The Warrior Vampire (32 page)

 

CHAPTER

27

Ronan rifled through the cupboard in Naya's empty dining room. His head pounded and a dry, raging fire burned in his throat. After he woke from yet another epic battle with the magic trying to take over his body, his only option had been to draw on the communal power that Claire and Mikhail supplied to the interconnected web of vampire-kind. It had certainly helped to get him back to fighting condition, but what he really needed was his mate's blood to nourish him.

Where in the hell was she?

Icy shards of panic speared Ronan's chest. The fear that gripped his heart in a vise was unlike anything he'd ever felt before.

Was she in danger?

Ronan reached through their tether, his frustration mounting as he was greeted by a dark void of sensation that left him shaken. First things first, he needed to find Naya. Then Chelle. And then he was getting the hell out of this town. He only hoped that that it wasn't too late for all of them.

Ronan stepped out on the porch without a clue as to where he should start. For a town the size of a cracker, he was surprised how tough it was to find his way around. Beyond the town proper lay acres of rain forests. To the other side, the ocean. The Pacific Coast Highway sliced it all in half, a beautiful tourist stop on the drive to SoCal. He supposed it was beautiful in the light of day. Green, lush, quaint. The perfect contrast to the blue waters of the Pacific in the distance. In the dark of night, however, Ronan was reminded that monsters lurked in the shadows. Demons intent on creating havoc. A cold, dark, evil presence that stole the cheer from this small town and turned it into something corrupt. Had Chelle had anything to do with that?

The presence of someone lurking in the shadows at the edge of Naya's property put Ronan on high alert. He kept his demeanor relaxed as he continued to stroll down the driveway as though unaware. Steps, barely audible despite the graveled driveway, overcame him and Ronan darted to his left, grabbing his assailant's arm as he tossed her body to the ground in front of him.

“Where is she, you son of a bitch?”

Ronan pursed his lips as he regarded one very enraged witch. Luz's chest heaved with her breath and her eyes sparked with a vengeful fire. Damn it, he'd hoped that Naya would be with her cousin. The fact that she wasn't caused the cold lump of dread in his gut to grow. “I thought she'd be with you.” Ronan reined in his anger, though what he wanted to do was break the nearest available object.
Where in the hell is she?

“Well, she's not.” Luz pushed up from the ground and dusted herself off. “I've been trying to track her down for over an hour. Paul said that she never showed up at the house and she promised me—”

“Never showed up? She left here before sundown to turn herself in.”

“So she lied?”

“No.” Ronan would have smelled the deception had she lied. “Something happened to her. I can't feel her through our tether.”

Luz pursed her lips and gave him some serious side eye. “That's just creepy, vamp boy. But I'm inclined to agree with you. Naya is no fan of tribal structure, but when it comes to protecting those she cares about, she does what has to be done.”

“Then Paul's lying.” A growl vibrated in Ronan's chest. He was going to get that bastard in a corner and the male was going to answer for his unreasonable mandates and harsh treatment of Ronan's mate.

“Honestly, I wouldn't put it past him,” Luz remarked. She looked around as though trying to decide her next move. “I could see him lying to an outsider like you.” She gave him an apprising look. “But why lie to me?”

Exactly.

Ronan took off down the driveway, his mind spinning with myriad scenarios. Naya wasn't dead—he would have recognized their tether being cut—but that didn't mean she wasn't in a shitload of trouble.

“Hey, bloodsucker!” Luz gave a sharp whistle and Ronan spun around. “Are you seriously going to hoof it twelve miles into town when we can drive?”

Ronan could have covered twelve miles on foot faster than they could drive. But with a force of Bororo warriors presumably out hunting him, perhaps stealth would be the better choice.

“This way.” Luz headed back the way she'd come around the back of the house. An older-model Toyota 4Runner was parked several yards down the road.

“Trying to sneak up on me?” Ronan quirked a brow as he climbed in.

“Just wanted the element of surprise on my side in case you were slurping my cousin dry.”

