PART THIRTY EIGHT

Tess ran through a dark, abandoned warehouse, guided only by Marco’s distant cries as she staggered blindly toward him.

"I’m coming!" She called out in reply, feeling her way along the cold walls. "Marco, I’m coming!"

She needed him to hear her, to believe that she would find him. But everything was so murky and difficult to see, so unlike their usual dream meetings.

Was that even what this was?

Tess wasn’t sure, and the sharp ache in her chest only confused her more. At first, she’d felt explosive pain right through her heart, but it had dulled once she’d entered the dream state, chasing after Marco as he led her into the darkness.

Corridors led to more corridors, but still she couldn’t find him. It seemed she’d been searching endlessly, her only compass his deep, familiar voice as he periodically called for her. Sometimes she heard Tess, other times Ayanna…yet she couldn’t seem to grow any nearer to him.

And he was suffering. She felt it in every part of her spirit, her body. They were hurting him and she felt thoroughly powerless, as she stumbled through the dark recesses of his mind.

Finally, she found a turn in the hallway, something that marked a change in the interior of the warehouse, and saw a faint beam of light flooding out of a doorway. She quickened her pace, her chest aching so sharply that she had to clutch it with both hands. Anything to stop the pain from invading again.

Follow the beam of light, she coached herself. Stay on target.

The pain intensified, exploding and she pushed through it toward the open door, where a slim red light spilled into the hallway. There were people in her way, strangers, and she shoved past them, needing to see…

And found Marco lying on the floor of a small, dirty cell. His wrists were lashed high above his head against an old steam pipe, and he slumped forward, unconscious. His feet were bound tightly together, rendering him immobile. But it was his hands she focused on. Wire had been used in tying them against the pipe, so tightly that now his dark wrists bled from his struggling.

The people gathered around him were snickering, mocking him as she spun to stare at them in disgust. "What’s wrong with all of you?" She demanded. "Let him go!" She shoved at one girl, who didn’t even react and then Tess recognized her as Lonnie.

"They can’t hear you, Tess." Marco’s voice was weak, as she pressed toward him. Slowly he raised his dark head to meet her gaze. His eyes were bleary and bloodshot, as she dropped to her knees beside him. "They don’t even know you’re here with me," he explained.

"What have they done to you?" Tess asked softly, stroking his face with her fingertips, needing to soothe him somehow. "What’s happened?"

"You’re with me," he mumbled quietly, by way of explanation. Tess had the strong impression that the words made sense to him.

"I know, sweetheart. I know," she whispered, pressing soft kisses against his temple. "But what did they do to you?"

"Ambush," he murmured, his black eyes fluttering closed. "On patrol…found out I’m...traitor…waiting for me."

Her gaze moved quickly to his chest, as she remembered the terrible pain she’d felt at what must have been the moment of his attack. There was no blood, and she exhaled heavily with gratitude.

"The disruptor?" She asked, placing a palm against his warm chest. She could feel his rapid heartbeat, even through the thick wool of his turtleneck sweater.

He nodded silently, dropping his head again in exhaustion. "Over and over," he finally added. She settled her hand against his heart and pain instantly ricocheted within her as she absorbed it into her spirit. She hadn’t even intended to do it, but she was always so open to him, so connected even without yet being his bondmate.

His head snapped upward as she collapsed onto the cold warehouse floor. "Tess, don’t," he begged. "Don’t try to take the pain on yourself."

"I-I…" she gasped, struggling for her breath. "Didn’t even…mean to."

He closed his eyes at her words. "Be careful, sweet Tess," he whispered. "You’re so vulnerable with this Empathy still…be careful tonight."

She nodded, swallowing hard as she crawled to his side again. "Are you…asleep?" She asked, glancing around them at the group of their enemies. This time she saw Nicholas. There were four or five of them, just staring down at Marco with derision.

"Unconscious," he corrected quietly. "And they’re waiting."

"For what?" She asked, kissing him again on the forehead, drinking his scent inside of her.

"To mind rape me when I wake. And then they’ll know everything." His voice was thick as he struggled to meet her eyes. "Tess, they’ll know about the mission tonight, about you, me...everything. And Khivar comes quickly. I feel it… him. Even unconscious I can feel him nearing."

"Am…I…unconscious, too?" She asked, burying her face against his chest. "Or just bound to you somehow? I’m so confused."

"Think back, love, and you’ll understand," he instructed in his usual gentle way. In the way he’d been guiding her so much with her gifts lately—even now, that he was captured and in such pain. "Think…"

"I was in the car," she offered, wanting the rest to be a lie. Wanting the only truth to be the feel of Marco against her. "On the way here. And then…pain…terrible pain in my chest."

