Binding Ties (6 page)

“All I need is some time alone. Please go.”
Before I change my mind.

He nodded once. “Sweet dreams, kitten. Try not to ruin the furniture with those claws.”

It was all she could do not to purr at the way his deep voice stroked across her senses.

A second later, his phone rang, playing an old Duran Duran tune.

Instantly, he went on alert, heading for the door as he answered the call. “What's up?”

She could hear a man's voice on the other end of the line. It was her brother, Andreas. She couldn't distinguish the words, but she knew that tone. There was trouble.

“Are they on your heels now?” asked Joseph.

A string of four-letter words filled the line. Those were easy enough to hear.

Joseph shook his head. “I'm sorry, but you can't come here. We have too many humans to protect, not to mention several pregnant Theronai women. We can't risk their safety. You know that.”

Andreas's tinny voice rose as he issued commands to whoever was with him. Then he spoke again to Joseph, and the Theronai's face went pale.

“You brought her with you?” asked Joseph. “Is she hurt?”

Her brother said something else, and she could see Joseph's mind change before her eyes. Whatever Andreas had told him was bad news all the way through.

“I get it. You're coming in hot. We'll be ready. Just hang on.” Joseph hung up, turning to her as he pressed buttons on his phone.

“What's going on?” she asked.

“Trouble. You stay here, understand?”

She didn't so much as nod. Instead, she stood there, her face blank, letting him interpret that as he wanted. Whatever got him out of her way the fastest.

The second he was out of her suite, she flung the closet door open and started strapping on leather and weapons. Her big brother was in trouble, and there wasn't a thing Joseph or anyone else could do to stop her from going to his aid.

T
his was so not good.

Hell was screaming Joseph's way, and he couldn't stop it. He couldn't even keep it out, not with his adopted daughter out there, too.

Madoc met Joseph on his way toward the gates of Dabyr. The rest of the warriors he'd summoned were on their way.

“What the fuck is going on?” asked Madoc, his perma-scowl in place.

“Andreas and his men fell under attack. I don't know all the details, but they have several wounded men. Synestryn may be on their tail.”

“And you're letting them come here? We've got pregnant fucking women here, including my wife.”

Joseph refused to let the man's ire upset him. “I'm aware.”

“Tell him to veer off. We'll come find him.”

“I can't. He's got kids with him. And Carmen. There's no way I'm letting my daughter sit outside the walls with demons nipping at her heels.”

“We need to go intercept them,” said Madoc. “It's too fucking dangerous to open the gates.”

“I didn't ask for your opinion,” said Joseph. Headlights bobbed in the distance. “Besides, it's too late. They're here. Now stop bitching and draw your sword.”

“Fuck!” spat Madoc, but he rolled his shoulders and drew his sword.

Joseph's phone began singing again about hungry wolves. He answered to Andreas's voice. “There's no sign of any demons on our tail. Will you open the gate?”

“I'd rather make sure you're right about not being followed before I do that.”

“I understand, but the kids are scared to death.” Andreas's voice lowered to a whisper. “And my cousin is about to bleed out. He doesn't have much time.”

Joseph scanned the area, searching for Tynan. He was nowhere to be found, but Logan and Hope were jogging across the lawn toward the commotion.

“Head toward the gate,” ordered Joseph. “Incoming wounded.”

The couple moved so fast they seemed to blur. Joseph still wasn't entirely sure how the two of them remained so powerful without Athanasian blood, but so far their luck seemed to be holding out.

Joseph addressed the rest of the men who had gathered. “You three go outside the walls and make sure there are no nasty surprises trailing behind Andreas. If there are, shut them down. You three go to the back of the compound and make sure this isn't a distraction for something worse. The rest of you stay near the gate. We may need muscle to move the wounded.”

The men hurried off to take their places. Joseph put the phone back to his ear. “We're ready for you. The gate will be open. Don't slow down. Got it?”

Tires squealed in the distance. “Yeah. Not slowing down won't be a problem.”

Joseph hung up and called Morgan, who was manning the control room that operated the giant mechanized gate at the main entrance. “Get ready to open it.”

“On your go,” said Morgan.

Joseph calculated the time it would take Andreas to reach the gate at top speed. As soon as he was within range, he told Morgan, “Now.”

The heavy metal bars rolled open slowly. The engines of several trucks growled at top speed. They flew through the opening, kicking up a cloud of dust in their wake.

“Lock us down,” said Joseph. “Check the perimeter cameras. Everyone stays on high alert until I say otherwise. If you see anything at all, call me.”

