Flawless

by Evans, Gabrielle

  “I’ll protect him,” Zasha offered, earning him a glare and a snarl from Kieran. He did not need some bloodsucker protecting his mate.

  “I’m going.”

  “You know I love you, but I can take care of myself, Kieran. I’ve got this.” Lynk pushed up on his toes and kissed Kieran’s lips. “Stay here and do what you can to help.” His eyes flickered to Tuesday before coming back to settle on him. “I can’t be in two places at once without your help,” he whispered into Kieran’s mind.

  He hated the very idea of Lynk being away from him. It went against every one of his natural instincts. In the end, he knew his mate was right. The fact that Lynk could turn everyone into toads with his magic went a long way in forming his decision as well. “If you get into trouble, I want you to hide. I don’t care if it hurts your pride or not. You hide and wait for me. Got it?” Flawless 127

  “Got it,” Lynk whispered, giving him one last kiss. Then he was gone, disappearing through the back doors with Zasha.

  “I’ll go with them,” Raith announced, rising to his feet. The witch had been somber and aloof since Halloween, but Kieran knew he’d do whatever was necessary to keep his brothers safe, so he offered a nod of thanks.

  Raith returned his nod and hurried out of the meeting hall.

  “Well, I guess we could have all saved a lot of time and trouble if we’d just listened to Kieran in the first place.” Jory Lahman huffed and flopped back in his seat, looking very disgruntled.

  “Why didn’t you?” Leader Tuesday sounded mildly curious and nothing more.

  “No offense,” Torren began then stopped to clear his throat. “You are a very powerful man with an extremely large coven.”

  “Why would I be offended by such wonderful compliments?” Kieran snorted out a laugh at the amusement dancing in Tuesday’s honey-colored eyes. The man wasn’t nearly as egotistical and ruthless as he’d been led to believe.

  “Tober, don’t be such an ass,” Elder Cortez admonished around a chuckle. “You know these greenhorns. You practically had them pissing in their pants.” The vampires shared a good laugh at this before sobering.

  “You agreed with everything we said!” Jory accused, waving his finger in Cortez’s face. “Why didn’t you just go and ask him in the first place?” He leaned forward in his chair and pointed down the row of elders to Layke. “And you probably know him, too. You know everyone!”

  Layke grinned crookedly. “Of course I know Tober. He’s been a thorn in my side for years.”

  “Pain in the ass is more like it,” Cortez grumbled.

  Kieran was becoming more confused by the moment, and it didn’t sit well with him. “What the hell is going on here?” 128 Gabrielle

  Evans

  “Look.” Cortez held both hands up in a placating gesture. “Layke and I have known Leader Tuesday for many years. But, so have Stavion and his Enforcers. Why are you not questioning their decision to draw him under suspicion?”

  “Well—”

  “I’ll tell you why,” Cortez interrupted, which was a good thing since Kieran had no idea what he’d planned to say. “We want to believe the best of people, but there is always the potential for evil. If there was even the slightest possibility that Tuesday had turned against us, then that needed to be taken very seriously.”

  “We cannot charge into a volatile situation against a powerful enemy without first thinking forward to the consequences,” Layke added, sounded unusually serious.

  “I find myself flattered.” Turning to Kieran, Tuesday shrugged unconcernedly for someone who’d just been accused of a whole slew of wrongdoings. “They’re correct, though. Not to blow my own horn, but Snake River is one of the largest in the country. If I had harbored ill will toward any of you, it would have taken an army to defeat me.” He talked a big game, and he certainly sounded convincing, but Kieran’s suspicious nature wouldn’t allow him to trust blindly. Until it was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Leader Tuesday was as innocent as he claimed to be, Kieran wasn’t letting his guard down.

