Dragon Void (Immortal Dragons Book 2) (11 page)

Chapter Nineteen

Evie

Dragon Monastery, Sunda Islands

Present Day

“Y
ou have strong instincts,” Ked said softly, stroking his hand in slow circles over her back while Evie told her story.

“If only I didn’t routinely ignore them,” she replied, sinking against him while they watched the moon rise.

She ached so much for more of him, but didn’t have the strength to ask. The memories of her ordeal bombarded her, yet something about being near him made it impossible for her to hold them in. It had something to do with his power, she knew, though she’d never encountered a Shadow so strong before, and certainly never one that could affect her mind so acutely. In his presence, a veil seemed to drift over every other emotion, every other memory, leaving only the most prominent, terrifying, heartbreaking memories and feelings of loss, fear, and despair looming monstrously in the darkness. The only way to dispel those shadows was to purge them from her mind by letting him take ownership.

“You’re doing this to me, aren’t you?” she asked. “Making me relive it all? And I have, since you found me. The entire way up here, I dreamed of the first year with Marcus. If you witnessed any of that, you should know what kind of man he is.”

“He isn’t the same man you ran away with,” Ked said. “But I believe a part of that man still lives. What he is now is closer to what I am.”

Evie glanced up at him, incredulous at the sound of resignation in his tone. Did he believe his nature was so terrible that he didn’t wish it on another?

She reached up and brushed her hand down the side of his face. Ked closed his eyes and held her even tighter.

“If what he became is closer to what you are now, then it’s no wonder I loved him more after he changed than I did before.”

“Tell me what happened, Evie.”

“Under two conditions,” she said.

“Anything.” And somehow, with that one word, Evie knew he meant everything he’d said to her in the bath earlier. She would want for nothing, and he would kill the man who did this to her.

“If Marcus really is alive, make sure he stays that way, but don’t tell him I’m pregnant.”

Ked’s brows drew together and he started to shake his head in disagreement. Evie caught his square jaw between her hands, astonished at first at how solid and warm he felt.

“Promise me. Yes, the child is his, but this is the third baby I’ve conceived since undergoing their horrible experiments that I actually wanted to
live
. None of them survived to term.”

“Children conceived with Marcus?” Ked asked softly, as though hesitant to delve into the subject.

“No… this is the first with him. They kept him away from me for most of the time we were there. We rarely saw each other.” She closed her eyes, remembering the ordeal. “The two other babies I carried the longest were conceived when the other Elites were forced to couple with me. I’ll tell you about it all, if you promise you’ll keep him alive and keep this a secret—at least until we can be sure the baby will survive.”

“I had no intention of killing him. What’s your other condition?”

Evie’s heart pounded as she stared into his dark, fathomless eyes, suddenly finding it impossible to get those last two words out. Here she was, in
his
arms, after two hundred years of believing he didn’t even exist.

After his change, Marcus had incited something like this sensation in her, but even then it had never felt this strong—this all-encompassing. Like the entire universe was a cacophony of clanging bells signaling that
yes
, she’d finally found her true mate.

Before she could even spur her voice into action, his mouth came down on hers, answering her second condition without a single word. Those words she’d been unable to say—“
Kiss me
”—wound up translated into another language as their lips collided and their tongues entwined. Only this language was unconditional, and she realized she never even needed to ask. She could have had his lips at any moment. She could have
all of him
at any moment with the smallest signal of her desire. The very idea of putting conditions on how they shared each other seemed entirely alien to her now, and she wished she could take back the request—the suggestion that she had to qualify her sharing before she would do it.

No. He gave everything to her without even having to be asked. She would do the same. At least, she would as soon as she reclaimed control of her mouth and her voice.

An infinite, wonderful moment later, he pulled back and she took a breath. She stared up at him, lost in the dark gaze, then smiled at the tinge of pink on his cheeks.

Ked raised an eyebrow, but his flushed, swollen lips stayed grimly pressed together, unsmiling.

“You were going to tell me more,” he said.

Evie closed her eyes, wishing she could just stay lost in his embrace. She’d never realized how comforting darkness could feel until he’d wrapped her inside his version of it. Usually being trapped in the dark made her feel more alone, but with him, it was different. When he held her, his power blotted out everything but their two souls, bright and shining, like a pair of diamonds on black velvet.

But there was something missing. The something that had brought them together.

Marcus.

“He was dying,” she said softly. “He died in front of me.”

Chapter Twenty

Evie

Canadian Rockies

Spring, 1966

S
omething didn’t taste right about their breakfast the morning after their arrival.

Marcus, the most voracious eater Evie had ever seen, didn’t seem fazed by it. And she had to admit, it was a spectacular spread. She didn’t blame him, either, after spending a week on the road living on snack food. Her own stomach growled and she took a few bites of fried potatoes and eggs. Then tried the oatmeal.

