A Hunger So Wild (34 page)

Pulling a hand free, Vash cupped his face with it, then told him about the conversation she’d had with Syre.

He cursed and pushed to his feet. “I have to go back. I have to go back to Adrian.”

She gained her feet, too. Her heart pounded.
“What?”

“The Sentinels are wide open. Once it gets out that their blood is the cure, they’ll be sitting ducks. They need help. I have to at least attempt an alliance.”

“They can take out a hundred vamps a minute, if they wanted to. They never really needed you.”

The look he shot her was dark…and decided. “
We
need
them
. For all their faults, they keep the minions in check.”

“Minions are dying, El!” But she knew with a sinking heart that she wouldn’t be able to sway him.

“I need to go back if only because Micah worked so
damned hard to force me to leave. There’s a reason for that, and I’m not going to just play along.”

“What about me? I need you. My people need you.”

Elijah tugged her close and pressed his lips to her brow. He held them there for a long moment, the beat of his heart slightly faster than it should be. “They’ve got you, sweetheart. You’re a one-woman army.”

She caught his belt loops, holding on tightly. Her chest and throat burned. “You can’t ask me to make this choice. It’s not fair.”

His hands pushed into her hair, brushing it back from her face. He looked down at her with such tenderness, she could hardly breathe through the pain of it. “I’m not asking you to do anything, Vashti. I’m telling you what I have to do.”

She stood frozen as he extricated himself and walked away. She watched him collect the items from the bed and take his stuff to his bag and her stuff to her bag. Separating them. Dividing them up.

“Fuck you, lycan.” Her fists clenched at her sides. A surge of malicious satisfaction moved through her when he paused in surprise. “You can’t make me love you, then just fucking walk away. We’re in this. You and me.”

“I’m not walking away.” He faced her and crossed his arms. “You’re mine, Vashti. Nothing can change that. If you haven’t figured that out yet, we’ve got bigger problems than the war breathing down our necks.”

The fist around her heart loosened. “Then what the hell are you doing?”

“Letting you be who you need to be. Letting you be
the woman I love, even if that means you’re on the other side of the world, on the other side of the line. If I make you go my way, I’ll lose you. I know that, because if you try to force me to go yours, you’ll lose me.”

“I can’t live that way, El.” Anxiety slithered through her, making her sick and cold. She began to pace. “We can’t be apart, working against each other. We have to find a compromise we can live with.”

“Tell me what that is,” he said softly. “I have to call Lindsay and tell her the vampire most likely responsible for her mother’s murder is dead, which will be both a relief and not, because she wanted to do the killing herself. Then I’ll follow that up with the news that I probably got her father killed, since I handpicked the team of lycans sent to guard him and one of those team members was Trent. After that, I get to tell Adrian that Syre knows Sentinel blood is the cure and pretty soon more vampires will know, so now the clock is ticking. In the meantime, Syre’s got rogues infecting his ranks and I’ve got lycans who are deliberately sabotaging my relations with both sides. Where’s the middle ground?”

“Switzerland.”

His brow arched. “You want to run off to Switzerland? That’s your plan?”

“No, we’ll
be
Switzerland. You and Lindsay will form a loop, Syre and I will form a loop, and you and I will remain one unit. We’ll bridge the gap between the two. Right now, the biggest priority for everyone is the Wraith Virus. If we’re all fighting the same enemy, it makes sense to combine forces.”

“Since when did common sense prevent war?”

“I don’t think Syre would go to war without me. He would certainly think twice about it if I objected. If you can convince Adrian that the risk to the Sentinels is too great without your support, we might be able to hold them both back. Especially if they know we’re all being set up. They’re not going to want to play into that any more than you do. It’s worth a shot.”

“Okay.”

Vash came to an abrupt halt, shocked that he’d capitulated so easily. “Just like that?”

“It’s messy, complicated, and will probably come back to bite us in the ass. And the Wraith Virus isn’t really a lycan problem—”

“Aside from the fact that you seem to be especially tasty to them,” she interjected.

“There’s that, I suppose.” He resumed packing. “But we’ll do our best.”

