Blood Instinct (22 page)

‘No,’ she said, staring deep into his eyes. ‘I’m not. And you know it.’

She tucked her hand into his jeans; wrapped it around him. His response was disappointing.

She looked back into his eyes. ‘Either you’re stronger and more resilient than I thought or you really do feel something for that shadow reader.’

His glare intensified until he closed his eyes, clearly trying to block her out, to maintain his self-restraint.

But she knew it was only a matter of time, only a matter of pure physiology.

‘Just relax,’ she whispered. ‘Let it take over.’

Eyes locked shut, he subtly licked his lips. She could see his incisors lengthening against his will, the sense of triumph strengthening her serryn resolve.

And sure enough, to her immense satisfaction, eventually the touch of her feminine hand, the expertise with which she handled him, had nature taking its course whether Kane was willing or not.

‘That’s more like it,’ she whispered, leaning in, raking her hair back from her neck with her free hand – the side unscathed by Jask’s canines.

She turned her head away slightly, exposing her pulse to him.

And she felt the deepest sense of triumph as Kane leaned forward, as she felt his breath against her cheek, then against her neck.

As she felt his cool lips, his incisors, against her throat.

J
ask ran along the platform
, leaping over the dead creature.

Corbin, Sorran and Elias had already been in and out of every room they’d passed, Jask taking whatever door came next.

Every single one had been a dead end. But the faint scent of her was definitely strengthening – the scent of Sophia as well as vampire blood.

Jask skidded to a halt in front of the next metal door, the smell of blood – of Sophia – strong inside.

He yanked open the door to find the distant glow of a single bulb and ploughed to the back of the room, the others immediately behind him.

He came to an abrupt standstill when he saw Kane trussed up in front of him. Or at least he
had
been trussed up – somehow he’d freed his hands from the hose that had bound him and was now working through the wire around his ankles.

Their eyes locked for only a second before Jask was distracted by Sophia laying slumped on her back on the floor beyond him, an almighty graze on her forehead, an egg-like formation already protruding.

But she was still breathing.

It didn’t take much to work out what had happened or, as he glanced back at Kane, how it had ended, given the slightly smaller graze on the vampire’s forehead.

Stepping over Kane, Jask cradled Sophia in his arms and lifted her from the floor, taking her back outside as Corbin assisted Kane with his bindings. The vampire wasn’t going to be happy and the more space he had to be unhappy – and the further away Sophia was from that – the better.

But as Jask lay her on the ground, away from the activity inside the maintenance room, his attention was drawn to the anomaly – because something was wrong.

Something was wrong with Sophia’s heart.

‘Jask.’

Jask looked across his shoulder and up at Kane.

‘Stand up,’ Kane instructed, a glower in his navy eyes.

Jask did so – not because he had been told to but because he wanted to look Kane square in the eyes for making the curt demand.

The vampire drew back his fist and thumped it hard into Jask’s jaw.

Jask stumbled backwards a little before glaring into Kane’s eyes. ‘What the fu—’

Kane swung his fist again – only this time Jask blocked it. But Kane was quick, landing another almighty blow to his jaw, hard enough to make Jask spit out blood.

‘That’s for Arana,’ Kane said.

Then it made sense. And there was only one way he’d found out.

The cut of betrayal swept through him.

Corbin, Sorran and Elias closed in.

‘Stay back!’ Jask commanded, his palm upheld, his gaze fleetingly meeting Corbin’s to show that he meant it.

And they backed away.

Jask wiped the back of his hand across his mouth again.

‘You’re a coward, Jask,’ Kane said. ‘You should have told me.’

‘There was no point. It was decades ago.’

‘She was my
sister
.’

‘Who was also a grown female. She knew what she was doing.’

Kane ploughed into him full force, taking Jask clean off the platform and down onto the track.

Jask fended off as many of his blows as he could before inflicting a couple of his own, each of them fighting for an advantageous position as they flipped on the track in swift succession.

After a few more impactful blows, Jask managed to shove Kane away before struggling to his feet.

‘Why?’ Kane demanded. ‘Why
her
?’

‘Coming from you this is a tiny bit fucking hypocritical, Kane. How many brothers did you check with first?’

Kane exhaled tersely amidst his sneer of disbelief.

‘Yeah, one rule for Kane Malloy and another for everyone else. She came to me, okay? She came to me and made it more than clear what she wanted.’

Kane’s eyes narrowed to a fierce scowl. ‘And you gave it to her, right?’

‘I had my finger on the self-destruct button and she was the best opportunity to finally press it.’

Kane came at him again, slamming him down onto the track.

They tussled to the point of exhaustion, to the point where they inflicted as many blows as they deflected. Until they both needed to accept the stalemate.

And this time it was Kane’s turn to wipe the back of his hand across his mouth.

