Chapter 3
M
oira settled back against the plush seat in the helicopter, for once not appreciating the luxury of the well-built machine. She longed for the sound of rushing wind to drown out the testosterone-filled silence of the two men currently ignoring her. Kell sat across the aisle with his legs extended, head back, eyes closed. Conn dominated the seat next to her, punching laptop keys until his computer flared to life. Maybe she should go visit with the pilots. She pushed up on the armrests, only to still when Conn swiveled his head.
Green eyes pierced her. “Sit. Back. Down.”
Warning filled his tone and should’ve pissed her off. The energy needed to get truly angry escaped her. Tired. She was so damn tired. Leather hissed out air when she flopped back down.
A rugged face took shape on the screen. Bugger. He’d called the king.
“I’ve walked into a shitload of trouble,” Conn said as a greeting.
Dage Kayrs lifted an eyebrow. “Good to see you, too, brother.” Tight and packed hard, the king filled the screen dressed in jeans and a black silk shirt. The background appeared to be a filmy screen ... not giving a hint as to his whereabouts. He cut his silver gaze to the side. “Hi, Moira.”
“Hi.” Pride filled her at the steadiness of her voice. Calm. She’d stay calm.
“Sorry.” Conn rubbed his chin. “How is your mate?”
Dage frowned. “Emma’s working around the clock to find a cure for the virus.” He sighed. “Her sister is due in less than a month, and Talen’s driving me crazy.”
Cara had been infected with Virus-27 while pregnant, and nobody knew what the chromosome-altering disease would do to the baby. But Moira had assisted with defeating the catalyst in Cara’s blood that would’ve sped up the process in changing her from a vampire mate with twenty-seven chromosomal pairs back down to a human with twenty-three. Of course, no one knew if the virus would stop there or keep deleting until death. For now, they’d slowed the damn bug down.
Dread filled Moira. “Cara is strong, Dage. She’ll be all right.”
The king nodded. “I hope so.” He shifted back to his brother. “So? How angry is the Council of the Coven Nine?”
Conn shrugged. “I don’t know yet. My guess is pretty pissed.”
Moira nodded. “Good guess.”
Dage lifted an eyebrow. “I didn’t think my request was unreasonable.”
The arrogance of the Kayrs men should be bottled and sold. “Not once in the history of the Realm has a king requested our soldiers train under his direction.” In fact, if you asked her, the coven’s soldiers could kick the vampires’ asses. She smiled.
An answering smile flirted with Dage’s full lips. “You’ve been working on diplomacy, haven’t you?”
“Yes.” Someday she’d have to use it all the time on the council. Unfortunately.
“Keep working on it.” Conn leaned closer to the computer screen. “I’ll explain the danger of the new breed of werewolf, and our training schedule.”
“It’s about control,” Moira muttered. “Our people ally with yours. We don’t answer to you.” So much for diplomacy.
“No. The stakes are so high, we all need the right training.” Dage frowned. “Who’s spinning my request in such a manner?”
The entire council. Moira eyed Kell across the aisle. Damn man should wake up and help her out. “We train our own soldiers, King.”
“We’ll see about that.” Dage cut his gaze to his brother. “Why am I getting the feeling more is at play here?”
“Your instincts are spot on. What I understand so far”—Conn aimed a glare her way—“is that somebody has learned to transport people against their will.”
“Excuse me?” The king stepped closer to the camera.
“A portal of sorts opened up and tried to yank Moira through. I figure it’s close to teleporting.”
Dage frowned. “Only a few of us in the world have the ability to transport through dimensions and arrive somewhere else, Conn.”
“I know. Could you transport someone if they weren’t doing it with you?”
“No.” Dage gazed into the distance. “Transporting is jumping between dimensions.” He focused back on them. “Moira, the specialty of quantum physics the witches master is similar. Have your people been experimenting?”
Conn stiffened, and Moira kept her focus on the king. “No. We use energy to alter the state of matter on a subatomic level. Pure science, Dage. You manipulate time more in line with string theory. The two are totally different.” But, well ... science was science.
“What if both happened at once?” Conn asked.
Moira shrugged. “Then an incredible amount of power might be released. Perhaps enough to yank someone through dimensions from a remote location.” The person doing the transporting would be drained of energy for long afterward. The idea explained the gap in time between disappearances of council members. A fact she was under strict orders not to reveal.
“Anything you want to tell us, Moira?” the king asked softly.
Even across the distance, a prickle set up at the base of her skull. She slammed shields shut and smiled. “I’m a well-trained witch, King. Stay out of my head.” While she considered Dage a friend, akin to family, her head stayed closed.
Dage glanced at Conn.
“He can’t get in, either,” Moira said. As her mate, he had a good chance of getting past her mental shields soon. They’d only been in the same vicinity for about two hours, and already she sensed his feelings. Pure, pissed-off male. That was nothing compared to the fury she’d meet if he breached her shields and read her thoughts.
“Yet.” Conn’s threat hung in the air. “Though I can tell you the council is circling the wagons and has recalled the enforcers. In fact”—he frowned, his gaze on her—“Moira here isn’t nearly as surprised as she should be that someone tried to take her. I’m thinking this isn’t the first attempt.”
“Is it the Kurjans, Moira?” Dage asked, his jaw hard. A white-faced, red-haired vampire race afraid of the sun, they had created the virus in order to steal vampire mates.
“I don’t know who it is.” She truly didn’t. The Kurjans were more likely to show up with an armored tank than manipulate time and dimensions. Too subtle.
“This is the first I’ve heard of the ability to open dimensions in such a manner.” Her jaw firmed as she glanced at Conn. “In addition, it’s the first time someone has tried to transport me.”
“What about others? Has anyone else been taken?” Conn went for the jugular.
