Strange Case, an Urban Fantasy (Hyde Book III)

by Lauren Stewart

  But she didn’t push him away. She wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him in and made him regret the hell out of not doing this earlier. He held her, feeling her body mold to his, hearing her gasp into his mouth when he picked her up. The kiss deepened, overwhelming him with how right it felt, she felt, the whole frigging world felt. In one day she’d taken down something it had taken him years to build.

  When he pressed her against the counter, she moaned and her legs tightened around his hips. There were too many layers of clothing between them. How fast could he get rid of them?

  Slow down there, idiot. She’s letting you kiss her. Don’t blow it by ripping her pants off and— Oh, shit. Stop jumping ahead to a place you’re never going to get to.

  He didn’t want to stop. He wanted to take her, feel her, believe for just one moment that she could be his. That they could have something real, something incredible. Even a chance at it.

  It had been a long time since he’d let someone in. But it made sense now—he was supposed to wait. For her. For someone who wanted him, even knowing him at his worst. Seeing his world and not being too afraid to step into it. He’d waited for her without knowing he was. Unfortunately, it had taken him too long to find her.

  It wasn’t meant to be. Not now. Maybe not ever. Because he had too many people counting on him to linger any longer. It wasn’t right to feel this good, knowing his friends were in danger.

  Not now, man. Timing was everything. And his timing sucked.

  He put her down, pulling away slowly because he couldn’t let go of her any faster. And she didn’t want to be let go of. You’ve gotta be kidding me. What are you doing? The right thing. He gently pried her hands off his shirt.

  She whimpered, ‘No,’ as soon as their lips separated, her eyes still closed, her lips full, skin flush.

  So perfect. Okay, he’d kiss her one more time and then step away. One more.

  It was a long one. And it was really goddamn difficult to step away.

  She opened her eyes and looked into his. “You can still change your mind, you know.”

  He shook his head. “I’m too stubborn.” Maybe too stupid.

  She brushed her finger along his lip. “I’m not done with these. Or with you. So don’t…” Her hand moved to his chest. “Don’t die.”

  When she walked to the door, Landon wanted to call out to her, say goodbye or tell her to stay because he was afraid he might never see her again. Because he might die as soon as the drug hit his bloodstream, and he didn’t want to be alone. He’d been alone for too long.

  Before he had a chance to wimp-out or man-up, she stopped and unlocked a large first aid kit that was on the wall. Then she turned towards him.

  “Good luck, Nick.”

  Yeah, he’d probably need some of that.

  Chapter XXVI

  Mitch had never actually made a house call. He hoped Alex would appreciate it.

  He pulled up to the security box outside the planned community Alex’s big sis lived in. Was there a maximum age to be a security guard at these things? This one looked exhausted, probably near the end of his shift after a grueling day of sitting on his ass and pressing a button to open the fucking gate.

  Mitch tried to seem nervous and not just pissed-off as he rolled down his window. He held up a bouquet of roses and a small empty box that he’d bought at the florist down the street.

  “Who are you here to see?” the kid asked.

  “Brennan. But—” Look embarrassed...and sappy. “Do you have to tell her I’m here? I kind of wanted it to be a surprise.” He wiped his forehead so it looked like he was sweating over popping the question. Of course, in reality, Mitch wasn’t nervous and Alex wouldn’t be celebrating when he popped his question.

  The guard shook his head. “Can’t do it. Sorry.”

  “Please, man. It’s impossible to surprise the woman—she’s always one step ahead of me.” Mitch put the flowers on the passenger seat and took the fifty-dollar bill off the dash. He kept it visible just long enough for the guard to see it.

  The kid glanced around quickly and Mitch knew it was simply a matter of time. Twenty seconds probably. He was wrong. It was ten. Damn it, his judgment was slipping all over the place.

  The guy palmed the cash, nodded, and said, “Good luck,” before buzzing him through.

  Mitch stopped in front of a house that looked way too expensive to afford on a teacher’s salary. Which meant Alex’s big sis was either getting a hell of a nice alimony check every month, or there was a chance hubby would be home.