  “Besides, I never said he was guilty.” Leaning back in his seat, Cortez appeared the epitome of ease. “I just thought it was suspicious that he never filed sanction against Lynk for his little magic trick.” Leader Tuesday chuckled. “It did cross my mind, but fortunately, good sense won out. I understood that Mr. Braddock feared for not only his life but the safety of his companions. I can’t fault a man for going to any measures to protect those he cares about, as it is what I would do myself.”

  The vampire spoke as though he was from a different time, and in some ways he was. Having roamed the earth for more than a thousand years, Tuesday had lived through all the changes the world and its Flawless 129

  societies had undergone. His speech and mannerisms were formal, reeking of class and sophistication. Maybe he’d chosen the social etiquettes of the time period he most loved and just stuck with it.

  “Just out of curiosity, how did you know that your brother is being held in my coven?” he asked of Torren.

  “Lynk felt his energy when we arrived the other day,” Kieran hurried to say, not wanting anyone to give away too much information. “They can also communicate telepathically as Lynk said.

  They spoke in a dream earlier today.” There. That answered the question without revealing too many of their secrets.

  Glancing up at Torren, he noticed that the elder was staring down at him in gratitude and perhaps a bit of admiration. It was good to know that he wasn’t the only one still skeptical.

  “Thane said he’d been abducted in Belgium,” Torren added quietly, but he was examining Tuesday carefully, seeming eager for his reaction.

  Tuesday’s demeanor became frigid, and a muscle in his jaw ticked as he ground his teeth together with such force that Kieran could actually hear it. It wasn’t the response he’d expected, and he didn’t know what it meant, either.

  “How fast can you get us to Snake River?” he asked, looking directly into Kieran’s eyes.

  “How fast do I need to?”

  “Five minutes ago. Zasha has family in Leuven, Belgium. He visits every year in the spring.”

  130 Gabrielle

  Evans

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Who are you calling?”

  They’d just pulled up to the gates of Snake River when Zasha grabbed his cell phone from the dashboard of the SUV and began dialing. “Gideon. They should be at the well by now.” He pressed the phone to his ear and waited.

  Lynk fidgeted nervously in his seat, dividing his attention between Zasha and the view beyond the windshield. He really wanted to shut everything out and try to connect with Thane, but he wanted to know what Gideon and Axton had found first.

  “He’s not answering.” Zasha frowned at the display screen as he came to a stop in front of the main house, the lights inside glowing brightly and welcoming. Then he shook himself and opened his door.

  “We’ll take the ATVs from here.”

  “Where is the well?” Raith asked, sounding much more hostile than Lynk felt the situation warranted.

  “I know the way. Just follow me.”

  “That’s not what I asked.”

  “I don’t have time to draw you a fucking map. Let’s go!” Lynk wasn’t reassured by Zasha’s evasiveness. It was a simple question that could have been answered just as easily. What was he hiding?

  Jogging after the vampire, Lynk rounded the corner of the house just in time to hear Zasha curse. “The ATVs are gone. We’re going to have to go on foot. It’s not too far from here.” How convenient. Lynk didn’t mind hoofing it, but it would take longer, which allowed more time for something to go wrong. He was Flawless 131

  starting to get a very bad vibe from Zasha as well, and it did nothing to calm his nerves.

  As they started off across the side lawn toward the trees that surrounded the house, Lynk allowed Raith to lead him, taking the opportunity to try and contact Thane. Concentrating all of his energy and picturing Th
ane in his mind, he pushed with everything he had, hoping he could reach his brother.

  In return, there was just a slight brush that made the hairs on his arms stand up, like the hum of a very low wattage of electricity.

  Either Thane was succumbing to his injuries and starvation, or he had been moved farther away.

  “I can barely feel him,” he whispered to Raith. Even as he spoke the words the connection grew fainter until it was more like a gentle breath tickling the back of his neck.

  “How much farther?” Raith asked of their guide.

  “Not far.” Zasha was moving at a good pace now that they had come out on the other side of the trees into an open field. Without slowing, he pointed ahead of them to three vast windmills standing like sentinels in the moonlight. “The well is at the base of the center one.”

