Lily glanced over her shoulder, fire shooting through her. “You believed that? You moron.”
Guiles grabbed Franco’s arm, and the Kurjan swept out, shooting Guiles into the wall. He impacted with a crash, denting the concrete.
Lily struggled against Franco’s hold. “Where are we going?”
“To see the other prophet. I believe you need to say good-bye,” Franco said.
Chapter Thirteen
Caleb shook blood out of his hair and stuck his pinkie in his ear to get the rest of it. They’d clocked him a good one, and by the sluggish movement of his blood, they’d drugged him, too. He’d been unconscious long enough to be taken from the helicopter and dropped into a cement cell. Fresh cement with shiny, new silver bars.
Wherever they were, it was a temporary setup. The Kurjans had been smart to grab Lily and lie low before moving her again.
But not as smart as he. He grinned through bloodied lips, the room swaying. This was why a guy always planned for war and never expected peace.
An outside door opened, and Franco strode inside, dragging Lily.
She gasped and rushed to grab the bars. “Are you all right?”
He frowned at the bustier that revealed way too much, his thoughts still murky. “What are you wearing?”
She rolled her eyes. “Really? That’s what you want to focus on?”
No. His gaze narrowed on Prophet Guiles as he stumbled in behind Lily. “I’m going to enjoy killing you.”
“A prophet can’t kill a prophet,” Guiles said, glancing around, looking like a rat caught in a trap.
“Says who?” Caleb said softly, flashing his fangs when Guiles swallowed uneasily.
Franco cleared his throat. “You’re being traded to the demons, so I don’t think you’ll have time for murder and mayhem.”
Caleb stepped closer to the bars, his brain beginning to clear. “There’s always time for mayhem.” He’d pissed the demons off eons ago by supporting a family member who’d fled from an arranged meeting with a demonness, and the demons had wanted his head ever since. “What do you get from the demons in exchange?”
Franco slid a hand over Lily’s bare shoulder. “That’s between me and the demons.”
Fury propelled the blood between Caleb’s ears into a roar. Yet he kept his face bland. “I don’t think the exchange will happen.”
“We took out your trackers.” Franco’s fingers left red marks on Lily’s skin as he released her.
An explosion rocked the building, and plaster fell from the ceiling. “I think you missed one,” Caleb said calmly, reaching through the bars and grabbing the Kurjan by the throat. Yanking back, he smashed Franco’s face into the bars.
Kurjan blood sprayed, burning Caleb’s neck.
Franco pushed back, but Lily was faster. Twirling, she grabbed his gun and fired several times into his chest. The Kurjan went down.
She gasped and pointed the gun at Guiles, her face white with shock, her chest heaving above the bustier. Her light hair swished around her face, and those amazing eyes darkened with intent.
Good Lord, she was magnificent. Caleb’s heart swelled even as adrenaline flooded his system. Gunfire and explosives echoed all around them.
She kept her aim steady and glanced at Caleb. “Where are the keys?”
“No keys.” He nodded toward a keypad in the far corner. “Only Franco knows the code.”
Her brow furrowed. Then, with a slight shrug, she turned and fired several times into the keypad. Smoke cascaded from the destroyed wiring.
The bars slid open.
Her startled eyes met his. “I can’t believe that worked.”
Neither could he. Just as he slipped through the bars, Franco reared up and grabbed Lily in a headlock, his knife to her throat.
“If I kill a prophet, will Fate allow me to take her place?” the Kurjan growled, blood pouring from a wound in his neck to slide over Lily’s shoulder and chest. She grimaced in pain from the burn.
“No.” Caleb blinked to clear his vision and angled to the side. Fear for his woman threatened to swamp him, so he shoved all emotion down. “Let’s fight this out without hiding behind a woman.”
Franco growled, the knife pressing in hard enough to draw blood. Several precious drops fell from Lily’s delicate neck, scenting the air with strawberries. Franco inhaled sharply, his eyes morphing to red.
The beast inside Caleb roared to the surface at his woman’s scent.
