The Purest of the Breed (The Community) (13 page)

“You agree to talk, Brun,” Homicidal Maniac warned Jaċken. “Or when you take me out, I break this cowfuck’s neck on the way.”

“Let my man go, Jøsnic,” Jaċken repeated in a grating tone. “Then we talk.”

Shrugging the massive bulk of his shoulders, Homicidal Jøsnic dumped the blond man onto the cave ledge, then planted a large boot on top of him. His black eyes drilled into Jaċken. “
One
woman.” He held up a single finger, the simple gesture somehow like the worst threat. “That’s all we received out of the four due to us because
you
took the rest.”

The blond man jerked under Jøsnic’s boot, coughing and wheezing. Then stopped moving altogether.

A buzz of concerned murmuring rose from the people crowded onto the other balconies.

Marissa’s fingers flexed, searching blindly for something to hold onto as an icy shroud of fear fell over her. Another Cosmopolitan? A friend’s hand? A freaking teddy bear, maybe, to help get her through yet
another
night of terror?

“Eight new pieces of kooch you’ve brought in,” Jøsnic went on, “and we haven’t made a single move.” He shook his head slowly, the simple movement again screaming menace. “No more. You made a fatal error by stealing from us topside, Brun.”

“Oh, crap.” Tonĩ hissed from where she stood on the other side of Beth.

“Return the three you took,” Jøsnic ordered in the authoritative tone of a man who was used to being obeyed, “and they’d better still be unmarked. You have five minutes. I’ll wait at the Outer Edge.”

One of the red-haired men just behind Jøsnic waggled his fingers in a wave at Marissa. “Hello, pretty one. You’ll be mine soon.”

She flared her eyes wide, her heart slamming into her throat. It was Tøllar from last night, the grotesque man who’d been on the verge of hauling her off to some unspeakable future just as she’d been saved. Did…did he work for the institute’s research competitors? And why were four women owed to this Jøsnic?

Jaċken’s expression was murderous. “No.”

Jøsnic laughed, the sound rusty metal going down a garbage disposal. “Wrong answer.” He ground his boot into the blond man, rousing a groan from him. “If I don’t get my women back, then…” He raked his black stare to one of the adjacent balconies and stabbed a finger at Hannah, the town librarian. “Her.”

With a frown, Hannah’s husband, Willen, pulled his wife against his side.

“And her.” Jøsnic pointed at Beth, then flashed his teeth. “The two become my toys.”

Beth’s hands flew to her breast, the blood draining from her face.

“Yes, you’ll suffer,” Jøsnic’s voice sliced at Beth, “and that child inside you, too.”

Beth cried out.

Down on the ground, Dev did the strangest thing; he leapt at Arc and pulled the man back hard against his chest, clamping a hand over Arc’s mouth. A growl the likes of which Marissa had only ever heard on Animal Planet rumbled out of Beth’s husband.

Marissa stood riveted, unable to look away from the wildness on the faces of both men, an odd sensation shivering through her. How…could a man possibly make a noise like that?

“The ‘no’ stands.” Jaċken’s voice was hard and uncompromising. “Either fight or get the fuck out of my town.”

“Not now.” Jøsnic took a step back, his nipple chains rattling. “But you have too many women to guard this time, Brun. A hole
will
appear in your defenses, and when it does…” His eyes froze down to stygian ice, no longer merely mean, but evil. “We take back what’s ours, and leave boiling Hell in our wake.”

Marissa went numb. She believed that man. Given the smallest chance, Jøsnic would snatch her and Hadley. Not Kendra, who’d already bagged this crazy town, smart lady.

Turning around, Marissa stumbled off the balcony and into the bedroom, barely noticing people from the other rooms surging into Berlin. To be fair, Tonĩ had warned the new hires about Ţărână’s rival neighbors. But Marissa had imagined the town’s competitors as being a bunch of sallow-faced scientists with Coke-bottle glasses, maybe a few with lisps, who didn’t have anything more ominous on their minds than stealing research secrets. Not something that looked like it’d been disgorged from Stephen King’s
Pet Sematary
.

