Forbidden (38 page)

Then it began to strike. Punching, clawing, then stopping. Then more, for what felt like days. Then one claw that felt as long as her forearm touched her at the temple. Just a touch, but it terrified her. It had slowly drawn the claw along the side of her face, almost lovingly. She felt the curved sharpness bite into her skin, dig until it met bone. When the slicing began, the pain was beyond what her mind could take. She'd screamed over and over and knew no one would ever hear. She would die in this room, flayed alive slowly.

When she felt the spark of power, she couldn't believe it. She hadn't felt Alek's presence since she was sifting through Darrell's mind. She called to him, screamed at him, and prayed he would find her.

Now he was here, holding her in the pitch blackness, feeling the same pain as her. “Claire, can you hear me? Can you talk?”

That voice, so soft, so concerned. “Yeth.” Her mouth wasn't working right.

He reached up and grasped the shackles, pulling back and hissing when the silver burned his skin. He tried again and the scent of burning flesh filled the air before her arm finally dropped to her side. She couldn't move it very well, but that was probably the ribs. More hissing and stink and then her other arm dropped. Everything hurt so badly that she could barely think.

Alek held her, stroked her hair with his burned hands, rocked her softly. He did his best to pour power into her. But there was so much pain, so many things hurt.

She didn't know how long they were there. There were gaps in her memory that meant she must have passed out. But she was grateful for it. All she knew was that sometimes she was resting on Alek's lap and sometimes on the floor. She could hear pounding in the background that said he was trying to get out. But the door opened
in,
so he was only sealing the wall tighter when he threw himself at it.

It was probably good she couldn't see. She could feel the stickiness of her shirt and where it was glued to her skin when she moved. Alek was beside her again. “I'll get you out of here. I promise.”

“'S okay,” she mumbled, the swelling in her jaw and neck making it impossible to open her mouth fully. “Talk t' me. Need stay wake.”

“Shit. You probably have a concussion. Yeah. I need to keep you awake. Okay, we've probably been in here for half a day. I've been listening at the door but can't hear a thing. Maybe there's nobody upstairs. I hope he hasn't killed off the whole town.”

She would have laughed if she'd had the energy. “H'ppy things, lek. Tell 'bout you.”

Claire heard a slap that was probably him hitting his own forehead. “Duh. Yeah. Okay.” He paused for a moment. “I guess there's some happy stuff. I was happy in Chicago when I was little. We had it pretty sweet, living in the hotel. It wasn't really a hotel, like people stayed there. But Nikoli … he was the pack leader, he hosted events for other Sazis. Council meetings, Wolven meetings; he set it up as neutral territory so people would come there to settle disputes. One week it might be all different kinds of snakes, the next, bunches of wolves or even birds. The condors were pretty cool, from California. They were mostly surfers, which we didn't see often in the Midwest.”

She touched his hand and nodded, encouraging him to go on.

“Yurgi and Pamela took care of us when Mom was working. He was the Omega and his wife was human. They were nice. We had another Omega for a few weeks, also married to a human. But he didn't stay the Omega long. He was tough. Went up through the ranks fast. He was cool, I guess. He kept me and Denis from getting beat on by one of the wolves who didn't like kids.”

She listened while he rambled. It really did help her forget the pain and so long as she didn't move, it was like they were talking—getting to know each other. “Mom never really noticed when people were picking on us. She did a lot of stuff in the hotel, so we didn't see her except late at night before bed. Cooking, cleaning rooms, laundry. She was tough on us. We had to be fluent in Russian and English in every subject, grammar, math, science, and she'd quiz us every week. But there was lots of time for fun too. We got to play hide-and-seek in the rooms, and slide down the bannister of the staircase. Nikoli didn't mind if we made tents out of blankets in the conference room, so long as nobody was using it.”

He paused. “After the snake attack, which isn't on the happy list, we came here. I was twelve. Mom had taught us to speak only Russian when people asked questions, so they stopped talking to us pretty quick. But we could understand them, so that was sort of fun, like Denis and I were secret agents.”

