by Tawny Taylor
“But she might come in handy.”
“You have me. You have my brothers. Why would you need her?”
“True. But I may need to motivate you at some point. No, I think I’ll keep her around for a little while yet.”
“Okay, so you know the plan,” Talen heard Drako say. He could barely understand him, but it was loud enough that he worried Angela might hear him, too. “We’ll destroy it just before we hand it over. We’ll all die. But it’s the best way. At least Rin and Lei, our children, they’ll all be safe.”
Shit.
Talen’s heart sank.
They had brought it. They were going to destroy it, killing everyone within miles.
Somehow he had to get Michelle a safe distance away. Soon, this building would be vaporized.
“Can we destroy it somehow without risking the lives of everyone around us?” Malek asked.
“We are underground. That should help a little,” Drako answered. “And if we made sure the power hadn’t reached a high level yet, that’ll be even better. But it’s still going to blow. Big.”
“Damn,” Talen and Malek both said.
“But in the long run, we’ll still be saving millions of lives,” Drako said.
Malek said, “I wish there were another way.”
Talen turned to Angela. Wasn’t she hearing that conversation ? If she was, she wasn’t responding to anything his brothers were saying. No, she was jabbering on and on about how she would use Michelle to make him do everything she asked.
Wasn’t she concerned? Or had she already anticipated their plan?
“Let’s go. I’m getting bored.” She pounded on the door and it swung open.
As Talen followed her through the maze of identical corridors, his muscles tensed, his senses heightened. His eyesight seemed extremely acute, every tiny detail of everything he looked at sharp and in focus. His brothers’ voices were getting stronger. Even his sense of smell seemed stronger. When he turned his head, he could smell the sweet scent of coconut oil on Angela’s skin. And jasmine. In her hair.
His brothers were still discussing their plan. They hadn’t mentioned Michelle. He wondered if they knew she was here.
He knew, without Angela telling him, the minute he was outside of the room she was holding Drako and Malek in. Their voices were crystal-clear. Not once, throughout the journey from his room to theirs, did she seem to react or respond to anything they said. Not even when they talked about killing her.
She unlocked the door, then stepped aside. “Gentlemen first.”
His gaze found Drako first, sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall directly opposite the door, his arms behind his back.
“We have made sure they aren’t able to use those freakish powers,” Angela stated as she closed the door shut, locking them all in. “Drako there is wearing some specially designed flameproof gloves. And Malek,” she said, pointing to the right, “is secured with bindings made out of the strongest material known to mankind. Neither of them will be any help to you, outside of one thing.” She turned to Drako. “You see him. Now, where is it?”
Talen pleaded, “Don’t give it to her. We’re going to be—”
Angela whirled around and kicked a foot into Talen’s groin. The pain took about two seconds to reach his brain. Then he fell to the ground, breathless.
“Where’s Michelle?” Drako demanded.
“What does she matter?” Angela snapped.
Pain. Blinding. Fire. Blazing.
Voice calm, Drako said, “I said I wanted to see Talen and Michelle. I’m not turning over anything until I see them both.”
Agony. Couldn’t breathe.
“I could take it from you,” Angela said. “With those gloves on, you can’t do your little fire thing.”
“Maybe. Maybe not,” Drako said calmly.
His insides were blistering hot. Acid burned up Talen’s throat. He vomited. Dammit, he should have seen that coming.
A door slammed.
Had she left?
“Talen. Are you okay?” Drako.
Talen managed to groan. He wanted to say more. But the pain. Dammit, the fucking pain.
“Listen, we’re going to destroy it. We have to. I’m going to get them to let you and Michelle go.”
“No!” he shouted.
“Yes. Malek, too, if I can. Then I’ll destroy it. Get as far away from here as you can. I’ll put her off as long as possible to give you a chance.”
“No,” Talen repeated. He had to talk. Dammit. “You. Go.”
“I’m the oldest. It’s my duty,” Drako said.
