More Than Life (Arcane Crossbreeds)

by Vyne, Amanda

  Raife pushed a hand through his hair. “Are you okay?” He looked her over. She was dirty and shaken, but it didn’t look like any of the blood belonged to her.

  “I had to jump out of a window again.” She took a deep breath and pushed her hair back from her forehead with the wrist of the hand holding the gun. She looked down at the thing with disgust and gave it up to him when he reached for it. “And shoot people. I seriously don’t think I like guns. But I’m okay.” A sigh visibly moved through her body. “I’ve just had a bitch of a day.”

  “Well that’s a great big stinking pile of understatement.” Kel laughed, leaning back against her bloodmate.

  “You have no idea.” Katya sighed again and took a deep fortifying breath. She turned to look at Forestor. “Those files we found on the Triumvirate’s server were used to experiment on me. My whole life, one big experiment. My parents were both Rebel crossbreeds. I was never a blood relation to Canton Schaffer.”

  Forestor nodded, and for a moment, she could see his weariness. He motioned to the table. “Please, all of you take a seat.”

  Raife dropped into a chair and pulled her down on his lap. She stiffened, but his voice moved low through her mind.

  “I just need to hold you.”

  He sounded as raw as she felt, and she couldn’t resist him, especially when all she wanted was to feel his arms around her.

  “Dr. Mahoney is currently being held under suspicion of assisting the Triumvirate with their research.” Forestor lowered himself into a chair at the head of the long table. Katya felt the sudden shock and tension in the room. “We suspected she may have developed the research used to initially experiment on Ms. Schaffer.”

  Beneath her, Raife tensed and sat forward. “The doc was responsible for her DNA being fucked with?”

  Forestor cast him a dark look, and Katya clenched her hands on Raife’s arms, let her mind sweep over and merge with his. He sighed and leaned back again pulling her farther down against his chest.

  “The files we uncovered from the Triumvirate’s server suggested a theory where a Rebel subject was raised in an Alliance environment while the gene therapy was administered. The theory was that the new genes would be activated by the environment. We believe Dr. Mahoney was behind that.”

  Kel slapped her hands on the tabletop and leaned forward, her narrowed gaze centering on Katya in confusion. “That was like twenty years ago, right? The doc can’t be more than thirty. That would have made her no better than a kid.”

  Forestor nodded. “She was eighteen when I acquired her for Incog and already a brilliant geneticist. It’s probable that she was too young to know better, however…” He turned his dark stare on Katya, and she fought the urge to squirm under its intensity. “Tag uncovered files from the GenTest Research Facility where you were held. The files were transferred to Dr. Mahoney this morning. Later this afternoon, a message was intercepted from Dr. Mahoney requesting to meet with a Triumvirate representative.”

  It felt as though all emotion was suddenly vacuumed from the room, leaving this dark stillness behind. She thought everyone might be contemplating what that meant for them personally. Dr. Mahoney knew more about them than they knew about themselves on a biological level, and the risk that information presented in the hands of the Triumvirate was chilling. She should know. She couldn’t help but wonder if Dr. Mahoney knew exactly what had been done to her.

  “Mr. Fallon,” Forestor continued. “I would like you to extend my request to the Drakes for their assistance. At this point, I am apprehensive of bringing in another scientist, yet we don’t have the knowledge to determine what Dr. Mahoney has been doing in her lab. I know several of the Drakes are scientists themselves. Moreover, I trust them.”

  Brim nodded. “Considering everything we’ve discovered already, I believe the Drakes would be eager to get involved. I will convey your invitation.”

  “We will wait to proceed until they arrive.” Forestor stood with a nod. “I’m requesting there be no contact with Dr. Mahoney until we know the extent of the damage and her guilt. Raife. Katya. If you would hang back, I’d like to speak with you both.”

  Raife’s arms tightened around her for a moment before he let her go. He was leery, and she couldn’t blame him. Her heart thundered as she waited for the room to clear. She could feel the curious yet sympathetic stares of the others as they filed out.

