Destiny's Choice (30 page)

If Phillip had announced he was an alien sent to Earth it would have been no where near as shocking as what he just admitted.

“That
was the plan until you had all my assets frozen. I clearly can’t finish my work without money. But plans change. Sometimes for the better.” He shrugged with seeming nonchalance.

“Is that why you’ve been so forthcoming? Why this little show and bringing your…associates?”

Whatever the
real reason, Roan was sure more lives would be at stake. Phillip had shown such a casual disregard for killing that Roan was more dismayed than he let on. Being a sociopath was not a trait he had ever come up against in their culture. But one thing he did know. He needed to get Rivera away
,
and soon. He just hoped the price for her rescue wasn’t a high one.

“My associates.” He snickered. “Oh, I like that. But Max and Cesar here aren’t associates.” He nodded first to the blond, the one who had killed Bailey, then to the brown haired guy. Both were massive in height and muscle
.
And both looked as if they knew how to use it. “They, along with a few others, I turned for added
strength
and assorted odd jobs. Bailey had been my seventh attempt at a hybrid. Milo,” He glanced at the black wolf
lurking at the front o
f the car. “He was my sixteenth
attempt. Bailey survived his First Transformation. But Milo.” Phillip sighed deeply, giving the small black wolf a negligent wave. “I’m afraid any humanity he had was lost in the shift. Unfortunate, but he may still have a use.” He grinned. “I’d like to thank your brother, Roan
,
f
or his insight and help. Without his notes and samples from Sasha and Rivera, Bailey and Milo may never have shifted at all.”

“You stole my files?” Flynn was already pissed. Hearing a lunatic stole his work made him even angrier.

“Do calm yourself, doctor. It was all in the name of science.” He flipped a hand, waving away Flynn’s outrage. “If it’s any consolation, your big, red headed partner put up quite the fight to protect the information. Alas, I’m afraid he lost.”

A gasp sounded from Cole. When Roan turned his way, he was sheet white
.

“Joel.” Cole’s hazel eyes were glowing with fear and anger.

Roan didn’t hesitate. “Go.”

In a blink, he was gone. Melting into the night.

“Roan.”

Looking back at his brother, Roan could see he was conflicted. But Roan knew where he needed to be. “Take your daughter and our mother and go.”

Flynn nodded as their mother gave Roan a gimlet eye.

“I know, mother.”

She gave him another pointed stare then raced into the house. No doubt to grab Tala.

“No crazy stunts, woman,” Flynn told his True
Mate
as he leaned down to kiss her.

“No worries, love. You take care of our daughter and make sure Joel’s okay.” S
asha
returned the kiss, giving him a tight smile.

With a last look at Roan, he too fled back into the house. Moments later, the sounds of doors slamming and an engine revving could be heard. A black Rover then sped by the house and down the drive. Its tail lights were gone in seconds.

“He wreaks that car and I’ll kick his ass,” Sasha growled.

“With Charlie in the passenger seat, you won’t have to,” Dane snickered.

“My apologies for your friend, Roan. But again, sacrifices.” His cruel smile said he wasn’t the least bit sorry.

“Enough of the diversions and posturing, Phillip,” Roan demanded as he slowly walked down the porch steps. He stopped once he was ground level. The two goons beside Phillip stood a little straighter with the move, but otherwise didn’t do anything else. “What do you want?”

Roan couldn’t stomach the game Phillip was playing anymore. One innocent was already dead, maybe another, and countless others before them
.
A
ll in the name of
Phillip’s, so
called science. On top of it all, Rivera was still out cold. He was getting a little from their bond, but not enough to tell him if she was okay. He needed to end this
.
N
ow.

Phillip clicked his tongue. “Such a spoil sport you are. Don’t you read suspense novels?
The mad scientist always draws out his plans before springing a trap for the hero.”

“This isn’t some story
, Phillip
. And while the mad scientist part is accurate, I think you’ve drawn this out long enough.” Way too long.

“Touché.” Phillip bowed his head a little with a smarmy grin. “Alright. I want all my accounts unfrozen so I can continue my work.”

“And if I don’t?”

An expression of pure evil descended over Phillip’s features. “Then the fifteen hybrids I have scattered across this country, including your True
Mate
, will die a very nasty and painful death at the end of the next full moon.”

“You bastard,” Roan snarled, taking a step toward Phillip
. He had every
intention of gutting the son of a bitch. But not before he found out just what Phillip had done to Rivera.

Phillip’s two goons closed ranks as Phillip held up a hand. “Not so fast, Alpha. I’m the one holding all the cards here. Understand?” His smirk was full of satisfaction.

“You don’t hold shit!”

With a move any ninja would be proud of, Rivera flipped to her feet then kicked Max in the head. There was a sickening crunch as he dropped like a rock and lay unmoving. On the way to the ground, she threw out her fist, clipping Phillip in the nose and knocking him back into Cesar. Roan caught her up in his arms, racing back to the porch and the safety of the others before Phillip or his thug could do more than splutter with outrage.

“Fucking bitch!” Phillip was spitting blo
od from his mouth and it was pouring
from his now broken nose.
Cesar pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket.

“You okay?” Roan’s heart was hammering wildly as he looked her over. Then, below her ear, he spotted blood. “Shit.” He murmured, gently touching the place.

Rivera winced, pulling back a bit. “Asshole stabbed me with a needled after I called out to you. Whatever he gave me knocked me out. But not for long. And Roan,” she looked into his eyes. “I heard everything he said. Everything.”

He grinned, admiring her strength. “I guess playing opossum does have its advantages.”

