by Aliyah Burke
“You won’t be so arrogant later.”
Altair closed his eyes and gathered himself.
“You don’t want to look at me. I’ll just take your eyes first.”
Altair lifted the lid of the one he could and watched Lamar approach. Altair judged the distance that Pietro had retreated. For a man who liked inflicting pain, he sure backed up a bit for this part. But it worked in his favor anyway.
He jerked his head away from Lamar’s touch. The man swore and reached for him again. Same result.
“Get over here, Pietro, and hold his head.” Lamar had to repeat his order twice before the muscle walked to stand behind him and hold his head immobile.
Biding his time up until the last moment, Altair struck. He kicked out with his legs, clipping Lamar to stumble back to the floor, then rolled back to latch them around Pietro’s neck and fell. His momentum took them both down hard.
Pietro ripped into his pant legs, trying to get him to let go. Altair snapped his neck and the large body went slack between his legs. Sore and bleeding, Altair got up and stalked Lamar, who was scurrying back.
Altair yanked Lamar to his feet and carried him back to the table. Securing him with one arm bent behind his neck, Altair picked up a scalpel. “Where are we?” he asked.
“California.”
“How do I get out of here?”
“You don’t.”
Altair put the blade into one of his jowls. “You have much fat to go through before I get to the organs. I want to know how I get out of here. If I think you are lying, I will kill you.”
“Kill me then. That would be preferable to what They will do to me if they learn I talked.”
“Have it your way.” A flick of his wrist then Altair stepped away from him, ignoring the body slumping first on the table then slipping to the floor. The door was his focus and he stopped by Pietro and armed himself. Before he left, he put his shoulder back in once more.
Where are you, Roz? He cracked open the door and assessed his situation. He needed to get to a phone and call the vineyard. Even if he did get out, he wouldn’t get far bleeding this much and looking like he’d fought a meat grinder. There would be cops and with uniformed personnel came lots of questions. Things he didn’t have time for right now.
He picked a direction and headed off, the Glock gripped and ready to fire. His body shook with the exertion he put forth but he had no intention of stopping now. A door at the end of the hall flew open and he raised his hand, pulling the trigger.
“Shit!”
That voice sounded familiar to him and he shook his head, even as he ducked into a different room. Whatever drugs he’d been on must be playing with his head. He had to go. The gunshots would bring more. Opening the door, he checked then stepped free only to halt when he saw the one there.
“I thought I saw you shooting at me, man,” Billy said, plucking the pistol from his hand.
“Roz?” he rasped the question.
“Not with us. Come on, we’re getting you back to the estate. Mal’s—” He shook his head. “Now is not the time to talk, but move,” Billy said. “We have people converging on our position. Don’t take this the wrong way, but we need to go faster than you can. Even if you weren’t hurt.” He put Altair over his shoulder and the world moved by in a blur.
* * * *
“Can you hear me, Altair?”
The question penetrated his mind and he opened his eyes. Mal hovered over him, her eyes full of worry and concern.
“Yes. Where is Roz?”
“You need to focus on you. Rest. We’re in the air. I set your broken bones and stitched up what was needed at the moment. I’ll tend the rest when I have you on my table.”
He looked around from the couch seat he lay on. Billy sat with his expression pained.
“Why are you here and where is Roz?”
“I came for you, and Dracen and Tiarnán are after her.” Billy’s words were harsh.
“Where is she?”
“We don’t know, man, okay? We can’t contact her.” He lurched to his feet and paced. “I came here because Dracen and Tiarnán refused to.”
“I would not ask you to come for me.”
“You may not, but Roz would.”
“What about Cale?”
“He’s recovering at the vineyard. He managed to push some healing power to Roz but it nearly killed him and he’s our healer. If it did that to him…” Billy shook his head and turned away.
There wasn’t any need to finish his thought. If the one who could heal himself faster than any of the other Guardians almost died because of what he felt, Roz’s chances were slim.
“No,” Mal said. “You need to lie there.”
“I need to find Roz.”
“Unless you can sprout wings and fly, boyo, I suggest you stay here. We’re on our way back to the vineyard. You may as well use the time to rest and recoup.” She checked his IV then stepped away, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
As much as he wanted to protest, he knew Mal was right. He had to use his time wisely. Hold on, Roz. I will find a way to get to you. Somehow.
* * * *
“What do you mean he’s gone?” Haley screeched, shoving the man across from her back several feet. Her rage surged through her, lending to her strength. “How did this happen and who’s to blame?” She leveled a finger at him. “Besides you, of course, Blake.”
He watched her with wide eyes. “Me? I was ordered out of the room by your freak Lamar. He wanted me gone and Pietro there. Blame them.”
“They’re dead!” She heaved a chair into the wall. “How can I blame a dead person?”
“How can you blame someone who wasn’t there?”
She snarled at him. “Get me the footage.”
Blake returned shortly, carrying a laptop. He opened it and set it before her. Haley pressed play and watched the escape. How a man so injured could do what he did, she hadn’t any clue. He wasn’t a Guardian. If he had been, she would have expected something like this to happen. But he’d just been a carpenter.
