TherianPromise (22 page)

She flipped off the light in the bedroom and stepped out
into the hall. Blinking quickly as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she focused
on the light at the top of the stairway and hurried down the corridor. One of
the bedroom doors opened ahead of her and a tall man stepped out into the hall.
For a moment she thought he was Ian then he turned and she caught a glimpse of
his face.

Easily as tall as Ian yet more heavily muscled, the stranger
stared at her with bright golden eyes. The rest of his features were lost in
shadow, but there was no escaping his shimmering gaze. Ian’s eyes were marbled
with gold. Even Kyle’s gaze had gold flecks. But no other color marred this
man’s irises. His hair swept straight back from his face into a thick ponytail
and he emanated strength and menace.

She glanced behind her, looking for an escape route as she
decided whether or not to scream. If she pushed her fear across their link,
Kyle would come running.

“Name’s Payne. You smell like Kyle.” His rumbling voice was
oddly accented and conveyed curiosity not danger. Still, she stepped back as he
moved forward.

“How did you get in here?” She sounded more composed than
she felt. The house had been locked down tight ever since they arrived, even
more so since Bruce’s failed attack. This man would have tripped an alarm
unless someone let him in. So who was he and why was he here?

“Through the back door.” He chuckled, the sound surprisingly
warm. “Relax,
láska
. You have nothing to fear from me.”

Swallowing past the lump rapidly forming in her throat, she
nodded in reply and tried to rush past him.

He stuck out his arm, pressing his palm against the wall as
he blocked her path. “You are Ava, yes?”

She turned her head and looked up into his face, trying to
appear impatient not terrified. “I’d rather talk downstairs.”

Angling his body toward her, he moved closer, surrounding
her. “Erin’s cub shares your bed. His scent is unmistakable. But I think your
choice is not yet made. Will Kyle be your mate?”

“It’s none of your business. Let me pass.”

Someone flipped on the light and Ava glanced past his arm
and found Carissa standing at the end of the hallway. “You all right?”

With obvious reluctance Payne lowered his arm and inclined
his head toward Carissa.

“What are you doing here?” Carissa seemed surprised to see
him, but she obviously knew him and wasn’t threatened by his presence.

Now that Ava could see him clearly, she felt even more
uncertain. With strong, masculine features and those strange golden eyes, he
appeared more overtly feline than the other Therians.

“Ian told me to meet him here. It would seem I have arrived
first.”

Carissa accepted the explanation with a nod and motioned to
the stairs. “Everyone’s in the kitchen. We were about to make lunch.”

He paused and looked at Ava again, his gaze caressing and
warm. “This will end when you make your choice and not before.” Not waiting for
her reply, he ambled down the hall and disappeared into the stairwell.

Ava pressed her hand over her pounding heart and walked
toward her sister. “Who is he? Why would Ian ask for his help?”

“Did he touch you?”

“No. I don’t even think he was trying to scare me, he just…”

“Payne doesn’t have to try.” Carissa smiled. “He recently
took over the largest lion pride in North America. I don’t know why Ian called
him. Let’s go find out.”

Ava followed Carissa down the stairs but froze in the
archway as they reached the kitchen. Carissa crossed to the table and sat down
next to Quinn, unaffected by the spectacle before her.

Ian stood near the sliding glass door leading out onto the
deck. He was drenched, hair plastered to his head, and his
wings
were
folded back behind him. Blood darkened the feathers of one wing and Erin
examined the wound as Ian grimaced and grumbled.

Unable to help herself, Ava just stared. She’d seen him
transform from eagle to man, but she’d had no idea he could do…this. His jeans
hung low on his lean hips, leaving his sculpted chest and washboard abs bare.
Even dripping wet and wounded, he looked like an angel. Or maybe a fallen
angel. No messenger of God would appear so damn sexy.

She waited for the tingling rush or the warm tension Kyle
always elicited in her, but all she felt was a superficial acknowledgment of
his esthetic appeal.

The scraping of wood against wood drew her attention to the
table. Kyle pushed back his chair and crossed to her. “Keep staring like that
and he’ll challenge me. He doesn’t have to worry about us being in sync if I’m
dead.”