“That and the martial arts classes I’ve taken over the years.” She winked at him.

“God I love you.” He hugged her close, never wanting to let go.

“I love you, too,” she whispered into his ear.

He stilled, pulling back to gaze down into bright golden amber eyes. “Rivera?”

“Don’t sound so surprised.” She grinned. “I think I fell in love with you that day by the waterfall. I
was just too scared to admit it afterward.” Her expression sheepish. “But lying there, hearing Phillip gloat made me realize I’m lucky, Roan. Lucky to be here and have you. To love you. And once this is all over, I’ll be happy to show you how much.”

Roan’s heart was overflowing. She loved him. “I’ll hold you to that, sweetheart.”

She gave him a quick kiss then they turned to face Phillip. He didn’t look too happy with a blood soaked handkerchief held to his nose. A nose that was at an odd angle. He had blood everywhere. Apparently the little scrap of fabric couldn’t contain it all. It warmed Roan’s heart to know that his True
Mate
had done it.

“Just for this, your bitch dies first,” Phillip snarled. “Cesar. Cesar!”

“I don’t think Cesar is going to be much use to you anymore.” Roan nodded to a few feet above Phillips’s head.

Cesar was dangling in the air. Blood was trickling from his nose, mouth, and ears. The expression on his face was one of extreme pain. It was also clear the man was no longer among the living.

“I hate bullies,” Sasha growled, holding her hand out. “I hate bullies with guns even more.” Said gun floated from behind Cesar, right to Sasha’s outstretched hand. “Nice.” She looked the gun over then pointed it at Phillip as Cesar’s body dropped to the ground in a heap. “I’m guessing he had one already in the chamber in the event you needed it. Sad that you got some gullible fool to do your dirty work. No
t enough
balls to get your own hands dirty?”

Phillip glared at her. “Kill me and you’ll never know where those fifteen hybrids are
.
Or how to save them and your precious Rivera.”

“Who said anything about killing you?” Sasha smirked. “I figure I put enough holes in you and you’ll be glad to tell me anything I want to know.” To prove her point, she fired off a round near him. It went into his car’s tire and let out a loud hiss of air before starting to deflate. “Despite my upbringing, I’m not very accurate with these things either. That was actually meant to take out your knee.” She aimed again. “Lord only knows where my next shot will go.”

“Okay, okay.” Phillip held his hands up, visibly pale under the blood. “I’m sure we can talk about this. Work out some sort of an arrangement.”

Sasha glanced his way, the gun still aimed at Phillip. “Your call, Roan. You know what I would rather do.” She shrugged.

“Blood thirsty wench.” He chuckled.

“Kettle, black, big brother,” She snickered.

He shook his head then looked back at Phillip. “Before anything else is said, you will tell me exactly what you’ve done to Rivera and fix it.” He wasn’t going to
consent to anything until he knew what was done to his True
Mate
. And Phillip better be able to reverse it or hybrids or no, the man would die. Slowly.

For a moment, it looked as if he wasn’t going to agree. Then he let out a harsh breath. “Fine. Under her skin is a capsule with a very potent poison of my own making. A mixture of silver iodide and wolfs bane.”

“Christ.” Roan groaned as various exclamations of horror echoed around him.

The silver iodide was bad enough. But wolfs bane was even more toxic to Lupus than to humans. Once the poison entered the blood stream, it went straight to their hearts. Exploding it.

“The capsule was made to slowly dissolve. But once the poison hits the blood stream, you have only seven hours to administer the antidote. Any longer than that and it won’t work. The poison will have
spread too much for the antidote to be effective.”

“Roan?”

The sound of his True
Mate
’s quavering voice made him peer down. Her fingers were over the blood spot on her neck.

“I can feel it. A little bump.”

“How long?”

“No, Roan,” she said before Phillip could answer. “I want it out now. No way in hell am I waiting around.”

“Are you sure, sweetheart? I mean, you realize it’ll have to be cut out.”

“He is correct,” Phillip replied. “The syringe I used was never meant to extract. Only administer.”

“It’s fine. I’ve had worse.” She grimaced.

Roan was torn.
He
wanted the poison out. But he would have to cut, to hurt his True
Mate
to save her.
The thought alone was enough to make him puke.

“I trust you and love you, Roan.”

He could see it shining in her topaz gaze. “Alright.” He let out a breath as Dane passed him a knife. “Thanks, cuz.”

“Anytime.”

“Keep an eye on him while I do this.”

“Of course.”

Moving her hair out of the way
, Roan placed his fingers where Rivera had hers. Like she said, it felt like a little bump. Then, making sure the blade was below the bump, he looked into his lover’s eyes. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Deep breath.”

The moment she drew the air, he pulled the blade across her skin, making a shallow cut. She hissed with the pain as blood began to trickle from the wound.

“Another deep breath.”

She nodded, doing as she said. On the intake, he pushed near where the capsule was. It came out in a wash of blood. It also resembled a regular cold capsule.
One that
caused pain and suffering instead of easing it.

Throwing the pill of death on the ground, Roan used his fire to incinerate it. When he turned back to Rivera, she had a shirt against the cut on her neck. Tristan was at her side, shirtless.

“Thank you.”

He merely nodded, golden amber eyes glowing brightly with anger. Phillip had made many enemies this night. But none compared to Roan.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.” If there had been any other way, Roan would have used it. Hurting his True
Mate
, regardless of why, made him feel like a failure.

“Hey, now. None of that crap,” she admonished. “I would rather have had you do it than anyone.”

“But-“

“No buts. I love you. End of story.”