Marked (23 page)

Zane growled low. “Explain.”

Kalin shook his long, dark hair. “You fucking vampires are so led around by your dicks.” Fire lit his greenish-purple eyes, and he reached for the bars. “King Kayrs, twenty years ago, did you really think we created an entire virus, a biological weapon, so we could steal your fucking
mates
? Really?”

Janie’s knees trembled. “Then why?” she whispered.

Kalin kept his gaze on Dage. “To take out the Kayrs family. You’re fools for your mates. The only way to infect you was for
you
to make it happen.”

Janie stepped up between Dage and Zane, their protection warming her. “You infected mates just to hurt the Kayrs family?”

Kalin lifted a powerful shoulder. “As well as the majority of vampires. It took years to make the virus both airborne and
weak
enough to be drawn out by a mate.” He sighed dramatically. “Just years.” He snarled. “Yet here we are, finally.”

Unbelievable. Janie shook her head. Kalin had played her when they’d talked, warning her that the virus would kill her baby. In fact, he’d pretty much taunted Zane to save her. Damn liar. “We’ll find a cure,” she said, lifting her chin.

Kalin’s smile was almost gentle. “No, you won’t. I promise.”

She edged in front of the men she loved. “Why not?”

“Virus-27 is a simple little creature like the common cold in humans.” Triumph lifted Kalin’s chin, even while he kept her gaze. “The natural antibodies exist on the X chromosome of any species. For you female mates, the illness would’ve lasted about a hundred years, which for immortals, is like a couple of weeks for humans. Simple. Common. Cold.” He brushed invisible lint off his black jumpsuit. “And just as incurable.”

So they had just needed to wait out the illness. Fury rushed through Janie, and she moved toward the bars.

Zane stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Stay back,” he said.

Janie trembled she was so angry. “We’ll find a cure.”

“No.” Kalin stepped away from the bars. “Witches will eventually be fine because even male witches have one X chromosome. You know who doesn’t?”

“Vampires,” Janie whispered.

Kalin jerked his head in a short nod. “Yes.”

She frowned. “Wait a minute. Neither do Kurjans.”

Kalin smiled. “True. But Kurjans aren’t stupid enough to force the virus into our own bodies. Well, except for the few we experimented on before turning the virus loose.”

“Let’s go,” Dage growled, turning for the door.

Janie followed with Zane on her heels. At the door, she turned for one last chance. “You can stop this, Kalin. Please.”

He studied her, his features set in serious lines. “Even if I wanted to, Janet, nobody can stop this. Say your good-byes now.”

 

Janie finished cataloging the most recent slides in the empty lab and stood to stretch her back. Morning sickness had set in with a vengeance, and she moved carefully. A rustle echoed by the door, and she turned as her uncle strode in.

Jase Kayrs moved with the grace of a cougar, although more slowly than usual. His copper eyes had clouded, and his skin paled so the ever present scar lining the side of his face appeared deeper. Darker. His short hair was finally growing out, making him look every bit as dangerous as she knew him to be. “You fix this virus yet?” he asked.

“I’m working on it.” She leaned back against the counter and forced a smile. “How are you feeling?”

“That’s my line.” He crossed broad arms. “Do I need to kill the demon?”

Janie brushed her hands down her jeans. “Stop calling him a demon.”

“So . . . no?” Jase gave her the look he’d used in her childhood when she’d borrowed his favorite socks.

“No beating the tar out of Zane. You like him, right?” Her lungs trapped her breath.

Jase scratched his whiskered chin. “He’s a good fighter.”

Janie put both hands on her hips.

Jase sighed. “Fine. Yes, I like him. He reminds me of a cross between Dage and Talen, especially since he has to step up and rule the damn demons and doesn’t want to.” Jase absently rubbed the scar along his ear. “Although I think the mating happened way too quickly. You should’ve been given time to think the whole matter through.”

Her lips instantly tipped into a smile. “Like most vampire matings.” Jase chuckled. “I know. Good point. So far we’ve talked him into waiting to take on Suri until after he’s cured of the virus, but at some point, Zane will have to go.”

“I know,” Janie whispered. “But he needs to be at full strength to even think about fighting Suri.”

“You love him.”

“Yes.” Her chin lifted, and her heart thumped hard. In fact, she’d really like to get married when things slowed down. Just like those human girls in the romcoms she watched.

Jase nodded, his gaze mellowing. “So, no regrets?”

“No regrets.” Well, except for not uncovering Kalin’s master plan to take down the Kayrs family. Janie peered closer at her youngest uncle. “What about you? I mean, you and Brenna mated quickly and now everything is going wrong.”

“I need Bren more than I need a certain number of chromosomal pairs,” Jase said. “In fact, screw the virus. You’re brilliant, Emma is fastidious, and Kane is obsessed. Talk about a trifecta for curing the damn thing.”

Hope was all they had at the moment, and it was nice hearing Jase express it after knowing so much pain in his life. Janie tilted her head toward the other lab. “Speaking of Emma . . . she’s waiting for you.”

