Sacrifice (2 page)

“Emma, look into my eyes.” Raphael held her chin and lowered his penetrating gaze to hers.

His dark pupils pulled at her consciousness until there was nothing but him.

His hand slid to her cheek. “Will is dead. I know how upsetting that is for you. He meant everything to you, but he’s gone.”

A wave of grief stole her breath and her legs collapsed.

Raphael held her against him. “It’s okay, my love. I’ll help you through this.” His face lowered and his lips hovered over hers. “Will is dead. Say it.”

Her psyche fought his command.

“Emma,” he cooed. “I know how difficult this is for you, but you need to accept the truth, and the first step is to say the words aloud. Say it: Will is dead.” His eyes narrowed.

Agony ripped away her resistance. “Will is dead.” Her voice cracked, the surety of it seeping into her marrow as she said the words.

He smiled and stroked her cheek. “Good girl. Yes, he’s dead and you must let him go.”

A voice called out behind Raphael. “There you two are.”

Raphael’s body stiffened before he spun around.

His gaze broke contact, releasing her tunnel vision, and she fought to focus.

“Alex, you’re interrupting a private moment. I was consoling Emma over Will’s death.”

Alex stood less than six feet away. His mouth lifted into a mocking grin. “My condolences for your loss, Emma.”

Raphael pushed Emma behind him. “Are we really going to do this now, Alex? Hasn’t the poor woman been through enough tonight?”

“Raphael, as always, you have the unfair advantage. I’m only here to even the playing field. Emma’s almost always chosen you before, but things are different this time.”

Without Raphael’s touch, Emma’s sense of reality returned, grief hitting her like a tsunami.

Alex took a step closer. “Emma, Raphael’s motives are—”

The ground shook and Emma struggled to stay upright. A crack split the ground, separating Alex from Raphael and Emma.

Clouds churned overhead and a strong wind swept through the leaves. Alex heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Raphael, I’d hoped it wouldn’t come to this so soon.”

Raphael grabbed Emma’s hand and his warmth flowed through the contact into her body. “I need you to run with me, Emma.
Now
.”

His command sank in as he took off, pulling her behind him. She struggled to keep up with his longer legs.

The gusting wind pushed against them and her legs burned from the exertion. Raphael dragged her behind him, his hand squeezing hers.

Aiden’s voice floated in the air around them. “Eager to start fighting so soon.” He laughed, the sound echoing off the trees. “Save your energy, children. Your big battle is in six weeks.”

Raphael ignored him, pulling her deeper into the darkness.

“A little earthquake isn’t going to stop me, Raphael.” Alex’s voice echoed through the air.

Raphael looked down at her. “Emma, set the trees on fire.”

“What?” She shook her head, her mind fuddled from his touch and her agony.

He jerked to a halt. “Listen to me. You need to concentrate. Set the forest on fire.”

The events of the evening were too overwhelming. “I can’t.”

“Yes you can,” he hissed. “Now do it.”

“No.”

His fingers dug into her arms as he gave her a shake. “We need each other to win, so consider this our first battle. Make a fire!”

“You do it!” she shouted, jerking out of his grasp. “You two think I’m some fantastic prize? Well, guess what? I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing!”

He leaned closer, anger darkening his eyes. “If you want to save your son, you will set the woods on fire. If you don’t, Alex will make damn sure you never see him again.”

The thought of Alex kindled a spark of anger. A low level of power filled her chest. She shot it forward. Flames leapt from a few tree branches.
Pathetic
. She fell to the ground, sobbing.

Raphael growled and cursed under his breath. “You have to do better than that.”

Rain pounded the leaves over her head.

She’d failed Will. Now Jake would die because she was powerless to stop the newest monster in the darkness. “I can’t do this.”

Raphael jerked her off the ground, his eyes burning into hers. “That rain is Alex trying to stop you from creating a fire. He’s trying to keep you from Jake,” he spat through gritted teeth. “You need to do this now or it won’t work.
Make a fire
!”

Rage burned her chest. She aimed for the trees, pushing every bit of energy with it. A deafening explosion filled the air as flames ripped through the forest. Thick smoke enveloped her, filling her lungs. Blackness hung in her peripheral vision before swallowing her whole.

She welcomed the nothingness.

Chapter Two

Will woke to a dull roar filling his aching head. His hands were cuffed behind his back, his cheek pressed to a cold metal floor. Peeking through a cracked eyelid, he took in his surroundings.

From the curved walls, the cargo netting, and the hum he now recognized as engines, he realized he was in the back of a cargo plane. A man in camouflage sat in a jump seat, a semi-automatic weapon at the ready.

How the hell had he gotten here
?

Will reached back into his fuzzy memory. He’d been in a forest with a woman he’d never seen before, but she seemed to know him and warned him that they were in danger. Then the gunmen showed up. The last thing he remembered was the stinging in his neck and then blackness.

Goddamned tranquilizer dart.

But the thought of the woman flooded his head, accompanied by worry and anxiety.

What the hell
?

Forcing his rapid breath to slow, he pushed aside his fear for her and focused on what he knew, which was nothing. The entire night, other than his snippet of memory, was a complete blank. Had he been on a job? He had to have been. It wasn’t as if gunfire followed him around. In spite of his mercenary job, gunfire was rarely part of his life anymore. Not since he left it behind in Iraq.

He silently cursed, pissed that he’d thought about Iraq. That shit was better left in the past.

But why couldn’t he remember the job? Tranquilizers knocked you out. They didn’t steal your memory. Had someone slipped him a roofie? Will couldn’t even remember the last time he ate or drank.

What the hell happened before he found himself in the woods, and why was he with that woman?

