Wow, this just keeps getting harder. What can you not find on the internet?
“Well, who would want to quit an organization that does so much good?” I ask.
Laura squeezes my hand and looks straight into my eyes. “Al, you have a quick answer for everything I tell you. That’s kinda crazy, because it’s exactly what people in cults do.”
Boy, she’s making this so ridiculously hard.
I give her a wide smile. “Okay, how about this? You’re here to see everything that happens. I’m asking you to stay awhile and see what goes on. Then you can decide if I’m in danger or not.”
“That’s exactly why I accepted your invitation, Ally. I’m not going to stand by while something crazy or terrible happens to you. I love you.”
Her words bring tears to my eyes.
How can I leave her in the dark like this? The freaking rituals—I can’t put her through that. It’s bad enough that Kyle had to go through them. I can’t let Laura go through anything near what we did.
“I love you very much. You will probably never know how much,” I say as I hug her tightly to me. “You’ll be here with me. If you see anything which seems cultish, then point it out to me. Now, I’m going to need you to help me take care of this situation, but only if you want to.”
“Hell, yeah, I’m going to help you take care of this situation, Ally,” Laura says as we release one another. “Once Kyle told me someone was stalking you, there was no holding me back. I won’t let anyone hurt you. Not anything that’s happened between us will stop me from caring about you.”
In an instant, all I can think about is asking her to join our organization. If she could just know about us things would be so much better.
“Laura, perhaps you and Kyle could join The Phoenix Foundation. Better to be on the inside when checking into something, don’t you think?” I ask.
Her eyes narrow. “I’d have to discuss it with Kyle. I’m not sure it would be the right thing to do at this point.”
Okay, she’s clearly not ready.
Eden walks in. “Okay, you both should come downstairs now. We’ve come up with something which involves you,” he tells us.
We follow him down the stairs and see Scotty has even been brought into it, something I’m not happy with. I don’t want anything to happen to him. I don’t want anything to happen to anybody.
Eden leads us to sit directly across from our fathers and Kyle. I hold Eden’s hand tightly, as I find I am getting pretty nervous. Then I notice Brady isn’t here and so does Laura.
“Where’s that guy?” Laura asks Eden.
“He’s been taken home, so he can start to contact Stiles,” Eden says as he motions for us to sit. “We’re hoping Stiles will see he’s been released and try to contact him again. Once he’s made contact with him, he’s going to let us know, and then our part of the plan will begin.”
Lyle takes our attention as he adds, “We’ve decided it’s improbable that we can get Stiles to come here again. We need to do this out in the open. The three of you will take a trip into town to go to the New Orleans zoo.”
Dad continues where Lyle left off. “We all feel he’s much more likely to think he can get to you in a place like that. Although the three of you will arrive together, the rest of us will arrive there a bit later, so he’ll not see us all together and get suspicious. We’ll flank you on each side, so you’re never alone, but at times you will appear to be.”
Lyle takes our attention again as he says, “Once he’s taken the bait—that’s you, Alyssa—then we will all come in on him at once. Our security team will be there as well to make sure he doesn’t get away.”
My father adds. “He will not be taken to the police station, as we feel he might get out, and we can’t have that. Instead, our security team will take him to a mental institution in Alaska, where he’ll never be released.”
Laura looks at Kyle across the room and asks, “Who are the three they’re talking about, Kyle?”
“Me, Ally, and Eden,” he answers.
She looks at me. “Ally, I want to come too. I didn’t come all this way to not help you.”
I look at Eden and send, ‘Is that going to work, if she doesn’t come? I don’t want anyone in danger that isn’t essential for this plan to work out.’
Eden’s hands go running through his hair as flashes of his dream flow through his mind and out to mine. Her role seems to have been played out already. She was supposed to be with me at the swimming pool and she was.
He has to come up with something to tell Laura, though, so he says, “Kyle feels strongly about you staying here, Laura. He doesn’t want you in any danger.”