  “What the hell is going on, Forestor?” The words burst from Raife the moment the door shut.

  Forestor gripped his hands behind his back with a sigh. “Tag has attempted to decipher as much of the files as he can. From what we can determine thus far, the gene therapy was successful.” He leveled his gaze on Katya. “The Triumvirate had you transferred to the research facility to use your DNA to learn to duplicate the process.”

  Fury surged hotly through Raife’s mind, and Katya reached out to touch his hand. Immediately he settled, but she could feel the seething just beneath the surface. Forestor’s news didn’t shock her. She’d suspected as much. “Do we know what that means?”

  Forestor narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. “We’re not one hundred percent certain, but there is a good chance that means you’ve been infected with the blood magic.”

  Raife’s entire body and mind stilled, and she could feel his shock and dread. He looked down at her, the weight of him pressing on her.

  “So that means my life expectancy will be short,” Katya said. It wasn’t a question.

  “We’re not certain exactly what that means, but the Drakes and the Drachon scientists will be interested in investigating that further. It could mean they may possibly find a means to reverse it. It also means you will be the focus of more experimentation.” Forestor paused and leveled a look at her. “You’ve spent the majority of your life being experimented on. I would understand if you don’t want to be involved anymore. I am prepared to offer you an alternative. I can relocate you and Agent Merrick away from this, in an undisclosed location. I thought, for once, you would like the choice.”

  Katya was already shaking her head, but Raife turned her, his big hands warm on her shoulders, his amber eyes full of emotion as they focused down at her.

  “Just think for a minute, kitten. You don’t have to do this anymore. I’m content to live out your life with you, whether it’s two years or two hundred years.”

  “No, Raife, I don’t need to think. This time is different. I’m in control. I know the score, and I want to even it.” He reached up to cup her cheek, and she turned to kiss his warm, broad palm. She loved him so much. “And if this means I can get another hundred years with you, I want it. Besides, I trust that you will protect me.” She grasped his hand with hers and pulled it down to press it against her stomach. “Protect us.” And she knew that if she disappeared completely off the playing field, both the Rebels and the Triumvirate would never stop looking for her. She didn’t want that kind of future for their child. No, she was safer facing this head-on.

  Raife’s golden eyes flickered. “I love you, woman.”

  “Well, duh.”

  Katya turned to face Forestor. “I intend to stand and fight. Besides, your entire security system is going to need an overhaul. I feel responsible for that since my being here is going to bring both the Rebels and Triumvirate down on you.”

  Forestor’s lips twitched in the parody of a smile. “I was hoping you were going to say that.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Two days later, Raife slipped quietly into the cool dimness of their suite, attention drawn to the small finger of light stretching across the floor of the living room from the bedroom. That light was a lure for him, just the thought of her easing the knot in his gut. Through the narrow opening in the door, he could hear the drone of the blow-dryer. And soft, off-key humming. Raife felt the faint smile tilt his lips, and he rolled his shoulders, trying to work out the tension from the last hour. He let the familiar sounds soothe him, pulling to him the image of long silky blonde hair falling arou
nd bare shoulders as she dried it.

  Katya.

  The image of her filled him, and he inhaled her, the scent of her heavy in their suite. God, could he possibly love her more? When he’d held her in his arms as an innocent four-year-old child, he’d felt her fill him then. He’d watched her grow, that core of affection growing with her until he’d have killed to keep that smile on her face. Now he’d die to prevent her from ever being hurt again. Even by him. She’d had enough pain.

  Raife stopped outside the bedroom door and grabbed the trim on the top of the frame with one hand, dropping his head to his forearm as he listened to her. She’d been through hell this past year, her entire life crumbing at her feet with the revelations of the day. To know the man she thought was her uncle had so callously condemned her to hell for his own greed hurt her. Every person in her life had let her down in spades. Including him. Fuck, he’d fouled up from the moment he’d met her. She’d been helpless and traumatized, and he walked her from that damn warehouse twenty years ago and handed her right off to the same bastards who had tried to kill her. Then he’d handed her off again last year. She deserved to have whatever she needed to rebuild her life. He ached to be a part of that, but he wouldn’t crowd her.

