Mating Call (21 page)

She nodded. “No gleaming. No phasing. No magic.”

He led right away with a roundhouse kick toward her head and she quickly dodged at an angle, following up with a cross punch to the side of his jaw and a jab at his kidney. He ducked before she could get in another and retaliated with a low sweeping kick. He knocked her off balance as his leg hit her ankles and she fell to the floor. Before his free leg was back on the ground, she grabbed it and threw him backward. They never kept score, but the first point was usually hers. She got to her feet, smiled slightly and awaited his next move.  

Reyn landed on his back, quickly found his bearings, and hopped back to his feet. He wasn’t surprised that Kina was already on hers. These little sessions were so damn much fun, but he soon discovered if he fought Kina with that attitude he was gonna get his ass handed to him ten different ways. After all, she was a god. She was incredibly strong, fast, and calculating. Now he treated her like any other opponent, except he never hit her in the face. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it. Luckily, she was of the opinion it was gentlemanly and didn’t resent it. 

His New Breed senses picked up on a third presence in the room.
Xavier.
Even though he was too preoccupied with not getting his ass kicked to get a good look, he would have bet the mansion the brother was texting. Yup. The last half hour of their session was filled with shouts and whistles, mostly in support of Akina. It was nice to know they weren’t taking sides. Much. When they were finished, X handed them each a towel.

“Good night, everyone.” Reyn took her hand and they gleamed back to his room. 

She pulled her long dark hair out of its ponytail. “Reyn, you were going to teach me how to do a wall run.”

“I’m sorry. I guess I wasn’t in the mood for an audience. Next time, I promise.”

When they were showered, they ordered some dinner. The truth was, he just didn’t want to share her. Not tonight. When they were stuffed they laid down on the floor in front of the fire.

“So, this Rancor dude. I mean, you’re technically dead. He’s dead. You don’t like run into each other on clouds and shit, do you? Not that I’m jealous or anything. It’s just that you seem to have a thing for lions.”

“Reyn!” She promptly grabbed a couch pillow and swatted him over the head.

He ducked and pulled her body against his. “It’s early yet. What d’ya think? Movie?”

She started to lift up his T-shirt. “Absolutely.”

Dimitri walked through downtown and headed for Mason Street. It was a bitch of a night. Damp, cold, and there wasn’t any sign of Toltec activity. He could sense Ana a couple of blocks away and decided to find her and call it a night. He sighed. His old condo was right around the corner and he was tempted to stay. Maybe he would. He hadn’t been there since finding SE and Ana, the daughter of the enemy, naked in his bed. Now
that
was a treat. And now here she was his partner. Who the fuck knew?

He turned up the collar of his coat as he made a right onto Mason. He couldn’t remember when his spirits were so low. He’d really fucked up. How was he gonna help Viktor if he couldn’t even find him? He could be back in Russia for all he knew. He understood why his big brother had left before. He’d had two families to think about. But now? The families were gone. They were the only two left. Now it was his turn to protect his brother and he was in the perfect position to do that. He couldn’t be safer than in a compound teeming with New Breeds. Instead, they’d barely had a conversation the entire time he was there.

Worst of all, Victor was right about him. He had been oblivious to anything besides his own suffering. All this time his brother had been alone in his grief, torn up by his mate’s death, and in danger. And Dimitri had barely given him a thought—or a civil one, at least. He turned up the collar of his coat and turned onto Mason. Maybe he would stay in the city for the night. He could sure use some time alone with a bottle of Imperia. Or ten.

Suddenly, he heard a loud squeal behind him. He turned around and the glare of headlights assaulted his shifter senses. And then everything went black.

Ana walked up Washington Street. There was next to no one there. Who else but those fighting the freaking war would be out in ten degree weather at two in the morning? Her shifter senses picked up on the sound of footsteps up ahead. Wait a minute. That was a fuckload of
k’ul
. It didn’t belong to Dimitri, but felt somehow similar.

“Viktor!”

She tore after the male as he turned down Boylston. She grabbed his shoulder, but when he turned around, it was just a human doppelganger. “Sorry. I thought you were someone else.”

