Memory of an Immortal Heart (Immortal Hearts) (4 page)

“Like
hell you are,” Brand muttered halfheartedly, glancing at the dark trees. He
didn’t smell Sakai. Not close anyway. But he wasn’t trusting their safety to
that.
Her
safety to that. They needed to leave.

It hit
him as he followed Joshua: an odd knowing, an almost –
goddamn
– prescience.

Nothing
would ever be the same again.

He
shook his head, fiercely, trying to be logical – and failed.

Fucking
unsettling
. It wasn’t just that she was naked and attractive
in his arms. Or that there was a wary, sensual curve to her lips that enticed
him, made him want to see how far that wariness would last. No, it was
different.
Her scent, maybe? Those eyes?
 Brand frowned, tightening
his hold around the fragile body. He didn’t know.

Can’t
be true
.

Brand
gave a low growl as he scanned the trees.
Can’t be true
.

But
fuck, was it?

Those
old memories,
Khael’s
memories, stirred again in the recesses of Brand’s
mind like a dark cloud, clawing at the edges of his control. With ease that
came from centuries of practice, Brand locked the visions away. Dwelling on
those memories only brought rage. Madness. And a hopeless, despairing pain.

Guilt.
His own.

They
reached the car.
Open your eyes
, Brand willed the female in his arms,
shifting her against his body so he could open the door. The scent of her blood
tugged at him, distracting his focus.
Tell me your name
.

Tell me
if you’re my amati
.

But,
clutching her to himself, his heart gave a stilted double-beat, and Brand
realized he already knew the answer to that.

Corin
King stood at attention as Rohe Nightchild paced the windows before him.

The
snow-filled night outside the Asylum illuminated her dark silk-clad figure
perfectly, setting off her height and long ice-blonde hair. Rohe was curvy, her
breasts the perfect shape for his palms, but she was not sensuous. Not in the
way most individuals would define “sensuous.” Rather, King had always
considered her akin to an albino cobra he had witnessed once in Northern
Africa. Its curves had been sleek, mesmerizing with their deadly economy of
movement – and its gaze, like Rohe’s, promised an unpredictable and
excruciating death.

Rohe
was, King thought dispassionately, incredibly beautiful. Too bad that she was
not the sort of woman he considered for his lovers. Despite what she planned.

“Strategoi,”
Rohe whispered, using his title from her father’s Court as she stopped pacing.
She curled her fingers around his jaw, down his chest, then lower. “I have a
task for you,” she murmured, gripping him.

At that
moment, Rohe’s eyes were brown and human, wide and warm-looking. But Rohe’s
eyes always appeared mortal. One of the greatest assets his master’s daughter
had was her eyes, for so many of her targets forgot to peer deeper, to see the
chilled emptiness that lurked as a warning beneath the warmth. Rohe entranced
her weaker victims with her gaze, even as she controlled the humans with a
wish.

Quite
simply, her desires became their desires.

King
reached down, took hold of Rohe’s slender wrist. “You disrespect me,” he said
coldly. “And your patron. I am here as his gift to you.”

Rohe’s
lips tightened and she squeezed – once, harsh, in punishment –
before withdrawing her hand from the front of his tailored pants. The deceptive
warmth of her gaze frosted over as her rage bled through.

“Two of
my pets have escaped,” Rohe said, crisp and cold. “You are to retrieve them.”

“The
Kaspian and the Winterbourne Sakai?” King asked, already knowing which subjects
she referred to.

Rohe’s
smile chilled. “Find them, or kill them. I will not have ill-trained beasts
running free.”

King
nodded and touched the sword at his side. “As you wish, my lady,” he said,
bowing. He meant every word. He had been sent to protect Rohe, to watch her. It
was not in the Courts’ best interest to leave either the Kaspian or the
Winterbourne free to talk. Free to
act
. Not after what Rohe had done to
them.

Escaped
prisoners made for uncontrolled enemies. Uncontrolled enemies were dangerous.
Corin King turned to leave, to gather his soldiers and hunt his quarry. The
ashes of something old and distant stirred in his chest, as they did every time
he began a hunt: anticipation. Corin King had been born to hunt.

“Strategoi.”

King
paused at the threshold. Rohe was facing the windows again, the long fall of
ice-blonde hair shimmering over her shoulders like a veil.

“Yes,
my lady?” His voice was toneless as her own.

“I find
I am bored. If you will not see to my entertainment, then send someone who
will.”

Eva
woke to warm darkness and the sensation of someone much larger – and more
dangerous – looming over her. Despite how she despised her weakness, she
forced her body to stay relaxed, taking groggy stock of the situation.

It felt
as if a truck had hit her. That was nothing new. But Eva could still fight. Or
run. Her feet felt swollen, pulsing with pain, but if Eva was running from
Rohe, then she could run forever. If she had to.

And the
concrete floor was soft beneath her…
Wait.

Eva’s
brain woke up and she just kept herself from stiffening.
The floor?
No,
this was a bed.
They put me in a bed
. And the harsh lemon scent of hotel
soap – a scent Eva knew far too well– pervaded her senses as if
someone had cleaned her body.

Rohe’s
guards had cleaned her and put her to bed.

No.
On
a bed
.

Eva
panicked, barely keeping her body from tensing.
No – no, no no.
As
long as she hadn’t challenged Rohe, she had been safe. There had been a line
Eva had known never to cross, a line she had taken pains to avoid – a
line that had allowed her to escape
this
. After that first time, Eva had
been careful –
very careful
– not to even toe the line.

The
first time she had gotten free of the table restraints and struck Rohe across
the face, Rohe had given her to the guards to drink.

