Parallel Attraction Page 23

  Chapter Nineteen

  Marco carried Kelsey in his arms toward Jared's position and almost had her there when a massive exchange of gunfire and pulse weaponry exploded all around them. Dropping to his knees, he laid her on the ground and engaged his own energy to protect her. It was one of his skills as a protector, manipulating his personal reserve of power to form shielding perimeters. He couldn't do it for long stretches of time, but in life-and-death moments like this one, it had more than once saved his sovereigns' lives.

  Kelsey stirred beside where he knelt, his hand extended and his power emanating in concentric waves from his hand. Kelsey bolted upright, crying out at the chaotic gunfire from the battle that raged about them, alarmed and then instantly alert to her surroundings. She quickly grasped Jared's predicament just as Marco had done: He was under attack by the Antousians, and his soldiers wouldn't be able to keep the advancing enemy at bay much longer. Jared was, quite simply, surrounded by those who would see him dead.

  Marco watched the events unfold beyond his protective perimeter. First, Veckus arrived, moving in on Jared. The other Antousians had the Refarian unit surrounded, ordering them to drop their guns. Everything happened quickly, but Marco had a clear view when Jared was wrenched from his own people and shoved gracelessly to the ground at Veckus's feet. Jared doubled over face-first, one hand clasping at a gunshot wound in his upper thigh, the other scrabbling for purchase in the snowy ground to keep him from collapsing completely. The snow beneath him instantly began to darken with his blood; Marco could see the pooling stain grow by the moonlight. It wasn't just the injury to Jared's leg that had felled him; he'd taken several mortal hits. The king was bleeding out, and quickly, right there in the winter snow.

  "Marco, you've got to let that... shield down so we can get to him!" Kelsey begged. "You can protect him if you let me go."

  "Your safety is paramount," Marco bit off without ever looking in her direction.

  "No, his safety is paramount—he's the king," she argued, giving Marco's arm a forceful tug. "Jared still has a chance if we can get to him soon! I know you don't want him to die…you wouldn't be protecting me now."

  Kelsey knew little about the Refarians, but it was obvious that both Marco's perimeter and his physical strength were depleting before her eyes.

  Beyond the boundary, Veckus continued to taunt Jared cruelly, circling where he was half-collapsed in the snow. "So, the king bows down before me now," he said with a sneer. "Oh, Raedus will love this detail. I'll share the moment with pleasure."

  Who was Raedus? Kelsey didn't even know the full host of Jared's enemies, and staring at his fallen, brutally wounded body, she ached to know everyone who had ever wished him harm. She'd take up a gun and go after them all herself.

  Jared struggled with every breath he took, his chest rising and falling with erratic gasps. Veckus examined him clinically, then said, "We've been in this situation before, as I recall." Veckus gave Jared a hard shove that sent him tumbling sideways. Jared's hands splayed against the cold ground, and he barely managed to catch himself, panting and gasping for air.

  "We've been in this moment before"—Veckus paused, giving Jared a hard poke in the ribs with the butt of his rifle—"but no matter what we do, you just keep repeating yourself." Veckus laughed at his own joke until Jared raised his head weakly and met his enemy's eyes.

  "You're going to lose," Jared said. The snow beneath him was soaked with his blood, and Kelsey knew that if they couldn't get to him soon his life would be over. How was he even holding his form at all after losing so much blood? And if he did shift, would he be able to escape? Or maybe he couldn't shift because of his injuries. She frantically wished she knew more about him, anything at all that might help save his life. Thinking of their first meeting, she recalled that his injuries then had necessitated his Change— what about now?

  "You will ... not have . . . me." Kelsey closed her eyes when she heard the agony that edged his weakly spoken words.

  "Oh, I believe that I do, in fact, have you already, J'Areshkadau. Or should I call you my lord?" Veckus sneered. "That seems appropriately ironic, in view of how this little drama is ending, you bowing on your knees before me." Veckus glanced at Kelsey pointedly, across the barrier. "And of what will happen to your queen this time?"

  "Wh-what?" Jared managed to stammer, trying to raise his head to see her. "What . . . Kelsey?"

