The Gathering (23 page)

Rayna glanced at Sabriel. He was on his feet,
the bruises on his face not as vibrant as the night before. He
didn’t look in any condition to fight, if he even would, but she
wasn’t going to stand by and watch Garrett get killed if she could
help it.

She stepped out from behind Garrett, laying
her hand on his arm. “Don’t fight him.”

“He’ll not force you to do this. I won’t let
him.”

She looked up at him, noticing the hard set
of his jaw. His gaze was focused on Victor and a deadly glint
shined in those strange amber eyes of his. “Garrett,” she said
softly. She waited until he turned his head to look at her. She
knew by the look in his eyes, no matter what she said, he’d do what
he wanted. Her shoulders sagged and he must have known what she was
thinking.

“Trust me.”

Such a simple request but Rayna wasn’t sure
she could. Not at the moment. Not with Victor and his goons waiting
on the stairs. She gave him a hesitant smile and nodded her head,
once.

When he raised his arm, giving her a slight
push back into the corner before stepping into the middle of the
small room, Rayna’s stomach cramped, fear scalding her eyes with
tears that she quickly blinked away.

Victor shook his head and leaned both hands
on his cane. “Don’t do anything stupid, Garrett.”

“Protecting my mate is never stupid.”

“No, but your actions are.” Victor
straightened best be could and nodded his head toward them. “Now
bring her to me.”

Garrett’s head lowered, his shoulders
dropping. “Come and get her.”

The timber of his voice sent a shiver up
Rayna’s spine. It skated along her skin like razors. Garrett was
looking for a fight. By the look on Victor’s face, so was he.

When Victor motioned two of the men behind
him down into the pit, Garrett tensed, a growl working up his
throat and the sound bounced off the stone walls. The two men
grinned before shifting, their wolf forms as large as
Garrett’s.

They jumped as one and Garrett didn’t give
them a chance to get in the first blow. Rayna backed into the
corner, her heart in her throat as their claws slashed like knives,
blood spilling over the floor in splatters.

She’d seen Garrett fight before. The battle
with Caleb and Malcolm was still fresh in her mind. She’d been
scared then, but the fear she had now wasn’t for herself. It was
for Garrett.

Four other men stood on the stairs behind
Victor. Would Garrett have to fight them all? When the first wolf
fell at Garrett’s feet, she got her answer. Another of the men
jumped, shifting in mid-air.

She’d never seen a werelion shifter and the
size of the beast that landed at the base of the stairs startled
her. He was on four legs, the mane of hair around his animal-like
face thick and bushy.

He stood taller than most wolves and the
muscle in his limbs slinked under his skin with every move. He
wasted no time in joining the fight and attacking. He was on
Garrett before her mate even knew he was there.

Rayna couldn’t look away, couldn’t drag her
gaze from the fight, from Garrett. As always, the sight of him
stirred her. She felt pride swell in her chest, her own wolf
restless as she watched him. It prowled just under her skin, the
smell of fresh blood luring her to the surface.

The remaining men at the top of the landing
advanced down the stairs from behind Victor, each of them lifting
guns she hadn’t noticed before. When she saw them, she knew Victor
had no intention of letting Garrett walk away, whether he killed
every shifter in the room. The moment the guns were lifted and
aimed at her mate, she felt the first sting of pain zipping along
her spine. The wolf slammed against her bones hard enough to steal
her breath.

She gasped and reached behind her for the
wall moments before a sound she was familiar with echoed inside the
pit. The pop and whiz of darts filled the air, each one aimed at
Garrett.

His body hit the bottom of the steps with a
sickening thud.

The fear she’d felt earlier changed in an
instant at seeing her mate’s body lying lifeless in the dirt. A
maddening rush of hatred burned along her flesh. Her blood felt
hot, boiling under her skin, and pain raced along her limbs while a
growl crawled its way up her throat.

When the darts continued to pound into
Garrett’s flesh, Rayna knew she’d not be able to control the wolf.
It surged to the surface so fast she was shocked by its
intensity.

For the first time, she welcomed it and set
her sights on Victor.