“I know my current state is volatile, but I would never hurt her.”

“Yeah, I know,” Luz said as though disappointed. “Sort of a bummer I won't get a chance to test my hand-to-hand combat skills with a vamp. Anyway, I suspected she wasn't here when I pulled up.”

“Why's that?”

“I think she's unconscious,” Luz said. “If she were awake, I'd be able to hear her.”

“The magic?” Ronan asked.

“Yeah. I can hear hers from really far away. She's überpowerful.” His mate was indeed powerful. “Even if she were asleep, I still think I'd hear it, but it would be faint. So she's either down for the count or she's…”

“She's not dead,” Ronan said. “
I
would know if that were the case.”

“Well, guessing isn't going to do me a damned bit of good if I can't track her.”

Luz couldn't track Naya, but maybe Ronan could. It was a long shot—she'd only taken a small amount of his blood on her tongue. It might be enough for him to find her, however, if he was in close enough proximity.

“We'll start out in town and fan out from there. Is it possible that any other members of your pod have houses or properties that are secret, like Naya's?”

“It's doubtful,” Luz said. For the most part, we're one big happy family if you know what I mean.”

Somehow, Ronan doubted that. If Naya resented being under Paul's thumb, there was a good chance others did, too. “Where does your loyalty lie when it comes to her?” Ronan had to be sure that Luz wouldn't stand in his way if someone from their pod had taken Naya. They were a tight-knit group, and in those circumstances family strife was dealt with internally.

“My loyalty is to my girl,” Luz replied. “Everyone else can piss off.”

Ronan sensed no deception in her words; her scent was clean, reminiscent of a spring forest. Like Naya. His heart clenched in his chest as a fresh wave of anxiety-fueled rage came over him. He would rip the throat from any creature who sought to do her harm. And he would revel in the kill.

*   *   *

A twinge of pain stung at Naya's neck. Not the pleasant bite that suffused her with warmth when Ronan fed from her, but more like she'd been zapped by a hornet the size of her fist.
Ouch.
Her lids were heavy, and though she wanted to reach up and massage the spot on her skin that burned with a pulsing fire, she couldn't get her arm to cooperate. Gods, she couldn't remember the last time she'd been so exhausted.

“Ronan?” Her voice was unfamiliar in her ears, thick and slurred. Even her tongue refused to work correctly as it stuck to her too-dry mouth.

She was answered by silence, and a ribbon of anxiety unfurled in her stomach. Where was he?

The scratch of synthetic fibers abraded her cheek. Not the downy softness of her own pillow. Her last memory was of lying next to Ronan on her bed. Naked, deliciously sated, and feeling more whole and content than she had in her entire existence. Had she rolled off the bed onto the floor? And if so, why was she so damned helpless to get up? Talk about some serious lovin'. He'd rendered her completely useless.

Even the smile that grew on her lips was slow to form. This wasn't right. Something was seriously wrong with her.

Naya attempted to center her focus, but her mind wandered. A meditative state was essential to draw on her power. Images swirled, and a collage of the past several days played like a slide show in her mind's eye. Ronan, standing in the rain, magic leaking from his pores and his expression pained. The hard lines of his body as he fought against the silver chains she'd used to bind him to the bed. His fierceness as he fought the mapiguari. The concern and gentle care he showed her by hiding them in the storage container on the pier. The passion that lit his eyes with brilliant silver as he'd made love to her.

Love.

Could she love Ronan? His concern, his protectiveness, and his interest in
her
that went beyond what she could do and how it might benefit him caused her chest to ache with tender emotion. He'd laid himself bare to her as well, trusting her with the most painful memory of his past. An undeniable connection flared between them, an arc that ran soul deep, and a sense of comfort enveloped her just from being near him.

If those things weren't the very seeds of love, she didn't know what was.

Naya tried to open her eyes, but all she wanted to do was sleep. It didn't matter that the floor was hard beneath her or that her skin was chilled without the heat from his body beside her. Who needed a pillow when exhaustion weighed so heavily? And the pain that pulsed steadily in her neck … yeah, it was a little more than annoying, but maybe she could sleep it off without drawing on her power to heal it.

