Hearts of Warriors Ch. 18

"Elina, please!" Liam's mental voice broke, his body aching with the effort to get to the woman. "Please, Elle, please!"

She could not deny him. His distress was absolute and it had nothing to do with his injury. All his focus was on the woman who had tried to kill him, his goal only to save her life. It made no sense to Elina but if it was what Liam needed then she would protect her when he could not.

Reasa's vision swam, her body a mass of agony from the vampire's talons. She'd put up as much of a fight as she could but her blood loss was too great, her adversary a more skilled fighter than she. Through tears of pain, she saw his talon's descend towards her neck and knew this was the killing blow. She had tried and failed but at least she had tried.

Elina crashed into Karn, knocking him from his position straddling the vampire's body. He was so stunned at the unexpected assault that for a moment all he could do was stare at her in surprise. Then his rage took over and he sprang towards her. "What the fuck are you doing?"

She remained in wolf form but he knew she could answer if she chose to but she remained mute, her position in front of the female making it more than clear that she was protecting the assassin. "Shift, Elina, now!"

The wolf bared its bloodied teeth, growling furiously, its hackles up and Karn's rage intensified. "She has to be put down. You know the penalty for an attack on the pack or the Vârcolac. She shot Liam and probably poisoned him. He's your cousin for fucks sake! You're supposed to protect him not the person who's tried to assassinate him."

Privately Elina agreed with him but Liam's pleas were still echoing in her head. He wanted the woman saved so she would save the woman for now. Justice could be meted out later when wiser heads' prevailed.

The Praetorians ringed them, Lacey appearing at Liam's side and kneeling before him. She slipped on a proffered T-shirt to cover her nudity from shifting from wolf form, and surveyed the scene. Liam was recovering from a gunshot wound, the damaged area healing as she watched. A frown crossed her face and she glanced towards the wounded female vampire. "Was the bullet poisoned?" Silence greeted her words as everyone waited to hear the answer.

Reasa wheezed out a pained breath, laughter bubbling up from her throat. "Yes. The abomination will die. What blood are you going to transfuse it with, vampire or Were? Too much of either will have a negative effect. You can't save it as you did Pietro."

Elina growled turning on the vampire with hate in her eyes. Liam had wanted her to save the other woman but her taunts were a death sentence. She couldn't remain alive after what she'd done to her cousin.

"He heals," Lacey said, her voice quiet as Liam rose slowly to his feet, the air shimmering as the man appeared. He was still unsteady but he was feeling stronger by the moment.

Silence reined in the compound as the full import of Lacey's statement sank in. "The Vârcolac are immune?" Karn's stunned words broke the silence.

"It appears so," Liam answered, walking over to Elina and placing a soothing hand on her head. She whined softly and rubbed against him, bathing him in her scent and seeking comfort that he was indeed okay. He dropped down beside her and hugged her tightly, sending a private thought down their bond. "Thank you, Elle."

It was said with such emotion that she rubbed against him again even though she knew she had to make him see sense. "I have no idea why you wanted her life spared, Liam, but you must know that this is only a temporary reprieve. The triumvirate will not tolerate this attack on you. The pack won't, our parents won't. Her life has only been spared for a short time. Justice must be served."

"Then they must be made to see sense, Elle. She can't be harmed, not ever. If they want to kill her then they will have to go through me first."

Elina shifted form, staring into Liam's eyes. "Why protect her, Liam?" She asked the question aloud but he answered her privately.

"She's my mate."

It was the last thing she expected to hear and she could only stare at him shocked for another long moment before she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "Oh, Liam," she whispered, tears gathering in her eyes. "I'll do my best to help but her crimes..."

She couldn't finish what she was saying. They were in an impossible position. If the woman wasn't punished, then word would get out and there would be more attacks against them. If the punishment Caleb had decreed so many years ago was enacted and she was put to death -- then they would likely lose Liam completely as he went rogue.

"What are we supposed to do with her?" Brandon asked, staring at the recovering vampire. He had wanted to go to Lily but his place had been at the compound. He wanted some resolution to what had happened at the compound so he could find out if his friend was okay.

Everyone looked to Karn who was glaring at Elina's back. "Put her in the holding cells in the basement. We can sort this mess out when Mac and the others get here." He strode over to Liam and Elina. "Are you sure there isn't any damage from the poison?"

