Bedeviled (7 page)

Chapter Nine

“N
o!”

Kyana's scream was echoed by Ryker's curses. He leaped out the front door and onto the pavement, where he attempted to use his telekinetic powers to restrain the wolf and failed.

“I need ambrosia,” he yelled, running back to her. “Where's your bag? I can't chase after her—”

“Gone,” Kyana whispered. She had no idea where the barbed-wire fence that had stolen it was or how far away it might be.

He cursed and kicked the skirting. She guessed he was trying to summon the same godly speed that she was attempting to conjure, but they were both out of juice.

Kneeling, she attempted to shift to Lychen and give chase that way, but nothing happened. Cursing hotly, she pulled the chain from her neck, blew into the golden whistle, and placed it on the ground at her feet. Instantly, the hounds looked up at her, waiting for instruction.

“Follow,” she said, her voice weak and barely above a whisper. With a trio of barks, the three golden pups disappeared to do her bidding.

Fatigue overwhelmed her and she dropped to the metal step and rested her hands on her knees. She wanted so badly to slide into her own wolf body and follow the pack, but she was at a disadvantage without a dose of ambrosia. She'd be no match for Haven in this state. Hell, without her eyebright, she couldn't even see through the dogs' eyes now. If there was any leftover store of energy inside her, she was too defeated to find it.

“I underestimated her,” she admitted, swearing to herself that she would never make that mistake again.

“We both did,” he said, sitting beside her and resting his hand on her shoulder. “Ky, where is she going?”

She wiped the blood from her mouth and nose. “How would I know? I can't shift,” she whispered, appalled at how much her body hurt. As Vampyre, she could tolerate a high amount of pain before giving in to the need to rest and heal. Shouldn't a goddess have an even higher threshold? “I can't go after her. I had to send the mutts in my place. That's bullshit.”

“You did the right thing. The smart thing. Without ambrosia you're—”

She shoved to her feet. To hell with this. She hadn't yet lost all the powers that made her a tracer. It might take the last of her reserves, but damn it, she wasn't sending a trio of puppies to do a bitch's job.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she let her determination to follow Haven coax her into a near trance until she felt the slight tug in her abdomen and a surge of adrenaline in her veins. When she next opened her eyes, the world had become black and white. Her fur-covered skin rippled as she leaped over the driveway, following Haven's scent as quickly as her four feet allowed.

She ran, but the continual flicker of energy nearly cost her the hold on the form over and over, and it took all her concentration to maintain it, making holding on to Haven's scent all the more difficult. She tried instead for the scent of her dogs, and followed as best as she could in her half-handicapped state.

She wound around a Dumpster and squeezed under a fence leading into the factory behind the park. This must have been where Haven had been hiding out until the sun had set and it had become safe for her to come out and visit her father. Or maybe not. Maybe she'd adjusted to the Turning faster than anyone had considered.

She'd definitely been stronger than Kyana had expected, so maybe Haven could hold to Lychen form long enough to roam a couple of hours of daylight. Regardless, she couldn't hold it as long as Kyana could. Drained or not, Kyana wasn't going to lose her form unless she keeled over and died right there on the street.

If she could just follow Haven's trail long enough for her to weaken and shift back, she could catch up to her and take her in.

But no sooner had the thought occurred to her than Haven's scent vanished like a puff of smoke. Its disappearance was so sudden, it made Kyana's head spin. She rocked back on her haunches, afraid to move.

She looked up. She was yards away from any building. The factory entrance was half a football field away. She shouldn't have lost the trail here, in the middle of a street with nowhere to hide.

What kind of magic was Haven using to elude her? Charms? Potions? Both?

Silently chastising herself for not paying more attention to Haven's spell crafting when they were living under the same roof, Kyana made her way sluggishly back to the trailer. They were going into that factory, but she wanted her opposable thumbs back when they did.

