Saeed threw the blanket from his body and sprang from the floor with an enraged snarl. His anger had lain dormant in the oblivion of daytime sleep and now that the sun had set, it burned hot and bright in the center of his chest.
Cerys.
A shout of unadulterated rage escaped from Saeed’s lips as he recalled the moment Rin’s lackeys had ripped her from his arms. His own inability to protect her only exacerbated his unchecked rage. He needed to get to Cerys. To see her with his own eyes and know she was okay. He had no idea how Rin would retaliate for Cerys not coming home last night. But one thing was certain, if he so much as laid a finger on her, Saeed would make the bastard bleed.
No matter what happened, Saeed vowed tonight would be Cerys’s last spent in servitude.
He couldn’t take Rin down alone, however. He’d underestimated the mage’s greed, ambition, and ruthlessness. Saeed had known many ruthless males over the course of his existence and every single one of them had met their end because their arrogance had weakened them. Rin’s arrogance lay in the illusion of his control. Saeed planned to beat Rin at his own game and capitalize on that.
His exposure to the sun had kept Saeed considerably weakened. He needed blood, but since he refused to feed from anyone but Cerys, he would have to wait to replenish his strength. In the meantime, he had no choice but to hedge his bets, and rely on reluctant allies. Hell, when everything was said and done, he might end up as alone as he was now. But he wouldn’t know until he tried.
* * *
Without a car, the trek to Bellevue wasted precious time. Saeed pushed himself as fast as he could go, a smear of shadow against the backdrop of night. The little cabin tucked in the woods wasn’t hard to find, and Saeed didn’t bother with pleasantries as he was greeted with open hostility at the door.
“Run a stake through my heart if it pleases you,” Saeed said to the angry male who blocked the doorway. “But I’m here because I want to help you reclaim your mistress’s soul.”
The male looked as though he might do just what Saeed suggested and run him through. Blue-black hair cascaded from the top of his head and brushed his shoulders. Dark brows cut severe slashes over his dark violet eyes. His full lips formed a hard line and his jaw squared with clenched teeth. He stood with the well-practiced stance of a seasoned warrior, one hand resting on the pommel of the dagger sheathed at his side and the other wrapped tight around an intricately engraved silver stake.
“Breanne is not my mistress,” the male snapped. “But I don’t doubt it would give her a great deal of pleasure to watch you bleed, vampire.”
Of that, Saeed had no doubt. “I’ve come unarmed.”
The fae answered with a derisive snort. “Then you’re a fool.”
“Perhaps.” Saeed wasn’t here to fight. Or ruffle feathers. “But Rin has something I want. He has something Breanne wants. Not working together to achieve our common goal would be foolish.”
The fae sneered. “Having an attack of conscience, vampire?”
“The soulless have no conscience.”
Saeed looked past the male to see Breanne slowly making her way down a staircase at the far end of the foyer. Her complexion was sallow and her expression drawn. Her shoulders hunched slightly, making her seem entirely too frail. The aura of power and vitality that had surrounded her was gone and in its place was a dark shroud.
“Did Rin’s soul thief die?”
Breanne’s question knocked the air from Saeed’s chest. Not because she’d asked it, but because of the hope that had accented her words. Saeed knew how the supernatural viewed Cerys’s kind and it sickened him. He hated that she was feared and reviled. He hated that she’d lived with so much prejudice because of a power that was as much a part of her as her beautiful starlit eyes and luminous skin. Her power was a parasite that fed from her, stole life from her with every occurrence of its use. And bastards like Rin exploited that power and perpetuated the fear and hate that had followed her for centuries.
“No.” Saeed took a step forward and the fae at the door brought the silver stake up in a defensive stance. “And be careful how you speak of my mate, bean sidhe.”
Breanne’s eyes went wide. She said something to the male in a language Saeed didn’t understand, and the fae lowered the stake in his hand before stepping aside to allow Saeed into the house.
