Fucking phone call. They didn’t even really needed to talk to us, it was a question that any of the Thirteen could have answered. Have you found your mates yet? And the distraction of the council asking that question had almost caused Kai to lose his. The next time the phone rang, Kai was going to let it go to voice mail. Screw anybody who tried to distract him from protecting his mate. Because he was starting to wonder if someone was after one or all of the women. First the blown tire and now this attack. Because those men did not look like some street thugs that wanted to grab a few purses. They were after something much more.
Kai regretted telling Charlie not to worry about the women being out of their sight; that their mates were on a tour with a lot of other people and would be fine. It hadn’t been an intelligent assumption, what with the evidence that had been found this morning. Evidence that Rogue’s tire had actually been blown by a small explosive and another device had been found still attached to the bottom of the car. Luckily, it had malfunctioned or his and Charlie’s mates along with their friend would have been dead. Burned.
After the news, Charlie had become even more hot tempered, and had adamantly demanded that they get the women under their protection. Emotionally, Kai agreed with him, but as the Leader of the Thirteen, he had been trained to be patient and analyze every situation. He couldn’t let himself be ruled by emotions. He had to be logical. And, if they rushed in and tried to strong arm the women, he might just lose his mate. He couldn’t take the chance. So, he had chosen to stand back and wait for his and Charlie’s mates to come to the shop. What would it hurt to give them their time and space? The women had had a good time the night before, and since the blown tire there had been no other trouble. That was until now. Dar was investigating, working to find out why someone had put the devices on the car. With this new attack, Kai would have him double the resources. They would seek answers and they would start with these men.
“Dar.”
“Yes, Kai.”
“I want you to interrogate those men. I need answers. Something is wrong here and I need to know what.”
“I’m on it.” Dar disappeared into the shadows, heading for a rendezvous with the other enforcers.
Kai knew Dar would take care of the arses who had thought to attack his mate. With his bear spirit guardian, Dar could be very persuasive. He would get the answers they needed. And, Kai needed those answers quickly, before his dragon spirit guardian opened him from the inside and came out to take care of things himself. The dragon was full of claws and fire, tearing Kai up for his stupidity at letting his mate out of his site, again.
His eyes were glued to the lasses in front of him. Rogue and Nat were kneeling on either side of Alvena. Nat scanned the tombs around them, obviously watching for the men to return. Kai moved further back in the shadows to make sure she wouldn’t see him. Rogue patted Alvena’s hand and spoke quietly to her. It was twisting Kai’s insides in a knot to see his mate in shock on the ground. They were going to find out what the fuck was going on and then he was going to make his mate his so he could protect her properly. That was all there was to it. She had to be in his arms, in his house, in his bed.
Eventually Rogue and Nat got Alvena to her feet. She was shaky and he was grateful when her friends supported her and headed down the alley towards the entrance to the cemetery. As he followed them, staying in the shadows, Charlie came up beside him. His eyes were bright with his panther and he clenched his hands at his sides.
“This was no accident, those men targeted our mates. They weren’t trying to mug them.” Charlie growled.
“I agree and Dar will get the answers we need.”
Kai watched Alvena stumble as she boarded the coach they had brought to the cemetery.
“Dar better get those answers quickly.” Kai said coolly. “But until then, let’s make sure our mates get back to their hotel safely.”
“Kai, I know you are trying to do this by the book, but what if something else happens? We can’t be with them every minute? Today proved that.”
Kai fought back a shift, he could feel that his eyes were changed and he flexed his clawed fingers. Kai still agreed with Charlie emotionally. Fuck it.
“If they don’t contact the shop and come in within the next couple of days, we’ll go to plan B.”
“What’s plan B?” Charlie asked.
“I don’t know yet, but it will end with our mates in our protection.” Kai growled.
“Amen to that brother.”
*
Kai and Charlie leaned against a wall in the French Market. The lasses had stopped at Cafe du Monde and sat at a small table having beignets and something to drink. He was glad they had stopped on their way back to the Melrose. Alvena still seemed to be in shock, and the sugar would help her come out of it.
He worried that Nat might see them, she was still scanning the crowds around her and her friends, but she currently had her back to them. Smart lass there. He thought. However, even with the fear of discovery he couldn’t get Charlie to move any farther away. Alright, I admit it, I can’t get myself to move farther away either. It killed him to not be able to pull Alvena in to his arms and reassure her that he would keep her safe. That he wouldn’t let this happen again.
“She’s got good instincts, doesn’t she?” Charlie stared intently at his mate.
“Nat? Aye, she was a marine for several years.”
“Ah, that explains it. You can tell she’s had training.” Charlie ran his hands through his hair and tied it back. “Although, I think there’s more. She seems… well, like a wounded cat. Weary, back arched, and claws out.”
“I couldn’t tell you, but I know that Alvena had some bad experiences. She skirted a lot of issues when we talked on the plane. I got the impression that the book group she’s a part of with Nat and Rogue is a bit like a support group for them all.”
“What do you know about the group?”
“Just that they met online and have a shared interest in books.”
