More Than Life (Arcane Crossbreeds)

by Vyne, Amanda

  Dropping the Guardian to the ground, she focused her attention on the one struggling against the effects of the tranquilizer dart. Energy gathered in her bloody palms, and she let the weight of it pool in her hands until they crackled with light. His inky eyes flared with fear, and she let him drown in it before she violently pushed the energy from her hands, focusing it to a small point where she could hear the frantic beat of his heart.

  His mouth opened on a silent scream as his body seized, and he crumpled to the ground, his eyes sightless. Deep inside her, a tiny spark of reason frantically tried to push to the surface, but the scent of the blood flooded it, extinguished it, leaving only fury and instinct to guide her.

  Turning on her heel, she stepped over a body and slid gracefully into the battle still raging. Life slowed; the bodies that had been moving at blurring speeds appeared to nearly stop as she eased into the fray. Distantly she was aware of the warm feel of blood dampening her neck and chest as her claws raked through the vulnerable flesh of her enemies.

  Fire seared her palms, and the faraway shrieks of pain sounded in the room as a Guardian erupted in flames, the flash of it heating the side of her face. And still she moved. It felt like she was flowing through the room. Dancing. Spinning. Until not one Guardian was standing. Until she no longer felt threatened or hunted. Until Raife was safe.

  Standing amid the bodies and the heavy scent of blood and burned flesh that filled her nose, she slowly became aware of the faint, frantic beat of a heart and the quick gasps for air.

  Blinking her eyes into focus, she saw Gideon standing several feet from her, his hands in front of him, palms out. His lips were moving, and yet she couldn’t hear his words. Confusion slid like ice water over her skin as her awareness expanded to cover the entire room. The blood.

  “It’s okay, baby. Come back to me. It’s okay. It’s over now.”

  A low voice was droning softly to her, and she realized it was inside her head. It felt clean and strong against the raw walls of her mind. She swallowed and glanced to where Kel was helping Raife to a sitting position, his gaze trying to pull hers in. She couldn’t seem to get past the flowering stain on his chest. The dark crimson that was the only color in the room.

  A low sound rattled deep in her chest, and a coldness swept over her mind.

  “Look in my eyes, baby. Just look at me.”

  The voice compelled her, but the bright splash of blood drew her attention.

  It coated everything. Drenched the bodies that littered the floor. Lifting her hands, she looked down at them with dawning horror. Oh God, she’d killed. The evidence of her depravity clung to her body in bright accusation. It lay at her feet in a gruesome testimony. She’d been right. They’d created a freak in that lab.

  Breath hissing through her chest, she stumbled back. She couldn’t get any air, couldn’t breathe.

  “Damn it, Kat. Stay with me.”

  Heat drained from her body, and she began to shake so hard her knees buckled, and she dropped to them. Even the pain that shot up her legs was dulled.

  She heard feet pounding on the floor, felt the vibrations of them. Hands grabbed at her, but she felt too distant. Sensation eased away from her.

  “Katya! Look at me!”

  Frantic words floated around her as her eyes sought out Raife’s, clung to them. Blackness swelled at the edges of her vision until only those eyes remained. Slowly the room started to tilt and darken.

  “Stay with me, baby. Stay with me.”

  “She’s crashing…”

  “Shimmer her to Incog now…”

  “I’m calling it in…”

  “She’s not breathing…”

  “Katya!”

  Then darkness.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Katya kept perfectly still as she took stock of her surroundings. She was on a gurney, the hard cushion an all too familiar feeling. There were voices around her. The sound of beeping. Familiar smells.

  A low buzzing was thick in her head, a sound like the fluorescent lights made at the research lab. Afraid she would open her eyes and realize she was back in that nightmarish place, her escape no more than a cruel dream, Katya felt her heart pound. It echoed loudly in the room.

  With a frown, she forced her eyes open and looked around. The rapid beeps were the sound of her heart on a monitor. She was in a state-of-the-art lab, machines hummed and whirled, but it wasn’t the place of her nightmares. In this lab there were computers on every gleaming surface and an unfamiliar petite redheaded who appraised her with a clinical intensity that reminded her of Dr. Rupple. Unsettled by her rapt attention, Katya tried to push herself to a sitting position. Hands immediately restrained her, and a deep, heavy pain surged through her chest.

