Renegade (23 page)

V
al crouched in the bushes outside the Vidalia nest with Will, Stefan, and the rest of Griffin’s team. The handful she’d met at Tasha’s cabin had been rounded out by eight others. The place looked quiet, but fear beat a constant pulse in her gut. An hour ago, a rush of agony had shattered her bond with Griffin, and then he was gone. The total silence in the bond, the emptiness, scared her down to her toenails.

“Griff will skin me if anything happens to you,” Will murmured.

“Got it.” She shot him a grateful look. He and his comrades shared her determination to think positively about Griffin’s fate unless forced to do otherwise.

Will continued softly, “Don’t make me sorry I agreed to this Trojan horse idea, even if it is our best shot.”

“It’ll work,” Lorelei said quietly. “It has to.”

Stefan gripped Val’s shoulder. “I’ll find you as soon as I can. You or Griff may need me.”

“Thanks, Stefan. Everybody ready?” Val glanced around the group and got a series of nods. “Then let’s do this.”

Heart pounding, she stepped clear of the bushes.

The ghouls would surely suspect a trick when she walked up to the gate, but they’d probably let her in. They could always use another mage captive. Once she freed Griffin, they would breach the nest defenses from behind, opening the way for the rest of the team.

Still, the ghouls would be crazy not to shoot her up with enough venom to cripple her. If venom sickness overwhelmed her, she wouldn’t be able to rescue Griffin or smash the front gate, so she’d tried Stefan’s prototype vaccine.

She couldn’t tell whether the drug was having any effect. The queasiness might be nerves.

She also had an injector for Griffin. He might already be dead, but as long as there was hope, she and his team would fight for him. She wouldn’t let these ghouls stand between him and a new life. He deserved better than he’d had the past six years.

Too bad the idiotic Council had refused to trust the information he’d given her through the bond. They had Gene under house arrest in his quarters, no more. But that would change when she brought Griffin home.

If only she could sense him, let him know she was coming.

She didn’t bother to shield, didn’t let her stride falter as she stepped into the lights, into the cleared kill zone around the fencing. The nest was a typical one—a scattering of bungalows and a long, low, mostly windowless building that likely held offices and the breeding rooms. Ghouls didn’t give their breeding stock windows. Why risk an avenue of potential escape?

No one challenged her, no one fired. So far, so good. She stopped about six feet from the gate and centered herself. Showtime. Building power in her hands, she crashed them together in an explosion of red light that sent a thunderclap echoing off the buildings.

The doors flew open and ghouls peered out.

Val planted her fists on her hips. “Hurry it up, before I lose my temper.”

Please, please do not open fire.

About two dozen male and female ghouls gathered ten feet inside the gate. A sixty-ish, graying male, very old for his kind, strode toward her. “You’re on private property. Leave.”

“I’m Valeria Banning,” she snapped, enjoying the ripple of dismay that ran over their faces, “but you damned well know who I am. I’ve come for Griffin Dare.”

“You’re in the wrong place.” The man sounded and looked calm, but with a snide edge to his words. “We’re not holding anyone.”

“Yeah, yeah, and the people in that long shed over there volunteered to breed your charming young.” Good tone, hard, not showing the fear that gnawed at her insides. “Cut the crap, give me Dare, and we’ll leave. No harm done.”

His eyes narrowed. “Walk away, bitch, or die.”

“That’s ‘mage bitch’ to you.” As he knew perfectly well. Yet here she stood, unharmed so far. Because of Gene? “I know you’ve got some kind of deal with Gene Blake. I don’t care. All I want is Dare.”

“There’s no one here—”

“Bullshit. We’re bonded. I can sense him.”
If only.

A younger female, brunette and slim, came out of one of the sheds. She whispered something to the man.

He smiled, sort of the way a cobra might. “Perhaps you’d like to come in and talk this over?”

Not as much as she’d like to kill them all and free their prisoners, but that would have to wait. Val nodded. “That’s more like it.”

She had to keep her face impassive, hide the dread curdling her blood. They opened the gate. Crunch time. Either the vaccine worked, or it didn’t. She walked through the opening.

“Right this way,” the man said.

She started after him. Suddenly there was a flicker of movement. Val wheeled toward it but didn’t shield. She couldn’t start a fight when she needed them to take her inside.

