by Sky Winters
“What if I say no? I got out, Walker. I’m not your puppet anymore.”
“Well, then you’d better go ahead and kiss this little lady goodbye because when I’m done with her, she won’t be the same.” That was the last word as Ted guffawed his way out the door, dragging a screaming Jana behind him.
Chapter 8
For six days, Jana was locked up in a beach bungalow, which wouldn’t have been so bad if not for the bars on the windows and the deadbolts that only locked from the outside. It might have been the cutest prison ever, but it was still prison.
She had stayed curled up in bed pretty much since she arrived only eating and drinking enough to stay alive. She’d watch the tide roll in and out twice a day while catching snatches of sleep in between.
Ted hadn’t been cruelling to her, he hadn’t even done anything inappropriate. He brought her food three times a day and would try to engage her, but she wasn’t having any of it. With only one day left in Stephen’s mission, her safety hung in the balance. Ted didn’t say it explicitly, but Jana knew if Stephen failed to deliver or failed to deliver on his mission on time, Ted wouldn’t exactly guarantee Jana’s safety.
“Good morning, beautiful.” Ted set a tray down on the bedside table. “I’ve got your breakfast for you and as a special treat, I even brought raisins for your oatmeal. You’re welcome.”
It’s like Ted was two different people! He typically greeted her all cheery and smiles, but in an instant, he’d shut down and become cold and deadly. After six days of cheery Ted, Jana was sick of it.
“I’ve got some good news for you, Jana; it’s about your lapdog.”
She rolled over just enough to see him. “What news?” Her heart beat a tattoo in her chest.
“I just got word that Stevie-boy completed his mission, isn’t that great?”
For the first time all week, she could breathe. “That’s great news! So, he’s coming home?”
“In a round about sort of way. See, in the process of doing what he had to, he was gunned down, so we’re going to have to flush him.”
The rhythm her heart was pounding stopped abruptly as it was crushed beneath Ted’s boot. “Oh, God. He’s dead?”
“’Fraid so.”
The tears were coming fast as she gasped for air. “Oh, God. He’s gone. I’ll never see him again. He won’t be there when I get home!”
“When you get… Oh no, you’re not going home. Don’t be ridiculous. You’re staying here with me.”
The sobs came harder. Her stomach tensed so much, she was glad it was empty.
“You have the privilege of being the first new person picked for our program. Isn’t that great?”
“What are you talking about? Let me out of here!”
“In my tracking of your day to day, I noticed how athletic you are and that’s what we need for this to work. My department is making you patient zero-zero-one of our new dog soldier program. Stephen was picked for round one about twenty years ago, and with that being such a big success, we’ve opened it up again.”
“Who’s we?”
“The U.S. Government. You should be proud of yourself. You get to be a part of the elite. Now, eat up. You’re going to need your strength.” Ted stood up and left, leaving Jana to pick up the pieces and deal with that huge pile of news that got dropped on her.
A knock came at the door. Jana had no idea what time it was, but the sun hung low in the sky. The black and midnight blue of night leaned on the sun, nudging it slowly below the horizon line.
Three more knocks came. “What do you want?” Jana said irritably. “The door is locked from the outside, you idiot.”
The knocking stopped and she didn’t hear another thing until the hinges on her bedroom door squeaked. She squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath.
“Jana?” a rough voice whispered. “Jana, are you in here?”
She didn’t dare speak or move.
The voice came a little louder. “Jana, it’s me. Where are you?”
Her eyes popped open. “Stephen? You’re alive?” She threw the covers back and hopped out of bed. The floor pitched beneath her feet as her legs gave way.
“Whoa.” Stephen caught her as she crumpled. “Sit down. Tell me what’s happened to you. Did Ted hurt you?”
She couldn’t take her eyes off him. He held her in her arms and those felt solid and real. “You’re dead. How did you get in here?”
“Um, only on paper. As you can tell, I’m very real and very much in front of you. And I picked the lock.”
