by Vivi Anna
Sophie must’ve picked up on her feelings. She put her arm around Olena. “It’s going to be okay.”
She nodded to Sophie, but she wasn’t so sure.
“How did you get through not knowing if Kellen was alive or…” She couldn’t finish the sentence.
“One minute at a time. If I could get through that minute, I knew I could get through the next.” She shrugged. “I dove into work. I kept my mind busy.
Anything not to have to think about it.”
“Bet you thought about it, anyway.”
Sophie nodded. “Twenty-four seven.”
Olena took in a deep breath of cool air, then let it out. “I’m going to kill Valentino when we find him.”
Sophie hugged her tight. “I know.”
The door behind them opened, and Gabriel poked his head out. “We may have found where they’re holding Cale.”
They all went back upstairs, and Gabriel told them that one of the teams had found two big, beefy lycans going in and out of a large, seemingly abandoned warehouse and a lot of residual magic. One of the team members was a witch. She could see the faint red haze of spell casting around the building.
“When do we go in?” Olena asked.
“Olena—” Gabriel started.
“Don’t say it. I’m going, and that’s the end of it. No one is going to stop me. And if they try, I will hurt them. You have my promise on that.”
Gabriel cleared his throat to start again. “I was just going to say that you should hang back in the second line and let the front line clear the area.”
She nodded. “Fine. I can do that.”
“Okay. Let’s get our guy back.”
Fifteen minutes later, Olena was impatiently waiting behind a line of four officers outfitted in black SWAT gear. They were the first line and were to go in, smoke out the place and take down the bad guys. Then Olena could go in and search for Cale.
She told Gabriel she would wait, but the longer she thought about it, the more she knew she couldn’t. She had to go in first. She had to be the one to find him.
On a count of three, the four officers ran toward the warehouse to form a perimeter. She watched, her hands shaking, sweat slicking her back, as they mounted their assault. Five seconds later, they simultaneously lobbed smoke canisters through the windows. And that was when all hell broke loose.
There were shouts and shots fired and explosions of color all around the warehouse. It was obvious the place was rigged with varying types of traps, one of them magic. Who knew what kind of spells were being triggered as the team moved in?
She couldn’t hold back. She had to get in there.
What if Cale was killed in the crossfire?
Olena set out toward the warehouse. Gabriel called her back, but she ignored him and kept on moving. She ran to the first checkpoint, a rusted-out old car to hide behind. As she scouted out the situation, she unholstered her weapon and flipped off the safety. On the count of three, she ran toward the warehouse, where more shots and shouts rang out. It sounded like a war zone in there.
Right before she reached the back-door entrance, she paused. Something wasn’t right. A sense of dread and wrongness washed over her. Sensing something creep over her back, she looked up, searching for the cause of her unease. That was when she met Valentino’s gaze from the next building over. He was staring at her from the top floor of what looked an old factory.
They had the wrong building.
Olena clicked on the radio that was attached to the collar of her crime-scene jacket as she ran full out toward the next building. “We have the wrong building! Get out! Cale is not in there. He’s in the next building over to the east.”
She made it to the large bay door of the next building and kicked it open. Without hesitation she entered, weapon pointed. It didn’t matter what they threw at her, she was bulletproof, and because of the amulet François had given her before she left, magic-proof as well.
“Cale!” she yelled the second she was in the building. She crossed the empty main floor to the metal staircase. “Cale!”
She took the stairs two at a time, and reached the next floor in seconds. There was a long hallway with what looked like offices to her right. Valentino was that way. She was sure of it.
She edged along the wall, careful to step over the debris on the floor. When she reached one of the offices, she looked through the dirty window, then drew her head back again. It was empty. She quickly passed the door and then kept walking to the next office.
Before she could reach the door, Valentino stepped out with a sardonic grin on his face. “Well, well, you are full of surprises.”
She trained her gun on him. “Where is Cale?”
“You know, I had you pegged all wrong. I thought you were an opportunist. I thought you were a survivor. A woman who would do anything to get what she wanted.”
“I am. And I will.” The weapon never wavered in her hand. “If you tell me where he is, I might let you live.”
He motioned toward the room he’d just stepped out of. “He’s in there.”
Cautiously, Olena moved forward, keeping her gun trained on Valentino. He took a step back to allow her entrance into the room. She kept her gaze on the witch as she sidestepped into the room. Cale was there in the middle of the room, chained to a chair, tape over his mouth. He looked badly beat-up, but he was alive. He blinked up at her, his eyes wide in surprise at seeing her.
Relief surged through her. “I found you. Oh my love, I found you.” She moved toward him, intending to untie him, when Valentino started to laugh.
Startled, she whipped around to glare at him. He looked way too happy for a man who’d just been caught.
Chapter 30
Cale startled awake from his spot on the floor. He hadn’t moved since being kicked across the room. He struggled to sit up and leaned his back against the wall. He could hear gunshots ringing out from nearby. He turned his head, pressing his ear to the wall. The shots were definitely outside, near the building he was in. Maybe the cavalry had actually arrived.
