Authors: Shannon K. Butcher
Living Nightmare (30 page)
“I think I’d like nothing more than to lock her up here in a room with no sharp corners where I know she’ll be safe. I also think that if I tried it, she could find ten kinds of hell to bring down on me.”
“Is she ready for battle?”
“No, but she’s also not stupid. And we need her. I’ll protect her. We’ll stay well behind the fighting.”
“I think that’s best, at least until you two are ready for action.”
“That may take a while. I won’t let her push herself and suffer a setback. I can’t let her go back to that screaming nightmare she suffered before we found her. Which means I can’t let her spill her blood.”
“Hard not to in combat.”
Which was why Madoc planned to never let her get close to one. “I think her strengths are going to lie more in what happens before a fight. If she can learn to use her ability to control one of the Synestryn to gather intelligence or sabotage a nest, she’s going to be one hell of a weapon.”
“If she lets you live that long. I saw murder in her eyes when she left here.”
“Yeah. We’re still working out the kinks in our relationship.”
“I suggest you work faster.”
“What about my sentence?”
Joseph turned on his speakerphone and dialed. It took several rings, but a groggy Tynan picked up. “Yes?”
“You alive?” he asked the Sanguinar.
“Obviously.”
“Thanks.” Joseph hung up, looking at Madoc. “You didn’t kill him.”
“I meant to. I wanted to. I was glad when I thought I had. That alone is worthy of punishment. That’s the law.”
“Fuck the law,” said Joseph. “The rules are changing under our feet. I can’t keep up and I’m sure as hell not going to sentence you to death for something I’ve fantasized about doing myself a time or two. If he accuses you, I’ll deal with it then.”
“He will. He deserves justice.”
Joseph leaned forward over his desk, anger clipping his words. “And I deserve never having to take another friend to his death. Everyone’s just shit out of luck on the justice front. Now get the hell out of my office and do your damn job. Chances are you won’t live through the battle, anyway.”
Madoc didn’t allow himself to feel relieved. He knew better. Tynan now held his life in his hands, and after all he’d done to him, Madoc was certain this was far from over.
Chapter 18
N
ika had rarely felt more alone than she did now. Even among her own kind she felt like an outcast. She saw the way the others were looking at her—as if she’d committed some kind of crime by going into Joseph’s mind. Even though he’d asked her to.
ika had rarely felt more alone than she did now. Even among her own kind she felt like an outcast. She saw the way the others were looking at her—as if she’d committed some kind of crime by going into Joseph’s mind. Even though he’d asked her to.
She hadn’t done anything wrong. She hadn’t pried into his secrets or made him dance on his desk as she’d briefly considered doing. All she’d done was give him the proof he needed to know that Tori was still alive. Just as he’d asked.
And yet, somehow, that had shoved a wedge between her and the others, as if they feared what she might do to them.
Nika flopped back on her bed, trying to let the frustration leak out of her. She needed to focus right now, and worrying about what other people thought was not going to help her concentration.
Andra
, she called out with her mind.
Please come home. I need you.
, she called out with her mind.
Please come home. I need you.
Nika listened, but felt nothing—not a stir of emotion or a flicker of awareness. Wherever Andra was, she was too far away to reach.
Nika was on her own. It was up to her to do what was best for Tori. Anyone who didn’t like it could go screw themselves.
For once, it was going to be Nika leaving Andra the note on the fridge, rather than the other way around.
She packed a small suitcase with a few clothes and toiletries, then wheeled it to Madoc’s suite.
She knocked on the door. He opened it partway.
“I’m moving in. If you try to keep me out again, I’m going to grab hold of a body part you like and start twisting.”
A hint of a smile played at his mouth. “And just which part would that be? I can think of a couple you could twist that I might actually enjoy.”
She shoved at the door and he stepped back, letting her in. “Stop playing around. We have work to do.”
“I’ve never had a woman boss me around before. I’m not sure if I like it. Maybe you should do it some more so I can figure it out.”
“I’ve had about enough of all the macho crap around here. I’m tired of being treated like some kind of wilting flower. You don’t treat Andra like that.”
