by Amy Lamont
Crap. Maybe I should have explained this part to him. But it was too late now. My eyes fixed straight ahead at Cole’s chest without seeing anything that was actually in front of me. Instead a vision played out like a movie across the screen in my mind’s eye.
Cole stood in his bedroom upstairs. The sound of the shower could be heard in the background. He threw a worried glance over to the bathroom door and ran a hand through his hair before he moved to his nightstand. He pulled out a tablet and sank to the edge of the bed.
Through his eyes I watched as he turned the device on and pulled up what looked to be a file. My file. A photo of me came up along with a form that read “Contract to Apprehend.” He swiped to a new page and I saw him reading through the information. Several things jumped off the page at me—my name, my father’s name, a legal guardianship, and the words mental instability.
I tried to keep reading, but the edges of the vision started to blur as I saw Cole reach for his phone. The premonition receded abruptly and I was left gasping in Cole’s arms as if I’d just been pulled from drowning.
But despite the fact I was able to pull in breaths, the drowning feeling wouldn’t quite fade. Hard to catch your breath when the man you thought was your dream man turned out to be the very one prepared to send you back to hell.
Cole
Shit, shit, shit. I shook Ivy and called her name, but no matter how I tried to get her to respond to me, I couldn’t. Her eyes remained fixed straight ahead, her body pliable, but unresponsive. I moved off the couch and laid her out flat on her back, her head on a pillow.
I shook her again as I sat beside her, my hip pressed to hers. Was this what the apprehension paperwork referred to? Was this some sort of break from reality?
The weight of that thought hit me like a ton of bricks. I’d read the information about her and even knowing it, I’d taken her to my bed. Shit, I’d done more than taken her to my bed. I’d knowingly had unprotected sex with her. What the fuck had I done?
My bear reared up and roared, pushing his way to the surface, fighting to stake his claim on his mate.
My mate.
I knew the truth of those words as sure as I knew my name. Ivy belonged to me. Her soul was the other half of mine. I’d known it since the moment her file landed on my desk. And I’d fight heaven and hell to keep her.
Even if that meant fighting back my own primal instincts.
With a fury I never knew I possessed, I pushed my bear back down. Whatever Ivy was going through right now, the last thing she needed to be confronted with on the other side was my bear.
My bear was angry and ready to attack any enemy that might harm our mate so he didn’t give up easily. But right now the enemy was inside Ivy. There was nothing he could do to keep her safe.
I managed to push him down just as Ivy broke the surface again. I watched as the life returned to her gorgeous eyes. She gasped for breath and I snatched her into my arms, cradling her close and working to keep my breathing even, as if that would help her get hers under control.
In another minute her breathing had calmed and she remained docilely against me. I felt my own breath leave my lungs in a rush as relief rolled through me.
“Are you okay?” I asked, my mouth pressed close to her temple.
She nodded, but didn’t move from my embrace. “Are you sure? What just happened here Ivy?”
I pulled back from her a little so I could tilt her face up to mine. Most of the color had drained from her face. Her skin was pale to the point of being translucent. Even her lips had a whitish tint to them.
She shook her head and her eyes slid to the side, refusing to meet mine. “I don’t know. I just…got a little lightheaded.”
That was more than a little lightheaded. And my girl was no good at hiding herself from me. We may have only met in person yesterday, but I knew her on a level that went soul deep. I could tell she was lying.
But maybe right this second wasn’t the best time to press her for answers. I pressed a kiss into her temple.
“Maybe I’ve been working you too hard.” I struggled to keep my voice light.
She offered me a weak smile in return. “Maybe that’s it.”
I tried to come up with a plan, but as my mind went over the information in her file, I knew I needed help dealing with this. Whatever was going on with Ivy’s mental state obviously required some kind of professional help. My boss hired lots of ex-military men. I knew he had a psychologist on retainer. Lots of the guys came back from their service with some form of PTSD or another. Maybe he’d have some ideas on how I could help Ivy.
Then there was her father’s legal guardianship. Since the whole thing landed in my lap, I’d had a niggling feeling in my gut something wasn’t right with it. But I’d need a lawyer to get me through the legal ins and outs.
Time to call in reinforcements.
“Maybe a shower would help you feel better?” I suggested. I needed a few minutes alone to make some calls.
Ivy pulled away and stared up at me for several long seconds. An expression so sad and so utterly defeated flitted over her face, there and gone so fast, I could almost pretend I imagined it. But the flatness of her voice when she finally responded, gave proof to it and chilled me to the bone.
I pushed the feeling aside. Whatever was wrong here, I would fix it. Starting now. I shifted Ivy into my arms and carried her upstairs.
“You don’t have to carry me.” She had her arms looped loosely around my neck to keep from falling from my arms, but it was nothing like the way she’d held me the last time I carried her up these stairs.
“Who said anything about having to? I like having you in my arms.”
Again, a wan smile twisted her lips, but there was no real warmth or feeling behind it. I picked up the pace, eager to get her into the shower so I could set some plans in motion to fix this.
