Shadowed (Dark Protectors)

by Rebecca Zanetti

  “You think you’ll see them again?”

  Feared he would. In fact, it scared him shitless. “Yes.”

  “I can understand that.” She brushed her fingers across his jaw.

  “Our brains do the impossible to keep us alive. Thank yours instead of trying to forget.” Releasing him, she stepped away.

  Coldness instantly surrounded him. So he grabbed her arms and yanked her back, his arms circling her waist. Warmth returned. “I’ll think about it.”

  She pushed him and laughed as he kept her close. “Will you be guarding headquarters?”

  “No.” Maybe he should be, considering his mate would be underground. Although, she’d be perfectly safe. No way could the Kurjans breach Realm security. Besides, Talen wanted him in the rocks of Nevada. “The Kurjans have agreed to the trade in two hours at a location somewhere in the Nevada—lots of red rock to hide in. They’ll send the coordinates once we’re in the air—we can have a maximum of three soldiers on the ground, or they kill Garrett.”

  Brenna frowned. “What about backup?”

  “Three armed and fully manned Blackhawks just out of range.”

  “Do you think the Kurjans will be there?”

  “Oh, they’ll send a squad to Nevada. Garrett may even be there—we’ll see. But they want our forces divided so they can attack here and take Janie, if you ask me.”

  Brenna nodded. “Our allies in the north are going to take Franco? So we’re pretending to fall into their trap in order to set our own.”

  “Exactly. Talen is a genius . . . sometimes.” Jase released her. “Come help me suit up, and then I’ll take you over to headquarters.” Nausea tried to swirl in his gut at the thought of her under tons of rock. “You’ll be safe.”

  She tangled her fingers with his, following him through the pantry to the weapons room. Then she wandered toward the pictures on his wall. “I figure this is your kill wall.”

  “Yeah.” He bit back hatred as he stared at the three photographs. “You know the demon leader, Suri, and now you’ve met crazy Willa. The third man is Melco, one of Suri’s top lieutenants. The guy likes to use knives.”

  Brenna sucked in air. “Sounds like a charmer.”

  A charmer who was going to die slowly while choking on his own blood. “Yeah. I promised him once that if I survived, I’d hunt him down with my last breath. And I will.”

  Brenna turned, sadness in her stunning eyes. “Just be careful.”

  His head jerked. He focused solely on her. “You’re not going to tell me to deal with it, just be glad I’m alive? To let go?”

  She lifted a delicate shoulder. “I wouldn’t.” Green danced on her arms for a second to wisp into nothingness. “I’d make the bastard fry.”

  She’d make the bastard fry? Jase settled into the backseat of the Blackhawk, his mind spinning. How could she be so damn sweet one moment and so homicidal the next? Were the words just talk?

  And why in the hell did her bloodthirstiness turn him on so much? Man, he was a deviant.

  There were layers upon layers to Brenna Dunne, and he wanted to savor each one as he unpeeled them.

  Moira sat next to him, eyes closed, probably planning. Conn flanked her other side, his fingers tapping a tune on his cargo pants. Lines of stress cut into the sides of his mouth—worry about Garrett and concern for his mate stamped in his hard eyes.

  How difficult it must be to allow his mate to go to battle. Jase felt a renewed respect for his older brother.

  Talen sat in the passenger seat next to the pilot. As usual, he’d shut down once the mission had been planned. No emotion had emerged from him as he’d detailed the three attacks—no sign that his gut had to be churning at the thought of what the Kurjans were doing to young Garrett.

  A familiar rage welled up in Jase. If the Kurjans had harmed one inch of Garrett, he’d take them all out.

  He had to believe that they wanted Garrett safe for now in order to trade, or he’d go crazy. Well, crazier than usual.

  “We have the coordinates,” Talen said through the earphones as the pilot banked hard left. “Touchdown in fifteen minutes.” He leaned closer to a monitor set in the dash. “There are tons of rock outcroppings to hide in—they probably also have an underground bunker. Satellite in position in ten minutes.”

  Heat exploded in Jase’s chest. Underground? Shit.

  The minutes slid by in slow motion. Finally, they neared the site.

