“Please,” Rose muttered.
Leo frowned at her.
“You can at least say please instead of bossing everyone around. It makes you look a lot less like an asshole.” She headed toward the woman on the couch. Rose brought her hand to her mouth and bit into her wrist. For a moment, her gaze darted toward Julian, and he knew she was remembering all that they’d just done.
He clenched his jaw when her gaze darted away. She put her hand to the lady’s mouth, forcing her to drink.
“So how long will this take?” Leo demanded, impatience written on his face. “Because we need to know—”
“What does Simon have planned?” Rose asked as she stared into the other woman’s eyes. “Tell me.”
“Uh, her name is Keri,” Rayce offered helpfully. “We learned that already. You know, before that deep compulsion reared its ugly head and she tried to slice open Leo. Not that I blame her, not even a little bit.”
Leo glared at him. “We are going to have issues.”
“We already do.”
Rose seemed to ignore them as she focused on the woman before her. “Tell me, Keri,” she encouraged. “Tell me what Simon Lorne is going to do.”
Keri’s expression had gone slack. “Your guards will be unconscious.” Her voice was slow, husky. “Either they killed me when they saw me…or they let me pass, thinking I was just a lost human.”
Rayce started pacing. “This is why humans can’t be trusted.” He pointed to Leo. “You think they’re these innocent lambs. They aren’t.”
“I was to shoot them,” Keri continued quietly. “Give them the tranq. Then shoot you. When you were all out, I was going to wait for Simon to come for us.”
Julian saw a trickle of blood slide down from Rose’s wrist.
Rose lifted a brow. “Can’t help but note…Simon isn’t here. Were you supposed to call him?”
Keri nodded. “I called him from the boat. Radioed him when I saw you on the beach.”
“Then why isn’t he already storming the island?” Rose shook her head. Her brow crinkled. “He must have seen something…something that made him hesitate. He had to rethink his little master plan and—” She whirled and pointed her index finger at Leo. “He saw you.”
Leo’s eyes widened. He looked offended. He looked…guilty.
“Hard to miss a guy with giant wings flying through the air,” she snapped. “When you grabbed me and flew up into the air, he must have been watching. It fits the timeline Keri just gave us. She tipped him off, he would have started closing in—since he’d gotten confirmation of my location—but then you pull your dragon routine and he backed off. The guy could be running right now, going away far and fast because of you!”
Keri shuddered. “Did you say…d-dragon?”
Rose didn’t glance back at her. “We can’t just stand here and keep waiting. Keep hiding. If you want to rescue the others, then we’re doing it.” She nodded decisively. “But on my terms. Got it? Because it’s my deal now.”
The guilt was gone from Leo’s face. “I don’t think you understand who it is that you’re talking to.”
“I don’t really give a shit who you think you are. All I care about…well, it’s that we work together on this. I said I’d help find those other paranormals, and that’s what I’m going to do.” She cast a quick glance over her shoulder, peering back at Julian. “Though you might not like all my methods…”
“Rose…” Julian began, voice grim.
“We’re going to take the Devil’s Prize, and we’re going back to Key West.” Her shoulders were squared, her spine straight, her chin up. “We think Simon has a base somewhere in the Everglades, right? So we need to get him to show us his hiding spot.”
“What do you think I’ve been trying to do?” Leo snarled as he threw his hands into the air.
“You haven’t been trying with the right bait.”
Julian bounded toward Rose. He caught her shoulder and spun her around to face him. “No. No.”
She smiled. “Yes. Yes.”
A growl broke from him.
“I’m not the damsel in distress, Julian.”
What the fuck? Who’d ever said she was?
“I’m not the woman who gets to hide from the dark. I see all of that now. I am the dark. I’m the vampire. I’m the bad thing that others should fear.”
She wasn’t bad. That was the problem. She’d always been good, straight to her soul. Far too good for someone like him. He’d known that truth the instant he met her, but he hadn’t been able to stay away.
