Binding Ties (7 page)

“They're welcome here for as long as you need.”

Several of the Theronai shared concerned looks, but kept their mouths shut.

“I know it might cause trouble,” said Andreas, “but I've warned them all that I'll punish anyone who gets out of line. We're guests here. They're all to be on their best behavior.”

Lyka crossed her arms over her chest. “They're not going to like being prisoners here any more than I do.”

“They're not prisoners,” said Joseph.

“That's what you keep telling me, too, and yet I'm not allowed to leave. Are they?”

Joseph couldn't deal with her now—not when there was so much to do, and certainly not in front of an audience. “You know it's not safe for them to leave. We'll talk about it more when this crisis is averted.”

She shot to her feet. “If you think you can push me aside like a whiny child, you're wrong. I don't need your permission to do what's right.” She shifted her death-ray stare to Andreas. “Or yours.”

Lyka was out the door before Joseph could stop her. He wanted to go after her, but knew it wasn't an option. He had a rescue mission to organize, a bunch of frightened children to soothe, wounded to attend and more than five hundred lives to protect. He couldn't allow the feelings of one woman to get in his way.

“I'll go after her,” said Andreas. “Make sure she doesn't cause you any trouble.”

Madoc unrolled a map on the table. “Let her go. How fucking much trouble could she possibly cause?”

Joseph winced.

Andreas let out a humorless laugh. “You clearly don't know my sister. I'll be back as soon as I can.”

“We can't wait on you,” said Joseph.

Andreas nodded at his cousin—the one who'd been on death's door when he'd arrived. He looked as strong and healthy as any Slayer alive now, thanks to Logan and Hope. “Amhas was there. He knows as much as I do.”

Amhas nodded his shaggy blond head. “I got this. Good luck.”

Andreas squared his shoulders. “Thanks. I'm going to need all I can get.”

T
his wasn't the first time Lyka had considered inciting rebellion and she doubted it would be the last.

She was halfway to the main room of Dabyr, where her kind was being kept, when Andreas caught up with her. He grabbed her sleeve and pulled her to a stop. “What the hell do you think you're doing?”

“You seemed to need my help, so I'm warning our people that they may be held here against their will. That way they can leave before it's too late.”

“You call that help? What I really need is a sister who can listen and follow instructions. I told you to mind your manners, to be the glue that would bind our two people together, not to try to convince a bunch of uprooted, frightened people that they just walked into some kind of prison.”

“They deserve to know the truth.”

“They deserve to have a safe place to sleep tonight.”

“You heard Joseph. He's going to make them stay here.”

Andreas looked around at the clean, well-lit hallway, complete with little alcoves containing fresh plants,
flowers and artwork. “It's not exactly a concentration camp. Why are you throwing such a fit? Have they been treating you badly?”

“Define
badly
.”

“Have they starved you or beat you or forced you to sleep out in the cold?”

“No, but you heard Joseph. He thinks he can boss me around.”

“He bosses everyone here around. That's his job. He's the reason this place is still standing, with so many juicy targets inside. He's the reason the walls haven't been overrun by demons. He's the reason our wounded survived tonight and our young have a safe place to rest.”

“You make him sound like some kind of superhero.”

“That's because he is.” Andreas held out his hands, showing off his tattered, bloody clothing. “Look at me. I barely survived tonight. Our home was overrun, and that's my fault. Just like it's Joseph's fault that the home he protects is still standing.”

“That wasn't your doing. We don't have walls like they do. We don't have magic to sling around like they do, or Sanguinar on hand to fix our every boo-boo. We survive on our own with help from no one.”

“That's the problem, Lyka. We're not surviving. We're being targeted. Picked off. We've lost too many people in the past few months. I didn't realize it until tonight, but those attacks were testing our strengths and weaknesses. Those attacks were feeding our enemy the information they needed to pull off what they did tonight.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I need to know that you're doing your job here.”

“What job? I just sit around, trying not to let anyone touch me. I tried to get involved with the kids, teaching
them, but even that is getting shut down. Apparently, human kids are too weak to be taught how to fight.”

“I know that you respect few things more than you do strength and skill in combat, but I have to side with Joseph on this one. Humans are much frailer than we are. It's our job to protect them.”

“You sound just like him. It's no wonder the two of you hit it off so well. You both love getting your way and bossing people around.”

Andreas stepped back, spreading his hands wide. “You want to challenge me for leadership?” he asked. “Go ahead. I'm tired. Distracted. You might just win.”

No, she wouldn't. She knew better than to think she could. And the last thing she wanted was to injure her brother when he really did need to be out there looking for Eric and the kids.

“I don't want your job. Just take me with you. I need to breathe free air.”

“Unless you're telling me that you've been abused here, you're just going to have to suck it up and deal like everyone else. I know you don't like the role you were given, but that's just too damn bad. It's the role your people need you to play. Both your peoples.”

There were cameras everywhere. Nothing that was said in these halls was private. Before Andreas could give away her secrets, she stopped him, covering his mouth with her hand. “Shut the hell up,” she said, nodding toward the closest camera.

