Two men lay on the ground, broken, blood pooling around their bodies. The man who had stabbed the weferi first stepped back as the crowd of men tore into the creature, eating its remains. Carina instantly recognized Aron Kirkland.
Cautiously, she approached him, her weapon drawn. They'd been in this hell for weeks. How much humanity had they kept?
When she touched his arm, he spun around and growled. The minute his gaze met hers, joy filled his face. “Rina! You're alive!"
"Aron.” She was only able to say his name before emotion clogged her throat. His dark black hair was stringy and limp. He was still muscular and tall, but it was a rangy look rather than the bulked-up way he'd been before. His blue eyes were feverish, bright from adrenaline, not health.
She should have stopped it. She should have killed Father Pestori. But she'd been so intent on her revenge, on her crazy mission, she'd let the Brotherhood send two men she cared about here.
He grabbed her in a fierce hug. “I never thought I'd see you again."
"I'm sorry, Aron. I should have—"
Aron leaned back and stared at her. “What's this?” He studied her face. “Rina, you had a job to do. Why are you here? Is the Brotherhood destroyed?"
She shook her head. “Things have changed. My mission has changed."
At that moment, Aron noticed Shaun. His gaze was...intense. There was something there, something more than just colleagues who found each other. “Shaun,” Aron whispered.
"Where's Finn?” Shaun's tone was quiet but clear even over the steady hum of human growls and whines that came from the diners on the weferi's carcass.
Aron shot a glance at the pile of human flesh grabbing and fighting over the animal meat. He picked up the box of food and walked toward one of the large arches that led to a corridor. “This way."
The cave twisted and turned. Weferies howled from other corridors, but Carina didn't see another one. They reached a large opening that led to an open area. A man stood at the entrance, his hand clenched around a stick with a stone arrow on the end.
Finn.
His blond hair was dark and dank. In the firelight emanating from the huge fire built in the open area, his once golden eyes were dull and lifeless. He'd been tall and thin, a warrior of speed and grace. Now he looked like a damn skeleton. In two months, this place had reduced him to skin and bones.
"Rina,” he whispered. “Shaun,” his voice grew stronger. He dropped his weapon with a clatter and bolted for them. “You're real. By the Stars, you're real."
Carina clasped Finn's face in her hands. “It's only been two months. How did this happen?"
Finn's gaze slid to the floor. Shaun shot a glance at Finn and then frowned at Aron. “What's going on here?"
"It's worse than the rumors believed,” Aron told him. “The gases that permeate the caves are poisonous. Even when we can eat, we can't hold it down.” His lips pressed together. “There's no one here. The only prisoners are the ones who have survived so far. The longest anyone has been here is six months. Everyone else is dead."
"Call them all. You have a way,” Shaun snapped.
Aron nodded. “There was a signal here when I arrived. A way we all know to call when there's food."
"We're going to get you all out of here,” Carina said. Stars! Dead. How many? Thousands? Millions? Sent here to die in the poisonous air.
Aron pulled out a box covered in some material Carina was sure was weferies skin. He pounded on it. Three short blows and waited. Five blows and three sharp short blows. He kept this up for twenty minutes before the first stragglers arrived.
Fewer than fifty men and no women were all that was left of the hundreds of thousands sent to Pelios. Carina stared at the gaunt, white faces of the survivors. She met Shaun's gaze. “We have to change our plan."
Shaun nodded sharply. “We discussed the possibility."
"What?” Who had discussed the possibility? How dare they not include her in the whole plan? “You and who, Shaun,” she said in a low, tight voice.
Shaun didn't flinch but met her hostile stare. “Xandros was pretty sure we wouldn't be able to use the prisoners to fight."
Carina lost her mind. She whipped out her knife and attacked. Fear ripped through her. She knew, she just fucking knew what that noble idiot had planned. Sacrifice.
His.
The crowd around them grew agitated, but she kept the knife against Shaun's throat. “What have you done?"
Shaun didn't defend himself. He kept his hands out and his demeanor calm. “Xandros had heard more severe rumors about Pelios. He tried to tell you."
