INTO THE FIRE (Forbidden Love) (22 page)

THIRTY ONE

What was he going to do? How was he ever going to live if that sonofabitch hurt his mate? Rebel was sitting on the floor with his back to the wall and his knees in his chest pondering the same questions over and over again. He listened hard for anything from Leigh, and the harder he listened, the worse his head hurt. He rocked back and forth slightly as he chastised himself for leaving her with the women. He should have had one of his brothers sit with her. Antonio would have been a good choice. At least, if he had been with her, his brother would still be alive and his mate would be safe.

But Angel would be dead, he reminded himself. Antonio gave his life for their leader and that commanded a helluva lot of respect. A small part of Rebel wondered why he had even gone after Leigh in the first place. He had known she was his mate, but he had also known the kind of dangers vampire mates could be in. Granted, he hadn’t even imagined this level of danger, but still there were always risks involved.

No, he was being silly and childish and he wasn’t doing anybody any good sitting in the corner feeling sorry for himself. He really needed to man up and get a damn plan going here. The only problem was, half his family was gone, and the other half was either unconscious or dead. That really made him want to get up and get moving. Not.

He put his head in his hands and fought the urge to cry again.

“Here,” the sweetest little voice said to him. He picked up his head to find Jade sitting beside him, a whole package of chocolate cookies in hand. “Have a cookie,” she said. “It always helps me when I’m feeling down in the dumps.”

Rebel couldn’t help but to smile. That child was so sweet, so innocent, and so damned empathetic. He reached over and took a cookie. It was sweet and delicious, just as he had known it would be.

“You should really eat more,” Jade continued. “You need all the strength you can get to get Aunt Leigh back.”

“You’re right,” Rebel agreed. “I need to stop acting like I’m helpless and get to work. I need to act my age.”

“Oh I don’t know about that,” Jade said with a little laugh, “you’re only about a bazillion years old!”

“Oh ha ha,” Rebel shot back sarcastically.

As soon as the cookies were gone, Jade stood up and brushed her pants off. “You better go see Gage,” she said. “He’s awake and will start to think you don’t love him if you don’t get in there and tell him.”

“You’re right. Thanks Jade”

“No problem,” she said as she skipped off down the hallway.

Rebel stood and stretched out his muscles. He really had no idea how long he had been sitting there feeling sorry for himself, but given the way his whole body was stiff, it was a good while.

He walked down the hall to Gage’s room and knocked lightly on the door. When no one answered, he pushed it open.

“Hey man,” he said as he approached the bed. Jade had been right. Gage was awake and at some point Jacque had removed the tubes from him. “How ya feeling?”

“Like Leigh chewed me up and spit me out,” he whispered. Even that sounded gravelly and harsh. But the man was alive and breathing on his own. And at least he had stopped bleeding.

“Did Jacque fill you in?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” he said.

“Not your fault,” Rebel replied.

“Gonna miss him,” Gage whispered.

“Me too,” Rebel said, taking a seat beside the bed. He laid his hand on Gage’s leg and said nothing more.

THIRTY TWO

Merrick rolled off the little lady underneath him and breathed deep. What a hell cat that EPA woman was in bed! He was thinking that he may just need to keep her around after the mating ceremony. He liked having her around. Not only was she enamored with his good looks, but she was willing and very able in the bed.

Unlike his unwilling guest. But Leigh was his and it would do her good to realize it. It wasn’t like there were a lot of dragon mates to choose from. Perhaps she would come around after the ceremony. After all, his faery friend has promised the spell would be unbreakable, and Leigh would be onboard with staying with him forever. He could repopulate the world with dragons if he saw fit. He didn’t think Leigh would make much of a mother though. Something about her foul mouth and bad attitude just didn’t scream mother figure to him.

Perhaps that would be a good job for Elizabeth, though. He thought she would make a great mother. She was kind and nurturing… not to mention easy on the eyes. And, she would be willing to stay at his side so he could ravish her whenever he saw fit.

And she didn’t have a mouth that would make a sailor blush.

“Why do you even want her?” Elizabeth asked. “It’s obvious from the mark she wears that she has mated with him.”

