Unchained (Men in Chains Book 3)

  Michelson had been her role model, living the life she wanted. He was dedicated to his work as an anthropologist and spent hours on his research every day. By the time she’d recognized his “passion” for the selfishness that it truly was, he’d shattered her self-esteem with his demands and constant criticisms.

  She’d needed months, including several intense weeks of therapy, to get herself back on track and to reestablish her self-esteem. She’d also made an important promise to herself to be wiser in the future.

  How wise would it be to jump in and join Marius? How was that choosing for herself?

  Yet somehow she knew life was more complex than simply analyzing the pros and cons of the situation. She could feel how in tune she already was with Marius’s world. For one thing, she’d just had sex with him, as shocking that still seemed to her rational mind.

  An oil painting of a hawk soaring through a massive cavern above a river hung on the wall behind the desk. Tall filing cabinets in what looked like mahogany flanked a table bearing a decanter and cut-crystal tumblers.

  “You like whiskey?”

  He nodded. “A fine single-malt.”

  He moved in front of her, crossing to the right. Another smaller tunnel opened into a tall cavern that clearly served as a library, with more of the unique carvings. Hundreds of books, most of them bound in leather, lined several tall bookshelves, each sunk into the stone walls. Comfortable leather club chairs and a matching couch sat in the center, while off to one side a large table and tall, ladder-back chair invited the stacking of books and papers and lots of research.

  She drew a deep breath. “I could live in this room.” She’d spoken the words aloud without thinking.

  She moved toward the grouping of furniture where a globe of the earth sat on a tall wood stand. She examined the names and realized she wasn’t looking at human earth, but at the location of every cavern system on the planet. Most of the names were familiar earth-based names but usually followed up with the word system. She glanced at him. “I see a name in Egypt—the Pharaoh system. So this globe reflects your world.”

  He nodded.

  She stopped the globe at New Zealand. Several systems were labeled, one of them the Hawk system.

  “Does the hawk have meaning in your world?”

  “It’s a symbol sometimes of courage, sometimes of dominance and strength.”

  She met his gaze. He personified these qualities but she had the feeling that he didn’t think of himself in that way.

  He was close to scowling again and she could feel his impatience, even his disapproval.

  * * *

  Marius saw how tightly Shayna clutched the chain, still wrapped around her wrist and threaded through her fingers. He felt her tension and sensed her indecision.

  He’d never been more frustrated in his life. Why couldn’t she see how much she was needed here?

  He’d already made the decision not to force her to stay, yet every cell in his body screamed that she was the one, the answer to the crisis howling through his world.

  He feared saying too much or not enough.

  If he knew her better, he’d know how to proceed, what to say to encourage her.

  Instead he had to do what was for him the hardest thing in the world: keep his trap shut.

  He led her from the library, which he could tell had caught her attention. Her heart rate had increased and what had she said? That she could live here?

  For a few seconds he’d felt hopeful, but no decision had followed.

  “Where is your fieldwork,” he asked, at last.

  “On a small, primitive island in Malaysia. I’ve been planning this trip for years.”

  The words spilled from his mouth. “All those women you saw in the Dark Cave system had plans as well.”

  She turned to him, her light-blue eyes wide and accusing. “That’s not fair, Marius.”

  He remained silent for a moment. He knew she hadn’t had an ideal life by any stretch of the imagination, but she’d never been enslaved or tortured.

  Finally, he said, “You’re right and I shouldn’t have said it.” Yet he was glad he had. If she was going to walk away from this, he wanted her to know that he believed she was doing the wrong thing.

  He gestured to a small doorway at the far end of the space. She followed behind as he showed her several guest quarters, simple rooms with en suite bathrooms.

  A billiard room surprised her. “You must have expected to have guests one day.”

  He shrugged. The small talk was setting his nerves on fire. “Maybe. Someday.” How could he think about entertaining when his world was in crisis?

  “You’re angry.”

  “Of course I’m angry. I don’t understand how, after all you’ve seen, you could hesitate.” There, he’d said it straight out.

  She grabbed his elbow, forcing him to stop. He turned to glare at her.

  “Well, let me explain it this way. Imagine aliens abduct you and you end up in their society and they tell you you’re the only one who can fix their world but you’ll probably have to give up your life to do it. How quick would you be to jump in?”

  “I don’t think it’s a fair analogy.”

  “That’s because you’re the alien in my world. I’m sorry, Marius, but this is really shortsighted on your part. Your world has had this problem for a long time, yet you haven’t been able to do anything about it. And I’m not even sure I can really help in the way you think I can.” She folded her arms across her chest. “You’re asking too much.”

  His frustration pounded inside his head but only because he feared for his world and knew in his gut that she could help.

  He also respected her position. But what would it require to convince her to stay, to work with him … to be with him.

  Maybe that was the real issue. He hated the thought of Shayna leaving his life so soon. What he’d shared with her, even over a period of hours, he’d never shared with anyone. He might not understand the why of it, but she meant something to him.

  And he wanted her to stay.