Laura looks at Kyle. “I feel like I should go, though.”
Kyle rises and comes to her, taking her by the hand. He lifts her up and puts his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him. “Laura, please just do what I ask. I can’t see both of you in danger. My mind will stay more focused if I don’t have to worry about you too. I love you, you know,” he tells her.
Eden takes my hand and gives it a squeeze as a sharp pain stabs at my heart with his confession of love for another.
A slight blush covers her cheeks. “Well, when you put it that way. I would feel terrible if something happened to you because you got distracted because of me,” she concedes.
“So that’s settled,” my father says. “Laura, you can help Scotty here, then. He’ll be tracking us all and keeping us updated about where everyone’s at. We gave Brady a tracking device that we hope he can put on Stiles somehow, if he’s able to actually see him. The chances of that are slim, though, so we’ll tap into the surveillance cameras at the zoo as well. It may take both of you to keep track of everyone, plus keep us informed.”
Laura nods her head. “That’s good. At least I can be of some use.”
Kyle kisses her on top of the head. “You’re always useful, baby,” he tells her, making her smile.
Will I ever get used to seeing them together like this?
Eden’s warm breath fills my ear. “It’ll get easier.”
Why am I so jealous?
Dad stands up. “You kids get your bathing suits on and go for a swim. Have some fun for goodness sakes. I’m going to teach Lyle here how to barbecue this evening. I know how much Kyle and Laura love my barbecue ribs.”
“Yes,” Kyle hisses as he hugs Laura tighter. “I missed those the most.”
I give him a dirty look. “Thanks a lot, Kyle,” I find myself saying, before I can stop the words from flowing out of my mouth. “Now I know the real reason you came all this way and it wasn’t for me.”
Kyle laughs at me. “The truth is out, Ally. It was never you I was after. It was your dad’s barbecue,” he teases me.
“Stop it Kyle. We don’t want to burst her bubble with the fact that we only came here to get to eat her Daddy’s barbecue and her Mom’s apple pie,” Laura adds as she gives me a wink.
“You guys are awful,” I say with a laugh as we go up the stairs to change into our bathing suits.
Eden and I stop at our door as Laura and Kyle walk down the hall to theirs. I notice Kyle’s head bend down. It looks like he’s whispering something to her. I try to tune into his thoughts, but he’s blank to me. I find myself feeling a bit prickly inside.
Then Laura calls back to us. “You guys go on down when you get ready. It’s going to take me a little longer to get ready. I have to shave my legs. We’ll meet you down there in a little while,” she says, then I notice Kyle patting her on the rear end as he follows her into her room.
“What do you know about that?” Eden comments as he opens our bedroom door. “I guess he helps her shave her legs.”
I look at Eden as I frown. “Stop it, Eden,” I tell him as I walk into the room. “I don’t want to think about that.”
Eden pops me on the bottom lightly. “There goes that jealous streak again, Mrs. Fontaine,” he says with a grin as he closes the door behind him.
“
It’s not jealousy, it’s just … it’s just … hell, I don’t know what it is,” I whine.
Suddenly Eden has my back up against the wall, pulling at my hair as he brings his lips down on mine. He thrusts his tongue through my lips. My heart races at his unexpected eruption of passion. Just as suddenly as he pounced on me, he lets me go and walks away from me.
“Oh, no you don’t, Mr. Fontaine. You get back here and finish what you started,” I say, and then I pounce on him.
Heat fills me in an instant as I wrap my legs around him and kiss him like I missed him. He lays me down and tugs my clothes off. I close my eyes and all of a sudden I see Kyle looking down at me, pulling my clothes away from my body.
I open my eyes again and see a frown covering Eden’s gorgeous face.
“Alyssa? What the hell?”
He turns away from me and I sit up. Only my bra and panties are left on me. “Eden, stop!”
He turns back to look at me. “You want him.”
