At that point, instructors of their preferred school trained various ages as the talents developed at different rates. The teachers encouraged the pupils to view each other as part of a large family. Familiarity helped foster deep bonds and protecting one’s family was instinctual. Julia thought it was an ingenious way of making sure Enforcers always had each other’s backs. It’s why they dealt with traitors so harshly. The betrayal cut deep, shaking the woven tapestry of their existence and beliefs.
Jackson probably thought nothing of it.
Chapter Five
JULIA BEGAN EACH day as if at home. Thirty minutes of work out followed by an hour of sparring. Normally her opponent was a punching bag suspended from her ceiling. The physical activity helped clear her mind and kept her body limber which it needed after sleeping on that dreadful couch. Damn thing should be burned, put out of her misery. And while it wasn’t much better than the bed in terms of comfort, at least she fit on it.
Unlike at home though, she wasn’t alone. Awkward at first, she gradually got used to spending so much time with someone she barely knew, sharing intimacies such as waking up in the same room, splitting bathroom time and accommodating for each other’s tastes buds.
Mushrooms, she thought in disgust. He had to be a mushroom lover. So gross.
She smiled, recalling their argument about dishes.
“How can I do my fair share if you keep doing them? I’m not useless.” He huffed.
“I don’t think you are. It’s force of habit. It’s what I do.” She washed as she cooked, simple as that. Living alone meant either she did them immediately, or dealt with crusty and perhaps moldy dishes later.
“Well, stop it. Keep it up and you won’t like what happens next.” A tough growl, one meant to intimidate her; except he was irritated because she left no cleaning for him. The absurdity of it had her ignoring his not-so-friendly request.
When he realized she had no intention of stopping, he threw his hands up in the air and stalked out of the kitchen. To her amusement, she found him defiantly tidying up their small living space, which consisted of him pushing the chairs in and attempting to make the couch presentable. Nothing could save that blasted couch.
Sadly, she didn’t hear what he muttered, but she was positive it wasn’t flattering.
After that, she swallowed her pride, apologized and left dishes for him when she cooked. She had to admit, if only to herself, it was nice having someone else's help.
The weeks passed in a truce following this routine, neither one wanting to upset the delicate balance they’d achieved. The rest of the time they spent digging deeper into the slavery organization, trying to find who was behind it all or at least get pointed in the right direction.
Julia received a few more healing sessions from Jackson on her ankle. With her resistance, he wasn’t able to fully heal her each time, but it did help to speed up her own natural healing. A few days and she could stand again without any pain.
Puzzled by how many times he needed to heal her, he didn’t push the subject. She didn’t want to lie to him again, even if by omission.
She settled back on the couch, nestled into the ugly blanket and searched through the Coterie archives on the notebook computer. A few days ago, to her surprise, she found she had access to the Enforcer’s database. Her username and password active.
Even though the Coterie didn’t hold much respect for technology, they recognized the value of it. Everyone had smart phones, personal computers while at headquarters and a fully staffed I.T. department available all hours. Security was tight, over the top paranoid and hard to crack.
Keeping that in mind, Julia used the data plan of a burner phone with the GPS locator turned off to access her account. She feared they added a flag to it, alerting the I.T staff whenever she logged in allowing them to track her.
A product of the computer age, she grew up with the early offerings of technology. It fostered a fascination with them and she proudly called herself a computer geek. She realized she was an oddity, a mage who actively used and loved technology. The next generation of mages, however, was becoming more integrated. They learned what society as a whole learned.
One of her close friends was Nathan, the head network administrator in I.T. Several years back, when she’d shown a keen interest and skill, he’d given her backdoor access to the mainframe. A super user account, it was wholly invisible to all other network admins. It’d been one of her first lessons from him about security and hacking.
It also allowed her to snoop into several files she normally didn’t have access to. Files detailing missing person reports for all the races: human, mage, werewolf and possible abductions of the Fae and demons. The last two didn’t like to share much with the Earth government, preferring to keep certain information to themselves.
The truly disturbing file she stumbled upon detailed various military bases and research buildings around the world flagged for surveillance and possible termination. It contained comprehensive reports about the personnel, security, shift rotations and clearance level required.
As she wandered her way through the Coterie database, lost in the bliss of research, she forgot an important fact - Nathan monitoring that particular login. It made sense. She went missing over two weeks ago and only had contact with her mother the first night. Markus would’ve gotten the update from her mother and would know she was fine. Not that it would stop him from worrying. No one in the Coterie knew her location and the deeper she dug, the less she wanted them to find her.
While reading a file she had no business looking through (and had nothing to do with Jackson’s case, curiosity invited her to play), a text box appeared on her screen with the words “Where in the nine hells are you?!?”
She stared at it for a few moments when she noticed it didn’t say “Who” which meant the other person already knew. One person was aware she had this login information.
“Sam?” She wrote back. Being stupid was a trait she actively avoided. If it wasn’t Nathan then she would disconnect instantly.
“This line is secure, Jewelry.” She had complained to him how much she hated the name Jules after a superior persistently called her it. Tongue-in-cheek, Nathan decided to call her Jewelry instead. He said it was more classy and expensive sounding. Soon it became an affectionate nickname she stopped resisting, at least mentally. On principle, she punched his arm whenever he said it.