  Be careful and try to behave. He walked to the door holding the flowers up to cover his face. He liked the smell of roses—clean, pretty. He’d get some for Eden as soon as he could. Maybe they would tame her a bit. Domestic, she would never be, and that was absolutely fine with him—he couldn’t be domesticated, either. But if she was home more, she wouldn’t be out getting herself into situations that made him fucking insane.

  He couldn’t help but smile when the door opened. It wasn’t Alex, but the woman looked so much like her, he had to be in the right place. She smiled right back at him when she saw the flowers. Huge smile. Huge.

  If I do this right, I might get a tip out of it.

  “Oh my God, they’re beautiful! Are they from Curtis?” The fact that she didn’t call out to her husband in glee meant that ‘Curtis’ was probably not home. Great news—one less variable.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “Are you Alexandra Bertram?”

  The woman’s smile fell into a pout. “Oh, she’s my sister. I’ll take them.”

  He kept them just out of her reach. “I need to give them to her. Boss’s rules.” He rolled his eyes. “Is she here?”

  Big sis huffed and then yelled, “Alex, you got something!”

  “What?” Alex came around the corner, wiping her hands with a kitchen towel. As soon as she saw him, she freaked. “Close the door, Desiree!” She rushed forward towards her very confused sister.

  Waaaay too late. He was already inside. “No worries, I got it.” He shut the door with his boot as Alex slammed on the brakes and told her sister to run.

  Mitch wasn’t interested in threesomes. He’d tried it in college and, frankly, it was a lot of work and too hard to focus. But he’d make an exception for Alex. Of course, everyone would stay fully clothed because the alternative made him want to vomit. If he touched them, it would have nothing to do with sex, and when he tied them up, it wouldn’t be kinky.

  He snagged Desiree’s wrist before she took a step. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just need to talk to your sister.” He shoved the bouquet at her. “You deserve these more than she does.” As he moved forward, Desiree followed along, stunned. “You two are so different—one docile and another able to torture people and keep them in cages. What are your parents like?”

  “Who is he, Alex?” her sister whined.

  Alex didn’t answer what was a completely appropriate question. She backed away, glancing from him, to her sister, and then towards the room she’d just come from. Since she was holding a kitchen towel, Mitch figured she was probably wondering which knife to take out of the block.

  He looked at Desiree. “I’m Mitchell. Your sister and I know each other from Florida. She put my girlfriend and her dad in cages and drugged them, and she also more-or-less killed a not-quite-friend-of-mine. Does she talk about us much?”

  “Let her go and I’ll talk to you.”

  “You have no idea what she really does, do you, Desiree? All the shit she’s involved in. What did she tell you—that she was an office manager in a paper factory?”

  “A hospital,” Desiree whispered. Thank goodness for open communication and the nature of families. He barely had to do anything.

  “A hospital, huh? Very respectable job. But hers wasn’t in a hospital and it wasn’t respectable. Does she go anywhere, Desiree? Meet up with anyone?”

  “Are you going to hurt us?”

  Mitch didn’t look away from
Alex, but he heard the tears in Desiree’s voice. And he was sorry—sorry that she had such a fucking awful person for a sister.

  “I don’t want to hurt anyone,” he said. “Okay, that’s not true. I want to hurt a lot of people. But I won’t. Your sister knows the asshole who kidnapped my Eden, and I need to find them before he hurts her. But I’m out of leads and your sister is the only one I can ask.”

  Then he pulled Desiree closer and lowered his voice. “Help me out and I promise that the next thing I say will be a lie.” Before she could reply, he called out, “I’ll hurt her if you won’t cooperate, Alex. And then I’ll hurt you. Worse than last time. Which, frankly, I regret. Because it wasn’t nearly bad enough.” Desiree tugged against his grip. “It was unfortunate but unavoidable. Alex wouldn’t give me the key to Eden’s cage.” Big sis’s eyes doubled in size.

