“No.” Green flecks appeared throughout the gold in his eyes.
“But Talen, this could be bigger than any of us.”
“I said no, Cara.”
Her temper rankled. “I don’t think that’s your call, Talen.”
His flash of teeth was anything but a smile as he ran a finger along the twin puncture marks on her pale neck. “I disagree.”
“Then we’re at an impasse.”
This time he chuckled. “Not really. We’re going on foot, it’s much faster than using vehicles. Even as stubborn as you are, there’s no way you’d keep up.”
Cara let out an irritated huff. He was right. His speed matched that of the lions, and even on her best day she wasn’t very fast, even for a human. “This sucks.”
Talen stood from the table. “Look at the bright side. At least I don’t have to tie you to the bed to ensure you stay here.”
“Funny.”
“I’m not joking.” His face showed he wasn’t.
“Humph.” It wasn’t the most intelligent response but it would have to do.
He rolled his eyes before stalking from the room, and she barely repressed the urge to stick her tongue out at his retreating back. Huffing with irritation, she focused back on her dinner, no longer hungry. Maybe she’d just do the dishes.
She just about had the kitchen spotless when he returned dressed in black cargo pants, shirt, vest, and flack boots. All soldier, all purpose. All pure, hot male. Her body responded instantly, her nipples pebbling and a slow skittering sliding through her belly.
Talen sniffed the air and gave her a grin. “I won’t be gone long, mate.”
Ass. She threw the dish towel into the sink. “Be careful.” The words rose unbidden from somewhere she refused to acknowledge.
In response, he grasped her arm and tugged her closer, lowering his mouth. He took his time, tasting her, tempting her with raw heat and dangerous promise. She moaned and pressed into him, her hands splaying out against the rough material of the vest covering his broad chest.
The marking on her hip began to burn.
Jordan cleared his throat from the doorway, and Cara jumped back. What the heck was she thinking? She pushed her hair off her face and ignored the lion’s smirk, as well as Talen’s chuckle. He gave her a quick peck on the forehead, then they were gone.
She finished the kitchen and told Katie she wanted to get some rest. The young woman nodded, fully engrossed in shoe shopping on the Internet.
Once in her room, Cara locked the door. Taking a deep breath for courage, she sat on the bed, grabbed the phone, and dialed the right number. Her sister answered before the first ring had finished.
“Cara?”
“Em!” She should’ve known Emma would be prepared for the call. Breath she hadn’t realized she’d held whooshed out in relief.
“Where are you? Are you okay? Where’s Janie?” Footsteps pattered together across the line, as if Emma were rushing toward the door.
“We’re both fine.” Cara sighed. “I just needed to make sure you were keeping this low key.” She plucked at a loose thread on the luxurious comforter.
“Low key!” Emma’s voice rose to the point that Cara winced. “Are you kidding me? Some freaking marshal tells
me you’ve been relocated because of some gang hit? What the hell’s going on?”
Cara ran a trembling hand through her hair. “Okay, just calm down.” Yeah right. “Janie and I are safe for now—and you can’t make waves. Just for a bit, Emma. Or we’ll all be in danger.”
“But—”
“Emma! Do you trust me?” Cara waited after playing the trump card. She had to keep Em safe, it was her turn.
“Yes.”
“Then, listen to me. We’re safe. For now, if you don’t make waves.” She hoped. The last thing she needed was Emma making enough of a ruckus to alert the Kurjans. If they found out how gifted she was … “No, you don’t understand. God. You need to trust me. We’re all in danger, and it’s my fault.” Emma’s voice lowered. “Where are you? We need to run.”
Run? “Emma. What—”
“The marshals can’t keep us safe from these guys, Cara. Now where the hell are you?” The echo of a door slamming shut pounded over the line. “I’m in my car. I have a safe place to hide.” The ignition flared to life across the phone.
Cara froze, goose bumps ripping through her skin to cause a shiver. “These guys? You mean the Kurjans?” How in the hell did Emma know about the devils?
Dead silence slid across the line for a moment before Emma spoke. “You know about the Kurjans? Tell me you’re not with them.”
That answered that. Dread began to slither below Cara’s skin. “We’re not with them. Um, do you know about the vampires?”
“You’re with the
vampires?”
Tires squealed across the line.