Talen gritted his teeth and slowly lifted his head to glare at his brothers. “Fuck that.”
“Take care of Michelle. I had my chance to love and be loved. It’s your time now.”
This was not an option. “No.”
“Do it, goddamnit!” Drako yelled. His face turned a deep crimson. The cloying scent of burning sulfur filled the room. “I’m the only one who can destroy it. Come here.”
Come here? Oh hell. Drako was at least ten feet away.
Gagging and heaving, Talen staggered to his feet and shuffled over to Drako.
“Pocket.”
Talen yanked off both gloves first, uncovering his brother’s hands. Then he reached into Drako’s pocket.
Smooth. Cool to the touch.
“You really did bring it?” Talen asked.
“Yes. Now, hand that to me. You take everything else.”
Talen pulled the tiny cylinder out first and transferred that to his left hand. Then he reached back down and gathered what felt like a pen.
It was a hypodermic.
Ah, the irony.
“How the hell did you manage to get this in here?” Talen asked. “Didn’t they search you?”
“They did.” Drako grinned. “I didn’t bring it in. I stole it. From one of them. It’ll buy us some time,” Drako explained. “Hit her with it the minute she comes back with Michelle. Then get yourself and Michelle out of here. Malek, too, if you can.”
“I’m staying with you,” Malek growled.
“No, you’re not.”
“Like hell.”
“Lei needs you,” Drako said slowly, carefully. “Think of her. Rin will be okay.”
Talen had his own idea of how this whole thing should go down. It was all clear now. He knew exactly what he would do. And because he knew Drako wasn’t going to like his plan, he kept it to himself.
There was no way he was going to leave either of his brothers in this building. Somehow he would make sure of that. Even if it meant he would pay with his own life.
Michelle. Their child. And his brothers. They would live. No matter what it took.
32
They were taking her somewhere. What was happening now? Michelle’s heart was racing. Her hands were trembling. Something in the air told her this was it. Whatever she was about to face, it would be final.
Two men held her by the arms, one on each side. Her wrists were bound with cuffs. Angela was click-clacking in front of them on her stiletto heels. Michelle hoped someday she’d fall off those damn heels and land on her ass. That was what she deserved.
Angela barked into her phone, “This is it. Everyone in place.”
Yes, whatever was about to happen, Michelle knew it would change her life. Her stomach twisted. Dread crept through her body like icy tentacles, winding around her heart and squeezing it. She couldn’t breathe.
They stopped outside a room. Several more men came from the opposite direction. Two flanked Angela in the hallway. A third unlocked the door. A fourth hurried into the room with his gun drawn.
“Clear,” the man inside called.
Angela and her escorts stepped inside. Michelle was pulled into the room after her.
Talen. She saw him first.
His eyes. Oh God, what was going on? He looked tortured. He didn’t speak. Didn’t take his gaze away from Michelle for several seconds.
“I’ve
brought her as you asked. Now, it’s time to hand it over,” Angela demanded. Catching Michelle off guard, she grabbed Michelle’s arm and yanked her forward, then shoved her toward Talen. “You can see for yourself, she’s perfectly fine. Now I want The Secret. Enough fucking games.”
Talen gave Michelle one last look. “I don’t have it. Drako does.” He went to Drako.
Drako’s eyes widened. “What are you doing?”
“It’s the only way we can all get out of this alive.” Talen jammed his hand in Drako’s pocket and pulled something out. Then he turned, and facing Angela, unfurled his fingers.
In his palm lay a small cylinder, roughly the diameter of a pencil.
It didn’t look like a weapon of mass destruction.
“That’s it? That little piece of scrap?” Angela’s gaze jerked back and forth between Talen and Drako. Drako was glaring at his brother. Talen looked calm, resolved. She reached for it, but Talen yanked his hand away. “Set them free first. All of them.”
“No, not until I know it’s genuine.”
“Set them free,” Talen repeated. “I’ll stay. I’ll prove it’s genuine.”
