by Nina Bangs
“I need your attention for a few minutes.” Fin rose and pushed back his chair. He picked up his coffee and walked over to the bank of windows. Then he stood staring out at the darkness.
Utah tried to focus as Fin told everyone what Tor had discovered. It was tough. He didn’t have to be looking at Lia to be aware of her. Her scent—vanilla and sensual woman—clung to her. She must’ve just showered. That thought immediately led to images of warm water flowing over her naked body, her skin gleaming, her . . .
He took a deep breath and forced his attention back to Fin.
“I knew Seven a long time ago, before she joined Zero.” Fin kept his back to the table. “I’ve already told you this, but you . . . forgot.”
You could almost hear the collective intake of breaths. Utah wasn’t surprised at the news. He just wondered why Fin felt a need to admit it.
“I’m telling you this so you’ll accept what I say next as true.” Fin’s voice held no inflection. “Seven is working up to something big. I think she’s almost finished with Portland. And she always liked to celebrate. I’d guess that in the very near future she’ll call all her recruits together for a going-away party. Unfortunately, her idea of a good time will mean a bad time for Portland.”
“What are we supposed to do?” Ty’s voice was tight.
“Keep your ears to the ground. Literally.” Fin finally turned to look at them. His eyes were flat. “She’s obsessed with plants and the earth. If she decides to make a statement, that’s where it’ll happen. Report back anything you hear or observe that has to do with an earth change. And she’s a chaos bringer, so she’ll enjoy upping the killings to throw the general population into a panic.”
He stopped talking, and the silence dragged on and on until Lia spoke.
“This is a little off-topic, but I really want to know. You didn’t answer me last time I asked. You knew Seven. The rest of your men didn’t. There seem to be lots of differences between you and your men. So I assume you weren’t a dinosaur like them. What were you sixty-five million years ago?”
Instinctively, Utah braced himself for the stabbing pain in his head and the brain fog that wiped everything away. He didn’t have any proof, but he suspected he wouldn’t even remember her asking the question. She wouldn’t remember asking it.
Nothing happened. Fin walked back to the table and sat down. “I wasn’t a dinosaur. That’s all you need to know.”
Shock seemed to keep everyone quiet. Fin had never openly offered insight into his past. Sure, he’d hinted at some things to a few of the guys one-on-one, but never like this.
Fin glanced at Lia and Utah. “When you’re finished, I’d like to see you in my office.” And without a backward glance, he left the room.
Ty looked thoughtful. “Maybe it’s time to get a few things out in the open.” He glanced around the room. “We were something else before our souls ended up in predators. Some of us know for sure, and some of us just suspect it. As part of our wedding ceremonies, Fin gave both Kelly and Jenna glimpses into the before time.”
“He gave me a little of my memory back too.” Al reached out for Jenna’s hand. “Not enough to know what was going on, but enough to scare the shit out of me.”
Jenna nodded. “It was a nightmare world. I think Fin feels obligated to keep it from you guys.” She took a deep breath. “And he is keeping it from you.”
“Guess he’s loosening up a little then, because you know he’s in our heads now, so he knows what we’re discussing.” Ty glanced at Kelly.
Kelly nodded. “He could stop this little trip down memory lane anytime he wanted.”
Utah worked hard to hold on to his temper. “And you never saw fit to tell the rest of us any of this?” He didn’t need to look at Tor to know his brother felt the same anger.
Ty tensed, his T. rex reacting to Utah’s challenge. “What good would knowing that little bit do? It would just confuse everyone, take their focus away from Zero. And you might think you’re big and bad enough to force Fin to tell everything, but your head would be looking for your ass if you tried.”
Kelly laid her hand on his arm, a calming influence. “I think Fin is slowly giving us more information. I don’t think getting in his face and demanding to know everything would work with him.”
Al shrugged. “What are our options? Get mad and walk away? Where would that leave humanity?” He gazed at Jenna, all his love for her there for everyone to see. “Where would that leave us if humanity fell?”
Lia stood. “Maybe I should’ve kept my mouth shut, but it just bothers me that he doesn’t have confidence in your ability to handle the truth. I mean, how bad could it be?”