“Yes. Tell me they’re the good guys, Em.” Considering one had just branded Cara’s ass.
“Well, they’re not the bad guys, anyway.” Emma exhaled on a loud sigh. “I don’t think so—I mean, I just found out about them yesterday. Okay. You’re relatively safe for now. Probably.”
Probably? Crap. “We need to meet up.” Her sister would probably try to take the Kurjans down all by herself. Fear exploded through Cara’s mind.
“We will. I’ve been working in one of the Kurjan research facilities—”
“What?” Cara gasped.
“I didn’t know it was owned by them. Anyway, I found out what was going on and hid some of my data—I need to retrieve it, then I’ll contact you.” A horn blared loud and clear. “Damn it. Where do these people learn to drive?” Another horn blasted. “Okay. I have to toss this phone. You need to find out if the phone you’re calling from is secured, which I’m assuming it is.”
Secured? Holy crap. She may have just led the Kurjans to Jordan’s ranch. What was this, a spy movie?
“I’m sure you’re fine, Cara. Also, I set up new e-mail accounts with an online provider using false names, so it can’t be traced. Check yours every few days, and I’ll try to keep in touch. You’re [email protected]. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
The line went dead.
Several states away Janie snuggled down in her girly bed with Uncle Jase relaxing on the couch outside her room watching basketball on TV. She knew she was safe, and her Mama would be here soon. Cuddling her blankie and Mr. Mullet closer, she slid into the murky world between dreams and reality and sighed as she looked around for her friend.
“Hi, Zane,” she smiled and flashed the dimples she knew he liked. Her dream world was her favorite place to be.
“Hi, Janie Belle.” Zane emerged from the mist with a smile
on his broad face, the sharp angles already hinting at the warrior he would become. He had given her the nickname the first time she had invaded his dreams, declaring Janet Isabella too grown up for her. “Are you somewhere safe now?”
“Yes,” Janie said with a smile. “I’m finally with my new family, so stop worrying.”
“Good. My father received word last night of your safety, so I stopped my preparations to come after you.”
“You were coming after me?” Her four-year-old heart warmed at the thought. The transformers were cool, but Zane was a real-life hero. Hers.
“Of course.” Although she was six years younger, she was Zane’s best friend. And even in his youth, he would die to protect her. In fact, he knew deep down someday he would be called upon to do so, which was the reason he trained longer and harder than any other. His father proudly thought Zane prepared to take his place someday as their leader, which in a sense he guessed he was. But the fight to come would be for Janie. And he intended to win.
They played for a while with Janie showing him mental pictures of her new ponies. An awareness tickled along the back of his neck, and he glanced toward the tree line.
“What?” Janie asked, changing the leaves from green to white and the sky to yellow.
Zane shrugged. “Dunno. I felt something.”
She followed his gaze. “I can keep the bad guys out, Zane. It’s my dream.”
Flashing green eyes shifted to her. “Bad guys? You feel something?”
Janie copied his shrug.
“Janie?” Zane’s jaw tightened.
She fought the urge to stomp her foot. When was everybody going to learn she was strong? “Yeah. I can feel something, somebody wanting in. He’s tried it before.” And she didn’t let him. It was her dream. Well, their dreams, anyway.
Zane stood. So much taller than her. He moved toward the trees.
She sighed, dropping her pictures to the now peach-colored ground. “He’s not in the trees, Zane. He’s outside the dream.”
Zane stopped with his back to her, the new muscles in his arms bunching. She liked that he’d grown his black hair out to his shoulders. “He?”
She waited until Zane turned back to face her. “Yeah. I think so. It feels like a he.”
Putting his hands on his hips, Zane frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Darn it. She didn’t want Zane mad at her, and she didn’t want his feelings hurt. “I didn’t want you to go.”
“You’re in my dream—how could I go?”
She shrugged. “You could. We both have our dreams, and we opened them to each other.” He didn’t know he could close his dreams to her. If Zane left her she’d never talk to him again. Never-ever.
“So,” he rubbed his chin, “someone else is dreaming? Someone else is trying to get in our dreams?”
Janie nodded. “I think so. But if we don’t let him in, he can’t get in.” Right now, anyway. She’d learned that practice always helped with stuff like this.
Zane took a deep breath and focused. “Do you know anything about him, Janie? I get the sense he’s not one of us.”
