“If you’re not here to fess up everything, then get back in your truck and leave.”
“We don’t have time for this.”
“Then make time. Talk fast.”
“No. We have to go. Now.” His fingers closed onto her elbow, remaining gentle and yet firm. She snatched away, and he let her.
Cal chose that moment to get protective. “She said she doesn’t want to go with you.” He tried to step between them, but Kali blocked his path.
“Don’t,” she snapped.
He started to protest, “Kali—”
“Walk away,” Rhane ordered.
Maybe it was the guttural, animalistic quality Rhane’s voice had unexpectedly taken on. Or it might have been the way both Orrin and a stranger with white hair swiftly appeared, flanking Rhane’s sides. But Cal gave serious reconsideration to his position and made the wise decision. He retreated a step back.
Rhane looked at Kali. His eyes pulsed from black to green. “If you don’t come with me right now, your sister, the kid, and whoever this guy is are all going to die. Kalista, I swear to you. We will talk as soon as you get in that truck. But not a second before then.”
“Okay,” she whispered and swallowed the bile of fear that had risen into her throat.
#
“I didn’t mean that I was going to kill them.” Rhane glanced in her direction.
They were traveling at ninety miles an hour, racing toward Holsenbeck Hall. Before leaving Callan’s apartment, Rhane had sent the newcomer and Orrin ahead to meet up with York and Rion. Looking at him for a second time, Kali realized where she had seen the man with clear eyes and white hair. He had been on the plane to China. But she was done speculating and trying to connect the dots. Sitting next to her was the guy with all the answers. And her fear be damned, he was going to give them to her.
“Your picture, I saw it in a book from the library. It said you were some kind of warlord. And that you were born in 1326.”
“The first statement is correct. Give or take a few centuries and the second becomes true as well.”
Hearing the words come from his mouth made a huge difference. It was true. All of it. She couldn’t believe it.
This can’t be happening
. “What are you? What am I?”
He exhaled. Then the words poured out as the levees were broken through. “Kalista, you are a siren. You were not born. You were crafted into a living creature. In order to continue living, you must feed on the souls of others. That’s why you feel a constant hunger that never truly goes away.”
A siren? What the hell?
She had to shelf that until later. “The book said you were a traitor. Are you?”
“No.” His eyes met hers. The truth in them was undeniable. “But I am charged with that crime. A death sentence hangs over my head.”
Her stomach clenched. “Gabriel and the Reapers, why are they after me?”
“Gabriel wants revenge on the ones who locked him away. He thinks your abilities can help him accomplish that.”
“Me?” Her voice raised an octave. “I suck the life out of teenage boys. It’s not exactly a power that would-be superheroes dream up.”
“Kalista…you can do so much more. The way you are at home in the water, the fire that destroyed Greg’s TV,” he managed a small smile. “The connection you have with animals…you’ve only seen a glimpse of what you are capable of.”
She struggled to breathe. It was all very freaky and scary. “Why are you different?” she asked quietly.
“My people, the Warekin, we are a race of shapeshifters. York, War, Orrin, and Rion are who’s left of my army. You and I…” he paused. “We were bonded. You promised to be by my side forever. And I promised to protect you forever. But I failed.” His voice cracked, recovered. “You were taken. Nearly four centuries have passed since that day. I’ve spent every one of them searching for you.”
“I don’t remember you. I don’t remember any of this. And I definitely don’t feel four hundred years old.” She started crying. “I remember being a kid. I remember my parents. They died ten years ago.”
“The ones who created you, me, and others like us, they have taken your memories. They put the essence of your true self into the body of a child. After you reach a certain age, the creature inside of you begins to mature again and the cycle must start over.”
“Oh.”
Kali clamped a hand over her mouth to stop the angry sob. “My mother……” she looked at Rhane through a curtain of tears. “My real mother, she knew…”
Rhane nodded but said nothing.
“That’s why they died?”
“Kalista, I honestly don’t know.”
