Chosen by Blood (37 page)

Kind of hard to compete with.

As soon as the thought formed, Lucy was overcome with guilt.

Get over it, Lucy. None of it—not her condition, which Lucy knew damn well wasn’t a gift, and not the fact that O’Flare was attracted to her—was Wraith’s fault. Besides, being attracted to a man was the last thing Lucy wanted or needed. Sure, she could use one when the heat was upon her, but she’d been dealing with that on her own for years and she’d continue to do so.

She wasn’t weak, she reminded herself. She wasn’t her mother. She didn’t need to have a man in her bed or between her legs to be of value.

“The other guards are going to be suspicious if he doesn’t return soon,” she said firmly. “They’ll come looking for him. Even if they don’t find us, they’ll lock down even tighter. Move the Others. Move the antidote. Who knows?”

Gently nudging Hunt to the side, Wraith stood. Noticeably, Hunt stayed close to her. “But you can use enchantment on him, right?”

Lucy nodded. “I’ll make him forget he saw us. He’ll think he got lost in the snow, that he peed his pants in his panic, and he’ll be too embarrassed to say anything to the others.”

“That’s good,” O’Flare said even as he continued to scowl at Hunt.

Lucy swore she saw a taunt in Hunt’s eye. The wolf wagged his tail and very deliberately rubbed himself against the wraith’s legs. Lucy grabbed O’Flare’s arm and tried not to imagine his thickly muscled arms wrapped around her, easing her pain when she most needed it. “Come on, O’Flare, I need your help.”

O’Flare resisted her for a moment, but then blew out a breath and followed her. “What do you need?”

She reached up, put a hand around O’Flare’s neck, and went up on tiptoes, speaking to O’Flare privately in case the guard understood English. Although she knew it would do absolutely nothing for O’Flare, something devilish compelled her to press her breasts, meager as they were, against his arm.

Wraith was in denial, but O’Flare wasn’t going to leave her there for long. Lucy might as well give the wraith a reminder that she had feelings for O’Flare and that she was going to have to deal with them sometime. The fact that making Wraith jealous was mean really did make Lucy feel bad. She liked Wraith, she really did. But she was going to get a little satisfaction from the wraith’s discomfort, too.

Lucy was mostly sweet, but she was also part cat.

And she tried to always be completely honest, especially with herself.

“I’ m going to enchant him,” she breathed into O’ Flare’s ear, “and then I want you to remove his gag. If he’s truly enchanted, he won’t cry out. But I need you to be ready in case it doesn’t work. You’ll have to muffle him fast, so the others don’t hear. Okay?”

With her last word, Lucy went down on her heels and deliberately dragged the palm on O’Flare’s neck down his shoulder and arm.

When she peeked, O’Flare was looking at her, slightly puzzled. The wraith, on the other hand, looked like she wanted to rip Lucy apart limb by limb.

Lucy internally shrugged. Sorry, Wraith. Gotta help out my boy.

 

 

Knox pulled away from Felicia with enough forcefulness to make his displeasure clear. She wanted to go back with him. Absolutely fucking not. “You admitted you didn’t have any place there, Felicia.”

“I admitted I wasn’t trained to jump from planes or crawl up mountains. But I don’t need to do that. Not anymore. You’ve already been there. When you teleport back, it’s just a matter of getting into and out of the compound. I’m trained in entry and exiting. I’m trained with weapons. I can help you now.”

“No.”

Felicia glared at him. “No? That’s all you have to say?”

“That’s all I need to say. You’re not getting there without me, and I’m sure as hell not taking you.”

“What if the team is gone?”

Knox jerked back as if she’d slapped him. “What? I’ve been gone thirty minutes. Why would the team be gone?”

“Who knows? Maybe they were forced to move without you. Maybe they were discovered. Maybe they’re even dead.”

“For Goddess’s sake, Felicia—”

“I’m not saying I want that to be the case, but what
if
, Knox? You can’t do what needs to be done by yourself.”

“If that’s the case, which it won’t be, then I’ll come back for help.”

“For who?”

“Zeph,” he said automatically.

“Zeph? Zeph who is certainly stronger than me, especially now, but can’t hit the side of a barn with a bazooka? Zeph knows nothing about entry or human response to stress.”

