Unchained (Men in Chains Book 3) (2 page)

You’re beautiful
slid through her mind.

She didn’t react; instead she held herself open to him, wanting to understand him. She no longer thought she was in the grip of a mind-bending drug, and she never drank more than would give her a nice buzz.

No, the man was real.

Oddly, her fears began to dissipate as her curiosity rose. She felt like she did when she was deep into some aspect of her studies, like she’d come home, as though she belonged here talking with this otherworldly man.

She resonated with him.

The term wasn’t exactly scientific in nature, but that’s what came to her as she stood in front of—what was his name? Marius Briggs. The questions came, the ones that rolled through her mind as familiar to her as breathing. “What hidden world? And you’re not human? Yet you look human. Are our species related?”

He seemed exasperated as he shoved a hand through his loose, slightly messy dark hair. He grimaced. “I don’t have time for this.” He glanced around, worried.

Michelson, her former lover, had often been exasperated with her. If Mr. Briggs hoped to get her help, he’d better lose the attitude and start talking.

Despite his hold on her, she wiggled just enough to fold her arms over her chest and lift her chin. “I’m going to need some answers if you expect me to cooperate.”

“I’d better just show you.”

He pulled back his lips slightly and the next moment, she watched a set of what appeared to be extremely sharp fangs descend.

More horror movies popped through her mind. Really? Fangs? Flight? The black leather coat and all this supreme sexiness?

She wrinkled her nose. “You’re a vampire?”

“We’ve lived in a secret cavern-based culture, right alongside yours, all this time, with our own customs and beliefs, our own problems. But we have disguising abilities, something that apparently you’re good at seeing through but have kept us as separate species from the beginning of life on earth.”

A number of thoughts and questions rattled through her brain, some of a scientific nature stemming from her curiosity about other cultures. But he’d already told her enough that she sensed she was in some kind of danger. “Does your kind prey on ours?”

“The worst of my kind does, yes, and they need to be stopped, which is why I’ve come to you for help.”

“And I’ll need to go with you, right?”

He breathed a sigh of relief. “Exactly.”

“Well, I’m sorry, Mr. Otherworld Vampire, but I’m going to Malaysia to do critical fieldwork. I’m leaving in two weeks and I have a boatload of work to get done before I go. I have my own life, my own goals, and sorry but you’re out of luck.”

She’d spoken with confidence, but he still had hold of her arms and his face was taking on a tight, stubborn look. “You’re still not understanding either the depth of my world’s need or why it has to be you.”

“Oh, come on, I can’t be that special.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. You have specific, latent abilities that dovetail with my world. The fact that you can communicate telepathically with me no problem at all is a profound indication that what I’m telling you is true. And we need you, desperately.”

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you. I’m still kind of in shock.”

“As you should be.”

He looked so damn sincere. If she’d met him anywhere else, like at a party, she would have trusted him.

The flying man got a strange look on his face, his gaze still pinned to hers. “I saw pictures of you, but I didn’t think you’d be this beautiful. My God.” His voice had dropped into the lower registers.

She knew that man-sound. For all his fine words about looking for someone to help him save his world, maybe he was just cruising the university bars looking to get laid. Maybe this was just his line. No doubt male vampires, sharing DNA with humans as he suggested, had a lot in common with males of her species.

Except that his kind could fly.

Yeah. Except for that. And they had fangs for a purpose well documented in human fiction.

Her dizziness returned, only different this time. As she stared at him, he seemed to fade as well as the grip on her arm. She thought maybe she was fainting, but instead the space around her began to spin, increasing the sense that she could topple over.

She remained upright, but new images arrived. She saw Marius standing in the doorway of what had to be a bathroom. He wore a robe of some kind, silk maybe, and dark blue with a pattern on it.

She moved, only it wasn’t her, but some future version of herself in the vision. She couldn’t see it clearly, because strange dark waves covered parts of it. But from what she could make out, she was in a bathroom unknown to her and she was completely naked. What was he saying? Something like he thought she could use the robe. She watched as he hung it up on the back of the door.

