Fated (27 page)

“One thing at a time, mate.”

She nodded in response and turned toward Dage as he spoke again.

“The Kurjan attack squad had twelve—seven made it through the first two entry points—they headed for the medical lab, then for the rec room.” He shook his head in frustration. “We have four confirmed down. The cameras are useless.” He looked toward Cara. “Can you sense Katie, Jase, or the doctors?”

Cara shut her eyes and tried to concentrate on Jase. An image of his grin, his delight with Janie and his strength filled her thoughts. She fell back with a cry as a rush of anger, of purpose hit her so hard she lost her balance and crashed into Talen, who righted her with gentle arms. “He’s alive, preparing to fight …” She didn’t finish the sentence as another wave of determination bordered with panic filled her. She had sensed Katie before and instantly knew her essence. “Katie’s there, and I think she’d getting ready to shift.”

“Back away, Cara,” Talen said urgently into her ear. “Now.”

She turned surprised eyes up at him even as she did as he ordered and let her connection with Katie’s feelings subside. “Why?”

“She’ll release an amazing amount of power, and you’re not equipped to filter it yet, mate.” He looked around. “Gear up. Dage, Jordan, Noah, and I will head for the rec room and the medical lab while Conn and Mac take Cara and Maggie
through the tunnels out the east side. We’ll meet you in Colorado.”

“No, Talen,” Cara said as she followed his long stride into the armory, “I want to stay here—I can sense Katie and Jase for you.” She closed her eyes and reached for the doctors but only darkness swirled through her mind. “Though I can’t sense your doctors.” She opened her eyes as Jordan and Maggie, with protective vests and weapons, returned to the main room.

Talen yanked a vest over her head before donning his own. “No. We’re outnumbered, and you need to get to safety. I promise I’ll be there quickly.” He checked his guns and knives and fastened his long dark hair in a band at the base of his neck.

“I’m staying, Talen,” Cara muttered impatiently as she grabbed a knife off the stone wall.

He swooped in until his face was an inch from hers. “Don’t argue, mate.” His eyes narrowed implacably. “You will go with Conn, one way or the other.”

“Really?” she sputtered back as anger filled her. How dare he? She’d done a great job on the last raid.

“Yes. I assure you, I can stop you from moving.” He straightened to his full height, his eyes deadly serious. “But I guarantee you wouldn’t like it. And I need to concentrate on other things.” He waited for her reply.

“You wouldn’t.”

“I would.” He actually meant it. He would take her freedom of movement away from her. It was unfathomable.

She turned on her heel and left the room without a backward glance. She had been helpless once before, and she’d be damned if she’d feel that way again. She understood that they were symbiotic, that they both had increased in strength and potential the second they’d mated, and she knew somehow, deep down, her power would someday match his. For now, she’d wait. And remember.

“
I heard that.”
Her husband chuckled in her head. Man. Now they could read each other’s minds.

Her mental response was one she wouldn’t have uttered out loud. He sent back a mental image of her over his knee, and she had to fight the answering grin in herself. Jackass. Then she sobered. Just because he had an ability, one he hadn’t told her about, didn’t mean he had to use it. He had no right to squire her to safety while others needed her help.

“
I have every fucking right.”
His chuckle was long gone and a brief image from her dream flashed through her head before he pushed it away. She stilled as she realized the dream had impacted him far more than she had thought. “
That’s right, mate. You’ve been in danger before, and I wasn’t there. I’m here now, and I vow you’ll be safe.”

“But, I went on the raid for Katie,” she protested vehemently in her head as the men started to gather around her.

“
A mistake I will not repeat,
” came his firm response. His mental sigh whispered through her mind. “
Fight me another day, mate. Today this battle is over.”
He stalked into the room, armed with weapons as well as purpose, power all but gliding along his tanned skin above the dark vest.

Her eyes met his as she mentally asked her question. “Does everyone know about your ability?”

“No. Just my brothers know I can manipulate movement, or rather, the desire to move. “

“I hadn’t noticed you use it before.”

“I didn’t need it. “

Dage cleared his throat while tucking another knife into his waistband. “If you two are done mentally whispering to each other, I thought we’d go and rescue our youngest brother.”

