Des grinned. “Cell phones don’t count. I have to keep in touch with Jessica, and we hit some pretty remote locations when we're hunting.”
She pursed her lips in teasing mockery. “Of course. That’s your story and it sounds good. Stick to it.”
“I see she learned how to handle your attitude while I was gone,” Lucan commented, propping himself up against the headboard.
“That’s the basics of surviving the ranch,” she agreed, absently running her hand down her hair and pausing midway down the length. “Wait.” She frowned at the clock. “We’ve only been asleep three hours. Why are we awake?”
Lucan quirked a brow at the clock and eyed the back of Des’s head suspiciously. It was noon but they’d been up most of the night, finally all agreeing to grab some shut eye. They’d identified Nick’s operational center, established a plan of attack for sundown, and everyone needed to be fresh for the battle ahead. That’s when he noticed Des was fully dressed when he’d been shirtless before.
Instincts set him on alert and he sobered quickly, “What’s up Des?”
“Vision,” he said, turning back to the television, and Lucan got the avoidance vibe from him. Des added a mumbled complaint, “Hate those things. Really f’s up my sleep.”
That’s when Lucan realized Des was fully dressed, ready for action. Since mating, Des had developed the ability to "see" things, though never on his terms. The things he saw rushed at him in random pictures, when he was awake or asleep.
Of course, Lucan was dressed as well, but only because Des had insisted on it. It was another barrier between Kresley and him and mating. And since Marisol was convinced that mating would give the Guardians more control over Kresley, no one wanted that to happen. Because Kresley would likely be turned against Cullen, and because she was so new to the Guardians' control, it would be unlikely that she could fend off their mental commands.
“What’s coming and when Des?” Lucan said, aware that Kresley was pressed up against the headboard beside him, her fingers curled in the blanket. She was tense. They all were. Time was running out, and sooner or later they had to talk about what that meant.
Des didn’t turn around. His broad shoulders lifted and fell in a shrug. “Still working on that,” he said. “After a year, I still need processing time to figure them out.” He turned off the television and walked to the window. “All I know,” he said casting them a sideways look before opening the curtains, “is something is coming. And I’d rather have my eyes open when it gets here.”
***
Only a few days remained until Kresley’s fate with the Guardians would be sealed – those words played in her head over and over. Inside the living room, the men, aside from Jag who was working on a way to get Tara’s brother returned safely, all worked on the final touches for their attack on Nick and his rebel forces.
Kresley sat at a patio table with Marisol and Tara by her side, working on another, equally important issue – scouring ancient textbooks for answers to removing the Guardians' marks. Kresley shivered as an autumn breeze swept across the horizon, the black velour sweats and jacket not quite enough to keep the chill at bay. Certainly not enough to shield her from her growing chill about what was to come.
She’d been brave until this morning, brave until Des’s chilly promise of "something coming," because she knew he was right. Something was coming. Her deadline. Her destiny. She’d been so ready to embrace her fire only hours before, to embrace the bond she felt growing with Lucan. But life had a hard way of punching her in the teeth, and it seemed it might be ready to do so again.
Jag orbed to the patio, returning from a meeting with Salvador.
“Can I speak with you, Tara?” It wasn’t good news. Kresley could see it in his face.
So could Tara who paled before Kresley’s eyes. Kresley reached out and squeezed her hand, and Tara nodded with appreciation as she scooted from the table. Jag took her arm and they disappeared, orbed to a private location.
“Poor Tara,” Kresley said softly.
Marisol was slow to respond, her gaze focused on her Book of Knowledge, a book only she could read. To all others, it had blank pages. Marisol blinked and looked at Kresley, her expression strained, the lines of her face tense.
“Tara,” Marisol repeated. “Yes. She is faced with great hardship.”
She spoke as if she knew for certain. Kresley wasn’t sure what Marisol knew or didn’t know. She didn’t completely understand her gifts beyond that she healed by touch and she was the only one of her kind. It was rare to see Marisol shaken, and Kresley found herself rattled by why that might be. What had she read in her book?