Shayna did not understand what she was looking at, except that she was now drying off with her towel and didn’t seem in the least distressed. Which meant that she was incredibly comfortable with Marius although he seemed to be uneasy.

She felt herself speak within this weird vision, a very strange sensation:
Thank you. I love the paisley in your robe. Is that silk you’re wearing?

For reasons she couldn’t explain, she felt that this was some kind of vision of the future. She knew then that she’d slept with Marius and that she’d loved it.

Oh, dear God, what the hell was happening to her?

When she closed her eyes, the present returned, and she found that Marius still had hold of her arms but was essentially holding her upright.

“Shayna,” he called sharply. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, but you and I … we were together. In a bathroom somewhere. You were dressed, but I’d been showering.”

“Shit, have you just had a vision of the future?”

“I think so. Or maybe one possible future. My head aches from trying to make sense of everything. This really can’t be happening.”

*   *   *

Marius Briggs saw her confusion. He hated doing this to her, confronting her about issues in his world and trying to persuade her to come with him.

And now she’d just had a vision of the future. He could hardly wrap his head around that, or around the fact that she’d seen them together, as a couple.

More than anything else, she’d just confirmed his belief that she could help his world. She had more power than he’d seen in a long time, and she was human, another confirmation that she was the right choice.

But how could he make her understand how much she was needed? The fact that she could see him also reflected the nature of her latent power and that Rumy had been right to send him here to Seattle.

He just had a couple of problems. First, he shouldn’t have left Italy when he did, because he was still recovering from the effects of blood-starvation and the long flight had weakened him.

Second, what he was about to do went against every single one of his principles. He believed in the rights of the individual over everything else. But in this situation, if Shayna didn’t actually agree to come with him, he might have to abduct her.

Even thinking about it made him sick in his gut, but he was out of options. He had an entire world to save, maybe even human earth as well, and Shayna Prentiss was the only woman on the planet who could help him right now.

She just looked so damn young to be the last, best hope for his world.

But Daniel was driving relentlessly through the vampire world, going after the final extinction weapon full-bore. The weapon, through the use of a pre-set decibel, had the ability to kill any vampire within its proximity with just a flip of the switch. If Daniel got hold of the weapon before Marius did, his entire culture was doomed to either slavery or annihilation. Daniel, the psychopath that he was, would take great pleasure in either venture.

Torture was Daniel’s specialty, but mass murder would no doubt have tremendous appeal to his sick mind.

Shayna, according to Rumy’s best information, had a unique, human ability to form a tracking pair with Marius. If she would agree to work with him, together they could secure the location of the weapon before Daniel. The trouble was, Daniel was offering a fortune to anyone who could find the weapon.

And the hunt was on.

Essentially, Marius was running out of time. He’d taken precautions to make his way secretly to Seattle, to find Shayna, and to bring her back to Italy with him. But Daniel was a powerful Ancestral and might have sent his men to watch his movements. He could be under attack at any moment.

Then there was Shayna herself. He didn’t want to intrude in her life in this way, but he had no other recourse. She was
the one.
The telepathy, that she could see through his disguise, as well as her unexpected vision had confirmed it.

Knowing he had to do everything he could to persuade her, he released his disguise fully, something he hadn’t wanted to do in case he’d been followed. But he wouldn’t just snatch Shayna without trying to talk to her, to persuade her so that he didn’t have to resort to abduction.

He glanced around, but so far so good. He’d know if any of his kind had shown up.

“The wavy lines are gone.” Her light-blue eyes went wide. “Why is that?”

“I just dropped my disguise, which makes me vulnerable, but I want you to be able to trust me. Your vision has confirmed that you’re the right woman, the one I’ve been looking for. Please come with me. Let me show you my world and talk to you in depth about what’s going on.”

“And you really are a vampire?”

