Prince of Power (15 page)

She snorted and folded her arms over her chest. “Like as in mate together? You're kidding. We're not going to help your race, not after everything you've done.”

He mimicked her stance. With an inclined head, he gestured toward her. “That felt good, didn't it? The power I just transferred to you?”

Already the intense hum was dissipating, but a gentle pulse remained and she couldn't deny the rush had been pleasurable. Damned if she'd say so, but the smug smile on his face told her that she didn't have to.

“There's more where that came from, if you help me.”

He thought she was that easy? Anger accelerated the
dum-dum-dum
of her heart. It wouldn't work, would it? No.
Don't even think it, Ty. Don't even think he might really stop killing your kind.

Not even to save his own race?

Her
own race?

Tyra blinked. All at once she was light-headed and sick to her stomach. Last thing she wanted was to lose face by puking on the Master's boots.

This time when Master grinned, it wasn't charming. It was back to befitting of the evil that she knew him to be, and that anchored her.
The
many
faces
of
evil.
So much of what he'd just told her had turned her world upside down and inside out. She could face this monster. She knew monsters.

He leaned far too casually against the far wall of the room. “Think it over,” he said. “You'll be back. I have no doubt.” His feral grin widened. “After a taste of what I just gave you? It won't be enough. Trust me.”

Alexia had no idea how fast they were going. Fast. The dead wizard up front was flopping around and smearing blood like something out of a bad horror movie. Hell, it
was
a bad horror movie. She held on in the backseat and tried to breathe.

“I hope you're happy with yourself for that sassy little production of yours, Lex.” Lee's square jaw and sharp fangs were menacing from her view of his profile, and his eyes glowed from the light of all the instruments and dials and whatnot up front in the car when he turned back to growl at her. “On the upside, you helped to confirm our suspicions that we've got wizards hiding in the local public sector. Pretty sure we could have found a way to do that, though, that didn't involve me ditching a body and a cop car in the woods off Route 9 on the way back to the estate.”

How had she not foreseen how that would play out? In a way they'd been lucky.
She
had been lucky. The wizard had been no match for Lee, and the kill had been quick. Except for speeding away in a cop car, which had probably raised a few eyebrows, they'd gotten away easily enough. “I thought maybe I could get him to tell me where Tyra was. I was trying to help,” she muttered. Honestly, she hadn't really considered that Lee would kill the guy. Sometimes it was easy to forget what he was capable of.

She wouldn't forget again.

And now, as they sped along the back roads, it was so late that no cars were on these winding turns. Most of the folks around here were farmers who went to bed at the appropriate times. She held back the urge to suggest maybe he should keep his eyes on the road, given how fast he was going.

He didn't seem interested in her opinion just now.

When they reached an isolated stretch of road, he pulled the car off into a wooded area. “Where are we?” she asked. They seemed to be near the estate; the area struck her as familiar. But jeez. This time of night, everything around the area looked the same. Trees. Road. More trees. For someone like Alexia who was used to navigating by visual landmarks, it was hellishly easy to get lost.

Up front, Lee grumbled but didn't answer. Something in Lexi's chest tightened. She hated—
hated
—knowing someone was angry with her. Okay, she'd fucked up and she deserved this one, so she'd take whatever lumps she had to. And hell, maybe having Lee mad at her wasn't such a huge loss anyway. It wasn't as if they
were
anything to each other. Really, they hardly knew each other.

Still, she couldn't stop herself from apologizing. “Lee, I'm sorry. I knew what he was, and he could tell that I knew, and he was asking all these questions. I wasn't sure what to say. I'm sorry I said the wrong thing.”

Small trees bumped and cracked and gave way under the vehicle's weight. He killed the headlights and they bounced along in darkness, probably aided by the sharpness of his acute night vision. At least she sure hoped so. Lexi couldn't see where they were going at all.

“Lee, I really am sorry.”

Her voice, usually full of bitch and defiance, had just the tiniest crack in it. She pressed her lips together. Damn being a woman with emotions. He was sitting there judging her for it right now; she just knew it. Thinking she was stupid. Thinking she was weak and inferior. Too
human.
Well, she couldn't go back in time. For damn sure, she couldn't do a thing about her place in the evolutionary food chain. If apologizing wasn't good enough, he could go fuck himself.

