Return of the Assassin (All the King's Men) (21 page)

"Finish me!" She clung to him as he pushed to his feet, her arms and legs wrapped around him.

Enough! This shit was so done and over.

"I don't want you, bitch!" He grabbed her arms, bent forward, and flung her to the floor.

The whack-o actually moaned as if in pleasure. What the hell? But as quickly as she seemed to get off on the physical aggression, her eyes shot open, and she glared up at him. "What did you say?"

The furious atmosphere suddenly froze as if she couldn't believe he was rejecting her and needed a moment to gather her wits.

"You heard me." Malek turned, out of breath, and walked toward his dresser. When he glanced back at her, she rolled to her feet and stood. "I don't want you, Lorena. Now get dressed and get the fuck out."

Daggers shot from her eyes and she bared her fangs. "You asshole." She started for him.

He grabbed his gun out of the top drawer of his dresser and, within a fraction of a second, pointed it at her. That put her brakes on.

"Get. The fuck. Out!" Bringing this one home had been an epic fail on fifty different levels.

For several seconds, the two stood at a stalemate, and then Lorena wiped a streak of blood off her face, turned, stormed into the bathroom for her pants and boots, and got dressed in record time. She was still snapping buttons into place as she marched back into the bedroom.

"You'll pay for this." She whipped her jacket off the back of a nearby chair and shoved her arms through the sleeves. "So help me, you'll pay."

"Yeah, yeah. Goody for you. Now leave." Malek still had the gun trained on her.

Lorena spun and stomped up the stairs and out of his life. Hopefully forever.

He lowered the gun and sank to the bed, head hung. A dull ache set up house behind his sternum, and he rubbed his thumb up and down to try and ease the pain, to no avail.

What a mess he had made of things. Gina was gone, and maybe that was for the best. He should go after her, but what could he do or say to make things right with her? After what he had just done—which would be par for the course if they were together—there was no way she would forgive him.

Micah was going to be pissed, but so what. Micah could get in line, because it seemed that everyone Malek came in contact with ended up pissed off at him.

Damn it, but he just wanted the agony to end. He couldn't keep on like this.

* * *

Gina was too agitated to simply poof herself away from Malek's house, but her adrenaline needed an outlet, anyway, so she took off at Olympic record speed. Usain Bolt had nothing on her.

After running God knew how many miles in only a few minutes, her legs gave out and she collapsed on her knees at the side of the road. Her adrenaline high was crashing, and now her emotions tore through her. Daggers of ice lanced her heart. She would never be free, would she? First, Armand had held her captive and stripped away her soul, her very essence. And now she was in love with a male who would never love her back. Malek would never give himself to her, which meant she would never truly be healed. She was destined to go through life a prisoner of her past, with no hope for the future.

She dug her phone out of her pocket and punched up Trevor's number. He could come and get her, and they could leave. Go somewhere else. Anywhere but here.

That's when her hands started to tremble.

Shit. Not again.

* * *

Trevor's mobile starting chiming from the shelf in the locker as he tossed his wet towel in a bin against the wall. Micah sat a couple of feet away and was already half dressed. He hadn't even bothered to dry off. The guy really was eager to get home to his mate and it showed by how quickly he yanked his sweater over his head.

He fished his phone from the locker and frowned at the ID.

"Gina? Hey."

Micah's head snapped around, and his eyes narrowed.

"I need you to come and get me." She sounded agitated. Something wasn't right.

He instantly froze, on alert. "What's wrong? Where are you?"

"Side of the road. Two or three miles from Malek's house, give or take."

"What happened? Are you okay?"

"I don't want to talk about it. Just track my phone's GPS and come and get me. And hurry. Please." She sounded…off.

"It's not Searcy or Vaydon, is it?" Shit! If they had found her, it was all over.

"No. Just come and get me. And don't tell Micah."

Trevor glanced over just as Micah frowned and stood up. He didn't look pleased. Whatever talents Micah had, they obviously included stealth mindreading.

"Too late," he said.

Silence answered him on the phone. Then she said, "Shit. He's right there, isn't he?"

