His hand heated, warm and comforting. A tingling feeling engulfed her, part pleasure and part pain, beginning in her chest and sweeping down her arms to her fingers, down her torso to her thighs, calves, and toes. Misshapen bullets emerged from her flesh. Bleeding ceased. Wounds closed. Bones shattered by bullets fused themselves back together. Her collapsed lung reinflated. Her breathing grew easier. The pain receded, then vanished entirely.
He removed his hand from her chest, curling it into a loose fist, then rubbing his thumb against his fingers as though touching her had made him tingle.
She sat up, but didn’t move away. Just to double check, she pulled the neckline of her sticky shirt away from her body and peered down through it at her bare chest and bra-encased breasts. No wounds. Only dried blood.
She let the material fall back against her and stared up at him, too tired to attempt to stand yet. He had healed her wounds, but severe blood loss still rendered her weak.
A shiver shook her.
He unfurled his beautiful wings and cupped them around her like a tent, keeping the breeze at bay.
“Who are you?” she asked when she could find her voice. “Really?”
“Zach,” he said simply.
“That only tells me your name, not who you are.”
He shrugged. “Seth calls me Cousin.”
“You’re Seth’s cousin?” Merde. He really was an elder. She had never heard of any immortal other than David being so close to their leader in age. Or who may actually be able to match his power.
And that had been quite a power display, killing the mercenaries without even touching them.
“Why have I never heard of you?” she asked. “Why don’t you ever come inside when you visit David’s? Why do you keep your presence a secret?”
“Neither Seth nor David would want me there.”
“Why? Did you have a falling-out?”
He seemed to weigh his words. “Seth and I chose different paths when we were still young men and disagreed with each other’s choices.”
David would have, of course, taken Seth’s side. He and Seth were like brothers.
“Are you enemies?” She was pretty sure she would have heard about it if this man had been actively trying to kill Seth or wage war with him.
“No.”
Just no. Nothing more.
She had a feeling she wasn’t going to get anything more specific than that, but tried anyway. “So, you’re immortal, but don’t lead the life of an Immortal Guardian? You don’t hunt vampires or have a Second?”
“Correct.”
“Until tonight.”
“Technically, I let you slay the vampires, then took care of the mercenaries when you faltered.”
And saved her life. Had he not stepped in when he did, the mercenaries would have captured her. “So you intervened where, in the past, you would not have.”
He hesitated. “Yes.”
“Why?”
He clenched and unclenched his jaw. “I couldn’t let them take you.”
“Why?”
His brow furrowed. “I don’t know.”
If she didn’t need blood so badly just then, she was sure her heart would have begun to beat faster.
Had he veered from his chosen path for her?
“You need blood,” he pointed out.
She nodded, a shock of excitement darting through her at the idea of leaning into him, pressing against that wide, muscled, bare chest, and touching her lips to his neck.
“I can’t give you mine,” he said, his deep voice full of . . . regret?
“Okay.” What the hell was she doing? Was she attracted to him? A man who had freely admitted he was at odds with Seth, the wisest man she knew and to whom she owed her life and allegiance?
Snapping out of it, she fumbled with her coat, seeking the right pocket and—fingers tangling in a couple of holes—managed to draw out her cell phone.
Or what was left of it. A bullet had forged a hole through it on its way to her liver.
Wonderful.
“May I borrow your phone?” she asked. “I need to call my Second.” Tracy could take care of notifying Chris that a cleanup crew was needed and have Richart bring Lisette some much-needed blood.
“I don’t carry a phone.”
Okay. Plan B.
She looked at the lifeless mercenary bodies around them. Tucking them away, out of sight, seemed a monumental task as low on energy and strength as she was right now. And when her energy was low, her telepathic range diminished greatly.
Etienne? she called. Perhaps he and Krysta were hunting nearby.
Nothing. Etienne! I need you.
Still nothing.
Richart? She had an even smaller chance of contacting Richart because he couldn’t send his reply telepathically. He could only think it and hope she would pick up on it.
“I can take you where you need to go,” Zach said, his eyes never leaving her.
She shook her head. “I can’t leave these bodies here. I need to contact the network and have them come clean things up, hide what happened from the humans.”
