Darkest Caress (21 page)

You’re not dead. Get up. Finish this.

The words reverberated in his skull. He was down, but not out. Not yet. If he could get back up to his gun he still had time to get one well-aimed shot in before shock shut down his body.

His trembling fingers reached for the stock. So close, just out of reach.

“Freeze.”

His heart jumped into his throat but he did as he was told. He had no other weapons on him and the man was already practically on top of him.

Hard hands grabbed him by the shoulders then flipped him over, none too gently. He screamed as his ruined ribs compressed.

“Get up.” A big fist seized the front of his suit, yanked him off the ground.

Gasping, dizzy, Rick looked up into the shadowed face. When the man turned his head slightly and the moonlight struck him, Rick’s blood turned cold. The eyes were unnatural. Pure yellow shards embedded in onyx.

“You don’t get to die yet,” the man snarled in a chilling voice, dragging him down the slope.

Rick grabbed the meaty fist holding him prisoner, but it was no use. Already his strength was failing. The treetops spun above him as his vision blurred, going hazy and dark. Blackness took him.

When he came to, he was face-to-face with the injured Coven Leader and still dangling off the ground, trapped in an unbreakable grip. A pair of pale eyes bored into his, steady and alert despite the man’s heavily bleeding wounds. But the yellow ring around the irises told a different story. Soon the blood loss from those bullet holes would be the least of his problems.

“How many men did you have here?” the Leader growled.

A bitter laugh rumbled up from deep inside him. He choked on his own blood as it streamed up his throat, out his mouth. He felt it dribble off his chin. “Not enough,” he wheezed.

“How
many
?”

The icy rage in the other man’s eyes didn’t scare him. He was dying anyway. The knowledge brought a sardonic smile to his lips. The Obsidian Lord had led him to this, but in the end that monster wouldn’t be the one to kill him. He’d also lose a soul, and some of his terrible power with it. “F-four.”

“Where is the Obsidian Lord?”

“You’re…dying too.” He grinned at the thought.

Those icy eyes narrowed to slits. “What?”

“Amber in…bullets.”

The man holding Rick up whipped him around to face him. Rick blinked in surprise as those strange eyes began to swirl. Almost as if they were heated from within. His body felt lighter all of a sudden. The pain began to fade away. The hellish burn from the amber disappeared. Was he dying already?

Not yet.
The deep rasp was loud in his head.

He stared into the man’s eyes, unable to look away.

You’re evil.

And in that moment he finally realized what the man was.

A Reaper.

The irony of it dragged a garbled laugh up from the depths where his soul had once lain, making the blood in his mouth and lung froth. This would be a far better death than he deserved.

* * *

Hidden behind the tree with Cade, Liv gritted her teeth and breathed through the pain pounding through her skull. Without Daegan’s touch to shield her, at this close range the man’s malevolence threatened to make her lose consciousness. Vaughn was having some sort of weird staring contest with the Dark Army leader. The prisoner was drenched in blood, choking on it, but his aura remained black as night. His smile was defiant, even though his teeth and lips were coated with his own blood. The sight made her stomach roll.

She must have made a sound because Cade slid his arm around her shoulders and pulled tight her into his body. His touch didn’t take the pain away like Daegan’s did, though she was glad for the comfort. The DA leader was pure evil, but she’d never condemned anyone to die before. And that’s exactly what she’d done when she’d confirmed his identity and aura to Daegan. She knew without a doubt they’d never let the man go.

Suddenly the man laughed, breaking the tense silence. A hideous, gurgling sound tinged faintly with madness. The flesh on her arms prickled.

Cade’s muscles tensed against her. “Close your eyes,” he whispered.

She shook her head, unable to look away from the awful spectacle before her, afraid Daegan might be in danger.

“Well?” Daegan said to Vaughn.

Vaughn shook his head once.

“Do it,” Daegan said in a hard voice.

As she watched, Vaughn raised his free hand and touched the man’s neck. A flash of blue light exploded from his fingertips with a sharp zapping sound. Liv jumped. The DA leader jerked once, hard, then went limp. In an instant her blinding headache vanished. Completely. As though it had never been.

Vaughn lowered him to the ground and stepped back.