  Her heart gave a little jump, and she could clearly hear the beeping accelerate in tandem. She tensed to fight, but her legs and arms didn’t cooperate. God, she was so weak, and her chest hurt like hell. What the hell happened to her?

  “Easy, Kat.” That was Kel’s voice. She recognized it, could almost let herself trust it. “You’re at Incog. You’re safe.” She turned and blinked at the tiny woman. Blood stained the front of Kel’s light gray shirt, darkening the red letters that read, “my boyfriend sucks.” Behind her there was a tall man, his long hair tied back; strange green and gold eyes stared back at her. The sight of the two blades strapped to his thighs had her struggling to a sitting position again.

  Kel pushed at her shoulder. “Take it easy. He’s my bloodmate. He helped us out back at the Defoes’.”

  Katya lay back on the gurney but couldn’t make her body relax. She hurt like hell, and that buzzing made it hard to think. The sterile smell around her left her on edge and wanting to escape. A low rumble of sound rolled up in her chest, and she coughed to dislodge it. It sounded and felt like a growl.

  “Don’t go getting all grumbly on us, little sister.”

  Katya rolled her head to the side to see Tag leaning back against a shiny metal table, his large body looking relaxed, but his dark eyes were alert. She licked her lips. Damn, they were dry, and her throat felt like paper. “What happened?”

  The redheaded woman in the long white lab coat moved in close to her side, and Katya twisted into a defensive position in a panic. The heart monitor screeched, and she felt her eyes flicker into heat vision. Blackness edged her vision, and her head swam as unconsciousness licked at the corners of her mind, waiting. Ravenous. Pain shot mercilessly through her chest, and she gasped.

  “Take it easy, Kat. This is just the doc. She’s not going to hurt you.” Kel had moved in close to her, her bloodmate shadowing closely behind her. “You’re at Incog,” she repeated.

  Air sawed painfully through her lungs as she forced the blackness away, her gaze scanning the room again. The redheaded woman was pushing Tag out of her way as she cursed softly in a foreign language. The large Drachon had moved into a defensive position to protect the woman. Kel was obviously positioned to restrain her, her bloodmate hovering protectively. Did they think she was a threat? Did she?

  Flashes of memory stabbed at her. The feel of blood oozing up through her fingers as she ripped into a body with her own two hands…and the satisfaction. Had she drunk from any of them? Was she finally going into blood dementia? She’d killed so mindlessly, without regret. She remembered that much. And the blood—

  “Raife,” Katya croaked and tried to push up off the bed.

  She remembered the overwhelming sense of danger to him. There had been so much blood. Her pulse surged into a faster beat. The accelerated sound of the heart monitor filled the room. Dr. Mahoney looked back at it, and her lips thinned.

  “Raife is fine,” Kel reassured her, coaxing her to lie back. “Your blood healed him right up. It works real nice like that. If it works anything like it did with us, Raife will get to keep that nifty skill.”

  “I need to take your blood pressure.” The doctor’s voice was soft with just a hint of an accent. Irish? She had long, pale fingers, a
nd she waved them at Tag in irritation. Katya frowned up at the doctor when she lifted the blood pressure cuff so Katya could see it, her expression never changing. Katya flicked a glance to it, but instinct had her gaze returning to Tag. There was something in his body language that indicated he considered her a threat, and with the way he hovered over the doctor, it wasn’t difficult to figure out who he was most concerned with protecting.

  “Step back, dipshit.” Kel pushed at Tag’s chest, but he didn’t budge. “You’re making Kat nervous.”

  Did he know about what she’d done in the Defoe house tonight? He must think she was going to hurt them. She understood—she did—but it still ached. She and Tag had worked together for days. She’d come to treasure their friendship and his humor. He wasn’t looking at her with humor now. He was looking at her like the monster she feared becoming.

  She was going to have to leave Incog, and then what? She had nowhere else to go.

  “Seriously, Taggart.” The doctor spun on her heel and braced a fist against her hip. Impatience lined the stiffness of her back as she berated the big Drachon. “Don’t you have some files to uncover for me? While you’re here pounding your chest like some primate, I’m working blind.”