Relief hit her like a Mack truck. That might’ve been why she blurted, “And I want to mate with you.”

Elijah froze, his hand suspended in the process of zipping his duffel closed.
“Vashti.”

She spoke in a rush, her heart racing and her palms damp. “I know it’s selfish. If someone’s really out for my blood and they manage to get to me, I’ll take you down with me. I know lycans don’t live long after losing a mate, but—”

He faced her and the look in his eyes nearly leveled her. “I’ll go down whether we’re mated or not. I thought you knew. I’m already there, Vashti. I think I’ve been there since you gave me that pep talk in the cave.”

Vash stumbled straight into his arms. “You’re the
worst thing that’s ever happened to me. You’ve fucked up everything.”

He laughed, and the sound unknotted the stress and fear inside her. “And we’re just getting started.”

“We’ll be able to communicate without words, right? We’ll have that advantage.”

“Among others.” He brushed her hair back from her face. “We’ll be stronger as a connected unit…and more vulnerable. They’ll know how to hurt us.”

“So we won’t tell anyone. I’ll be your fanged piece on the side and you’ll be my boy toy. We’ll let those who want to believe that we’re using each other believe it, but we’ll know better.”

“You don’t have to do this,” he said softly. “I can wait until you’re ready.”

“I’m more than ready. Just try and stop me, baby.”

She called Syre and told him about what she’d learned of Charron’s attack. While she did so, Elijah called Lindsay and told her he needed to meet with both her and Adrian. Then Vash and El finished packing and headed to the Huntington Jet Center to wait for one of Adrian’s private planes.

They were finalizing the paperwork for the return of their rental car when an agency employee rushed in with a manila envelope in her hand.

“Mr. Reynolds,” the pretty strawberry-blonde called out, wearing a winsome smile that made Vash take a possessive step closer to her man. “You left this in the backseat.”

“That’s not mine.” He frowned and soothed Vash by failing to even register the clerk’s attraction to him.

“It has your name on it.”

He accepted the envelope and opened it, withdrawing the contents. Photographs. Shots taken through a paned window, like something a private investigator would snap of subjects unaware they were being surveilled. Vash recognized the Sentinel in the photos instantly.

“Helena,” she murmured. “Wow. She’s being naughty. With a hunky guy.”

“Mark,” he identified grimly. “A lycan from the Navajo Lake pack.”

The import of a Sentinel shagging a lycan slowly sank in. Hell, a Sentinel shagging anything was earthshaking news. “Fuckin’ A.”

He flipped faster, turning the frame-by-frame shots into a mini-motion picture. The couple came together in a passionate embrace, their mouths melding…clothes shedding…

Then a masked figure was in the room with them, standing over the bed, his posture so menacing it caused the fine hairs on her arms to rise. The next shot was of the window with the curtains drawn, followed by several photos from inside the room, scenes of a carnage so horrifying her stomach knotted—Helena with sightless eyes, her beautiful wings clawed from her back, her lover lying pale and bloodless on the floor with twin punctures in his neck. The time stamp in the lower-right-hand corner of the pictures told her the shots had been taken nearly a month ago.

“What is this?” she whispered, devastated. “Where did it come from? What the fuck are we supposed to do with it?”

Elijah shoved the envelope into his duffel. “Someone’s sending us a message we’ll have to decipher.”

They swiftly wrapped up their business at the rental counter and headed over to meet their plane. The silence stretched out, comfortable between them even when thick with a clusterfuck of lies and questions.

Vash linked her fingers with his while they waited in the concourse. “Are you sure about going to Alaska? It’s a long flight, El. Maybe a video conference would be better. Or we can wait until Lindsay and Adrian get back.”

He glanced at her. “Didn’t I mention that Adrian’s jets have a sleeping cabin?”

“Oh?” Heat swept through her, melting her trepidation over the days to come. “No, I think you forgot that part.”

He bent toward her and pressed a kiss to her temple. “You’ll be a mated woman when we land.”

“Well, then.” She rested her head on his shoulder, allowing herself to savor the precious gift of having someone to lean on. “You may just learn to like flying after all.”