‘We’re done, Jask.
Done
,’
Kane declared as he finally got to his feet again. ‘You’re on your own.’ He took one step towards him, his navy eyes still blazing. ‘But just know the only reason I didn’t kill her with a hard enough blow,’ he said, pointing back towards the platform where Sophia still lay unconscious, ‘is because she has a second heartbeat. It started half an hour ago.’ Kane gave him the once-over. ‘Congratulations,
Daddy
,’ he added, before he turned to walk away.

Jask stared up at the platform, up at the stunned faces of Sorran and Elias. But neither of them was more stunned than Corbin.

Than Jask himself.

J
ask sat
at the table in the communal area, his elbows on its surface, his fingers locked together under his chin. ‘I should be down there with her.’

‘You heard what Leila said: give her some space,’ Corbin reminded him.

None of them were sure if the sickness had been down to the after-effects of the concussion she’d suffered or whether it was part and parcel of her pregnancy, but the second she’d woken up, she’d raced to the bathroom, closely followed by Leila and Alisha.

From inside the cubicle, Sophia had insisted that she didn’t want Jask anywhere near her as he’d hovered at the room’s threshold. Eventually he’d respected her dignity and left.

When he’d gone to check on her again, Leila had been the one to greet him at the bedroom door, where they’d returned, insisting Sophia, who was then out of sight, was not ready to talk to him.

The compulsion to override her will had been overwhelming, but he had forced himself to refrain.

And now the waiting was agony.

He still wasn’t sure whose shock had been greater: his or that of her sisters when he’d told them. He wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t heard it for himself.

When he’d detected the extra heartbeat whilst carrying Sophia to the platform initially, he’d thought it was an irregularity in her own heartbeat. But then having hoisted himself back up onto the platform as Kane left, having pressed his knuckles to the ground either side of Sophia’s unconscious body and taken the time to listen properly, he’d realised the second heartbeat indeed belonged to another.

A heartbeat too slow to be human.

He’d sunk to his haunches, what should have been elation overwhelmed by fear. By reality.

He’d thought being with Sophia was safe. He’d thought Sophia, as a serryn, was safe from conceiving – except she wasn’t.

Just like Ellen: the last female, the only other female, he’d dared to love.

Sophia hadn’t been struck with twins like Ellen – the curse hadn’t repeated itself at least – but with Sophia being human, he still had little to celebrate.

Hybrid pregnancies were complicated. It was nearly impossible for a human to carry lycan young full term. The human body simply wasn’t equipped for the shorter gestation time and rapid growth of the young. In only a week, the baby’s development was already six weeks ahead of what its human counterpart would be. The potential complications were already immense for both mother and child – and it wouldn’t get any better.

When Leila finally joined him, Corbin, Solstice, Jessie and Eden at the table, his heart was already heavy in his chest.

Kane had yet to return – and Caitlin had left with him for the time being.

‘How is she?’ he asked.

Leila pulled out a chair and sat adjacent to him. ‘Embarrassed. Ashamed. Scared.’

‘She remembers what happened?’

‘Yes. The shock of Kane’s blow to her head has helped suppress the serryn again – not unlike the shock of you biting her did. But it’s only temporary. She’s getting worse – and the serryn is finding it easier to gain control. For now though, she’s asleep again. I’ve left Alisha keeping an eye on her.’

‘Did she mention the pregnancy?’

‘I don’t think she knows about it.’

Jask sighed heavily, closing his eyes for a split second as he shook his head.

‘She’ll be of the same mindset as you: that it’s not possible,’ Leila added. ‘She’s been sick a few times these last four days, so she tells me. But she thinks it’s down to the serrynity taking over.’

‘Exactly. She’s a serryn, for fuck’s sake. She was from the moment I met her. How has this happened?’

‘Because she wasn’t born one,’ Leila said. ‘She’s still in transition. You must have caught her really early on. As unlikely as it was, it was still possible for a small window of time.’

He pushed back his chair and stood. He stepped away, his hands low on his hips as he came to a stop and stared at the floor.

‘We’ll find a way around this,’ he said resolutely. Because he wasn’t going to lose her. He wasn’t losing his soulmate again. He turned to face the table, to face Jessie. ‘Surely there’s a way angel blood can help.’

‘It’s complicated enough in there without introducing yet another species,’ Leila said.

‘I’m more than aware of the difficulties of a hybrid pregnancy,’ Jask replied with unintentional defensiveness as he shot a glare at Leila, ‘which is why I’m asking. Because if the pregnancy is technically possible—’

‘Not for a serryn.’

‘If she was able to get pregnant in the first place—’

‘Because of good timing, that’s all. But that time has been running out for every hour that passes. Jask, there are other reasons behind her sickness, behind her fever, right now.’

‘
What
reasons?’

