A Guardians Passion (34 page)

So it was sit, shut the fuck up, and deal time.

Rayne and Fenris had already deployed an antiteleportation measure, a mixture of herbs, salts, and elements combined with Dona’s spells that would prevent any other than the wytchen and those with his assistance from gaining dimensional entry into the mansion. Although Dona was doing his part, and despite the gratitude of nearly everyone else, his son seemed as preoccupied by worries as she.

When he thought no one was looking, Freya saw Rayne staring at his father with a sullen, almost defeated look. Freya wanted to talk to him, but there was hardly time with the demonstration they were all waiting so eagerly for.

Vaegar was heading up the table with Geraldine and the others, all staring at the three enormous monitors set side by side just to the right of the table. Images were scrolling on two of the monitors, and the third monitor held fifteen frames of video surveillance, each view monitoring one of Vaegar’s many assault teams with time and location stamps.

Freya stood at the back of the room with her hand around Rayne’s waist. He was looking ahead but not with the same sort of interest as everyone else. His hazel eyes were staring off into space, not focusing upon images.

“He
will
find them,” Rayne uttered matter-of-factly.

“Of course he will,” she replied, squeezing him tight to her. Leaning in to his ear, she dared to ask why he wasn’t as enthused. “Is that what’s bothering you?”

“Of course not. I just want to be certain that everything goes smoothly,” he said. “And you?”

Freya chuckled and gave her beta a peck on the cheek. “I’m just fine, baby.”

Fenris growled as he moved from Freya’s left side to fit between her and Rayne. “Liars. Both of you.”

She wanted to call bullshit, but Fenris was right about her, and he definitely wasn’t wrong about Rayne. It was odd that the one who was supposedly the wildest of them tended to be the one with the coolest head.

“When this is done, we all have a hell of a lot to discuss,” Fenris stated, nuzzling Freya first, then Rayne. “Until then, pull it together.”

Freya nodded, giving all of her anxieties to her alpha. It was his purpose, regardless of how many times she had to answer the question:
How can a Luna be your alpha?

Even in the throes of madness, his will was a force of nature that could at best be channeled for calm and at worst instill fear. Freya turned her attention back to the plans ahead, and at Fenris’s command, Rayne too released his worries, shoulders relaxing with a long sigh.

Dona stood before the second scrolling screen, a wraith in a multitude of robes, with his hands clutched behind his back. He was silent before image after image, and then one in particular caught his interest. It was an aerial map of Dallas, Texas.

“Stop,” he said, pointing to an area just outside of the city. “Zoom, here.” He pointed to an area at the top of the screen and watched as it expanded to focus in on a large property bordering a cattle ranch.

“Here. This should be your first target.” He turned around to Vaegar. “You have a team somewhere in the vicinity, correct?”

“Yeah.”

“Move them to this location then, and let us see what we can find.”

Cole, who was monitoring the main computer workstation set up beside Vaegar, went to work. He had a headset over his silver hair, with an attached microphone through which he fed the information and coordinates Dona had selected to the team in Fort Worth. Fenris ushered Freya to a chair while they waited. She wanted to let her lover know that she was perfectly fine standing but couldn’t work up the energy to complain. The vampires had fine taste in furniture, and the cushioning did feel good to her ass and back.

It took a little over half an hour for the team to get to the location, but once on scene, it didn’t take long for the action to begin.

Freya didn’t know who the wolf was who was heading up the team, but he was a badass fiend if Freya had ever seen one. Seeing the team suit up and check their weaponry, Freya could almost smell the iron, steel, and, best of all, pheromones of excitement stirring among them. The leader’s call sign was Aspen, and while he was the smallest member of his group, his command was law. He had golden-brown skin with frost-white hair that he wore in a neat buzz cut. He wore the flexible black bands that she often wore, yet only surrounding his genitals, and even in the dim lighting of the camera feed, he was stunning to behold as they began their assault.

There was nothing subtle in the assertion of the team. They rushed into the colonial mansion, completely decimating the human day guards with sudden, precise bursts of semiautomatic gunfire. Claws and fangs, however, were reserved for stronger beasts that could withstand the sunlight. Whoever owned the ranch under attack—and Freya wasn’t completely certain it was vampires—had enlisted quite a few.