No one offered to answer that, so Utah stood too. “Fin’s waiting for us.” He aimed a pointed stare at Al, Kelly, and Jenna. “When we have some downtime, I’d like to talk about what Fin showed you.” Maybe between here and Fin’s office he’d get control over his need to knock his leader on his ass.
They left the others still sitting there. Lia didn’t say anything as they walked to Fin’s office. He called them in before they had a chance to knock. Utah opened the door.
They sat down—Lia pulled her chair as far away from Utah as possible—and stared at Fin across his desk. Nothing cluttered the huge expanse. Utah wondered what he did in this office. From the look of things, it didn’t involve paperwork.
Utah decided to strike first. “Trust is a two-way street. Someone needs to cuff and ticket you, because you’re crossing a lot of lines.”
“Think you can do it, raptor?” Danger filled the room, a dark blanket of dread.
Since suicide wasn’t an option, and attacking Fin would definitely qualify, Utah reined in his fury. “How can you expect us to trust you when you don’t tell us the truth?”
Fin shrugged. “That’s for you to figure out. I do what I think is best for everyone, given the circumstances.”
Lia jumped in. “You have incredible powers, a lot more than your men. I still don’t see why you can’t get rid of Christine.”
Utah could almost hear Fin’s patience snap.
“If I could do it by myself, I wouldn’t be sitting here listening to this crap. I would’ve taken her out at the rose garden. Get this through your head, Lia, you’re the only one who can send Seven home. Why? How the hell do I know? Maybe it has something to do with you drinking Zero’s blood. I don’t think he’s ever shared it before. Some of his power could’ve come with it. But that’s only conjecture. All I know is that my visions always show the basic scenario, even if some of the details might change.”
“It all comes down to you and the number seven. I’ve sat here for days trying to figure out what form the seven will take.” He drew in a deep breath. “I guess the universe will just have to manifest it.”
Lia leaned back in her chair. She radiated frustration. “Well, I hope the universe lets me in on the secret before I go mano a mano with the queen of buds and blood.”
She took a deep breath. “But that won’t happen anytime soon because I’ll be flying back to Philly in about four hours. Dad is taking care of it. A friend of a friend has a private jet all decked out for safe travel in daylight. He’ll take me home.”
No. Utah bit back his impulse to shout the word. His face must’ve shown what he was thinking, though, because she started to reach out to him, then paused. Sighing, she dropped her hand.
“I’m no use here.” She focused on Utah. “You’d never know when I might lose control and attack you.”
“I can handle it.” He knew he sounded a little desperate, but he couldn’t help it. She couldn’t leave . . . him. When had she become so important? The thought shook him to his soul. And his soul growled its need to force her to stay. There were some things about the good old days he missed.
“Besides, I can’t seem to work up any energy to fight Christine.” Confusion filled her eyes. “I don’t know what the hell’s wrong with me.”
“I do.”
Fin ha
d Utah’s instant attention.
“I’ve had time to think about it, Lia. I’d guess that Zero planted a few compulsions, then made sure you wouldn’t remember him messing with your mind.” Fin shrugged. “It worked. He wanted you to abandon the battle, and you have.”
Startled, her eyes widened. “Why go to all that trouble? Why not just kill me?”
“Dead trade bait loses its value.”
“Okay, so if he went the compulsion route, why not plant the suggestion that I kill all of you, not just Utah?”
Utah could see her turning over Fin’s statement, examining it from all angles. Whether it was true or not, he hoped she’d believe it, because it might convince her to stay.
“The larger the scope of a compulsion, the more energy it takes. Zero needs every bit of his energy, so he planted only what he thought necessary to achieve his goal. Luckily, he doesn’t know how important you are. This whole thing was never about you killing any of us; it was about scaring you into running.”
“I don’t run.” She radiated outrage. “I’m leaving so I won’t hurt Utah.”
Fin went on as if she hadn’t spoken. “Besides, he probably thought if he went small with his suggestions, no one would guess he’d compromised your mind.”
“I. Don’t. Run.”