Chapter 10
Ivy
I stood under the spray of the shower longer than I should have. For the first time since I left my father’s house, I allowed myself the opportunity to cry. I didn’t give into it for long. I couldn’t let Cole guess that I’d been crying in the shower. That was sure to set off alarms.
But I couldn’t stop some of them from falling. What was wrong with me? How had I let Cole get this close to me? If the premonition I’d had was correct, and they were always correct, Cole was on the phone right this moment. I was sure he was calling my father to turn me in for his bounty.
Dream man, my ass. I was just another paycheck to him. He must have been laughing himself silly when I all but offered myself up to him. He thought he’d be getting paid twice for this job—once by my father and once with my body. I could only imagine what he thought of being my first.
But it had all felt so real. I knew I had been overprotected and not exposed to many new people growing up. That didn’t mean I was totally naïve. I read books. I watched television. I had an idea of how the world worked.
Or at least I thought I did. How could I have allowed another man in my life to completely betray me?
On that thought, I hardened my heart. I couldn’t fall to pieces yet. I had to figure out how to get out of here before my father showed up or Cole brought me to him. To do that, I needed to pretend like nothing had changed between us.
A shudder went through me. My feelings for Cole were real. Every inch of me, inside and out, felt like it recognized him. Hell, I dreamed about him almost every night for a month.
And despite all the lectures I’d given myself about not believing in the fairytale, I’d totally fallen for it. I’d thought I found my very own dark knight. The man who could save me from my father’s plans for me.
How could I have been so wrong?
After the shower, I pulled Cole’s shirt over my head again. What I’d taken so much pleasure in before, revolted me now. I didn’t want it against my skin.
But my only other choice was to walk out to the other room naked. That was no choice at all. The only go
od thing I had going for me was that I’d never unpacked my suitcase. All my clothes from yesterday were folded on top. All I needed to do was slip into them and wait for a moment Cole’s back was turned, and I could escape.
Except, we were in the middle of nowhere in the middle of Alaska and there were several feet of snow on the ground.
One step at a time. I needed to get away from Cole. I had my pre-paid cell phone. Maybe I could walk down the road a bit and see if there was a taxi running in town.
Cole fell in with my plans almost too easily. When I stepped out of the bathroom wearing just his shirt, he’d given me that same tender kiss on the side of my head that he’d given me earlier. I closed my eyes and savored it, knowing it was the last time I’d feel him against me.
And knowing that I’d miss it for the rest of my life despite the fact he was a colossal asshole.
“I’ll be quick,” he said as he slipped into the bathroom.
“Okay.”
Hopefully not too quick. As soon as the door snicked closed behind him, I made a beeline for my clothes. I’d taken the extra minutes in the bathroom to dry my hair. Facing the bitter Alaska evening was going to be bad enough without having wet hair.
I made quick work of getting dressed and ran took a quick glance around the room. Nothing else of mine remained. I’d collect my coat and boots downstairs and then I’d be out of there.
I pulled in a shuddering breath, determined to hold my tears at bay. I had a plan and I needed to stick to it. I did not have time to give in to tears, no matter how hotly they burned behind my eyes.
Without allowing myself a backward glance, I slipped out the front door, pulling it closed quietly behind me. I knew if I stopped and looked at the Christmas decorations we’d put up together, I’d be lost. I’d probably march up to the bathroom and beg Cole not to take me back to my father.
I weighed my options as I pulled my coat up around my neck and carried my suitcase down the snow-covered steps of the front porch. I wished I had the nerve to steal his car. But with my luck, chances were it wouldn’t start anyway.
I sighed and tucked my neck to my chest and moved head first toward the tree line to the side of Cole’s house. I hoped the dark would be enough to hide my footprints. I’d wind my way close to the trees along the driveway so I wouldn’t get lost. And as soon as the cold got too much, I’d call into town to see if I could find some sort of transportation service to pick me up.
Cole
The minute I stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around my waist, I knew something was wrong. I’d expected to find Ivy lying down on the bed, but one glance showed me she wasn’t there. And her suitcase was gone from the corner of the room, too.
Shit, shit, shit. Was she having another episode? The paperwork on her said something about hallucinations. Was it possible something she imagined was happening had driven out into the cold?
I took a precious few minutes to get dressed in warm layers and to grab the survival pack I kept on hand before I rushed out of my house. As soon as I stepped out onto my front porch, the knot inside of my chest loosened and I couldn’t fight a grin.
Ivy stood leaning against my car her arms folded across her chest and a petulant look on her face.
She didn’t look happy, but she also wasn’t somewhere wandering in the wilderness about to freeze to death. I thought that was reason enough to smile.
She stomped up the steps and right past me to the front door. “Sure, smile away, big man. I’d be smiling too if I got to pop the cherry of the woman I was about to turn in for a big fat paycheck, too.”
Okay. Didn’t feel so much like smiling anymore.
I followed her into my living room and watched as she stripped off her hat, gloves, coat, and boots. I dropped the backpack to the floor and began taking off my own outerwear.
“What are you talking about, Ivy?”