Another explosion blasted the outside door in, and Caleb had to duck to keep from being decapitated. The door hit Lily in the shoulder, sending her and the Kurjan flying into the far wall. She screamed. A cement block hit Guiles, smashing him to the ground.
“Lily!” Caleb yelled, scrambling past debris to reach her. Had Franco kept control of the knife?
Caleb ripped the door and part of a wall off of them and grabbed Franco’s wrist, shoving the knife away from Lily. Her eyes were wide and her neck bleeding, but she was alive. With his other hand, he lifted her and pushed her behind him.
Franco reared up, catapulting them across the room to smash into the damaged keyboard. Electricity zapped down Caleb’s spine even as he reached back and punched Franco in his broken nose.
The king and Jase barreled into the room. Dage grabbed Lily, while Jase hauled an unconscious Guiles over his shoulder.
“You have three minutes until this place is blown to hell,” Dage said grimly, turning and shoving his way through exposed rebar and Sheetrock, while protecting Lily’s head.
She tried to protest, to reach back for Caleb, but the king simply picked her up and kept going.
Franco stood, stretching his neck. “You die today, Prophet.”
Caleb kicked out, striking Franco in the neck. “I’m a new kind of prophet.” He’d choose his own path, no matter what Fate decreed. “This is who I am.” Ducking his head, he plowed into Franco, sending them crashing into cinder blocks. Powder and crumbled concrete fell all around them.
Quick as a snake, Caleb reached into Franco’s boot and drew out a blade. “Nice knife.”
Franco circled back, his eyes cutting to the knife he’d dropped. The one still glistening red with Lily’s blood.
“Pick it up,” Caleb said.
Franco kept his gaze on Caleb even as he bent and retrieved the knife. “You just made a mistake, rebel.”
“Did I?” The drugs finally cleared his system, and he let his arms drop. “Prove it.”
Franco drove forward, knife out, death in his eyes.
Caleb pivoted and dropped to one knee, lunging up with the knife. The blade caught Franco under the chin and kept going. They fell back into the cell, Caleb on top. Fierce twists of his shoulders had the knife cutting through cartilage and bone. The Kurjan leader’s head rolled away.
Fate had marked Caleb as a prophet, and he’d learn to make that work, but at heart, he would always be a street fighter.
He stood, wiping blood off the blade. Another explosion rocked the room. Too close. Shit. He had to run. Ducking his head, he dove through exposed rebar and through stairwells, finally jumping into the sun just as the building exploded behind him.
Chapter Fourteen
Lily held still in the infirmary as Janie finished gently placing the bandage over her neck. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the visions,” Lily said.
Janie nodded, her gaze on her handiwork. “I understand. Sometimes visions need time to work themselves out. Plus, as it turned out, the directives were coming from Prophet Guiles tapping in to your dreams and not really Fate.” She frowned thoughtfully. “It’s the first time an enemy has gotten so close to somebody I trust.”
Lily grasped Janie’s wrist. “I’m so sorry.”
“No.” Janie’s eyes darkened. “This is a good thing. In all of the years different people have tried to hurt me, they’ve never understood us. What we have—who we are.”
Lily frowned. “What do you mean?”
Janie set the remaining gau
ze pads on a tray. “They don’t have what you and I have. When faced with the choice, we sacrifice for loved ones. You even told Fate no.”
“It wasn’t Fate.” Lily pushed hair out of her eyes.
“You didn’t know that.” Janie grasped her upper shoulders. “We’re stronger than they are because we will choose friends and family before ourselves. Regardless of cost.”
Lily wondered once again what Janie would have to sacrifice to fulfill her destiny.
A groan sounded from a bed in the far corner as Guiles woke up and tried to sit. Handcuffs clanked from his manacled wrists. “What in the world?” he asked. “I’m a prophet. Unbind me.”
“No.” Janie carefully put away the materials she’d used to assist Lily. “King’s orders.”
Guiles focused on Lily. “Please, Prophet Sotheby. I did what I had to do.”