Her ears flattened to her head at the sight of her tattered leather pants and boots lying in ribbons on the driveway. Her tank top was unsalvageable, and she'd lost her change of clothes to barbed wire.

Lovely.

Ryker held out a wad of fabric so she could see it, then tossed it inside the open door of the trailer. “It's all I could find inside, but I figured anything was better than nothing.”

Grateful for his thoughtfulness, she made her way back inside the metal heap, snatched the bundle of clothing between her teeth, and dragged it into the kitchen where she could shift and maintain a tiny bit of dignity.

She waited for her bones to adjust to her two-legged body, then unrolled the bundle of clothing and groaned. Men's sneakers. Men's jeans. A size XXL flannel shirt with two missing buttons near the collar. The only good thing was her daggers lying on the plaid, making the fabric look dingy.

“You've got to be kidding me.” She couldn't intimidate a puppy in this getup.

Regardless, she dutifully put them on and half tripped her way to the bedroom behind her in search of a belt. The jeans slipped past her ass with every step, and the long fabric wrapped under each foot making grace an impossibility.

She dug through the drawers as quickly as she could manage and found a wide leather belt. Rolling her eyes at the horrible, rusted belt buckle that weighed more than she did, she slipped it into her belt loops. She had to puncture another hole to make it fit and then wrap the belt around her waist twice, but it would hold her pants up and secure her weapons, so it would work for now.

She rolled up the jean cuffs and slipped back outside, deciding to forgo the shoes. The damned things were about four sizes too big.

“Let's go.”

Silas looked up from where he crouched beside Haven's father. “What about him?”

Kyana shrugged. “He'll live.”

She was only half hoping she was right. If he was really the reason Hope had died, if he'd really beaten Haven's childhood out of her, he deserved whatever fate awaited him after they left.

Part of her wished they'd come five minutes later so Haven could have finished him off.

Kyana knew all too well about abusive fathers. It was a shame she'd never known they'd shared that particular bond. She couldn't really fault Haven for not sharing her past. She'd never told Haven about hers either.

“Ky?” Ryker rested his hand on her shoulder and shook her lightly. “Silas asked where we were going and if you needed him to scry for Haven again.”

“We're going to check out that factory where I lost her scent.” She looked up at the starless night sky. “Hope you brought a flashlight.”

Not that Ryker or she would have any trouble seeing in the dark, but Silas would be an accident waiting to happen. Maybe bringing him hadn't been the smartest idea.

“You're going to get my ass kicked aren't you?” Silas complained as he helped Haven's dad stand. “We should wait till the sun comes up when she's weaker.”

“Are you turning into a wuss?” she asked, glaring at Silas. She turned her attention to Haven's dad. She wasn't sure if she'd kill him as a favor to Haven, or if she could force herself to go against her instincts to use him as bait to get Haven to come after him again. “It's not safe for him to come with us.”

Silas raised an eyebrow. “Thought we were all protect-the-humans now.”

“For him I'll make an exception. Besides, he's been fine here for two weeks. Dark Breeds don't seem to want him either. Take him inside and let's go.”

Silas glanced at the man barely standing beside him. “How did you avoid the Dark Breeds, anyway?”

Blood oozed from the older man's lip as he cracked them open to speak. “The factory . . . I was hiding . . . there. Haven. Haven brought me here.”

So
that's
what she had been doing when they'd linked. Damn. Maybe she hadn't gone back there after all. Maybe since she'd gotten what she'd wanted from the place, she had no further use for it.

No. Haven would have to go back there. The trident had been in Kyana's vision, and Haven hadn't had it here. She had to have left it in the factory.

Ignoring Ryker's intense stare, Kyana moved around the back of the lot to study the tall brick building. She should've known he wouldn't take the hint to stay put. He had something he wanted to say and he wouldn't rest until he'd spoken his mind.

“What?”

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Dandy.”