“Will do,” said Morgan.

Hope and Logan were already at one of the trucks. He'd crawled inside with whoever was wounded. Hope stood nearby, her hand on his ankle.

Blood dripped onto the pavement beneath the truck, proving Andreas hadn't been exaggerating. His cousin was bleeding out.

Joseph hoped it wasn't too late for Logan to save him.

Andreas got out of the truck and limped across the lawn toward Joseph. He was a tall, muscular man with a brawny build and tawny coloring, much like Lyka's. His jeans were shredded and bloody. The leather coat he wore hung in tatters where claws had ripped it apart. One sleeve had three long slits slashed through it, revealing more blood beneath. His arm swayed from his shoulder, limp and lifeless. The fingers dangling there were turning blue.

Joseph hurried over to save the man the obvious pain of walking. “What happened?”

“Our settlement was ambushed by Synestryn. We have no idea how they slipped past our patrols. We didn't so much as smell them coming. We still don't know how they managed that.”

“How bad?”

Andreas looked to where his cousin's blood pooled on the pavement. “I saw three of our men and two women go down. They bought us enough time to get the kids out—paid for those seconds with their lives.”

“Where is Carmen?”

“She's safe. I put her in one of the vehicles with the young to make sure she had the most protection possible. All of our fighters were standing between them and harm.”

Joseph let out a relieved sigh. He'd claimed Carmen as his daughter to fulfill the death wish of one of his fallen brothers. He'd never wanted for her to go stay with the Slayers, but she'd given him little choice. As his adopted daughter, she was the only family he had that could serve as a hostage as valuable as Lyka was to Andreas. And Carmen had insisted in the way only a human teenager could.

“Anyone missing?” he asked.

The Slayer's tawny eyes closed in frustration and pain. “Several of the kids were doing combat practice on the far side of the settlement. Eric was teaching them. He still hasn't returned my calls.”

“Did you see him get out?”

Andreas shook his head. “I couldn't go back and look. The place was swarming with demons. We're lucky to have gotten as many of us out as we did.” He glanced around as if checking to see who was listening. Nearly everyone was busy doing something, and paying them little attention.

He leaned close, lowered his voice. “I've never seen this many demons in one place before. They looked almost . . . human. They walked on two legs. Had more skin than fur. Hell, Joseph, they used swords—shitty swords, but swords nonetheless.”

There had been reports of those kinds of creatures being bred. Joseph's best guess was that the Synestryn were working toward creating an army that could move around in the daylight without raising human suspicion. No one knew exactly how they were doing it, but if they weren't stopped soon, they were going to win the war by sheer numbers alone.

“How did they slip past your defenses?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. Right now I'm more worried about getting the wounded to safety and getting back out there to find Eric and the kids.”

“Eric?” said Lyka. “What happened to our brother?”

Joseph turned and saw her hurrying toward them. She should have been too far away to have heard any of that conversation, but Slayer hearing was good, and hers, apparently, was excellent.

She was dressed in a heavy leather jacket, leather pants, and a belt bristling with weapons. Her hair was tied back and bound out of her face, which was far too pale with fear for Joseph's peace of mind. Still, the instant he saw her, the pain behind his eyes eased and his whole world seemed to spin a little easier. He didn't know why she had such an effect on him, but right now, he welcomed it.

Andreas turned in time to face his sister. “Take it easy. It's not time to panic yet.”

“What's wrong with your arm?” she asked.

“Dislocated. It'll heal.”

“Good.” She jabbed a finger in his chest, making him wince. “Our people were attacked. Some were killed.
Others are missing. Don't you dare tell me not to panic. Where the hell is Eric?”

“We don't know. We're heading out after him as soon as we can.”

“I'm going with you,” she said.

“Like hell,” said Andreas, at the same time Joseph said, “No, you're not.”

She glanced at each of them. “I'm not sure which one of you to smack first, but rest assured that if my brother and a bunch of our young are missing, I
will
be going out to find them.”

Andreas addressed Joseph. “I guess you haven't had any more luck controlling her than I did.”

Joseph wasn't going to step on that land mine, not if he could help it. Instead he turned the conversation back to safer ground. “We need to get you and your people some healing. While you do that, I'll gather up some men and we'll make plans to send out groups to help you find Eric and the kids.”

“I'll figure out which of my people are fit to hunt and assign at least one of them to each group you send out. They'll know Eric's scent and will be able to follow it.”