Someone’s claws stabbed into her neck. Venom flooded from the wound down her arms, into her body. Gagging, shivering, and tasting ammonia, Val sagged into the arms of a stocky, blond male.

“No offense,” he said. “Just a little shot to keep you in hand while we sort this out.”

The vaccine wasn’t working. If anything, she felt sicker than before, but they hadn’t sucked her power. She still had a chance as long as they didn’t search her and find the injector.

Her captor and the older male exchanged a look she couldn’t read.

Something else weird about that older one—something wrong. Too much venom in her to sort it out, though.

The younger male carried her into the nearest building, the breeding shed. If they had Griffin, he was here somewhere.

Hurrying ahead of them, a female opened the door. The male carried Val into a small room with a padded leather table like the ones in doctors’ examining rooms. No other furniture but a toilet and a sink. Nothing that could be used as a weapon.

He dumped her on the table and told the woman, “Strap her down. Stay with her while I call our contact and see what the hell this is about.”

Val struggled, but the woman soon had her wrists and ankles secured to the table. “You look like good breeding stock.” She stroked light fingers over Val’s belly. “Our nest could use a mage womb.”

Shivering, Val closed her eyes and tried to draw power. If she didn’t break free, the team would have to charge the nest’s defenses.

She would…Wait. She wasn’t feeling sick or cold, only a little unsettled in the stomach. The ammonia taste was gone. The vaccine had worked, so it should help Griffin, too.

She peeked through her eyelashes. Her guard looked bored, was examining her nails. Val sent a tendril of power to the strap at her ankle.

It gave. Oh, yeah, she was going to do some serious head breaking. She had to be quick, though. She drew power from the life energy in the forest outside and burst the straps.

The ghoul looked up, mouth dropping open. Val flung herself off the table. Her hand shot for the woman’s throat, and squeezed. No screaming.

The ghoul clawed at her face. Only Val’s quick jerk backward saved her eyes. “
Morere
,” Val snapped, feeding power into her throat hold. “
Morere
.”

The ghoul slumped. The light in her eyes faded. Val eased her silently to the floor and slipped through the door. To be on the safe side, she tried to shield. Her power sputtered, providing only a feeble glimmer of protection. That weakness had to be a side effect of the vaccine. She’d have to tell Stefan.

Opening her senses, she found no one in the corridor, and—hallelujah!—the doors had names on them. Now to find Griffin. Anyone else came second this time around.
Benfield. Marshall. Delaney—

Outside, something exploded. The building shook, and she stumbled against the wall. Shouts rang out, then more explosions. Will had decided not to wait, was moving in. To buy her time?

Solomon. Orser. Dare!
But she caught no hint of his magic. She laid her hand on the doorknob and opened her senses, felt only one person inside.
Please let it be him
, she thought, and burst through the door.

He lay strapped to a padded table, and her heart seized. He still wore the gray prisoner jumpsuit. Lines of pain marked his face, and his skin looked jaundiced.

Val shut the door. “Griffin?”

He turned his head toward her, eyes closed, and made a faint, wordless sound. Val hurried to lay a hand on his cheek. It was clammy, a bad sign. “Griffin, love. I’m here with your team. We’re getting you out.”

Still no sense of his mind. She brushed her lips over his. His breath held a hint of ammonia that made her shudder. Even when his blood venom levels were high, she’d never smelled that on him, never tasted it. She reached into her undies and drew out the injector Stefan had given her.

“It’s going to be all right, Griffin. It will.” The stuff had worked for her. Surely it would for him. She set the point against his carotid, as instructed, and pushed the plunger.

His body jerked. He coughed. “Sick,” he groaned, shuddering, his head thrashing. “Val…babe—”

He knew her, surely a good sign. Val sliced his straps magically and helped him to his feet. “Come on, there’s a toilet. Just a few steps.”

His knees buckled. He sagged against her. Bracing him, she gripped his waist. He groaned again. His fingers on her shoulder tightened. Dug in.
What—

He straightened to slam his fist into her ribs.

Fighting for air, Val reeled backward from the blow, hitting the wall. He grabbed her shoulders, and she got her first look at his eyes. The clear blue was cloudy, surrounded by muddy, brown whites.

