Dark War Chronicles Box Set One (13 page)

Quinn tapped his fingers against the arm of his chair. His three children were standing in front of him, each of them looking guilty. Sarah’s hands were clenched as she tried not to scratch at the silver collar at her neck, but her eyes never left the ground. He called his experiment with her a failure because she acted more like a changed shifter than a born one. Something he hadn’t expected. His sons on the other hand he expected more of. Garrett and Stephan were both nursing wounds from another panther.

“So he mated her.”

“So he says.” Garrett muttered. “He returned the money to us and claims that he’s done.”

Thinking, Quinn drummed his fingers more. “We need her so we can deliver her to The Circle. She is the strongest of our kind.”

Stephan growled. “Well, what do you want us to do? The mercenary has gone soft and Kassity is under Lucius’ protection.”

“We’ll have to go get her ourselves. She knows that we’re after her. She’ll panic and screw up. Especially if she’s lost touch with her panther.”

Garrett’s eyes widened just a touch. “We’re talking about kidnapping Lucius’ prized cat. That’s different than Jaxon coaxing her out.”

“I didn’t expect the mercenary to actually accomplish that. Once The Circle has Kassity we will be protected. Lucius won’t be able to touch us.”

Stephan bounced on the balls of his feet. “So what? We just go in and drag her out of the territory?”

“Silver cage and drugs, boys. Just wait for her to fuck up.” Quinn leaned back in his chair. “In the meanwhile, I’ll continue working with Sarah.” He saw his daughter stiffen at his words and he chuckled. “We’ll make a warrior out of you yet.”

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Chapter Ten

“K
assity.”

Kass groaned and rolled over as she pulled the blanket over her head, trying to ignore Lucius’ voice.

“Kassity.” He nudged her in the back with his foot. “Get up.”

“I don’t want to. Late night. Don’t feel good. Go away.” She grumbled from under the blanket. “And I’m still naked.”

He chuckled. “Not like I haven’t seen it before. Now get up.”

She uncovered her head and rolled over to look at him. “What part of ‘I don’t want to’ don’t you get?”

“You are due at work tonight and I need you to start searching for that stone.” He snapped at her. “Now get up.”

She sat up and rubbed her eyes, holding the blanket to her with her elbows. “Okay, I’m up.”

“How did your kill go last night?”

She froze at his words. Her mind flashed back to the boy on the street screaming at her. “It was successful.”

“What made you hesitate in that answer?” He squatted down to look at her. “Don’t lie. Is she dead?”

She blinked at him. “Of course she’s dead. It was just...strange being conscious for it and not having to guess about the kill.”

“Your human emotions didn’t get the best of you then?”

She shook her head, "No, they didn't. I managed to work through it."

"What did it feel like, Kass?"

"Like I was fighting against myself, almost as if I was a new shifter. I had enough control not to go after a bystander." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

Lucius stood. "What do you mean bystander, who saw you?"

She swallowed. "It was a young boy, couldn't have been any older than five. I don't know what he was doing out so late without-" She looked up at him, eyes wide. "His mother. I killed his mother in front of him."

"I'm surprised you didn't scent him before you killed her." Lucius pressed his lips together. "Not ideal that he saw her killed. It'll have to be dealt with, I wouldn't have wanted a child to see that."

"You sent me to take away his mother, but you don't want him traumatized by seeing it? What kind of sick fuck are you? The boy is going to be scarred for life no matter if he saw it or not." She held her head down and took deep breaths as the nausea crept up on her. "Fuck, I think I'm going to be sick."

He shook his head. "Seeing something like that happen is different than just being told. Yes, both will harm his mind, but now he's going to forever have the image of a panther taking out his mother burned into his mind."

"Great, let the manhunt begin." She muttered. "One other thing I wanted to talk to you about." Standing, she brought the blanket up with her and met his gaze. "I thought I smelled Jax's blood when I came home last night. What happened?"

He shook his head. "Nothing happened, don't worry about it."

"Lucius, that's not fair, what happened? I know I smelt his blood, I can still smell a faint trace of it on you." She snapped. "You expect honesty from me, and yet you won't grant me anything."

