Night Reigns (35 page)
Sarah looked at him with surprise. “You did?”
“Yes.”
She smiled and ran a finger along his jaw. “Ohhh. That’s so sweet.”
An adorably sappy smile slid across the dour immortal’s face.
Marcus squeezed Ami’s shoulder and leaned down to murmur in her ear, “I see why the Sectas think we’re a tad bloodthirsty.”
She laughed.
“Who are the Sectas?” Roland asked.
Marcus shook his head. “Inside joke.”
Marcus tensed when a large figure suddenly appeared in the foyer.
Sarah emitted a squeak of surprise, then sighed.
Garbed in dusty, sweat-stained khakis, Seth swayed with weariness. His already tan skin had been darkened by hours in the sun. At least what little of it Marcus could see beneath the grime.
The immortal leader’s long raven hair was pulled back into a braid that hadn’t been tended to in some time. Long, tangled strands fell about his face. So much dirt and dust powdered his hair that it appeared gray.
Beside Marcus, Ami sat up straight. “Seth?”
Seth blinked and looked their way. “Ami.” He took a step toward them. “I came as soon as I heard. Are you okay?”
Nodding, she jumped up and hurried over to him.
Seth wrapped long arms around her and hugged her tight. He was so much taller than Ami that he couldn’t even rest his chin atop her head without bending. “Are you sure?”
She nodded.
Much to his relief, Marcus felt no jealousy toward the other man, not after learning the role Seth had played in saving Ami.
“Are you okay?” Ami asked, her words muffled by his clothes.
He nodded. “Just tired. David sends his love. He wanted to come, but time is a factor.”
She drew back. “Have you been able to save any?”
“Not enough,” he professed, face grim. “Thousands are missing and feared dead.”
“Come sit down,” she urged.
Marcus scooted over to the far end of the sofa, making room so Ami could sit beside him with Seth on the other side of her.
Seth nodded to Roland and Sarah. “Just so we’re clear,” he said, “this isn’t going to happen again.”
“What isn’t?” Ami asked with a frown.
“Your being taken.” He speared the others with a glare. “Ami is to be protected at all costs.”
Marcus stopped himself just short of punching the air and shouting,
Yes!
Yes!
If Seth ordained it, it would be done.
“Seth!” Ami objected. “You can’t just—”
“Even if it means risking exposure to the humans,” Seth clarified, “you are to do everything in your power to prevent Ami from falling into the hands of our enemies.”
Sarah nodded, once more looking guilty as hell. Marcus wished her entrance into the Immortal Guardians’ ranks had taken place during less onerous times.
Roland said nothing, just shot Marcus a look that asked him what the hell was going on that he hadn’t been told.
“Roland,” Seth said, “you and Sarah go ahead and begin the night’s hunt. The vampires lost dozens last night. I’m sure their king has instructed them to replenish their numbers as quickly as possible. Sebastien, Yuri, and Stanislav will patrol for Lisette and her brothers. I don’t want them fighting again until they’re at full strength. Reordon notified the immortals in surrounding states of the situation and put them on alert as well.”
Marcus met his gaze over Ami’s head. “Did he warn them about the drug?”
“Yes. The network is already working on combatting this new development in two ways: with protective clothing the dart can’t penetrate—”
“Too constrictive,” Marcus and Roland both protested at the same time.
“It will have to do until they succeed in the other. They’re also trying to develop an adrenaline-like injection to counter the drug.” He looked at Roland and Sarah. “Be careful.”
Nodding, the couple rose and left.
Seth turned his head and stared at Marcus with an intensity that grated. “She told you?”
“Yes,” Ami answered and took Marcus’s hand. “He knows I’m Lasaran. And you were right. He didn’t freak out.”
Marcus scowled at Seth. “No. I freaked out
before
she told me, when I thought she was a vampire. A little warning would have been nice.”
before
she told me, when I thought she was a vampire. A little warning would have been nice.”
Seth nodded. “I know. But my hands were tied. And it didn’t occur to me that you would draw that particular conclusion.”
Ami began to fidget. “Okay. I’m an alien. He knows it. He loves me. I love him. Let’s move on. There’s something you need to know about last night that we didn’t tell Chris.”
Seth frowned. “What?”
Ami’s fingers tightened around Marcus’s.
He knew she blamed herself for this and wished she wouldn’t.
“The drug the vampires used against the immortals is the same one developed by the men who held me captive.”
Seth’s eyes flared gold as a thunderclap split the air outside. “What?”
Marcus eyed the windows warily.
Ami nodded. “I’m sure it’s the same. It smelled the same and, when the vampire king ...” She frowned. “I hate calling him that. It’s so ridiculous. Anyway, when the vampire king shot me with one of the darts, it had the same effect as the drug they sometimes injected me with during their experiments.”
“That’s impossible. The only people we let live were the grunts who knew nothing about you. We destroyed the facility, and we destroyed all of the computers, servers, and files we didn’t steal.”
Marcus rejoiced in the knowledge that Ami’s torturers had all been killed. “Well, apparently they backed up their files at an offsite location. Do you have any idea how Montrose or the vampires might have hooked up with these guys?”
“No.” Seth ran a hand over his face, sighed, then cast Ami a reluctant look. “We’re going to have to bring Reordon into the loop.”
Ami tensed.
Marcus wrapped his arm around her and drew her close. “Is that absolutely necessary?” Because if Chris said anything to upset Ami, he would end up in the network’s intensive care unit.
“Yes, it is. You know Chris has friends in very interesting places. We need him to contact his men on the inside and connect the dots.”
