Page 31

“ T ake this.” Destiny tossed the tiny silver key to Leah. “Get down to the far end of this balcony and scrunch yourself into a corner.”

“You think they’ll come up here after us?” Leah’s fingers shook, setting the key clinking against the metal band around her wrist.

“Don’t you? Now get down there.” Destiny braced her back against the door, knowing she had no real chance of keeping anyone from coming through.

A loud thrumming noise sounded above her, accompanied by a fierce wind whipping at her hair and clothing. A helicopter passed low overhead—so close she could see the two figures in its glass bubble. Wild thoughts of grabbing on to one of its legs and making a spectacular escape flashed through her mind but not for more than an instant. James Bond she was not.

The doorknob pressed against her back and she braced her legs for the onslaught, but it did no good. In one massive push, the door burst open, throwing her forward and to the rough floor of the widow’s walk.

From her hands and knees she looked up to find a very angry Dermond Tyren glaring down at her. He grabbed a handful of her hair and jerked up. Forcing her to her feet, he hauled her close to him.

“That you’ll get to take your next breath, bitch, is a gift from my queen,” he hissed, a fine shower of spittle spraying over her face with his words. “If it were up to me, you’d be dead.”

“Funny, I feel the same way about you, asshole.”

His eyes narrowed and he tightened his grip on her hair, dragging her at his side as he walked forward. She looked up at him through the prism of tears that formed in response to the pain.

“What have you done with… there she is.” Satisfaction evident in his voice, Dermond strode forward, wearing the evil smile Destiny remembered from the night she’d first met him.

“Run!” she shouted, throwing her whole weight against Dermond, hoping to give her sister a chance to get away.

The force of her weight didn’t faze the man in the least. He threw her to the ground like tossing aside a rag doll before he turned to her sister. Leah crouched in her corner as if frozen to her spot against the wall. He hoisted her to her feet with a grip around her arm.

Silent tears streaked Leah’s face and her whole body shook in his grasp.

“Let her go, you bastard!” Destiny screamed, scrambling to her feet and hurling herself at him again.

He met her charge with a vicious backhand, sending her reeling backward and knocking her from her feet. Her body hit the stone wall of the house and slid down. She could feel the stone scraping into her skin as she fell.

She lay still, her face to the cold, rough surface of the walkway, waiting for the pain to stop, or at least to dull enough to allow her to catch her breath. Everything hurt.

Turning her head, she opened her eyes to find Dermond still had his hands on her sister, leering down at Leah, pulling her closer.

She had to do something to stop him. But first she’d have to get up.

Jesse climbed the stairs cautiously, his weapon at the ready. If only his emotions were at the ready, too. He seriously needed to pull it together. Usually the adrenaline kicked in at this point on a mission, the point of imminent confrontation, but what he felt now wasn’t anything like his normal experience.

He’d been in similar situations too many times to count, so why couldn’t he slip into his calm, efficient, business-as-usual mode now, when he needed it most? Why couldn’t he detach himself from the bloody handprints on the wall?

Because none of those other times had ever put the woman he loved at risk.

His foot faltered on the next step as the realization drove home.

The woman he loved.

When had that happened?

His heart pounded in his chest as he tried to accept the idea. Tried to deal with it.

It didn’t matter when it had happened. It just had. And when all of this was over, he’d make sure Destiny knew it.

He understood for the first time how his sister must have felt all those years ago when they’d gone to rescue her husband. The driving determination. The crippling fear.

It was like nothing he’d experienced before. These unfamiliar, raw emotions tore at him, scattering his thoughts, robbing him of his focus.

Until he heard Destiny’s scream.

In four long strides, he was at the door. Shoulder down, he burst through, expecting the worst.

And finding it.

Two steps ahead of him, Destiny appeared to hold herself upright against the wall by sheer force of will. Blood striped the side of her face nearest him. Farther down the walkway, Tyren held a terrified Leah.

Jesse realized instantly that the way Tyren had positioned himself with the girl gave Robert precious little chance to pick him off. With his own rifle, Robert could have made such a shot, but he’d undoubtedly be reluctant to take that kind of chance with an unfamiliar weapon unless he believed he had no alternative.

Jesse knew because it was the same problem he faced.

Still, given the scene in front of him, it seemed uncharacteristic of Robert not to have taken some action by now.