The second she touched him, she was inundated with emotion. Hopes. Dreams. Desires.

Her gift hadn't been triggered this powerfully in so long, she'd almost forgotten about it. She hadn't touched anyone but the kids since she'd been here, and the most she'd ever gotten from any of them was a faint desire to be safe. Free.

Sometimes, when the people around her had intense needs, she could feel that, but it was a subtle thing, not at all like the raging emotions that were pouring out of her brother.

He wanted peace. Protection for his people. He wanted to find Eric safe and well, right alongside the young who had been taken. He wanted to rebuild their home and find a way to make it safe for this and future generations.

There was something else, too. Something unexpected.

A woman.

Lyka couldn't tell exactly who she was, but she could tell that Andreas wasn't supposed to be wanting her—not when he was all but promised to Faolan.

“Who is she?” asked Lyka.

Andreas jerked back out of reach. “I really hate it when you do that.”

“Tell me who she is.”

His face darkened with embarrassment. “It doesn't matter. It's never going to happen. Let it go.”

“You can't lie to me. I know how much you want her.”

“That's none of your damn business.”

“Does Faolan know?”

“There's nothing to tell her. I haven't so much as touched the girl. I've barely even let myself glance at her. It's a nonissue. Let it go.”

“I can't. I felt what you do. The deep yearning you have for this woman. You can't enter into an arrangement with Faolan when you feel like this.”

“You think I don't know that?” growled Andreas. “It's not like I asked for this. If I ignore it long enough, it will go away. Besides, you need to be spending less time using your gift on me and more time using it on the people
here. If we're to have a lasting peace with them, we need to know what it is they want, what we have to offer that is of value.”

“If you think I'm going to start touching the men around here, you're crazy. You know what could happen.”

“Would that be such a bad thing? Can you think of a better way to tie our peoples together than a union like that?”

She went still as a ripple of betrayal coursed through her. “That was what you wanted all along, wasn't it? That's why you sent me here when Eric was just as good a choice for a hostage.”

“Eric would have killed someone here before the first full moon. You were the
only
choice.”

“That doesn't answer my question. You chose me not because you thought I could keep our mother's dirty little secret safe, but because you were hoping it would come out—that someone here would figure out what I am.”

Lyka felt the telltale tingling a second too late.

Joseph rounded the corner, frowning. “What are you, Lyka?”

“Pissed,” said Andreas. “Disobedient. Belligerent.”

Joseph's frown stayed in place as he eyed her. Clearly he wasn't buying her brother's cover. “We need you back in the war room,” he told Andreas. “And you, Lyka . . . Tynan called. The Slayer children are asking for you.”

She nodded, glad for any excuse to be away from Joseph right now. He was as smart as he was tenacious. He wasn't going to let what he overheard go. Escape was her only option.

She gave her brother a hard hug, reeling at the sheer scope of his want for his mystery woman. “Stay safe,” she ordered. “Bring our brother and the young home.”

“I will,” said Andreas. “I won't rest until we find them.”

She scurried off, feeling Joseph's gaze on her back. She'd escaped his interrogation for now, but she knew that once the chaos was over, he would seek her out.

She wasn't sure whether she was more worried or excited by that notion. And that terrified her.

J
oseph paced the halls of Dabyr, waiting for news about the hunt. He'd checked on Carmen, who was working alongside the Sanguinar to help care for the wounded. She was safe and whole, but too busy to do more than reassure him that she was safe. His people were all doing their jobs, tending the injured, soothing the children and making arrangements for everyone to have a bed to sleep in tonight. Extra perimeter guards were on patrol, protecting the walls from attack.

All that was left to do now was wait for word from those out searching for Eric and the missing children.

The teams had left hours ago, and no one had so much as found a trail. Every available Theronai, Sanguinar and Slayer was out there, searching for those kids with no results.

Joseph wanted to be out there searching with them so badly that he had to stay well away from the hallway leading to the garage. If he didn't, he'd end up behind the wheel, speeding away from his responsibilities here.

As he wandered aimlessly, his phone in his hand,
hoping for a call or text, he found himself standing outside Lyka's door.

He wanted to see her again, and not just because of the mysterious comment she'd made in the hallway earlier. He needed her soothing presence, the relief she brought him whenever he glanced her way.

The pain behind his eyes was killing him, shortening his temper and making him impatient. Every second that ticked by seemed to take an eternity.

His thumb slid over the screen of his phone, itching to call Andreas or one of the others. He knew they were working and would contact him as soon as they could, but the waiting was excruciating.

He needed a distraction. Something—anything—to get his mind off the fact that he wasn't out there, at his brothers' side.

Lyka came around the corner, glowing like a beacon as she headed toward her suite. Immediately, the pain in his head eased and his cock twitched, straining against his zipper.

The feelings he had for this woman were as powerful as they were dangerous. If Andreas had even half an idea of the things Joseph wanted to do to her, the man would kill him outright. Or at least make him wish he were dead.

As soon as she saw him, she stopped in her tracks, yards away from him. “Did you need me?”

More than he dared admit.

“Has Andreas called you?” he asked.