I shake my head. “Don’t say that, Eden! It’s something I can’t help. Come back here. I have to learn how to control that. It’s just that I can tune into him since he’s so damn close. I think I just saw what he was doing to Laura down the hallway. I swear.”
Eden shakes his head and walks away from me. “Let’s just change into our bathing suits and go down to the pool. I’m no longer in the mood.”
As he disappears into the bathroom I’m left wondering how this is all going to work out.
Will I ever get this under control?
CHAPTER 52
EDEN
Somehow I managed to get through last night without losing my mind over my mate and her protector. It was not easy though. When I took her to our bed after hours of swimming and horsing around in the pool with her friends, I thought she’d be near exhausted and the images of Kyle might stop popping into her head.
I was wrong though. It made it difficult to make love to her, as she kept seeing his face. It ruined the night for that anyway.
All I can do is blame myself for this. If I’d listened to my mother and brought her to New Orleans when she was thirteen, then this would not be an issue.
So I have to keep my mouth shut and muddle through this. At least there is nothing going on right this minute as we eat breakfast. It’s not constant, so I have to be thankful for that.
I feel my stomach tense up as my mate takes my hand. Her nerves are going crazy as my father answers a phone call on his cell as we all sit at the table eating breakfast.
“Good. Too bad you couldn’t see him to put a tracker on him,” my father says. “Keep us informed of anything else he does. Another thing, don’t go to the hospital. We had Karen moved to a different hospital, so he won’t know where she is. We added security for her as well. Once this is over, it’ll be safe for you to see her.”
My father ends his call and rises from the table. “Well, you heard it, guys. It's go time.”
My mate is shaking like a leaf. I try to console her. “Alyssa, remember the things Beck taught you last night. You’ll be fine. We’ll be right there and you’re completely capable of taking care of yourself as well.” I remind her about how Beck came over last night and taught Kyle, Laura, Scotty, and me some basic self-defense moves.
Not that me or Kyle needed it, but we did it to make the girls happy
Alyssa snuggles into my chest as we walk toward the door. “I’ll get okay. I’m just not looking forward to this.”
Toni and my mother give us all hugs at the door. We have to wait for Laura to let Kyle go before Alyssa can give her a hug. “I won’t let anything happen to your guy, Laura,” she tells her.
Laura squeezes her and says, “You better not, Alyssa Shaylee Fontaine!”
The jeep has been brought from the other house for us to go to the zoo in. Kyle jumps in the back seat, sitting in the middle.
The top has been taken off, to be sure Stiles can see us if he’s looking. Our plan is to stand out. After helping Alyssa in, I walk around to the driver’s side, getting in.
As we take off, I say, “Here we go.”
My mate fidgets with her hands. Her nerves are taking her over. Kyle’s hand lands on her shoulder, rubbing it. He says, “Ally, stop worrying, girl. You couldn’t be safer. With the two of us watching over you, that freak will never get to touch you.”
I hope to God he’s right.
She turns and gives him a smile. “I know I’m being silly. You guys won’t let anything happen to me. I know that.”
I take the exit off the highway, which leads us to the zoo. As we pull in, I noticed that the parking lot is full of cars. We finally find a parking space, then get out and head to the ticket line.
There’s a lot of people here today. I find myself wishing our trip here was as happy an occasion as it is for the people around us.
Once inside, I take my place on one side of Alyssa. Kyle’s on the other side of her. I lead them to look at the monkeys. I find I can’t seem to concentrate on anything. My eyes are constantly scanning the crowd for Stiles.
My phone vibrates and I answer it. “Hello? I’ll let her know,” I say, and then hand the phone to Kyle. “Laura wants to talk to you.”
Kyle takes the phone as I look at my mate. I tell her, “He’s here. Scotty and Laura spotted him on the zoo’s surveillance system. Now, don’t go getting all shaky, because he’ll know something’s up, as I’m sure he’s looking at us right now. So keep it cool. Promise me.”
“I promise,” she says, then sends me, ‘I’m freaking out inside though.’
