A Siren for the Bear (Sarkozy Brothers Book 1) (12 page)

A yell from the other side of the property confirmed that Greg had heard his alert and security was coming. Marek hit the ground two feet from the stairs. Hands rolled him over, and people were talking to him, urging him to answer.

He opened his hand and let the dart fall to the ground.

Faces swam around him, but there was only one thought in his head, even as he fell into unconsciousness.

Carson wasn't there.

T
HREE
WEEKS
LATER
,
THINGS
HAD
finally gotten back to normal in Carson's life. So normal she'd be forgiven for thinking the whole Ursus Major episode had ever happened.

Kat slapped her tablet down on the counter in front of Carson's mug of coffee, pointing at it with one manicured fingertip. "They postponed the tour," she said, as if it meant something.

Carson rolled her eyes. She'd been too busy preparing new songs for her channel to pay much attention to what the band was up to.

Rex had dropped her off without a word, only waiting at her door until she was safely inside. And that was the last she'd heard from them. A portion of her salary had been paid into her account, but as yet, she hadn't received any communication regarding the dissolution of the contract.

Which was strange.

And now that the tour had been postponed, with no date suggested, Carson was forced to wonder what that meant. Other than the fact they'd need a new lead vocal to replace her and more time to practice again.

Interestingly, she'd heard not a word from Marek. Not that she expected to, either. Just every now and then, she felt a strange twinge in her stomach, a rise of nausea that made her thoughts turn to Marek and his crazy claims.

She was staring at the article, scanning it for any information about Marek himself, when her gaze settled on the band's name.

"Ursus Major," she said under her breath.

"What?" asked Kat. From the sound of her voice, she was tied up like a pretzel doing some yoga thing she'd been into lately. She'd been seeing someone lately, but had been tightlipped about it. And Carson wasn't one to pry.

Carson cleared her throat and spoke louder. "Ursus Major. I was wondering what it meant."

"Have you not heard of the internet," Kat said in disgust. "Anyway. Don't waste your time. It means 'big bear' or something close to that." There was an odd tone to her voice, a hint of accusation that made Carson certain that she was imagining things. Kat had been nothing but supportive ever since she'd returned.

Carson stopped listening, even as Kat continued talking about constellations and Greek history.

Big bear?

She sucked in a breath as a wave of nausea threatened to take her out.

Had Marek been telling the truth?

W
EEKS
HAD
GONE
BY
WITHOUT
a word from Carson.

During this time, Marek had been bed-bound, as they waited for the poison to filter through his body. Whatever the Legion had used this time, it'd been potent, and not something they could easily obtain an antivenin for.

In the end, all they could do was wait it out.

The first few days had been okay, manageable since he'd been unconscious most of the time. But as Marek had grown stronger, his bear had rebelled, pushing through, wanting out.

Marek had finally emerged from his coma, every muscle and bone in his body on fire. The pain had lasted days, with waves of inconsistent agony, holding him deep within its grasp for minutes or hours, he could never tell.

Only last week had the worst of the pain abated, allowing him to begin physical therapy, allowing him to get vertical for the first time since he'd collapsed in front of the house.

His grandfather hadn't been impressed.

With Marek or his cousins, or with Beta Ops.

To say that Aleksander Sarkozy had been furious would have been an understatement. Marek's grandfather, and patriarch of the Sarkozy bears, was the current Alpha, head of the U.S.-based family. The bears weren't the only Carpathian bear pack, but they were powerful enough to demand the respect of the rest of the packs.

He'd been kind and supportive but firm, making the trip all the way to Klamath to ensure that Marek obeyed his command. The old man was the only reason Marek hadn't taken off as soon as he was able to walk.

And his problems weren't the only ones to consider.

The guys had decided to postpone the tour on the off-chance that she would change her mind. They were not in the mood to look for another lead singer, and from the way they felt, they'd rather cancel the tour altogether than go without Nyx.

Nyx.

They came to visit him from time to time, to sit beside him, filling him in on what was happening, even when he had his cell and his laptop at his side. Mostly they wanted to come so they could glare at him accusingly as they left.

And it wasn't because they thought he'd been reckless getting himself shot. No.

Rex had been pretty vocal about his disapproval.