Micah snagged the phone out of his hand. "Yes, I'm right here. Where are you?" Micah didn't sound happy.

After a couple of seconds, he said, "Where the hell is Malek?"

Another pause. "Stay put. I'll be right there. I'll find you. No. Don't argue with me. I'll be there in less than five minutes." He handed the phone back to Trevor, sat back down on the bench, and yanked on his socks, grumbling under his breath about Malek and how "that bastard had better not have kept me from my mate today."

Trevor turned away and pulled the phone to his ear. "You still want me to come?"

"No," Micah said before Gina could answer. "You stay here."

He turned around to find Micah strapping on a pair of knives that would have made both Rambo and Crocodile Dundee envious.

"But…" Gina was his friend. He wanted to help.

Micah nabbed a Sig from his locker and holstered it under his arm, then turned intense, navy eyes on him. "I'll get her. You stay here. With your Dacian friends in town, I don't want to get stuck out there with both of you. She's bait enough."

Trevor spoke into his phone. "Did you get that?"

"Yes, I got it." Gina sounded irritated. "Just tell him to hurry the hell up." Her teeth chattered. She sounded like she was having another panic attack.

"Hold your panties," Micah said, lacing up one of his boots. "I'm hurrying."

"I'll stay on with you until he gets there," Trevor said. "Just calm down, Gina. Breathe."

"Okay, okay." She sounded breathless and shaky, like she was getting worse. This was a bad one.

"Are you okay, Gina? Don't lie to me."

"I'm f…fine. Just…shit!" Her breathing stuttered as if she was shivering.

"Gina?"

Sev appeared from the shower with Lakota right behind him. Micah turned toward them. "Sev, get dressed and get Malek on the phone. I don't have the patience to deal with him right now. You tell him to meet me at my apartment before sunrise. If he doesn't, and he keeps me from Sam today, so help me God, I will strap him into a chair and beat the living shit out of him until he finally breaks and accepts that he's mated Gina. Goddamn his stubborn ass! He's worse than a mule."

Sev and Lakota stopped dead. "Did we miss something?"

Gina yelled in his ear, and Trevor had to hold the phone away or risk temporary deafness. "You tell Micah that I don't want that bastard as my mate! Not after what he's done. That asshole! He can rot in hell! Fuck him!"

There was too much going on around him, and Trevor couldn't keep up.

Micah shut his locker and yelled toward the phone, "Gina, just hold on until I get there. I'll explain everything once I have you safe." He pointed at Trevor, then toward Lakota and Sev. "Trevor, fill them in after I'm gone." Micah stood, his jacket in hand.

"Wait, I'm not sure—"

"Just tell them what you know. I've got to go." Micah rushed out of the locker room and left Trevor with two blond males and a very pissed off Gina on the other end of the phone, who was still streaming out a trail of curses and obscenities.

"…motherfucker doesn't act like my mate. What kind of goddamn male fucks another female in front of his mate? If that asshole's mated me, then why is he acting like a goddamn fool? I don't—"

"Gina. Just slow down. Micah's on his way. I don't know what's going on, but Micah said he would explain everything when he gets there. Maybe he knows what's happening." Trevor sure hoped so, because he was lost.

Gina's breath came in tight bursts, and she continued rattling on, barely pausing, her words running together. "Trevor, I don't know what to do. He's the reason for my panic attacks…I had one as soon as he left the house. Right after he left…I had one…a bad one…I was lying on the floor…feeling like my chest was caving in…and it hit me. As long as I was around him, I was okay, but as soon as he was gone, I panicked. You see? Do you understand? Oh God, Trev. I'm so fucked. I'm so fucking fucked!" She broke down into hysterics.

"Gina, what are you talking about?" Her words flew at him at light speed, and he only comprehended half of what she was saying.

"I'm…in love…with him, Trevor!" She bit out the words as if struggling to speak. "Shit. Not now. P…please not now."

"Gina? Are you okay? Gina?"

Her breath burst through the line in tight gasps. "Another…panic…attack. Shit!" Then she grunted as if struck, and it sounded like she fell over.