“Great. More needles.” Jase pushed off the counter and began rolling up his sleeve. “I did want to let you know how much you mean to me, Janet Isabella Kayrs.”

All the oxygen left the room. “We are not saying good-bye.” Panic heated Janie’s throat. Jase couldn’t give up.

“We’ll never give up. But while I can, I just wanted to say that the best thing that ever happened to our family was when Talen brought you home.” Jase leaned in for a one-armed hug. “Don’t ever forget that.”

Tears pricked Janie’s eyes. “I love you, too.”

Jase nodded and turned away. “If you change your mind and want me to beat the crap out of Kyllwood, just let me know.” He sauntered toward the other lab, his gait hitching slightly.

“If this morning sickness gets any worse, I may take you up on that offer,” she called after him.

“What offer?” Zane stood in the doorway, his eyes nearly glowing in his pale face.

“To beat you up.” Janie drank him in, flutters cascading along her skin.

Zane slowly lifted one dark eyebrow. “What did I do?”

Janie moved toward him as if drawn, needing to touch. Needing reassurance that her uncle hadn’t just said good-bye to her. She slid her hands up Zane’s chest. “Nothing . . . yet. Let’s go see what we can do about that.”

He grinned and ducked a shoulder to lift her against his chest. “Now that’s a plan.”

 

 

Janie retrieved the samples from the humming medical device to place them back in the small fridge. The AC clicked on in the large lab located in the main lodge, and she shivered.

Kane dropped a sweatshirt around her shoulders. “Sorry it’s so cold.” His fingers brushed her neck, several degrees more chilled than the air.

She turned to study the dark circles under Kane’s magnificent violet eyes. “When was the last time you slept?”

He reached for a stack of papers being spit out by the nearest printer. “There’s no time for sleep. According to this, we’ve all lost an entire chromosomal pair already. At this rate, we’ll be human or even dead by the time your baby arrives.”

How odd that everyone had begun measuring time in terms of the baby’s arrival. “Then we need to get you healthy so my son can learn science from his uncle Kane,” Janie said slowly. “If you don’t get some rest, the virus is going to win. You know that.”

“The virus is winning anyway.” Even ill, Kane Kayrs moved with the grace of a panther, crossing the room to reach for more samples. He’d unbuttoned the top of his dress shirt, and muscles shifted beneath the natural material. Muscles noticeably smaller than they’d been the previous month.

“Find a cure yet?” said a chipper voice from the doorway.

Janie turned to see Amber Kayrs glide inside the room, reaching her mate in several long steps.

Amber leaned up and kissed Kane’s smoothly shaven chin. “You need rest.”

“That’s what I was just saying,” Janie said.

Kane tucked Amber into his side, his darkness a fascinating contrast to her reddish hair and tawny eyes. “My resting doesn’t solve anything, and you two know it.” He looked down at Amber, love in his eyes. “Nor does my preoccupation with this virus mean I don’t follow the trouble my mate creates.”

Amber blanched and tried unsuccessfully to step out from under Kane’s arm. “Trouble? What trouble?”

Janie settled in for the show.

Kane tugged on one of Amber’s curls. “Apparently an Internet campaign was just launched against a leather factory last night, bombarding personal emails, business accounts, and even some governmental sites with images and names of executives.”

Amber blinked. “Wow. No kidding.”

Kane focused on Janie, who shook her head. “Don’t look at me. I know nothing about this one,” Janie said.

Amber hip-checked Kane. “All right. Garrett and I may have created a teeny campaign a while ago, before everyone became ill, and the Internet launch date was last night. Don’t blame Janie.”

Kane pressed a hard kiss to the top of Amber’s head. “I know exactly who to blame, don’t worry. And I will deal with you accordingly when I get home tonight.”

Amber finally extricated herself from Kane’s hold and flounced toward the doorway. “Promises, promises.” She turned and blew Kane a kiss before winking at Janie. “Later, Jane.” She disappeared.

Janie smiled. “Amber is trying too hard.”

“I know.” Kane sighed and grabbed another stack of papers. “She’s scared to death and wants to put on such a brave face. I’ll have to ease her mind somehow tonight.”

Janie swallowed as nausea rose from her belly. “I’m scared, too.”

Kane, the smartest man on the planet, turned toward her, a stack of useless papers in his hand. “You’re strong and brilliant. No matter what happens, you and little Kyllwood in there will survive. I have faith in you.”

A rush of energy rippled through Janie. “You need to survive, too.”

Kane nodded. “I’ll do my best. You make me proud, little niece. You always have.” He turned back toward the printer.

Emotion welled and fuzzed Janie’s vision. Why did that sound like another good-bye?

 

 

“Harder,” Conn muttered, stepping back and twirling the wooden pole. “Hit harder, Jane.”

Janie’s feet danced on the mat, and she tightened the hold on her own pole. “I’m trying.”