Jana threw her arms around him and hugged him close. Fresh tears soaked Stephen’s t-shirt. “You’re not dead! Ted told me you were dead!”
“I faked it. It was the only way I could think of to get back to you and take out Ted without him getting suspicious. The mission was a success though. I was sent to kill a Supreme Court Justice and I got it done. I alerted the proper channels to make sure I got paid and then I ‘died’.”
Jana stepped back and wiped her nose. “He said you were part of some dog soldier program and was going to be the first to be a part of phase two.”
It was time to come clean. “In the nineteen nineties, the United States military brought together a select group of elite soldiers from each branch and pooled us together into this super soldier program. The program was so underground that none of what they did was ever documented except for a few select details that I wasn’t made privy to. I’ll spare you the gory details, but I will tell you that I went in at twenty-seven not a shifter and came out a few months later with the ability to change. There were a few soldiers that were shifters and they were recruited to change us and guide us through the first few months as we transitioned.
“After that we were trained and honed into finely tuned weapons and we were used as such for assassinations and tactical ground work that human soldiers couldn’t do. After I got out three years ago, I would still take on the odd contract. The payouts were great until Ted found me again. He was the one who recruited me into the program in the first place.”
Stephen and Jana froze as a key clicked in the lock. “You need to hide. That’s Ted.” She slipped back into bed and pulled the sheets over her head.
“Don’t say a word and don’t roll over,” Stephen warned.
This one Stephen’s one shot to take Ted out for good. He shifted and lay in wait at the foot of the bed for the door to open. If Ted caught him and had a chance to shift himself, Stephen was as good as dead again; he was no match against a bear.
Crouched low to the floor, he held his breath as the door opened.
“I’ve got your din–, “Ted’s words were cut off mid-sentence and a blood curdling scream took their place.
Stephen was on him in a flash. The element of surprise was all he had. His teeth closed over the soft flesh of Ted’s neck and with one good turn of the head, he had ripped Ted’s throat out. It was all over in a matter of seconds as Ted’s knees buckled and he collapsed, face down on the floor.
Jana kept her back to the carnage. The sharp tang of fresh blood invaded her nostrils and as bad as she wanted to turn and look, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
“You can turn around now, honey. It’s over.”
She ate up and saw that Ted’s body had been covered with a couple of sheets, although the growing pool of blood seeping out from underneath clued her in for the most part. “Did you get hurt at all?”
“Nope. Not a scratch.” Stephen turned to show her, no damage was done.
Jana wobbled up onto her knees and beckoned Stephen to come to her. He knelt in front of her then she cupped his face and kissed him deeply and passionately, as though she would never get to kiss him again. “I thought you were gone. A part of me died right along with you when I found out.”
Stephen pressed his forehead to hers. “I am so sorry for putting you through that and for not telling you the truth about all this sooner. I know I’m asking a lot, but do you think you’ll ever forgive me?”
<
br /> “Absolutely. You wanted to protect me from all this, even though I don’t think you could have either way. I love you, Stephen and I forgive you.” THE END
Dating Two Dragons
Chapter 1
The firefighter’s ball in Austin, Texas was one of the most intensely planned and organized fete’s in the city. Each detail from the venue down to the silverware and table linens was organized to perfection.
Everyone who was anyone descended on the Crowne Plaza Hotel dressed to the nines in their black-tie finery, ready to mingle and be noticed. The annual event had always been a themed fundraiser for either a scholarship fund, or an inner-city school project, this year was a Casino Night to benefit the Fallen Heroes fund. The charity directly impacted the widows and children of fallen firefighters and police officers in the Austin area. Slot machines, blackjack tables, and roulette wheels had been set up around the ballroom. A poker tournament was being held in a separate room with a one hundred dollar buy-in, with one hundred per cent of the money received being donated.
