True

by Laurann Dohner

He studied her eyes, looking for signs of pain but didn’t see any. He lifted up some, wishing he wasn’t locked inside her body, and just sat back on his folded legs with her on his lap. He curved around her enough to get a look down at her belly to see the healing injury. No blood marred her skin. He relaxed, hugging her.

  “Let’s wait until you’re completely better to see what snaps my control next time.”

  She pressed her back against his chest, lifted her arms and her hands curved around the top of his shoulders as she grinned. “Let’s not. I don’t regret that in the least.”

  “I was too rough and didn’t remember you were hurt. I just love taking you doggy style.”

  “I love that position too.” She chuckled. “Love is an understatement.”

  He dropped his head and buried his face against her neck, breathing in her wonderful scent. Just holding her and knowing she wasn’t harmed was a huge relief. He had lost control, hadn’t thought of anything beyond joining them and part of him felt as if he’d let his mate down. Her welfare came before his needs.

  “Can we do that again?” Her request stunned him as he stiffened. He lifted his head to stare at her. “Really. You have a fast recovery.” She released his shoulder and pointed up at the bed. “Instead of doggy style, maybe we can do it flat on top of the bed, though, this time, like we did before. Less rub against my stomach. It doesn’t hurt but let’s not push it.”

  His mate was really something. He was certain now that he hadn’t been too rough or harmed her. “We can do that.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  True jerked, unsure what woke him. He turned his head to glance at the clock on the nightstand. It was just after four in the morning. Jeanie peacefully slept, curled in his arms. He carefully withdrew and got to his feet, padded across the floor, and found his discarded pants. The cell phone in the pocket revealed no new texts. He frowned, realizing it hadn’t been the cause.

  He listened, straining for any noise, but didn’t hear anything. He turned, walked into the bathroom and used it. One glance at Jeanie on the bed assured him she slept on as he quietly opened a dresser drawer to remove a pair of sweats. He donned them quickly and decided to do a security check throughout the house.

  There was no need to turn on lights. His night vision allowed him to see everything quite clearly. He entered the guest bedroom and glanced around. Nothing was disturbed. He moved down the hallway, stopped in the spare bathroom then moved on to the living room. He was on his way to the dining room when a soft tap caught his attention. He swung his head around, identified where the noise had come from. It took mere seconds to reach one of the front windows and yank back the curtain.

  He relaxed as he realized the tree was the source. As the wind blew, one branch brushed against the eaves above the window. He released the curtain and backed away. A slight metal creak made him spin, his instincts going on alert. It could be someone outside or just the strong breeze creating more sounds but he wouldn’t return to bed until he was certain.

  True crept toward the hallway again, inhaling the scents around him. Nothing seemed out of place or odd. The aroma of the dinner Jeanie had cooked lingered, her scent and his, and he could even detect the bath salts she’d used earlier. He paused in front of the bedroom door, checking on her. She slept in the same position.

  Thump. He growled low, stalking down the hallway and back into the living room. He paused there, scanning the room and inhaling again. An odd smell teased his nose, something he couldn’t place. It smelled of artificial outdoors. The slight itch in his nose assured him that the scent was off, wasn’t from a real tree, but he couldn’t place the type.

  His peripheral vision detected movement and drew his attention. His heart rate accelerated as he saw the closet door slowly move. He reached for his phone, glanced down and wished it were a weapon. The screen lit up at his touch and he texted three words to Darkness.

  Send help now.

  He shoved the phone into his pocket and decided he wouldn’t go for the weapon in the bedroom as he tensed, prepared to attack anyone who stepped out of the closet. The door stopped moving and he strained to hear the sounds of breathing but nothing happened. He advanced, moving stealthily. He paused and then jerked the closet door open wide, prepared to fight.