“Marisol?” she asked. “Is something wrong?”
“I’m fine,” she said, and Kresley didn’t miss what had not been said.. Marisol hadn't said that nothing was wrong.
Kresley hated to press her when she seemed upset, but she didn’t have a choice. She needed to have a tough conversation with someone other than Lucan. “I’m almost out of time, Marisol.”
Marisol dismissed the words quickly. “Things have a way of working out,” Marisol assured her. “You came back to the Knights. Trust us.”
“It’s not about trust,” she said. “I do trust you. But I’ve had a lot of life experiences to tell me everything doesn’t always go as we hope they'd go. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
“You’ve saved lives, and you can save many more,” Marisol said. “Surely you see that?”
“If you would have asked me that this morning, I would have said I do,” she admitted. “But now, . . .now, I’ve set aside hopes and wishes, and I am dealing with the responsibility of protecting those I might hurt, instead of help, in the future. I cannot risk becoming a captive to the Guardians. I might not control them as Lucan has. My fire is simply too dangerous. It could hurt people. It could hurt the Knights.”
Lucan appeared in the doorway, clean-shaven, his hair neatly tied back at the neck. His faded jeans and a light blue T-shirt hugged long, lean muscles. Seeing him impacted her in a powerful way, made her blood heat, her heart squeeze. His timing was horrible, but she had a responsibility to continue this conversation, to make sure she did what was right.
“Hi,” he said, a smile on his lips that quickly changed with his assessment of her expression. His gaze shifted to Marisol, and he frowned. He walked to Kresley’s side and kneeled beside her, looking up at her with worried eyes. “What is it, baby?”
Her heart squeezed again. She’d never been anyone’s baby, and as silly as it might sound to some, she loved that little endearment.
Her hand slid to his cheek. "Marisol and I are talking about what to do if I run out of time. If the marks become permanent, and the Guardians can fully control me.”
Lucan rotated slightly on his toes and looked at Marisol. “What exactly are we talking about here?” Accusation and fear inflected his voice.
Kresley used her hand to pull his gaze back to hers. “You would rather die than become the kind of monster that killed your family, I know you would. And I would rather die than become a weapon for Adrian.”
He grabbed her hand, kissed it. “You’re not going to. You’re not.” Lucan looked at Marisol, pleaded with her, “Tell her. Tell her she is not going to. That we are going to find an answer.”
“Lucan,” Kresley said, and it was her turn to plead. “I finally can say my fire is a gift. It’s not evil. Don’t let it become that. Don’t let it hurt people. Please. If you care about me, you will agree to this. I’ll . . . I’ll deal with it myself, but I just … what if something happens and I can’t?”
“We stay and fight together,” he said. “No giving up. Not ever again.”
“I’m not giving up,” she promised. “I’m trying to do what is right.”
His hands slid down her hair, eyes fraught with emotion. “We lie together. We die together. No Demon owns us.”
Oh God. She loved him. Loved him so much for making her feel, even with death looming, that she wa
s not alone anymore. “Lucan—"
“Together,” he demanded. “Say it.”
She wanted to deny him, but she could see the steely determination in him. He would not give in any more than she would. “Together,” she finally said.
Marisol pushed to her feet, shoving her chair away from the table with a loud scratch of metal on concrete. “Neither of you are going anywhere but back to that ranch,” she said. “Go tonight and take care of those rebels, so we can go home. And then I’ll do what I was put on this earth to do– heal.” With those words, she turned to the door.
Rock appeared, as if he sensed she was in need, his big, brawny body blocking her path. Rock who was obviously in love with Marisol, despite the fact that Healers were off-limits, untouchable. The instant he saw her face, worry etched his all-American Cowboy features. “Marisol?”
“I can’t talk to you now, Rock,” she whispered, and shimmered and disappeared.
Rock held out his hands to Kresley and Lucan. “What the hell happened?”
Lucan shook his head, obviously as stunned by Marisol’s out-of-character outburst as he was. “I don’t know,” Lucan said. “I honestly don’t know.”
