by Juniper Hart
“I-I think it would be best, given the circumstances,” she murmured. Dr. Schwartz sighed heavily and nodded.
“You have been through a lot,” he replied softly, sinking into his swivel chair and nodding thoughtfully. “I can see why you might be overwhelmed by all that’s happening right now but you have five months to decide if that’s really what you want to do, Sabine. A lot can happen between now and then.”
“It’s been five weeks and I’m no closer to figuring out who I am than I was then!” Sabine cried, unable to keep the emotion from her voice. She instantly inhaled, hearing herself, and dropped her head. “I’m sorry but this can’t be something else I’m stressed about. I have no idea who this baby’s father is. For all I know, he’s the man who attacked me. What would it be like sharing custody with a man like that?”
Concern touched the physician’s face.
“Do you think that’s what happened?” he asked quietly. “That you were assaulted by the father?”
“I genuinely have no idea!” Sabine sighed. She couldn’t stop thinking about the intense man who had wanted her to stay. She couldn’t reconcile that he had been the one to hurt her, the feeling she had when she thought about him just too strong for her to believe he was capable of such violence.
But if not him, who?
“The decision is yours, of course, Sabine, but I wouldn’t want you to make a hasty decision nor would I want you to get the hopes up of a couple who is trying for a baby and take it away from them if you change your mind.”
Sabine blinked. She had not considered such a thing.
“Give yourself some more time,” Dr. Schwartz told her softly. “You have time.”
Does he really believe that time will fix anything or is he just saying that? she wondered. Sabine realized that it didn’t matter anyway. Platitudes were all she had for the moment, platitudes and suspicions.
“Are we going to draw this blood?” she murmured and Dr. Schwartz chuckled.
“You look a little peaked today,” he said. “Why don’t you come by on your day off and we’ll do it then? I’m not worried about the baby and the bloodwork is just a precaution. It’s not a good idea to take blood when you’re already exhausted.”
Sabine nodded gratefully and slid off the table.
“Danke,” she said. “I’ll come back later in the week.”
“Sabine,” Dr. Schwartz said as she grabbed for her bag and jacket. “Have a little faith. The universe has a strange way of working things out just as they’re meant to be.”
Sabine managed a half-smile but as she left the office, her gut was filled with annoyance.
The universe left me to die in a ditch without any memories, she thought flatly. I need to make my own destiny.
9
Dex couldn’t get Klaus out of his mind. Back in Virginia while training to be a Sleeper, Klaus had always been a problem. Dex thought back to a particular incident that bothered him ever since it had happened.
In the training exercise, Klaus moved faster than Dex’s eyes could reconcile, the spin of his high kick landing precisely on target. The punching bag flew from its bolted position and landed clear across the room, narrowly missing two of the other students in the process. A scattering of applause and disbelieving cheers filled the room. Everyone was worriedly impressed—except for Dex. They knew that Klaus hadn’t followed the rules as he’d been instructed and they waited with bated breath for the reaming Klaus was about to receive.
“That wasn’t very controlled, was it?” he asked flippantly. Klaus flashed him a cocky smile and shrugged.
“It got the job done, didn’t it?” he insisted, his blue eyes flashing as though he dared Dex to challenge him. Dex had dealt with demons before and he knew how volatile they could be, particularly when their authority was being challenged. That didn’t faze Dex in the least.
“The exercise is about control, not strength,” Dex insisted. “You failed.”
Klaus lost the smug expression and gaped at Dex in disbelief. It was certainly the first time in his life that Klaus had ever heard those words, Dex was sure.
“You can’t fail me!” he snarled, closing the distance between them. “I just took that thing off its post!”
Dex snorted.
“Yes, I saw that,” Dex agreed. “So what?”
“So I gave it a skilled, powered kick! What is your problem?” Klaus’ tone took on a petulant pitch.
“Because you cheated,” Dex replied evenly, not backing down against the demon’s fury. “You used your magic strength.”
