Love. And betrayal.
Rowan.
He’d made sweet, tender love to her last night. She’d seen unspoken love in his eyes. Felt it in his touch. She’d loved him in return, given him her trust. Given him her body, heart, and soul.
Then he’d stolen her memory. And with it, her Powers.
He’d warned her.
Everyone
had warned her. But she hadn’t wanted to believe Rowan was as traitorous as all the rest.
Anguish drove her to her knees in the mud. “Why?” she shouted. “I gave you everything!”
The answer was horribly clear. He truly cared, but not enough to consider her his equal. Didn’t trust her to be his partner. Had left to protect the helpless, weak little wench.
He’d pulled the same high-handed macho crap as her brother and her former fiancé.
And because of it, he was risking himself. He’d trained her to fight, then refused her the chance to cover his back.
Tears tracked down her cheeks. Was everything she’d believed about him, about the love and partnership and trust she’d thought they’d shared, an illusion?
Rage ate through her, devoured the hurt. As she knelt wallowing uselessly in mud and misery, he was charging into battle. Without her. As were the rest of her vastly outnumbered friends, all who faced formidable odds.
Well, screw that.
Anger was an easier burden than heartbreak. Delaney viciously swiped off her face. Shoved to her feet. She’d show the arrogant Mage exactly what Delaney Morgan was made of.
Her hands steadied as she fastened the chain around her throat. She wasn’t foolish enough to think she’d be an asset in battle without her Powers. But if there were
any
way to regain them, one person would know. She sprinted to the car. Gunning the engine, she sped in the direction of Sage O’Farrell’s cabin.
Halfway there, her cell phone chimed. She glanced at the screen. Zack, already? She let the call go to voicemail.
Sorry, Detective Walker. Too much feces on the fan right now.
A text notification beeped seconds later. “I’m suddenly popular.” She pulled over to the shoulder, thumbed the button. Zack again. The message read, “Call me. 911.”
Pulse tripping, she dialed. He answered on the first ring. “Lanie! I’m at the hospital.” She heard the tears in his voice. “Get here immediately!”
“Connor?” she whispered. “Oh, no!”
“Wait, it’s not… Lanie, Connor’s awake!”
“He— he’s—”
Awake?
“Is he…” She started to tremble. Samhain sacrifices would be starting soon. “Is he screaming?”
“No. He’s weak, but I think…I think he’s gonna be okay. He’s asking for you.”
“He’s lucid?” She closed her eyes.
“Talking?
Tell him to hang on, I’ll be there as fast as I can!”
Tires spitting mud, she whipped the GTO into a u-turn. Her thoughts raced faster than the roaring engine. Was it possible…? Had Rowan managed to awaken Connor as “compensation” for hijacking her Powers? Did he think that would justify walking out on her?
Her knuckles whitened on the wheel. After she saw her brother, she was going to go help Rowan, dammit. Whether he liked it or not. Then she would kick his chauvinistic
arse.
* * *
Delaney dashed past the hospital’s reception area to the elevators. Slammed the “up” buttons. “C’mon.” She paced in front of the closed doors.
“Move
, already!”
“Miss,” the gray-haired guy manning the reception desk called out. “That bank of elevators has been glitchy all morning. Go down the corridor to your left, hang another left, and follow the blue arrows to the east wing elevators. When you reach your floor, take the second corridor to your right and cross the sky bridge. Follow the red arrows back to this wing.”
“Ah…” She shook her head. “Thanks. I’ll just hit the stairs.”
She pushed open the stairwell doorway, jogged three flights. Panting, she rounded the landing. Stopped short.
Zack lay crumpled on the linoleum, eyes closed, an ugly black and blue knot welling near his temple.
Her hand flew to her throat. “Zack?” She bent over the unconscious man, relieved when she saw his chest rising and falling with slow breaths. Her relief died as the locks on every door on every landing simultaneously snapped shut.
Cold revulsion slithered along her skin, raising goosebumps. She knew who she’d see behind her, even before she turned around.
Her stepfather looked exactly like had when haunting her dreams. Suave and composed, not a styled gray-blond hair out of place. A slimy, dangerous reptile in a perfectly-tailored charcoal designer suit and scarlet tie.
“Hello, Stanton,” she said, sounding remarkably calm in spite of her heart trying to punch out of her ribcage.
“Delaney. At last.”