  Even from the distance and in the dim light, Lynk could tell that the area around the windmills was deserted. “Where are Gideon and Axton?”

  Zasha shook his head but didn’t answer, increasing his strides until Lynk was jogging to keep up with him. Climbing the slope that inclined toward the windmills, a sense of danger washed over Lynk, causing him to stumble and nearly fall on his face if Raith hadn’t caught him.

  “What is it?”

  “He’s not here.” Instead of growing stronger as it should when he moved closer to the well, Thane’s energy was nearly nonexistent now.

  There was another force inside the clearing, however—something 132 Gabrielle

  Evans

  malevolent, watching them, waiting for them. “Stop. We have to go back.”

  “We’re already here,” Zasha argued, charging over the crest of the hill in his determination to reach the windmills.

  “We have to know for sure,” Raith added grudgingly. “We need to at least see if there’s any evidence that Thane was here at one time.” It was with a great deal of trepidation that Lynk approached the old stone well. Zasha was leaning over the edge of it, peering into the depths with a frown on his face. “Hello?” he called, his voice echoing back to him.

  “Lynk!”

  So intent on establishing the connection with Thane, Lynk had been inadvertently blocking out his mate. “I’m here, Kieran.

  Something’s not right. I don’t think Thane is here.”

  “Get out of there. Get away from Zasha now! Run as fast as you can and hide. I’m coming for you.” The fear and urgency in Kieran’s voice propelled him into movement, but he’d taken only a half a dozen steps away from the well when a ragged moan drifted up from the bottom. “Thane!” Without thought, he sprinted forward, grabbed the edge of the stones, and leaned over as far as he dared. “Thane! Are you okay? Can you talk to me?”

  He received only an agonized groan in response.

  “We’re going to get you out. Just be still.” If they didn’t get him out soon, it would be too late. Thane hovered just on the brink of death, his energy growing fainter with each passing second.

  A loud grunt from behind him drew his attention, and Lynk started to turn to investigate. Sickening pain exploded in his temple, temporarily blinding him and sending him stumbling backward, right over the stone lip of the well and plunging into darkness.

  Because of the awkward angle at which he’d fallen, the back of his head smacked against the unyielding wall, and everything went black.

  Flawless 133

  * * * *

  “Lynk? Lynk!” Kieran stomped down on the accelerator. “Lynk!” he yelled aloud, startling his passengers.

  Leader Tuesday occupied the front passenger seat while all three of Kieran’s brothers had crammed into the backseat of the extended cab pickup, resolute in helping in any way they could.

  He was almost there. The lights that illuminated the main entrance bathed the road just a quarter mile in front of him. At the same time, he was too far away. His connection with Lynk hadn’t been severed, but it was like getting static over a telephone line when he knew the other person was still there but only caught snatches of the conversation.

  Barely tapping on the brake, he jerked the wheel hard, turning the truck onto the long drive and barreling right through the open gates.

  No one tried to stop him. “Why are the gates open?”

  “I phoned ahead,” Tuesday answered distractedly. His eyes were locked on the main house, and he reached up to point through the windshield. “That’s Zasha’s vehicle.” Tires screeching, the back of the pickup slid sideways as Kieran stomped on the brake and threw the transmission into park. He didn’t even bother turning off the engine before flying out the driver’s door and sprinting to the side of big brick house.

  He had no idea where the well was located or where he was going, but he could still feel Lynk, so he followed that thin rope of recognition, allowed it to guide him, reel him in. His feet pounded over the uneven earth, crunching the dying grass beneath his boots.

  Charging into the tree line, he never slowed his pace even as he was forced to dodge low-hanging branches and leap over fallen logs.

  When he burst out on the other side of the small forest, he finally stopped and waited for his comrades to catch up to him. “There.” It wasn’t a question as he pointed to the three enormous windmills 134 Gabrielle

  Evans

  rising up from the ground. His link to his mate was growing stronger, clearer. He could feel Lynk’s panic as if it was his own, but he pushed it to the back of his mind, needing to concentrate if he hoped to rescue his lover.

