Savage Bond (The Fallen) (11 page)

The logical course was to take Ria Morgan straight to the wall, because if the Fallen had had any other means of air-lifting her ass out of here, Hazor would have seen the air traffic. So all he had to do was lay in plans to cut them off when they got there.  Those plans would have to wait for tomorrow and first light, though. Hunkering down for the night, he wrapped himself up in his wings. He'd slept in worse places, under worse conditions.

"We move out at first light," he snapped. A sea of bobbing heads around him said the rogues under his command were on board with that plan. Good.

At the end of this particular hunt, there wouldn't be a trace of Ria Morgan left. The Fallen warrior was simply an added bonus.

By the time the sun rose, Ria was about ready to scream.

She'd woken up alone inside the shelter Vkhin had built for her, warm to her toes and tucked up inside his coat. Which meant she'd done nothing but dream of him, because his scent permeated the damned leather. She had his scent on her hair. On her skin.

Worse, she hadn't stopped replaying last night in her head. First he'd given her the orgasm of a lifetime, then he'd hopped inside her head like he'd never heard of boundaries or personal space. He'd been inside her in every possible way, in some kind of freakish emotional vampirism. Because she'd felt him sucking away her emotions. First the pleasure and the shocked surprise that he could make her feel so damn good—and then the fear and anger as she realized he'd intruded in her mind and wasn't getting out anytime soon.

She should have told him their deal was off. He'd broken a big rule, because head-hopping had never been part of their deal. Instead, she was still dutifully following him as he moved double-time towards the wall. He hadn't even acknowledged what had happened between them last night—sexual or otherwise. No, he'd just tossed another damned granola bar at her and ordered her to eat fast because they were moving out.

She glared at his back. He'd taken back his duster. The leather stretched lovingly over those broad, hard shoulders. Beneath the leather, she could see the outline of the blades strapped to his back and he'd have more. He was armed and dangerous.

And she still wanted him.

Hell.

"How much further?" she asked, because why not ask about the nuts-and-bolts facts? Vkhin wasn't going to volunteer any information and she certainly wasn't bringing up last night.

He didn't stop. "Ten, maybe twelve miles."

"Is it all like this?" She indicated the rusted-out car and the other abandoned bits and pieces of human life. People had lived here in the not-so-distant past. Those people were gone now and their cars and houses and things were just leftovers in a wasteland. She couldn't bring herself to care as much as she should have. Shit had happened here, was still happening.

"Pretty much." Those big shoulders shrugged carelessly, his booted feet making short work of a pile of crumbled asphalt.

She knew she couldn't blame what had happened here on the Fallen—humans had managed to screw things up just fine on their own—but the images her drones had shot hadn't told the full story about the sheer scale of the Preserves—the place was far larger than she'd ever dreamed. And it was rotting away, eroding real slowly as nature and the Fallen reshaped the place into something else. She eyed her surroundings again. When she'd trained to run the drones, she'd learned the importance of finding patterns, breaking what she saw down into shapes and parts. No matter how she looked now, though, nothing here was familiar.

"You're not much for talking, are you?" she asked, because she was feeling mean and frustrated.

"I talk." He didn't sound as if he cared, though, and that was part of the problem, wasn't it? She stayed around him much longer and she'd care too much, while he'd just walk away from her double-time and never even realize the damage he'd inflicted. Which sucked. And made her want to torment him just a little.

"Fine," she snapped. "You want to talk about what happened last night."

"Not particularly," he growled.

"Last night, you talked just fine," she said sweetly. "I distinctly recall your saying a whole lot of things, Vkhin. Asking me what I wanted."

He stiffened, but he didn't slow down any. Damned if he didn't speed it up.  "I fucked up," he admitted. "You want me to admit it out loud? Fine. There you go. I should have kept my distance and kept my goddamned hands off you."

The hurt feelings came right on back, and she was willing to bet she was going to get even more familiar with them before this hike was over. "Right," she said snidely. "Because you hated what you were doing that much."

He stopped abruptly and she plowed straight into his hard back. Classic. She should have seen that move coming, but she'd been blind where he was concerned. No reason why today should work out any differently.

He swung around, catching her upper arms in his hands. Steadying her before she tripped and fell on her ass. His hands clamped down when she tried to wriggle away, however, so maybe he wasn't just playing the gentleman. He glared down at her.

"I liked it too goddamned much, Ria. That's the problem right there. You came and I lost control."

"You got into my head," she agreed. "That was a mistake."

"Yeah." His voice was hoarse. Rough. "But I got out. And it won't happen again."

"Why not?" she had to ask the question because he was driving her crazy and she didn't want to accept the sad fact that he didn't want to kiss her again. Not when she was starting to want so much more from him.

"Because I'm trouble, Ria," he said flatly. "What do you know about the bond?"

"Not much," she admitted. "Just the one favor for one soul part."

"You ever wondered
why
we want those souls, Ria?" His eyes bored into hers. Hard and fierce, he didn't back down from this and she doubted he'd ever back down from a fight in his life. Should have been scared, but one of his hands slid up, finding her cheek. Stroked. She wasn't sure he even knew he was doing that, touching her as if she was someone special and he couldn't bear to lose that connection with her. She wanted to lean into that touch, explore the new sensations he woke in her.

