Dark War Chronicles Box Set One (36 page)

"That's life in the supernatural world. Lucius is my protection, I don't have a mate to keep me safe."

"Would Coran be able to protect me if we were mated?" Renee asked.

Tegan nodded. "He would be able to if he would just listen to fate and take you as his mate." 

"Tell me what I can do." Renee begged, hope rising in her heart.Maybe if she could protect herself and if Coran could accept their fate, then the vision she was shown wouldn’t come true.

Tegan shrugged. "Don't get tortured, don't take unneeded risks and don't listen to me when I say let’s go out."

"I'm guessing this all goes back to Trisha?" Renee muttered. "What did listening to you have to do with it?"

Tegan shrugged. "Well, I wanted to get out of the cabin for a few hours and I talked Trisha into coming with me. We were captured by the Circle. Coran blamed me for years, but now he has a chance at happiness again. So don't come out with me, he feels that humans are defenseless, and, well, there's not a whole lot you can do about that."

"Wrong, teach me to use a sword." Renee demanded.

Tegan balked at that. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Teach me to use a sword when I'm out of here, then I at least have something to protect me." She raised her chin.

"I'll start with regular self-defense, you don't just jump straight to a weapon. It will help with Coran's opinion of you being defenseless, but why go through all that work since you sent him away?"

"I just, I feel like I need to be near him. My heart broke when I sent him away, but I felt it needed to be done. I panicked. This world scares me and part of me wants out of it. The other part of me feels like I need him to be close to me, that I can soothe him. I feel lost without him by my side. He completes me and I was wrong to doubt him and whatever is going on between us.” She met Tegan’s eyes. “Will you take me to him?"

Tegan shook her head. "You're supposed to stay in the hospital, and remember he's in wolf form. He tends to be even more moody when he's in wolf form."

"I've been cleared to walk and I can kind of use my arm again. The doctor said they were just keeping me another night because someone demanded the best care for me. So really, I'm good to go."

"But I don't know how much trouble I'd get in. Besides, going to see him isn't going to help with your fear of the supernatural."

"Please, Tegan?"

Tegan opened her mouth to say something, but the door opened and she froze when a vampire walked in. Not just any vampire. Markus.

Renee looked to the tall vampire then her glance slid to Tegan.Her heart pounded and fear gripped her. He said he’d come back for her, but she hadn’t believed it.

Tegan’s entire body tensed when the vampire spoke. "Tegan, looking well. I see Lucius let you off your leash." His voice rumbled through the room.

"Markus, what are you doing here?"

Renee didn't like the tone in Tegan's voice. It held her normal authority but with a side of fear. Markus towered over Tegan as he took a few steps into the room. He straightened the bottom of his suit jacket and let his eyes wander over Renee. Panic started to overtake any pain as Markus met her gaze. His black eyes bore into her and a pounding started behind her eyes.

"I came to take Renee with me, but I wasn't expecting you here. I thought you would have learned to stay with your master." Markus chuckled. "Or does he not control you still?"

Tegan swallowed and stepped closer to Renee's bed. "I'm here on his orders and the law about coming into a territory uninvited and throwing around threats still stands. You are required to let my master know when you are coming and then arrange to meet with him. The Circle is not above those laws."

Renee pushed against the headboard of her bed, trying in vain to fight against the memories of pain from his previous visit. She tried to get past the idea that Markus had actually returned for her. "Why?" Her voice squeezed out.

Both of them stared at her. Tegan stared at her impatiently, clearly saying, 'shut up'. "Because the laws were set in place—"

"No, why do you want me?" Renee met Markus' gaze again.

Markus laughed. "Because your blood can open the tomb that the Father is locked in."

Renee paled and the room started spinning. What was he talking about?

Tegan snarled and pulled a dagger from under her shirt, rushing Markus. "You cannot raise that monster."

Markus caught her wrist. Spinning around, he slammed her against the wall. Renee gasped. Knowing how fast Tegan could move, the fact that Markus outmaneuvered her was scary.

"Learn your place, you attacked a member of the Circle—"

"You threatened someone under the protection of my master and you are here without permission. You were in the wrong first, you must meet with my master."

