Return to Me (Storm Lords)

by Nina Croft

  “Madre de dios.” Mitch wiped the back of his hand across his throat then stared at the blood staining his fingers. He lifted it to his face and sniffed, his eyes glowing. “Fucking son-of-a-bitch, you cut me.”

  Cade took a step toward him. “I’ll rip off your fucking head if you don’t talk. Where is he?”

  Mitch held up his hand. “Okay, okay, I’ll tell you. They have him in the basement. But I swear we didn’t know he was one of you.”

  “How the hell could you not know?”

  “You really think we would have risked having him here, if we’d known he belonged to your lot? We’re not total fucking idiots.” Cade raised an eyebrow and Mitch continued, “Anyway they’ve kept him pretty much under wraps. As far as I can tell, he’s been unconscious the whole time.”

  “Drugged?”

  “How the hell should I know?”

  Cade growled low in his throat.

  “Probably.” Mitch glanced between Cade and Torr then around at the empty bar. “Look, just get your friend and get the hell out of here. You’re not exactly good for business.”

  “Lead the way.” Cade gestured with the knife and the man shuffled past him giving them all a wide birth. Reaching across the bar, he picked up a set of keys. He turned and jumped when he found Cade directly behind him.

  “How many guards?” Cade asked.

  “Two.”

  “Only two? Are you sure?”

  “I told you, he’s unconscious.”

  Cade came back to stand in front of them. He leaned in and spoke so low, Bella had to strain to hear him. “You think the wolf is telling the truth? It could be a trap. Bryce might already be dead.”

  “I don’t think so,” Torr said. “We’d have sensed it. I think this was just a plot to distract me, maybe draw us out in the open, give them a chance to get hold of—” He broke off abruptly and Bella had the distinct impression that he had been about to say her name. But why would anyone want to ‘get her’? It didn’t make sense. Then again, none of this did. She presumed from their conversations that their friend Bryce was here, that someone was holding him prisoner. Did this mean he wasn’t a murderer after all? She hoped so.

  “Bryce won’t be dead,” Torr said emphatically. “Lilith, for all her faults, won’t allow them to kill him. Bryce was one of hers once. She’ll remember that. Come on, let’s go find him.”

  Who the hell was Lilith?

  Before she could ask, Torr turned to her. “Stay close behind me.”

  Bella intended to stay very, very close.

  ***

  Torr bit back his impatience as the shifter fumbled with the keys. Finally, the door swung open. Mitch glanced back at them, and Cade gestured for him to go through first. He opened his mouth to argue, caught sight of Cade’s expression, and decided against it. He stepped through the doorway, followed closely by Cade, Torr and Bella.

  At least Bella had paid attention to him and was so close he could feel the warmth from her body. She appeared to be taking this remarkably well.

  Lilith couldn’t kill her; that would break the Covenant, and Torr would be free of the demoness forever, which was not what she was after. But he wouldn’t be surprised to find that she was involved in this. While she couldn’t act directly, she could help behind the scenes and nothing happened in the Abyss without Lilith knowing.

  The door opened into a narrow passageway. Torr followed them to a stairway at the far end, which led underground. The walls were bare concrete and the lighting dim. He breathed in deeply and caught the faint whiff of sulfur. At the bottom of the stairs, a closed steel door barred the way. The wolf nodded toward it and stepped back.

  “Wait here,” Cade growled. He glanced toward Torr, who gave a slight incline of his head.

  Torr turned to Bella. Her eyes were huge. “What happens, now?” she whispered.

  “Cade goes in there, and gets our friend.”

  “Aren’t there guards? Shouldn’t you go and help him.”

  “Only two. I think Cade can handle two.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close as Cade kicked in the door. He felt Bella’s indrawn breath and pulled her even closer, hiding her face against his chest. Maybe he should have left her back at the house. But he couldn’t be sure they wouldn’t go after her there. Those shadow demons on the beach had shaken him. He could keep her safe from them, but without his protection, they would suck the soul from her body and leave her an empty shell. No, he couldn’t let her out of his sight.