  * * *

  What Marius had said was both harsh and unnecessary and had ticked Shayna off. If she’d been less compassionate, she would have seized on his criticism and used it as an excuse to walk away.

  But she held her tongue, knowing that the right decision would come in its time. Though she might be young by comparison with his long life, she knew enough to give herself the space she needed. If she was going to stay, to forge a chain-bond with Marius, her commitment had to be one hundred percent.

  As he started down another hall, she heard a distant sound that at first she couldn’t place but soon realized was a fairly strong waterfall.

  He marched ahead of her, his shoulders tight. She felt his frustration like a stinging sensation on her skin.

  She rubbed her thumb over the chain on the inside of her palm, feeling a need to apologize—but for what? For being human? For having needs beyond what the man in front of her wanted on her behalf? And that felt way too familiar. Her entire relationship with her adviser had been built on how much more important his projects, his interests, even his sexual satisfaction was more than anything she needed.

  Maybe that was why she resisted. She wanted a say in what mattered in her life, her journey, her chosen path, no matter whether lives were at stake or not. On an essential level, she wanted to know that she mattered in the scheme of things.

  The stone hallway opened up to a massive cavern, a waterfall, and a stream, part of which flowed through a natural adjacent pool. “You swim here, don’t you?”

  “I do.”

  Vampires swimming, another new, surprising reality.

  She stood staring at the water dumbstruck all over again.

  To the right, an alcove had been dug out of the stone wall and fitted with a bar and a poolside lounging area. It was so strange to think of how this fit with her own world’s images of vampires as pale, statue-like creatures surviving only on blood and living
primarily to kill people.

  Marius was the exact opposite, flesh-and-blood, caring, and hoping to save his world.

  The repeated patterns in the stonework along the back wall of the alcove caught her eye. Had to be cuneiform. How much she’d like to stay in this world just to study these patterns and see if she was right that this was the written form of an ancient language.

  He turned to her, frowning slightly. “What is it, Shayna? You seem all lit up.”

  She released a long sigh and moved toward the pattern, running her finger over it. She told him what she believed it was and asked him what he thought.

  Marius shrugged. “I really don’t know. It’s familiar enough in our world. I guess I always assumed it was a carving design. A lot of the patterns have names. This one is called ‘Waves of Lines.’ Descriptive enough, but hardly an indication that it has meaning beyond the variations in each group of lines.”

  “You’re right. The name only describes what it looks like.” Many of the lines were slanted and grouped so that they occasionally gave an appearance of waves.

  On the opposite cavern wall, across from the alcove, was yet another image of a hawk, this time on a massive scale. She was reminded again how well she could see in the dark.

  She also saw the same stone carving, more prevalent than ever, rows and rows of Waves of Lines.

  The chain wrapped around her wrist began humming against her skin, stronger than before. The more she stared at the wall opposite, especially the carvings, the stronger the vibration became.

  “Shayna, what’s going on? My chain is practically singing against my skin.”

  She met his gaze but shook her head. “I don’t know. I just really feel drawn to the carvings beneath the hawk.” She gestured across the river. “There, on the opposite side. Can you carry me over so that I can have a closer look?”

  “Do you think it’s another vision?”

  “I don’t know.”

  He drew close and opened up his right arm.

  As if she’d been doing this for years, she stepped onto his right boot and slid her arm around his neck. He pulled her against his side and at the same moment levitated to carry her quickly across the swirling pool and the stream. He landed on a shallow ledge from which the craftsmen must have worked to carve the image.

  When he set her on her feet, she slowly walked the length of the carvings about twenty feet. “I’m still amazed by the level of artisanship and I’m feeling the need to put my hands on it.” She glanced at him. “But first, Marius, I need to know you’ll support me no matter what happens here, no matter what I decide. Can you do that?”

  He dropped his gaze for a moment and released a breath that carried an almost hissing sound. The chains told her he battled within himself, but finally he said, “Yes, I promise you, I will. I’m desperate, that’s all. But we’re a resilient species, and if you feel you have to return to Seattle, I’ll figure things out. Again, I just have a tremendous sense of urgency, which is why I pushed you.”

  “I get it. I really do.” She felt his sincerity and knew that despite his frustration and even his anger, he’d stand by her.

  She turned toward the carvings once more, knowing that once she put her hands on it, something would happen, maybe even another vision. “I think I’ll need you to hold me steady.”

  “I think so, too. The chains are practically burning my neck now.”

  “I know. Me, too.” When he slid his arm around her waist and drew her close so that if she stumbled or passed out, he’d keep her from falling into the river, she held her hands out flat and placed them on the carvings.

  Marius was right: This was another vision.

  The air seemed to bow and her body with it, but Marius held her fast.

  Shayna, what’s going on? Do you see something?

  It’s so strong this time, more than before.

  A vision?

  Yes. She was sure it was, though she saw nothing yet.

  Tell me?

  As soon as it takes shape.

  At first, she saw nothing, she only felt that what resided on the other side of the vision had breadth and weight.

