Blood Torn (Blackthorn Book 3) Page 25

  Sophia kept her gun locked into position on Jask despite hearing more movement behind her.

  The place was surrounded – that much was obvious. She shouldn’t have expected anything less.

  ‘You set me up,’ she hissed quietly.

  Jask took another couple of steps towards her so he was only a few feet away. Stood there in his jeans, plain shirt and jacket that skimmed mid-hip.

  She held her gun directly at his chest, trying not to be distracted by Daniel’s gasps for breath, forcing herself not to panic, to restrain her pounding heart – and not just from the adrenaline of the situation, but from seeing him again.

  ‘That’s not very hospitable,’ he said, glancing at the gun.

  ‘The bullets are even less hospitable, so I suggest you stay where you are.’

  Jask broke a fleeting smile as he continued to gradually close the gap between them.

  ‘Tell Corbin to let him go,’ she warned, even impressing herself with the steadiness of her voice despite the tremor in her hands.

  ‘Drop your gun first, Phia,’ Jask said.

  ‘Not going to happen.’

  Daniel gasped desperately for air, Corbin no doubt having tightened his grip to make a point. He slid him another foot up the wall. Any more pressure and he’d snap his windpipe.

  She looked back at Jask, his calm gaze burning through whatever sense of control she thought she might be able to gain. But she kept her arms outstretched, her finger poised on the trigger.

  ‘You came here for leverage, right?’ she said. ‘That’s what you meant when you said you’d be able to get me to do what you wanted. Well, he’s it. You kill him and I do nothing for you.’

  Jask’s eyes narrowed slightly. He glanced at Daniel but not long enough to take his attention off Sophia. ‘How many are in there?’

  She subtly licked her dry lips. ‘Tell Corbin to let him go.’

  ‘How many?’

  Ironically she knew the truth of their vulnerability would be the only thing to save Daniel. Besides, they’d find out soon enough. ‘None.’

  Jask’s eyebrows knitted together.

  ‘Have you not seen the news lately?’ she asked. ‘It’s making for very colourful viewing.’

  Some unspoken exchange passed between him and Corbin.

  ‘It’s the truth,’ she said. ‘It’s just us left. Me and him. So if he dies, you’ve wasted your time. Send your brood in to check if you don’t believe me.’

  Jask took another couple of steps towards her and this time she purposefully lowered her gun to point at his pelvis. He knew she wasn’t stupid enough to attempt to kill him, but she had no doubt he wasn’t quite so sure she wouldn’t permanently wound him.

  Regardless, he closed in on her enough for the gun to make contact with his hip.

  He put his hand over hers, sending a jolt through her as he guided the gun down towards his groin, to an artery. ‘It’s more effective there,’ he said, his gaze lingering tauntingly on hers.

  ‘I know how to shoot,’ she said, his proximity unsettlingly distracting. ‘I’m aiming to wound you, not kill you.’

  ‘You pull that trigger and you’d better hope for the latter.’

  She could just squeeze the trigger for the hell of it. The Phia she had been twenty-four hours ago would have. But she knew this was not the time for impulse. Too much depended on her making the right choice.

  And as he stared deep into her eyes, their connection renewed, she couldn’t. She couldn’t even look away despite Daniel kicking at the wall in desperation.

  Jask guided her hand the rest of the way so the barrel pointed to the floor, equally allowing him to move another inch closer. ‘Drop it.’

  She defiantly held his gaze as he squeezed her hand.

  ‘Drop the gun and Corbin drops your friend,’ he added.

  ‘You’re lucky I don’t permanently damage the only thing you’ve got going for you.’

  He almost smiled. ‘And what would be the fun in that?’ But as his hand crushed hers against metal, she could tell his patience was waning as much as hers.

  Daniel’s flaying was getting weaker. Any longer and the damage to him would be permanent.

  He’d believed what she’d said about them being the only two left. If he didn’t, he would have given Corbin the nod to kill Daniel just to prove his point.

  Just as them both still being alive proved he really did need her.