Markus pulled her away and slammed her into the wall again and Tegan grunted at the impact. She head butted him, but he only snarled at her. Markus backhanded her, her head whipped to the side and she brought her knee up to his stomach. He pulled back and Tegan tried to get away from the wall, but he shoved her back. Putting his lips against her neck, he seemed to whisper something Renee couldn't hear, causing Tegan to freeze, all the color draining from her face.

He swallowed and Renee realized he'd bitten Tegan. Drinking her blood, he seemed unaffected by Tegan trying to shove against him. The moment Renee reached for the call button, Markus let Tegan go. Bracing herself up against the wall, Tegan snarled at the vampire.

"We'll meet with Lucius. Tell your master that he will be hearing from me. If he denies us then we will attack. It is within our laws since we believe he is planning to rise against us." Markus ran a hand down Tegan's cheek and she shivered. "I look forward to the outcome."

Renee gasped when he simply disappeared from the room.

Tegan stood silent and still for a moment, making Renee afraid to speak. "He had a hand in your torture?"

"Yes, and I won't go back to him, end of story. Lucius would die before he'd let that happen again, and if he dies, I die." She sounded tired. "You still want to go see Coran?"

Renee nodded. "Now more than ever. I don't feel safe without him near. So how do we convince the doctors to let me out of here?"

Tegan smirked and held up a finger. "I'll be right back."

Renee shook her head when Tegan rushed out the door. She picked up her book and leaned back in bed, ready to lose herself in the story while Tegan worked some type of voodoo magic. But she couldn't concentrate, something scratched at the back of her mind while she waited. A pressure, a calling for her to leave the room. To follow...something. Frowning, she got out of the bed, thankful that the doctor had removed her IV and monitors a few hours before. She reached for the door, but it opened before she could grab the handle. Dr. Carrington walked in, followed by Tegan.

"I see you're walking all right."

Renee gave a slow nod. Only a slight pain went up her leg when she put pressure on it, but she hadn't felt it when she gotten out of bed to follow...whatever it was. "Yeah, just tiny pains now, arm's okay too. Can I go?"

"I would prefer you not leave the hospital until you were completely healed but I think Ms. DeBeau here is more than capable of ensuring you make a full recovery.” The doctor had very intense blue eyes that always left Renee feeling like she had missed something, as if he saw more than what was there. Obviously her recent experiences were making her paranoid. “We just need to finish up the paperwork then you may leave. These are strict instructions that you are to follow until your follow-up appointment." He handed Renee a small stack of papers.

She rushed through them and sat through the agonizing instructions of how to take care of and redress the wounds. Dressed in her torn clothes from before, she tapped her foot while Tegan took her sweet time thanking the doctor. "We need to go. Now."

"What's the hurry, buttercup? It's not like you have a hot date, remember? Coran is in wolf form." Tegan laughed and grabbed her jacket off the chair.

Renee frowned. "Don't you feel it? There's something off about everything right now."

"No, I don't, but what do you feel?" Tegan turned around to face Renee.

Renee paused, trying to find away to describe it. "It's like a pressure in my mind, but it's also like a whisper, something calling me to follow it."

"That's Markus, or another vampire.” Tegan pressed her lips into a straight line. “They are in your mind, and that means they can track you. Let's go." Tegan shrugged on her jacket in jerky movements, muttering under her breath, before heading out the door of the room and towards the exit.

Renee followed her, trying to keep up without limping too much. "What does that mean, track me?"

"They can find you any place you go, unless something or someone blocks it. Lucius is the only creature on our side that is capable of doing it. So you get to go meet him before you get to see Coran." Tegan led her to a sleek, purple, European sports car.

Renee blinked. "Did you steal this?"

"Nope." Tegan pulled out the fob, disarmed the alarm, and unlocked the car. "A perk, and a gift from Lucius."

"But you guys walk everywhere."

"When we're in town we do, but Lucius doesn't live in town. His property is west, in the mountains. Get in." Tegan slid behind the wheel. Once Renee was in and buckled, Tegan started the car and grinned. "And off we go."

