"This is a mistake," I warned her, my hands fisting at my sides.
She smiled as she slunk toward me. "Don't worry," she murmured, leaning forward until her mouth touched my ear. "In time, you'll grow to love me. How could you not? I mean, look at me. I'm the most beautiful woman on earth."
Her guards moved in around me as she stepped away. And while two of them kept their automatic weapons trained on me, the other two holstered their weapons and approached, one from the front and the other from behind. They were large men, heavily muscled, their thick arms straining the sleeves of their suit jackets. But the guy in front of me wore a goatee that looked ridiculous on a man his size. And a thin veil of sweat gleamed on the skull of the bald mauler who closed in on me from behind.
I dropped to the floor as they lunged at me and balanced on one hand, kicking out at the guard with the goatee. I heard something crack as my heels connected with his shins, and he went down in a pile of black fabric. Leaping back onto my feet, I whirled to face the bald man. But one of the other guards grabbed me from behind, pinning my arms against my back. So I used his grip as leverage, lifting my knees and lashing out with my feet, nailing the bald man in the stomach and watching as he doubled over.
"You little punk," he spat, balling up his fist and throwing it at my face with a speed that surprised me. And as my jaw snapped backwards, the sound of splintering glass came from the skylight overhead followed by a rain of sparkling shards. Then Chaos was standing between us on the patterned rug.
The bald man wasted no time throwing a second punch—at Chaos this time—then howled as he backed away, cradling his bloody hand in his palm.
"That's enough," Olivia commanded and strode toward us then backed off when Chaos spat out a chunk of flesh that landed on the toe of her shoe. She lifted her gaze to his face then to mine. "Well, obviously, we're going to have to tame you and your family."
"Good luck with that," I snarled and shook off the man who was holding me, flinging him into the nearest bookcase. He scrambled to his feet and pulled his gun from his holster, backing away from me as he eyed the exit.
A dark shadow of cruelty transformed Olivia's face momentarily and she opened her mouth to say something that I'm sure would have turned my blood cold. But the two guards from the front doors appeared at the library entrance and stalked quickly toward us while two more rushed in behind them.
Chaos caught my eye and lifted his chin. "Ready to quit fooling around?" he growled.
"Aye," I answered. My barbs shot into place, and we crouched back-to-back as Olivia's men rushed us.
Ten seconds later, three men were dead, locked in stone forever. Chaos had taken out two of them while I'd finished the third with two slashing blows. Hearing a choking gasp behind me, I wheeled and lifted my fist to deal with a fourth attacker. But this guard was different. He wasn't like the others. He was just a nice guy with the wrong job. He stood frozen in place, his eyes staring at the last man I'd turned to stone.
But he was probably a dead man walking since I doubted Olivia would let any of her guards live to talk about what they'd just seen. I didn't know if he was bright enough to figure that out, but he deserved a chance. I knotted my fist in his shirt and shook him out of his shock. "Get out of here," I snarled. "Run."
By the time he'd backed through the library doors and had started sprinting for the building's exit, the guards with the automatic weapons realized what they were up against. And bullets started flying. But only enough to cover their retreat. The sight of the first guard running had probably unnerved them and the sound of footsteps thumped down the corridor as the rest of Olivia's men joined him. Only the guard with the goatee was left in the library, dragging his broken legs behind him as he crawled through the door.
Olivia's narrow gaze followed him thoughtfully. "You were right," she finally said. "Mama didn't tell me everything. Obviously, I'll have to be more careful next time."
I stalked toward her with my fist raised and my barbs extended. "There won't be a next time," I growled.
Her gaze slid across her guards locked in stone and latched onto my barbs. "You're probably thinking you should finish me the same way," she suggested, and unfastened the top three buttons on the collar of her jacket. "But I'm afraid it won't have the same effect."
She turned her head and exposed her neck, revealing a trail of puncture wounds that had obviously been made by a gargoyle's barbs. So she was immune to our poison at the very least. And quite possibly addicted as well.
My barbs retracted and I pointed a finger at her. "You stay away from us," I rasped. "And stay away from our girls. Do you understand?"
"I understand," she answered with a dramatic sigh. "I guess I'll just have to work on those other leads I have and see what I can turn up."
I tried to hide my reaction but I'm not sure I succeeded.
"Would you happen to know anything about those other gargoyles?" she asked slyly.
"What gargoyles?"
"The ones in Denver…and Limon? They wouldn't be friends of yours, would they? They wouldn't be…family?"
I just glared at her, not trusting myself to speak.
A satisfied smile touched her mouth. "I have a feeling you'll cooperate with me eventually," she said.
I closed the distance between us, getting right in her face. "And I have a feeling you'll end up dead if you don't back off," I snarled. Then I turned and stalked from the room while Chaos covered my retreat.
Out in front of the deserted building, we spread our wings and took off for home.
"Is Samantha safe?" I asked my youngest brother as we winged it through the night.
"She's fine," he answered.
"So what are you doing here when I told you to leave?"
"Just using my own judgment," he answered. "Sometimes I do that. But I got Reason's approval first to stay behind and listen in."
"You should have stayed with the lasses," I growled.
