Blood Instinct (5 page)

And it was the last thing he wanted to come back into his mind; it was the last thing he needed to be haunted by. He hadn’t thought of it in years.

He shook his head to try and rid himself of the recollection.

But there was something about the way he was holding her down; something that reminded him of
her
.

Jask had knocked back another shot in a long line. He knew she was looking at him; he could feel it. And when he saw her saunter over towards him, he knew he should have got up and walked away.

But his nights had become like that. Nights when he had simply stopped caring about the consequences.

She’d eased into the seat opposite him in the booth, in the deepest, darkest corner of the bar.

He’d tried to stay out of eyeshot. He’d tried to wallow alone.

‘An intoxicated lycan,’ she’d declared. ‘I didn’t even think that was possible. You must have drained the bar.’

He’d knocked back another mouthful.

She’d rested her elbows on the table, drawing his attention to her low-cut top – not that he was going to give her the satisfaction of knowing so.

‘Maybe even several bars,’ the vampire had added.

‘You’re playing with the wrong lycan,’ he’d declared huskily, his growl as much from the shots, the lack of sleep, as the aggravation he’d felt that she’d dare join him.

‘I know who you are, Jask Tao.’

‘And I know who you are, Arana Malloy.’

He’d looked up into her eyes. She’d had the same eyes as her brother – that rich navy blue even in the shadows of the rundown Blackthorn bar. And she’d had that same paradoxical air of nonchalance and intensity too – arrogance even.

Because Arana Malloy was untouchable, and she knew it.

Her brother had already made his mark on Blackthorn in the decades since the regulations. No one trod on Kane Malloy’s territory, and that territory included his little sister.

Though little she certainly wasn’t. Arana was all female, with curves and charms in all the right places – and she clearly knew what to do with them. If the rumours were right, sex was as much about sport for her as it was for her brother. And if she had anywhere near the proficiency of Kane, she’d make for a very enjoyable few hours.

If he was on a suicide mission. Which he had been that night.

Hearing feminine groans incited Jask to thrust harder, to tighten his grip on her hair.

‘Jask…’ he heard that same feminine voice say breathily.

But it became inconsequential.

Everything became inconsequential other than the heat burning in his veins, the aching need to climax.

‘I thought you might,’ Arana had said, her lips having curled into a seductive smile, exacerbated by a coaxing gaze that did nothing to appease the lycan in him. ‘I was counting on it, in fact.’

‘Jask…’

Eyes still tightly closed, he dug his fingers into her hip, fisted her hair with the other hand.

And thrust harder. Thrust harder until he came hard, his jaw clenched, his climax fast and uncontrolled and unpleasant in its intensity.

‘For fuck’s sake, Jask!’

Jask’s eyes snapped open. He jolted back to the voice of Sophia, the scent of Sophia, the feel of her.

To a reminder of the present. Of the bunker around him.

He withdrew and all but fell onto his haunches, his breathing uncharacteristically ragged, his pulse racing to a human rate.

Turning to face him, Sophia partially covered herself with the nearest pillow, something she’d never done.

Her hands were trembling – whether with shock or sated, even unsated, pleasure, he wasn’t sure. There was perspiration on her forehead. Her lips were swollen with arousal. But there was wariness in her eyes.

Wariness he hadn’t seen since the first time they’d met.

‘Shit, Jask. I’m not exactly adverse to a little rough play but…
Shit
…’

She shoved his chest playfully with her hand before smoothing down her hair and rubbing the back of her neck. But her smile was awkward, quizzical even as she attempted to make light of whatever had just happened.

‘Are you okay?’ she asked. ‘It felt like I’d lost you there.’

His heart jolted as he noticed the talon indentations on her hip, the drawing of blood in a couple of them.

Distress coiled deep in his chest at what he might have done, distress exacerbated further by the realisation that his sanctuary,
their
sanctuary, for the first time ever, had been permeated by something darker in him. Something clearly fighting to get out.

Something that unnerved even him if it was capable of hurting Sophia.

J
ask sat
beside Sophia at the table.

