Blood Deep (Blackthorn Book 4) (43 page)

Her jaw fell slack. ‘He wants me to be shadow-read.’

He nodded. ‘And for that he needs you alive. He needed you out of the row safely so he could get the upper hand quietly without anyone suspecting. If he wants a cull, the absence of the prophesised leader will weaken any third-species retaliation.’

‘But killing the prophesised leader by any other hand than that of the serryn will keep the fourth-species dimension wide open and we will
all
lose. Eden, this could be catastrophic beyond what even
I
had imagined. I have to find that leader. I have to warn them too.’

‘You said something happened between the leader and the serryn that shouldn’t have.’

She nodded.

‘Jess, but what if the vampire leader knew of the consequence? What if
that’s
why they didn’t finish the job? What if they wanted to unleash the fourth species against us – or the threat of it, at least? What of they’re planning on using them to help defeat us and
then
kill the serryn, sealing the fourth dimension afterwards? What if they resolved to either win or wipe
everything
out in the process?’

‘They’d have to be a genius,’ she said. ‘They’d have to be one hell of a calculating, cold, heartless – not to forget totally fucked-up – genius to even attempt it.’

‘Or hate humans, hate the system that binds them so much that they’re willing to take it down no matter what? What if they’ve seen the same visions as you have and think they’ve got nothing to lose? What if
they
already know they’re up against a human leader insane enough to do the same? We’re talking about a head-to-head war with two leaders hell-bent on winning and everyone else caught in the crossfire.’

‘Eden, we have to go to Jask. Maybe even talk to Kane Malloy or Caleb Dehain. We have to persuade them all against an uprising. The Global Council will have no justification behind an attack if we don’t retaliate, if we’re not seen as the aggressors.’

‘Do you not get it? They can portray whatever they want as going on in here and anyone outside of this district will believe it.’

She broke from the intensity of his gaze to stare at the wall before she looked back at him. She needed him to say it. She needed to
watch
him say it. ‘So you promise me – you promise you didn’t bring me here to hand me over.’

He reached out to brush her ringlets over her shoulder. ‘I brought you here because if we don’t have another conversation beyond this, I need you to know that you
were
a commodity to me, but these past three days with you, even in that abject shithole, have been the best I’ve ever had. They’ll
stay
the best I ever have if you choose to walk away from me now.’ He spread the chain between his hands to lower it down over her head, letting it fall against her chest before gently scooping her hair from its confinement.

She could barely believe she was saying it. ‘You’re letting me go?’

‘Freeing you. Not letting you go.’ He rubbed his hand tenderly down her shoulder. ‘You’d better know what you’re doing, Jessie. And whatever that is, just don’t let Sirius get his hands on you,’ he said, his eyes locking on hers again. ‘Or I will rip that whole fucking division down single-handedly.’

She studied his gaze, her heart pounding again at the passion in his tone – the sincerity. ‘And what are
you
going to do?’

‘Find somewhere safe for my family. I went to collect them while I was gone. As I’d suspected, Sirius had them under watchful eye. I guess once he finds out, there will be no going back. I’ll work out the rest from here.’

‘You gave Honey the cure?’

He nodded.

‘And it worked?’

‘ I hope so,’ he declared.

She looked down at where he’d dropped his hands between his spread thighs. She reached for them, taking them into hers, rubbing her thumbs over his. She looked back into his eyes. ‘So you make your plans and I make mine.’ Even saying it was tougher than she’d imagined. ‘And we go our separate ways?’

He exhaled tersely, glanced down at where her hands held his. He interlaced their fingers before looking back into her eyes. ‘The only ones who hunt as well as vampires and lycans are Curfew Enforcement Officers, Jessie.’ He shrugged. ‘I’m just saying.’

She raised her eyebrows slightly as her lips curled into a hint of a smile. ‘Saying or threatening?’

‘Whichever you’d prefer. I’m game for either.’

‘That added bonus I gave you makes your strength equal to mine, not greater.’

He bit into his bottom lip as a smile graced his lips too. Lips that took their cue to lower gently to hers, his mouth warm, familiar, comforting as he tasted her slowly and tenderly.

But as he moved to pull away, she grabbed a hold of his T-shirt to keep him close, her hand pressed against his heart so she could feel it pound beneath her fingertips as she spread her thighs around him. And she kissed him back with as little urgency as he had kissed her, her fingers eventually coiling in his hair.

Her breath caught in her throat as she looked in his eyes to see only reciprocal impatience for more, betrayed as much by the hardness pressing against her sex, the grip of his hand on her neck, the increase of his breaths.