“No, I didn’t!” Klaus yelled indignantly. “I didn’t! That was all me!”
“I’m not going to argue with you, Klaus. I’ve been at this a lot longer than you. I know when a shifter is using his magic. You’ve been warned about doing this and now, you’ve failed.”
Klaus’ face twisted into a sneer, his fangs elongating as he lunged for Dex, but the instructor had already foreseen the reaction.
He’d always been too hot-headed for the task.
Ana was wrong to have recruited him. Demons are too unpredictable, Dex thought as he moved out of harm’s way, but his gesture was not all defensive.
Dex spun, his body transforming to overtake the gym with his massive dragon form, jaw unhinging to unleash a spray of fire toward Klaus.
The demon screamed at the unexpected impact, but the flames diminished as quickly as they had ignited, leaving the demon to glower in fury at Dex, blond hair covered in ashy soot. The rest of the class gasped in shock, never having witnessed such a display from the usually stoic Dex.
“Now you’re really done,” Dex said, shifting back into his mortal form, his voice not raising. Klaus was already healing before his eyes, but the look of sheer rage had not diminished in the least.
“You can’t do this to me!” Klaus howled.
“I can and I just did.” Dex was already getting bored with Klaus’ childish indignation.
“How dare you!” Klaus spat but he seemed to understand better than to advance on Dex again. “I’m the best trainee in this shitty program!”
“No, you’re not,” Dex replied without emotion. “Because you’re no longer in the program. I’ll have someone escort you out. I’m sure Anatoli will want to have an exit interview with you.”
Coming back to the present moment, Dex’s hands curled into fists around the steering wheel as his foot fell heavier onto the gas. He had all but forgotten about the incensed demon. There had just been so many of the failed trainees. Some had been furious, others tearful. A small handful had been relieved. If Dex had to recall them all, he would have had his brain full for weeks, yet he couldn’t help but feel guilty that he hadn’t thought of disgruntled former recruits.
Why would I? How the hell would one recruit even know where to find another?
It was true that Klaus and Sabine had been part of the same group, but their locations had always been kept secret.
I didn’t even know where to find Sabine until Anatoli told me. Did Klaus and Sabine just run into each other? Is that what got Sabine endangered? Some fateful chance encounter?
Dex was growing dizzy trying to make sense of it all but he knew he was getting there, bit by bit.
He raced across the Autobahn, barely conscious of the speed he went. It was just over four hours from Bremen to Berlin and Dex somehow felt like he was wasting his time heading to the capital city. Something told him that if Nikolai Bremner was in fact related to the unstable Klaus of training past, they were both still in the area he had last seen Sabine on video.
Unless she’s dead.
He wished that awful thought wouldn’t continue to shoot through his mind, but it was impossible not to envision the worst-case scenario.
His first stop was Berlin to find Nikolai. There had been two people in that BMW that night and the driver was still unidentified.
Dex found Nikolai Bremner’s residence without any issue but the car he sought was nowhere to be found. Dex
didn’t bother with waiting or a pretense. He simply climbed the steps to his front door and knocked with such fervor, the frame shook.
Less than a minute later, he found himself staring at the confused expression of a handsome demon with light blue eyes. The familial resemblance to Klaus was unmistakable.
“Nikolai Bremner?” he asked stiffly. He didn’t need to be reminded that demons were dangerous if provoked and the last thing he wanted to do was upset the demon.
“Ja? Who are you?” Dex regarded the demon, trying to establish who he was to Klaus.
“A friend of Klaus,” Dex said slowly, carefully gauging Nikolai’s reaction. There was little which gave Dex a glimmer of relief.
He’s not suspicious of a dragon showing up on his doorstep but…
Dex peered more closely at Nikolai, realizing what he’d missed at first glance. There was a disorientation in Nikolai’s eyes and Dex realized that despite his youthful look, the demon before him was likely hundreds of years old. It was one of the bittersweet aspects of being a shifter.