Liv stared at the body in shock, trying to comprehend what she’d just seen. “Is he…”

“Dead,” Cade confirmed, drawing her closer.

A cold numbness began to take hold in place of the pain. What had just happened?

When Daegan turned and took a stumbling step toward her, Liv snapped out of her daze, leaping up to grab him. His face was pale as snow, his mouth pinched. Blood soaked the bandages on his left arm, continued to drip off his fingertips. Why wouldn’t he just let them dress his wounds properly?

“Lie down,” she begged, steadying him around the waist.

“No time,” he rasped. She could feel him trembling with fatigue and shock, his weight increasing on her as his legs began to give way.

“I can’t hold him,” she cried out in alarm.

“I’ve got him,” Cade said, brushing past her to lift Daegan over his shoulder.

She ran around him to the waiting Rover while Vaughn tossed the DA leader’s body into the back. He slammed the trunk closed then came around to slide behind the wheel. The engine roared to life as Cade slid Daegan onto the backseat. Liv clambered up beside him to cradle his head in her lap. His eyes were closed, but the memory of his last words frightened her.

What did he mean,
no time
?

Cade slammed his door shut, started ripping medical supplies out of his rucksack.

“How bad is he?” she whispered, stroking the hair back from Daegan’s forehead.

“He’s lost a lot of blood,” Cade replied, ripping the Velcro straps off the bulletproof vest Daegan wore, removing it with her help. “But that’s not what worries me most.”

When he cut away the shirt beneath it, Liv gasped. Three dark bruises were already forming across his chest from where the bullets had impacted the vest. Without it, any one of them would have killed him. Judging by the tense expression on Cade’s face, the bullet wounds marring his left arm and shoulder still threatened Daegan’s life.

“Hold on,” she told him. “We’ll get you to the hospital.”

“No hospital. Just home.”

He was in shock. Couldn’t seriously mean that. “We have to get you to the hospital. You need x-rays, maybe surgery.”

“I’ve got everything he needs at the mansion,” Cade said, pressing some sort of gauzy pads to the bullet wounds.

Anger rose sharp and hot, mixing with the fear. “No. He needs a damn hospital.” Her voice cracked on the last word. She was ready to lunge at Cade. “Vaughn, you have to take him!”

“It’s okay, Liv.”

She jerked her head around to stare at Daegan. It shocked her to see his eyes open, watching her. “You need—”

“Shhh. C’mere.” He reached up his good arm for her.

Liv slid out from beneath him to kneel on the floor to make it easier. When he wrapped his fingers around her nape and pulled she bent toward him without resistance. But he didn’t kiss her. The angle was wrong. His hand pulled her up past his mouth, past his head until she had to brace a hand on the edge of the seat to keep from falling.

“Daegan, what—” She sucked in a quick breath when she felt him nuzzling the valley between her breasts. What the hell? He could be dying, yet this is how he responded? And right in front of Cade and Vaughn?

The shock of it held her immobile for a second but when she began to pull away his tongue stole out to lick over her breastbone. Her heart clenched when she realized what he was doing. He was trying to heal her. To seal the cut closed with the clotting agent in his saliva.

Liv closed her eyes against a rush of tears and bent over him, cradling his head to her. When he was done he eased back. She could see the exhaustion in his face. That final act for her comfort had sapped the last of his energy reserves. The knowledge broke her heart. She choked back her tears.

The truck’s wheels squealed as it turned a sharp corner. Liv tried to brace Daegan with her body to keep him from sliding on the seat, but the sudden movement made him jerk and cry out. The backseat was littered with bloody bandages while Cade continued working on him.

She glanced up nervously. Daegan seemed to be fading right before her eyes. “Cade?”

“Drive faster,” he snapped at Vaughn, then jerked his chin at her. “Put your hands right here.” He grabbed them, pressing them down over the largest wound in Daegan’s upper arm.

He shook his head in protest and growled, but she bit down on her lower lip and maintained the hard pressure. Blood continued to seep out beneath her white-knuckled fingers, soaking the leg of her jeans beneath.

“Can I seal his wounds too?”

Cade shook his head. “Not until I get this stuff out of him and stitch him up.”

“What stuff?”

“What’s left of the bullets.”