Val gasped. He’d turned.
No, no, no.

He grinned, a parody of himself, no tenderness or happiness there. Frozen in dismay, she lost a precious instant. He slammed his body against hers, pinning her to the wall. His nails dug into her skin.

Icy lightning shot into her body. Racked by the pain, shivering with it, she pushed against his ribs. “Griffin, no.”

She felt stronger, but even if she could form a shield, doing so while they were touching would put him inside it with her.

“Need to recharge, babe. Thanks.” He ground his mouth against hers as her power bled away. The edges of the world went black.

She slammed her open palms over his ears, ramming air into his ear drums. He cried out, head jerking back. His grip loosened. Val shoved him away, then spun into a waist-level side kick backed by all her remaining power.

It knocked Griffin backward. He slammed into the table across the room, hit the wall, then collapsed. He had to stay down. Panting, she held her aching side.
Oh, God, please keep him down.

The bond was gone. Useless.

Her heart screamed with love and loss, but she had to get ready, prepare in case he got up again. She drew power from the woods outside. The pain in her side eased. The misery shredding her heart did not.

Could she really keep her promise and kill him?

Oh, please, no.

“Banning!” Stefan’s voice, from the hallway.

“In here, hurry!” She pushed away from the wall and managed, at last, to shield fully. But the protective aura felt unstable.

Don’t hesitate
, Griffin had said.
Take the kill shot
.

She’d promised him. But now that she had Stefan and his vaccine, there was a chance to save Griffin.

Stefan rushed through the door with a glowing sword in his hand. His eyes met hers, assessed her in a quick sweep, as he lunged toward Griffin.

“Careful.” Panting, she drew more power from the woods. “It didn’t work. You should shield, Stefan.”

“I only do that in battle zones. I hate practicing medicine that way.” Stefan dropped his sword. He reached for Griffin’s pulse with one hand and touched his eyelid with the other.

Griffin’s free hand shot toward Stefan’s throat, and only Stefan’s quick reflexes and long reach saved him from a fatal grip. His fingers tightened, white-knuckled, on Griffin’s wrist.

Val dived for Griffin. Her shield flickered. As it died, she caught the arm he’d drawn back to punch. Snarling, he thrashed in her hold. He was still so strong, so hard to restrain.

“Griffin, please,” she panted, clinging desperately and drawing more power, “trust us. We love you.”

Stefan grabbed the inside of Griffin’s elbow, putting pressure and power into key points, immobilizing the arm.

Griffin’s teeth bared in a snarl. He leaned toward her, trying to bite, but she managed to hang on and stay out of range.

Stefan yanked a large syringe from inside his camo tunic and jerked the cap off its long needle with his teeth. “Hold him,” he gritted out.

Griffin bucked, trying to get his feet under him.

Stefan stabbed the needle through Griffin’s coverall, into his chest, and pushed the plunger. Val cringed. The injection was necessary, but that had to hurt.

Griffin’s body spasmed. His head fell back, eyes rolling. He roared in rage and pain. The muscles under Val’s hands bunched. She pulled against his tug. He went with her pull and smashed his fist into her jaw.

Her head rocked back, crashed against the wall. White-heat rolled behind her eyelids, then red. She fought against the black. If she went down—

Standing, Griffin caught her shirt. Pain blurred his image. Whatever he’d done had knocked Stefan out. The doctor lay slumped against the wall.

As Griffin yanked her up, she locked her hands into one big fist, ramming it into his balls.

With a choked cry, he doubled over. His grip relaxed.

She punched him in the solar plexus.

He backhanded her.

Tasting blood, she wheeled for a kick.

He caught her leg. Upended her.

She slammed both feet into his stomach, knocking him back. She dragged herself up, drawing power again as tympani played in her head. If only she could shield. The thought tore at her soul. Part of her still couldn’t believe she needed protection from him.

Snarling, he rolled to his feet. Nothing of the man she loved looked out of those muddy blue eyes, and the hatred in them tore her soul into bits.

He lunged.

Val sucked in a sobbing breath as she dodged. He crashed into the wall, clumsy, lacking that brilliant agility, and she banged her fist against the back of his skull. If only she could knock him out.