Her heart skipped a beat as she felt his hand between them, heard the clink of his belt buckle. He unfastened her trousers, yanking them down along with her underwear before he lifted her thighs either side of his, lowered her to the floor beneath him.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck as he thrust once, then twice before filling her completely.

She could do nothing to prevent the groan escaping her lips, the shot of pleasure sending an electrical charge to every nerve ending. Beneath her fingertips she could feel the change. As strong, as solid as he had been before, there was a new tension in every movement, a strength that matched her own – a strength that was as exhilarating as the connection forged.

‘An incentive to come back to you?’ she asked, as she caught his gaze.

‘I was hoping that telling you I think I love you would be enough for that.’

Her heart skipped another beat, her fingers digging into his arms as she gazed deep into the intensity in his eyes. ‘
Think
?’

‘I’ve never been in love before to know. But if this is how it feels, I’m glad I waited for you.’

Her heart leapt as she searched his eyes. ‘I think it’s the first time for me too.’

He stilled inside her for a moment. He swept his thumb back along her jaw before clasping the nape of her neck. ‘Partners, right?’

She nodded. ‘In every way.’

This time his lips met hers as he thrust again.

And his lips barely left hers as he pinned her hands back to the floor with a power and strength that was now indicative of him, his fingers interlacing with hers and squeezing as he brought her to climax, brought himself to climax, the room spinning with the force of the sparks bursting behind her eyes. Sparks that kept bursting behind her eyes as Eden drew out her orgasm, and his, to the point of exquisite pain.

Once it had finally started to ebb, she wrapped her arms around him, keeping him close, placing a tender kiss on his neck.

She lay consumed by him for a few more moments, until reality inevitably struck again. ‘Are you sure you want to do this? Are you sure you want to take this on?’

‘Or let Sirius and that fucked-up system win?’ He looked back into her eyes. ‘What do you think?’

She reached up to gently caress his lips with the tip of her thumb. ‘You’re incredible, do you know that?’

His eyes flared. She could have sworn that she detected a hint of a blush in the shadows of the room.

‘And I get the feeling I’ve only just begun to scratch the surface,’ she added. ‘Honey’s lucky to have you. She’s right to see you as a hero.’

He broke from her gaze, but he couldn’t conceal the glimmer of glossiness in his eyes. He cleared his throat playfully as he looked back down at her. ‘I do believe the technical term now would be
super
hero.’

She laughed, but it was fleeting. ‘It scares me, Eden – what Sirius has planned.’

‘You and me both.’ He kissed her on the lips once more. ‘So let’s go and do something about it.’

A
n eerie quietness
had descended on the row following the fourth-species attack. Plenty of cons had returned to examine the aftermath, some revelling in macabre humour and morbid fascination at the shrivelled corpses that only hours before had been partying alongside them; others clearing up the mess of the stampede, the chaos the arrival had caused. Worse, from what she was overhearing, some had come from other rows to take a look, to take advantage of spoils where they could. But despite the milling bodies, the row still felt like all the life had been drained out of it, the atmosphere void of gravity as if the very air around her still tingled from the unprecedented supernatural invasion.

Jessie opened the door to the lounge. She closed it behind her, remaining just in front of it.

Pummel was sat in his usual place on the sofa, a joint in his bruised hand. Some of the cuts were still visible on his face from the beating he had taken at the hands of Eden. Only this time there was no crew around him. This time he sat alone amidst his damaged kingdom.

‘Are you going to stand there all night?’ he asked, not even extending the courtesy of looking across at her as he focused on his intermittent smoke rings.

Jessie strolled over and took the seat opposite him, drew one knee to her chest, her forearms lax across it.

As Pummel’s gaze finally met hers, she saw apprehension in them for the first time ever. But she knew he wouldn’t call for backup – not yet. He had no intention of suffering any further humiliation – not with so many awaiting his renewed leadership, his further direction.

‘I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist coming back.’ He exhaled another smoke ring before stretching his arms across the back of the sofa. ‘I missed you, darling. The place just isn’t the same without you.’

‘I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye,’ she said flippantly. ‘We’ve been through so much together. It only seemed right.’

As she locked her unflinching glare on his, she could feel him struggling, no doubt her lack of contact lenses now unnerving him – the exposure of who she truly was. She realised then that his insistence on her wearing them was probably as much to do with his unease with it as wanting to keep her true identity secret.

Because he knew she was an angel. He’d found enough of Toby’s notes to know that much. The visions, she’d kept secret. Her tears, the same.

Still, he managed to sustain eye contact though – his indignation at her daring to come back and confront him clearly winning over.

‘Where’s lover boy, Jessie? Has he abandoned you already?’