“No carpenter kills like that,” Blake said.
“You think I don’t know that?” She tapped her foot and yelled a few more curses when a Guardian appeared on the screen. “How did they find this place?”
“Aren’t you asking how he got in?”
“No. There isn’t a place that man can’t get in if he wants in. I want to know how they found out about this place. We have a leak somewhere.” She slammed the computer shut, aware she’d broken it, and stomped to the door. “Fucking find me some answers, Blake, or I will forget you are important to anyone around here.”
* * * *
Roz stirred when the entire building shook. She watched in a blend of horror and amazement as a parade of large, misshapen creatures lumbered by. They were the things parents scared their children with. These were the monsters in the night—the things that went bump and hid under the bed.
None seemed aware she was there and she wished she could stick her head out and find out where they were going. She knew that wouldn’t be the way to go, though.
She moved her toes then her fingers, wincing at the pain that seemed to intensify with each passing second. Black spots floated before her eyes. The light had lessened and she figured it was setting.
The question is, were those creatures coming in or going out? I want out, so if I go where they were and it’s inside farther, that defeats my purpose. But they could have been going out, which begs the question, do I really want to be outside with all those monsters?
Neither option struck her as appealing. Sticking around longer wasn’t either. She was dying and had no desire to do so here. So she moved from her position and cautiously looked up and down. Her legs didn’t want to support her and she sank to her knees. Fingers not wanting to work, she struggled back up and used the wall for assistance, moving in the opposite direction the creatures had gone.
Each step filled her wounded body with excruciating
pain. She tried calling to her brethren but it wasn’t doing her any good. Sweat dripped down her body, mingling with the blood, and she found another door. If the animals had come from somewhere, it looked like they’d come via this entrance.
Now I just have to find a way to open up a door that’s over fifty feet tall. Nothing popped out to her on the side she was on, so she began moving to the other one. When she stood in front of the crack separating the two halves, it began to move.
Shit.
She scrambled back as the large stone swung in. The scene approaching her didn’t make her feel any better. Another herd of those animals. The lead one had slime—or snot—dripping from his nose and the ring piercing it. The wave of sulfur that hit her had her gagging.
Roz dropped to her knees and rolled to the side, ignoring all the pain. She wasn’t fast enough to run out of the way and besides, they might chase her, if they could even see her. Finally she made it to the outside and sat pressed against the wall. The ground shook, bouncing her around. Rocks rose and fell with the stampede. Then again, so did she. It was one hell of an experience.
She strained her eyes and saw there was a hole off in the distance they poured from.
One creature, six-legged with an anteater-like snout, turned its head toward her, slowing. She cringed and tried to make herself invisible. A fear she needn’t have had, because that one had slowed. The others ran right over it, never once slowing.
The doors closed behind the last one and Roz looked around again. She was outside. If only she had energy to go on.
She shut her eyes, only to pry them back open when she heard a whicker. Off to her right, she saw a horse. Not a freaky, from-the-pits-of-hell horse, either. In fact it was the one from the image and the one she’d ridden in her daydream—the bay stallion.
He tossed his head and pawed the ground. She forced herself up and toward him, half expecting him to run away or vanish right before her eyes. He did neither.
At the feel of his coat and muscles beneath her fingers, she whimpered. He was real. “Don’t suppose you’d care to give me a ride, would you, boy?”
Again, much to her amazement, he sank to his knees beside her. Roz cried tears of joy as she struggled to get her leg over his back. The familiar experience of a horse between her legs gave her courage she hadn’t thought she had. Wrapping her hands in his mane, she said, “Let’s go.”
He lunged up and she fell forward, slumped over his neck.
* * * *
“God damn it, we’re surrounded.” The voice broke into her nice sleep—her pain-free sleep.
Roz cracked her eyes open to see she was surrounded by dead bodies as Dracen fought alongside Tiarnán, adding to the count.
“I see that, Dracen,” T said, his voice hard with anger.
“How are we getting out of here? We can’t keep her unjostled if we’re fighting for every fucking step we take.”
“I know.” Tiarnán danced in and out of her line of sight, killing without mercy, his whip and blade working beautifully together.
“One of us needs to take her and the other stay.” Dracen shot two guys approaching her.
“Agreed. So get going.”
Dracen looked like she wanted to argue but snapped her mouth shut. The skies darkened, lightning flew from the clouds with deadly purpose. What’s going on? Dracen and Tiarnán weren’t aware either, for they stood between whatever was in that cloud and her.
“Thoughts?” Dracen asked, weapons at the ready.
“No clue,” he replied. “The lightning is taking out those from The New Order.”
Roz watched the clouds part and Edmond, dressed in a black linen suit, walked out. Flames raged in his eyes and as he raised his arms, thunder boomed and lightning pierced the air around them.
“You have gone too far with this,” he hollered, not even the wind able to tear his words away. Edmond approached them and stared down at her, his eyes softening to how she remembered them to be when he was in his happy place at his computers. “We will be leaving now.”