He had to be ready. He couldn’t just sit here, broken and unable to aid in his own rescue. He wanted to see Olena again on his feet and not on his back. Mustering all his strength, Cale pushed up with his legs, using the wall as leverage. At first he wobbled and nearly fell, but he braced his hands on the wall and kept his feet.
He had to take in a few breaths before he could even think about walking across the room to the door. His head was swimming in a thick gray fog. His vision ebbed in and out. And it wouldn’t take much for him to lose his lunch. Every movement he made sent his gut rolling. Pain was a constant, unwelcome companion.
But he had to suck it up if he was going to get the hell out of this room and find Olena.
Shaking his head and rubbing a hand over his face to clear the sweat from his eyes, Cale pushed off the wall and stumbled toward the door.
He made it without falling onto his face. Leaning against the door, he took in some more deep breaths. His lungs spasmed with every motion. He suspected one of his broken ribs had punctured something inside. It probably wouldn’t be long before he started coughing up blood. If only he had the rejuvenation powers of an Otherworlder.
He was about to try the doorknob again when the door swung open and one of the lycan bruisers stomped into the room. Surprised, he swung around toward Cale, but he came too late. Cale was already in motion.
Cale kicked the mammoth between the legs with a crunching blow. The lycan doubled over, and Cale chopped him in the throat with the side of his hand.
The two blows wouldn’t kill the giant, but at least they would afford Cale enough time to get out of the room and hopefully stumble his way into his rescuers’ hands.
Without looking back to see if the lycan was up and after him, Cale moved as fast as he could down a corridor. It was a now-or-never scenario.
There were rooms on either side of him as he stumbled forward. Rooms that looked like offices. He was in
some sort of abandoned shipping warehouse.
Probably by the water, by the musty smell in the air.
He kept moving, putting one foot in front of the other. He needed a weapon of some sort. It wouldn’t be long before the lycan was after him. Nothing short of a bullet in the head was going to put the bruiser down.
Cale scanned the floor as he moved, looking for anything he could use. A pipe, a broken piece of lumber. But nothing jumped out at him.
Risking a glance behind him, Cale rounded a corner. The lycan wasn’t on his ass. In fact, he appeared to be pretty much alone. Except for the gunshots he could still hear in the distance. Then he heard something else that gave him pause. A voice.
A beautiful, Russian-accented voice that nearly made him weep with joy.
He came up short and peered into one of the offices. And that’s when he saw her. His gorgeous vampiress. She was bent over talking to another man, who was bound to a chair. Another man that looked exactly like him.
He stepped into the room. “Olena?”
She whirled around, confusion furrowing her brow. She looked at him, then at his doppelganger in the chair, then back to him. “What the hell?”
“That guy isn’t me, Olena.” He pointed at the struggling man in the chair. “It’s an illusion. It’s a trick.”
Valentino stepped out of the shadows. Cale hadn’t seen him when he’d first entered the room. He was smiling. “Isn’t this fun? Who’s who in the zoo?”
Cale moved toward Olena. “Look at me, luv. It’s really me.”
She searched his face for a long moment, and then something in her gaze told him that she knew it was truly him. A grin split her face. She turned toward him, her arms open, and he moved toward her.
That was when he saw movement behind her.
Whoever had been bound to the chair miraculously stood up. He had a metal stake in his hand and he was advancing toward Olena.
Cale rushed to her, grabbed her by the arms and spun her out of the way. He twisted around and felt something pinch him in the back. He didn’t feel any pain. He was just relieved to have gotten Olena out of the way.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion after that.
He heard Valentino laughing, but his voice sounded far off, from a distance. He saw Olena’s eyes widen and her mouth form a surprised O. He saw a flash of anguish come over her face. Why was she so sad? They were together again. She should’ve been happy.
“Cale!” She bounded toward him, her arms outstretched trying to grab him. He didn’t feel like he’d been falling, but Olena caught him and brought him down to the floor. Then she disappeared in a blur of motion.
In the next second, Cale felt a spray of moisture on his face. He looked around to see what had been his body double collapse onto the floor in a blur of blood. The moment the body hit the wood, it transformed into one of the lycan henchmen.
Valentino had used him as bait to hurt Olena. But Cale had saved her. He smiled, knowing that he’d pushed her out of harm’s way.
Valentino took that opportunity to move toward the door to escape.
“Stop him, Olena,” he said, his voice sounding hollow in his ears. “He’s getting away.”
Before he could blink, she was on Valentino. She had him dangling by the neck with one hand.
The witch was tearing at her hand and kicking at her stomach, but it didn’t look like it was having any effect on her.
“I told you I was going to kill you, Valentino,” she snarled.
Cale had never seen her like that before. Her eyes glowed a bright green, and her fangs were fully distended. She was snarling, fierce as a wild animal.
“But I’m not going to.” She tossed him to the side. He hit the wall hard and promptly slid down like a rag doll onto the floor. “You can rot in a jail cell for the rest of your life instead.”
She returned to Cale’s side, wrapping her arms around him and cradling his body, pressing her hands on his back. “I’m here, Cale. I’m here.” Tears rolled down her cheeks.
He rubbed them away with his fingers. “Why the tears? We won. We got the bad guys.”
