Deadly Lover (37 page)

Lily wanted to hold him close and never let him go. She wanted him to get the hell out of there. She couldn’t tell him any of that. Instead she clenched a fist in his tunic. “Sara’s still in danger.”

He gripped her chin and forced her to meet his gaze—blue fire. “We get you free first.”

Lily forced her fingers to release him. Hands shaking, she turned back to the vid-wall and studied the face of the man who’d killed her sister. “Why me? Why did you get me involved?”

His screaming had stopped. He looked at her like a bug he needed to squash. No—a bug he wanted very badly to pull in half. “The police weren’t catching on.” He spoke evenly, directly. “I saw you in The Mixer and knew you were the perfect person to bring my work to their attention. Clever Lily. Strong Lily.” He layered the praise on like too sweet icing. The kind that left you with a stomachache after. Then a half smirk crept back onto his face. “Thanks to me.” He nodded as if affirming his own words. “Yes, I knew you’d come through for me.”

“Thanks to you?” Instinctively Lily braced as she asked the question. He’d set her up to ask. He was mad at her now.

The answer would be brutal.

“Yes,” he answered, smirk deepening. “Haven’t you figured it out yet? Tsk, tsk. Pay attention to me now, Lily. I’m the one in control. I’m the one who shaped you.” He reached for something off camera. “Not
him
.”

A still of her father popped into the corner of the screen. It had been taken at a distance. So young. So happy. The picture changed.

The poorly lit still made it easy to deny what she saw. At first. The glassy stare in her father’s eyes. The grass beneath his head. The frothy blood at his lips.

Her knees buckled. Jolaj reached for her, but she jerked away.

Timothy hadn’t finished. “If I hadn’t killed your father, you probably would’ve grown out of your cops and robbers phase. You’d have ended up married to a cop instead of becoming a STU Agent for Deepwater.”

She tried to speak. Her lips had numbed. Her whole body trembled. “You killed my father?” It couldn't be true. Lily shook her head as if the motion could negate his words. “You were a b-boy. When he was murdered.”

Timothy laughed—the crackle of ice shearing away a glacier. “My first human kill.” His chin jutted forward and he pulled the camera closer. “He caught me wringing a cat’s neck. He’d already suspected I killed that stupid mutt of yours.” His smile slipped away and his eyes froze over. “He would’ve tried to throw me in juvenile detention. Worse. He was going to tell my dad. My old man was plenty harder than yours, Lily.”

Her mind reeled. She twisted her hands in the chains and jerked.

“You said you’d release her,” Jolaj roared, voice sounding far away. The inside of her head had emptied, leaving an echoing hollow space where rational thought should have been.

Timothy barked at them. “Speak again, you ugly bastard and I’ll end you both now. You’re the reason she’s chained up like an animal.” Rage transformed Timothy’s face into a terrifying mask. “Remember that.”

“Timothy. Please.” She needed it to be over, now. “Tell me what you want me to do.”

“You see the box on the table?”

She blinked tears from her eyes and searched for the table, through the watery haze. “Yes. I see it.”

“You should be able to reach it. I want you to open it.” He spoke quicker. Anticipation tightening his syllables.

Lily reached for the box, hands shaking. She lifted the lid. A hypo-injector filled with a blue liquid sat inside.

“Good,” said Timothy. “Now lift out the hypo. It can be used to deliver a contact injection. That’s assuming the animal will allow it. He, after all, can
slip
at any time and leave you to die.” He laughed coldly. “Time to see how devoted your lover is.”

He couldn’t mean for her to drug Jo. The tremors wracked her. Her hands spasmed. The hypo slipped, but it never hit the floor. Jolaj reached out and snagged it.

He mouthed the words “it’ll be okay” as he pressed the hypo back into her hands.

“No.” She pushed his hands away, refusing to take it.

Timothy chuckled. “It’s your choice Lily. The hypo contains the same toxin I used on the animal that was fucking Jennifer Richardson. Either you inject your Ormney lover or the gas kills you both.”

How quickly could Jo get to him? To Sara? Lily clung to the possibility. “Please Jo,” she whispered. “Please go stop him.”

But Timothy would use the remote for the gas and kill her if he did. She didn’t want to die, but— “I’ll die either way. Please.”