“Connor’s not really awake, is he?” She stepped between him and Zack. “It was just another lie. You disabled the elevators, knowing I’d choose the stairs rather than the long way around.”
“Zack, I need to see you at the hospital,”
the monster of her nightmares mocked in a perfect imitation of her own voice.
“Lanie,”
he switched to Zack’s voice.
“Connor’s awake!”
His upper lip curled. “Ceard has shared her Gift of deception with me.”
“‘Ho gets around.”
He leaned closer. His nostrils flared, scenting her. “So do you, apparently.”
She held her ground, protecting Zack while her stepfather’s hands invaded her aura. Frigid rage emanated from him. “The Mage has accomplished what your brother prevented me from doing. He’s stolen my prize.”
She suppressed a shudder. “You knew about my Powers?”
“Even at the tender age of thirteen, your Powers were unprecedented.” His gaze crawled over her. “Your sexual awakening has brought them into full fruition. Blood and sex are potent forces in Magic, Delaney. Especially when combined. I suspect you’ve reached that conclusion by now.”
“What
are
you, you twisted bastard?”
“I’m a Sorcerer, one of the most powerful in the world. MacLachlan made a fatal error in judgment when he betrayed you.
I
won’t plunder your Gifts and abandon you. We’ll share them. Together, we’ll be unstoppable.”
“Too little, too late. Seeing as how I no longer possess any special abilities.”
“Ceard will find a way. And if it involves physical…contact…I won’t be averse to tutoring you. I’ve waited a long time for the opportunity to show you your full potential.” His smile was a slash of evil. “I got cheated out of being your first. But there are other ways to establish blood ties."
She swallowed rising bile. “I’ll slit my own throat first.”
“The filthy Mage tainted your perspective. He treated you like a common whore, used you and tossed you aside. He screwed you over—” He sneered. “In so many, probably very inventive, ways.”
Deception was their opponents’ game. Lies their weapons. She didn’t understand Rowan’s choice to leave her behind. But
he
wasn’t her enemy.
“You sick fuck!” she spat. “I grew up feeling as dirty as a piece of garbage. Secretly wondering what was so warped inside of me that I’d attract a monster. Wary of letting any man get too close, in case it was
me
who was wrong.” She firmed her chin when it wanted to quiver. “But thanks to
the Mage,
I know
you’re
bent.
You’re
the filth.”
Graves sighed. “My deluded little daughter. You’ll come with me now. Learn the truth. Learn what you are.”
“I’m not your daughter. And I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“I can make you, you know.” He offered his hand. “However, I’d rather you come willingly.”
She raked him with a scornful glance. “I’m no longer a helpless little girl. And I’m not afraid of you anymore.”
“I see that. You’ve grown into quite a woman.” His avid gaze slinked over her a second time. “Perhaps I’ll have you here and now. Take a quick test drive.” He body-slammed her against the wall, grabbed her by the hair.
She rammed her knee upward toward his crotch, but before it even made contact, he screamed and flinched away. As he shook his blistered hand, the stink of scalded flesh permeated the air.
“Shit!
MacLachlan cast a defensive spell on you!” He muttered an incantation, then tentatively reached out to touch a curl. Furious steam hissed, and he jerked back a reddened fingertip.
Rowan had shielded her from Supernatural harm before he’d stolen her Powers and left her? Thanks for playing, Delaney, here’s your consolation prize. “Gee, you can’t breach it? Once again proving Rowan is twice the man—or Mage—you’ll ever be.”
“Clever, but not insurmountable.” He reached inside his suit jacket and withdrew a gun—Zack’s service pistol. “MacLachlan’s shield protects you. I can however…” He waved the pistol at Zack. “Shoot him.” His eyes narrowed. “You will go with me. Or the detective dies.”
She arched a brow. “An all-powerful Sorcerer…really? A gun boosted from an unconscious human is the best you can do?”
“The detective will appear to be the victim of a random mugging. A pity, as no one but MacLachlan
has
to die today.”
Everything within her rebelled at the humiliation of being marched into the enemy camp at gunpoint. A pawn, used to manipulate her teammates…and hamstring Rowan. Fulfill her Mage’s weak link expectation.
She wouldn’t be anybody’s pawn. Refused to be the weak link.
Delaney could no longer sense the connection that had bound her to Rowan. Had no awareness of his thoughts or presence. No lingering vestiges of her missing Powers. But that didn’t mean every trace was permanently gone. Rowan had taught her to look past what she could see, to think beyond perceived reality.
