A DANGEROUS BARGAIN (The Sentinel Demons) (13 page)

Desperate, she wriggled her arms, trying to get her hand and forearm into her bag that was dangling at her waist. Her heart was pounding as she clenched her smartphone, grateful for Zach’s overprotective nature. He’d added his brothers’ numbers and Kristoff’s in case of emergency. The big Evil holding her had loosened his hold around her neck, obviously not worried that a helpless human female was going to get away, breathing heavily in excitement as he watched the battle playing out, waiting for Zach to be killed. Aiming carefully, she kicked back with her foot, hoping it would connect with what should be the creature’s groin and slammed a fist backward, hoping to hit his face. She went instantly slack and limp in his grip, gaining precious seconds of freedom as she landed at his feet and the troll hissed in pain.

Her fingers flew, texting a SOS to Kristoff and the name of the restaurant. Seconds was all she had. She had just pressed the Send button when she was hoisted up brutally, wincing as she felt the claws of the Evil biting into her skin.

“You’ll pay for that, bitch,” he snarled, claws sinking deep enough into her upper arms to puncture her flesh.

Her cell phone dropped to the floor, and she desperately hoped that the message had reached Kristoff. Watching Zach as he fought on, she knew he wouldn’t stop until he was dead, but he was weakening, blood saturating his body as he continued to lop off the heads of more incoming Evils.

Terrified screams and the sounds of battle continued to vibrate through the room, the patrons and employees all huddled against the back wall, as far away from the battle as they could possibly get.

Zach. Transport yourself away. Please. You can’t keep at this much longer.
She shoved the thought into his mind with a mental push. She couldn’t watch him die trying to protect her. He could easily retreat. Save himself. And they couldn’t take her to the demon realm as long as he was alive, right? They might be able to hurt her physically, but they couldn’t touch her soul, kill her, or take her away. Zach could take care of his injuries, get more Sentinels and come to her rescue.

A loud, reverberating, low sound pulsated through her mind, the sound of Zach’s displeasure at that particular suggestion.

Just as she was about to start pleading with him, one by one, Kristoff, Drew, and Hunter appeared in the room, taking instant measure of the situation and joining the fray.

A sob of relief left her lips at the same instant that she felt the Evil dig his claws deeply into her upper arms. Almost instantly, she began to quiver, white-hot pain lancing through her body, an agony unlike anything she had ever experienced before. Her vision started to blur and she could feel perspiration dripping from her skin. She blinked, trying to clear her vision. She could see that the Evils were retreating and her heart leapt with joy, even as her body was consumed in pain.

Zach won’t die. He’ll live.

Her brain flooded with relief as her body burned with excruciating pain before the whole world went dark.

*****

Dammit! Why didn’t she run when she had the chance?

Zach’s whole body quaked with fury as he watched Kat thrashing on his bed, her body covered in a pair of flannel pajamas he’d conjured for her, completely buried under a mountain of blankets. Still she shivered and moaned, her body racked by the pain coursing through every cell in her body.

“Fuck. She should have run like hell when she got away instead of trying to text the three of you,” he said huskily, unable to keep his turbulent emotions buried. “The bastard must have injected her with toxins before he disappeared.”

Sentinels were immune to that particular weapon in the arsenal of torture devices the Evils utilized. Unfortunately, humans were not, and there was nothing an Evil loved more than releasing the poisons from its claws into a human body and watching its victim suffer.

“She’ll live, although the next day or two will be painful for her,” Kristoff grumbled, standing at Zach’s side with a remorseful expression. “The Evils are getting bolder, blatantly breaking more rules. If Goran could have taken her, he would have. So obviously, there are some things that they still aren’t capable of doing, like ignoring your life bargain with her. They couldn’t take her because you’re still alive. He hurt her just because he could. They can’t draw power from a human unless they’re in their own realm.”

Tearing his eyes from Kat, Zach shot Kristoff a dark look. “Why? Why her? Cut the bullshit and tell me why they’re so eager to get to Kat. I know you know. You said she was special. She’s my mate. I deserve to know why. I can’t fucking protect her if I don’t know everything.”

Kristoff crossed his arms in front of him, returning Zach’s stare. “You’d protect her best by taking her as your
radiant.
Bind her to you. But you're obviously not ready to do that. The Evils have reason to want
her
in addition to the purity of her soul. She is dangerous to them, and they obviously know it or they wouldn’t be gunning for her so hard.”

Zach cocked his head, nearly wanting to laugh at Kristoff’s comment. His sweet, gentle Kat was dangerous to the Evils?

Impossible.

“She couldn’t hurt any living thing even if she wanted to,” Zach replied, giving his king a skeptical look. “She’s not capable of it.”

Zach heard his brothers’ low murmur of agreement, both of them standing behind Kristoff, listening intently. Since Kat had saved his life with her rash actions, she obviously had the total support of all the Winstons.

“She doesn’t have to be anything other than what she is for them to want her. It’s her dormant
radiant
abilities they’re afraid of,” Kristoff replied, running a frustrated hand through his blond locks.

Every
radiant
had a dormant power that was released upon her joining with her Sentinel mate, a benefit that rippled to every one of them in the entire population. That constant infusion of power was one of the reasons the Sentinels had thrived. Rarely was it anything other than a small addition to every Sentinel’s magic, a tiny surge felt by every one of them when a joining took place. It was a common occurrence, and Zach rarely even noticed the addition to his powers anymore. “Why is Kat different from any other?” Zach asked, grinding his teeth with impatience. Kat was in pain, suffering, and he fucking wanted to know why.

“She holds the power of realm-walking,” Kristoff answered grimly.

Zach looked at Kristoff in horror, hearing a low whistle from his brothers behind the king.