Jolaj pressed the hypo back into her hands. “Trust me,” he whispered back. “It’ll be okay.”

No, she couldn’t do it. She’d rather die from the gas than to have Jolaj rip her apart.

“As soon as you inject him,” said Perry, “I’ll release the locks on your hands. You saved yourself before. You’ll have a chance. Be brave, Lily.”

Jolaj mouthed the words “trust me” again. She knew how important trust, her trust, was to him. But she’d seen the effects of the toxin. She’d experienced it when Kiq had come damn close to killing her.

She took the hypo, hating the weight of it in her hands.

Jolaj stepped closer and tingling energy brushed against her skin. Yes, please
slip
. But he stood there looking as solid as stone. He pressed his chest up against the hypo shaking in her grip. He lifted his hands as if to steady her, but Timothy barked out a command for him to stop.

“She has to do this on her own,” he said.

She pressed the hypo against the muscle of Jolaj’s shoulder, closed her eyes and tried to force her fingers to tighten against the cool metal.

“I’m stronger than Lanyak,” he whispered. “It will be all right.”

Tears coated her cheeks.

Swallowing her fear, she pulled the trigger.

“Yes! That’s it.” Timothy’s shout ricocheted around the room, leaving her cringing. Muscles locked. Terrified.

The drug worked fast.

The tingling sensation against her skin faded. Jolaj’s pupils dilated. Filing his eyes with black. His chest expanded on a breath he never fully released. He swallowed in mouthfuls of air in short, shallow gulps that seemed to accumulate inside him like a lethal force waiting to propel him into a rage. A shiver swept over him and he flexed his hands like a street fighter ready for a brawl.

He lifted one of those claw-tipped hands toward her as icy fear flashed through her body, draining her strength and leaving her weak and nauseated. Lily swallowed down the bile burning her throat.

 The palm of his hand settled against her cheek. The tips of his claws pressed lightly into her skin as his thumb brushed across her trembling lips. He leaned in close. “You trusted me.” The words were a hot whisper against her face. His voice was steady and laced with wonder.

She managed a small smile through her tears.

The hypo clattered to the floor as she reached over her head and took a tight grip on the chains.

Jolaj threw back his head and howled, an animal sound that sent sparks of lightening sizzling through the blood in her veins. When his head lowered, his eyes were still glassy and he was breathing harder. His hands opened and clenched.

He stepped back, with a roar. He turned in a circle. Then he came at her.

In a flash of movement, one claw tipped hand arced across her vision.

There was a whoosh and her body jerked back without her ever feeling the blow. She tugged on the chains, letting them take her weight and kicked out as another whoosh of claws came at her.

Jolaj stumbled back, his arms swung out for balance and the warm, wet of blood splattered across her face. Horror pooled in her belly like a blazing fire. Lily looked down and saw blood oozing through her top near the bottom edge. Thank God she’d worn her own clothes. The SafeSkin had limited the damage, but one blow had been low enough to connect with the unprotected part of her torso. She knew it could have been much worse. But SafeSkin wouldn’t protect her for long, given enough time, he’d bleed her and she’d die.

Lily railed at the camera. “Release me! Timothy!” She screamed it at him, letting the panic thread through her voice.

The shriek seemed to startle Jolaj. He backed away and threw himself at a wall, claws slinging her blood arcing high along the wall.

Lily looked directly into the camera and dug deep for the strength she needed to clear her head and find some angle to use. Beyond the camera she could see the salivating bastard’s glee plastered across the vid-wall. “Timothy, please. Let me have the chance you promised.” She jerked uselessly against the chains. “Don’t you want to see me go down fighting? Don’t you want to see me hurt him before he kills me?”

Jolaj moved toward her. Her heart pulled and hammered in her chest. Not again. Not Jo.

The locks clicked open.

Lily jerked free and grabbed the table. She held the thing up like a shield as she backed away. She had to think. Had to find a way out. Her eyes searched the room as she tried to keep Jolaj at a distance without sending him into another rage. He stalked her like a restless predator then leaped toward her. She held the table higher and braced for the impact.

She pushed as it shoved her back against the wall. Jolaj hit the table and went flying upward, nearly knocking her off her feet. He hit the wall above her. Blood sprayed around her again, but he hadn’t touched her. The blood had to be his. He fell to the side and tumbled across the floor before springing back to his feet.