“We might want to check them out. You never know who you might meet online and maybe it’s some connection there that has these men after them. Maybe it’s someone that goes around looking for women to kidnap and sell into slavery.” Charlie suggested.
Kai started to respond when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. For a second he thought about not even pulling it out, but then remembered Dar and Malkum were interrogating the men that had been captured in the cemetery. As he pulled the phone free of his jeans it stopped ringing, but quickly dinged with a text.
Call me. Dar
The enforcer was a man of few words. Kai chuckled.
“What is it?” Charlie glanced at him and then back at the women.
“Dar. He must have something. Keep an eye on the lasses while I walk down a bit and call him back.” Charlie nodded and Kai walked down the sidewalk behind the French Market building.
Dar picked up on the first ring.
“You might want to come here.” Dar stated without a greeting.
“What do you know?” Kai asked.
“We shouldn’t discuss this over the phone.” Dar hedged and pulled Kai’s dragon to attention.
“Charlie and I are watching the lasses until they may it back to their hotel.”
“I’ll send someone to watch them for you. I want you here.”
Something really bad must be going on for Dar to have taken this blunt tactic with Kai. Dar was in enforcer mode. Kai looked down the walkway at Charlie, whose attention was focused 100 percent on the three women as they ate and talked quietly. He knew Charlie would fight him about leaving their mates, but he was sure the man would want in on the interrogation and what their enforcers had found.
“Alright, have them meet us just down from the Melrose. We should be heading back there any moment.” He said to Dar.
After the attack he was pretty sure that the women would decide to spend the rest of the afternoon in the hotel. Hopefully they would have dinner in as well.
“They’ll be waiting in 20.”
“No guarantees, but we’ll be there as soon as we can.”
“Understood.” The phone beeped the end of the call. It must be something with enforcers; Malkum was much the same way, efficient and to the point.
Kai put away his phone and walked back to Charlie.
“Well?”
“Dar wants us to come in. He wouldn’t tell me anything over the phone.” Kai informed his friend.
Charlie turned his head and stared at Kai.
“It must be bad if he won’t tell you over the phone.”
“That was my thinking.” Kai glanced at Alvena.
She sat a bit hunched. The spark was gone from her eyes. The Alvena he knew would be smiling at the new experience of having beignets in the French Quarter. But, this one sat quietly and nibbled on the famous pastries her friends pushed at her.
Charlie’s harsh exhale brought Kai’s gaze back to this friend. Charlie’s behavior was strange; he had always had Kai’s back and was the calm one when they were in a situation. Kai’s temper was always full of the explosive force of the fire inside of him. Since they were kids, Kai was the leader and Charlie was the voice of reason. However, with the arrival of their mates, it appeared that they had flipped personalities.
“I’m not leaving Natalie.”
“He’s sending someone to watch them while we’re with him.” Kai coaxed, “They’ll meet us down from the Melrose.”
Charlie glared at Kai, “You seriously want me to leave my mate’s safety up to someone else? After today?”
Kai grimaced. “I don’t like it either Charlie, but I need the information from Dar and Malkum and I want you there. How else am I supposed to protect Alvena?”
Charlie started to say something, but stopped and looked at Nat. Taking in deep breaths he nodded his head.
“Yes. We need the information. With the way your mate is acting, I don’t think they will be leaving the hotel tonight anyway.” Charlie swung his gaze back to the table. “They’re leaving.”
Kai reached for his friend, but Charlie was already only a few paces behind the women as they left the Cafe du Monde.
*
Kai walked into the building where Dar and Malkum were interrogating his mate’s attackers. With each step closer to the men who had tried to take Alvena away from him, his dragon was closer to the surface. Her defeated posture as she trudged into her hotel was burned onto the back of his eyes. He wanted to kill these men for doing that to her. Normally, Kai could be calm and rational, but as he had traveled here, each moment of the attack was etched in the forefront of his mind. The fear on Alvena’s face and the shock as she sat on the ground without trying to get up, it all ate at him and took away his humanity. His dragon was in charge.
Charlie was a few steps behind him, but as they laid eyes on the men cuffed to three folding metal chairs, a growl came from both of them.
“About time you two showed up.” Malkum called from the shadows. “What took y’all so long? You’ve already missed all of the fun.”
As he looked closer, Kai could see that the men were passed out cold. One of them looked already dead. Didn’t matter, they would all be soon enough. Food for the gators in the bayou. Even with an animal residing inside of him, Kai respected life, but these men lost the right to live when they had touched his mate.
“Report.” Kai gritted out as his eyes finally found Malkum towards the back wall behind the slime in the chairs.
“Kai, they were after the girls.” Malkum said bluntly.
“Fuck!” Charlie cursed and slammed a fist into the wall. Kai wasn’t far behind him.
“What the fuck?” Kai cursed and looked Malkum in the face.
He felt like he had been punched in his stomach. He couldn’t catch his breath. Knowing it and hearing it confirmed by Malkum, were two totally different things. Kai fought to stay on his feet, his knees weak from the news. He immediately turned, ready to head back to his mate and take her to safety.
He and Charlie had finally found their mates. They were supposed to be working to get the lasses’ trust and tell them about the Dásreach, working to get them to agree to be theirs. Not trying to keep them safe.