  Why hadn't she told Jared everything she'd learned about their future selves when she'd had the chance? Obviously Marco had told this Veckus all about their future, about what he'd done to her in the mitres chamber in order to travel back through the time portal.

  Veckus stared at Jared in genuine surprise. "You don't think it will turn out differently for her here than it did in the future, do you?" he asked. "Just because that crazy Refarian is trying to protect her? I'm stronger than all of you. The Madjin Protectors are long dead anyway."

  Kelsey could feel Marco seething next to her, his energy building. He glared at Veckus, black eyes narrowing. "You know it's a damn lie," Marco shouted, his throaty voice taut with rage. "You've always known Jared holds the true power. It's why you're so afraid of him."

  "But he's barely learned to use it yet," Veckus corrected, raising a finger. "And that's where I can thank you for bringing them both to me at just this point in time."

  With that, Veckus turned to Jared, urging him to change in a low voice. But not so low that Kelsey couldn't hear what he said as the man spun upon him, putting a strange alien weapon to his temple. "Go on and change, you fool."

  And for the first time Jared cried out, collapsing on the ground with a groan. Still, he refused to transform. "Why won't he change?" she asked Marco in a panic, but he shook his head. "He won't let Veckus take him captive in his Change."

  "Can Veckus do that? Take him prisoner in that state?"

  Marco's outstretched hands trembled. "Yes, but Jared would die before he let him. To be controlled in his Change ... it would be the death of him. If he were uninjured, his D'Aravnian self would be formidable. A terrible weapon against Veckus. But if he were captured like this, but in his energy form? The torture would be unthinkable. And Veckus might even try to weaponize his power…but it would be the containment of his energy that would destroy Jared. No, he won't let himself be taken in that state." Marco met her gaze significantly. "He won't make his Change here. He will die first, Kelsey."

  He will die. He will die. Marco was preparing her for the inevitable, she knew it by the tone of his voice and the way he met her eyes with a shocking steadiness—despite all the madness around them.

  Kelsey grabbed his arm, determined to get through to him. "You have to go to him," she begged. "Now, Marco."

  "So I can leave you unprotected? So Veckus can kill you, too? That's what he wants, you know." He paused and looked at her, his dark eyes flashing with emotion. "You heard it yourself."

  "He wants Jared."

  "No, he wants the king and the queen," Marco stated firmly.

  "I know you hate Jared," she began quietly, standing as tall as she could. "That much is obvious. But I also know that there was a time when we could trust you. That I could trust you. I'm begging you. He's dying out there."

  Marco closed his eyes for a moment, and Kelsey couldn't read his expression. Finally he glanced at her, his dark eyes full of . . . compassion? She couldn't be sure.

  "Kelsey, I'm doing what he wants me to do," he said. "You love him. You know it's true."

  A sob caught in her throat. She did know it was true. Jared wanted her safe, not falling beside him. She felt hot tears begin to stream down her cheeks. "There's got to be some way," she whispered in a defeated voice, the sobs coming more quickly now. "Why can't you do what I want you to do?"

  Marco bowed his head solemnly, hesitating for a brief moment. Finally he spoke. "Because long ago I promised him that I would protect you at all costs," he replied softly. "Above his own life, if need be. I forgot that pledge for many years." Marco
cupped her cheek in his rough palm. "But tonight I intend to honor it, my queen."

  Kelsey turned from Marco slowly, and her gaze fell upon Jared. He lay slumped forward on the ground as Veckus continued his assault with the alien weapon. Slowly he raised his head, and for the briefest of moments their eyes met. Across the barrier, through the night, something flickered between them. Not their connection, not precisely. Something more. An understanding of sorts, a unity of minds.

  Their gazes locked and even without their connection, she heard his words. They echoed outside of the moment, through lifetimes. So simple, so pure, they rang within her the very moment he thought them.

  I love you.

  At that precise moment, from the surrounding darkness a full battlement of Refarian troops appeared, weapons flashing and firing. Kelsey thought she recognized Thea very briefly in the fray, her rifle releasing a loud burst of ammunition, and then she glimpsed other Refarians; the action was unfolding so fast in the darkness, she could hardly make out anything. But she could hope. Dear God, she could hope they reached her mate in time to save his life.

