by Vyne, Amanda
Dr. Mahoney hadn’t even blinked when the two disappeared; her wicked blue eyes were narrowed on him. “Ms. Schaffer is displaying the signs of acute gestational anemia consistent with a breeding Sanguen female.” A sudden frown weighted her expression as she glanced down at Katya. “In her case, a severe presentation of the condition. What else do I need to know?”
Raife said nothing, just brushed his fingers over the fall of his mate’s hair. Some color had returned to her cheeks, and the beeping from the heart monitor had slowed to a steady rhythm. Carrying a Drachon baby was in no way a condition of weakness, yet he still worried. She wasn’t a pure Drachon, and he wasn’t sure what would be considered normal. Safe.
The doc sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. “I suspect there is much you aren’t telling me, Agent Merrick. For your mate’s sake, I urge you to be forthcoming with any information that could help me treat her.”
Raife threaded his fingers through the fall of Katya’s hair. She was a miracle to him. It had been pounded into his skull—sometimes literally—from an early age to protect the secrets of his species. They were at the breach, facing down extinction. Yet what if there was a reason he’d been driven to that damn warehouse all those years ago, compelled to intervene despite his dislike of her species at the time? What if fate had been offering him hope?
“Drachon need to mate to survive.”
The doc snorted and turned away from him, shaking two vials of blood slowly back and forth in her hand. “That’s not exactly a secret, Raife, nor is it unique to your species.”
“True,” Raife agreed as he clenched his fist in Katya’s hair. Maybe fate, that fickle bitch, was finally giving his species something they could work with to give them a fighting chance. Hell, that damn lab could be filled with a whole lot of somethings. It wasn’t a possibility that could be ignored.
Besides, as soon as he talked with Brim Fallon, the Drakes would be all over Incog, wanting to get involved with the research, demanding to assist in the rescue of the possible mates held hostage in that research facility. The doc would be up to her brilliant little brain in Drachon secrets then. May as well give her a head start. “But Drachon must do more than mate in order to stave off the reaper, Doc. Our males need to impregnate their mate, and until now it was thought Drachon were incompatible with all other species. Katya had to have been genetically altered in that lab. Could they have given her Drachon genes?”
Raife could practically see Dr. Mahoney’s brain processing the information in the way her gaze moved sightlessly around the room. Finally she shook her head. “It’s impossible to achieve that level of genetic manipulation after birth. Your mate has to be a crossbreed, maybe with latent genes that were manipulated to represent themselves.”
“No, that’s not possible.” He and the doc looked down at the sound of the low throaty voice. Katya struggled to bring herself to a sitting position. She wouldn’t look at him, but she didn’t push him away when he helped her turn to drape her legs over the edge. “My parents were both Sanguen. They had to have done this to me in the lab. What about those old research records we pulled off of the Triumvirate? They were comparing the genes of the Rebels and the Alliance Arcane. They could have injected me with the genes of Rebels, making me a crossbreed.”
“That’s impossible,” Dr. Mahoney whispered distractedly.
“I rescued her from a deranged bloodsucker and gave her my blood when she was young. Could that have made her a crossbreed?” Raife asked the question that had been weighing on him. It had been a rash decision to let her bleed him all those years ago, but he hadn’t been able to just let the tiny girl die. The responding ripple of anxiety that radiated from the doctor caught his attention.
“No. No, it doesn’t work that way,” Dr. Mahoney said softly, shaking her head. She had always been difficult to read. Her brain patterns were different, yet he sensed a sudden peak in her. With the exception of her usual dry agitation, she always appeared so emotionless. That surge in her energy almost felt like dread. He narrowed his eyes on the redheaded doctor. She was hiding something. She knew more than she let on.
Dr. Mahoney braced a hand on her hip and shook her head as though rejecting a conclusion. Once again he was taken aback by her strange, lightning-fast thought patterns. She swallowed, and her clinical blue gaze touched on Katya before skittering away.
That was strange and unlike the brusque and straightforward doctor. Something was definitely off here.
Doc cleared her throat. “What of your childhood? Any frequent blood work?”
Katya shrugged. “The usual tests a couple times a year.”
That was news to him. As far as he knew, unless they were ill, Sanguen females were only tested at sexual maturity to determine purity of bloodline. Could her uncle have known all along she was crossbreed? The bastard was likely responsible for her presence in that damn research facility. Had he sold her out because he was ashamed of a less than pure bloodline?
Katya narrowed her pale blue eyes on him. Their connection was deep enough right now she was picking up on his thoughts, and he could definitely read her emotions. She was hurt. Confused. Yet so damn stubborn. “Baby, you have to at least consider that your uncle might be responsible.”
Katya shrugged and turned to look at the heart monitor. “Can we detach me from this thing?”
The doc nodded absently and stepped forward to turn the machine off while Katya pulled at the wires. “I should have some answers once I perform a few tests. In the meantime, I strongly recommend you accept your nature and bleed Agent Merrick on a regular basis.”
Katya paused, her body tensing at the doctor’s instructions. Raife could feel her, feel her shame and fear at the prospect of bleeding him. Her voice was low when she finally responded. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
“On the contrary, Ms. Schaffer. It’s a good idea if you wish to sustain your pregnancy.”