“Sorry.” She pushed her emotions into Kyle’s mind so he’d
understand her reaction was platonic. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

He gave her a quick kiss then ushered her to the table.

“I didn’t know he had wings.” Then the more important issue
pushed to the forefront of her befuddled mind. “How was he injured?”

“He was shot at,” Ian supplied the answer with a knowing
smile. Apparently he hadn’t been oblivious to her rude behavior. “Bullet
creased the top of my wing.”

“You were searching the wilderness—like that?”

He spread his wings and lifted his chin, his gaze narrowed
and bright. “Is there something wrong with ‘this’?”

Erin slapped his chest and reached for the top of his wing,
which now arched well above her head. “If you’re finished
preening
, I’m
sure Jake would appreciate me closing your wound. You’re dripping blood all
over his floor.”

Ian folded his wings again and turned so she could reach the
seeping wound. “I had a backpack full of equipment.” He motioned toward the
pack sitting by the door. “It’s rather hard to strap that onto an eagle. I had
to wear it backward, but at least I kept it on.”

“Has anyone ever taken your picture when you’re flying
around like that?”

The phrase made him chuckle then Erin pressed some gauze to
his wing and he hissed. “I try to be careful and I fly fast enough that the
pictures tend to blur. If I have a long distance to go with little or no cover,
I shift into a bird.” He glared down at his nurse, obviously tired of her
ministrations. “Are you about finished?”

“We both know what will happen if you put them away dirty.”

He shuddered. “Definitely don’t want to go through that
again.”

“What happened?” She whispered the question to Kyle, but
again Ian answered. Damn the man had good hearing.

“I ignored several small wounds and just absorbed my wings.
The next time I unfurled them they were both infected and excruciating. Worse,
I couldn’t absorb them again until they healed completely, which meant I was
cooped up for almost a month.”

“It’s a raptor thing,” Kyle told her. “If the rest of us are
injured in one form, generally shifting to the other eliminates the wound.”

“It works that way with me too if I transform into a bird,”
Ian corrected. “It’s only the partial shifts that are tricky.”

“It’s not that I’m not entertained,” Payne cut in, “but I do
have other responsibilities.” He looked at Ian expectantly. “Why have you
summoned me?”

Erin finally pronounced Ian’s wound clean. He furled his
wings then slowly absorbed them. “Give me a minute to change and I’ll explain
everything.”

“Would you like something to drink?” Erin asked their newest
guest. Payne shook his head so she joined them at the table.

Ian returned a few minutes later in dry clothes, damp hair
returned to some sort of order. He picked up the backpack and brought it to the
table unzipping it as he began. “I entered the exact location into the GPS so
we can use it to find the place tomorrow.”

Tomorrow? They were going to raid the mysterious complex
tomorrow? Dread washed over Ava. Even if she weren’t directly involved in the
raid, everyone else would be in danger.

“I took pictures of every room visible from the outside and
I’m sure we can extrapolate the missing spaces. There are three teams of two
guards. They rotate between interior and exterior positions with six hours off
in between.”

“Where do the guards go when they’re off duty?” Quinn asked.

“The barracks are connected to the vehicle shed. I got a
look inside the shed at one point and saw two Jeeps, several ATVs and various
maintenance equipment.”

“So, we take out the guards two at a time and—”

Ian stemmed Quinn’s suggestions with an upraised hand. “Hear
the rest before you plan a strategy.” Quinn nodded, but tension arced between
the two.

Do Quinn and Ian dislike each other
? She looked at
Kyle.

Long story. I’ll tell you later
.

She nodded and returned her attention to Ian.

“The upper level is living quarters, the ground level
offices and laboratories.”

“Laboratories?” Erin sounded surprised. “As in microscopes
and test tubes?”

“Yes, and pretty damn sophisticated from what I could see.
I’d convinced myself we were wrong, that this place has nothing to do with us,
then Osric stepped out of the elevator.”

“Are you sure it was Osric?” Quinn asked the question they
were all thinking.

“You tell me.” Ian pulled a camera out of his backpack,
scanned through several shots then slid it across the table to Quinn.

“That’s Osric.” Quinn handed it to Erin who looked at the
picture then handed it to Kyle.

