Wicked Dreams [The Wicked] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (9 page)

Genevieve stood awkwardly between Kota and Talia. She looked to the female shifter with questions in her eyes. She could only imagine how Talia felt. Kota had explained why Talia was so important. He never mentioned his feelings for the female shifter, but Genevieve could feel it. If another woman needed to drink from Eli, she’d have a big problem with it. She knew Talia must feel the same.

“It’s all right, Genevieve. I can leave if that would make you more comfortable.”

“No!” Genevieve grabbed Talia’s hand to stop her from leaving.

Suddenly, a violent vision slammed into her. The setting looked the same as it had at the club. The Fallen invaded the compound, went after her and the Generals, but now something new clouded her mind, a white wolf being trapped and captured.

“Somebody care to fill me in on what’s going on?”

Genevieve’s eyesight didn’t disappear this time. Everything about this experience had been different from anything else.

“You mustn’t fight with us, Talia.” Genevieve begged. She grabbed both of Talia’s hands in a tight grasp. “Please, Talia, you can’t be here when the Fallen come!”

“If you all fight, I fight.” She pulled her hands away.

Genevieve followed her instincts. She moved toward Talia and grabbed her throat. She tapped into the vampire side of her, letting it out completely. She didn’t hold back like she normally did. Her fangs elongated, and a growl crept up her throat. She leaned closer to Talia, her teeth bared. Genevieve pushed everything she’d seen from her mind into Talia’s. A bloody battle in the compound, the Generals and warriors fighting to keep Genevieve out of the Fallen’s hands, and the newest part of her vision, the part that for some reason ripped Genevieve’s heart apart, a brilliant white wolf being captured by the enemy.

Talia gasped, frozen in shock as Genevieve played what she’d seen. Genevieve watched Talia’s eyes go wide. Her breathing picked up. Every single thing Genevieve had seen regarding the Fallen she showed Talia. She felt Kota’s unease. Not taking her eyes off Talia’s, Genevieve reached her hand back toward Kota. When she felt his hand in hers, she guided him to Talia’s side.

“She feels no pain, Kota. She only sees what she needs to see.” Eli spoke, moving to Genevieve’s other side.

Finally, when the last of the visions had been shown to Talia, Genevieve let go of her hand and back away from her. Talia stood silently for a moment, and then she said, “I don’t care what the visions say. I will fight beside you.” With those words hanging in the air, Talia held her head high and walked out of the gym.

“Well, I guess that’s settled then,” Eli said.

Kota watched her walk away, a look of longing in his eyes. “I won’t force her to stay away. When the fight comes, we will need numbers. She’s an excellent fighter, and she’s strong. We must all stay together. If we get separated, we risk losing.”

Kota followed behind Talia. Genevieve rested her head against Eli’s chest. She worried about him and Kota, but surprisingly she feared losing Talia as well. She didn’t know her, but somewhere deep inside of her, Genevieve felt connected to Talia, connected in a way she couldn’t explain to anyone else.

“He’s right, love, we need the numbers. She’s strong and will be of great use to us.”

“Eli, she isn’t something we can just use as we please. She’s a person, a shifter, with feelings and weaknesses. If he loses her, he’ll go to a dark place I don’t think he’ll come out of.”

“Then we protect them both.” Genevieve looked at her mate in shock. “What? I don’t like the guy, but I can relate.” He placed his strong hands on either side of her face, and looked deep into her eyes. “If I lost you I would cease to exist.”

Wrapping her arms around his waist, she breathed him in. In a few short hours the Fallen would be in the compound, and she had little time to wallow in what could or couldn’t happen.

“Okay, we need to prepare the compound. Lock the Generals away in different safe rooms. I know the Fallen don’t care what happens to the Generals tonight, but we have to protect them all the same.” She stopped talking when Eli placed his lips against hers.

When he pulled away, he spoke in a whisper. “It’s about you, Genevieve. The Fallen only want you. They will stop at nothing to make sure you die.” His words sent a shiver up her spine. “I’m sorry if this scares you, but as much as we need to protect the Generals, I have to protect you.”

