Chosen by Blood (28 page)

“They’d love that. I’ll go with you. We’ll teleport there and stay the day. Visit with mother and Zeph. Go on a picnic.”

In direct proportion to his excitement, doubt magnified inside her. “Knox—”

“Or maybe we’ll even go outside the Dome for a day. Go into the city. Not with Mother and Zeph, of course, but the children—”

“Knox, stop. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

He frowned even though his smile didn’t completely fade. “Why?”

“I—I want to visit the children, but I don’t want to make it seem like—like . . .”

Knox’s frown deepened. “Like what?”

“Like we’re together,” Felicia blurted out.

“We are together.”

“Yes, here. But . . .”

Pulling away from her, Knox jerked to a sitting position, his expression hardening. “What do you mean, we’re together
here
? You think location makes a difference? Because when you said you were mine, you forgot to tell me that little qualification, didn’t you?”

Felicia sat up, too. Then, still feeling vulnerable, she stood and began dressing. The expression on Knox’s face while she did so—furious disbelief—confused her. She reminded herself why keeping some distance—emotional as well as physical—was going to be good for them. She’d surrendered to him physically, yes, but despite his declarations of love, nothing else had changed. They were from two different worlds and he needed to marry a vampire. It was his duty, she understood that, but she wasn’t going to sacrifice her morals or desires to fit in, not even to let him populate the clan he loved. Although mating-pairs had been part of the vamp culture for centuries, she wouldn’t share Knox.

Once she was dressed, she faced him. “I just don’t want to confuse anyone, the children or us. Enjoying each other sexually, before you make a commitment to another, is one thing. But pretending that I’m going to be an integral part of your life is—isn’t fair to anyone.”

“An integral part is exactly what you’re going to be. When we live together—”

“I’m not—I never agreed to come and live with you, Knox. I have my life in Washington, D.C., and I’m not going to give that up to live with you as—as . . .”

He stood as well, but he didn’t bother dressing. Unconcerned with his nudity, he stood proud and powerful before her. “As what?” Knox growled.

“ As your fuck buddy,” she snapped, hating the fact she had to say it. Though his expression hardened even more, Felicia forced herself to continue. “Nothing’s changed, Knox,” she said, lowering her voice. “I don’t regret what’s happened . . .”

“So this is back to you expecting a commitment from me? A promise that I won’t be with another female from this point on? We’ve tried artificial insemination, Felicia, and you know it never takes. I don’t know why—”

“I have
no
expectations of you.”

“You should,” Knox said, grim-faced. “Because I have expectations of you.”

She raised a brow. “And what would those include? Fidelity ? You expect me to be faithful while you marry and impregnate someone else. While you put your dick—”

He took her arms and shook her. “Don’t! It’s not easy, and it’s not fair, and it’s not what I would want. But the vamp population is barely rising, with the birthrate having fallen sharply. What would you have me do, Felicia?”

“I’d have you love me enough to give me what I need, and leave the rest to the single males in your clan.”

“What single males of any strength? If we’re able to retrieve the antidote, and if we’re able to obtain a sufficient amount of pure blood to get my clan healthy again, and if I can show the Vamp Council that our clan is starting to prosper and multiply, then I’ll be able to give you that.”

“Not once you marry. Vamps don’t divorce. But even if you weren’t marrying someone else, it wouldn’t matter. The news is filled with reports that the Vamp Council is considering a law to prohibit vamps from marrying anyone other than another vamp.” She closed her eyes, trying so hard to see things from his position, even as another part of her knew it was never going to work. Still, trying to appease him and herself, she said, “If you don’t marry—and I’m not asking that of you—and what I want is to be conditioned on all those things you mentioned, then we’ll deal with our options when and if the time comes. Until then, I don’t want to confuse issues by having the children think I’m going to be more a part of their lives than I am. If you can’t deal with that, I’ll simply just go back to D.C. and—”

“No,” he snapped. He released her and stepped back. “If you want to visit the children alone, then do it. I don’t want to deprive them—or you—of that opportunity.”