  “Yep, a cage. Crazy, isn’t it?” He picked up his pace as Alex got close to a corner. “And just so we’re clear—Eden’s a woman, not an animal. I’m not into that at all.”

  “Let my sister go, and I will tell you whatever you want to hear.”

  “Before or after you knife me?” He shook his head. “Not that way.” He nodded towards a room with two big couches facing a flat screen. Alex stomped into the room with all the maturity of a four-year-old.

  “Tell him, Alex. Just tell him what he wants to know.”

  “Shut up, Des. You’re not helping.”

  “Does she always talk to you like that?” He tsked. “That’s not very nice. The sooner you start talking, the sooner I leave and you can call the badass security guard up front. But I know you’re not going to call the police because you only like bars if someone else is behind them.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, flopping down on the couch.

  He laughed. Clueless people were funny. “The problem with being a part-time monster is that you miss things, but you don’t have the same excuse. So I’m thinking—no offense to your sister, her lovely home, or the great state of Texas—but I’m thinking you didn’t just come here for a steak. I’m thinking you came here because your boyfriend called you in after that little problem you had in Florida. Am I right?”

  “He’s not my boyfriend.”

  “Too bad. Break-ups are tough. What happened? Wait, let me guess. Whittley woke up this morning and realized he was in bed with a harpy.”

  “He’s my boss. And he’s not going to kill your pain-in-the-ass girlfriend.” Her face drained of color when her sister gasped. “Des? I didn’t—”

  “Don’t worry, Des, she didn’t kill anyone with her own hands…that I know of. But like I said, I miss a lot.”

  “Ryan Whittley?” Desiree’s eyes were stuck on her sister as if she’d just confessed to doing something sinister. Which…she had.

  Mitch ignored Alex’s whining and focused his attention on the more forthcoming and morally-upstanding sister. “What do you know about him?”

  “She calls him a lot, but always from another room. I thought…I thought he was married or something.”

  “I don’t think he’s married, but he’s definitely something.” He nodded to the cell on the coffee table. “Is that her phone?” Desiree nodded. “Can I trust you?”

  Her pause was in millisecond territory. “And then you’ll leave?”

  He sighed. “You have no idea how badly I want to. Because right now I have no idea what Whittley is doing to my girl and I don’t have a lot of time.” He met Alex’s eyes and then slowly pulled the syringe out of his pocket. “I haven’t been feeling like myself lately. I took something for it, but I don’t know how long it will last. And I’m a complete bastard without it.”

  Whatever Alex opened her mouth to say was swallowed, her eyes never leaving the syringe.

  “Can you get the phone for me, Des?” He let go of her wrist, hoping he wasn’t being a bigger moron than usual. Hoping that she could read the sincerity in his tone because, for once, everything he’d said was true.

  Des leaned down to pick up the phone and shook her head at something Alex whispered. When she came back to him, she looked as pissed as he was. Almost.

  “You’re going to have to stick around for another minute,” he told Desiree. Then he went through the recent calls and found Whittley’s. “No picture? Is he shy or grotesquely ugly?” Calling the bastard now would just tip him off and might make him do something stupid…er. So Mitch would wait until absolutely necessary.

  “Where did he take her, Alex?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t even know if he has her.”

  “Oh, I’m pretty sure he took her somewhere.” He leaned up against the wall, holding the phone with both hands. It was either that or wrap them around her throat. “Do you think I’m over-reacting? I guess they could’ve gone out for smoothies. Eden really likes smoothies.” He flipped the phone over. “I should call him and check. Let him know I’m hanging out here…with you.”

  “He has another lab,” she said quietly, dropping her head forward. “But I’ve never been there. All I know is that it exists.”

  “How many of us is he holding there?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. He wanted to salvage what he could from Florida and bring it here so he could…”

  “Make sure you don’t screw up again?”

  “Florida wasn’t my fault. It was yours and it was hers. If you hadn’t been there—”

  “You would still have your broodmare.”

  “I didn’t mean for it to be like that. I had no choice.” Her emotions and tears had zero effect on him. But Alex wasn’t looking at him—she was looking at her sister. So he believed. Partially.