The clouds swirled back in and cloaked her in darkness. She didn’t mind. All that mattered was she wasn’t going to die in that place. She had her family around her.
* * * *
“How is she?” The voice came in a low whisper.
“In pain,” Roz croaked, opening her eyes to find Dracen standing beside Mal.
“Welcome back, lass.” Mal gave her a warm smile while she approached.
Dracen closed her eyes briefly then neared. “Welcome back, sister.”
“Altair?”
Dracen pointed beside her. “He’s right there. Recovering, as you are.”
“Thank you,” she said, “for coming to get me.”
The hardness flashed in her gaze before Dracen nodded. “We would have gone to hell to make that happen.”
“How’d you find me?”
Dracen shook her head. “A discussion for when you are better. Right now, someone else has something to say to you.”
She looked to her right and found Altair lying in a bed right there, just as Dracen had said. His black gaze was on her, solely.
“Hi,” she said. He had bandages on top of bandages and it broke her heart. “I’m sorry I let them take you.”
He didn’t speak, just stared at her. She swallowed and wished she felt a bit stronger than Jell-O trying to form with bromelain in the mixture. It wasn’t going to solidify and right now, she wasn’t going to get stronger.
“Are you okay?”
“I love you,” he said finally.
The click of a door let her know the others had left. “What?”
“I said I love you.” He reached his hand over and lightly squeezed hers. “I swore if you woke up I would tell you.”
“No need to,” she said.
“Wrong. There is every need to.”
“Why?”
“Because after I lost Hadil the first time, I never believed I would find anyone to get emotion from me. Then I met you. I will never be as outgoing with my displays as Cale or Billy, but my love will not be any less than theirs for the women they breathe for.”
She tried to return the squeeze but darkness swallowed her instead. She struggled against it, for she had something important to tell him in return. It was a battle she failed.
Chapter Seventeen
Knock. Knock. Knock.
“Come.”
Altair took the man at his word and walked slowly into the office. Lian sat behind a large, ornately carved desk.
“Mr. Sagal. I am glad to see you up and about. What can I do for you?” He stood and gestured to the chair before the desk. “Please sit. May I offer you some tea?”
He preferred coffee but somehow refusing just didn’t seem like the thing to do. “Please.”
“Very good.” Lian went to a side table and carried back a tray with a floral teapot and two delicate china cups.
Altair watched in silence as he poured the tea. A rich scent filled the room, warming him, despite the rain that slashed the windows. Lian returned to his seat and sipped from his cup.
“What can I do for you?”
“I am wondering if you have objections to having Roz build a house on the property?”
“Instead of living here?”
“Yes. A place that is hers—or ours.”
“You prefer privacy.”
“I do, yes. But I know there are times when she comes home from work and she just wants—and needs—a bit of quiet. With the children around, that is not always something she can find.”
He stroked his chin. “Perhaps I need to think about this for all the couples. There is more than enough property. Is this something you could build? Six homes?”
“I could build six houses, yes. I would suggest some others for electrical, plumbing and all of that.”
“You said houses instead of homes. Why?”
“They would be houses until they had people in them to make them homes.”
Lian
nodded. “I see.” He drank some more. “When would you need to know by?”
“There is not a set time. This is your property. I am merely asking if it would be possible.”
“I will take a look and see. As soon as I make a decision, I will inform you.”
“Thank you for your time.” He finished his tea and rose, once he’d placed the cup back down.
“Take good care of her, Altair.” Lian’s parting words stayed with him as he made his way back down to medical.
He slipped in the room and almost smiled at the sight of almost her entire family surrounding her. Well, those she considered siblings. The only one missing was Aminta. Cale sat by her head, keeping a hand on her. The man looked a bit better but still drawn.
Billy was on her other side but he took to his feet and waved him over. Altair sat in his place, met Cale’s gaze over Roz and gave him a nod. He knew the man was still offering her some of his healing power and so didn’t contest the physical connection.
Dracen and Tiarnán sat in chairs nearby. Mal and Taylor occupied two more. Roz leaned into him and he glanced down at her.
“Hi,” she whispered.
“Hi, yourself.”
Her smile was the best thing he’d seen all day.
“Tell me, did you see the horse? Did he make it out okay?”
Tiarnán and Dracen exchanged glances. “What horse?” Dracen asked.
“The bay. He helped me get away from that place. God, I hope he wasn’t hurt.”
“We saw no horse, Roz. We came upon you stumbling down the road. You were alone.” Tiarnán kept his tone gentle.
“No, that’s not possible. After I got out I… Well, I saw some freaky shit and then I got out of the secured area. But he was there—the bay. Altair, you know the one.”
He did? “I do?”
“The one from the picture in the office at home. The big bay. He’s standing alone on a grassy knoll.”
“I remember the picture,” he said. “Is that the horse you think you saw?”
“No,” she insisted. “I did see him.” She shook her head slightly. “Was I imagining seeing Edmond come out of the clouds?”