"Yes, when I was attacked," he offered softly. "You must have passed out."

"I think I did," she agreed, nodding her head. "I think I needed to join you like this."

Marco sighed wearily, shifting a bit beneath her in obvious discomfort. She raised her head and stared into his eyes, and for the first time realized that he was still completely bound. She’d been so focused on talking to him…on making sure he was alright that she’d overlooked releasing him.

"Oh, Marco!" She suddenly cried, leaping to her feet. "I haven’t freed your hands!"

"Tess," he interrupted, as she stood and began fumbling with the wire that tied his wrists together against the pipe. "It doesn’t matter…it won’t change the way things really are."

"It matters to me!" She disagreed, needing desperately to free him. She lifted her hand to use her powers, but they were useless. And the wires were so tangled and enmeshed around his skin, rendering it an impossible task, she realized as she worked to free him.

"Tess, please," he said, gazing up at her. "I just need you. Don’t waste our time together on something this… futile."

She knelt beside him, and stroked his hair slowly. He closed his eyes at the gesture, swallowing visibly. "How can I help you?" she asked, feeling tears burn her eyes. "Tell me, sweetheart."

"Just love me," he answered huskily. "And then warn the others. Can you do that?"

"Of course," she nodded, biting her lip in an effort to stave the tears. "I will find you again once I wake, Marco. I promise."

"Good," he murmured weakly, his eyes drifting shut again as she stroked his cheek. "Very good, my love."

****

Marco wanted to stay with her. It was all he’d ever wanted, just to be loved by her, touched by her. To drink in the golden mystery that was his Tess.

But she was fading fast.

Instead, murky figures were emerging from the thick darkness around him, circling like vultures. Insistent, unwilling to wait any longer.

"Wake up, you hybrid freak!" A familiar voice taunted. He sought the owner’s identity in his mind, then remembered. Nicholas. The remark was followed by a sharp kick in his ribs. "I’m talking to you, McKinley."

Nicholas was whispering in his ear now, urging him to open his eyes. But the lids were just too heavy still. Other voices crooned quietly from the fog. He recognized Lonnie and Aaron.

"Either wake up, or I can arrange to have you woken," came a command from an unknown male voice. Threatening, far too self-assured. Cocky even.

Marco tried to open his eyes, but they were simply unwilling to respond. He felt cornered, and in desperation, he sought Tess with his Empathy, felt all around for her. But she’d vanished, replaced only by the dim figures surrounding him in the darkness.

And Marco was stone cold, especially his chest. All the warmth of Tess’s tiny body against his own was gone, replaced instead by the frigid air of his cell.

"McKinley!" The foreign voice commanded. "Wake, now!"

Something about the authority in the voice compelled him to obey, and his eyes slowly opened despite their heaviness.

"Yes, very good," the man answered, and Marco realized he had squatted down beside him. He was tall, probably almost tall as himself, with long, blonde hair and piercing blue eyes--not beautiful as the water, like Tess’s. No these eyes were cold and lifeless.

"How kind of you to join us, protector," the stranger continued, glancing quickly in Nicholas’s direction. "And how very convenient that you revealed your betrayal at last."

"Khivar," Marco whispered through parched lips. He was answered by a smug smile, as icy blue eyes narrowed like a cat’s.

"Indeed, protector," he answered, rocking back onto his heels. "We meet at last. How very unfortunate that the circumstances are so…shall I say, inconvenient." Khivar glanced meaningfully at where Marco’s wrists were bound above his head, then back down again.

Marco met his piercing gaze without allowing his eyes to waver. He knew the intense visual examination was meant to intimidate, to send him into mental retreat. This was the way with the skins and their leadership. They thrived on power and dominance, and often used it as a prelude to a vicious mind rape.

Marco didn’t break the gaze, as moments spun out eternally. Finally, Khivar tilted his chin upward, blinking almost imperceptibly.

"So, Marco McKinley, you know why you are here, do you not?"

Marco didn’t answer, though his heartbeat quickened in reply. He prayed that he could somehow cloak those he was sworn to protect within his mind. And those he wasn’t. Tess.

"Ah, so very defiant," Khivar assessed, glancing again at Nicholas. His unspoken command was answered by another sharp kick into Marco’s ribs, and Marco couldn’t suppress a soft cry at the impact. He dropped his eyes and for the first time it occurred to him why he was so unreasonably cold. They had stripped him from the waist up. He wore only his black denim jeans now, and his boots. His sweater and parka lay in a crumpled pile on the floor.

Another tactic he was familiar with--strip the enemy to lower their defenses and leave them vulnerable. He wondered when they’d taken his sweater, since he’d been wearing it moments before with Tess.