She watched as the stranger went on his way.
Okaay.
If that wasn’t where all the energy was coming from then… The condo! She gleamed onto the patio of Dimitri’s place. The blinds were closed, but a light was on. She opened the patio door to the dining room and went in. Out of nowhere an arm came around from behind her, putting her in a choke hold.

“Viktor! It’s me, Ana, you dumbass.”

Viktor released her and she folded her arms. “Jesus, you barbarian. Totally lackluster move by the way. So have you been here all this time?”

“No. I just got here tonight. I don’t suppose I could convince you not to tell Dimitri.”

“Not without killing me.” Speaking of, where was Dimitri? She took out her cell and hit speed dial.
Hmm.
No answer. That was odd.

“What’s wrong?”

“He’s not answering his cell. It’s probably nothing, but I should head out.”

“Hang on. I’ll come with you. Just let me get my coat.”

They took the elevator down to the lobby, neither of them saying much. They made their way outside and started to head back toward the park.

Viktor stopped. “I’ve got him!”

He grabbed onto Ana’s sleeve and they dematerialized.

Ah, the wonders of forced labor.
Once Victrixa had taken away all Roman’s creature comforts, she had the results she needed in only a couple of short days. Not only did he have the defect in the serum isolated, he had also tested it on two lots of shifters. Not a single rogue in the bunch. Now that the results were consistent, she could move forward with her plan. But first she owed a visit to her head scientist.

She unlocked the door and walked into the lab. “I just heard the news.”

“It’s perfect, Victrixa. Have a look for yourself.”

She followed him over to his work area. “Is this it? The blue colored one here?”

“That’s the one.”

As she put on a white lab coat, she pretended to listen while he prattled on about scientific crap she could have cared less about. She stood and tapped her foot for as long as she could before she finally interrupted. “So, I take it that your other lab rats have been clued in to what the issue was and how to avoid it in the future?”

“Oh, yes. My assistants have all been briefed.”

“So, then. That leaves only one thing left to be done.” She took the syringe from its holder and plunged it into Roman’s shoulder.

“No! Stop! You can’t!” He yelled.

“Oh, stop screaming. No one can hear you.”

“You don’t know what you’ve done! It’s never been tested on humans!”

She picked up another vial of the serum and stabbed him in the side of the neck. She pulled it out and plunged it into his chest as he slid to the floor.

As he was lying there gasping for breath, Victrixa removed the lab coat which was now almost as red as it was white. “The sad thing is, I had intended to let you live. But then you had to break our agreement by selling rogues to that scum Batiste. Greed is such an ugly thing, Roman. Don’t you agree?”

And with that, Victrixa left the laboratory without so much as another glance.

Dimitri tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt like gravity was gonna win that war.

“He’s coming around.”

Helen smiled. “Oh, good. Thank you, Ana.”

He looked at his partner while Helen did who knew what with a bunch of tubes.

“What…happened?” It was like someone had poured concrete down his throat.

Ana took his hand. “You got your ass hit by a car. Apparently, the douchebags were on the run from the cops. Well, until I tracked them down.”

“Viktor. Where’s… I remember—”

“I’m right here, little brother.”

Dimitri tried to move, but his whole body ached. “There’s so much…”

He felt the weight of his brother’s hand on his shoulder. “Whoa. Hang on. None of it needs to be in the next five minutes.”

“I’m sorry, Viktor.”

“Don’t be. We’re okay.”

“Alright, folks. I hate to break up the party,” Helen said. “It looks like a bump on the head is the worst of it. I’ll run a few scans to be sure, but he just needs a good night’s sleep.”

Victor pulled a chair beside the bed. “I’d like to stay, if that’s okay. I won’t disturb him.”

Helen shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”

Moments later, just as Dimitri was about to fall asleep, Victor whispered something in Russian he hadn’t heard since he was a child.

“
Spokoinoi nochi
, my Dimka.”

And he closed his eyes.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Evy sat with Ana in the Bristol Lounge at the Four Seasons in downtown Boston. “What’s it called again?”

“A Feliz Navidad. You know, Merry Christmas in Spanish.”

“What’s in it?”

“Ah, cinnamon, infused tequila, cranberry simple, and lemon juice.”

“It doesn’t sound very merry.” Her stomach gave a little warning turn. She never did very well with mixed drinks. She was a beer kinda girl.