“Unbelievable,” Kyle whispered under his breath.

Ava had no clear memory of Osric’s appearance, so she didn’t
bother looking at the picture, wasn’t sure she was ready for all the feelings
his image might unleash. “You mentioned an elevator. Is there an underground
level?”

Ian nodded. “I’m pretty sure there is and I’m just as sure
that whatever they’re protecting is kept down there.”

“Is Osric working with the Abolitionists?” Carissa rubbed
her upper arms, clearly upset by the possibility.

“I can’t imagine what he would gain by indulging those
lunatics,” Ian said. “I think it’s more likely this is something else entirely,
a threat we were unaware of before.”

“Wonderful.” Erin sighed. “Devon may or may not be missing,
Jake’s sisters have been kidnapped, and the Abolitionists harass us at every
turn. The last thing we need is a new enemy.”

“We can’t ignore this.” Ian scooted closer to the table.
“I’m just guessing at this point, but it’s a pretty educated guess. Osric is
obsessed with the possibility of creating a true Therian. He failed on his own,
so he’s recruited humans to help him.”

“Or the humans recruited him.” Kyle’s anxiety spiked,
rippling across their link and setting Ava on edge. “I don’t think Osric has
the connections to set something like this in motion. A secret lab in the
middle of nowhere guarded by men with automatic weapons? Sounds military to
me.”

Ian didn’t argue, nor did he agree. “We won’t know anything
for sure until we see what they’re hiding.”

“And how do we do that without getting ourselves killed?”
There was a little less challenge in Quinn’s tone now, but Ian still bristled.

“If you don’t have the balls for—”

Quinn flew out of his chair and was halfway across the table
when Carissa grabbed him. “Cut it out!” She didn’t have the strength to pull
him back, but she didn’t let go. “If you two can’t work together on this, we’re
all screwed.”

Both men huffed, but Quinn returned to his seat and Ian
proceeded to ignore him.

“You’ve been on-site,” Erin prompted. “You know what we’ll
be facing, at least to some extent. What do you suggest we do?”

“Even if there’s nothing but storage in the basement, we’re
outnumbered and out gunned. Trying to amass a larger force would take too long
and compound the logistical nightmare. Our only hope is the element of
surprise. We need to use distraction and deception to slip in under their
noses. We strike fast and hard, preventing them from calling for backup.”

“How well did the shooter see you? Haven’t we already lost
the element of surprise?” Quinn’s tone was low and even while hostility still
smoldered in his eyes.

“You got a better idea?” Ian snapped.

“It’s a reasonable question.” Erin’s expression communicated
warning even more eloquently than her words.

Ian sighed. “They were shooting at shadows. There’s no way
either of them saw me clearly.”

“What if
we
need backup?” Kyle asked. “We have no
idea what’s waiting for us once we step off that elevator.”

Clearly frustrated by the continued objections, Ian sighed.
“So we’ll have backup stationed far enough away to avoid detection yet close
enough to assist if we’re overwhelmed.”

“Are you talking ground or air support?” Payne asked. He’d remained
quiet through most of the conversation, silently watching as the others worked
out the kinks.

“Air would be best, given the impossible terrain,” Ian told
him. “Do you still have access to those sorts of resources?”

“It will cost you, especially if you want them here by
morning.”

Ian looked at Erin and she nodded. “This thing with Osric
has gone on long enough. Make the call.”

“If that’s all you needed from me, you could have told me on
the phone.” Payne smiled, his eyes shimmering like antique coins. “Am I
distraction or deception?”

Ian returned the smile. “A little bit of both.”

Chapter Nine

Kyle decided to barbeque for dinner, which drew all the men
out onto the deck. “There is something about cooking over an open flame that
men can’t resist,” Erin said with a chuckle.

“Brings out their inner caveman.” Carissa laughed.

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing, is it?” Ava wiggled her
eyebrows and they all laughed some more.

“This feels so good!” Carissa wrapped her arm around Ava and
squeezed. “I can’t believe how much I missed you.” They sat on the sofa in
Jake’s living room, enjoying the brief break in activity as the men bonded over
burgers. Erin sat in an armchair facing them, a large window at her side
showcasing the majestic mountains and deep blue sky.