“They were originally hired to kill Alvena back in Ohio.” Dar said as he walked through a doorway to Kai’s left.
Before Kai knew what he was doing, he was partially shifted and had Dar penned to the wall. His hand wrapped around Dar’s throat, the tips of his claws piercing his brother’s neck. Of all of the Thirteen, Dar was the closet to him in size. Kai had him a few inches off of the ground and looked straight into his eyes.
“What. Did. You. Say?” The gravely tone of his voice informed everyone how close he was to the edge.
“Kai, let Dar down, he’s just the messenger.” Malkum said from just behind him.
He dropped Dar and turned on Malkum.
“And, what the fuck do you know about any of this? It’s not your mate that has some one after her.”
Malkum stayed calm and watched Kai as Dar stepped up to them, dusted off his pants, and placed his hand on Kai’s shoulder. His enforcers had balls of steel, to be able to stare down a dragon in a rage, Kai thought.
“True. But, we will help you take care of this problem.” Dar promised.
“What else did you find out?” He demanded as he blew out a deep breath.
“The man in the middle chair is the one that was hired to take your mate out in Ohio. He was told to make it look like a muggin’ or botched kidnappin’. When he couldn’t get to her, he followed her to Memphis. He is also the one that put the devices on the car.” Kai heard Charlie growl as Malkum went on with his report. “Once they were in New Orleans, he kept tryin’ to get to Alvena, but you were in the way…”
“Kai.” Charlie called from the chairs. “Look at him?”
He stormed over to the man in the chair. Charlie had the face tilted up and Kai took in a shocked breath.
“That’s the guy who hit on her at the pub.” Shite. He had been so close to the man and not known. How many times had the man got close enough to hurt Alvena? Charlie was right; they couldn’t leave the women alone for a minute. The sooner they were under their roof the better.
They both turned to leave, when Dar stopped them.
“Today he received new orders. They were not only to take out Alvena, but her friends as well.”
Chapter 7
On Sunday morning, Al woke still feeling a bit shell shocked. She would have preferred to stay in her room all day, but instead she spent a melancholy breakfast listening to the other two women reliving how they had taken down the three men who had attacked them. After the attack the previous day, Nat and Rogue were feeling pretty bad ass and were ready to take on the world. Al on the other hand felt weak and scared. She had barely slept the night before due to her fears and nightmares. Eventually she had gotten out of bed, so she wouldn’t wake Rogue by tossing and turning, and sat in a chair looking out the windows of their suite until she saw the first rays of the sunrise. Every time she had closed her eyes, she relived the fear of being grabbed, the man’s hand over her mouth so she couldn’t scream as he dragged her behind a tomb.
Al wondered what it said about her that she wasn’t able protect herself against a mugger. If Rogue and Nat had not been there, Al would have most likely found herself violated and maybe even dead. When the men who attacked them had disappeared, Nat and Rogue argued about contacting the police. Rogue had argued that no good would come from filing a police report. The men were gone, no one else had seen anything, and they had not seen their faces due to the ski masks. With no evidence of any kind, they would only take up their vacation time and no justice would be found. Nat had argued for filing the report. As an ex-marine it really went against her nature to not follow the law. Nat had finally relented when Al had weakly pointed out that they hadn’t lost anything and she would rather not spend her time in a New Orleans police station. Especially, if it me
ant she would have to admit to being the weak link.
She was grateful more than words for her strong and skilled friends, but Al was determined to change the fact that she couldn’t count herself among them. As soon as she returned home she was going to sign up for a self-defense class.
“Al, you okay?” Rogue asked, pulling Al out of her musings as they sat at the breakfast table sipping their preferred drinks.
“I will be. I think I’m still in a bit of shock and I didn’t sleep well last night.”
Nat looked at Al with compassion, “Maybe we should stay at the Melrose today. We could check in with the Book Worms, just hang out, and maybe get some sun. They have that beautiful pool and I would love to use it while we’re here.”
“I was thinkin’ we could go to Jackson Square today. We can see Saint Louis Cathedral, it is Sunday after all. And, there are artists and psychics too.” Rogue gushed, obviously excited by the idea.
“I don’t know if I’m up to it, Rogue.” Al looked at her friends sadly, even more depressed because she was ruining their vacation.
“Aw, sweetie, I know you’re freaked out by what happened yesterday, but Jackson Square will have a lot of people. It will be completely safe.” Rogue shifted her chair closer to Al and wrapped her in a one arm hug.
Nat gave Rogue a look, “Maybe we shouldn’t press her, Rogue. Al took it really hard yesterday. She barely touched the beignets we stopped for last night and has hardly touched her breakfast this morning. Not to mention how tired she looks.”
“But, Nat, that’s just it. She needs to get back out there and not let this get to her. If she changes her plans because of those assholes, then she lets them win.”
“Still…” Nat began, but Al interrupted.
“No, no. I don’t want to ruin either of your vacations. I’ll be okay. If both of you want to do something, then I’ll come along."
“Al, you are not ruining my vacation, and yesterday would throw anyone off.” Nat reassured her.
Finding the Dragon (Dásreach Council Book 1) Page 8