He kissed her again, and then they walked toward the main house. Halfway there an explosion rocked the entire compound. Genevieve lost her balance and fell against the wall. Eli shielded her body with his as debris fell from the ceiling.

“No! It’s not time yet. They can’t be here!”

“We have to find Kota and Talia.”

Her ears rang from the explosion, and she felt confused. Genevieve sprang to her feet, looking at Eli with pleading eyes. “The shifters, Eli, we have to find the shifters.”

“It will weaken you too much to dematerialize us both. Go, Genevieve, sense them out and go to them. I’ll find you as soon as I can.” He kissed her forehead, and then her lips, before he took off down the long corridor.

Genevieve couldn’t let him go alone. She couldn’t stomach the thought of him fighting without her by his side. She knew they needed to find the shifters. If the four of them fought together then they were unstoppable. She dematerialized and reappeared in front of Eli. He looked at her strangely just before she grabbed his arms, making them both vanish. She reached out with her mind until she sensed Kota. When she materialized again she immediately felt the effects. Kota and Talia stood unscathed in one of the bedrooms at the far end of the main house.

“What’s happening?” Talia asked.

“The Fallen,” Kota answered. He moved to Genevieve when she swayed.

“She needs your blood. I told her it would take too much out of her if she transferred both of us.”

As Kota offered his wrist to Genevieve, she heard Talia’s thoughts. Quickly blocking Eli and Kota out so they wouldn’t be privy to the information, she listened closely. She had no idea why she felt the need to block them, but it felt right.
“Take my blood, Seer. This is the only way to find me should something happen.”

Genevieve walked past Kota and gently took Talia’s wrist. She lowered her fangs, and struck quickly. Talia’s blood tasted heady like Kota’s, but with a sweet tang. She drank deeply but avoided taking enough to weaken Talia. When she felt strong enough, she pulled out of Talia’s wrist and backed away. She hated keeping anything from Eli or Kota, but she needed their heads in the game, not worried about what may or may not happen. Apparently her visions weren’t one hundred percent.

“We must fight now.” Genevieve took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and walked forward.

* * * *

Eli watched his mate walk with her head held high. On the way past his room, he grabbed his weapons. He handed two daggers to Genevieve, but as he handed more weapons to Kota and Talia, they shook their heads. Both of them started to tremble, the foundation of the house groaned as the wind kicked up, and the shift started. Their bones popped and cracked, and then standing before Genevieve and Eli were two wolves. One of them was Kota, big, gray, and with glowing yellow eyes. The other was a beautiful, solid white wolf with ice blue eyes.

Genevieve reached out and touched the white wolf’s coat, and suddenly Eli’s mind was filled with thoughts coming from three beings now instead of Kota and Genevieve. A bond had been made, albeit a much more subdued one, but a bond none the less. Eli didn’t have time to focus on that because he could hear shouts and screams coming from the lower level of the house.

“We stay together, and we fight.”
Kota made eye contact with each of them before he and Talia took point and led the way.

Downstairs, chaos ensued. The Fallen outnumbered them two to one. The Generals were holding their own but were being pushed back into a corner. Asa and a few other warriors stood in front of the Generals, fighting with all the strength they possessed. Kota, Talia, Genevieve, and Eli fell into the ranks. The wolves stood large and menacing in front of Genevieve but allowed her to fight. The black blood of the Fallen spilled in currents. Genevieve fought with poise and skill. Her blades sliced through the pale skin of the Fallen with ease.

Quicker than anyone could have guessed, their line was split. Kota, Eli, and Genevieve stood on one side of the room while Talia stood trapped between three of the Fallen. She snapped and twisted her body, trying desperately to get back to the others. The Fallen kept her cornered though. They threw a net and trapped her. Before anything could have been done Talia was nowhere to be seen. Genevieve screamed and dematerialized. Eli thought she’d gone after Talia. However, when she materialized again she stood in front of Sophia just as a spear had been thrust toward the female General.

“No!” Eli shouted, rushing to Genevieve’s side as she slumped forward.

