Burning Alive

She nodded, knowing which way north was only because the sun was setting behind them.



“That’s where the Theronai live. My suite is the third one from the end.”



He drove into a separate building—a garage big enough to hold at least a couple of hundred cars. He pulled into an empty, numbered slot and killed the engine.



“Whatever happens here, it’s important that you know I’m on your side.” His voice was sober.



“That sounds a little ominous.”



“Not everyone is going to be happy that I found you. Our men are dying, Helen. Some of them will see you as a sign of hope that there are other women out there like you, but not all. Some of them will see only what they cannot have. It’s important that you don’t wander around alone. It’s . . . painful to be a male Theronai with no way to release all that power. Not everyone can control their impulses when faced with so much pain.”



“Are you saying they’d try to hurt me?”



“No. They’d try to take you for themselves, but in doing that, they would hurt you. Stay close to me. Or Angus.”



“Who’s Angus?”



“Gilda’s husband. The only other bonded Theronai here. He has eyes only for Gilda, so you’ll be safe with him.”



She did not like the sound of any of this. “How long do we have to stay here?”



“Long enough to find out what your vision is trying to tell you and to pick up the next lead on Kevin’s sword.”



And to hang Thomas’s sword in the Hall of the Fallen. She heard his thought echo in her head, laced with a deep, aching grief he couldn’t hide.



She no longer cared that she was trying to keep her distance. She couldn’t let him suffer through his pain alone.



She unbuckled her seat belt and crawled into his lap, heedless of how poorly she fit behind the wheel. Drake needed comfort, damn it, and she was going to give it to him.



He held her in silence while she petted his chest, giving him what little support she could. He’d locked his mind up tight again, but she could feel him struggling with his grief in other ways. He was rigid and holding her in an almost desperate embrace as if he couldn’t stand the thought of letting her go. Ever.



For one crazy moment, Helen wanted that more than she’d ever wanted anything else in her life. She was falling for him too fast, too hard. His quiet suffering was killing her. She knew he was strong enough to survive, but she didn’t want him merely surviving. She wanted him to be happy. She wanted him to be loved. She wanted him to have all the things out of life that he was protecting for others. Family, safety, peace.



Drake gave her a hard squeeze and she could feel him pulling his control back around him like a cloak. His body relaxed, he sucked in a deep breath, and let it out in a sigh of acceptance. “They’re waiting for us. We should get moving.”



“Who’s waiting?”



“You’ll see. Come on.”



He guided her into an underground tunnel that led to the mammoth building he lived in. They went down a hallway that opened into a giant room. A glass ceiling fifty feet overhead let in the light from sunset and cast a pinkish glow over everything. Tall green plants sat in clusters here and there, thriving under the bountiful sunshine the room would have during the day.



Most of the room was a dining area with a mishmash of well-used tables and chairs. Each table was decorated with a cheerful yellow-and-white-checked tablecloth and a small vase of fresh flowers. A few people sat at the tables sipping coffee or reading books, looking as comfortable as they would have been in their own private home. The rest of the room was for entertainment. There was a pool table and four high-tech TVs, each surrounded by an arrangement of a couple of couches and several comfortable-looking chairs. Two groups of kids played video games, disdaining the furniture so they could sit closer to the TVs. Three women lounged, enjoying quiet conversation while they kept watch over the kids.



“I thought you said you can’t have kids,” she said.



“Those are human children. There are many human families living here and some kids who have been orphaned by the Synestryn.”



“You mean there are a lot of humans who know about you? I thought it was a big secret. You said Miss Mabel couldn’t even know about you, that it was dangerous for her.”



“It is. Which is why many of these people are here. Not everyone can have their memories effectively erased. Their only choice is to live here or take their chances outside.”



“No wonder you need such a big place.”



Drake’s mouth flattened in frustration. “We’d need a much bigger one if people weren’t so stubborn. Most people choose to take their chances.”



“What happens to them?”



“They die.” His tone was so bleak and angry it shocked her. “Sometimes we’re lucky enough to save the children once the parents are slaughtered, but not nearly often enough.”



Helen couldn’t imagine what that must be like—to warn people of the danger and have them ignore it. To have that happen over and over and be powerless to do anything but clean up the pieces, which in this case were orphaned children.



She laced her fingers through his and felt the answering hum of his ring against her skin. “I’m sorry, Drake. You have so much horror in your life. I don’t know how you stand it.”



He shrugged, but it was too stiff to look casual. “It’s why I was created. We have a job to do and wallowing in self-pity isn’t going to get it done. Besides, we do save some of them,” he said, his eyes warm as he watched the children play, “and that makes the hard parts a lot easier to bear.”



