Hunted

Epilogue

Safe in the underground lab in Oregon, Emma Kayrs slammed her hands onto her hips, facing the King of the Realm. Irritation kept her from jumping into his arms in welcome. “You went off to battle again.”

Surprise flashed in his silver eyes. “Of course.”

She lifted both eyebrows. “Excuse me?”

“That’s my job, love.” He cocked his head at the machines hurriedly spitting out data. “What have you found?”

“Oh no.” He was not going to distract her by talking about science. “I know your job. Leading doesn’t include putting yourself on the front line.” He wouldn’t be the stubborn vampire she adored if he had allowed anyone else to face danger for him. And she loved the sweet picture he’d sketched of her sleeping that he’d left on the nightstand for her. But still.

Lethal charm flashed with his smile. “I’ll be more careful next time I fight.” Two strides had him in her space and grabbing her arms. His lips took hers with a rush of power ... and need.

She fell into his kiss with a soft sigh. When he lifted his head, she had to blink several times to regain focus. “So, ah, welcome back. I found a wedding dress.”

Pleasure darkened his eyes. “Did you, now?”

A shiver of want wandered down her spine. “Yes. It’s very pretty.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing compared to you.” He brushed hair back from her face. “Anyhow, you won’t be wearing anything for long.” Lethal charm lifted his lips.

Desire warmed her abdomen. “You’re sweet, King.” Focus. She needed to focus. “Are we all right with the Coven Nine?”

“Yes, solid.” He rubbed his palms along her arms, sending tingles through every nerve in her body. “I have Simone reaching out to the demons now. She seems to think there’s some unrest in the demon ranks. We’ll see.”

Interesting. If the demons fought each other, then they couldn’t fight the vampires. Emma glanced at the humming machines. “The werewolf you caught was a panther shifter ... male.” The first male nonhuman werewolf they’d found.

Dage sighed. “I’m sorry to hear that.” His gaze narrowed on her face. “Have you slept?”

She tried unsuccessfully to take a step back. “Ah, well ... kind of—” She yelped as the world tilted and she found herself over his shoulder. “What the hell?”

“You need sleep.” He caressed her rear. “But first, let’s go for a swim, love.”

In another section of headquarters, Cara Kayrs leaned back against the headboard deep in the earth, her family surrounding her. A bandage covered the side of her neck, although the wound had already healed—thanks to a good dose of Talen’s blood. Soft light cascaded from a bedside lamp, illuminating a spotted white Anne plant surrounded by several budding African violets on the antique dresser. Fresh oxygen pumped into the air from the vents and the natural plants.

Janie snuggled close, the baby slept peacefully on Cara’s chest, and her mate ran his fingers through her hair as she rested on his shoulder. She inhaled a deep breath, tempted to yank her empathic shields into place. “Would you relax? I’m fine.”

Talen growled low and quiet, stretching his long legs out on the huge bed. “You took a bullet right after giving birth. After being kidnapped from what should’ve been a secured location.” His hold tightened, emotion slamming off him in waves. “I’m never leaving your side again.”

Oh, for the love of Pete. “Then I’ll end up beheading you.” She tried to joke, but thought she might actually be serious.

“Humph.” He sighed. “Conn ripped Demidov’s head off.” Irritation tinged the words. “I wanted to finish him.”

Cara wasn’t sorry the witch had died. “What do you think is going to happen with the Coven Nine? Will Moira need to join?”

“She doesn’t seem to want to join. Which is good, because I don’t think Conn would let her right now ... too much unrest in Ireland.” Talen settled Cara more comfortably across his broad chest, reaching over to cup his son’s sleeping head. “We need to name this little man, don’t you think?” His voice lowered in wonder. “He’s big, even for a Kayrs babe.”

Cara smiled into the darkness. “I thought ... maybe ... Garrett Talen Kayrs.”

Talen exhaled. “After my father and myself.” He placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head. “I wondered if you wanted to give him Paulsen as a middle name.”

She hadn’t even considered Paulsen. “No. My last name is Kayrs, as Emma’s will be soon.” Oh crap, what about Janie? Janie’s father had died before her birth, and Cara had given her the Paulsen name.

Talen reached easily into her mind. “No worries, mate. I care little about the human legal system but figured you still might. I’m drawing up papers to legally change Janie’s last name to mine. I guess they’re adoption papers. Though she’s my daughter whether or not some damn paper says so.”

