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Reiver chuckled. "As you wish."
The fist in Danika's hair loosened and suddenly she was pitching forward, a violent shove with a force so punishing she felt as if she were flying. Malcolm moved in a flash of motion, catching her before she fell.
But Reiver wasn't finished yet.
Danika sensed her child in danger even before Reiver sent Connor airborne. She swung her head around and there he was-her baby, her heart itself-flung aloft like a rag doll as Reiver pivoted, then vanished into the night to mak c nias othere his escape.
Danika screamed as she stared up at her helpless child, her chest exploding in abject terror.
* * *
Malcolm jolted into action.
With a running vault, he leapt to catch Connor in midair, bringing him down safely in the cradle of his arms. Danika was on her knees, holding her face in her hands and shaking as Thane stood nearby, making a feeble attempt to console her.
"Dani," Mal murmured. "Danika, it's all right. Connor is safe."
She lifted her tearstained face and sucked in a hitching sob as she took the crying baby out of his hands. "Oh, Mal." She wrapped one arm around his neck, pulling him into her embrace along with her precious child. "Malcolm, thank you. Thank you for saving my son. You saved us."
He kissed her brow and hugged her close, never loving her more than in those terrifying moments when he thought he might lose her to Reiver's fury. "It's all right," he assured her. "You're both safe now. But you have to get out of here."
He helped her to her feet. However, inside he knew he couldn't go with her. Not yet. Not after what Reiver had done here tonight.>Thane gave him a shrewd, knowing look. "Reiver called from the airport. His cargo came in. He's moving it to one of his country estates as we speak." He shoved Mal's arm away from him, hissing a hard curse as he straightened his rumpled dark suit coat. "Since Kerr and Packard are no longer in service, that leaves you and me to head up security tonight. Reiver's expecting his top-tier clients at this thing, so he wants total discretion."
Blood club.
Malcolm knew this moment would come one night, but it still took him aback. This was it-his shot, at last, to take out Reiver and all of his untouchable cronies in one fell swoop. "When do we leave?" he asked, hoping the tight edge of his voice would not betray his eagerness to Thane.
"The boss wants us out there right away."
Mal nodded. Malice coursed through his veins like acid. He met Thane's inscrutable look and gave the guard a cold smile. "So, what the hell are we waiting for?"
* * *
Half a dozen gleaming luxury vehicles sat parked outside Reiver's hunting estate, as if their owners were gathered inside for a black-tie event, not the sick, bloody game soon to take place on the snow-covered grounds.
And there would be blood tonight, Malcolm silently vowed, as he and Thane walked up to the front of the palatial Highlands residence. His jaw was clamped tight, veins vibrating malice as another of Reiver's guards opened the door to permit them inside. "This way," said the Breed thug with a jerk of his head. "Mr. Reiver has been waiting for you."
He was of his has in a lavish salon, its high-ceilinged walls paneled in dark mahogany and adorned with painted masterworks depicting all manner of hunting scenes. Graceful stags being felled by medieval archers' arrows; small red foxes on the run from a pack of brown-and-white hounds and red-jacketed gentlemen on horseback; a majestic lion snared and surrounded by spear-wielding natives before a white-skinned adventurer toting a long black rifle. The room was a celebration of slaughter, and assembled within it stood Reiver and the nearly dozen members of his privileged, secret cabal of savages.
"Ah," said Reiver with a thin smile. "About time you arrived. We're just about to view the evening's game selection." His bloodthirsty friends exchanged eager looks, but Reiver's gaze stayed rooted on Malcolm with cool scrutiny. "Shall we get started?"
Reiver touched the frame on the fox hunt painting. In response, from behind the group of elegantly attired vampires, a doorway on the back wall of the salon opened into a dimly lit corridor. With a look that bade Malcolm and Thane follow him, Reiver strode through the center of the throng to lead the way.
Inside the long corridor was still more violent art. Here the depictions of hunter and hunted became more gruesome, scene after scene showing all manner of human degradation and bloodshed. It was horrific art, a profane collection no doubt intended to inflame the basest Breed appetites. Malcolm paid it little mind. All of his focus was centered on Reiver, senses taut and at the ready, waiting for the prime opportunity to lodge his offensive strike on the vampire and his cronies.
As they neared the end of the corridor, Reiver touched another hidden panel on the wall. Cold air gusted in as a thick wooden gate lifted, revealing a covered walkway leading to the outside grounds of the estate. Flanking both sides of the walkway were iron-barred kennel cages, but the cells did not contain animals.
"My God," one of Reiver's cronies breathed from behind Malcolm. "Just look at them all. One more tempting than the next."
Reiver chuckled, so full of himself. "As promised, something for every taste."
The humans were bound and gagged inside their cages, upwards of twenty men and women, all shapes and sizes and ages. They shivered in the wintry night air, eyes wide and fearful. Bile rose in Malcolm's throat as he glanced at the terror-stricken faces. He could not let this sick game proceed any further. Reiver and his blood club associates would die tonight-here and now.
He started to reach for his weapons, prepared to unleash hell on the whole lot of them.
"Oh, but there's more," Reiver announced, snapping his fingers at one of the other guards, dispatching him in unspoken command. "Tonight I have something very unexpected to offer you, and most certainly ... exotic. Brandogge, I think you'll have particular interest in this."
Malcolm went stock-still at the remark, a cold dread locking down his senses even before he glimpsed what the guard had gone to fetch.