  “Just at the bottom of the middle one,” Tuesday confirmed.

  Kieran took off again, sprinting up the small incline and stripping out of his clothes as he went. Stopping once more when he’d reached the top of the slope, he kicked his boots off, shoved his jeans down his legs, and let the fury within him fuel his change. Once completely transformed, he tossed his head back and howled to the moon.

  His enemy would know he was coming.

  Zasha had taken his mate, the sunshine to his darkness and the very air that he breathed. Death was too lenient a punishment, but letting the bloodsucker live was out of the question.

  More howls ripped through the night, followed by vicious growling as his brothers moved in to flank him on either side. It wasn’t until that moment that Kieran realized there were four enormous beasts, two on each side of him.

  So Leader Tuesday was a hybrid.

  While the information was surprising and produced a whole slew of questions, it wasn’t exactly pertinent at that very moment. Besides, it didn’t affect him in any way. If anything, Kieran was happy to have extra muscle on his side. As he prowled toward his destination, Kieran’s lupine eyes cut through the darkness, easily spotting the three slumped figures on the ground. All were much too large to be Lynk, however. So, where was he?

  His advanced hearing picked up the crash of footsteps over branches in the trees behind him, but he ignored it. That would be Torren with reinforcements, but once Kieran got his hands on Zasha, he wouldn’t be needing them.

  * * * *

  Flawless 135

  A soft groan puffed through his lips when Lynk finally came awake. He wished he could have kept right on sleeping. His head pounded, feeling much too large for the rest of his body. When he pried open his eyes, he was struck with the momentary sense of panic when he couldn’t immediately see anything.

  “Easy,” a raspy voice answered his silent fear.

  “Thane?” Oh, gods, even the sound of his own voice was going to split his skull in two. Trying to get his wits about him, Lynk only then realized that he was leaning against another body with a large arm wrapped around his chest to keep him from sliding under the frigid water that reached up to his navel.

  “I’m here.” Thane’s voice was weak and hoarse, coming out as barely more than a frail whisper. “Are you okay?” Getting his feet under him, Lynk eased out of his brother’s hold, shivering when the icy water surged up to his shoulders by the time his feet found the bottom of the well. “I’m fine.” His
teeth clacked together and his muscles vibrated continuously, trying to warm his core body temperature. How had Thane survived for so long down here?

  “Help will come.”

  Lynk had no reservations about that. Kieran had already been on his way before Lynk had blacked out, and he’d sounded furious. It was keeping him and Thane alive until his mate could reach them that worried him. How much time had passed since he’d fallen into the depths of the well? It couldn’t have been long, but every second that passed, their hopes of survival dwindled with it.

  “You said they feed on you. How do they get in?” Thane took his hand in the darkness and pulled him to the other side of the well. The fingers wrapped around his palm were much too cold, too thin, and it made Lynk’s heart hurt. He didn’t have long to dwell on the injustice of what his brother had suffered, though. His arm was lifted, and his hand pressed flat against a plank of wood.

  “What is this?”

  136 Gabrielle

  Evans

  “Door,” Thane answered then fell into a coughing fit that wracked his entire body.

  “Okay, shh.” Lynk rubbed at Thane’s back. “Just rest. I’m going to get us out of here.”

  The loud howling of one very pissed off werewolf erupted into the night, echoing down the well and bouncing off the stones until it was as though the beast was confined down there with them. The sound was terrifying, but it made Lynk smile. Then four other howls, each distinctly different from the other, rolled across the breeze, and Lynk’s heart broke into a gallop as excitement overwhelmed him.

  “My mate is here, and he’s really unhappy.”

  * * * *

  The unconscious men on the ground turned out to be Raith, Axton, and Gideon. Where was Lynk, though? And where the hell was Zasha?

  “Kieran!”