Leila hesitated for a few moments as she held Jask’s gaze. ‘Her body thinks the pregnancy is an infection and so it’s fighting it as such. The serryn in her is treating the baby as a foreign body. More than that, it senses that the pregnancy will eventually make her physically weaker and therefore, more vulnerable. It’s trying to rectify that. Jask, her own blood is trying to kill the baby.’

Legs heavy, heart pounding, Jask rejoined them at the table. ‘You’re saying Phia is
poisoning
our young?’

‘Not Sophie: the serryn. Jask, I don’t even know how that little one is still alive after this many days, let alone after what just happened. It’s got one hell of a survival instinct, but it’s fighting for its life in there.’ She teared up. ‘I’m sorry, but it’s being tortured every hour that passes.’

His stomach coiled, horror seeping through every vein.

‘And if you introduce angel blood into the mix – another foreign body,’ she added, ‘the serryn will fight back even more. To try and save Sophie, you’ll be harming your young.’

Jask switched his gaze to Jessie. She didn’t argue, shaking her head ever so slightly, her fingers to her lips as she looked away.

‘Jask, I am so,
so
sorry,’ Leila continued, ‘but there’s no way she can carry that baby to term and no way she’ll survive if she tries. We’re going to lose her if we don’t do something. We take her serrynity or we take the baby. And if we lose the chance for the former, the latter is the only alternative. It’s the only way she’ll survive.’

He looked to Solstice, to Corbin, both speechless as they stared back at him, their eyes laced with the grief of the inevitable. Just like they’d been when Ellen had gone into labour.

The look in Leila’s eyes as he met them again tore through him, his throat dry from strangled tears.

‘Override her decision, Jask,’ Leila pleaded. ‘Override it now.’

Jask looked back at Corbin. Corbin’s steady, remorseful gaze met his. A gaze triggered by the recent events now adding to the severity of the conversation they’d had out on the ledge.

Corbin knew his alpha was cornered. And he knew the implications of it.

‘I’m going in,’ Jask declared resolutely.

‘
You
?’ Leila said, quietly enough for it to be a whisper. Her eyes flashed with alarm ‘No. No, Jask – it needs to be me.’

‘Jask…’ Corbin interjected.

‘If anything goes wrong,’ Jask said, standing again, his attention on his beta. ‘You keep with the plan and you keep Phia and Leila as far away from Caleb as possible.’ He crossed the room for his coat. ‘Under no circumstances do you give in to his demands.’

Leila’s chair scraped the stone as she stood, Corbin’s doing the same a fraction of a second later.

‘Jask, please,’ Leila said, crossing the room towards him. ‘You can’t do this. It has to be me.’

‘Not anymore,’ he said, opening the door.

‘He won’t give it to you,’ Leila said, following him as he headed down the corridor.

‘And if I tell him his sacrifice is dying and it’s the only way to save her?’

‘He’ll want to know why, I guarantee it. And if you tell him she’s pregnant, he’s going to work it out.’

‘Work what out?’

‘That you’ve made her defunct.’

Jask stopped abruptly. He turned to face her. He couldn’t tell from Leila’s expression whether it was the best news she could impart or the worst. ‘
What
?’

‘You’ve tainted her pure serryn blood. She has lycan blood in her now too. He can’t go to the Brink with her anymore, Jask. She can’t be used for the prophecy – and
you’re
the reason.’

Jask’s attention switched back to Corbin as he came up behind her, his eyes flaring with horror at the implication.

‘Then if I tell him she’s defunct,’ Jask said, looking back to Leila, ‘he’ll have all the
more
reason to accept my offer. I’ll tell him it’ll jump to you. You’ll be his only chance.’

‘But he took it from me because he didn’t want me to have it.’

‘And now he’ll have no choice if he wants to have a chance at all,’ Jask declared, turning on his heels again.

‘No!’ Leila said. ‘You know he’ll kill you for this! It has to be me! It’s the only way we’ll convince him.’

‘And give him the potential key to the uprising?’ Jask said, turning to face her again. ‘We cannot take that risk. It’s too much of a gamble. This could put us all on the line.’ And he started off again.

‘Jask, wait!’ Leila said, close behind him. ‘I know you feel you have to be the one to do this—’

‘I put her in this situation; I’ll be the one to sort it. The discussion is over, Leila.’

‘No, please listen to me.’

‘I’m done listening,’ he said and headed towards the outer door.

‘Jask, it can’t be you!’ Leila insisted.

‘Enough!’ he snapped, turning abruptly to face her, Leila coming to an equally abrupt halt in response. ‘Unless,
right now
, you can give me one convincing reason why I shouldn’t be doing all I can to save her life.’

Her lips parted. She stared at him in silence for a moment.

‘I’m done with this,’ he muttered to himself.

‘Because Sirius doesn’t cause this war,’ Leila finally said. ‘
You
do.’