  Talen punched in buttons on the dash. “No sign of an underground bunker or any activity. Once we set down, everyone scatter and take cover in the rocks. The meet is in a gully between rock outcroppings. Stay out of the fucking gully.”

  Seconds later, the helicopter thumped to the earth. Jase threw open the door and ran out, bending low, eyes fighting against the swirling sand. He climbed through rocks to the north, waiting until the helicopter lifted back into the sky before stopping.

  Silence descended. Moonlight and twinkling stars illuminated the wind pushing scrub brush end-over-end.

  Jase kept his weapon pointed low, his stance set, his back to a rock still heated from the desert sun. The irony wasn’t lost on him. The Kurjans who’d taken his nephew would be strung to the desert floor in the full sun, and then they’d see irony.

  A rattler hissed in the distance, sending a slow chill down his spine. He hated snakes. Damn reptiles.

  The humming of a helicopter echoed through the air. He straightened. Lights came into view, and an attack copter set down. A door opened. Two Kurjan soldiers emerged, a prisoner between them. They’d bound the prisoner’s hands as well as stuck a sack over his head.

  The guy was big—big enough to be Garrett.

  One of the soldiers stepped in front of him. “Where’s the witch?” he called out.

  Moira moved into the gully. “Right here, dickhead.”

  “Hands up—no weapons,” the soldier yelled.

  Moira slowly lifted her hands. Jase slid closer, his rifle pointed at the first guy. Didn’t they know a witch’s weapon was her hands?

  Warning whispered along his neck. Something wasn’t right.

  “Move forward,” the Kurjan yelled, shoving the prisoner ahead of him.

  Moira slowly stepped forward.

  A voice crackled through Jase’s earpiece—Realm headquarters was under attack. Adrenaline flooded his veins. He needed to get back to Brenna.

  Then the world exploded.

  Charges detonated along the gully, throwing rocks into the air. Jase yelled and flew over a jagged edge to land in a cloud of dust.

  The Kurjan soldier shot the prisoner in the back several times, turned, and jumped into the helicopter. It rose into the night, firing rounds down at them.

  Jase lunged for Moira first, tackling her. Covering her as bullets impacted his back. Conn reached them both, grabbing his vest and Moira’s arm to drag them behind a rock.

  Sharp edges cut into Jase’s arm. He scrambled around for a better view. Panic seized his lungs.

  Talen ran into the raining bullets to hoist the prisoner over his shoulder. His body shook with each hard impact as he zigzagged to leap behind a rock. Jase dashed over, ducking low.

  He reached Talen just as his brother ripped off the hood.

  Unseeing blue eyes were set into a hard-boned face. It wasn’t Garrett. Disappointment flowed through Jase until he swayed. Although he already knew, he searched for a pulse. There was none.

  “He’s human,” Talen muttered, wiping blood off his chin.

  A human teenager. The Kurjans had murdered a human teenager just to use as a decoy.

  The Kurjan helicopter turned around to make another pass. Talen lifted the boy and grabbed Jase’s shoulder. “Run.”

  They ran toward Conn, stopping as another explosion opened up the hillside. Talen shoved Jase toward the gaping hole.

  He panicked and pushed back.

  “Damn it, take shelter,” Talen yelled.

  Heat flooded Jase’s neck. His lungs seized. “No.”
He backed away, closer to the line of fire.

  Conn jumped in front of him and latched on to his vest. “Follow Moira. Get your ass inside.”

  Jase struggled in his brother’s grip. “Let go.” God. He was going to puke. His shoulders vibrated with the need to run. To get the hell away from the open mouth in the rock. “Let go.”

  Conn reared back and punched him in the face.

  Stars exploded behind Jase’s eyes.

  Blackness fell.

  Chapter 18

  Jase rubbed his jaw. “How many times did Conn hit me, anyway?” Enough times to have made him miss the rest of the firefight, the rescue, and the return ride to Realm headquarters. It was nearly midnight already.

  Dage wiped way the remnants of a bullet hole in his shoulder. “Dunno.”

  Jase leaned back on the sofa in the main rec room of the lodge, his gaze on his mate. She sat quietly on a guest chair, concern drawing her eyebrows down. “What?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “That’s quite a bruise.”

