Eternal Embrace (20 page)

“Jaxon…?”

“Easy, baby, easy.”

A wicked-looking curved blade appeared in Gerald’s hand and he advanced towards Jaxon with a look of pure hatred on his face. Before she could plead with Jaxon to get them out of here again, he caught Gerald’s sword with his own, sending sparks flying. They exchanged several vicious blows that made her heart feel like it might jump out of her throat, but nothing hit Jaxon. None hit Mr Indestructible either.

She heard Viktor growl low in his throat, but he didn’t move in to attack, and she guessed he didn’t because he might distract Jaxon. She didn’t dare move for fear of interfering with Jax. She tried to get her hand to stop shaking enough to keep the gun steady, and watched, hoping Jax would kill the guy.

Viktor hit her leg and she tore her eyes off Jax long enough to see the changelings were still just watching her expectantly but now with more unease in the way they shifted and scanned the room. “Something’s up?” she asked and Viktor yipped. “More men?” she guessed and he and the other animals shifted closer. “Shit! Jaxon! We need to go!” “
Jax!”

“Right. Fucking on it, I’m on it. Get them out of here, I’m right there.”

“You’d better be!”

“I am, baby, no way is this scumbag stopping me.”

“All right. We need to go. We’re using the door, right?” she asked Viktor.

He gave her another bark and the other wolf growled in what she hoped was agreement.

Jaxon attacked Gerald hard, savagely delivering blow after blow. Each fierce hit knocked the man back away from the door they were aiming for. When he had Gerald ten feet from the opening, Jaxon kicked out, catching Gerald in the stomach, and scissor-kicked to knock his feet out from under him. Jaxon jumped back to his feet and shouted at them, “Go!”

Gerald laughed, a sick sound any Hollywood actor would love to master. “Yes, let them go, Jaxon. Let her go alone. I will find her later, I am sure. When he tires of you, and leaves you behind, I will be there for you
, darling
.”

Jaxon blanched.

“Oh, get over it before you make me vomit. Jaxon, come on! Kill him already and stop playing around!” She turned to Viktor and pulled the door open. “Go, lead them as far as you can, we’ll follow your trail.”

“They won’t get far, my dear. They will crave what only I can give them now,” Gerald called in a singsong voice. “As will you, eh?”

“Shut up,” Jaxon yelled and attacked again with blow after blow of his sword. “You’ll never touch her. She’d rather die than let you near her.”

“Several times!” Joey agreed.

“Jaxon! Hurry!”

“I am, I am. He’s fucking hard to kill.”

The changelings took off out the open door, but Viktor and the other wolf remained, circling her of all things. Viktor snarled and Joey spun, coming face to face with the demon woman.

“Shit!” She shifted to the cage where she’d freed the wolf and slammed the door closed in the woman’s face when the demon misted right after her.

The demon hissed. “Bitch, you will die for this.”

Joey gasped to see her tongue was forked, long and reddish black. Her skin had darkened, turning a burnt red. Viktor dragged the demon backwards by a leg.

“Get off me, you mangy dogs!”

Joey prayed they could keep the demon busy and shifted closer to Jax, ready to help if she could. The demon woman stalked her. She’d barely settled from her shift and the woman was right there. Joey shifted again—this time keeping her gun up—and shot twice then called her pipe and threw that at her. The pipe hit the demon in the head and she screeched. Viktor jumped on top of her, tearing into her torso. With a savage kick, she sent Viktor flying. He landed with a yelp against a far wall and staggered to his feet. The other wolf took his place, tearing huge holes in the demon’s legs, but she kept coming at Joey, as if nothing could stop her.

“Oh, God,” Joey whispered and tried to think.
What to do, what to do?

From the side, she saw Jaxon slice Gerald’s neck. Blood pooled from the wound. Gerald reached up, grasping his neck with an oddly shocked look, and staggered back, for once looking seriously worried. All at once, he slumped to the floor as if his legs couldn’t hold him and blinked at them.

The demon misted in front of Gerald and attacked Jaxon without fully materialising. Jaxon dived under her attack, spun and yanked a yellow extension cord from the wall. The demon hissed and darted in with two long, razor-sharp knives in her hands. Jaxon dodged, bent at the waist and came around behind the demon and wrapped the extension cord around her neck. Joey thought he was going to strangle the woman, but he sliced a deep line in the electric cord and rammed the piece past the demon’s long fangs and into her mouth.