Conn slid to the side and clapped her thigh with the pole. His normal scent of gunpowder and sage filled the room. “No, you’re not.”

She stepped back and huffed out a breath, dropping the pole to the mat. “Listen, buddy. You’re pale as hell, shaking, and slow. I’m pregnant, nauseous, and getting mad. Drop your pole.”

His eyes flashed an amused green, and he threw the pole across the room. “Want to grapple?”

“Not unless you want barf all over you.” At the moment, she’d like nothing better than to throw up on her pushy uncle. “What has gotten into you?”

“Meaning?” Conn reached down for a towel to wipe his forehead.

Janie kept her expression bland. They hadn’t worked out hard enough to even remotely break a sweat, and Conn appeared as if he’d just run eighty miles. Backward. “Why the new training schedule?” The schedule had appeared the previous day for pretty much all Kayrs mates and Janie.

Conn shrugged. “We’ve gotten complacent. The demons are consolidating their forces under Suri, and the Kurjans just won a big battle in Iceland and should be wanting another good fight soon. We all need to train.”

“That’s not all,” Janie said softly.

“No.”

She stared at her uncle, trying not to wince at the deep lines of fatigue and pain cut into his chiseled face. Conn was the strongest soldier ever born, and now loose skin sagged on what used to be steel-tough muscles. Gray sprinkled liberally through his brown hair. “What else?” she asked.

He dropped into a fighting stance. “If we don’t cure the virus, you all need to know how to fight. Even better than you do now.”

She shook her head. No way was Conn saying good-bye to her. Losing the Kayrs men as well as the myriad of vampires across the world who’d taken the virus into their bodies to save their mates would be a huge blow to the Realm. Personally, Janie couldn’t even consider the cost. “We will find a cure.”

“I know.”

Running footsteps echoed down the hallway, and they both turned as Moira Kayrs, Conn’s mate, ran inside. Moira’s wild red hair cascaded around her face, her eyes glowed a brilliant green, and blue flames danced on her bare arms. “Conn?”

Conn rushed toward her. “What, Dailtín? What’s wrong?”

Moira swayed and grabbed both his forearms. “You’re, ah, not going to believe this. I mean—”

He yanked her into him for a hug and rubbed a huge hand down her back. “Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out. What’s going on?”

Moira levered back. “I’m pregnant.”

Conn stilled. Completely. “Wh-what?”

Moira nodded vigorously. “Emma just confirmed it in the lab. I’m with child.”

A brilliant smile split Conn’s face, and he bellowed a champion’s cry. He swung her up and around before holding her tight.

Janie wiped away tears and discreetly headed for the doorway to give them space.

A baby.

She and Moira would both have little ones. How exciting. And how very terrifying—especially if the virus took their mates and left them all alone.

Straightening her shoulders, she marched through the building to the lab. She was going to kill this little fucker of a virus and now.

 

 

Janie knocked on the large metal door set into a contemporary oceanfront home and smiled when Max Petrovsky opened it, dressed in worn sweats and nothing else.

Even ill and leaner than ever before, Max’s cut figure looked every bit the hunter he was known to be.

“I need your help,” Janie said.

Max stepped aside to allow her entry. “Anything.”

She moved inside the comfortably furnished home. Thick, cushioned sofas angled toward a rock-wall fireplace with colorful pillows strewn throughout in a welcoming chaos.

Max shut the door and rubbed the back of his neck. “Sarah isn’t here.”

“I know. She’s in school right now.” The vampires were trying to keep the routine as normal as possible for everyone, and that included school for the shifter and vampire kids. Sarah was the main teacher for the Realm. Janie sank into the sofa with a sigh of relief.

“How are you feeling?” Max retrieved a shirt from a pile of folded laundry on an ottoman and yanked it over his head. “I thought the second trimester was supposed to be better?”

“I feel better,” Janie lied. It was hard to feel anything but nauseated by the obvious decline in the vampire men. “How are you feeling?”

“Fantastic. What can I do to help?” Max asked, his formidable concentration solely on her.

“Zane wants to go fight Suri, and I need you to stop him.”

Max lowered heavy brows. “Why me?”

Because the king and her dad agreed with Zane. “You’re the voice of reason and always have been. Dage listens to you when things get emotional. This is emotional.”

Max had been more than a bodyguard and more than another uncle to Janie through the years. He was good and kind and truly saw the world in straight lines.

“I need you to talk to Dage,” she said.

Max shook his head. “Dage isn’t the key to this. Zane is.”

As if on cue, a heavy knock echoed on the door.

Max gave her a look and opened the door to reveal Zane. “What a surprise,” Max muttered, gesturing him inside.

Zane’s gaze caught Janie’s and held as he stomped inside. “I’d rather have this discussion in private.” His voice held a low threat.

Max rolled his eyes. “This is my house. I’m not leaving.”

“We are.” Zane nodded to Janie. “Let’s go, Belle.”

Janie stood, her own temper pricking the back of her neck. “Fine.”