Steal the Moon (30 page)

I moved away from Dev, making sure to stay out of arm’s reach. “I’m bringing it to you, Lucas. Don’t hurt him.”

I moved quickly before Dev could react and found myself taking the man’s place with Halfer’s gun at my head. I do stupid things sometimes, but Halfer was right. I don’t believe in collateral damage. I couldn’t live with it. Even in the dark I could see Dev’s panic.

“Now, it’s going to go like this, Quinn,” Halfer started, firmly in control of the situation. “I’m going to take your lover and get in the car. You’re going to watch and do absolutely nothing or I’ll blow her head off. Is she collateral damage in your little war?”

“You’ll kill her anyway,” Dev said, and I saw the hatred in his eyes.

“Maybe, but I think that vampire is probably figuring out he should get his ass here, and I would love to not have him rip my heart out again,” Lucas explained logically. “I’m going to get in my car with Zoey here and I’ll leave her down the road. Her husband can come and save her. He likes to do that. Tell him to bring that blood of his because she’s going to need it.”

I felt the cold at my temple and then I was being herded toward a black Lincoln Navigator. I could see that Dev hadn’t taken out all of Halfer’s accomplices since there was a small man with beady eyes behind the wheel. Dev followed us, waiting for any slipup. I could see how angry he was in the way he held himself. His rage at being completely unable to save me was in every muscle of his body. I was pretty sure it wasn’t just Halfer he was mad at.

Halfer opened the door to the back seat.

“Zoey,” Dev yelled. “Don’t you dare die. I’m planning on killing you myself.”

“Love you, too,” I shouted as Halfer shoved me in the car. The minute the door was closed, the driver hit the gas and plowed through the night.

“Let me have it,” Halfer ordered, pulling the statue out of my hands. He groaned as he moved, but he forced himself to grip the artifact despite his obvious pain. He held it up and inspected it. He didn’t seem to have any of the same concerns I had about the piece. He admired it like it was a blessed object. “It’s a shame, really. It’s so lovely.”

Halfer smashed the statue against the door with his good hand. It came apart under the strength of the impact, sending pieces of marble flying. I covered my eyes but when I looked up again, he was holding a petrified paw.

“I thank you, Zoey,” he said with a self-satisfied smile. “I could never have gotten this without you. This is going to change the game. This gives me all the power in the world.”

Suddenly there was a loud thump and the car swerved wildly.

“It’s a wolf,” the driver said, trying to get the car under control. “It’s a big brown wolf.”

Score one for Zack. I tried to look out the window to see if I could make him out. He seemed to be moving on the roof. Then there was a horrible screeching sound and a claw became visible through the top of the car.

Halfer cursed but held up the paw and intoned a spell in Latin. Demons love their Latin. I think it’s pretentious and silly, but they don’t really listen to me. Whatever it was, it wasn’t working as Zack was doing a fine job of creating a sunroof where before there was none. I started looking at Halfer’s gun, wondering if there was any way I could get it.

“Why isn’t it working?” Frustration saturated his words.

“Guess you’re out of luck,” I said with that smile I was sure he hated. “It doesn’t work on Zack. That’s the name of the guy who’s about to eat you. I’ll introduce him properly when he gets through the roof.”

With a howl of rage, Halfer slapped me across the face, and I felt my lip start to bleed. He reared back his fist and I waited for him to break my jaw. He stopped suddenly as Zack was almost through. I brought my hands up to try to protect my head.

“Time to see how well trained your wolf is.” Halfer leaned over and opened the door on my side of the car. I took the opportunity to reach for the paw. The damn thing was mine.

“Uh uh,” he said as the wind rushed in. We had to be going seventy. “Not going to happen, Zoey. Time to drop you off. It’s been nice seeing you. Hope you enjoyed the ride.”

He leaned back and with his expensive loafers, kicked me out of the car.

