Protector (28 page)

Peering through the pitch black behind me to where I thought the door should be, I slipped through the muck toward it. I slammed my fist against the metal, hearing the jarring sound it made with each hit.

“I mean it, Davio. Get me out of here.”

“Hell, Warrick.”

I sagged against the door for I knew my mate’s voice. “Davio.”

“I’m coming.”

The steel door cranked open, and I grabbed at my head at the sharpness of my mind flying toward his. It was a piercing need to connect, one I couldn’t hold back.

I heard his answering grunt as the merge landed. A beam of light hit my eyes, and he caught me tight. “Silas, take the lantern.” Davio’s voice rumbled over my head.

Silas stepped forward into the light and took it.

Davio’s arms came around me. “This should never have happened,” he bit out, leading me out of the nasty cell.

I sent him a wild glare. “Trust me, you don’t want to hear what I have to say about the way your protectors protect, but let me enlighten you anyway.” I drew in a deep breath whistling it out. “That one.” I pointed at Warrick who stood in the flickering lamp’s glow. “Needs to die.”

“I’m sure he does.” Davio pulled me around. “But first, let me take you out of here. I can’t stand to see you in this place.”

And he did–zapping us straight into an outcropping of trees which edged a roaring river. The instant change of location, the bright vivid colors and the shock of morning sunlight beaming through the dense foliage, had me pinching my eyes shut.

I took a moment, slowly opening them again, and when I did, I saw Silas had followed. “No, you go back.” I jammed my finger at him. “You have to kill Warrick. That’s the deal.”

He crossed his arms. “Before I do that I have to make certain you don’t take your anger out on my cousin.”

I huffed as Davio took my arms and turned me toward him. “I can’t believe you’re here. You should have told Belle you were coming. We would have been on the alert. There’s certain security in place.”

“Alert this,” I snapped. “Warrick. Dead. Now.”

Silas sighed. “How about I go see to Warrick. I’ll return once I’m done with something that’ll take that awful stinky smell away.” He slanted his head at me. “And sadly I didn’t mean you.”

I scowled, hating all things Silas. “Go.”

He wavered and disappeared.

“We’ll clean this muck off you in no time. The river’s deep enough in the center, and it’s not too cold.” Davio shucked off his boots and took my arm.

“I’ll do anything to get rid of this stink.” As the water rose past my knees, then my hips, I rubbed my arms, each step making me sink deeper. “Grrr, you don’t call this cold?” I stopped, now far enough out to lower to my shoulders.

“Hey.” Silas was back and far too soon. “Catch.” He tossed a large bottle from his position near the side, one that Davio caught midair. “I’ll give you two sometime to clean up.”

My teeth chattered and Davio answered. “Bring Viv back with you.” He squirted out a glob from the bottle and raised his brow. “Dunk, love.”

I didn’t argue, dropping to my knees under the frigid water and rubbing at my hair and body. When I popped up, a new kind of goop landed on my head.

With the cold water flowing briskly past us, Davio scrubbed until I smelled lavender instead of stench.

At the dark shadows under his eyes, I groaned. “I couldn’t come any earlier. The thought of leaving her–”

“I understand. How is she?”

I touched an icy finger to the raspy two-day stubble on his jaw. “Have you slept at all?” I searched his mind, but he was blocked. There was nothing.

“Your mother,” he insisted.

“She’s handling things. Although I need to be home by the time school finishes.”

“Why so soon?” His jaw tightened. “It’s Thursday and you’ve been gone since Monday night. The weekend is coming. You’re sleeping in the enemy’s territory, and I don’t know from one minute to the next whether I’ll ever see you again.”

The tumbling water sucked at my clothing. “Don’t you go getting mad at me. I’m unstable at the moment as it is.” I meant with my rising, for it had not begun and the delay had my emotions tossing up and down. Then there was the thought of all that additional strength, three times as much. I stamped my feet in place, trying to keep my circulation going. “As nice as this river is, I need a warm shower.”