Freya couldn’t help wishing that it was her foot kicking in doors, her fists pummeling a snarling werecroc in the face. Her adrenaline raced just as surely as if it were her working through the labyrinth of the mansion, following the scent to the kidnapped wolf.

In the bowels of the mansion, in a secured room of stone, they discovered one of the females who had been in attendance at the retreat. They had to use liquid nitrogen to get through all the locks on the reinforced steel door, but eventually the prison cell opened to reveal its prize. Waiting among luxury, expensive brocade spreads upon a bed carved from the finest wood and a wide-screen television attached to a substantial restroom was a wolf just barely showing in her pregnancy. Sandwiches and beverages were set out upon the dresser, gowns hung in the closet, and there was everything a pet would need, outside of freedom.

The pregnant female burst into tears at the sight of her rescuers, up and ready for her escape as Aspen and one of his beta soldiers rushed inside the room.

In the adjoining room, across from his new pet, the vampire master slept in a sealed crypt, the locks of which broke off just as quickly and quietly with the help of liquid nitrogen and ball hammer.

Aspen’s team must have smelled the species of the day guards on the other side of the door before they invaded. He had his men bring him a case filled with various explosive devices.

Freya didn’t recognize the volleyball-size silver sphere, but she assumed it wasn’t a simple incendiary. As they pried open the vault of the master vampire, they quickly rolled the globe inside. A
boom
and a splashing sound preceded cries of agony.

It wasn’t until they moved inside the room that Freya understood exactly what type of bomb they had deployed. Granites, beings with stonelike skin and massive strength, shuddered under the assault of the one device with power to wound them: acid round grenade.

She didn’t have any in her arsenal. Not one! She would have to get some.

“Easy, girl. I can smell your excitement,” Fenris growled.

Freya bristled at the ticklish heat of her lover’s breath upon her neck. “Shut it, wolf, and take note. Christmas or birthday. Either will do.”

Fenris laughed softly but didn’t disturb her as she resumed her fascination with the events upon the screens. Although the granites were wounded and distracted, they gave good melee against the wolves intent on getting to the coffin and the vampire inside.

Later identified as Graham Blackstone, the vampire had the money and the political power within the vampire race to be formidable, but the one thing that he lacked was the age. With fewer than three centuries behind his belt, Mr. Blackstone didn’t have the strength to recover quickly once the lid to his coffin was thrown wide. He might have been fast enough to flee the threat to his life if he had had a thousand years or more.

But he didn’t.

Aspen wrenched Graham’s head off and stole his heart from his chest with barely a fight.

Dona turned around soon after the vampire’s ashes stopped smoldering on the monitor. He looked over at werewolves grinning, hooting, and celebrating in the light of their victory. “Okay. Now for the others,” he said.

Seeing the first of the prisoners to be returned, Freya’s elation lasted only long enough for her to identify that Rayne’s lack of enthusiasm might have been due to jealousy. Before she could lean over to her beta with questions, she felt Fenris squeeze her shoulder.

“I said later,” he reminded her just below the ecstatic whoops and howls of others in the room.

* * * *

The total number of jump locations identified by the wytchen ended at forty-seven, from as close as Nashville to as far as Sri Lanka. It was not a task that could have been accomplished within a day, even with the entirety of the werewolf nations. There simply were not enough warriors, and the limited amount of daytime was an issue.

Undoubtedly it wouldn’t take long for the news of the invasions to spread. The advantage of surprise could only last so long, so they had to hit hard and swift. While Cole recorded each of the spots that Dona selected, Gaea, Ezra, and several of the others initiated a phone tree to various Sohon affiliates who were only too ready to receive targets to search.

Freya was impressed with the flurry of activity, all inspired by the success of her father-in-law’s work, but she couldn’t help feeling selfish. Dona’s effort could have been utilized better helping to teleport the strike teams, working with the Sohons and their warriors, not just on her own personal vendetta. The notion weighed heavy on her mind, but when she leaned toward Rayne to give her worries voice, he answered her with a sullen nod, as if it had been something he had once considered.