“What does that mean?” Rock demanded. “She looked—"
A knock sounded on the door, then pounding. A muffled yell. Kresley and Lucan pushed to their feet as a commotion began in the living room. Rock was already headed toward the sounds. Lucan and Kresley quickly followed.
They found Tara pacing the room, rambling on about something that had occurred, waving her hands around as she spoke to Prince Rise and the Knights.
“I’d just left a meeting with Jag and stopped by the room,” Tara said. “I needed . . .I was . . ." She stopped herself, obviously rattled. “I walked in right when Cullen took the call.”
“It was Nick?” Prince Risen asked.
“Yes,” she said, standing still. “Nick took Sheila and her kids. He took Cullen’s secretary. She’s like…like a mother to him.”
“Yes,” Kresley said, with sickening clarity as she thought back to how protective Sheila was of Cullen. “I can see that. I think she’s important to him.”
Max sat on the opposite end of the couch from Rinehart. “Who would have ever thought,” Max murmured. “A Demon with a mother figure and a soft spot.”
“Takes some getting used to,” Rinehart agreed. Kresley felt the heaviness of being watched, her gaze seeking the source. She found it in Des. He stood near the door, arms crossed in front of his chest, an intense look on his face. And he wasn’t speaking up as usual. She frowned. He had said something big was coming and it had. Was he shaken by that realization?
“Where is Cullen?” Lucan asked, from beside her.
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you all,” Tara said, throwing her hands in the air. “He left! I tried to get him to wait for help, but Nick told him he had to leave that minute and do so alone, or he would kill one of the kids immediately.”
Kresley had never wished that she’d used her fire to end a life, until this moment. If she had killed Nick, this would not be happening.
“Any idea where Cullen went?” Rock asked earnestly.
Grimly, Tara shook her head. “No, but we have Coven scouts outside the rebel headquarters. I called them as I ran down the hall. They are going to get right back with me with as much information as they can find out.”
Jag and Prince Rise exchanged a look, and Jag said, “Find out what you can. The two of us will scout out the rebels' main headquarters and report back. We'll end this ourselves, if we can.” Jag looked around the room. “Everyone be ready to move, in case we can’t.” He and the Prince disappeared. Tara’s phone rang, apparently pressed into her palm.
Kresley found herself drawn to Des again. Remotely, she felt Lucan reach for her hand, his fingers entwining with hers, as if he needed to know she was safe. But Des was still staring at her, and he looked distressed. Troubled. He looked like he was running toward her.
A cold feeling touched her arm, and she looked down to where she and Lucan had joined hands. She frowned as the bracelet on Lucan’s wrist seemed to move, shimmy. She blinked. It moved again. She jerked on her hand and tried to back away from Lucan. The bracelet was swirling now, taking on the image of a slimy snake. “Lucan!”
But it was too late. The bracelets slithered off his arms in the form of snakes and shot toward Kresley.
Chapter Twenty-Three
It was Lucan’s worst nightmare come to life. The bracelets wrapped Kersley’s arms a second before she fell to the ground and started swatting at herself, screaming.
“Get them off me!” She was kicking, fighting, squirming. “Snakes!Snakes!” And she wasn’t talking about the bracelets. The Guradinas were making her hallucinated. They’d come full circle to one year ago, to the hell she’d been in when he’d struck his deal. This was why he’d traded himself – to stop her torment and pain.
Lucan leaned against the wall and held her, exactly what he had done before. “Get me Marisol! Or Laura. Or anyone. Get me some help damn it!”
Rock was already dialing his phone. Max, Des, and Rinehart all kneeling around Lucan and Kresley. She screamed again and Lucan shook with the impact. He was failing her again. He should have found an answer sooner, he should have found a way to keep this from happening.
Des and Max both put hands on his shoulder. “We’re with you, man,” Des said.
“We were always with you,” Max said, the words barely audible as Kresley started screaming and jerking again.
