Blood Shadows (29 page)

They passed a few lycans sending intrigued glances in her direction, but she lowered her gaze from the humiliation, desperate for Hank to put her on her feet despite the pain.

Hank shoved open another door and stepped into a large, vacuous room. He dropped her to her feet, Caitlin nearly yelping with the agony.

She stumbled forward to have him catch her by her upper arms, forcing her down onto her knees, concrete scraping the skin.

Ahead was a table, at least six lycans sat around it, cards held in their hands.

She heard the scraping of a chair and her attention snapped to the only one who rose from the table and strolled towards her.

Kane couldn’t smell her. There was a faint scent, but nothing strong enough to tell him she was close by. He sat bolt upright and scanned the room. The place was silent, void even of her breathing.

His first thought was that she had done something stupid. He shoved back the sheets, kicked open the bathroom door and scanned its emptiness. He stepped over to the kitchen then stared across at the door.

Hell, the girl was insane.

His jacket had gone and with it his keys. He marched across to the TV and reached behind it to take the spare set of keys off the hook.

He turned both keys in the lock and tugged. As he’d suspected, the door didn’t budge. She wouldn’t leave without bolting it from the other side. He slammed his hand in fury against it before storming back across to the bed.

There was no way to say how long she’d gone. An hour maybe. But an hour was a long time in lycan territory. Her only saving grace would be that she smelled of him. Unless she came across rogue lycans stoned or drunk enough to be willing to take the risk with a pretty human girl. Or came face-to-face with her own kind – the worst of her own kind.

He yanked on his shorts and jeans. He pulled on a T-shirt and hurriedly laced up his boots.

The thought of anyone other than him with their hands on her, the thought of anyone hurting her, wrenched at his chest. But he knew that should be the last concern he had. The bigger concern was that she might, just might, get out of there. And it was going to be a hell of a bigger challenge getting her back than just slipping into her apartment.

He clamped his hand around the bedpost and pulled the whole bed aside. He ripped the rug up from underneath, exposing the trapdoor. He released the catch, lifted the door and took the wooden ladder down into the darkness.

He should have cuffed her. He should have known better. He should have known it would be what she’d be planning. But no one had ever slipped from him without disturbing him in his sleep before. No one. But she was stealthy and nimble and far too light on her feet. And he had slept deep. For some reason his sleep had been the most restful he’d had in a long time.

He crossed the cellar and marched up the wooden ladder on the other side, yanking back the bolts on the trapdoor.

Every single nerve ending sparked in anger but he also had a stirring in his gut that he didn’t like. Something he hadn’t felt for a long time. Something he didn’t want to acknowledge. But he recognised it and he hated it.

Worry was an alien concept. Something he hadn’t felt since he’d lost Arana.

He slammed back the door and stepped up into the garage, kicking the door shut behind him again.

He marched over to the bench, took his car keys out of a metal tin in the drawer and stormed across to his car as the garage door began to open.

She could be anywhere. With anyone.

But she was a smart girl. She’d stay away from the crowds. She’d stay away from anyone who might recognise her. And once she realised she was in lycan territory she’d lay low because of the scent.

She’d also put out a call for help if she got to a phone.

He needed to find her quick.

He wasn’t going to let it happen again. The thoughts of what he might find brought the painful, sickening memories back too hard and too fast.

She was his to use. His and no one else’s.

Pulling out onto the street, he dropped his phone onto the passenger seat. There was enough of a breeze that he’d pick up a scent. That others would pick up on the scent.

He’d find her. Wherever she was.

Because if anything happened to her, he’d never forgive himself. Ever.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

C
aitlin watched the lycan leader approach, each of his heavy footsteps mindfully, tauntingly purposeful.

‘Well, well, well,’ Jask said, stopping in front of her. ‘Caitlin Parish. You’re a long way from home.’

Pulling her shoulder from Hank’s grip, Caitlin glared up into Jask’s sharp azure eyes. Eyes intensified by the darker shade of his lashes and stubble, compared to his blond hair.

He cocked his head to the side as he crouched in front of her, his loose, shoulder-length hair falling forward slightly with the motion. ‘Shouldn’t you be out somewhere chasing vampires?’

‘Tell him to get his hands off me,’ she said, yanking against Hank again.

‘With your reputation. I don’t think so. The girl who brought down Kane Malloy. Your name is all over this district. Even more than it usually is. Only I heard Kane had got his own back.’ He indicated for Hank to pull her back to her feet.

For fear of her arms being wrenched out of her sockets, she conceded, hobbling slightly, trying to keep her weight on just one foot. She glanced at the other lycans sat around the table, then back at Jask.

She’d seen pictures of him but they hadn’t done him justice. His chiselled features were more striking up close.

He looked down at her bare feet and smiled an unnervingly wide smile. ‘Oh. I see.’

She tried not to let her mind go there but she immediately pictured the images of Arana’s brutalised body. Vampires were notorious for bad press but she wasn’t naive to the capabilities of lycans. They may have been the more insular and easily contained of the third species, but only because of the effectiveness of the meds that had been perfected to manage their condition. What had happened to Arana was proof of their instincts when they weren’t effectively controlled.

She glanced once more across at the table of them then warily back up at Jask.

He was smart enough to keep himself to himself as far as the control units were concerned but she didn’t underestimate his potential. It took something to keep all those lycans in line. And it wasn’t all based on fair leadership and positive praise.

