Authors: Rebecca Zanetti

Wicked Burn (32 page)

BOOK: Wicked Burn

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Chapter 8

Cara crouched in the stairwell, her ears straining to hear anything. The cool air over her shirt sent chills through her body. While she understood taking cover was a good idea, especially so Talen could fight, the idea of waiting inside while her son was in danger made her fingers itch to shove open the door.

The fact remained that she was human without immortal strength or speed, unlike Garrett, Logan, and Talen. Even so. Sitting and hiding didn’t set well with her. Plus, she had trained as much as possible during the last couple of decades.

The weird pattering of gunfire came through the door, and she jumped to her feet.

Slowly, she inched the door open.

Logan and a demon fought hand to hand over by the entrance, their guns already on the floor and spinning away from them.

Garrett ran between stacks of steel beams, firing both in front of and behind him, trying to angle around closer to Logan.

Panic rippled through Cara. She held her breath and slipped from the safety of the stairwell, her gun out and her hand steady. She crept along the edge of the Jeep, letting it shield her. Slowly, she reached the rear bumper, crouched down, and waited.

Garrett barreled out from behind the beams, and a demon leaped out from behind some huge round ducts, tackling him into concrete blocks. They fell hard, and at least two blocks split open. Another demon rounded the corner from behind Garrett, his gun pointed.

Cara closed one eye, aimed, and fired.

A purple beam shot out of her gun, zipped through the air, and slammed into the demon with the gun. He frowned, and his arm lowered.
Pop!
His shoulder exploded.

He screamed, grabbed his arm, and dropped his gun. Blood spurted between his fingers and coated the cement in red. He turned and ran full-bore for the rough cement steps in the center of the area and quickly disappeared while going down.

Garrett rolled the guy on the ground over and punched his face three times, really hard. Blood spurted up. The crunch of cartilage and bone cracking made Cara nauseated.

Logan flipped his attacker over his shoulder and pile-drove him onto the floor. The guy passed out with a muffled roar, his face in the concrete, blood filling the area around his head. He might have twitched a few times.

Cara stood and took inventory of both boys. They were bloody and bruised but both standing.

Garrett shoved hair from his eyes, his chest panting. “Are you all right, Mom?”

She nodded, gulping down bile. “Yes. Where’s your dad?”

Garrett shook his head and jogged out from under the concrete, then looked away and up in the air. Rain instantly coated his hair and face, mingling with the blood on his chin.

An arm slid around Cara’s neck and yanked her back. Her head instantly hurt, and her eyes stung. She tried to struggle, but the barrel of a gun pressed against her jugular. Where the hell had this guy been hiding?

Logan strode toward her, his hands up, his gaze concentrated above her right shoulder. “You don’t want to do this, buddy. Trust me.”

Garrett’s gaze swung down, and his entire being seemed to still. He moved toward them, his gaze dangerously intense. “Let her go, and I promise you, I won’t rip your fucking head off your body today.”

Cara shivered. She’d never seen her son in killing mode, and he was almost as frightening as his father. His metallic-gray eyes darkened to flint.

The demon holding her jerked her tighter against his body. He seemed to be holding off on the demon mind attack for the moment, because she could still see. “Back off or I blow a bullet through her pretty neck.” Deep and hoarse, definitely a purebred demon voice.

Garrett stalled and held up a hand for Logan to pause. “You have to know we’re not letting you take her. So let go, run, and we’ll see what happens next.” His fangs dropped.

Cara angled her wrist around, trying to keep her grip on the gun. The demon pressed his leg against her hand, trapping it against her thigh. “Drop the weapon, lady.”

She didn’t have much of a choice with his gun shoved into her neck. “Fine.” She relaxed her body, waited until his hold lessened, and then tossed the gun toward Garrett. It clattered across the concrete and finally came to a stop a foot away from him. He smiled.

The demon stiffened. “Move for that gun, and I’ll take her out.”

Garrett studied him, edging left while Logan went right. “I don’t think so. You need her alive, right?”

“Nope. Just need her, period. They can do as many tests on a corpse as on a live chick, if you ask me.” The demon dragged her toward the exposed part of the level. The overhead concrete disappeared, and rain dropped down on them.

Cara blinked away rain and tried to find an opening to fight as the boys stalked them, their steps even and in sync. “This is silly,” she whispered. “You can’t halt progress. The virus may not even negate mating bonds for still-living immortals.”

The demon shrugged. “Don’t care about halting or progress. You’re just a job to me, lady.”

Fantastic. Demon mercenaries. She tried again. “You don’t understand. There’s no new information to be gained from testing me. Just take the samples, and you’ll know everything the Realm knows.”