Ana grinned. “I know, but trust me. It tastes just like Christmas.”

Evy figured she was speaking metaphorically. Tentatively, she took a sip. “Oh, my God. It’s just…”

She didn’t even finish. She needed another sip.

“Like Christmas. I told you.”

The two of them savored their drinks and for a moment, it seemed like they just had normal lives and maybe she hadn’t met Ana in the middle of a war.

The female handed her black card to the waiter and Evy was brought back to reality with a jolt. In her old life, she never would have been having a drink with a friend who had that card. At the Four Seasons. And she sure as hell wouldn’t have just charged almost two thousand dollars to one belonging to Troy Thomsen.
Troy.
She smiled.

“What are you thinking about over there? As if I didn’t know.”

Evy knew her light Irish skin was turning red as she felt heat hit her cheeks.

Ana smiled. “Well, we’ve managed to put a nice dent in your card. I’m so glad you got that leather jacket. It looks amazing. And the dress for James’s Induction. Troy is gonna flip when he sees you in it.”

“Do you think? I don’t know. It’s so expensive.”

Ana laughed. “Are we talking about the same male? The one who re-did part of a school for you?”

Her face grew hotter. “It was a tech lab for a community center.”

“You say tomato—”

“Oh, my God. Troy’s jeans. The ones I brought to have fixed at the tailor. It’s so late.”

“No worries. Mine is just a few blocks away. We can go right now before we head back.”

“That’s the really good one, right? These are his favorites. He would freak if anything happened to them.” She followed Ana out into the cold air.

“Trust me. The guy’s a genius. You should see what he’s been able to do with my fighting leathers. He’s been around forever. I’m starting to think he’ll live longer than we will. And most importantly, he doesn’t ask questions.”

Evy buttoned her new jacket and off they went. Before long they were entering a door across the street from Lord and Taylor. They went up a few flights and walked into the shop. There was a man speaking on the phone. Evy pulled Troy’s jeans out of the plastic Gap bag and froze.

Ana was kicking the snow off her boots when she looked up and immediately recognized the look on Evy’s face. She quickly put her body between Evy and Gianni before the Seer closed her eyes and her hair began to move like there was wind in the room.

But she couldn’t stop the blood curdling scream that launched itself from Evy’s throat a moment later and seemed to go on forever.

Suddenly, Evy’s eyes popped open. “I have to go!”

“Evy! Wait!”

She had already run into the stairwell. Ana just managed to get through the door and grab the female’s jacket. What she saw in Evy’s face made her go numb down to her feet. Tears ran down the Seer’s cheeks as she looked up at her.

Evy materialized in the mansion’s main foyer and didn’t so much as pause before she flew up the staircase and ran to her room. She knew Ana was hot on her tail, but she didn’t care. There was no time to explain anything to the female. This was about their world. Hers and Troy’s.
Damn it.
Where was he?

She turned and ran past the warrior. She yelled her mate’s name as she bolted back down the stairs to the main level.

“Whoa!” Richard said, as she almost collided with him. “I think Troy’s in the pool room.” Evy stopped at the door and her male immediately looked up from taking a shot. He dropped the pool cue and went to her. He slid his hands into her hair and their eyes met, but he didn’t say a word. She felt a pull from her middle and in seconds they were in their room.

Evy heard him ask what was wrong, but not before Christmas ended up all over the mansion’s rich carpet.

“It’s okay. You’re okay.” Troy held back her hair. But even as he said the words, he knew it wasn’t. Something was very wrong. He didn’t need to open himself to her to know that.

His mate steadied herself and shook her head. “No. It isn’t. Troy, he’s got more kids. Cobb has more kids.”

A feeling came back to him in that moment. It was anger so fierce it tore through his insides like wildfire. “How many?”

“I saw two. A boy and a girl.”

He snarled savagely. Evy had him by the back of the neck and she was sayin’ somethin’. It seemed like it took forever for him to understand her.
Don’t go alone.
That was it. She wanted him to take someone with him. She was pleading with him now. But he couldn’t promise that. This was old business. Shit he shoulda taken care of a long time ago. He looked down at his female and shook his head. He felt her release him in defeat just before he gleamed out.