“Then one of the guards here,” Knox said, knowing she was sucking him into an argument he should never have engaged in.

“One of the guards? When you can’t be sure of their loyalty ? Or what they would do if they got their hands on the antidote?”

“Damn it, Felicia,” he growled, pushing her away when she tried to take his arms. “I don’t have time for this. I’m not taking you.”

“I’ll let you take me back first,” she bargained desperately.

That startled him enough that he dropped his hands. She wrapped her arms around his neck, giving every indication that he’d have to pry her fingers loose to leave her. Automatically, his hands rubbed her back. “What?”

“I know that’s your biggest concern. That you won’t have enough power to transport me. But I’ll let you bring me back first, so that won’t be a concern.”

He pondered her words, trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, then said, “Nice try, Felicia. You wouldn’t do that, not in a million years.”

She scowled, clearly unrepentant for her lie. “Okay, fine. But what if you do run out of power to teleport, Knox? Your biggest fear is leaving one of the team there. If I’m with you, I can give you the energy you need. All you’d have to do is drink from me again.”

“If I drink any more from you today, you’ll be the one that’ll be depleted.”

“Not enough to kill me,” she said flatly.

He took a deep breath, wanting so badly to deny what she was saying. Unfortunately, he couldn’t.

He’d fallen in love with Felicia knowing full well that she wasn’t a lady afraid of getting her hands bloody. She was a warrior. A trained special agent who put her life on the line constantly. What she was asking was that he recognize that fact. Her presence would make the chances of success greater, but if anything happened to her . . .

“Nothing will happen to me as long as nothing happens to you,” she said quietly. “And if something happens to you, I might as well be dead anyway.”

Knox cupped the sides of her face. “Don’t even say that,” he gritted out.

“It’s true. I can’t stay here just waiting for you to come back. Not when I know I can help. Please, Knox.”

Knox stared down at her and thought about what she’d said.

She meant it. She loved him, whether she’d said it or not. And in many ways, his death would be hers. She was also correct on another point—as long as he was alive, nothing and no one was going to harm her.

Without saying a word, he removed his sweater, leaving himself wearing only a long-sleeve thermal undershirt. He pulled the sweater over her head and adjusted it to make sure most of her was covered. Then he took her with him.

F
elicia was wobbly and disoriented when she realized she was standing in the snow. Sucking in a breath, she clutched Knox to her as he inserted his earpiece and said, “This is Knox. I need your location.” Even as he spoke, however, Knox held Felicia closer to him, whether to shield her from the cold or give her comfort after the trauma of teleportation, she wasn’t sure.

It had hurt and she hadn’t been expecting it to hurt. It hadn’t during the quick trip to the Dome’s jail. But this time?

One minute they’d been standing in the underground tunnel and the next they were standing here. She couldn’t consciously say she’d been aware of time passing, yet she’d been aware of pain, a pain that had faded within seconds of their arrival. Of course, it had been immediately replaced by the jolting shock of cold, but Knox’s sweater, still warm from his body heat, was enough to make the cold bearable.

So was the joy that he’d given in and brought her with him.

“I’ll be right there. I’ve got Felicia with me.” He paused. “I’ll explain later, but have the females shed any extra clothes they don’t need. She’ll also need a gun.” He looked at Felicia. “Can you shoot an Uzi?”

She rolled her eyes. “Does a vamp like blood?”

He smirked. “Yeah. An Uzi’s fine. The guards?”

Knox listened for at least a minute now. He grinned, the expression as well as the squeeze he gave her waist making her breath catch.

Oh, Noella, she thought. How could you have slept with anyone else but Knox? If I had my choice, I’d never miss a single night with him.

He couldn’t have heard her thoughts—he wouldn’t—but his eyes darkened and he squeezed her again. This time, however, he shifted his hand down and squeezed her ass.

Then he winked at her before patting the same cheek he’d squeezed.

Given the seriousness of their predicament, his flirtatious gesture seemed both ridiculous and endearing.

