by Katie Reus
As she decided what move to make next, a shifter in human form raced across the lawn toward her and the growling shifters. “Back off!”
Immediately the other wolves fell back a few feet.
She tensed, waiting for another attempted attack.
“Finn is on his way. He doesn’t want you to leave,” the dark-haired man told her.
She glared at him. “If I’d wanted to leave, I could have at any time. In fact, I didn’t have to come here in the first place. You werewolves have a lot to learn about manners.”
“You’re a vampire,” the shifter said, as if that should explain everything.
“I buzzed your front gate.” Dumbass. “I tried to announce myself in a civilized manner. I explained I needed to speak to your pack Alpha and you are the ones who attacked me. Do you really think if I’d planned a one-woman attack I would have buzzed you?” She ground her teeth together at their idiocy.
The man had the decency to look apologetic, but she didn’t buy his sincerity. Nervously, he cleared his throat then motioned to the shifters to leave. Or at least she assumed that’s what his abrupt hand gesture meant since the four animals walked away and disappeared among the trees on the property. He started to say something else but paused and turned his head.
She heard the faint sound too. Like the main gate opening. Despite her desire to stay calm, her heart rate increased. The shifter in front of her might think her a monster considering the way these animals had sought to attack her unprovoked, but she was very much alive. Blood flowed in her veins as much as it did in theirs. She just had an aversion to sunlight and a thirst for blood. Whether it was a genetic anomaly or because all supernatural beings were cursed by the gods as some said, she’d stopped caring long ago that she was different from the majority of the population. She was a blood-born. A rare vampire who’d been born to this life, not turned, and she had every right to live just as anyone else.
Despite what a few angry wolves might think.
When the man in front of her started heading back across the expansive yard toward the winding driveway, she followed. Instead of using her gift, she walked.
Her four-inch heels sank into the grass with each step, but she was light on her feet and quickly surpassed the male shifter until she stood on the pavement waiting for the SUV barreling down the driveway. It jerked to a sudden halt, the vehicle shuddering. Even though she couldn’t see inside it because of the tinted windows, she knew who was in there. Felt his presence in a bone deep, almost unexplainable kind of way. A mixture of nerves, excitement and flat out fear battled inside her, each one fighting for dominance and making her a little sick.
Finn jumped from the front seat—all six foot three of him. He didn’t even bother to shut the door as he hurried toward her. His bright blue eyes seemed to bore right through her, as if he could see all her secrets. God help her if he actually could. “Lyra,” he rasped out.
His voice was so familiar. So right, it made something long-forgotten burn inside her chest. The tingling sensation shoved jaggedly out to all her nerve endings, making her almost numb as she stared at him.
Finn Stavros. Former lover, one-time best friend, and the only man she’d ever given her heart to.
Why did he still have to be so damn sexy? So powerful? She swallowed hard, drinking in the sight of him like a blood-starved vamp. Her traitorous nipples tightened as her gaze tracked over his muscular body. It didn’t matter that he had clothes on, she’d seen every inch of his delicious form.
For a brief moment, it was as if the past seventeen years had been stripped away. She’d been so young and sheltered when they first met. Technically at ninety she was still young for her species but she wasn’t sheltered anymore and she definitely wasn’t naïve. She blinked once and tried to banish the memory of meeting him but it refused to go away. After temporarily escaping her coven, intent on having a fun night out among humans, she’d stumbled directly into a shifter bar. Almost immediately she’d known she’d made a mistake.
A big one.
But she’d been frozen in shock, gazing around the bar that had looked so normal on the outside, but had been filled with supernatural beings on the inside. Being so sheltered she hadn’t even known a place like that existed. Finn had taken one look at her and known exactly what she was. Lucky for her, he’d been the first to notice her and he’d quickly escorted her outside before any other shifters had scented her. He’d told her to get lost, but then he’d started talking to her and had made sure she’d gotten safely out of the area. He’d also given her a lecture on where she should go and where she shouldn’t. It had been so endearing coming from the big shifter.
Then he’d done the most unexpected thing. He’d kissed her as if he couldn’t stop himself. When he was through, he’d looked just as surprised as she’d felt. Swallowing hard at the memory, she touched her bottom lip, which was actually tingling. She still remembered his spicy taste. Even if she didn’t want to, it somehow lingered there, taunting her. Reminding her of all she’d lost.
The other shifter cleared his throat and she jerked her gaze to the left. She’d forgotten they weren’t alone.
He was staring at Finn. “Uh, boss?”
“Leave us,” Finn growled softly.
When she turned back to him, she realized he hadn’t taken his eyes off her. Even in her heels, the powerful man still towered over her. And he looked every bit as dominating as she remembered.
At one hundred and fifty years old he still looked the same physically. To a human he would appear about thirty. Tall, broad-shouldered, midnight black hair cropped close to his head, icy blue eyes and those arms… Her eyelids grew heavy as she watched his muscles flex lightly. The only difference was the darker edge to him now. He exuded a raw, primal quality that didn’t exactly make her nervous, but she was very aware of it. Something dormant and annoyingly needy inside her flared to life. It wasn’t something definitive she could put her finger on but he’d definitely changed since she’d last seen him and she liked what she saw.