"I left them with Reason," he answered, reminding me that our brother was our best fighter…which is why we always leave him with the girls. "And Torrie isn't exactly helpless. But Reason will take care of them."
"So how much did you hear?" I asked and waved a hand behind me. "Back there at Olivia's facility."
"Everything," he answered. "She's a real monster isn't she?"
"Aye."
"Do you think she'll let those guards live?"
"Nay," I answered. "Not after what they've seen."
"I almost pity them," he sighed. "That one guy wasn't too bad."
"He was the exception," I agreed.
We landed in the front yard, behind the screen of evergreens that surrounded the property. And for the next several seconds, I stood next to the replanted spruce and stared up at the stars over Samantha's house.
"You coming in?" Chaos asked quietly from the front steps.
"In a minute," I answered, picking out the brightest star in the night sky and thinking that was what Samantha was like. There were billions of others that shone almost as brightly but only she had that vibrant spark that set her apart from everyone else. And with that thought, I realized it was all over. Sam would never again look at me again with the warmth and affection that I craved. That I didn't think I could live without.
"Are you okay?" Reason asked when I finally walked into the kitchen several minutes later.
"You guys didn't have to wait up," I told him, and smiled at Elaina.
"We wanted to be sure you made it back okay," Elaina explained.
"Did you get Torrie home?" Chaos asked them, leaning against the counter with a glass of milk in his hand.
"Aye," Reason answered. "Though she put up a bit of a fight. But Samantha insisted she had to get home or her father would freak."
Elaina tossed her cell phone at my youngest brother and he caught it in his free hand. "Better send her a message and let her know you're okay," she suggested.
"I don't want to wake her up," he said.
"She won't b
e sleeping," Elaina predicted. "She'll be waiting to hear from you."
His gaze turned soft as he looked at the phone. "I guess you're right," he murmured.
I pulled out a chair to join Elaina and Reason at the table but Reason waved me off. "Chaos can fill us in on what happened after we left. Why don't you go up to your room and get some rest?"
"I have to tell you about the others," I argued. "Courage and Force."
"I can bring them up to date," Chaos offered, and looked up after sending his text message.
"It can wait until the morning," Reason insisted, which kind of surprised me. But I was dragging—used up, worn down and heartsick—feeling…forsaken for lack of a modern word that would describe my feelings. So I took his advice and headed up the back stairs.
Chapter Nineteen
I heard her breathing before I opened the bedroom door. And felt her presence in the next instant. Her sweet persona washed over me like a soothing balm and my knees almost buckled. I closed the door behind me and slumped back against it then found her in the darkness, curled up in the chair I'd recently placed in the corner.
"Are you okay?" Samantha whispered.
"Wh-what are you doing here?" I croaked. "I didn't see your car out front."
"I parked out back," she explained, gliding to her feet in the dark room and throwing herself at me. "Are you okay?" she cried softly.
I crushed her in a hug. "Thank God," I whispered. "Thank God you're here. Thank God I didn't lose you."
"Hey," she said. "It's okay. I'm here."
I pulled her head out of my chest and held her face in my hands. "I'm sorry if I hurt you."
"Victor, what are you talking about?" she whispered.
"I heard your reaction when I said I was staying with Olivia. I heard you gasp."
Her eyes went wide with sympathy. "That was only because I realized how much danger we were in for you to say something like that. How much danger you were in. I wanted to stay with you but I knew I had to play along. And I knew I had to make sure Torrie got out of there safely."
"So…you didn't fall for my act?"
"Not for one minute," she scoffed and smiled up at me. "Oh, you were convincing. You probably even deserved an academy award. But you told me earlier you'd never willingly betray me. And I know you don't lie. So I figured you were doing it to protect me."
I blinked down at her, thinking I was the luckiest guy on earth. "I thought you were asleep the night I said that."
"I probably was," she admitted. "But the words stuck with me just the same. And after we left you at Olander Scientific, Torrie told me she could tell that woman back there was a monster. Did she fall for your act?"
"Long enough for me to find out what I needed to know," I answered softly, my hands roaming down her back, my fingertips exploring every warm inch I could reach.
She took my hand and tugged me over to the bed then pulled me down beside her. "You look like you've been through hell."
I shook my head and reached for her with my free hand, cradling the side of her face in my palm. "I'm fine. The hard part was thinking I'd lost you."
"That'll never happen," she answered softly and tightened her fingers around mine.
I fell back on the bed and pulled her down with me, needing her close. Molding her back against my front, I crossed my arms over her chest and locked my fingers on her arms as I breathed in a deep lungful of her summery scent.
"So what did you find out?" she asked.
And speaking in a low whisper, I brought her up to date, my lips moving close to her ear.
"Is there any good news?"
"Olivia doesn't appear to know that we can sense her true nature," I told her. "That we can feel her evil persona across a football field."
"What else?"
"I don't think she knows about our runes, how it binds us to the one we give it to," I said, knowing that Torrie had told her sister about a gargoyle's courting rituals. "I don't think her mother shared that information with her."
"Why wouldn't she have told her daughter about that?"
