Magick Marked (The DarqRealm Series) (13 page)

It was just a little fight.

No, it was a big fight that could have exposed your purpose and gotten you killed. Really brilliant.

If Rho had been able to move, she would have cringed. She felt terrible, and not from the fighting. They were behaving like a bunch of high school kids picking a fight, not grown adults sent out to protect their world.

I didn’t start it.
Oh, she was full of brilliant excuses tonight, wasn’t she?

Yeah, well, we’re about to end it.

What does that mean?

He didn’t respond.

Frederick?

Still no response.

Frederick? What are you talking about? What does that mean?

You’ll see.

“I didn’t mean for things to go so far,” he said. His sisters may be a pain in the ass sometimes, but he loved them just the same. They were all the family he had left.

Eldon glanced down at the tattered remains of his Armani suit. Shame to throw the thing in the trash. It had been his favorite.

With a sigh, he cast his gaze across the scattered remains of the Ball. After all the guests had cleared, the aftermath of the chaos was even more apparent. Flowers were strewn across the ground, their broken glass homes littering the grass. Small patches of charred ground still smoldered from fallen candles, the stench of the burned pasture hanging heavy in the air.

Like boxers in a ring, each team member stood tucked away in a far corner, reviewing various injuries. Nothing major aside from some scrapes and bruises, from what he could see. His own injuries would have been significantly worse had Rho not thrown herself on him.

Of course, her actions had hardly been necessary. Women shouldn’t throw themselves in harm’s way, ever. Any man worth his salt wouldn’t allow it. Although Rho wasn’t exactly a delicate female, was she? She was a vampire.

God, the whole meeting had been a disaster. They couldn’t make it through the night without killing each other, and they were supposed to preserve the DarqRealm? Not likely.

“Did you start it?” Nick asked.

Eldon didn’t respond. Sure, he’d been known to push a few buttons now and then. Bend the rules a little. Families of privilege had power, and with power came a lot of get-out-of-jail-free cards. He’d used at least a book of them.

Nick’s eyes narrowed. “Answer me, you giant ass. This whole thing stinks of you.”

Eldon met Nick’s eyes but said nothing. Only his best friend could talk to him like that without feeling the bruising pain of retribution.

“That’s what I thought,” Nick muttered. “You and your big effing mouth. You bucked up to that Alpha, didn’t you?”

Ignoring the question, Eldon glanced innocently around the smoldering lawn. Cadence, the leader of the Collective, had stormed off to tend to another matter, as she put it. She’d be back shortly. To say she was pissed would be an understatement.

To his right, the vampires were tucked away near a fallen white drapery, the Lamia Prince’s voice quiet, his expression serious. Rho leaned subtly against a tent pole, her body shifted to one side as if to favor a broken rib or two.

To the left, Preshea shared a similar fate, nail marks strewn along her face, blood spatter decorating her tasteful slacks. The ShiftMaster hovered over her now-human form, his words firm and quiet.

Clearly Eldon’s corner wasn’t the only one facing a lecture circuit.

His sisters continued to take turns with the oration, their words an unregistered drone in the back of his head. He stifled a yawn.

Tim stood in the far corner flanked by two of whom Eldon could only assume to be top-ranking pack members. He’d sent the rest of his pack off as soon as he’d been released from the Collective’s hold. Other than the packmother and forerunner of their race, his Alpha status meant he answered to no one.

Must be nice.

He turned to find Jess, her brow pinched with the same worry their mother’s had always borne. “Do you understand how devastated we’d be if something happened to you back there? How could you be so irresponsible? Sure, maybe the vampire is stupid enough to—”

“She’s not stupid,” Eldon snapped.

His sister gaped. “Excuse me?”

He caught a glimpse of the vampire in question. God help him, he couldn’t help but defend her. Even if she was one of the undead. “You heard me.”

“She tried to kill you.”

“She tried to save me,” Eldon corrected.

“What?” Nick asked, stepping forward.

“I offended the Alpha’s pack bond.”

Nick closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead with his palm. “Dumbass.”

“Not arguing that.”

“You’re lucky he didn’t kill you,” Nick said.

Jess raised a brow. “How did she
save
you?”

“She jumped on top of me. The blow she took could’ve killed me.”

He would know. He’d felt… everything.

The mental connection he shared with that vampire wasn’t a fluke. Couldn’t be. Not after a second ride on that merry-go-round. When things had gotten intense and out of control, she’d gotten back into his head. Everywhere and nowhere, she’d completely encapsulated him, wrapping her mind around his as he did the same, not purposefully but instinctually. He’d never felt anything like it.

Then she’d thrown herself on top of him.

He’d known the moment Rho made the choice to save him. It felt like ownership, but it wasn’t his owning her. No, it was the other way around. She threw herself on him to protect him, as if he were hers to protect. Which made absolutely no sense at all.

The pain intended for him had been unleashed on her, and despite the force hitting them both like a lightning strike, he’d remained intact. She’d known she could recover from that sort of physical assault, whereas he would be hospitalized for days. Maybe weeks. Possibly even months.

A small part of him wanted to stroll across the field and thank her. He shook his head, allowing the logical portion of his brain to kick into gear. She was a vampire, not a martyr. He couldn’t understand why she’d done what she did, but making a public expression of gratitude probably wasn’t one of his more brilliant ideas. Not to mention that their connection shouldn’t be possible. The repercussions if news of their telepathy spread to the Council? He cringed just considering it.