Angela’s eyes narrowed. “You’re lying.”
Talen raised his fist above his head, as if he would throw the cylinder. “I could destroy it. Right here. Right now. And then you’ll have nothing. You’re either going to have to believe I’m telling the truth or walk away with nothing. Your choice.”
Michelle fought to inhale. What the hell was he doing? How would he make it out of this alive? Did she trust him to have a plan?
His gaze found hers again. She searched his eyes.
Peace. She saw a deep sense of peace in them. And love.
The fear that had wound around her heart melted away.
She trusted him.
“He’s telling the truth,” she said.
Angela spun around and glared at her. “How do you know?”
“I know him. He’s telling the truth.”
“Release them,” Angela ordered, motioning to Drako and Malek.
“Before you do that,” Talen told her as he lowered his hand, “Drako’s gloves have been removed.”
“Dammit, Talen.” A plume of smoke wafted from behind Drako’s back.
“Secure him.” Angela jerked her head to Drako.
“I’ll do it.” Talen circled behind Drako’s back and bent down. After a few seconds, he straightened up. “It’s safe now. Get them all out of here.” He turned to Malek. “Take care of Michelle, please.”
Malek said nothing. But Michelle could tell, by the clenched muscle along his jaw, that Malek didn’t like Talen’s plan, either.
Talen walked to her, cupped her face. “Michelle, no matter what happens today, know that I loved you. I would do anything for you and our child. Anything.” His thumb caressed her cheek. He kissed her forehead, then nodded to Angela. “Now, get them out of here.”
Loved.
He’d said it, past tense.
“Talen,” she whispered.
Angela turned to the guards. “Do it.”
Knowing that she had just felt Talen’s touch for the last time, Michelle let the men lead her toward the door. Before she left, she said loudly, “Talen Gryffon, you are the most loving man I have ever known. I will make sure our son knows the sacrifice you made for him. I love you.”
Ten minutes later, Michelle was standing in ankle-deep snow, shivering. “Where the heck are we? Snow? It’s May.”
“Minnesota. Freak storm brought in several inches,” Drako said as he stared back at the building from which they’d just been expelled. “That bastard. Talen fucked up our plan.”
“Now what?” Malek asked him.
“Take Michelle and get her as far from here as you can. I’m going back in there.”
Malek shook his head. “Drako, if you’re going back—”
“No, dammit,” Drako shouted. “Get her out of here. Now. You’re the only one who can make sure she’s safe. Go back to the girls. Take care of them all.”
“Drako—”
“Go! If we make it out of there alive, I know where to find you.”
Malek glared at his brother for what felt like a lifetime. Michelle watched as at least a dozen different emotions played over his face. Then he turned to her, scooped her off her feet, and started running. Before she realized what was happening, the world around them became a blur.
He was running. Running! Faster than a car. How could a human being go so fast?
“Malek?” she screamed. Something flashed in her peripheral vision. Brilliant. An instant later, she felt as if they was sailing through the air. A blur of colors flew past her face.
And then silence.
Stillness.
She was lying down in a field, cradled in Malek’s arms. He was beneath her, on his back in the snow.
Not moving.
“Malek?” she whispered.
Another flash blinded her. A wave of searing heat followed. One second there was snow everywhere, all around them. The next, it was gone. The earth was wet, muddy.
Malek groaned, shifted. “Fuck,” he muttered.
Michelle scooted off him. Sweating. So hot. The air burned her lungs.
“Need to get you out of here.” Malek pushed to his feet. He staggered. “Dammit.” He shook his head and looked back over his shoulder. A tall column of smoke and fire blazed up to the sky. A huge mushroom cloud rolled high above, fed from the enormous inferno. “Dammit.” He grabbed Michelle again and started running. They weren’t going as fast as before. The heat. Her skin was stinging, itching. “Can’t go fast enough.”