“Your eyes are empty, vampire, so don’t think for a second that I believe Rin’s heartless assassin has tethered your soul.”
The state of Saeed’s soul was no one’s business, least of all Breanne’s. She could say what she wanted about him. What he wouldn’t tolerate, was any slight against Cerys. “I warned you to mind your tongue. Speak ill of her again and I’ll make sure your soul is never returned to you.”
“Has Rin made you the keeper of his stolen souls, then?”
Saeed didn’t have time for this. What he needed to do was swallow his damned pride and do whatever it took to get the help he needed to set Cerys free. “You think she’s the enemy, but she’s not. She’s Rin’s victim just as much as you are. Help me, and I give you my vow your soul will be returned to you.”
Breanne laughed. The sound was hollow and emotionless, the perfect echo of what she must have felt. He understood her disdain and suspicion, her anger. But all of the anger in the world wouldn’t do her any good if she wasn’t willing first to help herself.
“You saw what happened to Cerys.” Saeed stepped closer to Breanne and her guard dog mirrored his motions. “Extracting your soul nearly killed her. Do you honestly think she would voluntarily do something like that to herself?”
Breanne’s gaze narrowed. “You didn’t deny that she failed to tether you.”
Saeed decided that in this case, honesty was the best policy. “Because she has no soul with which to tether me.”
Breanne snorted. “Then we are all Rin’s victims. But do you really think I appreciate being used by you any more than I appreciate being used by him?”
Saeed shrugged. Again, he saw no point in trying to deceive her. “I want to use you for a night. A single fight. Rin would use you for eternity.”
“And so you think I’d prefer the lesser of two evils?”
“No,” Saeed replied. “I think you’d prefer the return of your soul.”
The male who watched over Saeed exchanged a furtive glance with Breanne. He sheathed the silver stake and spoke to her in their strange unintelligible tongue. Saeed considered himself worldly and educated. He spoke several languages. But the fae were a mystery to him. The less contact he had with Breanne and her lot, the better. He waited patiently for their conversation to conclude, but every second they wasted was one second too many.
“What do you want from me?” Breanne asked.
“A distraction.” Breanne might have been without her soul, but Cerys hadn’t taken her power. If Saeed had any chance of freeing Cerys or her soul, he’d need Rin’s attention focused elsewhere.
Breanne cocked a brow. “That’s all?”
Saeed knew better than to be greedy. “That’s all.”
Breanne studied him for a quiet moment. She exchanged a glance with the male and Saeed was certain they could communicate without speaking. Again, it meant little to him as long as he was able to secure Breanne’s aid.
“Fallon will go with you.”
Fallon. Breanne’s consort and the male who’d wanted to drive a stake through his heart. “I don’t know him.” It wasn’t that Saeed wasn’t grateful, but he’d seen Breanne’s power. That’s what he needed to distract Rin.
“You don’t know me, either.” Breanne’s haughty response reinforced Saeed’s belief that the bean sidhe was regarded more as a queen. “And yet, you’re so eager to put your trust in me.”
Saeed could think of several words to describe what he was feeling right now and none of them was “eager.” His reluctant alliance with the fae was born of necessity and nothing else. Saeed had no one to turn to. She was his last resort. He wasn’t about to play games with her, though. “I’ve seen what you can do. How do I even know he’ll be of use to me?”
Breanne smirked. “I suppose that’s a risk you’ll have to take, vampire.”
Gods-damn it. In so many words she’d told him to take it or leave it. The sooner Saeed could free Cerys and get her the hell out of the city, the better. He’d had his fill of Seattle’s supernaturals.
“All right, then. Let’s go.” He looked Fallon up and down and said a silent prayer that the male would be of use to him. “You’ve already wasted too much of my time.”
“Don’t forget.” Breanne leveled her intense stare on Saeed. “If you’re successful tonight, you owe me a soul.”