Her heart plummeted. “It’s going to be okay,” she murmured to Daegan, hoping he could still hear her. His skin already seemed unnaturally warm. How much longer until they reached the compound?

The vehicle raced through the darkness. Streetlights flashed by overhead, painting Daegan’s contorted features in a ghastly pallor. Tears clogged her throat, making it hard to breathe. He was in so much pain, losing too much blood. The grim look on Cade’s face turned her insides to ice. He didn’t have to tell her that her mate was fighting for his life. The thought of losing him was more than she could take.

A tear dropped onto Daegan’s pale cheek. His eyes flickered open briefly to find hers. He tried to raise his good hand to her face.

Liv grabbed it, brought it to her cheek.

“Don’t cry,
mo ghrá
,” he whispered weakly. Then his eyes closed, his hand going slack in hers.

A ragged sound tore from her chest.

“Stop,” Cade hissed.

She jerked, lifted her chin to meet his eyes.

His glare was like a slap. “Either hold it together or get the hell away from him before you make it worse.”

Shaken, Liv ducked her head and closed her eyes, struggling to keep the tears at bay. Fear and grief battled inside her, clawing through her chest. But Cade was right. Crying would only make things worse. Daegan needed them all calm so they could focus on him.

The drive to the compound seemed to take forever, but finally the Rover sped through the gates. When she glanced out the rear window she saw the blue electrical charge that sparkled over the intricate wrought-iron gate. She hoped it was sealing them in, and anyone who could harm them out.

Vaughn pulled the truck to a sudden stop at the far door that led into the kitchen and jumped out. The men carried Daegan inside, down to the equipment room, keeping pressure on his wounds the whole time. They placed him on the steel gurney in the center of the room. Cade quickly cut the tattered shirt off to reveal the true damage beneath. Liv flinched when she finally saw all the raw holes in her mate’s flesh. Five of them, the edges already turning from purple and blue to black.

“Shit,” Cade muttered as he pulled on some latex gloves.

“What?”

“They’re already infected.”

That fast? “From something in the dirt?”

“No.” He looked up and shared a look with Vaughn. “Amber.”

She looked between them, their grave expressions making her want to scream. Amber. The DA leader had said his bullets had it in them. “Is it dangerous?”

“Yeah. It’s poisonous to us if it’s absorbed into the bloodstream. Have to get it out of him, fast.”

Without a word, Vaughn got onto the table and straddled Daegan’s thighs, pinning them tight with his knees while he did the same to his wrists. “Hold his hands tight,” he said to her roughly.

She did as he said, reaching around Vaughn to grip them tightly in her own. His skin was already hot to the touch.

Cade looked across the table at Vaughn. “Got him?”

He nodded once.

Without administering any pain medication, Cade took a scalpel and a pair of tweezers to the wounds. Liv’s eyes widened in horror.

Daegan’s eyes flew open on a guttural growl, his whole body cording against the pain.

“Cade, give him something,” Liv begged.

“Can’t. No time. Later.” His brow furrowed in intense concentration.

Daegan tossed his head from side to side as he arched up, like his body was trying to escape the pain. Liv didn’t know how she’d bear it.

“Talk to him,” Vaughn rasped.

She met his cold stare for a moment before leaning around him to look down into Daegan’s tortured face. Her fingers squeezed around his, and she prayed he knew she was there. “Focus on me, Daegan. I’m right here, holding your hands. Can you feel me?”

His head torqued back but the awful sounds lessened, restrained by sheer force of will as he gritted his teeth.

Cade pulled something from one of the bullet holes, cursed when he held it up to the light. “Pure amber,” he said, tossing it with a clunk into a metal pan beside him. Time after time he extracted slivers from the wounds, dumped them into the dish. The pile of dark yellow shards glistened with Daegan’s blood.

Without warning, Daegan began to shiver uncontrollably.

Cade gripped the injured shoulder tighter. “Hold him down,” he ordered Vaughn. When he was finally through he stripped off the gloves then placed a thermometer under Daegan’s tongue. “Shit,” he said again, and Liv’s heart dropped. He looked up at Vaughn. “We’ve got to get him into the water.”

“What?” she blurted. “A bath?”