Enchanted beings stayed looking youthful forever, but they had no concept of their real ages after the age of thirty.
Nikolai Bremner could have been thirty or four hundred and six. It was anyone’s guess.
“I’m looking for Klaus. Is he here?” Dex demanded in German.
Nikolai stared at him blankly for a long moment.
“Who?”
The query filled Dex with an unexpected concern. He had not anticipated that Nikolai Bremner might be useless. Uncooperative, he had considered, but not half out of his wits.
“Do you have a grandson named Klaus?” he asked slowly, trying to determine exactly what the relation was between Nikolai and the renegade recruit he had expelled from the compound a year earlier. Klaus had barely made it through the first round of cuts and Dex had not learned enough about the demon to know where else to look for him.
Nikolai’s eyes brightened suddenly and he nodded.
“Ja, Klaus. Good boy he is. Took my car to be washed.”
Yeah, five weeks ago, Dex thought furiously as he realized that the old demon had likely been duped by his jerk of a grandson. Dex pursed his lips together and inhaled through his nose. He wasn’t going to get anywhere with Nikolai but at least he knew that Klaus had his grandfather’s vehicle.
Maybe the car would have a GPS tracker on it.
He suddenly wished he’d thought of that before driving all the way to Berlin on a wild-goose chase.
He might be in Berlin yet. I’ll check on that GPS before I leave the city, Dex thought.
“He’s going to save the world, you know,” Nikolai called out as Dex excused himself. There was nothing else that Nikolai could offer. Dex turned slightly, his head cocked to the side.
“How’s that now?” he replied, more out of interest than politeness. His instinct told him that the demon might know more than he realized. Nikolai lowered his voice and leaned over the threshold, his eyes gleaming with near-madness.
“He works for the Shifter BND,” Nikolai said in a loud whisper. For a moment, Dex could only stare at him, the words making little sense. Almost immediately afterward, a bristle of alarm spiked through Dex.
“He told you that?” Dex asked slowly, his mind whirling.
“Ja,” Nikolai chortled. “The demons are going to rule the world as the gods intended soon!”
He began to chortle maniacally, the sound following Dex all the way back to his car as he closed himself inside to block it out.
The BND was the German equivalent of the CIA but there was no such thing as a Shifter BND. The closest that Dex could imagine was the Sleepers, but Klaus hadn’t been seen or heard from since Dex and the security team had hauled him off the property that day. He certainly hadn’t been placed and if he had, his grandfather wouldn’t have known about it. Nikolai wouldn’t have known where Klaus had ended up. No, this was something else, assuming that the old demon wasn’t completely off his rocker.
Unless there was another subgroup he hadn’t heard about.
It wouldn’t be the first time a subgroup had popped up. Years of political warfare had brought about militant groups from all the shifters. For the most part, the demons had traveled solo, not ones for massive planning and attacks, given their depleting numbers. They didn’t breed fast and there were fewer than five hundred in the world.
What the hell was Klaus up to and what did it have to do with Sabine?
He pulled open the laptop and began searching for the tracking device on Nikolai Bremner’s car.
Klaus was part of Sabine’s group and if Anatoli had put a chip in all the recruits, he likely had his removed upon dismissal. That’s how he knew about hers. But Sabine would have recognized him. She would have known he wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near her. It went against protocol.
He again remembered the footage he’d seen at the storage and he pursed his lips together. He had followed her and caught her off-guard.
It still didn’t answer the question of why. Why Sabine? Was this some misguided act of revenge against him or the company? And how had he found her?
The computer beeped, forcing Dex to return his attention back toward the screen. A buzz shot through him as he noted the red dot on the screen, his heart racing as knew he had a handle on Nikolai Bremner’s BMW.
The only problem was, it was back in Bremen.
No, not Bremen. Hude. Is that where Sabine was? In Hude?
