10. Rena
Rena
If someone had told me just a week before that I would be flying in some kind of military helicopter, surrounded by Vampires in tactical gear, with mating heat racing through my blood and my eternity sitting next to me, I would have laughed in their face.
The Vampires had everything planned out to the minute, and we were one of many flights that were converging on a town in Arizona under the cover of darkness.
Once there, I would separate from Chance and join the other mates and their Vampire guards to wait for the all clear to enter the facility.
They’d planned everything in such a way that Vampires and mates would be separated for the smallest amount of time possible, but I was still anticipating the pain we were about to experience.
Chance and I hadn’t gone longer than fifteen minutes apart without pain in the last two days.
Any longer than that caused cramping in my muscles, nausea, and the ever-present fever spiking unbearably.
I’d learned that earlier in the day when he’d gone to welcome new guests, and I’d tried to hang back.
The mating heat was steadily worsening the longer we waited to complete the bond.
There was a possibility that the Vampires would be able to liberate the labs in less than fifteen minutes, but the odds were very slim.
I didn’t know too many details because I’d been listening to Alice while they planned everything out on the other side of the room, but from what I knew, they’d surround the labs, cut off any exit points, and work their way in silently until silence was no longer an option.
Then it would be a free-for-all. Their main objectives were to eliminate any resistance and protect the Vampires they were there to save.
Everyone was concerned that if the humans knew they were fucked, they’d kill the Vampires and mates in the facility.
“Why the long face?” Chance’s friend, Cap, asked, grinning at me. His face was covered in dark camouflage paint, and his teeth were startlingly white in contrast. “This is nothin’. Wait until I tell you about the time Chance and I were in Gabon.”
“She doesn’t need to hear that story…ever,” Chance replied with a huff.
“Don’t be shy now,” Sullivan teased, shifting to get comfortable. He was way too large for his seat, but seemed to know exactly how to position his body so that he wasn’t crowding those on either side of him.
They bantered back and forth, like they didn’t have a care in the world.
It was the most bizarre thing, as if we were headed to dinner or a bowling alley instead of rescuing a large group of people who were surrounded by well-armed guards.
I leaned into Chance, laying my head on his shoulder.
Immediately, I felt his lips against the top of my head.
He was nervous. He thought he was hiding it well, but he wasn’t. I’d watched him grow more restless and short-tempered as the day progressed, but I wasn’t sure how to help him. I was just as uneasy.
I hadn’t trained for anything like the situation we were about to be in.
I had no medical experience. I’d never been in any kind of war zone, never had to comfort people after a disaster…
hell, I’d never even been witness to a car accident except my own.
My role, if it could be called that, was literally being just another body to attach itself to a victim until they were safe.
I was to be their advocate, their friend, and if needed, their protector.
Reaching down, I curved my hand around the pepper spray in my pocket.
Reese, Lucy, Mattie, Alice, Helen, and especially Rosemary were all well acquainted and trained with firearms, but I wasn’t.
I’d never even held a pistol—and there hadn’t been time for me to get comfortable with one.
So they were armed, and I was…as protected as a woman walking to her car.
I told myself that it didn’t matter. I was there for support. The Vampires would have everything well in hand by the time I got anywhere near the facility.
I was still scared.
Chance and I were exactly the kind of mates the humans had been searching for. Brand new. Vulnerable.
When we touched down in a pitch-black field, I followed Chance quickly out of the helicopter, ducking on instinct as the propellers rotated above us. We ran toward the edge where a small stand of trees and another group waited.
“Good?” Rosemary asked, popping out of the darkness like a ghost. She was covered head to toe in black, a bulky vest covering her torso, and the strap of a rifle bisecting her chest.
“I didn’t get airsick,” I replied, the only answer I could think of. I was honestly pretty proud of that fact. Alice had warned me not to take any motion sickness medicine in case it made me drowsy.
Rosemary grinned. “Thatta girl.” She disappeared into the darkness.
I stuck close to Chance as more and more Vampires showed up.
He moved through the crowd, reminding everyone where they should go, where to fall back if they needed, who to call if they needed backup—everything and anything he thought would be helpful.
His old friend, Elgin, and his sons stood quietly off to the side, not as comfortable with the group as everyone else, but steady and sure otherwise.