She hadn’t missed the slight shift of his right hand on the steering wheel. The left was bandaged, resting in his lap. “Rhane, I know there’s more. Tell me everything.”
“Take a deep breath. You have to stay calm.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down.” She was near hysterics. “I need to know what happened. This is my life. Tell me why I was taken.”
Rhane watched her steadily, but the mask was slipping. Her anguish seemed to cause him physical pain. Open, raw grief flashed across his face. His eyes were deep caverns of guilt.
“What is it?” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Tell me.” Kali knew she sounded like a psycho, but she couldn’t help it. Rhane was still hiding something. And that something was huge. But it was a part of her past, and she had every right to know. “I can’t forgive another lie from you.”
“I’ve never lied to you.”
The sudden wail of sirens startled them both. Blue lights illuminated the night. She saw Rhane consider. He muttered a curse and slowed, bringing the pickup to a full stop next to the highway. Instructions for the driver to exit emitted from a loud speaker. With another look at Kali, Rhane complied, raising his hands as he did so.
Greg’s voice called out gruffly, “Kali, honey, get out of the car.”
She obeyed, puzzled to hear his voice. “What are you doing here?” She rounded the car, raising her hand as a shield from the halogen headlights of the patrol cars. There were three officers. All had weapons trained on Rhane. One was sweaty and seemed a little jumpy. Kali stopped moving forward.
“I got in at first light this morning. Imagine my surprise at coming home to an empty house.” Greg didn’t sound pleased. “Rosalyn answered only after she got her cover story straight. When I couldn’t reach you, I figured this guy had something to do with it. As soon as his plates hit Aiken County, the police arranged a static tail. Then your sister phoned me and said this lunatic had kidnapped you.”
“He didn’t kidnap me.” Kali looked at Rhane. He was standing stock-still. “We were just talking.”
“It doesn’t matter. He’s trouble, and I’ve told him to stay away.” Greg took a step toward her. “Come to me.”
“Kalista, don’t.” Rhane started to turn. And everything else happened too fast.
There was a shout. “GUN!” She heard the crack of a single shot and ducked. Successive firing hammered into the air all around, the sound of metal on metal deafening her ears. Something heavy slammed into her, and she was knocked roughly to the ground. Somewhere above the chaos, she heard Greg shouting, “Hold your fire! Hold your damn fire!”
She opened her eyes. Rhane was kneeling over her, shielding every part of her body. That was him, always keeping her safe. “Don’t go with them.” His words tumbled out urgently. “Those dreams you spoke of. They are memories. You were being hunted because I was sent to kill you. But I killed my own to save you. That is my treason. Taking their lives for yours.”
“Why? Why were you going to kill me?” Her question was a frightened whisper.
The officers swarmed overhead. Rhane was lifted off of her. Arms wrenched behind his back, she heard the unmistakable snap of cuffs being secured into place. His eyes never left hers. “They thought you lost control. A lot of my kin died…nearly all of them.”
One of the officers removed a gun that had been tucked securely in the waistband of Rhane’s jeans, casting a reproving glare at his nervous and sweating partner. Kali was shaking. Heat rose from her toes all the way up to her hands.
“Kalista, look at me. Stay with me.”
“What else? But there’s something else.” From somewhere outside her body, she felt Greg taking her hand and pulling her up from the pavement. His voice was asking if she was okay. His hands were checking to see if she were injured. All of it came from a distance. In that moment, she and Rhane were the only two people who mattered in the entire universe.
“There was a child,” Rhane said in a ragged whisper. “Our child…Rhaven……he died because I fought.”
Kali doubled over. She would have fallen to her knees if not for Greg’s arms about her waist. The world was going dark. “I don’t believe you,” she wheezed out. The officers started to pull Rhane away. Someone dragged her in the opposite direction. Her father. The man who had raised her after her fake parents hadn’t wanted her anymore.
