Ashen, she stared at his hand wordlessly, and it lay between them, an unanswered question until he explained his plan. "I need your power, cousin," he told her gently. "It's the only way I can do what I must."

Hesitating only one moment longer, she extended her own trembling, pale hand to him. Before their fingers had even locked together, the tendrils of his cousin's immense energy had already begun to twine with his own, giving him the strength he hoped would enable him to reach Kelsey across the expanse that separated them.

Kelsey sat on the smooth floor of the mitres chamber, leaning against the tiled wall. She drew her denim-clad knees close against her chest, making herself as small as possible-almost willing herself to disappear-as if an auburn-haired, nearly six-foot-tall woman could ever escape notice. Without being obvious about it, she stole glances around the place, trying to get a better fix on her location. Was she underground? On Refaria? She hadn't a clue, because the catacomb-like place didn't seem to possess a single opening to the outside world. It reminded her of her grandparents' farm in Montana, where she'd once seen a bas.e.m.e.nt fallout shelter left over from the 1960s, still stocked with dingy soup cans and dusty supplies. Only this weaponry complex-for surely that was what it had to be, even if that revelation had come from Marco-was the sort of place that sent people into shelter. It didn't provide it.

Kelsey studied the large, luminous tube in the middle of the main chamber's floor. It held no meaning for her, no relation to anything she had ever encountered as a student of the physical sciences. Yet apparently ten years from now she knew exactly how to operate the d.a.m.n thing. She let her gaze slide over other parts of the chamber, squinting as she followed the trail of a dark, narrow hallway until it vanished into blackness. Maybe the way out was down that hall? With a surge of hope, she knew she had to break away from Marco somehow, at least long enough to see if her freedom lay at the obscured end of that tunnel.

She lifted wary eyes to study her captor. Marco sprawled against the wall opposite her, his lean frame imposing the strength and weight of an armed fortress without so much as twitching a single muscle. His long legs extended in front of him with a casualness that belied whatever purpose had dragged them both to this alien place. His calculating black eyes locked with hers in challenge, and one dark eyebrow shot upward, daring her to question his motives.

She dropped her chin onto her knees and fixed her eyes on his weathered black biking boots-anything to avoid that cold, vacant stare. One of his boots had a long gash along the side, the kind a penetrating knife might have left in the middle of some struggle, and as she stared at that slash of leather, she thought of his scar. Again she wondered why it felt so familiar and significant.

Glancing upward, she studied the way the silver line sliced through the otherwise silken black hairs of his eyebrow. With his waving black hair and sultry-eyed appearance, he was just the kind of guy she and her girlfriends might have ogled from afar. He possessed the dangerous, graceful looks of the unattainable, the sort of bad boy she would never dare to pursue. Not if she didn't want her heart smashed into thousands of pieces-she'd encountered his kind before. Then again, Jared had the same kind of breath-stealing good looks about him too. But in every plane of her lover's face, every realm of his heart, Jared transmitted goodness. Strength. This Marco's dangerous beauty made her shiver like she would in the middle of some sudden snow squall.

"You study me," he observed, that eyebrow c.o.c.king upward in question again.

She countered, "How'd you get that scar?" and locked her eyes with him in challenge. Unflinching, he stared back at her for a long, thoughtful moment. Against the wall, he stiffened, as if he meant to come after her, but she refused to cower. Just as suddenly, their battles of wills softened, and he released a breath, settling into his watch again without another word.

But she remained undaunted. "You're not going to answer me?" she pressed.

He released a low, soft chuckle. "I owe you no answers, my dear."

"Oh, so... what? You just get to s.n.a.t.c.h me from the bathroom half-naked, send me flying through G.o.d only knows what that was earlier, but I can't ask about a scar?" She snorted with ironic laughter. "No, I'm sorry, but I think you owe me plenty of answers."

His black eyebrows drew together with a focused expression, but he said nothing, only retrieved his weapon from a side holster-a silver pistol unlike any she'd ever seen before-and gazed down the barrel at her.

"That doesn't intimidate me."

His full lips pulled into an amused expression. "It would if I fired into you."

"No, that would just kill me," she answered, trying to sound nonchalant. "But it still wouldn't intimidate me."

This statement, for some inexplicable reason, earned her a grudging look of appreciation. He lowered his pistol and immediately reholstered it. "I don't believe I am ready to kill you, Kelsey." He lifted a thumb to his marred eyebrow, rubbing it with a thoughtful gesture. "Why do you mention the scar?" he asked, searching her face.

"It's important." She'd felt the undercurrent of knowing in those first moments when he'd taken her captive. She sensed it even more so now. "Tell me why." If she could get control here, be the one in command of this situation, then maybe she could control him.

