“Yes, you do.” The female ended the call.
Raine flipped back to the app. “Mariana is stationary at a small and private airport.” Then he looked at the raging storm outside. “Hopefully they won’t try to fly in this.”
Cade passed two logging trucks, and they were just a blur. “How did the Kurjans find her?”
Raine’s chest ached with a fire that burned beyond his body. “I have no idea. Hurry up. We’re running out of time.”
Chapter 12
Mariana couldn’t breathe. Was she drugged? She had to be on drugs. There’s no way that guy’s face was real. Kurjans, vampires, and shifters? Also demons? This was too weird. What was that about the marking on Raine’s hand that they’d been talking about? None of it was making sense. This had to be a cult, and she had to be seriously drugged right now. “What did you give me?”
Jon shook his head. “You should be okay now. Take a deep breath.”
A monster was telling her to go Zen? This was ridiculous. The only explanation besides a drugging was that he’d had his face surgically changed. Her legs started to tremble. It was a good thing she was sitting. “All right. Say I believe you, and I’m not sure I do, what’s the plan here? Why have you kidnapped me?”
“Smart question,” Jon said, his eyes more amethyst than reddish-purple now. “I was starting to doubt your intelligence. I’ll explain this to you as if you didn’t know any of it, which is often possible, except you’ve brought out an immortal’s mating mark, so I think you might be playing a game.” He didn’t sound too put out by the idea, though.
She shook her head. If the guys at the door would go back outside, she could kick Jon in the face and run for it. Oh, chances were slim that she’d make it, but it was her only chance. Wait a minute. “Where’s my purse?” Her gun was in it.
Jon tilted his head toward a few bags in the corner of the hangar. “It’s over there with my equipment, and your weapon is still inside your bag. I’ll need to confiscate it, though. Sorry.”
“Right.” Should she go for the gun or the door? Probably the gun. “You were saying?”
He stood and stretched his back. Man, he was tall. So were the guys at the door. “There are different species in the world besides humans, but some human females are enhanced with otherworld abilities like physic powers, empathic powers, telekinesis…there are many.”
Mariana moved to the edge of her seat. “You’re saying I’m psychic?” She wasn’t. Not at all.
“No. I’m saying you have an ability beyond human. The most common is empathic powers, and since you’re a psychologist, perhaps you felt that deep down in choosing your career.” He shrugged as if it didn’t matter much.
Yeah, she’d always felt empathic to a small degree but had just figured she was sensitive to others. “So this ability makes me…enhanced?”
“Yes, and enhanced human females can mate an immortal,” Jon said casually.
“Mate?” She jumped to her feet. “No. Absolutely not. Not a chance. I am not mating anybody.” She sidled away from him.
He pivoted and put his body between her and the corner. “Your agreement isn’t necessary but I’m sure would be appreciated. We have a war coming, another one, and we’re gathering as many enhanced females as we can before the well is depleted, so to speak. You have a new future. Life is easier if you just embrace it.”
Oh, she was going to embrace his face with a bullet. Was he actually believing this stuff?
“We found you because of the ‘tattoo’ the police in Dallas ran through a database. It’s actually a mating mark. We traced it back to you, and here you are.”
A mating mark? “Wait a minute. You’re saying that Raine’s tattoo led you to me? That he’s a Kurjan, too?” Was Raine involved with these weirdoes?
“Did he look like a Kurjan? No.” Jon’s red lips turned down. “Since he has a mating mark, which arose on his skin when he met you, he has demon blood in him somewhere. Oh, he may be mainly another species like witch or vampire, but anybody with demon blood gets the brand. It’s supposed to transfer to you during the mating process.”
She swallowed. This was insane. “Do you have a mating mark?”
“No. There’s no demon blood in me.” He grimaced as if the mere thought was distasteful. “When you mate a Kurjan, it’ll happen with a bite and sexual relations. No branding. So that should make you happy.”
“None of this makes me happy.” She turned as if to retake her seat and instead leaped around him and ran as fast as she could toward the corner and her purse.
He snatched her out of the air by her hair, whipping her up. Pain raced along her scalp, and she screamed.
The door burst open, and two male bodies barreled in.
“Mariana!” Raine bellowed.
Relief caught her a second before she plowed her fist as hard as she could into Jon’s eye. He yelped and dropped her. She landed on one knee, and pain ricocheted up her leg.