He took my arms and lowered us further into the water where the current whipped my hair into a tangle around his neck. “You didn’t answer me.”

“Ah, freezing my butt off. I’ve got to get out of here. That’s all the answer you’re going to get.”

His gaze darkened. “I’ll have your answer after you’ve showered, where I’ll meet you in the recreational room. Take the image from my mind so I know you’ll always have a safe place to arrive.”

An image of where he said flashed into his mind, and I stored it. Next came an image right on the cuff of that, one that showed a very exclusive male bedroom.

“This is my private domain. Which means, I expect to see you.”

I gritted my teeth. “One day at a time.”

A low growl rumbled from his throat. “That’s all I’ve heard through your link with Belle these past days. I need to see you.”

“Ah-hem.” Silas stood on the bank, Viv at his side.

She took one look at me and held out a towel. “Come out of there. You’re turning blue.”

I pushed my way toward her, shaking more as cold water trickled down my back. I took the white towel and wrapped it around me. “How fast can you move?”

“I’ve got you covered.” She wrapped her hand around my wrist and we zipped from the chilly river to a brightly lit yellow bathroom.

“Oh, this is perfect. Now, where am I?”

“Silvie’s quarters. This is her bathroom.” She pointed to the yellow vanity top where I spotted Silvie’s hairbrush with strands of curly, red-gold hair twisted in it. Beside the brush were her favorite golden clips.

My heart panged for I missed her.

“Silvie’s at school. I’m sure you two have shared clothing before, and she’d want you to help yourself. Her bedroom adjoins this bathroom.”

“Thanks.”

Viv backed up. “After you’re done, come to the rec room. We’ll be waiting for you.”

I stood alone after she ’ported away, and because I couldn’t help myself, I focused on Davio.

He remained on the sandy edge of the riverbank, a matching towel to mine covering his shoulders. “Faith will not commit. I haven’t seen her in days and she’s already said she’s leaving this afternoon.”

Silas raised his hands. “Hey, I’m the last person to understand a woman. Particularly that one.”

“Well, this I do understand. The longer my mate remains with Wincrest, the stronger her blood-bond with him grows.”

My fists bunched, for I couldn’t be everywhere and all at once. How could he not see that?

I unclenched and switched my forethought to Silvie, but as she came to me, I saw she sat in Physics class–where I should be, only not while I dripped all over her bathroom floor.

I shut down the visual and flipped the shower’s lever to piping hot. With her favorite lilac soap, I scrubbed my skin until it was red and raw.

In her bedroom, I pulled open drawers, finding a red button-down blouse that was mine. I teamed it with a pair of her dark blue jeans, and because I wanted to feel a touch glam, added three-inch fire-red heels.

Refreshed, and with my hair dry and tucked behind one ear, I headed to the rec room, ’porting directly in.

It was a massive space, fifty to sixty feet long and just as wide. Divided into two noticeable areas, the half where I stood had polished wooden flooring, a table tennis platform and a pool table. Behind me were pool cues hanging in a wooden frame and a game board to keep markings.

On the eastern wall, there were square cut, wooden edged windows with soft draperies of caramel-cream tied off. Outside I saw a green garden with tall hedges.

At the other end of the rec room, there was a sitting area where four separate white leather couches faced each other. Zac and Viv sat on one, Silas and Belle another and Davio opposite him. He stood.

I met his gaze, soaking in the sight of him. He wore custom-fit black jeans and a paneled black and white shirt. Damp hair hung to his shoulders.

“Hey. I’m feeling better.”

He held out his hand. “Come and show me.”

I zapped straight to him, my mind merging with his, for this would probably be the right time to warn him of my rising, which had clearly done a number on me, because it was either that or I losing myself. “I hope you didn’t have Warrick killed, and I hope I smell better.”

He inhaled as he leaned over me. “You smell like lilacs, and Warrick still lives.”