Elgin and Jean were visibly sweating, their faces drawn with pain.
When we reached them, Chance shook each of their hands one by one.
“You know your points?” he asked.
“Yes,” Elgin assured him.
“Then I’ll see you in there.” Chance started to lead me away.
“Chauncey,” Elgin called.
We paused and turned back toward the Vampire.
“You’ll send our bodies back to the ranch if we fall?”
I froze. It felt like my heart was caught in my throat. I could barely breathe as the enormity of what we were about to face hit me.
“I will,” Chance said with a nod. “I’ll bring them back myself.”
“Tell Linette there’s no rush, will you?” Elgin continued. “See the kids settled first. I’ll wait.”
“I’ll tell her,” Chance replied before hurrying me away.
“Jesus wept,” I mumbled, stumbling along behind him.
When we reached the other side of the little staging area, Chance pulled me into the trees and kissed me hard. His hands held my head in place as he plundered my mouth, leaving nothing untouched. When he finally pulled away, both of us were gasping for air.
“Stay near my mother, Helen, or Alice,” he said in a rush. “Try to keep them in your field of vision at all times. Lucy and Reese too. Don’t let yourself get separated from the group.”
“I won’t,” I assured him.
“I’ll find you as soon as I can, but it may be after you reach the facility. No matter what happens, you stay with the second wave. I don’t care what you hear or see, you don’t come looking for me.”
“Why would I?” I asked in confusion, clutching his wrists in my hands.
“You leave when they order you to,” he said, smoothing my hair. “Even if I haven’t found you yet.”
“What?” I jerked my head back. “What are you talking about?”
“Listen to me,” he snapped in a tone I’d never heard from him before. “We’re here. This is it.” His voice gentled. “And unlike the other mates here, you and I are not immortal.”
The realization felt like falling into a well with no bottom.
“If I don’t find you,” he said, leaning forward to kiss me again. “Leave with my mother. She’ll get you home safe.”
“No,” I argued. “No, where will you be?”
“I’ll be right behind you,” he said firmly. “But just in case you don’t see me?—”
“Stop saying that.”
“Baby, we’re going to have an eternity to argue about this shit, but now? In this moment? Fucking listen to me.”
“I’m listening,” I replied, my voice shaking.
“Don’t take unnecessary chances. Move quickly, but don’t be careless. Be aware of your surroundings at all times. Listen to Alice. She won’t steer you wrong.”
“Got it,” I replied as the order to move filtered through the crowd to us.
“You are every dream realized,” he said, pressing his forehead against mine. “The last two days were the best of my life. Be careful, love.”
Before I could reply, he’d pulled his arms from my hands and turned into the crowd. I tried to follow, but a firm hand on my shoulder made me pause.
“This way,” Alice said, leading me to a long van. It reminded me of the vans I used to see filled with kids in the summer with some local church’s logo on the side. I let her shove me inside and dropped onto one of the middle seats. Moments later, she was beside me, stuffing things into my hands.
“Bandages,” she said calmly. “Water. The little plastic bag has a key that should work on most handcuffs. We don’t have enough for everyone, so help where you can.”
I stared out the window as vehicles pulled away. Chance was in one of those trucks. I could feel the invisible tether between us growing tauter with every passing second.
I had no idea how they’d managed to have transportation for everyone when we got there, but I was grateful that things seemed to be running smoothly so far.
“Pay attention,” Alice said, swatting my leg.
“I am,” I replied, turning back to look at her.
“He knows what he’s doing,” she said firmly. “Now, when we get in there, I want you to stay close.”
“I will.”
“I’ve told the other girls, and now I’m telling you—look for the injured. Find the mates that will need the most help.”
“Okay.”
“I can’t be everywhere at once, so you’ll have to be my eyes. It’ll be much easier if I can spot you in a crowd and know that I need to check that mate, understand?”
“Yes.”
“You up for this?” she asked, searching my eyes.
“I think so.”
“I guess that’s good enough.”
“Do you know where Reese is?” I asked, looking around us at the unfamiliar faces. That’s when I realized that Charlie was sitting silently on the other side of Alice, his face emotionless.
“She’s in the second van with Helen,” Alice replied. “Lucy is with Mattie in the third. We made sure that there was someone in charge in each van.”