He caught Genevieve with one arm and shoved his blade into the Fallen’s chest until it dissipated into nothing. Sophia stood with wide eyes, taking in the sight of Genevieve bleeding on the floor where she should have been. Kota let out loud, haunted howl after he finished off the final Fallen soldier.

“Look at me, love,” Eli urged as he kneeled down next to his mate.

His heart pounded in his chest. His lungs burned with the pain of trying to breathe. His eyes stung with some foreign emotion.

Eli felt Kota next to him as he paced back and forth. Kota’s focus fell on Genevieve and Genevieve alone. Eli picked up on fragmented thoughts of Talia, but until the Seer was safe and healed, the shifter would think of nothing else.

“Eli,” Sophia whispered as she knelt down on the other side of Genevieve.

“You don’t touch her! Not after the way you treated her. You tried to kill her less than twenty-four hours ago.”

“I didn’t mean those things.” The air of confidence Sophia normally carried around had been replaced by guilt and sadness. “She is the Seer. The most important thing to all of us, and I am truly sorry for my actions.”

Eli did something he never thought he would do. He pushed Sophia away, ignoring the disapproving murmurs of the other Generals. He lifted Genevieve into his arms, her blood soaking his shirt, and carried her away from the disaster area. He knew Kota followed because he heard his rapid breaths and impatient grunts. When Eli reached the furthest corner of the house, he laid Genevieve down on the bed. He ripped her shirt away to inspect the wound that went all the way through to her back.

He felt the atmosphere shudder as Kota shifted into his human form. Suddenly, Eli found himself backing away from Genevieve despite his resistance. Kota crawled onto the bed and brushed Genevieve’s hair away from her face. She looked pale, and a light sheen of sweat covered her skin. Kota tried to cut his skin so he could get his blood into her, but he didn’t have anything sharp enough.

“Kota, you have to let me get closer. I can bite you.” Desperation rolled off Eli in waves as he waited.

He felt the barrier give a little under Kota’s uncertainty. A moment later, he could finally move to the bed. Slowly, he reached for Kota’s arm, bit his wrist, and then found himself slammed against the wall on the opposite side of the room as the barrier flew back up. Eli watched helplessly as Kota pressed his wrist to Genevieve’s mouth. She didn’t drink. She didn’t even move. Her chest was barely rising and falling with breath as the life seeped out of her and onto the bed.

“You must drink from me, Seer!” Kota leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. As he pulled away, the same glow that went from his mouth to hers during her transformation emanated from him.

Kota moved from her mouth to the wound in her side. He ran his tongue over the hole in her skin, sealing it. If she moved even slightly, it would reopen. Genevieve’s eyes fluttered. Kota wasted no time as he held his bleeding wrist over her open mouth. Her pale lips were parted, and his blood dripped rapidly into her.

Eli paced, worried sick for his mate, and what losing her at the hands of the Fallen would do to the vampire race. Slowly, he started getting flickering images in his head from her flashes of the battle. There was worry for the Generals and an overwhelming fear for Talia. Eli, finally able to move, inched his way to the bed.

“You know what we have to do, vampire.”

Eli shed his clothes, crawled onto the bed, bit his own wrist, and held it over her mouth. As Eli’s powerful blood mixed with the healing blood of the shifter, Genevieve opened her eyes. Instead of the beautiful hazel he loved so much, her eyes glowed with the empty white of the Seer.

Kota’s body ached to do what it had been meant to do, heal Genevieve by any means necessary. Eli eased her off the bed and rested her weight against his chest. Grabbing her hips and angling her pussy, Kota gripped his dick, stroked himself twice, and then pushed into her core. Genevieve gasped, her brow furrowing with pain the movement caused her. The eyes of the Seer never blinked, and she didn’t speak. Her mind was silent to him as well as Eli as her body slipped further into the healing trance.

Kota’s movements caused the wound to open and bleed. Eli eased into her ass as he wrapped one of his arms around her chest. He placed his other hand in front of the hole on the right side of her stomach. Kota held his hand near her back where the spear entered. As they both moved, a soft light emanated from both their hands.