sunfall (2 page)

Constantine snarled in frustration. “Who said anything about a war zone? Alexa is right. This is an extraction mission. It will have to be surgically precise to have any hope of success.”

“Whatever we decide, we need a backup plan.” Val’s fingers drummed a quick beat against the tabletop. “Is there a building with line-of-sight into the eastern wing of the penthouse that’s also within sniper range?”

Foster’s eyes narrowed. “What are you thinking?”

“A sniper gives us two options: the ability to create a distraction and to perform a mercy killing if necessary.”

Constantine swore colorfully in French, but no one disagreed with Val’s assessment of the possibilities. I tried to put myself in Helen’s place. As a Sunrunner vampire, she could withstand direct exposure to the sunlight for much longer than members of the other vampire clans. But in the end, she would still be burned alive, her increased resistance only serving to prolong what was undoubtedly an agonizing process. A shiver coursed down my spine as I imagined her slow immolation. I would want the quick death Val was offering.

Summers was speaking into his phone, directing one of his staff members to find out whether there was a building that met Val’s specifications. At a light tap on the door, Foster opened it to reveal one of her staff carrying a large roll of paper.

“Hotel schematics,” Foster said as she spread out the blueprints. For several minutes, we contemplated them in silence.

“We’ll have to find a way in through the service entrance.” Constantine traced a set of parallel lines with his index finger. “From there, we can split into two teams, one creating a distraction in the elevator shaft while the other ascends the stairwell.”

Summers’s upper lip curled in disdain. “In what universe would Brenner leave the back door unguarded?”

Constantine’s knuckles whitened and the table creaked at the strength of his grip. “I’m well aware that—”

“We can stow away on a delivery truck,” I cut in, hoping to diffuse the tension by keeping them focused on the plan. “At least we’ll make it through the perimeter that way.”

For one harrowing moment, it looked as though they would come to blows despite my efforts. But then Summers’s phone rang, and he stalked toward the back of the room as he answered it. I turned my attention back to the others.

“You and Leon should be in the elevator shaft,” Val said, looking at Foster. “No windows.”

“That leaves Constantine and me to cover the stairwell.” I bent closer to inspect that part of the diagram.

A frown creased Val’s brow. “And me. And Solana, if she’s willing.”

Val thought I had forgotten about her. I rested my palm atop hers and stroked her knuckles with my fingertips. “You need to be the sniper.”

“What?”

That single syllable vibrated with tension. I took hold of her hand and pulled her into the corner, not wanting everyone else to be privy to our conversation. Val was reacting not as the blood prime or the Missionary, but as my lover, and I would need to respond to her as such. When we reached the far corner, I twined my arms around her neck and met the full force of her stormy gaze.

“I’m not leaving your side, Alexa,” she said before I could open my mouth. “You just brought me back. Brought
us
back. This mission verges on suicidal, and if you think I’m going to sit around and twiddle my thumbs while you risk your life—”

I cut off her tirade by pressing my mouth to hers. I meant the kiss to be gentle and comforting, but the sensation of her lips sliding possessively over mine fanned the embers of my desire. A groan welled up in my throat, and I twined my fingers in the short hairs at the back of her neck. When she finally pulled away, we were both gasping for breath.

“Don’t you see?” she whispered.

“Perfectly.” I managed a small smile. “But you know I’m right about this. You should take the shot. When you’re at full strength, your eyesight and muscle control are unparalleled. And the sunrise isn’t a death sentence for you anymore.”

Her eyes narrowed. “That’s true of Solana, too.”

“Solana would never be able to pull the trigger.”

Her lean frame shuddered in a sigh, and I knew logic had won out. She pulled me closer, cradling my head against her shoulder, and gently stroked my hair. I let my eyes drift shut and savored the sensation of being held. Valentine’s arms were the eye of the storm.

“Solana goes with you and Constantine,” Val murmured into my ear. “I trust her, and you’ll need someone at your back who can handle a weapon if you both end up having to shift.”

I nodded against her chest and was about to reply when Summers’s raised voice captured my attention.

“The thirty-eighth floor? You’re sure? Good.” An edge of anticipation had sharpened his words, and I reluctantly pulled away from Val to hear his news.

“Who’s doing the shooting?” he said.

“I am.” Val cast a sideways glance at me. “Under duress.”

Summers bared his sharpened teeth. “My people found you a perch on the top floor of the Seagram Building. The angle of correspondence is small, but it’s the only option.”

“I’ll make it work.” Val squeezed my shoulders briefly before moving away to confer with him.

Constantine stepped into the space she had vacated, and my panther snapped awake as though he had called her name. His unspoken desire to grind Brenner’s spine between his powerful teeth was both palpable and infectious, and a rush of adrenaline flooded my bloodstream. The remembered stench of urine and wet fur assailed my nose as I flashed back to our imprisonment at Brenner’s hands. He had intended for Constantine and me to kill each other in captivity. He had unleashed a deadly virus on the shifters of New York. He had razed the vampire city of Sybaris, and his assassins had made three separate attempts on Valentine’s life. He had much to answer for, and we would make him pay.

The hunt was on.

We gathered at half past three in the morning in a small atrium just off the back door of Headquarters, a restricted area that had required Foster’s handprint to access. From here, we could leave on our mission without risking the speculation of passers-by. Brenner undoubtedly had spies inside the Consortium, and while he had to suspect the existence of some kind of rescue attempt for Helen, we needed to keep the specifics of our plan under tight wraps.