“I'm not allowed to have a phone, remember? It's part of my being your hostage.”

“You're not a hostage. You're a guest.”

“Guests are allowed to leave.”

He wasn't going to argue about this with her. He was
too wound up. Too on edge. If he let his temper flare, the rest of his emotions might burn out of control. He'd have that long, sleek body of hers up against a wall, feasting on her mouth before she could stop him. Once he got her there, it was only a few short seconds to having her naked in the hall while he drove his cock nice and deep.

That would definitely make the precariously perched peace treaty between their people wobble.

Joseph cleared his throat, which had suddenly gone dry with desire. “What did you mean earlier when you told Andreas that you were worried someone would find out what you are?”

“You misunderstood me. That's not what I said.”

“Everything that happens in the halls is recorded. I had Morgan send me the video. There was no mistaking what you said. I want to know why you said it.”

All the color drained from her face. She swayed slightly on her feet, grabbing the wall for support.

Joseph was down the hall and at her side before he could remember that she wouldn't want his help. His hands dropped before he touched her. “Are you going to fall over?”

“No,” she snapped, straightening her spine.

The light caught her golden hair and made it glow. He could see in the depths of her tawny eyes—in the way she refused to meet his gaze—that she was hiding something from him. Something important.

“What did you mean, Lyka? What are you?”

Sarcasm spewed from her mouth. “A spy, sent here to take you down. Mwoo-haha.”

“I'm being serious. If there's something you're hiding, you should tell me now while we can still deal with it—before it becomes too big a problem for us to face together.”

“It's not a problem, Theronai. Your not minding your own business is.”

“You are my business now, kitten. One of these days, you'll get used to that idea.”

“Don't hold your breath. I won't be here that long.” She went to her door and opened it, but rather than let him in, she blocked the opening so he wouldn't feel inclined to follow.

He opened his mouth just as his phone broke out in Andreas's ringtone.

He answered immediately. “Hello?”

“None of our trackers caught a scent.”

Well, hell. He'd been hoping for some shred of good news, but he'd had too many conversations that started like this to hold out hope.

This kind of thing was best done with some modicum of privacy, so he went to the closest place open to him—Lyka's suite.

The second he marched toward the doorway, she shied away, leaving him the opening he needed to enter.

He closed the door behind him. “What about the Sanguinar? Did they detect anything they could follow—a blood trail, maybe?”

“Nothing there, either,” said Andreas. “I don't know if it was the sheer number of the creatures that attacked us—too much blood from the ones we killed—or if the enemy is using some kind of magic, but it's nearly impossible to pick up on any one scent trail.”

“What do you want to do now?” asked Joseph.

“I sent teams in several directions from here, hoping we'll catch a break, that they'll pick something up a little farther away from the scene of the attack. But it's not looking good. I was hoping you'd have a trick or two up your sleeve.”

Joseph did his best to hide his worry. What the men needed now was strength. Confidence. Leadership. “I'll check with the warriors I have in the field and see what I can come up with. You keep at it from your end. I'll send help as soon as I can.”

“Don't take too long. The young may not have much time.”

Joseph braced his shoulders so they wouldn't bow under the weight of his fear for those kids. “Understood.”

Andreas hung up. Joseph looked at Lyka, seeing more fear on her face than he would have thought possible.

Her chin trembled for a second before she controlled it. “They didn't find the young, did they?”

“Not yet. But they will.”

“Tonight?”

He wouldn't lie to her like that. “Slayer kids are tough. Eric is with them. They'll stay safe until we do find them.”

“You don't know that. You can't know any of that.”

“I believe it, though. You should, too. Hope will keep us strong and positive.”

She shook her head. “It doesn't matter how strong we are if we're here, sitting on our asses. We have to
do
something. You have to let me out there to look for them.”

“And let you get killed because there are no warriors here who can go with you and protect you?”

“I don't need their protection, and even if I did, there are lots of warriors here.”

“Those are the husbands of our pregnant women. Not one of them would leave his wife unguarded. I'm sorry.”

“What about you?”

“Someone has to be here to lead the troops.”

“Let one of the other men do it. Come with me. Help me find those children before it's too late.”

The idea of setting out with her, of getting to spend a considerable amount of time with her, was more than tempting. He'd have her nearby, easing his headache, challenging his mind and revving his libido like a finely tuned engine.

But it was impossible. He had to make her see that.

“Even if we did leave, where would you go? There are dozens of people out there scouring the scene of the crime, searching for some clue to where the kids were taken. What makes you think you could do any better?”

“I'm an excellent tracker. And the more eyes, ears and noses we have in the field, the better. You never know what path we might cross that they haven't.”

“It's not worth the risk. I'm sorry.”

She went quiet for a second, but he could see the wheels in her head turning. “What if it
was
worth the risk?”

“What does that mean?”

“What if I could give you something you want in exchange for you letting me go hunting?”

She was so serious, he didn't dare laugh. But he was curious. “What could you possibly offer me that would be worth endangering your life as well as the peace treaty between our peoples?”

She straightened her spine in resolve. “A female Theronai.”