  Clenching his eyes shut, he silently cursed. When he’d found her again, he’d thought he was all out of self-sacrifice, but he’d been wrong. He needed her with an intensity that would hollow him if he had to live without her, but he’d walk. If she fucking needed the space, he’d walk. And it would kill him.

  The blow-dryer clicked off.

  “Raife?”

  Raife swallowed and lifted his head. “Yeah, baby?”

  Silence. It drew out. He refused to invade her thoughts even though his dragon skittered beneath his flesh to do just that.

  Dropping his hand from the frame, he stepped forward and followed that shaft of light through the darkness of the bedroom into the open door of the bathroom. The steam from her shower still clung to the corners and surfaces of the room, giving it an ethereal look. Especially with Katya standing there, all that white blonde hair flowing around her shoulders, her pale skin still flush from the heat of her shower. Leaning a shoulder against the doorjamb, he drew her in, careful to guard his need and protect her from his rioting emotions.

  She looked at him over one bare shoulder, the dark blue of the towel wrapped around her making her eyes glow cerulean. She blinked at him, gold brows lowering as she studied him. He could feel her light touch over his mind, and everything in him stilled.

  The touch of her left him feeling strangely reassured, like a cool, soft hand over his fevered brow.

  A small smile kissed her lips and disappeared. She turned away and lifted a bottle of pale yellow lotion. It was her favorite scent, he remembered from the rare few times he’d escorted her to the mall in the past. He’d made sure she had it when she’d come here. He’d felt the need to give her something of what she’d had taken away from her, but it’d mostly been for selfish reasons. He loved the smell of it. It smelled like that moment when the sun just started to crest the horizon. Fresh and warm, especially after it heated on her flesh, mixing with that unique scent that was all her.

  “How did your meeting with Forestor go?” Her voice was soft, neutral.

  The meeting had been hell. Tag had been keeping Dr. Mahoney under surveillance, but she’d drugged him and escaped. He knew Tag suspected the doc was his mate. Not that it mattered. Even if the doc was compatible, Tag couldn’t mate her. He wasn’t…whole.

  Raife shrugged. “We’ve tracked the doc back to GenTest.”

  She paused with her hand on her arm where she’d been rubbing the lotion into her skin and leveled those incredible blue eyes on him in the slowly clearing mirror. The scent of it infused the warm air, and he stirred, his cock pushing against the front of his zipper.

  “So the doc is a traitor?”

  “Tag doesn’t want to believe it but the evidence is pretty damning. She’s wiped the files in the lab. There’s nothing of importance on them. Forestor suspects she took the files with her.”

  “Did you tell them about my brother?”

  “No.” That had been a hard decision that Katya had left up to him. Despite the man’s crimes, he’d done everything he possibly could have to save Katya. For that Raife was willing to give him time. It was obvious he had some end game that involved the fall of the Triumvirate. Enemy of my enemy and all that shit.

  She raised one brow but didn’t question his decision. She trusted him, and that was a fucking miracle all by itself. A sad smile tilted her full lips as she leaned down to rub lotion on her legs.

  “How are you doing?”

  She jerked her head up, and a mix of emotions coalesced on her beautiful face. Her sigh was slow and filled with acceptance. “I’m working on it. There’s a lot to process.”

  He was dying to pull her to him, wrap her in his arms, and he would have if he felt like he deserved her, even a little. He’d contributed to the last year of her life—hell—the past twenty years of the lie she’d lived. “I know, baby. I’m so fucking sorry.”

  She turned to face him, the edge of the towel tucked between the pale rise of her breasts, drawing his gaze. “So you keep saying.”