You and Denis are close then?
It occurred to her that she could speak into his mind, a little late, but at least she remembered.

He bent down and kissed the top of her head, which was probably covered with blood. He kept talking out loud and she could tell it was so it wasn't so quiet in the darkness. She couldn't smell him. From the throbbing, her nose was broken. That was okay with her since fear and worry weren't the best scents. She could pretend he was happy from his stories. “For a long time, yeah. We were the Two Musketeers. I kept hoping to find Sonya so it could be three again.”

Sonya? I was wondering about her since Denis had mentioned it.

“My little sister.” His voice was both sad and happy. “She was almost seven when the snakes attacked. She'd already picked out her birthday cake—cherry with white icing. I know she survived the attack. I kept her safe. But afterward, Wolven and what was left of the Council swooped in and gathered up everyone. We were all taken to buses and shipped off. Sonya was with me and Denis, I had her by the hand when we were boarding, but after I got our luggage stowed and got Denis settled in, I turned around and she was gone. She was so tiny that she could have wound up anywhere, on any bus. And she would have spoken only Russian to strangers.”

So that's what he was talking about at the house? That I made you stop looking?

Alek shook his head. She could feel it because his chest moved a little, where her head was resting. “No. You didn't. I've been checking every pack in every country for the past ten years. My last hope was the Siberian pack. I'd hoped that since she spoke Russian, she might have wound up there. But they're hard to find. It took time. Years. I got a letter from them the first day you were here, but I can't read it. It's in a language nobody recognizes. I was looking it up when Lenny came to get me for the challenge.” He stopped and let out a slow breath. “I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am about that, Claire. I was daydreaming, just got lost in thought, thinking of Sonya and Mom and the rest of the Chicago pack.”

I didn't know about her. If you'd have told me, I probably would have forgiven you right then. But I was scared. Had never been in a forest and got lost. It made me angry. I'm sorry too.

She was starting to feel better and realized that the better she felt, the worse he did.
Please don't give me any more power. You need to conserve.

“You're hurt really bad, Claire. Let me at least keep you stable.”

She pushed his hand away from the side of her face, which was starting to regain feeling.

No. You're trying to heal me. You need to stop. You're not a healer
.

He leaned back against the stone wall. “Okay. But I keep hoping Amber's out there somewhere and might be able to find us if I keep using magic.”

A new but already familiar voice in her head made the pain both more and less.
It was a good hope, little wolf. But I can't help you personally. It would be seen as a direct intrusion by the Council. But I can send help your way. Hang tight.

The golden sparkles in her head brought more pain, but she didn't care.
There's a secret room behind the staircase in the basement.

Really,
Amber replied.
Interesting.

A new voice joined in, male, strong.
There doesn't seem to be a basement. He must be using magic to hide it. Okay then, we'll do it the hard way. Is there something you can hide under down there?

“There's a desk,” Alek said out loud.

He tried first to lift her, which caused her to scream, and then to drag her, which was worse. One leg still worked, so she rolled onto that side and began to kick along the floor. He guided her to a hole under a thick wooden desk.

The whole room seemed to vibrate and shake. Finally there was an explosion of dust and chunks of stone fell, hitting the desk with a rumble so loud it felt like her eardrums would burst. Light came through the hole in the ceiling as a high-intensity flashlight dropped to the floor. Alek grabbed it. Two glowing eyes appeared at the edge of the hole and then a massive owl hopped down from the floor above, holding a second flashlight in one talon. He remembered what Amber had said about the Kragans and explosions.

Claude Kragan winced. “Oh, he did a number on you, little wolf. Worst I've seen for some time. Frankly, I'm surprised you survived it. Good thing you're mated to an alpha.” He poked the flashlight toward Alek's chest. “And you should be grateful Amber put in that block. You probably would have died of shock when he started to slice up her face.”

“I very nearly did,” he acknowledged. “Just heal her. Please. Take whatever you need from me.”