Micah's voice reached him from the background. "Gina. I'm here. Shit!"

There were shuffling noises, then Micah spoke into the phone. "Trevor. I'm here. I've got her. I'm taking her to my apartment. Make sure Sev finds Malek and tells him to get his ass there pronto."

"Is she okay?"

"She's having some kind of seizure or panic attack."

The sound of retching in the background made it clear just how bad Gina's attack actually was.

"Fuck me," Micah said. "She's sick. I've gotta go. I'll take care of her."

The line went dead, and Trevor turned to see Sev and Lakota both staring at him, concern on their faces, which was odd for Lakota, given how he had treated Gina earlier.

"Well…?" Sev said.

"Come on. You need to get dressed. Micah needs you to get hold of Malek ASAP. I'll explain what I know while you dress."

He ushered them back to the locker bay and tried to wrap his mind around what was happening. If he hadn't heard it with his own two ears, he never would have believed it.

Gina was in love. Miracles did happen.

Micah hefted Gina into his arms. "Hold tight, Gina."

Damn, but this female had been through enough already. Where the hell was Malek? She needed him.

Her fingers dug into his shirt and put a death grip on the material. "Can't…breathe…"

"Ssshh. I know. Just hold on. I'm taking you to my place in the city." He hated going vapor, but under the circumstances, he had no choice. It was how he'd gotten here so fast, and it was how he would get her to his place even faster. With his mind, he attached himself to her and sucked her into the tunnel that projected them back to the balcony of his penthouse. Once he reanimated with her, he slid the glass door open and carried her to the bedroom and set her down on the comforter, picked up her arm, and then stroked his thumb over the pulse point in her wrist. The glands in his mouth released their venom.

He hated taking her vein like this, especially given that it would piss Malek off, but he didn't have much choice if he wanted to help bring her back down.

As soon as he bit into her wrist, her body shuddered, stiffened, and then relaxed as euphoria took her.

How was it that he kept having to interfere to help his brothers claim their mates? First, Arion, who had nearly lost Severin because he'd been such a bonehead, and then he had helped bail Io's ass out of the fire with Miriam, and now he was about to surrender the cause with Malek. The guy simply would not take what was right in front of him. If only he would, Carmen's memory would slip away and fade into the past, where she belonged, which was what had happened with Katarina and Jackson after he had mated Sam. The natural progression of life would see fit to bring Malek full circle with Carmen's death and reopen him so he could fully commit to Gina. But the dumbass just wouldn't give in. Stubborn SOB.

He released Gina's wrist and placed her arm over her stomach as she squirmed through the lingering euphoria. "I'll be right back," he said.

She grabbed his hand. "Please, don't go."

"I'm not leaving. I'm just going to the kitchen to get you a glass of water. Then I'll get you a change of clothes and find you a toothbrush."

She closed her eyes and nodded, still a bit shaky.

He patted her hand then pushed off the bed and left the room.

Malek should be the one here taking care of her, not him. Malek needed to reassure her everything was all right. He was the one who should have taken her vein and calmed her. But he was MIA, screwing some random whore for only God knew what reason. He had seen inside Gina's mind as he bled her and knew what had happened during the past couple of hours. He saw her argument with Malek in the parking garage…the way Malek's demeanor had changed and how he fought not to take her…how he left her alone, and how she suffered only to realize she loved him…and how he had returned with another female named Lorena…how he had fucked her right under Gina's nose.

What was Malek thinking? Clearly, he had accepted the fact that Gina was his mate, but he still refused to close the deal with her. Until he claimed her sexually, the mating between them wouldn't complete and he would remain in hell.

Was Malek so thick that he didn't realize that?

He pulled a bottle of water from the fridge and poured it into a glass.

That female had endured enough. Until tonight, he hadn't known just how fucked up her past was. What she had done to Sev and Lakota were the least of her worries compared to what she
had suffered at the hands of her first mate. How the hell had she pulled the short straw to get stuck with a half-Dacian? One who had beaten her so ferociously to render her womb barren?