Talen nodded and headed for the door.

Three stories up, Katie gulped in air as she and Jase took in the five Kurjan soldiers on the other side of the grand
room, their smiles sharp and mean, their eyes hidden by dark sunglasses. The alarm abruptly cut off, leaving an odd ringing through the sudden silence.

Jase stood still as a statue to her side, the blue flecks in his eyes having taken over the copper as he’d killed the first two Kurjans to plow through the door before tackling her behind the pool table as a bomb destroyed half of the stone wall. A crumpled mess of arcade games, smashed dartboards, and a mangled flat-screen television splayed around the room while the neon light above the pool table swung back and forth, throwing sparks. The overly bright lights forced pure white pain into every corner.

“You’ll have to shift,” Jase muttered under his breath.

“No, Jase,” Katie protested. “I could kill you.”

“I’ll be fine. You’re too fragile as a human, Katie. You know it. If you’re going to fight, you need to shift.” He veered a bit to the left of the pool table, readying himself to charge.

He was right. She would be of little help against the monsters facing them in her current form. She hastened to the right, wanting to put as much space between them as possible. She stopped as the Kurjan soldier in the middle raised a large boned hand and smiled yellow teeth past crimson lips. “We don’t want you, shifter. We just want the other one. Where is she?”

Katie cut her eyes to Jase, who studied all five soldiers with measured eyes. “I suppose you don’t want me, either?” His voice was dry.

“On the contrary”—the rasp of the Kurjan’s voice deepened—”killing a Kayrs will ensure my place in our military for all time. But, tell me where to find the other shifter, and I won’t kill your friend here.”

“Why do you want her?” Katie asked quietly.

The soldier shrugged his massive shoulders under his protective vest. “Irrelevant.” He turned vicious eyes to Jase. “Well?”

Jase’s grin was full of violence. “I decline your offer.” He lunged for the head soldier while bellowing for Katie to shift.

Katie gathered her power, delving deep for the animal within her skin. Her spine tingled, an ache flashed along her skin, and her toes straightened out. Power flowed through her blood and with a simple command, she shifted from the delicate woman to a ferocious lioness, sending waves upon crashing waves of electric air slamming through the room. The electricity threw the two nearest Kurjans back into the jagged edges of the blasted rock walls to fall in heaps of muscle spouting blood while Jase was propelled against the opposite wall to land with a hard crash against several bar stools. With a fierce roar, he leapt to his feet, blood flowing freely down his face and from a wound in his side, charging to take a soldier to the ground with one strong hand around his neck. Katie lunged for the jugular of the nearest threat at the same time.

The leader turned to assist his subordinate with Jase just as the two injured Kurjans helped each other to their feet before rounding on the determined lioness with her jaws clamped into a Kurjan’s neck. One raised a green gun and aimed for her shoulder.

The bullet impacted close to her neck and she screeched in pain before whipping around with a Kurjan’s head in her jaws and tossing it at the soldier who had shot her. Damn it. They were healing quickly. It was four against two. And some of the blood scenting the air with copper wasn’t Kurjan. It was vampire. She lunged at the soldier holding the gun without sparing a glance for Jase; he was a fighter and used to bleeding. The Kurjan cried out as she latched onto his leg and ripped his knee out of his skin, spitting it to the ground with a growl. She readied herself to pounce just as the shooter fired again, sending her to the hard stone floor with agony ricocheting through her body.

Excruciating pain lanced along her nervous system. She tried to regain her feet, only to tumble down again as the
overly bright room spun around her. Her canines retracted, her fur disappeared, leaving her naked and vulnerable on the cold stone floor. The sweet smell of her own blood filled her nostrils. “Jordan,” she whispered his name, wanting it to be the last thing she said before crossing over. Then, even in her pain, she rolled her eyes at herself.

Her heart thumped in tune with a fierce roar from deep in the earth before blackness claimed her, and her head rested against the cool stone of the floor.

Jase ripped the soldier’s head off his shoulders with a shout of outrage before lunging for the next nearest target, fully aware Katie had gone down. He’d heard the shots and now smelled her blood. His mind reeled with pain as the soldier’s fist plowed into the bleeding wound in his side before he pushed the pain back and went for the throat.

