by Jessica Lee
Re-dressed and rearmed, Kenric blended into the shadows and headed for the house. His mate lay strapped to a torture device. Not even Hell could keep him from her.
…
Marguerite leered over Emily’s naked body. Her lip curled in disgust, showing off the tip of one fang. “What he sees in you, I’ll never know. I can smell him all over you.” The long fingers of one hand gripped Emily’s cheeks, the tips of Marguerite’s nails digging into her flesh, forcing her to stare into Marguerite’s insane eyes. Emily didn’t know what hurt worse: the searing pain of the silver cuffs that pinned her to the wood or the sharp fingernails making a new hole in her face. “I can understand why you wanted him. He can fuck like a beast, can he not?” Marguerite sneered. “And I bet you loved the taste of his cum filling your throat. So sweet, wasn’t it?”
Emily pursed her lips and spat. She couldn’t have asked for a better shot. The ball of saliva landed with a splat near Marguerite’s right eye.
“How do you like that? You insane bitch!”
The hand that had held Emily’s face reared back and scalded her left cheek with an ear-ringing slap. The warm taste of blood seeped into her mouth. Emily blinked, trying to clear her vision.
A cool finger traced her bleeding lip. “Don’t make me kill you, whore, before our lover arrives.” Marguerite licked the smear of blood from her fingertip. As if in slow motion, she paled, then tilted her head and met Emily’s stare. This time, the jade green of Marguerite’s eyes disappeared, replaced by the eerie glow of red.
Oh shit.
“You didn’t…” Marguerite screamed. “I can taste him in your blood. You filthy fucking whore! How dare you mate him!” Emily flinched and jammed her eyelids tightly shut, waiting for the worst to come. The high-pitched squeal pierced her skull and went on and on until she knew her eardrums bled.
The sound finally faded, until the only sounds were her rapid pants for air. She risked a peek from under her lids. Marguerite stood a few steps away. Two of her fingers were dipped inside a crimson vessel the size of a fist. It had to be Goran’s blood, the ancient relic that Kenric had mentioned. Marguerite pulled her digits from the relic, her flesh coated in the thick dark matter, brought them to her mouth, and shoved them between her lips.
Oh God!
Marguerite’s expression morphed, drunk on the ancient’s essence. Before Emily could form a scream of her own, fangs sank into her throat with brutal precision. The DEAD attack had been nothing compared to the agony tearing into her neck. Marguerite chewed into her, making sure Emily felt every piece of her life rip into bits and drain away.
No! Think. She couldn’t allow the pain and Marguerite to win.
A familiar warm vibration in her soul alerted her to Kenric’s approach, helping to jolt her memory. As his mate, she should possess the ability to draw on his strength. Not knowing what to do, or how it worked, she was desperate enough to try anything. Anything to get this crazy bitch off her. Emily pictured a field of energy, buzzing with life, separating Marguerite from her. Marguerite flew from her vein with a furious wail.
Yes! It worked. A swirling pale blue haze covered Emily in a blanket of protective energy.
“He was to be my mate!” Marguerite whirled with her arms spread wide, crazed. “Both of you will pay. Kenric will hurt as he’s never hurt before. Such betrayal,” she wheezed. The once-exotic beauty had transformed into a wild, evil beast intent on pure destruction.
With fingertips more animal than human, Marguerite clawed at Emily’s energy barrier. “You’re not fit. I made him! He was to be the glue that would bring us together.”
What the hell is she raving about?
“You don’t deserve the gift of such a powerful vampire as he.”
“Deserving or not,” Emily said. “He’s mine.”
Kenric materialized in the center of the large room the moment Emily’s declaration fell from her lips. At that instant, he loved her even more than he had thought possible.
“Truer words have never been spoken,” he said. Marguerite’s head swiveled in his direction. The image of his mate, beneath a power shield of her own making—as she tapped into his power and protected herself from the talons of an enraged Marguerite—would remain forever burned into his mind.
Marguerite knew. He’d taken a mate, and it would never be her. In her delusional world, the news had to be a bitch.