“I can’t tell you where I am and please don’t trace me. I need to stay in hiding.” She sent back to him, wishing she could see her old friend in person. She missed his teasing, laid-back attitude. And he had at his desk the best stockpile of junk food a girl could ask for.
“Is there anything I can do to help? I’m worried sick about you.”
“No, I’m good. Send your wife my love.” And with that she signed off and shutdown the system. She didn’t want to take the chance of someone tracing her.
Talking to Nathan had been an unexpected bonus. Quite intelligent, he loved unraveling mysteries. He wouldn’t be head of his department if he wasn’t smart. His wife, Mary, good-naturedly complained he either had his nose stuck in a murder mystery book or stared at the computer screen.
Her last words to him a prearranged code. On impulse, she had decided to send Nathan a copy of all the files along with a detailed explanation of the situation. She’d spent many untold hours on previous cases picking his brain.
The words “Send your wife my love” told him to check their locker in Union Station in three hours. They had worked out beforehand a way to slip each other sensitive information as they logged and recorded anything and everything transmitted over the network. Nathan could delete the trail, but it was impossible to get everything as there were backups of the backups.
Since he was just a human with no special training, they banned Nathan from taking part in any Enforcer investigations. She snorted at that thought. He may not have any supernatural abilities but he wasn’t useless. His vastly different experie
nces from the Enforcers helped him view difficult cases from different angles.
Plus, the thought of giving copies to someone else calmed the stampeding elephants in her stomach. Sure, Jackson said he had friends with copies, but she wanted her own insurance. Too many strange things didn’t add up.
A click of the bathroom door drew her attention upwards. Steam wafted from the opening, the scent of wood smoke and Irish Springs body wash drifted over her. Jackson wandered out with a towel slung around his hips. He used another towel to scrub the water from his hair and Julia’s train of thought derailed, crashed and burned as she watched his chest muscles ripple. She still hadn’t decided if their enforced intimacy and comfort level was a blessing or a curse.
“Please fall…” The wayward thought skittered across her mind before she shoved it away. These weeks together had increased her attraction to him. Seeing him half-naked did nothing to lessen the lust from frequently rearing its head. She drew her eyes from his sexy, lean hips and made eye contact. She told herself that she didn’t want the towel to fall, truly she didn’t.
Liar.
Thankfully she had enough self-control to keep her face from reddening as she met his knowing gaze. Some days, she swore he did this on purpose. He’d shower after their sparring then wander out with just a towel on, the end goal his duffle bag. His excuse, he didn’t want his clothes damp from the steam. A weak reason and yet she never called him on it. A small, tiny part of her enjoyed watching him.
She almost laughed. Who was she kidding? The part wasn’t small or tiny. She loved this time of day.
Coughing to clear her throat and gain his attention as he walked past her to the bed, she kept her eyes glued firm to a spot past his shoulder.
“You need to get dressed. We have to drop off information to my friend.”
Jackson turned around, the extra towel he draped around his shoulders. “A friend?”
“Yes. He can help, maybe dig deeper into the Coterie files since he built their database and security systems.”
Jackson quirked an eyebrow at her. Damn, why didn’t he get dressed already? His chest was too damn distracting and that bead of water trailing down his pec begged for her to lick. A slow smile lifted his lips and her insides may have melted a little.
“What’s this ‘we’?” He strode toward the bathroom, holding a pair of cargo pants and a thin shirt. The towel shifted as he went. Eyes drifted downwards as she watched the fluffy white material. All too soon, the wall obstructed her view as he entered the other room. She squashed the urge to lean over the couch and continue ogling him.
“You’re not leaving this room. It’s too dangerous.” His voice muffled as he pulled on his shirt. “Plus, you’re as wanted as I am, but for different reasons. I can’t take the chance you’ll get hurt.”
Astonished by his worry and pissed off at his heavy-handed attitude, she jumped off the couch and rushed over to glare at him. She arrived in time to see him pull the pants up his legs and over his naked backside. Her eyes met his in the mirror and an impish smile played on his lips.
Ignoring the delicious distraction of his body, she launched into reasons why she needed to go. Ticking off each point with her fingers, she said “First, you have no idea where the spot is. Second, you don’t have the key to open the locker. Third, it would look less suspicious with a couple being lovey-dovey than either of us showing up alone. There’s a ton of security cameras at Union Station, so we’ll blend in easier as a couple. Plus, I’m as competent as you are and I don’t like you implying that I’m a liability.”
Combing his hair, he laughed. “I already know how dangerous you are in battle. There’s no one else I’d rather have next to me. And I now know it’s at Union Station.”
When she started to protest, he lifted a hand and continued. “But you’re right about the rest. Lovey-dovey, eh? Think you can pull that off?”
He winked at her and she refrained from sticking her tongue out at him.
When Jackson acted cute, she found him nigh irresistible. While the weeks had been a strain, they were slowly becoming comfortable with each other, their natural guard falling. Spending every day with another person guaranteed one of two things: they either hated each other or they learned to enjoy the company.
