Warrior (Relentless #4)(99)

When Sara and one of the other trainees collided with Celine, and the three of them went down in a tangle of arms and legs, it was all I could do not to laugh.

Sara sat up covered in stinking kark dung and muttered, “Ah hell,” and I had to stifle the bark of laughter that almost slipped out. I’d just spent the morning getting her to warm up to me, and I had no desire to start over.

I moved to help her up, but Chris beat me to it. So I went to assist Celine instead. She clung to my arm for a moment then let go when she looked down and saw the filth covering her.

“If anyone needs me, I’ll be soaking in my tub for the next two hours,” Celine announced, giving me a look that said I was welcome to join her.

This was a new situation for me; propositioned by a former lover while my mate, who didn’t know she was my mate, stood several feet away. I looked at Tristan and Chris, who were laughing openly, and Chris mouthed, Good luck with that. It was all so absurd that I could only shake my head and laugh.

Sahir chose that moment to arrive with the sedative. “Sorry it took so long. I had to dilute the sedative and transfer it to a spray canister so it will reach them.”

To illustrate, he lifted the nozzle and lightly sprayed two karks. It took about a minute for the sedative to kick in and bring the karks down.

Sara picked one up and smiled at Sahir. “It worked!”

Sahir turned to Tristan. “I diluted this, but it still might knock people out if they breathe too much of it. We should clear the hall before I spray more of it.”

Tristan ordered everyone from the hall. He looked at me as we walked to the nearest common room. “Do you want to join me this afternoon on a call with the task force? After we both clean up, of course.”

“Can we do it around five? Sara and I are working on her studies after lunch.”

He gave me a puzzled look. “Her studies?”

“Yes, it seems we overlooked that part of her training. She didn’t even know how vampires matured until I told her.”

Tristan looked abashed. “She is the same age as the other trainees who have all had schooling. I didn’t stop to think that Sara –”

A cry of pain came from the hall.

Sara.





Chapter 18





I raced back to the hall in time to see a mass of white bodies swarming around someone who was trying to run away from them. She cried out, and my stomach lurched when I realized the creatures were attacking her.

I dove through the karks and wrapped my body around Sara to protect her from the impact as we hit the marble floor. We landed with her on top of me, and I swiftly rolled us over so she was on the bottom. A second later, we were covered in crazed karks, and I expected to feel their sharp little teeth in my back. But they completely ignored me and seemed obsessed with getting to Sara.

Sahir ran toward us. “If I spray them, I might get you too.”

“I don’t give a damn. Just do it,” I ordered.

He lifted the nozzle, and I lowered my head to Sara’s. “Cover your mouth and nose. Sahir is going to spray around us.”

She buried her face in my sweater, and I pulled her to me as tightly as I could.

“There are too many of them,” Sahir called.

“Keep spraying us.”

I’d pick Sara up and make a run for it, but there were too many of the creatures, and they were in a frenzy to get to Sara.

“I can’t. It’ll poison you two if I spray more around you,” he argued. “I’ll do what I can to reduce their numbers. What the hell is wrong with them? Why are they only going after her?”

“I don’t know.”

Karks didn’t attack people without provocation. There was only one thing that made them behave this way. I lowered my head and enhanced my demon senses to smell Sara’s hair. It stunk of kark but nothing suspicious. Next I sniffed at her hoodie and picked up a faint, foreign odor mingled with the kark feces. “Something smells off here.”

Sara made a noise. “You think?”

I had to get the hoodie off her. If it had even a drop of scarab pheromone on it, the flock wouldn’t stop until they devoured it and anything touching it. I grabbed the bottom and began pulling it up.

“What are you doing?” she squeaked.

I continued pulling the hoodie up her torso. “I think something on your clothes is making the karks behave like this. I can detect something that doesn’t smell like you or their droppings.”

If she’d had scarab pheromone on her when we entered the hall, the karks would have attacked her then. That meant she would have had to come into contact with it since we got here, and the only way for that to happen would be for someone to spray her with it. The idea that anyone at Westhorne would want to harm her seemed preposterous, but I was taking no chances.

She stopped struggling, and I yanked the piece of clothing off her and threw it across the room. Dozens of karks attacked the hoodie.

“Jesus, look at that,” Sahir shouted.

Chills ran through me as I watched the tiny karks tearing into the fabric. That could have been Sara if I hadn’t reached her in time.

Sahir pointed at us. “They’re still trying to get to her. Whatever it is, it has to be on her T-shirt, too.”

“I know.” I took a breath and lifted my head to look down at Sara, who was shivering beneath me. I hated to do this, knowing how modest she was, but there was no other way.