Markus appeared in his hotel room, laughing. His plans would be complete if he could get them both to leave Lucius, but he knew he couldn't bank on that. He needed to make sure to play by the rules until the meeting. That meant contacting someone about meeting with Lucius. Lucius would know the moment that Tegan walked in what had happened, if he didn't know already. The vampire was ever present in the woman’s mind.

He licked his lips at the memory of her sweet blood coating his tongue. It held a different tang to it than a normal human. He’d bet he'd just tasted the blood of a Blood Human. The only downfall to his night was not getting Renee. The Circle would not be happy with him, but it only meant their plans were on hold. The Father would still be raised and with any luck Lucius would be paranoid enough to screw up.

Tegan would be a whole different challenge. If she didn't leave her master willingly, Markus would have to take drastic measures that would be against all the rules. He sat down at his desk and pulled a waiting notepad and pen closer. He didn't have any contacts in Lucius' territory and if he sent in a rogue he'd give Lucius another reason to accuse Markus of breaking the rules.

He set to work on a letter to Lucius, taking care to leave out the details on what exactly he wanted. When he finished he took it to the club his rogue wolves had located.

He certainly turned heads walking into the club, all except one of the busy bartenders. Red hair fell past her shoulders and her blue eyes observed everything going on around her. She froze when they finally landed on him. The locking of her jaw told him she knew what he was and wasn't fond of his kind. Perfect, it probably meant she worked for Lucius.

He stopped at her side of the bar and smiled, showing enough fang to cause her to sneer at him, but the reaction he got was more. Her eyes flashed, marking her as a shifter. Perfect.

"I have a message for Lucius."

She snorted and crossed her arms. "I'm not a messenger, find yourself someone else."

"You have quite the attitude for a shifter with little control. I could pull that beast right out of you and cost you your job and your life in this little hell hole of a safe place."

The woman stiffened, and though Markus didn't hold the ability to force a shift, he bet her panic and fear of it kept her from sensing the truth. He slid the envelope with his letter across the bar when a man came up behind her.

"Is there a problem, Kassity?"

The red head took the envelope and kept her eyes trained on Markus. "No Derrik, just some business for Lucius."

But the man behind her didn't move. Markus chuckled. "You deliver that to him tonight. Make sure you tell him that Markus sent it."

"Of course." She growled. "Now get out. You aren't welcome here."

Markus glanced at the man behind her, who nodded and confirmed her demand. Chuckling, he walked through the crowd. It seemed like it wasn't only the vampires on edge in Lucius' territory, but the shifters as well. Perfect. Civil war always made take-overs easy.

Chapter Thirteen

Renee walked into the great room, noticing how her shoes clicked against the shiny tile of the floor and the subtle glow of the fireplace lighting the room. Lucius tossed a leg over the arm of his throne while he lounged and studied them.

"Took you two longer than I was expecting." He motioned to Tegan and to the floor. "Your place."

Tegan shuffled to him, but Lucius stopped her. "You were bitten." He snapped as he picked up a piece of black fabric from the arm of the chair. "I'm assuming that will be covered in your explanation?" He glanced at Renee who could do nothing but nod at the small outburst.

Lucius removed Tegan's sunglasses and replaced them with the black fabric. Tegan remained perfectly still while he did it and didn't flinch when Lucius touched the bite mark. Again, Renee found herself questioning Tegan's humanity as Lucius guided her to the side of the throne.

Renee frowned when Tegan knelt on the floor at the side, head bowed. "Why do you demand that of her?"

"Because this is an official meeting and her place is at my side. It's called politics and you will learn them in time." Lucius sat back in his chair, placing an elbow on each arm of the chair and folding his hands together. "Tell me what took you so long." Tegan started to speak, but he placed his hand on her head to stop her. "Renee must find her voice, Tegan."

Tegan nodded and went silent. Renee took a second to explain it. "Tegan and I had a few things that we needed to discuss in regards to Coran, then there was—" She frowned her mind going fuzzy. "Someone came to visit, I can't recall his face."

"Markus." Tegan whispered. With the name Renee's mind cleared up and she recalled the face.