“My job is to take you, so I’m taking you.” The demon’s boots scraped over rocks as he moved.

Logan cleared his throat. “My brother is Zane Kyllwood, the leader of the demon nation. We are now aligned with the Realm, and I can assure you, he takes that seriously.”

“So?” the guy hissed.

“So? Well, now. You’re a demon, and he takes that kind of thing seriously, as well. He really won’t like demons attacking the Realm, especially his mate’s mother.” Logan shrugged. “You know that you’re holding a gun to Zane’s mother-in-law, right?”

The demon audibly swallowed. “I don’t give a shit.”

Logan shook his head, his body tense and ready to strike. “Believe me, you don’t want Zane on your ass.”

“I’m not afraid of some vampire-demon breed, boy.” The demon shoved the gun harder against Cara’s neck, and pain lanced through her throat. Tears filled her eyes, and she had to fight to keep from crying out.

Logan’s chin lowered, and his green eyes darkened to almost black. “Now, that just isn’t nice.”

Garrett edged to the side. “Let her go.”

The rain increased in force and
ping
ed off the concrete.

“Get back,” the demon said, jerking his head toward the enclosed part of the construction. “Get out of the way. The helicopter is going to touch down here.”

Cara tried to eye the area. Sure, it was big and flat, but building materials littered the entire ground. There wasn’t a decent place to land. She ran through self-defense techniques she’d learned. If the demon would just move the gun a little, she could take her chance.

The hum of the rotors competed with the driving rain, and the black helicopter seemed to glide around the nearest completed building, a hotel with blue windows. She blinked water from her eyes, unable to move her arm to wipe her face. While she couldn’t move her head, her gaze caught Garrett’s as he looked over and up. His eyebrows rose.

She tried to swallow around the gun at her throat and glanced toward the long ladder part of a yellow crane. A flash caught her eye. She lifted her gaze and bit back a gasp. Talen was halfway to the top, at least ten stories above them, aiming a gun at the helicopter. His concentration was absolute, and his face was set in fierce lines.

He fired.

The green laser ripped through the front windshield of the helicopter and hit the pilot. He fell forward, blood coating the window. The helicopter jerked up and spun around. A man holding a long machine gun fell out the open side door and yelled, plunging stories down to the ground several floors beneath them. The crash when he hit the ground reverberated up.

The helicopter continued to swing around and around, emitting an odd whine. The tail swung toward the yellow crane ladder, and Cara screamed.

Talen’s eyes widened, and holding on to the sides, he jumped away from the steps. He pummeled toward the ground like he was attached to some odd zip line, his knees up toward his chest.

Cara’s entire body shook, and she gagged.

“Stop it,” the demon said, jerking her.

The helicopter’s tail smashed into the yellow cage. The impact was deafening, and the entire building seemed to rock.

Talen fell with a loud roar, hitting the cement and rolling. He came up, his fangs flashing.

Thank God. He was okay. Cara’s knees wobbled.

The helicopter whirled around and dropped, disappearing from sight. It crashed hard, and fire flew up to flare hot and bright before dropping. Another clatter echoed from down below. Smoke and debris burst up and then cascaded down with the rain.

Talen ran toward them, blood on his face, his eyes swirling with fury. Barrels were tossed out of his way along with several pieces of rebar. He reached Garrett and stopped. His gaze ran over Cara, head to toe, and a muscle ticked in his jaw. Then he turned his attention to the demon. “Looks like you lost your ride.”

The demon tightened his hold and backed away. “I have insurance.” A wave of pain emanated from him in the form of a mind attack, dark and sharp.

Cara winced, and dots danced across her eyes.

Logan held up a hand, and the demon’s head jerked back.

The pain receded from Cara’s brain, and her vision cleared. Wow. Logan had completely halted the mind attack. But not without cost. His body was one rigid line, and blood dripped from his nose, but his green eyes focused and didn’t blink once.

Cara took a deep breath. “Let me go, and I won’t let them kill you.”

“No.” The demon shuddered and backed away. “Come with me, and I won’t kill
you
.”

She tried to dig her tennis shoes into the wet concrete, but he easily dragged her toward the rough stairs.

Rain slashed down around them, but his hold didn’t weaken.

The three soldiers tracked them, keeping spread out, their gazes intent.

Cara allowed her body to relax. They reached the stairs. The demon moved quickly, sliding an arm beneath her chin and cutting off her air. He then pointed the gun at Talen.

Finally. Cara instantly pivoted into the demon, loosening the hold on her neck. She shoved one knee up into his groin and punched him full-on in the eye.