  She tensed in his arms as thunder rumbled from the room and flashes of bright crimson light lit up the doorway.

  “All clear,” Cade called.

  Torr loosened his grip on Bella and set her from him. He stepped inside and looked around. The room was bare of any furniture. The bodies of the guards had vanished, leaving nothing but a greasy smear of ash on the floor where they’d fallen. The scent of sulfur still lingered in the air, mingling with the sharp acrid stench of fresh and old blood.

  Bryce was shackled to the wall at the far side of the room; his arms secured high above his head. He sagged from the restraints, clearly unconscious. Which was just as well. He was a mess. Naked, his whole body was a crisscross pattern of knife slashes. Blood still oozed from the wounds, but he would heal. If he wanted to.

  How had they taken him? Had he let them? Had he hoped to find the peace he had begged Torr to give him, nearly a year ago. The peace Torr had denied him. They still didn’t know for sure whether Bryce had been involved in the murders. He could only hope not.

  Cade hurried to his side. Wrapping one arm around Bryce’s chest, he used his knife to twist open the shackles. Bryce collapsed and Cade lowered him gently to the floor. He ran his hands over the other man’s body, lifted his eyelids, and turned to Torr. “He’ll survive.”

  An indrawn breath from behind him, made Torr swing around. Bella stood inside the door, staring at Bryce. Her face filled with compassion. As he watched, she hurried across the room and went down beside him. Reaching out, she stroked his face, then looked up at Torr. “Is this your friend?”

  He nodded. Something twisted inside him as he watched her, saw the concern in her face. This was his Soraya, as he remembered her from the days when he had fallen irrevocably in love with her, and the course of his life had been changed forever. She had drawn him to her with her love and compassion.

  Cade pulled out his mobile phone and called up the car. “It will be here in a couple of minutes,” he said to the room in general. “Let’s get out of this shithole.”

  Torr agreed wholeheartedly. He crossed to where Bella still knelt on the filthy floor and held out his hand. “Come on, let Cade look after him.”

  “Will he be all right?”

  “He’ll be fine.” And he would be, at least physically. Bella didn’t need to know of the mental torture Bryce had endured since he’d lost his own love two years ago.

  She reached up, put her hand in his, and he pulled her to her feet. They moved back as Cade lifted the unconscious man in his arms, careless of the blood that stained his clothing. He led the way out past the bartender, who pressed himself back against the wall.

  Torr followed. He paused by the wolf. “Tell your people, if they deal with demons again, I’ll personally burn this place to the ground.”

  Relief flashed across the wolf’s face. He’d been expecting some sort of retribution. But Torr had learned the hard way that revenge was not something that worked for him. After Soraya had been taken from him, he’d given himself over to revenge on everything and anyone. None of it had lessened the pain. Now he would destroy for a reason, but never again for vengeance.

  The car drew up as they stepped outside. Cade laid the unconscious Bryce on the backseat before climbing into the front next to the driver. Torr sat opposite Bryce, Bella pulled close to his side. For the moment, all her rough edges seemed to be smoothed. He guessed she was too tired to keep fighting him.

  He leaned back and closed his eyes, shutting out t
he sight of Bryce, and the knowledge of what the following day might bring. Bryce had been his brother, his friend, and Torr had brought him into this. Stealing the Elixir had been Torr’s idea. Without Torr, Bryce would still bear the white wings of an angel, would be welcome in Heaven, instead of this living Hell he existed in right now.

  The burden of the past weighed on him. But the truth was, he would do the same again rather than forsake her.

  He opened his eyes and found her watching him, a worried look in her eyes. “You look sad,” she said. “Aren’t you pleased you’ve found your friend?”

  “Of course. One thing though, Bella, keep away from Bryce.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We still don’t know exactly what went on here. Until we do, I don’t want you near him. I’ll tell him the same.”

