On The Prowl (14 page)

He
hated
this plan. His hands fell away from her.

“He’s going to get us all,” she added.

His eyes narrowed. “I’m listening.” And maybe he was liking the plan a bit more. If they were
all
attacking.

She inclined her head toward Keri—a Keri who’d gone white and appeared to be suffering from shock. Learning about dragons probably did that to a human. “She and I will go out on the
Devil’s Prize
. You and Rayce will be below deck. You two will stay out of sight…I figure that’s something you guys excel at, right? Shifters are good at sneaking around.”

Of course. They knew how to hunt without making a sound.

“And Leo…he can cover us from above. Provided, of course, that he can go up
high
enough that his ass won’t be spotted again by Simon.”

Leo sniffed. “We don’t
know
he spotted me before. Maybe he just decided to back off when he saw your panther lover dive into the water after you. Not every day that a full-sized black panther decides to take a swim in the ocean.”

Only he hadn’t been a panther when he’d found her. He’d shifted beneath the water and saved her as a man.

“We get on the boat,” she continued doggedly, “and Keri contacts him again on the radio. She tells him that she’s bringing me in…she gets a meet site set up.”

Leo smiled. “And then we show up and grab the bastard.”

“Give me patience,” she muttered. Rose squeezed her eyes shut. “I get that you
think
you can make the guy talk, but what if you can’t?” Her eyes opened. “What if Simon won’t reveal the location of the others? What if he keeps them there, locked away, no matter
what
you do to him?”

“I have dominion over all humans—”

“We don’t know he
is
human,” she said, her voice rising. “And since we don’t know
what
he is, then we don’t even know if I can put him under a compulsion or if you can control him. So we can’t just grab the guy and force the location out of him.”

Julian knew where she was going with this plan, and he was back to hating it. “You want to offer yourself up—get him to take you and lock you up with the others.”

Her smile hurt his heart. “When he takes me with him, you all follow. Easy enough, right? I mean…” Now her hand lifted to press against his chest, right over his heart. “You’re a shifter. Doesn’t that mean you can follow my scent anywhere?”

He’d mated them. He could follow her
anywhere
, could locate her no matter where she went on this Earth. Julian gave a curt nod.

“Then you follow. We find the hole Simon has been hiding inside, and you guys storm the place.” Her voice had hardened with determination. “We take out Simon. We free the others, and then all of the deals are done.”

“What happens to me?” Keri whispered. “Can I please go home?”

Rose swallowed. “Yes. You’ll go home. You’ll go home and so will Francis. Neither one of you will even remember what happened. You can go right back to your lives and forget Simon.”

“I’d like to forget.” A tear slid down Keri’s cheek. “I’d like that very much.”

Because she didn’t want to know about the monsters in the world. Rose had been that way, once.

But her blinders were long gone.

“Gentleman.” Rose clapped her hands together. “Do we have a plan?” Her gaze swept them all. “Or are we just going to keep hiding out on this island while Simon decides that he wants to collect other paranormals? While he imprisons more beings?”

Leo nodded, grudgingly. “We have a plan.”

“I’m in,” Rayce said at once. “Not like I have anything else better to do. And I sure as hell want to pay the guy back for that tranq.” He fired a smile Leo’s way. “Besides, I’ve never seen an angel before. Hoping she lives up to my expectations.”

Leo raked him with a stare. “Don’t even think it. She plays in a league you’ll never be able to touch.”

Rayce just laughed.

Rose’s stare slid back to Julian. “What about you? Are you in?”

In
on a plan that risked her life? That let a sadistic sonofabitch get his hands on her?

“I need to know I can count on you.” Her gaze searched his. “Because I
am
doing this. I’ve been captive before. I’ve been locked away. Someone has to get the others out. And this time, I’m that someone. I’m the one who rides to the rescue and I want you riding with me.”

“When you want me there, I will always be at your side.” There was no other place he’d rather be. Didn’t she get that?

Her breath sighed out. “Thank you.”

She didn’t need to thank him. Not for a damn thing. Rose started to turn away, but he caught her arm and pulled her close. His head leaned toward hers. “If you get hurt…if you get so much as a scratch, I’m ripping Simon apart.”

Her gaze held his. “If you get hurt…if you get so much as a scratch,
I’m
ripping Simon apart.”

He smiled. Fuck, but she made him feel good.

“Blood-thirsty, isn’t she?” Leo muttered.

“
She’s
a vamp,” Rose called out. “What the hell else did you expect me to be?” Then she leaned up and pressed a kiss to Julian’s lips. “Thanks for having my back.”