  Scott came up from the rear, firing with all his might. He'd be damned if he would let Jared die this night, and he'd sure as hell be damned before they'd take his king prisoner again. Not after what they did to him last time. He waved another unit of soldiers forward from where they crouched in the wooded clearing. "Now, now, now," he ordered, trying hard just to breathe. As a group, they pulled up alongside a giant boulder, one that gave momentary protection. Ahead of him Thea had led in the first wave; now he would lead in the others.

  "Go, go," he urged, and in they went. He had his night-vision goggles on and could see Jared slumped in the snow. God, he'd lost too much blood. It was a dark circle about him. He had to get to his commander. Short, staccato breaths, farther in, closer.

  On the far side of the clearing Kelsey was being held by a man with a Refarian energy register. It had to be the one called Marco, and he was keeping her in . . . what? A protective perimeter of some kind. No time, no time, he thought, trying to remember to breathe as he sprinted to the end of the path, leaping over a fallen log that blocked his way. Soldiers were firing everywhere; some of his men were. down. Another desperate glance. Jared just lay there in the snow. Unprotected, no one holding him. Did any of their enemies even have him anymore?

  But then a pulse rifle, aimed at Jared—someone Scott hadn't seen, obscured behind brush. Scott leaped without thinking, fired without rationalizing, and the assailant went down.

  Marco stared in disbelief. From where he stood it appeared that Veckus Densalt had just been taken out by Scott Dillon. His heart clenched inside his chest, as he watched the Antousian warlord crumple to the ground. Everything had happened so quickly; was the man only wounded? Or truly dead? Marco blinked, watching the action unfold, hardly believing that one of Jared Bennett's greatest enemies might lie dead practically at his feet.

  But there wasn't time to contemplate the repercussions, not just yet. With Veckus down, Marco knew he had just one chance to reach Jared before the surrounding troops took him out. He turned quickly to Kelsey. "On my mark, I'm dropping this shield," he told her. "I'll go to Jared, but we have only a moment. During that time, you will stay behind me. The entire time. Understood? It's the only way I can protect you both."

  Kelsey gasped softly and nodded. Then Marco turned, placing his own body in front of hers. "Three, two, one," Marco counted off, then dropped his hand, and his protective barrier dissolved. He felt the energy surge as it reentered his body.

  The two of them moved in fluid motion to Jared's side, and he threw his hand up again, circling both Jared and Kelsey. When he did so, he felt a slight sense of panic. His energy was seriously depleted, and he was getting too weak to keep this up much longer. Then what would he do—and how would he protect them?

  Just beyond the purplish glow, Veckus staggered from the gunshot, but quickly rose again. His eyes flashed angrily as he turned to the man who'd fired the gun on him—Scott Dillon. Marco felt a surge of excited adrenaline, because Scott was a consummate warrior. He wondered if Hope Harper might be here somewhere too, though perhaps she wasn't part of their team yet. Scott and Hope had been a formidable fighting force, until she died. Her death, of all the ones Jared's forces had suffered, had always seemed the cruelest and most unfair. Maybe Hope was bringing up the rear.

  Marco turned back to pinpoint Veckus's position, and found the Antousian aiming at Scott, preparing to fire. Marco flinched, knowing what was about to come, but Scott's eyes brightened to laser points, momentarily blinding the warlord. Although barely more than a heartbeat, it was long enough to give Scott the advantage; he fired on Veckus again and again, until the alien slumped to the ground.

  That was the first moment Marco could actually glance down at Jared; the gun battle had unfolded so quickly, he'd never had a chance before now. What he saw caused his breath to catch in his throat. Jared was soaked in blood, the snow beneath him stained with it. His eyes were closed, his breathing shallow. Was he going to remain alive? Marco couldn't tell, but a sick feeling began to grow within him.

  Kelsey clung to her mate, burying her face against his chest, sobbing. "Hold on," she murmured over and over, refusing to let go of him.

  If Marco could only figure out some way to fix this nightmare he'd created for all of them. And as he stared down at Kelsey's sobbing form, a plan began to form in his mind, a way he might be able to save all their lives.