"You don't bring a girl like Carson into the mix without treating her well. If you didn't want to hurt her, you shouldn't have fucked her."

Yeah, Rex could be crass. But he was right.

What he didn't know was that Marek had been playing for keeps. It was just that Carson hadn't believed him. Or she hadn't wanted to believe him.

Either way, she was still gone.

And she wasn't coming back.

His fist clenched at his side.
 

She wasn't coming back unless he did something about it himself.

The door opened and Lukas walked in.

"Hey, brother." Marek's cousin, Lukas Sarkozy, came to sit in the chair beside the bed. "We got the results back from the lab."

"And?" Marek asked, his voice rumbling with irritation.

Lukas gave him a hard look. "The formula was the same as what they'd used outside the hotel. But it wasn't a tranquilizer."

"It wasn't?" Marek echoed, but he'd already known this. No tranquilizer would have him flat on his back for weeks, especially with only a third of the contents in his bloodstream.

"The dart was just a delivery system, a way to inject you with the poison more efficiently." Lukas' green eyes fairly glowed with anger. At who, wondered Marek. The boy had his own problems to deal with. Ones that Marek still had to get him to reveal. Being the big brother had been a little difficult, what with being unconscious then incapacitated for days.

But their problems with the Legion took priority over everything else they faced.

"So they've stepped up their operation." Marek sighed and leaned back against the pillows.

"They're now out to kill."

Marek looked at Lukas. "They must have a reason to move from abduction to outright killing within months." Marek frowned, his mind racing through possibilities. "There must be something they know that we don't."

Lukas nodded. "They haven't cared about wiping us out. They know our line is dying. We're killing ourselves anyway, so why should they bother to do the dirty work?"

"Unless their research came up with something we don't know." Marek's voice was hard, angry. The Legion always seemed to be one step ahead of them. "They know something. So it's time to step up our game." Lukas met his gaze. "Get word to Delta Ops. We're going to go about things as normal until we figure out what they have on us. In the meantime, tell Delta to apprehend one of them."

Lukas nodded approvingly. "Retire or capture?"

"Interrogation."

S
HIMMYING
THE
SILK
DOWN
HER
hips, Carson swore loudly enough to have Kat poke her head into her room.

"What's cooking?"

Carson grumbled, scraping her hair from her face with her fingers. "I think I've been pigging out on too much ice cream."

Kat made a face, folding her arms as she leaned against the threshold. "Heart troubles will do that to a girl."

Carson had told Kat the bare minimum of her breakup with Marek. Kat had insisted she go back and make up, and had only let up when Carson had threatened to move out.

Desperate times.

Carson glared at her. "I need to find something else to wear and you aren't helping."

"Well, you could use the band outfit I got you?"

She was already heading for the closet to dig out the leather pants and jacket that Carson had flung into the darkest corner on her return.

Carson was shaking her head. "That is so not the type of clothing for this gig, and you know it. Adam will throw me off stage."

"No, he won't. Wear that burgundy peasant blouse over it, that should soften the badass chick look enough for Serendipity."

Kat had a point. And Carson had no choice. Not really. Other than heading out now and buying new clothes, that was.

And there was no doing that, not when she preferred to shed the excess pounds first, before spending money on new clothes. The money from Ursus Major was still sitting in her bank account and she refused to use it. Not until the contract stuff was sorted out.

And if she wanted to sort contract shit, she'd have to make a phone call. One that she was not looking forward to.

After she changed into the leather skirt and blouse, she had to admit Kat was right. A whistle from the door confirmed her friend's approval.

"You look gorgeous, woman. Positively glowing. Hard to tell there's a broken heart hidden in there somewhere."

"Shut up." Carson glared at her, but she was already gone.

She eyed her reflection the mirror, going from bright eyes, to cheeks that looked the finest bit chubbier, to boobs that seemed to be bursting from her bras of late. Despite her ill-fitting undies, she accepted that Kat did have a point.

She looked good, even with the added weight. Not that the mirror reflected the state of her heart.

Just the thought made her change her mind about calling him. It'd have to wait. She was getting late for her set anyway.

Carson grabbed her bag and headed out of the apartment, yelling goodbye to Kat as she shut the door behind her.