by Isis Rushdan
“Talus?” She ran to her and pulled Talus into her arms. She checked her pulse and searched for a glimmer of her energy stream. Talus wasn’t breathing.
Rocking her, she stared at her with horror. She couldn’t be dead. She hadn’t taken that much energy. Had she?
“Talus! Wake up!”
She closed her eyes and concentrated on releasing energy. She focused on Talus and how much she loved her. She had to wake up. Serenity pumped energy into her, but Talus’s stream was no longer bright. There was nothing. She touched Talus’s pallid cheek. “Open your eyes.”
Talus lay in her arms limp and cold.
A cloud shaped like an angel blasted through the trees, shifting to the color of bark.
And her kabashem’s energy stream pooled into hers.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Cyrus landed beside his mate. His heart thundered in his ears as he scanned the battlefield. Beset lay slain near a cluster of knocked down trees. The Hummer was a battered hunk of metal.
Two other warriors were dead, and by the looks of it one had died a gruesome death. From the tattoo on the decapitated one’s shoulder, they were battle-guard of Sekhem.
“I did something to her!” His mate cried. “I’m not sure…took too much energy.”
He lifted Talus into his arms, holding her close. He detected dim vibrations of energy, growing weaker. She was alive, barely.
Please don’t let me lose another.
Serenity shook, stumbling backward, hyperventilating.
A rush of energy pumped into him from his kabashem, flooding him. He gasped from the electrifying charge. Too much.
He funneled the surge of anima into Talus, steady and slow.
His body hummed from the sudden surge. His limbs quivered as he strained to control it. He tried to hasten the release, but the energy flow of the collective couldn’t be altered. Only his mate had the ability to manipulate the rate and force of energy she shared.
The outpour of anima from his kabashem didn’t stop. Soon she’d be depleted and unconscious like Talus.
“Serenity, stop,” he pleaded, struggling to maintain the delicate flow into his daughter.
She throttled back and broke the flow of energy as if turning off a valve. Her knees buckled and she puked. Too much.
Abbadon descended next to Beset’s body. Amon moved in the direction of the gory dead soldier. Carin ran toward them.
Faint ripples of energy emanated from Talus. Her eyes moved. They didn’t open, but he’d seen it. Her eyelashes had fluttered.
“Abbadon’s right,” Serenity whispered. “I’m a threat. I’m a danger.”
Cyrus glanced at the bloody pulp of the Sekhem warrior. His kabashem was a formidable killing force.
Carin placed her hand on Talus’s forehead and her palm glowed white. Talus’s stream brightened. Another flicker of movement behind closed lids. Carin removed her hand and Talus opened her eyes.
With a sigh of relief, Cyrus tilted his head back. Talus was groggy, but insisted on standing. He put her down, holding her arm until she gained steady footing.
“So much energy sucked out of me at once,” Talus said. “I didn’t know it was possible for anyone to do that. She saved our lives.”
Heart swelling full of pride, Cyrus pivoted toward Serenity. Her hands shook at her sides. Anxiety riddled her face. He approached his mate to comfort her, but she backed away.
Serenity’s knees trembled. She’d given too much, but she had to.
Cyrus reached out to her. She shook her head, moving back. He inhaled with a worried look, but didn’t step any closer.
Abbadon had tried to warn her, endeavored to teach her, but she was a hazard to anyone close. A danger to those she loved.
It was another twisted act of fate to drop such a powerful ingenium into the hands of the one Kindred who couldn’t separate her emotions from her energy. The one Kindred who could draw on the energy of others to boost her own, turning her ability into a lethal weapon. She had almost killed Talus in her effort to save them.
Amon shifted his gaze from the bloody mess of the warrior to Serenity, but she couldn’t meet his eyes. Carin’s face crinkled with fear as she stared at her. Talus stood smiling. Smiling?
How could she smile? She’d almost been killed, not by a warrior of Sekhem, but by family.
The only one focused on something else was Abbadon. Serenity went to him.
