ROMAN: Fury of Her King (Kings of the Blood Book 2) (7 page)

“No, tie her to the chair with the knots to the front and leave
the key to the chains with the album.” Snorting like she’d told a joke, the
Morticia lookalike added, “That way, 
if 
she wakes, she can get
loose and try to find her way home.”

Unable to focus, Cynthia gasped in pain when Valentina’s nails bit
into her cheeks as the nasty witch once again pulled their faces together and
gloated, “Now, you know the truth, run 
ligo deilós
, run away. Roman
is mine. If I cannot have him, no one can.”

With her last conscience thought Cyn slurred, “Would you please
speak English, you stupid bitch?”

Chapter Five

“I don’t care if you have to knock on every door between here and
Istanbul. You will find Cynthia and you will do it now!” His roar shook the
tall windows behind him as his cell phone crashed against the far wall, broken
pieces raining onto the wood of the library floor.

“I see you have yet to get your temper under control,” Viktor
mused as he walked into the room and handed the pacing Roman another phone. “At
the rate you are breaking phones, it’s a good thing we own a tech company.”

Turning on his friend like a viper, the General grabbed his
Commander by the collar and shook him with all his strength as he bellowed, “Do
you think I give a fuck about your damn phones?” Shoving his friend to the
side, he railed on, “I can feel her.” He pounded his chest. “She’s angry and
scared and confused.” He put his fist through the wall beside the door as he
turned to pace back from where he’d just come. “And alone.” Running his hands
through his hair, he stopped dead in his tracks and shook his head before
murmuring, “And here I stand like a 
parthéna
 in a 
porneío
.”
Scrubbing his hands over his face, he fell into the huge leather chair behind
his desk, letting his head fall forward and whispered, “I have failed, oh great
Zeus, I have failed the one I was meant to protect above all others.”

A hand on his shoulder was the only warning Roman got as he was
pulled from his chair and launched across the room. Jumping to his feet, he
raised his fists and took a fighting stance, looking at his Commander as if for
the first time. “What the fu…”

Viktor pointed directly at him and in the tone he’d used to
command legions of men in a long forgotten time, barked, “Stand down. You will
not disrespect me nor yourself nor the blessing of your mate. Now is not the
time for weakness. Now is the time to do as you have done for nearly three
millennia. Seek out the enemy and rescue your 
fýlakas tis kardiás mou
.
There should be no other thoughts on your mind. Failure is not an option.”

Crossing the room, the Supreme Commander batted Roman’s still
raised fist out of the way and wrapped his hand around the back of the
General’s neck. Closing the distance between them until their foreheads touched
as he’d done before every battle they had ever fought, Viktor ordered, “Clear
your mind. Focus on Cynthia. See the world through her eyes.”

Letting go of his neck, the Commander walked towards the door and,
with his hand on the knob, said, “And if you ever grab me like that again, I
will be the one to separate your head from your shoulders.” The door opened.
“Get yourself together and find your mate. I will be in the kitchen awaiting
word from Nikos and Achilles.”

Roman knew all his comrades were out searching for Cynthia, but it
was Nik and Lee he had sent to meet the police where they had found his
abandoned limo. Bain, Sal, and Tommy were covering the rest of the area within
a fifty-mile radius from the same position. The General wanted to be out
searching for her…
needed
 to be out there…
needed
 to be
the one to find her, but Viktor had been right when he told him stay put and be
ready to race to her side as soon as she was found.

Closing the curtains to shut out the sun streaming through the
bank of twelve-foot windows that covered one entire wall of his study, Roman
took a seat in what his long-time assistant, Gregorio, called a piece of junk
but was still the General’s favorite chair, and tried to clear his mind. Taking
deep breaths, he let the stress and tension flow from his body with each
exhale. After several long tense seconds of complete silence, in which he
feared the worst, Roman worked past her mental blocks to find his beautiful
Cynthia was only sleeping.

