Darkness Divides (Sensor #3) (39 page)

“Want to tell me what’s going on between you two?” I asked.

Neither said a word.

“Honesty, guys.” I gave them both stern looks. “That’s the only way this is going to work. I’m not trying to stop you from being together, but I want everything out in the open so we can discuss it.”

Emily gave me a stubborn look. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

“She’s my girlfriend now,” Hunter admitted, meeting my gaze.

Well, at least he was willing talk. It couldn’t be easy for teens to date when they had a bunch of powerful supernaturals around watching their every move.

“Okay, that’s a start. Have you two thought about how to make that work?” I lifted my brows.

His chest puffed out and some of that werewolf confidence came back to him. “I’ll stay away from her during full moons and whenever I’m in my wolf form—unless I need to protect her.”

“I’m glad you’ve thought about that Hunter because if you bite her and turn her into a werewolf, I’ll hang you by your balls from a tree,” I spoke in a calm, matter-of-fact voice. “Do you understand?”

Emily jumped to her feet. “Melena! How can you talk to him like that?”

It was probably the fact that I’d been dead serious when I spoke to him that got her the most. She knew I wasn’t exaggerating.

“It’s okay, babe.” Hunter moved over to Emily and wrapped his arms around her shaking form. “It’s her job to protect you.”

“It’s my life and my decision what I do with it.” She glared at me. “You can’t just threaten him like that.”

I gave her a patient look. “I can and I will. You have my blessing to date him because I think he’s actually turned out to be a good guy, but if he hurts you in any way you need to understand there will be repercussions.”

“That’s total bullshit.” She stomped her foot.

“Talk to Melena like that again and I’ll compel the werewolf to never go within a mile of you again,” Lucas said, stepping out of the house.

He took a few menacing steps toward the teenagers. Hunter let go of Emily and backed away, but she stood her ground.

“Like you have any room to talk, Luc.” She got up in his face—or as much as she could, being a foot shorter than him. “I saw the way you used to treat Mel and nothing I’ve said to her compares to that!”

I had to give her credit. She had no fear of him. I searched for a bowl of popcorn and was sad to discover there wasn’t one nearby.

Lucas looked down at her. “My past with Melena is my concern, but I can promise you I’ll spend eternity making it up to her. Your life is much shorter and you need to take greater care with it.”

“Save the dumb speeches.” She stomped off the porch and headed toward the woods.

Hunter looked torn as he swung his head between us and Emily.

I nodded at him. “Go. Make sure she stays out of trouble.”

It was only seven in the evening and still daylight outside, but I didn’t like the thought of her wandering around the woods by herself.

“I will. I promise,” he swore before taking off at a run to catch up with her.

“You shouldn’t encourage him,” Lucas said, coming up to pull me into his body.

“They’ll just go behind our backs if we try to force them apart. If the world can’t keep us away from each other for long, what makes you think we can do it to them?” I gave him a questioning look.

“Hmm, point noted.” He squeezed me tightly. “I’ll still be keeping an eye on them.”

“You’re so cute when you’re being protective.” I rose up on my toes and gave him a quick kiss to get rid of his sudden frown. “I think I hear Cori’s car coming up the drive. Looks like she delivered the letter to the hotel safely.”

Since my hearing had improved, I’d gotten where I could identify individual cars coming up the dirt road to Charlie’s house. It didn’t matter much with sups since they’d come up on my radar anyway, but with humans I had to rely on my listening skills to know when they came. Charlie had a few relatives visit in recent days and none of them registered on my senses.

“It’s about time she returned,” Lucas said, letting me go.

We’d sent her to Fairbanks three hours ago. I’d also been worried when she didn’t come back as soon as we expected.

Cori pulled up her car and got out, moving straight for the trunk. She began hauling luggage out of it and that’s when it occurred to me what she’d been up to. We’d said she should go home first and pack a few things since it wouldn’t be safe to stay in the city any longer. She must have taken awhile, if the amount of luggage she had was any indication.