“No.” Lily shook her head, no sympathy existing in her. “You betrayed all of us. And you manipulated me with a fake child, which is something I’ll never forgive you for.” Hurt washed through her, and she allowed it to ebb.
“I didn’t.” Guiles coughed, his eyes beseeching. “The child was a surprise to me when I looked into your future for a way to convince you. I saw him, I didn’t create him. I promise.”
Lily blinked, studying him. She wanted to believe him so badly, she couldn’t trust her own instincts.
Janie touched her arm. “I’ve seen the babe in visions, too. Little blond guy with Caleb’s wild eyes.”
Tears slammed into the backs of Lily’s eyes. “You have?” Hope filled her chest. “Why haven’t you said anything?”
Janie shook her head. “I know not to mess with Fate that way. You have to choose your own path and not be influenced by one of the many futures I may see. Otherwise, your knowing could mess the whole thing up. But, since you’ve already seen the little guy, I feel fine confirming that I’ve seen him, too.”
Lily gasped out a smile and a cough. “He will exist,” she murmured, her arms already aching to hold him.
Caleb and Dage walked into the infirmary on cue. Lily’s heart settled as her gaze ran over Caleb’s form. His back had been burned, and several bruises mottled his chiseled face, looking quite at home there. The Realm Rebel was a handsome one, that was for sure. She’d tell him privately about the babe. “How are you?”
“Fine.” He ducked his head to study her bandage. “How is your neck?”
“Janie stitched me up.” Lily slipped a hand through Caleb’s. “Escort me back to my quarters, will you?”
“Absolutely.” Caleb jerked his head toward Guiles. “What’s the plan? I’m happy to cut off his head.”
Dage sighed. “Beheading isn’t the plan. Frankly, I’m not sure what to do with a prophet who has gone rogue.” The king shrugged. “You should’ve killed him at the Kurjan compound. It would certainly have simplified matters.”
“I had my hands full.” Caleb truly did regret allowing Guiles to live. “But I do wonder. If we kill him, who will be marked next?” Nobody in their right mind would’ve expected Caleb to end up with the marking. The entire process was random, as far as he was concerned.
Guiles listened to the exchange with his mouth opening and closing like a trout on a line.
Dage frowned. “The Kurjans have contacted us with their desire to continue with the peace talks, even without Franco. We may need Guiles there.”
Caleb growled. “I know we have to go forward with the peace talks, but I vote we cut off Guiles’s head and find a new prophet.”
“I’ll think about it,” Dage said
With a shrug, Caleb turned and escorted Lily out of the infirmary.
She swallowed, her mind spinning. Very nice vampire muscles caressed her palm, reminding her of his incredible strength. “Thank you for rescuing me.”
He glanced down even as they walked outside into the weak fall sunshine and along sidewalks toward the main lodge. “You were doing fine on your own, but you’re welcome anyway. Why the tone?”
“What tone?” She paused as he opened the door to the main lodge for her.
“The polite one that has me wanting to strip you naked and make you beg.” His tone remained level, but the undercurrent of passion beneath the words sent a sharp shiver down Lily’s spine.
She cleared her throat. If they were about to fight, she wanted privacy. Without another word, she led the way to his quarters. It’d be easier to leave his place than kick his butt out of hers.
Sidling inside, she turned and removed the diamond earrings. “I take it these weren’t really from you.” She dropped them into his palm.
His upper lip curved. “When did you figure it out?”
She lifted a shoulder. The foolishness she felt now was as intense as her giddiness at thinking he’d actually bought them for her. “I don’t know. Maybe when the vampires tracked us without our having tracking devices in our heels. Why me?”
Caleb took her hand and placed the diamonds gently in the middle of her palm. “Franco wanted you, and we knew he’d take a chance at some point. I asked Dage for an additional tracker for you, and he had them made out of the diamonds.”
“I see.” And here she’d thought Caleb had spent time looking for a present for her.
“Put them back in, Lily.”
“No.” Yes, she was being unreasonable. For once, she didn’t care.