  “We all have choices, Alex. And you chose the wrong fucking side. The lies, the kidnapping, and the killing are all on you guys.”

  “I know that now! But if I don’t do what I’m told, Whittley will send Newman after me too. It didn’t used to be like this. When I started, he told me it was about making a better world.”

  “And you believed him?”

  She nodded. “I wanted to believe him. And by the time I knew better, it was too late.” She looked at her sister, her face filled with regret. “The things they did…I didn’t know until I was too far in.” And the sob-fest began. If Alex was using the waterworks to make him be easy on her, she was getting dehydrated for nothing. Because mercy was never going to happen.

  Chapter XXVII

  Landon rolled up his sleeve. He’d never done drugs and hated getting shots, but here he was and that’s what he’d do. Because there was no other way to stop this without lots and lots of people dying.

  The needle bit, and the drug stung as it went in. Luckily, his jaw was already clenched so he didn’t embarrass himself by screaming like a little girl. He watched the black ring of the plunger go down, pushing his possible death into his bloodstream.

  This was either the best idea he’d ever had or the absolute worst. He took a breath and gave the thumbs-up signal to an extremely nervous-looking Danielle. “Not dead yet. That’s a good sign, right?”

  “Not funny. How do you feel?”

  “Fine. A little warm, but that could be psychological.”

  “That tends to happen when you poison yourself,” she said flippantly. He didn’t want her to be angry, but he didn’t blame her. She hadn’t been living this for years with no solution or end in sight. Well, now, finally, he could see an end. Unfortunately, it might be his. Maybe he should call Turner, give him a heads-up on the poison-front and toss in a few last words, just in case. Before he could, his phone started vibrating—caller unknown.

  “Landon.”

  “You were told to expect my call.” Not a voice he recognized, but it had to be Newman.

  “Was I? I don’t remember. I’ve been distracted lately.”

  “We’re supposed to make an exchange.”

  Let’s see, Eden was back at the warehouse. Whittley was tied up in their truck. And Turner was probably already on his way back.
So…“What do you have that I want?”

  After a long pause, Landon had taken all he could. That happened when you could drop dead any minute. “Look, I have plans for the rest of the evening and they don’t include listening to static, so tell me what you’re offering. And it better be more exciting than a six-pack.”

  He waited for a reply that didn’t come. Maybe the guy was a sensitive clueless-kidnapper and Landon had hurt his feelings. “How about you call me back when you’re ready to talk?”

  “Nick?” Danielle asked hesitantly.

  When Landon turned towards her, he understood why there had been no response. Without thought he dropped his phone and drew his weapon.

  “I’m ready to talk now.” The asshole had one arm around Danielle’s waist and the other resting a gun on her temple. “Is this more exciting than a six-pack?”

  Shit. Landon hadn’t even heard the door open. And where the hell was Rick? Maybe he’d taken all of the cameras offline instead of just the ones in the lab. “Okay, let’s talk. Outside. But we leave her here.”

  The man didn’t move. “She’s necessary. You aren’t. But I’m not supposed to kill anyone unless they try to escape or to kill me.” The man was a psychopath—a simple conclusion determined by years in the police department and the fact that the guy looked fucking nuts. No expression. No variance in his voice other than a slight Southern lilt.

  Now was a good time to reassess the situation.

  “Are you trying to kill me?” the man asked. Danielle whimpered and tilted her head away from the gun denting her skin.

  “I don’t want to kill anyone,” Landon said. “But you’re holding a gun on my friend and that makes me uneasy. How about we both agree not to kill anyone and put down our weapons?”

  “How about you put yours down and come with me? Or I might think the doctor is trying to escape.”

  “Okay.” There was no other choice. Not now. Maybe soon. Or Landon might keel-over the second the drug took effect. If he was close enough to the asshole with the gun, maybe he could drop dead on top of him. As he slowly put his weapon on the floor, he saw Danielle’s eyes track to her purse. To her gun. Smart.