  Raife shoved his hand through his hair and blew out his breath, trying to keep his eyes off her breasts. And those curvy bare legs. “It’s my fault. I let you down, I –”

  “Now that is where you are wrong, Raife.” Her smile was soft, eyes glowing with an emotion he didn’t dare acknowledge. “Of every person in my life, you are the only one who didn’t. And I’m sorry if I made you feel like you did.”

  Her lips trembled as she advanced on him, catching his hand between hers before he could push it through his hair again. He looked down. Her hands looked so pale and small next to his behemoth paw. Hell, the top of her head barely reached his chin. She seemed so fragile, so easily broken, but nothing was further from the truth. She was strong in ways he never could be.

  His hand trembled in hers, and he cursed.

  She threaded her long slim fingers through his thicker ones until their palms touched; energy arced between them. She looked up at him. Those eyes… He could fall into them and never resurface. Happily. He loved her. He always had. It filled him until he could barely breathe around it. She was his life. Fuck, she was more than life to him. She was everything.

  “Out of everyone that claimed to care for me, who should have, you were always true to it. Every decision you made from the moment you rescued me was in my best interest, no matter the cost. Even if you should have let me be more involved in the decision.” She narrowed her eyes on him, but her free hand pushed into his hair, her wrist resting against his cheek. “I know that. Even when I blamed you I trusted you. Deep inside, I always knew.”

  A tremor worked through his body as her absolution melted over him. Even if he didn’t agree, he wasn’t a fool. He was going to take it, grab her with both hands before she changed her mind.

  She curled her fingers around the base of his skull and pulled his face down to hers, those full lips brushing over his. A growl swelled in his throat, rumbling against her soft mouth, and he pulled her closer with their clasped hands. She tasted like life to him. Like forever. Sweeter than anything he’d ever had on his lips.

  She buried her hands in his hair, and he dropped his hands to grab the curve of her ass through the towel. He lifted her and reveled in the feel of her legs wrapping around his waist. She was perfect for him in every way.

  Raife lifted his head to draw in a breath and look down at her face. Her lips were flushed and swollen from his kiss, her eyes glowing with that emotion he wanted to drown in. “Tell me.”

  The corners of her eyes crinkled in mischief, and suddenly he was holding nothing but a thick, blue towel clenched in his fists. Pleasure swelled inside him, but he growled for effect, gaze raking the bathroom for his errant mate.

  “Kat,” he drew out in warning, turning to look
into the bedroom. She was standing on their bed, blonde hair falling around her shoulders and all that smooth flesh bare for him to see. Inside him the last of tension gave way to desire and love. If he lived to be two hundred, he would never see anything more beautiful than Katya Schaffer. “I love you, kitten. No matter what, I have always and will always love you.”

  With a blur of blonde hair and pale skin, she was standing in front of him. She drew him to the edge of the bed, pushed on his chest until he sat, and straddled his lap. He left his hands braced on the mattress on either side of her thighs, afraid to touch her. She looked down to watch as her hands pulled his shirt from the waist of his pants and slid over his stomach.

  “Did you know you are my first memory? I can’t remember my parents or my brother. Just you. The feel of your strength. The sound of your voice.” Her eyelids slid shut, and she moved her hands higher up his chest. He helped her pull his shirt over his head. He could feel the heat of her body seeping through his clothes, her touch burning him. “There is not one memory I have that you are not a part of.”

  His chest tightened at her words, his arms trembling with the need to hold her. He swallowed hard and watched her face as it creased with a frown.

  “You followed me into that hole, you know. Straight into hell.”

  “Kat,” Raife groaned. She was killing him. His chest felt like it was crushing his lungs. Her eyes opened, glittered like shards of glass. Sharp. Fractured. That gaze cut into him.

  “There were days when I hated you,” she confessed softly. “Days when I couldn’t breathe for needing you. I dreamed of you. Cried for you. Screamed at you. But you were always with me. Into the dark. Through the pain. Always.”

  Raife dropped his forehead to hers as the pain swamped him. The grief. He wished he had really been there for her. Fuck, he’d do anything to go back and make it all disappear for her. To protect her like he’d promised that little girl she’d been twenty years ago.