Clinging to him, Michelle looked up, up, up. Past the gnarled and leafless trees to the rolling, thick gray cloud drifting toward them. Was it a nuclear explosion? Would they live?
He ran, but the cloud grew too fast, the heat spread too swiftly. When they reached a forest, he stumbled and slowed. He staggered and swayed. Finally, he stopped.
“Dammit, Drako, Talen! Damn you!” he screamed into the hellish darkness.
This was it. He couldn’t outrun it.
The heat. It was getting worse. Now it burned her lungs, her nose, her face. Her eyes were tearing up. It was hard to see, to breathe.
Dragging a hand over her eyes to clear them, Michelle said, “It’s okay. You tried.”
“I failed,” Malek said, shoving his fingers through his hair. “They’re gone. They’re both gone.” He clapped a hand over his mouth, muffling a sob. “And I can’t even get you out of this hell. That was all he’d asked.”
“You did your best.”
“I failed.” He leaned back, a tree supporting him.
Sleepy.
She was getting tired, weak. Sit. She needed to rest. For just a minute.
Hot. So hot.
“If I hadn’t hesitated, we might have made it far enough,” Malek mumbled as he slowly sank to the ground. “If I had only done what he’d asked.”
Michelle set her hand on her stomach. The baby was tiny yet, too small to feel pain, she hoped. A tear seeped from her eye. Sleepy. So hot.
Darkness. Drifting.
Heat. Burning her lungs.
Her senses were dulling. Sight, gone. Sounds muted.
She heard Malek’s hard, heaving gasps. The rhythmic beat of something in the distance. Thump, thump, thump. No, not a beat, something else. Like the sound of a bird’s wings as it took flight.
A helicopter?
Air stirring, caressing her skin.
Louder, it was getting louder.
She slitted open her eyes. Burned. Smoke. She couldn’t see. Her lungs spasmed, and she coughed until she gagged.
Someone hauled her up, off the ground, cradling her in strong arms.
Malek?
She looked up.
“Talen?”
Was she dead? Dreaming? Hallucinating?
“Sssshh,” he whispered. “Close your eyes. Rest. I’m here now. I have you.”
The air
swirled around them like a whirlwind.
She shut her eyes against the sting of dirt and soot and smoke. The wind was howling now in her ears. It felt as if the world was swooping and dipping and spinning around her, as if she were riding in an elevator that was falling, then surging skyward, then falling again.
“You trusted me, little one. Your trust, your love, has saved my life.”
“What happened?” she wheezed.
“It’s over. No more secrets. No more running.”
“Malek? Drako?”
“I’ll get them as soon as I know you’re safe.”
The air was cooling. She could breathe easier. Was it her imagination? She inhaled. Her nose didn’t sting. She coughed, and his hold on her tightened.
She blinked open her eyes and looked up into the brilliant blue sky. The big cloud was gone. She glanced over her shoulder.
Her heart stopped.
Trees. Beneath her. Zooming past. No floor underneath. No walls or seats or windows.
She was flying. Soaring above the earth. Over houses and farms and trees and fields. How? She looked up again.
“Trust,” he said, smiling.
Then she saw them, the wings, dark gray and white and ink-black feathers. They were stretched out, at least eight feet long, feathers at the tip spread out to catch the air currents.
Wings? Talen had wings?
“It makes sense now,” he said. “I don’t know how it happened, but... Gryphon. Dragon. Lion. Eagle. That’s what we are, my brothers and I. The gryphon.
“But it was love that gave us our power. And, in the end, our humanity. Before we loved, we were . . . no better than monsters.”
Michelle closed her eyes and relaxed in his strong embrace. How far she had come. How far Talen’s love for her had taken her. She’d once been afraid to walk in a dark parking garage, imagining villains around every corner. Danger in every shadow. A coward who didn’t trust anyone, anything, but herself.
Now, her life was completely changed. Not only had she faced a real honest-to-God villain, and not let her beat her down, but she’d learned to trust, to love, to let go of all the what-ifs and live life.