He howled and stepped back.

She finished with a one-two kick to the chin. His head snapped back, and he fell, rolled, and came up firing.

Garrett tackled her out of the way just as Talen dodged forward and knocked the gun from the demon’s hand. With a roar that sounded much more animalistic than vampiric, Talen lifted the demon by the armpits, swung around, and threw him down to the next floor.

Cara lifted her head and then pushed up to sit. She looked over the edge. The demon had landed on several prongs of rebar that now stuck up from his neck and various points of his body. Blood gurgled from his mouth.

Garrett helped her up. “We have to go. Now.”

Talen nodded and reached her in long strides. “Are you all right?”

She nodded and tried to shake out her hand. The demon’s head had been like rock.

“Good.” Talen ran a knuckle down her neck, anger pouring off him.

“Got the guns,” Logan said, jogging up with his hands full.

Talen nodded, taking Cara’s hand. He turned and led the way, tapping his ear communicator as they ran down the stairs. “Kayrs 45738 calling in. Backup no longer needed, but we require a cleanup crew. With a truck for a downed helicopter.” He hustled to the SUV and opened the passenger-side door. “We also need safe haven for the night . . . get me a secured location.”

Cara slid inside. “Talen, I—”

“We’ll talk later, mate.” He ran around to jump into the driver’s side and gunned the engine as the boys leaped into the backseat. “Let’s get to safety, sweetheart.”

Chapter 9

It was supposed to be a time of peace, damn it. Talen finished scrubbing off blood and cement in the dark-tiled shower, his anger nearly splitting open his head. The secured location was the penthouse of an exclusive hotel, and after Cara had showered, he’d taken some time for himself.

When he’d seen the demon with a gun at her head, he’d nearly lost his mind. A gun. At her head.

They hadn’t spoken while finding the hotel and reaching the penthouse. He finished his shower and dressed in old jeans and a black T-shirt that he’d had in his bag for Hawaii. Taking a quick inventory, he determined any injuries he’d sustained in the fight had already healed.

Unfortunately, his temper had not.

He stalked out of the bathroom to find his mate on the bed, pale and plucking at a thread on the bedspread. “Are you in pain?” he asked, trying to sense any vibrations from her.

“No.” She lifted those stunning blue eyes. “Are you?”

He shook his head. Three sharp raps came from the main door in the other room. Grabbing his gun from the bedside table, he hustled out to the main living room of the penthouse, where Garrett and Logan already waited, guns at the ready. Both boys had showered and thrown on jeans and button-down shirts.

He nodded for Garrett to open the door.

A hulking vampire stood waiting, his stance casual while wearing flak boots, a black jacket, and cargo pants no doubt stuffed with weapons.

“Max,” Talen said, gesturing him inside.

Max Petrovsky grinned and half-hugged Garrett before doing the same with Logan. “Heard you guys handled yourselves well.”

“Of course.” Garrett shut the door behind the Realm soldier.

Max had fought wars side by side with the Kayrs vampires for centuries, worked as a bodyguard, and was pretty much family. “We’re scouting the area for additional Sandovskys, and our Intel confirms they’re here. I’ll have a location for you shortly.”

“Excellent.” Talen leaned back against the wall. “It’s time for a chat.”

Max nodded. “In addition, I have six soldiers ready to escort that cooler to a lab in Vegas, if you wouldn’t mind turning it over.”

“Happy as hell to turn it over,” Talen drawled. “Thing’s more trouble than any of this is worth.”

Max rubbed his square jaw. “Agreed. I don’t think anything can negate a mating if the parties are both alive. No way, no how.”

Talen nodded. “I’m with you.” He looked up as Cara came from the bedroom.

Her entire face lit up when she saw Max. She reached him quickly and leaned up to press a kiss against his cheek. “Is there any chance you brought Sarah?”

“No. My mate is safely at home,” Max said, rather pointedly.

Talen barely kept himself from nodding.

Cara rolled her eyes. “The war is over, boys.”

“The war is never completely over,” Max countered. He patted her awkwardly on the arm with a hand larger than a salad plate. “But you should have a good time in Hawaii anyway.”

Her lips pressed together. “I plan to.”

Talen frowned. Was it just him, or was there a whole shitload of defiance in her tone of voice? Irritation clawed through him. He strode to the closet and yanked out the offensive green cooler. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to get rid of this thing.”

Max took it gingerly.

Cara chuckled. “There’s nothing dangerous in it, Max. Only tissue and other samples . . . nothing poisonous.”

Max nodded but didn’t lose his frown. “Do you need me in Hawaii?”