Anna Nash was not one of the most beautiful or wealthy people invited to the ball. Considering the cost of entry alone was five hundred dollars a plate for non-firefighters, Anna couldn’t afford to attend even if she had the opportunity. What she could do, was earn a scant fifty bucks waiting tables and filling water glasses. With any luck, she could schmooze a few tips out of the patrons.
The catering company she worked for, Park Ave. Caterers, had been hired to provide the food and beverage menus for the first time ever in the thirteen years since the ball’s inception. Her excitable and very Greek boss, Melina Tsangarelis, was naturally ecstatic at the idea of so much exposure; and for such a good cause. Melina had Anna rolling dolmades and mixing marinades for several hundred whole chickens all week in prep for the event.
After a long week of prep and back breaking work, at last it was ten minutes until go time. Melina had assembled her entire team of twenty in the kitchen for the pep talk to end all pep talks. “Okay, everybody! We have worked hard all week for tonight. There are going to be a lot of people out there, most of them haven’t ever tried our food before so this is our chance to make a lasting impression on each one of them. So with that, let’s go out there and have fun. Oh, and don’t screw it up!”
Anna joined in for the “ready break” moment, but she found it hard to be enthusiastic about such an exciting and heartwarming moment. Not three days ago, she had been dumped by her boyfriend of nearly two years. She found it tough to muster up any feeling of “Go Team!” when her heart had been shattered into a million pieces.
Pete had called her Wednesday night that week to ask if she wanted to meet him for breakfast the next morning. “Anna, I need to discuss something with you and it’s super important that I see you in person.”
“Of course. I don’t have to be at work until eleven so breakfast is perfect.”
“Great, See you tomorrow.”
Pete had hung up before Anna could tell him she loved him, but he sounded like he was in a hurry so that was no big deal. Her hands shook as she set her phone down and her heart raced. Was this it? After two years together and six months of her dropping hints, Pete was finally going to propose! She jumped up and down on her second-hand couch whooping and clapping with the excitement of finally taking the next step with the love of her life. She called her mother and her best friend that night to tell them the good news.
She had no idea how far off base her thought process was and hard it would be to rescind the good news.
Pete had chosen a crowded public place to drop the hammer on their relationship. A smart move on his part, because while Anna could shed a tear or two, she was forced to mind her manners.
“Anna, I wanted to say that the last two years with you have been great. I’ve had a really good time, haven’t you?”
Anna beamed at him over her bacon and egg plate. “Absolutely. This has been the best two years of my life!”
A frown tugged at the corners of Pete’s mouth. While her response was nice, her enthusiasm made what he was about to do, that much harder. “I’m glad, but I think it’s time we go our separate ways. I– I’ve met somebody else.”
Anna pressed her lips together and gritted her teeth. Through sheer force of will, she avoided blinking because she was about to cry. “But, why? Who did you meet?”
Pete sighed and scrubbed his face. “Don’t worry about any of that. Listen, I said what I needed to say.” He threw a ten-dollar bill on the table. “I need to be going now. Take care, Anna.”
He had left his now ex-girlfriend gaping at him from a window booth and on the verge of tears. The entire break up only took minutes; they hadn’t even had their meal before Pete pulled the trigger. Anna had barely made it out of the diner before breaking down into crippling sobs.
She shook her head and put aside the memory. Anna knew she wouldn’t survive the night if she kept thinking about Pete. With her boss under so much pressure, she couldn’t afford to test the limits of Melina’s patience tonight.
“Do I have time for a quick bathroom break before everyone starts trickling in?” Anna asked.
Melina finished rolling up the sleeves of her chef’s coat and checked her watch. “You have five minutes, Anna. Go ahead.”
Anna dashed across the hall to the restroom. It was time for her own kind of pep talk to be able to work without going to pieces. It was one thing to push a memory aside, it was another to be able to keep it out.