  His eyes adjusted to the darker interior but saw nothing. It was empty. He frowned but then a slight breeze touched his skin. His gaze lifted and he stepped closer, staring up at the ceiling in the closet. A square hole was open. The attic beyond was pitch dark. He was certain he would have noticed the missing attic access panel when he’d done the earlier walk-through inspection. The artificial tree scent was stronger in that area.

  What the hell?

  A very slight noise startled him. It sounded as if someone inhaled deeply. He turned his head as a dark shape rose from behind the couch. It appeared human, though somewhat rounded, dressed in all black, and it wore strange glasses. He’d seen those before at task force headquarters. It sank in that the night-vision goggles gave the human the ability to see as well, if not better, than he could. A howl of rage tore from his lips as he lunged, going for the threat.

  Four sharp jabs of pain struck his chest as he reached the couch, prepared to dive over it to tackle the human. His body failed to do his bidding, going limp instead, and he slammed into the piece of furniture. His momentum carried him forward as he crashed into the couch when he fell, tipping it over. He rolled onto the floor and stayed there.

  His body felt heavy and he couldn’t move his arms or legs. He howled inside his mind as he fought the drugs. Jeanie was in danger. His mate needed him. Somehow he found the strength to push up from the floor.

  “Fucking tough bastard, aren’t you?” The voice belonged to a male.

  Two more sharp darts embedded in his flesh, sinking into his back near his shoulder blades. He collapsed but managed to suck in one more lungful of air.

  “RUN!” He roared that word before his face smashed into the carpet.

  He tried to lift up again, fighting hard to stay conscious. His mate was unprotected. The drug in his system made him really lightheaded. He tried to shake it off but couldn’t get his arms to move again. He did manage to open his eyes and watched from where he lay sprawled on the carpet as the human in dark clothing rushed across the room to the front door and unlocked it. Another figure entered.

  “Goddamn it, is that what you call quiet? You dumb fuck,” another male complained in a soft tone. “They probably heard that all the way to the gatehouse.”

  “Those animals have great hearing but not that good. We’re inside and it’s too far away. Besides we’ll be long gone before anyone knows we were here.”

  “What about the damn neighbors? They might have heard. If one of them lives next door, he might hear something. Let’s go. We don’t have time to argue. I knew I should have been the one to breach the house.”

  “Like you could wiggle through the attic vent. Just calm your ass down. You heard our boss. Nobody knows about those tunnels. They’d never expect anyone to be able to get this far inside Homeland.”

  “Let’s move. Where is the woman?”

  “I don’t know. The animal must have heard me crawling around up there. He came out and caught me right after I dropped down. I shot him with six darts. Tough motherfucker.”

  “Move and stop yammering. We have to grab the bitch and bug out. We’re supposed to get her and be back within ten minutes. Stick to the plan.”

  True watched them helplessly as they rushed toward the back of the house and down the hallway, heading toward Jeanie. A door slammed before they were out of sight and he heard wood smash. He blacked out.

  RUN! The howl pierced her sleep. Jeanie jerked awake and bolted upright in the dark bedroom. There was no mistaking that bellow or the snarled tone. True! She reached behind her but her hand only found warm sheets. Her heart raced. She was instantly afraid.

  Lights came on in the house next door. She could see it faintly through th
e curtains and turned her head in that direction. It hadn’t been just a dream. The sound must have been real. For a split second she was torn between rushing out there to see what was wrong and doing exactly what he had yelled for her to do. He wouldn’t say that to anyone else.

  A door closed and she heard soft voices. She slid out of bed and bent, grabbing at the first thing she found on the floor—a shirt. Her hands shook as she got the shirt on over her head and pulled it down. A loud thump sounded down the hall, almost as if something had fallen over. She wondered what was going on.

  Jeanie rushed at the bedroom door and slammed it closed, twisting the lock. The door was solid but it wouldn’t keep anyone out if they kicked it down. She frantically glanced at the dresser on the wall near the door and grabbed hold of the back edge. Terror made her stronger than normal as she yanked hard and felt it give. She jumped back so it didn’t crush her toes when it landed front down. She spun, grabbed the solid chair from the other corner and lifted it. Her back protested but she dropped it into the space between the door and the fallen dresser to fill in the gap.

