Chapter 6
Adam engaged in a small struggle with the hellion that ended with him forcibly plunking her ass on the motorcycle seat. The door to headquarters opened, and Brenna rushed out with Jase on her heels.
“Are you crazy?” Brenna snapped.
Aye. He was getting crazier by the minute. Adam ignored his furious cousin and focused on the quiet vampire behind her. “What’s the Realm’s position in regard to the Council right now?”
Jase’s older brother was the king of the Realm, which was a coalition of vampires, demons, witches, and shifters. “We’re mulling it over,” Jase said, his eyes a dark copper. “If the witch nation withdraws from the Realm, they’ll be fair game for every enemy you have lying in wait.”
“We can’t face another war so soon,” Brenna murmured, smoothing her hands down her skirt.
“Agreed,” Adam said. Sun glinted off the wet cobblestones, while clouds gathered above them. He had about an hour before rain struck again. “What’s your plan, Kayrs?”
Jase scrubbed a hand through his thick hair. “We have a plane waiting to take us to the States.”
Brenna turned a look on him. “The Council is fracturing, and I need to be here.”
“No. You’re nearly four months pregnant, and I want you safe.” Jase’s tone was gentle, but his expression impenetrable. “Peter Gallagher is taking great pains to restructure the Council without any of your family involved.”
“I agree,” Adam said, before Bren could reply. “This death threat to Victoria is bizarre.”
“We don’t know how far he’ll go,” Jase said.
“I know.” Adam’s shoulders stiffened. “He’s trying to draw out my family. To bring my brothers out of safety.”
Brenna nodded. “Probably.”
“Okay.” Adam breathed out. “We’re all regrouping in the States, Bren. Together we’ll figure out how to take out Gallagher as well as the people trying to kill us.” He’d been away from the investigation into the deadly drug Apollo for too long. The key to the case was in Seattle, and he needed to get back to work. “We’re stronger together as we form a plan. Besides, you’re with child and need to remain safely under the radar.” No way would he allow his pregnant cousin, one of the kindest women in the world, to remain here in danger.
“Stop being such an ass,” the sweetheart snapped. “I don’t need to be safe. I need to retake my damn place on the fucking Council.”
Adam sighed. “Jase. She was so much more reasonable before she mated you.”
Jase kneaded Bren’s neck. “She’s brilliant and reasonable. If anybody can think of a nonviolent way out of this mess, it’s my Brenna.”
Bren flushed a pretty pink. “Pooling our resources is a good idea. Adam’s right—except for the part about me staying out of it. If most of our family and allies are in the States right now, we should plan from there.” She turned and pressed a kiss to Jase’s jaw. “But if I need to come back here to retake my seat, I will come back here.”
Tori cleared her throat. “Sounds like you all have a lot going on. How about the little human here takes off and gets out of the way?” She moved to jump off the bike.
Adam stopped her with a hand on her thigh. The second he touched her, his body flared wide awake.
Brenna shook her head. “Tori, they’re not messing around. You have to get out of Ireland before Peter talks the rest of the Council into killing you. He seems to be on some weird mission right now.”
Adam nodded. “Agreed.” He slid onto the bike in front of Victoria. “We’ll see you in the States.”
Brenna’s eyes widened. “Why don’t you catch the plane with us?”
“No. Too many of us in one plane—too tempting to take out,” Adam countered, strategizing the next week in his mind. “Plus, Victoria and I need to have a little discussion.” If he had to guess, it wasn’t going to be a quiet one.
Brenna looked from Victoria to him. “You can’t seriously be planning to mate just because the Council ordered you to.”
That might be the only choice for either of them. Oh, he’d try to find a way out of the mess, but so far, his hands were tied.
“We could take out the three council members,” Jase said quietly.
Adam met his gaze evenly. The idea went against everything he was inside, everything he’d vowed to give his life to protect. Fate only knew what kind of strife and fury that would create in the witch nation. Not to mention fear. He started the bike, gratified when the engine roared to life. “I’ll be in touch.” Forcing a smile to combat Brenna’s worried gaze, he turned the bike and sped out of the parking area.
Victoria wrapped her arms around his waist and settled her face against the back of his shirt. Trusting little thing when he gave her no choice, now wasn’t she?
He could almost hear her turmoil-filled thoughts. So he opened the throttle and let the beast go. The second her worry turned to enjoyment, he smiled. Figured she’d like it fast and dangerous.
The cobblestones tried to grab the tires, but he drove evenly, allowing the world to flash by. The first hiccup came in the form of a rapid decrease in speed. Then increase. Then decrease. “What the hell?” he muttered.