Ahead of him, Dermond raised his gun, pointing straight at Destiny, who had begun to inch her way toward the man and her sister.

“Stop where you are. My queen might want you alive, but I certainly don’t. I’d love to have an excuse to end your miserable life.”

“Exactly how I feel about you,” Destiny responded, her voice trembling.

Jesse knew what was coming next as well as if he were the one with visions of the future. He read the deadly intent in Tyren’s eyes.

When Destiny pushed away from the wall, his world moved into slow motion. Quickly calculating the risk, he aimed and pulled the trigger on his weapon.

The silence that greeted him was a sure sign of misfire. In the precious seconds it took to slam the butt of the gun against his palm and rack another bullet, he did the only thing he believed would be fast enough to save her.

He threw himself in front of her, knocking her to the ground. As they fell, he heard the expected crack and felt the burn of the bullet as it tore into his back.

“Looks like your hired help is too late, Ms. Noble. I certainly hope you didn’t pay this fellow too much.”

Dermond’s cruel laughter came closer as Destiny scrambled to climb out from under the weight of Jesse’s body.

On hands and knees, she stroked the cheek she knew so well, the day’s growth of whiskers rough against her fingertips.

This couldn’t be happening. Not to him. Not to the one man in all the world she loved.

She placed a hand on his back, the stain growing on his shirt, wet and sticky under her palm.

“No.” The denial escaped her on a breath. “No!” she screamed, crouching over him, pulling her body close to his.

She couldn’t lose him like this.

Leah swung her fist at Dermond’s face, but he grabbed her wrist with his free hand, blocking her intended blow.

“Oh, what’s this, pet? You finally get your wits about you? Aren’t you happy to see to me? Surely you didn’t think I’d let you get away. Not after having been robbed of the chance to break you in properly.” He mashed his mouth to Leah’s in a grotesque parody of a kiss, crushing her body to his.

Destiny watched from the ground, a red haze of hatred washing over her, filling her mind, urging her forward.

After all that monster had done to Leah, and now to Jesse, she couldn’t stand the thought of his winning.

With a scream of rage she didn’t recognize as her own, she launched herself at the man, fastening one hand in his hair as she clawed at his eyes with her other.

Her only thoughts were of hurting him, of forcing his hands off her sister. She kicked wildly, scraping at his skin with her fingernails, as he tried to fend her off. His arm brushed past her face and she fastened her teeth onto his bicep, biting down as hard as she could, taking pleasure in his yelp of pain.

“Run!” she ordered through clenched teeth, wanting her sister away from this place. Away from this man.

Dermond laughed at her desperation. “Running will do her no good. Adira will hunt her to ground wherever she goes. She’ll never be free of us.”

And then Destiny’s feet lifted from the ground, Dermond’s fingers digging into her throat, squeezing tighter as he swung her around and slammed her body against the metal railing.

Her vision sparkled with bright bursts of light and she clawed at Dermond’s fingers, desperate for air as he increased the pressure of his hold. From a great distance, she heard Leah’s screams for him to let go, but her ears felt too full to allow her to fully understand the words.

She didn’t matter anymore. At least she’d managed to give Leah a chance to get away. No price was too great to pay for that. Hadn’t she already lost her future?

Her arm dropped to her side; she was too weak to fight any longer. She focused her gaze on Jesse, his body somehow now slumped against the door, a pool of his own blood forming beside him.

Just as she’d been willing to give her life to save Leah, he had offered up his to save her. As her vision tunneled to darkness, she wanted him to be the last thing she saw.

Perhaps she wouldn’t lose him. Perhaps they’d spend their eternity together in a better place.

Adira felt Flynn’s arms tighten around her as they neared the slowly beating rotors of the big machine. He lifted her up and other hands pulled her out of his arms and into the craft, lowering her into a small leather seat.

Flynn and the others could handle the details of their escape. The only matter of any importance to her was having her pet on board before they took off.

She allowed her head to rest against the back of her seat, her eyes too heavy to hold them open. Someone stretched a harness across her shoulder and lap but she ignored their touch.

“She’s taken enough of the girls’ blood. Even with this wound, she should heal well enough in time.”

Adira had only seconds to wonder at Flynn’s audacity in discussing her so intimately with a stranger before he spoke again.

“Any sign of Dermond and the women?”

“No. But we spotted a shooter in place outside the gates when we flew over. We radioed down. The danger should be neutralized by now.”

