?This is really real? I?d wondered. Believed. But . . . magickind and Mathias and this book, it?s all connected and not a by-product of a tortured woman?s mind??
Bram rolled his eyes. ?Someone get the girl a prize.?
Sydney stared at Bram. ?Prove it.?
?As soon as we?re no longer sitting here like targets at a practice range, certainly.?
?Don?t patronize her,? Caden growled. ?She?s had three minutes to adjust to magickind. You?ve had four hundred years.?
?Four hundred!? Sydney?s jaw dropped.
Everyone ignored her.
Frustration pouring off him, Bram cocked his head, pulling at tense muscles in his shoulders. ?Bugger off. I?m only three hundred ninety-eight. And Duke is right; we need to get out of here. I?ll yell at you once we?re safe.?
?I?m not leaving,? Sydney protested. ?It?s my book and my flat and my article. I?m not going anywhere without answers.?
Duke rolled his eyes. ?You?re certain about this one? Seems more trouble than she?s worth.?
Caden pulled Sydney against him. ?I won?t leave her here.?
?God, no. She?ll be dead by noon if you do?after she?s told Mathias all she knows.? Bram elbowed Caden aside and grabbed Sydney?s wrist. ?If you want to live, come with us.?
Sydney hesitated, then looked back at Caden.
?Please,? he cajoled, extricating her from Bram?s grip. ?If you?ve ever believed a single word I?ve said, believe that I would die if Mathias hurt you. And he will, given the chance.?
She bit her lower lip, then nodded. ?All right.?
Caden exhaled the tense breath he?d been holding. It would be all right. She would be all right. Whatever else happened, he?d have the assurance of knowing she was safe from the clutches of a madman who would use her in the cruelest way possible until she broke, then discard her without a backward glance.
?Thank you.? He enfolded her against his chest, resisting the urge to press his mouth to hers. Need burned him like a fever, and the words of the Call were echoing in his brain. Instead, he buried his face in that fiery mane of hers and resisted?barely.
?Enough. Let?s go,? Bram said.
Collectively, they turned for the door and Sydney found a familiar elfin-looking flower child standing there, crying.
?Aquarius!? Sydney broke free from Caden?s hold and ran for her friend.
The other woman welcomed Sydney, then clutched her as if in pain.
?Poppet, what?s the matter??
Bram lifted Sydney away from Aquarius and grabbed the other woman, who reared back with watery eyes.
?Mellow,? she suggested. ?Your aura is full of anger and??
?I don?t give a bloody damn.? Bram grabbed the book from Sydney?s hand, then barked at Aquarius, ?Who gave this to you??
?I can?t say.?
Bram clenched his teeth and fists. ?Is this the day for difficult females??
?Bring her with us,? Duke suggested. ?Question her later, but we?re burning daylight.?
?Indeed.? He grabbed Aquarius by the wrist. ?Come along.?
Aquarius wriggled free. ?Forcing me . . . bad karma.?
?I?ve had a run of it lately. A bit more won?t matter.? Bram shoved her toward the door again.
The small woman planted her heels. ?I came to see Sydney.? She cast fearful green eyes at the other woman. ?My cousin, have you seen her??
?No.? Sydney tensed.
Aquarius gulped. ?I popped out earlier. When I returned she was gone. I hoped perhaps she?d come here.?
Caden?s heart stopped. Gone?
?Was she your source?? Caden demanded.
Sydney hesitated, and he could practically hear her thoughts churning until she finally nodded.
Caden leapt to life and grabbed Aquarius by the shoulders. ?What is your cousin?s name??
The little brunette pressed her lips together in a silent protest.
?Please!? Caden implored. ?I think?I?m almost certain she?s my brother?s missing wife.?
God, it finally felt good to ask a direct question. Now that Bram had spilled the truth, he no longer had to think of an angle that wouldn?t arouse suspicion or give away magickind?s existence.
At his side, Sydney gasped. He looked her way, not sure what reaction he might find. The compassion softening her face hit him in the chest. Seeing that side of her now, when he needed it, only added to his need to keep her by his side.
Aquarius cocked her head. ?If she?s your brother?s wife, what is her name??
?Anka. Anka MacTavish. Please.?
