Dreams of a Dark Warrior (43 page)

Just as he’d known, one look at his ruined skin had made her run. Why had he hoped she’d react

differently?

When Declan didn’t answer, Brandr said, “Did an immortal do that to your chest?”

“Oh, aye, lots of them,” he snapped.

“Tel me you kil ed them.” Brandr’s eyes gleamed in the night. He sounded almost … pissed for Declan.

He gave a curt nod.

“This certainly explains why you hate al of us.”

“I hated you because it was my goddamned job to! And because I never bloody knew there was an

alternative.”

“And what about those, Chase?” Brandr pointed to his track marks. “What are you into?”

Shame fil ing him, Declan stared at the puddle deepening around his boots.

“You’re shaking now. How bad wil the withdrawal get?”

“I’ve gotten through the worst of it.”
Regin saw me through it, and she didn’t even know. …
But he wasn’t free from the symptoms yet.

“Are you going to stay clean?”

“That’s the plan.”

Seeming to make a decision about him, Brandr said, “Regin wants to leave.”

Declan shot to his feet. “Not a chance—”

“Unless you are tied up, like a prisoner. I’ve got some exam restraints back at the bunker.”

How bloody fitting.
“You and I both know I can hit a rage and break any bindings.”

“And she knows there’s enough time in that short window to take your head.”

“If I do this, then she stays?”

Brandr nodded.

Declan drew on his pul over, then handed Regin’s discarded sword over to Brandr. Wanting his

penance, he returned to the bunker, al owing himself to be bound.

Inside, Thad and Regin were sitting up against a wal together, her head on the boy’s shoulder.
Don’t
thrash him. He’s young.

When Natalya gestured for Brandr to join her, the berserker dropped down on the floor beside her.

Lothaire was stil dozing.

Declan sat off to the side away from everyone, feeling—as usual—like an outcast. He used al his

wil power not to stare at Regin. And failed.

The dark circles under her eyes and the pal or of her skin were like physical blows to him, redoubling

his guilt.

When their gazes met, he didn’t bother hiding what he was feeling.
I want you so much. I’d give

anything to redo the last month. To rid myself of these scars for you.

Expression brimming with hostility, she turned from him. When Thad put his arm around her shoulders,

she curled into his side.

Declan’s fists clenched behind him as he resisted the urge to break his bonds and snatch her away

from the halfling.

When his legs grew restless and his shaking intensified once more, he leaned his head back against

the wal to stare at the ceiling. This wasn’t nearly as punishing as it’d been earlier, but without her in his arms, it was worse for him.

Need her.
He gnashed his teeth, struggling to keep his legs stil —

Suddenly Lothaire shot upright, out of breath and patting his chest from neck to waist. His face was

drawn and clammy with sweat.

Declan narrowed his eyes.
The vampire just dreamed of my torture, experienced it.

When Lothaire’s red gaze fel on him, Declan murmured,
“Fuckin’ choke on them. …”

FORTY-TWO

R
egin woke in a rush. She’d been dozing against Thad again, who stil snored beside her.

Throughout the night and morning the two of them had slept on and off, recuperating as they waited for

some of the battles to die down.

Rubbing her gritty eyes, she glanced around. She saw lots of torture instruments but no torturer. Chase

and everyone else were outside the room.

When Thad began nuzzling her neck, pressing his opened lips against her, she smacked him in the

back of the head. “Don’t go vamp on me now!”

“Whaa!” He shot upright, his fangs sharp. “Where am I?”

She glanced at his fangs, then down. “Oh, my gods, when do you
not
sport wood? There are

bathrooms in the back, so go burp the worm or whatever.”

Blushing furiously, he muttered, “I-I’m real y sorry.” He pul ed his T-shirt lower. “I don’t know what’s

happening with me.”

“You were either about to bite me or kiss me or both. Not a chance, kid! You’ve got better odds with

Natalya—and those are looking up at zero.” At his mortified look, Regin exhaled. “Look, I had a rough

night, and I’m taking it out on you.”

“I get it. It’s cool.” He scrubbed his hand down his face. “So, uh, Natalya’s
totally
out?”

“Yeah, Brandr cockblocked you. Sorry. But one day, you’l find someone nonpoisonous. … ” She trailed

off when Natalya came down the steps from the outer door.

Thad shot to his feet, finger-combing his hair.

“Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey,” the fey chirped as she strol ed into the room, looking rested and

relaxed. “Come on, it’s high noon, and we’ve got a boat to catch!”

And clearly, you got laid,
Regin thought with a spike of jealousy. When she got back to New Orleans, she’d take a lover. No more being faithful to Aidan.

She’d take two. Hel , there was that pack of leopard shifters that’d been sniffing around her.
I’ll lift tail
for every single one of them.

Regin rose, every muscle in her body protesting. “I’m taking a fiver.” She scuffed toward the lavatory

she’d found.

Natalya ruffled Thad’s hair with her knuckles, discomfiting him even more, then fol owed her inside.

As Regin rubbed water on her face, Natalya hopped up on the next sink over. “So how about those

revelations from last night! I suppose they’re hampering your revenge plans. Because of the whole

Chase-didn’t-order-your-torture development.”

“Just means he gets to live.”

“Wel , the important thing is that I got
my
revenge.”

Regin tugged up her shirt to dry her face, then peered at her injury.

“Your skin’s completely healed,” Natalya said, her tone impressed.

“There was a lot of lightning last night—it helps. I’l be as good as new in a few hours.”

“But you’re not glowing.”

Regin shrugged. “It might not come back.” Her mother’s had been forever dimmed. After Wóden and

Freya had rescued her from the vampires that kil ed everyone in her vil age, her skin had never glowed as

it once had. And it’d been covered with vampire bite scars.

