Vampire: A Dark Protectors/Rebels Novella Page 2

  “Well, you could come home,” Laura said. “If he found you, I’d much rather you were here with me. You can have my spare bedroom.”

  Mariana stared at the floor she’d lovingly restored after hours and on weekends. She’d made this home hers. “No, but thanks. I obviously can’t run from this guy, because he’ll keep finding me. I love this small town, and I’ve gotten some good clients even without using my credentials. Since he’s found me, I can register and get licensed with the state and really get back to work.”

  “You are a great shrink,” Laura agreed. “I don’t have any time off, or I’d head your way and help you. For now, how about I reach out to the local authorities and collaborate?”

  Mariana let a small laugh escape. “Give it two weeks, would you? The current sheriff is a dumbass, but the guy running for the position is excellent. I’m actually helping with the campaign.” It probably wouldn’t hurt to let Evan in on her problems, since he’d been a good cop before being fired. Especially since he’d seemed so much healthier the last couple of months than when she’d arrived in town. For a bit, she’d been afraid he was really ill. Guess not. He would make a great sheriff, if he won.

  “If the horse you’re backing doesn’t win, you have to promise me you’ll come home. In fact, why don’t you head this way for the next couple of weeks?” Laura asked.

  Mariana shook her head. “This guy will find me again, and I’m done running.” Although she wasn’t a moron and would definitely ask Evan for help.

  Laura hummed quietly. “I don’t suppose you’d hire a bodyguard?”

  Now Mariana barked out a full laugh. “With what? My sparkling eyes and great sense of humor? It took everything I had to repair this place and get it up to snuff. Aunt Florence let it go a little bit.”

  “There had to have been a connection we missed between you and Florence that made you traceable,” Laura mused.

  “Nope. Florence was my grandma’s best friend, and I called her Aunt Florence, but we weren’t related in any way. She lived all over the world and just moved here a few years ago, and while we somewhat kept in touch, it wasn’t much. I was shocked she left me the house after she died.” The woman had sent Mariana the documents in the mail right before dying. Mariana eyed the gun on her leg. “I haven’t recorded the quitclaim deed, so there’s no public record that I own the property. I can’t be traced to this home, so that’s not how he found me.”

  Laura sighed. “All right. I take it you also haven’t changed your driver’s license or anything else?”

  “Nope,” Mariana said, her senses heightened as she listened for any sounds outside that shouldn’t be there. “I need to go and make sure the house is locked up tight.” Although she’d just checked. “I’ll call you first thing tomorrow, and maybe we can figure out a game plan.” Since the guy wouldn’t give up, she had no choice but to find him.

  “Promise you’ll call your friends—especially the ex-cop guy who’s about to be the sheriff,” Laura said.

  “Definitely. Bye.” Mariana ended the conversation and quickly dialed Evan to leave a message for him to call her back as soon as possible. Then she stood, slipped her phone into her pocket and her gun into her waistband, and double-checked the locks on all windows and the two doors. Okay. She was secure. Her heart still beat too fast and her head ached, but for now, she was safe.

  The kitchen door to the garage burst open with a loud clatter and bounced against the fridge.

  She screamed and reached for her gun, but it was too late. A hood was slammed on her head, and a man who felt to be at least twice her size turned and carried her into the garage and out the side door to a quietly running vehicle she hadn’t seen beyond the thicket of trees. She blinked but only saw darkness. She hadn’t even seen his face.

  * * * *

  Raine Maxwell was going to kill somebody. At the moment, with a hood over his head, he wasn’t sure who. Even though he was just regaining consciousness, he already had an idea, though. “Whoever darted me is going to pay. Take the hood off. Now,” he growled. His hands were tied behind his back, and he sat on a cold dirt floor. As the sedative coursed through his system, his strength began to return. The wind whispered her secrets through slats of wood at his shoulders, and if he pushed hard enough, he could go right through to the rainy night outside. Yet he remained still. “Last chance.”

  Then he paused and listened. Nothing but wind.