Tearing up, Aquarius nodded. ?She couldn?t recall her last name. We hadn?t seen each other since childhood. A few weeks ago, she came to me near death, shortly after??
?Mathias raped her.?
Dread swelled inside him. He?d never met Anka, but felt terrible for all she?d endured, and what that knowledge would do to Lucan, if he lived. Knowing that she was alone again, where Mathias might find her. . . . He shuddered. Why had she left relative safety?
Aquarius nodded. Sydney enfolded her friend in her arms. Fresh tears ensued. ?It was awful. Took her over a week to heal enough to stand. She could remember little beyond her first name and girlhood memories. That?s why she came to me. That, and the fact Mathias has no idea I exist.?
?Any chance she?ll return?? Caden grilled.
?Not certain. She?s never left alone before. Too frightened. But I think she left of her own free will. Nothing in my flat was disturbed. The air didn?t feel violent or scary. Lately, she?s been having dreams of a happier past. I offered to help her find the parts of her she?d lost, but she was afraid of Mathias harming me and the loved ones she?d left behind.?
?She left no note?? Caden asked.
Aquarius eased back from Sydney?s embrace and shook her head. ?She communicated most with Sydney, as if telling her everything was cathartic.? The petite woman clung to Sydney?s hands. ?Though she never told you her name, you helped her merely by listening.?
Caden?s stomach plummeted and he tasted the bile of fear and failure as he stared at the ceiling. Dear God, to have come so close to Anka only to lose her again. Then there was the fact he?d failed Lucan and everyone else.
?How long has she been gone?? he asked Aquarius. ?An hour? Two??
?No more than that,? she assured. ?She?s weak and hurting, so she can?t have gone far. I don?t know why she?d leave.?
Bitter disappointment pounded into Caden. So bloody close. He?d known, known, Sydney?s source of information was Anka. And he hadn?t been able to reach her fast enough, build trust with Sydney. He?d been too fixated on fighting his feelings for his little firecracker reporter. Then too consumed by his transition. If they didn?t find Anka soon, she and Lucan would pay the price.
?She can go far, very quickly.? A fact Caden mourned, even as he spoke the words.
?A pop here, a pop there.? Duke sighed. ?With proper energy, she could have teleported to India by now.?
Or she could have already been captured by Mathias, and they all knew it.
?Teleported??
?Later,? Bram growled.
Sydney turned back to Caden. ?You were trying to save her all this time??
Caden turned to her. ?Yes. I told you all I could. I know I gave you no reason to believe me.?
?I?m sorry.? Her voice shook. ?I?m so sorry. Lucan must be beside himself.?
An understatement. Caden raked a tired hand across his face. There was no time to rest now. He had to keep moving forward and hope they found Anka before her trail went cold.
He squeezed Sydney?s hand, and turned to Anka. ?Did she leave anything behind??
?She brought nothing with her. The clothes on her back were bloodied shreds. I burned them.?
Duke clapped him on the back, startling Caden. ?We?ll find her. We?ll all help. I know what this means to you. But now we must go.?
The other wizard?s words moved him. Perhaps he was overwrought and exhausted from the past two days, but Duke had stayed by his side, no matter what. Like one of his platoon buddies would have.
?Agreed,? Bram said to the group. ?Mathias is many things, but not stupid. It won?t take him long to track you down, Sydney. And then??
?And then, we?ll take the Doomsday Diary and kill her,? said a frighteningly familiar voice.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
AQUARIUS GASPED. SYDNEY AND the men whirled, and her eyes opened wide when she spotted a familiar man and a dozen vicious berobed figures behind him. ?Zain!?
Before Sydney could process why he was standing at her doorstep with a bunch of blokes in robes behind him, their faces in shadow, he reached through the crowd and grabbed her hair. With a firm fist, Zain yanked her back against his front, positioning her like a human shield. He was wiry and deceptively strong. She struggled, fighting both the hold and the sudden pain. In mere seconds, he wrapped his other hand around her throat and squeezed.
?Let her go!? Caden demanded, lunging for her, fury carved into his face.
Constricting her throat, Zain dragged her out of Caden?s reach and surrounded himself with the cluster of hooded figures he?d arrived with. The pressure on her windpipe raked her with panic and her eyes stung with tears. Sydney wished like the devil that she?d been more cautious when Caden had warned her of the danger.