He stiffened at the sarcastic sting of her words. “I don't mean physically, Ky. I wouldn't have let—”

She spun on him and thumped her fist in the middle of his chest. “You take your orders from
me
. I thought I made that clear before we left Olympus. You will do
nothing
where Haven is concerned. Do you understand me? You're not a tracer. Your job is to bring her in after
I
subdue her.”

“I'm not to interfere unless your life is at risk.” Ryker held up his hands, but a flicker of cold steel flashed in his eyes. “I know you think you are, but you're not completely in charge yet, Ky. Artemis and Ares are still my bosses.”

“Fuck that,” she spat, loathing that he was right and that, technically, there wasn't a damned thing she could do to stop him from taking Haven down without her say-so.

He reached for her, but wisely dropped his hand before she had to remove it at the wrist. “You're more important than Haven. Protecting you, keeping you alive, is my priority.”

Because she was a Chosen.

Bullshit.

“So if she'd had the trident with her, you would have killed her tonight?”

“I don't know, but I'm almost certain you wouldn't have.”

So much for their truce. Whatever soft, gooey emotions might have been growing inside her these last weeks hardened to bitterness.
This
was why things would never work out between them.

Ryker had the ability to dig so deeply into what made her tick that at times like this, she hated him for it. How was she supposed to give herself completely to someone who could piss her off so easily?

And if he dug far enough, he'd see she wasn't as strong as she claimed to be, see what she'd come from to get where she was. What then? Would he look at her the way he'd looked at Haven today?

No. This was never going to work. Once this job was over, so were she and Ryker.

“You think you could have stopped her from shifting and getting away?” she asked, knowing she was taking more of her anger out of him than he deserved.

Ryker was duty-bound. His place in the Order came before everything else. She'd known that from the moment she met him. So why was it bothering her so much now?

She plowed on, preferring the anger to the gnaw of guilt and frustration. “I seem to remember you trying to blast her with your Jedi mind power and it didn't work either. If you have all the answers, then what's our next step? How do we find her? The trident?”

The compassion in his eyes settled a bit of the ire boiling in her gut, and that pissed her off even more. She wanted to be angry right now, damn it. She wanted this to be as personal for him as it was for her.

“I don't know,” he admitted, his voice low and steady.

They'd come to a crossroads.

There was nothing else to say except “Give me your word that you won't kill her.”

She didn't know how long they stood matching each other glare for glare. Neither was willing to back down or to admit the other just might be right in his views . . . or at least have a right to them.

“You know I'll have to stop you if you go after her,” she said. “Whatever it takes.”

“If it comes to it, I hope your judgment will be sound enough that I won't have to do anything.”

This time when he reached for her she didn't glare him down, but when he put his hand on her waist, she pushed him away. As much as she wanted to lean on him, she couldn't. It was only going to be worse if she kept letting herself daydream about what could happen if she believed the way he seemed to that they were supposed to be together.

When Ryker didn't make another move to soothe her, she knew the argument was over. He wasn't going to give in and neither would she. Still, she believed he wouldn't step in unless he saw absolutely no other way to prevent her death.

He'd kill Haven before he stood by and let her kill the new goddess, but otherwise, he wouldn't interfere.

He lowered his head and looped his thumb in her belt loops, drawing her into him again. She stepped back, but when he tangled his fingers in her hair, she wanted nothing more than for him to kiss her. Her pride wouldn't allow it, however, and she lowered her face, forcing him to press his lips to her head instead.

Later, she would tell him whatever this was between them was over. Right now, she didn't have the strength for it.

As Ryker slipped his fingers from Kyana's hair to under her chin, he wished that he wasn't one of Ares's sentinels. That he was just a normal man who could comfort this woman who'd pricked her way beneath his skin. The fact that she wouldn't even look him in the eye right now told him she was sorry she'd ever let him get as close as he'd gotten, and that pissed him off more than anything she could have said directly to him.

He pulled her closer, burying her face in his neck, and winced as he felt her hands push against his chest. With a sigh, he dropped his arms and released her.