Darkness Unleashed (Guardians of Eternity #5)(74)

Before she could halt the impulse, she moved forward to punch him squarely in the chest. A wasted effort. The damned man didn’t even flinch.

“I didn’t call him to be in his damned care.” She shook her hand. Crap, she’d almost broken her fingers. “Hell, I’ve done everything possible to avoid that fate.”

“Then why?”

“Because I would have done anything…” She was forced to halt and clear the lump from her throat. “Anything to find you.”

The blue eyes briefly darkened at her soft confession, but before he could speak, a large form detached from the shadows of the looming building.

“Jagr. Sister-mate.”

Wanting to scream with frustration, Regan turned to cast an impatient glance at the unwelcome intruder.

Only to freeze in shock.

Holy shit.

As big as, or even bigger than Jagr, the vampire possessed the features of an ancient Aztec, with raven black hair pulled into a braid that hung well past his waist and golden brown eyes that seemed to sear right through her.

But it was more than his stark beauty and the way his leather pants and loose silk shirt caressed his heavily muscled body that made her instinctively step toward Jagr.

His power was a thick, tangible presence in the air, prickling over her skin with a near painful intensity.

Christ, her sister must have nerves of steel to bind herself to the dangerous demon.

At her side, Jagr offered a stiff bow. “My lord.”

That unnerving golden gaze shifted to run a searching path over Jagr’s stiff form, narrowing as he caught sight of the vampire’s brittle expression.

“I am pleased to discover you unharmed, if not unscathed, brother,” the Anasso rumbled, a hint of question in his deep voice.

“You will not be pleased to discover I have failed in my duty,” Jagr retorted, offering another bow. “Forgive me.”

Before Regan could guess his intent, Jagr was heading for the nearby stairs to the terrace, his back stiff and his shoulders bunched with tension.

“Jagr, wait.” She stomped her foot as he deliberately ignored her plea and disappeared through the open door. “Dammit. He is…”

“Complicated,” Styx helpfully supplied. “Yes, I know.”

Forgetting the fact that she was confronting perhaps the most lethal demon in the world, not to mention her current brother-in-law, Regan clenched her fists and headed in Jagr’s wake.

Walk out on her?

Not gonna happen.

“Well, I’m just about to uncomplicate him,” she muttered. “Excuse me.”

“Regan.”

The dark voice was pleasant, but edged with enough of a command that she instinctively halted to glance over her shoulder.

“What?”

His beautiful face was somber in the moonlight. “I would ask to meet with you and discuss your future.”

Future? Shit. She didn’t want to deal with the expectations her call had no doubt raised in her sister. Or any future that might include a family she’d never wanted.

Not when she had an obstinate, mule-headed, world’s most aggravating vampire to straighten out.

“I…” She halted her instinctive denial as she met the steady golden gaze. He wasn’t budging on this. It might as well have been tattooed across his forehead. She sighed. Great. Just what she needed. Another ruthless vampire with an agenda. “Yeah, fine. But later.” She headed for the door. “Much later.”

Sadie was beyond pissed off.

Nothing unusual.

Being pissed off was a constant state of mind lately.

No. Not lately.

She could pinpoint the precise time her life had gone into the shitter.

The moment Regan-freaking-Princess-of-Weres had hit town.

Damn the bitch.

This was all her fault.

She was the one who had called the wrath of the vampires down on the curs. She was the one who had brought Salvatore snooping around where he didn’t belong. She was even responsible for that damned gargoyle who was proving to be such a pain in the ass.

And yet, Sadie knew she would be the one held to blame for the entire fiasco.

Caine was not a cur who accepted failure.

Hell, the last person to fail him was stuffed and mounted to stand as a gruesome reminder of what happens to those who disappoint the self-proclaimed leader of the curs.

Which, no doubt, explained why Duncan had done a disappearing act, along with the witch.

Well, screw them.

Sadie didn’t run. She didn’t hide.

Not any more.

Caine commanded she capture Regan, come hell or high water, and that was exactly what she was going to do.

Unfurling the whip, she sliced another ribbon of flesh off Gaynor’s back as he cowered in a corner of the basement.

When they had returned to the tea shop, after yet another futile search for the pureblood, to discover her guards dead and the vampire missing, Sadie had lost no time in taking out her frustrations on the imp.

She couldn’t think straight with her temper blazing and her lust for pain clogging her mind.

Besides, she couldn’t risk shifting. Not when her time was running out.

“Stupid bastard,” she gritted, clenching the whip as she watched the blood pour down the imp’s shredded back. “You swore to me the vampire couldn’t escape from your prison.”