She turned to Mal.
He nodded. “I agree. My guess is that everyone stationary has been captured and the moving ones are guards.”
“There are at least forty stationary bodies.” She refocused her glasses. “And there’s this one person who exudes far higher body heat than the rest. He or she is surrounded by two people who have a much lower body temperature than the surrounding individuals.”
“Vampires,” was all Mal said. He strode up to the chain-locked entrance as if he were invisible.
They can’t see us. We’re not exactly invisible but we’re surrounded by a Don’t-See spell. It makes them look the other way.
How long does it work?
Until someone bumps into us or has enough internal magic to push through my spell.
So any moment now.
He shrugged. Possible, but unlikely. Ethan has set up a distraction.
An explosion shattered the top floor of the warehouse. Small parts of debris rained down on them.
Jade, you’re killing the hostages.
No, Ethan is a master. The explosion is all fluff.
Going by the massive fireballs shooting out of the top windows she didn’t want to see what Mal called a proper explosion.
Mal pulled the brand-new lock off the rusty door and gently pushed it open. The light inside the warehouse was dim and shadowy. Two men stood at the bottom of a wide staircase, both holding assault phasers. Their eyes widened when no one stepped through the opening door.
Mal lifted his own phaser and, with two silenced blasts, took out the guards. He grabbed their communicators and pulled their bodies out of sight.
Adira raised her phaser and slunk up the stairs, moving slowly from shadow to shadow, Mal not two steps behind her. It was slow going as the stairs were riddled with holes and missing treads. Finally she stopped just below the top of the steps.
The second floor opened up before her. The windows had been barricaded with wood and cardboard, restricting visibility. The captives sat in smaller groups, eight to ten, all with at least two guards. The rest of the guards covered the exits or milled about, intimidating the hostages. Opposite their landing a number of doorways led into other areas of the warehouse.
There’s no cover. If we start shooting at the bad guys we risk injuring the hostages.
Give me a moment, Mal replied.
They stood in the slim cover of the shadow while Mal tapped his comp a few times. She guessed being a Vampire gave him extra-sensitive vision as the screen stayed dark the whole time. Suddenly copies of Mal and her stepped out of a doorway across from them and drew the guards’ attention.
Before the guards could fire, the holograms turned around and ran off. Half the guards followed, leaving only one guard with each group.
Then they started to drop.
Gustave is our sharpshooter.
Of course he is, Adira thought, not hiding it from Mal. You have an explosives expert, a weapons and computer geek, so all you were missing is a sharpshooter. What is your special power in the quartet of superheroes?
I do the magic.
She felt his laughter, but what did he expect? This little troupe of his was beyond ridiculous. He had every avenue covered. He doesn’t need you. That thought she managed to keep tucked away from their link.
Another explosion shook the building. That was the rest of the guards. We should be in the clear now.
He pushed past her and stepped onto the landing. Two more men, phasers at the ready, entered the open area from the other side. Adira followed more slowly. This had been far too easy. Her gut churned.
But they met no more resistance.
They had missed something.
Something important.
Mal lowered his weapon and began to check on the victims. Some looked as if they’d been here for days with very limited amenities and food, some had to have been snatched within the last day or so.
“Ethan, call the Sentinels and ambulances. We need to get them to the hospital.” His second-in-command nodded and tapped his earcom to make the calls. Mal turned around, looking for Adira. She hadn’t lowered her weapon yet and continued to scan the entrances in between checking each group of victims. “What’s wrong?”
“We’ve missed something. This was far too easy.”
He frowned and wanted to dismiss her worry, but her certainty that something was amiss radiated through their link. “Ethan, Sam, be on the lookout. Gustave, scan the building.”
His men raised their brows at him, but they’d been a team long enough trust was automatic. Tension invaded their bodies. Ethan continued to check the victims, but now Sam covered him.
Adira whirled to Mal. “She’s not here.”
“Who isn’t?”
“Marissa. And neither is the person who radiated that much heat. What does the tracker show?”
He pulled the comp out and checked the reading. “She is on the western edge of the building. What the fuck is she doing there? That side isn’t safe.”
His lifemate didn’t wait to find out, but tore through the remnants of the doorway. She had to weave over and around piles of bricks and other obstacles thrown up by a ruined building. He followed only a few steps behind.
A crumbled wall, about waist-high, separated the final room from the rest of the building. The ceiling in that last area had caved in long ago, leaving it open to the elements.
And free to park a shuttle.
Mal cursed and overtook Adira, pushing her behind a pile of half-rotted wooden skids. It wasn’t a lot of cover but it was preferable to nothing. They both inched to either side for a better look.
One man dragged Marissa and another woman to the ramp of the shuttle. His blood-red eyes identified him as a Feral, a Vampire who had no respect for humans or their laws.
A Vampire who had given up his soul and killed when feeding.
A Vampire who believed humans to be food and nothing else.
A Vampire who had a kill-on-sight order.
