by Faith Gibson
Not that she’d snooped, but whenever Kerrigan straightened up in Gideon’s office, there were no papers lying around with his name on them. He didn’t have a computer that she saw. There were no photos on the walls or framed certificates giving any indication who the man was. She’d never seen a cell phone, but he had to have had some way of communicating with the outside world. He’d admitted to contacting her parents, unless that had been a lie. She almost hoped he had lied about it. Then her parents would be looking for her. Hopefully, they were looking for her anyway, since she hadn’t checked in with them. She spoke to her parents at least once a week.
The bedroom door opened, and Gideon stuck his head in. Kerrigan shrank back, fully expecting him to rail at her for what happened earlier. Instead, his eyes heated as he took in Kerrigan on her bed. After clearing his throat, he said, “Come with me.” When Kerrigan swung her legs over the side of the bed, he turned and crossed the hall to Sparrow’s room, telling her the same thing. When the three of them were in the living area, Gideon pointed to the sofa. “Sit.” She and Sparrow sat next to one another. Sparrow remained on the edge with her hands clasped in her lap, but Kerrigan leaned back and crossed her arms. “I will be away from the house for a few days. While I’m gone, you will remain here. There will be no Bible study, and no one is allowed into the house other than Brothers John and James. They will check in with you every morning to see if you need anything. I expect you to behave as if I were here.”
“Why can’t you take me with you?” Kerrigan knew the answer, but she still had to ask.
“Back to that, are you?” Gideon almost looked hurt. “I had hoped you would be happy here with me.”
Sparrow gasped, and Kerrigan looked at the girl. Sparrow’s eyes were downcast, but Kerrigan felt the young woman tremble. She’d said she knew Gideon wasn’t going to choose her, but it was obvious she’d not given up hope until that moment.
Kerrigan didn’t want to alienate Sparrow, but she had her own agenda where Gideon was concerned. Taking a chance, Kerrigan stood and closed the distance between her and her captor. “I am happy here, but I’ve gotten used to having you around. I’m going to miss you. That’s why I wanted to go with you.” Kerrigan stretched her hand toward Gideon, but at the last second, she pulled away, as if unsure he would welcome her touch. She wasn’t like the virginal women who’d been vying for a shot at being Gideon’s wife, and he knew that.
Gideon grabbed her hand before she could move away from him and held it gently. “Do you mean that?”
Kerrigan lowered her eyes and nodded. She’d learned how to be submissive while living with Dalton. Being quiet and pretending to be shy went against everything she was, but it had kept her from his wrath on more than one occasion. Gideon placed a finger under her chin, lifting her face to look at him. With narrowed eyes, he studied her. Kerrigan did her best to keep her face void of emotion. She couldn’t pull off happy, because she wasn’t. She couldn’t pretend to want the man, because thinking of him touching her sexually made her want to throw up. Still, she licked her lips, drawing his attention away from her eyes. With a tenderness she didn’t expect, Gideon pulled her fingers to his lips and kissed them.
“I will be back before you know it, and then, you and I will have all the time in the world.”
Kerrigan looked up at him and smiled. “Okay. I can wait.”
Gideon squeezed her hand before releasing it. “Good. Sparrow, I will talk to you when I get back. Until then, you two ladies enjoy a few lazy days.”
Sparrow didn’t move until Gideon had left the house. She stood and headed toward her bedroom. After a couple steps, she stopped and looked back at Kerrigan. “Well, I guess that’s that. I knew I didn’t stand a chance, but... Congratulations.”
“I’m sorry, Sparrow.” And she was. Kerrigan didn’t have any intentions of being Gideon’s wife, but she had to get him to lower his guard where she was concerned. With him out of the house, she had a few days to figure out how to get away.
Chapter Thirteen
War
WARRYCK felt like he’d traveled back in time. He’d forgotten how much he loved spending time with his twin, and now, he knew he wouldn’t let anything stand between them ever again. The two of them spent their days in eagle form, flying over the vast forest, searching for any sign of the vehicle in which Kerrigan O’Shea might have been taken. At night, they sat around a fire, eating and drinking, reminiscing, and talking about things in their lives they’d encountered over the many years they’d been apart.
After a couple days of searching and coming up empty, they packed up, got on their bikes, and moved their campsite up the road. At the end of the first week, there was no sign of the car. Warryck returned to the campsite after bathing in a nearby creek and sat down across from Mav who was cooking a couple rabbits over the fire. “It pains me to say this, but I think we need to give up the search.” And it did pain him. War had felt an instant connection with Kerrigan when he saw her photo, and giving up on her felt like he was giving up on finding a part of himself.
Mav left the rabbits to roast and grabbed a bottle of whiskey. “It doesn’t make sense. If Lucy is right and that car came through the forest, it has to be somewhere.”
“Truth, but she could have missed seeing it leave the other side. We’re not even sure Kerrigan was in that car. She could have left her own vehicle and taken off on foot. If her injuries were as bad as her parents believe, she could already be dead.”
“If that’s the case, wouldn’t someone have found her body after all this time? Surely the cops have searched the area where her car was picked up by the tow truck.”