Pursing her lips, her gaze fell to his side, then up again. He looked down, following her eyes. He was covered in blood. Beneath him was a widening pool that seemed to have no end.
He looked up at her face. Her eyes were so beautiful, even swimming in tears. He smiled and traced her lips with this thumb. “You’re so beautiful. I love to look at you.”
“Hush. Don’t talk. Help is coming.”
“I knew you would come for me.”
“Always.”
His eyelids felt heavy. He was having a difficult time keeping them open. But he wanted to. He wanted to keep looking at Olena. He never wanted to lose her image in his mind.
The rest of the team swarmed into the room, Gabriel in the lead. He came over to where Cale lay and knelt down on the other side of him.
“How is he?”
Olena didn’t speak. She just shook her head.
Gabriel lifted Cale up a little and looked down at his back. His face visibly paled. It was then that Cale knew he was dying. He’d taken the mortal wound meant for Olena. The look that passed between Gabriel and Olena spoke volumes.
“Can you do anything?” she asked.
Gabriel swallowed. Cale watched the motion in his throat. Then the lycan shook his head.
Cale cradled Olena’s face. “It’s okay. I’m not in any pain.”
Sobbing, she leaned down and pressed her lips to his. “I can’t stand to lose you.”
“Me, either. I don’t want to leave you.”
“I love you, Cale.”
He smiled and kissed her, breathing in her smell, inhaling everything about her. He’d longed to hear those words from her. And now he had them. “I love you.”
Closing her eyes, Olena lifted her head to the sky and screamed. Cale’s body shook from the violence of it. He could hear her pain and her anguish. He felt the same inside. He didn’t want to leave after just having found her again. Anger at the injustice made him shudder.
She came forward again, and her eyes were glowing. “I won’t let you go.”
“Olena,” Gabriel said, a warning in his voice.
“Tell me it’s okay, and I won’t let you go.”
At first Cale didn’t understand what she was saying. But the fierceness in her gaze and the way she was breathing, her fangs overhanging her bottom lip, tipped him off. She wanted to turn him.
“I can keep death away. I can turn you and you’ll never feel death’s knock again.”
“Olena, you don’t know what will happen.”
“Stay out of this, Gabriel. It’s Cale’s decision.”
The warmth of his body was draining out of him.
He knew it wouldn’t be long now before death stole him for good. But he didn’t have to go. Not really. He could cheat death’s embrace and stay with Olena for eternity. To love her for a lifetime. It seemed like a fantasy and nothing more. But it was true. He could have everything he’d ever wanted from this woman. All he had to do was say yes.
He looked up into Olena’s face and saw what he needed to see. She loved him, mind, body and soul. He could see it in the glow of her emerald-green eyes. Here was his answer, staring at him, begging him to let her love him for a lifetime.
He ran his thumb over her lips one last time, the tip of this thumb rubbing the edge of her fangs. “Yes. I want to live. I want to be with you forever.”
Olena leaned forward and tilted his head back, then she bit into his neck. The sharp pain radiated up his neck and seemed to settle in his head. Soon everything faded into black, into nothingness. Then Cale died.
Chapter 31
For three days and three nights Olena watched over Cale.
After she’d drained him of what little blood he had left, on the hard floor of the abandoned warehouse, she’d torn at her own wrist and dribbled her blood into his mouth. She’d massaged his throat to help him swallow
it down. He had, and then had fallen into a deep state of unconsciousness, much like a coma.
The main thing was that he hadn’t died.
She’d had the paramedics, who’d finally showed two minutes after she’d bled him dry, transport him to her house. She’d set him up in her bedroom, making him as comfortable as she could. She made the room dark and cool and conducive to healing.
He hadn’t fully awakened yet. He’d come to once, violent, out of his mind and ravenous for blood. She’d fed him, again helping him swallow every mouthful. Then he’d fallen back into unconsciousness.
She couldn’t deny she was worried, but she wasn’t letting it swallow her up. She wouldn’t let it destroy her faith. Faith that Cale would rise up soon. A vampire and hers for an eternity.
Olena went into the kitchen to make herself a salad. Marie jumped up onto the counter and meowed. Purring, she rubbed her sleek body against Olena’s arm. Olena scratched her on top of the head.
“What are you doing, my little girl?”
The cat meowed and swished her tail toward the bedroom.
Olena smiled. “Yeah, I am worried for him as well.”
Just then her phone rang. She snatched it up after two rings. “Hello.”
“How’s he doing?” It was Gabriel.
“No change yet. But I’m hopeful.”
He didn’t respond. He knew as well as she did that the longer he remained in the coma, the worse his chances. After five days, the chances that Cale would survive became slim to none. Turning was a very hard thing to do, and the odds of survival were a grim one in ten thousand, which was one of the reasons she’d never considered turning anyone before. It was like watching the one you loved die twice without hope of helping them.
Olena had done all she could to aid Cale’s transition. Now it was up to fate to play its hand.
“Ivy was asking after you.”
She smiled thinking of the teen witch. “Was she? Is she all settled yet?”
“Not yet. But she will be soon. She has one last meeting with the lawyers, then she’s a free bird.”