He was already doing just that. “I'm a healer, but not powerful magically. Fortunately, my sister took a liking to this young'un.” Claire felt the warm rush of magic flow through her body. The pain intensified, then lessened as organs stopped bleeding. She still looked five months pregnant from the blood pooling in her gut, but that would eventually sort out. Claude shook his fluffy head. “I'll heal what I can, but she's going to need some time in a hospital. We'll have to airlift her to one of the Sazi facilities. I'll hop up to the main floor and make some calls.”

Claire shook her head, happy to be able to do so. “No. Just patch me up. We need to get to the woods by moonrise. I know where the kids are. And I know what the Darkness is going to do next.”

 

CHAPTER 26

Claire tried to stand and Claude helped. He wanted to put the shackles on her again, if only they weren't silver. “For God's sake, Claude, quit helping her. She needs to stay still.”

The ancient owl looked at him with cold, unfeeling eyes. “She has to get out of here somehow, Alek. If you know of another way than standing so I can carry her out, please tell me. Would you rather I wrap my talons around her wounds?”

He looked around the tiny room, barren of furnishings except for the desk. He made an exasperated sound. “Fine. But once she's upstairs, we wait for an ambulance, right? She needs a doctor.”

Now Claude smiled, just a bit. “I
am
a doctor, Alek. That's how I met Amber. I'm not just a healer. I have medical degrees and licenses from three different centuries.”

He stopped and closed his mouth, forced himself to take a deep breath. “I didn't mean to insult you. I mean she needs to get to an emergency room.”

Claire said, “No,” at the same moment that Claude said, “Yes.”

Now the doctor turned to his patient with raised brows. “He's right, little one. You're not going anywhere except a hospital. But we do have to get you out of this room.”

What was left of Claire's jaw muscles were set tight. “You're a Wolven physician. I'm an agent. Patch me up and let me get back to work.”

He danced a little, his talons clicking menacingly on the floor. “Yes, I am a Wolven doctor. That means I get to decide whether or not an agent is fit for duty. You're
not
fit for duty. The knife cuts both ways …
agent
.”

Claire closed her eyes. “I'm one agent. There are six children in the woods who are going to die tonight. Die horribly and painfully. This is only a tiny sample of what he's capable of. He's insane. Let me do my job. If it costs me my life doing it, that's still six kids saved.”

Six?
Who were the others? Alek wanted to scream at her, tie her up, knock her out. “No, it just means
seven
people will die. You can't fight that thing in this condition. You
can't
. And I won't be much more help. I can fight, but it's stronger than I'll ever be … than either of us will ever be.”

Amber had gone quiet in his mind as he ranted at Claire. When she finally spoke, it made his jaw drop.
That's because he has the strength of the whole town behind him. But with some help, I might be able to shift those odds
.

“Let's see if we can get you out of here.” It was tricky and Alek could see the pain on Claire's face when he pulled her up through the hole. Claude had healed her enough that the bleeding had stopped and he guessed that some of the internal damage was repairing itself. But her face was still a mess. She looked like she'd been in a fire. Skin was missing all along her cheek and one ear was partially severed. It was hard to even look at. He couldn't imagine what she must be feeling.

“Yeah, it hurts.” Claire must have noticed the look on his face. “But don't look so horrified. I'll heal.”

He wasn't positive about that. He'd never seen anyone recover from having their face flayed. But he did his best to put on a smile. He just wished she wasn't going to do this. Yet he knew she was. He knew it without question. Her fire to end this was burning in his chest. It wasn't something he was going to be able to stop.

Claude lifted one talon and held it out to her. “We'd better get over to Bitty's and get this thing started.”

*   *   *

Claire forced herself to move as normally as possible. It was the only way she could keep Alek from trying to help her. It was sweet but she knew he was only doing it because he couldn't help himself. The mating took away his free will. That was no way to live. Maybe she could love him. Maybe she liked him. A lot. But once this was done, she would have to find a way to let him down gently. He deserved someone like Paula, who was mad for him. She might be mated to him, which was even better. And he liked her. He'd said so.