  Oh, Marius, whatever it is, it’s massive. That was the only way she could think to describe what it felt like.

  A fleeting image came to her of a room so large that she’d never seen anything like it before—only not a room. Definitely a cavern. But waves flowed over the vision so that she could only catch glimpses, like a dream made up of fleeting images. She thought she saw a man wearing a long cape that draped to the floor. Another man stood on something ten feet higher, speaking in a loud voice that also came and went but she couldn’t make out the words.

  The vision dissipated and, for a moment, she thought that was it. Then another came and took its place. The setting was very different, in a much smaller cavern. The dark waves through the vision again made it difficult for her to understand what she was seeing. But she saw enough to recognize that a man she’d never met before, a vampire, stood beside a stone wall, a sledgehammer in his hand. He began slamming the thick head against the stone and with just a few strikes, the wall began to crumble.

  The waves still made it so difficult to see. Why were they there? Was she blocked from within or was this some kind of interference outside herself?

  When he was done, dust rose, then settled quickly enough.

  The unknown man spoke to her in a deep resonant voice. “These have been waiting for you, Shayna, for over four millennia.”

  He’d called her by name. He knew her.

  More waves.

  But she kept working on capturing images until she saw herself pass through an opening in the now crumbled wall.

  She felt anxious seeing herself like that, and the waves hurt her mind. Finally, she saw herself sitting at a worktable, looking down at an ancient clay tablet. She was cleaning it very carefully with a soft brush.

  And this was in the future.

  Her future.

  Dizziness and blackness overcame her.

  The next thing she knew she stared up at Marius’s face. Glancing around, she saw that she was back in his living room and he held her cradled on his lap. “What happened?”

  “You passed out.”

  “I guess I did.” She slowly sat up and shifted to sit beside him, wincing. “I have another headache.” She touched the top of her head with the chained-up hand, feeling the rough texture on her scalp. She laughed suddenly. “I think this is ridiculous.”

  “What? That you fainted?”

  “No.” She held up her hand for him to see the chain. “This.”

  He looked confused, a frown between his brows. “The chains are ridiculous?”

  “No, that’s not what I meant.”

  She’d run out of excuses, that’s what she meant. There wasn’t a single part of this world that didn’t have a goddamn call on her soul. “And you’re absolutely sure this chain will help us form a tracking pair?”

  He nodded, his lips compressed once more in a tight line. His eyes flared.

  Slowly, she unlaced the chain from around her fingers, and slid it off her wrist.

  Marius planted his elbows on his knees, made a fist with both hands, and pressed his joined fingers against his lips. She could feel he held back a wall of emotion. She also knew he expected her to just give the blood-chain back and ask to be taken home.

  Instead, without giving it another thought, she slipped the chain over her head.

  Marius drew in a quick breath and leaned back against the couch cushions. He closed his eyes, clearly overcome. “Shayna,” he whispered.

  She set a hand on his shoulder. “Look at me.”

  His eyes were wet when he opened them. He held his arm wide and she took full advantage, shifting to once more sit on his lap and throw her arms around his neck.

  “I have to do this,” she said, weeping suddenly after all the holding back. “Of course I have to do this.”

  She felt the bond of the bloo
d-chain click into place, and Marius was right: She felt more connected to him than ever before.

  Which meant she could sense that he was completely overcome as well.

  He held her tightly and rocked her. “I don’t know what to say. I thought you were going to leave.”

  “I know. Me, too.”

  “What was the vision about?”

  She shook her head. “All these waves made it difficult to see, just a lot of disjointed images.” She wanted to tell him about the clay tablets, but she held back. “Is it okay if I don’t share everything? I mean, I’d tell you if I thought it was important, but I think this vision was meant for me, to help me make up my mind.”

  She felt him weigh his response, that he hesitated, but finally he let it go. “Yes, it’s fine. I’m a little too wound up and too controlling. But this experience must also just be about you to have real meaning. I believe in the rights of the individual more than anything.”

  In a moment of clarity, she understood something important about the situation. “So that’s why you’ve had so much guilt in taking me out of Seattle.”

  “I know now that I wouldn’t have taken you at all, not without your consent, if Daniel’s men hadn’t show up.”

  “Well, it’s probably better this way. I’m a hands-on kind of person. I learn better through touch and experience. I’m not sure if I could have made a decision to help without going through all of this.”

  “Doesn’t make it right.”

  She could feel his guilt pounding him once more, stronger now because of the chains. She wondered all over again why he felt this way—and was it just him, or was it a condition of all vampires to be saddled with excessive remorse?

  Of course the actions of Daniel, who lived entirely without a conscience, told her that Marius’s guilt-laden suffering was all about him and not peculiar to his race.

  She also felt the profound depth of his gratitude, and that was enough.

  After a long moment, she pulled away from him, using her shirt to wipe her face. “How about we get a good night’s—or rather, day’s—sleep, then find this fucking weapon before your lunatic father does.”

  Marius chuckled and nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”