Victoria shook her head against him.
The bike slowly petered out and then stopped. Trees lined one side of the road, while the river lined the other. He jumped off and crouched down, holding the bike with one hand.
Victoria gingerly slid from the seat. Her hair was a wild mass around her pretty pink face, and her eyes sparkled the deep blue of the center of the ocean.
His groin hardened.
She swallowed. “The bike won’t start.”
What was wrong with his bikes lately? He reached for a cell phone in his back pocket. “I’ll have somebody come get us and take us to the airport.”
She paled. “I can’t fly. Can’t be anywhere near a death contraption in the sky.”
Oh, the sweetheart. She was afraid of flying. He stood and secured the bike. “Our pilots are the best, and the planes very safe. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
She fisted her hands. “Adam. You are not listening to me—I just said that I can’t fly.”
He paused and focused, his phone silent in his hand. Her eyes blazed, and her shoulders had gone rock hard. “Okay. Talk.”
She gestured toward the bike. “Dead bike. Again.”
He frowned and studied his perfectly maintained motorcycle. Interesting. “True. Go on.”
She huffed out a breath. “There’s something wrong with me.” Both hands scrubbed through her curly hair. “I can’t explain it. Anything with a motor or electricity . . . I can make it go dead. Not on purpose. Even the automatic doors at a grocery store. Half the time, they won’t open for me.” Her eyes widened, the look a little wild. “And cash registers. Geez. Many times, they stop working when I get near.”
He gaped at her. Fascinating. “So, your enhancement as a human is . . . what? You affect machinery?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s weird, but I’ve gotten used to it. Sometimes a car will stop. Not all the time, but I can’t control when or how. I try to stay away from engines, but sometimes that’s not possible. No way am I getting on an airplane. No way.”
He wanted to banish the fear crossing her stunning face. “You flew to get here.”
“I know,” she breathed, shaking her head. “They kidnapped me, and I was unconscious the whole way here. Maybe that helped? I’m not sure.”
Fury slashed through him that somebody had knocked her out. “Who hurt you?”
She took a step back. “I have no clue.”
Oh, he’d find out, and that bastard would bleed. “Okay.” He rapidly clicked thoughts into place. “Can you affect machinery on purpose?”
“I’ve tried,” she admitted, kicking a pebble. “Sometimes I can, but often not so much.” She wrinkled her nose. “It’s weird, right?”
“No,” he said. “Not really. I mean, waves are all around us. Light waves, sound waves, thought waves, microwaves . . . your waves just mess with machinery. There’s plenty of logic to it.”
She blinked. A slow smile lifted her lips. “Logic? Me?”
He coughed. “Good point.” Then he grinned. Man, she was cute.
“So.” She hunched her shoulders just as a light rain began to fall. “Do you have a boat?”
“Better.” He quickly dialed a number and pressed the phone to his ear. “Much better.”
“Kayrs,” came a low voice.
Adam smiled. “King? I need a favor.”
* * *
Tori wiped rain off her cheeks, her heart thrumming. She’d confessed her oddity to Adam, and he hadn’t blinked. In fact, he’d figured it out. Maybe. Who knew? She watched him on the phone with somebody named King.
“I need a ride, and I’ll owe you one. Lock on to my cell phone, would you?” Adam sent her a reassuring smile. “King?” he said into the phone.
A man appeared on the road. Out of nowhere. “What?” he asked.
Tori gasped and backpedaled three feet. Her heart slammed against her rib cage, and her legs twitched with the urge to flee. What the hell?
Adam slid his phone into his back pocket and turned to face the guy. “Have to make an entrance, don’t you?”
The man grinned. He wore dark jeans and a black button-down shirt that looked expensive. Comfortable and expensive. “I was in a meeting with Kane and Conn. They hate it when I just disappear.”
Tori’s mouth opened, and she snapped it shut.
“Hello,” the guy said.
She shook her head slowly. The man was as tall as Adam and very broad across the chest. His eyes looked kind of silver in the misty day, and his dark hair reached his shoulders. An odd gray patch ran through the thick mass, but he couldn’t be more than thirty years old. Tension rolled off him . . . charisma? No. Power. Yeah. That was it.
Adam moved toward her and took her arm, his bulk and warmth providing comfort. “Don’t bolt, little rabbit. Dage is a friend.”
Dage. Yeah. The name fit. She lifted her chin. “Hello.”