Cara’s bones melted along with her heart. “We should talk to Janie.”

“I asked Janie.” His breath brushed her hair with warmth. In fact, huge rolling waves of heat cascaded off the vampire

“You did?” Cara shifted her gaze to her sleeping daughter. “What did she say?”

Talen chuckled. “She raised one eyebrow at me ... you know, like Dage does?”

“Dage does, huh?” Cara mused. Every single Kayrs man had the gift. With Talen, it usually meant he was irritated with something Cara had done ... often involving danger of some sort. “What did she say?”

“Well, she lifted her tiny little chin and said her last name had always been Kayrs. That I could even ask her preschool teacher Miss Kimmie from last year because that’s what Janie put on her papers.” He shifted. “Speaking of which, I’m concerned.”

Cara stilled. “About Janie?”

“We’re relocating a few military families here, vampire and shifter. So she has some kids to play with. Our girl may be the key to the future, but she needs a decent childhood. The chance to be a kid.”

Cara shut her eyes, emotion all but choking her. The man truly did love them. Completely. “You’re sweet, Talen.”

His growl made her smile. “I most certainly am not.” Against her shoulder, his heart beat steadily. For her. “We took Janie away from friends and school. When I, ah ...”

“When you kidnapped us?” Thank God.

“When I took you, and you saved me.” He nuzzled her hair. “I hadn’t realized I was only half alive until you showed me warmth.”

For a warrior, the man held charm. “I love you, Talen.”

“I love you too, mate.”

Janie fought a grin at the talking, snuggling even closer to her mama. Life was good. Her baby brother finally showed up, and everyone was okay. Well, kind of. Aunt Katie might get a new job hunting werewolves, and Uncle Jordan was gonna be mad. Aunt Mowra needed to learn how to let Uncle Conn help sometimes, or he’d put her underground again. Auntie Emma was going to punch Uncle Dage in the face. He really wasn’t gonna like that. And Mama. Well, Mama still had the sickness. But it was moving slow and there was time to fix it.

But for now, Janie needed to check in with Zane, so she let sleep come.

The dream started in the middle of a sunny day ...

Janie wandered through a forest with leaves bigger than her daddy’s hands. Big, furry, and green. Lime green. Maybe they really existed somewhere. Maybe not.

The dirt trail crunched under her new tennis shoes, so she imagined peppermint candy lined the way. Up ahead a bunch of rocks tumbled next to the side of a mountain.

Kalin sat on one, swinging his leg back and forth.

Her tummy hurt. Like it did after she ate too much popcorn.

She sucked in air that didn’t smell like peppermint. But her chin lifted like her mama’s always did, and she kept moving until she stood in front of him. “I didn’t think you’d be back.”

“I found my path.” He wore faded jeans and a shiny green shirt that matched his eyes. The black nails and lipstick were gone. The red tips on his black hair shone in the sun, somehow brighter than before. His jaw looked hard, and his shoulders looked wide.

“You picked wrong.” If Kalin had chosen the right way, he wouldn’t have barged into her dream. Now they couldn’t ever be friends. She wouldn’t cry in front of him, though. No matter what he said, she wouldn’t cry.

He shrugged. “You tried to help me, I know you did. But sometimes fate decides. Like with the scorpion.”

She wrinkled her nose. “What scorpion?” The weird crawlers with the poisoned pinchers kind of freaked her out. She and Aunt Emma had watched a show on them a while ago.

“Every scorpion.” Kalin studied her, looking for something.

What, she didn’t know.

“You’re probably too young. It’s the story about the scorpion and the frog. The old parable.”

“What’s a para ... para ... ?” She hated it when other people knew more stuff than she did.

“Parable. It’s a story.” Even while making her sad, his voice stayed gentle. Almost as if he didn’t have a choice in this life, and neither did she. He was wrong. “An old story. Do you want to hear it?”

No. “Okay.”

He patted the rock beside him, and she lifted her chin higher. No way was she sitting by him if he decided to be bad again.

His smile flashed really sharp teeth. “One day there was a terrifying flood. A dangerous flood that threatened the entire world. It swept through a valley, and a scorpion and frog got stuck on the side of a rushing river. A mean-looking stork waited on the other side, probably wanting to eat the poor frog.”