Grunting with effort, he shoved the end with the plug on it at Joey. “Plug her in!”

Joey swallowed but lunged for the floor like she was a professional volleyball player and stabbed the cord in the electric socket. She scrambled to her feet, lifted the lid on the electric box and jammed all the circuits off. She counted to three, heart beating wildly, and shoved all the circuits wide open. At the same time, Jax grabbed her arm, pulled them to the side, and tossed a bucket of what looked like dirty mop water at the demon. Sparks flew from the demon’s convulsing body and the smell of burnt meat filled the room.

“Gross! That’s horrible!” Joey said, covering her mouth with the crook of her arm.

“Shit stinks, baby.” Jaxon huddled over her for only a second, then he urged her into a run for the door. “Go, go, out the door. If there were more, they’d be here by now.”

“More?” she demanded, then screamed when hands dragged her away from Jax’s side.

“You will make a nice addition, much stronger than his last woman,” Gerald whispered harshly in her ear.

She attempted to shift to the first cell again, but as she imagined the bars, something pierced her side and she screamed, looking down at the syringe in Gerald’s pale hand.

“Joey!” Jax knocked Gerald back and caught her when she would have fallen, while Viktor tore into Gerald from the side. Gerald fell hard to the ground, but quickly managed to get out from under Viktor and gain his feet. She heard Jaxon grunt then he turned and slammed his fist into Gerald’s face. Shock settled over her, chilling her skin and seeping into her bones. Gerald’s neck was whole, clean of blood and appeared fine. Nothing could kill him, could it?

“Out, out, go, please,” she whispered to Jaxon, both aloud and in her mind.

“Hang on, Joey.”
Jax nailed Gerald once more and dodged a blow.

“Jaxon!”

“Arm yourself. We go.”

She called her pipe to her hand and tried to keep her panic under wraps.

“Come, Vik, out now! You too, wolf. Out!”

Jaxon swung out savagely with his blade and she felt something warm hit her face. Seconds later they were outside. Jax took her pipe and slammed it into the door jamb, locking Gerald inside.

“Will it hold them?” she gasped, trying hard to catch her breath.

“No, it won’t,” he said, but urged her into a run.

She tried to keep up, but she couldn’t seem to get enough oxygen, and the pain in her side from the needle spread alarmingly, sapping her strength in an odd, frightening way. Her stomach ached, almost as if someone had hit her. It felt a hell of a lot like what she’d experienced turning into a vampire.

Jaxon slowed and lifted her in his arms. He began running as soon as he settled her head against his shoulder.

“I’m—”

“Shhhh…just let me.”

“
I’m not okay, Jaxon. I’m not…”

“Stay with me, Joey, stay with me.”

“I am, I am…but it’s bad. Real bad.”

“Vik, find the changelings. We need them. Joey’s been shot with something.”

“I can sense them, ahead,” she said, sounding weak to her own ears. She reached out and pressed her hand to Jaxon’s heart, holding it there to try to soothe him.

“Don’t talk aloud. Use our link. Tell me what you’re feeling.”

“It feels like whatever he gave me is forcing me to change—or not exactly change, but as if it’s destroying my blood. Does that make sense?”

“Darlin’, I’m not letting anything destroy you. You can make it. We’ll get you some help, I swear it. How close are we to the changelings?”

“Just a bit farther.”

“Are you sure? I sense nothing.”

She concentrated, and a murmuring, low but there, vibrated through her consciousness. She shared it with Jaxon and felt him stumble, but gain his momentum again quickly.

“You think that’s them? That what they gave you lets you sense them?” Jax demanded.

“I don’t know. Maybe. Oh, God, put me down, put me down!”

Jaxon jerked to a halt immediately, and knelt with her in his arms. “What is it? What is it, Joey?”

She shivered, the sensation worsening, almost like her own skin was going to split, and she’d emerge as something other than herself.

Jaxon was suddenly in her mind, sharing the pain. He grabbed her tighter and she experienced the complete panic he experienced.