She pressed the knife closer, almost as if it had a mind of its own. She wanted to make him bleed, to cleanse the fear, to stop the pain that was threatening to destroy her. “Fuck you, Shaun. I trusted you. I ought to slit your fucking throat.” Her heart pounded, and her head spun. The mark on her arm flared, fire licking along her skin.
"Do you want to hear the plan or not?” How the hell was the man so calm when she wasn't even sure if she wasn't going to slice him into pieces?
"Talk fast,” she snapped.
The only evidence of Shaun's nerves was a swallow. “He believed you were the key, the one treasure the Brotherhood needed to destroy. He didn't think he had value.” He closed his eyes when Carina increased the pressure, and blood trickled from a small cut. But he continued. “I disagreed. I got him to agree to let me get backup from elsewhere."
Carina blinked. Elsewhere? “Explain."
"Xandros has never understood his own appeal,” Shaun said and managed a small smile. “There were many of his past associates who were willing to come to his aid. Especially against the Brotherhood."
She backed away slowly, her pulse still pounding. “Why the hell didn't you tell me?"
Why hadn't Xandros told her? She tightened her lips and waited for Shaun's answer, oblivious to the crowd of starving men around them.
It was a moment before Shaun said a word. He seemed to hesitate, as if saying the wrong thing would get him killed. Carina narrowed her eyes. He was right about that. His voice was hoarse when he finally spoke. “He isn't proud of the years he's spent as a mercenary, Rina. He isn't sure those men will come through in this crisis."
"And he knew I wouldn't go if there was any doubt.” She was going to fucking kill him herself when she got hold of him.
"Right,” Shaun confirmed. His golden eyes were bright and wary. The man knew Carina could take him out and not blink.
"What's the plan now?” she asked and turned her back on Shaun. The hurt of Xandros's lack of trust bit deep, and she didn't want Shaun to see it. Her mate hadn't trusted her, hadn't told her everything. He'd gone to his possible death with a lie on his lips. The bastard.
"Rina,” Shaun said softly.
She clenched her fists at her side and ignored them all. Finn and Aron hadn't moved and stared at Shaun. The other men seemed to be waiting. Well, at least she could get these men out of this hellhole.
"Don't.” She whirled around and glared at Shaun. “Just...tell me the plan so I can get this done and get as far away from all of you as possible."
She regretted the words as soon as they flew from her mouth. Finn's wince didn't help.
This wasn't just a little betrayal, a small lie she could dismiss because she knew Xandros loved her. This was more than that. He'd let her go, sent her into a dangerous mission, knowing he would sacrifice himself and leave her alone.
Shaun gripped her shoulders and gave her a bone-rattling shake. “He loves you. Beyond reason, beyond anything. Even beyond his self-defeating bullshit. So stop being a pain in the ass and focus on what's important."
The mission. The men dying in Pelios. She took a deep breath. “All right. Now what?"
Shaun dropped his hands and placed two fingers on her neck. “Now we get the fuck out of here."
And go where? Her stomach rolled. The original plan was to go to the mother ship, to overwhelm the Brotherhood forces with the prisoners. But she glanced around and realized the men were too weak to be any good.
So when Shaun chanted, she wondered where they were going. The now familiar power swept through her. For a moment, she wanted to wrest it away from Shaun and send them to the place where she knew her mate faced danger alone.
The temptation was almost too much.
But before she thought about it too long, the portal opened to the location Shaun had set. It shouldn't have surprised her it was a medical facility on Placido. Several medical personnel went to work immediately, as if they were expecting the arrival of the prisoners.
Conflicted, Carina couldn't even seem to help. Part of her wanted to rip Xandros's throat out for lying to her. Part of her wanted to rush to his side, to die with him if that was their fate. And part of her wanted to walk away, let it all fall to pieces.
She'd saved the two men who mattered in the prophecy. What did she matter now? What message could she carry now that her mate was probably dead and she was alone? Princess Sera was wrong. Love was not Carina Tao's message. Only death and loss were written in the stars for her.
Shaun checked on Finn and Aron one last time, then stepped in front of her. She hadn't moved since the portal had closed, and the men had poured through it to freedom. Frozen, numb, agonizingly helpless, Carina stood silently as everything around her moved.