  It wouldn’t stop someone from getting in but it would slow them down. She backed up, unsure if she should try to hide or climb out a window. A body slamming into the door from the hallway decided it for her. She rushed into the bathroom and slammed that door, locking it too. Wood splintered as someone applied something heavy as they attempted to batter through the bedroom door.

  “Oh god.” She flipped on the light, frantically searching for a weapon. She had a hard time thinking as someone cursed loudly—not True—and she realized they sounded too close to still be in the hallway or at least had managed to get the door open enough to see what was blocking it.

  She grabbed the glass shower door and opened it wide, putting it in the path of the bathroom door and grabbed a bottle of shampoo. Her hands shook as she grappled with the lid and just threw it on the floor by the door when she got it open. It poured out on the tile. She reached for the body lotion next, doing the same.

  The conditioner was too far away without having to step inside so she just backed up, saw the window and lunged. Her hands shook as she worked on the lock but finally managed to get it to twist. She pushed hard and the window swung outward.

  “HELP!” she shouted as she tried to climb up and out.

  The bathroom door exploded inward and she screamed, scraping her knees and hands in the process but just shoved forward and fell outside. She wasn’t even sure how far the fall was but she landed on grass in the blink of an eye.

  “Ahhhh!” a guy screamed before a loud crash sounded in the bathroom. Glass shattered, followed by what sounded like a heavy body slamming into the cabinets.

  It compelled her to push up, ignoring the pain in the leg she’d landed on, to stand. She glanced around, knowing the backyard was totally fenced with a block wall but Justice North lived on the left side. She just forgot which way that was for a few seconds as she limped along.

  For good measure she sucked in air and screamed again just in case they hadn’t heard her the first few times. The lights beckoned to her over the wall, assuring her she was heading in the right direction.

  “Fucking bitch,” someone cursed behind her a second before an arm wrapped around her waist and yanked her off her feet.

  She fought, trying to reach back and claw his face. Her fingers hit some kind of metal, as if he were wearing an apparatus on his forehead. His other hand slapped over her mouth and he squeezed her so hard around her middle it made her hiss in pain.

  “Shut up or I’ll snap your neck. Stop fighting. I’ll take you alive or leave you dead.”

  He twisted around hard. Her feet arched out from the force and she lost the ability to breathe. He was crushing her stomach and it hurt her injury as if she’d just been shot all over again. He crouched, slamming her into the yard.

  “Where the fuck is it?”

  She stared at the lights next door but couldn’t make a sound. A large form dropped next to them. “Right corner of the side yard. It’s hidden behind the air-conditioner unit.”

  “Let’s get out of here. They are going to be all over this place.”

  “I’m going to kill her,” the other guy promised. “That bitch dumped shit all over the floor and I think I busted my ass when I slipped. My foot is all fucked up from going through part of that sink thing.”

  “Whine later.”

  He lifted up but kept bent forward somewhat, dragging her along as she struggled to breathe. His hand moved as he ran, just enough for her to drag in air through her nose. They rounded the house on the right side of the yard where it was darkest.

  “Right over here,” the other one whispered. “It’s hidden under the fake grass they laid over the grate.”

  What grate?

  The guy holding her froze and hissed against her ear. “One sound and I leave your corpse.”

  She believed him. Her eyes adjusted enough to watch as the other man bent and pulled back a section of the artificial grass near the air-conditioning unit. She saw concrete there and what appeared to be some kind of drainage grille. The man lifted it and set it aside.

  “Take her down first and I’ll make sure I put it back. They won’t find it.”

  Jeanie was worried they were right. She’d walked around the backyard once and never would have known it was there. The man holding her crouched again, forcing her to do the same as his heavy body folded against hers. He pinned her with his legs and released her middle. The hand left her face and she sucked in a good amount of air to fill her lungs. She didn’t get the chance to scream.