Julia enjoyed his companionship. He was quick-witted, well-read and interesting to talk to. It helped he was damn good-looking, all lean muscle and strong bone structure. His profile could easily have graced a Roman coin and his thick hair begged her to run her fingers through it.
He also didn’t spend unnecessary time arguing with her. How refreshing, being treated as an equal. The other Mage Enforcers rarely trusted fledgling Enforcers to make competent decisions, believing it’d be another twenty or thirty years before she had something useful to contribute. She found herself talked down to, patronized and sometimes outright ignored.
Markus was the only one who treated her with respect but even he treated her like a subordinate at times. After so many years of training her, he still looked at her as his responsibility and not as a skilled Enforcer.
“Let me freshen up then we can go. I’ve put everything on a USB key and I’ve created a file that explains what we’re dealing with.” Julia purposefully left Nathan’s name out of the conversation. She didn’t want anything tied to him. Trust was blossoming between her and Jackson, but she wasn’t willing to involve her friends directly in this mess yet.
Turning her back to him, Julia rooted through the shopping bags stacked near the couch. The day after her kidnapping, Jackson handed her some pre-paid Visa cards and told her to go nuts. Ah, technology, it made life on the run so much easier. She bought an entire wardrobe from several different sites and had them delivered to the front desk. In a moment of blind trust, Jackson had given her the address to the hostel.
He then spent some time online ordering “disguises” and she scoffed when she saw her outfit. She tossed a baseball cap to Jackson so he could hide his hair and some of his features. Sunglasses also helped, though he jeered at using both at the same time.
“Damn, I might as well wear socks and sandals too.” He complained as he placed the glasses on the bill of his ball cap.
“Oh, don’t be such a baby. I have a stupid floppy hat to wear and massive sunglasses. Do you hate me? You do have great taste in tank tops and shorts for me though.” She looked down at the tight tank top leaving nothing to the imagination and the shorts showing off her curvy, muscle-toned legs. The final touch was her utility belt, specially designed for a mage and their needs. Leaving home without it was not possible. The components were too valuable to her spell casting.
He leered at her and chuckled. “It’s July. You’d look silly wearing a long sleeve and pants. Now, you blend in.”
“Well, I guess people would be too busy staring at my chest to notice my face, huh?”
“You have a face? I didn’t notice.” Nimble, he danced out of range from the punch she aimed at him, snickering as he did so. “Alright, my lovely lady, it’s time to drop this off for your mysterious friend.”
He walked over to the door, holding it open for her. Brushing past him, she gasped in shock as he patted her butt.
“Sorry, just getting into character. My guy is the kind who’d pat his woman’s ass.” He said, completely unrepentant.
Arching an eyebrow, she drawled out, “Oh really?”
Gathering up a small amount of energy, she sashayed over to Jackson and trailed her hand down his arm. The heat in his gaze nearly undid her. Releasing the energy in the form of harmless static electricity, a larger jolt than normal, she giggled when his hand jerked away.
“And maybe my character is the kind who retaliates.” With a wink, she strode to the elevator, feeling distinctly smug.
Glancing over her shoulder, she blew him a kiss, the stunned look giving her a boost of confidence. Now he’d know she wasn’t a pushover.
She leaned against the elevator wall, waiting as he checked the wards. It
wouldn’t do for someone to find their hiding spot although she was apprehensive about leaving the security of the room. She wasn’t ready yet for others to find them. Too many questions clamoured for answers.
Chapter Six
JULIA AND JACKSON decided it best to walk to Union Station, a short trip of two kilometers. They didn’t want to get trapped on the bus and the city towed his car a few days after he abandoned it. Following the fast flow of other pedestrians, the walk went by quick. As they neared Union Station, and heavier foot traffic, Jackson slipped into the role of a besotted boyfriend. Sliding his hand into hers, he drew her closer to him and matched his stride to hers.
Chatting about inconsequential things, his eyes roamed the crowd, looking for anyone out of place. He sized up the normal humans walking through the main doors, a lone werewolf standing near one of the pillars and a Fae trying to pass as human. None of them seemed threatening, but he kept watch, just in case.
Even though he’d been to Union Station many times, usually on his way from the subway to the trains, he appreciated the majestic artistry. The tall windowed arch above the main doors combined with the Greek styled columns helped to prepare travelers for the beauty of the station. The gorgeous, high ceilings made of Gustavino tiles paired with Tennessee marble floors made for a striking combination.
Leaning over, he whispered in her ear, “Where to now, darling?”
Werewolves had exceptional hearing along with their sense of smell. He didn’t want to bring any kind of scrutiny to them. While the werewolf wasn’t currently paying attention to them, they were still fugitives and there was a sizable bounty on his head. In the past few months, he’d experienced a few close calls. He didn’t want to chance anything with Julia around.
A faint shudder from Julia, one that had nothing to do with the cold. July in Toronto was sweltering, especially with so many bodies around. A knowing smile curved his lips. He’d seen the heat in her eyes, felt the caress of her gaze when she thought he wasn’t looking. While ungentlemanly of him, he enjoyed pushing her buttons, slowly seducing her and lowering those barriers she’d erected between them.
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