There was a weird, metallic tang to the meal that seemed
off
. Even the coffee and orange juice had it. She shrugged and ate, because she was as hungry as Marcus looked. She was glad she did, a little later. Being fed and bathed and having the liberty to enjoy the day with him worry-free was one of the reasons they’d done this.

They would have to contribute their efforts soon, but today, she just wanted to lounge inside with him. She was grateful for the rainy weather outside, too. If it were a sunny day, she’d be itching to find the nearest rooftop and fly, after giving Marcus an excuse that she wanted some time to herself for a little while.

But today, the rain made her happy they had this safe little sanctuary to hide away in. After breakfast they simply fell back into bed, giddy with their freedom, and made love for hours before falling asleep together in each other’s arms.

* * *

The sensation of something gripping her ankles was what drew Evie out of sleep first. It was unexpected, yet not unpleasant. Her head swam as though she were drunk, and she tried to remember if they’d had anything to drink with breakfast.

Through the haze, she heard two familiar voices, one loud and frantic, the other deep, calm, and eerily monotonous.

“Let her the fuck go! You can have me for your fucked up experiments, but let her go!”

“Marcus, Marcus, Marcus, you have no concept of how valuable you both are to our research. I have been looking for specimens like you both for
centuries
. Longer, really, but my researchers only had the technology to begin the right experiments recently.”

Evie shook her head to dispel the last of the haze from it. She raised a hand to her face and saw that her wrist, too, was cuffed to an anchor somewhere beneath the cold table she lay on.

“What happened?” she asked. “Marcus?”

“Ah, she’s conscious.” Dr. St. George’s voice drifted over to her, and a moment later, his distinguished face came into view. “Tell me, Ms.
North
. Would you like to share your secrets with your lover, or shall I?”

How had she not sensed it when he walked in the room? How had she not sensed it in the others she’d met the day before? Ultiori Hunters were crafty, but they couldn’t hide their natures for very long when encountered up close. They gained the advantage by being able to sense the other races before they were sensed themselves. Only an Elite could have duped her so well.

A motor began to whine beneath her ,and slowly the cold, steel table she lay on tilted upward, raising her to her feet. She caught sight of Marcus several feet away, chained naked to a bar above his head and looking back at her in utter anguish.

Soon, Evie’s feet rested on a ledge at the end of the table. Chains jangled behind her and her wrist restraints shifted. She glanced over her shoulder to see the table being moved away, and the doctor raised her arms up to attach her chains to a similar bar that hung above her head.

“You’re an Elite, aren’t you? That’s how I didn’t know you when we met.”

Dr. St. George grinned. “Something like that, but not quite. Thank you, by the way, for volunteering to give your blood yesterday. So very brave of you, considering it had to be at odds with your true instincts. Turul are so very
good
at wheedling the truth out of a situation without even having to ask the right questions. Why don’t you explain to Marcus what you
really
are?”

“You don’t have to say anything, Evie. I’ll get us out of here.” Marcus wrenched against his bindings, his entire body going taut and his muscles straining so hard that concrete dust drifted down from the ceiling.

Dr. St. George glanced up and hummed slightly. “Need to get stronger anchors in the future. But you won’t be up there long.”

He stepped over to a tray covered with surgical instruments and picked up a scalpel.

“No!” Evie yelled, when she saw him head toward Marcus with it.

With a sure flick of his wrist, the doctor sliced a vein in the inner elbow of Marcus’s bound and upstretched arm. Then another in the opposite arm. Blood streamed from the cuts down over his thick biceps.

Tears streamed from Evie’s eyes and she imagined it was his blood, warm and salty, coating her face. She had done this to him for being ignorant of the trap they walked into, for ignoring her instincts.

The doctor aimed the scalpel at a lower spot, closer to Marcus’s shoulder on his inner arm.

“The first was just a small vein. This will be bigger, unless you show him the truth.”

“Marcus, I’m so sorry,” Evie he said, regretting every moment of the selfish secrecy that led them to this. She should have broken turul laws to protect him. It was too late now.

She let out a cry that echoed through the lab. In her own ears it never changed in timbre or force, but from the widening of Marcus’s eyes, she knew he had to recognize it. He was an aviator, after all, and loved all flying creatures—birds of prey, in particular—for their aerodynamic properties as much as their beauty. It was one of the many reasons she loved him.

She had no doubt that he recognized the cry of a falcon coming from her throat. Just as he must recognize the shape of her body when she shifted into a much larger version of that bird a moment later.

The cuffs around her ankles tightened when she flapped her wings and pulled against them, her first instinct to swoop down onto the doctor’s head and claw out his eyes. But no… there would be no swooping. Her wrist bindings had fallen away when her fingertips had shrunk down to wing tips, the narrow bones of her wings too small to be cuffed, but she could do nothing with her claws still bound tightly. Nothing but let out more cries of anguished desperation.

Finally she gave up and shifted back, falling to her knees on the small platform that her ankles were still tethered to.