Jim danced from one foot to the other at the bottom of the ramp, gesticulating to another Vampire.
Mal cursed again.
And not just any Vampire.
Miguel Calatrave, the Spaniard.
One of the oldest living Vampires and a man Mal would never have thought to deal with the likes of Jim. Mal had never met him, but he’d heard of him. The Spaniard’s reputation was that of honor and Old World values.
And now here he was with a human, smuggling other humans, and in the presence of a Feral.
Jade, if the Ferals were mixed up in this it was a whole different barrel of shit. And having the Spaniard involved raised the stakes even higher.
Calatrave looked up and met Mal’s gaze across the length of the room. His eyes were brown, not Feral red, but they showed no emotion whatsoever. He raised his phaser and shot Jim point blank, killing the human. Before Mal could call out, Calatrave refocused, this time shooting at Adira.
Adira!
He knew the vest would protect her, but fear still clenched his stomach.
The Spaniard fired two more times and Adira slumped to the floor.
Mal’s heart stopped.
He didn’t know if she’d taken cover or if she’d been hit.
Then he scented blood.
Adira! he screamed again.
Silence.
Mal threw a spell at the other Vampire, but Calatrave was already halfway up the ramp. The shuttle took off, but Mal only had eyes for his fallen lifemate.
She lay on the other side of the skids, a scorch mark on the vest. It had saved her. “Adira, are you all right?” He slid to a stop beside her, dropped to his knees and ignored the pain shooting through him when he slammed into a brick. “Adira, talk to me.”
Her eyes blinked a couple of times and she moved her right hand from her neck.
That’s when he saw the blood.
The phaser beam had grazed her neck. A deep cut that bled heavily.
She was at risk of bleedi
ng out.
“No!” His scream echoed through the ruins of the warehouse.
He couldn’t lose her.
He wouldn’t lose her.
Mal extended his fangs and slashed his wrist. Adira, drink! He commanded his lifemate with all his power. It was possible she would hate him for changing her, but at least she would be alive.
I could never hate you. Her voice, feeble and so much quieter than he’d ever heard it, shimmered in his head.
Relief raced through him, tightly linked to soul-destroying terror. She grew weaker. I need you to drink.
How will it change me?
I’ll explain everything to you, but now you have to drink.
If I’m a Vampire I can’t be a Sentinel any longer.
He froze. Being a Sentinel wasn’t just Adira’s occupation.
It was her life.
Could she give up her soul?
Adira blinked a few times to clear her vision. She was dying. She’d always known it was a possibility that her job would kill her and it had never stopped her. But now there was Mal.
Her sexy Vampire leaned over her, his wrist dripping blood. Terror darkened his green eyes and his desperation and panic raced along the link.
And his doubt.
Could she give up being a Sentinel?
He was right. She had never imagined herself as anything other than a Sentinel, had even accepted a posting to the arse of the universe to stay in the job.
Her job was her life.
But what kind of life had it been? A life where she had to battle against jerks and assholes who were supposed to have her back on a daily basis. A life that had grown more and more dominated by the need to find who was taking her people. A life where she went home alone every night and never trusted the men she walked through the door with.
A life where the highlights had been the visits to the bar and an evening with Mal.
Images of her time with Mal flashed through her mind. Their laughter, his teasing, their shared love for old movies, his passion for spaceball and the lousy team he supported.
His kiss, his touch. The scent of his skin and the feel of him beneath her hands.
Her breathing grew labored.
And still Mal didn’t move.
He could force her to drink his blood, could force her to live.
But he would not do that. Not when it meant losing something so important to her.
Mal was her other half, her soul mate.
It was as if the weight of a planet dropped off her chest.
He was hers.
With effort she raised her hand to his cheek. I love you. Nothing is more important than you.
Joy raced along their link. I love you too, Adira. You are my life, the other half of my soul.
She smiled, his words filling up the hole she’d carried inside her chest her whole life. Do it.
Mal wasted not one second. He pushed his bleeding wrist against her mouth. The thought of drinking blood made her a little sick, but she was too weak to resist.
His blood trickled down her throat. It tasted nothing like blood, but like a rich, dark brownie. She swallowed with delight. How?
I’m helping you to take the necessary amount.
The numbness stopped spreading through her body. Her breathing grew a little less labored.
Mal closed the gap on his wrist and kissed her. I am sorry that our first exchange is under these circumstances.
She mentally shrugged. You can make it up to me.
He snorted. I will, I promise. Then he raised her weak body to a sitting position and pulled her onto his lap. He pulled her head back, stretching her neck and sank his fangs in her.
She hissed at the momentary pain, but then the most exquisite pleasure spread through her. After the heights he’d taken her to at Lust, Adira hadn’t thought it could get any better.
She’d been wrong.
It made no sense, but with every suck of blood he took, strength returned to her body. Enough so she could wrap her arms around him and hold him close.
He stopped drinking from her and just held her, his heart racing alongside hers. “That was close.”