She was running across the room before she
realized what was happening. She made it halfway before being
slammed against the wall, the breath knocked out of her upon
impact. The growls continued, those claws she’d seen before at the
end of her fingers digging into soft flesh as the scent of blood
filled the air.

“Shoot her!”

The sting was minute but the effect of the
drug was instantaneous. Rayna felt the wolf back away, saw blurry
shapes step into her line of sight. Sabriel stood directly in front
of her, the look on his face unreadable. Was he still helping
Victor? Would he have allowed himself to be beaten senseless in
order to further the Collective’s plan?

The answers didn’t come. The dark realms of
unconsciousness took hold before she could ask.

Garrett heard voices as he swam back to
consciousness. He wasn’t sure who it was in the room with him. It
wasn’t Rayna. Her scent still hung heavy in the air but he knew
without opening his eyes he wouldn’t find her there.

His muscles burned and twitched, his tongue
felt twice its normal size and just opening his eyes took more
effort than it should have. Whatever they shot him with left more
of an impact than the stuff Malcolm had used on him.

Turning his head on the dirt floor, it took a
few moments for his vision to clear. Someone was sitting against
the wall, arms propped on their knees. It wasn’t the vampire who
had been thrown into the pit with them.

Sensing he was a wake, the unknown person
turned to look at him. He smiled, one corner of his mouth turning
into a lopsided grin before he raised an eyebrow. “I was beginning
to think they’d killed you instead of just filling you with that
noxious stuff in their tranquilizer guns.”

Garrett braced one hand on the ground and
lifted himself into a sitting position. He’d shifted while he was
out. He sighed as he took in his naked flesh. It would be hours
before he could shift back, if even then.

He’d stayed in wolf form longer than he
should have. Shifting back after so short a time would be next to
impossible, especially as weak as he felt.

Leaning against the wall, he saw Sabriel
sitting across the room from him. The vampire looked better than he
had. His bruises had faded but his complexion looked ashy. He
hadn’t been fed. Garrett hoped the unknown man beside him would
offer up a vein. He knew he didn’t have the strength to do it. Not
that he would even if asked.

He exhaled a breath and closed his eyes. “Who
are you and where have they taken Rayna?”

“Nicolas Mears. And they’ve taken Rayna into
the city. Or at least that’s where I think they’ve taken her.”

Turning his head, Garrett looked at the
newcomer and knew he was a shifter. Something in his eyes told him
so. That and the fact he smelled—different. Not wolf but something.
“What are you?”

Nicolas smiled. “Lion.”

Garrett made a “humpf” noise before
stretching out his legs, trying to get his muscles to stop
twitching. “Don’t leave me in suspense. You’re not here to keep us
company and honestly, I’m not in the mood for anymore games.”

“They’re going to make Rayna shift
today.”

“I got that message loud and clear already.”
He turned his head again, looking over at Nicolas. “Are you here to
make sure I don’t make a run for it?”

Nicolas laughed. “Not hardly. You’d do good
to stand right now, let alone run.”

“Then why are you here?”

“To make sure the Collective fails, why
else?”

* * * *

When Rayna woke, she was facedown in the back
of a vehicle. Trying to move, she realized moments later, was
useless. She was tied hand-to-foot, her arms stretched behind her
back so tightly the strain left her shoulders aching.

She lifted her head and looked around. She
appeared to be in an SUV from the size of the back compartment she
was in. A storage cover was above her head and the sound of voices
was a low hum beyond the constant racket of tires against pavement.
She couldn’t make out who was in the SUV with her from their
voices. It wasn’t Victor talking. Him, she knew she’d be able to
recognize.

Straining to hear, she made out three
different voices. None of them sounded familiar. When someone
laughed, she realized how hopeless her situation was and laid her
head back down, trying to figure out what to do.

Victor had made no secret of what his plan
was. She’d known from the day Malcolm tried to infect her. The
Collective wanted to go public. They wanted the world to know they
exist and it looked as if today was that day.