He laughed. “Gives meaning to the phrase ‘scared pissless,’ ” he said. “Is Hunt still in wolf form? Well, get him out of it. We’re going for a direct attack this time. O’Flare, get the gas ready. Then . . .” Knox frowned when the sound of an engine drifted toward them. “Yeah, I hear it. Get under cover and in position.”

Knox dropped to the ground a second after Felicia did. Together, they crawled toward the trees screening them. With a hand barring Felicia from moving too far forward, they looked through the cover and down into the valley. A convoy of trucks approached steadily from the east. The guards manning the main building didn’t seem the slightest bit surprised.

They waited silently, until Felicia turned toward him. “There’s something I don’t understand about what I saw in the Vamp Dome. When a vamp is losing a fight, why doesn’t he just teleport away?”

“First, because it’s considered very cowardly. Second . . .” Knox hesitated. Telling her about the medallion had been one thing—even if a vamp couldn’t read a human mind or use persuasion, his ability to teleport was always a fallback defense. It could mean the difference between life and death. But this was Felicia, he reminded himself. Felicia, who’d given her blood to him so freely and who was risking her life in order to save those that Knox—that she—loved. Reaching out, he rubbed her back, then cupped his hand at the base of her neck. “It’s a blip in vamp powers. It has to do with the electromagnetic pulses that run through a vamp’s brain. Being in close proximity to another vamp affects those pulses, canceling out the brain waves necessary to teleport. It’s similar to the reason why wearing gold prevents a vamp from reading your mind or using persuasion on you.”

She nodded, her expression placid. When she leaned in and kissed him, he knew she’d correctly interpreted his openness as trust. Feeling closer to her than he’d ever felt to anyone, he kissed her back—slow, gentle, sipping kisses that reminded her that, for him at least, love and trust went hand in hand.

The sound of engines ceased as the trucks arrived at the front of the main building. When Knox pulled away, Felicia’s eyes were cloudy, almost dazed. Then she shook her head and her eyes cleared. They watched as the guards hailed the men inside the truck.

“This could be good,” Felicia said excitedly. “They’re bringing something or someone in, which either means they’re going to unload here and open the gates to bring stuff in, or they’re going to open the gates completely and drive the trucks in. Once they open the doors, Lucy can hold them open.”

“We’ll still have to immobilize the guards.”

“Maybe Hunt can run through the doors. Get inside that way.”

“Maybe,” Knox said, “but they’ve already seen him as a wolf once. Chances are they’d suspect something at that point.”

Knox frowned and held up a finger, obviously listening to someone through his earpiece. “Wraith’s on her way with your weapon,” he told Felicia. Then he shook his head. “It’s not your fault you can’t enchant all of them, Lucy, any more than it’s my fault I can’t persuade all of them. Between us all, we’ll get in and get out. Right now, let’s just wait and see what’s on those trucks.”

The answer came within minutes. They were Others.

Others on gurneys. Others strapped down with collars around their necks. Others that looked dying or ill. A vamp. Three werewolves. A—

“Is that a shape-shifter?” Felicia asked.

Knox nodded.

“I’ve never seen one before. I’ve heard of them, of course, but I’ve never seen one in its natural form.”

It looked a little like Hollywood’s version of an alien. Smooth, translucent skin, so pale it was as white as the snow, maybe even whiter. Large, dark eyes with no white to them. A nose and mouth that were humanlike but so flat they almost seemed to disappear. No hair. No ears. Felicia couldn’t tell whether the one on the gurney was male or female.

“I’ve got your—oh fuck.”

Both Knox and Felicia jerked at the unexpected sound. Wraith had snuck up on them. Crouched low, she scrambled up to them, passing Felicia an Uzi and earpiece in the process. Her eyes, however, were locked on the next gurney being unloaded from the truck.

It was a wraith, one that looked so much like their Wraith, but so much unlike her. Same shocking white hair, although this one’s hair was longer. Same bluish skin, although hers was bluer, probably a result of the cold and her thin clothing.

The sight of the earphones gave Felicia pause. She knew wraiths were soothed by music, but the earphones suggested that someone cared enough about the wraith to put them on her. Was it a caring born from compassion or self-interest? Rumor had it that wraiths were particularly susceptible to madness, and maybe whatever experiments these people were doing wouldn’t be served with a wraith in that particular state of mind.