“Running is running no matter what the reason.” Fin’s voice was soft, but he might as well have been shouting.
Lia’s glare had all of her old fight in it. “That bastard. How do I get rid of his crap?”
“I don’t know.”
“Not the answer I want.” Lia balled her hands into fists.
“He’s too powerful.” Fin’s words seemed dragged from him. “I’ll need time to work on it.” He rubbed his forehead, a rare expression of frustration for Fin. “I might need help.”
“What about Kione and Jude? Even Adam?” Utah would use the devil himself if he could help Lia.
Fin shook his head. “Not powerful enough.”
Utah met Lia’s gaze. “Stay. I’ll help you. Leaving won’t cure the compulsions, it’ll just put them on hold.” Was he begging? You bet.
She closed her eyes for a moment, and Utah swore he didn’t breathe during the whole time.
Finally, she opened them. “I’ll stay.” Her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes as she looked at Utah. “But if you end up a dry husk in a ditch somewhere, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Utah exhaled deeply. Thank God.
If Fin was relieved, he didn’t show it. But that was just Fin being Fin. “Now for the reason I asked you here. Adam contacted me. He wants to see both of you as soon as you can get there. I don’t know what this is about.”
Not something good. Utah wasn’t looking forward to the meeting. “Have you seen Kione?”
“No. The vampires must’ve freed him from the curse by now. He’s probably long gone.”
Lia looked a little sad. “You don’t have much trust in the goodness of people, do you?”
Fin returned her smile, only his was a lot colder. “I have no reason to.”
“Guess we’d better get going. Don’t want to keep Adam waiting,” Utah lied. He’d love to keep the bastard waiting. Forever. But he wanted out of this room. And he was sort of curious about what Adam would say now that he knew Seven was taking his vampires.
“You need a driver now that Lia isn’t human. Greer will take over that job until further notice. He’s about as human as you get around here.” Fin smiled, and this time it reached his eyes. “I hope you appreciate the sacrifice I’m making. I’ll have to cook my own meals. It’s hard to look godlike when you’re burning the bacon.”
Fin waved them out the door. “Greer’s waiting for you in Utah’s new car. And yes, I remembered that neither of you had a vehicle. Tell Jude he can pick up his car here.” He met Lia’s gaze. “Stay strong. Utah can help you fight the compulsions.”
They didn’t speak on the way down in the elevator.
When they finally stopped beside the car, Utah asked the inevitable question. “Where do you want to sit? You in front, me in back, or vice versa?”
“Let’s try both in back.” She waved off his attempt to interrupt. “I have to work on my control. If I let Zero dictate how I live my life, then he wins.”
He nodded, and they climbed in.
Greer headed for Old Town. “Hope you don’t mind, but I drive fast and hard. It’s the only power trip my tiger ever gets.”
“The faster the better.” Lia sounded fierce.
Utah loved that about her.
“What do you think about Kione?” She sat pressed against her door.
Utah gave her all the space he could. “Don’t have a clue. I can’t read him.” He hoped he got a chance to see the fae prince again.
The conversation lagged as awareness reared its sexy head, at least for him. Lia’s tension might have a lot to do with her urge to slide across the seat and sink her fangs into his neck.
Logically, he knew she was vampire. That should translate to hate in his mind. Well, his mind wasn’t getting the message. It along with the rest of his body thought she was fine in whatever form she wore. No use fighting the inevitable. He thought Rap would understand.
Luckily for all concerned, Greer’s driving was insane. Couldn’t concentrate on much of anything when death waited for you around every curve. They were soon parked behind the art gallery.
Greer turned to look at them. “Fin wants me to wait out here. Better that way. Don’t want the bastards to be picking their teeth with my bones and drinking to each other’s health with my blood. Times like this I wish I was a real shifter, none of this a-tiger-in-my-heart shit.”
Utah clapped him on the back. “Stay safe.” Then he and Lia climbed out.
Reed still waited like a fanged goliath by the door, but someone else waited too.
Kione stepped out of the shadows.