  She shrugged. “Okay. So why did Cade call the bartender ‘wolf’?”

  He frowned at the change of subject. “Because it’s his name?”

  “Actually, his name was Mitch. You know, you said you’d tell me what you could. And I reckon this is one of those things.”

  He shrugged. “He’s a wolf shifter.”

  “Like a werewolf?”

  A small smile slanted his head. “Something like that. But werewolves don’t exist.”

  “Yeah right. Werewolves don’t exist, but shifters do. That’s just semantics.”

  “Maybe.”

  “So was everyone in that bar a…shifter?”

  “Not everyone, but most.”

  “Oh.” She went quiet for a moment. “And who’s Lilith?” He shot her a sharp glance and she raised an eyebrow. “You said Bryce had once been one of hers.”

  He didn’t want to discuss Lilith with Bella. It had been nearly a thousand years since he had acted as the Queen’s consort, shared her bed. It had meant nothing to him; he hadn’t cared what he did with his body. But sitting beside Bella now, a wave of shame washed over him. He had to force himself not to squirm and knew he hadn’t totally succeeded in hiding his reaction, when Bella’s eyes narrowed on him.

  “We’re you once one of hers?”

  “In a way, but it was a long time ago.” He shifted in the seat. “A very long time ago.”

  She pursed her lips, considered him for a minute as though she could peer into his mind, and for the first time, he was glad she couldn’t. “What’s the Destroyer?”

  Again, the change of subject threw him. He frowned. “Aren’t you tired?”

  “Let me guess, that’s one of the things you can’t answer.” He inclined his head, and she sighed. “I suppose I am quite tired, after all. You’ll tell me soon, right.”

  “As soon as I can.”

  He hoped to God that he would get the opportunity.

  Chapter 14

  Day 4

  The nightmare came again that night.

  Her own scream woke her. Torr sat in the chair by the bed. At first, she thought him asleep, but then saw the gleam of his eyes. He didn’t move, and she found his presence strangely comforting and drifted back to sleep. He was gone when she woke up in the morning. She showered, dressed, and opened her bedroom door to find a man parked outside; big, and dressed in black, with the Stormlord Security insignia on his chest. She didn’t recognize him, and he didn’t speak as she inched her way around him and headed downstairs.

  The kitchen was empty, but the smell of coffee lured her inside. She poured a mug and took it with her, while she went in search of someone to tell her what was going on. She wanted to find out how Torr’s friend was. He’d been hurt so bad; it was probably a good thing he’d been unconscious and couldn’t feel the pain.

  She saw and heard no one and eventually found herself in a courtyard in the center of the building, open to the sky and with a small, walled pond in the middle. Perched on the edge, she watched the plump carp swim in lazy circles. The sun was warm, the sky blue; nothing bad could happen on such a beautiful day. She stirred the water with her finger.

  “How do you feel?”

  She looked up at Torr’s words. He lounged against the doorframe and she got the impression he’d been watching her for a while. Something uncoiled inside her at the sight of him, warmth stealing through her veins.

  “I have to go out,” he said.

  She pushed herself to her feet. “Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll be ready.”

  “No, you stay here this time.”

  She frowned. “So why wasn’t it okay last night to leave me, but it is today?”

  “Cade will be here today. He needs to spend time with Phoebe, but he’ll keep you safe.”

  She looked around at the peaceful surroundings. “Safe from what? Just what do you think could happen?” It was a stupid question, when she considered all that had happened in the last few days. So she tried another one. “Where are you going?”

  “I’ve spoken with Bryce. I’m sure he had nothing to do with the murders.”

  “I’m pleased.”

  “But someone set him up. I need to find out who. And I need to deal with them.”

  “Why you?”

  “It’s my responsibility. Bryce is my responsibility.”

  She sat back down on the edge of the pond and swirled her hand in the cool water. One of the golden fish rose to the surface and nibbled at her fingertip. She didn’t want to stay here alone. She’d rather go with him. She opened her mouth, then clamped it shut again. What was happening to her? Once again, she felt as though something monumental hovered on the edge of her consciousness. Something she should know.