I send her, ‘I know you are, princess. We’ve got you. Don’t let fear rule you.’
Kyle hands the phone back to me. “Game on, then. You keeping it together, Ally?”
She nods her head. “Not really, but I’m finding I’m a pretty great actress. I see an academy award in my future,” she says, nervously laughing a little.
We both laugh with her and I take her hand in mine, leading them to the next exhibit. We look at the birds and the bears. Then we come to the lions. Kyle looks at them intently. “Do you guys hate lions as much as I do?” he asks.
My phone vibrates again. This time it’s just a text – We are here. Time to bait the trap-
I look at Alyssa, then over to Kyle. “Get ready everybody. It’s time,” I tell them.
I lead them to an area where there’s a small café with restrooms, one on each side of it. So Alyssa is forced to leave us as we go to the men’s room and she has to walk over to the other side of the small building to get to the ladies' room.
I look her in the eyes. “Just stay cool and relaxed. We have you,” I tell her, then turn and walk into the restroom as Kyle gives her a wink, then follows me.
This better work!
CHAPTER 53
ALYSSA
I turn slowly, trying not to act afraid even though I’m clearly terrified and looking down at the ground as I walk. I glance up to see how far away I am from the ladies’ room, then turn to look behind me to see how far I am from Eden and Kyle. They’ve gone into the men’s room.
Supposedly, they will intercept Stiles before he comes into the restroom.
God, please don’t let him hurt me. Don’t let something go wrong, please!
I turn back around, looking down again. Dirty, brown dress shoes come into my vision. I look up slowly. There’s a red, chubby, round face with sweat dripping off his forehead.
It’s Stiles!
Suddenly, I’m slammed through the ladies’ room door as he pushes me in, then follows me.
Only a little girl and her mother are in there and they run out quickly. He slips a small metal bar through the door handle, locking it closed. I move as far back from him as I can.
“I’ve missed your beautiful face, Mrs. Fontaine,” he snarls at me.
“Look, Mr. Stiles, my husband will come looking for me in here. Please, just open the door and nothing bad will happen to you, I promise. If he has to break the door down to get you, I
can’t say I can protect you then,” I let him know.
He laughs. “Like I need you to protect me. You’re nothing but a damn girl. Useless, except for one thing,” he tells me as he moves closer to me.
I scan the room for anything I can use to protect myself with, but find nothing, as the room is just bare concrete walls. There are two bathroom stalls, which are closed. One sink with a plastic mirror is one side of the room. I’ve positioned myself across from the only door that leads in or out of here.
He pulls a syringe full of clear liquid from the pocket of his tan slacks. The most disgusting look forms on his face and he says, “I might not make it out of here alive, but I sure as hell plan on getting you to go with me. After I take you right here on this floor, I will kill you. We can land on the other side together, bird lady. Never thought about making it with a bird before, but now that’s all I can think about.”
“Let me guess, morphine?” I ask.
He stops and looks puzzled at first, then begins to come towards me. “Your little birdie senses must be tingling. Right you are, Mrs. Fontaine. I can’t have you making it out of here before I get a taste of that tender white meat. I sure wish I could see you turn into a bird, Mrs. Fontaine. How about you do that for me?”
“I’m quite afraid you’re mentally unstable, Mr. Stiles. People can’t turn into birds,” I say with a chuckle. “I don’t know where you got the idea I could turn into one from. It’s funny, really.”
He stops coming towards me. “You can turn into a bird. Don’t lie to me. I heard them talking about it. How you flew out and saved a plane full of people.”
I laugh. “You must be a lot crazier than I thought you were if you believe that.”
He begins to move forward again as I back away from him, staying as far from him as possible. “You’re trying to distract me from my purpose, Mrs. Fontaine. It doesn’t matter if you’re a bird or not. I just want to see your skin turned red after I slap you over and over again, all over your body. I want to watch your blood drip down from your mouth after I bite your lip,” he tells me, trying to get into my head to make me break down.
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