The Lasaran (Aldebarian Alliance #1) - Dianne Duvall Page 0,73

A second man, several inches taller, stood beside him. Both faded into the background like shadows as Taelon gazed down at his little sister.

A cry escaped her. Cupping her hands over her mouth as though to hold back more, Amiriska stared up at him as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. Tears spilled over her lashes and raced down her cheeks.

Taelon’s vision blurred as his own eyes filled. She was alive. Riska.

Amiriska lunged forward, threw her arms around him, and began to sob.

When Marcus reached for her, Taelon stiffened. His hand tightened on Lisa’s shoulder, ready to shove her behind him.

But the other man grabbed Marcus’s arm and held him back. “Wait.”

When the men made no further moves toward them, produced no weapons, and issued no threats, Taelon cautiously released his hold on Lisa, wrapped his arms around Amiriska, and hugged her tight, uncaring of the increased agony it spawned in his chest. She was alive. His baby sister was alive.

Ducking his head, he rested his cheek on her hair and wept.

Lisa’s heart sledgehammered in her chest as she divided her attention between Taelon and the men inside the house. There was no doubt in her mind that Taelon had found his sister. And his sister looked good from what Lisa had seen of her before she hugged Taelon and burst into tears.

No more than five feet tall, Amiriska appeared healthy and didn’t behave as though she was being held against her will. Marcus, the vampire Roland had brought to their motel room, stood behind her and started to interfere with the siblings’ reunion, but the taller man held him back.

Pain ripped through Lisa’s abdomen. Wincing, she shifted and unobtrusively leaned the long weapon she’d been holding behind her against the outer wall of the house where the men hopefully wouldn’t see it. The baby kicked hard. Rubbing a hand over the mound of her belly, she returned her gaze to Taelon and hoped like hell none of the men inside intended them harm. When she’d given the bay window a quick glance, she had seen a hell of a lot of black. She was too short to peer past the tall men blocking the doorway—Marcus was six foot one or thereabouts and the other she guessed was six foot eight or nine. But a rough guess yielded a couple dozen men and women lurking somewhere behind them.

Vampires? Immortals?

She didn’t know. But she was pretty sure one semiautomatic rifle wouldn’t hold them all at bay if they decided to strike.

The taller man leaned to one side and caught her gaze. “Are you all right?” he asked, his deep voice flavored with what she thought was a British accent tinged with a hint of something else.

Her fear multiplied. This guy had to be a vampire. He radiated power like the sun radiated heat.

She gave him an abrupt nod. When her hair blocked her view, she released her tummy long enough to brush it back and tuck it behind one ear.

Something like surprise flickered across his handsome features.

“Ami?” Marcus said softly, distracting her. His brow furrowed with concern.

Amiriska leaned back and looked up at Taelon. “How is this possible?” she asked in a choked whisper.

Taelon cupped her face in one hand and shook his head, too overcome with emotion to speak.

“Ami,” Marcus repeated, keeping his voice low, “who is this?”

Keeping one arm around her brother, Amiriska offered Marcus a watery smile. “He’s my brother.”

Marcus’s eyes widened, as did those of the man beside him.

Taelon eyed both with suspicion. He tightened his hold on his sister. Then his gaze seemed to lose focus. He blinked several times in quick succession and listed sideways toward Lisa.

She gasped as his green eyes abruptly rolled back in his head as his knees buckled.

“Taelon!” she and Amiriska both shouted at the same time.

His sister locked both arms around his waist and braced herself, miraculously keeping him upright despite her diminutive size.

When Marcus and the other man started forward, Lisa grabbed the rifle and aimed it at them. “Stay back!”

They halted.

Marcus slid Taelon’s sister a look. “Ami…”

“I’m okay,” she said through clenched teeth. “I’ve got him.” Her red-rimmed green eyes caught and held Lisa’s. “He’s heavy as hell though, so I don’t know how much longer I can hold him.”

Heart racing, panic building, Lisa looked from Amiriska to the vampires and back. “Can you help me get him to the car?” She knew the chances of the vampires just letting the three of them waltz away were slim