“Sign me up for the first group that leaves,” said Lyka. “I'm ready to go, and I'm not injured.”

Joseph knew he was going to regret this at some point in the near future, but he had no choice. “I took a vow to ensure your safety. That means you stay here.”

“You can't hold me prisoner. My brother won't allow it.”

“I'm sorry,” said Andreas, “but Joseph is right. If you die while in Joseph's care, the treaty will be broken. I need the help of the Theronai and Sanguinar too much right now to risk that happening. I know you want to help, but the answer is no.”

“You two really think you can keep me here?” she asked, her eyes narrowed in fury.

“There are prison cells beneath Dabyr,” said Joseph. “I'd rather not have to put you in one of them.”

“You wouldn't.”

“To save your life? Hell, yes, I would.”

She turned to Andreas. “You'd let him lock me up like a prisoner?”

“I'll toss you in there myself. I'm already worried I've lost one sibling. I won't lose two.”

Her only response was a rough growl of anger before she turned and stalked away.

Andreas let out a low whistle. “You know we're going to pay for that, right?”

“At least she'll live long enough to make us suffer. I'm okay with that.”

“You only say that because you've never had her put a scorpion in your boxers. And that was when she was four. She's had a lot of years to come up with much, much worse punishments.”

“Do you think I made the wrong call?” asked Joseph.

“Not at all. I'm just saying that if I were you, I'd shake my underwear out before stepping into it. Just to be safe.”

“I'll take that under advisement. But for right now, we have a crisis to kill.”

Joseph found Logan and got his report. “Everyone is stable.”

“Did Andreas's cousin survive?”

“He did, though it was a close call. He was seconds from death.”

“How many more wounded are there?”

“Several, based on the smell of blood in the air. It's going to take Hope and I at least an hour or so to get all
the healing done. I'm afraid that after that, we're going to be spent for the night.”

“What about Tynan and the others?”

Logan shook his head. “They're too weak. The blooded humans have refused to give them blood. They blame all us Sanguinar for what Connal did.”

“Have Tynan come see me. I'll give him the blood he needs. Andreas is playing down his injuries, but his arm is useless. He needs attention, and we need his people to have a voice of leadership. I doubt the Slayers would enjoy me telling them what to do.”

Logan nodded, his silver eyes lighting from within. “I understand. We must avoid more bloodshed until Hope has a chance to replenish her power in the sun tomorrow.”

“If you have to, stabilize the civilians and finish healing them tomorrow. We need all the fighters on their feet tonight. Children are missing.”

“It will be done,” said Logan, and he turned and went back to work.

The next hour passed in chaos as people were sorted out and given healing and shelter. Gerai—the humans who had dedicated their lives to serving the Sentinels—worked inside to provide food, beds, and a much-needed distraction for the traumatized children.

Warriors, both Theronai and Slayer, guarded the perimeter, watchful for approaching enemies. Soon, the huge front lawn inside the tall stone walls around Dabyr grew quiet and calm once again.

Joseph had worked nonstop, directing people to where they would be of the most use. Even as Tynan drank blood from Joseph's wrist, he continued issuing orders so that everyone got to safety as quickly as possible.

Once the vehicles were housed in the garage and the last civilian was taken inside, Joseph texted his warriors to summon them to his office, leaving only a few inside the gates to sound the alarm if bad things came their way.

Andreas was waiting for him, along with several of Joseph's men.

Lyka sat beside her brother, her arms crossed over her chest, glaring at him in defiance.

Fine. If she wanted to stay, let her stay. She eased his pain and helped him think more clearly, even if she was trying to kill him with her gaze.

“How many able-bodied men do you have?” Joseph asked Andreas.

“A dozen warriors and six trackers.”

“Seven,” said Lyka.

Joseph ignored her. “I've reached two teams in the field. They're headed this way and can meet up with your trackers. My men will pair up and tag along with the other four trackers.”

“Five,” said Lyka.

Again, Joseph ignored her. “Will you be on one of the teams?” he asked Andreas. “Or are you staying here with your people?”

“I'm staying until sunrise to coordinate our movements. If Eric isn't found by then, I'll be leaving, too.”

“I've asked the Gerai to give you whatever supplies you need. Your road-worthy trucks are being gassed up now. It's going to take time to clean the blood out of some of them, and they'll have to stay here until they're clean, so they don't attract more demons.”

“I appreciate that,” said Andreas. “But I have another favor to ask of you.”

“What is it?”

“The civilians and the young . . . they need a place to stay until we can relocate.”