“Even
he
has limits,” Rayne stated. “Besides, if we don’t deal with the asprega, then the others might have to. Unprepared others. We need to crush Birathan and his creatures first. We need to hunt them. There may even be some still helping out the vampires.”

Fenris ran his large hand over Freya’s shoulders. “Let the wolves handle the little fangs, love. They won’t be able to hide. But
we
need to deal with the brutes.”

Before Freya could reply, Dona spoke. “Yes. Let the gods battle the gods, shall we? The sooner we do, the sooner we can aid the mortals.”

For the brashness of Dona’s words, his comment wasn’t too far off the mark. She had no idea what her mates were walking into or how many creatures were residing in their nest, but she did believe that Fenris and Rayne were the perfect ones to combat them.

Dona stopped before Freya, smiling down at her belly. He raised his hand as if he considered reaching out to stroke it, then thought better of his actions. Fenris’s growl was possibly another reason as both he and Rayne stood to frame her.

Dona took a step back. “Don’t worry, Queen of Beasts. I will return your berserkers to you. Both of them. In the meantime, keep my little grandchild—Bun—safe.”

Rayne rolling his eyes was not something that went unnoticed by Freya. “Yeah, and you watch out for my males. They may be badasses, but I can be off the chain as well.” Not bothering to disguise the threat in her voice, she stood up from her chair and gripped both Fenris and Rayne about the waist. “If you could excuse us for a second?”

“Certainly,” Dona replied with a bow.

Urging them to move with her, she led them to the far side of the room, where she could have a moment to gaze upon her lovers. She’d be fucked if she was the poetic type, but Fenris was her mountain and Rayne her river, and she loathed the idea of being separated from either of them. She cupped the rough stubble of Fenris’s jaw with one hand and the smooth plane of Rayne’s cheek with the other. Moving as close to them as possible, she grinned as they surrounded her. Fenris had moved up against one hip while Rayne moved against the other.

“I want you two back quickly,” she demanded at the feel of Rayne’s breath warming her shoulder. She clutched him to her. “I want you back with Birathan’s head. I want to be back in the lodge and kept warm by your fur, and when you two return, we do need to talk.”

Rayne shuddered against her. His fingers wove into the curls of her hair. “Freya, I should have been stronger for you. I could have—”

Once again, the timbre of Fenris’s voice, so authoritative, brought both Freya and Rayne to attention. His embrace easily encompassed them both. “The past is irretrievable, even for your kind, beta.”

“Fen—”

Fenris would tolerate no excuses. “Pull your shit together, wolf. It is time for war. She needs you now. That should be your only concern.”

“You’re right. You are,” Rayne finally said, his composure stiffening, body already assuming the rigidity and purpose that would be required in combat.

Fenris released them, and Rayne stepped out of Freya’s hold, taking a long, deep breath. Squaring his shoulders, he nodded.

Her heart swelling with pride, Freya didn’t want to deal with the emotions raging within her, the dread and the fear of losing the ones she had come to need as much as air. She grabbed Rayne by the hair and pulled him to her for a long, deep sampling of his quivering lips. “Damn, I wish that I could fight with you.”

“Soon enough, alpha,” Rayne promised with a smile, his faith restored.

Mere seconds after freeing Rayne’s lips, Freya found her own captured and suckled by Fenris. When he set her free, Freya was dizzy.

He smiled down at her and then clapped Rayne upon the shoulder. “I will look forward to it as well, my female,” he said before setting off behind Rayne and Dona to leave the room, the state, possibly the dimension.

Frozen where she stood, Freya was too numb to flinch even when she felt the weight of a hand upon her shoulder. It seemed to take forever for her to look away from the door that her mates had just left by, but she eventually laid eyes upon her mother.

“You gonna be all right, child?”

Freya raised her chin and called on her inner strength in the same way that Rayne had. “Hell yeah, Ma. You ain’t raised no weakling,” she said, hoping to maintain a straight face.

“I was never worried about that. Weaklings are fine. Fools are unacceptable.”

Freya didn’t want to test her mother’s decree, not even with the corners of her eyes burning and her arms abundantly empty.