As a
guard leaned to take her neck, Rohe had smiled down at Eva, saying, “If you
will not play with me, then you will play with
everybody
. Your first
warning, pet.” And then her smile vanished – it was a monster’s smile
anyway – and the guard had frozen with his teeth touching her skin.
Everyone feared Rohe, even – no
especially
– the guards.
“Well,
idiota
? Will you not feed? It is not everyday someone will feed
the likes of
you
,” and Rohe had tapped a thigh with one of her scalpels,
as if contemplating using it on the guard. Then those fangs had sunk into her
flesh…

Eva
snapped back into the present as a large hand brushed her hip, turning her body
onto her chest; her heart began to thud until she realized that someone was
examining the gravel abrasions on her back. Her terror grew and she resisted
the urge to clench her thighs together. As long as they thought she was asleep,
she was safe. Two deep voices were speaking in a foreign language and Eva
sucked in a breath as her stomach twisted.

There
was a masculine, spicy scent to the air. Eva struggled against it, confused. It
was as if, somehow, she
recognized
that scent. Because that scent
– everything about that scent – told Eva she was safe. That she
could relax and sleep, and
know
that she would be safe and protected.
That she could trust this scent. Eva desperately wished it were true. But she
knew better than to cling to stupid hope or blind fantasies.

It had
to be one of Rohe’s tricks. It
had
to be.

Because
she wasn’t safe. Never again.

But if
they were going to rape me, wouldn’t they just do it on the floor?
Why
bother with a bed?

And
none of Rohe’s guards would have cleaned her. Or be touching her so…
gently
.

This
wasn’t right. Nothing about this situation was right. It didn’t matter. Because
she
wasn’t
safe. Eva curled her fingers beneath the surface of the
pillow, keeping her body relaxed as she waited for her chance to strike.

Her
freedom was riding on this, as was her chance to see Rainey again.

She
concentrated on the broad hand on her hip and tried to ignore that enticing
scent.

“Why
the hell were we you driving out there anyway? We should have been on the
interstate,” Brand snapped, trying to keep his voice low so he wouldn’t wake
the female. He didn’t know what was wrong with her – she should have
woken far before now, and that fact was beginning to worry him far more than it
should.

“I have
some merchandise in the trunk that it’s better border patrol not discover.”
Joshua examined one of his knives with a critical expression; the dim light of
the muted TV cast him in a greenish glow. “Lets just say I know a man who knows
a back road to where we need to go.”

“
Goddamn
it
, Joshua.”

“Not my
fault. Seth asked me to pick up the merchandise. Take this up with your
brother.”

“Believe
me, I
will
.” Brand cursed softly as he examined the abrasions on the
woman’s back and forced himself to ignore the softness of her skin. Yes, he
could help speed the healing of some of her injuries – but the gravel
would have to be cleaned out first. And healing wasn’t exactly his primary
ability. “
That
is the reason I try not to fall asleep if you’re around,”
he muttered.

Joshua
snorted, then slid the blade away. “Live and learn, cousin. Live and learn.”
Then he learned forward, frowning at the woman, and Brand resisted the urge to
snarl at his proximity. “You know, Brand, you might want to be careful. I’m not
sure she’s actually – ”

The
female whipped around, clawing at Brand’s eyes with short, ragged fingernails.
Joshua cursed, jumping back and Brand was too startled to do anything but blink.
Then he swore and caught her wrists. She flashed small white teeth at him,
snarling, and – his amati or not – Brand’s training took over
– he jerked up on her hands, unbalancing her so she fell back into the
bed, and pinned her legs with his own. She writhed beneath him, struggling. And
then, as if realizing the futility of what she was doing, she sucked in a
breath, gave a half-moan and fell back onto the sheets.

The
clean, pure scent of rain – spring rain and somehow
silver
–
wafted up to fill the air around Brand like a kiss. To his horror, Brand went
instantly hard.
Fuck
. The female was terrified. It didn’t take an idiot
to know that – and
this
was the moment his cock chose to wake up?

He
momentarily closed his eyes and grabbed hold of his fraying control.
Think
of her as one of Stronghold’s fighters. A
young
one.

“If you
were going to attack me, why didn’t you just
Change?
You would have had
better luck,” Brand snapped, opening his eyes to meet her dazed silver eyes as
she started to struggle again, hoping to hell she hadn’t noticed his growing
need  – and promptly lost it.

Something
inside of Brand shifted, changed. The memories surged, tearing at his focus,
and Brand had the terrifying sense of being on a collision course; he promptly
closed his eyes and anchored himself inside that scent –
Her
scent.
Why in hell she should ground him so easily?
Spring rain and silver
.
Brand tensed as emotions slammed through him: elation – joy –
confusion – amazement…pain.
Guilt
. So much fucking guilt.

Because
it was his fault. If only he had just…

Fuck
. Fuck.

An
amati.
His
amati.

He
didn’t…he didn’t need this. He didn’t need her.

Not
ever – not right now.

Brand
shoved the thought away and opened his eyes. The female had gone still again,
her graceful brows drawn in a confused sort of desperation.

Brand
knew her. He had never seen her before, but he
knew
her. To the depths
of everything he was. And she was lovely.

Lovely…and
battered. Brand wanted to reach forward, brush the hair out of her eyes, and
heal the dirty scrapes that abraded her right cheek. He wanted to erase the
pain from her body.

Except
that would mean letting go of her hands, which would result her fingernails
raking out his eyes.

“You’re
safe,” he said quietly, keeping himself raised off her enough that he hoped she
wouldn’t feel the press of his erection. “I’m Brand Kade, this is Joshua
Elisaie. We aren’t going to hurt you. I give you my word.”