‘This is between me and you, Pummel. I fight my own battles. And Eden’s not so far up his own arse as to insist to the contrary.’

‘Too cowardly to come back, more like.’

She exhaled tersely. ‘You would see it that way, wouldn’t you?’ She glanced around the room, across at the empty pool table. ‘That’s one thing I’ve learned from the decades I’ve spent here: there are some mentalities you just can’t reason with.’ She looked back at him. ‘So why even try?’

‘So is that why you’re back here? To fight it out?’

She smiled. ‘It wouldn’t be much of a fight, Pummel. We both know how easy it will be for me to kill you. In fact,’ she said with a small shrug, ‘I’m insulted you think I’m that predictable.’

‘Then why the
fuck
are you here, Jessie?’ he demanded, his mask of feigned civility slipping.

‘I’m a messenger, Pummel. I’m doing my job. I’m letting you know personally that you’re finished here. You’re even more finished when people around here find out that you had someone from the TSCD under your nose this entire time. That he was having
me
the entire time.’ She flashed a faint and fleeting smile at him, knowing it would only provoke him further.

His eyes flared before they darkened.

‘Oh, you didn’t know?’ She feigned surprise. ‘So you haven’t worked out Sirius set you up, either? That he planted those kids here to use against you if he didn’t get what he wanted – me. You were a pawn, Pummel. And you fell for it.’

Pummel’s eyes narrowed, his reddening face screwing up. ‘And if those things, whatever they were, hadn’t have interrupted, your boyfriend’s guts would be your chains right now.’

‘Oh, please,’ she said off another terse exhale. ‘He would have whipped you, old man, if I hadn’t stopped him. Because that’s what you are now, isn’t it? Now that you’ll no longer be getting your weekly supply from me. You can’t fight it forever, Pummel. This row is done. Finished. And there’s no way you’re going down with the accolade you dreamt of.
I’ll
see to that.’

He leaned forward, stubbed his joint out in the ashtray. ‘Tough though you may be, you’re not infallible, Jessie.’ He rested his arms on his spread thighs. ‘I’m going to start the ball rolling, but have you any idea how many others I still have beyond that door who will gladly have a piece of you once I’m done?’

‘That’s all power is to you, isn’t it? Numbers? But as every good leader knows, there’s nothing more powerful than loyalty, trust, fighting for a common cause –
that’s
what wins out in the end.’

‘What the fuck are you talking about?’

‘I’m talking about why your plan to take over the third species in this district would never have worked. I’m talking about your arrogance to even believe it possible. I’m talking about how a pathetic, gutless excuse for a man like you could ever even conceive of going up against the likes of the third-species leaders in this district and winning. You have no concept of devotion, of allegiance, of what real authority is. You’re the poor man’s Sirius Throme, Pummel. You’ve been nothing but the Global Council’s bitch.’

He lunged forward but Jessie was quicker, standing and swivelling side-on to kick him hard in the chest, sending him plummeting backwards over the sofa.

The satisfaction was immense, the shock on his face even more so.

She kicked the table aside, grabbed the base of the sofa and flipped it away to expose where he was struggling to his feet, clutching his chest.

She stood over him, her hands on her hips. ‘Someone special once told me to never fight angry, more so to make sure my heart was in it. The problem is, I feel nothing when I look at you, Pummel. That’s why I’m not going to kill you. Not only can I not be arsed, it’ll mean you’ve won. You would have turned me into what
you
want me to be. It’s not going to happen. That’s
my
choice,
not
yours.’

He got to his feet, staggered back slightly but then he lunged at her again.

She effortlessly sidestepped him, letting him plough into the sofa she’d been sat on instead.

Jessie folded her arms as Pummel turned to face her again, his face flushed, his eyes fiery with rage.

‘Your arse is mine,
bitch
,’ he snapped on a silent whisper.

‘Actually,’ she whispered back, indicating towards the door, ‘
your
arse is theirs.’ She took a step back. ‘I’m done!’ she said loudly.

Pummel’s gaze shot to the opening door. His frowned deepened as Eden entered the room. But instead of approaching, he leaned back against the wall, his arms casually folded, his foot flat against the wall. He flipped a mint over and over in his mouth, but it was when he winked at Pummel that Pummel’s eyes flared again. He struggled to his feet.

But he stopped abruptly.

His eyes widened as Jask Tao filled the doorway, his vibrant blue eyes locking darkly on Pummel’s. He stepped into the room, making way for Corbin Saylen to take his place by his side.

Corbin’s grey eyes were even darker than those of his leader as he stared the con down. The con who had held not just the lycan young captive, but his daughter.