She twisted her hands at her waist as her blood slowed in her veins. Good God, what kind of idiot was she to have put her life into the hands of people she’d known for all of two days? If this Jøsnic creature managed to nab Beth as he’d threatened would Marissa be traded for Arc’s beloved, and pregnant, wife?

In a New York minute.

Marissa searched for Hadley, finding her friend standing near the bed. Their eyes met, identical thoughts stamped on their pale faces; half a million dollars didn’t begin to make up for
this
.

Jaċken stalked back into the bedroom, followed by Dev and Arc, and stopped with his arms crossed and his legs planted wide. “You need to listen to me,” he said to the new hires, “very carefully. No woman who’s followed our security measures has ever been hurt in Ţărână. Not one. We can and will protect you. I don’t care if you’ve been here two days or two years, there isn’t a man in the Warrior Class who wouldn’t give his life for you.”

Her stomach in knots, Marissa eyed Dev sideways.

His lids were low, as if shielding powerful emotions, and he stood with his arms crossed, too, the position bulging out his biceps and making him look as kick-ass as any superhero. Her Bat Man.

“Moreover,” Jaċken went on, “it may not feel like it right now, but you’re safer here, with us looking out for you, than topside. If you don’t believe me, ask the women who were just kidnapped last night.”

Marissa glanced at Hadley.

“If these men find out who you are, they’ll take you.” Jaċken panned the room. “I can guarantee it.”

Maybe…Jaċken had a point. And, frankly, right now Marissa couldn’t imagine feeling safe anywhere far from Dev.

Jaċken swiveled toward his men. “Head back out. I want to confirm the town is secure.”

As the warriors jogged from the room, Tonĩ put her arms around Beth.

Beth slumped against her friend, her face pressed into Tonĩ’s shoulder, one hand cupped protectively over the swelling of her abdomen.

Marissa stood in place, unsure of what to do. The other men in the bedroom murmured to their wives. Beth cried softly. Hadley had her head pressed together with Beverly and Susan. Finally, Marissa walked over to Tonĩ and Beth and wrapped her arms around the two women, laying her cheek on top of Beth’s head. The woman’s hair smelled like strawberries.

You’re safer down here, with us looking out for you
… She needed to believe that. After all, the community’s security force was out in the town right now, making sure… Marissa blinked.
All of the force
? Good God, that’s right. Thomal had run out of the garden parlor with the rest of the warriors, leaving his crutches scattered on the floor.

His foot had seemed completely healed.

Chapter Thirteen

Dev unclasped his knife set and wearily slung the gear over his shoulder as he lumbered up the mansion’s main staircase. He’d been patrolling Ţărână for hours along with the other warriors, keeping an eye on the town, but it looked like Jøsnic had played his hand for now. There hadn’t been any more signs of trouble coming from the Om Rău.

Falling face first into his pillow was now the only thing he—

A piercing scream rang out.

He startled and cursed, then flew up the stairs on a surge of inhuman speed. That had come from the third floor where their Dragon women were! Unsheathing one of his knives and flipping it into his palm, he careened into the third floor hallway, images on the doors blurring as he picked up speed: Athens’ columned Parthenon, a swirling Flamenco dancer for Seville, the Medieval Square in—

He slammed to a halt.

In front of Lucerne and its sprawling vista of Swiss Alps, Marissa stood in an aggressive posture, wielding a vase at…ah, crap.

Nỵko was pinned against the fairytale-like city of Bruges across from her. He had his huge, tattoo-laden arms held up in an I’m-completely-harmless pose and his black eyes were wide as saucers.

“Thank God you’re here,” Marissa gasped, her breathing coming in rough spurts. “I caught this asshole ogre lurking about.”

Nỵko’s brow crinkled.

Asshole ogre
? Dev stifled a groan. Every single one of the new hires was peeking out of her door right now, and after their introduction to Jøsnic earlier, they definitely didn’t need a twofer on weird and scary.

“I’m sorry,” Nỵko said to Dev, obviously thinking the same thing. “I needed to go upstairs to report to Roth, and I figured that at this time of night I could just sneak by.”

“You be quiet,” Marissa ordered Nỵko, jabbing the vase in his direction.

