Primal Instincts (20 page)

Yeah, yeah
, she thought back.
Just put your arm around me and shut up.

He chuckled and pulled her closer as they kept their gazes on Rose and Tony.

“Go ahead,” Rose said to her Prime. “This will work.”

The plan was for Tony to tap into a moment Rose faintly recalled and bring out the details. He would touch Rose’s memories, keeping the mind touch between them, and then he would broadcast what he learned to Tobias.

Frankly, this seemed a little complicated to Francesca and she wasn’t sure it would work. But she thought,
I understand Rose’s hesitation to—

“Can we take her now?”

“I’m not sure she’s out yet.”

She couldn’t open her eyes, but she heard Gregor’s voice, though it seemed a mile away.

“What difference does that make? You’ve always been too gentle with her, but she’s all mine now.”

That was Stone. She hadn’t seen him for a long time. Couldn’t see him now but the memory of his face flashed through her mind. She’d never liked his smile; it was too much like a sneer. There was something snaky about his pale eyes. Like a reptile looking out of a human suit. A reptile with a drug problem, at that.

“Not yet, she isn’t,” said Gregor. “I’m taking her to the safe house. You have your own assignments.”

“It’s my op. Everything and everyone is in place. The Clan bastards will be howling in outrage by this time tomorrow.”

“As long as your diversions cover moving our operations the Masters will be satisfied.”

“The Masters will be overjoyed!”

“Have you set this place on fire yet?”

“Don’t tell me my job. You’ve been in my territory too long already, Minotaur.”

They kept talking, forgetting about her as they stood on either side of where she lay.

Or were those words? Maybe it was rain. Soothing, soft rain. Everything was so soft.

Dark.

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“Oh, yeah, Rosie, my love. A lot better than I thought it would—from the totally stunned looks of those two, they joined us all the way.”

“It occurs to me that I am not Rose Cameron.”

The voice was deep and masculine and came from very close to Francesca. She was leaning into the side of a hard body and the warmth of it was pleasant and comforting after being so alone and lost in the dark. She sighed as she snuggled closer. And it began to occur to her that she wasn’t Rose Cameron, either.

Francesca opened her eyes and saw Rose and Anthony looking at her and Tobias.

“That was . . . different,” Tobias said.

“But it worked,” Anthony answered.

Francesca took a moment to straighten out what had happened, what she’d seen and felt of Rose Cameron’s memories, and firmly reminded herself of who and what she was.

“That was different,” she said. “We were all there with—as—Rose. We heard what she heard.”

“More importantly, we experienced her memories of Stone,” Tobias said.

“I’ve never felt telepathy used like that before,” Francesca said.

“I’ve never tried anything like that before,” Crowe said. He rubbed his temples, then massaged Rose’s. “Are you all right, love?”

“Can you imagine what the entertainment industry could do with something like that?” Rose asked.

“No,” all three vampires said at once.

Rose gave them all a disgruntled look, then she shrugged. “Come to think of it, we wouldn’t need actors if people could just be plugged in to story lines. Was anything you picked up from me helpful?” she asked.

“Yes,” Crowe and Tobias answered.

“I picked up a major hatred for those two Tribe boys,” Francesca told her. Not that disliking Primes had ever been hard for her, but what Francesca felt for all Clan and Family boys was
love compared to her feelings about the arrogant evil of their Tribe cousins.

“Sounds like Gregor’s a Minotaur,” Tony said. “I didn’t think there were any of that Tribe left.”

“There’re one or two who are still renegade,” Tobias said.

Francesca noted the tenseness of the exchange and that Tobias’s expression was blank when she looked at him. The emotions pulsing from him were anything but blank. They were some confusing combination of sadness, wistfulness, and anger. Regret?

“You were born into Tribe Minotaur?” Francesca asked.

We’ll talk about me later.

Francesca nodded in answer to his thought, but she wasn’t sure his feelings had anything to do with himself. How many secrets did Tobias have?

“I recognize Stone,” Tobias said. “He’s one of the unaccounted for Tribe Primes we have a file on. He hasn’t been spotted for a couple of years.”

“Well, now he’s accounted for,” Anthony said.