She stood stock still, unsure what had happened. If he’d meant to hurt her, she’d have been flattened. Wouldn’t she? Lily stepped sideways and something crunched under her boot. She glanced down.

Glass and metal.

Part of a camera.

She looked to where blood arced across the wall. It reached high, near the ceiling. It covered one of the lenses.

She jerked her eyes back to Jolaj. He was coming again. She charged toward him, shoving the table and bouncing off him to end with her back against the opposite wall.

“Come on, Lily.” Timothy’s voice blared from the speakers. “You can do better than this.”

Jolaj roared at the vid image of Timothy. God, Jo looked wild. He threw himself against the wall like a bull charges the matador’s cape.

She smashed the table and came away with two table legs. They’d do just fine, if she wanted to kill him. Did she want to kill him?

He spun, ripping at the shoulder that had to be aching from that pointless blow. Kiq had done that. Ripped at his own flesh. The memory came to life in front of her as Jolaj beat his bloody fists against the wall then zeroed in on her. Cold dread churned in her stomach, threatening to empty its contents across the tips of her boots. She was ready when he barreled into her. Her thrust glanced along his side.

She’d pulled the punch.

She couldn’t kill him. Couldn’t even try.

He was on her then, knocking her to the ground, pinning her down against the hard floor. Beneath his crushing weight she couldn’t drag in enough air. Each unseen touch of his hand landed like a pulser, firing panic through her nerves. A touch against her belly, her hips, squeezing tight enough to leave bruises...but no claws dug into her flesh.

He pushed up, putting a few centimeters between them. She gasped for air just as he slid a blood coated hand across her face. She choked and coughed and bucked against him, rolling to her side to spit the blood from her mouth.

She got an arm free then slammed an elbow back, connecting with his shoulder. Unfazed, he pulled her back under him. This time she had room to move her feet. She pulled them in tight and kicked out. At the moment of impact she knew it wouldn’t be enough.

His body jerked and he rolled away. That wasn’t right. She scrambled, kicking her feet, crawling out of his reach. The floor was slick with blood, but she didn’t feel her life draining away. The slashes he’d made stung but they couldn’t be deep. She ached all over from being shoved around and she had a hell of a lot of blood smeared all over her. It had to look bad. Maybe even fatal.

The low sound of Timothy’s laughter echoed through the room. “I think you’re going to die this time, Lily. But don’t worry. He won’t get out of that room alive. The other one I drugged and locked away tore himself up so badly he bled out. I’m sure your animal won’t be any different.”

Lily pushed and pulled, and tugged to get herself upright, doing her best to make the movements appear awkward, feeble. There was one more camera and Jolaj stood directly beneath it. She searched his face and found him panting and growling, eyes still dilated, but he wasn’t charging.

He was waiting.

Her heart soared. Her mind sharpened.

Visibility beneath the camera would be limited. Lily pushed off the wall behind her and ran directly toward him. Her hands gripped the table legs as if they were baseball bats but she didn’t swing or aim. She charged, stretching her arms wide. His hands clasped her waist and he lifted her off her feet and spun, slamming her high on the wall. She bent in to him, exaggerating the move, then reared back against the wall, arms reaching upward.

The sound of metal and glass smashing, the feel of it raining down over her head, loosened all her muscles. She sagged against his grip and he pulled her close.

His lips brushed her ear. “Audio,” he whispered.

He threw his head back and roared.

Lily screamed. She kept screaming until her voice cracked and her throat ached with a fiery agony.

When she couldn’t scream anymore he wrapped her in his arms and pressed her face against his uninjured shoulder. One hand cradled the back of her head while the other circled her waist. He growled low and deep in his throat.

She dropped the table legs, letting them clank to the floor, and clung to him. His chest still surged with large heaving breaths. He’d fought off the effects of the toxin. Was still fighting them.

She’d been terrified. She should have been dead.

She slid her hands up and threaded her fingers through his hair. She clutched two big handfuls and pulled back to look him in the face. His eyes were still glassy but he was there in those eyes. Everything she needed from him was there. He hadn’t left her. He had done the hard thing. For her.