INTO THE FIRE (Forbidden Love) (20 page)

She couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing now. Surely he was awake. Pissed off for sure, and hopefully not on his way to find her. She knew there was no way that he would let her go, but she hoped that his family would have the sense and the strength to stop him from flying in after her in a blind rage. It would mean certain death for him.

They would need a plan, and a damned good one. They would have no trouble finding her. Rebel would always be able to find her. She was thankful that little tidbit was a secret from Merrick. As far as he knew, the vamps had no idea where he was staying. And they didn’t. But he hadn’t taken the time to do his research on vampire mating. Hell, as far as Merrick was concerned, she wasn’t really mated after all. How could she be when Rebel was just a stupid blood sucker, right? There were a few other things he didn’t know about. Like how Rebel had taken on some of her magic. He could levitate. He could eat food. He could be out in the sun. The newest of his abilities was the power to move things with his mind. Not even his family knew about that one yet. He hadn’t learn to control it so he didn’t use it around anyone else.

Not that all that would help in getting her the fuck out of this dungeon. And that is precisely what her cell looked like. A good old fashioned medieval dungeon. She was chained to the wall in five by five cell made of cement blocks. She had watched where he flew her on the way here. She was certain she was somewhere in Texas.

“Welcome home Leigh,” Merrick sneered as he approached her cell. “How are you feeling on this lovely morning?”

“Fuck you.”

“Ah still spunky. I see your time with the vampires has not changed that. I do, however, have trouble believing that they convinced you that they actually care. I am truly shocked that you came with me willingly to save a bunch of blood suckers that are already dead.”

“And I find it hard to believe that after all this time you are still dumber than a box of rocks.”

“Ha ha. Somebody’s full of humor today,” he said with a sardonic smile. “But that’s ok. I brought you some breakfast.” He shoved a tray with bacon and eggs under the bars. “You should eat. You are going to need your strength for the full moon.”

“What are you blathering about Merrick? What the fuck does the full moon have to do with anything?” She knew she would need her strength, but not for anything he had planned.

“The full moon is in three days. That is when we will be mated. The faeries have spelled our rings and when we make love under the full moon, we will be mated by a force so strong even your vampire will not be able to break it.” He tossed his hair over his shoulder and lowered his face, looking at her from under his lashes. “It will be beautiful.”

“So you are planning to rape me in three days?” she shot back.

“Nonsense. By then you will be begging me to take you. And no teleporting back to those blood suckers. The terms of our agreement only stand as long as you remain here with me. You try to escape, I will kill them all.” He pivoted on his heel and walked away. “Eat up, love.”

Leigh wondered just what force in heaven or earth could make her want him. No fucking way. There wasn’t enough X on the planet to make her want that son of a bitch. Then she looked at her food. Surely he wouldn’t…..

The only way he could have her was to drug her and the only way to do that was in her food.

Well, fuck. Looks like she wasn’t eating after all. All she could do was say in her mind,
please
Cowboy, hurry
.

Rebel’s head snapped up at the sound of his mate’s voice. He searched the room with his eyes, knowing she wasn’t there but just as certain that he had heard her.

“What is it?” Brea asked.

Rebel shook his head. “I must be hearing things,” he muttered.

“I don’t understand,” she said. “What did you hear?”

“I must be losing my mind. I could swear I heard Leigh telling me to hurry. I know it has to be my imagination because no way Merrick would have taken her anywhere close to here. Why would he when he can teleport to anywhere in the world with her with just a thought.”

“How certain are you that you heard her?” Brea asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. He scratched the top of his head with both hands.

“I wouldn’t discount it just yet Rebel.” Brea moved so that she sat right in front of him. She gently put her hand under his chin and lifted his face so that he had to look at her. “We still don’t know enough about your relationship to cross out anything. We have to assume anything is possible. Hell, you can go out in the sun. You can damn near fly! You eat food. And you can already communicate telepathically when she is a dragon. And most mated vampires do as well. Who’s to say you didn’t hear her?”

