The Claimed (36 page)

The cadre member who had been standing guard over Ryan rose and saluted as they entered. “Could you leave
us for a bit?” Christopher asked, and sat down beside his friend.

Ryan was pale, almost lifeless-looking despite the hours of sun that had touched his body that afternoon. Christopher gripped Ryan’s hand in his, but there was no movement and his skin remained chilled. Despite his almost death-like appearance, however, a weak pulse of power hummed beneath his skin. But the hum was erratic and fractured.

With a sidelong glance at Victoria, he asked, “Can we try to heal him some more?”

Nodding, she walked around the bed and took a spot opposite him. She joined her hands with his and together they called up some of the sun-kissed power they had absorbed earlier. They focused on the worst of the Zero Point Reaver’s wounds along Ryan’s midsection.

As they trailed their hands upward, to just above the uppermost energy strike, something seemed to pop beneath their hands. It made an immediate difference in Ryan, whose skin took on a bit more color. They focused on that spot, pouring healing energy down into him, and his color gradually increased. Seconds later, his eyelids fluttered and then he opened unfocused eyes.

Victoria and Christopher carefully broke the healing connection, not wanting to undo whatever block they had freed with their actions. Leaning over his friend, he was rewarded as Ryan’s eyes fixed on his face.

“Am I alive?” Ryan whispered, clearly still confused.

“You are, Ry. And you’re safe,” Christopher said, and grasped Ryan’s hand again. This time his friend grabbed hold weakly.

“I can’t feel my legs.” Ryan said, but then pressed his
head back and moaned, obviously beginning to experience pain.

“Where does it hurt, Ryan?” Victoria asked.

With a rough breath, he said, “Everywhere. Nowhere.”

Victoria shot him a quick look and raised her hands, moving them toward Ryan’s head. Sometimes it was better to block all consciousness and allow the body to heal.

“You need to rest, Ry. Get stronger,” Christopher pleaded, but as Ryan noticed Victoria’s actions and realized her intent, he grew agitated.

“Need… to… tell. Maya,” he began, but stopped as another wave of pain rolled over his body, making his eyes roll back into his head.

“I know she betrayed us. I’ll deal with her.”

Ryan mustered control and got out roughly, “Alexander wanted to kill me… Maya stopped him.”

“And turned you over to a Zero Point Reaver,” he challenged, but Ryan shook his head.

“I think she was trying to help me,” he answered, and his hand tightened on Christopher’s before he went limp as a melted candle.

“Let me block his discomfort,” Victoria suggested, and Christopher allowed her to place her hands on Ryan’s temples. The gentle push of her power flared through Ryan, blocking the centers of pain so that he could rest peacefully and heal.

When she was finished, she stepped away from his friend and said, “What do we do now?”

Christopher surged to his feet.

“We deal with Maya.”

E
very breath she took was measured, guarding against any excess movement that would cause the grounding tether to react and draw yet more energy from her. As it was, each beat of her heart seemed to send a drop of power down along the line, bleeding away her life forces.

Maya supposed she deserved as much. She had betrayed Christopher and in the end, she had likewise tricked Alexander. Although she had grabbed his arm, begging him to leave, her actions had really been intended to help Ryan.

She hadn’t been able to allow them to kill Ryan. He had already suffered so much and had been as good as dead, but permitting Alexander to murder him would have dealt Christopher an almost mortal blow. As angry as she was with Christopher, Ryan had been good to her, even considering his recent actions.

Maya supposed she had been deserving of that punishment
as well, which pretty much had her resigned to her death. She had no doubt that was the edict Christopher would hand down, and in a way, death would be welcome since so far life had pretty much sucked.

She didn’t even move as she heard the slight scrape of the door and the sound of footsteps approaching across the hardwood floor.

“Is he alive?” she asked, hoping that Ryan had somehow survived the hideous torture the Reaver had inflicted on him.

“Barely,” Christopher replied, his tone so cold that it chilled her core.

“Tell him I’m sorry,” she said, her eyes glued to the ceiling, unwilling to acknowledge him or Victoria as she stood beside him. The other woman’s energy, so powerful and enticing, was flavored with the unique essence of Christopher’s life force.

“He says you helped him,” Victoria said.

Maya shrugged. A mistake, as more energy was pulled down the grounding line by the movement. “Ryan was good to me,” she admitted, her throat tight with emotion as a weird sensation tightened her gut. Guilt, possibly?

“His mistake,” Christopher rumbled.

Maya bit back tears at his condemnation, even if it was well-deserved. This was the man with whom she had hoped to bond. The man with whom she would have spent the rest of her life. She almost laughed out loud as she considered that the latter might actually happen.

“You know that what you’ve done deserves punishment. You betrayed me, Ryan, and the clan,” Christopher said in that rich baritone that still managed to stir her.

“Just do it already, Christopher. No speeches. No
reading of my sins, I know them well,” she challenged, not so much prepared for death as tired of life. She wouldn’t even try to trade information for mercy. Let them learn the hard way that they could not trust Rafael.

Christopher clenched his fists, visibly trying to rein in his rage, but losing the battle. His aura gleamed brightly as emotion took over and he approached the edge of the bed and glanced down at her.

“I was prepared to put you to death. But now, I realize that would be too easy an end for you. You don’t deserve a painless death.”

When he snapped the grounding line free and then released the energy bonds securing her to the bed, Maya reacted as she realized his intent.

“No, Christopher. Not that,” she said, coming to her knees in the center of the bed. She glanced wildly at Victoria and reached out to her for support. “Please, Victoria. That is far worse than death.”