The world rushed by in a blur. I hit the pavement and rolled for a really long time. Without a doubt I would have been a dead girl if I hadn’t been taking Daniel’s blood on a regular basis. Even with that vampire blood, I felt every bone in my body. I wasn’t sure how many were broken, but I was certain it was a bunch. I didn’t even try to lift my head off the pavement. My whole body was a mass of pain. So much I couldn’t really tell where it was coming from. It simply was. Pain. Utter agony blanketed me.

I heard a little whimper and felt the tentative lick of a warm tongue on my face. I opened my eyes, but everything was fuzzy and blurry. I tried to cry but that hurt, too. A low moan was all I could manage. Zack did the only thing he could. He stood beside me and let me know he was there. He threw back his head and howled to try to let the others know where we were.

My left arm was at an odd angle. I stared at it, trying to make sense of why it pointed the wrong way. I tried to move it but had no luck. My muscles seemed too concerned with pain to respond. I heard a car zooming along and then the screech of brakes. I would have turned to see if someone was going to call an ambulance or maybe animal control when they got a look at Zack, but then Dev was turning me over and I was moaning again. Every touch brought fresh agony.

“Oh, goddess. What did he do to you?” Dev asked quietly, looking me over.

“He pitched her out of a moving car.” Zack was suddenly human again. He was naked, of course, and like most wolves, he didn’t seem to care. “That bastard kicked her right out of the car without slowing down even a little. She should be dead.”

Dev sighed. “She’s not and we have more trouble than that. The vampire blood is going to start healing her soon.”

I wasn’t following the conversation well because Zack’s face screwed up in horror at the thought. The vampire blood healing me seemed like a really good thing. I was pretty heinously broken and being whole again was a thing I’d like to achieve. Anything to make the pain go away.

Dev frowned down at me, his face tense. “Sweetheart, I’m not going to lie to you. This is going to hurt. I’m so sorry.”

“It already hurts, Dev,” I managed to get out. Tears stung my eyes. I really thought I couldn’t take any more freaking pain. “Where is Danny?”

“I don’t know,” Dev said softly. “Hold her arm at the elbow, Zack. Don’t let it move.”

Zack kneeled beside me and held my elbow.

I got really nauseous at the sight of my bone sticking straight out of my arm. “Don’t touch it!”

“Zoey, if we don’t set that arm, it’s going to heal like that,” Zack pointed out.

My stomach rolled at the thought. I’d had a bunch of internal injuries healed with vampire blood, but this was my first broken bone. It was also apparently my second and third as Dev explained that both of my legs were broken. I just let the tears roll now as Zack held me firmly and Dev pulled. I couldn’t help the scream that came but welcomed the blackness that followed shortly after.

“Hey, baby. You have to wake up, now.” Daniel’s voice broke through the darkness, and I moaned as I came right back into pain.

He was behind me, a smoky smell clinging to his clothes. He held his wrist to my mouth and the blood was flowing. I let it coat my tongue, wanting it more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. I lapped at it, praying it would start to work and I wouldn’t feel every nerve in my body alight with agony. Relief washed over me as the blood started to warm my insides.

“That’s right, baby. Take what you need,” Daniel was saying as his free hand stroked my hair.

Dev stood over me, his expression grave, and I knew I was in for some kind of lecture when I was feeling better. Lee was sitting in the car, looking like he was getting over the worst of the sickness, but his eyes were guilty as he stared at me. Zack was dressed again, though in jeans and a T-shirt he resembled his brother more than normal.

“I’m so sorry,” Daniel was saying quietly.

“Is everyone all right?” Dev asked, looking behind me at Daniel. I was sure Daniel had filled everyone in on Halfer’s activities.

“Joel is dead.” Daniel’s voice was a flat monotone. “The house is gone. Justin worked fast or it would have been a whole lot worse. He got the girls out. Jean-Marc is burned pretty badly, but he’ll recover. I moved everyone over to Chad’s.”

“We’ll find a new place tomorrow,” Dev assured him.

I let my head fall back against Daniel’s chest. Exhaustion swamped me, but the blood was doing its work now. I could feel myself healing, and the pain was replaced with a warm sense of well-being.