Wait! No, not asleep…unconscious…

Traversing the light of their connection, the General traveled
deeper into her mind, sifting through images and memories all centering around
him, and the emotions she felt by simply thinking of him flooded her mind.
Technically, according to the rules of their kind, what he was doing was an invasion
of her privacy. He was not to delve so deeply into the mind of the keeper of
his heart until she knew and understood what they meant to one another. The
gods knew he’d been battling himself since she’d turned twenty-one to stay away
and stay out of her thoughts, but this time was different. She was in danger.
There was no doubt that Viktor, and therefore Zeus, would not punish him for
attempting to save his mate’s life. After all, if she ceased to exist, then so
did he.

Smiling, despite the situation, at the sheer number of memories
and images of him she kept so close to her heart, Roman’s resolution to not
only bring Cynthia home safely but to make whoever responsible pay with their
lives became even stronger. Whoever had dared to lay a finger on his mate would
suffer.

Coming upon the recollection of their latest encounter and the
kiss they shared in her office, Roman was helpless to do anything but watch one
of the single most poignant events in his very long life unravel in vivid
detail. His heart soared at how readily she gave herself over to him. He felt
her heart beat in sync with his, felt how much she wanted to be with him in all
ways, and most of all felt the love growing within her heart that she fought so
very hard to deny. Opening his eyes and staring into the light of the embers
glowing in the hearth, the General vowed right then and there to tell Cynthia
everything, no matter what the consequences, as soon as he had her back in his
arms. It was long past time to let her know of their future together.

Once again letting his eyes slide shut, he shut the door on the
memory of their kiss and flipped through the next several hours of her evening
and the next day, until finally reaching images of Laurent. He saw the limo
through her eyes and felt her excitement growing at the prospect of dinner
alone with him. The taste of champagne as she took a sip hit his tongue,
closely followed by the sting of something bitter and medicinal biting at his
taste buds. Roman’s muscles were immediately heavy and his breathing sluggish
as his vision blurred in and out of focus, reliving what Cynthia had gone
through.

He felt how hard she fought against the effects of the drug and
was once again astounded at her strength and resolve. The keeper of his heart
was amazing; a true match for him in every way. His fists clenched and his
knuckles ached as he not only watched but 
felt
 her beat
against the windows and yell for help. Roman literally rubbed his eyes and took
several deep breaths as Cynthia’s vision blurred to mere shadows and her
breathing became labored.

He could see the glow of the dome light in the ceiling of the limo
and hear the door open but could only make out shadows of the person who
entered the back seat and spoke to his mate. Flashes of an old television show
he’d seen Nik and Sal watching many years back flew across Cynthia’s mind with
one character, a tall, thin, cartoonish female vampire, taking center stage.
None of it made any sense but one thing was for certain, it meant something to
his mate and was the clue he needed to find her.

Pushing the vision he didn’t understand aside, as well as the
burning rage Cynthia was experiencing while being taunted by the distorted
voice of her captor, the General used the extraordinary senses given to him
upon his rebirth to zero in on the person who dared to threaten his mate. Brief
glimpses and tiny bits of what was being said kept surfacing, but the effects
of the drugs on Cynthia’s mind were just too strong. Soon, all he saw was
darkness and knew that just like now, his mate had succumbed to whatever
sedative she’d been given.

Rushing ahead, he found Cynthia awake and sitting in a chair,
looking at her surroundings. He cringed at the memory of the stench she’d been
made to endure and the images of garbage and refuse left by squatters. His
anger became almost uncontrollable at her revulsion of the rats skittering in
the shadows before her.

Following where her memories led, Roman caught sight of the pieces
of cardboard strewn about and had to pause the images flowing so freely through
his mind. Using his preternatural senses, the General zoomed in on what most
would consider trash and then on the window high on the wall that Cynthia was
wondering if she could fit through. The view he saw had the General up and running
for the door even before his eyes were all the way open.

As he tore through the house heading for the front door, he
bellowed, “I found her!”

“Where?” Came the voices of Viktor and Katarina, the
Commander’s 
fýlakas tis kardiás mou
, from the kitchen.

Grabbing his keys off the table in the foyer and throwing the door
opened with such force he heard it hit the wall, he yelled over his shoulder,
“The abandoned factory past Bellevue. Call Nik and Lee. Tell them to meet me
there.” Jumping into the waiting SUV, he drove away without an answer, knowing
his old friend would do as he had asked.