“Thank you,” she murmured. She glanced around, then at the door. “You should probably—”

“Tell me something, Felicia. If all those conditions were met and I came to you to discuss our options, as you put it, do you know what your answer will be?”

Felicia stared at him, her expression solemn. She told herself to say “yes,” to reassure him that of course they’d be together. Only something stopped her. Something made her hesitate to say what might not be true. It had nothing to do with her feelings for him, but everything to do with Knox’s feelings for her—or more precisely, for her humanity.

“Yeah,” Knox sighed. “That’s what I thought.”

“Knox, please—”

“I better get out there and see what’s going on.” With jerky movements, he dressed, then strode toward the door.

“Knox—”

Knox turned back to her. “I’m assuming you’ll stick around until we leave for Korea. Or am I wrong to expect that, too?”

Biting her lip, she sank to a sitting position on the bed. “No, I’ll stay. Until then,” she whispered.

With a curt nod, he was gone.

T
wo days later, the Para-Ops team met for their final debriefing and strategy conference before embarking for North Korea. Despite his turbulent emotions where Felicia was concerned, Knox felt a great deal of satisfaction and pride as he stared at his team. Once they’d been focused on a specific target, they had, despite his expectations to the contrary, managed to put aside their differences and suspicions, and work like a well-oiled machine.

That included Hunt and Wraith.

The werebeast hadn’t exactly melded into the woodwork, but he’d definitely toned down the hostility, staying in his room or leaving the building unless his presence was specifically requested, and then reverting to monosyllabic speech when addressed. However, what was most noticeable about Hunt, besides his self-imposed isolation, was the focus that had appeared in his eyes. It was as if the knock on his head by that basset hound statue, coupled with the threat of being thrown off the team, had replaced his mouthy disdain with purpose. Whether that purpose was related wholly to the mission or not, Knox couldn’t say. He wasn’t about to ask or complain about the change, either. Hunt was on board and contributing what he needed to—that’s all that mattered.

Wraith, on the other hand, was her regular self—bitchy, crude, irritable—with everyone except O’Flare. When O’Flare got anywhere near her, she seemed to encase herself in ice. She’d perfected the ability to look right through him even when he tried to talk to her, which he hadn’t tried to do too often, probably because Wraith was rarely alone. Interestingly enough, it was Lucy who’d become the wraith’s constant companion, and the two of them had even moved into the same room. Given how much time the two females had been spending together in preparation for the mission, their decision to share a room had been even more surprising.

The pair had obtained satellite photos from the coordinates that Wraith had decoded. The photos depicted a large multibuilding compound built into the side of a mountain, but provided little detail. As such, Wraith had requested aerial surveillance by Mahone’s high-flying spy planes. Although he’d already been briefed in full detail, Knox had asked Wraith to present her findings to the team. That would emphasize not only her role in obtaining the information but, despite the doubts Mahone had expressed about her, her importance to the team. Knox caught Wraith’s eye and she nodded, indicating they were ready to begin.

Wraith stood and walked to the front of the room. Everyone quieted and Lucy, who was operating the projector, brought the first slide up on the screen. “Based on satellite photos,” Wraith began, “we already knew the target compound consists of four permanent building clusters with a perimeter area of twenty acres. These photos show us more. This one shows the deployment of armor shields along the periphery of each cluster.” Wraith used a wand to point out the shields. “They’re spaced several feet from the building walls, indicating they’re intended to block long-distance attacks, such as those from missiles or artillery.” She shifted the wand slightly. “This shows a possibly armed individual behind one of the armor shields, but other photos have shown guards on the roofs.”

“What’s that activity over to the right?” O’Flare asked.

Without changing expression, Wraith moved the wand to the area O’Flare was referring to. “We’re not positive, but it appears this was the beginnings of construction activity that was delayed by the weather. Even though it’s March, North Korea is experiencing one of its worst winters ever. It’s still plagued by intermittent snowstorms, which just means our entry is going to be even more difficult.”