“That’s because she could blow my head off with a single thought.”
“And you don’t think I can?”
“Not twice, anyway. You’d need my power.” He was being too light—almost like he was hiding something.
Nika let out a short shriek of fury. “Stop it. This is serious. We need to find Tori.”
“And we will. It’s just nice to not hurt anymore. It’s making me all giddy.”
She lifted a brow, staring at him. “You haven’t been giddy a day in your life.”
“How do you know? I was a little boy once.”
As big and manly as he was now, she had a hard time believing that, even though she knew it was true.
She pulled in a long breath, hoping it would ease some of this tension burning inside her. Knowing Tori was still out there scraped her insides, making her temper shorter than normal.
“We need to find her, Madoc. We need to bring my baby sister home.”
He took the suitcase handle from her fingers and wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling her close. “We will.”
“You said yourself I’m not strong enough.”
“But you’re not alone. We’ll have a small army with us when we go. Those fuckers don’t stand a chance.”
Nika buried her nose against his chest, pulling in the scent of his skin. The fabric of his shirt was in her way, so she shoved it up until she could press her cheek against the hard contours of his chest. Beneath her ear, she could almost hear the creak of living wood as his lifemark swayed at her touch.
Madoc cupped the back of her head in his big palm, holding her close, like he actually wanted her there. She was so used to him pushing her away, she didn’t know what to make of it.
She tried to look up and read his expression, but he held her still, so she sent a tiny tendril of her mind through their link, hoping to figure out what was going on inside his head.
Lust slammed into her, ruthless and clawing, hungry and desperate. She reeled back from it, shocked at the intensity.
“Sorry,” he muttered. “You weren’t supposed to see that.”
“What was that?”
“I think it’s kind of obvious. I want you.”
“That was more than want.”
He shrugged, and she felt the powerful bunching of muscles against her cheek. “I’m used to it, I guess. Don’t worry. It’s under control. We should get to work.”
He let her go and she pulled away, shaking. Her nerve endings were sparking, tingling from just that brief contact. She had no idea how he could stand it—how he could be so nonchalant about something like that.
“Work?”
He tapped his temple. “You know. We need to puzzle out those images Tori gave me.”
Right. She knew that. “O-okay.”
Nika was still shaking, but he was right. If he could ignore that writhing lust while it was inside him, she could ignore the tiny little brush she’d had with it.
“You should sit down,” he said. “You look a little shaky.”
“I’m fine. Let’s just do this.”
Madoc pulled his shirt down and sprawled on the couch. He patted his knee. “Want to sit on my lap again?”
She did, but only if he was naked, which wasn’t going to get them very far at all. “I think I’ll sit beside you.”
“Suit yourself.”
Nika sat and took several deep, calming breaths. “Close your eyes and try to keep your thoughts on the job, okay?”
“Yes, my lady. Anything you like.” He closed his eyes and sat there, all relaxed.
Now he was compliant. Why hadn’t he been like this seven months ago?
Maybe because his soul was no longer dying. That could have something to do with it.
Nika lifted his hand to her throat until the two parts of the luceria connected. They locked together and power seemed to pour into her. She shivered at the sensation, loving the feeling of so much strength after years of weakness.
“Here I come,” she warned him before she slipped out of her body and into his.
He let out a deep moan of satisfaction. “That’s nice. We should do this more often.”
Nika ignored the compliment and went right to work. “Show me.”
Madoc felt like he was sunbathing. On the inside.
Everywhere Nika touched him, he was warm. He’d managed to tuck his lust for her away in a dark corner, but he felt it seething inside him, wanting to be set free.
Later. Much later, after Nika had healed from before.
The thought of her blood was enough to reinforce the barricade and ensure he behaved like the gentleman she deserved for as long as he was allowed to stay with her. And there were other, more important barricades he had to put in place now that she was inside his mind—things he didn’t want her to know.