He snarled at her. "Because I own you Kass, how easily you forget that."

"You're right, I'm a pet panther, I get that. But you smell of the man you told me that I could mate."

"Don't worry about it. He's alive and that's what should matter. If you run into him you can ask him yourself and he can tell you." He held his hand up when it looked like she was going to protest. "It is not my story to tell, and I wouldn't want to ruin anything he has worked for or accomplished with you."

Kass frowned. What a weird way to word a sentence, what had Jax done? "Okay fine, but you promise me he’s alright?"

"I did not harm him, if that is what you are worried about, and I promise you that he is able to heal from whatever happened. Now you have places to be and people to see. Tegan is in her room resting, I'm afraid she won't be any help, but you might want to start with her."

"She’s not at her apartment? She normally fights tooth and nail to stay there." Kass chuckled. “She really must not be feeling well then.”

He shook his head. "It's not safe for her to be there right now, not until we know who messed with her mind and what their intentions were. I can't risk her safety and I hate the fact that I gave into her whim to have a place of her own. I don't care if it's above the bar or not. This is proof she is not safe anywhere but under my watch." 

Kass shook her head. "You know something, she is human, just as I am-kind of, but she deserves to be treated more like one. I know she's been at your side for years, and I know she is something special to you. Her hair stays white and that her eyes are always covered up like you're hiding her. But seriously, if you want her to actually work with you instead of against you, treat her better." She turned to get dressed.

"If I give her more freedom than she's in more danger, I cannot risk her being taken from me. There are those out there that would do anything for someone like Tegan, and it would ruin everything." He sighed.

The look in his eyes caught Kass’ attention, but she knew better than to mention it. Concern and compassion reflected in his dark eyes as he spoke about Tegan. “She's more than human then." Kass assumed as she dropped the blanket and went to the closet for clothes. Over a bra, she pulled on a tight black shirt and a loose pair of black pants so that she would be comfortable as she worked at the bar. "You must really be fond of collecting things than. A rare panther, Tegan, what else have you collected?"

“Get going.” He left and let the door slam behind him.

Kass knocked gently on Tegan's door and walked in when she heard a soft, "Come in." She smiled at the sight of the girl sitting in an over-sized chair, reading a book. Her white hair was pulled up in a bun, and her ever-present sunglasses covered her eyes. After the conversation with Lucius, Kass wanted to ask Tegan what she was, but refrained.

"Hey, I wanted to talk to you." Kass sat on the ottoman in front of the chair. "About the stone."

Tegan’s hands clenched the book, every muscle in her body going tense. "Sent it away.”

“Yes, I know that. Where did you send it?” Kass tried to move the book out of the way so she could at least see Tegan’s whole face.

The woman shook her head. “Sent it away!”

“Okay, so you can’t tell me where.” Kass leaned back and thought for a minute. “Was it a place you knew?”

The shaking of the head slowed, but Tegan lowered her book. “No.”

“Was it to an enemy?”

“No.”

“Was it to an ally?”

“No.”

Kass frowned. “Then where the hell did you send it to?”

“Away.” Tegan pulled the book back up to read. With a sigh, Kass stood and paced the large room. In the corner a desk was covered in paper and pens. She went and picked a piece of paper up and grabbed a pen. She gently pulled the book from Tegan’s hand. “We’re supposed to be talking, remember?”

Tegan huffed. “Obviously it isn’t working. Lucius sent you in here because I screwed up and sent the stone away. He wants you to try and force the information out of me, regardless of if it hurts or not.”

Kass hadn’t realized that this could have been painful for Tegan and silently cursed the vampire. “I just want to help.” She slid the paper and pen to Tegan. “You sent it away, and that’s all you can remember with your mind.”

Tegan took the pen and frowned. Having laid her arm against the paper, she took a deep breath while shutting her eyes. Kass smiled. “You sent the stone away, you must have put an address on there.”

“Sent it away,” Tegan’s hand moved, “Sent it away,” another movement, more lines with the pen. “Sent it away!” She shoved the pen and paper away and it went flying to the floor as Tegan cradled her head. “Hurts. Damn, this sucks.”