He hadn’t thought to check the surrounding areas for her, only the city in which she had been last seen. If the lead with the car didn’t pan out, he had opened the door to a whole new realm of possibilities. He could check the neighboring towns for reports of an injured woman. He knew it didn’t make much sense that Sabine wouldn’t simply return home if she was able, but nothing about any of this was making much sense to Dex.
An entire day of wasted driving, he thought, furious with himself, but he wondered if that was true. After all, Nikolai had turned him onto the prospect of a new subgroup of demons.
I’ll have to bring that to Anatoli’s attention…after I find Sabine, Dex thought, making a mental reminder.
Dex jammed his keys into the ignition to race back in the direction he had come, toward the highway. This game of cat and mouse was frustrating, but he knew that he was closing the net around Klaus by the minute, a net that Klaus knew nothing about. Dex had the advantage there—he just needed to get his ducks in a row.
Just hang in there, Sabine. I’m coming. I promise.
10
The day’s events and lack of sleep had finally taken their toll on Sabine. As she walked home from the doctor’s clinic, her legs felt like leaden weights. She had a feeling that no matter how hard she might try to fight it, sleep was going to overtake her that night whether she liked it or not.
Rest will do me good, she thought, adjusting her purse over her shoulder as she continued down the street toward her apartment. She was only six blocks from home, but every step was dragging.
“Sabine.”
She jolted at the unexpected sound of her name and turned her head toward the road. A black car had pulled up at her side and she balked when she saw who was driving. Instantly, her step sprung back and she hurried forward.
“Sabine, wait!” Klaus called, driving after her. “Please! Just give me a second and I promise I’ll leave you alone.”
A plaintive note in his voice caused her to pause, even though warning bells sounded in her head.
“I’m tired, Klaus,” she told him firmly.
“I’m sorry,” he countered. “I behaved like a spoiled brat yesterday.”
The word again gave her pause and she slowly stopped walking to look at him across the sidewalk.
“I really did act like a jerk,” he went on, a sheepish expression overtaking his handsome face. “I…I was really excited about getting to spend the day with you this weekend and when you called it off, well, I reacted like a little boy who didn’t get his
way.”
The apology was heartfelt and endearing yet Sabine wasn’t sure. She thought about the doubts she’d had about him, about how she’d wondered if he had something to do with what had happened at her apartment, but staring at him in that moment, she only saw a man asking for her forgiveness.
Was she being too hard on him? She wasn’t exactly the picture of clarity these days.
“It’s okay,” she told him begrudgingly, a half-smile touching her face. “I was probably a little abrupt with you too.”
His face relaxed into a beam.
“So, we’re good?” he asked and Sabine nodded.
“Ja, we’re good.”
He exhaled and let out a small, relieved laugh.
“Honestly, I was up all night agonizing over how to apologize,” he confessed. “I envisioned things going much worse.”
“I’m not that mean, am I?” Sabine teased, her eyes burning slightly. She was finding it difficult to keep her eyes open.
“No, you’re lovely,” he assured her. “Are you all right?”
She blinked again and tried to smile but a yawn escaped instead.
“I’m exhausted,” she admitted. “But I’m almost home.”
“Let me drive you,” he said, patting the passenger seat. “It’s the least I can do after my behavior yesterday.”
Sabine started to shake her head, but the effort was almost too much to bear.
Arguing would only take more energy.
“All right. Danke.”
To her surprise, Klaus parked the car and hurried to open the passenger side for her. Sabine felt an unexpected burst of warmth at the gesture.
I really was too hard on him, but I did it for the right reasons. I’m still pregnant. He probably won’t be so gentlemanly when he finds out that small fact.
“Buckle up,” Klaus said lightly when he reclaimed his spot in the driver’s side. She grinned and obliged his request as Klaus began to drive in the direction that she’d been walking. Dropping her head back against the rest, she closed her eyes for a moment, relishing the movements of the car beneath her.