Her blood was a part of him, his a part of her. And they shared a deep, intense bond.
She reached out with her senses, groping blindly. Found a whispery vapor of mist. Her essence followed the nebulous trail, slowly at first. Then stronger, faster, picking up speed…until her essence collided headlong with Rowan’s.
He was fighting like a whirlwind, sword strokes an icy flash as he beheaded dozens of demons. Using her Powers to ramp up his own.
She felt his shock and surprise when she grasped onto her Power.
Ha, found you!
she gloated.
Underestimated me, didn’t you?
She ripped her Powers away from him.
He swayed. Stumbled. To her horror, she saw him falter and sink to his knees. Saw a fresh horde of demons attack, overrun him. Her blood froze in her veins.
Rowan! I’m sorry! I didn’t know—
He flung up his shields and shut her out.
Trembling violently, she blinked, refocused on Graves. She had to get to Rowan! She was furious with him, but didn’t want him to die!
She called her sword, and the gleaming garnet hilt slid cold and hard into her palm. “Time to demonstrate my full potential. Put down the gun and face me like a Sorcerer.”
“So we won’t need Ceard after all.” Sardonic amusement stamped Stanton’s aristocratic features as he tucked the pistol into his suit jacket. He produced a long, wicked blade, rapier thin steel jutting from an ornate gilded guard. Smirking, he whipped the tip in a figure eight. “Shall we play?”
She didn’t have time for games. Rowan would soon be in Ceard’s ruthless hands. Hands that had torn out his father’s beating heart.
Slippery fingers of fear and doubt crawled up her spine. Her trembling arms threatened to go numb and drop the sword.
Rowan, what have I done to you?
She shook off the numbness. If she surrendered to panic, he could die.
Don’t think about Rowan. Use what he taught you.
Delaney attacked, giving no quarter.
She swung, Graves parried. Sparks erupted as steel clashed with steel. He outmatched her in experience and skill, but she was faster…and fueled by desperate resolve.
The small landing left no room for error, complicated by having to leap back and forth over Zack’s inert form. Stanton blocked her next strike, drove her into the corner. Although he couldn’t hurt her, every wasted minute might cost Rowan his life.
She danced aside, thrust beneath his blade like she had with the demon. He was ready for it, blocked her again. As his blade scraped up hers and whipped free, her pulse pounded in her ears, thundering with the ancient song of battle.
Graves’ sword whistled past her face, and she reared back, dodging it. She tripped over Zack’s leg, went sprawling.
Graves grinned. “Point to me, I believe.”
Precious time was ticking away with every heartbeat, and with it, Rowan’s lifeblood.
Shoulders drooping, feigning fatigue and intimidation, she slowly pushed to her feet. “You’re good.”
“Done in already? How disappointing. I expected a better challenge.” Graves preened before executing an elaborate pivot.
She charged his unprotected left side, swinging hard and fast. A slash opened in his suit coat over his ribs, oozing a slight swell of blood.
Her stepfather tossed back his head and
laughed
at her. “Touché, little girl.” He saluted her with his sword. “You might just fulfill your destiny after all.”
The arrogant bastard was still laughing when she rammed her blade through his heart.
Delaney yanked out the dripping sword. She separated Graves’ head from his neck before his body hit the floor. “Rule One, asshole.”
The stairwell doors unlocked.
She sheathed her weapon, snatched the pistol from inside Graves’ suit and stuck it in her jacket pocket. Leaning over Zack, she tugged his backup piece from his ankle holster, shoved it into her other pocket. She grasped him beneath the arms, then dragged him into the main corridor. “Help,” she yelled at a group of medical personnel. “My friend’s been mugged!”
In the ensuing pandemonium, she slipped back into the stairwell. Apparently, Sorcerers didn’t incinerate like demons. Nothing she could do about Graves’ remains, but that wasn’t her biggest worry at the moment.
Delaney used Power to toss out a concealment spell, lock the doors behind her and enhance her physical strength while she sprinted to the top floor. She had the hospital switchboard on speed-dial to keep tabs on Connor. She hit the button as she ran. “This is Doctor Adams.” Giving the name of Connor’s neurosurgeon, she spiked a Power compulsion into her demand. “I need the Life-Flight team on the helipad, stat.”