Picturing the combination of oxygen and water molecules in the air, he whipped up a swirling mass of debris to beat against his enemies. The elements belonged to him, air and water obeyed his commands. But the pain in his body persisted, and his concentration waned. He had to get to Katie to stem the blood flow—even now the air scented with coppery sweetness.

Jordan flew through the jagged hole in the wall, and Jase instantly allowed the air to drop her weapons. His hair a wild mass of color, his face chiseled into death, Jordan tackled the Kurjan still holding a gun on Katie and dug his fingers into the soldier’s neck, his knees pressing into its chest. Odd that he hadn’t shifted. Almost as if the need to kill with his bare hands rode him.

Jordan wrenched their enemy’s head right off powerful shoulders, and deep, red blood scored across his chest and face. Livid topaz eyes sought and found Katie lying in a pool of blood across the way. With a deep roar, Jordan leapt toward her, sliding through red on his knees to reach her side.

Hmm. Jase had had no idea—the King of the Pride loved
the little lioness. Good thing he hadn’t asked her out. Jase shook his head, darkness falling over his vision, his grip loosening on the enemy’s jugular. Now was not the time to become philosophical. A humming took up in his ears. How much blood had he lost?

The Kurjan swiped sharp claws down Jase’s face. Pain slashed right through to his skull. Jase tightened his grip on the neck, lacking the strength to rip the asshole’s head off. This couldn’t be good.

The air whispered in his ear that his brothers had arrived. About fucking time. Talen tackled the Kurjan currently trying to rip Jase’s head off while Dage tossed the final one to the ground. An odd crunching sound filled the air as Dage went to work. Then blackness descended upon the youngest Kayrs brother, and there was no more pain.

Cara gasped as the helicopter veered to the right and changed course, the darkness outside providing no hint as to their new direction.

“We’re heading for a safe hospital near Laird, Ontario,” Conn answered her unspoken question through her earpiece. Wow. Now they headed into Canada? She reached out and clasped Maggie’s hand as Conn continued, “Both Jase and Katie are injured, we’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

Cara leaned her head back against the vibrating seat and cleared her mind before seeking Talen. “How badly hurt are they?”

“Jase needs stitches, several, and Katie needs to have two bullets removed. They’re both strong, mate.”

“Are you all right?” An echoing pain lanced through his ribs, and her own ached in response.

“Fine.”

Snorting in disbelief, she rolled her eyes. Tough guy. “What’s wrong with your side?”

She could actually feel his surprise as he noticed for the
first time that his side hurt. “Hmm.
Three broken ribs, I guess. They’ll heal by the time I see you.”
Then a sharp pain settled in his wrist and he swore.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, her breath catching in her throat.

“Fucking Jase is feeding on my wrist. His fangs have the subtlety of a Mac truck.” Concern for his brother wove through the angry words. “No wonder he can’t get a date.”

“How much blood did he lose?”

“Not enough to take all of mine, mate. No worries—we’ll both be close to fine when we see you.” Now arrogance inflected his tone.

She shook her head. “Anybody else hurt?”

“No. But Jordan is beyond pissed, as I would be if my mate found herself in danger instead of staying where I put her. “

Cara bristled at the intentional warning. Then, remembering her instinctive response earlier, she reached out and slammed hard metal shields all around her brain. Silence echoed strong and sure, and she grinned in triumph at the blurring clouds outside.

C
ara had never been to Canada, yet the land welcomed her with open arms. Lush maple trees, their leaves brilliant in shades of orange, gold, and red, filled the landscape of the two hundred–acre private resort. Hospital actually, though only known by the creatures of the Realm. A dirt road led to a massive pine facility masquerading as a lodge, while worn trails meandered through the forest to rustic cabins. Rustic on the outside, anyway.

They’d arrived the night before and frightening dreams had plagued her, even while safely tucked into Talen’s arms. With dawn arriving, they’d eaten breakfast in the lodge before visiting Katie and Jase in rooms more likely to be found in a bed and breakfast than a hospital. They’d both still been sleeping.