Memory of an Immortal Heart (Immortal Hearts) (5 page)

“Speak
for yourself,” Joshua muttered to his left, and Brand caught the wink of the
blade his cousin held. “I don’t know that hellcat well enough to make any
promises to her.”

Brand
growled a warning at Joshua, then cut it off, focusing on the woman beneath
him. A delicate line had creased her brow as she continued to stare up at him.
Her hands were beginning to shake, and he found himself fixating on the ragged
dark waves of hair beneath her head, the smooth warm skin of her throat as she
swallowed. Her perfectly rounded breasts. They were peaked in fear.

His
mouth went dry.

“Kade.
Kade and Elisaie,” she repeated, her voice hoarse, trembling, as if she had
screamed herself raw in the recent past. “I know those names. From somewhere.
From…” those silver eyes blinked, went wide. “From the
Gens
. The Resh
hated you, used to curse you, said you wanted his territory. Because you…you’re
Kaspian too.
That’s
why you smell safe. Because you’re
Kaspian.
”

Tension
abruptly drained from her body as she breathed a sigh of pure and utter relief.
Brand released her wrists and gratefully rolled off her.

“You
aren’t Rohe’s? You
swear
you aren’t Rohe’s?” There was a close-held fear
to the female’s gaze that tore at Brand, made him want to reach out and gather
her into his arms. She was strong – that was apparent from her posture,
her gaze, the stubborn delicate curve of her jaw – but she was clearly
frightened.

“I
don’t even know who Rohe is,” Joshua responded bluntly, and slid the knife back
into its sheath beneath his leather coat. “He isn’t from any Gens I’ve heard
of.”

“You
swear?” The female looked at Brand, unwilling to take Joshua’s word for it.

“I
swear,” Brand replied, and dared to reach out to brush the dark waves from
those stark silver eyes. “On my honor. As both a Kaspian and a Kade. You’re
safe with me.”

The
female blinked, made a small choking sound in the back of her throat. Then she
twisted over onto her side, giving them her torn back as she buried her face in
her knees and burst into tears.

A hand
had settled on the curve of her hip – gently. “You’re safe,” the male who
looked like a cross between a foreign prince and a sexy underwear model said
again.
Brand
, Eva reminded herself, and concentrated on stifling her
tears. She couldn’t cry right now – not right here, not in front of him.
No matter how great the relief was – but the thought that there were
other Kaspian here…oh god, she was
safe
.

And not
just any Kaspian…
His name is Brand. Brand Kade. Which means he is from Kade
Gens, the oldest Gens. The
first
Gens. So he probably
is
a
prince-underwear-model.
Eva choked on a slightly hysterical laugh, and
heard the frown in his sinfully deep voice when he said,
“We found you
in a snow bank. Unclothed. On the side of a road. With a Sakai standing over
you.”

As if
somehow that were her fault. “Couldn’t help it,” Eva choked, and wiped her face
into the pillow, praying she didn’t look as blotchy and unwashed as she knew
she was. “Wasn’t exactly planned.”

“I
didn’t say it was.” That hand on her hip tightened, making Eva think things she
shouldn’t be thinking. Not after the last few weeks she had gone through.
He
probably has a girlfriend. He probably has a
harem
of girlfriends. This
isn’t even the right situation for that.
No one knew how the wealthy and
powerful Kades chose to conduct their lives and even from that brief glance,
Brand had looked like the sort of man who could walk into a bar and not have to
worry about whether he was going home with someone that night.

Well,
Eva could do that too. The schematics were just a bit more difficult for her.
For one, she lived with her sister. For the other, she couldn’t actually
bring
the guy home.

“What’s
your name?” Brand said. His voice was intent, traced with an accent, and Eva
realized that this wasn’t the first time he had asked her. He probably only
asked because he wanted to know where he should deposit her before brushing his
hands off and going on his way.

Which
would serve Eva just fine.