Chapter Nineteen
“Pregnancy?” Katya echoed woodenly, all too aware of the taste of Raife on her tongue.
The memory of bleeding him was vague, but the remembered sensation of his blood hitting her system was vivid. Her body still tingled, and, despite the clawing hunger being gone, she continued to crave the taste, couldn’t help savoring the essence of him on her lips.
This couldn’t be normal. Unless she was pregnant. Pregnant Sanguen not only craved the blood of their mates, but they needed it to provide for the unborn baby. Why hadn’t she considered that? Crossbreeds were born all time, and she and Raife certainly hadn’t done anything to prevent it.
She dropped her hands to press them against her belly. Raife’s unborn baby.
Lifting her gaze to his to judge his reaction to that particular bit of information, she frowned. He didn’t appear surprised. No, he looked…guilty. “You knew,” she accused.
“A Drachon mating only ends when the female is breeding so, yes, I knew you were pregnant.” Raife’s deep voice rumbled over her.
Her heart jumped crazily at the confirmation. It was a damn good thing the heart monitor wasn’t connected to her anymore, because it would have smoked from the strain. “How can I be pregnant?” Heat flooded her face.
Well, the how was obvious, but it wasn’t something she was ready to deal with right now. It seemed like she was on the wanted list of several factions of the Arcane. How could she bring a baby into this? God, what would those monsters do to a baby?
“Do you find the thought of having my baby so terrible?”
He moved his gaze over her face. The intensity of it fell heavily on her, making her want to turn away from it. The thought of her not wanting his baby hurt him, and that, in turn, hurt her. This was Raife; despite how messed up things were right now, he had been her everything for so long. She couldn’t not be affected by his pain.
“It’s not that.” She’d always wanted to have a real family. One with a real mother and father. She’d dreamed of it growing up, and in her dream, Raife
always played the role of the father. But things were different now. She was different. “How can I bring a baby into this?”
Raife’s light brown brows lowered as he searched deeper into her eyes. “I will protect our child, Kat. You will protect our child. We won’t let anyone hurt this baby.”
She wanted to ask him who would protect their child from her, but she could see by the way his eyes narrowed as the thought slid through her mind that it was only going to make him angrier. Instead she opted to take a gentler route, whispering her fear into his mind. “Look at what I did to those men tonight. I couldn’t control myself. I’m unstable.”
Raife still looked as if he wanted to roar at her. His eyes never left hers as he stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest. She gritted her teeth when cold filled the space where his heat had been moments before.
“Doc?” Raife called the doctor back from where she’d moved across the lab to give them space. “How would you explain her tearing apart those assholes tonight? Could her hormones cause her to become unstable and dangerous?”
Katya stiffened. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer to this one.
Dr. Mahoney gave a low husky laugh as she turned around to mess with some machine on her counter. “Not in the way you may think. Arcane don’t have cyclic hormonal changes like some creatures, particularly humans. We respond to each other and, most importantly, to our mates.”
“And that means?” The intensity in his gaze held Katya.
“That means she was most likely responding to you.” Dr. Mahoney laid one hand on the counter and half turned to motion to the bullet hole in his shirt. “Maybe the smell of your blood, the release of adrenaline in your system, a hormonal response to the stress of your injury… Any number of things could have had an effect on her biology.”
“That’s not any reassurance, Dr. Mahoney. I couldn’t control myself. I couldn’t stop. I’m lucky I didn’t hurt Gideon or Kel.” A chill slid over her flesh, and she trembled as she looked up at Raife’s angry face. “Or you.” She hated the fact that her voice quivered around those words. She had been totally controlled by an animalistic force inside her. She remembered the cold, calculated rationale that had stalked calmly through her mind.
Raife sighed, his tawny gaze lightening as he pulled her against him and burrowed his hand into the tangled fall of her hair at the back of her head.
“It was not meant to be a reassurance,” Dr. Mahoney said. “We’re only just starting to understand how the unique biological responses of each species interact in crossbreeds. Where most crossbreeds have the genetics of two species, you have four.”
The doc’s clinical gaze roved down over Katya, and she had to fight the urge to squirm.
“That makes you dangerous. The way the body reacts to itself and its environment is no accident, Ms. Schaffer. There are no coincidences in our biological processes. It is all cause and effect. Your episode of violence this evening was most likely a response to the threat to the life of your mate. Your bodies are communicating with each other whether you chose to accept it or not. Denying what your bodies have already decided can only endanger you both and the baby. If you had been bleeding your mate as your body demanded, then the stress of your defensive adrenal response would never have caused your heart to fail.”
Katya closed her eyes in dread as she felt Raife’s hand clench in her hair. His fury rolled through her.
“Your fucking heart stopped?” He turned to face her more fully, making room between her knees for his hips. His voice was so cold it burned. The movement made currents of sensation crawl up her thighs. His other fist closed over the front flap of her medical gown and tugged just enough to unsnap the top buttons with pops that tightened the sensitive flesh over her entire body. The cool air flowed over the exposed rise of her breasts, and she could almost feel the heat of his gaze there.
