His mouth lifted in a slight grin full of naked desire. “Not nearly as tightly as I want to. I’m trying to give you time to get used to the idea, but let me be perfectly clear. I plan on making you mine. I plan on tying you to me as close as a woman can be. I’m not playing games, and I’m not taking no for an answer.”

“Slavery. Mom was right about you. You enslave humans and bind them to do your will.”

He gave an amused grunt. “Hardly. You’ve been listening to too many bedtime stories.”

“I know what you are, Zach. You can’t fool me.”

He slid his hands up along her spine and leaned in closer. He surrounded her with his heat and his strength, and for the first time in a long time, she felt safe. And totally confused.

His mouth was level with hers and she couldn’t help but notice how soft it looked. The crazy part of her that had already been brainwashed wanted to kiss him. The sane part of her was screaming at her to run away before it was too late.

“Just what do you think I am, honey?” he asked.

“A killer.” Who made her feel safe, even though she knew it was only a trick.

“That much is true,” he admitted. “But I try to be selective about the things I kill.”

“Are you saying you only kill the bad humans?”

“Never. I would never purposefully hurt a human, Lexi. At least not so long as I remain myself.”

She wasn’t sure what he meant by that, and she was too distracted by the feel of his warm fingers stroking her nape to figure it out. Every time he touched her, it felt better. If she wasn’t careful, she’d lose herself. Forget her mission.

She had to get her car to the compound where he lived. She didn’t dare risk taking the explosives out of her trunk for fear he’d figure out what they were and ruin their plans.

“Remain yourself? What, are you like Jekyll and Hyde or something?”

He stared at her mouth and licked his lips. She was sure he was thinking about kissing her. And God help her, now she was thinking about it, too.

“Something like that,” he said. “It’s time to go. It’s not safe out here in the open. I feel like we’re being watched.”

The Defenders. She’d nearly forgotten about them. They were probably watching right now, making sure she did what she’d said she would. Making sure they didn’t have to kill her, too. They’d warned her about what would happen if she turned on them—if she let the Sentinels brainwash her, too.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Somewhere safe. Where we can be alone.”

Alone with Zach. Alone with his kissable mouth and sexy body. Alone with his casual strength and tempting lies.

Lexi was so screwed.

Jake Morrow watched Lexi ride away with the Sentinel, leaving her car and all the carefully prepared explosives behind. Dad was not going to be happy.

Jake tensed as he waited for his father’s explosion of temper. After almost thirty years of watching, learning when to duck the blows, Jake knew it wouldn’t be long in coming.

Hector Morrow surveyed the men gathered in the small house across the street from the bar where Lexi was working. His gray brows drew together, and Jake caught himself before he took an involuntary step back. Ever since his sister, Mindy, had been killed by the Sentinels, Dad had been a mean sonofabitch, but Jake was no longer a kid to be knocked around at his father’s whim. He was a grown man and knew how to hit back. Harder.

The men shifted uncomfortably under Hector’s hard scowl. Most of them were young and ambitious, the sons of men who had been members of the Defenders of Humanity for years.

“Which one of you was responsible for keeping her car running?” asked Hector in a drill sergeant’s boom.

The men looked at one another, at a loss for what to say.

Jake stepped forward. “I changed her oil two days ago. If anything went wrong, it was my fault for not catching it.”

Hector’s skin darkened with his fury, and Jake straightened his body to its full height—two inches taller than the man who’d sired him. Two inches taller and a good fifty pounds of muscles heavier. Jake was pretty sure his father hadn’t failed to notice.

“Our entire plan has gone to hell because you couldn’t keep one lousy car running?”

Jake crossed his arms over his thick chest. “Lexi is smart. She’ll find a way to contact us. We’ll fix this.”

“You really believe she’s smart? Are you that much of a fool, son?”

“Apparently so. I guess we’ll just have to give it some time and see who the fool is, won’t we?”

Hector rubbed a hand over his crew cut. The iron gray hair was cut with such precision he could have calibrated a laser level off of it. “This was our one shot at locating the Sentinel’s compound. If you’ve messed it up, there’s going to be hell to pay.”

Story of Jake’s life. He was used to dealing with the consequences of his actions by now. “Lexi will find a way to contact us and let us know where they’re taking her.”

“You’d better pray to God that’s true, son. Otherwise, I’m going to have to find another second-in-command. We’ve never been this close to getting payback for what those bastards did to your sister. I will not tolerate failure.”

“I want revenge as much as you do. We’re not going to fail.” Jake was sure Lexi was going to pull this off. She hated the Sentinels as much as they did, though for different reasons than the ruined crops and poisoned land they left in their wake. The Sentinels had killed her mother just like they’d killed Mindy—sending their pets in to tear her to pieces.