Dr. Karin Allardice was running late, as usual. Grabbing her briefcase off the passenger seat of her sleek black Mercedes AMG, she unfolded from behind the wheel and set one stiletto-heeled foot on the ground.

The morning was cool, the sun still hovering low in the sky. In front of her stretched the wide lawn that filled the space between her designated parking spot and the entrance to her laboratory. The lush blades of
grass still glistened with dew, and the parking lot around her remained silent and empty. In a few hours she’d be brownnosing one of the most prominent philanthropists in Chicago. A donation of several million would give her a good start, but she knew that was wishful thinking. The best she could hope for was a fund-raising gala, another endless evening of overpriced food and drinks during which she’d grovel en masse with her hand held out.

As she straightened from the driver’s seat, she was startled to find a man standing by her car. She was briefly confused as to how he’d appeared out of nowhere, then the question fled her mind. Everything she’d been mulling vanished from thought as she faced the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen.

He extended his hand. “Dr. Allardice?”

Dear god, his voice was as delicious as the rest of him. Throaty and warm, like fine, aged whiskey.

“Yes? I’m Karin Allardice.” The moment her fingers touched his, a spark of awareness shot up her arm. Shaken by the strength of her physical response, she shut the door and took a quick, deep breath to regain her composure. “Can I help you?”

“I certainly hope so. I’ve been told you’re a preeminent virologist. Is that correct?”

“That’s very flattering.” She pushed her hair back from her face. “My primary focus is virology, yes.”

The soft light of the early-morning gilded him, enhancing the natural sheen of his thick black hair and the beauty of his caramel-hued skin. His eyes were the most unusual shade of amber, quite breathtaking when
framed by such thick, dark lashes. His mouth was a voluptuary’s wet dream. Firm and sculpted, the lower lip was just full enough to make her think of sex while the upper was etched with the sharpest edge of sin. He wore a three-piece suit like nobody’s business, and when his mouth curved she lost her breath.

“I’ve recently been made aware of a new viral strain, Dr. Allardice. I’d really like your opinion on it.”

“Oh?” She forced her brain to resume functioning. “Well, I’d be happy to take a look, Mr.—”

“Syre,” he provided. “Excellent. I was hoping you’d be cooperative.”

The flash of unnaturally long canine teeth was the last thing she registered before the world went dark.

F
or a brief moment after Dr. Karin Allardice woke, she was struck with confusion. Her surroundings were unfamiliar. She couldn’t remember how she’d gotten where she was. She tried to recall what she’d been doing before she lost consciousness….

“How are you feeling, Doctor?”

She bolted upright at the sound of a low, purring, masculine voice. Her gaze darted around the room, settling on the dark figure lounging in a wingback chair in the corner. It was
him
. The man with the insanely gorgeous face. She hadn’t forgotten him. In fact, his face had been foremost in her mind, both asleep and awake.

Blinking into full awareness, Karin focused on him. He sat with unnatural stillness, as if he were actually a photograph or painting. Although that was unnerving,
it afforded her the opportunity to study him and to prove to herself that her recollections of the man’s beauty hadn’t been exaggerated. They weren’t. If anything, they hadn’t done him justice.

“Karin,” he prodded. “Are you feeling all right?”

A shiver moved through her at the sound of her given name spoken in that decadent voice.

“Where am I?” she asked hoarsely.

“Virginia.”

“
What?
What are you talking about?” She lived in Illinois. She’d met this man in Chicago, in the parking lot of her laboratory. He’d approached her, asked for her opinion…

Then
kidnapped
her? Or had she come voluntarily? Why couldn’t she remember?

He stood then, in a rivetingly graceful rise. His body was as much a work of art as his face. He was tall and leanly built, with powerful shoulders and forearms. He wore black slacks and a neatly pressed blue dress shirt rolled up at the sleeves, the picture of easy, casual elegance.

But the urbanity of his clothing didn’t diminish the air of danger that clung to him.

There was a hardness in his luminous amber eyes and an edge to the determined set of his sensual mouth. As he crossed the room to her, his stride was both inherently sensual and predatory.