Master Unchained (Stealth Guardians Book 2) (23 page)

As he bent over her and brought his face to hers, he prayed that he could save her.

“I love you, Tessa.”

He sank his lips onto hers and willed his virta to leave his body and enter hers, holding her face with his hands so she couldn’t move, while Leila and Pearce immobilized her arms and legs. His only thoughts were of Tessa now, of what she meant to him, of what could lie in their future if only she made it through this. He poured more and more of his life force into her, urging it to permeate every cell of Tessa’s body and fight the effect of the drugs in her system. He’d give anything, even his life, to heal Tessa in this moment.

“She’s stopped seizing.” Leila’s voice floated to his ears, but still, Hamish didn’t let go of Tessa. He continued to pour his strength, his virta, into her.

He heard the beeping of the monitors returning to a less frantic pace. And he could feel it himself: her heart rate calming, evening out, her body stilling beneath him.

He felt Pearce’s hand on his shoulder. “It’s good now, Hamish.”

Yet, he couldn’t stop. He needed to continue, needed to know that he was giving her everything he could so she would survive.

“Her vitals are good,” Leila said from the other side of the gurney. “She’ll make it.”

Suddenly he felt his body weakening, his knees buckling.

“Oh shit!” he heard Pearce curse.

His fellow Stealth Guardian ripped him off Tessa. Hamish tumbled backward and would have fallen had Pearce not caught him.

“Leila, a chair. Quickly!” Pearce ordered.

A moment later, Leila had pushed a chair next to the gurney, and Pearce was carefully lowering him onto it. But Hamish wasn’t concerned with himself right now. Instead he lifted his eyes and looked at Tessa. Her skin shimmered golden, an aftereffect of the virta he’d shared with her. She’d never been more beautiful.

“Shit, Hamish,” Pearce said, “you nearly brought yourself to the brink.”

“She needed it,” Hamish said, though he felt drained now, his virta at a level that was dangerously low. “I’ll be fine.” His power would be fully regenerated in a few hours. Being at the compound among his fellow Stealth Guardians would ensure that. He could draw from their collective virta and the power that lay within the stone walls of the building.

“You need to rest,” Pearce demanded. “Come on!”

Hamish shook off Pearce’s hand. “No! I’m staying with Tessa. She needs me.”

“There’s nothing you can do now,” Leila said softly. “She’s sleeping.”

He reached for Tessa’s hand, but Leila stopped him. “No, Hamish. You can’t touch her now. She needs to rest.”

He understood immediately what Leila was referring to. While Tessa shimmered golden, his virta strong in her, a touch from him would arouse her instantly and make her climax. “I know. But I need to be here when she wakes. She’ll be frightened.” He looked up at Leila. “She doesn’t know you.”

Leila nodded, a soft smile on her face. “Then stay.”

He sighed in relief, and next to him, Pearce did the same.

“You’ve done well, Hamish,” Pearce said.

Hamish glanced at him. “She can’t die.”

From the look his friend gave him, he knew Pearce understood. “She won’t. And we’re gonna get the bastard who did this to her.”

Hamish nodded in agreement.

“I’ve checked on that email you sent me,” Pearce suddenly said.

Hamish shot him a look, his body coiled in anticipation. “Yes?”

“That name that sounded so odd? Zoel Monnadt?”

“What about it?”

“It’s an anagram. If you rearrange the letters, it spells Demon Zoltan.”

“That sick son-of-a-bitch!” Hamish growled, his hands automatically curling into fists.

“He likes to play games. I also examined the photo, and it’s not been altered. The photo is real. It wasn’t photoshopped. Sorry.”

Hamish nodded, letting the information sink in. It lent more weight to his hunch. “Did you get the adoption file I asked you for? I think I know how Zoltan did it. I just need confirmation.”

“I hacked into the county records, but thirty-five years ago they had paper records. They’re not digitized yet. I was about to go down to the county courthouse and let myself in to look for them, when…” He glanced at Tessa, then back at Hamish. “I’ll go now.”

“Thanks, Pearce.” He hesitated. “For everything.”

Pearce smiled. “What are friends for?” Then he turned and marched out of the room.

Hamish moved his chair closer to the gurney, still feeling physically weak. But he’d take that any day if it meant Tessa would live.