Always.

She slipped from his arms and headed for the door. “Let’s do this.”

Rayce saluted and followed her out—after he stopped to toss the human female over his shoulder. Julian stalked after them, but Leo stepped into his path. “The angel is my priority.”

The guy was such a dick. “And the others what—they don’t matter at all?”

“Lila is one of mine. If she isn’t off this plane soon, there
will
be no going back for her. She wasn’t meant to live with humans…or with beasts.”

“Now you’re just being insulting.” Julian gave him a hard grin. “Want to know
my
priority?”

“I already do. It’s the vamp who just walked out. Only she’s seeming a whole lot less and less like the innocent girl you fell for, isn’t she? Turning into a real vamp right before our eyes.” Leo’s face was hard. “Time’s running out for her, too. You keep up your end of the deal, and I’ll still keep up mine. I can change her. I can give her back everything that you took away.”

Because that had been the original deal he’d made with Leo. He’d known that Rose hated what she was, and he’d wanted to give her a choice.

When he hadn’t before.

“If this goes to hell, get the angel out first,” Leo ordered.

Screw that. If this went to hell, he’d be grabbing Rose first. She was
his
priority.

“Do it, and I’ll owe you,” Leo added.

“Buddy, you better just get the fuck out of this house. When Luke comes back and he finds your stench all over the place, he’s gonna be pissed.”

Leo didn’t appear concerned. “Do we have a deal?” He offered his hand.

Julian didn’t take it. “I’ll do my part when the time comes.” That was all he’d say. Rose—she was his part. She was his everything. “But I do have one question…” Something that was nagging at him.

Leo lifted a brow.

“You told me that one of the Collector’s guards had managed to escape…that
he’d
been the one to warn you that Rose was next on the target list.”

“Yes, yes that’s what happened.”

“But then you said he died before he could reveal Lila’s location to you.”

Leo’s lips thinned.

“I think you told me that he burned, from the inside out.” He raised one brow. “Never heard of that happening before but then…when Rose bit you, when she had
your
blood inside of her, she seemed to be burning from the inside out, too.”

A muscle flexed in Leo’s jaw. “I don’t hear a question. Just a panther rambling.”

He grabbed the guy’s shoulders and let his claws cut into the skin. “
You
killed the guard, didn’t you?”

Leo glanced down at Julian’s claws, then back up at his face.

“The guy didn’t turn because of the angel. She didn’t work her magic on him. You found the guy, you knew he was tied to the Collector, and you tried to make him tell you where the angel was.”

“You should move those claws.”

“And you should stop dicking around!” He let the claws sink deeper. “What went wrong? Was it another one of those deeply buried compulsions? Did your power not work on the human because of it? He could hold out against your power so you killed him?”

“He tried to kill me. I had no choice.”

But Julian had to laugh at that. “There’s always a choice, mate. We just don’t make the right ones.” He knew that from bitter experience. “Don’t lie to me again, got it? Not when Rose’s life is on the line. I don’t care about your angel. I only care about her.”

“Obviously,” Leo drawled. “But it’s not my fault your vamp was just at death’s door. I never told her to drink my blood.” His eyes gleamed. “And if you want to keep her with you, then I’d suggest you make sure she never gets the urge to bite around me again.”

Maybe he should just take the guy’s head right then and there—

“I say that as a warning. Sometimes what doesn’t kill us the first time…it takes us out even faster the second.” Leo inclined his head to Julian. “Remember that.”

“Hey!”
Rayce called out. “You assholes coming or what?”

Julian retracted his claws.

Leo spun away and marched into the hallway. Julian followed but stopped short when he saw Rayce—still holding the human. He knew Rayce had overheard his little chat with Leo. Rayce shook his head. “You are playing a dangerous game.”

“Those are the only games I like.”

And they were the games that he
had
to win.

***

“Sir? You’re being hailed on the radio.”

The helicopter flew over the water, heading back for the landing pad. Simon needed to fucking regroup after the shit he’d seen.

The vamp isn’t getting away. I just have to get rid of her protectors…
some very unusual protectors.

“It’s the woman you sent. Keri.”

He blinked. She was still alive? “Patch her through to my headset.”

And a moment later…

“
S-Simon?”
He instantly recognized her shaking voice. “You said…said you would come.”

“Change of plans.”
Why
was she still alive?

“I…have the vampire.”

He stared down at the water below him. Then he picked up his binoculars and gazed into the distance. He saw a boat zipping across the waves.