She had her hand on his thigh as he kept his arm across the back of her chair, his thumb caressing her back. He wasn’t sure if her tension was down to the pressure of the meeting or what had happened between them. Either way, his own unease in her presence felt alien, as if they both knew there was something unspoken between them but neither wanted to tackle it.

As light-hearted as she’d been about it at the time, there had been none of her usual random post-sex chattiness. Neither had she opposed him heading off to check on Nathaniel and Lucus – something that had been as much an excuse for him to try and get his head around what had happened.

She’d even remained uncharacteristically quiet as he’d walked her to the meeting.

He’d wanted to ask her exactly what he’d done; the thought that he might have said Arana’s name out loud made his toes curl. But if he had, he knew she would have challenged him about it there and then – no doubt after a firm slap.

So he couldn’t ignore the idea that it might be his own paranoia intensifying the tension between them. Or maybe even his own guilt that, for the first time since they’d been together, he’d thought of another female whilst being intimate with her.

Not even Ellen – his beloved memories of his mate, Ellen – had permeated them. And yet now a one-night stand, a one-off encounter decades before, had broken through, as vivid as the day it had happened.

Threads of betrayal flooded his veins and knotted in his chest, not only for Sophia but Kane, who sat opposite him, as clueless as she was – Kane, the master vampire who had since become a friend.

He hadn’t even met Kane at the time. When they had finally been thrown together after the murder of Arana, it had hardly been the right time to broach the subject: how, during his selfish downward spiral after losing Ellen, he’d had the vampire’s precious little sister over a table in a rundown backstreet bar after being too weak to walk away.

He’d been too weak for a lot of things back then. And recollections of just how weak he could be, of how much of a slave to his instincts he could be, was the last thing he needed right then, let alone how, during that recollection, a long-buried part of him had started to claw its way back to the surface.

‘Jask?’

Jask looked up to be met with Kane’s frown.

There were ten of them present in total – Kane and Caitlin directly opposite him, Corbin and Solstice to his left, Eden and Jessie to his right. Leila sat to Kane’s left and Alisha out of sight to Sophia’s right.

‘Corbin was saying at least four of your pack are showing symptoms so far. How many could we be talking?’

Corbin had returned from the compound with concerns over the four they’d had no choice but to leave there in the containment rooms – something Jask intended to check on as soon as the meeting was over – and as soon as he’d appeased the situation with Sophia.

‘At maximum?’ Jask leaned forward, his forearms on the table to get himself back to the task at hand. ‘Eighty-four.’

Kane’s gaze was steady, Jask already knowing what was crossing his mind. ‘Does that include you?’

‘That’s in addition to me.’

Kane leaned back in his chair, the told-you-so of the discussion they’d had only a couple of days before, when Kane had tackled him about not taking the full dose as soon as possible, now emanating from his eyes.

‘We need to be prepared for depleted numbers out there if this progresses,’ Jask declared, refusing to apologise during their silent exchange.

Kane’s eyes flashed with disapproval. ‘We can’t afford to deplete the team.’

‘We can’t afford loose cannons out there either. They can’t be following orders safely if they’re slaves to their own instincts. They’ll put themselves at risk as well as other members of the pack. It’ll only be until the blue moon passes its peak. Another sixteen hours or so and we’ll be through the worse.’

Eventually Kane nodded. ‘My guys know what they’re doing with the tunnels, so I’ll assign a team to help track down the fourth species and lighten the load for you. Do you have enough to keep a team focused on the potential rogues?’

‘Sure. And I’m going to get back out there myself after this.’

‘I’m going to take the tunnels into Lowtown and see what’s happening over there. Eden?’

‘Shall I break the bad news first?’ Eden asked, reclining in his chair as if he was knocking back a few casual drinks with friends.

But Jask had learned his eye was never off the ball.

The group’s silence was all the confirmation Eden needed to proceed.

‘Unless Sirius’s army is blending with the natives, it’s predominantly straightforward Global Council military out there with some CEO presence. I also caught a glimpse of a uniform I don’t recognise though. It matches the description of the ones who invaded your compound, Jask. The uniform is similar to CEO leathers and the helmets look identical. However, the bodywear has clearly been adapted. From a distance, it looks like a hell of a lot more investment has gone into protecting those guys than mine – superhuman or not.’