"It's an odd question, Kelsey," he answered, his hard gaze never leaving her face. "Again, I wonder why you ask."

"Maybe the scar is part of all this."

His expression darkened, and she swore that the dusky skin of his face reddened as well, but he said nothing more. No answers, no reasoning behind what they were doing here in this strangely lit chamber, only a heavily drawn and oppressive silence.

Well, she wouldn't let him think it mattered to her. She dropped her gaze again, and began to trace her finger in little circular patterns on the smooth floor. "Well, if that question's no good, then here's another one," she said. "What are we doing here?" Maybe being direct was better with this enemy. "Other than your plan to destroy Jared Bennett, that is."

He tilted his head sideways. "I liked the first question better."

He seemed to gaze at some distant point, a surprising mixture of emotions flashing across his features. Sadness, regret, emptiness-all those pa.s.sed over his dark face, and he made no effort to disguise them from her. Then, just as quickly, he grew guarded again, his expression steely and harsh as his gaze bore down upon her. "Yes, Kelsey Bennett, I do indeed prefer the first question," he said, his voice a.s.suming a formal tone. "And yet I shall answer the second one." He shifted where he sat on the floor, sitting more upright. "We're going to call Jared in a few minutes and have him meet us here."

"Why are you waiting at all?" she demanded, leaping to her feet. Jared would come, marshaling all the soldiers at his disposal, before he'd let this man touch her. "Why not just call him now?" She stared down at him, unable to suppress her fury and fear another moment.

Only the subtlest shading of surprise even pa.s.sed over his face. "Ah, well, there's reason to my madness." He folded his muscled arms across his chest. "I want to give him time to know you're really gone, because his fear for you will be his weakness."

"Of course he knows I'm gone!" she cried in frustration, pacing the floor. "You kidnapped me from his freaking bedroom!"

With unexpected swiftness, one dark hand shot out, clasping her ankle like a strong manacle. "I want him to feel your absence," he said calmly, holding her fast. "To experience the truth of it in the marrow of his bones. Only then will I allow him to know the full measure of his defeat. Now," he said, his voice edged like a knife blade, "sit down."

"So we can wait for Jared to know 'the measure of his defeat,'" she taunted, trembling as she sank back against the wall opposite Marco.

"I wish the battlefield to a.s.semble well," he answered with a nod.

And for Jared to realize that I'm as good as dead? She shivered at the thought, but forced herself to focus on getting Marco to talk-to reveal some hidden detail that might help her escape.

"Why do you want to destroy Jared? You must be Antousian."

Marco had told her at the outset that he was Refarian- but from what she already knew about Jared's people, why would any of his own kind wish to see him dead?

"Antousian?" He let out a deep, gravelly laugh, something she never expected. "No, I told you before- I'm Refarian. Just like you and Jared."

She would have sworn that her heart stopped beating beneath the ribs of her chest, turning instead to a chamber as hollow as the one all around her. Then with a violent lurch, it began to hammer an erratic, crazy tempo, the room nearly fading to black around her.

Finally, she found her voice again. "Like Jared, you mean," she corrected with a swallow. "You're Refarian like he is."

Marco's eyebrows drew together in confusion as he studied her. "Like you, Jared-all of you." Awareness grew in his expression. "Kelsey, don't you know what you are? Surely you know by now."

She felt hot tears begin to sting behind her eyes, anger roiling hard within her. "What kind of game are you trying to play with me?" she demanded.

"I was merely answering your question as to my genetic makeup." He cleared his throat with a wry laugh. "I did not expect to b.u.mp into something so... awkward, shall I say, as your not knowing which species you belong to." He bowed his head dramatically. "I do hope you'll forgive my indiscretion."

"What you're saying... it can't be true. It's impossible." Her hands began to tremble uncontrollably, the tears still p.r.i.c.kling her eyes.

"Kelsey, it is very much possible, because it is who you are."

"I have human cells," she insisted. "Human blood! My father is Jordan Patrick Wells. My mother-"

"He changed you."

"My mother," she continued, "was Erica Marshall Wells-"

"When Jared left this mitres data inside your mind, Kelsey, it changed you on the most basic cellular level. I'm sorry, but you are part Refarian now." His voice had a.s.sumed a quiet, soothing tone. "Between the soul joining and the mind bonding, and the presence of his data, it transformed you. So you're part h.o.m.o sapiens and part"- he chuckled-"h.o.m.o Refarius, I guess you'd say, since our genetic codes are more than ninety-nine percent the same."

"No, you're wrong." Kelsey shook her head adamantly. "There's no way you could even know this at all."