Fury at his constant superiority roiled in her gut and helped her to get a handle on things. She breathed long and loud and a bit shakily, but she said nothing more after that. Probably better that way. Nothing good happened when they talked to each other.

As soon as he threw the car into park, he was in some kind of weird, robotic disposal mode. Body on the ground. Slice. Slice. Slice. Kick. “Bye, asshole.” It might have been disgusting if it hadn't been so damned fascinating. She could have sworn the wizard's body was shriveling up right there on the spot. Lee came around to the back door, on the opposite side so Lexi wouldn't have to step past the gore. “Come on.”

She scooted toward the door but stopped when he reached to grab her arm. “I can get out myself.”

He took hold of her arm anyway. She hadn't realized she still was wearing a cuff until he helped remove it. “Yeah, well I'm sorry to tell you this but we're gonna have to get out of here fast. I can move a hell of a lot quicker than you.”

Next thing she knew, she was being slung over a very large shoulder. “Lee. Are you out of your freaking mind? Put me the hell down, you son of a bitch. I'm going to tell Thad about this.”

“Excellent. I hope you do.” Dead leaves and dirt and branches flew beneath her as they sped along what was probably the tree line parallel to Route 9. Alexia expressed her displeasure by pounding Lee on the back with her fists. He'd get tired of it and put her down eventually.

Or maybe he wouldn't. They'd made it back to the vampire estate, and she was still calling him every name in the book and had resorted to biting him on the shoulder. Which didn't have one fricking ounce of fat on it. Still no dice on getting out of the sack-of-potatoes gig.

Finally he stopped to set her down on a fallen log, which allowed them to be at eye level. Tears streamed down her face, and if looks could kill, she hoped he'd be fucking on fire by now. She pulled up the edge of her shirt to wipe the tears away, for what little good that did. They kept coming.

“Do you have any idea how close you came to dying tonight?”

She hiccupped and swiped a hand over her face. She struggled to keep her voice even. “I guess I didn't, at first,” she admitted.

Lee flexed his fingers and reached forward like he was about to make a grab, but he stopped and pulled back. “I am so fucking mad at you.”

Grr
. Alexia's toes curled up inside her Doc Martens. “I'm pretty fucking mad at you too.” Little did he know that it had nothing to do with the dead wizard.

She shivered and her foot slipped on some loose tree bark, which tossed her right into his arms. He was aroused. Holy crap, was he ever. The hard length of him pressed against her, and his grip, awkward at first, tightened. The fingers of his large hands spread across her back into something more intimate and familiar. She tilted her face up to look into those aqua-colored eyes, which glowed in the moonlight, dilated with desire she would've given almost anything to see a week or two ago. A few hours ago, even.

Before he threw her over his shoulder and humiliated her.

“Lee…” His nose brushed against hers, and her body tensed. She pushed against his chest, but fear took away her words. Without another second of thought, her knee made contact with his family jewels.

“Fuck. Alexia…”

His hold loosened and she ran, not looking back to check on him or apologize. He was a badass vampire; it wasn't like he needed her to wait for him. He'd be fine.

“Anton.”

Anton spun toward the sound of Tyra's voice. They had nearly gotten to where the portal ought to be when she torpedoed out of the woods like a heat-seeking missile.

Anton sucked in a breath. Without thought, his hands went to either side of her face, his lips on hers. The kiss was hard and intense, like somehow he could bond their souls together with their lips. For those few seconds, nothing else mattered. He gathered her into his arms, and nothing had ever been more amazing. The solid warmth of her body and the softness of her curly hair were even better than before.

The smell of her, though, was like stale smoke and staler blood. He knew that smell. “You've seen my father.”

She nodded into his shoulder.

“Tyra?” Behind them, the three males who had accompanied Anton shifted and shuffled uncomfortably, and he couldn't have cared less. Tyra was in his arms, and he didn't want to let go. He patted her back. “What happened? How did you get away?”