  Conn hit like a jackhammer.

  Jase nodded. “I’m fine. Did you manage to keep from burning down the bunker?”

  “Yes.” She rolled her eyes. “The entire fight was over before we even heard it begin.”

  Odd, but she sounded almost sorry about that fact.

  Dage poked the still healing hole in his shoulder. “We took more casualties than I would’ve thought. Emma is in the infirmary helping out.”

  “So they hit from the north as well as the sea.” Jase shook his head. “Doesn’t make sense. They’ve lost here before.”

  “I know. Plus, they were ready for us in Canada. Franco wasn’t even there.” Dage exhaled slowly. “We need to find Garrett and fast.”

  Brenna twisted her hands together. “Did you discover the human boy’s name?”

  Dage’s eyes flashed blue through the silver. “Yes. Paul Jacobson—he was a junior at Oregon State—captain of the football team.”

  Anger heated Jase’s blood. “The Kurjans killed an innocent kid just to fool us for two seconds?” Evil bastards.

  “Yes.” Torment lived in the king’s eyes. “I had soldiers take the kid back to his apartment and make it look like a robbery gone bad. At least his family won’t have to wonder.”

  Anger and pain echoed in Dage’s tone.

  Jase yanked a knife from his boot. “We need to finish this war with both the Kurjans and the demons.”

  “That’d be great, Jase,” Dage drawled. “I mean, considering our forces are at half right now. The last two decades have hurt us. Bad.”

  Plus, spending so many man hours searching for Jase had taken a toll on the Realm. Guilt and rage mixed inside him until his lungs compressed. “I know.”

  “What’s our next plan?” Brenna asked.

  A shrill alarm rent the air.

  Jase jumped to his feet in unison with Dage. Then they both ducked as green balls of plasma whipped by their heads.

  Dage flipped around, shock on his face.

  Brenna gasped and shook out her arms. More weapons shot from her fingers, and the couch erupted into flames.

  The speaker set high in the corner crackled. “We have breaches in security tunnels A and D,” Talen said. “Kurjan attack teams of three.”

  Dage leaped for the door and yelled over his shoulder, “Take the perimeter of tunnel A, Jase.”

  Brenna sucked in air, flames dancing on her wrists. “The escape tunnels? They found the escape tunnels?”

  “Yes.” It was a trap within a trap. Jase grabbed her hand, ignored the burn, and dragged her outside toward the ocean. Moonlight guided their way. “They knew we’d draw them in and even allow them to disengage the main security system.” He should’ve seen it. The only way to get to Janie was through the escape tunnels.

  The mountain lit up with explosions. Shit. A second wave of attack. But his job was tunnel A. He started climbing down the rock wall.

  Brenna tugged away. “What in the world?”

  “There’s a ledge. Trust me.”

  Her hand shaking, she took his again—this time sans the flames. He helped her down several feet and then pushed her into a small alcove. “You’ll be safe here. Try not to blow up the mountain.”

  She darted forward. “You’ll need backup.”

  “No.” He shoved all emotion into a box where it couldn’t fuck things up. “I need you safe. Stay here.”

  Then he backflipped into the air, hitting the ocean in the sweet spot with a minimal amount of splash. Rising to the surface, he scanned the sea. No boat. This squad must’ve scuba-dived in. Smart.

  He lifted himself out of the water and crept behind a rock. The crevice in the cliff could barely be seen by the naked eye. How had they found it? Drawing his knife, he angled close enough to smell fresh earth and then tapped his ear communicator three times so they’d know he was in position.

  The screams of a firefight echoed through the night from up above.

  A splash sounded, and steam rose from the ocean. Brenna’s dark head broke the surface.

  Fury ripped through him. Reaching for her arm, he dragged her up to press against the rocks. “I gave you an order.”

  She met his gaze evenly. “I’m not one of your soldiers.”

  No, she was his mate. One who’d just plunged into a dangerous sea and found the only safe spot to land by luck. Pure luck. She could’ve severed her spine, damn it.

  His wet ear communicator buzzed. “We took prisoners in Tunnel D to interrogate. Now, we’ve blocked off Tunnel A—they’re on the way out. No quarter,” Talen ordered.