But Lucan registered his fellow Knight’s words, and he clung to them with the little bit of sanity he felt he had left. “She was suppose to have until the full moon,” he said. “She was suppose to –“
A shimmer of light came an instant before Marisol appeared. The Knights quickly cleared the way. “Help her,” Lucan said, casting her a desperate look. “Help her.”
Marisol dropped to her knees beside Lucan, the long white skirt she wore spreading across the floor as she touched Kresley’s hand. Lucan wanted instant results but Kresley didn’t calm.
“Hold her still,” Marisol ordered. Lucan struggled as Kresley squirmed. “Please baby,” he whispered. “Let us help.”
“Rock!” Marisol yelled, unaware he stood over her shoulder, protective as always. He was instantly responsive, aiding Lucan in his efforts. The two of them held Kresley still and the minute she was able Marisol pressed her hand to Kersley’s head. Light sprayed from her fingers and Kresley went limp.
Lucan’s shoulder’s slumped. “Oh thank you. Thank you.”
Marisol leaned back and pressed her hands to her thighs. “They are powerful,” Marisol said,“ reaching inside the pocket on her skirt. “Keep her sedated until I return.”
Lucan grabbed her arm. “Where are you going?”
“I’ll be back,” she said. “And I will save her. I’ll save you both. I need a little more time though.” She covered his hand with hers. “Lucan. Do not give them what they want. I won’t fail you.” She disappeared.
Lucan scooped Kresley up in his arms and carried her to the bed. Do not give them what they want. He had a feeling he was going to find out what that was anytime now. And he was pretty damn sure the Guardian’s would do what they had done before – try to strike a bargain. He brushed wispy strands of red hair from her face, and she started to murmur and twitch again. He heard Des curse, as if he were watching and knew what Lucan had guessed as well – already Marisol’s touch was wearing off.
Lucan quickly injected her arm, praying the sedation worked. The twitching stopped almost instantly, and he let out a breath. He leaned against the headboard and curled Kresley against his body, under his arm.
“What can I do?” Des asked, drawing Lucan’s gaze to the doorway.
“You knew,” he accused, ignoring the question.
“Not until right before it happened,” he said. “I wouldn’t have kept something like this from you.”
“Not eve
n if you knew it ended badly?”
“Even if it ended badly,” he promised.
“Does it?” Lucan asked.
“I know this isn’t the answer you want, Lucan,” Des said. “But I don’t know.” He paused. “I almost lost Jessica. She was dying. Max… If it weren’t for Max, she would have died. We've got your back, man. And we got hers, too.”
Emotion twisted in Lucan’s chest. He’d lost his family. Lost many of the friends he first known as a Knight when they’d fallen to the darkness. “I can’t lose her,” he said.
“I know,” Des said. “I know."
Rock charged into the room. “Des, man, Jag called. He says there are twenty wolves at the rebel camp and three hostages. Cullen went inside before they could stop him.”
Des hesitated and glanced at Lucan. “Go, Des,” Lucan said. “We can’t let that ring end up in the wrong hands.”
Still, Des hesitated.
“I won’t do anything stupid,” Lucan said. “Go beat some Demon ass.”
Des gave him one more long look, and then disappeared out the door. A few seconds later, voices faded quickly in the exterior room, and the main door slammed shut. A second later, Kresley started to shake again. The shot had worked all of what – ten minutes?
One of the bracelets swirled around Kresley’s wrist, and one of the snakes uncoiled, slithering to the end of the bed. The silver-clad Guardian appeared at the foot of the mattress.
“Lithe remains with Kresley,” Litha said. “She ensures that her terror continues.”
“What do you want?”
“The same thing we always wanted,” Litha said. “The ring. But since you won’t give that to us, we’ve decided to keep Kresley.”
“We had a deal,” Lucan ground out, holding Kresley tighter. “Her freedom for the ring. I still have time. We aren’t out of time.”
“Yes, you are,” Llitha said. “You double-crossed us. You called the Knights. You did not give us the ring. So no deal remains in place. Kresley will suffer until her marks become permanent. Then we will have her fire as our weapon. She will take the ring from Cullen, and we will possess both her and the ring. It is really for the best. We should never have settled for less.”