Deceptions: A Collection (36 page)

Wails rose in the air, flooded it as surely as the smoke and debris.

Tortured and pitiful, broken and sad.

“No, no, no, no!”

They really had used a landmine.

What in the
hell
—?

And those voices. I really did hear voices.

As we eased closer, I gripped my sword.

Three voices. I could pick apart three distinct voices.

“They’re gone, no…they’re gone…”

I saw the lip of the pit and my mind tried to fade away on me but I battled it back.

Damon’s hand grabbed the back of my neck, squeezed. “Don’t,” he said. Even though his voice was gentle, there was a thread of command in it. “You act like you got balls of steel, now is the time to show it.”

“If you don’t quit bossing me around, I’m going to
show
my balls of steel…and cut yours off,” I muttered, shoving back another round of the shakes. Then I glanced down and smirked. “They’re rather exposed.”

One of those weird expressions—was it a smile?—came and went. “That’s my girl. Come on.”

He went first, checking every step of the way.

Then he knelt at the lip of the pit. I moved to stand at his side, resting a hand on his shoulder and clinging to sanity by the threads.

Three terrified faces stared up at us.

Two girls and one boy who was painfully close to a man.

Blond, yes. Blue-green eyes like Doyle had.

But the face…a familiar face.

Sanity tried to twist away again. Time shifted—reversed. That face, staring down
at
me while I clambered up a rope. Me kneeling on the ground, all but ready to kiss the soft grass, so grateful to be out of the pit.

Then, cold water—cruel hands.

Rathias—a third cousin. One of the crueler ones.

She said to let you out tonight…you’re out, cousin. Now you can say thank you
—

A sharp wail split through the memories crowded into my mind and I shoved them back, breathing shallowly as I stared at the girl instead. Girl. This one was a witch. Red-haired, green-eyed, skinny and frail. She looked like she didn’t stand a chance against the muscle the shifters could weld.

The shifters…

Against my will, I felt myself looking back at the boy. The blond hair.

The eyes.

Through a throat gone tight, I whispered, “Is that Doyle?”

“Yeah.”

I stumbled away and went to my knees.

Rathi
—

“Damn it, Kit, what the fuck is the matter?”

I wanted to run. Everything in me screamed it.

Behind me, I heard long, low, furious curses.

Swallowing, I slipped out of my backpack and unzipped it. Coiled in the bottom was a rope. We hadn’t planned on needing it, but then again, we hadn’t planned on coming across snakes, steel traps or landmines.

And I hadn’t planned on finding a kid with a face that looked like the hell of my past either.

“Why doesn’t he look like the picture?” I asked quietly.

“The spike. Hitting him hard.” Power ripped, rippled and I found myself staring into Damon’s face—that familiar face. “What’s wrong, kitten?”

No
. Mutely, I shook my head and I passed the rope over.

Not now.

Probably not ever.

I couldn’t do this now.

“No time, remember?”

They were all weak.

Malnourished.

Doyle was the worst.

He watched me like…well, a predator who’d sighted its prey. Even after Damon had forced three bottles of water and several of the protein shakes on him, the kid still had a half-wild look in his eyes.

A few times, he made a move toward me and each time, Damon stepped between us.

The girls crowded around me and I let them.

The little witch broke down sobbing, wrapping her arms around my neck. “He’s spiking and he’s trying so hard, but…”

I heard the unspoken words. Hell, I could see it.

Doyle was teetering on the brink. “It’s okay,” I told her. “But we can’t stay here.”

We started out, me herding the girls along in front, even though every instinct demanded I
not
leave the hungry, predatory kid at my back.

Several times, I heard a growl. Snarls.

Once, there was a weird, rushing sound and I looked back, saw Damon holding the boy in a bear hug. He stared at me. “Go,” he said flatly. “We’ll be along.”

I grimaced and kept moving.

If I thought that first day in the park was hell, no. This….
this
was hell.

It was nightfall before we reached our car. There were more traps set, but we evaded them with ease, thanks in part to the little witch. Her name was Erin and she told me she’d been out on two hunts already. She said this in a broken, awful little whisper.

I wanted to cuddle her and hold her and promise nothing else would ever happen to her.

But I didn’t make promises I couldn’t keep.

Park rangers were up ahead. Shit.

My bow. My sword. I had them clutched in my hands and I stopped, shooting Damon a look and then I groaned as I saw his utter lack of clothing. He calmly dropped his pack and pulled out some clothes. He’d lost his shoes—did he have shoes?

“Kit. Do it…and don’t argue,” he told me.

I sighed. There was no point in arguing with this. I’d rather not let the rangers see the weapons, although how he was going to explain the kids…

Erin’s eyes rounded in surprise as she watched me fade away. The girl shifter barely seemed to notice. I think she was in shock. Doyle, though…he still watched me. Even though he couldn’t see me. The utter hunger in his eyes froze me.

Damon managed to get dressed before anybody saw the small group and I stayed at their back as he headed over to the car. All that weird power mantled down, too.
Good job
, I thought absently, still keeping Doyle in my sight. He was tracking my scent, the sound of my heart. Scaring the hell out of me.

“Hey there,” Damon said. “Sorry, guys. Brought my stepson and his friends out here and they wanted to go out for a while on their own. I was stupid enough to let them and they got lost. Took me a few hours to find them—I was about to call you all when I finally caught up with them an hour ago.”

Good way to play it…

It took another twenty minutes to get out of there before the park rangers were convinced everything was all good and nice and normal.