Chapter Fourteen
She was glad to see Kione. That surprised Lia. Maybe seeing how he’d suffered, how he’d loved, made him more . . . human. Or not. You couldn’t judge someone’s humanity on a sliding scale. And being human didn’t guarantee goodness and light. Besides, she didn’t qualify as a judge of humanity anymore. She should change her wording. Seeing how Kione had suffered made him seem more vulnerable. And vulnerability softened some of his sharp fae edges.
Oh, and she was also glad to see him because he could act as a buffer between Utah and her.
“Where the hell have you been?” Utah’s grin balanced out his gruff words.
“I had to make sure my vampire friends did what they promised.” Kione’s cold eyes seemed to warm a little as he reached them.
“Did they?” She hoped so. No one deserved to live with that kind of pain.
“Yes.” For a moment, Kione looked almost disbelieving. “I’m free.”
“From everything?” Utah tensed.
Kione laughed. A rare sound. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep my promise to Fin.”
Utah relaxed. “Good. I’d hate to have to break in a new partner.”
Lia interrupted. “Guess we’d better go see what Adam wants. It probably won’t be good.”
As usual, Reed had nothing to say as they entered the building. Another silent vampire opened the door to the tunnels. Utah took the lead as they walked down the dark corridor toward where the tunnel opened to a slightly larger area, and Adam sat with his vampires grouped in a semicircle around him. Candles cast shadows across their still faces. The play of light and dark highlighted Adam’s perfect face, accented his golden eyes, and chilled her blood.
There were a lot more vampires this time. They waited, silent, with unblinking eyes that gleamed black in the candlelight. Adam stood as Utah reached him.
Uneasiness poked at Lia. There shouldn’t be this many vampires here right now. This was prime hunting time. In front of her, Utah tensed. He felt it too.
“You wanted to see us?”
Utah sounded relaxed, but as Lia stepped up be
side him, she could see his narrowed gaze scanning the semicircle of vampires. Behind her, she knew Kione would be doing the same.
“Have a seat.” Adam smiled, but his eyes stayed hard.
“No.” Utah didn’t waste words.
Adam shrugged. “I won’t need your services anymore. Christine and I have come to an agreement.”
From the corner of her eye, Lia could see the semicircle closing a little. Behind her, Kione hissed a quiet warning. She nodded to let him know she’d heard.
“So your deal with Fin is off?” Utah moved a few inches so that Kione could fit between Lia and him.
“That’s about it.” Adam abandoned even the semblance of friendliness. “She made me a better offer. I join my forces with hers, and then when she leaves I take over everything.”
Lia couldn’t keep quiet. “You’re already our leader, so what did she offer you beyond that?” This was bad. If Adam was able to deliver the whole vampire nation to Seven, the Eleven and humanity were in deep trouble. Jude wouldn’t go along with it, so Adam would have to destroy him and any other regional leader who didn’t cave.
Adam’s eyes glowed with excitement. “She’s leading more than just vampires. Once she’s gone, I’ll control all the shifters, demons, and other nonhumans she’s gathered together.” He licked his lips. “I’ll control the world.”
“That’s right, think big.” Kione’s murmur broke the stunned silence.
Lia chose not to point out that Zero had other people out there recruiting, and that not all of their nonvampire recruits would follow Adam. She’d let him keep his illusions of world domination. No need to tick him off with a dose of reality.
“Guess we need to leave then.” Utah backed up a step. Lia and Kione backed with him. “Where do we pick up our checks?”
Adam looked apologetic. “Sorry, but there won’t be any severance pay because . . .” He smiled. “You’ll be dead.”
“Adam, you are such an optimist.” Lia decided her former leader wasn’t as smart as she’d thought he was. “Have you really thought this through?”
The strange connection she had with Utah told her his beast was close to the surface. She glanced up—about seven feet clearance right here. Lia hoped that would be enough. His twenty-plus-foot length would fit, but he wouldn’t have any maneuvering room. The tunnel was probably twenty feet wide plus whatever width the cells gave it. Enough for him to turn, but not comfortably. And no way would he be chasing anyone. She’d bet these tunnels narrowed in spots.