  “Raife is en route as we speak.” Tag’s weighted gaze cut back to Katya, and he smiled boyishly, but she didn’t feel it. His gaze was still hard. “I think I’ll just keep an eye on my little sis here until the big guy gets back.”

  Katya could practically scent the doctor’s irritation when she turned back to her. “If you won’t leave, then go brood in the corner. Agent Sheridan is here to protect me in case the girl decides to tear me to wee bits.”

  Tag grumbled or maybe growled, but he retreated a couple steps.

  “Do you intend to begin shredding, or may I check your pressure?” The doctor’s brusque voice held just a hint of sarcasm that had Katya dragging her gaze back to her.

  When the doctor lifted the blood pressure cuff and gave it a smart shake, Katya nodded.

  “Ms. Shaffer, my name is Brit Mahoney. I’m the lead scientist and the only doctor who deals with the health of Incog’s crossbreeds,” Dr. Mahoney continued as she swiftly strapped on the cuff and pressed a stethoscope to Katya’s arm. “I treated you briefly when you first arrived, but your mate has been determined that I keep my distance from you since. I’m going to endeavor to get as much information from you as I can before he returns.” She targeted Tag with a murderous glance as she began to pump the bulb. “He may be her mate, Taggart, but I am her doctor, whether he likes it or not. Now remove yourself from my head so I can concentrate.”

  Katya turned a confused gaze to Kel, who was smirking. “Tag and Doc are frequently at odds. Taggart,” Kel said with an exaggerated simulation of the doc’s lilt, “likes to drag his knuckles in her head. It’s fun to watch.”

  “He’s an overbearing Neanderthal,” Doc snapped as she pulled the stethoscope off with a frown but left the cuff in place. Her dark red brows knitted together as she leaned in closer to study Katya with an intensity that made her want to squirm. “You’re a crossbreed with predominant Sanguen characteristics,” Doc murmured and motioned to Katya’s lip. “May I?”

  Katya gave a hesitant nod. “Crossbreed?”

  Doc gently pulled up her top lip with a low, affirmative sound. “Regardless of what scientists have attempted, species cannot be altered after birth.” Those strange blue eyes were inhuman in their focus as Doc looked her over, lowering her gaze to Katya’s belly. The frown on her pale features deepened. “That wasn’t in my preliminary blood workup,” she murmured to herself. “You—”

  Tag stepped forward, and the doc spun to glare at him for a long moment.

  Katya got the impression Tag was speaking telepathically to the doc again, and whatever he said made the brisk woman even more annoyed.

  “This is dangerous,” Doc snapped and then turned to face Katya. “Your blood pressure is too low for my comfort. I would already have enough blood stocked to transfuse you if I had been allowed to assess you properly. As it is, we shall have to make do.”

  “Make do?” Katya frowned as Doc disappeared into a room with some serious biometric security protecting it.

  “Indeed.” Doc’s voice echoed from the opening. She reappeared with a bag of blood. “We can address the issue for now, but you will eventually have to heed the demands of your body, Ms. Schaffer. Your blood count is obviously low and unable to sustain your body, particularly in the heightened state caused by your adrenaline rush. Luckily, Agent Sheridan was present to bring you immediately here. And you may thank the Neanderthal for administering chest compressions.”

  So that was why her chest hurt like hell. Katya rubbed at the ache and cast Tag a hooded gaze where he’d once again positioned himself near the doc but quickly turned away from his watchful stare.

  Glancing down at herself, she shuddered at the heavy splatter of blood that covered her. It even stained her hands, and she rubbed them on her black pants, the tight, dry feel of it uncomfortable on her skin. The blood was everywhere. Her heart rate spiked again, and she took slow deep breaths, fisting her blood-caked hands against her legs. She could feel their stares. She could feel their anxiety each time her heart monitor started to accelerate. Were they afraid she’d go all postal again?

  Did she blame them?

  “Raife’s body is already changing to accommodate you. Nature makes allowances for all her creations, Ms. Schaffer, even the ones man sees fit to trifle with.” She moved to the stainless-steel counter and drained the blood into a beaker. “As your mate, it is his responsibility to provide for you. Nature has already ascertained that he is capable.”