“I’m the thing he should fear. Simon thinks he’s going to collect me? Terrorize me? Hurt my friends? No, this is ending. He wants me…” Her smile flashed, showing her white, sharp fangs. “Then he’s going to get me.”
He hated this plan. His hands fell away from her.
“He’s going to get us all,” she added.
His eyes narrowed. “I’m listening.” And maybe he was liking the plan a bit more. If they were all attacking.
She inclined her head toward Keri—a Keri who’d gone white and appeared to be suffering from shock. Learning about dragons probably did that to a human. “She and I will go out on the Devil’s Prize. You and Rayce will be below deck. You two will stay out of sight…I figure that’s something you guys excel at, right? Shifters are good at sneaking around.”
Of course. They knew how to hunt without making a sound.
“And Leo…he can cover us from above. Provided, of course, that he can go up high enough that his ass won’t be spotted again by Simon.”
Leo sniffed. “We don’t know he spotted me before. Maybe he just decided to back off when he saw your panther lover dive into the water after you. Not every day that a full-sized black panther decides to take a swim in the ocean.”
Only he hadn’t been a panther when he’d found her. He’d shifted beneath the water and saved her as a man.
“We get on the boat,” she continued doggedly, “and Keri contacts him again on the radio. She tells him that she’s bringing me in…she gets a meet site set up.”
Leo smiled. “And then we show up and grab the bastard.”
“Give me patience,” she muttered. Rose squeezed her eyes shut. “I get that you think you can make the guy talk, but what if you can’t?” Her eyes opened. “What if Simon won’t reveal the location of the others? What if he keeps them there, locked away, no matter what you do to him?”
“I have dominion over all humans—”
“We don’t know he is human,” she said, her voice rising. “And since we don’t know what he is, then we don’t even know if I can put him under a compulsion or if you can control him. So we can’t just grab the guy and force the location out of him.”
Julian knew where she was going with this plan, and he was back to hating it. “You want to offer yourself up—get him to take you and lock you up with the others.”
Her smile hurt his heart. “When he takes me with him, you all follow. Easy enough, right? I mean…” Now her hand lifted to press against his chest, right over his heart. “You’re a shifter. Doesn’t that mean you can follow my scent anywhere?”
He’d mated them. He could follow her anywhere, could locate her no matter where she went on this Earth. Julian gave a curt nod.
“Then you follow. We find the hole Simon has been hiding inside, and you guys storm the place.” Her voice had hardened with determination. “We take out Simon. We free the others, and then all of the deals are done.”
“What happens to me?” Keri whispered. “Can I please go home?”
Rose swallowed. “Yes. You’ll go home. You’ll go home and so will Francis. Neither one of you will even remember what happened. You can go right back to your lives and forget Simon.”
“I’d like to forget.” A tear slid down Keri’s cheek. “I’d like that very much.”
Because she didn’t want to know about the monsters in the world. Rose had been that way, once.
But her blinders were
long gone.
“Gentleman.” Rose clapped her hands together. “Do we have a plan?” Her gaze swept them all. “Or are we just going to keep hiding out on this island while Simon decides that he wants to collect other paranormals? While he imprisons more beings?”
Leo nodded, grudgingly. “We have a plan.”
“I’m in,” Rayce said at once. “Not like I have anything else better to do. And I sure as hell want to pay the guy back for that tranq.” He fired a smile Leo’s way. “Besides, I’ve never seen an angel before. Hoping she lives up to my expectations.”
Leo raked him with a stare. “Don’t even think it. She plays in a league you’ll never be able to touch.”
Rayce just laughed.
Rose’s stare slid back to Julian. “What about you? Are you in?”
In on a plan that risked her life? That let a sadistic sonofabitch get his hands on her?
