Rebecca Zanetti - Fated

Talen closed his eyes to better concentrate before reopening them. “No. Not yet.” He turned his anxious gaze out the window.

Cara came awake in strong arms with a cry, but the arms were wrong—too long, too cold, and too unwelcome. She looked up into swirling purple eyes and nausea slammed into her.

“Hello, Cara. Do you faint often?”

“No. Put me down.” She peered around Lorcan at some type of dark tunnel with thick stone walls. Underground, again. His booted feet sounded softly on what must be a dirt floor, and his pasty white skin glowed above her face while he stopped before a rounded wooden door, kicking it open with one foot.

He put her on her feet and gave her a quick push inside. “I’ll be back for you.”

The door slammed shut, and a key scraped through a lock. She stared across a round underground room and blue eyes met identical blue eyes for a startled beat. “Emma,” she breathed as she met her sister halfway, and they clasped each other tight.

“Cara,” Emma said with a groan and stepped back. Her tired face scrutinized her younger sibling. “Holy crap. You’re pregnant.”

“What?” Cara said through tears as the room tilted dangerously.

“You. Are. Pregnant.” Emma grabbed both her hands. “You didn’t know?”

Cara shook her head. “No. I guess it makes sense, but … I’ve been on birth control. I know it’s never one hundred percent, but …” Her mind spun as Emma enfolded her in a gentle hug. “Are you sure, Emma?” She already knew the answer, even before her sister nodded. Emma’s psychic abilities had never failed them. Of course, who the hell knew if birth control worked against vampire seed for God’s sake?

Cara took a deep breath and studied her big sister. “You’ve looked better.” Emma’s dark hair lay tangled around her slender shoulders, a purple bruise marred light skin and covered one entire cheekbone, and dark marks of worry slashed under her eyes.

“Yeah, and you’re knocked up,” Emma retorted before moving toward the door and yanking a mangled lipstick tube out of the back pocket of her faded jeans. “The door is a thick wood, and I’m close to picking the lock. The walls are made of stone bricks, and we’re under the ground somewhere, but I saw a map when I first got here and think I can figure the way out.”

Cara raised an eyebrow. “You’re picking the lock with your lipstick, Em?” Man, her sister had lost it.

Emma snorted. “It’s a lock pick camouflaged as a lipstick, dummy. I’ve been on the run for two months—believe me, I’ve been preparing for this.” She moved forward toward the door and inserted the pick into the old-fashioned lock before bending to one knee and starting to twist. “All those times Daddy locked us in the closet is actually coming in handy. Funny, huh?”

“Not really,” Cara retorted. “He really was a bastard, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah. Maybe he’s enjoying hell right now.”

“You think so?” Cara bent closer to watch her sister manipulate the lock.

“Yeah. I don’t think you can use God to beat the heck out of people and then get away with it.”

Her mind still reeling, Cara slid down to the hard dirt floor, not needing to check for the knife at her back—it was clearly gone. Dust and wet mold made her sneeze. She belatedly remembered the knife hidden in her sock before leaning down to pat her leg. Damn. Lorcan must have taken the weapon while she was unconscious. “So, where are we, Em?”

“Somewhere in Wyoming. At a new facility because something happened to their stronghold in Portland. The good news is that this place isn’t fully staffed yet, and they brought me here only because they knew you were fairly close.” Emma rubbed her hands on her jeans before returning her attention to the lock. “This is a temporary facility—I have a feeling their permanent one would be a lot harder to escape from.”

“Yeah, we raided the place in Portland—though I don’t think that one was fully staffed yet, either.”

Emma turned surprised eyes her way. “You raided the place?”

“Uh, yeah. They kidnapped a friend of mine, and we had to go and get her.”

“Who exactly is ‘we’?” Emma turned back to the lock.

“Um, well, my husband, Talen, and his brothers.”

“You’re married?” Emma’s voice rose to an odd pitch.

“And mated,” Cara said quietly, wondering how much Emma knew. She had her answer when her sister swiveled around to face her and paled to near white.

“Not to a Kurjan?”

“No.” Cara leaned forward to pat her sister on the arm. “To a vampire.”

“What? You married one of the vampires?”

“Yeah. What do you know about them?” She chose not to mention Dage and his interest in Emma.

Emma shrugged. “They’re mortal enemies of the Kurjans, look like us except for their eyes, and also need mates with enhanced abilities.” She ran a rough hand through her rioting hair. “I guess your empathic abilities made you a potential.” Her eyes focused in concern. “Where’s Janie?”

“Safe.”

“Thank God.” Emma studied her closely. “Were you forced?”

“To mate?” Cara blushed to the roots of her hair.

“Yes.”

“Um. No, not really.”

“Not really?” Emma’s gaze hardened.

“Not at all, actually,” Cara sighed as she dropped her hands and blushed again under her sister’s searching gaze.

“Where is he, Cara?”

“On his way,” she said miserably.

“On his way?” Emma frowned, storm clouds brewing in her eyes.

“Um, yeah. They were at least three hours out and I could get here faster without waiting for them.” Cara whispered the statement, a deep flush rising under her skin to pool in her face.

“Why didn’t you wait for them?” Emma asked in astonishment. “Since neither of us are exactly strong fighters, a sworn enemy of the damn Kurjus would come in handy right now.”

“I know.” Cara sighed. “But Lorcan said he’d start cutting off your body parts if I didn’t hurry.”

“And?” Damn it. Her sister knew her too well.

“And I found a file in Talen’s desk ordering for him to mate and bear sons.” Cara avoided her sister’s eyes by looking around the small, empty room, but only yellowed stone walls and a dirt floor were visible. She just couldn’t go into the whole branding situation yet.

“Oh. So you were pissed?”

Cara nodded.

“And you were hurt?” Emma’s voice softened.

Cara nodded again and blinked back tears.

“Okay, we’ll figure all of that out later. Right now we need to get the heck out of here before some doctor arrives. If Lorcan knows you’ve mated, he’ll try to use the virus on you.”

“You know about it?”

“Yes. The lab I worked at helped develop it, but we thought we were curing genetic diseases. We had no clue the Kurjans even existed. When I found out, I tried to destroy the virus, but it was too late.”

“And they came after you?”

Emma nodded. “Yeah. They knew about me from day one; it was always their plan to ‘acquire me’ after we developed the virus.” She flushed. “And they checked into my background and found out about you and Janie. It’s my fault you’re here.”

“It’s their fault, Em.” Cara closed her eyes and concentrated on reaching Talen. Only static filled her head, and she wondered if whatever had happened earlier had broken their connection. If so, she fervently prayed that the results were temporary.

“Cara, they showed me the tapes of what the virus does to mated women.” Emma’s eyes filled with concern for her sister. “We didn’t know what we were developing.”

“Is there any way to beat the infection?”

“No.”