Pummel’s eyes glazed over like a lone beach-walker in the face of an unstoppable tidal wave. Whether out of anxiety, out of fear, out of sheer defiance, or just accepting of his fate, he smiled.

‘Oh,’ Jessie said, before sucking air through her teeth, ‘I wouldn’t smile if I were you.’ She strolled away, slipping between Jask and Corbin, before she stepped into Eden’s arms.

She kissed him tenderly on the lips in full view of Pummel, the con’s eyes scrunching up in rage as he watched on. Resting her back against Eden’s chest, him reciprocating by resting his head against hers, his arm wrapped around her waist, she looked Pummel squarely in the eyes.

‘Call this fighting your own battles?’ Pummel spat out at her.

‘I won mine,’ she said with a shrug. ‘I told you: I don’t really give a shit what happens to you.’

Pummel’s glare darted from hers to Eden, to Corbin, to Jask. ‘You’re going down,’ he hissed. ‘This is just the beginning. You’re
all
going down.’

Jask cocked his head to one side as he focused on the mallet tattoo on Pummel’s neck. As he took a step towards him, Pummel took a step back, his uneasy gaze anxiously flitting between the two lycans.

‘Fuck you,’ Pummel hissed. ‘And all your dirty, stinking little mutts. I hope whichever cons have found them are having a
really
good time.’

‘Wow,’ Jask said, his voice dangerously calm. ‘You don’t want this to be quick, do you?’

‘Like I said – fuck you, Jask. Two on one. Real
fucking
brave.’

‘Oh no,’ Jask said, closing the gap between them, Pummel’s eyes wide and wary. ‘I’m not taking this one. But just so you know – they all made it home safe.’ He moved with lightning speed, slamming his fist clean into Pummel’s jaw. It shattered with the force, sending him hurtling back five feet, blood spraying from his mouth. ‘That’s all I’ve got to say to you. I’m going to be too busy burning this place down. Corbin’s going to take your punishment from here.’

Jask tapped Corbin on the back before he stepped away.

Jessie took her cue to leave, wrapping her fingers in Eden’s as she encouraged him to do the same – finally cutting herself free of Pummel as she refused to watch the drawn-out execution she knew Corbin had planned.

The screams echoing from within the lounge were instant, gut-wrenching.

Eden squeezed her hand tighter to reassure her, catching her gaze to confirm she’d done the right thing.

Lycans finished sweeping through the row all around them, taking out whatever remaining cons they found along the way as they concluded their search for the one missing child – the only one who hadn’t made it back.

Six had made it back by themselves, around the same time as Jessie and Eden had pulled up outside the compound. Jessie had kept her explanations swift, concise. Jask had been vigilant in his listening, nearly three days of searching for his compound’s young showing on his face and in his eyes. The cons had been next on his list. She knew his approach would have been brutal.

He’d been suspicious of the markings on Eden’s arm, let alone to discover he was undercover for the TSCD, but the unexpected hug from one of the smaller young on seeing him had lowered Jask’s guard just enough, the young’s rapid explanations of having been saved by the human and the angel decreasing his wariness a fraction more.

Two more young had been found en route, not too far from home.

But Tuly was still missing, having been separated from the others when a group of early morning revellers had spotted them. Not that Jask had any intention of giving Pummel the satisfaction of knowing that.

One of the lycans searching the place reached the bottom of the staircase and shook his head. ‘Still no sign,’ he said.

Jask looked back at the closed lounge door then back at the lycan. ‘When Corbin’s done, I want no evidence we were ever here.’

‘I’ll help you with your search,’ Eden said, capturing his attention.

‘So will I,’ Jessie added. ‘Between us, we’ll find her.’

Jaw clenched, eyes still warily assessing Eden, Jask nodded. ‘Your family have a place with mine. Your niece will get the rest she needs back at the compound. You all will. Sounds like we’re going to need it.’ He turned his full attention on Jessie. ‘Can I see those drawings?’

Jessie nodded. ‘I’ll take you there. Will you warn the others as soon as possible?’

‘It’s all in hand,’ Jask declared. ‘We already knew about Sirius.’

‘Who’s we?’ Eden asked.

‘Myself, Kane Malloy and Caleb Dehain. We know the war is coming.’

‘Are you prepared?’ Eden asked.

‘More than they’re counting on,’ Jask declared. He looked back at Jessie. ‘Though it looks like we could be even more so now. I’ll give Kane the heads-up that we’re going to need Caitlin. Whoever this vampire leader is, as long as he’s still trapped in this stasis, we might be able to reason with him – that’s the priority now.’