The thought of his older sister’s death still had the power to keep him up at night. He’d been only five, but he still remembered peeking through the slats in the bedroom closet door where she’d hidden him to keep him safe. She held the rifle she’d gotten for Christmas in her hands, keeping her aim steady. She’d waited to fire until the last second, knowing that the point-blank shot had the best chances of taking down the huge monster. But that .22 round had been no match against the giant, clawed beast that ripped her apart. If Hector hadn’t come in with more firepower, Jake would have been next.

Jake knew his dad blamed him for his sister’s death as much as he blamed the Sentinels for sending the creature that killed her. And he was right to do so. Jake was the one who’d stayed out in the yard playing after dark when he knew better. He was the reason that monster had found them.

“No, we’re not going to fail,” said Hector, “but you might. Don’t think that I’ll give you any slack just because you’re my son.”

A sharp band of grief tightened around Jake’s heart, despite the fact that he knew it would do no good. “No, Dad. That thought never even crossed my mind.”

Chapter 4

Joseph Rayd looked around his office at the men he trusted most. They weren’t going to like what he had to tell them. Then again, that was pretty much the story of their lives these days.

As the only bonded Theronai around, Angus, Drake and Paul were the most steady men in the group. Their pain was gone, and he trusted them to think straight and to make sure he didn’t take any unnecessary risks. All three of them had too much to lose to allow Joseph to do something stupid.

The others weren’t so lucky. Nicholas Brand was holding up pretty well. He’d been through some nasty fights, to which the multiple thin scars crossing his face could attest. But even so, he seemed to be keeping himself together. Maybe it was the puzzle of all those techno gadgets he loved that helped him block out the pain.

Iain Terra was another story entirely. Joseph had no clue what went on behind those dark eyes, but he knew that every time Joseph had needed him, Iain was there, sword in hand. The man was more than lethal. He made killing look beautiful—like some kind of exotic art. Once his lifemark was barren, they were all in trouble. They needed him too much to lose him.

And then there was Tynan—a Sanguinar. Like all the members of his race, he was beautifully made. Tall and lean, with icy eyes that Joseph was careful not to look into for too long. Just in case. Joseph didn’t trust Tynan like he did the others in the room, but he trusted him to stay true to form. Tynan looked out for his own, and because of that—because they were all in danger—Joseph needed him on board.

“Is this going to take long?” asked Drake. “I need to get back to Helen.”

“How is she?” asked Joseph.

“Exhausted. She and Gilda have been working at repairing the wall for almost a week now, and they’re running out of steam.”

“It’s true,” said Angus, Gilda’s husband. “We’re only halfway through the broken section and the progress gets slower every day. The women aren’t regaining their strength fast enough to keep going like this.”

“What about Andra?” asked Joseph, looking at Paul.

Paul shook his head. His hair looked like he’d been running his hands through it, making it a mess. “Andra’s great if you want to blow shit up, but she’s not so good at putting it back together. She’s still so new to her power, and although she’s been trying, all this repair job does is frustrate and exhaust her.”

“Okay,” said Joseph. “Take her off the wall. Put her on perimeter guard with the men. If something comes at us before the wall is back up, she can blow it up all she likes.”

“Thanks. That’ll help. Maybe she’ll be able to spend more time with Nika that way.”

Nika. Andra’s younger sister. During an attack when she was a child, Nika’s consciousness had been splintered and cast into the minds of dozens of sgath—creatures the Synestryn used to hunt their prey. None of the Sanguinar had ever seen anything like it before and didn’t know how to heal her.

What they did know was that she was capable of saving the life of one of his men. They just hadn’t figured out which one. Every free man here had gone to her bedside and looked for a sign she might be compatible with them. No one saw or felt a thing.

Joseph looked to Tynan, who was one of the most gifted healers they had. “How is Nika?”

“She still hasn’t regained consciousness,” said Tynan. “But she doesn’t seem to be growing any weaker. If we find her Theronai, it’s possible he would help her mind heal enough that she can wake.”

If they found him. So far, they hadn’t had any luck. He prayed one of the Theronai from outside these walls could save her. They needed her too much to let her slip away.

“We’re looking,” said Joseph. “I’ve sent out word that she’s here to all the other men. It’s only a matter of time before Theronai start showing up in droves.”

“Tell them to hurry,” said Tynan. “I don’t know how much longer we can keep her body alive with her mind in its current state.”

Joseph didn’t like the idea of a bunch of strange men tromping through Nika’s bedroom, but if that was what they had to do to save her, then they would. He still had men in the field who had not yet been able to return and see if Nika could save them. He wanted them to have first chance before he started bringing in Theronai from other countries. If none of them was compatible, then he’d send word overseas to the strongholds there.