  And with that proof playing out in front of her, suddenly the enemy that stood before her – the unexpected inconvenience, the threat – morphed into something else entirely as her strategic brain kicked in.

  ‘Shall we do this inside?’ she asked. ‘So you can see for yourself?’

  ‘Saves me huffing and puffing and blowing the doors in.’

  She laughed tersely. ‘We both know this is no fairy tale.’

  ‘No?’ he said, finally slipping the gun from her reluctant hand as Corbin simultaneously lowered Daniel to the floor. ‘Hansel and Gretel weren’t set up to be murdered? Beauty was never held captive by the beast?’ He took hold of her upper arm and led her back towards the entrance. ‘The ugly duckling wasn’t victimised just for being different? This sounds like the perfect fairy tale to me.’

  Led over to the elevator shaft, more lycans swept past her in the shadows as they assessed the periphery.

  ‘What level?’ he asked her.

  ‘Penthouse, of course.’

  She glanced past him at Daniel who was just about being held upright by Corbin. A couple of times he stumbled, but his consciousness was, at least in some way, reassuring. She should have dropped the gun sooner, but immediate surrender would have done neither of them any good. Daniel would understand. Though she wasn’t so sure he’d be quite as understanding of her next move.

  As they reached the shaft, Jask guided her in first, Corbin and Daniel alongside them, another couple of lycans bringing up the rear.

  Jask moved in close behind her, his chest hard against her back, his breath combing through her hair. There was something odd about being around him away from the compound, but he still had that same characteristic composure – oozing that same sense of ownership of whatever space he was in.

  One of the lycans slammed the gate behind them as Jask pressed the button to trigger the elevator into ascension.

  ‘Using me as a human shield – how chivalrous,’ she remarked.

  ‘Just acquiring my preferred position with you, honey,’ he said tauntingly against her ear.

  She glanced at Daniel again, who frowned across at her. She immediately broke from his penetrative stare, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with his presence.

  Jask slipped the second of her guns out of her thigh holster, handing that and the other to the lycan behind before tapping down Sophia’s behind.

  ‘Hey!’ she snapped, trying to pull away, before seeing Corbin mid-frisk of Daniel too. ‘Have you never heard of just asking?’

  Jask smiled against her ear. ‘Try not to take it personally.’ He slid his hand down her thighs, delving into her pockets. He pulled out the two syringes. ‘Nice.’

  ‘They’re mine,’ she said sullenly.

  ‘What’s yours is mine, darling. Isn’t that how it goes?’

  He slid his hand into the pocket at her hip to find it empty, only to have Corbin hand him the keys from Daniel’s.

  As the elevator jolted to a stop, Jask swapped his grip on her from his left hand to his right as he pulled out his own gun.

  Corbin did the same, poised and ready like his pack leader.

  ‘Metalwork,’ she remarked. ‘How disappointing. Did you boys forget to file your nails this morning?’

  But this time Jask didn’t respond, he was too focused on what potentially lay ahead. Obviously he’d believed her enough to investigate without a full-on raid, but not enough to let his defences down. She wondered if he’d have been so quick to use her as a shield if he genuinely thought they were in danger. For some reason, she believed no
t.

  He pulled back the gate, metal sliding against metal echoing in the silence. Jask exited first with Sophia, Corbin close behind with Daniel.

  She flinched as Jask pointed his gun at the CCTV camera to the left of the door before accurately blowing it out. It fizzed before dying like a dropped sparkler.

  Then all four lycans came to a standstill.

  She knew what they were doing. They were listening, let alone assessing airborne scents undetectable to humans. With next to no breeze, they’d be able to pick up on human scents still lingering from hours before. Not just that, but the subtleties between those scents would give them some indication of numbers.

  His nod towards Corbin told her he was satisfied with what he had found so far, but he was remaining guarded. He guided Sophia to the door, caught the keys Corbin threw at him and turned them in the locks.

  The door clicked open.

  ‘After you, honey.’

  She knew it was his final test to sense any hesitation.