“Take her, will you, Dev?” Daniel asked, and Dev picked me up and started toward the car.

I looked back at my husband. Danny’s body was rigid with tension. He caught my eyes but there was nothing encouraging in his face, just a flat, hollow look.

Guilt pressed on me. I’d been reckless. I should have vetted the entire situation better, but I’d been eager to get ahead of Halfer, to prove that he couldn’t best me in my own world. And Danny had paid the price. Joel had paid the price.

Daniel pulled his cell out of his back pocket and punched in a number. Dev was putting me in the car as Daniel began to speak.

“This is Donovan. My access number is 75502E45. Yeah, I’m going to need a cleaning crew. Send everyone you have to I-35 about three miles out of Fort Worth. You can’t miss it.” He paused and sighed. “It’s not for me. Yes, it’s my wife again. Just call Vorenus. He’ll clear her. Hell, call Marini himself. I don’t care, but if you don’t get your ass out here, I can tell you what the front page of the
Star-Telegram
is going to be tomorrow morning.”

Daniel snapped the phone shut. He frowned down at me. “I have to meet the crew at the drop sight. I’ll see you at home.”

I shook my head. “Dev has to go with you. He has to fix the oak grove.” We couldn’t leave it there. The mutilated road could be explained away, but not a bunch of trees.

“I did that while Zack chased you down. It took me thirty seconds, but I worry the drivers saw me. They need their memories wiped,” Dev said.

Daniel nodded, and then he was gone again. Dev closed the door. He got around to the other side and joined me in the backseat. Zack and Lee were in the front, and Zack pulled away, driving us back toward Denton. We were going to take the long route home to avoid anyone remembering the car.

Lee looked back at me. “I’m sorry, Zoey.”

“You couldn’t help it.” I’d gotten him into a bad situation, too.

“You should have left me,” he said in a voice that told me he respected me because I hadn’t. He turned back around and let his head rest against the seat.

“If you ever try anything like this again, I swear to the goddess I will lock you up,” Dev started and I knew he was going to blow off some steam. “I’m going to be saying no a whole lot in the future, my mistress. I’m going to become the king of no. Do you understand me? Let me go over all the ways you tried to kill yourself tonight.”

Dev yelled, letting all of his terror out in a torrent of words. The list of things I’d done was really long and went on for many miles, but I did one right thing as Dev was screaming.

I reached over and clicked my seat belt closed. I had learned that lesson.

Chapter Nineteen

I stared out the window of the large SUV, taking in the sights of the mountains, but I couldn’t really concentrate. I leaned my head against the cool glass pane as the driver turned up what I hoped was the final road. John McKenzie’s place was really isolated. Dev held my hand as he looked around as well. I could see he was satisfied with the beauty of the place. I, for one, was not looking forward to spending the next week in a tent.

Of course, it would probably be better than the last week. Dev had spent the entire night of my blown heist yelling at me and giving me all kinds of ultimatums I knew he would never follow through on. At one point, he was taking me to an unspecified location where he would keep me barefoot and pregnant for the rest of my days. He’d given me all kinds of guilt trips, but when the time had come to go to bed, he climbed in next to me and held me close. When morning had come, he woke me up in the sweetest way and was back to being Dev. I was coddled and cuddled and loved until I cried out all my tension.

Daniel was another story. Daniel was doing what he always did. Daniel was pulling away.

For the last week, he hadn’t slept with us, preferring to use the interior room. He still fed and he still had sex with me. When he was making love to me, there was no question in my mind that it was love. He was passionate and said all the right things in the heat of the moment, but after, there was a coldness and a distance that left me feeling brutally alone. Danny had worked with Dev relentlessly to get ready for this meeting, but he wouldn’t share a bed and he wouldn’t go out with us when we took the night off.

He blamed me for what happened to Joel, or he blamed himself. Either way, I felt his absence and I was going to have to find a way to work through it.