I learned to count by them, never knowing how much I was hurting her.

“Oh, here”—Natalya stood, reaching into her jacket—“first time I’ve ever had women’s lingerie in my

pocket that wasn’t my own.” She handed Regin her bra. “Though it probably won’t be the last.”

Regin slipped off her shirt to don it, vowing to burn these clothes when they got back.

Natalya pinched her own cheeks, then vogued in the mirror for a few poses. “So, what are you going to

do with Chase now? Not going to soften toward him at al ?”

Last night, Regin almost had when he’d revealed his scarred skin to her—and when he’d been

suffering through withdrawal.

He’d been off to the side by himself, silently shaking in the dark.
Going through that alone …

Then Regin had remembered al he’d done to her. “After his laundry list of crimes? Historical y,

whenever someone abducts, poisons, or stabs me, I don’t do second chances. Historical y. I’m going to

get on that boat, then get the hel away from him at the earliest opportunity.” She’d find Lucia, and pick her life up where she’d left it.

“No attraction there?”

“Nothing there whatsoever,” she said, ignoring Natalya’s snort of disbelief. “Speaking of attraction. So,

you and Brandr? Thad was crushed.”

“The kid’s seventeen. Just turned. In any case, Brandr and I scratched an itch. No big deal.”

“Uh-huh.”

“It wasn’t al that wonderful, to be honest. I was afraid of poisoning him, even with my torque, and he

was worried about hurting me. Basical y, instead of one of us zigging while the other zagged, we both

zagged. But you want to hear something crazy?” She leaned in to say, “I can’t seem to stop looking at

Lothaire. I caught him washing off earlier—shirtless—and was gobsmacked by the sight of his body. His

physique and face are flawless, like a sculpture or something. Those hooded eyes of his—”

Without a word, Regin turned toward the door.

“What?” Natalya cal ed, fol owing her. “Name one thing about him that’s not perfect!”

Over her shoulder, Regin said, “Maybe his razor-sharp vampire fangs? Maybe the fact that his

‘physique’ is fueled by a liquid diet? And those hooded eyes you were about to rhapsodize over? They’re

the color of
blood
.”

Natalya grumbled, “Details, details.”

They met up with Thad outside the lavatories, then the three emerged from the bunker into pouring rain

and whipping winds. Lowering clouds promised more of both. Goody.

As a Valkyrie, Regin could withstand extreme temperatures, but that didn’t mean she enjoyed being

soaked and chil ed.

They navigated the rock cutouts, then crossed to the nearest clearing. The landscape here was rocky

with peaks in the distance, each bleaker than the last, like they’d be named Mount Donner Party or Need-

A-Mind-Eraser Point.

The rest of the males caught up to them there. Chase’s wrists were bound in front of him now. Brandr,

that ever-loyal ass, must’ve retied them.

The magister didn’t approach her, didn’t try to speak with her, but he cast her a darkly possessive look.

Nope, nothing there whatsoever. At all. Less than nothing.

Declan realized with a jolt of alarm that Regin’s skin was as dim as it’d been last night. Surely her

wound was healed for the most part by now—she moved without stiffness—but her skin remained ashen.

What if it never returned to normal?
If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll figure out how to fix this.

After an initial glance, Regin didn’t look at him again. No surprise, considering al he’d done to her. And that’d been
before
he’d revealed his scars.

Al night he’d wondered what the hel had possessed him to do that.

She gazed around at the scenery with plain distaste. Though a carpet of firs spread out below them,

the mountaintops were bare—not because of snowfal , but because the peaks were too craggy for trees

to grow.

He’d always enjoyed the desolate landscape high on the mountains, but she lived in a warm bayou

town, resided at the edge of a swamp. If she hated this place now, it’d only get worse the higher they got.

The rain would grow nearly constant, the wind gusting.

She pushed a sopping braid from her face. “Another day in paradise.”

Could any female hate a man more than she does me?

Regin’s attention turned to Lothaire, who stil looked affected by his nightmares. If vampires

experienced others’ memories as if they were reliving them, then how could Lothaire not be tortured by

what he’d dreamed?

Declan had once thought he wouldn’t wish his past torment on even his worst enemy. Recal ing

Lothaire’s bite, he decided,
No, I’m good with it.

“How are you going to keep up with us during the day?” Regin demanded of the vampire.

“Overcast skies, superior nutrition, and my purloined army gear for cover.” He tipped his wide-brimmed

bush hat toward her. “And you?”

“Isn’t your girlfriend La Dorada coming for you?”

He stil ed, as if
listening
for her. “Not as of yet. Soon though.”

“You stay outta my way, leech, or I wil go lord-of-the-flies on your ass.” Again, she instinctively reached back for her swords. Swords that could never be replaced. They’d surely been buried in the facility’s

col apse.

Lothaire sighed. “Regin the Eloquent.”

“Eat me.” She passed them al without a glance. “Just tel me where we’re heading.”

Declan said, “If you want to be on point, we’re going west—”

She unerringly turned due west and started climbing. Natalya and Thad joined her, and the three began

conversing, mainly answering Thad’s constant stream of questions.

Brandr hung back with Declan, while Lothaire brought up the rear.

In a low voice, Brandr said, “My gods, man, I’ve never seen you look so routed.”

“You’ve seen me only a handful … ah, you mean as Aidan.”

“Hel , even when you were dying, you looked more enthusiastic than this.” When Declan said nothing,

Brandr bit out a curse. “Listen, it isn’t over. She has feelings for you.”

“Oh, aye. Very strong ones. Hatred, for instance.”

“If that’s the case, then why couldn’t she kil you?”