  She cast him a taunting smile. ‘Coward,’ she declared, before pushing the door open and stepping inside.

  * * *

  He wasn’t letting Phia out of his sight despite the silence emanating from within; despite the fact that the only scents he could detect were those of the two humans they held; despite her casual stroll being a clear indication that she was telling the truth.

  His gaze wandered down to her behind regardless of it being concealed by her unflattering clothing. It was the same style of uniform he’d seen her in when he’d first laid eyes on her – a stark reminder of what she was.

  He looked into the kitchen to the left and the dumping ground of a room to his right.

  ‘Wait!’ he called out as she reached the threshold ahead.

  He signalled for Phelan and Connor to check the rooms he’d just passed before closing the gap again between him and Phia.

  Surprisingly, she’d done what he’d said, albeit like a child prevented from crossing a road. She folded her arms in weary resentment before she leaned back against the doorjamb, her eyebrows slightly raised, her tongue thrust into her cheek.

  There was a time when a stance like that would have irritated the hell out of him, but now it was overshadowed by her compliance. Another small triumph on his part.

  He moved into the doorway alongside her, slid his hand to the small of her back to guide her in, a move he could tell was dangerously intimate from the way she stiffened. But, surprisingly, she didn’t protest.

  He indicated for Phelan and Connor to check out the hallway on the far side of the living room, only to catch the glare from Phia’s companion. A glare directed at his lingering hand.

  He could almost smell the territoriality leaking from the human’s pores – a clear indication that the relationship between Phia and her companion wasn’t purely business. The evidence was potentially fatal enough, not least if he continued to look at Jask the way he did.

  Phelan and Connor returned with the all-clear.

  ‘Told you,’ Phia said, breaking their physical contact as she backed away.

  ‘Do another full check of the building with the others,’ Jask instructed Phelan. ‘Give me the heads-up when you’re done.’

  Phelan nodded, and exited the room alongside Connor.

  Jask indicated for Phia to join him at the dining room table, Corbin following behind with her sour-faced companion.

  Jask pulled out a chair at the head of the table for himself and the adjacent one for Phia.

  Corbin took the head of the table the opposite end, sitting the male alongside Phia.

  ‘So what happened to the rest of your comrades?’ Jask asked.

  She leaned back in the chair, those folded arms still betraying her petulance. ‘Look on the laptop,’ she said, indicating to the centre of the table.

  He reached out and slid it towards him. He flipped the lid to reveal the last page it had been on. He flicked forwards and backwards through the news reports – sketchy at best, the authorities struggling for leads.

  ‘Eight in total,’ Phia announced. ‘In less than three days. With me and Dan and another four missing, that accounts for at least fourteen of us. A further four are unaccounted for as yet.’

  ‘So The Alliance has been uncovered,’ Jask declared.

  ‘You already know that,’ she said curtly. ‘I’ve no doubt Rone would have told you that was the reason I was down in the ruins in the first place. Because it was Rone who told you about me, wasn’t it?’

  He looked back at the images. The thought that Phia could have ended up the same way made him feel deeply uneasy, when he had no place letting it. It seemed her serrynity had been the only thing to save her. That and Rone being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or, from the way he was feeling being near her again, the right place at the right time.

  She was in deep. Too deep. But also, now, was the ever-growing sense that so was he. And subsequently his pack.

  ‘Who’s responsible?’

  She shrugged. ‘Fuck knows.’ She tried to look self-assured, composed. But he knew those eyes too well now. She was screwed and she knew it – which made the fact she’d left the security of the factory too irritatingly rash for his liking.

  He slid the laptop along the table to Corbin.

  ‘Well, well,’ Jask remarked, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms to mirror her. ‘Aren’t you in the thick of it? But then again, you did try to take down Caleb Dehain. That constitutes you as not just insane, but suicidal.’

  ‘Depends on your perspective.’

  ‘You took on Caleb Dehain and you were lax enough to fail.’

  ‘On the first attempt, maybe.’