“We’ll track him down soon enough. I’m sure you’ll want to be there, Anthony.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Tobias stood and tugged Francesca up with him. He nodded to Rose. “Thank you for your
help, Lady Rose. I could still use yours,” he said to Crowe.

“Go chase vampires and leave me alone with my—”

“Oh, go on, Anthony,” Rose said. “You know you’ll feel guilty about not doing your duty if you spend every waking minute with me.”

“Yes, go on,” Francesca said as she slipped away from Tobias. She smiled sweetly at the Primes. “Let us girls entertain each other for a while. In fact, why don’t you and I go shopping, Rose?”

Tobias and Crowe stared in astonishment.

“I don’t have a thing to wear,” she added.

“Are you out of your spoiled-brat little mind, Flare Reynard?” Tobias demanded. “There are people out there who want to kill—”

“We’re supposed to be going about our normal lives, aren’t we?” she reminded him. “Wasn’t that your idea? To let the Dark Angels hunt the bad guys while we go about our daily lives and pretend there’s nothing wrong? Everyone knows that most of my life is devoted to shopping. And you have to be dying for a wardrobe update, don’t you, Rose?”

Rose was smiling and gave an understanding nod, while Crowe stood next to her, looking
aghast. “I think getting out of here would be a lovely idea.” She added, “I will not spend my life imprisoned, even by you, Anthony.”

He said, “But—”

“I used to go to a place off of Melrose that specializes in vintage clothing,” Rose said. “I don’t know if it’s still there. I’ve been wearing granny gowns for a few years now.”

“If you’re thinking of Orion’s Belt, it’s still there,” Francesca said. “I’ll borrow a car and we can get out of the way for a few hours. I think we should ask Kea and Chiana to come along. Kea’s pissed off and Chiana’s stressed out. They could use some time off.”

Tobias moved to stand in front of the door. He was a big guy and used his size to loom dangerously in the way. He gave them a weapons-grade glare. “I will not have anyone under my protection putting themselves in danger. Am I understood?”

“I’m with him,” Anthony said.

Rose put her hand over her mouth and giggled. She shared an amused look with Francesca. “Is it the bonding that’s making them slow, do you think? I’m sure your young man is normally quicker on the uptake than right now. Anthony is usually very clever.”

“
Diversion,
” Francesca finally told Tobias. “Honestly, I thought you were supposed to be
a military genius.” She stepped close to him and grabbed the front of his black silk shirt. “I am spoiled. I am a brat. I am an adder-tongued bitch. But my name is
not
Flare!”

He gave her a considering look. “Diversion.”

“Bait in a trap,” she said. “You’ve turned this place into a fortress. Time to take the battle to them.”

“I know.”

“I don’t know if they’ll be stupid enough to fall for it, but getting their experimental subject and bagging a vampire female has got to be very tempting to the bad guys.”

“It won’t be safe.”

“I’m a vampire,” she said. “I don’t want to be safe.”

He smiled, sharp as a blade. “You’re going to get me in trouble.”

“Of course I am. Can you handle it?”

He gave the slightest of dismissing shrugs and eased her hands away from his chest. He didn’t let go of her, and his hands were so very big and warm and hard holding hers. They looked into each other’s eyes for a few seconds.

Finally, Tobias said, “Rose is mortal.”

“I won’t put Rose in harm’s way,” Crowe announced.

“I’m old enough to make my own decisions,”
Rose informed her bondmate. “You had me cause a diversion once before, Anthony. Do you remember?”

“That was different!”

Rose looked past her bondmate to Francesca and Tobias. “He told me to distract the crew of a German tank long enough for him to get inside it. It worked.” She smiled sweetly at Crowe. “Being part of this won’t be anywhere near as dangerous as what we faced in the Battle of the Bulge.” She took his hands in hers. “And this time I promise not to flash my titties at anyone.”

“I knew I should trust my instincts when I got up this morning. This tingling feeling all over told me this was going to be a bad day,” Saffron said.

“Panic attack.”

“That’s what Dad said. It wasn’t
just
a panic attack, but Dad doesn’t always get that I have intuition because I’m mortal. Or at least he thinks I am. For a while after I found out the bad news I was pissed at him; I thought he must know all about what my DNA showed.”