I sighed. “I heard what you said to Silas. So, I should warn you right now, my rising is close, and my emotions are swinging back and forth. And I’m just waiting for the tripling of my strength. Sounds swell.” I rolled my eyes upward. “Jeez, I can’t believe there’s a rising. I’m sure looking forward to when I completely lose it.”

Silas laughed. “I thought you were always like this.”

I snapped around and glared. “I am not normally this way.”

Davio took my arms and backed me up. “Clearly your rising’s close. Which means you’ll be staying here for you’ll need those closest to you to get through this.” One hand came over my mouth. “Don’t argue that point with me. I won’t have you go through this anywhere else.”

I tugged his hand away. “I have school.”

He sat, pulling me with him. “Your need to attack others will become uncontrollable. What you have is me.”

“No, what you have is me.” My heart raced and I leaned in, because in that instant, my mood jackknifed and I very much wanted him.

He caught my wrists. “This is what we call uncontrollable.”

I brushed up against him. “I want to drag you behind the bushes and show you what I call uncontrollable.”

He let out a slow, stuttering breath. “There are others in the room so no, you won’t. Anger and desire are emotions. They go hand in hand. You’ll be unable to control either.”

“Kiss me and prove it.”

“As much as I’d like to, I can’t.”

I looked at his lips and licked my own. “You want to explain why.”

“As your rising escalates, the full force of it will hit. Giving into you now will only make things more difficult at the end. If it helps, during my rising I used to count. By around thirty you’ll find yourself able to breathe the tension away.”

Zac piped up. “Counting aided me as well. During Viv’s rising, she experienced the same physical pull as to what you’re displaying. It’s worse if there’s been some length of time apart, and you two can’t deny you’ve had that.”

I glanced at Viv. “You really controlled it?”

She tilted her head. “I did, not that I cared for it.”

I yanked my hands free of Davio’s and wrapped them around his neck. “It seems I don’t care for it either.” I leaned in and kissed him, actually devoured would be the more appropriate word for I wasn’t prepared to stop.

And it was perfect, until my craving for him surged yet again.

I retreated a bit, breathing fast. “We need–”

Silas grabbed me, and in a heartbeat, lifted me away from the one I wanted. As he did, the most feral sound gained momentum in my chest until it rose up as a hissing spit. I kicked out at Silas and swiped my hand at him, nails drawing blood.

“Calm down. You can’t control yourself, so this is the new how,” he bit out in my ear.

“I don’t care for the new how. It hurts not to touch him.” It truly did, for the gulf Silas enforced had me slamming my elbows into his stomach.

He grunted his hold tightening as he pulled me further away. “I’m doing this for your own good.”

“I hate you, Silas.”

“I got that.” He led me to the wall at the far end of the room.

And I was too far away, my mind-merge shattering. I sobbed, grabbing my head between my hands. “Let go of me. I’ll leave if I’m not wanted here.”

Davio growled, low and menacing, from across the room. “You’re wanted. It has to be this way until you can think more clearly.”

I ground my teeth together, my vision darkening.

Then I saw only black.

I shut my eyes, my forewarning activating in the midst of such turmoil.

And it was Guy Moyer, with his unmistakable midnight black hair and his pale, silver-blue swirling eyes. He traipsed through some kind of communal dining hall where dining protectors were seated at low wooden benches around wooden-slatted tables. There was a sword at his side, and a sharp dagger he stroked that rested half way up his sleeve. He blended in, at least to those around him.

My eyes flew open, and I stared at Belle. “Is there a dining hall nearby? I see a lot of protectors eating together, maybe two-hundred of them.”

Belle’s eyes widened. “Yes, in the village, five miles from here.”

“Oh hell.” I grabbed both of Silas’s forearms. “I have to go and I swear no one can follow me. Don’t let it happen. My forewarning doesn’t include any of you.” It didn’t include me either, but someone had to stop Guy.