“Why are you here, Lyra?” His deep, intoxicating voice jerked her back to reality.
A river of guilt and shame flooded her as his question registered. She shouldn’t be staring at him and practically drooling. Not when her daughter had been taken. Not when she needed his help more than she’d ever needed anything. Bile rose in her throat at her stupid reaction to him. “I know you’re Alpha of this region and… I need your help. My daughter has been kidnapped and I can’t trust anyone else to help me.”
Chapter Three
Surprise registered on Finn’s face but Lyra wasn’t sure if it was because she’d just announced that she had a daughter or because she’d come to him for help. “What can I do?”
The moment he asked the question, she knew she’d done the right thing by coming to him. She’d heard that he’d killed his uncle and taken over a lot of the Southern werewolf territory so she’d been hopeful Finn still held a special place in his heart for her. Nonetheless, it stunned her that he was offering help so easily. Without even asking for details first. “You’ll…help me? Just like that?”
His icy blue eyes flashed to a midnight color then reverted back so quickly she wondered if she’d imagined the change. Though she knew she hadn’t. “Yes.”
Lyra swallowed again. He’d probably hate her when he eventually learned the truth about what she’d been keeping from him, but for now, he didn’t need to know. She could bear the guilt if it brought her daughter back home safely. Looking around, she knew there would be other people listening. Even if she couldn’t see them, there were shifters around the yard and compound watching and listening. If his pack’s reception of her was any indication of how they regarded vampires, she had no doubt they’d be curious about her. “Can we go somewhere private?”
He nodded and without pause, covered the few feet between them and scooped her up in his arms.
She stiffened in his hold. “I can walk.” Or fly.
He
just grunted so she didn’t fight him as he hurried toward the house. Finn might be a lot of things but if he said he’d help her, he would. Which meant he had no intention of throwing her to his pack for dinner. A part of her, one that she almost hated, actually enjoyed his embrace. The way he was holding her close to his chest brought up long buried emotions.
He rushed through the front door and up a winding staircase and she got a quick glimpse of the interior. Downstairs a parlor room was on the left and what had probably once been a ballroom was on the right, but had been turned into a game room. The house was definitely historical, but everything from the overhead lighting to the dark, polished wood floors had been updated.
On the second floor he took her down a long hallway then stopped at the last door. The second they stepped inside she was immediately accosted with his scent. Piney, earthy, all Finn. She’d scented it in the house and on the grounds but in here it was more potent. At least she didn’t smell another female in the room. An unwelcome flare of jealousy sparked inside her at the thought of him mated to someone.
The second he set her on her feet, she nearly collapsed onto the end of his king-sized bed. She wasn’t sure where to begin so she just started talking. “I’m not sure who’s taken my daughter but I know they won’t hurt her. Not yet anyway. Or…I don’t think so.” It was a hope she’d been desperately clinging to. “I think her kidnapping has something to do with this prophecy, but I could be wrong. God, this could be something else entirely.” Panic hit her in the chest like a sharpened blade. What if she was wrong? What if Vega had been taken for other purposes? What if—
Finn knelt in front of her and took one of her hands, his eyes intent on hers. He stroked her palm with a callused thumb, the action soothing. “Let’s clear a few things up. How old is your daughter? What’s her name? And where was she taken from?”
“Vega is… fifteen.” Lyra shaved off a year because she wasn’t ready to tell Finn he was Vega’s father. If she did, he’d have a million other questions and not only did they not have time for that, Lyra couldn’t deal with his wrath. He would almost certainly decide to search for Vega on his own and exclude her. Considering she had no one else to turn to and he definitely had more resources than her… Lyra couldn’t risk him shutting her out. Nope. Not an option. Her daughter was all that mattered. “She’s very strong-willed and stubborn and…”
Her voice cracked but Finn squeezed her hand tighter. Finding her voice, she continued. “We fought bitterly. She wanted to go to New Orleans to meet up with some friends for a concert or something.” Lyra mentally crossed her fingers at the lie. “But she’s so young and I didn’t want her to go on her own. It’s not safe for anyone at that age to be traveling by themselves, much less a young vampire. She can walk in the daylight so while I was sleeping, she left anyway and when she was passing through Biloxi, she called me.” That much was at least true. “She was scared and sorry for leaving and wanted me to come meet her when…” Lyra fought nausea for a moment. She had to get the words out now or she feared she’d break down. “I heard her being taken. She was screaming and terrified but Vega is smart. She told me it was a female and a male and that they were non-human before the line disconnected. As soon as dusk fell, I came straight here. I tried calling your casino but they wouldn’t put me through to you.”
He frowned but asked, “Do you have a picture of her with you?”
“I came straight here.” A vague answer that wasn’t exactly a lie.
“What’s your daughter’s phone number?”
After she rattled it off, he grabbed a pad and pen from his nightstand and jotted it down. “Whoever took her probably didn’t bring her cell with them but if we can get a location on the phone itself, maybe we can figure out where exactly she was taken from and go from there.”