Beset’s eyes were open, frozen in a state of shock. Abbadon closed her lids. Serenity dropped to her knees and averted her eyes from Beset’s face. She touched the arm of the Herut warrior who had died protecting her. Beset’s body was warm.
In the daylight, her skin had a subtle shimmer. Every pore was closed, tightened like armor. A warrior’s skin actually changed beyond color when they shifted.
As Abbadon removed the dagger from her throat, Serenity turned away.
“What should I do with his body?” Amon asked, walking over to them.
Abbadon glanced at the dead warrior. “I’ll send Hotep back with supplies to dissolve the remains. Torch the vehicle, and don’t forget to strip the plates and VIN numbers.”
Amon ran to the Hummer. Abbadon picked up Beset and flew away, without a word to her. She stood and watched him become a dot in the light blue sky.
Cyrus crept up behind her, wrapped an arm around her chest and pulled her into his body. He brought his mouth close to her face and grazed her ear with his lips. “You didn’t hurt Talus, she’s fine,” he whispered.
“I almost killed her. She wasn’t breathing.”
He smoothed her hair back toward him with his other hand. “She was breathing. Talus allowed you to connect to her. She said you pulled on her energy faster than she expected. It would be like losing several pints of blood in a matter of seconds. When we connect and share with the collective, it’s a gradual process. She would have regained consciousness eventually. You did the right thing.”
She shivered at the words. “What if there had been another warrior I had to kill? What if I had stayed connected to her, drawing on her?”
“You saved her. She’s waiting to run over and hug you.”
“I could’ve killed her,” she whispered, hating herself for how close she’d come to doing exactly that.
“But you didn’t. Faced with death, you found the courage and the strength to do what you had to. You protected yourself and you saved Talus. If you hadn’t used your power, you’d both be dead.” His wings fluttered and closed around her.
Cocooned in his silky feathers and tight embrace, she relaxed. He was warm and smelled divine. She rested her head on his chest and shut her eyes. He nuzzled her neck with his nose. She never had to tap into Cyrus. Whenever they were together, they were connected.
She was keenly aware of the way his energy flowed and how it made her feel. It had flowed into her when they met on the balcony not so long ago, completing her, making her whole. Her queasiness dissipated and equilibrium returned.
She didn’t want to move. In his arms, everything was perfect. She was safe. There was joy that they were alive. There was love and the nourishment of his energy. And there was the ache of desire. Her hunger for him was always there on some level, but the sweet mix of his arms and wings around her made it flare.
Her mind filled with the thought of his body, pressed against hers when they made love. The ache swelled as she remembered the delicious pressure from the weight of him. She wanted their limbs to entwine and to be filled with his warmth. She wanted to rip off his jeans with her teeth and take him on the grass. Voracious need tore through her. She had to have him buried deep inside of her.
She opened her eyes. They were encased in a sphere of blue plasma. White electric strands, like bolts of lightning, streaked through it, vibrating at the same pace as her breathing.
The smell of smoke brought her back to the reality of their situation. She pulled the field in with a controlled breath. He opened his wings and released her. She turned and
gazed at his smiling face.
Talus ran over to them and hugged Serenity. “Thank you.”
Serenity held her, but couldn’t think of a response that was adequate.
“Go back to the house with Carin. I’m going to take Serenity home,” Cyrus said.
Without any warning, he scooped her up in his arms and floated into the air. She put her arms around his neck and he gripped her firmly. Down below, Amon set the wrecked Hummer on fire. The carcass of the soldier from Sekhem burned off to the side. Carin and Talus got in Cassian’s Shelby and drove off.
She spotted exactly where they had been knocked off the road, across a lane and through the trees. The tumbling vehicle had left an etched path, down a hill, where the massive oak had put an end to her screaming.