“I drugged them all…and she’s on the boat with me. I’m-I’m coming back to you.”

Wasn’t that interesting? “And the others are all on the island?
Tell me, Keri. Tell me where they are.
”

Silence. Then… “Wh-where are you?”

She can’t tell me a lie.
That was part of the compulsion he’d planted deep within her mind.

So he thought over the words she’d said to him.
I drugged them all.
Truth. She had. But…

Were they still unconscious someplace? Or were they out, hunting?

And…as for the vampire…
she’s on the boat with me.
Another truth. Only Keri hadn’t said that Rose was unconscious, just that she was on the boat.

He smiled.
I smell a trap.
How very creative. Did they think he’d just waltz right up to them like a lamb to the slaughter? “I’ll meet you on Key West. Head for the south end dock. I’ll be there.” Then he motioned to end the connection. The helicopter buzzed through the air.

He had come prepared this time. Humans weren’t the only ones that he knew how to use. He took off his headphones and glanced back at the man behind him. “Retrieve the vampire. I’ll meet you back at base.”

The man nodded. Then he moved toward the helicopter’s door. He yanked it open and air whooshed into the chopper. The wind beat against the suit that the fellow wore. He stared down below for a moment, looking at the waves.

And then he jumped.

Simon smiled. The guy had been his first experiment—and he was still one of Simon’s favorites.

Leo made sure that he stayed out of sight. His wings flapped in the air, carrying him easily. Not that he believed he’d been spotted by Simon Lorne before…but…okay, perhaps he had.

But he’d been trying to help. Not that the dark paranormals had appreciated his efforts. They never did.

Just like his brother Luke never appreciated anything he did. Luke lived by his own rules, tending to just feel as if the rest of the world could go fuck off.

It couldn’t. That wasn’t the way things worked.

His eyes swept the water below him. The
Devil’s Prize
was making its way to the Key West dock, moving at a fast clip. Rose was hauling ass. He almost smiled, but then he remembered he wasn’t supposed to like vampires.

Only she wasn’t ever meant to be a vampire.

Such a sad situation—

Something hit him. Something that felt like a giant, freaking stone. It slammed into him and he felt his right wing tear as he plummeted downward. Leo tried to fight, but he was held in an unbreakable grip. Stronger than anything he’d ever faced before.

He roared his fury and let the change sweep through him, a full-on transformation that he rarely allowed because he knew it was too dangerous. Thick, sharp scales broke through his skin, a long, winding tail snapped out from his body and—

“Can’t have that.” A voice that was a thick rumble. “You’re done.”

His gaze craned toward the man who’d attacked him. Only it wasn’t a man. It was a monster—half stone, half winged devil. All nightmare. And it was
so strong.

“Done,” his attacker said again as he drove Leo straight down, sending the Lord of the Light crashing beneath the waves of the ocean.

***

“This is the end for you, Keri.” Rose put her hand on the other woman’s shoulder. They’d just docked and she knew that Simon would be showing soon.
That means it is time for the human to get away.
Keri blinked and stared up at her. “I want you to walk away from the dock. I want you to go back to your home and I want you to
forget
everything you learned about Simon and paranormal creatures.”

Keri stared up at her.

“Monsters aren’t real.
” Rose forced a smile. “Tell me that.”

“Monsters aren’t real,” Keri repeated.

“Remember that. And go have a great,
normal
life, okay?”

Keri nodded, and then, without another word, she headed off the boat. She jumped onto the dock and landed easily. She didn’t look back as she left.

Rose’s shoulders sagged. One problem down. Hopefully. She bit her lower lip as she glanced around nervously. When would Simon be showing? Julian and Rayce were below deck, probably prowling like caged tigers, but they knew the drill.

Do not show
yourselves. Not yet.

She heard the whoosh of wind picking up and her gaze shot upward. Hell. What part of
low profile
had Leo not understood? Seriously, if he messed this up for them again…

That’s not Leo.

A giant beast slammed into the boat—a beast that was a terrible combination of man and stone. Huge wings spread from his back. His face was distorted, his teeth enormous, and his blue eyes…

They blazed.

“Collecting you,” he rasped.

The boat shuddered beneath his weight.

She didn’t know who that guy was but…he was obviously Simon’s errand boy. She just hadn’t expected such a
large
errand boy. Or one with such big claws. And teeth. And massive wings.

And one made of
stone.
“What are you?” Rose whispered as she backed up.

He took a sliding step toward her.

Fear stole her breath.