Immediately, her guards formed a circle with him at its center. The tips of their swords aimed at his back and chest. Their points pricked at his skin, but with his mind, he maintained control over the advance of their weapons. For the moment, he allowed them their show of force. Why waste energy on the wrong enemy? He needed his full strength for Marguerite.
They wouldn’t kill him, anyway. Not without Marguerite’s command. And the last thing she wanted was him dead. Well, at least not by another’s hand. No, if he was to die, she would want that honor for herself.
Marguerite straightened to her full height and approached the top step of the elevated platform that held her and Emily. “You realize you’ve ruined everything,” she said to Kenric, running her fingers through her wild hair. “Together we could have ruled the world. Now… Now you’ve mated with this.” She gestured wildly at Emily, who still lay bound behind her.
Her red eyes blazed with fury as she glided down toward him. The guards parted. He’d waited for this moment for centuries. The blood in his veins surged in anticipation. Patience. His assault would need perfect timing.
She stopped less than a foot away. “Leave us.” Her guards’ heads turned to one another in confusion. “I said leave us!” she roared. “This is between me and the master of the Enclave.”
The door clanked shut as the last vampire exited, sending an echo across the room.
“I loved you.”
“Dear God. Your tongue defiles the very meaning of the words.”
“I loved you, Kenric.” Her head slowly shook from side to side. “I did. No other did I covet as much as you. The others beg incessantly for my attention. Freely, I offered it to you.” Her face twisted. “Yet you have spat on me at every turn. I gave you the gift of becoming a master vampire and tossed it into your lap. And this is how you repay me?” Her voice rose into a hysterical frenzy. “All I asked was for you to share it with me.”
“You don’t love me. You love the power, Marguerite. You took what was not yours to take.” His palms gripped the hilts of the daggers at his thighs. “You expect love and gratitude from one you chained and fed upon like an animal. And then you stole my life. You went too far, Marguerite. It ends tonight.”
Like cannon fire, explosive discharges of energy from both of them resounded throughout the room. The sound waves bounced around inside his head like a mallet against his brain before his back slammed into a solid wall. Kenric shook off the haze from the impact. He steadied himself at the same time he spotted Marguerite across the room, picking herself up from the floor.
“Kenric! Emily’s voice slipped into his mind. “Get me off this thing so I can help you kick her ass.”
“She’s my fight, Wildflower. Believe me, she won’t be winning this battle.” He launched into the air less than a second later, rolling into a somersault and landing behind his target. With his blade in his right hand, he struck. Marguerite ducked, but not before he grazed the back of her neck.
She whirled, throwing out another blast of energy that knocked him sideways. Kenric hit the floor but continued to roll until he was back on his feet. This time, he hit her with a blast and spun on his heels in her direction.
Caught off guard by his sudden recovery, Marguerite didn’t have time to dodge his counterattack. Her feet left the floor under the brute force of the wave of energy. She flew backward, slamming into the lead glass window that covered half of one wall. The window shattered.
Marguerite’s body lay unmoving on the shards of glass. Silence fell over the room.
“Kenric?” Emily’s voice, like music from heaven,
rang in his ears.
He took the steps by three, making it to her before he could breathe a reply.
Silver cuffs held Emily’s wrists and ankles. His chest throbbed at the sight. “One last step,” Kenric said. “And then yes, it’s over, and we’re going home.” He wanted the validation of seeing Marguerite personally turned to dust.
“Thank God,” she said.
With his blade, Kenric popped the locks and eased his mate into a sitting position. Blisters circled her wrists from the prolonged contact with the metal. She winced with each movement, and her pain echoed through his soul like it was his own. Based on the sounds of battle coming from outside the chamber doors, his team had arrived.
He ushered Emily to the edge of the platform, but they both skidded to a halt before the top step. Marguerite stood in the center of the room, glaring like a demon waiting for her next kill. She reached up, and with the flick of her wrist, a broad sword left the wall and flew into her waiting palm.