“He let me go. Just… let me go. He said I'd come back on my own.” She hugged herself as if to ward off the chill. From the expression on her face, it was clear that she was haunted by the encounter. He couldn't blame her. Over his dead fucking body would Tyra come back here on her own.

Someone cleared his throat and approached. The one named Xander, who apparently had been out of commission until recently… something about losing his mate. Anton remembered the bodies with the tattoos he'd seen in the ceremony room, and a hard pang hit his chest. His father and the evil of their clan had done so much damage.

“Listen, guys, I hate to piss in everybody's Cheerios here, but this is so clearly a trick.” The male looked around. “The leader of the wizards, who none of us but this guy”—he jerked a thumb toward Anton—“has actually seen, kidnaps Tyra and then just lets her go, no strings attached. No wizard idiots lurking in the bushes to attack. What about him?” He gestured again toward Anton. “How do we know he's not setting us up or something?”

Ah, yes, because Xander had not been present for that first go-round through the portal. And what a shame.

Cold from the night air and the chill of the angry male's words had Anton aching to grab Tyra to pull her close again.
Aching
to. He held off out of respect for her. She fought with these men, and it wouldn't do to make it look as if he needed to hold on to her. Besides that, he didn't want this vampire to think Anton would use Tyra as some kind of shield against his ire.

While he worked to choose his response, biting wind swirled in Anton's nose. It was almost metallic in scent, wind and pine, and it reminded him of that first night that Tyra had drunk from him. He closed his eyes for a beat to take in the memory. When he opened them again, Xander had stepped closer, fists clenched in angry-vampire mode. Not for the first time, Anton's eyes lit on the mating tattoo on the male's left wrist.

A hummingbird drinking from a flower. Very attractive. Very familiar.

Something had nagged at the back of his brain since first seeing that tattoo. He remembered. His gut twisted and the words tumbled out before he was entirely aware of what he was saying. “Your mate. I'm so sorry. She was unconscious when they brought her in. Sometimes they aren't. She didn't suffer. I hope that helps, at least a little.”

Anton saw the whole thing coming before it began, saw the vampire's face contort as understanding dawned, saw the knuckles come flying, and the blood spray. He brought his arms up to guard against the blows, but he let the male have his rage and his hurt. It was what they both deserved. He hadn't killed this vampire's mate, but it was atonement just the same. Anton
had
killed in the past, after all.

Somewhere in the distance there was shouting. Tyra. That was good. She was safe, probably. Although, God… what had his father done? Why had he taken her, and why had he let her go? It had to be some kind of a trick, and fuck if he knew what the old bastard had planned.

He couldn't let this vampire kill him; he wasn't sure yet that Tyra was out of harm's way. That look on her face… something had happened. Anton had to find out what that sick fuck had done to her, and he had to make it right. With a primal yell through swollen lips, he exploded upward, catching the angry vampire under the chin.

“I said stop.” Tyra caught him around the middle.

Siddoh and the other vampire grabbed Xander, who was wild-eyed and staring at Anton the way a hungry lion eyed wounded prey. No question, the male was desperate to go back in for the kill.

“Anton, are you okay?”

Her hand cradled his swollen face gently. He'd never been any prize in the looks department, but this sure as hell wasn't going to help him. “It wasn't me,” he murmured. “His mate. I saw her, but I didn't take part in her ceremony. I should have tried to stop it. I should have tried to stop so many of them…”

“Shh, I know.”

But she didn't know the whole story. Not yet. They hadn't had the chance to talk about it properly. And no sooner had the thought formed in Anton's head than a warm, soothing sensation formed just where Tyra's hand touched his face. The pain abated even as Anton's heart shriveled and dropped into his gut.

Tyra was healing him. Now she did know. She'd absorbed his power by drinking his blood.

***

“Anton.”

He didn't answer. In fact, nobody said a word. Even Xander, who had been snarling and flailing against Flay and Siddoh for another chance to tear Anton apart, was suddenly still. Tyra's hand glowed faintly like a feat of magic, warm amber against the swollen, bloody mess on Anton's cheek. As if he'd just guzzled a pint of her blood, a split on his lip began to seal. First the blood seeping out of it dried up, and then the skin knit together, leaving the lip a little chapped but otherwise no worse for the wear. Well lit from the three-quarter moon, the swelling and bruising of his cheek receded underneath Tyra's fingers.