  Something was painfully shoved into her mouth and her hair was pulled as he tied the gag with a vicious yank. Tears of pain blinded her as she blinked them back and then he was pushing her, forcing her to crawl toward the open hole.

  Her hands hurt, reminding her that she’d scraped them. It was almost natural to try to protect her injured palms but then she remembered what True had said about her blood. She hoped they were injured enough to bleed but it was too dark to see. She slid them across the fake grass to make sure she left as much scent as possible, then on the concrete until the jerk behind her shoved hard against her lower back. She tumbled headfirst into the dark hole.

  The fall was terrifying and she tensed, believing she’d slam into more concrete. All she could do was throw her arms up and try to protect her face and head. It came as a shock when she landed in cold water. Her head went under and she hit something hard a few feet down. Pain stunned her, rendering her immobile.

  The man fisted her hair and she was yanked upward until air hit her face. An arm wrapped around her waist and lifted, digging into her middle. She couldn’t see anything. It was pitch black. She was soaking wet, coughing and choking on the gag and had water in her nose.

  The guy holding her shook her hard and it stopped the fit of coughing. He moved in a way that told her he was about thigh-deep in water and her legs were in it up to her hips.

  “Stay quiet,” he demanded, out of breath.

  She tried to scream but the gag made it come out muffled and closer to a whimper. He freed a hand from her waist and grabbed her throat.

  “I can still snap your neck.”

  Something splashed behind them and the guy carrying her stopped walking.

  In seconds someone gasped in air. “Fuck. We aren’t getting paid enough,” the other male whispered.

  “Tell me,” the one holding her grumbled. “Did you cover up our escape route?”

  “Yeah. They should have no clue how we got out of there.”

  The one holding her trudged on through the high water. It was too dark to see anything and Jeanie could only feel terror and misery. She was soaking wet and almost everything hurt. She didn’t fight, just tried to keep breathing. The gag was so wet it kept threatening to choke her since she couldn’t even spit out the water.

  They paused and she was lifted, her bare legs scraping more concrete. It got her out of the cold water
though. The guy who’d taken her climbed up beside her, his body bumping hers and he grabbed her hair.

  “Stand.”

  She couldn’t see anything, unsure of how he could. She struggled to her feet and his arm wrapped around her to lift her off her feet again. He walked with her in front of him, their legs bumping with every step. He stopped and it sounded as if a metal hinge squeaked before he advanced. Seconds later it squeaked again, as if he closed a gate or door. It was so dark she couldn’t tell which it was.

  “How much longer?” It was the second man and he was close behind them.

  “We’re somewhere under the street. Keep your damn voice down. The stairs are ahead and there’s a seal on it. We won’t have to worry after that. We’ll be free and clear.”

  “Are you sure they don’t know about this place?”

  “No. That’s what the boss said. He said he stole the building plans and they have no clue or they’d have installed security. We were able to get this far without coming up against anything but some padlocks. Do you want to carry her? She’s getting heavy.”

  “I breached the house because you’re too big so you can make sure she doesn’t slow us down.”

  They stopped and the one holding her eased her down onto her bare feet. He didn’t let go though. He bent enough to put his lips near her ear.

  “Listen to me. There’s a hole two feet in front of you. There’s a ladder. If you don’t do exactly what I say, you’ll plunge about thirty feet to your death. Do you understand me?”

  Jeanie managed to nod.

  “If you run, you’ll fall right in the damn hole. You have a chance of surviving this so be good and don’t get stupid. I’m going to let go of you but steer you with my arm. Just turn and face me.”

  “Should we give her a light?” The other one was close.

  “Nah. This is funnier. Maybe she’ll fall. We get paid for her whether she’s dead or alive.”

  “The boss prefers her alive. He wants to know what she told the NSO.”