“No. The boys are coming,” Talen said, knowing full well Max wanted to get home to Sarah. They’d been trying to conceive for an entire year, but it sometimes took centuries for vampires to procreate. “As soon as you find the Sandovskys here, you need to get home.”

“Agreed. You’re safe here, too.” Max nodded. “I have men stationed at every entrance to this building, and snipers across the way. The residence in Hawaii is similarly secured, and I’ve sent two extra squads over tonight to prepare for your arrival. Also, we canceled your commercial flights. A Realm airplane will be waiting to fly you across the ocean at your convenience.”

Talen flashed his teeth. He’d forgotten how much Max hated to fly. “We’ll be fine.”

“I’m aware. I’ll let you get settled in, and I’ll give you a call later today. If that goes well, we’ll meet in Anchorage midnight tomorrow.”

Cara rocked back on her heels. “We’re going to Alaska?”

Talen slowly shook his head. “You’ll be staying in Maui with Garrett and Logan. If all goes well, I’ll only be gone a day.” He had Realm strategists putting together a strike plan that he’d tweak before going in.

Cara frowned. “You’re going after the Sadovsky group.”

“Most likely. We’ll see who we can corner here in Seattle first.” Talen glanced at her. “They’re after you, and they won’t stop, so we’re stopping them.” Sometimes it was as simple as that. “Sorry you have to fly, Max.”

Max shrugged. “I’ll make sure I have a parachute on board just in case.”

Talen grinned, but Max was probably serious. “How many of my brothers will be joining us?”

“All of them.” Max sighed and shook his head. “I think the king should stay safe at headquarters, but when I told him that, Dage hit me in the face.” Max rubbed his jaw. “Hard.”

Sounded like Dage. “We’re all spoiling for a good fight.” Talen didn’t miss the quick wince Cara gave. Yeah. His first fight was going to be with her.

Max glanced from one to the other. “Maybe the boys should come with me.”

“They’re staying here,” Cara said firmly.

Max shook his head and refocused on Talen. “Did you get your hands on the new wolf prototype?”

“Yeah.” Garrett handed over the purple gun. “Thing is awesome.”

Max turned the weapon around in his gigantic hand. “I’ll have our guys get on duplicating it and then creating defenses. We need updated bulletproof vests, anyway.”

Garrett frowned. “I wanted to keep it.”

“You can have it back after the tech guys figure it out.” Max slipped the weapon into his jacket pocket.

Talen reopened the door. “Call me with info.”

“You got it.” Max clapped Garrett on the back on his way out. “Watch out for your folks.”

“Always,” Garrett said.

The door closed behind Max, and the tension in the room naturally dissipated. Garrett shuffled his feet. “Since we have guards stationed all around the building, Logan and I thought we might hit a few bars in town.”

Talen nodded, his heart rate kicking up. He did require some alone time with his mate, after all. “Be home in time to leave for the airport tomorrow morning,” Talen said and then paused. “I take that back. Be home tonight.” He waited a beat. “Alone. Just the two of you.”

Garrett blew out air. “Seriously?”

“Yes.” Talen clapped him on the back. “Seriously.”

Logan sighed. “Let’s hit the bars anyway. I could use a drink after the fight earlier. And about five pizzas.”

Garrett’s eyebrows rose. “Pizza is a good idea. I’m starving.”

Talen slipped him cash. They’d need a lot of pizza, knowing the two of them. He waited until they’d hustled outside before shutting the door and leaning back against it.

Cara watched him with fire in her eyes.

He crossed his arms. “So, mate. Ready to chat?”

Cara eyed her mate. For months they’d danced around this, trying to settle into a routine after the war. But that was the rub, wasn’t it? Talen Kayrs wasn’t a male to
settle
into anything. Even though he’d raised two kids and now adored little Hope, he was not a retired immortal but a fully trained vampire warrior in his prime.

In his fucking
prime
.

His golden eyes flared and darkened, sizzling to a vampire secondary green color. The hue of a fire too hot to touch. A vein pulsed in his corded neck, and primal dominance suddenly hardened his entire face.

Oh, it had been too long since she’d seen that look, but it was way too late to turn back now. “What did you wish to discuss?” She kept her voice level to hide the fact that her heart was absolutely pounding against her rib cage.

“What part of ‘
stay in the secured area
’ did you not understand?” he asked mildly, the muscles flexing in his arms.

He dwarfed her and always had. While some women might’ve been intimidated by his size, weakened by it . . . she enjoyed every inch made just for her. He’d put that big body between danger and her more than once, and his sheer deadliness gave her a sense of security not many people in life enjoyed. Plus, he more than knew how to use that body to pleasure her.