  Maybe some time alone would be good. Get her brain in order; try to figure things out.

  “Okay,” she said. “I’ll be good.”

  “Just don’t leave the house, and don’t go near Bryce.”

  Was he under the impression he could order her about? “Yes, boss.”

  A small smile curled his lips. He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. “My number’s on speed dial. Call me if you need me.”

  She nodded.

  “I’ll be back later. We’ll knock down that wall.”

  “I thought maybe you’d forgotten about that.”

  “No.”

  He closed the space between them, and she didn’t try to avoid him as he reached down and pulled her into his arms. Something inside her craved this. She didn’t understand why, and she was beyond caring right now. It was more than a physical feeling, though she didn’t have a lot to compare it to. She’d never experienced physical desire before, but the touch of his hands woke a need inside her, her whole body yearning for him. She lifted her face as his lips slanted down over hers. This was not a gentle kiss, his mouth hard and hot, and his tongue pushed inside, moist velvet stroking her, sending ripples of heat sizzling along her nerve endings. His hard hands molded her shoulders, sliding down her back, pressing her closer, coming to rest on the globes of her ass. He lifted her, urging her against him until the steely hardness of his erection pushed insistently against her belly, and everything inside her melted to a puddle of hot, wet desire.

  When he raised his head, she wanted to drag him back to her.

  “I want you. You know that?”

  She nodded.

  He held her a moment longer, then leaned down and kissed her briefly on the lips. “I have to go.”

  She nodded again, quite incapable of speech.

  “We’ll continue this later.”

  As he released his hold on her, her legs gave way, and she sank to the bench behind her.

  “Once I get this problem sorted, I’m clear. When I get back…” He sighed. “At least admit that you want me, and we’ll move on from there.”

  Why didn’t he go, before she begged him to stay? When she remained silent, he inclined his head, turned, and walked away.

  Bella watched as he disappeared from sight; her teeth clamped hard on her lower lip to keep the words from escaping.

  How had she come to this so quickly? She’d never needed anyone
in her life. Well, not since she finally had given up on her mother and accepted that the woman who had brought her into this world would never care for her.

  Despite the warmth of the sun, cold seeped into her skin. She didn’t want to care for Torr. What if he was using her? Should she get out of here now? Before she got in any deeper? She’d run away before and disappeared—not that anyone had come looking for her—she could do it again.

  At the thought of running and never seeing Torr again, a sense of loss rose up inside her. She reached up and touched her fingertip to her lips where the memory of his kiss still lingered.

  Was running away an act of cowardice? Should she stay and face up to these feelings he roused in her? Deep inside, she knew she wanted her answer to be yes, despite her fear. Could she face it? And if she finally peered into his mind and found he didn’t care, that it had all been some elaborate plan to use her for his own purposes, could she survive? Would she want to? But for the first time, she craved something other than safety and security.

  She wanted Torr.

  There, she had admitted it, if only to herself. She wanted to feel his arms around her, his mouth on hers, his big hard body moving on her, in her. A shiver of desire ran through her, re-igniting the fires in her belly. The time they’d been together after Justin’s death had only been a fraction of what could be. She sensed instinctively that Torr could give her pleasure beyond imagining, pleasure she might never recover from. But maybe it would be worth it. Just once in her life, she wanted to experience total desire. Immerse herself in it, with no reservations. Maybe she could keep the wall and have Torr. She still held the cell phone in her hand. Before she could persuade herself otherwise, she hit the speed dial. Torr picked up immediately. “I do want you,” she said, then ended the call.

  Done. She’d try not to think about it now, or she would tie herself up in knots. She forced her mind to other things.

  There was another aspect to all this. Torr seemed to think she was in danger. She had a vague memory of those scary moments last night on the beach. But the memory was fuzzy and insubstantial in her mind. Those things. Had they even been real?