Tynan held their future in his elegant hands. As ruthless as the Sanguinar were, Madoc had no doubt that Tynan would take the first chance he got to crush him. He was going to stay away from the leech for as long as possible, delaying the inevitable. And until then, he would not allow what might happen to taint his time with her.
“Show me what Tori gave you.” Nika’s voice reverberated in his mind, a soft caress of sound and light.
Madoc recalled Tori’s memories, playing them in what he thought was the right order. Most of them were dark and distorted by her childlike perspective. Many of them were blurry with tears. “Everything’s too big,” he said to Nika. “It’s hard to match anything up to the way I see things.”
“Hold on,” she said; then a moment later, he felt Nika’s presence weave sinuously inside his mind, as if searching for something. He had no idea what she was doing, but the feel of her there, a part of him, was both disturbing and erotic. He felt smarter, more aware of his surroundings.
The graze of his clothes against his skin was amplified. The hum of the ceiling fan overhead tickled. The scent of the leather sofa seemed sharper, while the womanly scent of Nika’s skin made him break out in a sweat. He swore he could almost taste her skin on his tongue.
“I can see why the sgath like this,” he said. “You’re nice to have around.”
“Don’t you dare distract me. I’m working here.”
“Right. Working.”
Something inside Madoc’s head shifted and the images Tori had given him all changed. Everything shrank to normal size. The giant images of Tori’s childlike perspective righted themselves. The trees no longer loomed overhead. Even the stars looked closer.
Stars.
“That’s it,” he said, excitement rolling through him. “They let her see the sky.”
“Will that help?”
“We know the date and time she was taken, right?”
“Yes.”
“Show me the rest of the images.”
Nika did. Several times during her abduction Tori had looked up. The sky had been clear that night. She’d gone southeast. He was almost certain they could use star maps to figure out her general vicinity. Once he got that close, the slope of the ground and the surrounding landscape—even most of a decade later—would likely be recognizable enough to lead them right to her.
“How close can you get?” asked Nika, her voice excited.
“I’m not sure. Why?”
“Because the closer I am to her, the stronger our connection will be. If we’re close enough, and if I use your power, she won’t be able to keep me out.”
“How close do we need to get?”
“I don’t know. It depends on whether she blocks me. We can head southeast and track her down while we wait for everyone else to gather.”
“It might be safer to go as a group. They might know we’re coming and set a trap.”
“We won’t go in after her alone. I don’t want to fail to save her. But don’t you think the chances of the two of us being noticed are slimmer than the chances of an entire group? We don’t want to give them time to prepare for our attack.”
“You can’t let Tori know we’re coming. If she’s been . . . compromised, she might give our intentions away.”
“She’d never do that.”
“She’d never
willingly
do that. You know as well as I do that they could force her to tell them. They could torture her or go into her mind the way you do.”
willingly
do that. You know as well as I do that they could force her to tell them. They could torture her or go into her mind the way you do.”
Nika’s throat moved as she swallowed. “You’re right. I don’t want to do anything that has even a remote chance of hurting her more. It’s probably best if I don’t even know what our plans are, in case she can somehow see inside me the way I can her.”
Madoc nodded. “I’ll talk to Joseph. We’ll keep you out of the loop.”
“But you won’t leave me here. Promise me.”
He didn’t want to do that. If he promised her, he’d be bound to that promise. And yet, she was reaching out to him, asking for his trust.
It had been a long time since Madoc had felt trustworthy. Nika had given that back to him and he wanted to do something for her in return. “I promise I won’t make you stay here when we go.”
The weight of his vow and what it meant wove around him, chaining him to his word.
He wasn’t sure if he’d made a good decision or a terrible mistake, but there was no turning back now.
Angus couldn’t let this go on any longer. Seven months was long enough. He had to find a way to get through to Gilda.
Through the closed bathroom door, he heard the bathwater run, then stop. He didn’t bother to knock, knowing she’d tell him to go away—that she wanted to be alone or some nonsense. Instead, he simply opened the door and walked in.
She jerked, covering her naked breasts with her arms. She’d never done that before, and it was just more proof of how far apart they’d drifted.
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