Ami bit her lip. “Couldn’t you tell him the source of the drug without bringing me into it?”
Seth shook his head. “He needs to see the files and hard drives we took, sweetheart, if he’s going to determine Montrose’s involvement.”
“Then I want Marcus to see the files, too.”
Surprised, Marcus met her gaze as she turned her pensive face up to his.
“No more secrets,” she said. “I don’t ever again want anyone to know something about me that you don’t.”
His heart swelling, he pressed a tender kiss to her lips. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Seth’s eyes narrowed.
If she told you about Lasara, then you know her people forbid premarital sex.
If she told you about Lasara, then you know her people forbid premarital sex.
Marcus kept his expression blank.
I discovered that one a little late, I’m afraid.
I discovered that one a little late, I’m afraid.
If you truly love her, I assume you intend to do the honorable thing and marry her?
Of course
, Marcus thought irritably.
I just thought we should wait until fewer vamps were trying to either kill or capture us so she can actually enjoy the ceremony. That okay with you?
, Marcus thought irritably.
I just thought we should wait until fewer vamps were trying to either kill or capture us so she can actually enjoy the ceremony. That okay with you?
Seth gave him a brief nod, pulled out his cell phone, and dialed. “It’s Seth. You’re needed.” He gave Ami an affectionate smile and touched her cheek. “Okay. I’m on my way.” He returned his phone to his pocket. “I’ll be back with him in a minute.”
Seth vanished.
Ami leaned into Marcus.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” he asked, concerned.
“Yes.” She smiled up at him. “As long as
you
accept me for who I am, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks.”
you
accept me for who I am, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks.”
Heat spiked through him. Marcus took her lips in a searing kiss. “You know I adore you, don’t you?”
When she opened her mouth to reply, he took advantage and slid his tongue inside to stroke hers.
Moaning, Ami wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her breasts to his chest.
Marcus trailed kisses across her cheek and teased her soft earlobe with his teeth, loving her scent, the feel of her, the sound of her racing heart. “I don’t suppose I could talk you into risking Seth’s and Chris’s popping back in and finding us bare-arsed naked, making love on the sofa, could I?”
She drew back with a wonderfully carefree laugh, pushing at his chest when he growled and pretended he wouldn’t let her go.
Marcus resolved to make her laugh as often as possible in the future to make up for the pain of her past.
When he released her, she had just enough time to straighten and adjust the shirt he hadn’t even realized he had untucked and slipped his hands beneath before Seth teleported back in with Chris.
“Marcus, Ami,” Chris greeted them, “glad to see you’re okay.”
Seth retook his place beside Ami while Chris sat in the armchair Roland and Sarah had vacated.
“So,” Chris said, “what can I do for you?”
Marcus and Ami looked to Seth.
“Darnell, David, and I are in possession of some laptops, DVDs, flash drives, and hard drives,” Seth began, “that contain information that should help you locate the original source of the new drug the vampires are using. Darnell has already decrypted them, but doesn’t have your particular skills with tracing information to its source without raising red flags.”
Chris nodded and pulled a small tablet and pencil from his jacket pocket. He might have incredible knowledge of a wide array of technology but, when he was thinking or puzzling something through, Marcus noticed he preferred to scribble notes on paper with a standard No. 2 pencil. “Okay. How did you come into possession of these files?”
“We stole them from what may have been a military facility we burned to the ground a year and a half ago in Texas.”
“I hadn’t heard about that.”
“No one did.”
Chris nodded, unfazed, as his pencil scratched across the paper. “You said it
may
have been military.”
may
have been military.”
“We aren’t sure. They could have been mercenaries.”
“My guys will find out.”
“There’s more.”
“I thought there might be.” Pencil pausing, he stared at Seth expectantly.
“The files also contain sensitive information regarding Amiriska that I would prefer the fewest number of people possible know about. Those with whom you choose to work on this will be sworn to secrecy and forbidden to speak of it to anyone, even other network employees.”
“Sensitive in what way?”
“I’m an alien,” Ami stated calmly.
Marcus’s eyebrows flew up. He hadn’t expected her to blurt it out like that. Considering the trepidation with which she had shared the knowledge with him earlier, he had assumed she would let Seth do the talking and stress over Chris’s reaction.
“You’re in the country illegally?” Chris asked and began scribbling in his notepad again. “No problem. I can get you all of the documentation you need. But I don’t really see why that needs to be kept quiet. Immortals enter and leave the country illegally all the time and—”
“I’m not from another country,” Ami said. “I’m from another planet. I’m an extraterrestrial.”
Marcus tensed, ready to inflict serious physical harm if Chris said or did anything to upset her.
Chris’s pencil paused for a long moment. His head remained down, his gaze fixed on the paper.
Though Ami was cool and collected on the outside, Marcus could hear her heart pounding loudly in her chest.
“Okay,” Chris said slowly. “You’ll still need the proper documents.” His pencil began to move once more across the paper. “I’m guessing you’re the reason Seth burned down the military facility.”
“Yes. They had captured me and were ... studying me.”
“Torturing her,” Marcus elaborated.
Chris’s fingers tightened on the pencil. The lead broke. Features composed, he tucked the useless pencil into an inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out a second.
Ami clung to Marcus’s hand. “The drug the vampires hit the immortals with last night is the same one the doctors and scientists at the facility used to incapacitate me.”
Her fear of the network doctors and scientists suddenly became crystal clear.
At last, Chris raised his head. “Then we need to find out how the hell Montrose Keegan and his vamp pals got their hands on it.”
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