The damn man should’ve been a barrister. “Not to my knowledge.” The lie rolled smoothly off her tongue.
“You’re a terrible liar, Dailtín.” Conn turned back toward his brother. “Anything new on the demon front?”
Dage exhaled. “No. While they declared war eight months ago, they have yet to make a move ... unless this new transport business is their first strike.” He rubbed a finger in the cleft of his chin. “The demons fight by messing with images in the brain ... as well as traditional weapons. I’m not sure I envision them playing with physics.”
Conn angled the monitor. “My guess is it’s witches or ... well ... us. Maybe a vampire with the ability. But if you think about it, the Kurjans studied biology the last three hundred years, preparing the virus. Maybe they’ve branched out to quantum physics.”
His frown bracketed hard lines at the sides of his mouth. “Moira has been summoned by the council. Then I’ll get the truth about other disappearances from my mate.” He cleared his throat. “I need you to make a phone call, Dage.”
Dage’s expression remained like stone, yet blue shot through the silver of his eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Consider it done.” The king clicked off.
What in the blazes was that about? Moira turned toward Conn. “Care to explain?”
Arrogance stamped into every line of his chiseled face. “No.” He snapped the laptop closed, glancing out the window. “Dublin looks stunning.”
“Yes.” Dublin stood as the cleanest city in the world with a mixture of ancient and modern architecture. Yet the economy of Ireland as a whole kept spiraling downward. True proof the council was in trouble. “You haven’t been here for a century, Conn.” A tiny bit of irritation crept into her voice.
He clasped his hand over hers, tugging until her palm rested against his hard thigh. Heat flared right to her heart. “I needed an ocean between us to keep from taking you, Moira.”
Baloney. He’d walked away and hadn’t looked back. Maybe if she’d had some experience or something, he’d have stayed. But he’d been her first and only. She shook her head. “We don’t even know each other.” They’d had sex one night and had ended up mated for life. In fact, it wasn’t until the last ten years that he’d contacted her. Formally at first, then with some ease.
He sighed. “You were so young. I understood you needed to grow into the leader you’re meant to become.” His hand tightened over hers. “But time’s up.”
The man wasn’t getting it. Her nails clutched into his leg. “You don’t need to do this. Fate can’t force us into anything.” He had to stop touching her. It’d been a century since she’d had sex, and her body was on fire. The second he’d marked her, he’d ruined her for all other men. Literally. Vampires were male only. Once mated to a vampire, the woman became untouchable by any other male. An allergy of sorts.
“I want to take you home.”
“You do not.” The words slipped out before she could bite them back. Heat climbed into her face. She kept her gaze straight ahead.
He grasped her chin between his thumb and forefinger, tugging her to face him. A puzzled frown settled between his dark eyebrows. “You can’t possibly believe I wanted to stay away from you for an entire century.”
She blinked. Twice. Vulnerability tightened her stomach. Pure stubborn pride tightened her shoulders.
His expression smoothed out, his hold firm on her jaw. “Well, now.”
“You can’t tell me you weren’t relieved the council forced you to your own continent.” Maybe he’d deny it. A stupid, soft voice echoed the plea in her head.
He exhaled, blowing out air and glancing to the side. “Maybe a little. At first.” He focused back on her. “The marking caught me off guard. The night we shared ... I don’t usually lose control. Ever, actually.”
She knew he’d been relieved and even understood it a little bit. Yet, something ached deep inside. The marking. “Me either. So let’s ignore the marking and tell fate to bugger off.”
“Moira.” The softness of his tone provided warning and set goose bumps jumping on her skin. “Forget fate.” His gaze held hers. “I made you mine and I’m taking you home.”
Irritation and dread comingled in her gut. “You don’t really mean that. I need to stay here.”
“No, you don’t.” He released her face to glance at his wristwatch. “The nine members of the council are spread across the globe. You can work from anywhere.”
She bit back a sharp retort. He needed something she couldn’t give. “What do you see happening here, Conn? We head back to your home, I work via the net and you go off and fight wars?”
“Yes.” He slipped the laptop into a dark sleeve, perching it on the floor. “I understand you’ll need to travel sometimes for work, and that’s okay. But I also envision children, and you staying safe and protected.” His shoulder took up half of her seat when he relaxed back in the chair. “Of course, kids are a long way off. After we win the war. For now, I thought you’d want to settle in.”
Oh, if he only knew. She struggled to keep from smacking him on the head. How could a being with advanced intelligence be such a moron? Her shoulders shrugged against the walls closing in.
The helicopter rushed over the streets of Dublin. Soon the setting sun sparkled off the Liffey River as they maneuvered, hovered, and finally touched down on the roof of one of the new buildings. Conn raised an eyebrow. “We’re going to Kell’s place?”
Moira shifted in her seat as the pilot cut the engine. “Not exactly.” Well, kind of. Kell lived there, too. She unbuckled her belt. “You haven’t been here, have you?” If the vampire had been on her continent, she would’ve sensed him.
Conn slid the door open. “No. I’ve mailed information to Kell here before. As well as new weapons for the enforcers.” He jumped out.
She’d used a couple of those. Accepting his outstretched palm, she leaped to the ground, ignoring the strength in the vampire’s broad hand. Tingles cascaded up her arm. She jerked back, barely refraining from rubbing her palm on her jeans. The natural musty smell from the river wafted in on a light breeze, and she ducked her head to run across the gravel to the blue metal door.
Kell beat her there, opening it and gesturing her inside. The rubber soles of her tennis shoes beat silently down the five steps to the interior door, which she pushed open to reveal a large, rather empty foyer for three penthouse apartments.
“Be ready in fifteen minutes, Moira. We need to stop by The Squid on the way,” Kell said, striding toward the east apartment and shoving open the door without looking back. The click of the bulletproof door shutting echoed against the marble tiles.