We walked up and stared at her trunk in amazement. She’d filled it to the top with not just suitcases, but also shopping bags. I sure hoped the standoff with Zoe wouldn’t take so long that she’d need that many outfits.

“Um, I brought some extra stuff because some of the ladies here were complaining about their lack of clothes. Not all of them are the same size, so I bought a few things too,” she explained.

“That was really nice of you,” I said.

Clothing had become a problem recently since most people fled their homes without time to pack. Plus the sups we rescued from Zoe only had the clothes they wore and those were already in bad shape. Charlie’s washer and dryer had been running almost continuously over the last few days.

“Did everything go okay at the hotel?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah, that was a breeze.” She waved a dismissive hand. “I wore a wig and cap, went in and dropped the letter off at the desk, and got out of there before anyone got suspicious.”

We’d been worried they might put two and two together since she’d helped make arrangements for me to get into Zoe’s room the week before. The sensors couldn’t have picked her up, but it was possible they might have her description from the cameras. We were sure they couldn’t have learned anything from the one employee she’d dealt with since he was currently on a vacation to Anchorage for the week—he thought he’d won a prize.

“Well, there’s a cot with your name on it up in Lisette and Emily’s room. We’ll just have to see if we can fit your bags in there.” Doubtful, but half of it would disappear anyway once the other women around the house grabbed their share.

***

It took two days for a response to come from Zoe. Everyone who’d be in the upcoming battle had been training together as much as possible. Lucas had taken a special interest in improving my sword technique to the point I discovered immortals could get sore muscles.

I’d never been happier than when Bambi showed up with Zoe’s reply. Since the trolls were at the border of Charlie’s land, they were the best choice to receive it. We’d promised in our initial letter to Zoe that the messenger she sent would not be harmed or taken hostage.

The problem was that we didn’t have the same guarantee. With how badly the trolls smelled and how disgusting it was to meet their dietary needs, we’d felt confident she wouldn’t have any desire to take them as additional hostages. Hell, you’d have to pay me and even then I might not do it.

I shifted on my feet impatiently, waiting on Nik to read over Zoe’s response. His brows were furrowed, but otherwise he gave no indication of what she’d written. Another long minute passed before he looked up.

“She’s changed the location and date, but it is still set for one in the morning.” He looked at his watch. “We have three hours to prepare ourselves.”

Damn, she wasn’t giving us much time.

“Where’s the new location?” Lucas asked.

Nik showed us the fancy stationary Zoe had used. “It’s a set of grid coordinates, but I know the area well enough to recognize that it’s every bit as remote as our original location.”

Derrick spread out a map on the dining room table and beckoned Nik to him. “Let me see the letter.”

We moved over to him and watched as he traced the coordinates. It was for an area west of town and we’d have to drive on some rough roads to get to it.

“She picked a spot in the opposite direction of Fairbanks from us. It’ll take us that much longer if we have to go around the city to get there,” I observed.

“It’ll give us even less time to prepare as well.” Nik sighed.

Lucas was looking over the letter. “She also wants us to bring the fae device in the lead vehicle. She’ll have a sensor stationed along the last leg of our route to verify it’s with us. If it’s not, she’ll leave and start killing the hostages.”

I’d wondered when she’d use them against us. According to the ones we rescued, they were given some food and water—or blood in the vamps’ case. That took up extra time and resources when you factored in the guards for them, too. Now we knew why she’d bothered. The hostages were another card for her to play.

“How much do you want to bet that wherever she’s standing will be warded against Lucas?” I asked.

The thought had just occurred to me. With her choosing the location, she could set things up ahead of time. The biggest problem with that was part of our plan hinged on Lucas being the one to get the chains on her.

Nik’s face turned resigned. “Then we’ll just have to go with plan B.”

Lucas pulled a wide chain-linked choker from his pocket. “Melena, you’re wearing this.”

I backed away from him. “Oh, no I’m not.”

“We can do this the hard way or you can put it on, but plan B only happens if you cooperate.”