“Is the construction for another building?” Hunt asked.

“Possibly,” Wraith said. “Or if we look at the length of the area that’s being cleared, an airfield.”

“Makes sense,” Felicia murmured. “Why continue to rely on cargo ships, which is the most likely way they’re getting the Others into South Korea, when you still have to smuggle them in through the tunnels. They’re also probably using commercial airplanes to enter North Korea from China. That still means they have to land in a large city, however. With an airfield, they could fly the Others to the exact spot they want.”

“And now that several foreign allies besides China have instituted flights into and out of Pyong-Jong, for ‘tourism’ purposes,” Hunt said, “that airfield would be twice as convenient.”

“The biggest challenge we’ve had to deal with is reconciling our entry needs with our other mission needs,” Wraith continued. “How do we get in undetected but still supplied with the weapons we’ll need? The answer is from up high. Mahone has authorized our deployment by high-altitude transport planes, from which we’ll exit wearing oxygen masks and using a fixed wing glider parachute suit. It consists of lightweight carbon fiber mono-wings, enabling us to glide a hundred and twenty miles or more before landing. We’ll be virtually impossible to spot. When reaching an appropriate altitude, we’ll have parachute capability. Until then, the glider can fly at approximately a hundred and thirty miles per hour. Needless to say, we won’t be able to carry much equipment with us, so we’re going to need to be very selective with our choice of weapons. That said, the glider suit has storage capability for weapons, including minimissiles.”

Wraith clicked the remote so a rear-shot picture of a man wearing the glider gear came on.

Hunt snorted. “Batman, eat your heart out.”

The corner of Wraith’s mouth actually tipped up.

The were glanced at Knox, who waited for the inevitable joke about vampires turning into bats. Hunt, however, kept quiet. Figures, Knox thought. Hunt wouldn’t want to be too predictable.

“Our means of entry will get us approximately twenty miles from the target location, from which we’ll need to traverse through mountains and forest until we reach a rise just in front of the compound.”

“What about the snow?”

“I’ve been reassured by the manufacturer and the FBI’s parachute team that the glide suit will function in cold weather. In fact, it’s naturally made to do so. In high-altitude jumping, the initial air temperature is usually twenty-five degrees below zero.”

Wraith nodded at Lucy, who brought up a slide that looked a lot like the kind of map weathermen used on the daily news. “There’s going to be a break in the weather in several days. We’re going to be targeting that break as our entry time. After that, it’s just a matter of staying warm once we’re on the ground.”

“Hold up,” Hunt said. “Several days? We’re not moving in sooner than that?”

“The glider suits are going to require a little skill,” Knox said. “We’ll have a few days to train, and since O’Flare has had experience with parachuting, he’ll help out with that. Once we arrive at the compound, O’Flare will take care of the initial strike.”

Knox gestured to O’Flare, who explained, “Initially, we need to get past the guards that are manning the exterior. The photos we have show them in the open. We can use the nerve agent sarin in a burst that will expand to an area of seventy thousand square feet in one minute, hopefully neutralizing the guards outside, as well as any other guards who respond to the attack. When they come out, we go in.”

“We have several different ways to gain entry,” Knox explained. “Hunt can shift into wolf form and try to get in that way. Lucy can ensure that points of entry are unlocked or kept open with her power of telekinesis. If she can get close enough, she can perform enchantments. Same thing for myself and my power of persuasion.”

“ And Wraith?” O’ Flare asked. “What will her role be?”

“I’ll be bringing along the proper explosives should we need them to gain entry,” Wraith said, “along with a number of my other unique talents.”

“Meaning?” O’Flare asked.

Wraith simply shrugged. “Meaning, I might want to improvise.”

“All right,” Knox concluded, locking eyes with Felicia. He knew the significance of this meeting’s adjournment and so did she. Part of him had hoped deployment could be put off for a few more days, but Knox knew the time to move out had come. “We leave tonight for the airfield. We’ll spend a few days training with HRT’s Team Blue before moving on. Any questions?”