“What if she is talking to you? I think you better listen. Try to talk to her.”

Rebel closed his eyes and concentrated hard. He sent her the thought over and over that he would come for her, to just be strong. And over and over again, he got no reply. “I don’t think it’s working,” he said with a sigh. “We are just too far away. I can at least feel that much in my bones. But on the same token, I can feel her life force, for lack of a better word. I know she is at least alive.”

“Well see? That’s a start anyway. When we are ready, you can tell us which way to go,” Brea said.

“Really.”

“Trust me,” she said, “you will know when the time comes.”

“What do you mean, WE? You ain’t going. You and Jess and the kid are staying here.”

Brea scooted closer so that she was nose to nose with him and all up in his personal space. “I don’t believe I asked for your permission. Leigh is family now. My family. Just because I am not her mate does not mean that I don’t love her. I
will
be going. You will be accepting that. Understand?” Lightning flashed in her violet eyes and Rebel knew he had offended her. More than that, she was pissed.

“You are only human,” he said. “Fragile. We might not be able to protect you.”

“Human does not mean powerless,” she huffed and walked away. She turned before slipping out of sight and said, “Jade, keep his ass there.”

“What exactly are you suggesting?” Angel asked the faery. They were sitting around the table watching Gage slowly breathe and hoping he would heal quickly.

“I am saying that Merrick went to the clans. He went to mine and others, playing on their prejudices and morals. He told them, us, that you had Leigh under some kind of mind control and that she was his mate. Kidnapped by you, forced to live with vampires that she hated. I saw the marks, but I doubt anyone else did. We may not be the most popular species, but we do have some morals,” Serena said.

“So you think that if we did the same, if we could convince other people that Merrick is a liar, that he in fact kidnapped Leigh, they might be willing to help us?” Angel asked.

“That is exactly what I am saying. Merrick built an army against you with a lie. Let us build one with the truth.”

“We could call on the other vampire clans as well,” Jessica offered. “You have a good rapport with the Boston clan leader. Why not call on them for help?”

“It’s a good place to start,” Brea said as she entered the room.

“How is he?” Jessica asked about Rebel.

“Stubborn as hell and pissed off. Otherwise good.”

“Ok then, we need to go. We need all the help we can get,” Jessica said standing up. “Brea and I will go to Boston. We will also call on Brea’s friend who knows the local were clan. Serena, go to your clan. Angel and Sebastian, go find anyone willing to help. Jacque you and Rebel stay here with Gage and Jade. Protect them.”

“I cannot allow you to go alone,” Angel said.

“Neither will I,” Sebastian said. “Don’t you remember the last time we let you girls go off on your own?”

“That was a long time ago,” Jessica said. “And we don’t have the luxury of time, so get over it. We are going to help whether you like it or not. And if you forbid it, well…” she and Brea broke out in laughter.

“So it is to be done then?” Rebel asked, waltzing into the kitchen.

“How the..”

“I always could get free. Don’t worry, I agree. I won’t go off on my own. But you need to hurry. Go.”

“You keep trying to talk to her,” Brea added. “We got us a plane to catch.” The women shot out of the kitchen hell bent on their mission.

Angel shook his head. He hated it. He also knew, it was the only way.

TWENTY EIGHT

Damn it she was cold, she was tired, and she was hungry. The baby squirmed inside her belly and Leigh wished her hands were free to rub it. She didn’t dare talk to the baby, though. She didn’t dare do anything that would give it away. Leigh knew that the baby was feeling her stress. But there was nothing she could do about that. She could only try and be calm.

Merrick hadn’t come back and she was thankful for that. A vampire did come by to toss a bottle of water into her cell, but laughed when it hit the floor. He knew there was no way Leigh could get it. She would have to depend on others for food and drink. Not that she would dare consume anything provided by Merrick anyway. Just like that fucking bastard to try and drug her. She supposed he knew she wouldn’t eat or drink anything right away. No, he would wait until she had no other choice. He would wait until she was starving to death and withering away from thirst. She had no idea how long she could last but knew her baby couldn’t last half as long.

