’s going to happen to me, baby hunter.”
“I know.” But my stomach tightened with fear. I was afraid. Something had slithered into my brain and made me worry that I would lose him.
“It feels like things are spiraling out of control, I guess.” I squeezed Shane’s fingers and then released his hand and let him get back to his dinner. “I’m afraid I can’t protect you. Any of you. Look what happened with Angus. And Rhys.” I looked at Clayton. “Look what happened to Clayton for years. And what Crawford told me. The brandings.” I could barely get the words out. “The situation between us and the humans is worse than it has ever been and I don’t know if I can protect you.”