She shook her head helplessly. “I have to. I’m the only one who can sense Gershom’s presence.”
“Absolutely not,” Marcus insisted, intractable. “I want you here. No, scratch that. I don’t want you here. I want you and Adira at the network where you’ll be more heavily guarded. The place is a virtual fortress. You’ll have me, four other immortals, an assload of humans armed to the teeth, and—if things get bad—the vampires for protection.”
“Actually,” Chris said with some reluctance, “that may not be such a good idea.”
“Why?” Marcus demanded. “It worked before.”
“Before,” Seth said, “the vampires were eager for a fight to relieve their boredom. Now . . .” He looked to Bastien.
Bastien sighed. “Cliff hasn’t been himself since he suffered the break. And his behavior is beginning to affect the other vampires. I don’t know if they would be up for a fight.”
“Which, again,” Chris said, “is why I want the Seconds to remain here at David’s, along with the immortals Seth named. I suggest at least one elder immortal be added to the list if you can spare him, Seth, just in case. I know Roland wants to do it, but one who can teleport would be better.”
Aidan swore. “I’m going to have to miss the battle again, aren’t I?”
Seth sent him an apologetic smile. “I’m afraid so. Now that Zach has pointed out I may be a target, I can’t rule out that Gershom may attempt to strike at me personally by attempting to harm my adopted daughter and her child while I’m distracted.”
Ami bit her lip. “Seth, I can’t stay here. If I don’t go with you, Gershom could harm you or any of the other immortals and you would have absolutely no warning. You wouldn’t even know he was there or see him coming without me there to sense him.”
Zach leaned back in his chair. “He put in an appearance at the army base. I think there’s good reason to suspect he will do the same in Russia, particularly if he let us find the base on purpose and now waits for us to walk into a trap.”
Ethan could see the struggle their arguments precipitated in their leader. Had Seth alone been the one about to walk into a possible trap, he wouldn’t have hesitated to insist Ami remain behind. But his life wouldn’t be the only one on the line.
Marcus’s face darkened. “You can’t actually be considering it!”
Seth opened his mouth.
But Ami spoke first. “Marcus, honey, you know what Seth means to me.” Her gaze encircled the table. “What you all mean to me. You’re my family now. You rescued me. Took me in. Saved my sanity. Gave me purpose. Gave me a place in this world when I couldn’t return to my own.” She met her husband’s distressed eyes. “I can’t remain here when we all know Gershom could put in an appearance at the battle like he did last time and strike without anyone even knowing he was there. If something like that happened and he managed to . . .” She shook her head. “How could I live with myself, knowing I could have prevented it?”
Marcus’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “I can’t lose you, Ami,” he declared, voice hoarse. “You know what that would do to me.”
“You won’t lose me,” she vowed.
He shook his head. “If I could be there to protect you—”
“You can’t. Adira needs you here.”
Could there be anything worse, Ethan wondered, than having to choose between the safety—and perhaps the life—of your wife and that of your child?
“Marcus.” Seth spoke, drawing the immortal’s tormented gaze. “You know I love Ami. If I have to keep her at my side at all times to protect her during the battle, I will. I’ll also ensure that more than one teleporter will be present to whisk her away at a moment’s notice.”
Marcus nodded, but took Ami’s hand in a tight grip.
After a long moment, Chris cleared his throat. “Okay. Let’s talk strategy.”
When the meeting adjourned, Heather and Ethan did their best to reassure her father that all would be well. Heather hoped they didn’t lie. After a hug that lasted long enough for her to understand he feared he might lose her, General Lane left.
Heather and Ethan retreated to the room they’d claimed at David’s home and made love. Their touch carried an edge of desperation, a hint of good-bye that brought tears to her eyes.
“Don’t,” Ethan whispered. Cupping her face in his hands, he pressed a kiss to each eyelid and brushed away her tears.
“It feels like we’re saying good-bye.”
“We aren’t. We won the battle at the second base. We’ll win the one in Russia, too.”