‘If this
is
the superhuman army, why weren’t they kitted up when they tackled Kane and Caitlin a couple of nights ago?’ Jask asked. ‘Especially Doyle.’

‘No point, I’m guessing,’ Kane said. ‘They thought I was going to be easy pickings and I would have been if Caitlin had stayed true to her word. I don’t think they’ll make that mistake again.’

Eden flipped the mint over in his mouth. ‘We need to get our hands on one of them to find out exactly what we’re up against.’

‘How easy will that be?’ Jask asked.

‘That’s the problem. If the bodywear itself is enhanced, I’m guessing the technology those helmets carry is too. Basic CEO helmets are advanced enough: three-sixty motion sensors, night vision, heat sensors, rear cameras. The biggest issue is the primary tracker. That picks up on the pulse rate and temperature of anyone you home in on so you can tell from a distance if they’re third species or human.’

‘So they’ll see us coming,’ Kane remarked.

‘From thirty feet away. To take one down, we need to work out the weak spots in the armour. From what I’ve seen so far, based on the flexion their gear has, I’m guessing that the backs of their knees, the inner elbows and under the arms are high-probability weak spots. But there’s no guarantee.’

‘Is there anywhere that would be?’

‘Considering they’ll require maximum manual flexibility for weapon usage, I’d bet a wager on the flesh between their fingers –
if
you can penetrate it from thirty feet away,’ he declared with a dismissive shrug at the improbability.

But Jask recognised Kane’s subtle smirk as he simultaneously shared a knowing glance with Caitlin.

‘What about the rest of the plan?’ Jask asked. ‘What’s happening about exposing Sirius? Have you had a chance to talk through tracking down that doctor you know at The Facility?’

‘I can follow it up whenever we’re ready,’ Eden said, ‘but like when you ventured to Summerton, it’ll take me out of the loop for at least a day. I’d say I’m going to be more use here at the moment. Besides, the biggest issue is that once I’ve got her Sirius is going to suspect something. My bet is he’ll close down the operation pretty quickly if he knows we’re on to him. We need to be good to go once we’ve got the evidence.’

‘I agree,’ Kane said. ‘Priorities are working out how to defend against Sirius as well as keeping Phia from Caleb. The exposure can wait for now. Caitlin, I’d like you to keep working with the fourth-species team. But, Jessie, we could do with having you down here to help oversee this place with everything that’s happening.’

‘But with depleted numbers it makes more sense having me out with the fourth-species team,’ Jessie insisted.

Jask tried hard not to meet Kane’s gaze again – to avoid that exchange that could raise suspicion.

Kane had already cornered him outside before the meeting had begun. He’d finally got through to Ziel, their latest angelic recruit, about why he’d recognised Jessie back at the lock-up. It wasn’t good.

To make matters worse, Ziel had also revealed that there’d been a call-out for Jessie’s whereabouts since Pummel’s row had burned down – and not from the cons.

They needed her off the streets as of now but without her or Eden knowing why. They all had enough to contend with for now.

‘I agree with Kane,’ Jask said, addressing Jessie, giving Kane, as he’d asked, the backup he needed. ‘I’d feel better with you down here for the time being.’

Eden’s frown emanated suspicion as he glanced from one to the other, but thankfully he kept his thoughts to himself.

‘So,’ Kane said, resting his forearms on the table as he looked Leila squarely in the eyes. ‘It’s over to you. I want to know of this alternative you found, Leila.’

‘I told you there isn’t one.’

‘You said it wasn’t an option, not that it doesn’t exist. And I’ll be the judge of the former.’

‘It’s immaterial,’ Leila remarked. ‘Just like your belief that Caleb’s going to come looking for Sophie.’

Jask glanced across at Sophia, her hands now in her lap. She’d grown paler, a sheen glimmering on her forehead.

More worrying was how uncharacteristically quiet she was.

He brushed his thumb across her back, capturing her gaze for a split second.

‘As opposed to him sitting on his arse waiting for us to take Phia to him?’ Kane challenged Leila further. ‘Do you
really
think Feinith’s that patient, even if Caleb is?’

‘No, but she’s not going to risk getting her only pending Tryan killed either.’