The thought nearly made him retch, and unbidden tears stung his eyes. No female deserved what Armand had done to Gina, and if he hadn't already been dead, Micah would have hunted him down to do the honors for her. And he would have enjoyed the task.

It was times like this that he wished he couldn't see inside others' minds so easily, because seeing what had happened to Gina hurt his heart and made him ache in places reserved for Sam.

He took out his phone and dialed Sam's number.

"Hi, baby. You on your way home?" she said.

"No, not yet. Soon, though, okay."

Something in his voice must have revealed his pain, because Sam said, "What's wrong? Are you okay? I can tell something's wrong. Are you—?"

"I'm okay. I'm all right. I'll be home soon. I just wanted to…" He took a steadying breath. "I just wanted to call to tell you how much I love you. That's all. I love you so damn much."

Sam remained silent for a couple of seconds. "I love you, too, baby."

"I'll be home as soon as I can get away."

"I'll wait up."

"I'd like that." Because when he got home, he was going to show her just how much he loved her. Over and over and over again.

"See you soon."

"Soon." He hung up and returned to the bedroom with the glass of water and a toothbrush he dug out of the spare bathroom, wishing like hell he could show Malek what he was missing out on by rejecting Gina.

Malek could have with Gina what he had with Sam. He would never forget Carmen, just as Micah had never forgotten Katarina, but the pain of the loss would be gone, leaving behind only the good memories. The mystical tether would disconnect and free his heart, but Malek had held on so tightly to that string for so long, it was beginning to look like he would never be able to release it.

"Here, Gina." He helped her sit up.

She drank half the water, and then set the glass on the bedside table. "Thank you."

"Why don't you go brush your teeth and freshen up in the bathroom?" He gestured toward the master bath as he rummaged in one of the drawers in the bureau and pulled out a pair of Sam's Capri yoga pants and a tank top. "You can sleep in these. They should fit." Sam was tall and slender, while Gina was petite and had athletic curves, but the Capris would work better than a pair of Sam's flannel pajama pants, which would drape past Gina's feet.

She got up and took the clothes before heading into the bathroom. A few minutes later, she reappeared, smelling of mint Colgate. Water dripped from the ends of her hair from where she had splashed water on her face.

"Thank you again for helping me." She sat down on the bed and looked exhausted.

Then again, she had just had the mother of all anxiety attacks.

"Are you hungry?" He sat down next to her.

"No."

He nodded and took her hand. The two sat in silence for a long time.

Finally, Gina spoke again. "I know you saw in my mind what he did." She wouldn't look at him.

"Yes." No sense lying to her. "I saw everything. I'm sorry."

She sighed. The last of her strength drained out of her and she slumped forward. "I have to go away. I can't do this, Micah."

He put his arm around her and pulled her to him. "But you love him."

She lifted her gaze to his and shook her head. "It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does, Gina. It does matter. I saw that, too." He tapped her forehead and offered her a weak smile. "I saw firsthand what happens when you're not with him."

With a huff, she pushed away, stood, paced across the room, and then turned toward him. "I'll deal with it."

He stood with her. "Now you're beginning to sound like Malek."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She crossed her arms, but the gesture seemed more like self-protection than irritation.

He shook his head and stood akimbo. They were in such a mess. These two couldn't find their way to each other with a map and two flashlights. "Have a seat, Gina."

"No, I want to get out of here."

"Gina, don't push me. You need to hear about your
mate.
"

She bobbed backward as if he'd pushed her. "He's not my mate. Not after—"

"Yes he is, and you know it, no matter what dumbass stunt he pulled tonight, he is your mate, and you are his. Now sit down and listen."

She huffed and rolled her eyes, but sat on the bed. "How does a mate do what he did to me tonight, Micah? Clearly, you can see inside my thoughts, which means you can see what happened. How do you explain that?"

The images of what he had seen in her mind of Malek and the random bitch named Lorena fucking on his bathroom counter pounded inside his mind. He felt Gina's pain, saw her attack, heard her tell them both to burn in hell, and saw her run out the door.