“What now?” he asked, lifting his eyes to Leila.

“Now we wait.”

“Why don’t you take a break, Leila; go see Aiden. I’ll call for you if her condition changes,” Hamish said.

“Are you sure?”

He nodded. “And you might want to take some bandages with you. The intruder is injured.”

Leila’s chin dropped. “You didn’t kill the demon who got in?”

“It wasn’t a demon.”

“Then who breached our defenses?”

“A witch.”

“But… how is that possible?”

Hamish shrugged. “We don’t know yet. We’ll figure it out.” He glanced back at Tessa. “Later.” When he could think straight again.

Leila grabbed a bag with supplies and walked to the door where she looked over her shoulder. “If anything changes, if she wakes up, press that button.” She pointed to a spot on the wall. “It’ll send a silent alarm to the command center and to my cell.”

Hamish nodded. A moment later he was alone with Tessa.

Her face looked peaceful now, not the contorted mask of pain and anguish it had been earlier during her seizure. The golden glow that covered her entire body made her look like an angel. And to him she was an angel.

“I love you, Tessa,” he murmured. “And if you wake up, no…
when
you wake up, I’ll show you how much.” He sniffled. “I’m going to kill the demon who did this to you. I’m going to destroy Zoltan. I’m going to make him wish he’d never been born.”

34

Wesley cursed. They’d stripped him of his backpack and searched his pockets, emptying them, before they’d tossed him into a dark cell lined with lead. Without any weapons, his cell phone, or his witch power, there wasn’t much he could do. He just had to wait for his reluctant hosts to come back and let him explain why he was here and how he’d been able to use the portal.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been in the dimly lit cell, but it couldn’t have been long, when he heard footsteps approaching. More than one person, as far as he could tell. He jumped to his feet and stared at the door, which looked as if it belonged in an old castle. A key turned in the lock, and the door swung open, letting more light into the cell.

A man was silhouetted against the light behind him. “We’re going to take care of your injury.”

He recognized the voice. It was Aiden. He stepped aside, revealing a smaller figure. A woman. Wes lifted an eyebrow and approached the door, taking a closer look. To his surprise, the woman was human.

“One false move, and I’ll have you by the balls, witch,” Aiden threatened.

The woman put a hand on his forearm in an attempt to calm him. They exchanged a look.

“He’s injured and powerless, Aiden, I don’t think he’s going to try anything.” She glanced at Wesley. “Right?”

Automatically, Wes shook his head. “I’m not gonna hurt anybody.”

When the woman stepped into the cell, Wes remained motionless, knowing Aiden was watching him like a hawk. If he had to guess he’d say that Aiden and this woman were an item, considering how protective he was of her.

“Leila, be careful.”

She didn’t reply and walked closer. Then her eyes homed in on Wesley’s injured arm. “It’s too dark in here,” she said, looking over her shoulder. “Let’s take him upstairs.”

“He’s staying here!” Aiden ground out.

She turned slowly. “Aiden, please be reasonable. Let’s take him up to the kitchen. I need warm water to clean out his wound anyway. He’s not gonna be able to escape, no matter whether he’s in the cell or upstairs.”

Aiden grumbled something, before he finally said, “Fine.” Then he pointed his index finger at Wesley and added, “But one wrong move—”

“I heard you the first time,” Wes interrupted. “And the name is Wesley. It’s offensive the way you say
witch
as if it were a four-letter word.”

To his surprise, Leila chuckled. “Come on, Wesley, let’s get you patched up.” She walked toward the exit, waving him to follow her.

“And did I hear kitchen? You wouldn’t by any chance have something to eat there? I’m kind of starving,” Wes said as he left the cell. When Aiden narrowed his eyes at him, he pointed to his wounded arm, where blood had crusted over the incision. “A stiff drink wouldn’t go amiss either. You know, to dull the pain.”

One side of Aiden’s mouth curled up slightly. “We drink Scotch here.”

“Love me a good glass of Scotch anytime,” Wes claimed. Anything to connect with his hostile host.

Through several corridors and up a couple of flights of stairs, Aiden and Leila led him to a higher floor. There, the walls were similar to the ones in the basement, but the floors had a much smoother surface, and the place was well-lit. It even smelled homey. From what he could tell, this was a massive building, several stories high, and several city lots wide. His own house in San Francisco could fit into this place at least five times over.