  ‘So you and your army,’ he cocked his head towards who he now knew to be Dan, ‘were heading out for round two, were you?’ He leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. ‘Are you so arrogant that you have no comprehension of who Caleb Dehain is? How much power he has around here? What he’s capable of?’

  ‘Exactly,’ she said.

  ‘So your group – The Alliance – really were picking off all the key players then?’

  She kept her gaze solemnly on him.

  ‘Who the fuck do you think you are, Phia?’

  His venom seemed to momentarily shock her, but she masked it quickly.

  ‘If you’re so proud of what you’re doing, why are you hiding?’ he asked. ‘Why a covert operation?’

  ‘It makes us more effective.’

  ‘You seriously think doing this will help anyone?’

  ‘What alternative is there? People have a right to live without fear. Humans forced to live here because their own kind have turned their back on them. Humans in Lowtown and Blackthorn should feel safe – those who have no choice but to be there at least.’

  ‘So you’re taking out the key players because that’ll help?’

  ‘We’re bringing down the underworld and restoring human control.’

  He laughed from an uncomfortable place in his gut at the naivety and ignorance of her belief. ‘The third-species underworld is the only thing holding this place together. Do you not see that? Do have no idea how it works here? And who would step into their place instead? The cons that roam the streets here?’

  ‘I know what the likes of Caleb Dehain are capable of.’

  ‘Exactly – and so does anyone in Blackthorn and Lowtown who thinks about overstepping the mark. This place is ruled hard and mercilessly because that’s what is required. Mainly to keep in line the dregs your authorities deem aren’t fit to share the same air as them. This was supposed to be our space, not a dumping ground for your unwanted. Do you seriously think this place will be better if you put your kind in charge? Are you really that arrogant? We have a balance here, a balance we have fought to maintain, so who the fuck do you think you are, coming in here and trying to unsettle it?’

  Her gaze dropped to the table, but she soon glared back at him.

  But she knew he was right. He could see i
t in her eyes. Hear it in her lack of argument.

  He leaned back in his chair, his arms folded again. ‘Was I on your hit list? Was I next?’

  ‘Lycans weren’t on our radar.’

  ‘Why? What makes us so different, in your eyes?’

  ‘I never said you were.’

  ‘But you see differentiation even within the third species, right? What gives you the right to pass judgement on us? To make decisions about who lives and who dies? You’re no better than the authorities who have failed you, and you can’t even see it.’

  ‘We’re nothing like them. They’re about money and power and–’

  ‘And what are you about if not power? How do you justify your actions?’

  ‘We cannot let the vampires rule.’

  ‘And this is how you go about it?’

  ‘We have to do something.’

  ‘So you invade our district, our homes.’

  ‘It’s a carefully targeted operation.’

  ‘Full of judgemental bigots. Excuse me if I’m not bowled over in admiration and reassurance. Where does it stop, Phia? Where will you draw the line? Because the way I see it, anything that is a risk to the vampires is a risk to my pack. One third species, all third species.’

  Her eyes flared. ‘That’s not how it is.’

  ‘So you say. But do what’s left of your so-called Alliance agree?’ He looked across at Dan. ‘You’re quiet. Where do you stand?’

  He could sense the hairs on the back of the human’s neck bristling as their eyes locked. Dan didn’t quite have Phia’s edge of defiance, nor the balls to look him in the eyes and say what he thought. In fact, Dan caved relatively quickly. Clearly his reputation did precede him.

  ‘Never mind where anyone stands or stood,’ Phia said, recapturing his attention. ‘Let’s face facts here – whatever has happened, and despite what you know now, you still need me.’

  He raised his eyebrows slightly. ‘Is that right?’

  ‘I’m still alive and he’s still alive,’ she said, indicating towards Dan. ‘That’s proof enough for me. Whatever your plan is, I’m still a part of it. Just as the minute you took me from those ruins, you became involved in whatever I’m involved in. You and your pack. I might have failed to protect mine,’ she declared. ‘But you’d better hope you can do a better job with yours.’