He nodded.

She put two fingers to her temple and rubbed in a circle, squeezing her eyes shut. “I feel so dizzy.”

“It’s probably the telepathy. I had to punch pretty hard against your mind to break through, another indication of your level of natural power. I can explain everything later. I don’t want you to be scared, but I need to take you away right now.”

“You don’t want me to be scared? You’re gripping my arms, you’re the size of a tank, and now you’re talking about needing to cart me off somewhere.”

“Shayna, we’ve got a bad guy running lose and he’s trying to take over our world. The thing is, if he succeeds, he’ll be after yours next and there will be nothing you can do to stop him.”

She searched his eyes for a long moment, frowning. “Even if all this is true, what can that possibly have to do with me? I’m an anthropology grad student here at U-Dub. I’m not exactly superhero material. More like an egghead-type who happens to be curious about other cultures.”

“Then maybe look at it this way: You’ll be able to see an entirely different civilization firsthand. Doesn’t that intrigue you a little?”

He saw her eyes flare and knew with just a little more back-and-forth he could persuade her. This could almost work. If only she’d stop looking so pale and shocked out.

She pressed her hands to her face. “I’ll wake up soon. I just know it. This isn’t a hallucination, this is just a really vivid dream. Those crab cakes I had at dinner tasted funny.”

Marius didn’t know what else he could say and his instincts told him it was only a matter of minutes before he was discovered here.

And she’d had a vision in which they’d been together. She’d seen the future.

As he looked at Shayna, as he factored in her vision, suddenly time slowed to a crawl. Though he had seen pictures of her on her blog, a few candid photos from a recent trip to Honduras, he hadn’t seen her close up, not like this, just inches away.

Her complexion was like milk, her hair white-blond, and her eyes a light, unearthly blue. She was so beautiful that he swore his heart stopped beating for a few seconds. When it began again, it was a dull thud against his rib cage.

He hadn’t expected this, to be so drawn to the woman who could save his world.

Her hair was straight, and she wore it past her shoulders. She had a lovely nose with a beautiful curve near the bridge. Her brows were arched slightly.

His gaze drifted to her neck, then down to the notch at the base of her throat. He watched her heart beating and his fangs began to thrum in his mouth. His hunger rose as well, followed sharply by a desire so profound that without thinking he drew her against him. If somewhere in the back of his mind he knew his conduct was completely inappropriate and not at all useful, he couldn’t seem to help himself.

“What … what are you doing?” Her voice was a whisper.

She stilled in his arms as he sniffed her hair and nuzzled along her cheekbone, then toward her ear, smelling what was the softest, most intoxicating scent, a delicate floral. He flicked his tongue over her skin.

You taste like heaven, Shayna. My God, I hadn’t expected this.

What would her blood be like filling his mouth, easing his deepest vampire need?

He slid his lips down the side of her cheek, kissing and tasting as he went.

Then he found her lips and began kissing her, willing her to respond, loving the feel of her mouth beneath his. He had to get inside her, so he traced his tongue along the seam of her lips.

Part of his rational mind knew he was spinning out of control to be kissing the woman he’d have to kidnap if she didn’t agree to come with him. But nothing else seemed more important than making a physical connection with her.

He heard a warbling sound coming from her throat as he began to thrust his tongue in and out. Her scent now filled his nostrils, no longer the light floral but heavier now and sultry as though the flower had just bloomed. She liked what he was doing; she wanted him.

A thrill ran through him, stronger and more powerful than anything he’d ever known. But why?

*   *   *

Shayna was utterly and completely shocked that she was allowing this bizarre kiss. And not just allowing, but enjoying.

First the vampire had said he needed her help; then he got this funny look on his face, pulled her against his muscular chest, then started sniffing her hair.

After that, she’d moved into some kind of strange enthralled state in which all she could do was let the kiss happen. But what stunned her was how she felt, like she could float, or sing, or fly. She didn’t want the kiss to end.