  He sniffed. Dirt, rain, and hay. He was alone? Somebody had gone to the trouble to knock him out, bring him to some barn, and then leave his ass? Oh, he didn’t think so. His left hand trembled—a condition he was becoming accustomed to.

  What had awoken him? An engine, still running outside, caught his attention.

  Then a door opened, and heavy footsteps pounded across the dirt. Something was hefted to the floor and then the footsteps rapidly escaped. An engine revved up outside and then a vehicle with a loud engine sped away.

  What was happening? Raine reared up and paused as a scent hit him. A powerful one of female, honey, and pears. Everything inside him settled and then supercharged. “Mariana?” he whispered.

  She screamed, high and loud.

  He jumped to his feet and lowered his head, shaking wildly until the hood flew off. His hands remained bound, and he pivoted to take in the entire barn. It was empty except for the female sitting across from him, her hands bound in back of her and a hood covering her head. A lit lantern perched on a bale of hay to her right. “You’re okay.” He took a deep breath and jerked on his restraints, ripping them open as he regained his strength. He strode to her and crouched down, taking off her hood.

  She shrank away and knocked her head against the worn siding. “Get away from me.”

  He remained in place, his gaze searching. Power and strength flowed through him just from being near her for a few minutes. “Did they hurt you?”

  She stared at him and then recognition lightened her stunning brown eyes. “Raine?” she croaked.

  His lungs compressed and then heated with lava. “Yeah.” Whoever had done this to her would cry in pain. “Talk to me. Are you hurt?” He tried to keep his voice gentle, but the tenor lowered to gritty and hoarse.

  She just stared. Her dark hair was wild around her heart-shaped face, but he couldn’t see any bruises on her.

  “Let’s get these off you.” He angled to the side and gently pulled her forward so he could see her restraints. Simple ties. He broke them with one finger. Yeah. Her nearness already brought some of his strength back to him. The legends about his family were true.

  The second her hands were free, she twirled away from him and leaped to her feet, backing away. “I can’t believe it’s you. All of this time.” Her voice shook as she reached in her waistband and came away empty.

  He scratched his whiskered chin. “What’s me?”

  She gulped in air, and her gaze caught on one of the silver restraints still hanging from his wrist. Then she swung her focus to where his hood lay near where he’d sat. “Oh, God. This is my fault. He got you, too?”

  Raine paused and lowered his chin to better see her eyes. Was she concussed? How the hell was he going to explain this to her? “I was knocked out and just came to as you were brought in. I—”

  “I’m so sorry.” She rushed for him and grabbed his hands. “This is my fault. But why you? Were you coming to my place? I don’t understand.” She released him and looked around. “We have to get out of here. How did you break your cuffs? They look solid. Even more than my ties had.”

  The woman’s thoughts bounced around faster than his fury. He had to make her understand that he hadn’t asked for this clusterfuck. “Mariana—”

  “Oh.” She slapped her hand over her mouth and then removed it. “You were bringing back that dish you borrowed right before you disappeared from town.” She shook her head. “Right? That’s the only way he could’ve seen you.” She swallowed rapidly. “Where did you go, anyway?”

  Away from her. As fa
r away from her as he could get—and he’d kept the dish like a moron just so he could remember her. It was plain and slightly pink, and she’d brought cookies on it to the first fundraiser for Evan Holden, who was running for sheriff. Raine had promised to return it to her, and then he’d split town. Fast. “I went home to Montana and had just gotten back to town this morning. I was on my way to your place when I was hit with a bunch of darts.” He hadn’t been able to stay away any longer, and look what that had gotten him. Yet it felt damn good to regain some of his strength. Because of her.

  Her gaze darted around, and fear rolled off her. “He must’ve taken you before I even got home. I’m so sorry about this.”

  “He?” Raine tried to get his brain to full power. “No one man could’ve taken me out, sweetheart.” Darts or not. He had a bad suspicion and hustled to the door to look out at the darkness. “Where are we?”