“That’s no little burst of power. Sounds more like an atomic bomb,” Drew commented, his voice incredulous. “How can she hold that type of magic?”

“Somewhere in her very distant ancestry, one of her descendants was probably a demigod, a child born of a union between one of the gods and a human. The gift is dormant and harmless, passed from generation to generation, and it won’t awaken unless she mates with a Sentinel,” Kristoff said distractedly, as though he were still working through some of the details himself.

“How do you know this?” Zach asked heatedly, his fists clenching in irritation. “And why the hell didn’t you tell me?”

Kristoff sighed. “I knew she held special power. I could sense it. But I didn’t know what it was until today, when I saw that it was Goran in control of her. I heard his thoughts, his reasons for needing her under their control. I haven’t come face to face with Goran in centuries. I learned much from him today.”

Zach knew that Kristoff could read his Sentinels, but he’d had no idea that his king could also read the Evils. It made sense in a strange sort of way. Kristoff
was
the Sentinel demon king, and many of his powers were still a mystery, even to the Sentinels closest to him. There were a lot of things that Kristoff didn’t explain, and didn’t share.

“We could finally enter the demon realm, plan attacks, hurt the assholes really bad.” Hunter sounded almost uncharacteristically gleeful.

Kristoff held up his hand in warning. “Hold on. What happens is Zach’s decision. This is a decision for eternity for him. If he doesn’t want to take Kat as his mate, no one will force him. Our past rescues who have disappeared are already dead, captured with no more than an illusionary trick in the dream realm, a skill that the Evils have obviously mastered. I read the information from Goran. We need to master that same skill and be on guard for it now. What happens with Kat is completely up to Zach.”

Zach sat on the bed and threaded his hands through Kat’s hair, his chest aching from watching her suffering. “It isn’t that I don’t want her,” he said hoarsely. “I think I want her too much. She deserves better than me, more than a life lived in darkness.”

“Did it ever occur to you that you’re exactly what she needs?” Kristoff questioned quietly. “Kat’s given her whole life for others. More than likely she’ll continue to do the same. Who will treasure her more than you? A
radiant
is more than a randomly selected female. She’s your match, and you are hers. Do you really want her with a man who won’t make her happy? ”

Mine.

The thought of Kat being with any other male but him made him nearly feral.

Kristoff continued quietly, “Comfort her for now. Your biggest problem in not releasing her
radiant
power is that if you don’t, the Evils will never stop pursuing her. But you can decide later. Call if you need us.”

Zach could feel the faint stir in the air as his brothers and Kristoff disappeared, but he didn’t turn around, didn’t take his eyes off his woman.

Normally, he tried to do things the human way to maintain the guise of being normal, but he didn’t have the patience at the moment. Zach dissolved his clothing with his magic, his gaze never leaving Kat as he crawled onto the bed and under the covers with her, pulling her trembling body gently against him, her back to his front. Wishing he could absorb her pain, take it into his own body, he curled one arm around her waist, letting the other slip through her hair and buried his face within the silky locks, shuddering as he inhaled her scent.

“I’m sorry, Kat. So sorry,” he whispered hoarsely against her ear, wishing he could give her something, anything to ease her pain. Human narcotics would be useless against Evil magic. “This shouldn’t have happened to you. None of it. You never should have come into contact with my world.”

Then I would never have met you.

Startled at hearing her thoughts, Zach lifted his head to see her face, but her eyes were closed. Her body had quieted, leaving only a grimace on her beautiful face that told him she was still hurting. “And that would have been a bad thing?” he asked quietly, his arm wrapping a little more snugly around her body.

Yes.

Her answer came so swiftly that it had Zach’s heart thundering against the wall of his chest. “How bad is the pain?” he asked anxiously, relieved that she was at least communicating.

Feels like someone doused me in gasoline and lit a torch. But it isn’t so bad now that you’re here. What happened?

Had Zach known that being near her would make her feel better, he would have had no hesitation in booting everyone out immediately and cuddling beside her. Honestly, he’d been afraid his body against hers would make her hurt worse. “The king of the Evils injected you with some toxins before he disappeared. It will go away, probably by morning, but I know it hurts like hell, sweetheart.”

You were hurt. Are you okay?

The concern and anxiety in her question warmed him. He’d taken some slashes, the amount of blood he’d lost probably making it look worse than it really was. “I’m fine. I’ll heal by morning.”

Are you sure?

Zach smiled against her hair. “I’m positive. I’m worried about you. You should have run when you had the chance.”

I’d never leave you and run away to save myself. You needed help.

Zach’s smile broadened as he absently twisted one of her wayward locks of hair that reminded him of the sun around his finger. “But you wanted me to go and leave you? And just so you know…that would never happen,” he told her roughly, his throat clogged with emotion.

I was scared. I didn’t want anything to happen to you.

“I’m immortal, Kitten. Very few things other than losing my head, literally, are going to kill me. The same doesn’t apply to you. You should have run,” he muttered, slightly disgruntled, but touched by the way she cared about him.

Kat’s entire essence seduced him, ensnared him as no other ever had, and he was helplessly torn between his need to make her his, and his need to provide her with a better life, a happier life than she would probably have with him.

Now, she would have very little choice. To stay safe, she would need to become his
radiant,
releasing her power, and taking away any further reason for the Evils to have any interest in her. If she didn’t, they would pursue her to the ends of the earth. Hell, he could certainly provide her with a better life than constantly being on the run from Evil demons.

I’ll protect her. Shelter her. She’ll be my radiant and I’ll make her happy. I’ll make it up to her, give her everything she needs and wants.

Zach didn’t trust anyone with Kat’s safety anymore except himself. His need for her was too great, his attachment to her too immense, his drive to protect her too damn strong. In the span of six short days, the woman in his arms had become everything to him.