“And if the fight comes here? If Gershom comes here?”
“Then we’ll win this fight, too,” he vowed.
Heather didn’t feel so confident. “He keeps tampering with my mind, Ethan.”
“I know. But we’ll stop him.”
“If you don’t . . .”
“We will. He isn’t going to get near you.”
She touched her fingertips to his lips. “I don’t want to become a pawn like that doctor at the network.”
“Dr. Whetsman?”
She nodded. “I need you to promise me that if Gershom screws with my head again and I end up trying to hurt any of you, you’ll stop me.”
“Heather—”
“I mean it. I want you to do whatever you have to do to take me out of the game. Okay?”
A muscle in his jaw twitched.
“Promise me, Ethan. If Gershom made me his puppet and I hurt you or the others like that doctor did Linda, I would never forgive myself.”
He sighed. “Fine. I promise . . . to incapacitate you, not kill you,” he clarified. Then his lips turned up in a wicked smile. “But only if you’ll let me kiss it and make it better afterward.”
She smiled. “Kiss what?”
“Everything,” he said with a leer.
Heather laughed, so glad she had found him. “It’s a deal.”
He touched his lips to hers in a tender kiss. “Have I told you today that I love you?”
She smiled. “Yes, but I wouldn’t mind hearing it again.”
“I love you, Heather.”
She stroked his strong, stubbled jaw, met his luminescent amber gaze. “I love you, too.”
Drawing him down to her once more, she lost herself in the passion that flared between them and pretended—at least for the moment—that the rest of the world didn’t exist.
Alas, the time to get ready for battle swiftly arrived.
Heather followed Ethan up to the armory and watched Ed help him pack on the weapons. She couldn’t help but stare at some of the other immortals who milled around the huge armory. Those who would fight in Russia wore odd, rubbery suits—like the one Ethan had donned the day Seth had taken her to the base—that fit their muscular forms like a diving suit.
Ready for battle, the immortals began to amble from the room, leaving the Seconds behind to arm themselves.
Ethan rested a hand on the small of Heather’s back. “I want you to gear up, too. I want you armed with every weapon you know how to use and as much ammo as you can carry.”
She nodded. “Absolutely.” She would’ve insisted upon it had he not mentioned it.
“I’ll take care of it,” Ed said. “You go ahead with the others.”
Ethan hesitated, glancing at Heather.
Ed snorted. “I’ve been arming your ass for thirty years. You think I can’t arm someone half your size? Go. You need to familiarize yourself with where Chris’s men are stationed and see if Seth has any last-minute instructions before he and the others leave.”
When Ethan lingered, Heather smiled. “Go ahead. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
As soon as Ethan left, Ed began to load her up with weapons.
The room emptied as everyone else finished gearing up and wandered out.
Ed cleared his throat. “Listen, if something goes down . . .”
She eyed the gruff Second curiously. Ethan had said the man was in his fifties, but damned if he didn’t look thirty.
“I want you to stick close to me. Ethan told me you’re good with weapons and fierce in battle. But he also said you have a propensity for trying to sacrifice yourself for him.”
She grimaced. “I can’t help it. When things get crazy, I forget he’s hard to kill and just . . . act.”
“Which is why I want you to stick close to me. Ethan has waited a long time to find you, Heather. You make him happy in a way I’ve never seen him before. I don’t want him to lose you.” He made an adjustment to her shoulder holster. “How does that feel?”
She rolled her shoulders and shifted around a bit. “Okay.”
“What about the extra ammo? Does it restrict your movement?”
It was heavy as hell, weighing down her pockets, but didn’t hinder motion. “No.”
“Good. Let’s go protect our boy.”
Chapter Twenty
Ethan spent several minutes roaming the grounds around David’s place, familiarizing himself with the many, many network special ops soldiers now stationed around the house and throughout David’s property. Three even perched upon the rooftop, he noticed as he strode up the walk toward the front door.