I shrugged. "Quite likely the old harpy was jealous of her daughter. As far as she was concerned, the gargoyles belonged to her and she didn't want to share."
"Anything else?"
"I don't think she knows about our family in Pine Grove."
"We'd better make sure it stays that way," Samantha murmured.
"I'll call Valor in the morning," I whispered. "Right now, I'd better get you home. I don't want you to get in trouble with your father."
"I have a little more freedom than Torrie," she pointed out. "I am in college, after all. My dad will just think I'm staying with a girlfriend. I…I don't want to be separated from you, Victor."
I already wanted her, badly. And her quiet words just made me crazy. Reacting instinctively, I rolled her beneath me and pressed her into the mattress, my knee between her legs as I took her mouth in an eating kiss. A soft moan sighed from her mouth and I answered it with a heartfelt groan while my barbs ripped from beneath my hackles.
"Damn," I swore and jerked away from her, sucking in a raw breath as I stared down into her eyes. Maybe I could ignore her father…for a little while. But I couldn't ignore the threat of my barbs. "You have to go. Now, before something bad happens."
"You'd never hurt me," she insisted softly, pushing up on one arm.
"Not on purpose," I agreed and scowled down at my leaking barbs. "But I don't want to hurt you by accident."
"Can't I take your venom, like Torrie did, to make me immune to the poison?"
"Of course," I answered. "That's what we need to do. But the process takes time. It doesn't happen overnight."
"Maybe not," she agreed. "But for tonight couldn't we just wrap your barbs? Because right now I really need to be with you."
I didn't want her to go either. I wanted to be with her all the time. I wanted to cement the connection we had, make it stronger, make it permanent. "I feel the same way," I told her, touching my lips to her nose.
"Good," she said and snuggled into my arms.
"So I guess you can stay on one condition."
"What's that?" she asked, and I sensed the smile on her face even though I couldn't see it buried in my chest.
I pulled the wristband from my left arm. "Take this and wear it."
"Really?" she whispered. "Are you sure?"
"I'm positive."
"You…don't want it back?"
"I never want it back," I told her, and pushed it up her arm. "I want you to wear it forever. I want you to be mine. And I think this is the best way to ask for what I want."
So she wore my silver wristband and wrapped my knuckles and we fell asleep together on the bed. And I can't remember a time in my life when I was happier.
As the sun lifted over my windowsill the next morning and filled the room with light, I woke up with Samantha still cradled warmly in my arms. And somehow, the contentment I felt at that moment was even better than all the other highs I'd recently reached with her.
Carefully, I extricated myself from the bed without waking her, pausing at the door to look back at her and watch her for a few more perfect moments. But I had a crucial call to make and as soon as I got downstairs, I borrowed Elaina's phone so I could get hold of Valor and tell the pack to stay out of Denver.
"What's wrong?" Valor asked after he'd answered the phone.
"It's a long story," I answered and started to explain.
But Valor cut me off. "The thing is, we're heading to Denver right now. Sophie's in the hospital."
"The hospital?" I echoed, stunned.
"Aye. They operated last night and removed her spleen."
"That…sounds serious."
"It is. The doctors are worried about her. Evidently her vitals aren't what they should be. Anyhow, Sophie asked to see MacKenzie and of course Havoc insisted on coming along. Dare and Defiance wanted to come too but we didn't want too many people crammed into her room…"
"Give m
e the name of the hospital," I said. "I'll meet you down there."
"What is it?" Samantha asked, stepping into the kitchen and joining us. Her long hair was bed-tumbled but beautiful. "What's wrong?"
"Can you get me to Denver?" I asked and told her the name of the hospital that Valor had given me.
"Of course," she answered, already opening the map feature on her phone.
"You stay here," I told Chaos and Reason as we grabbed our jackets and headed for the front door. "If Olivia's in Denver looking for gargoyles, I can make it seem like she found me instead of Valor and Havoc. But I need you here so she doesn't notice my absence in Boulder."
"We're on it," Chaos said. "Don't worry about us."
"Get going," Reason added. "And get the pack back to Pine Grove as soon as you can."
Down in Denver, we caught up to the three members of our pack in the hospital's waiting room. "How's Sophie?" I asked as we strode toward the worried looking teenagers.
MacKenzie's gaze locked on our entwined hands before she smiled at Sam. Then she lowered her voice. "The doctors say Sophie should be getting better but she isn't. They say she's not trying."
"Not trying?" I echoed.
"She isn't fighting to get well."
"That…doesn't sound like Sophie. Have you seen her?" I asked as we sank into a set of upholstered chairs facing each other.
"No," she answered distractedly. "Her mom's with her right now, and my Dad."
"She's going to be okay," Valor told her gently and squeezed her knee while she gave him a troubled look.
"So, what's going on?" Mac asked me. "Why didn't you want us in Denver?"
"I'm not leaving until I see Sophie," Havoc warned me right away, looking both worried and determined.
"I understand," I said. "But we need to get you out of Denver as soon as possible." I started to explain what was going on but didn't get too far before MacKenzie's father joined us.
"You can go in now," he said in a hushed voice. "Room 304."
"How is she?" MacKenzie asked, and shot to her feet.
Victor Page 18