  Kel stepped forward to raise the head of the gurney when Dr. Mahoney motioned to her. The shift had Katya’s head reeling and her heart monitor skipping. She took deep breaths to stabilize both.

  “What do you mean by saying Raife’s body is changing?” Katya asked as she accepted the glass beaker into her hands, wincing at the dried blood that stood in vivid contrast against the pale skin of her fingers.

  “Raife is developing polycythemia.”

  “Polycythemia? I don’t understand,” Katya echoed and dropped her gaze to the thick red liquid in the beaker. It smelled of Raife and yet didn’t. It lacked his heat. His vitality. Despite the lack, her hunger still surged to the fore, but she could manage it. The slow, uneven beep of the heart monitor gave her confidence.

  “It means his RBC count is increasing at an accelerated rate, Ms. Schaffer. Each crossbreed mating is unique to the pair. A pureblood Sanguen male naturally produces the needed volume for his mate at the appropriate time, but Raife is a pure Drachon. You obviously require the added sustenance. As your biological mate, his body is changing in an attempt to supply it.”

  “He’s a walking blood bank for a bloodsucker. I’m sure he’ll love that.” Her words sounded dry and brittle with self-loathing, even to her own ears, and she winced. This entire situation was so far out of her control, she was starting to sound pathetic.

  “Damn, Kat.” Kel frowned. “Don’t give Raife too much credit or anything. The man’s only been crazy about you since you were a kid.”

  A little swell of shame from Kel’s words heated Katya’s face and tightened her throat as she brought the beaker to her lips and drank it down. It was cold. Sterile. But it soothed the ache to a degree, although she knew the hunger would return. It stalked her, even into her sleep. Her dreams of late had been dark and erotic. Frightening. Had they been a warning of the true nature of the beast Dr. Rupple had created with his tampering?

  The doc watched Katya, red brows pulled together. “I cannot speak for your mate, Ms. Schaffer. Perhaps that is a discussion you should take up with him. Maybe even before he throws a clot from the abundance of platelets and expires from a brain aneurism.”

  “Doc!” Kel snapped furiously, and her defense after the reprimand only moments before made Katya feel worse. “Kat just took out a handful of thos
e mindless bootlickers protecting her mate. Cut her some slack.”

  Katya heard Tag move restlessly from the other side of the room, and the doc turned to glare at him.

  “You are absolutely right,” Doc snapped at Tag. “I don’t understand. Your people won’t permit me to. Evidently Drachon mates”—Doc motioned to Katya—“are not permitted to know either.”

  Tag moved so quickly Katya barely saw him until he was nearly on top of the doc, who only continued to glare at him in irritation. “Don’t go pounding your chest in my head, Taggart. I am not in the habit of mincing words, nor will I start now. At this point, your precious secrets will only end up killing them both. Silence may have once served to protect the Drachon, but that time is past.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Katya looked from the doc to Tag and back. What secrets? She didn’t like the threat to either her or Raife. Something very elemental and raw rose up in response to it. She rubbed at her temples as the buzzing in her head intensified.

  “Damn it, woman, just answer the asshole. He’s frying my brain,” Tag snapped and stepped away from the doc.

  Raife. That incessant buzzing was him trying to contact her? She’d inadvertently blocked him when she’d woken up feeling so threatened. She’d learned quickly in the lab to keep her mind sealed tight from the moment she gained consciousness. Tentatively, she mentally opened herself just enough. Rage and concern blazed at her through the crack. She gasped at the onslaught.

  “Katya, you better fucking answer me right now.”

  “I’m fine.” She sent the hesitant thought to him. It sounded as though a locomotive was plowing through the halls just outside the lab, and Tag cursed.

  Kel chuckled. “Saved by the dragon. And just when things were getting interesting.”

  The steel door was slammed back off its hinges, the distinct impression of two large hands embedded in the steel where he’d pushed it away. The doc threw her hands in the air and paced away.

  Raife kept coming without sparing even a glance at the others. He didn’t stop until he stood next to her gurney, staring down at her. Katya gasped as his heat rushed over her, drawing her nipples into hard points, and she hunched her shoulders forward to hide the effect it had on her body.