Part of her—the part that was horrified by the implications of what was going on—wanted to pull away. To run. To slap him in the face, hold him down, and let Xander finish what he'd started or, hell, even beat the shit out of him herself. Part of her was… fascinated.

What did it mean that she'd absorbed a power from Anton, but that she had never sensed evil from him? Then again…

You
could
be
the
key
to
returning
the
balance. You and the other female wizards
.

Tyra dropped her hand, and the light on her palm faded and winked out. Anton seemed to brace himself for what she'd do next.

She'd always had poor radar for the malevolent aura that wizards radiated. Siddoh's was the best; he could smell them miles away. Tyra… she'd always assumed that being half human made it tough for her to detect the wizard evil. But what if Anton's father spoke the truth? What if she'd never detected the evil very easily because she, herself, was part of that evil?

“Tyra…” Anton's breath sawed in and out.

She held up a hand. “I can heal, Anton.”

He frowned through the cuts and bruises that remained on his face. “I can see that.”

“Explain this to me.”

Not that she needed him to. She already knew. Hell, everybody standing in that forest knew. It wasn't rocket science. One of the reasons she'd been choosy about mates over the years was that she'd absorb the power of any mate she both slept with and fed from. It had happened with Siddoh. It had happened with
Anton
.

That meant that Anton had participated in the disgusting ritual that the wizards used to acquire vampire powers. A quick glance around at the rest of the team showed a mix of expressions ranging from anger to concern, but not one of them appeared to be surprised. Not one. So she had been the last to know, apparently.

Nice.

Should've been more choosy, Ty.
“Huh.” She laughed. “I can't believe it.” Though whether she couldn't believe Anton or herself was tough to say. Somehow she had come to trust him more than she realized, and this… this cut deep. Wow, did it ever.

“Tyra, I didn't know how to tell you.” His fingers wrapped around hers.

Tyra broke contact, and she laughed again. Admittedly, a little more hysterically this time. “Gosh, you're right, Anton. It certainly is a tough call. Not exactly first-date material. But maybe knowing before we fucked would have been useful.”

The other males mumbled and shuffled uncomfortably off to the side.

“Tyra, I'm sorry.”

“Sorry?”

His face reddened. Angry, was he? Good. So was she. “Yes, goddammit, I am sorry.” He looked over at Xander, still held by Flay and Siddoh but no longer struggling. “And I did not kill your mate, but I am sorry to you as well.” Back to Tyra. “Look, I was trying to survive. I did everything I could to avoid involving myself in the ritual, but I was living among sociopaths and murderers. I was trying to survive. I did what I had to, yes. And how the hell was I supposed to just come out and tell you that when we were about to make love? Or immediately after, when your brother was beating down your door and I had just realized that you were half wizard.”

The red in his face blossomed and expanded, everything glowing like a banked fire. Shit, another power. Another one? And he knew that she was part wizard. Judging from the look on Siddoh's face, so did he. Was this news a surprise to nobody but her?

“How many, Anton? Can you be honest with me about that, at least? How many times
did
you participate in that disgusting ritual?”

He cleared his throat. The ember glow died down. “Twice. Only twice.”

Tyra's head swam. She couldn't think and couldn't breathe… what was she supposed to do with this? What else might he have kept from her? Oh Jesus—what if this whole thing between them really
had
been a lie? “I'm so stupid.”

For all of her hundred-plus years on the planet, she could still be really naive sometimes. What if this whole thing had been a trick all along? For all she knew, Anton and his father were in this together, trying to muddle her head and get Anton close enough to verify her powers so that they could recruit her. Or worse, claim all of her powers for their own. Oh. God. Why hadn't she thought of that?

Her heart jackhammered in her chest. “I shouldn't have trusted you.”

Anton started toward her. “Tyra, don't say that. I love—”

“Don't you dare say that to me, asshole.” Almost without thought, she sent a fireball shooting from her hand and barely missed him. There was a scuffle and some shouting, but she didn't stick around to see what the final outcome was.

She turned and stormed through the trees, unsure of her destination.