  Jared lay dying beneath her in the snow, but Kelsey no longer cared if she perished with him. With a hopeless cry of anguish, she buried her face against his still-warm chest, listening for his faint heartbeat. She heard it, the dull, uneven thudding of it beneath her ear, and the weak sound terrified her. His naturally dark face seemed pale in the moonlight, and she wasn't sure if it was because of his injuries or just a trick of the light. Lifting a weak, shaking hand, he barely managed to touch her hair, his dark eyes meeting hers. He didn't possess the strength to speak; that much she grasped. There were no words anyway, nothing to say; both instinctively understood his fate. He'd lost more blood than seemed possible and still lived; Kelsey felt it sticky beneath her fingertips, in her hair from where she'd leaned against him, soaking her sweater.

  The moment seemed a cruel mirror image of the night of his crash, almost at this very spot. He couldn't possibly hold his physical form much longer; it was only a matter of moments until he shifted to his true state. But even that he wouldn't maintain for long—there'd be no worry about him being captured in either of his bodies. She knew it, even as she clung to Jared's cooling body.

  "Don't try to hold on," she choked, tears streaming down her face. "Just let go if you need to. Okay?" She released a sob and buried her face against his chest again. "Just let go, sweetheart. I'm here. I'll hold you until the end."

  She willed him to live, to stay with her, no matter what his form, even as she willed his passage to freedom. Away from Veckus and the enemies who hunted him—who, apparently, had always hunted this beautiful man she loved.

  Behind her she felt hands pulling at her, urging her away from Jared, but she would not relinquish her hold on her mate. Nothing would separate her from him, not even death. They were bound in every imaginable way; she'd be damned if eternity would step between them now.

  With a gasping cry, he reached for her face again, stroking the outline of her lips. "Love," he whispered in a rasping voice. "Sweet love."

  She nodded, showering his face with kisses, tasting the metallic warmth of his blood. "I'm right here, Jareshk," she promised him through her tears. "Don't worry. I'm here." In the distance she heard the receding sound of gunfire as the battle moved farther away from where they were. Closer around them it had grown still and quiet. She had the sense that people were gathered about them, watching and keeping their respectful distance.

  "Let go of me, Kelsey," he urged, closing his eyes for a moment.

  "Never."

  "M-
my energy," he tried to explain, but then swallowed and gasped for breath.

  She covered his mouth briefly with hers, a kiss that she hoped conveyed all the love, all the regret, all the pain she felt at losing him. "You won't hurt me," she promised him, sobbing those same words she'd spoken at their very first meeting. "You could never hurt me."

  His eyes flew open, locking with hers; then she felt what happened next—knew it was happening before it actually did. Heat and power and roiling steam passed over his body and into hers.

  And they became one.

  Marco grabbed Kelsey firmly by the shoulder, while with his other hand he continued to maintain the shield. He had to get her out of here or she was going to die. Jared had lost form, yielding to his natural, energized state, and she wouldn't be pried apart from him. She was absolutely engulfed in Jared's remaining power—the pure energy of him—and Kelsey would be ash in moments if they couldn't separate her from him. And Jared would be dead; he was going to die anyway, but did he have to take Kelsey with him? Yet the harder he pulled on her, the more she clung to Jared—and it tore him apart.

  Marco had seen her in many tense situations before, had even seen her face down death, and she'd always been heroic. Sometimes she'd been stronger than the rest of them. But never once, not in all the years he'd known her, had he ever seen her this distraught.

  But what had he thought Jared's death would do to her? The answer was simple—he hadn't allowed himself to think about it, to imagine it at all, because if he had they wouldn't be here now. He'd never have been able to go through with Veckus's plan.

  That was why he had to fix this, had to try, and he knew exactly what had to happen. But could he get where he needed to go without being struck down himself? And could he get Kelsey there with him?

  "Kelsey," he whispered, and gently shook her shoulder again, feeling Jared's power burn his hand a little. But she didn't respond at all; she was that lost in her grief. A little shudder passed through him when he realized how familiar this all felt, how much it reminded him of the way Jared and Kelsey's connection would sometimes leave them completely unresponsive to their surroundings.