Dev had to give her points for spunk. Nỵko outweighed her by a couple of dozen brick pallets, and even though Dev knew that Nỵko was a big fluffy ball of cotton candy, the man looked like tonight’s Creature Feature. “Put the vase down, Marissa,” Dev said in a voice that was both calm and loud enough for the others to hear. “This isn’t a bad guy.” Couldn’t she see that Nỵko looked as frightened as she was, probably more?

“Bull hockey,” Marissa shot back. “I saw this guy with that Jøsnic man on the cliff.”

“He wasn’t
with
Jøsnic, Marissa. He was standing at the ready to overcome him.” Dev walked slowly toward her, tucking his knife back into its sheath.

“B-but, he has the tattoos…”

“So do two other men in our town.” Dev eased the vase out of her hands and set it back on the hallway table. “This is Nỵko Brun, Jaċken’s brother and one of Ţărână’s best warriors. He’s probably the nicest guy you’d ever want to meet.”

She gave Nỵko a dubious glance.

It would’ve been nice if Nỵko could’ve rallied a smile to his face just then, but the man was still too busy looking like he wanted to bolt.

“All right, listen up,” Dev announced to the entire third floor. “This mansion’s security has never been breached, so please don’t worry about anything and try to get some sleep.” The doors snapped shut abruptly. Whether that was a good sign or bad one, he had no idea. He touched Marissa’s arm lightly. “You’re going to be fine.” He offered her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

Guess he didn’t quite pull it off. She sort of…melted. The tough expression fell off her face, then the rest of her deflated like a pricked balloon, her shoulders slumping, her knees sagging, her head falling forward into both of her hands. She began to make wet noises into her palms.

He drew his brows together. She wasn’t…going to cry, was she?

Nỵko heard it, too. “Oh, no,” he moaned. “Can I go now?”

And leave him alone with a crying woman?
Hell no
. But the damned palooka had already darted up to the fourth-floor penthouse. “Hey, now,” he said quietly. “Um…don’t cry, okay? Please. There’s nothing to be afraid of anymore.”

She looked up at him and
ker-pow
, a sucker punch right to the gut. The impact of those big, damp eyes drove the breath clean out of him. They were filled with, like, puddles, tears brimming over her bottom lashes and falling down her cheeks. Dammit, why wasn’t there somebody close by right now to hit? Preferably anybody who’d ever hurt her.

“God, Dev, it’s…it’s just too much. Last night with Mürk and his gang of psycho fiends, and…and now that Jøsnic monster wants to take me, and then…” She flung a vague gesture after poor Nỵko. “That scary guy shows up in the hall.” She sniffled. “I don’t think I can take anymore. I-I just want to go home.”

Dev’s stomach crashed into his feet. He’d faced down some damned nasty creatures in his days, heinous demons that would’ve sent most men skid-marking their way home to mama, but he could honestly say, it wasn’t until this moment that he’d experienced outright panic. “Please, don’t say that. I know it’s been a rough couple of nights, but things will even out, I promise.”

“I can’t help it,” she whispered, the lost look in her eyes clutching a steel band around his chest. “I’m so frightened.”

Jesus
.
Effing.
Christ
. Now he was going to suffer complete heart failure. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Riss, you need to trust me on that. I mean, hell, you’ve seen me fight, right? I’m a total BAMF.”

“A…BAMF?”

He waggled his eyebrows. “A Badass Motherfucker.”

She blinked her spiky lashes, then a small smile slowly replaced the unhappy line of her mouth.

Better, but not enough. “In fact”—he took her hand and led her down the hallway—“you’re staying with me in my room tonight.”

“Oh?” She cut him a veiled look from beneath her long lashes.

A blush slapped him hard across the face. “Whoa! I mean…” He came to a halt and spluttered. “I-I only meant that as a good guy, okay?” He was so used to the people around here knowing that sex wasn’t an option, he hadn’t stopped to think how that would sound. “No hanky-panky. Scout’s honor.”

Another faint smile stole across her lips. “Hanky-panky? Sheesh, were you born in the ’40s or something?”

He felt his blush deepen. She had no idea how close she’d come to guessing his true age.