***

“Something is wrong,” Julian said as his gaze shot upward. Someone—something—had just landed on the boat with a thud—and with enough force to send the whole boat rocking. He inhaled and his body tensed as he caught the new scents in the air.
Brimstone. Magic. Fear.
“Rose is afraid.” He lunged for the stairs that would take him above deck.

Rayce grabbed his shirt. The material tore. “Shit, man, wait! You know the plan! She’s
supposed
to get taken.”

He snarled at his friend. “
She’s afraid.
”

“That kind of goes along with the whole
getting
taken part. We knew this was going to happen. Now man up and do your job. We’ll track her. We’ll find the others. We’ll kill the freaking
Collector—”

But a scream had just cut through Rayce’s words. Rose’s scream. And the boat rolled hard again. It shuddered—and the thing begin to sink.

He and Rayce both ran up the stairs. They exploded onto the deck to see that the place was being wrecked. Destroyed by a big, stone beast.

“Oh, fuck no,” Rayce said. “Tell me I’m not staring at—”

A gargoyle. He was—they were both staring at the massive figure of a stone gargoyle. One of the worst shifters out there.

And the bastard launched into the air, holding Rose tightly in his arms.

“No!” Julian bellowed.

“Relax.” Rayce slapped a hand against him. “You’ve seriously got to chill out. We knew someone would come for her. Granted, I don’t think we expected
that
guy…”

Gargoyles were supposed to be extinct.
Fucking hell.

“It’s all right. We’ve got this.” Rayce sounded far too confident. “The plan is working just as she said. They took the bait.”

The gargoyle had taken
her.

“Now we hunt…” Rayce glanced around the rapidly filling boat. “And we get out of here before we have to take a swim.”

Julian bounded off the boat. No humans were around, so they’d missed the whole freaking
gargoyle
show. And that gargoyle, it was moving helluva fast. Already the thing was a mere speck in the sky.

“Leo is up there,” Rayce said, still sounding too confident. “He’ll have the guy in his sights.” But then he shook his head. “
Gargoyle.
How the hell did that guy get involved in this mess? And how is he even alive? I thought the witches took out the last of them centuries ago. I mean, shit, I remember the old wars…the witches cursed the knights to change. They were shifters not born but made and…” His words stumbled to a stop. “Oh, damn.”

Not born but made.
Just as Rose was a vampire who hadn’t been born but made. She hadn’t been created through a bite—but by magic.
Just like a gargoyle.

“I think we might have been missing a few things with the Collector.” Rayce wasn’t sounding so confident any longer. “A few other things that good old Leo neglected to mention to us. Like, you know, the fact that the Collector had a gargoyle at his beck and call.”

Julian’s nostrils flared. “We need to track,
now.
”

“I told you, Leo has sights on them, he has—”

The water erupted to their right as Leo shot up from the waves. A drenched, bleeding Leo. “Freaking gargoyle,” he muttered as he slammed onto the dock.

Rayce closed his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose.
“Shit.”

“It’s okay.” Julian rolled back his shoulders and let his claws slide out. “I can track Rose. I can
always
track her now.”

Shock flashed on Rayce’s face. “Oh, no, man, tell me you didn’t. Tell me you—”

“I can always find what’s mine.” He marched toward the small building that waited to the right—Luke’s building, the one the guy used to store their vehicles for use on Key West. Julian unlocked the door with a quick twist of his hand. His motorcycle was waiting inside, exactly where he’d left it when he and Rose had first gone sneaking toward the
Pandora
. Two other top-of-the-line motorcycles were nearby. And a dozen other high-end cars. “Pick your poison,” Julian said. Then he jumped on his motorcycle. Moments later, he was revving the engine. “And try to keep up.”

***

The stone beast flew to the ground, and his grip never eased on Rose. When he hit the earth, she heard the heavy thud of impact, and she was pretty sure the ground sank a few inches beneath his weight.

Her breath heaved out of her lungs and her heart raced in her chest. She looked up at him, wondering what would happen next. There was only one word for that guy…scary. He was so beyond anything she’d seen before.

He put Rose on her feet. “Don’t…run.” When he spoke, his voice was deep and echoing.

Run? Where was she supposed to run to, exactly? Rose risked a look around—she was in the swamp. No, the Everglades. When they’d flown, she’d looked down and noted the saw grass marshes and mangrove forests—stretching for miles. She’d seen the snaking wetlands. She’d seen the gators. She’d heard the cry of a million insects.

Her captor roared and her gaze shot back to him—only to realize that he’d completely turned to stone. No more weird half-man, half-stone combination. He was pure stone. She inched forward, lifting her hand to touch him because he appeared to be a giant, snarling statue.