A heavy glass door leading to a courtyard swung open, letting in the scent of freshly mowed grass and dwindling sunshine. Zach entered the room, shirtless and gleaming with sweat. He had a tree tattoo like Drake’s on his dark chest and the few remaining leaves fluttered angrily on his brown skin. He headed straight for Helen with a grim, hard set to his wide jaw. His pale green eyes were fixed on her and bright with rage.



She felt Drake tense and he took a protective step in front of her. His hand settled on the hilt of his sword, and although she couldn’t see it before, now that he was touching it, she noticed a wavering gleam of metal flickering in and out of sight.



Helen really hoped he wouldn’t need to draw it. She remembered all too well what he was capable of with that weapon.



“Where is she?” growled Zach in an almost animalistic sound.



Helen took an involuntary step backward in the face of his powerful anger. Her mind went blank and all she could think to say was “Who?”



“Lexi. Where is she hiding?”



Lexi? Helen had been so wrapped up in her own problems she’d forgotten that Lexi had been involved in this mess, too. Then the import of his words set in and she felt a little better. Zach didn’t know where Lexi was. She’d escaped before she’d seen any of the monsters, so her mind was safe. “I don’t know.”



Zach’s mouth twisted into a snarl. “You’re lying. Tell me where she is. Now.”



Helen saw the people in the giant room turn to stare at them and she wanted to hide in a hole. Or maybe not. That’s where the monsters lived.



“She’s not lying,” said Drake in a low, calming voice. He held up his left hand, showing Zach the ring that was swirling with bright, fiery reds and oranges. “I’d know if she was.”



Zach’s eyes homed in on the ring and went wide in shock. “You claimed her? She’s . . . How is this possible?”



“I don’t know, but I have a feeling Logan is working on finding out.” Drake’s voice was tight with anger when he mentioned Logan’s name, though Helen had no idea why. He had saved Drake, after all.



Zach looked from Helen to the ring and back again. The dark lines of his face melted from anger into a desperate sort of hope. “I’ve got to find Lexi. Please help me.” He was begging and she could tell by the thickness of his voice that he was not a man used to begging for anything.



Helen ached for him, for the pain she knew he suffered, for the frustration that tightened his big body. “I wish I could, but I can’t. We were friends, but she never told me much about herself. I got the feeling that she was running from someone.”



Zach reached for her arm, but Drake intercepted him and held his thick wrist in a tight grip. “No touching,” he said.



Zach gave a rigid nod and pulled his hand back. “What made you think she was running?”



Helen tried to pinpoint her reasons. “She was hyper-vigilant. She kept track of her surroundings, which is one of the things that made her such a great waitress. And . . .” Helen trailed off, feeling she was somehow betraying her friend.



“And what?” demanded Zach.



Drake turned to her and cupped her shoulder in his big hand. Warmth sank into her skin and she couldn’t help but lean her head to the side, hoping he’d move that heat up to her throat. Every time his ring neared the band around her neck, she felt their need to connect. It was strange feeling the magnetic pull of an inanimate object, almost as if the things could have desires of their own.



“If you know something, you need to tell us. I swear to you Zach would never hurt Lexi.”



“I know that,” she said. “But I also know that Lexi is a private person. Whatever problems she has, she’ll want to deal with them on her own.”



“She may not be able to,” said Drake.



Zach’s eyes pleaded with her. “She’s just a tiny thing, Helen. Don’t leave her out there alone. I need to find her.”



“She may be tiny, but she’s hardly helpless.”



“If the Synestryn are after her, she will be.”



Helen hadn’t thought about it that way. Maybe they were right. Maybe Lexi did need to be found. She pulled in a breath. “She lived in her car. If she ran away, she’d have everything she needed to keep running.”



“Son of a bitch,” grated Zach.



Several youngsters grinned and the adults watching them scowled at Zach.



“Sorry,” he muttered sheepishly.



Drake asked, “Can you think of any place she might go? Did she have family? Did she ever mention a particular town?”



“No. She never talked about herself. Even when I asked. For a while I thought she was running away from an abusive husband, but then I got to know her.”



“And that changed your mind?” asked Zach, giving her all of his weighty attention. It was more than a little intimidating to be the focus of so much determination.



“Lexi wouldn’t have run away from a man who hit her. She would have either thrown his ass in jail or hit back.”



“No kidding.” Zach rubbed his arm where the stab wound Lexi had given him was nearly healed. Helen wondered whether Logan had a chance to patch him up as well. It seemed too soon for the mark to have faded to new, whole skin.



“Do you think she’s in danger?” Helen asked Drake. She prayed not. She didn’t want any more of her friends getting hurt. Poor Miss Mabel was already one too many.