Dreams of a Dark Warrior

again.”
    “That subject?” Declan lunged forward, his hand shooting out to wrap around Webb’s throat. “That subject is
my woman
!”
How Regin cried for me …
    Webb’s eyes went wide with fear. He tried to talk, but Declan tightened his grip.
    I loved this man like a father?
    Suddenly the power surged, the lights wavering.
My bloody installation doesn’t have power surges.
    Webb’s radio sounded: “Commander, our security nets are picking up some strange interference. We thought it was more of the Valkyrie’s lightning, but this is different. …”
    More of her lightning. The bolts that Regin had given off with each mutilation.
And I slept through it all, high in my room while Dixon cut on her.
    By this man’s order.
Punish him.
He squeezed harder.
    The radio blared again: “Commander Webb? Something is approaching.”
    Declan felt that ominous pressure strengthening, as if the air had grown leaden. But his mind was bent on slaughtering this man. “She’s mine. You don’t touch what’s mine. You will not take her from here. I’ll protect her with my life.”
    Regin hadn’t been separating Declan from his purpose.
She
is
my purpose.
    “Commander, we need an authorization from you or Magister Chase to go to code red—”
    “RIIIIINNNNNNGGGGG!”
some being shrieked, a sound as he’d never heard.
    Lothaire’s words about the gold band flashed in Declan’s mind: “She’s coming. She’s going to want it back.” He’d described an unimaginable evil descending upon them. …
    This new threat diverted some of Declan’s rage.
Webb might just make it out of this office alive.
    With the last of his control, Declan eased his grip. The man staggered back, wheezing in breath and rubbing his neck.
    Declan called in the code, then said to Webb, “Get out of my sight. Take the helicopter and leave here.
Now.
Before I finish what I started.”
    Just as an alarm began to wail, the lights wavered again, then failed altogether. No backup electricity fired, no emergency lights. The alarm faded to silence.
    Darkness. The only sounds came from the gale intensifying outside.
    Impossible.
Some force had taken out all his many redundant systems.
    Still rubbing his throat, Webb hastened to the emergency exit. “I’ll go. But remember—you have a target on your back. Every creature in here wants you dead.”
    That’s why I’ll keep them in their fuckin’ cages.
Declan met his gaze. From the man’s expression, he figured his eyes were flickering. “If I see your face again, I’ll end you.”
    “After I saved your life? I was a father to you for twenty years.”
    “Which is why you’re still alive—”
    Three crashing booms sounded in succession; the corridor bulkheads had descended, sealing the wards. Both he and Webb knew what that meant. There’d been a breach in at least one of the cells.
    The deployment of those bulkheads triggered an hour-long self-destruct sequence, one that could onlybe overridden by an officer—
after
the facility had been secured.
    Without the override, incendiary bombs would detonate all over the island, wiping this place off the map.
    Webb asked, “Can you secure the facility?”
    He had to try. With any cell breach, the installation was considered hot, a quarantine situation. There was no evacuation of personnel. If he failed, everyone would die in the bomb blasts.
    Declan set his watch as he rushed to his armory. He donned a plated tactical vest, then shrugged into his dual holster with its pair of Glocks. After strapping on his sword belt, he grabbed two MK 17 assault rifles, packing armor-piercing rounds.
    He turned toward the door, ready for battle.
    Just before Declan left, Webb said, “If you radio me before the sequence ends, I’ll override remotely. Good luck, son.”
    Declan’s shoulders stiffened, and he didn’t look back. “I’m no’ your son.”

THIRTY-ONE

    R IIIIINNNNNNGGGGG!”
    With a grimace, Regin limped to the glass—
ignore the metal, ignore the staples—
to peer out into the darkened corridor. “What the hell’s going on, Nat?”
    Just moments before the power had abruptly failed, she’d heard a male’s outraged bellow, thought it was Chase’s.
Yeah, that’s right, boyo, I survived your little science experiment this morning.
Hour by hour, she’d been healing. At least physically.
    After that bellow, she and Natalya had felt a weighty malevolence descending over them, some shrieking creature.
    Natalya joined her at the glass.