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AFTER WALERON’S ABRUPT DEPARTUREand Jedrik going after Trinity, which had Kilter and Keir diving for him before he reached her, the Scars discussed what to do next. Kilter would go to Liam’s club, and Delara and Jedrik would Track the woman from the compound. Balen was to hunt CWOs and vampires and try to obtain answers from them.
I’d mentioned calling Roarke to see if he could tell us more, but Kilter had gone deadly quiet. So had everyone else. They blamed Roarke for Hannah and the other Scars’ deaths and for what happened to Ryker, and they were right to blame him. He was partially responsible.
That was when Kilter grabbed my hand and we went downstairs to his bedroom. And that was when he kissed me until my knees weakened then told me to stay here and he’d be back later.
That was two hours ago.
I took out the crinkled piece of paper from the side pocket of my purse. I’d debated for hours whether to call him, and I couldn’t wait any longer. I tapped the numbers on my cell.
“Yeah?”
“Roarke? It’s Rayne.”
Silence, then, “You okay? What’s wrong?”
“I’m okay. But the woman from the compound, we need to know about her. Who is she and why—” I jerked when there was a crash upstairs.
“Rayne? What wrong?”
A loud thump.
Oh, God, it was like a body hit the floor. “I don’t know. Someone is here.” The sounds became louder, like furniture being overturned. Kilter. I had to call Kilter.
“Get out of there,” Roarke ordered. “Where are you? I’ll meet you.”
“I’m at the Scars’ house.”
“Rayne, we can’t hold them off much longer. You need to get out. Go to the gallery. Delara will meet you.”It was Keir speaking telepathically to me. He was upstairs fighting with whoever was after me.
“Talk to me,” Roarke shouted into the phone.
I shoved on my shoes. “They want me to go the gallery. It’s on—”
“I know where it is,” he interrupted. He did? “I’ll meet you in the park a block away. Do not go inside the gallery without someone with you. Got it?”
“Keir said Delara will meet me.” There was a loud roar and then glass shattering.
“Meet me at the park gates. Now, get out of there. Use your Ink, Rayne. She’ll protect you.”
My Ink. My Ink no longer rose to my calls. I ran to the window and shoved it open just as I heard footsteps thump down the stairs. “Oh, God. They’re coming.”
“Rayne. Get out of the house and call your fuckin’ Ink. Anton didn’t kill it. He’d never do that, he was a scientist and that’s the last thing he’d do. It lives.”
I hung up the phone, slid it in my pocket, and then climbed up and out the window. I turned and shut it before crawling on my hands and knees between the house and the bushes. Then I peered around the corner. There were two SUVs in the driveway and two men standing beside them—men who looked scary and I didn’t recognize.
I leaned back against the wall. Roarke was right. I needed my Ink.
“Serafina, wake,” I whispered. “Sleep no more. Rest no longer.” I placed my palm on my right shoulder where my tattoo was and closed my eyes. My mind focused on Serafina’s form. Then I repeated the words over and over again. “Damn it, Serafina, it’s your move. You don’t want to lose, do you?” Nothing. Not a tickle, a slither, or a hint of heat. “Serafina.” I dug my nails through my shirt into the tattoo. “Checkmate.”
I gasped as a hot stabbing sensation went up my arm to my shoulder. “Damn it, Serafina,” I moaned. “Be nice.”
“I am being nice,” the featherlight voice replied.
My eyes flew open to see the stunning woman standing in a brilliant white light, her eyes beaming a turquoise hue from their thin, dark-lined rims. Hair hung in a black-and-lavender blanket down her back to the floor, with tiny pearls interwoven within the strands. Face pale, lips thin, and nose matching her features, slender and narrow. Regal, sexy, and yet my Ink had a child-like attitude.
The link between us remained, a thin string of light connecting us together, and yet Serafina could and did walk on her own. Often when I was a child, Serafina would drag me along like a puppy dog and refuse to go back to sleep when told.
We’d been best friends. My only friend and I had missed her so damn much. A tear trailed down my cheek as I stared at her in front of me.