“I need to know I can count on you.” Her gaze searched his. “Because I am doing this. I’ve been captive before. I’ve been locked away. Someone has to get the others out. And this time, I’m that someone. I’m the one who rides to the rescue and I want you riding with me.”
“When you want me there, I will always be at your side.” There was no other place he’d rather be. Didn’t she get that?
Her breath sighed out. “Thank you.”
She didn’t need to thank him. Not for a damn thing. Rose started to turn away, but he caught her arm and pulled her close. His head leaned toward hers. “If you get hurt…if you get so much as a scratch, I’m ripping Simon apart.”
Her gaze held his. “If you get hurt…if you get so much as a scratch, I’m ripping Simon apart.”
He smiled. Fuck, but she made him feel good.
“Blood-thirsty, isn’t she?” Leo muttered.
“She’s a vamp,” Rose called out. “What the hell else did you expect me to be?” Then she leaned up and pressed a kiss to Julian’s lips. “Thanks for having my back.”
Always.
She slipped from his arms and headed for the door. “Let’s do this.”
Rayce saluted and followed her out—after he stopped to toss the human female over his shoulder. Julian stalked after them, but Leo stepped into his path. “The angel is my priority.”
The guy was such a dick. “And the others what—they don’t matter at all?”
“Lila is one of mine. If she isn’t off this plane soon, there will be no going back for her. She wasn’t meant to live with humans…or with beasts.”
“Now you’re just being insulting.” Julian gave him a hard grin. “Want to know my priority?”
“I already do. It’s the vamp who just walked out. Only she’s seeming a whole lot less and less like the innocent girl you fell for, isn’t she? Turning into a real vamp right before our eyes.” Leo’s face was hard. “Time’s running out for her, too. You keep up your end of the deal, and I’ll still keep up mine. I can change her. I can give her back everything that you took away.”
Because that had been the original deal he’d made with Leo. He’d known that Rose hated what she was, and he’d wanted to give her a choice.
When he hadn’t before.
“If this goes to hell, get the angel out first,” Leo ordered.
Screw that. If this went to hell, he’d be grabbing Rose first. She was his priority.
“Do it, and I’ll owe you,” Leo added.
“Buddy, you better just get the fuck out of this house. When Luke comes back and he finds your stench all over the place, he’s gonna be pissed.”
Leo didn’t appear concerned. “Do we have a deal?” He offered his hand.
Julian didn’t take it. “I’ll do my part when the time comes.” That was all he’d say. Rose—she was his part. She was his everything. “But I do have one question…” Something that was nagging at him.
Leo lifted a brow.
“You told me that one of the Collector’s guards had managed to escape…that he’d been the one to warn you that Rose was next on the target list.”
“Yes, yes that’s what happened.”
“But then you said he died before he could reveal Lila’s location to you.”
Leo’s lips thinned.
“I think you told me that he burned, from the inside out.” He raised one brow. “Never heard of that happening before but then…when Rose bit you, when she had your blood inside of her, she seemed to be burning from the inside out, too.”
A muscle flexed in Leo’s jaw. “I don’t hear a question. Just a panther rambling.”
He grabbed the guy’s shoulders and let his claws cut into the skin. “You killed the guard, didn’t you?”
Leo glanced down at Julian’s claws, then back up at his face.
“The guy didn’t turn because of the angel. She didn’t work her magic on him. You found the guy, you knew he was tied to the Collector, and you tried to make him tell you where the angel was.”
“You should move those claws.”
“And you should stop dicking around!” He let the claws sink deeper. “What went wrong? Was it another one of those deeply buried compulsions? Did your power not work on the human because of it? He could hold out against your power so you killed him?”
“He tried to kill me. I had no choice.”
But Julian had to laugh at that. “There’s always a choice, mate. We just don’t make the right ones.” He knew that from bitter experience. “Don’t lie to me again, got it? Not when Rose’s life is on the line. I don’t care about your angel. I only care about her.”