Just minutes before, the bedraggled contingent of Sunrunners had been released to us outside of Wilmington, Delaware. Brenner had left them chained inside a camper trailer by an RV park. Only an hour before, he had sent a terse communiqué with their coordinates. Summers had made the arrangements with the Philadelphia branch of the Consortium to pick them up. We had anxiously watched their recovery on a secure satellite feed, half expecting some kind of ambush. The extraction team had been forced to cut things closer than they’d like, what with sunrise being only a few hours off, but ultimately all of the delegates were collected and accounted for. They appeared healthy, if malnourished, aside from their leader, Bai. Second-in-command to Tian, the Blood Prime of the Sunrunners, Bai had been wheeled in with his neck immobilized in a brace. The Consortium rescue squad had found him unconscious and badly beaten. When the other delegates were questioned, they revealed that they had been held separately and had no idea how or why Bai had been tortured. Val had wanted him to be transported here, but Constantine had overruled her, arguing that until we had neutralized Brenner’s threat, all of New York City should be considered a hot zone.

The hostages’ return had allowed us to shift our focus entirely to Helen’s rescue. We had already been over the tactics dozens of times in hastily rendered computer simulations, and we were as ready to go as time would allow. The members of our small group were dressed entirely in black, and all of us were armed to the teeth. Just moments ago, I had watched Valentine strap two semiautomatic pistols to her belt and slide a knife into her ankle sheath. Now, she was crouching over her sniper rifle, inspecting it for the second time tonight. She bent to make an adjustment, and desire stirred in me at the sight of her strong, elegant fingers moving over the bones of the firearm. When a strand of golden hair slipped into her eyes, I knelt beside her and smoothed the errant lock away from her face.

She leaned into my touch and smiled. “You’re breathtaking.”

“Oh? You find the commando look attractive?”

A grin played at the corners of her mouth. “I love when you go commando, baby.”

“You have a teenage boy’s sense of humor.” I rolled my eyes for her benefit, secretly glad she felt capable of humor despite the thick tension in the room.

My attention was suddenly drawn to Foster moving toward the inner door, her cell phone pressed to her ear. She opened the door to admit Solana. This was the first time I’d ever seen Solana with her dark hair pulled back, and the look accentuated the sharpness of her cheekbones. A slight redness lingered around her eyes, but otherwise, she betrayed no sign of internal distress. Her reunion with Helen had been a century in the making, but they’d had only a few hours together before Brenner’s ultimatum had turned the entire Consortium on its head.

I stepped forward to fold my arms around her, but her posture remained stiff despite my embrace. I could empathize; her heart was shattering, and to let her guard down even for an instant would spell the disintegration of her composure.

“Tell me what I’ve missed,” was all she said.

I stepped back and motioned to Constantine. “Have you met?”

Solana inclined her head as he joined us. “Earlier this evening.”

Constantine kept his hands clasped behind his back. When he spoke, his tone was cool. “You’ll be joining us as we make our way up the stairwell. We expect heavy resistance, and it’s safe to assume that Alexa and I will be four-footed for much of the mission, as will Brenner’s forces. Have you fought against Weres before?”

“I have not.”

“Aim for the head. We can recover from almost anything else.”

“I’ll need weapons.”

I pointed to the far corner where an open duffle bag fairly bristled with side arms. “Take whatever you need.”

“The truck’s ETA is fifteen minutes,” called Summers, whose operatives had commandeered a produce freighter bound for the Four Seasons.

A wave of anxiety prickled beneath my skin, and suddenly, I couldn’t bear the space separating me from Valentine. She glanced up as I approached, and my face must have betrayed some hint of my inner turmoil because she immediately got to her feet. When her arms came around my waist, I laid my head on her chest. Her heartbeat pulsed against my cheek, and I let its rhythm steady my nerves.

Her heartbeat. It had been many hours since she’d last tasted my blood, and she needed to be at her sharpest and strongest for this mission. Besides, I craved the intimacy of her teeth in my vein—the knowledge that I was nourishing her, empowering her, satisfying her. I pulled back just enough to tug the collar of my shirt down over my left shoulder.

“Drink me.”

Val jerked as if I’d struck her. Darkness swallowed her sparkling blue irises at my command. She struggled to rein in her thirst, but I cupped the back of her neck with one hand.

“Don’t think. Don’t hesitate. I want you, and you need this. Feed, my love.”

The last band of her restraint snapped, and she crushed my body to hers. I swallowed a moan as her teeth pierced me, pain and pleasure fusing in every cell. Desperate to feel her skin against mine, I pushed my free hand beneath the hem of her sweater and skimmed my knuckles along the taut muscles of her abdomen. Everyone could hear her muffled groan, but I didn’t care.

In another minute, I might have begged her to take me, regardless of our audience. But before I could speak the words, she wrenched herself away, shuddering. The tendons in her forearms leapt into sharp relief above clenched fists, and her dilated eyes never left mine as she battled for control. My panther prowled restlessly behind the doors of my brain, craving the satisfaction she’d been denied. Beyond words, I sucked in one deep breath after another, torn between animal desires and human reason.

Val finally closed the gap between us. Her feeding frenzy had passed like a summer thunderstorm. Her hands were gentle as they clasped my shoulders, and her mouth moved tenderly over the bite mark as she cleaned the fading puncture wounds with delicate strokes of her tongue.

“Thank you.” She murmured the words against the shell of my ear, so softly as to almost be inaudible. “I love you.”

I cupped her face in my hands. “We have unfinished business. After this is over, I plan to finish it. So come back to me.”

“Baby.” Her mouth twisted in a lopsided smile. “I’ll be light years from the action. You’re the one riding into the heart of the storm.”

“Truck’s here,” Summers called.

A hush fell over the group, and I was able to make out the spitting sound of gravel against asphalt as overburdened tires neared the door. As we filed out into the night and climbed into the shipping container, the scent of garlic enveloped us.

“Good thing that particular allergy is misinformation,” Val said dryly.

Foster wrinkled her nose. “At least our scent will be masked if Brenner has his dogs at the loading dock.”