The tent poles creaked. Cadence appeared out from behind a tattered white wall, stepping over the carnage and bee-lining it for Eldon. When she reached him, she didn’t say a word.

She whirled around to face the others. “Before we discuss anything tonight, I must ask that only the chosen and their leaders remain. The rest of you may leave.”

Protests rang out, voices raised in anger at the dismissal. Cadence held up a hand, standing firm against the onslaught of curses and disapproving stares.

Adelle clenched her fists by her sides and spun to face Eldon. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Neither am I,” Jess chimed in.

Eldon turned to grasp Nick on the shoulders. “Take them back to the house for me. I’ll be there soon.”

Nick stared up at Eldon, his discontent with the request reading clearly in his eyes, but Eldon didn’t care. This wasn’t up for debate. Whatever they were going to do tonight didn’t need an audience, and they’d already seen and heard way more than they should. Involving his sisters any further would compromise their safety, and he wouldn’t let anything happen to them.

Not on his watch. Not ever.

Understanding trickled through Nick’s gaze as he offered a quick nod. “Let’s go, girls.” Nick snagged their arms and started to drag them away, their complaints loud and plentiful but completely ignored.

As the rest of the grumbling crowd dispersed, the remaining few formed a small circle.

The Lamia Prince stepped forward, bowing slightly. “Madame Collective, I apologize for my subject’s behavior. I understand if you choose to no longer assist us in our endeavors.”

Cadence waved a hand dismissively. “Stepping aside is no longer an option.” She glanced at Eldon. “Set a silence circle, please.”

Eldon offered a quick nod before turning to follow orders. Speaking softly, he wove his hands in the complicated, familiar pattern. Latin fell from his tongue as he recalled the spell from memory. Directing the ley line energy into his palms, transparent blue arcs cascaded over their heads in a blanket of protection. When he completed the circle, he turned to face the group.

Alexander stepped forward, pointing a finger toward the ground. “I demand unification.”

Eldon arched a dark brow. Unification? As in, forced cooperation?

Cadence tilted her head in acknowledgement. “Stepping aside is no longer an option for us. It has been brought to my attention that the mover’s Kamen is also missing.”

Brought to her attention, his ass. She’d known about the loss for days.

“Ours is missing as well,” Alexander said.

Eldon winced. Oh, shit.
Three
missing Kamens?

The vampire prince’s eyes grew wide. “Why did you not bring this information to the Council immediately?”

Alexander shrugged. “We weren’t certain it was truly missing until now.”

The prince turned to the wolf. “Where is your Kamen?”

All eyes turned to Tim in unison.
Please let the fourth Kamen still be in this wolf’s possession.
They hadn’t even begun to search yet. Could it already be too late?

The wolf reached into his shirt, pulling out a silver chain woven through his fingers, and held it up to display. A silver band dangled from the thick braid, the prongs supporting a massive black diamond at the center. The wolf’s Kamen.

Eldon released a breath. Sighs were expelled around him, echoing his own relief.

“Our Kamen resides safely within the Austin pack. Our packmother entrusted us with its care until the mission is complete,” Tim answered.

Cadence nodded. “This is good, very good. I agree with Alexander’s assessment. The team must be unified in goal or they will fall apart, as they clearly proved tonight.”

“What would you suggest?” Tim asked.

Alexander folded his arms across his chest. “Blood bonding.”

Rho’s eyes grew wide as Frederick yanked her arm, placing himself defensively in front of her. “Completely out of the question. Blood bonding may not be significant to your kind, but to us it means something much different.”

Alexander’s brows furrowed. “It’s the only way to ensure they are unified in their goals.”

“I’m okay with this,” Tim said.

The prince scowled. “I will not subject Rho to the torture of a bonding which will tie her to these people for the rest of her immortal life. Find another way.”

Cadence smiled. “So the master cares about his minions, does he?”

“Tread lightly, Cadence.” Frederick’s voice was low and menacing.

Smile falling, the Collective leader’s eyes narrowed. “Regardless of your duty to her, I see no other way.”

There had to be another way. Eldon squinted, staring off into the dark space beyond them as he racked his brain for binding spells. Usually he didn’t care about vampires. Undead or really dead, they didn’t matter to him in the slightest. But Rho didn’t deserve to be bound for eternity to someone against her will. Bonding her through blood would mean her teammates would be her only food source. Worse, if one of them died on this mission, she might die, too. Asking her to pay that price for people she barely knew didn’t seem an even trade.

She’d saved his life, and he owed it to her to find another way. Hell, even if she hadn’t, forcing anyone into a bond seemed… cruel.

They needed something permanent. Something that would always be there but wouldn’t affect health or free will. He glanced at Rho, still standing behind her maker, one of the sleeves on her dress torn to reveal…

“
Cutis ligare
,” Eldon blurted, staring at the designs on Rho’s arm. The solution was right in front of him.

The Collective leader’s head popped up, her eyes meeting his before she gave him a short nod.

“What?” Frederick asked.

Cadence’s stare didn’t leave Eldon as she spoke slowly. “Skin binding.”