Janie shook her head, even as a name whispered across her mind.
Kalin.
She wasn’t going to tell Zane anything else. He’d go for sure.
Then, peace settled across the tiny meadow. “He’s gone,” Janie said with a smile.
Zane raised an eyebrow, reminding her of Talen. “Promise me you won’t keep any more secrets like this from me.”
She thought about it. “Okay, Zane.” There weren’t many secrets like this, really.
“Okay. I’ll see you soon.” He gave her the smile that always warmed her heart.
“Do you have to go already?” she asked, almost whining.
“I do.” His dark green eyes turned serious. “I have training with my brothers in half an hour. You know how important that is.”
“I know. Do you think we’ll always be friends, Zane?” Sadness swept through her with the thought of life without him.
“Of course.” He winked at her before turning to go. “Always, Janie Belle.”
Janie giggled at the nickname before falling deeper into a calm sleep.
D
ressed in her new yoga outfit, Cara hit the mat with a slap and rolled to her knees, pushing curls out of her face. “Nice move.” She rubbed her arms, thankful for the thick pads covering Jordan’s basement gym. As well as for the new clothes—she and Katie had done some serious shopping a couple of weeks previous.
“Thanks.” Katie grinned, her tennis shoes dancing happily on the blue cushions. “You forgot to block again.”
No shit. She should’ve listened to Emma and taken those damn self-defense classes. “Yeah, but you’ve been training since you turned four years old.” Cara staggered to her feet, her hands going to her knees, the yoga pants loose and comfortable. She’d been training with Katie every evening, something to do while the guys either prepared to raid, raided, or recuperated from raiding.
“You’d think in these three weeks of training you’d know how to counter my one good move,” Katie smirked. “You’ve spent too much time deciphering all the information the guys have retrieved from the raids and not training with me.”
True. Every time the guys raided a facility, they discovered two more places to raid. “I sure wish we could find your Dr. Bigsby, though,” Cara said.
Katie nodded. “Me too. So, how did your talk with Janie go earlier?” Her gaze slid to Cara’s knees.
“Great.” Cara readied her stance, happy to have discovered that not only was Jordan’s phone secure, so was his computer. “She really enjoyed that bedtime story you told her last night about the lost lion girl in the woods.”
Katie grinned. “Yeah, some of that was true—especially the part about the handsome lion king who rescued her.”
Nodding, Cara gave a snort. “I thought so.”
“Did she like it as much as the one Talen told her about the vampire princess?”
Cara rolled her eyes. “Janie thinks Talen hung the moon and the stars. I wouldn’t even try to compete.” She could attest to seeing stars every night clasped in Talen’s arms. There were times she actually thought she might belong there. In fact, her husband showed her a side of herself she’d never dreamed existed; although she worried her heart was mistaking passion for love on this vacation from reality. She pointedly ignored that tiny voice in her head whispering that maybe it was love.
“Don’t blame her.” Katie lunged, knocking Cara to the ground, who rolled to pin the lioness to the thick mat.
Katie tapped out. “Nice job!” Jumping to her feet, she stretched her arms behind her head. “I knew you could do that—you work out regularly and have decent muscle tone.” She shifted in her purple workout clothes, dropping into a crouch. “And, since you’ve mated, you should be seeing physical results as well.”
Heat flooded Cara’s face and she settled into a defensive crouch, inhaling the scent of lemon cleanser.
Katie laughed out loud. “I didn’t mean
those kind
of physical results.”
Rolling her eyes, Cara moved in with another tackle, knocking the lioness to the ground again. This time Katie pushed Cara to the side, flipping her legs over her head to backflip onto her feet. “Much better. Your strength has improved like crazy the last few nights.”
Cara rolled to her own feet. “Yeah, weird, huh?” It was almost as if Talen’s blood pumped through her veins with ancient strength. “I feel stronger, tougher.” She giggled. “When I was sixteen, my sister Emma took a karate class and within a month, she said she felt like a major bad-ass.”
Katie snorted. “Was she?”
“No. But she sure felt like one.” Cara stretched her hands over her head. “I wonder if I feel so tough just because I think I have Talen’s strength now.” Who could know? She then lifted an eyebrow at her new friend. “What about you? You already have the strength of a cougar; will you become even stronger once you mate?”