She stomped over to the fireplace and held her hands out toward it. “Don’t play dumb with me. I know you sent me to the shower so you could call my father so you could turn me in and collect your bounty.” She shot a dirty look my way over her shoulder. “I hope it’s at least a big one. Tell me you’re getting a big payday out of this. Anything to make it easier to understand why you played me.”
The tightness took up residence in my chest once more. “So you figured out I was one of the guys your dad sent to find you?”
She clicked her tongue at me. “Umm, yeah. Hence the hasty exit.” She gestured toward the front door.
“But you didn’t leave.”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious. Of course I didn’t leave. Do you know how frigging cold it is out there?” She rolled her eyes and turned her face back to the fire as if just the mention of cold brought on a round of the chills. “I got about two yards into the trees and realized I’d be a popsicle in ten minutes if I kept going. Plus, there’s the small fact I wouldn’t be exactly hard for you to find.”
She lifted a hand and began to tick off the reasons she’d have trouble getting away. “First, there’s a ton of snow on the ground. The footprints I left behind made it pretty simple to follow. Plus, there’s the fact you’re a bear shifter. Bears have a pretty good sense of smell. I’d imagine it wouldn’t be too tough for you to sniff me out. And finally, it’s frigging cold out there” She pointed a finger in the direction of the door again. “No reason for me to freeze to death if you’re just going to find me again anyway. You did, after all, manage to track me all the way to the middle of nowhere Kodiak, Alaska.”
“Anchorage,” I corrected her, trying to hide my smile.
“What?”
“I tracked you from Montana to Buffalo through Canada to Anchorage. I really do live here in Kodiak.” I gestured around the cabin. “I figured I’d stop home quick and try to find you in Anchorage. Finding you sitting in the diner here in Kodiak was a complete coincidence.”
She blinked at me. “You’re kidding me?”
I shook my head.
“Jeez. I might as well gift wrapped myself and stuck a bow on my head while I was at it.”
I stepped closer to her. “We could still give that a try. I kind of like the idea of tying you to my bed with some ribbon.”
She snorted. “Be a little hard to get a booty call after you hand me off to my father. I don’t think his little science experiments include letting me out for a quick shag every now and again.”
That brought me up short. “Science experiment?”
She rolled her eyes. “Like you don’t know. Wasn’t that in your paperwork somewhere? My father has been experimenting on me since the time I was a toddler. Apparently, I showed signs of my abilities even back then. Of course, I had no clue. Not until a new ability sprang up out of the blue. Dear Old Dad doesn’t know about that one.”
“Ivy, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Your file says your father has guardianship of you because your mental illness and occasional breaks with reality make you a danger to yourself.”
“I’ll agree with that last part. I’m definitely a danger to myself. I can’t make a decent cup of coffee to save my life and…” she wrinkled her nose at me, “…apparently I have the worst taste ever in men.”
I fought the urge to laugh because I needed to find out what exactly was going on here. “So you have been treated for mental illness?”
“No, Cole.” Her voice was overly sweet. “I have not been treated for a mental illness. When I was a kid, I started having premonitions. I had short visions of the future. From what I could pick up from my father’s thoughts, he contracted with a government agency shortly after that. He believed he could help train me to use my psychic abilities so I could be useful to our government once I got enough control of my talents to help gather information for them.”
“Gather information?”
She shrugged. “Intelligence, whatever. They wanted to use me as some kind of spy. Only none of them ever shared that with me. To me I was just the daughter to a father who loved
me so much, he went a little overboard on protecting me. It didn’t occur to me that it wasn’t so much love as it was greed driving him.”
Her mouth twisted bitterly, a look so different from the Ivy I knew. And loved. I took another step toward her.
She turned her head to me and I could see a single tear tracking down here cheek. “Don’t, Cole. I’m done. I can’t fight this anymore. I can’t keep running. I just don’t want to go live with my father again. I can’t take being with him.” She shook her head. “In the last year, I started to develop the ability to get into people’s heads. Not so much read their minds as their emotions. I could piece together bits of love and guilt and fear to understand their thoughts. You know what I found in my father’s mind when I took a walk through there?”
All I could do was shake me head.
“Greed. Avarice. Desire. Not a bit of love or compassion or real feeling for me. He’d seen me as a paycheck since the time I was a toddler and in his mind, acting the part of the loving father was how he earned his keep.”
My mind turned her words over and over again. She really seemed to believe it. Was this part of her mental illness? Her belief in her psychic abilities?
Then I realized she had a lot of anger built up toward her father and she’d obviously put me in the same category. Maybe this was a way to test whether she was telling her truth or suffering through some sort of breakdown.
“Ivy, walk through my mind. You’ll see the truth there. I’m nothing like your father.”
She snorted again, now tears were streaming unchecked down her cheeks.
“I tried that. It didn’t work. For some reason, you’re the only person whose mind I can’t get into. Too bad I couldn’t have been locked out of the mind of the motel clerk in Montana. I don’t know if he ever acted on his impulses, but he had some twisted thoughts flying through that brain.”