Eternal Prey (32 page)

Utah was wise enough not to interrupt her.

“I tried so hard to make her love me. When you and I first met, I was still trying. Even in death, she didn’t lose her power over me.” She reached across to cup his face and felt his jaw clench. This was as hard for him as it was for her. “You helped me break that cycle of need. But now I have to be sure I’m giving my love for the right reason.”

He nodded. “You’re right. I’ll wait.”

And that quickly, he accepted her explanation. She hated herself for keeping the real reason from him. Soon she would face Christine. Her gut told her she wouldn’t survive the meeting. She wouldn’t chain him to a dead love as her mother had chained her. Lia just wouldn’t.

Sleep tugged at her. Dawn was here. She glanced over to make sure the drapes were tightly closed. “I know you must want to get to your room.”

“Do you want me to go?”

“No.” She was being selfish, holding him close when she had no right. But she wouldn’t lie about this.

“Then I’ll stay.”

The last thing she felt as the day sleep claimed her were his arms tightening around her.

T
he pounding on the door woke Utah. For just a moment, he wondered where the hell he was. Then he remembered. Lia. She was snuggled up against his back.

He’d gotten up during the day and then returned to her bed an hour before sunset so she wouldn’t wake alone. Okay, so he was hoping they’d have a chance to make love again. He was a self-serving bastard.

Must’ve dropped off to sleep, though, because a quick glance at the clock showed it was time for her to rise.

He cursed as he climbed from her bed. Whoever it was had lousy timing. Pulling on his jeans and shirt, he walked to the door and pulled it open.

Shen stood with his fist raised ready to start a new round of pounding. He didn’t look happy. “Good. You’re here. Fin wants all of the Eleven in the media room as soon as possible. Bring Lia with you.”

He didn’t even give Utah a chance to curse him out before striding away.

Well, crap. Utah raked his fingers through his hair as he returned to the bed. Lia was awake but still looking a little groggy.

“A meeting? What’s that about?” She sat up and stretched.

Utah followed the motion with intense interest and explosive hunger. God, she was beautiful. He was glad she didn’t feel the need to shield her breasts from his gaze.

“Don’t know. Must be important, though.” He forced himself to concentrate on the night’s business, otherwise he’d start thinking about her refusal to say she loved him.

Too late. He was already thinking about it.
Hey, stupid, maybe she won’t say she loves you because she, well, doesn’t love you. You’re not the most lovable guy in the world. Accept it.
Too bad he was lousy at giving up on what he wanted. But maybe he needed to start thinking in terms of what
she
wanted. He’d always thought he was a patient hunter, but not with Lia.

She leaned down, scooped her nightgown from the floor, and pulled it on. As she climbed out of bed, the nightgown rode up her long legs and smooth thighs. Utah swallowed hard. If he stayed in the room much longer, he was going to do something stupid like ignore Fin’s orders in favor of making love with her. But as tempting as that thought was, he knew Fin wouldn’t have called all of the Eleven together if there wasn’t an emergency.

Utah had to get out of here before temptation reeled him in. “I have something I have to do. I’ll meet you in the media room.” She looked disappointed. Good.

He stopped in his room to freshen up and change into clean clothes before going to the media room, where most of the Eleven were already lounging around on couches and chairs. Tor waved him over to a couch he shared with Lio.

Utah grinned as he joined them. “How do you get the blood out of all those expensive clothes, Lio?” He’d never seen Lio dressed in old jeans and a T-shirt. The Liopleurodon was always camera-ready. If Fin ever had to make a statement to the press on short notice, Lio would be his choice to do it. That said, Utah couldn’t fault the guy for his love of clothes, because when Lio hit the water, there wasn’t another creature on earth that could challenge him.

Lio laughed. “I don’t. I just throw them away and buy new ones. Fin has deep pockets.”