‘You let me go, Jask. Keeping an agent against their will is a serious offence—’

‘Save it, Caitlin. No one knows where you are because no one’s come looking. So forget the speech, you’re going nowhere.’ He indicated for Hank to let her go. He did so with such force she stumbled forward slightly before regaining her footing, hopping slightly to avoid the pressure on her foot. ‘You’re up to your neck in it, little lady, so don’t come shouting the odds in my territory. You haven’t got your army behind you now.’

Caitlin brushed the hair from her eyes, glanced back over at the other lycans. Panic clenched her stomach. ‘You clearly need yours to back you up though, don’t you?’

Jask breathed in slow and deeply through his nose, his gaze to the ceiling before he looked back at her with a smile. ‘Is that fear I smell?

‘What’s your problem with me, Jask? I’m nothing to do with you.’

He laughed lightly. ‘Nothing to do with me?’ He looked around the room at his henchmen. ‘Did you hear that?’

She followed his gaze, watched him warily.

‘You’ve got two of my boys in that big old containment unit of yours. I think that makes an agent of the regulations my business.’

‘We’ve got a lot of your boys in our containment unit. None of them are anything to do with me.’

‘But you know which boys I’m talking about, you being Kane’s biggest fan and all. You know exactly which two.’

‘They went in voluntarily. Full confession. Like I said, they’re nothing to do with me.’

‘You’ve read the reports then. You know what they did.’

‘I know exactly what they did. And that they deserved to be locked up for it. And that they came running with their tails between their legs proves what cowards they were.’

As Jask lifted the back of his hand to strike, Caitlin caught her breath and braced herself.

‘Jask!’ one of his henchmen warned, shook his head.

There was a silent exchange between them. Caitlin frowned. She stared back at Jask as he lowered his hand and stepped closer.

Why the hell was he looking at her like it was her fault?

‘They have families,’ Jask said. ‘One of them had daughters of his own.’

‘They also both have a history of being negligent of their meds, defiant of laws, unruly behaviour. Their DNA was found all over her. We have a confession. They admitted they were intoxicated. They admitted they were three days out on their medication. It was near the full moon and they were in a heightened state. Arana might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time but they took advantage and have to pay for that. Families or not.’

‘That’s right – Arana on the edge of lycan territory during full moon. Has that never struck anyone as strange?’

‘Everyone knows Arana liked to live as close to the edge as her brother. But that doesn’t excuse them.’ She frowned. ‘The LCU know you’ve been talking to him, Jask. They’re watching you. What are you up to?’

‘It’s all about closure, little lady.’

‘The TSCD kept those lycans’ identity secret for all your sakes. But I know he knows who they are. I know you told him.’

Jask smiled.

‘What’s in it for you, Jask? Why are you betraying your own? Is Kane paying you off with something, or has he got you scared too?’

‘Me and Kane have an understanding.’

‘You’re lucky he hasn’t killed every single one of you. Do you think this means you’re off the hook? He’s not letting this go until he gets vengeance. And we both know it. If you’re linking with him, you’re a fool.’

‘As much a fool as you?’ He leaned in to her. Breathed deeply. ‘Screwing the vampires you’re hunting part of VCU protocol now, is it, Caitlin? Smells like he’s had you right where he wanted you. Until you escaped.’ He circled around her. ‘So how are you liking being up close and personal with the vampire of your dreams? Word on the street is you’ve had a crush on him for quite some time. Less than two days in his arms and look at you.’

Caitlin frowned as he drew level again. ‘Are you really that desperate for his approval that you would put those lycans’ families at risk?’

He smiled. A smile that was more of a sneer as he walked away again.

‘What they did was despicable, Jask. I believe as much as the next person that they deserve whatever they get, but this is about justice and justice is being served. You cannot let him get them. It’s murder.’

‘We have our ways. You have yours. When are you agents ever going to understand that?’ He raked his gaze over her with disdain. ‘Standing in your place of authority and making us live by your rules. Drugging us. Controlling us. Telling us how to live. You know nothing. You create this division but we are talking about respect. Respect for each others’ territories. We live by our own order. It has been the way for centuries and when ours step out of line, we punish them. Our way.’

‘You know, you even sound like him. He really is working your strings, isn’t he?’

Jask glowered at her. ‘He needed to know who was responsible.’

‘And you told him. Do you know what it will do to them if they find out Kane knows who they are, if they know he’s going after their families? Because he will. And he won’t just kill them. And you know it. What you are contemplating is beyond inhumane.’

He laughed. ‘You’re not getting this at all. When I said me and Kane have an understanding, I meant it.’ He looked across to one of the henchmen. ‘Call Kane. Ask him if he’s lost anything.’

‘No!’ Caitlin reached for him, his sleeve snatched from her grip by his quicker reflex. ‘Kane wants to use me as a bargaining tool to get those lycans out. And if they get released in exchange for me, Kane will slaughter them. The TSCD will know it’s Kane who’s done it—’ She stopped herself abruptly, an uncomfortable feeling spreading through her. ‘Is that why you’re doing it? Are you trying to get Kane inside?’ She frowned. ‘Have you been speaking to Xavier?’

Jask raised his eyebrows. ‘Xavier Carter?’

‘Jask, if you are double-crossing Kane then you are insane. And you can’t trust Xavier. If he’s setting you up for something—’

‘Oh, don’t insult me. You think he could fool someone like me. Like he fooled you into coming here. Like he fooled your father?’

Caitlin stared at him. ‘What did you say?’

Jask raked her swiftly, before indicating for the other lycans to leave.

‘What the hell are you talking about, Jask?’ she demanded. ‘What do you mean he fooled my father?’

Jask’s eyes narrowed. ‘You really don’t know, do you?’

‘Know what?’

‘Kane hasn’t told you yet?’

‘Told me what?’ Her heart pounded.