“Nothing is worse than death. Just ask Mike. Or Jason. Or any of the other Hunters who lost their lives because of your treachery,” Victoria replied.

“Give me your arms,” Christopher said, and Maya wrapped them around herself, not that it would help.

He raised his hands and concentrating his power, jerked her arms away from her body until they were stretched out in his direction. He wrapped a hand around each wrist as Maya continued to plead.

“Please, Christopher. Not this. Kill me instead, but do not banish me.”

For a moment he wavered. Banishment was extreme. Once he marked her, she would not be welcome in any Hunter clan anywhere.

“You have caused too much pain, Maya. This is your doing, not mine.”

With his outpouring of power, her skin bubbled and blistered beneath his fingers and palms as he tattooed the mark of shame along her wrists. He fought her as she tried to yank free and continued to plead, finally resorting to tears, but it was too late.

When he released her she held up her hands and stared at her wrists, now scarred by small triangles filled with dots, defined by sharp rays along the edges. The mark of the stingray whose spine had been used for bloodletting in ancient times. Now it was a mark of shame, warning others that she had wasted precious life. The markings also served to bind her power, blocking her from using it to do anything other than gather limited amounts of energy, permanently weakening her.

“You have until morning to pack your things and leave,” he said.

Maya stared up at him, still dazed. Her arms flopped down to her sides as she sank back onto her haunches. “Where will I go?” she said, almost sounding like a lost child.

Not even Alexander would take her back.

“Try the humans,” he said, and looked toward Victoria.

She dipped her head, accepting his decision, and took hold of his hand to offer a reassuring squeeze.

A knock came at the door and Christopher called out, “Come in.”

Rafael entered and seemed shocked when he saw Maya. The color slid from his face, probably because it was impossible to miss the stingray tattoos across her wrists, making her dead to him.

He stumbled for a moment before saluting them. “The watch has been set and all is in order.”

Christopher turned his attention to Victoria. “Let’s go rest, my love. There will be much to do in the morning.”

Victoria nodded, but then said to Rafael, “Make sure Maya is gone by dawn. She is not to spend another day here.”

Rafael dipped his head and confirmed her instructions, but once they had gone, he faced Maya. “What will you do?”

She laughed harshly and glared at him. “I am banished, but you may soon join me if you don’t help me.”

Rafael’s gut twisted with fear. He had no doubt he would be tossed out and exiled if they discovered his disloyalty.
If
they found out, he thought. He doubted Victoria and Christopher would manage to stay together. There was so much they had to face and the risk from Alexander still to consider.

Alexander might have lost this battle, but it was just the beginning of the war.

“You will not betray me if you want my assistance, Maya. You will not betray me because you know what I must do to make things right,” he said, and released a twisted, half-crazy laugh.

“You will fail, Rafael. Their bond is strong.”

“But they are outcasts to both Light and Shadow now. And Alexander doesn’t strike me as a man who quits too easily.”

The maniacal laugh came again before Maya moved to the end of the bed and stood. “Alexander will eat you alive, which leaves me with only one regret.”

“Which is?” he asked, needing to know what was in her warped mind.

“That I may not be there to see it.”

“You’ll be there, Maya, because we will help each other,” he said, and she nodded, confirming that she would keep his secret in exchange for his assistance during her banishment.

V
ictoria walked with Christopher to his bedroom, but once they were standing by the bed, she paused to look at him.

“When we bonded, I worried about what that would mean. Light and Shadow together. Dealing with our clans and the histories of our people.”

He offered her a weak smile. “I understand, but even with all that to handle, there is one thing about which I have no hesitation. I love you, Victoria, and I know it won’t be easy.”

“It won’t,” she jumped in. “Your father will not rest, and my parents may not ever accept us.”

“So long as you pledge your love to me,” he said, bending down on one knee and gazing up at her with love lighting up his dark gaze.

“I pledge myself to you. I love you,
qhari
.”

He smiled at her use of the ancient word. “And I pledge my life and love to you. We are man and wife forever,
warmi
.”

With a playful tug on his hand, she urged him back up, smiling broadly at his words.

He pulled her into his arms, bent his head, and kissed her, sealing their vows. Kissing her over and over again until they were breathless and it was time to honor each other in different ways.

His hands shook as he reached for the hem of her cotton polo shirt, slipped them beneath the hem to slowly pull the shirt over her head, exposing her upper body. With a quick twist of the snap on her bra, he spread the bra away and feasted on the generous curves of her breasts.

“You are so beautiful,” he said, and cupped the full globes, strumming his thumbs over her caramel-colored nipples, which were already tight with desire.

Victoria laid her hands on his wrists and followed the line of his muscled arms to his chest, where she urged him away only long enough to remove his shirt and pants, leaving him standing before her, gloriously naked. The skin of his body, a creamy olive color, was unmarred by contamination, perfect in every way and calling for her to explore every inch of his flawless body.

While he continued to tease the tips of her breasts, she undid her jeans and shimmied them down. Victoria kicked them away so she could bring herself close to all his wonderfully perfect skin and his growing aura.

His life force was bright and gleaming a vibrant aqua blue, as if he was beneath the surface of the sea. The color was almost as pure as hers. Only the barest threads of the contamination remained evident, but dormant, the tendrils of the virus’s power stagnant. Liberating her own energy, she allowed it to brush along his, and he
responded with a groan as the union roused even greater desire and something else.

Inside her came a stronger flutter, as if the child within her demanded to be a part of what was happening as well.