Prodigal Son (26 page)

She had to do something to help. Abandoning her pretense, she leaned forward and covered Mestor’s eyes with her hands.

He shouted, letting go of the wheel with one hand and clawing at her grip with the other. Evan yanked at her arm, succeeding in pulling one hand away.

“You will let go and sit quietly in the backseat,” Evan ordered. That familiar mental push followed his words. For a second the world tilted. What had she been doing again?

The car jolted with a crunch of metal, jerking her attention outside. Rafe stared at her from the other car, his expression deadly intent.

“Sit down,” Evan commanded. The mental push came again, like a hand clamped around her will, forcing her to obey.

No
.

She shook with effort as she resisted his powers. It was harder this time, as if her ability to resist was growing weaker with every minute.

“I said
sit down,
” Evan snarled.

She looked him straight in the eye. “Screw you.” Then she turned and raked her fingernails across the driver’s face.

Mestor howled, releasing the wheel to grab her hand with both of his. The car veered right, headed toward the shoulder. Evan spat something that sounded like a curse and dove for the wheel.

The black car slammed into them, sending them into the guardrail with a squeal of tires and the sickening screech of metal on metal.

*   *   *

The instant Gray stopped the car, Rafe was out and running for Cara. He had the Hunter at half throttle, but he wouldn’t hesitate to go all the way if he needed to rip someone’s head off. Cara pushed her way out of the backseat, stumbling toward him and falling into his embrace.

“You okay?” He cupped her face and searched her eyes. She looked rattled, but no compulsion trapped her thoughts. She gave him a shaky nod, and he pressed a kiss to her lips, then hugged her tightly, burying his face in her hair for one, life-affirming moment.

A shout drew his attention. Gray sped past him and leaped at the driver of Cara’s car, who had climbed out and was raising his gun to fire. Gray succeeded in knocking the gun from the driver’s hand, but the other man darted out of the way with blurring speed. The second captor got out of the car, his forehead bleeding. He locked eyes with Rafe.

“Seer,” he hissed, his face twisting with hate. Then he charged.

Rafe pushed Cara behind him. “Get in the car.”

By some miracle she didn’t argue, just darted for the safety of the black vehicle while Rafe stepped forward to meet his attacker. He reached for the Hunter, allowing the power to flow through him, holding back a breath from full transformation. The other man faltered only for a moment as he got a good look at Rafe’s face; then he gave a battle cry and came at him in a blur of movement.

The instincts of the Hunter took over.

*   *   *

Cara opened the door of the black car and jumped into the passenger side, locking the door behind her. Outside, the four men battled bare-handed and with astonishing speed. In that brief moment where Rafe had held her, she’d noticed his eyes had turned nearly black. She knew what that meant now—that he was using the Hunter but hadn’t given over completely to it.

Adrian Gray fought alongside Rafe—and she had some questions on how
that
had happened—but even as she wondered about his motivations, she couldn’t help but admire the sheer beauty of his fighting technique. All of them moved with stunning, deadly efficiency—striking, blocking, a wicked, lethal dance. Yet Adrian moved a hair faster, his every action measured, controlled.

Mestor matched Adrian, seemed to almost anticipate his moves. At one point he grabbed Adrian by back of the shirt, spinning with an obvious intent to send him flying. But Adrian shifted, flexed, and somehow Mestor stood holding an empty shirt. The startled expression on his face looked almost comical, but he certainly wasn’t laughing when a bare-chested Adrian kicked him in the head and dropped him to the ground like a stone. Nearby, Rafe stood over Evan, his knuckles bleeding and ferocity tightening his features. Had he changed over to the Hunter? Cara got out of the car and hurried over to him.

“Hey, hold on.” Gray blocked her way, grasping her arms. “Don’t get too close to those guys. They’re down, but they’re not out.”

Cara shrugged away from him. “Don’t touch me.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “Not touching.”

Cara pushed past him. “Rafe?” He turned around as she reached him, and she looked into his eyes, noticing there was still some blue around the black. He wasn’t fully turned, not yet.

“You should stay back,” he said, tugging her backward a couple of steps. “I don’t know how long this guy will be out.” He looked behind her. “Good job.”