Just when her fingers were about to tap against the stone, a man’s hand broke through the statue.

She jerked her own hand back, jumping a bit.

Then his second hand broke free. As she watched, he smashed his way free of the stone. Soon the beast was gone, and a man stood in his place. Tall, muscled, with dark brown hair and blue eyes. And naked. Because, of course, wasn’t that the way with shifters? And this fellow…he was definitely
some
kind of shifter, just a kind she hadn’t seen before.

“You…didn’t run.” His voice wasn’t quite so thundering now. Still deep but, not
beast-mode
deep.

“Why would I run?”

He raised one brow. “Because you were just kidnapped by a gargoyle?”

“Is that what you are?” She studied him again. Yes, it fit. “Interesting.”

He grunted. Then he caught her wrist in his hand. “You should have run.”

“But I’m in the middle of nowhere. And I haven’t gotten what I came for.”

The guy slanted a wary glance her way. “What’s that?”

“The others. I’m ending his collection.”

His gaze hardened. “He’s going to end you.”

The words didn’t really sound like a threat. More like a sad fact. The guy even looked sad in that moment. But he was still dragging her through the Everglades. They cleared a particularly vicious twisting path and then…

She saw it. The hidden base. No, not a base, a prison.

“It used to be a government research facility,” he said, his grip hard on her. “Guess it still is…only the research isn’t quite so scientific any longer.”

She counted two armed guards at the entrance to the facility. It was a long and squat building, snaking back toward the tall grass. There was a helipad to the right, and a chopper sat there, its blades still moved gently, as if it had only recently landed.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Rose blinked, certain she’d misheard. “Why?”

His smile was cold. “Because it’s going to hurt…and you’re going to die.”

No, I’m not. Julian is coming. Everyone is getting out of here.
“I think you chose the wrong team.”

“I never chose anything.”

“Trust me, buddy, I know the feeling.”

He frowned.

Before he could speak again, the doors to the building opened. A blond man strode out, a grin stretching from ear to ear.

“My last piece!”
Simon cried out. “How absolutely wonderful!” He rushed toward her, and she almost expected him to rub his hands in glee. “And you just offered yourself up to me. I mean, does my luck get any better?”

No, it only gets worse.

A whole lot worse.

“Take her inside,” he barked to the men with guns. “And you…” He pointed to the gargoyle. “Kill anyone who comes after her.”

A gargoyle against a panther…stone against claws and teeth…. “Wait,” Rose began. “Don’t—”

The guard on the right lifted his gun. The bastard
fired
it at her. The tranq slammed into her and she let out a cry of fury. In the next second, she was on that fool. She yanked the gun from him and slammed it back against the side of his head. He went down.

Another tranq went into her back. Her lips parted and—

She fell. But Rose didn’t hit the ground. Someone had caught her. She forced her eyes to stay open and she stared into a blue gaze…a gaze that held no emotion at all.

Gargoyle.
“I told you…” His voice was still tinged with sadness. “You’re going to die.”

And her eyes closed.

***

Luke Thorne was the Lord of the Dark. He was the devil in disguise. He was the baddest of the bad. And he was pretty sure all of that shit should be on a t-shirt.

He flew back to his island, expecting to find his guards waiting to meet him on the dock. Guards. Friends—same fucking thing to him.

Only he didn’t see Julian.

He didn’t see Rayce.

He didn’t even see Marcos.

And his boat was gone, too.
What in the hell?
Everyone knew the rule about his boat.
No one takes my boat.

He stalked up to his house, royally pissed. It was a good thing he’d left Mina in their little slice of paradise. He was trying not to show his dark side to her, at least not too much. And the ass-kicking he was about to give? She wouldn’t like it…because the woman had some kind of soft spot for Julian and Rayce.

Who had a soft spot for an assassin?

The same woman who loved the Lord of the Dark.

He used a burst of magic to make his front door fly open. “Hey, bastards!” Luke thundered but he
knew
they weren’t inside. His senses were more acute than any shifters…

They weren’t there, but his twin brother’s stench was all over the place. Luke jerked to a stop. “Oh, hell, no.” Leo had
dared
step foot on his island? Did he want a slow death? Was he begging for one?

But…Leo wasn’t the only person he smelled there.

Rose had been here.

And…Leo started rushing through his house. He headed for the cells—cells he’d used to house some of the worst paranormal beings on earth. Those cells should have been empty.

One wasn’t. A human was inside. A young kid who actually waved to him when Luke appeared.