"I feel stronger by the minute," the redheaded Vârcolac answered, his gaze watching the caramel-skinned woman with hate in her eyes as she looked back at him.

"In that case, the next fucking time you put yourself in danger to protect my ass I'll make sure you rue the fucking day you do it! Are we clear on that? And what the fuck happened to Lily? Is she okay?"

Liam's eyes tracked his mate, watching her being bound with chains of steel and led away towards the house. "The poison would have killed you, Karn." He broke his gaze and turned to the irate vampire. "Kothi got to Lily in time. She's okay."

"You didn't know it wouldn't kill you!" Karn yelled furiously, his pale blue eyes icy cold despite his raised voice. Inwardly, he was breathing a sigh of relief but the fact two of the Vârcolac had almost lost their lives on his watch was fuelling his fury no end. No, make that three as Elina bloody Alexander thought she was some kind of superhero.

Liam chose to ignore him, his focus once more totally on the woman moving away from him. He had to go to her, had to talk to her and try to find out why she felt the way she did, why she couldn't see that he was her mate.

"Today has been a distressing day for all of us," Lacey interjected, her voice calm and soothing. "The threat has been neutralised, both Liam and Lily are fine despite their trials. Let's all calm down and take some time out until we can all get together and decide what our next course of action is going to be."

Karn wasn't finished, not by a long shot, but he knew he was in over his head at the moment. He needed to calm down so he could think rationally and give Mac time to return and deal with the wolves that appeared to be put on the planet just to drive him insane.

His gaze fell on Elina again and the cold burn of anger ignited deep. She met his gaze defiantly and his beast stirred, quietly impressed with her arrogance. Neither looked away as everyone started to head into the house.

It was only when Liam moved that Karn took the three steps necessary to get to her side. "You shouldn't have done that, Elina Alexander. Once, yeah I'll let you get away with once, but not twice, Missy. You will rue the day you interfered with my job of protecting the Vârcolac."

If he'd expected her to shrink from his fury, he was in for a long wait. She smiled slowly, but it was without warmth, her eyes cold. "Oh, I think you'll find it was you who made the mistake today, vampire. You allowed Liam to be harmed. No one allows my cousin to be hurt without there being consequences. Believe me, we will continue this, only now is not the time. I'll let you know when it is."

She turned and walked away, fighting down the rage that wanted to consume her, calming her wolf who wanted to bite the stupid vampire and show him who was boss. One day soon, they would have a reckoning and she had no intention of coming out the loser. She was very much her mother's daughter and Karn would know that when the time was right.

*****

"Mac." His name burst from her lips the second she saw him all but flying the last few hundred yards down the mountain trail. Lily threw herself into his arms, tears streaking the blood on her face as her mate crushed her tightly to his chest. "I'm so sorry, Mac. Please forgive me."

"Shhhh, Lily. Don't say anything. Just let me hold you." Mac was shaking, relief warring with the terror still infusing him. He could feel Lily's tears on the side of his neck and knew she could feel his. How the fuck had they come to this? Where had everything gone so wrong and what could he do to make it right?

Lily had almost died. They had almost lost their child, an innocent brought into the world by love and who hadn't had a chance yet to experience all the wonders out there to live. "Lily, oh God, Lily, when you fell and I couldn't get to you in time..." Mac's voice broke, anguish in every word.

"It wasn't your fault," she whispered, automatically soothing her mate because she couldn't stand to hear the anguish in his voice. "None of this was your fault. I should have stayed at the compound, Mac. I wasn't thinking straight and I panicked and ran. I should have stayed and talked to you, but I was feeling so ill, I wasn't thinking rationally at the time."

"If I hadn't told you about Sophia then you wouldn't have had the need to run. You would have come to me, we could have talked things through, and I'd have seen what a precious gift it was you were giving me. I let you down when you needed me, Lily. The fault is mine."

"For what it's worth, if you'd both talked to each other none of this would have happened but that's a moot point anyway," Kallum interjected, running a hand down Lily's back to soothe himself more than her. He could see she was safe and knew that whatever the future held for his sister, it could surely only be good after everything that had occurred.

"This is mates business," Mac growled, his more dominant nature exerting itself as the shock of Lily's accident began to wane.