Zain clutched her throat tighter, burying his face in her neck. He inhaled long and loud. Then he growled, the sound ripe with disgust.
?You smell like him.? He tossed his head at Caden. ?Every pore. Everywhere. The stench of integrity.?
?What the hell do you want?? Bram demanded.
?As if you have no notion.? Zain?s laugh was humorless. ?Give me that book you?re holding, or the bitch dies.?
Sydney went cold. What would Zain do to her? At the office she?d gotten an odd vibe from him, but was he a killer? Apparently so, given his implacable voice and cruel grip. Why would he kill her for a little journal that granted sexual fantasies?
Or was the book capable of more?
?Seriously evil aura,? Aquarius murmured to Caden.
Ignoring the flower child, he reached for Sydney, fear for her in his fierce expression. His efforts to save her went straight to her heart, even as she worried Zain would hurt him, as well. Sydney wheezed, gasped for air. She flailed, feeling as if he would crush her throat and kill her at any moment.
Barreling past two of the freaks in robes, Caden charged to her rescue, elbowing one in the temple, punching the other in the nose. They crashed to the ground in a heap. Caden stepped over them and lunged for her. Bram and Duke were right behind him, felling more of what must be Anarki.
With a curse, Zain flicked his wrist and opened his free hand. Caden slammed into an invisible wall between them. Again he tried, and again, he crashed against it.
How the devil had Zain done that?
Bram flicked a wrist and a burst of light headed toward Zain?before stopping abruptly. Sydney blinked twice. Definitely magic.
She?d been right all these years. The paranormal existed! Now she had to stay alive long enough to write about it.
?Oh, you can block magic now. Been learning parlor tricks from Mathias?? Bram taunted.
Zain tensed. ?I?m learning from a master. And learning well.?
Caden roared, trying to shove his way past the force field once more, his face mottled red with rage. His blue eyes drilled into Zain?s, vowing retribution.
?Let her go!? Caden insisted. ?She knows nothing.?
?She wrote the article. Your master is holding the book in his hand,? he said, then turned to Bram. ?It?s a simple transaction: the book for the girl.?
?Give it to him,? Caden barked at Bram.
The blond wizard shot him a long-suffering expression that demanded he be reasonable. ?Zain may have trained up a bit, but he?s a snot-nosed tot compared to me, inferior in both bloodline and ability. Isn?t that right??
?I know the newly transitioned whelp is two seconds from losing his shag if you don?t cooperate.? Zain squeezed her neck a fraction tighter, and she choked, clawing for air. ?Did you know I have the ability to heat a human up from the inside, boil their blood, cook their organs? I?m a human microwave oven.?
Sydney would have gasped, if she had the air. Unwelcome gray danced at the edge of her vision. She didn?t know if Zain could follow through on such a threat, but that death sounded too horrific to tempt fate. Caden looked somewhere between panicked and nuclear. And Bram was dangling the damn book just beyond Zain?s reach.
?There?s something to be proud of,? Bram quipped.
Finally, clawing at his skin, Sydney managed to loosen Zain?s grip on her a fraction. She gasped in a huge breath, then rasped at Bram, ?Shut up! It?s my book. Bloody give it to him.?
Zain loosed his grip a bit more. ?Good girl.?
Bram rolled his eyes. ?Sorry. If he wants it, he?s going to have to fight me first. If he?s stupid enough to try to kill you, I?ll take the book, disappear forever, and his boss will flay him alive for failing. Again. So, are you feeling stupid?? he asked Zain.
?You holier-than-thou fuck!? Zain snarled. ?If you leave here with the book, you?ll disappear forever, no matter what I do. If I kill Little Red, however, the younger MacTavish could turn completely mental, like the elder, which reduces the able ranks of your Doomsday Brethren even more. You?re the stupid one. You have three warriors, one of them unable to fight after I kill Red, and I?ve got ten Anarki remaining. Do you really think you can defeat us??
Bram?s confidence didn?t slip an inch. Sydney began to suspect he was off his trolley. Zain had a very good point; they were totally outnumbered. The fact Zain was talking about her death as if it was a fait accompli hardly comforted her.