He studied her with a sympathetic expression. "Actually, I know firsthand that it is the truth."

"How?" she rasped.

"Because I came to serve as your protector-pardon, I will come to serve two years from this time." He met her eyes with a steady gaze. "Both you and Jared-it was what I was bred and engineered for. I vowed my allegiance before the high Refarian council, pledging my service, my indenture, my very blood to the throne. So, you see, I know a great deal about you, Kelsey-apparently more than you know about yourself. I am sorry if my revelation shocked you."

Swiping at the tears, Kelsey buried her face in her knees. She didn't want Marco to know that his bizarre tactic was unnerving her so badly. Yet something deep within her ignited at his words, and she knew that they were true. Slowly, she raised her head and found Marco studying her coolly.

"Then why are you here to destroy Jared now?" She couldn't help the pleading tone that had entered her voice. "Why have you kidnapped me? If you're our protector, then-"

"I was your protector." She swore a note of compa.s.sion softened his words.

"But you just said it was what you were bred for," she tried to argue, hoping to appeal to some forgotten sense of purpose in the cruel man. "Why would you hurt us then?"

Marco rose, brushing off his faded jeans, and began to slowly pace the length of the chamber. For a long moment he seemed to consider his reply, bracing his arms on the tiled side of the mitres' walls. Finally, he pivoted to face her, meeting her eyes with meaningful intensity.

"I'm here because that's what Veckus has asked me to do, Kelsey," he answered quietly. "And I serve him now, not Jared."

Jared pressed his eyes shut and allowed Thea's power to bolster his own. He'd sat still for several silent moments, seeking the necessary strength to forge a spatial bridge with Kelsey. He caught foggy glimpses of her while he waited, of her sitting on the floor of an unknown location, and the need to place her in time and s.p.a.ce made him almost wild. Made the wait unbearable. As his eyes searched for her in the darkness, he could almost recognize the room, but the outlines were just too vaguely denned, shaped only by mist and shadow. So he'd waited, allowing the buzzing energy to build within him before he pushed forward toward her. But now Kelsey pulled into focus, the haziness around her parting like summer storm clouds over the valley.

Stepping across the bridge-immersing himself within their bond-he walked toward her, kneeling beside her on the floor. But she was busy talking, and even though he kept repeating her name, she couldn't hear him.

Kelsey. Kelsey, sweetheart, he tried, forcing a semblance of calm into his words.

She continued with her conversation, unaware of his presence. He was little more than a mist to her. Or a ghost. That thought sent an unsettling shiver up his spine. If only he could make out what was being said -or whom she was talking to.

She buried her face against her knees, fighting back tears. Who was hurting her? His heart rate soared, and he spun first in one direction, then another, seeking Kelsey's tormentor. Nothing to be seen! No discernible forms around her. At last she became quiet, so he tried again. Placing a tender hand on her back, he began to rub her shoulders. With every caress, a blazing fire built within his abdomen, then his hands and legs, until at last he swore that his raging power would overtake him, inciting his Change. But he tamped down his restless energy, focusing only on his life-mate, until at last she lifted her head, glancing around her as if she expected to see someone. She had felt his touch! He saw little goose b.u.mps shoot across her arms. He hadn't ignited their bond, not yet, but he was very close.

Stepping around her, he knelt on the floor facing her. He placed his hands on top of hers, whispering her name like one of the mystics' sacred chants.

Kelsey... Kelsey, he called to her, offering a breath of golden life. A tether of safety. A promise of his protective love.

No answer.

The heat that had begun in his belly now radiated outward until it seemed to explode within every part of his body-until he burned, maddeningly so. He spoke across their soul bond, propelling himself across distance and s.p.a.ce, right into her immediate presence: Kelsey, my love. My mate! Hear me! It is Jared. J'Areshkadau! Love, love...

His energy careened uncontrollably, his Change nearly unstoppable in its pulsating demand-but he clenched his teeth, refusing to allow his fire's engulfment.

Again, Kelsey glanced around her in confusion, unsure of what she had seemingly sensed. With a hopeless gesture, she buried her face in her hands. Gently, he placed his hands on top of her head,

allowing the heat and energy that had been building inside of him to flood her.

Kelsey dropped her hands to her sides, her eyes meeting his desperately-and the connection between their two souls roared to life.

Jared, are you really here? With her eyes she implored him, their blue depths radiant with hope.

No, I'm using our bond. This is something... like a vision. I am within your mind and soul right now-with you in every other way but the physical. Jared looked around them and instantly noted her location: the mitres chambers. Of course-now he understood its pressing familiarity. Why are you here? he asked. Who has brought you?

