“I am not a coward,” she snarled at him, working to pry his thick arm away from her body.
It was no use. Her legs were off of the floor, giving her no leverage.
Cain dropped her on the couch, following her down to cage her body with his. His face was taut with tension, his voice low and earnest. “The demons have your blood. They can make you do things. The power I fed you earlier is only temporary, and once it fades, you’ll be weak. You need to calm down.”
Rory was not that easy to control. She was no one’s puppet—demon or otherwise. She wanted to kill. Needed it. No one was going to stand in her way. Not even Cain.
“There’s no time for this,” said Ronan. “We must leave.”
Synestryn howled again, and this time it was much closer. She could no longer stop herself. She had to get out there.
Power circled her throat. All she had to do was figure out how to shape it so that she could get Cain to back off and let her pass.
“Rory,” he said, his tone a warning. “I can feel that. What are you doing?”
Energy leapt into her, eager to do her bidding. It wasn’t nearly as exhausting as it had been before. In fact, she was sure that the flow of power into her was faster now. Thicker.
She gathered it up and used it to strengthen her limbs. With one hard shove, Cain was tossed backward and out of her way. She bounced up and sprinted for the door, her legs fueled by the magic flowing into her.
Rory made it outside. The door behind her bounced hard on its hinges. Cold air hit her face, scented with something dark and musky.
Demons.
She bared her teeth and started to sprint in their direction, but a second later, she was tossed sideways by a hot, heavy battering ram.
Cain’s bulk pinned her to the ground. His mouth was tight with anger, his eyes bright with fear.
She fought his hold, driven to find those demons. She needed to make their blood flow—to set them on fire and watch them burn. Why could Cain not understand that? He was supposed to want the same thing.
No matter what she did, she couldn’t find enough strength to slip his grasp. Even the power that had been at her fingertips before seemed to sputter and fail as she reached for it.
Cain cupped her chin in one hand. She felt him shove his way into her mind, his determination burning so bright she could no longer see her own thoughts through the glare.
His deep voice settled over her. “Calm down.”
She couldn’t. She had to get up and fight.
Another hand appeared from over her head. The fingers were long and skinny, almost feminine—not at all like Cain’s. The hand settled on her forehead, cold and unwanted. Pain sliced through her skull, making her cry out. Ronan’s face hovered over her, flat and without mercy.
Her vision started to go gray. Her limbs began to buzz with the beginnings of numbness. A weak lethargy fell over her like a warm blanket. She tried to fight it, but she was pulled down, sucked into the silent black of sleep. The last thing she saw was Cain’s expression of anguished regret as he said, “I’m sorry.”
Chapter 13
Cain couldn’t stay and fight. Not now. The Synestryn would have to wait for another time when he didn’t have an unconscious woman and a weak Sanguinar to protect. When he wasn’t weak himself.
Ronan got behind the wheel of his van. Cain didn’t wait for an invitation to come along. He simply picked Rory up and climbed into the back, furious at what Ronan had done.
“Go,” ordered Cain. His voice came out as a growl of anger.
Ronan took off down the gravel driveway. “I didn’t hurt her.”
“You weren’t exactly gentle, either.”
“I had to knock her out. You saw how rabid she’d become. She was willing to do whatever it took to go after those demons—no matter who she had to go through to make it happen. It was the right choice.”
“Yeah. I’m sure she’ll see it that way when she wakes up.” And the fact that Cain had held her in place for Ronan to subdue was not going to sit well with her.
Cain tried not to care if she was angry at him. As long as she stayed out of danger, she could be as mad as she liked. But that was a lie. He was trying to connect to her, to tie her to him. Letting Ronan hurt her wasn’t exactly the way to win her over.
“Shall I head for Dabyr?”
That would have been Cain’s first choice, but they would never find the person who blocked her visions from behind those walls. And so many people around would hurt her. If he tried to lock her up there, he knew she’d find a way to escape, and there were too many humans around to get hurt.
She’d already proven that she was willing to use his power against him. He’d felt her intent as clearly as if it had been his own. What if she used his power against the humans as well? She could easily kill someone. He couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t force her to live with the guilt that kind of mistake would create.
“She was definitely compelled to act. I could feel the power of it spreading through her as I touched her mind.” Cain caught Ronan’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “Can you free her?”
“It’s possible, but the creature I touched was strong.”
“So is she. If anyone can shake this off, she can.”
“I’ll need more blood—more than you can give. I’m currently too weak to do much. And some of that blood will need to be hers. There’s no way around that.”
Every protective instinct in Cain stood up and roared in defiance, but he knew the stakes. He knew Ronan wouldn’t hurt her. At least no more than he had to.
As angry as he was at what Ronan had done, Cain knew it had been the right choice. His hesitation could have cost them Rory’s life had Ronan not acted when he did.