  “If you were darted, one small child could’ve knocked you out,” she countered, her voice trembling. “Although it’d take a strong man, maybe two, to get you into the trunk of a car. He didn’t sedate me but did put me in the trunk of a car, and it had to be at least a two or three hour drive,” she said, moving to his side to look out at the slashing rain and dark night. “We have to get out of here.”

  Wait a minute. He’d been out for hours after being sedated? What had been in those darts? Had he become that weak already without her? Oh, he was going to kill somebody. “Did they hurt you?” he growled.

  “Not yet.” She manacled her nails into his forearm. “This is my fault. The guy has been stalking me forever, and he finally got me. I’m not sure where he is right now, but we have to run.” Thunder blasted high and loud, and she jumped but set her chin. “We have to go now, Raine.”

  Wait a minute. Perhaps his brothers hadn’t just forced his hand with Mariana. Was there an enemy out there? A real stalker?

  Chapter 2

  Mariana watched the wind blow the slashing rain sideways toward more darkness. She could make out a muddy road with a thick forest on one side and what looked like weeds on the other that extended far into the abyss. It must’ve been a field at some time. She shivered. “If we stay to the trees, we’ll have some shelter.”

  Raine remained silent at her side.

  She could almost feel his mind working, and the tension pouring from him was actually speeding up her heart rate even faster, if that was possible. At the moment, she could barely breathe. She’d been taken, gotten him kidnapped, and they were now abandoned in this weird barn.

  For now.

  Her breath burst out. “They’ll be coming back. Or he will.” She ran through the issues even as her legs trembled with the need to escape into the storm. “He must’ve had somebody else kidnap us?” What did that mean? Did the guy want an alibi if she was taken? Or was he unable to kidnap somebody like Raine? If so, did that mean he was smaller than Raine? Or did it mean that her stalker was a woman? Her gut had always felt it was a man, but maybe she was wrong. “We have to go, Raine.” Yet she stayed in place. Was there more danger in the storm or in the barn? The barn. The kidnappers could return with weapons. They surely hadn’t expected Raine to be able to get out of his cuffs.

  “We have to wait out the storm, darlin’.” Raine put one broad hand on the door as if to shut it.

  She whirled on him, thankful to have a place to focus. “You don’t understand.”

  “Yeah. We’re gonna discuss that.” He looked down at her, formidable now that the drugs had obviously exited his system.

  Before she’d met him, months ago, she hadn’t believed in love at first sight. Or even lust at first sight. But without knowing it, without having a clue that she dreamed about him every night, he’d taught her that it existed.

  The unexplainable.

  Oh, she wanted him, but it went deeper than that. She didn’t understand why, and there was no doubt the attraction was one-sided, but she’d always dream about him. It just was. For now, she had to save his life.

  She grabbed his arm. He wasn’t understanding the danger here. “Listen to me. Please.” She looked way up to his hard cut face. From the first day, she’d found him to be unreal. His eyes glittered a fierce green against his darker complexion. His bone structure was sharply angled, his eyebrows naturally arched, and his jawline sliced with expert precision. He had jet-black hair that was thick and wavy, and his body was muscled and graceful. He was beautiful in a wild and raw way—too rough to be a model but more stunning than any man she’d ever seen.

  He slipped out of his battered leather jacket and set it around her shoulders. “Put your arms in.”

  She didn’t have the energy to argue and was freezing, so she did as he’d ordered. His intriguing scent of male with a hint of coffee beans surrounded her. She really did imagine that scent in her dreams. “He’s going to show up. We have to run.”

  Raine arched one very dark eyebrow. “I hope he comes back. Or they do. I’m not sedated right now, and you’re safe. Take a deep breath before you hyperventilate.”

  Her body flushed cold and then very warm. Oh, he stood to about six and a half feet tall, was muscled, and moved like he could fight. Even so, this kidnapping was obviously planned out, and right now, Raine didn’t have a weapon on him. “You’re a badass, I admit. But even you can’t outrun a bullet.” She wouldn’t feel guilty about the relief filtering through her that she wasn’t alone here. “Let’s run for the trees.”