Cyrus blended in seamlessly with the sky around her. She wondered if anyone had seen what happened earlier or was watching her drift through the air, carried on the wind. The sound of his flapping wings comforted her, like listening to his heartbeat while he slept. Cyrus was so warm that the rush of air as they soared over the treetops didn’t bother her. The feel of the wind brushing through her hair made her scalp tingle. She could see the front gate of the estate.
The property was massive. She knew how large the estate was. She had run over every inch of it, but seeing it from the sky gave her a much better perspective. It truly was an oasis. He had carved out a glorious place for her. And thanks to Beset she had the pleasure to see it again. The warrior had given her life so that she might live.
Cyrus landed softly in the garden and shifted back to his light sandy complexion. The sweetly spiced, orangey scent of the rose acacia on both sides of the stone-paved path enveloped them in an aromatic cloud.
“Will we bury Beset here?” she wondered.
He retracted his wings, stirring the air. “I’m going to send her body back to Herut.”
Holding her, Cyrus walked toward the house past brightly colored gladiolas and rows of brilliant Black Dragon irises the same deep, dark, blue-black shade as his eyes.
“How did you know I needed you and where to go?”
“I felt you. We’d just gotten back to the house after looking for Lysandra and Evan. Your emotions cut through to me. I sensed your energy stream and homed in on it until I found you.”
“Did you find Evan? Is he okay?”
Cyrus twitched and set her down. “We didn’t find him. I even tried his firm. I spoke to one of the partners, Mr. Dupree. He said Evan had taken a leave of absence. He was having some personal difficulties and needed the time away. Then Mr. Dupree assured me that he’d handle any of my business needs personally.”
Spero met them at the side of the house. “Scouts found her. We killed two, but we brought one back for interrogation.”
“Call Drake,” Cyrus ordered.
“Already did. He wants triple his normal fee since the request is so urgent.”
“Pay him what he wants.”
“He’ll be here within the hour.” Spero bowed and opened the door.
“Who is Drake?” she asked as she entered the house.
“He’s a member of a colony that has chosen to live separate from the Great Houses and free of the politics. Their collective is made up of Kindred with marketable gifts. It’s how they support themselves. Drake has a useful ingenium that comes in handy from time to time. After he touches someone with his hand, they can’t lie without feeling pain. The more they lie, the greater the pain.”
“Does his ingenium work on humans as well?”
“Yes. He tends to keep company with human females. He hasn’t found his kabashem and it seems Kindred females aren’t willing to take the chance of living a millennium forced to tell the truth or suffer immeasurable pain.”
“Can’t he turn it off if he touches someone a second time?”
“Drake’s gift must be used with care. The effects are irreversible.”
“So when you’re done interrogating the scout in the basement, he’ll be tormented every time he lies for the rest of his life?”
“He won’t leave this estate alive. If Sekhem can confirm that you exist and we’re together, war is inevitable. Scouts that go M.I.A. will look suspicious, but it isn’t proof.”
She cringed. “How did they even know to send scouts?”
“That’s what I hope to find out.”
He turned from her, but she grasped his arms. “We need to talk,” she said.
“The scouts are a danger I didn’t anticipate so soon, but I’ll take care of it. I’ll do whatever needs to be done to make sure you’re safe.”
“That’s not what I meant.” She put her hand on his chest, over their birthmark. “I don’t want a life without you.”
“What you want is a perfect world where life is exactly as you would have it. I can’t give you that, but I can damn well make sure you’re safe and restore some sense of normalcy for you, even if it comes at the expense of condemning my people to the darkness of the curse.” His voice was sharp and cold as a scalpel.
She clutched his shirt. “Cyrus—”
“What more do you want from me?” He snatched her hand from his chest. “I can’t do this with you right now. I need to be focused on one thing, getting information from that scout. I can’t afford the luxury of distraction.” He spun on his heels and stormed away.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Cyrus stood at the front window of the great room. Drake sped up the drive in an Aston Martin, sliding to a stop and spraying gravel in the flowerbed. He sauntered around the car in a russet suit that matched his leather gloves and opened the passenger’s door. Two voluptuous brunettes stepped out, each draping an arm around his elbows.