A loud snort from Kothari's direction had all eyes turning to him. His customary dark glasses hid his eyes but his expression was eloquent. "If this is the crap you have to deal with being mated then that's something I have no intention of experiencing." He half-smiled at Lily as he spoke, giving her a short nod. "And again our Liliana causes havoc. I want to be a fly on the wall when Andrei gets through with you, not to mention Rafe. You're in trouble again."

Lily paled, feeling queasy again, not just because of her pregnancy, but also at the thought of dealing with her father and Alpha. Her Dad would be okay once he got over his fear but Rafe...she had muted her bond and he'd warned her what the consequences of that would be.

"Leave her alone, Kothi," Kallum admonished, his eyes narrowing as he looked back at their friend. Lily didn't need any additional stress right now which was why he'd tried to buy her more time from his parents checking in with her. She needed to be with Mac and alone.

"Yes, behave!" A cool female voice said from the trees and Rayne strode into the small clearing, exuding a quiet confidence that seemed to lower some of the anxiety surrounding them. She gave her son a stern look, trying not to smile at his rebellious expression. He had always been a handful as a child and was even more so now, but there would always be a part of him that acceded to his mother no matter how old he was.

She shifted her gaze and gave Mackenzie a reassuring smile as she held out her arms to Lily. "You gave us all one hell of a fright, Liliana." She waited for Mac to release his mate so she could give her a hug. He did so reluctantly.

Kothari conceded to his mother, only slightly annoyed at the reprimand. He could scent his father close and dialled back his natural tendency to try to stir things up. There had been enough excitement happening today as it was. It was time to withdraw and work out what the connotations of today meant for him on a personal level.

"While this little drama was playing out here there was an attack on the Praetorian compound," Gard announced, coming to stand beside his mate. He ruffled Lily's hair, his gaze fixed on Mackenzie's face who turned to stare back up the mountain towards his domain.

"What happened?" The words were bit out tersely, fury starting to radiate from the vampire. Someone had attacked the Vârcolac while Lily's life was at risk? That was unacceptable!

"The European vampire slipped inside during the chaos of Lily's accident," Gard continued. "Lacey let Rafe know what was going on. Liam was shot with a poisoned bullet."

"Oh my God!" Lily cried out, as Kallum and Kothari tensed at the news.

Gard held up his hand to quiet them. "He's fine. It appears the Vârcolac are immune to the poison. Speculation is that is because of your hybrid D.N.A. From the scant information Rafe has been able to get so far, Mallen is of the opinion that possibly the were gene blocks the harmful effects. This poison appears to only target vampire D.N.A. Everyone at the compound is fine though Karn appears to be a bit put out with the day's events."

Mackenzie couldn't decide what to do. He wanted to spend time with Lily, to make sure she and their child were okay, and yet, his duty pulled him to the compound, to find out what happened and how to make sure it didn't happen again. His indecision was plain for everyone to see.

"The vampire's still alive at the compound," Gard told him. "She's in the holding cells but it's not deemed safe to take Lily back there yet, not in her current condition. The likelihood of the vampire being able to hurt either Lily or the child is small but there's no harm in taking precautions. Freya has offered the use of her cabin. I trust you don't want to be separated from your mate right now?" He arched an eyebrow, his lips quirking in a small smile at the deep frown on Mac's face.

"I swear Kothi gets his teasing from his father," Rayne sighed, shooting a reproving look at her mate. "Go spend some time with your mate, Mac. Sometimes family has to come first. We're heading up to the compound and will assist Karn. Caleb and Annie were on their way to brief the Council but have decided to put it off considering what's happened. It's going to take a bit of time for everyone who needs to be there to get up to the compound. There's time for you to be with your mate." She was concerned at how pale Lily looked and nodded her head in her direction.

Mac's grey eyes took in Lily's pallor and there was no decision to make. "Call us if you need anything." He collected his mate in his arms and cradled her tenderly. Ignoring everyone, he took off towards the secluded retreat so he could spend some much-needed time with his woman.

As soon as they had left, Kallum turned cold eyes on Gard. "Why does she still live?" Like Mackenzie, he was furious that someone had breached their defences and tried to harm Liam. Death was the only punishment for that crime.

"Liam had Elina save her." It was Rayne who answered.

"Why the hell would he do that?"

A sad smile crossed Rayne's face, concern in her deep green eyes. "The vampire is his mate."

"Oh, fuck!" Kallum groaned as Kothari's loud laughter filled the valley.

To be continued...