I gave him a stubborn look. “No.”

He smiled. “We’ll see.”

Chapter Forty-four

A male sensor and two vampires stood waiting at the corner when we turned off the highway. We slowed down enough for the sensor to pick the fae device up on his radar. After he gave us a nod and pulled his phone out, we sped back up. We still had a few miles to drive along rough terrain and only twenty minutes left until midnight.

Derrick and the dozens of vehicles following behind us shut off their headlights as we made our way up the dirt road. With the moonlight shining brightly and all the drivers chosen for their improved night vision, we didn’t need the extra illumination. It also gave us time for our eyes to adjust to the darkness before reaching Zoe.

I fingered the choker on my neck and silently cursed Lucas for the thousandth time. The interlocking chains made it flexible, but it still pinched my skin. With it being three inches high it felt like my throat was in a vise-grip.

Lucas hadn’t convinced me to wear it by using threats or force. No, he’d bribed me by saying I could be the first one to question Zoe if we captured her. Whoever said anyone could be bought hadn’t been lying—as long as the price was right. I’d just never believed it until now.

“Pulling on it isn’t going to make it fit any better,” Derrick said from the driver’s seat.

Every time he’d looked at me since I’d put the choker on, he’d laughed. I had plans to kill him later, after the battle. We needed him too much right now to do it beforehand.

“I think it looks lovely on her,” Kerbasi said from the backseat. “For once Lucas did something sensible and collared his pet.”

I counted to ten, then took three calming breaths before replying. “When we get back, I expect you to begin writing a report on the top twenty most romantic things a man can do for a woman. There should be nothing abusive in there and definitely nothing about collars.”

His silver eyes swirled faster than usual. “I do not know of such things to write a report on them.”

“There’s something called research, Kerbasi. You’ll just have to put more effort into this report by asking people what they think. You can also read some more books and watch some more movies while you’re at it.” I’d made him watch “Gone with the Wind” last night. He’d oddly seemed to enjoy that film.

Kerbasi grunted and said nothing further. One of these days he’d learn his sarcastic remarks would just earn him more work. Plus his reports seemed to enthrall all the women at Charlie’s house, providing a desperately needed distraction during a time when things were otherwise too tense. Every one of them gave him an earful after he wrote each one, so he knew it wasn’t just me reading them.

The road got bumpier as we traveled along it, but soon my senses picked up Zoe’s forces—along with the nephilim herself. There were one hundred and twenty of them to our seventy-eight. The odds weren’t as good as we’d hoped for, but if things went according to plan it shouldn’t matter.

We parked our vehicles a quarter-mile out and walked the rest of the way—no need to risk them getting damaged if things turned too ugly. As we got closer, I sensed the warding circle Zoe had put around her. Just as I suspected she’d do. She also had her people standing in a line on either side of her, though all but a few sensors were outside the circle.

Derrick growled when we reached a couple hundred feet from them. “She’s the one.”

He started to leap forward and Nik grabbed him. “Who?”

The werewolf struggled in his hold. “She’s the one who killed my family—and those vamps standing near her helped.”

Damn. I hadn’t seen that coming. All these years he’d never once ran into Zoe so he couldn’t have known it was her. Variola had probably helped keep them apart until her demise.

“You can get your revenge soon enough, but we have to follow the plan,” Nik said, turning Derrick to face him. “You’ve waited this long. You can wait a few more minutes.”

The alpha shook with rage, but somehow he got it under control. “You’re right. I’ll wait, but not long.”

Nik gave me a questioning look. I nodded to confirm Derrick spoke the truth.

“Keep it together,” he warned before letting the werewolf go.

We began walking again.

Once we got closer, I moved ahead of Nik and Derrick to take the lead. Kerbasi moved up beside me. There was no getting rid of him since he was looking forward to taunting the female nephilim. According to him, she screamed like a little girl while getting tortured. That was the first time his mentioning his job hadn’t bothered me.

Zoe’s eyes rounded when she saw the guardian. “No, it can’t be.”