Her lip began to shake and she bit it. Somehow she knew the frog wasn’t going to have a good day. “What did they do?”

“The scorpion asked for a ride across the river, and in exchange promised to protect the frog from the stork. Of course, the frog was scared, but he wanted to survive.” Kalin grabbed a blade of grass from the rock, twirling it through his fingers. He had a pretty voice. Already deep, and he seemed older than fifteen.

Old enough to change his life. “We all want to survive.” Her voice came out sad, but she couldn’t help it.

He nodded. “Yes. We do. So, the frog let the scorpion jump on his back, and he started to swim. About halfway across, the scorpion lashed out and stung the frog.”

Something inside her ached. Right where her heart was. “Why?”

Kalin raised his dark eyebrows. “That’s what the frog asked, because now they were both going to die. You know what the scorpion said?”

“No,” Janie whispered. “What did he say?”

“The scorpion said, ‘because that’s my nature.’ ” Kalin threw the blade of grass onto the ground. “And they both died.”

They didn’t have to. They could’ve swum to the other side and both lived. Maybe even changed the way everyone lived. “I don’t like your story.”

Kalin shrugged. “Probably not. But you know who I am in the story, Janie?”

She drew in air, glad trees stood nearby. Even in dreams, she liked nature near, just like her mama. “Yes, Kalin, I do.”

“Good.” He jumped off the rock.

She stayed still. “You’re the stork.”

His head jerked back, surprise filling his eyes. “The stork?”

“Yes. Nobody knows what the stork is gonna do. He can do the right thing, and save them all.” Or he could watch them drown.

Kalin rubbed his chin, surprise turning to thoughtfulness. “You’re going to be a fascinating woman someday, Janie.” He glanced toward the forest and shrugged. “I look forward to proving you wrong. I’m not the stork.”

Janie followed his gaze, nearly taking a step back at the boy striding out of the trees. Zane. But not completely Zane. He’d grown taller, his black hair cut short, a purple bruise down his chin. Anger swirled in the deep green of his eyes. Something scary swirled around him.

Kalin stepped closer to her. “Well. If it isn’t the frog.”

At the moment Zane looked more like a scorpion. He’d dressed in all black, even his big boots.

Janie clasped her hands together. “I’ve missed you. Where have you been?”

He didn’t look at her, just kept his gaze on Kalin. “Leave now.”

“Or what?”

“I’ll kick your ass.”

Janie barely kept from gasping. Zane never swore. At least not in front of her. He was eleven, yet was as tall as Kalin already. And as big in the shoulders. She searched for something to get him to look at her. “Kalin told me the story of the scorpion and the frog.”

Zane’s eyelids lowered a little bit, making him seem more dangerous. “She’s too young for that story.”

Kalin laughed. “I figured she should know the players, Zane. Who we all are.” He took three strides toward the edge of the rocks. “I suppose you think you’re the scorpion?”

Zane shook his head before Kalin finished his sentence. “Nope. Not even close.”

Kalin threw back his head and laughed, quickly disappearing behind the rocks.

Janie waited until he’d left the dream before turning toward Zane. “Where have you been?”

He shrugged. “Training. I told you I’d be busy.” Finally he looked at her.

“What happened to your face?”

“My mother’s people train harder than my father’s.” Zane stretched his neck. “Why did you let Kalin in your dream?”

“I didn’t. He sat on the rocks when I got here.” She’d stopped being so careful about keeping her dreams private. “I talked to him before and thought he had changed.” Unlike the scorpion.

Zane shook his head. “Kalin isn’t going to change.”

“Are you?” The words came out before she could think.

“No.” The word was soft, but Zane’s eyes looked hard. “It’s you and me, Janie Belle. No matter what I have to do ... I promise it’ll be you and me. We’re gonna fix it all.”

She reached forward and took his hand. “Do you want me to come find you?” Everyone called her smart. A smart girl would figure out a way.

“No.” Zane’s smile finally showed up. The fun one she loved. “Not right now. When the time comes, I’ll find you.”

“You promise?” She wished she could hurry up and grow, so they could fix the world.

His smile faded. “I promise, Janie Belle.”

She grinned wider. “’Cause you’re the scorpion?”

He shook his head. Very slowly. “No, Belle. I’m the flood.”