Because
at the moment, all she wanted was her family. All she wanted was to curl up
next to her sister and have Rainey tell her the nightmare was over and that
everything would be all right. Returning to the Turner Gens – no matter
how badly Eva had schemed to leave it over the years – wasn’t so bad, all
things considered.

“I need
to go home,” she told them painfully. “To my Gens.”

“I
know,” Brand said quietly, “Don’t worry about it. We’ll take care of
everything,” and that hand squeezed slightly, setting off a chain-reaction in
Eva’s body – coupled to a strong thread of gratefulness.
Take care of
everything?
It had been so long since she hadn’t had to worry – about
everything
. Eva shivered, a faint but rising arousal burned through her
at his touch…and was stunned by her body’s response.

“You’ll
take me to North Carolina?” Eva swallowed both her tears and her nerves as she
twisted around; a jolt coursed through her as Brand’s hand dropped away, his
fingertips roughened against her skin. She met those eyes – and was hit
by it again.
Him
. His presence. “You would do that for me?”

Brand
hesitated, his gaze flickering. Then he cautiously nodded. “We will take you
home.”

Thank
god
.

“Oh for
Christ’s sake,” the tall sandy-haired Kaspian – Joshua – muttered.
“You know our name. What is yours?”

“Eva.
Eva Turner.”

Blue
eyes – dark blue irises,
sapphire
blue irises. Brand’s hair
gleamed a rich black, falling thickly about his face like a thick sleek mane.
It offset the deep gold of his skin, and Eva’s fingers twitched against the
sheets.
Surely his hair’s not that soft?
She curled her fingers into her
palm. He was tall. Muscular. And so well-dressed.

His
gaze rose, and Eva realized he had been staring at her breasts. “
Oh my god
.”
She ripped her arm up to cover them and tore at the sheets until Brand
oh-so-politely offered her the coverlet. Eva pretended she wasn’t flushing.
“Why didn’t anyone
tell
me I was naked?”

Joshua
snorted, and began to say something until Brand shot him a glare, and Eva’s
humiliation was complete. “Don’t look,” she muttered, avoiding Brand’s gaze.
“It’s not my fault I’m naked.”

“I
know. Who do you think pulled you from the snow?” A deep amusement to that
tone.

Oh god.
Change the subject. Now. “Where am I? Are we…safe?”

A
pause.

Eva
snuck a glance: Brand was treating her to a discerning look, a small smile
lurking at the corner of his mouth. Her heart stuttered.

“I’ve
seen a lot of women in my lifetime,” Brand finally said. “So nakedness doesn’t
shock me. Though yes, you are lovely, Eva. Much lovelier than anything Joshua
was about to say.” Then as Eva turned red, all amusement died from his face.
“So tell me, Eva: why did we find a tigress from a North Carolina Gens lying by
the side of the road in Vermont, naked and injured with a Sakai standing over
her? We need to know what happened. You are as safe as Joshua and I can make
you, but neither of us can make promises when it comes to threats we can’t
assess.”

Everything
went still and cold inside Eva. She shuddered. Brand needed to know about Rohe.
Everyone
needed to know about Rohe. People had to be warned, Rohe had to
be stopped.

But the
words stuck in her throat. They didn’t want to come out.
God, how will he
see me?
She should never have let herself be taken. She was an idiot, a
fool.
Stupid
. God, she was so stupid. So weak.

Eva
forced her breath to steady and tightened her grip on the pillow as she opened
her eyes again. She must have closed them. “What do you need to know?”

Joshua
moved to stand beside Brand’s chair, peering down at her from dangerous,
piercing gray eyes. The shadows seemed to roll around him, too dark, too real
to be true. “Tell us everything,” he said.

Eva turned
the shower on high and dropped her head against the square beige tiles as she
stood beneath the hot stream. Too much had happened lately. She didn’t want to
think about what Brand and Joshua were discussing in the other room. She didn’t
want to think about what she had told them. She didn’t want to think about what
they had told
her
.