Adira didn’t recognize the voice and wasn’t sure she had the energy or interest to open her eyes to look his way. Surely this was all something Flynn could manage.

“Gunshots!” the strange voice yelled, and suddenly the rotors sounded as if they beat faster.

“Flynn?” Her own voice sounded weak and far away amid the obvious clamor of activity in the confines of the helicopter. “We can’t leave yet. Not without my Leah. I must have my pet.”

“Too late! We have to go now!”

The stranger, no doubt the pilot, clearly didn’t understand who was in charge.

“Flynn! We wait. You must do as your queen orders.” The effort of forcefully issuing the command had drained the last of her energy. Apparently Flynn still lacked the necessary discipline after all.

“Queen?” A voice from her past, so very close to her ear his breath danced across her face. “I don’t think so, ma belle. Flynn wisely takes his orders from me, as he always has.”

Adira’s body trembled against her will as she forced her eyes open to stare into the emotionless gaze of the man who’d made her life a living hell for centuries.

“Reynard.” She struggled unsuccessfully to mask the horror she felt. “You’re alive.”

Reynard Servans stroked one long finger across her cheek, smiling his promise of pain to come as the helicopter lifted off the ground.

“That I am, ma belle intelligente. We must go now, but never fear. Since you’ve discovered for me what the girl can do, I will tear the world apart to locate your little pet again. I will find her, I promise. There is no country in which she will be able to hide from me. The days of freedom are short.”

With a sinking heart, Adira realized his threat was directed as much at her as at Leah.

She’d come so close and now it was all in vain.

A shot rang out and the steel grip on Destiny’s throat loosened as Dermond jerked back from the railing. A second shot sounded almost simultaneously, this one very near. Dermond pitched forward again, pinning Destiny between the metal railing and his body.

She coughed, her throat in spasms as she gasped in great lungfuls of fresh, renewing oxygen. But when she lifted her gaze, his eyes, pinched with pain and hatred, captured hers and he tightened his hold, threatening to once again cut off her air.

Grappling at his fingers, she fought to be free of him as his full body weight pressed into her, bending her backward over the railing three stories above the ground.

“She’ll never be free of my queen,” he hissed, spraying spittle over her face.

Leah screamed from somewhere behind him, and a great force hit Dermond’s body, pressing the metal rail into the small of Destiny’s back until her feet lifted off the ground and she thought her bones would break. And then the pressure was gone.

Dermond, already off balance, pitched over the rail, his arms and legs flailing wildly through the air in the moments it took him to hit the stone walkway below.

“Rot in hell, Faerie, where you belong.” Leah stared down at the broken body three stories below, her arms wrapped around her middle.

Unable to stand on her own, Destiny fell to her knees and crawled the few feet separating her from where Jesse had propped himself against the wall, his gun lying across one knee.

“You’re safe now, babe,” he murmured, lifting a hand to her hair as she wrapped her arms around him.

She pulled away, brushing her fingers across his face, and he closed his eyes. His breathing was shallow and his skin so cold, it terrified her. When his hand fell back to his side, she found herself sobbing.

So much blood. His blood. Everywhere.

“Hold on, Jesse. Talk to me, please. Don’t give up. I love you. Do you hear me? Don’t you dare die on me. I love you!”

“Love you, too, babe.” His eyes flickered open and he tried for a smile but failed. “Bad timing. Us.”

“No, don’t say that!” she pleaded. Her mind whirled with her panic. “Help me!” she screamed, not knowing who she begged for assistance, but only that she needed it.

“Get out of my way.” Leah shoved her roughly to the side as she kneeled down in her place. “You should have told me sooner he was important to you.” With one deep breath, she lowered her head and laid her hands on Jesse’s chest.

Leah’s body convulsed and stiffened, but she held on until at last she threw back her head and screamed, a shriek so primal and animal, Destiny knew she would remember the sound for the rest of her life.

Her sister’s eyes rolled back in her head and her body went limp, falling on top of Jesse.

Destiny crawled back to them, the two people she loved most in the world, in a heap before her. Fear nearly paralyzed her, but she fought it, reaching out to place one hand on her sister’s back, the other on Jesse’s chest.

The door behind them burst open and Robert stood over her, his eyes wild, blood dripping from a gash on his head.

“They’re alive!” was all she managed before dissolving into tears.