The SUV came to a stop. The voices were
silent as the doors were opened. Rayna waited, listening for any
sound. When the door to the cargo area was opened and the storage
cover was removed, she groaned. Thaddeus Mears stood smiling down
at her. She should have known he would be there.

“Did you have a nice nap, Ms. Ford?” Thaddeus
didn’t wait for a reply but grabbed her arm instead, pulling her
roughly to the back of the vehicle. “If you promise to be a good
girl, I’ll take these ropes off.”

She glared at him but he cut the ropes
anyway. Blood rushed back into her hands and feet, the sting of
restored blood flow leaving her limbs tingling and feeling
paralyzed. She was pulled from the car, her knees buckling when she
was forced to stand. It took her several minutes to get the feeling
back in her legs. Thaddeus stood by her side, waiting.

A quick glance around, and Rayna knew no one
would find her anytime soon. A large warehouse stood beside the SUV
and several more could be seen in the distance. The entire area
looked rundown. Trash and broken glass littered the road, the
pavement busted and cracked with tuffs of grass shooting up from
the ground through them.

The sound of sea birds rang in the air. The
breeze carried the faint smell of the ocean and with a look behind
her, Rayna saw a lighthouse with its faded black and white stripes
standing in the distance. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of
it. A hurried look around the area and the sense of familiarity
struck her. She knew where she was. She was home. “Why are we
here?”

“You know why.” He grabbed her arm and pulled
her along with him toward the warehouse. Once inside, she looked at
every corner of the building. The room was bare except for one
chair sitting in the middle of the floor. A length of rope sat
behind it and it didn’t take a genius to realize she would be tied
for the duration of her captivity. She was led to the chair and
forced down into the seat before Thaddeus let go of her arm. “I
trust you won’t try anything foolish.”

“Define foolish.”

“You make a move to get out of that chair,
Ms. Ford, and I’ll tie you to it. It’s your choice.” She raised an
eyebrow at him. Did he honestly think she wouldn’t try to free
herself?

“You’re not going to stay, are you?”

“Would you?”

“Probably not.” He grabbed the ropes and tied
her feet to the chair legs before pulling her arms back behind her
and securing them. When he was finished, she couldn’t move anything
but her fingers. “Now. Be a good girl and sit quietly until the
others arrive.”

He walked away, back toward the door. The
other men that were with him were nowhere in sight. Rayna stared at
the building interior. The wood was rotten; the smell of filth
stung her nostrils. Dirt covered the floors and dried leaves and
broken glass littered the area. She might as well have been
outside. It didn’t look any worse than this did.

She tugged at the ropes. They didn’t give an
inch but she struggled to free herself anyway. Sitting there,
waiting for her death to come, didn’t seem like a smart idea.
Garrett was facedown in the pit, unconscious as far as she knew,
and help wouldn’t be coming. No one knew where she was or where to
begin searching for her.

The sound of car doors being shut outside
drew her attention. She stared at the door, wondering who would be
joining her. When someone finally walked into the warehouse, a
shaft of sunlight obscuring their features, she waited. The sway of
hips as the person walked and the clicking pop of heels on the
cement raised her hackles. She should have known.

“Well, well. Look at Garrett’s wonderful mate
now. All trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey.”

Rayna bit her tongue to keep from saying
anything. It was Carmen, followed closely by Victor.

Carmen’s heels clicked on the floor as she
walked across the room. Rayna didn’t trust her at a distance, let
alone within inches of her. When the woman stopped, the smug smile
on her face was near blinding. Whatever Carmen wanted from all of
this, she wasn’t far from gaining it.

“You have no idea how long I’ve waited for
this day to come.” Carmen circled the chair, the smile on her face
never faltering. “To think, six months ago this seemed like only a
dream, now, here you are.” She ran her fingernails down the side of
Rayna’s cheek, increasing the pressure once she reached her chin
before stopping. “By this time tomorrow, you’ll be famous and I’ll
have a wolf pack of my own—and my mate back in my bed.”

She was talking about Garrett. Rayna felt her
wolf stir at the thought of him. The thought of him and Carmen
together. How could they have come this far only to be back where
they started?