After locking the door behind her, she stood in front of the mirror and adjusted her black uniform vest and bowtie. With black tie rules in place, Melina was adamant about no tattoos showing at the event. Anna had spent an hour that afternoon being extra liberal with the cover up on her neck. She had a black dragon that started at her neck, and snaked its way down her arm to just past her elbow. While the tattoo wasn’t massive, the head was about as big as her two thumbs stacked on top of each other, in some collared shirts, the spikes on his head would show. “No hint of lizard anywhere.” She pulled a pink lip gloss from her pocket to reapply. She liked how full her lips were and did whatever she could to play them up.
It was her eyes that needed little more than a coat of mascara for enhancement. Her father had always called her doll eyes; a nickname she grew to love as she got older, but as a teenager, it made her self-conscious because it only drew attention to the fact that her brown eyes were slightly too large for her face. Since recently coloring her naturally blonde hair a deep walnut, her eyes only stood out more. She loved how unique she looked.
With one last tug on her vest and a tightening of her stubby ponytail, she was ready for battle.
Chapter 2
The night was moving along at a steady clip. Each course at dinner transitioned smoothly to the next and before Anna knew it, the entrée was over and she could take a minute to rest her feet. She skated through the kitchen, plucking a couple of leftover shrimp from an untouched cocktail setup. Hopefully, the few bites she would get out of them would quiet the growling beast in her belly; at least until her shift was over at midnight.
She checked her phone on her way out of the kitchen. “Ten-thirty, already? Hot damn!” The knowledge that she was so close to the end put a huge smile on her face. Anna wandered toward the lobby and the vending machines. The handful of shrimp were fine, but what she wanted was a Coke to keep her energy humming.
The welcoming glow of the soda machine held the promise of all things sugary, caffeinated, and good in the world. Anna pulled a handful of singles from her apron pocket and fed two into the machine. Her mouth was practically watering as she punched in the code. Then the bottle got stuck. “No! Awe, man!” She cursed as she kicked the base of the machine. Not a smart move.
“Here, let me help.” A masculine baritone offered. With two whacks of his fist on the front, the bottle dropped.
Anna gratefully retrieved her liquid ambrosia. “Thank you for Fonzie-ing that for me.” She looked up into the face of
her hero and had lost all ability to speak. At nearly six feet tall, it wasn’t often that somebody made Anna feel small, but the man in front of her dwarfed her by half a foot and had the kind of broad shoulders and slim waist that carried a suit really well. Or in this case a tux.
“You’re welcome, miss?”
“Uh,” Oh, hell! What’s my name? “Nash. My name is Anna Nash.”
“Well Anna Nash, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” His wide mouth stretched into a gorgeous smile that carried all the way to his pale blue eyes. “I’m Sonny Adams. I work for Station 1. Judging by the get up, you work for the catering company that’s here tonight?”
Instead of the usual Texas drawl, Sonny’ s voice had a tinge of a lilt, Irish or Welsh, maybe? “You guessed correctly, Sonny. Is that short for something?”
He chuckled and leaned against the vending machine. “Yeah, Morrison. My parents were huge Doors fans. Still are as a matter of fact. They thought it would be cute to name their son after a dead rock star.”
“Ah. Well, I need to be going now, Sonny; my break’s over. It was nice to meet you.” Anna sucked in a deep breath and walked away. She hadn’t ever seen a man so beautiful before.
“Anna, hang on. Let me walk you back,” Sonny offered.
Anna continued down the hallway while Sonny caught up. “Sure, but don’t you have a date to get back to?”
“Yeah, but she can wait. She’s probably fixing her makeup or gossiping with the other wives or something.”
Other wives? “So, you’re married then?”
Sonny screwed up his face. “Oh hell no. Lily wishes we were, but that definitely will not happen. I refuse to even commit to being exclusive to her. I have some tastes that I’m not willing to give up for a relationship. Most women are fine with it early on, but don’t want me to keep up my habits after going exclusive.”
What sorts of habits? Judging by the way his eyes smoldered, they had to be something fun. Anna stopped in the hall and shook her head. “Let me get this straight, then. You’re basically stringing along some poor woman who thinks someday you’ll magically want to commit. For what?”