He kept right on talking, not waiting for an answer she didn't have. "I can smell your emotions right now, Ria, and they're goddamned delicious. Arousal. A little sweet trepidation because you know I'm not lying about the danger. You think that's sexy and you're curious about what else I could show you. Don't be," he said, his voice hard and mean. "Don't wonder about me, Ria. When the Fallen were exiled from the Heavens, the archangel in charge took away our wings and then, just for a little added fun and games, he took away our ability to feel anything but the darkest of emotions."

"You can't feel?" Those words of his made no sense. He felt. She knew he did.

"Not the gentler emotions," he said. "Hunger, lust, rage—we got to keep those. But all the good ones? Those are long gone, Ria. I don't do love because I can't, not first-hand. What I can do, though, is feel what you're feeling. I can get my emotional high that way and make no mistake about it. I'm an addict. I crave those feelings and, every single day, I'm jonesing for my next fix because a male can only go so long before the soul thirst overwhelms him. Most of the Fallen, they bond with a human—get their fix that way."

"And if they don't?"

"Then the soul thirst takes over and that Fallen goes rogue. I was too close again last night, Ria. It can't happen again."

"Again."

"I lost control once. I had a bond mate and I took and I took from her. Every single emotion she had, I lapped it up."

"What happened to her?"

He stepped away from her. "What happens to any bond mate if her bonder isn't careful. I took it all. I left nothing for her. She died in my arms, Ria, because I was a fucking, careless beast. So don't romanticize this. I belong right here in the Preserves with every other Fallen angel who couldn't manage his thirst."

She shouldn't have pushed, shouldn't have made him open up to her.

But, oh, God. She's wanted to
know
.

He'd almost given her something last night, wrapped around her in the dark shelter. His intensity had frightened her, and then his intrusion into her mind and soul had been too much.

This was worse.

Maybe, he was the monster he claimed to be. She didn't know if he could be redeemed, didn't claim to be an expert on his kind. All she could do was stare at his back and wonder if she was crazy to hope. To think that maybe they could work something out between them that was more than a rescue and less than a bargain.

As she reached out a hand, the sound of a chopper broke the silence.

Chapter Seven

Ria wanted to cry, wanted to force Vkhin to admit she'd been right after all. MVD
had
come for her. The police unit's telltale red and white logo branded the bird's tail and the open bay door promised someone was ready to bring her home.

The chopper changed things.

She stopped walking. She was minutes away from rescue.

"See?" She pointed towards the bird chewing up Fallen airspace, even though Vkhin hadn't turned around yet. His gaze went right to the chopper, though, so he'd seen, too. "I told you they'd come for me. I'm going home, Vkhin. Without your help."

"Wait," he said and she wanted to scream. That was rescue up there. She didn't need him, didn't need his diabolical bargains. Of course, maybe he didn't intend to let her scramble aboard.

Suddenly desperate, she darted out into the open and threw an arm over her head, waving madly. Seconds. She only had seconds to get the pilot's attention before the chopper swung round and continued the search pattern somewhere else. She
should
have stayed put, waited for help to come to her.

Behind her, Vkhin cursed roughly and strode toward her. His arm snaked around her waist, dragging her back under the cover of the trees. "Don't," he growled.

"Don't what?" She pushed at the arm restraining her, angry tears stinging her arms. "Don't try and get out of here on my own? Don't make this happen for myself?"

"Don't be stupid, baby." He moved them further back under the canopy, his gaze raking the sky. Taking in the approaching chopper. "You don't know who or what is out there."

"That is my team," she hissed. "That is my unit up there."

"Maybe." His voice was as implacable as the arm he'd wrapped around her waist. "But how do you know this isn't a trap?"

She didn't. But she didn't see any danger, other than the very real possibility the chopper wouldn't see her. Would keep on going and never land for her. She clawed at his arm, desperate to run back out and draw the chopper's attention. Already, the bird's course was arcing, the pilot heading north into a slow, gentle turn as he turned away from her hiding place and back towards the crash site.

No
. She opened her mouth to say something and the horizon exploded.

Rogues filled the sky, their wings beating powerfully as they swarmed the chopper.

Gunfire rang out. Those bullets weren't, she thought, sick with fear, going to be enough. There were too many rogues. The chopper's blades stuttered.

Slowed.

"No," she whispered.

The blades stopped and the chopper plummeted towards the ground. Seconds later, the shockwave washed over her and smoke filled the sky.

There wasn't going to be a rescue.

She was still alone here. She couldn't even begin to think about the new loss MVD had just taken. There had been someone in that chopper. Maybe more than one. And now they were gone.

The arm around her waist loosened. Let go. "MVD doesn't know what you know, Ria." His voice was cold and flat. She wanted to turn around and hit him. Scream out the frustration building inside her. "They thought you went down on a recon mission."

"I sent my pictures out." She clung to that fact like a lifeline.

"No." He shook his head and she forced her hands back down by her sides. She wasn't going to give in to the urge. She wouldn't hit him. She wasn't an animal. "I told you, Ria. We blocked that transmission. All MVD knows is that you found something you thought was important. Information you tried to send them, but the transmission broke up."