"Are you ready?” Shaun was armed to the teeth, his laser rifle slung over his shoulder, flash grenades dangling from his belt, and power cartridges stocked on his straps. Behind him were at least fifty men of varying ages, all stocked to the hilt with weapons.
She blinked. “Ready?"
Shaun handed her a laser cannon rifle, power cartridges, and five flash grenades. “Let's go get them."
"I may shoot Xandros instead,” she said in a low voice.
"As long as you take out some of the Brotherhood as well,” Shaun said with a grin.
This time, Shaun didn't chant. Carina spoke the incantation, and the swirls appeared, shining light flickering against the cold gray walls. The portal opened, and Carina charged through.
When she emerged, the power still coursed along her veins. She almost lost her hold when she noted her mate pinned against the wall, blood streaming from his mouth and nose, his screams echoing in the chamber, and Leo and Princess Sera nowhere to be seen.
It wasn't like Xandros hadn't known it was going to be painful. He had only hoped that he wouldn't break down and beg for anything before he died. At least Leo and the princess had escaped.
As Carina had predicted, the Brotherhood knew they were coming, had planned for their arrival. Father Pestori had boasted that soon he would have the princess, the messenger, and the destroyer in his hands. They would all fall into his trap, he'd bragged.
But Xandros and Shaun had changed things up. Carina would live, and though her heart would hurt for a while when he was dead, she would be safe.
The minute they'd boarded the
Messiah
, Xandros sensed the danger, the hopelessness of his situation. There had been no negotiations, no offer of filthy lucre for the bad-boy pirate. Just a knock on the chin and strapped to a wall twister. Fucking assholes had perfected torture.
The princess had done some magic woo-hoo, and she and Leo were gone in a blink. Leo had tried to grab Xandros, but their hands had broken apart just as the portal they had stepped through opened. Father Pestori, enraged that the princess had escaped, had vented his spleen on Xandros. Damn, the wall twister was an effective tool. Computer-controlled knife slices and nerve inductors meant that the maximum amount of pain mixed with blood loss. It made him light-headed.
How long it had gone on, he didn't know. There was no rescue. Xandros knew the measure of the men Shaun had gone to great lengths to locate and impress into service. It wasn't that they weren't brave enough or strong enough. There just wasn't any profit in rescuing a former captain.
The pain had receded, and Xandros allowed himself to hang limply for a moment. He'd be defiant after he had a rest.
Suddenly, a new pain penetrated his dulled senses. His inner thigh was on fire. His mate mark throbbed and burned.
"What have you done?” a huge, loud voice asked.
He lifted his head, and the sight held him absolutely still. Once before, Xandros had seen the power take Carina. Now she used that power to strike out. The restraints on the wall twister didn't snap.
They disintegrated.
Pain stabbed his knees when he hit the floor. Free. He would die free. He collapsed, too weak to hold himself up.
Power whipped along the metal walls, scraping huge scratches along the gleaming surfaces. Men ran screaming. Streams of white sliced through them, cutting them to pieces. A loud keening sound reverberated off the walls, a sound of agony and pain, and it was coming from his mate.
Stars, she was beautiful.
Blood still poured from his wounds. He was dying. But he kept his head up, his gaze on her, love for her filling his soul. It was all worth it. To save her.
Words tumbled from her mouth, and fire swept through the large chamber and down the corridors. It was chaos and beauty and terrible wonder.
He watched and knew the minute Carina no longer had control. The power devoured her just as it devoured the men she killed.
He had to help her.
Xandros crawled, pain ripping along his nerves. At some point, he realized Shaun and a whole slew of men were behind her, pounding on some invisible barrier, shouting at her. But Xandros had to try and touch her. Every cell in his body ached, but he reached her feet. Blood dripped on her boots, and he reached his hand up to try and stand. Agonizing fire from all the wounds on his body almost dropped him back on the floor, but he braced his weight on Carina's belt and fought through it.
Face-to-face with her, he gripped the material of her shirt, and his breath caught in his throat. Her gaze was milky white, unseeing. Wind buffeted around them, threatening to blow him back on his knees. His hand trembled as he lifted it to her face, and blood stained her cheeks from his ravaged fingers.