Leigh had tried any number of times to reach out to her family, first Rebel, then Angel and the rest of them. Again and again she heard nothing in response. All she could do was hold on and have faith that her family would get her back. They had to or she was in really deep shit.

There wasn’t much time before the sun would rise and Angel and Sebastian would be forced indoors for the day. So far, they had talked to seventeen vampires and two werewolves. The wolves were on board and waiting for word to strike. Only two of the vampires were willing to help, and they were not the most respectable sort. Three were sympathetic to the situation, but had families of their own to see to and were not willing to risk their lives. And that was exactly what Angel was asking of them. To go into a war and possibly, no probably, die for them.

He hoped his wife would have better luck with the Boston clan leader. They were day walkers, and that would be a huge asset, if they were on board. Merrick wouldn’t expect vampires during the day because they were so rare.

He sent a mental “be careful” to his wife as he and his second in command checked into a hotel for the day.

Brea and Jessica wasted no time getting to the airport and booking flights to Boston. It was amazing what you could get accomplished when you were married to the biggest rock star in the US and the most famous vampire in the world. It took the customer service rep a hot minute to find them flights, but here they were, twelve hours and three connection flights later, in Boston. It was ten in the morning and the airport was bustling with activity.

Brea watched a bum out of the corner of her eye as she hefted her overnight bag over her shoulder. She and Jess had taken turns sleeping on the plane, while the other spent time shooting emails to basically everyone they knew. That list included a few politicians. While it was no secret that there would be bloodshed, and they were well within the boundaries of the law, they would need human support to keep the vampires and anyone who helped them seeming like monsters.

“Do you think Victor is awake?” Jessica asked as they waited out front for a cab.

“Yeah he’s up. And probably knows we’re coming,” Brea answered as she lifted her fingers to her lips. One blow and the most ear-piercing shrill noise escaped her little mouth. She may be small, but had one hell of a whistle. And what do you know? It worked. A yellow cab pulled up to the curb and stopped right in front of them.

“I heard they have some special talents,” Jessica said as she opened the back door for Brea. “Wonder if it’s anything useful.”

“I don’t know,” Brea said, “but the more respected vampires we can get, the better off we’ll be.” She tossed her bag down in the floor board of the cab and waited for Jessica to slam the door shut. “I know Merrick is gonna cause a stink. The last thing we need is for the general public to get on his side because we in sighted a war.”

Jessica nodded and watched the scenery go by her window. She missed Sebastian already and was wondering if he fed enough before they separated. She wondered in the back of her mind if she would ever even see him again. She and Brea had wondered into dangerous territory before and almost didn’t survive it. But of course, here they were again. But this time, there was more at stake. It wasn’t just their family, and yes, Leigh was family as well as the child in her belly, but now it was for the good of all mated vampires and any other species that mated for life.

If Merrick succeeded in forcing Leigh to be with him because of the endangered species act, then everyone whether they were vampire, human, dragon, or whatever, would essentially lose the freedom to mate with whomever they chose.

She knew this was important. Like Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement was important. When would people realize that being human was more than being human? She felt like Joan of Arc. Or something equally monumental.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Brea said. “I worry about it too.”

“Since when do you read minds?” Jessica snarked at her friend with a smile.

“I don’t have to; it’s written all over your face.” Brea settled back into her seat and smiled. “It will all work out for the best. You’ll see.”

“I pray you’re right,” Jessica said as they pulled off the main road and onto the street that would end at the clan leader’s home.

TWENTY NINE

Everything hurt. From the top of his head to the bottom of his toes, Gage felt nothing but pain. Oh sure he had felt pain before. There was pain, and then there was PAIN. He wondered to himself what the fuck happened and who he was gonna have to kill for this. Of course, he would have to get up first. He took stock of his body assuring himself that he still, in fact, had all of his limbs. His legs felt like they had been run over by a Mac Truck, his arms felt like he had slept on them both, like a thousand tiny needles pricked every bit of surface area on them. Oh, and they just point-blank refused to cooperate with his command to move them.