“I deserve the opportunity to bear offspring,” Merrick replied, rolling his eyes. How many times did he have to explain himself to this woman. He got out of the bed and pulled his robe on.

“But she doesn’t want you! You cannot force her, it’s rape!”

Merrick sighed. “It’s not rape if she is willing. And I will have her consent. Why must we keep going over this?”

“I’m just saying why not go for someone who wants to be with you? Hell, someone who likes you just a little bit?” she asked as she dressed.

“It is irrelevant.”

Elizabeth mashed her teeth together and shoved her hands in her pockets to keep her from slapping that stupid dragon across the face. “But you said you could mate with humans. Surely there are plenty of people out there who would love to have a child for you.”

Merrick spun around and faced her. His anger was as palatable as the ground she stood on. “Really?” he bellowed in her face. “Name one. Just one. You tell me the name of one woman who isn’t completely insane who would be willing to risk her life just so I can play daddy!” He turned away from her again and muttered, “I don’t want a half-breed anyway.”

Elizabeth could think of one, but she didn’t dare say anything to make his anger worse. If he were willing to fight vampires and kidnap a woman, who knew what he would do to her. His eyes looked like they were on fire and the pupils were just tiny slits, but she wasn’t really scared.

“You haven’t even tried,” she said.

“Get out of my room,” Merrick snarled at her. “I don’t want to see you until this is over.”

Elizabeth felt like he had punched her in the gut, even though he hadn’t laid a hand on her. She could feel the moisture building in her eyes and fought the urge to cry like a child. She had tried repeatedly to sway him from this course he was on. But nothing, not even sharing his bed and giving him her heart was going to work. And what would he do with her heart? Crush it, she was certain. She would never be good enough to bear his children. He would never accept her. What she wanted to say to him was how big a bully he really was. And selfish! But she didn’t say anything, instead, she did as she was told and left him to be alone. She packed her belongings and slipped, unnoticed, out of the house and out of his life, at least, in the way he wanted her.

She would be back though, but she doubted he would be happy to see her.

THIRTY THREE

“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?” Gage demanded as he strapped himself with weapons. “You are no fucking body to be telling me what I will or will not do.”

Rebel shoved his hand through his hair and continued to stare at him. “You are still healing man,” he said quietly. “We can’t risk it.”

“You ain’t risking nothing on my behalf. I’m going with and I’m getting my sister back.” Gage grabbed his leather jacket out of the closet and pulled it over his arms. Still ranting. Yeah Rebel had asked him not to come. Actually, he told his brother he wasn’t going. Went over like a sack of rocks on water.

He had known it would. Hell, after Jacque had explained to Gage all that had happened, it was everything Jacque could do to keep Gage in the bed. Now, his wounds were healed. He was still weak though. Rebel couldn’t let him go. What if he didn’t make it? How could Rebel live with himself if another of his brothers took a dirt nap for him?

“I don’t want you there.” There. Take that.

“Honestly Rebel, I don’t give a fuck what you want. Yeah, she’s your woman. I get that. Yeah, I’m still getting over my injuries. I get that too. But what you need to get is that I love Leigh and she is my family. I won’t sit here like an invalid while the rest of you are risking your lives to bring her home.”

Rebel could hardly find fault in his argument. How was he gonna convince Gage that he didn’t need to go? “Angel said we got about seventy men. We don’t need you.”

“Fuck you,” was his reply.

“Fine,” Rebel said, exasperated. God some people were just damned hard headed. “But we ain’t leaving till tomorrow so you can chill a bit.”

“I don’t want to wait till tomorrow,” Gage snapped back. “Tomorrow is too late.”

“How the fuck would you know?” Rebel snapped back. “Leigh is strong. Or haven’t you met her?”

“Yeah, strong and pregnant,” Gage pointed out. His point hit Rebel like a knife in the chest.

“You just point me in the right direction,” Gage continued. “I’ll go ahead and do some recon, see what’s doin where she is.”

“No, you can’t go alone.”

“Who said I was going alone?” Gage asked. “I planned on taking the faery with me.”

As much as Rebel hated to admit it, it was a good idea. Someone should go ahead. Someone should let the others know what they were walking into. He had been feeling Leigh’s pull stronger and stronger with every minute that ticked by. It was a challenge for him to not act on it. Maybe he should.

