Страница 65 из 73
She wasn’t a Breedmate, and that troubled him. Not because of the fact they would never have offspring together. Not even because of the absence of a blood bond, which would co
He didn’t need a blood link to strengthen what he felt for her. She was his mate already, in all the ways that mattered. He loved her, and although he wasn’t sure what their future would look like, he couldn’t begin to imagine living it without her.
He looked to the other warriors in the weapons room with him, and knew that he would die for Je
As his gaze traveled past Kade and Niko and Dante, he realized that Rio had gone quiet in the past few minutes. The scarred, Spanish-born warrior leaned against the nearby wall, staring at nothing in particular as he idly rubbed his fist in a small circle at the center of his chest.
“You all right, Rio?”
He glanced over at Brock and gave him a vague shrug. His fist kept circling, directly over his heart. “What time is it?”
Brock checked the clock at the other end of the facility. “Almost three-thirty.”
“The women ought to be calling in any minute now,” Kade said. His gaze seemed preoccupied, as well, his silver eyes glinting with a note of unease.
Niko set down his weapon and grabbed his cell phone. “I’m going to call Renata. Something doesn’t feel right to me all of a sudden.”
“Yeah,” Kade agreed. “You don’t think anything is wrong, do you?”
Although Brock wasn’t liking the suddenly serious vibe that was coming over his brethren, he assured himself that everything was fine. The day trip Je
Je
Dante walked over, frowning darkly, while Niko waited in prolonged silence for his mate to pick up his call. “Any answer?”
“No,” Niko replied quietly.
“Madre de Dios,” Rio blurted as he pushed away from the wall. “Something has Dylan frightened. I can feel her fear in my veins.”
Brock registered the alarm traveling through each of his brethren now. “The both of you, too?” he asked, shooting a grim look at Kade and Niko.
“My pulse just kicked into overdrive,” Kade said. “Ah, shit. Something bad is going down with Alex and the others.”
“It won’t be dark for another hour, minimum,” Dante reminded them, sober with the warning.
“We don’t have that long,” Niko said. “We’ve got to go after them now.”
With Dante looking on, Brock fell in alongside his three fellow warriors, feeling lost and adrift, dependent on their instincts to help guide him toward whatever threat was now facing Je
Holy hell. Je
She could be dying that very moment, and he wouldn’t know until he was standing over her body.
The realization was as cold as death itself, reaching into his chest and seizing his heart in an icy fist.
“Let’s go,” he barked to his brethren.
Together the four of them raced out of the weapons room, gathering their guns and gear as they went.
At the same instant, Je
As though they were nothing, meant nothing.
Which to this woman, Je
Behind Sister Grace, two bulky men now stood. They’d been lurking in the shadows of the hallway at her back, summoned forward even before Je
The standoff played out in wary silence for a long moment, time that she used to calculate possible ways of disabling one or both of the men without putting either Alex or Dylan in harm’s way in the process. But damn, it didn’t seem viable. Even if she hoped to use the implant-enhanced speed her reflexes seemed to have now, the risk to her friends was too great to chance it.
And then, more bad news.
From somewhere to her left, another male Minion stepped up and rested the cold nose of a revolver against her head.
The nun smiled her false smile. “I’m going to have to ask you girls to put down your weapons now.”
Renata didn’t budge. Neither did Je
“How long have you been working for Dragos?” Renata asked the female mind slave. “He’s your Master, am I right?”
Sister Grace blinked, unfazed. “One more time, dear. Put down your weapon. The rug you’re standing on has been in my family for more than two hundred years. It would be a pity to ruin it by having Arthur or Patrick here blast a fucking hole in your chest.”
Je
Je
Renata exhaled a resigned-sounding sigh.
She started to lower her gun …
As she did so, Je
In what seemed like slow motion to Je
Je
She leapt over the Minion, heading her off in an instant. She thrust her hands out at the woman and shoved her backward, sending the gray-haired monster airborne. She crashed down onto the parlor floor as Renata plugged the last of the male Minions and left the body twitching and bleeding on Sister Grace’s heirloom rug.
Je
The Minion gri
As she spoke, a pair of heavy footsteps thundered up from somewhere below the house. Two more Minions, racing up from the cellar. The door off the hallway crashed open as they stormed out. Renata swung around and nailed each one dead center in the head, stopping them in their tracks.
Dylan let out a little whoop of triumph as the house went silent once again.
And then … the faintest sounds of voices coming from the cellar deep below.
Female voices.
More than a dozen different voices, all of them screaming and shouting, calling out to whoever could hear them.
“Holy shit,” Alex murmured.
Dylan’s eyes went wide. “You don’t think—”