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"He betrayed you."
Thaddeus's sentence died off. Mara pulled on his arm with both hands now,
still to no effect.
"I killed him because they captured him. They threatened him and he begged
for his life. He would have told them everything if I hadn't ended it. As it
was, he told them enough."
"What did he tell them?"
"About this place. That it was your men who tried to take their children and
burned their church. About the army you're raising."
Thaddeus hissed. "May his soul bum in hell! I should never have trusted the
weakling."
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"They'll mount an attack, and soon."
"Let them come. I'll crush them. Every one of them." Thaddeus spun Mara away
from him.
Connor caught her as she stumbled, her hands on her throat. He had her in his
arms. The door to the porch was still open. He could have made it. He could
have scooped her up, changed form on the balcony and carried her away before
Thaddeus or the guards below could stop him.
But it was too late. He couldn't leave.
Thaddeus didn't know the Chicagoans had formed alliances. He thought only the
original congregation would attack. A group that size would hardly be enough
to make a dent in his defenses.
He had another think coming. And soon.
Mara was right. It was going to be a bloodbath.
He couldn't leave the other women and the children in the middle of a war
zone. He couldn't walk away and leave his brethren and those of the
congregations joining them to die in a battle the likes of which humans had
never seen, and would never see.
If he stayed, he could get the women including Mara and the babies to safety.
He could help his brethren by weakening the estate's security from the inside.
He could see to it that a man with so little regard for life did not escape
with his own.
"By killing Jackson, I am the rightful successor to his position." Gently
Connor eased Mara aside. She watched him with round eyes as he bent to one
knee and bowed his head and struggled not to choke on the words. "Great One,
where he failed his mission,I will not. I live& only to serve."
Serve Thaddeus Cole up on a platter, that was.
Chapter Twenty-one
Mara had, to jog to keep up with Connor as hemade his way down the long hall
toward his room. Thaddeus had given him fifteen minutes to shower and meet him
and the other lieutenants downstairs to plan their defenses. At the rate he
was going, he was going to have a good thirteen and a half of those minutes to
spare.
More than the need to hurry drove his long strides. He left a wake of tension
in his path, and the stiff bunch and release of his shoulders as he walked
reminded her of a volcano about to blow.
She had a thousand questions about what had happened in Chicago. About what
had just happened in Thaddeus's office. But Connor didn't look like a man who
wanted to talk. He looked like a man who wanted to kill.
She just hoped he still wanted to kill the right people.
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What had all that "I live to serve" stuff been about?
She trusted him. She knew he wouldn't turn on his people, or on her. Sheknew
that.
And still& he'd been damned convincing.
When they reached his room, he shoved the door open so hard it banged on the
wall behind it, then he dragged her in and kicked it shut with one foot. He
turned her, planting her back against the wall. He pinned her in place like a
butterfly on a board with his chest pressing against hers, his hands planted
outside her arms, his legs planted outside her thighs. His erection nestled
against her hip.
"Connor ?"
His mouth cut off the rest of her query. His lips came down strong and
demanding on hers. His tongue invaded. He gave her no chance to speak, no
chance to breathe, but more opportunity to feel than she'd gathered in a
lifetime.
Feel his moist breath warm her cheek. His beard stubble scrape her jaw. His
hands mold and shape her breasts through her shirt and bra until the nipples
stood in tight peaks.
"God, Mara," he murmured against her ear, licking, probing, tasting.
There was an urgency in his touch. A fever in his kiss she'd never
experienced before. It brought a rush of blood to the pool between her legs
and a heavy ache to her breasts.
Both his hands returned to her face, held her still for his mouth to forage.
His fingers trembled on her cheeks, and she raised her hand to cover them and
still them, awed by the strength of this need, this wild yearning that coursed
through him into her.
She arched her back, grinding her pelvis against his, and pushed her hands
between them to the button on his jeans.
His chest heaving, he jerked away from her. The rush of cool air where his
warm body had been made her shiver.
She wanted to throw herself back in his arms, but sensed it wouldn't do any
good. The moment had passed. Whatever demon had plagued him had been
exorcised. At least temporarily.
He dragged one hand through the roots of his hair. "God, Mara. I was afraid
he would kill you before I got back."
"You shouldn't have come back. You had the information your people needed.
You were free."
"I wouldn't leave you here. With him."
"And now he'll kill you for it as soon as he finds out. How long do you think
you'll be able to fool him with that 'loyal servant' crap?"
Tears filled her eyes as the enormity of what he'd done sank in. He'd come
back for her. The idiot.
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He framed her face with his big palms again, but this time with earnestness,
not passion. "Listen to me. There's going to be a battle."
"There're too many of them "
"A really big battle. A lot of innocent people are going to die if we don't
get busy. I need your help."
She sniffed. "Help how?"
"I need you to get the women organized. Gather whatever you'll need for them
and the babies food, water, blankets, medicines, diapers, formula, candles. We
need to move everybody out of harm's way until the fighting is over."
"Out of harm's way, where?"
"To the wine cellar."
"The basement." Her stomach cramped, memories of her days locked in the dark
at the farmhouse trying to rise. Of eight years wasted in a state penitentiary
before that. "No."
"Listen to me. It's safe down there. As soon as it's over, I'll come and get
you."
"No! I want to be with you!"
He pulled her into his arms and rocked her. "I know. But I'll come for you. I
promise."
"What about Thaddeus?"
"He'll agree it's for the best. He has a vested interest in keeping his
future soldiers safe!"
She pulled back until she could look into his blue eyes. "And while we're
hiding in the basement, what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to help Thaddeus plan his defense so that I know every guard
placement, every weapons cache." He smiled and smoothed her hair. "And then
I'm going to kill the son of a bitch."
Colleen listed to the left as Mara helped her downthe hallway to pod one,
where the women were gathering for their trip to the wine cellar. The women
assigned to kitchen and housecleaning work for the day had already been
brought in by the guards. Now they were collecting all those who hadn't been
assigned to work details.
"You okay?" Mara asked, tightening her hold on Colleen's hip. At least she
thought it was a hip. Colleen was so swollen with child that it was hard to
find any recognizable anatomy between the woman's breasts and her knees.
Colleen braced the small of her back with one hand. "Sure. Nothing a good
epidural and twelve or fourteen hours in labor and delivery wouldn't cure."
"You just keep a cork in it, you hear? We've got enough going on right now
without having to birth a baby."
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Colleen looked at her cockeyed. "Whatis going on, exactly?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]