“It’s going to happen, but I think, I think it can be reversed. At least for me,” she added. “It’s as if it’s invading my blood.” She broke off, unable to explain the sensations rushing through her. “Jax, you have to get this out of me, the blood has to go. It’s infected so you can’t drink it, but…”

He shook his head hard, a look of anguish covering his strong features. “I can’t do that, Joey, I can’t. You might die.”

“I won’t die, you can give me blood,” she began, but paused at the odd look he gave her. “What?”

He didn’t speak, and through their bond, she couldn’t sense him either. He’d shut her out, she realised.

“Stop that! No secrets!” she reminded him.

“Shit, shit, shit! Joey, there isn’t time for this.”

She pressed her palm to his warm chest and stopped him from getting to his feet. Holding his anguished gaze, she brushed his dark hair from his forehead. “If this holds you back from helping me, then there is. Tell me. Anything you say won’t change one iota of how I feel about you. Remember? No divorce? Not even if I don’t like something.”

Jaxon took her hand off his face and kissed her fingers, but she could sense his fear now, it practically choked their connection it was so deep. “Shit, you should never repeat a man’s words—”

“Back at him. I know, spill it now!”

He swallowed several times before he managed to say, “There was a woman once, not my bonded, but I found her, she’d sliced her wrists, and I…”

“You saved her,” she guessed. “And then?”

“She killed an entire village to show Gerald how much she wanted him.”

It took Joey several long seconds to make sense of him past the pain shivering through her veins. Then she sat up, clutching her stomach because it hurt, and slugged him in one big bicep. “You jerk! Do you really think that I’m going to go kill a bunch of people, then beg that disgusting man for a hookup and leave you?”

Viktor snorted beside them, and Jaxon shot a startled look at the wolf, then at her. Slowly, the silliest grin split his face and he hauled her hard to his chest. “Fuck me, you’re right. Fuck, I’m an idiot—”

“Jerk, but we’ll discuss this later, huh?” she asked painfully. Immediately, he loosened his hold and eased her back. “You will have to drain me…maybe a few times, okay? And, oh, God, it’s going to be rough…”

“Stay with me, link with me,” Jaxon demanded.

“I am. I am.”

The sensations of burning from the inside out increased, until she began to shiver, her skin crawling. With a powerful burst of pain ripping at her bones, she arched her back off the ground and tried to breathe past the pain. Quicker than she could comprehend it happening, she shifted to fur and her body twisted, becoming more feline.

“Fuck! Joey!”

“I’m here, I’m here. Ah, God, that hurt!”

Jaxon sat back and stared at her, then at Viktor. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

She raised her hand—paw—and touched his arm.
“Don’t freak out. If you freak out I will too.”

“Shit, shit—”

“Jaxon!”
Joey watched him blink a few times, draw a hand through his dark hair and breathe out deeply before he reached out and touched her head. Their bond was still strong, so she experienced his shock, but she needed him to be strong for her. He nodded as if she’d said that in their mind speech, and frowned at her, examining her body from head to tail.

“Damn, we have to think of—”

She knew he was going to say something other than draining her blood, but she had absolutely no urge to argue with him. She wanted back to being her—not a cat her.

“Jaxon! I’m fine. I’m fine. There’s no more pain. But I sense the others, they are waiting. They’ve found shelter. Come, come on and once we are there? You drain me because I am not becoming a house cat!”

His expression grew intense at her words, and he sent her a warm sensation that reminded her of a hug.
“Ah, wildcat, I love you.”

“Cut me and let me bleed out! The blood is infected, Jaxon. I can’t let you drink it, and you promised.”

After several seconds of silence, he finally said, “Joey says the changelings are up ahead. Follow her, and keep your nose peeled for that bastard.”

Panic rippled through her at the idea of Gerald still being around—let alone after them.
“Oh, shit, you think Gerald is still after us?”

“No, don’t worry over him. We get to the changelings, and I’ll do my part. You, I may never let out of my sight again.”

“This was
so
not my fault.”

“No, this wasn’t your fault. This is the fucked-up world I tried to keep away from you.”

She stood and tested her new paws, finding it odd that she still felt as if she were human, but obviously wasn’t. It was almost like she wore a mask over her body. A four-legged body mask with whiskers and a tail, but still, it was like she’d always been a cat. The thought freaked her out.

Jaxon tipped her head up, and stared down at her with such a serious look, she wanted to hug him.
“You okay to move like this?”