Adam smiled. “Victoria, this is Dage Kayrs, King of the Realm. Dage, this is—”
“Victoria Monzelle,” Dage said smoothly, seeming content in the center of the quiet road. “Sister to Detective Alexandra Monzelle, who is mated to Kellach Dunne, the former Coven Nine Enforcer currently wanted for treason.”
Adam sighed. “Show-off.”
“Not even close,” Dage said. “Known as Tori to those close to you. You’re a singer in a band, have a two-year degree in music, and you supplement your income by selling lyrics to bigger names in the business. You’re underpaid, by the way.”
Tori blinked. Nobody knew about that. Hadn’t they told her that the king of the Realm was a vampire? A real freakin’ vampire. “You have good sources.” What else did the king know?
He lifted a massive shoulder. “I’m the king. Everyone forgets that sometimes.”
How the hell would anybody ever forget that fact? There was no doubt he was something . . . more. If he knew any of her other secrets, he chose not to tell. At this moment in time, anyway.
His eyes sparkled. “It’s very nice to make your acquaintance.”
Adam released her arm. “We need a ride.”
Dage cocked his head, his gaze darkening. “You’re a Coven Nine Enforcer, and I believe the witch nation is about to withdraw from the Realm. War might be imminent. Thus, we would no longer be allies.”
Tori shivered.
“I’m asking as a friend,” Adam said simply.
The king brightened. “Well then. Of course.”
Who were these people? “Um, ride?” Tori asked, her voice wavering slightly. “You appeared out of nowhere.” She didn’t want a ride on his magic carpet, or whatever it was. Who knew how much she could screw that up? “This is a bad idea.” One she didn’t even understand.
A small smile played on the king’s face. “Out of curiosity, why not take a plane?”
“She’s enhanced with an ability that somehow jams engines, motors, and some electrical devices,” Adam said simply.
The king studied her. “Cool.”
Cool? Huh. She’d always thought it aggravating.
“But she can’t control it. Yet.” Adam glanced down the empty roadway. “It’s imperative we get out of Dublin.”
“Ah, yes.” Dage studied the tumultuous sky. “I heard you offered to mate Miss Monzelle.”
Adam glowered. “How the hell—”
“I’m the king,” Dage said wearily. “Geez. The. King.”
Tori tried to retreat another step, and Adam grasped her hand, completely enfolding it. “I’m not riding with him.” She forced a smile. “Sorry, king.”
“Dage. Please call me Dage.” Amusement brought one dimple into play in his rugged face. “I can teleport, Victoria. It’s a matter of moving between dimensions with the application of string theory and a bunch of other boring science stuff. No motors. No engines. No electricity.” His hands opened and spread wide. “In fact, metal can’t even come with us, so no weapons. Or phones.”
Okay. Life was so much different from what she’d thought. She couldn’t even imagine this craziness. “Um, no.”
Adam moved toward the middle of the road, forcing her to follow. She tried to pull back and free her hand, but he held tight.
Dage watched the struggle, his dimple winking again. “I promise it does not hurt. You’ll be fine.” He waited until they’d reached him, and the atmosphere grew heavy in his vicinity. “Where are we going?” he asked mildly.
“My penthouse in Seattle,” Adam said tersely. “Trust me, Victoria. I wouldn’t allow anything to harm you.”
Well, that seemed to be true. She stopped fighting him. “I, ah, I don’t know about this.”
Dage nodded. “Understandable. I assume your world has been rocked by quite a few revelations lately. Incidentally, if you’d like, I could have the man who stole your last song from you beheaded. Or tortured for a few weeks.”
The saliva in her mouth dried up.
“Somebody stole one of your songs?” Adam asked, his eyes flashing.
She tried to swallow, but her throat ached. “Well, yeah. He’s an old friend, or I thought he was, and I showed him a song. He basically stole it and sold it for a decent amount, and there was nothing I could do.” Her gaze remained on the king. He sure knew pretty much everything. Why wasn’t he telling Adam about her working for the DEA and investigating him? As she watched, Dage slowly winked. Man. He was just messing around. “I appreciate the offer, but I’ve made peace with it. Please don’t, ah, behead anybody,” she whispered.
“Your call,” Dage said cheerfully. “Everybody ready to go?”
“Wait.” Adam pulled out his cell phone and ripped it apart easily, crushing the chip with his bare hands. He dusted the pieces to the ground. “All right.”
“I don’t—” Tori started to say, just as Dage moved forward, sliding an arm around her waist and one around Adam’s.
Then . . . nothing. No sights, no sounds, no feelings. Just nothing.
Light slammed into her, along with gravity. She blinked. An opulent hallway slowly came into focus. She blinked again . . . right into the barrel of a gun.