Even so. Sometimes he made her feel too feminine . . . too protected. “I understood every word,” she admitted, meeting his gaze evenly, while a shiver of nervousness caught her unaware. It had been too long since she’d poked the beast.

“Then why did you leave safety?” His voice lowered at the last. If a tone could be a warning, he’d found it.

“I heard gunfire.” She winced as she hurried to add, “My son and his friend were in danger.” Sometimes it was that simple.

His jaw tightened. Displeasure mingled with an unreal heat in those eyes that had turned green with temper—and passion. Even so, a golden rim encircled his green iris, making him look like something . . . other. A vampire showing his true colors.

She shivered. The storm gathered strength outside, pelting rain against the wide wall of windows across the living room.

His lids half-lowered. “Did you really think I wouldn’t protect Garrett and Logan?”

She inched a step back from the barely vibrating anger in his voice. “I knew you’d protect them, but you’d moved on to challenge a helicopter.” For goodness’ sake. If anybody was justified being angry about their spouse doing stupid, dangerous things, it should be her. The man had challenged a fucking weaponized helicopter.

His nostrils flared.

Damn vampires. They could smell everything.

“You’re both angry and aroused,” he murmured, making her point for her.

She slammed her hand on her hips. “Angry, for sure. How dare you take such a risk?”

He cocked his head to the side, tension swelling from him and filling the room. “My job was to take out that helicopter.”

Her eyebrows raised so quickly her skin hurt. “Your
job
? Seriously. Your job as the strategic leader of the Realm is to climb cranes and shoot at helicopters.” The derision in her voice had an obvious effect on him . . . and it wasn’t pretty.

“No,” he rumbled, pushing off from the door. “My job, the one I take to my heart, is to secure your safety at all costs.”

She swallowed and took a full step back. “Not at the expense of our children.”

He shook his head, his gaze not moving from her face. “Garrett and Logan weren’t in danger, not really, until you left the safety of that stairwell. At that point, their concentration could’ve become fractured as they worried more about you than protecting their own hides.”

Well, she hadn’t exactly thought of that. “I took out one guy and then I also took out the demon.”

“Yes, yes, you did.” He stalked her, patiently, taking two steps for every one of hers. “But I didn’t want them taken out. I wanted them in custody so we could figure out what is going on here.”

“So, why didn’t you just capture the last guy?” She eyed the layout of the living room and then fought a yelp when her back touched the wall.

“He had a gun to your throat, Cara,” Talen snapped, the band around his control obviously stretching dangerously. “That meant he had to die, and rather painfully. Or perhaps the bastard lived, but recuperating from multiple holes in his head and body from the rebar will take time.”

“You wouldn’t want a weak little mate who cowered while others fought, would you?” she asked, trying to sidle down the wall and away from him.

He stopped moving. “There’s nothing weak about using strategy, which we needed to do at the moment.” His growl filtered through the room and rolled through her body as if it licked every part of her with just a little too much heat. “The demons wanted you, so you needed to stay hidden until I captured them.”

She frowned.

He took another step toward her, bringing warmth and tension. “When Dage was targeted by that feline group out of Australia, we locked him down until we took care of the problem. That’s what happens.”

That was what had happened, and the king had been pissed but overruled by his brothers. She cleared a potted plant and calculated the distance between her position and the other side of the sofa. Her lungs trapped her breath, and anticipation flittered through her abdomen. Her panties dampened. “So I didn’t understand the plan. It happens.”

Slowly, so deliberately, he shook his head. “It will never happen again.”

She stopped moving, defiance rising fast and heated. “Oh, really?”

His expression turned dark and foreboding. “Yes. In battle situations, I expect to be obeyed without question. Not just by soldiers, not just by the boys . . . but by you.”

Lust and denial flamed through her at his natural show of dominance. Her spirit rejected the order, while every feminine nerve in her body thrummed to life. The man had been made for her, yet sometimes, he seemed to forget her strength. Knowing she was going too far, knowing she’d probably pay, she forced a mocking smile. “Not in a million years.”

She moved quick, jumping around the sofa, and he let her.

Oh, the vampire could be quicker than a jaguar striking prey, and he could’ve stopped her. Instead, he rolled into motion, his steps slow and sure, raw hunger glittering in his eyes. “You should never run from a vampire, baby,” he whispered.

Her sex clenched. “Why not?” she breathed.

“We can’t help but chase, and when we catch, we’re not gentle. You want gentle, right?” he crooned.

BOOK: Wicked Burn

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