The Claimed (25 page)

Victoria approached Rafael until his finger was pointing directly to her head, although his arm wavered and he lowered it a bit. “You dare challenge me again?” she said beneath her breath and released a smidgen of her power, allowing her aura to brush against him. As her gaze locked with his, the neon glow of hers was reflected back as his gaze widened with alarm.

He dropped his arm an inch at a time and, shifting toward her, pleaded in a soft tone, “Victoria, please. Do not go forward with this.”

“There have been few times I have resorted to rank, especially with you, Rafael,” Victoria said softly. “But you’re leaving me no choice. Return to your post, Rafael. Now.”

He hesitated, almost as if he intended to openly defy her yet again, but then raised his right hand to his chest and bowed his head. “I live to serve, Quinchu.”

For good measure, she glanced in the direction of Catalina, the newest member of her guard and Mike’s wife. As was tradition, a family member of a fallen warrior could take his place. When Catalina had made the request, Victoria had not demurred. Catalina was strong and her affinity was like Mike’s—the wind. Her addition would fill the power gap created by Mike’s loss.

As Catalina stared in her direction, the pain of her loss was evident. Still, Catalina saluted and bowed her head without hesitation, and instead of the customary words of obedience, she said, “I trust you, Quinchu.”

Victoria whirled and walked back to the two men who had been silently witnessing the challenge.

“What is it that you want?” Adam asked as she approached.

“A test,” Christopher replied immediately. As Adam raised an eyebrow in question, he explained. “For over a year my warriors and I have gathered solely from nature, cleansing our bodies of the pox energies that contaminated us.”

“You believe it is that simple?” Adam challenged.

“I do, and I need you to help me prove it,” he replied.

Adam glanced at Victoria. She met his gaze directly and lifted her head a notch in a show of power and defiance. She could not let her people believe that the two men with her somehow called the shots, because if the whole plan failed, she still had to lead her clan. “I believe it is time for the three of us to forge a new future for our people. Together we can do that.”

“And your father would accept that?” Adam asked Christopher.

Christopher shook his head. “He won’t, but he is having
difficulty containing his illness because he is weak. He still commands the bulk of the clan, over a hundred Hunters to my thirty or so.”

“If we unite even only a portion of our clansmen with Christopher, we can be the stronger group,” Victoria observed.

“But at what price? War?” Adam challenged.

“That’s a very real possibility, but if at the end of the day we secure the future of all Hunters, would it not be worth the risk?” Christopher offered up for consideration.

Adam glanced back and forth between them and, although hesitant, seemed to agree with that observation. With a nod, Adam said, “Then together it shall be.”

V
ictoria watched Christopher exit the great space of the mansion. Adam and his guards followed at a discreet distance, hinting that although Adam had signed on to the plan, he still did not fully trust Christopher. She understood. In the last few months Adam’s world had been turned upside down and the Shadows had played a large role in that upheaval.

With only herself and her guards in the room, she motioned to both Rafael and Catalina to approach. Once they stood before her, she said, “Please take the other guards with you and wait outside for us, Catalina.”

The young warrior bowed, saluted and with a wave of her hand, motioned for the other guards to join her as Victoria had bid.

Rafael remained in his position before her as the other cadre members departed, his gaze slightly lifted in avoidance. His legs were braced apart, his hands clasped before him as he awaited punishment.

Her father and mother would have done so, withholding their life forces for several days or more as a reminder of what would happen without their power to feed him. They might have even used well-placed blasts of power to bring excruciating pain to physically discipline him.

But just as Christopher was seemingly no longer his father’s son, she was also of a different mind and Rafael was not just her cadre captain. He was a friend.

“Why?” she asked, pacing back and forth before him. Trying to understand what had made him react as he had. Why he had been so distant lately, both emotionally and physically.

A flicker of emotion crossed his features before he reined it in. Still staring straight ahead, he said, “I am sorry, Quinchu. My sentiments got the better of me.”

She wondered just how far he had let emotion rule him. Enough to be the one betraying them to Christopher’s father? She did not want to believe that since he was like a brother and she did not want him hurting so. Reaching up, she cradled his jaw and released a bit of her power in an effort to heal his anger. “Why can you not trust me on this, Rafael?”

His gaze wavered and he finally dropped it to meet hers. As she had seen before, there was longing there. For her, but she could not give him false hope. “It is not meant to be between us, my friend.”

“You would choose him, a Shadow, over me? Over one of our own?” he bit out through gritted teeth.

She wanted to say that she would choose love any day over a life devoid of such an emotion. But in truth, it had become about so much more than what she hoped for Christopher and herself. As she had said earlier to
Adam, it had also become about the future of the Light Hunters. No matter how much she did not want to place duty over love, to be a good leader she had to consider her obligations. Hidden away deep inside her, however, hope remained for more.

“I choose the future of our people. I choose peace—”

“At what price, Victoria? At the cost of your soul?” he urged, his rancor abating slightly with her selfless words.

She was afraid she had already lost a piece of her soul to Christopher, but bit back that response since diplomacy was demanded to ease her captain’s stress. “No price is too great to guarantee the safety of our people.”

Rafael forced on a neutral face before he answered.

“I am your man, Victoria,” he saluted her, but there was something uncertain about the gesture, and Victoria didn’t quite believe him. “What do you wish for me to do?”

With a nod and a forced smile, she pushed aside her doubts and said, “I am supposed to meet with Christopher and his cadre captain later tonight. Come with me and learn more about them.”

“I would be honored, Quinchu,” he replied.