“Which is?”

“That my paternal DNA isn’t human. Weren’t you briefed on this?”

“My instructions were to fetch you; I was not told
why.”

“Typical. But being pissed at him was the real panic attack part because he has never lied to me about anything. Ever.”

“Are you sure?” Gregor asked.

He’d told her not to talk, and she had been quiet for a while. For over an hour there had only been the growl of the engine, the howl of wind, the heavy slap of the windshield wipers, and his occasional swearing as invisible ice patches tried to run the SUV off the road.

The big engine and four-wheel-drive transmission were willing, but the snow piling up made it harder and harder to drive this rural, infrequently traveled road. Maybe the locals were too smart to venture out in such bad weather.

At some point she’d brought out a cell phone.

She’d ignored his, “Don’t.”

But she had discovered that the battery was low. He refused to let her plug it into the dashboard outlet, telling her they needed all the power for driving. The girl had settled back in her seat with an annoyed sigh, stared ahead, and crossed her arms.

Then she’d started talking.

He’d tried to ignore her, tried to block her voice out, considered throttling her. Then he realized what a fount of information she was about Strahan’s organization.

“You’re not questioning Tobias, are you?” she asked protectively. “Has he ever lied to you?”

The girl was upset, chattering because of it, and dying to find an outlet for all her tension. She was wearing pink gloves on her tightly coiled fists.

“Tobias Strahan has never lied to me,” he told her.

She reluctantly relaxed.

“Disappointed that I won’t argue with you?” he asked.

“You sound like Dad.”

“Really? We aren’t that close.”

“You’re new to the Crew, right? I don’t recognize you, Greg.”

“You recognized that I am Prime the moment you saw me. How did a mortal girl manage that?”

The girl laughed. “I’ve been around Primes all my life.”

Making her trusting of all Primes? Tobias should have trained her better than that.

“You didn’t answer me,” she said. “How long have you been with us? I don’t remember the name Greg in our database.”

“Not everyone shows up in the official records.”

She was impressed. “Dad sent one of the black ops guys to pick me up?”

He fought down the urge to smile at her sudden look of hero worship. “I was in the area.”

“Where are we heading?” she asked.

“New York.”

“Dad doesn’t want me in Los Angeles?”

“The op there is still hot.”

“If he thinks I’m going off to London with my friend’s family after what I found out today, he’s crazy.”

“You’re not going to London.”

Saffron accepted this information with a satisfied nod. She even settled back in her seat to watch the headlights forming a tunnel in the driving snow.

After a few minutes of silence, Gregor asked, “Who’s Dragomir?”

“A Tribe Prime,” she answered. “Harpy Tribe, I think.”

Gregor hadn’t expected her to recognize the name any more than he had when the Master mentioned Dragomir. Not only hadn’t the mortal girl not shown any surprise at the question, she gave him the information as if she was used to being quizzed about all sorts of esoteric facts.
What an odd education the Dark Angels are providing this mortal mascot of theirs.

“You
think
Dragomir’s a Harpy?” he asked.

“You don’t have to be sarcastic,” she answered. “Harpies have been hiring out as mercenaries, but their master Dragomir’s one of the Primes who have
dropped out of sight since the Bosnian raids.”

“So he is,” Gregor answered.

He knew about the Dark Angels tearing apart a Tribe alliance with the Eastern European underworld, but he wasn’t as up on the details as Saffron, and he should have been.

He didn’t show how frustrated he was that this kid was crammed full of information he lacked. Knowledge was power; knowledge could save your life or get you killed.

Saffron was a pawn in some game the Master had decided to play, but Gregor recognized how valuable she would be because of all she knew. The Master wouldn’t appreciate her except as an adolescent sex toy. Gregor gripped the steering wheel tighter, furious at what insane bastards Tribe Primes were. Saffron was no pawn as far as he was concerned.

“Tell me more about Dragomir,” he said. When she gave him a puzzled look, Gregor added, “I need you to help keep me awake while I drive through this shit.”

“Dad wouldn’t like you swearing around me.”

Gregor smirked. “I beg your pardon, Lady Saffron. Dragomir?”