Sleep would make everything better.…

As she floated toward oblivion, a sense of unease scratched at the back of Naya's brain. Whatever she was forgetting, it was important. An entire chunk of hours that had been replaced by darkness in her mind. Sort of like the gap of time that was missing from Ronan's memory.

Where was he? Why couldn't she move?
What in the hell is going on?

The fear that seized her helped to clear the fog that had settled on her brain. Her limbs were still heavy and weak and there wasn't enough saliva in her mouth to swallow against the dryness coating her tongue. She didn't bother trying to open her eyes again. Instead, Naya turned her focus inward as she attempted once again to center her power.

Warmth gathered in her stomach, a tiny sphere of energy the size of a marble. She envisioned it as a pinpoint of blue light that pulsed at the center of her being.
There it is.
Now that she had a grasp of the magic, growing and manipulating it would be easier. The marble gained in mass like a snowball coasting downhill as Naya drew on her power. Her breathing became deep, even, and her heartbeat slowed.
Thrump.… Thrump.… Thrump.…
Thoughts that thwarted her focus were sucked away like water down a drain, and the world around her dropped away as she achieved the perfect meditative state.

The blue orb that pulsed in her center exploded.

Power flooded her body, saturated her pores, and coursed through her veins. The pain in her neck disappeared, and though her memory still failed her, her mind became sharp and clear. Naya no longer felt as though she could sleep for hours. Instead, she was ready for a fight.

Her eyes snapped open and her vision was hazed over with a gossamer web of blue. Flooded with the magic inborn to her, Naya stumbled as she pushed herself to stand. Maybe her focus had been a little too sharp. Her brain buzzed and her ears rang in the silence that enveloped her. Adrenaline coursed through her veins and her once nearly still heartbeat kicked up its pace.

Whoa.

She'd been introduced to several new facets of her power over the past few days. And of all things, she had a vampire infected with parasitic magic to thank for it. A smile crept to Naya's lips, but her amusement was short-lived. She looked around the empty room—one of many in the large house the elders used for day-to-day business.

How did she get here? And when?

She reached around to her back; her dagger was gone, as were her sidearm and the knife she kept tucked in her boot. A search through her memory turned up nothing, as though an impenetrable wall blocked her path. She never would have left her house unarmed, which meant someone had divested her of her weapons or she'd been brought here against her will. Either option left her shaken. Because in order for anyone to do that, they would have had to go through Ronan to get to her.

Naya sprang to action, unwilling to remain static for a moment longer. A quick search of the house confirmed that she'd been left here without anyone to keep guard over her.
Interesting.
Familiarity tugged at her memory, as though the key to the missing chunk was just within her grasp. A cold chill snaked around her arms, residual malicious magic. She hadn't done an extraction since the night she'd tried to banish it from Ronan. Or had she?

Damn it.
Not knowing what had happened stressed her the hell out. Her worry for Ronan overrode even her own sense of self-preservation. She needed to find him, make sure he was safe. If Joaquin or Paul or anyone else had laid a finger on him, her wrath would rival any punishment the gods could conjure. She'd make them all pay.

Naya wandered down the hallways, poking her head into this doorway and that only to find more of the same unhelpful nothing. She might as well have wandered in after hours and fallen asleep on the floor without any help from anyone. At the back end of the house, Naya stopped at the entrance to the council room, the very place where the elders had made their decree that she was to be mated to Joaquin. She let out a derisive snort as she walked into the room, remembering how she couldn't help but think that their order signaled the end to her marginally happy life.

Now the prospect of being mated to a male didn't fill her with dread. Rather, it filled her with a sense of hope. A future of companionship and a connectivity that she'd never had with anyone else. In hindsight, she realized that it wasn't the idea of being mated that was so unsavory. No, it was the command that she be mated to a male she hadn't chosen for herself.