In an equal move, Kenric lifted his hand, pulling the second sword from its mount on the wall and into his palm. A strangled cry of war rent from his lungs as he sailed into the air. Marguerite raised her sword and deflected his strike above her head.
His boot struck the floor behind her. She whirled and lunged straight for his gut. He pivoted, but the blade sliced into his side. The hot flash of pain shot through to his spine. But he didn’t have time to assess the damage. Marguerite had drawn blood and was coming back for more.
They parried blow for blow, back and forth. The strike of steel on steel ricocheted off the plank floors. Years of buried anger, rage, and pain drove him.
Faster.
Harder.
He pushed Marguerite back. She dodged another swipe at her head, then leaped into the air, whirled, and came down behind him. Hyped up on Goran’s blood, the move was too fast for him to counter.
Her sword appeared at his neck. “I could so easily take your head, darling.” She pulled in, bringing the serrated tip to his throat. The sting of the blade said she’d nicked the flesh. “Why do you push me to such lengths? Was she worth it?”
“Marguerite!” The sound of Emily’s voice had them both whipping their heads to the elevated platform. Emily stood on the top step, a dark red vessel in her hand. She thrust a finger into the opening on top, then jabbed whatever she’d gathered on the tip into her mouth.
Christ! Had she found Goran’s blood?
Kenric’s heart surged to the back of his throat.
“Emily…what are you doing?”
“You bitch!” Marguerite hissed behind his head. “You cannot have them both.”
The hazel gaze that mesmerized him now glowed with a fire that he’d never seen. She lifted the fist-sized vessel up in her palm, holding it out before her. “I don’t want them both.” Emily shook her head. “Just one.” As if the world had suddenly slowed to half-speed, Kenric watched as Emily flipped her hand over, dropping the relic to the floor below. The jar slammed into the wood with a shattering crash that bounced off the walls, dueling with the cry that rang out behind him.
Marguerite dropped her sword from his neck, but lunged for his mate. Emily took to the air, her auburn waves billowing. She slammed into Marguerite, ducking her head inches from Marguerite’s broadsword. The sight trapped the air in his lungs. Marguerite lost her momentum and crashed to the ground along with Emily.
“Join me,” Kenric instructed in Emily’s head.
Kenric darted for her and grabbed his mate’s hand, pulling her back onto her feet.
Picture the wind in your mind. Emily glanced his way and gave a quick nod.
Now wrap it around Marguerite.
Together with his sword arm outstretched, the wind kicked up, rushing through the broken window with gale force. Dirt and loose debris funneled around Marguerite, the force lifting her several inches off the floor.
She whirled, a roar thundering up from her lungs as her long hair whipped across her face. Kenric squeezed Emily’s hand, and they dropped the now dazed vampire back to the floor. Somehow Marguerite managed to stagger, but regained her balance and she hoisted her sword once again. Seeing an opening, Kenric dropped his mate’s hand, swung his sword in an upward arc, connecting with her weapon and knocking it from her hand. His blow tumbled Marguerite to the floor as her sword flipped blade over hilt into the air, landing with a hard clank several feet away.
Both hands gripped the hilt of his sword, and with a cathartic roar, he lifted it overhead, preparing to erase the blight that had infested his life and the planet. In midswing, Kenric locked his muscles. He’d barely missed cleaving one of his warriors in half. Markus had materialized before him, blocking the intended path of his blade.
“What the hell are you doing?” Kenric shouted. His biceps trembled from his sudden restraint and the weight of the sword. “I almost killed you. Get the fuck out of the way!” Markus’s stoic face looked as if he’d recently stepped out of one hell of a battle. Two black eyes, and one side of his face was chewed with deep claw marks, giving every indication of a torture all his own.
“I won’t let you kill her, Kenric.” Marguerite eased up and against Markus, snaking her arms around him.
“What the fuck are you saying?” Kenric’s mind reeled. The image of the two before him…together… No!
“She’s mine.” Markus clutched the hands that stroked his chest.