“Don’t do this. She’s in danger,” Rhane shouted at Greg’s back. “The man who brought you this child, do you still see him?” Greg stopped. “He told you to keep her safe, to give her a normal childhood. But he also told you that one day someone would come for her. Didn’t he?” Greg turned around. “He told you this would happen. Let me protect her.”
Kali looked from Rhane to her dad. No one was moving, mostly because Rhane wasn’t giving up another inch. His eyes had darkened dangerously. She understood that they wouldn’t be able to take him unless he allowed it. “Rhane,” she said shakily. “Don’t do this. I’m not ready.”
“Kalista. Kali, please. I need you to come with me. We’ll figure out the rest later.”
“I can’t. I’m not ready,” she repeated. “I’m sorry.”
Chapter 61
Rhane sat in the back of the police car with his arms positioned awkwardly behind him. He stared ahead through the cage separating him from the officers upfront. There was a flicker of pain in his side from where a ricocheted bullet had hit him. The situation was not good. Gabriel was coming. He could feel it. The cuffs weren’t a problem. Breaking out of their humanly pathetic idea of secure custody wouldn’t be difficult. The trouble was Kalista. She had lost confidence in him. Just as he’d thought, the knowledge of who they were and what they’d lost had been too much.
“You’re in a lot of trouble, dirt bag.” Officer Levens jerked his chin toward the unmarked sedan that drove up ahead. “That feller there is the D.A. And you’ve managed to piss him off. I guarantee that he’s going to find meanest, crabbiest judge to throw the book at your pretty skull.”
The officer’s comments were but a dull drone in Rhane’s ears, dismissed for irrelevance. A feeling of urgency squeezed his chest, increasing with every mile they covered. Rhane watched the forest, the road, and the trees.
And saw the huge figure come crashing through them.
Everything in his world stopped as the first car, the one with her in it, slammed into the monstrosity.
#
Impact from the sudden stop exploded through the sedan, jerking Kali’s neck painfully forward and back. Airbags billowed out in slow motion, unfolding as white clouds in a halo of dust. The seatbelt constricted, crushing the air from her lungs. Through vision blurred by tears, she saw two sinister red orbs shining in the night. Then the squad car was being lifted up, higher and higher. In the next instant, they were flying. The car hung in midair for several seconds before crashing to the earth again. The force sent the vehicle into a deadly roll. Frantic screams punctuated the undertones of crunching metal and shattering glass. After a final roll, the squad car settled into a broken heap.
No one was moving. Her father and the policeman were unconscious. Their fingers limply grazed the ceiling that was now the floor in Kali’s inverted world. Blood was everywhere. She felt a scream rise in her throat but fought against it. Her hands trembled as she blindly reached for her seatbelt. Releasing the buckle left her at gravity’s mercy, and she fell, landing with a crunch atop a carpet of broken class. A deep roar bellowed in the darkness. Kali shivered. More gunfire. Men yelling. Glass breaking. She had to get out.
The windows were shattered. The frames had collapsed and buckled around them, but no opening was large enough for her to escape. The door was stuck fast. Kali was trapped. She heard someone screaming…didn’t know how much time had passed before she figured out the screams were hers.
Then warm hands touched her face and shoulders. A strong voice soothed her in a terse whisper. The familiarity of it broke through the madness. She nearly collapsed in relief. “I’m getting you out. It’s okay, Kalista. It’s okay.” She focused on Rhane’s words and let them calm her. His hands worked deftly, ripping and tearing at the twisted metal. He kept talking to her, softly urging her to stay calm.
The ground shuddered. And the atmosphere morphed into something darker. A strong odor stung her nostrils. Gabriel. The monster was coming for her.
“Look at me. Keep looking at me.” Rhane’s eyes had changed. No longer human, and they were pitch black.
He succeeded in freeing her from the crumpled prison, pulled her out and placed her on the ground beside him. He looked away. She followed his gaze with a frightened stare. Two pillars of leathery skin covered by only patches of black fur were moving toward. Masses of rippling muscle ended in feet with scythe-like claws. Gabriel. Every step he took scarred the earth.