the newcomer pulled away my already torn shirt and pressed against my side. in response, i screamed, though it sounded a lot more like a desperate moan.

"bloody ribs are broken," he said in a decidedly british accent. "do you feel any pains inside?"

i managed a cross-eyed glare before answering in a hoarse whisper, "like knives."

"bloody hell." he pulled out a needle and filled it with something from a tiny glass container. "morphine ought to take the edge off." with that, he jabbed the needle into me, though i didn't feel it over the other agonizing pain. he looked at shorty. "get this man some water."

"you do not tell me what do!" shorty hollered back. despite that declaration, he barked a command into his radio.

jose stared down at me, a smirk on his face. then he spit on me, much to the disgust of the doctor.

"i take it franco wants this man alive?" he turned his gaze on diego. "if he does, then keep your bloody ape away from him!"

the steel door creaked and someone spoke to the short guy. my senses perked up at the tone of the voice. female. i extended my delirious awareness toward the sound, feeling for the sensual morsel since the doctor blocked my view. the heat rising off the woman's halo-like aura radiated nearby. my questing tendril shot for it. or tried to. i was so weak it meandered toward her like a snake slowed by cold weather. i was vaguely aware of a glass being pressed to my lips and water running partly down my throat but mostly down the sides of my face.

just as i closed in on the source of femininity, her heat signature shrank and receded. panic increased my efforts as i pushed my sense to catch up, to reach her. i failed. within seconds, all trace of her had vanished.

the steel door slammed shut, leaving me alone, cold, and without hope.

chapter 17

elyssa

the canopy of trees beneath the slider blurred past in a kaleidoscope of green. aside from the muted whistle of air against the body of the aircraft, it was absolutely quiet. though it looked like a helicopter, the rotors were illusion, making it the perfect camouflage for the enchanted transportation it was.

colombia?

elyssa couldn't stop thinking about her new assignment. why would her father tell her she was going to europe and tell her mother the same thing when elyssa was supposedly out of earshot? was it a diversion? maybe he'd changed his mind at the last minute or someone had really screwed up the paperwork. transfers from one compound to another happened all the time and were generally simple matters.

trying to unravel the confusion frustrated her until she couldn't take it a moment longer. "did my father send the order for my transfer here?"

christian slowed the craft and dropped it straight into a dense copse of trees. it dropped through the illusion to reveal a large compound bustling with the activity of dark-clad figures. once he set down, he looked at her and nodded. "i received the request only a few hours ago. apparently, you were all set for europe but a change order came through. normally, we like more time to prepare for transfers, but hell if i'm going to question thomas borathen."

so much for chasing vampires up the eiffel tower. duty was one thing, but doing duty in paris would have been better than nutella-flavored blood. "he didn't say why?"

a smirk spread across his face. "no. then again, i didn't speak directly with the commander."

"oh." it wasn't unusual. her father had probably barked the order at someone and expected it to be done. but what if some idiot had screwed it up?

"in fact, i spoke with your brother, michael."

"what?" she felt the shock register on her face. why hadn't her brother spoken to her before leaving? anger and disappointment left a sour feeling in her stomach.

christian stepped from the aircraft and motioned her to follow, continuing to speak as they walked into a compound populated by low adobe buildings and metal sheds. "your brother worked with us down here for a while. damned fine soldier. best blade master i ever saw, too."

elyssa walked by his side but words abandoned her. she wanted to be angry at michael, but deep down she knew why he hadn't spoken with her before leaving. he'd trained with her and pushed her hard to be the best. without him, she never would have been eligible to take the cho'kai at such a young age. she'd thrown it all away, outsmarted and beguiled by a spawn. no wonder her father hated them with such passion. michael probably felt nothing but bitter disgust at her for this failure.

she was so busy fueling negative emotions, elyssa almost collided with christian as he stopped and pointed to a long metal structure with an arched roof standing some distance apart from the other buildings. "grab your gear in the armory and meet me in the briefing room across the way." he jabbed a finger at a single-story building closer to the center of the compound. flat-roofed barracks dotted the area around it.

"yes, sir."

he regarded her with stern eyes for a moment before speaking. "you might be used to circumstances in the states, recruit. a strong nom government goes a long way toward keeping rogue activity down. in these parts, we don't have that luxury. you've been living on a care bear resort, borathen, but now you're in the real world."