Saeed gave a slight inclination of his head. So much relied on his success tonight. First, he’d keep his promise to Cerys. After that, he’d fulfill the rest of his obligations.
* * *
“Have you lost your fucking mind, Rin?”
Cerys leaned in close, the words nothing more than a seething whisper after she walked into the club to find a group of berserker warlords seated in the VIP section. She’d only been away for one night and already Rin had gotten pretty gods-damned chummy with the very beasts they should have been avoiding. No doubt he blamed Saeed for bringing all of this to their door when the fact of the matter was Gregor had been searching for them for quite some time. Rin, stupid bastard that he was, had played right into it too. Cerys gave a sad shake of her head. Tonight was the beginning of the end.
“On the contrary, I’m finally seeing clearly.”
His overconfident grin made Cerys want to slap the expression right off his face. He had no freaking clue what he was doing. Gregor would bite him in two before Rin even had an inkling he was being devoured as a snack.
“They are the betrayers of the vampire race. You’ve said so yourself.”
“That was then. This is now.”
Apparently, Rin wasn’t concerned with anything he’d ever said in the past. Funny, since up until now, he had a tendency to love throwing the past in her face. “Gregor can’t be trusted.”
“Says the one I caught naked with the vampire.”
Cerys’s gaze narrowed as she regarded him with open hostility. “What’s the matter, Rin? Jealous?”
He stopped dead in his tracks and spun on a heel to face her. His hand shot out to grip her throat and his fingers squeezed tight to constrict her airway. Power sparked the air and a cold light glinted in the depths of Rin’s brown eyes. He lifted her until her heels left the floor and then her toes. She fought for enough breath to fill her lungs as she clawed futilely at the hand wrapped around her throat. Black spots swam in her vision. Her arms went limp. She was going to pass and out and then what? Would Rin throw her to Gregor and let the berserkers have her?
Rin gave a violent jerk of his arm and brought Cerys’s face to his until their noses nearly touched. Thanks to last night’s soul extraction, her strength wasn’t a quarter of what it should have been. Forget about self-preservation. If Rin closed his fist another inch, he’d snuff her out like a candle.
“Jealous?” If she wasn’t already about to pass out from lack of oxygen, his breath would’ve gotten the job done. “I don’t have a gods-damned thing to be jealous about. You. Belong. To. Me.”
He let go of his hold on the last word and Cerys crumpled to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut. She gasped for breath, filling her lungs with much-needed oxygen as she tried to ignore the gaping stares of everyone within a twenty-foot radius. No doubt his little temper tantrum would only help to solidify Rin’s reputation as a badass who shouldn’t be fucked with.
Cerys didn’t give a shit about the gawkers or their whispers that traveled through the crowd at light speed. What she did care about was the five males seated at Rin’s table in the VIP section, particularly the one on the left who, unlike his comrades, watched her with an intensity that made her skin crawl.
Ian Gregor.
Had to be. She’d never met him but she knew that look. Want. Rin had looked at her that way the first time they’d met. It wasn’t her body he’d wanted. Or her affection. It was power that Rin had craved. She didn’t know what Gregor wanted, but it certainly wasn’t any of those things. No, Gregor was after something far more basic. Like breathing, or eating. His wasn’t a want exactly. It was more of a need. And it reflected in the depths of his onyx black soul.
Shit.
Cerys was afraid to wonder if things could get any worse. Especially with the way Rin stood over her, his eyes blazing with unchecked anger. “Get up.”
Yeah, she’d get right on that. As soon as the feeling returned to her legs and she could draw a breath deep enough to clear the spots from her vision. “You seem pretty eager to march me over to my new keeper.”
Rin kneeled down until his mouth hovered near her ear. “It’s Saeed who wants to keep you. Who came here to steal you away.” If he seriously didn’t think Gregor was here for the exact same reason, then Rin was denser than Cerys gave him credit for. “Now get your ass up off the floor before I grab you by that mop of hair on your head and drag you up!”