The man from cell 113 was a Sakai.

Like Rohe was Sakai. Like the guards were Sakai.
Blood-drinkers
,
Brand had told her matter-of-factly, not acting at all terrified or repulsed.
But Eva’s own memories combined with those words and she felt perilously close
to crumbling.

Whatever else Sakai were, they were as strong as she was –
sometimes stronger. Perhaps faster. Definitely dangerous. And they had almost
no scent.

Knowing the monsters had a name somehow made them
real
. More
real. “I shouldn’t have let him out,” Eva whispered, staring at the chipped
white paint of the shower ceiling as she thought about the man from 113. “I
really shouldn’t have.”

Because they
all
were monsters.
Even him.
I should have
just…left
. But what could she have done? She had felt like she
owed
him. And he hadn’t attacked her. Or drank from her. Eva touched her unmarked
neck, and despite the warmth of the spray, she shivered.

He had left that message beside her body:
Take her and RUN
. As if
he had been trying to
save
her.

And God
knew, she owed him another debt for that. Because the man – the
Sakai
– from 113 was the one who had killed Rohe’s guards, and saved her from
being taken back.
Or maybe he was just hungry and ate them first
.

Eva didn’t know how monsters reasoned. Certainly not Sakai.

She didn’t know
anything
anymore.

The information Eva had given Brand and Joshua wasn’t much use. She hadn’t
been able to tell them any details about Rohe or…or
that
room
.
She hadn’t been able to tell them about the man from 113. Or how she had
watched Rohe eviscerate a guard – then put him back together again. Or
the terror she felt when the guards surrounded her, breathing deep as they
waited
for Eva’s blood to flow while Rohe stroked her face and ordered her to
Change
.

God. Oh god.

Rohe had been so fascinated by her ability to Change.

Eva
smacked her palm into the shower tile, and the pain in her wrist radiated up
through her elbow to the base of her spine. It was sprained. The soles of her
feet were tender, scratched from running on the blacktop in tiger form. The
furrow where the bullet had gouged her shoulders was deep but already scabbed
over, as were the cuts on her arms and neck. The mirror showed Eva’s back to be
a mess of scratches and cuts, dirt and gravel. The pinprick where the guards
had shot the tranquilizer into her was nothing more than a tiny scab beneath
her left ribs. It all
hurt
.

But the pain grounded her, brought her back to present. Because that’s
what Eva had learned from Rohe: pain could tear you down, break you, but
sometimes – some days – it also centered you. The water from the
shower was hot against Eva’s cheeks – no. No, she would not cry again.
She was done being weak.

Eva shook her head and hissed as the spray dug into the wounds of her
back. She searched for something else to focus on.

Brand
. Brand
was a good distraction. How would she describe him to Rainey when she got home?
Sexy.
Definitely
sexy. Eva smiled, lowering the washcloth.

When
Eva had told Brand about the cell, small gold lights had flickered in the
depths of his sapphire gaze. There had been something about his expression…
an
understanding, a knowing?
Whatever it was, it called to her. And the spiced
scent of his large body had filled the small room, soothing her nerves even as
it enticed her. After Rohe’s cell, even the hotel room seemed claustrophobic,
but with Brand there, it…it hadn’t bothered her.

Just
her luck. She was going to go and get attached to the man who had saved her.
Wasn’t that some sort of complex? Didn’t humans have a name for it?

And it
had been
so long
. Eva flickered her eyelids closed. Her fingertips
glided between her breasts, down her belly, dipped into the cleft between her
thighs. She traced the bundle of nerves, felt a faint distant pleasure that
didn’t really want to happen. No, distractions aside, she wasn’t in the mood.
If she tried to come this way, now, it would hurt more than pleasure her. And
the two in the other room would smell her reluctant arousal.

“What
am I doing? I’m better than this,” Eva muttered, shaking her head as she
withdrew her fingers. The embarrassment wasn’t worth it.