Seduce the Darkness (Alien Huntress #4)(76)
Author: Gena Showalter

"Wow," Mia said. "I thought you’d fight me on that one.

"I’m not an idiot. Not all the time," he said, and she laughed. "I understand now how she so entranced Nolan, and why he refused to give her up."

Mia’s gaze sharpened on him. "You didn’t have sex with her, did you?"

"No." Had she remained, he might have let her seduce him, though, and he didn’t like that. Made him feel weak.

"One thing we know. Her powers are vast, to have wiped away any hint of her presence like that," Kyrin said. "But there have been no new reports of the virus, so that is in our favor."

Mia snuggled deeper into her man’s side. "When you guys are done with your training, I want a composite made of her."

"That is code for us to get started," Kyrin told him with a grin. "So tell me what brought you to this point."

At this second order, Dallas shifted uncomfortably. "First," he said, "there’s Devyn. About a week ago I had a vision of him being murdered at the pier. Then, this morning, that image wiped itself from my mind as though it was no longer a concern."

At the word murder, Mia jolted upright. Probably arming herself mentally and figuring out the best way to watch the pier to save Devyn’s ass.

"It’s not. Valid, I mean." Kyrin patted her leg, and she gradually returned to his side. "You managed to change the future."

"So not all visions are set in stone?" That was news to him. Every vision he’d had before had come true.

"Not all, no. The more you allow the visions to dance through your mind, the more types of visions you’ll receive, and the easier it will be for you to know what is changeable and what is not." Kyrin arched a black brow. "Were you given a new vision to take the other’s place?"

"Yes." And the new one had pissed him off as much as the first, though it hadn’t been nearly as bleak. "I saw Devyn chained inside a small, dark cage. He was cut up and bleeding. There was murder in his eyes." Worse, Bride had been nowhere to be seen. "There were two men beyond the bars, and they were eyeing him like he was the tastiest treat they’d ever seen."

Clearly, they were vampires. Which meant, to Dallas, that Devyn had gotten—or would get— himself captured by the warrior McKell.

Kyrin’s head tilted to the side. "Tell me. Were the edges of this vision as real and colorful as the vision itself? Or were they faded, tapering into nothingness?"

Dallas frowned as he closed his eyes and replayed the scene of Devyn’s captivity through his mind. He’d never paid attention to the edges of a vision before, only concentrating on the happenings. His frown deepened when he noticed that the edges were of the solid variety. "No fading. What does that mean?"

There was a regretful sigh. "That means at this point, that vision is not changeable. It will happen, and there’s nothing that can be done to stop it. Devyn has already chosen the path that set him on that course and the pieces have already fallen into place."

Damn. How many layers were there to the visions? He’d never had a clue, never suspected there was more to think about than what he was seeing. He’d just thought that what he saw was what was going to happen.

"We’ve gotta get him out. He doesn’t do well in confined spaces. Good news is, I can pinpoint his exact location. He injected himself with the isotope tracker a few weeks ago. Just in case Bride drank from him, he wanted to be able to track her."

Mia’s grin returned. "God, I love that isotope. I’m thinking of implementing a Mandatory Injection Monday the first of every third month." She tapped her chin with a blunt-tipped fingernail. "And maybe I’ll have everyone we arrest injected, as well. I mean, it’s how we finally nailed Nolan. It could save us a lot of time if another escape is ever made."

Since Nolan’s recapture yesterday, Dallas knew that Mia had broken down and tested the otherworlder’s blood. Seemed there was no trace of the disease. Miracle of miracles, it was gone as if it had never been. So Mia had then tested the blood of the new vampires, but theirs had lacked the strong healing qualities of Bride’s. Which meant that their blood wouldn’t kill the disease. Only Bride’s would, it seemed.

Devyn would flip when he found out. If—when— Dallas got him out of that cage.

"As for Devyn, we’ll gather the troops and do a quick in-and-out," Mia said. "He won’t be in that cage long." It was a vow. She knew how much Dallas had come to love the irreverent shithead, and she loved Dallas enough to want him happy.

If it weren’t for Kyrin, Dallas would have jumped up and kissed her. "I pulled up his location this morning. It’s the same as it was last night. At the canyon about three hours from here."

Her brow furrowed in confusion. "The canyon? Why did he go to the canyon? It’s unlivable." He explained how Devyn had taken Bride and run from McKell.

"No way. He wouldn’t have run from the warrior." She shook her head. "Running isn’t his style."

"You haven’t seen how he is with Bride. It reminds me of"—he shuddered—"you guys. He wanted to protect her."

"Exactly," Mia said, nodding as if he’d just proven her point. "To protect her, he would eliminate a threat, not evade it."

Huh. That made sense. Dallas leaned back in the chair. Shit. I’m keeping her safe, Devyn had said, and Dallas had just assumed the big guy had meant to hide out for a bit.

Just then Dallas felt like the idiot Mia had called him for ever assuming otherwise. But Devyn had purposefully given him that impression. Why?

The answer immediately slammed into him. Devyn had known Dallas would follow him, intending to fight the vampire army side by side, most likely losing the slaves he’d purchased in the fray.

Goddamn it! "Can I force a vision?"

Kyrin frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Can I somehow tap into Devyn’s life and see what’s going on right this very second?”

“You can, yes." There was no time to rejoice, because the Arcadian added, "With practice."

"Then I’ll start practicing now." Determined, he closed his eyes and summoned his friend’s image. There was Dev, laughing over at him. He’d probably just complimented his own beauty or the size of his cock. Dallas’s lips twitched. Come on, you can do it. Find Devyn. Over and over he attempted to force his mind to open, to plug in and reveal. His lids squeezed tight with the force of his concentration, but the image never shifted, never became a real-life play-by-play.

Frustration was like a knife inside him.

"Stop," Kyrin said, and he did, helpless to do otherwise.