She’d just as soon walk across the nightclub naked than let that happen.
Cerys drew on her strength which, to be honest, wasn’t much. What Rin couldn’t get through his head—what he’d always failed to realize—was that by separating Cerys from her soul, he’d inherently weakened her. Without that light, that essence, she was operating at half capacity all the damned time. She’d been running on fumes for centuries. Unfortunately, she doubted Gregor would be a much better master. He’d likely expend what she had left in a single blaze of misguided glory. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Great.
Cerys braced her palms on the floor and pushed herself up on wobbly arms. Damn, she was a real shit show right now. Super impressive. Her legs weren’t much more stable and she exhibited all of the grace of a newborn foal as she got to her feet and took several steps away from Rin. If she was about to walk to her doom, she was going to do it on her own steam, damn it.
“You’ve been building an empire for over a thousand years,” Cerys remarked. “And you’re about to lose it all in the space of a heartbeat.”
Rin’s lip curled. Cerys wanted to laugh at his outraged expression. As though he couldn’t believe she’d be so ballsy as to continue to talk back. She had nothing to lose at this point. She had no idea whether Saeed was alive or not, and if she extracted one more soul, she was as good as dead. So what did it matter if she threw a little sass Rin’s way? Her life was screwed either way.
“Don’t worry about my empire,” Rin said through gritted teeth. “It’s more than secure.”
Cerys let out a derisive snort. “If you say so.”
Rin raised his hand as though to give her a solid backhand to the face. Cerys simply laughed as she forced herself to brush past him and walk into the VIP section toward Gregor and his men. There was something incredibly gratifying about no longer giving a fuck.
Cerys knew better than to show any weakness as she made her way to Rin’s booth and the berserkers who waited for her there. She let her attention shift from one male to the other, as she noted the many similarities in their physical traits. Their expressions remained blank and Cerys wondered if there was a single one among them who had ever cracked a smile. Probably not. They didn’t exactly strike her as the happy-go-lucky sorts.
“Not done stirring up trouble all over town, I see.” Cerys saw no reason for pleasantries. “What sort of bullshit have you been feeding to Rin for the past day?”
She made a point of making eye contact with each one of them. When her gaze landed on Ian Gregor, she stopped and stared for a beat too long. She wanted him to know she had his number. He wasn’t in Seattle for any other reason than to stir up shit and it was unfortunate that Rin was too stupid to see it.
Gregor’s chain wasn’t so easy to rattle. He certainly painted an intimidating picture as he refused to acknowledge her and simply stared her down. Lucky for Cerys, her chain wasn’t easy to rattle either.
“Not sure what Rin told you,” Cerys made herself at home and settled into one of the chairs at the table, “but I’m not for sale.” She leaned in toward Gregor conspiratorially and whispered, “I think he’s got a thing for me.”
Again, she was answered with silence. She leaned back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest as she studied the males seated around the table. Rin caught up and took a seat beside her. She leaned over and knocked her shoulder against his. “Tough crowd.”
Luckily, Rin’s buttons were much easier to push. “Do yourself a favor, and keep your mouth shut.”
“Why would I do that?” Cerys blinked her wide eyes and infused her tone with innocence. “I’m having so much fun.”
Perhaps it showed her masochistic side that she wanted him to lash out. Maybe even hit her. At this point, anything would be better than the worry that ate her alive. With her own future as uncertain as Saeed’s fate, she knew her best bet was simply to ride out the storm. The only problem was, she didn’t know if she was capable of doing it. Not when she faced the prospect of losing everything she’d come to hold dear.
“Where’s the vampire?” Gregor turned his attention fully to Rin, his own expression less than amused.
“Licking his wounds and readying for battle I imagine,” Rin remarked. “I burned the fuck out of him with the sun this morning. He’ll show though, we just need to give him a little time.”
Gregor leaned forward in his chair. “How do you know?”
Rin cast his narrowed gaze to Cerys. “Because I have something he wants.”