Marguerite cocked her head to the side and lifted one curved black brow in Kenric’s direction. “You’ve lost more here than you’ll ever know, darling.”
Markus and Marguerite vanished.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Homecomings weren’t supposed to be bittersweet.
Emily was thrilled to be alive and have the love of her life at her side. Kenric had survived his encounter with Marguerite, but more importantly, he had severed the woman’s hold on him, and the possibility of Goran’s blood ever falling into another’s hands had been eliminated. The war still raged, yes, but a monumental battle had been won.
But there had been a price to pay.
The Enclave had lost a warrior: Markus.
The same man, she’d remembered after seeing his face, who had bumped into her outside the coffee shop the night of her first attack.
The same man, evidence revealed to the devastation of all the warriors, who’d orchestrated her attack and kidnapping.
He’d been working for Marguerite.
The entire ride home, Kenric had held her in his arms as she’d dealt with the aftermath of the ancient’s blood in her system. He’d soothed her with his presence, told her how much what she’d done had meant to him. But what he hadn’t spoken of, the pain of Markus’ betrayal, she wished she could take away. She held the key to incredible powers, thanks to him, though none were the antidote for that kind of hurt.
To make matters worse, upon their arrival, Arran had announced that he, too, would be leaving. He felt responsible for not picking up on the change in Markus. The Enclave wasn’t the right place for him, he’d said. He wanted out. Kenric had done his best to change the warrior’s mind, insisting Markus had fooled everyone. Not just Arran.
None of his arguments had made a difference.
One woman saved. Two warriors lost.
In the privacy of their bedroom, Emily wrapped her arms tighter around her mate, finding comfort in the warmth of his body pressed against hers. The steady rhythm of his heart beat in her ear.
“We’ll need to relocate.” Kenric’s rich voice brushed her skin. Emily lifted her head and rested her chin on the backs of her hands. “We can’t risk everyone’s safety since Markus has switched sides.”
“Do you have somewhere in mind?”
“South Carolina has been my home for two centuries, so I would prefer for us to remain in the state,” he said, then planted a kiss to her forehead. “Besides, after Marguerite’s recruiting efforts, a large number of DEADs will need to be mopped up around this area. I’ll have Michael contact a real e
state broker and begin a search for available acreage.” He slid the backs of his knuckles down her sides, then placed his arms around her, hugging her tight. “We’re down two warriors, and finding vampires who are willing to make the kind of commitment it takes to become Enclave is difficult, to say the least. But I, Guerin, and Logan will get the job done. It’s who we are.”
“And it’s who I am, too,” she said. “You’ve got me. Always.”
His hands dropped low on her back, caressing the skin there. “And we’re going to be fine, Wildflower.”
“I know we will.” She gave him a reassuring smile. “In fact, I’ve got to call work and let them know when I’m coming back. I don’t want to quit my job. Maybe I’ll just cut back to part time. You never know when being on staff there could be beneficial to us. Looks like I’ll be on permanent night shifts.” Emily turned her smile into her best devilish grin.”
“That’s very true. Look how it worked out for you and me.” His hands darted lower and gave her ass a squeeze, making her yelp.
“You are so bad.”
“And don’t you forget it.” His voice dipped into that lazy growl that got her juices flowing, but first, she had to get something off her mind.
“Kenric?”
“Hmm?”
“Marguerite’s last words—they keep buzzing in my head. What do you think she meant when she said, ‘You’ve lost more here than you’ll ever know?’”
“I’m sure she truly believes me not mating with her is one of the biggest mistakes of my existence. And that I will have lost an incredible opportunity or something to command a colony of minions.” He kissed the top of her head. “Christ, who knows what her mind saw for us? But nothing could be further from the truth.” His hands left her back, blazing a path along her curves until his fingers brushed the sides of her breast. “I’m exactly where I belong.”
His gaze darkened, and without warning, he rolled her on her back. “You are everything to me. When we blended, you were so afraid that something would go wrong and I wouldn’t come back. But the truth is, that night, you’re the one who gave me life. For the first time in centuries, I truly wanted to live.”