As Utah settled onto the couch, he kept his attention on the door. When Lia entered the room, he waved her over. It was a tight fit, but she was able to squeeze in next to him. Utah admitted to being a jealous jerk, because he’d made sure she was wedged between him and the end of the couch. No one else was getting a chance to touch her. And wasn’t that pathetic. He didn’t have ownership papers for her, and she wasn’t making any I’m-yours-forever noises. But pathetic or not, he was what he was. He’d keep her to himself as long as he could.

“Know what this is about, Tor?” Utah did a quick count. Everyone was here. His gaze snagged on two men who stood near the door. Kione and Jude. He wondered why Fin had asked them to be present.

“No idea.” Tor nodded at Fin, who’d just entered the room. “No one else does either.”

“I wonder why Fin didn’t just put out a mental news flash to you guys. Would’ve been a lot faster.” Lia spoke to everyone on the couch, but her gaze never left Utah.

He forced himself to concentrate on her words as opposed to everything else about her. Utah hoped he sounded cool and detached, not intense and possessive. “Mental messages take energy. If this is something big, he’ll have to conserve his power so he can keep Zero busy while we battle the big bad.”

He wanted this to be huge. Utah needed to work off his frustration by beating the hell out of something. A primitive reaction, but it worked. He glanced at Lia. She glanced away. Yeah, he needed a good fight.

Silence fell as Fin spoke. “I got word a short while ago that the mayor is about to order the evacuation of Portland.”

Talk about a bombshell. Utah took a deep steadying breath as he looked at Lia. She stared back at him from wide, shocked eyes. He guessed she was thinking the same thing he was. Seven.

After a moment of stunned silence, everyone started tossing questions at Fin. “Why? How did you find out? What do we do?”

Fin held up his hand for silence. He got it. “The how is that I know people who know people.” His smile was grim. “I’ve found humans are susceptible to offers of large sums of money. The why is because Portland’s volcanoes don’t seem to be as extinct as everyone thought they were.”

“What the hell?” Spin spoke for all of them.

Fin glanced at his watch and then clicked the TV remote. He tuned in to a local station. “The news should be breaking any minute now.”

They all watched in silence. And when the announcement came, Fin kept the TV on only long enough to verify that, yes, Portland was being evacuated. He turned it off as they were listing evacuation routes.

“We don’t need to know the evacuation routes because we’re not leaving.” He set down the remote before wandering over to the windows. “Here’s a rundown on recent events. The temperature of the ground around the cinder cones has been rising. The cones have begun to swell. Seismologists have recorded a growing number of small tremors.” Fin turned to face them. “And two hours ago steam started rising from them.” He shrugged. “All of which are impossible because the volcanoes are extinct.”

Utah spoke up. “Is this Seven’s going-away party?”

“Yes.” Fin sounded definite. “I’d say she’s doing this all on her own, though. Zero would want her to keep a lower profile.” His smile looked almost admiring. “But she’s never been about low profiles.” His smile faded. “And that will be her downfall.”

Lia nudged Utah. “The steam is probably the smoke Fin saw in his vision.”

Fin turned his attention away from the night sky. “Here’s what’s going to happen. There are several cinder cones within the city limits, but Mount Tabor is the largest. Seven would always choose the biggest. Q will fly out to make sure her people are gathering there.”

“What if someone sees me?” Q stood.

“Not likely. It’s nighttime. Besides, most people will be concentrating on getting out of town. Go.” Fin didn’t watch as Q left.

Utah’s exultation at the thought of battle turned to sudden fear. The time when Lia would have to play her part in sending Seven home had somehow seemed further in the future. Now it was in his face, and he was terrified for her. He had to find a way to protect her.

“What about Zero?” If Lia was nervous, she didn’t show it.

“Zero will be angry, but that doesn’t mean he won’t try to protect her.” Fin moved to the nearest chair and sat. He looked troubled. “I’ll try to keep him away from Mount Tabor. It won’t be easy. I’ve used up lots of energy on him lately.” He looked at where Jude and Kione still stood. “Kione has agreed to add his power to mine. We’ll see what happens.”

That didn’t sound very comforting to Utah. “Have you asked Seir for help?”