“I’m sorry Marcus. It’s my fault we’re even here. My fault they’re keeping us.” To the doctor, she said, “Please, let him go—he is just a human man. You have no use for him.”

Dr. St. George stepped over to her and crouched to meet her eyes. He touched her chin and the acrid scent of industrial hand cleanser hit her nostrils. It wasn’t the scent that caused Evie to pull away in disgust, though.

“Quite the contrary, young lady. You were instrumental in bringing him to us. He is Blessed. But he is still missing the secret ingredient to make him an Elite.”

With that, the doctor turned in a graceful circle, sweeping his arm around. At the end of the arc, his wrist moved in a little sweep, slicing the scalpel deep into Marcus’s thigh. A torrent of blood gushed out from Marcus’s femoral artery and his life’s blood flooded over his leg and onto the floor beneath him.

Evie screamed and lunged for Marcus, but her ankle restraints kept her too far beyond reach of him. Still, she scrabbled at the blood-covered floor, struggling to reach him to stanch the flow of blood.

She yanked at her feet and shifted again, beating her wings frantically and hoping that the restraints would slip off her talons somehow. They only grew tighter around her ankles with each tug, like Chinese finger traps shrinking around her the more she sought to escape. Feathers floated around the room, stirred by her struggle until she finally fell to the floor again, exhausted and panting in her human form.

“No. Marcus, please don’t die,” she said and buried her head in her blood-covered hands.

A pair of feet came into view, clad in blue surgical booties, tracking through the blood.

Evie looked up to see the doctor again, moving a wheeled IV stand to Marcus’s side and prepping his upraised arm with a swab. Another figure passed before her eyes, clad similarly in blue scrubs.

A huge man knelt down in front of Marcus and let out a soft curse before wrapping a tourniquet swiftly around Marcus’s upper thigh and pulling it taut. The most astounding thing happened then.

Evie couldn’t quite believe her eyes, and even ceased struggling against her bonds when the man took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, blowing out against the wound that still seeped blood from Marcus’s thigh. Before her eyes, the wound sealed shut.

“It’s done,” the man said in a deep voice devoid of any emotion. “Shall I do the other wounds? What about hers?”

The doctor answered with a curt nod. “Get it done. Take her down and put her in a fresh cell, then come back and monitor him. I’ve already been here too long.”

“When will you return to oversee the first round of tests?” A new voice asked the question from somewhere behind Evie.

The doctor let out a sigh, and Evie closed her eyes, hoping to catch some nuance of the truth about him from the breath he’d expelled.

“Not until autumn. It’s too risky in the summertime. You know where to find me.”

Evie caught the breath, her powers working over it to wheedle out any little nuance she could.

All she could discover was that he wasn’t lying, and that he implicitly trusted the man he spoke to.

“We should transfer them to the Mexico facility, if you’re so worried,” the man behind her said.

“No. They’re too valuable to move. Any time they leave the facility, we offer an invitation for a breach. I’ll simply have to adjust my schedule. We can only attempt the most crucial tests once a year, anyway.” He checked Marcus’s bindings, double-checked the tube that attached to Marcus’s arm. Evie could only watch ineffectually from the floor, tugging at her bindings. The doctor stared down at her in disgust. “Sterlyn, control her, please, and clean up this mess when you’re done. I will see you in six months.”

“Yes, sir,” the man said as the doctor left the room.

The man in front of her followed, and in their absence, Evie pulled as hard as she could against her bindings. She didn’t need her feet. If she shifted they’d heal, anyway. The pain nearly made her pass out, but she clawed at the bloody floor, trying to reach Marcus’s limp form anyway.

“Stop, please,” a soft voice said. “Even if you get out of your bindings, there’s no way out of the facility. Trust me, I have tried.”

Evie stilled her struggling and turned to look at the unseen man who had stayed behind.

She stared up into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen, and a spark of recognition seemed to flare for a moment. It ignited a tiny flame inside her that she didn’t realize even existed.

But then he blinked. His blue eyes were hidden for a split second, and the connection she thought they had disappeared entirely, replaced by a cold gaze.

Evie studied the man’s beautiful face, wishing like hell that feeling would return, but it didn’t.

“I need to take you to your room,” he said.

Evie was too flummoxed to object.

That was the spark her mother had told her about. She knew it instinctively. But it had fizzled with this man. She kept looking up at him now, willing it to return, but it didn’t happen again.

He carried her down a dark hallway, then fumbled to unlock another door.

Just before he carried her inside, he lifted a hand to her chin and made her look at him. His brows furrowed and his lips pressed together. He had the most anguished look in his eyes for a split second before the look cleared. Then he met her gaze.

“He has us all at a disadvantage. He eventually kills most of the females who come here, but you’re too precious. Please don’t piss him off. We can’t protect you. I need you as much as the others do. The happier he is with his test subjects, the easier it is on the rest of us. I’m so sorry, Evie.”

With that, he laid her down on the bed and left silently through the door.

Her tears began to flow at the sound of the heavy bolt locking behind him.