He sighed. “If I were a different man, I’d say you owe me one.”
One what? And shouldn’t being in this powerful immortal’s debt alarm her? “For killing the mercenaries and saving me?”
“No, for this.” He closed his eyes.
He was so handsome. Straight nose. Strong, shadowed jaw. Ebony brows over eyes so dark a brown they were almost black . . . when they weren’t glowing golden. Just like Seth’s.
He opened those eyes and met hers. “Help is on the way.”
“It is?”
“Can you sit by yourself?”
She hadn’t even realized he had been supporting her with an arm behind her back.
“Yes.” She sat up straighter.
Withdrawing his arm, he rose and backed away.
“Thank you,” she said, sensing he wouldn’t stay until help arrived.
He nodded. Bending his knees, he leapt up into the air and brought those powerful wings down, shooting into the sky like a missile and disappearing from sight.
Lisette didn’t know what to think. Of him. Of what he had done.
Seth appeared several yards away, his back to her. “What?” he growled. “I don’t appreciate being summoned so . . .” He trailed off.
Lisette felt as anxious facing Seth now as she had the first time she had realized just how much power he wielded.
Would he view her interaction with Zach as a betrayal?
He took in the dead mercenaries and turned around. “Lisette!” In a heartbeat, he knelt beside her and touched her shoulder. “Are you all right?”
She nodded. “Just weak. I’ve lost a lot of blood.”
A couple of humans strolled in their direction, not yet in sight of the carnage.
Seth waved a hand in their direction, mentally guiding them away. “I was summoned here by another,” he said, studying her closely.
She swallowed. “Zach was here.”
No visible reaction. “Did he hurt you?”
“No. He saved me.”
A long pause followed, during which she fought the urge to squirm.
Was he reading her thoughts, surfing through them and replaying what had happened?
He drew out his phone and dialed. “Chris? Seth. Send a cleanup crew to UNCG. A couple of dozen mercenaries attacked Lisette and are dead. One fled bearing a tracking device.”
He had definitely read her thoughts. Lisette just hoped he hadn’t noticed the fascination and, yes, attraction she felt for the other elder.
“They did? Excellent. Keep me posted.” He pocketed his phone. “Etienne and Krysta also engaged mercenaries tonight, over at UNC Chapel Hill, and succeeded in planting a tracking device on one. Chris is already tracking him.”
“Good.”
“Can you hold out until the cleanup crew arrives, or shall I take you home or to David’s for blood now?”
“I can wait.” For blood. She couldn’t wait for a verdict on her encounter with Zach. “Are you angry?” she asked tentatively.
“With you? No.”
“With Zach?”
“I haven’t decided.”
“Who is he, Seth?”
He looked at the bodies around them again. “I’m not sure anymore.”
“He said he’s your cousin,” she pressed.
“Did he?”
A human approached, accompanied by staticky walkie-talkie speech.
Lisette’s heart skipped. More mercenaries?
Seth covered her hand with his. “Campus security.” He looked in the direction from which the sounds came.
The human’s footsteps stopped, then carried him away.
Disturbed’s “Down With the Sickness” swelled from Seth’s pocket. Retrieving his phone, he answered, “Yes?” He met Lisette’s gaze and smiled. “Word travels fast. Yes, she’s here. She’s fine. Her phone was just destroyed.” He held out the phone. “It’s Tracy.” Don’t mention Zach.
Lisette took the phone, aware that Seth had neither confirmed nor denied that Zach was his cousin.
“Two mercenaries tagged,” he murmured as she assured Tracy she was fine and glossed over what had happened, leaving out Zach. “It’s been an interesting night.”
Once the immortals and Seconds staying at David’s had bedded down for the day, Seth and David retreated to David’s study.
Seth told him what had happened with Zach and Lisette.
David’s brow furrowed. “He helped her?”
Seth nodded, still unsure what to make of it.
“How did he kill the mercenaries? I didn’t think he carried a weapon.”
“He told Lisette he gave them all ruptured aneurysms.”
“That takes both power and precision.”
“He must be practicing.”
“On whom? And why?”
“I don’t know.”
Perhaps when Seth had warned Zach months ago that the Others couldn’t best him because Seth had been exercising and growing his powers, it had struck a nerve.