She caressed the back of his neck. “It was.”
Mal pulled back enough he could look her in the eyes. “It’s not over yet. I need to get you someplace safe and comfortable. The transformation is hard enough. I won’t let you suffer in these circumstances.”
She cupped his cheek. His terror had abated, but now guilt filled his mind. “How much time do I have before it begins?”
“Maybe twenty minutes.”
She raised her brows and chuckled. “You’ll have to carry me and grow wings. No way am I able to get to my bike and to a safe place in that time by myself.”
He carefully lifted her into his arms until she felt like a romance heroine. “My pleasure.” He tucked her head against his chest and moved.
Moved so fast wind raced past her. They reached their bikes within moments. He gently settled her on her baby and programmed their destination. Adira’s eyes widened. It was an affluent neighborhood at the edge of the city. It would be a tight race. Mal threw a bag of cash into the shadows for the thug who watched their hovercycles, uncaring where it landed, and started his engine.
Their trip turned into a mad dash. It was just good that she’d switched on her Sentinel lights, otherwise half the squad would have stopped them for speeding. They arrived outside a beautiful two-story building and parked their bikes. She swung her leg over the seat but when her feet touched the ground her knees buckled. “I guess we’ve reached that uncomfortable period you mentioned.”
Mal rushed to her side and picked her up. “Unfortunately we have.”
The front door opened as he approached. He carried her through a beautiful open-plan living area and up an ornate set of stairs. She expected him to take her to the bedroom, but instead he took her to the bathroom. She raised her brows in question.
“Your body changes on a molecular level. You will no longer be able to eat anything and your organs are reshaping, ridding themselves of any toxins.”
“Wonderful,” she sighed as he set her down on the edge of a bathtub big enough to use as a swimming pool. He helped her out of the leather jacket and removed all the weapons she’d added before they left for the warehouse. Before he could help her out of the shirt and the vest she became violently ill and made it to the toilet just in time.
Mal hovered beside her.
Go away!
I won’t leave you during the transformation.
You’ll leave me through this part of it. I want my privacy. Other needs were making themselves known and she wanted him gone.
He didn’t move.
Malachy Dorven, if you want me to kiss you again any time this century you will leave this room immediately.
He hesitated.
Please. Adira wasn’t sure how much longer she could hold on.
He sighed. Call me if you need me and don’t let your sensibilities hold you back. He stomped out of the bathroom and slammed the door.
With a sigh of relief Adira tore off her clothes and took care of business. For the rest of her now-rather-extended life she did not want to ever repeat the next hour. She continued to be sick and every time she thought there was nothing left for her to expel she was proven wrong.
Finally it stopped. Too weak to stand in the shower, she filled the magnificent tub and sank into the bath. The hot water felt amazing. Her whole body hurt as if she’d run the obstacle course in the Sentinel training facility. Five times and with extra weight.
She closed her eyes. The door opened. This time Adira welcomed his company.
Now the yucky part was over she wanted him close. Too tired to open her eyes she waited for his touch.
It came, but not as she’d expected. He climbed into the tub behind her and pulled her close. His scent and sheer presence relaxed the final muscles that still held tension.
Rest, Adira, I have you.
&n
bsp; She cuddled against him and followed his advice. He was here. Mal had her back. And tomorrow they would find and save Marissa.
Mal remained in the bath, continuously adding hot water, for a long time. The high temperature of the water would help her aches and pains. When they’d both turned into prunes he lifted her out, dried her with a warmed towel and settled her under the heated sheets. He quickly dried himself and climbed in after her.
He immediately started to sweat, but he still held her. The sheets, his body heat, everything would help ease the transition. And after the shock he’d had it would be a long time before he could let her more than an arm’s length away from him.
Mal watched over her for some time before he allowed himself to fall asleep.
* * * * *
Adira woke in the center of a supernova. Mal had wrapped himself around her like a rope around a prisoner. She snorted. Not a very romantic description but the first that came to mind. One hand cupped her pussy and the other held her left breast. His hard cock rested against her ass.
The fire that always simmered under the surface when he was present flared to life, but was dominated by a thought.
You’re a Vampire.
She exhaled and focused every little bit of attention on Mal’s hand between her legs. Her heart pounded in her chest. Sweat stood on her forehead.
You’ll have to drink blood.
She swallowed and wished he would move either of his hands, distract her from a reality she had no idea how to cope with.
You’re no longer a Sentinel.
A whimper escaped her and she curled herself into a tight ball, desperately trying to pull herself together. What would she do next?
You have a lifemate who will never leave your side. His smooth baritone, deep in her mind, stroked through her body. He moved his hand and curled his fingers around her hardening nipple. His other hand parted and stroked her slit.
Mal kissed her neck. Breathe, sweet, breathe. It’s a huge change, but not for a moment believe you’ll have to face it on your own.
Everything that had happened over the last twenty-four hours crashed down on Adira.
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