“No.” Fin’s expression said to drop it. “Jude and his five vampires have agreed to help. We’ll need them, because you can bet that Adam will be there with his vampires.”

Damn his pride. Utah didn’t care what Fin thought, if he could contact Seir, he’d beg for his help.

“So what’s the plan?” Car looked ready to tear someone apart right now.

“As soon as Q gives the word that we have the right place, we head out. We’ll keep to the back streets to avoid the evacuation routes. Once there, Gig, Ty, and Spin will close in on one side while Utah, Tor, and Lia come in from the other. Jude and his vampires will go where they’re needed.”

“Hey.” Car sounded outraged. “What about the rest of us? We don’t get a shot at them?”

For just a moment, Fin looked weary. “I never commit all of you to the fight. I can’t take the chance of everyone getting wiped out at one time. There always has to be some of you left alive to fight them at another time and place. You know this.”

“Seems like the more of us there are, the better chance we have of winning.”

Al sounded as though he was trying to be reasonable, but his resentment showed. Jenna put her hand on his arm. Utah figured that she’d just breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Purple swirled in Fin’s eyes. “If Zero gets past me, every one of you that’s standing on Mount Tabor will die. He’s one of the few beings who can destroy you in your predator form. You can’t fight him, you can’t defeat him. He
will
kill you.” He looked away. “I won’t chance losing all of you.”

Utah filled the silence following Fin’s announcement with frantic thoughts about how to keep Lia safe.

Lia evidently had her own doubts. “What do you expect me to do? Even if I manage to get close to her—which looks pretty impossible right now—I still don’t know what I’m supposed to use to touch her.”

Fin frowned. “You’ll have to improvise.”

“Hey, good plan, O Lord of All Wisdom. I should’ve thought of that.” Lia was in full sarcastic mode.

The walls shook, and there was a sudden crash as a large mirror fell to the floor. Fin stared at Lia. “You annoyed me. And I liked that mirror.” It was an unusual expression of frustration for Fin. “I don’t know what to tell you. But something will be there.”

Lia looked as though she wanted to go another round with him, but then she sighed and swallowed her comment.

Fin nodded. “Car, you and the others who won’t be part of the battle will drive. You’ll stay with the vehicles until you hear from me.” He paused, his thoughts seeming to turn inward. “Once we leave this room, every one of us has only one goal—to get Lia within touching distance of Seven. Do whatever is necessary to make that happen.” Left unsaid was that “whatever is necessary” might include dying.

His gaze swept the room. “Now we wait for word from Q.”

Lia couldn’t believe two hours ago they were sitting in Fin’s condo talking. Normal humans doing normal things. Okay, maybe not so normal.

Now she was climbing up a steep path that wound among towering Douglas-fir trees—to face God-knew-what with some as yet to be determined weapon. She was so going to die tonight.

Lia glanced at Utah walking beside her in the darkness. At least she’d die near the man she loved. She really needed to tell him that, but not right now. That admission would bring on the kind of emotional scene guaranteed to make her lose focus on Christine. She’d tell him after this was all over, if she lived. And if she died? He’d probably forget her more easily if he thought she’d never loved him.

He moved closer. “Let me do this, Lia. I don’t give a damn about Fin’s vision. In Philly, he saw Jenna ringing the bell, but I’m the one who actually did it. No big deal. Eight went home just the same.”

His words were a whispered temptation. It would feel so good to unload this whole thing onto someone else’s shoulders.

“Do what? If you know, please tell me.” Lia sighed. Sarcasm wouldn’t help. “Evidently, Fin’s vision means I’m the only one who’ll recognize the mysterious something meant to get rid of Christine. The powers-that-be have a lot of faith in my ability to think on the fly.”

Utah made a frustrated sound and kept walking.

Ahead of them, Ty, Spin, and Gig ghosted from shadow to shadow. It was amazing to Lia how men who morphed into such huge beasts could move so silently as humans. And somewhere behind them, Tor watched their back trail.