  Jase cleared his mind and shoved his mate behind a couple of boulders. “Come out, and I’ll beat you.” Ignoring her outraged gasp, he shifted back into position.

  A scrape sounded. He plunged the knife into the crevice and yanked a Kurjan soldier out by the gut. Throwing the guy to the ground, he twisted both ways and sent the head rolling into the ocean.

  Pivoting, he sliced the next soldier’s Achilles tendon, knocking him down. Twirling, he moved to slash the third soldier in the throat and stopped cold.

  The Kurjan held Janie in a headlock, forearm against her vulnerable jugular. He could snap her neck if he just twitched.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  Jase flashed back to when he’d first met her. She’d had huge blue eyes with such delicate bone structure he’d been afraid to touch her. Until she’d thrown her tiny arms around him and said she’d always wanted to meet her uncle Jase since she’d dreamed about him her whole life.

  All four years of it.

  Now, she was still frighteningly petite, but the wise eyes of a woman begged him to step out of the way. To let her sacrifice herself for her family.

  That he understood.

  But he couldn’t let her do it. Not even for Garrett, whom he loved more than his own life. So he focused on the Kurjan. “Let her go, and I’ll let you live.” As a deal, it was a damn good one.

  “No.” The soldier tightened his hold.

  Janie gasped, her eyes widening, her fingers curling around the Kurjan’s arm. “Kalin wants me alive, and you know it.”

  The guy’s hold relaxed. “Dead is all right.” His voice lacked conviction.

  “Dead gets you dead, jackass,” Janie hissed, her face turning red.

  The soldier’s hold relaxed further, and Janie took a deep breath. He focused on Jase. “Move, Kayrs, or I’ll break her neck and worry about consequences later.”

  In the distance, a boat engine flared to life. Jase edged to the side. If he could just get that arm away from Janie’s skin, he could take the guy.

  A ball of fire suddenly exploded into the rock above the Kurjan. Jase caught Brenna’s surprised expression out of the corner of his eye. Splinters cascaded out, one cutting into the Kurjan’s cheek. He gasped and stepped back. Jase shot forward and sliced the underside of his wrist, millimeters from Janie’s neck.

  Janie threw an elbow into the Kurjan’s groin. He h
issed in pain, sharp fangs dropping.

  Jase yanked off the offending arm and tossed Janie toward Brenna. Then he plunged his knife in the Kurjan’s gut. Blood spurted over his hand with the burn of pure acid.

  Retrieving another knife, Jase cut off his head.

  He stood, absolute calm centering him. The final Kurjan crawled across the rocks, trying to fall into the ocean. Jase dropped to his haunches and sliced into the back of the Kurjan’s neck. A twist of his wrist, and he decapitated the final soldier.

  “Tunnel A—secured,” he said.

  He wiped the bloody knives off in the salty ocean, stood, and turned around.

  Brenna watched him, her face paler than the Kurjans’, her eyes wide with shock. No. That was fear.

  Brenna smoothed out her expression so Jase wouldn’t know how much he’d just freaked her out. Not that he’d killed, but that he’d done so very calmly and with precision. As a killer, he was damn good.

  The water bubbled red around their feet, and she fought the urge to vomit.

  A bellow from above caught her attention, and she glanced up to see Talen scaling down the rocks. He hit the ground and grabbed Janie in a hug.

  Janie hugged him back. “Don’t be mad, Dad.”

  Talen growled low and flipped her around to a piggyback position on his back. “Hold on. We’ll talk about it up top—after I tell your mother.”

  Janie groaned.

  Two seconds later, they were headed back up the rock.

  Brenna swallowed. Two helicopters exploded, their burned carcasses falling into the ocean. Mere heartbeats later, the boat in the distance blew up. Take that, Kurjans.

  Jase watched the debris fall and then moved toward her. She couldn’t help but move back. Darn it.

  “I told you to stay put,” he growled.

  Now he was angry? Great. She set her hands on her hips. She’d thrown plasma at the right time, hadn’t she? Sure, it had been a fluke, considering she was aiming to the left of the Kurjan. But it still worked. “I thought you might need backup.”

  “I told you to stay put.” His already hard face hardened further.

  “You’re just repeating yourself.”