He should have expected this. Dammit! Jalen surveyed the carnage surrounding him, disgusted that Rem’s army had caught him unawares. He had been so busy agonizing over his feelings, pouring out his heart to Nadya while she slept, that he hadn’t paid enough attention to security. Why hadn’t it occurred to him that Rem’s army would rescue their captured leader? They were fiercely loyal to the man.
It hadn’t taken them long to overwhelm the household guard and take Rem from the dungeon in the basement. From all reports, it had been a small, but efficient, team composed of humans and vampires who had rescued their leader. They had caused two casualties and several injuries, but had left without causing major harm to anyone.
Jalen couldn’t figure out why Rem hadn’t pressed the advantage and killed him when he had the chance. He had fallen into the bed beside Nadya at some point in the night, exhausted from soul-searching and trying to figure out how to make it work. Had she heard his confession as he gathered her into his arms? Had his words of love fallen on deaf ears, or had she been awake enough to hear him when he said, “I love you?” He had drifted off to sleep in a warm cloud of contentment, determined he would find a way to cancel his impending marriage to Kumiko, take Nadya as his wife, and still keep control of the DuMond clan. Though he hadn’t known how he would make that happen, just knowing that’s what he wanted had been enough to fill him with peace for the first time that he could recall in recent memory.
The next thing he remembered, Rem was looming over him, a sword in one hand, a crude club in the other. Jalen’s first thought had been to protect Nadya, but she was already out of the bed. As he waited for death, his eyes sought her out, and he saw her slumped over Rem’s shoulder, either still asleep or perhaps thralled into unconsciousness. A thousand thoughts had rushed through his head, but before he had a chance to act on any of them, Rem’s club had connected with the side of his head, and he had blacked out.
That he had awakened was a miracle. Why hadn’t his enemy slit his throat? Rem had known Jalen planned to impale him later this morning, so why would he have any mercy? It made no sense, and he shook his head without thought. With a stifled groan, he cradled his head as a sharp pain shot through his temples, nearly blinding him with the force of it.
“Sir?”
He blinked, managing to look up at the guard hovering near the doorway of his ruined suite. “Yes?”
“Mistress Yazura is trying to contact you, Master.”
He nodded, immediately regretting the motion, and rose to his feet. Though unsteady and a bit dizzy from the head injury, his gait was smooth as he walked into the entertainment room to take the call from his fiancée. His plans had altered drastically in a matter of minutes, and once again, he faced an unwanted union with the woman.
Her face, drawn into lines of anger, waited when he punched the button. “You let him escape?”
He winced at the shrill tone that echoed through his head. “I thought he had an adequate guard.”
“You thought?” She grimaced, baring her sparkling white fangs. “You had the solution to our problems in your hands, and you let him escape. Even worse, I hear he overpowered you?” Kumiko examined him with narrowed eyes. “You will survive?”
Jalen didn’t mistake the concern in her tone for him. He knew she was worried about who would succeed him if he dropped dead from the head wound. “I’ll live.”
She nodded once, sharply. “Very well. In light of this debacle, we must move up the ceremony. Our families need to join officially as soon as possible. That beast’s army grows by the day, and if we wish to preserve what we have, we must defeat him.”
Oh, how he wanted to argue. Jalen longed to be able to reject Kumiko as his bride. But if he did so, he would also be adding the Yazura clan to his list of enemies, and he didn’t have enough soldiers to fight Rem’s clan, let alone another well-armed, well-organized militia like the Yazuras. The reality was he needed Kumiko’s numbers to bolster his own. It was his only hope of ever getting Nadya back. He was willing to do anything to have her by his side again, to save her from Rem Savage. Filled with distaste that he successfully hid, Jalen said, “I concur.”
Temporarily, she seemed surprised by his acquiescence, but soon regained her composure. “Very well. I can’t leave my clan for at least three more weeks. I will move up my preparations and set out to you as fast as I can.”
“I’ll look forward to your arrival.” The lie felt heavy on his tongue, and she must have sensed his lack of enthusiasm, because she disconnected the link without another word.
Jalen collapsed on the sofa, once again cradling his head. That pain was nothing compared to the one in his heart. His chest ached, and he found it difficult to breathe. What was happening to Nadya right now? What was Rem doing to her? His stomach twisted with nausea as he imagined the horrible things his love might be enduring at that very moment. Was she calling out his name, waiting for him to rescue her?
He gritted his teeth, trying to force aside the thoughts plaguing him. It did no good to torture himself. Nadya was beyond his reach at the moment, much as he wanted to save her. If he tried to muster his forces to attack Rem, they would mutiny. Outnumbered four to one, he knew few of his soldiers would have risked taking on Rem’s army to rescue Jalen, let alone his human mistress. Until Kumiko’s militia joined his troops, he couldn’t rescue Nadya.
Once he had the numbers, nothing would keep him from her, he vowed. He would do whatever it took to bring Nadya back to him, and he didn’t care what Kumiko, or anyone else, thought about his need for her. They might see her as his weakness, but he knew the truth. Nadya was his strength. Having her with him bolstered him, while being separated from her, having no idea of her fate, made him weaker than he had ever been. He had to hide that from the world. If someone deposed him, he would never see her again, and that was unacceptable. He had to be reunited with Nadya. Jalen refused to think of a future without her.
He walked to the balcony, staring out at the road leading from the mansion, past the Q, and into Rem’s territory. “Hold on, my love. I am coming for you. Just hold on.”