  “No.” He kept the door open but pulled her back. “I can see if anybody comes down that road, and if they do, they’re going to regret it. For now, tell me what’s going on.”

  There was a difference between being brave and being an egotistical moron, and Mariana had to get him to see reason. While Raine was tough, the kidnapper had both sedatives and probably weapons, and getting to safety was more important than fighting right now. So she did the only thing she could by ducking her head, bunching her legs, and running full-on into the rain.

  Lightning zigged on the field, lighting the entire world and blowing the harsh smell of ozone at her. She screamed and ran faster over the muddy ground, hunching over and beating toward the forest. Rain poured over her, instantly soaking her hair to her head. She blinked water out of her eyes.

  Her escape must’ve surprised Raine, because it took him a moment to catch up with her. When he did, it wasn’t to help her into the trees.

  He snatched her up in a move so fast she got dizzy and had to close her eyes. He swung them around and ran back into the barn, setting her roughly on a bale of old and prickly hay. “What the holy fuck are you doing?” His eyes blazed an impossible green in his brutal face.

  She kicked his shin and tried to jump to her feet.

  He planted one solid hand over her entire shoulder and kept her in place. “Knock it off,” he growled.

  She stiffened and sucked in several panicked breaths. “What are you doing?”

  His jaw firmed, and he just stared at her. When he spoke, he sounded like he’d swallowed sharp stones. “You were the tallest thing away from the forest, and there’s lightning out there. We’re not going anywhere until this storm abates. Period.”

  She swallowed. “We have to run. The guy has a plan, Raine.”

  “Good. So do I.” He loomed over her, looking more dangerous than any stalker could ever be.

  “What’s that?” she snapped, searching for her temper and thankfully finding it.

  He leaned toward her, masculine and intense. “We wait out the storm. If it lets up, we walk to the nearest town. If the kidnapper shows up, I rip off his head. That’s the plan.”

  * * * *

  Raine’s temper was a slow burn, and at the moment, the wick was ignited. He released the female and took a step back to give her some breathing room. If her chest panted any faster, she’d go into a full-on panic attack, and he needed to know what he was dealing with here. Maybe the kidnapping hadn’t been focused on him. In fact, it was looking less likely at the moment. “Okay. Tell m
e what’s going on.” He tried to keep his tone gentle, but as a demon-vampire hybrid, his voice would always be hoarse.

  She wiped rain off her pretty face and pulled her wet hair out of his jacket. “Fine, but if he shows up, I’m running. You’re being a moron.”

  Good. Her spunk was back. “I promise I can handle anything coming our way.” Now that he knew something or somebody was coming their way. He’d been embarrassingly unprepared earlier because his mind had been filled with her. The one woman he should stay the hell away from. Plus, his strength had waned being away from her for weeks. “Who do you think kidnapped us?” God, it was embarrassing to even admit he’d lowered his guard enough to be kidnapped.

  Her eyes were dark pools of fear and anger. “I don’t know who he is. I’m assuming it’s a man, because statistically most stalkers are male, but I don’t even know that fact for sure. Although my gut tells me it is a man, for some reason.”

  Okay. “Is this a recent event?” Who in their small town would be stalking her?

  She huddled deeper into his jacket, looking small and defenseless. “No. It started in Dallas, which is one of the reasons I moved to Indiana, besides my adopted aunt leaving me her cottage.”

  “What started?” He kept his voice as calm as possible under the circumstances.

  She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Greeting cards were sent to my office, then white roses, and then more elaborate gifts, including a diamond bracelet. Then phone calls with hang-ups, and the police eventually tracked those all down to burner phones.”

  “What were the messages?” he asked.

  She paled and then shrugged. “They were mostly positive about love and the future and destiny. At least at first. The tone of the notes turned darker and angrier as time went on, because whatever I was supposed to do, in this psycho’s fantasy, I wasn’t doing. Although there’s no way to know what I was supposed to do.”