Driving so fast the landscape around him became a blur of brown
and green, Roman was now sure the kidnapping was perpetrated by an
acquaintance. Someone close enough to his inner circle who knew how much
Cynthia meant to him and also the location of an abandoned Katsaros Industries
factory. They also were privy to his private schedule, which narrowed the
suspects down to less than twelve people—and six of them he called brother.

Trying to piece together the facts as he sailed over the
countryside, Roman kept coming back to the closed KI property. It was the one
thing that didn’t fit. Very rarely did the company that he and his comrades
owned close any property without repurposing it and deeding it over to the
surrounding community, but in the case of the Bellevue plant, there was no
community left to give the building and land to. A fire of unknown origin had
swept across the entire area, burning out all the residents and leaving nothing
more than a ghost town after all the insurance claims were paid. No one chose
to rebuild. They all moved away. So, the Kings had taken special care to buy up
all the land and have a very special magical acquaintance of theirs place a
barrier around the two-hundred-and-fifty-acre area that made any humans who
entered feel uneasy and the immediate need to leave.

So why take Cynthia there? Why take her at all? If whoever had
done this was as close to him as he suspected, then that person would know that
he would die before he let anything happen to the keeper of his heart. They
would also know that without her, his days were numbered. The time of his
three-thousandth year was less than twelve months away and without the love and
bond of his mate, Roman Marinos would cease to exist. If their end goal was to
kill him, then why not just come after him? Why Cynthia and why now?

The sound of his cell phone ringing through the blue tooth in his
vehicle pulled the General from his thoughts. Hitting the button on his
steering wheel, he answered, “Marinos.”

“And a fine howdy doo to you, too, General,” Lee, otherwise known
as Achilles and unfortunately the comedian of the group, chimed though the
speakers of his SUV.

“What now, Lee?” Roman tried not to growl but his temper came
closer to exploding with every second it took him to reach Cynthia.

“Nik and I are here but we’re the only ones. You sure you didn’t
get your wires crossed?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Look again,” he ordered, turning into the factory
parking lot on two wheels, narrowly missing the ten-foot chain link gate his
brothers left open. “Where are you? I’m coming up on the far east side.”

“Look to the left.”

Slamming on the brakes as he saw his friend waving, Roman threw
his vehicle into park, kicked open the door, and was racing into the building
without a second thought about his brothers or his SUV. All that mattered was
finding Cynthia.

Following her scent through the musty darkness, he ran down a
flight of crumbling wooden stairs, through a thick oak door, and straight into
the room from Cynthia’s memories. Stopping dead in his tracks as the sounds of
his brothers’ footsteps followed closely behind, Roman took in the scene before
him. He saw the rickety chair where she’d been sitting. Knelt down and touched
the chains he knew had been wrapped around the delicate skin of her ankles.

Slowly moving to the rusty cot with its moldy mattress, her scent
filled his senses. This was where they’d laid her when she was unconscious.
Where she’d awakened angry and afraid without him to comfort her or worse
yet…save her.

White, hot rage burnt through his system as he glimpsed a two-foot
piece of rope that had been discarded behind the chair occupying the center of
room. Picking up the jute as his brothers’ questions echoed from somewhere
behind him, visions of the rough material abrading the tender flesh of
Cynthia’s wrists burst through his mind. He knew it was a rebound memory from
the connection he’d formed with her, but he still used it to try to locate her.

To his surprise, Cynthia was awake but somehow blocking him from
reestablishing their link. No matter what he tried, Roman could not get back
inside her mind. Nothing he’d ever been taught concerning the bond between a
King and the keeper of his heart had prepared him for this. After all, he’d
known the moment of her birth. Had experienced all the milestones of her life
from the far hidden corners of her mind, as Zeus had decreed it to happen; all
in preparation for the day they would be together and secure their bond of
eternity. Never once in all those years had he not been able to touch her
thoughts or at least know what she was feeling, but now, somehow, everything
had changed.