“I know she was staying at a hotel on the beach.” Lyra gave him the name of the hotel Vega had texted her about hours before her kidnapping and Finn wrote that down too.
“You said whoever took her hasn’t hurt her. How do you know? And why isn’t her father involved in finding her?” There was a distinctive bite to his question.
Lyra glanced at his chest because she couldn’t bear to look him in the eyes. If she did, she feared he’d see straight through her. “Her father isn’t involved in our lives.” Not a lie. Not exactly the truth either, but she stomped the guilt back down. “I think she’s been taken because of a prophecy. You’ve heard of Akkad?”
He nodded and those astute eyes of his darkened slightly. “Of course.”
Every supernatural being knew of the old city. Akkad was once the capital of the Akkadian Empire, located in ancient Mesopotamia, and home to thousands of vampires. Human experts believed that roughly four thousand years ago an abrupt climate change helped in the demise of this city but she knew better. All supernatural beings did. Demons—since named Akkadian demons for their ‘birth’ place—wreaked havoc on the land after two greedy, self-serving priests made a deal with the devil. Literally.
In exchange for immortality they would help the devil open one of the gates in the Fertile Crescent, releasing his favorite children onto the earth. Unfortunately for these two priests, they didn’t specify where they wanted to live out their immortal lives and got dropped directly into hell once they’d helped open the door. Demons were tricky bastards and if they could find a loophole, they would. Eventually a band of powerful vampires managed to close the door again, but not before an entire civilization had been wiped out and only the remnants of volcanic ash covered the razed ground.
“Then you know those monstrous creatures have been trying to get back out of hell ever since the door was shut.” An unwelcome shudder snaked through her at the thought of Akkadian demons roaming the earth freely.
“Some already have.” Finn’s deep voice rumbled quietly in the giant room.
She jerked back in surprise. “What?”
“My pack and I have been dealing with Akkadian demons for the past month. Not too many, but enough that it’s starting to cause problems.”
She slowly digested his words. “There are only a few ways to open any of the gates of hell so if demons have escaped, then…”
“It’s likely from human sacrifices—it’s the easiest way.” He finished the thought for her.
Of course there were other options in addition to human sacrifice. The sacrifice of a dragon shifter would obliterate any door to hell, not just open it, but no one had seen a dragon in millennia and Lyra doubted they even existed anymore. Someone could use a first-class religious relic such as the bones from a martyr or saint in addition to a blood sacrifice, but true relics were hidden away by churches and guarded very carefully. Just like with a human blood sacrifice, that one was only a temporary way to unlock a gateway.
Even huge amounts of human sacrifice would only let out a couple at a time. Not enough to be worth anyone’s while. But if someone had started letting them escape now, it only solidified what Lyra thought. What she didn’t want to think about. There was another option. One based on a prophecy that vampires had guarded since Akkad was destroyed.
“There’s an ancient prophecy among my people. We’ve kept it guarded for almost four thousand years. I never thought much about it until…” Until she’d gotten pregnant with a shifter’s baby. But she didn’t voice that. She couldn’t. It was one of the reasons she’d kept Vega’s birth a secret from so many people. She’d reveal to Finn only what she had to about the prophecy. “A vampire named Kush prophesied that fifteen years after two powerful lines created life, the sun would go dark across the entire planet in the middle of the day. When that happens, the progeny of those two lines will have the power to completely open the gates of hell with their blood and spill terror onto the planet once again. In five days there’s a solar eclipse and Vega is the only blood-born to survive a vampire birth since…me.”
“Your daughter is the youngest blood-born vampire?”
Tightly, Lyra nodded. That was true but
not everything she’d told him was. The prophecy actually stated that in her sixteenth year, the only hybrid vampire-wolf blood-born would have the ability to open and close one of the portals to hell with her blood. But if Lyra admitted her daughter’s real age and the fact that Vega was a blood-born hybrid, Finn would know the truth. Yeah, so not going to happen.
“And her father is—”
“Not involved.” She didn’t even want to go there. The continuous lying made her sick but she’d do anything to save her daughter. Vega was everything to Lyra. She’d lay down her life to keep her daughter from just one hour of harm. If Finn knew the truth, he might try to punish her or exclude her from the search. And that wasn’t happening.
A deep growling sound rattled in his chest but he didn’t comment further. “What about your brother? Why isn’t he helping?”
“I haven’t seen Claudius in years.” Seventeen to be exact. Claudius had kicked her out of the coven the moment he’d discovered she was pregnant with Finn’s baby. An abomination, he’d called Vega. The things he’d called Lyra had been much worse. She’d been prepared for his scorn, but not for him to kick her out hours before sunrise. Lyra’s heart ached as she thought of the terrible words they’d exchanged and how utterly alone she’d been back then. She’d made human friends in the years since she’d struck out on her own, but she still missed living with her people.
“Where have you been living—”
His question was cut off by the low buzzing sound of her phone. Feeling almost frantic, she retrieved it from her pants’ pocket. The caller ID said ‘unknown’. Irrational hope flared inside her that this might be Vega. “Hello?”