He sighed and pulled up the easy chair that usually took up shop in the corner of the room, and then sat down, arms on his thighs. "Gina, let me tell you about Carmen."

"Who?" Her smooth brow creased in confusion.

"Malek's first mate, Carmen."

"Carmen?" Gina's frown twisted into an expression of realization. "He was mated before, too?"

"Yes, and I don't believe in coincidences. The fact that you were both mated before and have struggled to let go of the past is a sign."

She sighed. "A sign of what?"

"That you were meant to find each other and heal each other's hearts."

She scoffed. "He doesn't act like he wants his heart to be healed."

He held up his hand. "Hear me out. He wants you. He wants you so badly he can barely stand it. Trust me."

"He has a funny way of showing it." She looked down and pretended to pick at a fleck of lint on the bed.

"That's because he's never dealt with Carmen's death, Gina. He's confused. He thinks he's disrespecting Carmen by wanting you. He's afraid he'll forget her, and that scares him."

"Why would he think that?"

"It's a guy thing." Micah leaned forward. "We mate deeply, as I'm sure you know."

She nodded.

"When we lose a mate, it can kill us."

Gina's throat worked as she swallowed, and she bit the inside of her bottom lip as her brow knitted into a pained expression.

"What we go through when we lose a mate is hard for females to fathom. When a female loses a mate, she only gets a taste of the loss we feel when we do—except you seem to have formed a much stronger mating bond than most females, hence your panic attacks. You share that little character trait with Princess Miriam, by the way. She formed a similar bond to Io, and it's a bitch to resist, isn't it?" His gazed pierced hers.

She glanced at her hands as if she had already figured that out.

"At any rate, something breaks inside us when we lose a mate, Gina. Almost as if part of our soul dies. We're no longer whole. We've lost a vital part of our existence, and for some of us, it's too much to bear. Many males die from that loss. I almost did."

Her expression tensed with awareness. "You were—?"

"Yes," he said. "I was mated before, too. And I lost her. I partially mated again last year, but…well…that didn't work out." He didn't need to talk about Jackson, who had been more of a blip of deception than an actual mating. Jackson had seemed only to want him for bragging rights than love and had never formed a bond to him. But the partial mating to Jack had reawakened his love for Katarina and nearly destroyed him. Thank God for Sam. She had saved his life. "My point is, when I met Sam, my mate now, I opened to her because I had already dealt with Katarina's death. I was ready to take a new mate, and Sam healed the part of me that needed to be whole again. I still remember Kat, and I still love her, but she is my past. Sam is my now and my future. She's the best part of me." He smiled fondly.

The awareness deepened in Gina's expression. "And since Malek has never accepted Carmen's death, he's not…open. Is that right?"

"Exactly." Micah sat back, hands on his thighs. "You see, he's fought the truth ever since she died. I don't know how he did it, but every male reacts in his own way when a mate dies. And for Malek, his way was to internalize his feelings, box them up, and lock them away. Until you came along, he was a hollowed-out version of the male he used to be. He got the job done, but he lacked emotion."

"Because he buried all that with his memories of Carmen?"

He nodded. "Something like that, yes. Think about it. How could he feel anything else when all his feelings were tied up with his dead mate, who he refused to believe was actually dead. In his mind, she was merely sleeping."

"My God." She bowed her head.

Micah sighed. "He used to be my best friend, but we lost each other after our mates died." His gaze briefly wandered out of focus as he remembered the past, and then he blinked and brought himself back to the present. "I think he's finally begun to accept that she's dead, but he doesn't seem to understand that he can mate you
and
remember Carmen without dishonoring either one of you. He thinks that if he accepts you as his mate, he'll forget Carmen, or that he'll somehow be cheating on her. That's why he's doing what he is with the women he's been with, Gina. It's been a living hell being around him for the past couple of weeks, seeing what he's been putting himself through in an effort to deny what he feels for you. The hold you have on him scares the living hell out of him. If you could see what I see…" He tapped his head. "He fights himself over you. He wants you so badly that he's become two people."