‘Which is why he won’t come here alone,’ Jask said. ‘But he
will
come. He’s on a tighter time constraint than us.’

‘He’s also a lone warrior,’ Leila corrected him. ‘Caleb doesn’t use backup, as he proved by coming to you alone a few days ago. He’ll know you’re waiting for him to make a move.’

‘Because you have him all worked out after less than three days with him?’ Kane remarked.

‘I’ve worked him out enough to know you’re making a mistake keeping me here. You can plan to trap him all you want – I’m not going to kill him, not with your sword, Kane, or by any other means.’ She looked back at Jask. ‘I have temporarily closed the dimension. I have cooperated with your pack and given them as much guidance and protection as I can against the fourth species.’ She looked to Kane. ‘And you. But now you need to let me go and do what I have to do.’

‘Go back to Caleb,’ Jask said, ‘and tell him you
failed
to find the alternative he sent you for?’

‘I promised him I’d go back to him – that’s what matters.’

Jask exhaled loudly with impatience. ‘That makes no sense. As if that’s not going to reinforce his desire to blow everything out of the fucking water. All you’d be doing is confirming Phia is his only way.’

Her hazel eyes locked on his. ‘Right now, Feinith is with Caleb. Right now, Caleb believes I went to the TSCD to have him and Jake taken in. The longer he believes that, the harder his mistrust will be to undo. She’ll be pumping him full of her poison every hour that passes. The longer she has him, the more she’ll thread her darkness into him until she squeezes the last remaining light out of him.’

‘And you’re going to save him from that?’ Jask asked, trying to curb his sarcasm.

‘Exactly. I’m the only one standing between him and her now. If he loses faith in my word, we lose him. And if he loses it, we
all
lose. You
have
to let me go back to him. Now.’

‘We’re trying to protect you, Leila,’ Jask reminded her.

‘I don’t need your protection.’

Kane let out a slow and steady sigh as he leaned back, arms folded. He tongued his incisor as he met Jask’s gaze in another silent exchange.

‘You know the second Caleb gets his hands on you he’ll use you to get to Phia, don’t you?’ Jask added. ‘I can’t let that happen.’

‘Do you really think I would put my sister at risk?’

‘He went to the compound, Leila. He came looking for her.’

‘If he wanted her, he would have taken her – or at least attempted to. All he wanted to do was locate her, which he did. He was clearly satisfied that she wasn’t on the streets, which is why he let things lie.’

‘He let things lie because he was holding my pack to ransom over their supplies, whilst safeguarding against being taken in to the TSCD for these Alliance murders.’

‘Caleb wasn’t worried about being taken in. Do you
really
think they could have got their hands on him if he was? He could have gone underground just as easily as Kane here. He knew Feinith would get him out; he knew she couldn’t risk him being shadow read and exposing all her secrets. But he didn’t want to be in her debt so all he was doing was avoiding it if he could.’

She rested her arms on the table.

‘Come on, Jask. Tuly was incredible leverage, and yet he gave her back. Don’t you see that he was going to give you your supplies no matter what? He wasn’t going to risk having a pack of morphed lycans loose in Blackthorn; he had nothing to gain from that. Bartering over the supplies was just an excuse: a way in. He came to you to confirm where Sophie was and to suss out what he was up against. He was testing your feelings towards her to know how well protected she is. Most obvious of all, he wanted to confirm whether my serrynity had passed to her. Up until that point, all he knew was that I’d lost it.’

Jask glanced to Kane, who shook his head slightly in frustration.

‘And you gave him
exactly
what he wanted,’ Leila declared. ‘He played you beautifully. If you think Sirius is good at games, he has nothing on Caleb. So I’ll ask you again: do you
really
think any of you know him better than me?’

Jask sank back in his chair with a sigh.

‘Let me go to him,’ she persisted. ‘Let me tell him about your suspicions that Sirius already knows about the permanent cure – that he’s been keeping the angels’ existence hidden from everyone all this time. Let me tell him about the evidence you’re hoping to compile about that and the soul transference – how you’re planning to change things by exposing it all. Caleb isn’t the enemy, but the longer we treat him like one, the more of one he’ll become. We
need
him as our ally in this.’