They did ask about his shoes. He confessed he was a shifter and that he’d ended up shifting to track them down. He’d lost his shoes somewhere, but he’d been so worried about the kids, he hadn’t realized it until later.

The rangers’ reactions were mixed. Two were okay with it. One stared at him with disgust—that wasn’t an unusual response for humans.

Finally, they nodded and let them pack up their gear. It was awkward, scrambling into the back. Damon’s order had come through clear—
All you girls into the back. Me and the boy are up front
. I worked the keys out of my pocket and dropped them into the seat, hoping the rangers didn’t notice.

Once we were on the road, they headed out.

A few minutes later, I let myself fade back in. Immediately, I wanted to hide again because as I shifted in the seat, I saw Doyle turn around, staring at me.

Wide, hungry eyes. His nostrils flared and his lips parted as he breathed the air in.

Damon hit the windows and a blast of cool night flooded the car.

“Doyle, turn around.”

The kid didn’t.

“Doyle,” Damon said quietly. “If you don’t turn around and look away from her right now, I’m going to get pissed. Please don’t force my hand on this.”

A hungry, miserable little whine escaped the kid.

But he turned away.

I continued to watch him the entire way.

It was the longest damn drive of my life.

So miserably, achingly long that I couldn’t even breathe a sigh of relief at finishing the damn job.

“You’ll stay here for now,” the mother said as she stared at the abused teens being tended to by the healers.

“Is…is that wise?” I swallowed, thinking of the intensity on Doyle’s face.

That kid, around all these women? Many of them pacifists?

“Yes. This was an organized thing, Kitasa and you know it. Nowhere around here will you find a place with the protection I can offer you.”

Reluctantly, I had to admit she was right. But this boy…

I flicked him a look. One of the few men in the house was tending him and the boy was back to watching me. Damon was between us—I don’t think he’d given up that position once since we’d found the kid and I was painfully aware of the fact that I was relying on this guy to protect me…from a
kid
.

If Doyle lost it and came for me, I’d kill him. If he went after any of these witches, I’d kill him or Kori would.

She could do it easily in his current state. And I probably could. I
thought
I probably could. He was still weak. He was malnourished and more, the spike was making him uncontrollable. I could see it in the fluctuations of his energy.

But I didn’t want to kill a kid.

Especially not one who meant something to Damon. But I’d be damned if I took the hurt I suspected
this
boy could bring.

“He doesn’t mean harm,” the mother said tiredly. “He…”

Eyes cut our way.

She gestured to the wall and I followed her through, trusting Damon and Kori to control whatever happened in the hall for a few minutes.

“He had to control everything for nearly two weeks,” she said, staring at the mirror as though she could see everything happening in the room. “Some part of him was in control enough to realize that the two girls, the witch and the werewolf, weren’t strong. He wouldn’t prey on the weak. It shows some sign of the kind of man he’ll be.” A nervous smile curled her lips. “Think of it as a compliment. He sees an equal in you. He doesn’t see somebody he would be abusing, but an equal.”

“Yay, me.”

She stroked my arm. “A day or two. Some food. Let him realize he’s safe and he’ll settle. There’s a good heart in him, he just…” Es shook her head. “It was horrid, what happened. At one point, they had seven people in that hole. Seven. And he watched as one by one they were dragged away.”

“I’m going to kill them,” I said quietly.

Her hand fell away. “It’s not our way.” Her nearly colorless eyes flickered. “Anger. Rage. But…” She slanted a look at me and nodded. “It’s a cancer that does this. A cancer must be cut out or it can spread.”

Cutting it out sounded pretty damn good by me.

As she turned to the mirror, I went to follow but she looked back. “Perhaps you should go elsewhere…the library. The kitchen. Even just a soak in the tub, Kitasa. The more you’re around him, the harder it’s going to be for him to break this obsession. Let my witch heal him. We’ll feed him.”

I thought it through, then nodded. Yeah. Good idea.

I didn’t need to be around him just then anyway.

“Let Damon know.”

I wanted food.

But she’d said a soak…

The room where I’d slept here the night I’d burnt was my hand wasn’t where I was led this time.

There was a larger room.

Lovely, done in shades of red and brown and when I opened the sliding doors, I had to catch my breath. A huge tub dominated the room. A soak. Yes. I’d soak. I’d soak until I turned into a prune.

While I was running the water, there was a knock at the door.

I opened it to discover Jo. She smiled at me absently, like her mind was in another world. She pushed a tray of food into my hands and then drifted—literally—down the hall.

I eyed the cup of coffee narrowly. Coffee. Caffeine, did I really want that? Except I rarely said no to coffee. It was like saying no to chocolate or a pretty new blade. I took a sip and grimaced at the motor oil taste of it. Who in the world brewed it here?

Juggling the tray one-handed, I kicked the door closed and carried the food over to the tub. It had a wide lip and I put the tray down as I got undressed. Time for something totally slothful, I decided. I was going to eat and take a damn bath at the same time. Steam was curling up in little wisps over the tub and when I checked the water, it almost boiled me. Perfect.

Near the foot of the tub, I saw a couple of jars of bath salts. While I nibbled on a slice of cheese, I checked them. One smelled of apples. No. One was like rainwater. Not bad, but not right, either. Another was some sort of mint and that was way too strong for me. The last one was subtle, just barely scented of vanilla. Perfect. I added a little and climbed in, making sure the tray wasn’t going to fall over.