“That wasn’t a request.” He appeared more curious than angry.
She wanted to throw the stunning jewels at his face, but enough of acting like the rebel. “I said, no.”
His smile promised sin. “There’s the woman I’ve wanted to tame for centuries.”
Heat flowed through her veins like a shot of tequila. “Don’t be a jackass, Caleb.”
“Why not?” He stalked closer, bringing heat and the scent of male with him. “You can hide from the world behind a polite smile and sophisticated small talk, but I see the woman beneath the prophet. The one who told Fate to fuck off.”
Those weren’t exactly the words she’d used. “I’m not some defenseless lady you can order around.”
“I know. You’re a fighter, Lil.” He brushed hair back from her face. “You were right, and I was wrong about your attending the peace talks. You’re strong enough both emotionally and physically. Shit. You’re probably the strongest person emotionally that I’ve ever met. In fact, if I had my guess, I’d say you even tamed Fate.”
Her chest warmed. “Could you repeat that?”
“No. But you’re the level head and the kind soul we need to make peace happen, if it’s possible.” He leaned down and brushed a kiss across her forehead.
“You believe in peace?” The breath caught in her throat.
“I’m not sure. But I believe in you, and that’s enough for me.” He took the earrings and gently slipped them back into her ears. “Though I need you safe. I love you, and your safety is my only concern.”
Her world crashed to a stop. “Um—could you repeat that?”
“I love you, Prophet Lily Sotheby.” He captured her in a kiss that went deeper than the physical moment, sending pleasure through her every nerve. Releasing her, he leaned back and reached behind the sofa for a worn paper album. “Here’s the present I was actually going to give you on your birthday.”
She frowned and took the album, flipping it open to reveal a black-and-white photograph of a lily floating on a tumultuous river. The shadows and movement were perfectly captured. “It’s beautiful.” She turned the page to see a lone wolf baying at a harvest moon surrounded by trees. “So is this.” The entire book was full of photographs.
“I took them—each one reminding me of something about you.” He shrugged and took the heavy book to place it on the table. “We can go through the rest later, and I’ll tell you where I was and what I was thinking. For years, I’ve taken these, feeling you next to me each time.”
Tears pricked her eyes, while her heart swelled. The Realm Rebel was a romantic at heart. And that heart belonge
d to her. “I should’ve chosen love instead of duty, Caleb. I do this time.” She jumped into his arms, clasping his neck with her arms and his hips with her legs. “I love you.” He’d never be a true prophet, but maybe the real Fate had wanted a soldier in his position. Either way, she was on Caleb’s side. Always. “And the vision about the babe—it was true. He’ll exist.”
“I know. I promised you that, didn’t I?” Caleb’s lips hovered over hers, the vow even living in his eyes. “I know we can’t mate until the virus is cured, but how about we follow the human customs?”
She grinned and pressed her lips against his. Warmth and belonging shot through her as she leaned back. “Was that a proposal?”
“Yes.”
“Then I say yes.”
Possession and promise glittered in his eyes. “Forever, Lily.”
Read on for a BONUS SCENE and a hint of what’s to come in The Dark Protectors series . . .
Janie Kayrs sat cross-legged in her living room in front of the storm raging outside. She’d been twenty-five for several days now, and things were about to change. The world would change this year. Why and how, she didn’t know. But now, in an effort to relax and hopefully access a vision, she allowed her mind to drift into meditation.
Instant warmth heated her face as she suddenly walked along a sandy beach. This wasn’t a dream, and it wasn’t a vision. It was a relaxing place she could reach, where sometimes she could invite other people. Today was a time for being alone, so she locked every mental door she could find and kept walking in the imaginary world.
The waves splashed the shore, and her bare feet scrunched sand as she wandered.
“This is a beautiful place,” a woman said dreamily.
Janie stilled and turned toward the rock outcroppings lining the shore. Her heart pounded, and she forced her shoulders to relax. She could jump out of this world and back into her living room in a second, so there truly was no danger. Curiosity kept her in place. “I don’t believe I invited you here.”