“Stand down, Dani. Christ,” Sasha interrupted, his tone and his expression heavy with concern. “They’re here.”
“Who?” Dani asked, drawing back, instantly serious.
Petra stilled, wondering if her brother was talking about Syn, and maybe . . . Sara or her mate. But that impossible hope was quickly crushed with Sasha’s next words.
“The Order,” he said, his eyes shuttered. “They’re all at the gathering stones.”
Petra felt a shock like electricity move through her. Forget her and forget Synjon—the Order was looking for her father now. They believed him to have been abducted by the shifters. Held against his will. Something that Petra knew wasn’t possible. Once again Cruen was up to something. What a mess this whole thing was. Synjon had wanted to be the one to abduct Cruen, and yet her father had run off with some underground water shifters and was now becoming a dangerous, threatening problem to Petra’s family and friends.
Gods, why did she continue to care about that paven’s well-being?
Why did something inside her still hope and wonder if he might love her? Or at the very least, care about her.
“So what?” Dani said, already stripping out of her clothes. “Are they looking for a fight over that geriatric vampire who went looking for trouble in our Rain Forest?”
Sasha nodded, but his eyes remained on Petra. “Something like that.”
“Well, then, let’s give ’em one.”
Shifting into her hawk, wings spread and flapping in the breeze, Dani screeched at the two of them to climb aboard. And when they did, she wasted no time in soaring into the sky, her eyes narrowed on the growing firelight in the distance.
• • •
The jaguar, the hawk, and the water beast stood between the shifters and the Order in the center of the gathering stones. The night was very dark, punctuated only by a brilliant full moon in the sky and a bonfire down below.
Dillon didn’t know about Phane and Helo—and who the hell knew where Lycos was hanging out these days—but this wasn’t about choosing between vampire and shifter. This was about right and wrong. Bully and innocent. And the Order had just crossed that line.
For fucking Cruen.
“We are getting word that Cruen is staying with a group of water shifters,” Dillon said, her eyes flickering toward the leader of the Water Faction.
The male knew that a small band of his kind had broken off, were experimenting on themselves with plants and animals, trying to gain power and strength. And it wasn’t too far a stretch that Cruen would end up with such a pack.
“Produce him so we may see for ourselves,” said Feeyan, her white eyes shockingly bare in the light of the bonfire. She looked almost blind.
“He won’t come out for anyone,” Dillon told her. “These shifters aren’t following the rules of their land.”
“So, we’re dealing with rogue shifters.” Feeyan glanced behind her to the other Order members. “Even worse than I thought.”
Shit. Dillon should’ve known her boss would see things that way, would spin them that way. She should’ve anticipated. Now there did seem to be an actual threat.
“We ask you to step aside,” Feeyan said, her stark gaze running over every faction leader, Petra’s mother, and a few other shifter males, including the doctor. “Let us find Cruen and deal with the ones who took him.”
Overhead, a hawk was coming in for a landing. Dillon barely gave it a glance. She knew who was arriving, and wondered if it would have any effect on the situation. She guessed not. Feeyan had something to prove. Dillon had noticed it ever since she’d become the leader of the Order. And it had gotten worse as of late. It was evident in her actions, reactions, choices, even the way she continually looked to the other Order members for approval. From what Dillon had heard, Cruen had never given a shit about what the others thought or about gaining their respect. He did what he wanted, what he thought was right, and screw what anyone else said.
It made Dillon wonder if that was why Cruen remained important to Feeyan, and why the veana hadn’t attempted to investigate the paven for any of his many crimes.
“And if we don’t step aside?” Wen asked boldly.
Behind Feeyan, two of the more ancient members hissed. Looking pleased, she raised her hand to quell their ire. “We will have to wipe out this entire forest. Clean house, so to speak.”
The leader of the Mountain Faction stepped forward, close to the fire, and growled. “How dare you come here and threaten us, our home?”
“There is no threat, only an understanding.”
“Bloodsuckers will not dictate our actions or control our world!” cried the leader of the Avians.
“You either give back who you took or we go in and find him ourselves.” Feeyan beamed. “You see? Very simple.”
Petra came running into the gathering stones, her brother and Dani flanking her. “I’m Cruen’s daughter,” she said in a loud, clear voice. She looked around, searching, and when she found Feeyan, she addressed her directly. Dillon had to hand it to the pregnant veana. She had some serious balls.