“You would think so, but we both know not all cops are as good as Dad was. Is there a Hounds chapter in that area?”
“What are you thinking?” Maveryck passed the bottle over while he turned the rabbits.
“I think we should have someone we trust search the area. I know you have a life to get back to, and I don’t want to waste our time together on this more than we already have. Don’t get me wrong. I hope the woman turns up, but we’ve spent over a week looking for her. Hell, she might not be in the country. Whoever took her could have managed to get her on a plane and sold her to the highest bidder in Russia.”
“Russia, huh?” Mav grinned. “The Hounds don’t deal with a lot of human trafficking, but there is always that possibility.
“No, but you do deal with all the cults. Isn’t the Ministry sort of like human trafficking? They take good people and brainwash them. Who knows what they do with them once they’re under the influence, so to speak.”
“We’ve been going after these bastards a long time, and not all the compounds we find follow the rules set by the Ministry. For the most part, we’ve found the people living in those places want to be there. If they aren’t breaking any laws, we leave them alone. It’s the ones who are recruiting militant types and going after good people who don’t subscribe to a lifestyle they agree with that we target. The Ministry is strict in the way they run their communities. Children are raised from birth to conform to the ways of the leaders. The adults have to adhere to strict guidelines and have no say in how the kids are raised. The teachings are archaic with women treated no better than slaves. If a man is found to be weak, he’s escorted off the property and never heard from again.” Mav reached for the whiskey bottle and took a couple sips, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand after setting it back down between the two of them.
“Then there are the ones who fall somewhere in the middle. They are a commune who live off the land, raising their families away from society, but they aren’t without a cause. We know this because people get tired of having no say in the way they live their lives, and they run. From what we’ve been told, most people just go along with the rules, but those who don’t are made to suffer if they try to leave, and that deters the others from trying to escape.” Mav removed the rabbits from the spit and handed one over to War.
War took a bite of
his supper. When Mav laughed, War looked up. “What?” he asked around a mouthful of meat.
“I know we’re Gryphons, but we do have utensils. Would you like a knife and fork?”
“Nah. Less to clean up this way.” Warryck’s true self had been smothered for too long, and being out in nature for a week solid had reminded him of that. “Unless you prefer me to use my indoor manners while we’re out in the middle of nowhere?”
“Nah. We’re good.” Maveryck laughed again and picked up his own rabbit, forgoing a plate as well.
“So, back to the ones in the middle. If they aren’t peaceable but aren’t building armies, what is their endgame?”
“It isn’t so much an endgame as it’s them bucking the system. They want to live in a community free of those who aren’t like them. No gays. No one who isn’t white. No religious beliefs other than what they preach. No women in power. They don’t go out looking to eradicate the different kinds from the world, but they make sure no one can come in and tell them what they’re doing is wrong, either. They own their land but refuse to pay taxes on it. They make it so the government can’t come in and arrest them for not paying those taxes. Sort of shoot first, ask questions later.”
“So, the Hounds leave those groups alone and only go after the Ministry?” Warryck had been involved early on in going after the men who tried kidnapping Harlow. If she hadn’t been a Gryphon, they would have succeeded in killing her when she fought back. Then again, the only reason she’d been able to fight at all was because she was a Gryphon. After that, Warryck left the family to take a teaching job and never again got involved in what they did. Until now.
“Yes. There are too many of the Ministry out there for us to focus on those groups that aren’t actually harming other humans physically. I know we’re just riding together for a couple weeks, but have you given any thought into what you’re going to do next? Maybe...”
War finished off his rabbit before answering, and Mav didn’t push him. When War had picked the bones clean, he tossed them in the fire and took a long swig of whiskey to wash it down. “Maybe finally take my seat at the table? Yeah, I’ve thought about it. I’ve been doing the same thing for over twenty years, and I want to take some more time off before committing to anything full-time.”
“I get that, but you have to understand. The club isn’t full-time, and it doesn’t make us any money. We do that because it’s our calling. Ridding the world of those who wish to harm humans. The merc jobs are where we make money.” Mav tossed his own bones into the fire and wiped his fingers on his jeans. “Owning your own company has its benefits. We get paid well for the jobs we take, and with being some of the best in the business, we can pick and choose which jobs we do or don’t take. If we need time off for hunting Ministry or going on road trips with our twin, we have that luxury. You could join us on jobs and see how you like it. It’s a far cry from teaching.”
“Of that I have no doubt. And we’ll see.” War stood, stretching his arms toward the sky. “For now, I want us to continue our ride, getting as much road time in before you have to get back to the club.”
“So, we’re definitely abandoning our search for the woman?”
Warryck wanted to say no, but how did he explain to his twin it was the last thing he wanted? They were supposed to be spending this time getting reacquainted, and he hated to ask Mav to continue helping him. “Unless Lucy and the Gargoyle find something else to go on, I think we’re wasting our time searching around here. If they happen to come up with something to check out, I can always backtrack. I think you should call in your Brothers in the area where she was last seen and ask them to search for a body, just in case.”