“Ok, but I’m going too.”

“You gonna tell the others where we’re going?” Gage asked.

“No,” Rebel replied. “If we do, we are only gonna make them worry and they’ll try to talk us out of it.” He scratched his neck and looked around the room. “No, it’s better that we just slip out. Now, get your faery.”

Gage grabbed the keys to the Escalade and slipped out the private entrance of the estate unnoticed by the mob gathered out front. Since their little disagreement with Merrick, the fans and others had taken to camping out in front of the house. Thank God for the gates and the security. Someone had caught part of the fight on their camera phone from the beach and posted it on YouTube. Annnd of course it went viral. The whole freaking world was doing a big WTF. Of course the people camped out were mostly supporters of the guys. Some were holding a candlelight vigil for Antonio. Gage could even hear some of them crying quietly. Then there were the others. The protesters. They carried their signs saying things like ‘free the dragon’ and cross mating is wrong. “Save the dragons” was his favorite. Little did they know that was exactly what the crew was trying to do, thanks to a gag order issued by Detective Corbin. No one was talking to the media until they were ready.

The sounds from the gathered crowd grew faint as Gage pulled off the dirt road and onto the highway. It would only be a short trip to get Serena. She was in the forest just a few miles from him. Faeries kept their homes hidden for the most part from human view, but damned if Gage didn’t know exactly where to go. He didn’t know how he knew, but he did. Just like he simply knew Serena would be there.

A few miles down the road, he saw the dirt road he needed. It was well disguised from view by shrubs and weeds, but Gage knew it was there. He slowed to a safe speed and hung a right. The road was super skinny and the Escalade barely fit, but it was surprisingly smooth. To the human eye the forest seemed to swallow the road up, but that was not the case. It was a spell meant to hide their home. Gage kept driving right into the illusion and he watched as the trees seemed to open up for him as he approached.

At the end of the road, Gage saw what looked like an old, beat up shack. But things were not what they seemed, he knew. He parked the truck and threw the door open. The dirt and rocks crunched under his boots as he got out and walked toward the door. They knew he was here anyway, having no doubt set off some kind of perimeter alarm. No need for stealth anyway. He wanted them to know. He raised his fist and knocked on the battered wooden door.

And then he waited.

And waited some more.

Well, if those damned faeries thought he would just go away, they had another thing coming. He needed Serena and he wasn’t leaving without her. He and Rebel would need her spells to keep them under the radar while they spied on Merrick. They might need her healing abilities. He could think of any number of reasons to bring her along. Not one of them because he was secretly dying to see her again. Nope. Definitely not that.

He beat on the door again to distract himself from his lie.

After three more tries, the door finally opened. And there she was. Her red hair was pulled back into a tight French braid and she was wearing a white summer dress that flowed around her legs like liquid silk. Gage couldn’t help but stare. And his eyes weren’t the only part of his anatomy that took notice.

He shook his head and found his voice. “We need you,” he choked out.

“Of course you do,” she said. “I have great news. Mother has agreed to help. We will be sending our family to help you. We are just waiting on word from Angel.”

“We need you, specifically, and we need you to come with us now,” Gage told her. Man, her eyes sparkled. “We are gonna go ahead of everyone else to do recon, and we need your specific skill set to help us.” He looked at his boots. Huh, there was dirt on them. Wonder where he got that… “Please,” he said under his breath.

Serena laughed. And wouldn’t you know it sounded like heaven to Gage’s ears. “I see,” she chuckled. “Of course. Let me gather a few things and I’ll be right out. Come in, sit.”

She opened the door further and stepped aside to allow room for Gage to pass. Two steps into the house and he was speechless. The inside of the shack was anything but shack-like. Of course, he knew it would be. But this was just… wow. The walls were stark white holding up the glass ceiling that must have been fifteen feet high. He had a perfect view of the sky. The furniture was sparse, but effective, and looked like it had been perfectly preserved from another time. He gently sat himself on the sofa. It was a cream color that also seemed to shift and change ever so slightly when he sat. He was afraid to sit back for fear he would somehow soil it or break it in some way.