Khivar knelt closer, splaying a palm across Marco’s bare chest. His fingertips were surprisingly cold, even with as cool as Marco’s skin already was. "You will reveal everything, protector. Including the plans of your feeble king." His voice was little more than a sneer, as he settled another hand on the side of Marco’s head.

Marco understood that Khivar was beginning something even worse than a mind rape, something deeper and more invasive. It was the reason he’d positioned his hand over Marco’s heart as he began it.

Marco felt the sharpest pull suddenly within his mind, answered by a similar jolt through his chest. He cried out at the visceral impact on his spirit, right as Lonnie slapped him hard across his other cheek. Marco tried to create a refractive barrier, something meant to shield his thoughts, but it was instantly overrun by Khivar’s forceful entry.

"I will know everything," Khivar whispered as the mind rape took a darker, more sinister turn. "Understand that I will know it all this night, protector."

Marco closed his eyes, desperate to fight, but had no ground left to hold.

*****

Tess opened her eyes and wondered why Max was leaning over her, his hand placed squarely across her heart. She coughed, trying to breathe, which had suddenly become quite difficult. Her lungs burned with every breath and she glanced quickly around her.

"Wh-what?" She tried to speak, but her mouth was thick, as she saw not only Max, but Serena and Riley surrounding her in the back of the Suburban. "What happened?"

Marco. What had happened to him? Why was he suddenly gone and instead she was here?

"I was hoping you could tell us," Max answered in his soft voice, dropping his palm from its position over her heart. "You went into some kind of…trance."

"Trance?" she asked in confusion, struggling to sit up. Her chest felt like someone had used a vice to crack it open. "Ah…" she cried out sharply, as she doubled over in pain.

"We believe it may have been some kind of cardiac arrest," Serena offered, steadying her with her hand.

"No," Tess managed to choke, still feeling a sharp burning all through her lungs.

"Then Marco," Serena supplied with surprising confidence and Tess met her steady gaze with a soft nod. She didn’t miss the intense worry that flickered in Serena’s brown eyes, nor the way she blinked rapidly in response to Tess’s confirmation.

"He’s…they’ve…" Tess struggled for the words, pressing her eyes tightly shut. He’s all that I want, all that I love. They’re hurting him…

"He’s been captured," she finally answered. "By Nicholas and his men. Somehow they found him out. He’s been hit with the disruptor repeatedly, and he’s very weak."

"Hit in the chest," Serena nodded, her eyes darkening. "Which is why you had the intense pain in your heart."

Tess felt her lip quiver, as she saw a mother’s love in Serena’s alien eyes. A bond wove between the two women in that moment, something that hadn’t existed before, as Tess understood that while different in quality and kind, Serena loved Marco very deeply herself.

"I know the way," Tess supplied quietly, wrestling to sit up straight. "I can lead us to him once we’re there."

"Tess, have they…" Riley averted his eyes as he wrestled to speak. "Has he been…"

"They haven’t mind raped him yet," Tess answered with a new strength. "He’s been unconscious since the attack."
Serena glanced to the front of the vehicle, "Anna, how much further?"

"There in five," came her reply.

"Perhaps we can reach him before they find out our plan," Serena assessed.

"But if they do, we still go in," Max answered forcefully. "Nothing changes about tonight."

"No, nothing changes," Serena agreed with a brisk nod of her head. "Everything rides on tonight."

******

Khivar dropped his hand from the side of Marco’s head, and immediately the rushing sound diminished, though a blinding headache remained in its wake. Marco felt violated, painfully probed within his soul and mind. His body nearly hummed in the aftermath of Khivar’s invasive plundering, as he wrestled to steady his trembling arms.

Khivar squatted beside him, silently observing Marco, as he sucked in burning draughts of air. He was ashamed that he couldn’t harness his body more effectively, that he couldn’t still the violent tremors wracking his entire frame.

Finally, Khivar spoke, breaking the intense silence that had enfolded them. "Do you know how long I’ve waited to find one such as yourself?" He asked in a voice filled with reflective awe. "Your kind doesn’t exist on our planet anymore. I saw to that."

"My kind?" Marco asked shakily, uncertain why Khivar’s blue eyes had narrowed so keenly.

"There wasn’t a sane one of you on Antar," he explained, rubbing his jaw as he studied Marco closely. "Which is what makes this all the more remarkable."

"What do you mean, sir?" Nicholas asked in an obsequious voice. "We know he’s protector to the king…"

"No, more than that, Nicholas," Khivar breathed, his cat-like eyes narrowing again. "Far more. This royal protector is also an Empath."