“Those bruises were from someone having to pound on your chest to keep you alive.” The words fell hard and heavy into her mind, weighting her. “You’ve denied yourself, denied me until it made your body weak when it should be at its strongest. Have you thought what it would do to me if I lost you?”
“Raife.” Katya could feel the heat of his breath on her cheek as he leaned in closer, his hips pressing harder into her, spreading her legs wider.
“Take us back to our room.”
“Raife.” Katya tried to plead with him again.
“Now. Or we will have this discussion right here.” He rocked the hardened flesh between his thighs against her to punctuate his words, his broad chest crowding her.
A rush of sensation washed over her, making her nipples peak and scrape against the cotton of her shirt. She reached up and wrapped both hands around the thick swell of his upper arms to keep from falling back against the gurney.
The tingling intensified as she shimmered them into the living room of their suite.
Chapter Twenty
A hollow metal click echoed loudly in the room the moment they materialized. Her eyes widened and dropped down to see the silver cuff that ringed her wrist.
“What are you doing?” Katya gasped and stumbled back a step. She blinked up at him, the silver bracelet feeling heavier than it was. As though it restricted the very air that moved through her body. She knew it was unreasonable, but it made her chest feel heavy. She exhaled it away, angled her chin up, and extended her arm out to him. “Take it off.”
Those eyes held firm, and he gave a firm shake of his head. “I don’t think so. We’re going to settle a couple things between us, Kat. And I can’t let you run away if it gets too hard. ”
“You mean like you did?”
Raife advanced on her until his wide shoulders filled her vision, and she had to tilt her head back to look at his face. She inhaled slowly to control her reaction and—oh God—he smelled so good. His scent seemed to curl around her and cling to her. Her gums began to throb with the impending descent of her fangs. She’d just bled him. How could she crave him so soon?
Swallowing, she tried not to notice the writhing throb of the artery in his tanned neck. She tried not to remember what his flesh had felt like beneath her lips or what the heated flow of his blood pulsing over her tongue tasted like.
Swallowing again, she resisted the urge to retreat. Or rub her tingling, aching breasts against his chest. He was so close she could practically feel the heat of him on her nipples. Hunger coursed through her body in a terrifying surge strong enough she moaned around the fullness of her fangs.
Her craving for him expanded until it cast a shadow that lay cool and heavy over her.
Her eyelids slid shut with both an overwhelming sense of pleasure and an excruciating sense of pain. There wasn’t one part of her life that she could remember where this man hadn’t been an instrumental part of her happiness. And her heartbreak.
This was dangerous. To her. All those months of being totally isolated, of never knowing what was going to happen to her next. Of being tortured, some days half out of her mind with fever. He’d been there. In her mind. Sometimes she’d hated him, blamed him, and other times she’d ached for him with an intensity that was beyond tears, forgiving him and then hating him in turns while she curled, desolate and shivering, on her cot. But she’d been an innocent girl then, truly ignorant of what and who she truly was. She’d discovered a depth in herself, a glistening core that he would possess if she let him. And then what? Would he turn away again?
“I won’t ever make that mistake again, Katya.”
Her heart beat loud in her ears as she looked into his face. The intensity of those deep amber eyes. That light brown hair hanging to his shoulders. She wanted to believe him, but she had so much to lose. She’d been a girl before, and he’d been whatever she needed him to be, a shadow man to dress up in her fantasies when life wasn’t what she wanted it to be. Losing that illusion had hurt, had forced her to grow up and take responsibility for her own life. Now he was real and important to her. He was her everythi
ng. If she lost him this time, she would lose everything.
This time he’d have the power to take it all with him—all of her—and there wouldn’t be enough left to sustain her. As she looked into his glittering amber gaze, a realization rocked through her with enough power to send her hunching forward, fisted hands pressed to her deflating stomach.
She already craved him until she felt raw, until she couldn’t find herself in her overwhelming need for him. Every bit of her was so completely tangled in him that she didn’t know who she was. She’d killed for him. She glanced down, uncurling her fingers. The blood still stained her shaking hands.
Oh God!
It was too late.
The thin cotton hospital shirt hung open over her chest, the hem brushing against the thighs of her blood-encrusted black pants. Stiff clumps of hair hung around her face. Her heart beat so fast and heavy in her ears, she couldn’t hear around it. His amber gaze was the only solid thing she had to cling to as everything around her began to crumble.
Her whole body started to tremble. His was stiff, rooted to the spot as he stared back at her, the skin around his eyes white and taut. Then suddenly he was gone, turned away from her to pace to the window. The muscles in his arms rippled beneath the dark T-shirt he wore as he reached up to brace his arms against the glass, letting his head drop between them. She could clearly see the darkened stain that circled a hole in his shirt where the bullet must have exited his body.
“I fucked up. I know that, Katya. That I never meant to hurt you doesn’t fucking matter. I know that too.” His fists clenched against the glass of the window, the lights of the city rolled out in the darkness beyond. “The fact that you were hurt does matter. And you matter to me.”
“Raife.” Her voice sounded strangled even to her own ears as she shook her head. “I understand why you did what you did. I don’t blame –”