Cara noticed then that Adrian had followed her. Gray flashed his movie-star smile. “You, too,” he said.

Cara raised her eyebrows at Rafe.

“Yeah, I know,” he said in answer to her unspoken question. “I’ll explain it all later, but for now, it looks like we’re on the same side. Kinda,” he added, with a warning look at Gray.

Adrian seemed unfazed by Rafe’s distrust. “We don’t have a lot of time. As soon as Criten realizes his men are out of commission, he’ll send more.”

Criten
? “Wait—” Cara began.

Rafe nodded. “Agreed. I need to get Cara somewhere safe, where I can plan my next move.”

“
Our
next move,” Gray corrected.

“Hey, guys—” she started again.

“Look, I appreciate the assist here—”

“You need me, Montana. You still don’t know the whole story.”

Rafe folded his arms. “Care to enlighten?”

“We don’t have time now, but once we’ve recovered the stone, I will tell you everything I know. I swear it.” Gray laid his hand over his heart in an oddly old-world gesture.

Rafe considered him with narrowed eyes.

“
Wait a minute,
” Cara said, pushing between the two. She looked at Adrian. “Criten? Jain Criten, the president of Santutegi, is behind all this? And what stone?”

Adrian glanced at Rafe with a raised brow.

“I’ll explain later,” Rafe said. “But yes, apparently these clowns work for him. And Danny has some ancient stone that he wants.”

“But—”

“We don’t have time now.” Rafe turned to Gray. “About our next move.”

Cara shook her head and turned away as the two began planning. She’d get the whole story out of him as soon as they were in the car.

A hand gripped her ankle and yanked her off balance. She screamed as she started to fall, catching a glimpse of Evan’s vengeful expression as he lay on the ground, reaching out his other hand toward her as she tumbled closer. Then Rafe was there, his arms around her, kicking at Evan’s gripping hand and forcing his fingers to open.

Rafe dragged Cara out of his reach even as Gray leaped forward and dragged the man to his feet, pinning him against the car. Evan grinned at them over Adrian’s shoulder, the expression on his beaten face promising retribution.

Adrian spat words at him—in Evan’s language.

Evan jerked his gaze to Adrian’s, then glanced down at Gray’s chest and paled. “
Leyala,
” he whispered, dread and reverence in his tone.

Adrian released him with a jerk, sending him thudding back against the car. Evan mumbled something. Adrian shook his head. Evan’s eyes widened, and he spoke again, louder, his tone more pleading. Again, Adrian shook his head, then turned away. Evan sank to his knees in the sand, his expression one of hopeless despair.

“What did you say to him?” Rafe asked as he came closer.

“Told him his punishment was coming.” Adrian shrugged, the muscles roping his arms and chest rippling with the movement. Cara couldn’t help but appreciate the beauty of the man—then gasped as her gaze fell on the tattoo over his heart.

“What’s that?” she whispered. She’d noticed the tattoo earlier when he’d tried to stop her from going to Rafe. The symbol of three triangles, connected by a circle with a curly line in the center directly over his heart, had struck her as an unusual design, but nothing more than that. Just a tattoo like any other.

Now it had somehow become raised from his skin, like a brand. And it … pulsed.

Adrian didn’t even glance down; he just looked at Rafe.

“What does
leyala
mean?” Rafe asked, glancing from the weird tattoo to Gray’s face.

“Loosely translated, it means ‘the loyal ones.’”

“Yeah, okay. What does it mean to
him
?”

“As I said, punishment.” Adrian held up a hand as Rafe opened his mouth to speak again. “Look, we have the advantage right now. You’re a Seer. Take Cara and find the stone. These two are Warriors—technically.” He cast a disgusted glance from Evan to Mestor. “That means they are mine. I will deal with them, then head back to Vegas to keep an eye on Criten and make sure he doesn’t send anyone else after you.” He pulled out his wallet and handed Rafe a business card. “My cell number is on that. Call me when you have the stone.”

“Warriors?” Cara said. “Do I even want to know?”

“Later.” Rafe took the card, tapping it against his hand. “You know, one thing’s been bugging me since you showed up, Gray.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. How’d you find us? You said you’re not a Seer.”