"What? There’s no way!" Nicholas cried in disbelief, and then seemed to remember himself when Khivar cast a withering glance in his direction. Nicholas shifted uneasily on his feet, bowing his head subtly. "How is that even possible, sir?"

"I believe our captive can explain that," Khivar answered, rising to his feet. Marco stared up at his looming figure, unaccustomed to such a physical disadvantage. He was always the one who towered over others, the one who caused them to stand just a bit taller. Now Marco could only lie on the floor and gaze up at his captors and pray they’d show mercy.

"I…I don’t know…what you mean," he stammered quietly, his eyes sweeping the room until his gaze fell briefly on Lonnie. It was eerie how like Isabel she looked in the near darkness, yet her face was lined with pure malice, not the goodness he always saw in Isabel’s warm eyes.

"Oh, you know well, McKinley," Khivar roared, tossing his long hair arrogantly as he began to circle him predatorily. "I felt your struggle during the mind rape, how you’ve honed the gift. The years it took you. And now it’s fully ripe for my taking…"

"You can’t do that," Marco managed to spit, even though his mind had begun entertaining an unthinkable possibility.

"Oh, yes, I can," Khivar smiled, folding his arms across his chest. "You’ve imparted your power to another, to an Antarian female. And you’ve left her unmated…ready for me."

"No, no…" Marco wrestled against his bonds, arching his back as he struggled to free himself. The wire scored his skin with deep marks as he twisted frantically.

"Oh, yes, Empath. You’ve given me more than I’d ever hoped to find tonight. Not only the one gift I lack, but a royal match with the house of D’Ashani…the closest I could ever come to mating with the house of Zan."

"I’m begging you," Marco growled possessively, feeling something ancient stir in his bones. "She’s my…"

Khivar raised a hand, and instantly cut him off. "Ayanna D’Ashani is nothing to you, Empath," Khivar announced acidly. "You’re not even in the same class as her royal bloodline. But I can have her, and in the process lay claim to your gift."

"Please," Marco whispered hoarsely. Please don’t hurt her, take me instead. Kill me. But don’t hurt my nearmate. "I’ll do anything you ask, just don’t…"

"Don’t what?" Khivar replied with feigned innocence. "Explain your request, McKinley."

Marco stared up at his captor, the man he’d fought against for most of his life and understood. He’d been beaten, and in the most disgraceful of ways. He couldn’t protect the woman he was nearly bonded to—could do nothing to save her from what their greatest enemy now had planned for her. And he couldn’t hide tonight’s mission from Khivar, not when he obviously knew all their plans for attack.

Khivar cocked his head to the side, studying him. "Don’t mate with her, Empath? Is that what you’re asking? I’m Antousian and we don’t take lifemates. Only you Antarians are disposed to such monogamy. So I can easily bind her to myself tonight, and meanwhile she’ll be lost to you forever…mated to me for the rest of her life."

Suddenly, Marco felt the madness come upon him in a way that he couldn’t recall in more than fifteen years. His head swarmed and his body seemed to explode on the molecular level as he fought the onslaught of emotions crashing over him. For he knew what Khivar was really saying. He would rape Tess in order to have her, to lay claim to the Empathy now resident in her spirit, and in the process possess a bloodline Marco didn’t even know about it.

House of D’Ashani. The words were hauntingly familiar and caused a painful ache in Marco’s soul that he couldn’t explain--as if the very utterance of them, divided him from Tess in some primal way. Instinctively, he despised the words, yet understood that they were to be respected.

From deep within him, a guttural cry emerged, roaring off the ceiling and cold, stone walls. He twisted against his bonds, and began shouting in Antarian, desperate to be heard by the one man who now held his beloved’s fate within his hand.

Khivar knelt beside him, yet kept a careful distance as he raised a finger to his lips. "Shh, Empath. It does nothing for you to struggle." Marco settled a bit, gasping for air. "Nothing."

"You feel nothing for her," Marco argued, though he knew it was in vain. "She means nothing to you."

"Power," Khivar explained quietly. "That’s what she means to me. Power. And I will be waiting for her as she comes tonight, ready to take what is already mine."

"Tess will never belong to you," Marco shouted, feeling the suffocating hostility of his enemies close in on him emotionally. "Nothing you do can ever make it so!"

"Oh, yes, Ayanna D’Ashani will definitely belong to me. All of Ayanna will," Khivar rose to his feet with an air of studied regality and moved toward the door. He paused a moment as he opened it, looking over his shoulder at Marco with a smug grin. "As will this throne that I already possess. Killing Zan tonight will only ensure that fact once and for all."

And with that, Khivar exited the frigid cell without so much as another glance in Marco’s direction.