“And a full-blood veana,” she continued. “Long ago, Cruen left me here. I was just an infant. He knows this species, has used them for experiments, and gave his only child to a pride of lions. They raised me beautifully. Clearly he trusts them, feels comfortable among them. If he wanted to leave, all he’d have to do is flash. He’s a powerful paven, is he not?”
The skin around Feeyan’s eyes twitched. “All Purebloods are powerful.”
“But Cruen is more so,” Petra said, lifting her chin. “Did you ever wonder why?”
Behind Feeyan, the other members stood stock-still, listening intently.
“He dipped into many species,” she continued. “Shifter, demon, gods know what else, all in the name of power. He wanted the ultimate vampire, and to do that he added the DNA of other powerful beings.” She stepped forward. “Do you really think he’s worth a war?”
Feeyan didn’t speak at first. She seemed less confident, almost worried, as she stood there and regarded Petra. Dillon stared at her, wondering what she was thinking, how she was going to play this now that Cruen’s daughter had proclaimed him able to leave this land anytime he wanted. If Feeyan fought that charge, she was basically saying that Purebloods were weak. If she didn’t, she herself looked weak.
Behind her, several of the Order members started whispering. Dillon heard things like, “We look like fools” and “Are we truly negotiating with animals?” and “Cruen would’ve never let this go on.”
Feeyan seemed to make a choice right there. Everything about her changed in an instant. Her demeanor, her stance, even the way she spoke. Clearly, she wasn’t about to let the Order members see her as weak. Even if that might be the truth.
“We want access to the Rain Forest,” she said finally. “We will find him ourselves. Question him about his activities ourselves.”
“Maybe he doesn’t want to be found,” Dillon said with a tight shrug.
Feeyan’s lips twitched with humor. “No matter what his daughter says, no Pureblood vampire wants to live in this jungle. And after this day, none ever will.” She turned to address the three Romans brothers and their mates, who had been silent and seething as they sat upon the rocks. “It sets a bad precedent,” she continued authoritatively. “The Eternal Breed and . . . whatever these things are will not live together.”
With one hand on her belly, Petra glared at the Order. “You can’t control where we live.”
A false smile on her face, Feeyan raised her hands above her head, then abruptly brought them down. Instantly, snow started to fall.
The shifters gasped and leaped to their feet, touched their heads and shoulders, wondering if they were being burned. Clearly, they had never seen snow before.
Feeyan eyed Petra. “I can control everything, my dear. This—what you see before you—is just a whisper of my power.” She turned to Wen and the faction leaders. “I will search this forest, find my Pureblood. And I will do it either with your approval or with your blood on my fangs.”
23
Synjon landed at the mouth of the caves, the caves where he’d watched Juliet’s body burn, where he’d held and kissed Petra, where he’d realized something had changed within him and that his dead emotions had somehow sprung up from the ashes and were growing once again.
The moon was a spotlight above him, bathing the interior of the cave in ghostly white for a good ten feet. Adrian waited for him inside. They were going to make the trek to the gathering stones, where Cruen was to meet up with his trusted guard. That was the plan anyway.
A whimper from inside the caves drew Syn forward, and he followed the dim light all the way to the back of the cave walls. He’d been here twice in eight months, had witnessed his own mental collapse as well as the confusion and sexual desire and despair of the greatest kind. But never had he come upon something so impossible to resist as Cruen, unconscious and unchained.
He stared at the bloodied and bruised monster just inches away from his feet.
“Forget the stones,” Adrian said to him with a dark grin. “We can take him to his final resting place right now.”
The male looked bloody feral, Syn thought, a whisper of concern moving through him. Completely jacked up on adrenaline. “How did you manage this?”
Adrian shrugged, his fangs hanging low, the points illuminated by the one thread of moonlight that had tracked deep inside the cave. “Drugs. I stole them from the shifter doctor.” Adrian grinned. “It’s like some kind of animal tranquilizer.”
Spreading like cancer through Syn’s blood was the satisfaction of knowing that Cruen could be brought down. That he wasn’t even close to his full strength. Containment could be so easy. He picked up the paven’s legs while Adrian took his shoulders, and they carried him outside the cave.
“I kept him inside,” Adrian said, glancing around. “Can’t have the Avians flying overhead, seeing something strange that they feel they have to investigate, can we?”