Mav pulled out his phone and called Ryker, filling him in on what was going on and asking him to get in touch with the Hounds chapter closest to New Portland. They talked for a few minutes, and the one-sided conversation bothered Warryck. He waited until his twin hung up to find out what was going on. “What was that about? I know if it’s club business, you can’t discuss it, but it sounded like you were worried about Ryker.”
“I don’t worry about our big brother when he’s taking jobs. He’s the baddest of the bad; you know that. He’s sending Hayden out, and that pisses me off. The kid’s never done a solo before. Ryker said it was an in and out, but that doesn’t make me worry any less.”
Warryck wanted to laugh at his twin calling their baby brother a kid, but he was the youngest, and everyone in the family refused to let him grow up, even if he was almost thirty. “Ryker trained him, right?”
“Yes, fuck.” Maveryck ran his hands through his beard as he stared up at the stars. “It’s hard thinking about Hayden and Lucy being old enough to handle themselves. After that shit went down with her job, I’m telling you, War, I wanted to kidnap Lucy myself and take her where no one could find her.”
“But her mate did that for her. I can’t believe my baby’s mated, and to a Gargoyle no less. At least she’s studied their kind for years.”
“And his sister Tessa’s hot as fuck. You should see her, War. Long red hair and an attitude that goes on for days. Plus, she rides a Harley like nobody’s business. Makes me hard just thinking about her. Too bad she’s got a mate already.”
“TM-fucking-I, Brother.” War shook his head, but he was laughing when he did it. He knew how Maveryck felt about women, and getting a hard-on for this Tessa was merely Mav appreciating her beauty. After Jenna walked out one day and never looked back, Maveryck gave up on anything but one-night stands. War was just glad their two youngest brothers had yet to deal with heartache.
Maveryck picked up the whiskey. “Here’s to redheads.”
When he passed the bottle, War raised it in the air. “To redheads.”
After they polished off the liquor, War made sure the fire was banked before the two of them bedded down for the rest of the night. When the sun first broke, they got up and packed everything on their bikes. Before hitting the road, War called Lucy on the off chance she had found any more information. When she told him she hadn’t, he informed her he and Mav were taking off on the rest of their trip, but for her to call if she found anything which would help find Kerrigan.
For the next week, the two of them enjoyed winding roads through small towns. They stopped and ate at out-of-the-way diners instead of hitting cities with chain restaurants. The longer they were together, the more Warryck knew he would join his brothers in one capacity if not both. He wasn’t sure he was cut out for mercenary work, but he would at least get Ryker to train him in case they ever needed backup.
Instead of traveling as far west as they’d planned, Ryker called Maveryck and asked him to take a job over in Ohio. War offered to go with him, but Maveryck insisted War continue on with his vacation. Since War wasn’t trained, he agreed, because he didn’t want to get in the way, possibly getting Maveryck hurt. Just because they were Gryphons didn’t mean they couldn’t be killed with a bullet.
“This job should only take a day, two at most, if everything goes to plan, and if I don’t have another one lined up, I’ll come meet you wherever you are, and we can spend some more time together,” Mav said when they were ready to split up.
“That’s a deal. By that time, I should have made a decision on what I want to do going forward.”
The two brothers hugged, and Maveryck gripped him tightly. “I’ve missed you, Brother, and I’m not letting you go this time.”
War had to blink back the tears. He’d hurt his twin’s heart when he chose Harlow over the family, but he had no reason to be apart from them now. He knew forgiveness had already been given, and they would readily accept him back into the fold. He was looking forward to it.
Wanting to enjoy the rest of his vacation, War decided to head to the one place he found the most peace, and that was his usual camping spot in the Green Mountains. It would take him closer to home, so when he was ready with his decision, he could pack up his small house and put it up for sale. He had no illusions where hi
s future was concerned. He would be moving closer to Mav.
Chapter Fourteen
Kerrigan
SUPPRISINGLY, Sparrow was her normal chipper self within minutes. “I don’t know how to have lazy days, but I’m looking forward to giving it a go.”
“Come, let’s sit and talk.” Kerrigan took Sparrow by the hand and led her to the sofa. “Tell me about your life here.”
“Can I ask you a question instead?” Sparrow rubbed her hands down her pants, not looking at Kerrigan.
“Of course.”
“Why did you lie to Brother Gideon?”
“Lie? What did I lie about?” Kerrigan held her breath.
“You hate it here. You don’t like Brother Gideon, yet you pretended to be excited at the prospect of being his chosen. Why?”
Kerrigan stood from the sofa, giving herself time to come up with a believable answer. When she turned back, she smiled. “I learned a long time ago that sometimes you have to make the best of a bad situation. I don’t like the circumstances under which I came to be here. But I know I’m not going to be allowed to leave. Instead of making things hard on myself, I figure it’s best to go with the flow, so to speak. If I have to remain here, why wouldn’t I want to be here where I’m afforded a few luxuries? That may sound selfish, but I would much rather clean house for Gideon than toil on my hands and knees pulling weeds.”