“Does everyone know what to do?” I asked. The women around us were mostly silent. The tension in the van was palpable.
“We went over it all while you and Chance were canoodling upstairs,” she verified.
I nodded, wishing that I could’ve been at those meetings but glad I hadn’t been. Those hours with Chance had been the calm in the storm. They’d revealed exactly where I belonged and who I belonged to. I wouldn’t have traded a moment.
I fell into a sort of trance while we waited, the strain of the mating heat making my muscles jerk and twist as nausea churned my insides and saliva pooled in my mouth.
There was no way to open the windows, so I pulled off my sweatshirt and pressed my shoulder against the cool glass.
It only provided momentary relief for a small patch of skin. The rest of me was on fire.
My head began to pound.
“Hang in there,” Alice said, gently patting my leg. “You can do it.”
I nodded, but I was afraid that if I spoke, I wouldn’t be able to hold back the vomit.
“Here, put it under your nose,” Charlie said quietly. He handed me a tiny tub of ointment that smelled like eucalyptus and menthol. “It helped a little the first days after Zeke left when the nausea was the worst.”
“You have to tell me these things,” Alice griped as I dabbed a little beneath my nose. “So I can help the next mate who’s dealing with the heat.”
“Sorry,” Charlie replied. “I’d forgotten about it until this morning when I was talking to Lucy.”
“You’re forgiven,” Alice sighed. Her eyes caught something at the front of the van, and she pressed her fingertips to her lips. When I looked forward, I realized that Sven was in the driver’s seat. A Vampire I didn’t recognize was riding shotgun.
Eventually, the van grew silent. I closed my eyes and rested my head against the window, trying to ignore the way my body screamed for Chance.
I didn’t know how long it had been since we parted.
It felt like days, but I knew it had to be less than an hour.
Every time his goodbye came to mind, I shied away from it, forcing myself to think of anything else.
The bathtub that I was going to sink into when we got back to the house.
The way the lines bracketed Chance’s mouth when he laughed.
The sensation of his beard on my skin. The way Reese had found me that morning to give me a bear hug and tell me to get my head out of my ass.
What Reese had looked like the day we met—her long, tangled hair, the black eyeliner that made her look like a raccoon, the dirty Converse she’d insisted on wearing even though she had a cleaner pair at her foster home.
Chance’s tattoos that I wanted to ask about.
The medallion he wore around his neck that I didn’t know the origin of.
The fact that he put on his shoes and socks one at a time, sock, shoe, sock, shoe, like a psychopath.
I was focusing so hard on anything but where I was and what was happening just a few miles away that when the van’s engine started, rumbling beneath me, I jerked in surprise.
“When we get there, you follow Sven,” Alice said as we began to move. “He’ll lead us into the right warehouse. We’re going to the labs. Others will find the cells,” she said, looking at Charlie. “That is not our objective.”
“I hear you,” he said grimly.
“There’s another doctor in the third van. She’ll go to the cells and get me if she needs me.”
“That’s good luck,” I said as I pulled my sweatshirt back on. I hadn’t realized there was another doctor.
“She’s only ever worked on humans,” Alice said flatly. “But it’s better than nothing.”
I stared out the window as we pulled onto a highway and picked up speed. We’d only gone a mile or two before Sven turned onto another smaller road. Lights in the distance made my stomach clench with nerves.
Then, we were driving between two rows of trucks that had barricaded the entrance to an industrial park.
There were Vampires everywhere, moving quickly between warehouses.
I searched frantically for anyone I knew, but the parking lot lights only lit so far, and it was hard to recognize anyone in the dark.
“Get ready to go,” Alice ordered as we were directed to a dark green warehouse. The doors were open, spilling light onto the sidewalks outside.
As soon as the van doors were open, I followed on Alice’s heels as she raced for the light.
The level of noise hit me first, the sounds of fear and agony so heinous that I wanted to cover my ears.
I could smell the terror and pain before we’d even reached the building, a miasma of urine and sweat and feces that slapped us in the face.
Then I stepped inside and froze.
The massive warehouse had beds every three feet.
There were very few empty ones.
“Once more unto the breach,” Alice whispered. “Gods help us.”