Heels clicked across the floor of the foyer and feminine giggles carried into the room.
“Drake, do you ever travel without an entourage?” Cyrus asked from the doorway of the great room.
“Not if I can help it.” He raised the hand of each woman. “Twirl for me, my little lovelies.”
The women spun in a circle. Their scanty cocktail dresses rose high enough to reveal they weren’t wearing underwear.
A roar of laughter rolled from Drake. He kissed their hands. “Big daddy has to do a little work. While you wait, would you care for a libation?”
“A what?” one asked.
“Oh, you sweet thing.” He grabbed her chin and slipped his tongue into her mouth. “Cyrus, I’m sure you could rustle up a couple of glasses of champagne for these two.”
“Amon,” Cyrus said to one of the warriors, “please ask Mrs. Carter to take care of the drinks. Hotep,” he said to the other warrior, “ensure Drake’s friends wait in the great room.”
Both warriors nodded.
Drake and Spero walked with Cyrus to the security room. Micah sat monitoring the security screens. Past the computer system, Cyrus entered the code to open the door leading to the basement.
Lights illuminated the hallway triggered by the motion sensors, as they headed to the last cell on the left. Stripped of clothing, the tall, lanky scout stood spread-eagle chained to the wall. A clamp held his head fastened in place.
Spero unlocked the door of the barenpetium cage.
Pulling off his gloves, Drake strutted in. He rubbed his hands together and approached the prisoner. The scout growled and jerked, jiggling the chains, but unable to break free. Drake placed his hands on the scout’s chest for a second. Then he turned, smiling, slipped on his gloves and held out his hand to Spero.
“Pay him,” Cyrus said.
Spero took out thirty thousand dollars in large bills bundled in a thick stack and dropped it on Drake’s palm.
“Thank you,” Drake said, grinning as he fiddled with the bills.
Cyrus craned his neck outside of the cell to see down the hall. The undulations of his kabashem’s energy stream deepened, growing stronger. Why was Serenity coming down here?
“I’ll see you out,” he said to Drake.
Serenity waltzed down the stairs,
aglow and freshly showered with damp hair, in jeans that kissed her curves and a clingy purple top that made her caramel skin pop. Her scent teased and roused the most sensitive spots of his body. Desire surged through him in hot, cruel waves. His phallus stirred, aching with desperate need. When he felt the blistering grip of fiery passion earlier as he held her, he wasn’t sure, thinking her absence or her brush with death had driven him wild, but now it blazed through him with blinding certainty. She was in heat.
“I don’t want you in here. Did Micah let you in?” he asked.
“I did,” Abbadon said, coming down behind her.
“What are those two floozies doing in my house?” she asked.
Cyrus couldn’t restrain the smile from rising on his face. This was the first time she had referred to the house as hers. “They’re with Drake and they’re leaving.”
Drake slithered up to her. “So this is what beautiful smells like.” He extended his hand.
Serenity’s brow creased and Cyrus pulled her close into his body.
“I’m quite safe to touch while wearing gloves.”
“Please excuse me if I don’t,” she said.
“No hard feelings,” Drake said. “I’m used to it.”
“Micah,” Cyrus called up the stairs. Micah poked his head around the corner. “Please escort our guest out.”
“Always a pleasure, Cyrus. Do call upon us again sometime soon.” Drake whistled a little tune on his way out.
“I’ll get started,” Spero said.
“No. I want Abbadon to question him.” His old friend had blood-curdling skill as an interrogator.
Abbadon crossed the hall to the tool room.
Cyrus stroked Serenity’s shoulder. “You should leave. I don’t want you down here.”
“Why not? Whatever he says concerns both of us.”
“Things will be done. It’ll be unpleasant. I don’t want you to watch.”
Abbadon came out of the room wearing latex gloves and carrying a tray of instruments designed to cause pain.
“You’re going to torture him? Why? I didn’t think that would be necessary after Drake.”