Finally, Leila opened a door and motioned him inside, Aiden following him. They had entered a massive open plan kitchen, which included a huge kitchen island with barstools, and a den with an eighty-inch plasma screen on the wall and ample couches in front of it.

“Not bad,” Wesley murmured under his breath and motioned to the TV. “You guys know how to live.” The TV was muted on his favorite channel. Drawn by the basketball game on the screen, he moved toward it. “Go Warriors!”

“So you really are from San Francisco,” Aiden said from beside him.

Wes nearly jumped out of his skin. He hadn’t heard or seen Aiden approaching. “Shit! Don’t do that!”

“Just keeping you on your toes.” He paused, then added, “Wesley.”

Behind them, Leila cleared her throat, making them both whirl their heads to her. “Once you’re both done with whatever this is, maybe I could get started on bandaging the wound? I have another patient, you know.” She pointed to the barstool, while she walked around the island and took a bowl from a cabinet.

Wesley hopped on the barstool and watched her fill the bowl with warm water.

“So, Leila,” he started when she returned to set the bowl on the island, before digging into the black doctor’s bag next to her. “You’re not a Stealth Guardian.”

She looked up briefly. “No, I’m not.” She pulled white gauze from the bag and dipped it into the warm water. “But I’m married to one.”

Before he could react to that, she ordered, “Take off your shirt so I can clean the wound.”

He complied, and she went to work. While she concentrated on cleaning the incision, Wes turned his head to look at Aiden, who was watching them, his arms crossed over his chest.

“So you two are together. I figured as much.” When Aiden only grunted, Wes had to grin. “Guess you’re not that different from my vampire friends at Scanguards. They are just as protective when it comes to their women.”

Aiden took a few steps closer, dropping his arms to his sides. “Yeah, you keep saying that you’re friends with vampires. How did that happen?”

Finally, somebody was listening.

“Well, funny you should ask.”

Aiden tilted his head to the side.

Wes lifted one hand in apology. “Okay, not funny. My brother is a vampire.”

“Your brother?” Aiden frowned. “But if he’s your brother, he would have been a witch. Why would a witch—”

“To save us all. Ever heard of the Power of Three?”

“Yeah. What about it?”

Wes felt his chest fill with pride. “My brother Haven, my sister Katie, and myself, we were destined to become the Power of Three. But we were betrayed.”

“Betrayed by whom?”

“By our mother. And later by another witch, Francine. She tried to harness the power for herself, and the only way to stop her was for one of us to die.”

Aiden contemplated Wesley’s words. “A witch’s power can’t reside in a vampire’s body.”

Pleased that Aiden understood, Wesley continued, “My brother knew that. That’s why he sacrificed his human life.”

“But how do the vampires play into that?”

“Long story.”

“Give me the short version.”

“Our mother was killed—and our baby sister Katie kidnapped—by a vampire when we were just kids. Back then, we didn’t know who we were, or that our mother had stolen our powers. Haven became a vampire hunter to avenge her. He searched for Katie for over twenty years, killing every vampire that he came across. But then he was tricked by another witch.” He shrugged. “It was my fault. But that witch, she’d found Katie. She was an actress at that point. The witch managed to get her hands on us, too. And that’s how Scanguards got involved, because Yvette had been assigned as Katie’s bodyguard. We all ended up imprisoned by the witch. We had to work together.” He smiled. “And Haven, he fell for her. For Yvette. That’s how we all became a family. I would trust every single one of the Scanguards vampires with my life. And I would give mine for them if I had to. They’re my brothers and sisters.”

He suddenly noticed that Leila had stopped tending to his wound, and looked at her. “Thanks.” He glanced at his arm. It was neatly bandaged.

“You’re really friends with vampires?” Aiden now asked, his voice still incredulous, yet much friendlier than before. “So there is hope for peace between your two species.”

“They’re good people. They protect the innocent: humans, witches, vampires. Doesn’t matter. They don’t care what the evil looks like and who’s in danger; they don’t discriminate. They’ll protect those who deserve protecting.” And Wes was proud to be part of them.

Leila exchanged a look with her husband. “Just like we do.”

Aiden nodded slowly, then shifted his gaze back to Wesley. “How did you find us?”