But something in the tone of his voice made Victoria suspect that honor was the last thing Rafael would feel.

Ryan lounged just outside the French doors to the gardens, absorbing the energy from the sun’s rays while keeping a careful eye on Maya as she paced back and forth inside the room, clearly agitated about the forced captivity. Not that they had much choice, Ryan thought.

Both he and Christopher were convinced that she’d had a hand in what had happened the night before, but proving
it would be difficult. Especially since the remaining man on guard had not seen her leave and the only other person who had attended Maya, a young local human, could not recollect much of anything.

Typical if a Hunter issued a small blast of power to a human’s brain. It was a tactic used often when an inadvertent revelation of Hunter power occurred. The low-voltage discharge created short-term amnesia without harm.

It was growing late and the rays of the afternoon soon were waning. Along his skin and inside his core rested a pleasurable thrum of heat from the power. Ryan liked this compound, so close to nature and away from the city where the skyscrapers regularly blocked out the sun. But to stay here permanently would require hard work and sacrifice.

Jason had already been sacrificed. How many more? Ryan wondered as he rose and entered the room where Maya had finally stopped her nervous pacing. She was sprawled across the bed, her voluptuous curves not quite suitable for a Rubens painting, but still luscious. Too bad such beauty couldn’t make up for a rotten core.

But even that momentary interest caught Maya’s eye. “Tired of sunning yourself, my little lizard?”

“Not tired enough to contemplate what you might have in mind,” he replied harshly.

Before he could respond, a knock came at the door and a second later Christopher walked in. “I need a word with you, Ryan.”

“I’m on guard duty,” Ryan replied, flicking his eyes toward Maya.

Christopher nodded, realizing they couldn’t leave Maya completely alone, and motioned for Ryan to step
back outside the French doors where they could watch and not be overheard.

Christopher leaned in and Ryan bent his head near to listen. “I had some success today. Victoria is coming with her cadre captain later tonight.”

“Is it wise to bring them to the compound?” With both the Desert and Ocean clans united in the area, they were seriously overpowered if trouble should arise and the full weight of both groups descended on their home.

“Trust has to start somewhere, Ry,” Christopher urged, but his words did little to alleviate Ryan’s fear.

“But if things go wrong—”

“If something goes wrong, tomorrow we will have Bruno to take as a safeguard. He has agreed to observe and see if my theory about our cleansing is correct,” Christopher advised, which only somewhat mollified Ryan. But then his friend added, “Bruno is the power we have sought for months, Ry. When I came close to him today, his vigor was unmistakable. Immensely strong.”

Which also meant that if Alexander was able to grab him, both their clan and the Light Hunters could be in peril. No matter what, their clan had to be the ones with access to that energy. Which raised yet another concern: Maya.

Ryan glanced back over his shoulder at her. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, obviously trying to listen. “What do we do about her tonight?”

Christopher likewise looked back, shooting her a glare as she rose to join them. “My full cadre will attend tonight. That should be enough eyes to keep her out of trouble.”

Ryan wasn’t sure about that either, but he wanted to
know more about Victoria considering how smitten Christopher was with her. And he wanted to size up her cadre captain. If it should come to war between their clans, he needed to know the mettle of the man he would have to kill in order to protect Christopher.

I
t had been a long, grueling day. Between the lack of sleep last night and the meetings today with her parents and then with Adam and Christopher, Victoria felt drained. Add to that the fact that she’d still had to open the shop for business and deal with Mike’s death with her staff, and it was no wonder she needed to recharge her flagging vitality.

Especially since she had agreed to go to Christopher’s compound tonight with Rafael.

Rafael
, she thought with concern. She still had no sensible explanation for his absence during the attack on the compound. His defiance earlier had added to her worries, as had the resentment she sensed in him. He was supposed to be the one she trusted to watch her back, and yet the events of the last twenty-four hours had her wondering if that was wise. But removing him might prove even worse. Such an action would shame him before the eyes of the entire clan and rouse yet more rage in her captain which might make him dangerous.

“Don’t you know you’re not supposed to sleep in the tub?” a familiar voice asked, and Victoria popped open just one eye and offered Sammie a tired smile.

“It’s not really a tub,” she kidded, and slowly slid up out of the liquid warmth. She had refilled the spa with fresh water from the river first thing in the morning and let the sun’s rays heat it. The energy that had collected had slowly been recharging her sagging life force.

“Want to join me?” she said as Sammie paused at the top step to the small deck surrounding the outdoor spa.

“I’ve only got my birthday suit or underwear.”

“And that would bother me because?” Victoria replied. Jan, Sammie, and she had shared the spa on more than one occasion.

With a shrug, Sammie stripped down to her bra and panties and quickly got into the water. “Totally awesome,” she said with a sigh, and rested her head back against the edge of the hot tub.

“Hard day?” Victoria asked, but Sammie shook her head.

“Not any different than usual, but you look beat.” She peered at Victoria from eyes slitted against the sinking sun in the west.

“It was rough. I helped Mike’s family make the funeral plans and had to adjust the crew to handle his work.”

“It’s a real shame about Mike,” Sammie offered in condolence once again.

It hit her once more, the senseless loss of his life. The sacrifice he had made. Choking back tears, she said, “Mike was a wonderful friend.”

Sammie’s hand touched her shoulder. “It’s okay to cry.”

And Victoria did, burying her head in her hands and venting her grief. Sammie’s arms wrapped around her, lending support and solace until Victoria had emptied herself of the pain. Within her came a lightening, but it was short-lived as she said, “And if that wasn’t bad enough, there were—”