What little he saw of her in the moonlight, she didn’t seem his type. She was short and brunette, not to mention she was wearing an old-fashioned white nightgown splattered in blood.

Panic stole his breath at the thought of her being hurt.

What the fuck? Why would he care about some random woman? He stopped caring about women years ago. Or anyone else, for that matter.

A nagging unease chewed at the edges of his brain, and there was no denying it had nothing to with him being captured and bound.

He was losing it.

Think, Will. What do you remember before the woman?

An empty crevice stretched in his mind, but he continued pushing back until he stumbled upon a foggy scene. He was accepting a job that offered a lot of money.

Why couldn’t he remember what it was?

Someone stepped over him toward the jump seats. “Has he moved at all?”

“Nope. Out like a light,” a voice shouted. “That dart was loaded and would keep an elephant down for a week. He ain’t going nowhere.”

“He’s gonna wish he could sleep forever when Kramer gets done with him.”

Kramer
?
Who was Kramer
? He couldn’t remember any Kramers from any past jobs, but honestly, there’d been too many men to keep track of them all. Not to mention his clients often went by fake names. It crossed his mind that he’d pissed off the husband of one of the many women he’d screwed, but he just as quickly dismissed it. How many husbands had military cargo planes at their disposal?

Military cargo plane.

Shit, did this have something to do with his history in the Marines?

The plane sloped forward.

“You better take a seat,” one of the men warned. “We’re gonna land soon and they said it’s a pretty short runway.”

“What about him?”

“So what if he slides around a bit? He’ll be out for hours. He can add the bumps and bruises to all the others he’s going to wake up to.”

Will started a mental tally of who to get even with once he broke loose. Opening his eyelids a slit, he decided that the stockier guy was the first dipshit on the list.

The plane descended and Will slid across the floor, banging into a metal box that jabbed his shoulder blade, but he kept up the unconscious ruse. The guards would be less cautious and he could use it to his advantage. Once they landed, he needed to be ready to bolt. Too bad his hands were bound with handcuffs instead of rope or zip ties.

The plane touched down and bounced as Will’s body slid the opposite direction. One of the men stomped on his back and Will bit the inside of his cheek to keep from flinching. “Where do you think you’re going, buddy?”

The men laughed.

Now both assholes were on his shit list.

Once the plane came to a halt, they grabbed his shirt at the top of his shoulders and slid him across the floor toward the cargo opening. As the back door lowered, Will cracked his eyes open enough to see it was still dark. And that he faced an empty tarmac.

He could use that to his advantage too.

The two men dragged him to the sloping edge. Before they started down the ramp, Will tucked his legs and bolted upright, jerking out of the two stunned men’s holds. He gave a hard kick in the knee to the man on his right who had stomped on his shoulder. The other man regained his senses and lifted his gun, but Will kicked it out of his hands and planted his heel in the man’s abdomen. The guard doubled over in pain.

Will made it down the cargo ramp and onto the pavement before light flooded the airstrip. He stumbled and came face to face with over a dozen men pointing semi-automatic weapons toward him.

Shit.

A dark-haired man in a suit walked through the gunmen, his gaze on Will. He clapped, a slow, methodical applaud, while a mocking smile spread across his face. “Bravo, Mr. Davenport. You entertain me every time we meet.”

Will lifted an eyebrow, trying to place him. “Have we met?”

The man laughed, but it sounded hard and cold. “You’re on a roll, Will. But enough of this nonsense. Where’s Emmanuella?”

This guy had to be Kramer. “Who?”

The man’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve always been cocky, which has its time and place. But now is the time to cooperate. I’ve grown weary of your games.”

“Then that makes two of us,” Will spat. “Because I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

Kramer pursed his lips and furrowed his brow. “I’d really hoped you’d learned by now, Will. I have to admit that after our last encounter I’ll take pleasure in having you at
my
mercy.”

A chill ran down Will’s spine. Why did this man think he knew him? And if Will did, why couldn’t he remember?

Kramer turned and walked through the armed men. “Take him to the holding cells and keep eight armed guards on him at all times. He’s not to be underestimated.”

Shit
. What had he gotten into now?

***

Emma roused, sitting in a chair with something strapped against her lap, holding her in place. Her eyes flew open in alarm as she flinched, her hands gripping chair arms.

“It’s okay. You’re safe.” Raphael patted her hand.

Her breath came in short pants as she surveyed her surroundings. They were in a small luxury jet with only two rows of seats and a bench seat along a side wall. She was strapped into a seat, with Raphael in the seat across the aisle. The other seats were empty.

She turned her face to him, her heart thumping wildly against her ribcage. “What happened? How did we get here?”

“You created a raging forest fire, much like the one in Minnesota. Unfortunately, it didn’t kill Alex, only deterred him long enough for us to get away.” Raphael’s finger lightly stroked the back of her hand. “You used too much energy and passed out. One of the first things you need to learn is how to control your energy flow. It’s amazing you haven’t killed yourself by now.”

Her head ached and her mouth was dry, as though she had a really bad hangover. She needed Will’s touch. He always helped her through this part, after she’d done too much.

Will
.

The pain hit her full force, sucking her breath as she gasped. “Will…” The tears gushed without permission and she lowered her face into her hands, wailing.

Raphael unbuckled her seatbelt and pulled her from her seat. She collapsed into him, her legs giving out.

Will
. Her pain hemorrhaged with her violent sobs.

“I know, love. I know.” He held her to his chest, stroking the back of her head. His languid warmth seeped into her, soothing the pain.

“No!” She jerked back, tripping on the frame of the seat behind her. She refused to betray Will, especially now.