“Obviously,” Leo drawled. “But it’s not my fault your vamp was just at death’s door. I never told her to drink my blood.” His eyes gleamed. “And if you want to keep her with you, then I’d suggest you make sure she never gets the urge to bite around me again.”
Maybe he should just take the guy’s head right then and there—
“I say that as a warning. Sometimes what doesn’t kill us the first time…it takes us out even faster the second.” Leo inclined his head to Julian. “Remember that.”
“Hey!” Rayce called out. “You assholes coming or what?”
Julian retracted his claws.
Leo spun away and marched into the hallway. Julian followed but stopped short when he saw Rayce—still holding the human. He knew Rayce had overheard his little chat with Leo. Rayce shook his head. “You are playing a dangerous game.”
“Those are the only games I like.”
And they were the games that he had to win.
***
“Sir? You’re being hailed on the radio.”
The helicopter flew over the water, heading back for the landing pad. Simon needed to fucking regroup after the shit he’d seen.
The vamp isn’t getting away. I just have to get rid of her protectors…some very unusual protectors.
“It’s the woman you sent. Keri.”
He blinked. She was still alive? “Patch her through to my headset.”
And a moment later…
“S-Simon?” He instantly recognized her shaking voice. “You said…said you would come.”
“Change of plans.” Why was she still alive?
“I…have the vampire.”
He stared down at the water below him. Then he picked up his binoculars and gazed into the distance. He saw a boat zipping across the waves.
“I drugged them all…and she’s on the boat with me. I’m-I’m coming back to you.”
Wasn’t that interesting? “And the others are all on the island? Tell me, Keri. Tell me where they are.”
Silence. Then… “Wh-where are you?”
She can’t tell me a lie. That was part of the compulsion he’d planted deep within her mind.
So he thought over the words she’d said to him. I drugged them all. Truth. She had. But…
Were they still unconscious someplace? Or were they out, hunting?
And…as for the vampire…she’s on the boat with me. Another truth. Only Keri hadn’t said that Ro
se was unconscious, just that she was on the boat.
He smiled. I smell a trap. How very creative. Did they think he’d just waltz right up to them like a lamb to the slaughter? “I’ll meet you on Key West. Head for the south end dock. I’ll be there.” Then he motioned to end the connection. The helicopter buzzed through the air.
He had come prepared this time. Humans weren’t the only ones that he knew how to use. He took off his headphones and glanced back at the man behind him. “Retrieve the vampire. I’ll meet you back at base.”
The man nodded. Then he moved toward the helicopter’s door. He yanked it open and air whooshed into the chopper. The wind beat against the suit that the fellow wore. He stared down below for a moment, looking at the waves.
And then he jumped.
Simon smiled. The guy had been his first experiment—and he was still one of Simon’s favorites.
Chapter Fifteen
Leo made sure that he stayed out of sight. His wings flapped in the air, carrying him easily. Not that he believed he’d been spotted by Simon Lorne before…but…okay, perhaps he had.
But he’d been trying to help. Not that the dark paranormals had appreciated his efforts. They never did.
Just like his brother Luke never appreciated anything he did. Luke lived by his own rules, tending to just feel as if the rest of the world could go fuck off.
It couldn’t. That wasn’t the way things worked.
His eyes swept the water below him. The Devil’s Prize was making its way to the Key West dock, moving at a fast clip. Rose was hauling ass. He almost smiled, but then he remembered he wasn’t supposed to like vampires.
Only she wasn’t ever meant to be a vampire.
Such a sad situation—
Something hit him. Something that felt like a giant, freaking stone. It slammed into him and he felt his right wing tear as he plummeted downward. Leo tried to fight, but he was held in an unbreakable grip. Stronger than anything he’d ever faced before.
He roared his fury and let the change sweep through him, a full-on transformation that he rarely allowed because he knew it was too dangerous. Thick, sharp scales broke through his skin, a long, winding tail snapped out from his body and—