Oh, Jared... he works for your enemies-someone named Veckus? His name is Marco, and he'snot from this time-I know, love.You can't come here, no matter what, Jared. Send Scott. Send any of your people, but you can't come.She sounded hysterical, and he forced calmness into his own words. You know I will come for you.No! she cried out. No, don't you see? You're the one he wants. It's why he took me.Jared glanced about the chamber again, and this time noticed a figure-a rangy, broad-shouldered man, well over six feet tall, with shadowy features. Her captor paced the length of the chamber slowly, studying Kelsey

where she sat on the floor. Jared rose to confront him; he raised a fist, ready to kill the man in order to protect his love. Then he remembered: He wasn't even there-had no recourse at all, not yet-and was powerless to help Kelsey until he got there. He knelt in front of her again, and saw that tears streamed down her face.

Please, Jared. If you come, he'll kill you. It's what he wants.

He cupped her face in his hands and pressed his lips against her forehead. Shh... nothing's going to happen to me. I will be fine. We will both be fine, sweetheart...

She pulled back, looking up into his eyes. He was our protector, but something went really wrong. I don't know what.

Suddenly darkness began to form around Kelsey and he felt himself being pressed away from her. Marco towered over her now, staring down at her, talking. What was the b.a.s.t.a.r.d saying?

"Kelsey, what's going on?" came this Marco's voice, deep and throaty, echoing as if from the bottom of a stony canyon. The words were furious, cruel; Jared raised a fist again, ready to battle the man to the death, despite the distance that separated them.

But before he could challenge his enemy or even offer Kelsey a last a.s.surance of protection, darkness overcame her. And everything within Jared's mind and spirit faded to black.

Chapter Fifteen.

"This is taking way too long." Scott crouched in front of the bed, where Jared slumped, eyes half rolled back into his head. "He should've pulled out long before now."

"Don't you think I know that?" Thea tried not to panic, and placed a hand to Jared's flushed cheek. "G.o.d, he's burning up." She shook her head, trying to understand her cousin's fugue state. "Something's definitely wrong here."

For the past twenty minutes Jared had been sitting beside her, his hand clasped around hers, but his mind and soul transported to somewhere else entirely-a place where no one else could follow.

Scott planted both hands firmly on Jared's shoulders. "Jared," he said, but there was no change at all. Scott turned back to Thea. "You've got to do something about this."

"Like what, Scott?" she hissed. "I don't even know what this is, all right?"

She wriggled her hand out of Jared's sweaty-palmed death grip, and turned to face him where he slumped on the bed. His dark eyebrows were furrowed in deep concentration, as if he were intercepting a very intense conversation held another galaxy away. She drew her face within an inch of his and gave him a gentle shake, whispering his name. Then, for the first time since they'd linked power, his expression changed, as some unidentifiable emotion flashed across his features. His eyes grew wide, his eyebrows. .h.i.tched upward, and he began growling loudly in apparent denial. It was the instinctive sound of an enraged Refarian changeling. Bracing herself, she wondered what might come next.

"No," he whispered hoa.r.s.ely, focusing on an unseen spot across the room. "No. Kelsey! Kelsey," he cried, and then his eyes flew open, darting as he gasped for air.

"Jared!" Scott released his shoulders and dropped to the floor in front of their leader. "Tell me you're all right, sir." Scott made no effort, to mask the fear they felt; Thea had cursed them both as fools for even letting Jared attempt such a dangerous tactic. It was one thing to make a connection when one's bondmate was in close proximity, but Kelsey might be anywhere by now. Traversing long distances could put his spirit in jeopardy, for all they knew.

"I saw her," Jared gasped at last. Springing to his feet, he began to move about the room, a study in coiled fury. "Ready a transport," he commanded.

Scott gave an answering nod. "Already done and awaiting orders."

"They're holding her at the mitres," Jared continued. "We must get there at once."

Thea reminded Jared that a retrieval team, not his own presence, made the most sense. When he again insisted on personally accompanying the soldiers, she pressed the issue harder. "I don't understand how you can put yourself in that kind of danger," she said. "All these insane chances lately, cousin-"

But he cut her off. "There is no other way this time." He turned to her, his face a mask of composed leadership, meeting her gaze head on. "The mitres data remains lodged within Kelsey's mind. I am the one who placed it there-and I am the one who left this human vulnerable, exposed to our enemies, of whom she knows nothing." Deep blotches of color stained his face, and he drew in a shuddering breath before continuing. "I am the one who must retrieve it-and I am the one she is counting on." He reached for his pistol where it lay on the mantel, and holstered it before turning back to them, his black eyes blazing with emotion. 'Wow do you understand the stakes this night, cousin?"

And without awaiting an answer, he strode out the door.