Kass left the pen and paper for the moment and placed her hands over Tegan’s. “It’s okay now. Don’t worry about it.”

Tegan moved Kass’ hands away and glanced at the paper on the floor. “Lucius is pissed at me.”

“Yeah well, I’m not too happy with him right now, so we’re all just a giant pissed off family.” Kass went and gathered the fallen items and looked at the paper. “But it looks like you gave me an address. I’ll look into it, you rest up and don’t worry about it.” Kass tucked the paper in her pocket before returning the pen back to the desk.

Tegan nodded and picked her book back up. “Thank you. Be careful, whoever wanted that stone was powerful.” She shivered. “I don’t want to run into them again.”

“Lucius said that a lot of vampires would take you if they had the chance. Why do you think this guy didn’t?” Kass asked.

“I don’t know. I know he had complete control over me, so he would know why I was valuable. It doesn’t make much sense does it?” Tegan leaned back into her chair and opened her book. “I urge you not to talk about it.”

Kass nodded and headed out the door. Her stomach still churned at the thought of last night and the meal her panther enjoyed. The beast was content for now and Kass could feel it again like a second soul. She still needed to gain complete control again or she could have an incident on her hands where she murdered an innocent. She rubbed her eyes and jumped into the car, heading into town as the moon rose above her.

Jax woke to a swift pain in his ribs; the blow seemed to echo through his body. His eyes shot opened as his hands went straight to the sore spot. He glared up at Lucius. “What the hell?”

“You were supposed to be gone by sunrise.” He crossed his arms and glared down at the cat. “You distracted Kassity from her report to me about her mission. She was more concerned about the smell of your blood.”

Jax rubbed his rib and looked down at his body. “Yeah, well, it took a little longer to heal than I thought. Sorry. Is Kass still here?”

“Nope, and I told you to stay away from her.”  Lucius leaned against the wall. "Which is why you were supposed to be out by dawn."

Jax growled. "She get back alright?" His panther needed to know, especially after last night. The brothers would regroup and find another way to her. He couldn’t let that happen.

"None of your concern. Now get up." Lucius nudged him with his foot again. "Don't you have something to worry about? Like how her family is still after her, after you made a half hearted attempt to quit your job. They are still going to expect her delivered to their doorstep."

"No they won't, I made it pretty clear that I was done." Jaxon stood up and stretched, testing out where the sore muscles were and what injuries needed to be healed still. "Right. So Kass is working?"

Lucius shook his head. "She's working, but not at either of the clubs, she's doing a special mission for me and that' s all you need to know. You will stay away from her."

"You can't keep us apart." Jax pulled on the torn jeans from the night before. "We're meant to be mated."

Lucius gave a low laugh. "Meant to be mated, of course you think that. She's one of two female panthers alive in the U.S. Fate hasn't mated you, there has been no proof yet."

"Is that why you mauled her after we had sex?" Jax asked as he buttoned his pants.

"No. I was looking for something much more important, something that would have gotten her family off her back." He snapped. "But it didn't appear so it doesn't matter. You stay away from her or I will tell her exactly what you were doing when you were looking for her, who you work for, and that you planned on giving her over to them."

Jax swallowed, knowing the kind of reaction she would have to that information. "Fine, you want to play that way, I won't go anywhere near her." He snapped. "But once we find out that we're fated, then you're going to have to deal with it." He walked out and slammed the door to the room. He made his way through the mansion, trying to ignore any scent of Kass that he passed.

A girl stood in a doorway, one that he had seen working as a bartender in Lucius' bar. Her white hair looked too pristine and her eyes were covered as always. "You look like shit."

"Thanks, human, you look prim and proper." He snapped back and moved past her.

Tegan stepped forward as if to stop him, when he hesitated she continued talking. "Kass is with the wolves tonight. She asked Lucius about you before and was denied an answer. I think you are right."

"Do you know everything that Lucius and I talked about?" Maybe she could help him out.

Tegan nodded and then looked down the hall. "Kass has issues that only you can tame, but Lucius is right, she is less likely to trust you if you are working for her family."

"I didn't know what they wanted from her."