"i understand, sir."

"i hope you do. i know about the white. i heard why you had to take it. but if you excel here, you'll do more than restore your tarnished honor and reputation. you'll turn it into pure gold."

elyssa felt absolutely mortified. heat blossomed in her face and flushed down her neck. she tried to speak but couldn't muster a word past the dry lump in her throat. how did he know? did everyone know about her failure?

christian gave her an easy grin, somewhat shedding the role of stern commander, and rested an arm on her shoulder. "don't let me down, recruit borathen." with that, he strode away.

elyssa looked back at the slider in which they'd arrived. the illusions on it had already winked out, leaving only the nacelle and landing gear on an otherwise plain-looking, metallic box. she wanted nothing more than to run back to it and fly away from everyone. she could never live this down.

wimp.

a jagged lash of anger pushed back the embarrassment. memories of boys making fun of her for wanting to be a templar struck every nerve in her body. she'd trained relentlessly, foregoing a real life, and sacrificing childhood fun to be the person her father wanted her to be. by the time she was seventeen, nobody her age could beat her in hand-to-hand or swordplay.

there was no way she'd run from this. it was simply another challenge to be beaten into submission, even if she had to do it one smart-mouthed brat at a time. elyssa took a deep breath. set her mental sights on the goal. she could do this. show them all. and most importantly, prove to herself she could climb out of this crap-hole and back into sunshine.

a hand clasped over her mouth while another twisted her arm behind her back. she ducked beneath the hold. swept her leg around and knocked the legs from beneath her attacker-or at least tried to. he leapt over her leg, kicked the other one out from beneath her, and pinned her neck to the ground with the heel of his boot. amused brown eyes stared down at her from a familiar face.

he reached down a hand and pulled her to her feet. "about time i knocked you on your ass."

a spark of recognition burst into familiarity. "beck?"

a grin lit his face. "i thought you were beautiful three years ago." he whistled, eyes roaming up and down her figure. "obviously, you blossomed since i moved away."

a warm blush worked up elyssa's neck and into her cheeks. beck had bulked up since the last time she'd seen him, but he'd been eye-candy even then with dark eyes and chiseled features. his thick brown hair was shorter than it used to be, probably due to regulations, but when it grew too long it had an unruly curl to it she liked.

"you're not looking too bad yourself," she said, looking him up and down like a piece of meat, just to let him know that he couldn't faze her with his alpha-male machismo. he'd been one of those boys she'd had to teach a lesson back in the day. he might be due for another.

beck motioned her on toward the armory and fell into step next to her. "what brings you down here of all places? i never thought your dad would let you out of his sight."

this comment sent a flush racing to her cheeks. he doesn't know about the white? "he wanted me to broaden my horizons."

beck laughed. "yeah, that's what he told my father after he caught you and me kissing."

elyssa stopped dead in her tracks and faced him. "that's why your father was reassigned? thomas told me your father had requested reassignment so he could earn his own command."

"you really thought that?" he rolled his eyes. "thomas borathen is a legend, not to mention scary as hell. but he's more overprotective of you than a werewolf mother."

a sharp pang of regret pressed against her chest. she really missed...something. maybe someone. whoever or whatever it was, she couldn't quite nail it down. or did she feel bad about what thomas had apparently done to beck and his father just because of a couple of harmless kisses? jeez, it wasn't like they'd even used tongue.

"i'm sorry. i really had no idea." elyssa started toward the armory again.

he kept pace with her. "yeah, dad and i bounced around a while before he found a good fit. i decided it was time for me to move on and make a name for myself. these south american countries are like the wild west, and colombia is the hottest spot, so i jumped at the chance to join christian's squad."

"any place has more action than atlanta." aside from the occasional bust, atlanta was like a retirement home.

"it's amazing, out of all the places you could have gone, you're here. maybe fate isn't done with us." he winked.

how ironic was it her father assigned her here to keep her away from the spawn who'd bedazzled her only to put her right back next to beck? "are you in on the op today?"

he checked the time. "yeah. man, they're running us tight." he sighed and pulled a ration bar from his equipment vest. "a group of rogue vampires up in bogota are stirring up trouble. some crazy vamp named maximus convinced a bunch of young vampires to break off from the reds and go with his splinter group."