Part 18 (1/2)

Leo grabbed her hand. ”Deal. A promise is a promise.” A faint light appeared above their joined hands. Julian knew exactly what that light meant. A sealed deal.

Rose pulled back her hand and stared down at her palm. ”What just happened?”

”You made a deal,” Leo told her. ”You promised to help.”

Rayce surged to her side. ”And you promised nothing to her! What in the h.e.l.l kind of deal is that supposed to be?”

But Leo's gaze cut to Julian. ”Not true. I've already promised plenty.” He nodded, once, hard, as if satisfied, then he turned his stare back to Rose. ”Now, go give the human your blood. Break her compulsion tie and get her to tell us what's happening next.”

”Please,” Rose muttered.

Leo frowned at her.

”You can at least say please instead of bossing everyone around. It makes you look a lot less like an a.s.shole.” She headed toward the woman on the couch. Rose brought her hand to her mouth and bit into her wrist. For a moment, her gaze darted toward Julian, and he knew she was remembering all that they'd just done.

He clenched his jaw when her gaze darted away. She put her hand to the lady's mouth, forcing her to drink.

”So how long will this take?” Leo demanded, impatience written on his face. ”Because we need to know-”

”What does Simon have planned?” Rose asked as she stared into the other woman's eyes. ”Tell me.”

”Uh, her name is Keri,” Rayce offered helpfully. ”We learned that already. You know, before that deep compulsion reared its ugly head and she tried to slice open Leo. Not that I blame her, not even a little bit.”

Leo glared at him. ”We are going to have issues.”

”We already do.”

Rose seemed to ignore them as she focused on the woman before her. ”Tell me, Keri,” she encouraged. ”Tell me what Simon Lorne is going to do.”

Keri's expression had gone slack. ”Your guards will be unconscious.” Her voice was slow, husky. ”Either they killed me when they saw me...or they let me pa.s.s, thinking I was just a lost human.”

Rayce started pacing. ”This is why humans can't be trusted.” He pointed to Leo. ”You think they're these innocent lambs. They aren't.”

”I was to shoot them,” Keri continued quietly. ”Give them the tranq. Then shoot you. When you were all out, I was going to wait for Simon to come for us.”

Julian saw a trickle of blood slide down from Rose's wrist.

Rose lifted a brow. ”Can't help but note...Simon isn't here. Were you supposed to call him?”

Keri nodded. ”I called him from the boat. Radioed him when I saw you on the beach.”

”Then why isn't he already storming the island?” Rose shook her head. Her brow crinkled. ”He must have seen something...something that made him hesitate. He had to rethink his little master plan and-” She whirled and pointed her index finger at Leo. ”He saw you.”

Leo's eyes widened. He looked offended. He looked...guilty.

”Hard to miss a guy with giant wings flying through the air,” she snapped. ”When you grabbed me and flew up into the air, he must have been watching. It fits the timeline Keri just gave us. She tipped him off, he would have started closing in-since he'd gotten confirmation of my location-but then you pull your dragon routine and he backed off. The guy could be running right now, going away far and fast because of you!”

Keri shuddered. ”Did you say...d-dragon?”

Rose didn't glance back at her. ”We can't just stand here and keep waiting. Keep hiding. If you want to rescue the others, then we're doing it.” She nodded decisively. ”But on my terms. Got it? Because it's my deal now.”

The guilt was gone from Leo's face. ”I don't think you understand who it is that you're talking to.”

”I don't really give a s.h.i.+t who you think you are. All I care about...well, it's that we work together on this. I said I'd help find those other paranormals, and that's what I'm going to do.” She cast a quick glance over her shoulder, peering back at Julian. ”Though you might not like all my methods...”

”Rose...” Julian began, voice grim.

”We're going to take the Devil's Prize, and we're going back to Key West.” Her shoulders were squared, her spine straight, her chin up. ”We think Simon has a base somewhere in the Everglades, right? So we need to get him to show us his hiding spot.”

”What do you think I've been trying to do?” Leo snarled as he threw his hands into the air.

”You haven't been trying with the right bait.”

Julian bounded toward Rose. He caught her shoulder and spun her around to face him. ”No. No.”

She smiled. ”Yes. Yes.”

A growl broke from him.

”I'm not the damsel in distress, Julian.”

What the f.u.c.k? Who'd ever said she was?

”I'm not the woman who gets to hide from the dark. I see all of that now. I am the dark. I'm the vampire. I'm the bad thing that others should fear.”

She wasn't bad. That was the problem. She'd always been good, straight to her soul. Far too good for someone like him. He'd known that truth the instant he met her, but he hadn't been able to stay away.

”I'm the thing he should fear. Simon thinks he's going to collect me? Terrorize me? Hurt my friends? No, this is ending. He wants me...” Her smile flashed, showing her white, sharp fangs. ”Then he's going to get me.”

He hated this plan. His hands fell away from her.

”He's going to get us all,” she added.

His eyes narrowed. ”I'm listening.” And maybe he was liking the plan a bit more. If they were all attacking.

She inclined her head toward Keri-a Keri who'd gone white and appeared to be suffering from shock. Learning about dragons probably did that to a human. ”She and I will go out on the Devil's Prize. You and Rayce will be below deck. You two will stay out of sight...I figure that's something you guys excel at, right? s.h.i.+fters are good at sneaking around.”

Of course. They knew how to hunt without making a sound.

”And Leo...he can cover us from above. Provided, of course, that he can go up high enough that his a.s.s won't be spotted again by Simon.”

Leo sniffed. ”We don't know he spotted me before. Maybe he just decided to back off when he saw your panther lover dive into the water after you. Not every day that a full-sized black panther decides to take a swim in the ocean.”

Only he hadn't been a panther when he'd found her. He'd s.h.i.+fted beneath the water and saved her as a man.

”We get on the boat,” she continued doggedly, ”and Keri contacts him again on the radio. She tells him that she's bringing me in...she gets a meet site set up.”

Leo smiled. ”And then we show up and grab the b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”

”Give me patience,” she muttered. Rose squeezed her eyes shut. ”I get that you think you can make the guy talk, but what if you can't?” Her eyes opened. ”What if Simon won't reveal the location of the others? What if he keeps them there, locked away, no matter what you do to him?”