“No, I’m a Whisperer.” Gray grinned. “I just called the cops and convinced them to trace the GPS on Evan’s cell phone. Then I grabbed a chopper and a rental car to get here fast.”

“Nice,” Rafe said.

“I do what I can. Now get going. You have a place in mind to take her?”

“Yeah.” Rafe looked over at Evan, who knelt on the ground staring at Gray as if he were the devil himself. “You sure you got this? Two to one.”

“I’ll be fine. Take my car and get out of here. The keys are in it.”

“Right.” Rafe took Cara’s arm and turned her toward Gray’s black sedan.

“And call me when you’ve got the stone!” Gray shouted after them.

Rafe waved his hand in the air, then opened the passenger door for Cara before going around to the driver’s side. The keys were in the ignition as promised. As Rafe clicked his seat belt into place, Cara glanced out the window and saw Gray crouching down in front of Evan, placing his hands on either side of the man’s head.

Rafe turned the key, and the roar of the car’s engine nearly drowned out Evan’s bloodcurdling scream. Cara’s blood ran cold. Dear God, what had Adrian done? She looked at Rafe, but he gave no indication he’d heard anything unusual, except for the tightening of his mouth. He pulled onto the highway and executed a U-turn right in the middle of the road, not even glancing back to see what Adrian Gray was doing, and headed toward Flagstaff again.

Silence lingered between them as they sped down the highway, passing Mother’s and continuing onward. She had a million questions clamoring in her head, but it was only after they’d gone a good fifteen miles or so that she asked the two uppermost in her mind.

“So,” she said. “You’re going to explain all this, right? The stone, Criten, Adrian Gray, et cetera?”

“Yes, once we’re safe.” He sent her a reassuring smile, but she could see the tension in his hands gripping the wheel and the way he clenched his jaw. Something was definitely bugging him, something more than simple concern about bad guys.

She knew he wouldn’t tell her, not without a lot of coaxing, so she asked her second question. “So where are we going?”

He inhaled slowly. “Home.”

*   *   *

Home. Strange how even after five years away, he still thought of the Montana stronghold in Sedona as home.

Rafe could tell that Cara knew something was up, but after he’d told her their destination, she’d just nodded and settled into her seat for the drive. No other questions, just a comforting quiet that he needed right then.

Damn, she was a hell of a woman. He’d never met anyone like her.

When he was younger, he’d imagined he would marry someone like her, have kids, pass on the family legacy. Then came the incident where his actions had caused the death of one good man and almost killed Darius as well. The event had torn apart his family. It had become clear to all of them that he had no control when the Hunter manifested, and until he did—if he
ever
did—he was a danger to everyone. So he’d left.

Hell, they’d
wanted
him to leave.

But in the past few hours he’d learned a lot about his heritage—provided Adrian Gray wasn’t full of it, which was still a remote possibility. But the idea that he wasn’t quite alone anymore, that there were other descendents of Atlanteans out there, perhaps even other Hunters, filled him with a hope he’d thought long dead. He might be able to learn more about his abilities and how to command them. A personal quest, as it were. But it would take all his faith to let down his guard enough to work with others, even those with the same power. To get past the fear that he would, however inadvertently, hurt one of them.

He couldn’t help thinking about Cara. She’d come face-to-face with the Hunter and walked away unscathed. She’d not only handled his focus stone but actually used it to help him come out of burnout. Yet despite that—or maybe because of it—she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to be with him anymore, so it was no use fantasizing about a future with her. But finding other Atlanteans to learn more about himself and his abilities? He could do that—far away from those he loved.

And yeah, here in the quiet of approaching dusk, he could admit, if only to himself, that Cara fell into that category.

They’d get to Sedona just after sunset, and he didn’t know what kind of welcome he’d get when he showed up on the doorstep of the Montana residence. The family credo dictated they use their powers to help those in need and never for personal gain, so while he knew they wouldn’t turn Cara away, he wasn’t so certain about himself. That had always been a bone of contention, and he’d broken the cardinal rule when he’d run off to Vegas and become a bounty hunter, using the Hunter gift to make a living. The family would probably give them shelter, and he doubted they would bring up old family business in front of an outsider—but he also doubted they’d break out the fatted calf. Best thing to do would be to stay as short a time as possible—just regroup and get out.