Darkness Unleashed (Guardians of Eternity #5)(96)

“You’re not prying, and even if you were, you have every right. We’re family.” Darcy smiled sweetly. “Regan, you have to understand, my childhood was one of constant loneliness and the fear I would never truly belong anywhere. I didn’t know what I was or why I was so different, so I could never let anyone close, in case they realized I was…abnormal. And then Styx came crashing into my life, and I learned that I was a Were, if a rather dysfunctional one. I also learned I wasn’t alone. There are all sorts of wonderful, weird, and wacky demons in the world.”

Regan snorted. “We can at least agree to that.”

“I, at last, have a family who loves me exactly as I am, and it’s everything to me.” Darcy leaned down to brush a light kiss on Regan’s troubled brow. “I want you to share in that joy.”

Regan’s heart gave another twist of envy. “Perhaps someday.”

“You’re tired.” Slipping off the bed, Darcy tucked the covers around Regan’s shivering body. “We can speak later.”

Regan snuggled into the pillows. “Thank you.”

Darcy crossed the room, pausing at the door. “Regan, always know you have a place with me.”

Regan gave an absent nod, but she knew her place wasn’t here.

But if not here, then where?

Wrapped in the icy composure that had held his demons at bay for centuries, Jagr followed Tane’s shadowed form through the dark trees that lined the Mississippi River.

It wasn’t that his soul didn’t howl for Regan, who’d been carted off to Chicago hours ago. Or that his instincts weren’t raw with the need to follow her and force the bond that pulsed through his blood.

But his past had taught him the necessary skills to survive even the most brutal pain.

Until he could return to his lair and lick his wounds in private, he would simply endure.

As always.

Walking a step ahead of Jagr, Tane came to a sudden halt, holding up his hand as he scented the damp night air.

“Hold,” he warned, his voice audible only to another vampire. “Curs. One of them dead.”

Jagr stepped beside his companion. They had been searching for Salvatore along the banks of the Mississippi for the past three hours.

It was about damned time they caught a break.

“Hess,” Jagr growled, recognizing the pungent scent.

Tane’s nose flared in disgust. The Charon had little love for dogs.

“You know them?”

“Salvatore’s mangy courtiers.” Jagr sent his senses flowing through the isolated area, a frown touching his brow. “But no Salvatore. Interesting.”

Tane grunted as four fully shifted curs came crashing through the trees.

“Or lethal.”

Jagr released a blast of frigid power, knocking the charging animals backwards.

“Stand down, dogs,” he snapped.

The curs snapped and snarled in frustration, but as they slowly realized they were no match for two powerful vampires, they at last shimmered and shifted back to human form.

It was the hulking, bald-headed cur who took charge, glaring at Jagr as he stood completely naked among the tangled underbrush.

“Where’s our king?” he rasped, sounding more wolf than human.

“Do I look like a nanny for a damned Were?” Tane drawled, absently twirling the large silver dagger he held in his hand. “You’re his guard. Isn’t it your job to keep track of him?”

“Tane.” Jagr gave a shake of his head. He wasn’t in the mood to play with the curs. He wanted to discover if Salvatore had any information on Regan’s sister, and be done with the entire mess. He turned his head to meet Hess’s glowing gaze. “What happened?”

Hess gritted his teeth, but obviously judging that Jagr was there to help, he jerked his head toward the cabin set in a clearing just on top of the ridge.

“Salvatore was to meet with Duncan in the cabin. He went in with the gargoyle and never came out.”

“Levet is missing as well?” Jagr demanded, his thoughts instantly turning to Regan’s bizarre fondness for the stupid beast. “Damn.”

Tane arched a raven brow. “I didn’t know you cared.”

Jagr shrugged. “Nothing would please me more than to send the stunted pain in the ass back to the gutter he crawled out of. Unfortunately, he’s a favorite of the Anasso’s mate.”

“And your own mate?” Tane demanded.

Jagr flinched at the unexpected stab of pain, swiftly returning his attention to the wary Hess.

“A pureblood and a gargoyle can’t just disappear,” he accused. “You saw nothing?”

Hess gritted his teeth, looking as if he were in dire need of some bloody, mindless violence to take the edge off.

“I saw nothing.”

Accepting that Hess was clueless, Jagr brushed past the curs and made his way to the cabin. Tane was quickly at his side, his gaze sweeping the ground with the expertise of a trained hunter.

“Footprints going in.” Tane pointed to the two sets of tracks.

“And none going out,” Jagr muttered, easily detecting the scents of Salvatore and Levet. They’d entered the cabin together and neither had left. Turning his head, Jagr stabbed the towering cur with a narrow gaze. “Are there any tunnels?”