Love Divided (Fortis Security Series Book 3)

by Maddie Wade

  The drive to Zack’s place was only fifteen minutes so she was cutting it fine, but she knew she could probably make it in ten. The roads were clear, as the snow from last night had melted instead of sticking to the ground. She hoped that they would get some more, she loved snow. She always had and even now watched the weather reports in the hope that they would get some.

  Ten minutes later she pulled onto the long track that led to Zack’s property. There were large conifer hedges on either side. The car zipped down the road gripping on nicely to the gravel that made up the surface. She slowed as she came to the cattle grid and her teeth rattled as she bumped her way over it. Damn thing was hell on her suspension.

  Zack maintained it was good security though and he was probably right especially as he had sensors underneath that sent a message to his phone to tell him when anyone crossed it. Zack tried out all the new security equipment that he got his hands on and kept the bits he liked. Lucy wished someone could invent security for her heart so it wouldn’t get broken or damaged. Watching the beautiful scenery go past she rounded the final bend and Zack’s stunning barn conversion.

  It was part contemporary and part classic. The structure was an L shape in design. All of the old original stone was used on the exterior but with the injection of floor to ceiling glass on the left side that looked out over the black mountains. Glass walkways that linked the original building to the new space that Zack used as a gym and office just added to the overall beauty of the finish.

  Lucy walked to the door her head turning from side to side and taking in the peace and tranquillity of the day. Shoving her nose further into her scarf to stop the cold from penetrating, she rang the bell.

  Seconds later Zack dressed in a dark navy V-neck jumper and black jeans opened the door. She watched as he took in her appearance in a quick visual up and down and then saw his jaw twitch. Stepping back, he let her pass before speaking.

  “You’re upset!” Zack stated as he walked towards the open living space. Lucy followed, taking in the vaulted ceiling with the beautifully restored oak beams as he led her towards the enormous open fireplace where a roaring fire was crackling. Zack sat in an armchair and leaned back looking relaxed as he motioned for her to sit. Lucy unzipped her jacket and removed her scarf noting that while her boss looked relaxed, the rigid set of his jaw said that he wasn’t.

  Of all the people, she knew Zack was, the most closed off emotionally. It wasn’t that he wasn’t kind or empathetic it was more that he didn’t let many people see the real Zack. Even when he was playing protector to his whole team, he still didn’t like for them to feel the same about him.

  She wondered idly who looked out for Zack and her mind flitted to Ava They would be great together. Maybe she should just stick to matchmaking for other people rather than worrying about her own love life.

  “Lucy!” Zack asked again more impatiently, “What happened and don’t say nothing.”

  Zack leaned forward and braced his forearms on his knees.

  “I went to see Jace on Christmas Eve, and I overheard your conversation on the phone.”

  “Fuck!” Zack cursed and stood.

  “I need to know what’s going on Zack, please?” she finished on an uncharacteristic plea.

  “I need coffee for this,” he stated and walked from the room leaving her sitting by the fire in silence. Zack returned a few minutes later with two mugs of coffee. Handing one to her he resumed his seat by the fire.

  He watched her closely as if he was trying to gauge her emotional stability and then sighed. “Firstly, I need you to understand that I had to respect Jace’s wish when he asked for this not to be made public knowledge. It is his story to tell. Secondly, I want you to know that I also told him he should tell you.”

  “Okay Zack I get it, it wasn’t your fault, just tell me,” Lucy implored.

  “Jace didn’t cheat on you.”

  “Um, I think he did if Megan,” her voice waivered as she said her sister’s name, “could be pregnant with his baby.

  “No, Lucy he didn’t,” he stopped as his phone beeped and checked the screen. “Perfect timing,” he said and stood, walking to the window as he did, coffee mug still in hand.

  Lucy sipped at her coffee, which was made exactly how she liked it, proving again that Zack was not the hard ass he tried to make out he was.

  “Who is it?” she inquired. He turned to look at her as he said “It's Sly.”

  Lucy’s heart started beating wildly, part in joy and part in fear of what he might say. She stood and crossed to the window next to Zack. They stood together side by side, as they waited for Jace.

  “He loves you, you know,” Zack said quietly. Lucy turned and looked up at him. Zack looked down at her, “He looks at you like you hung the moon. You should fight for that and if you feel the same don’t give up on it.” He turned his gaze back to the window after his uncharacteristic pep talk on love.

  Lucy stood quietly and reflected on what he had said. Did Jace really look at her like that? Could they get past something this big and still make things work between them. She watched as Jace rounded the bend in his Mercedes C-Class. It was a gorgeous car, and Lucy thought it suited Jace's sleek power perfectly.

  She was surprised to see how completely ravaged he looked as he exited the car and walked towards the house, and yet he still managed to exude the sexy lethal aura that had had her spellbound since the first time she had laid eyes on him. He looked up suddenly as if realising she was watching and his stride faltered for a step. The look of desire and longing that bled into his eyes almost floored her. She startled out of her thoughts as Zack moved to go open the door. She returned to her seat by the fire and waited for them to return her heart almost beating out of her chest.

  ~~~

  Jace was so lost in thoughts of how he was going to make The Divine Watchers pay that he hadn’t noticed Lucy’s car until he was close enough for Zack’s screaming thoughts to enter his mind, instantly his head had snapped up, and there she was.

  Standing in the window next to Zack, looking like the most breathtakingly beautiful vision in the world. His step faltered as he looked at her. His eyes scanning for any residual pain in her face from her emotional collapse the other night. His eyes moved to Zack as the other man moved. Jace continued to the door, and it swung open.

  Zack stuck out his hand, and the two men shook. “Come in Sly” Zack steered him towards a room opposite the entry and they stepped into the kitchen. Jace was impressed with the standard of workmanship of the property, and for a second he allowed his eye to travel over the room taking in all the sleek cream kitchen units and black marble counter tops.

  “Coffee?” Zack asked, and Jace nodded, “Please.”

  “How long has Luce been here?” he asked as he took the mug from Zack.

  “Not long. I’m assuming you know she heard us talking?”

  “Yes. I tried to talk to her but I just couldn’t tell her. I couldn’t hurt her like that.” Zack snorted at that, “Wake up Jace and take a look at her. She is already hurting. You don’t need to be a mind reader to see she is broken over this.” Zack put his mug down and looked at Jace. “I don’t know how this happened, one minute I’m running a highly successful security company the next I’m a fucking relationship counsellor. Fuck me; I’m gonna buy a handbag dog next if this shit continues.

  Jace looked at the man who had very quickly become a friend and sighed. “How do I tell her?”

  “Just open your mouth and fucking tell her. She is stronger than she looks and believe me not knowing will be worse for her than knowing and being able to deal with it.” Jace thought for a second and then nodded. Zack was right not knowing would be torture and if the situation were reversed, he would want to know.

  “Okay, can I do it now?”

  “Yeah, yeah, hash it out. I will be in my office when you have finished, so come and find me.” Zack turned to walk away but stopped and looked back. “And no fucking on my sofa.” He said
with a frown and a stern look, which almost made Jace laugh.

  Jace grabbed his coffee and headed back out of the kitchen moving towards the living room. He felt sick at the thought of telling Lucy what had happened, but knew she deserved to know the truth no matter how much it would hurt them both, and hurt them both it would.

  Chapter Six

  On silent feet, he entered the huge open living/dining room. Lucy was sitting facing away from him, and he saw her back go straight as he entered. He had always wondered at her ability to know when someone was close to her. She had the instincts of a seasoned operative, and yet she hadn’t been out in the field long.

  Come to think of it, considering she had killed a man with her bare hands in the Lockwood Church he wondered how she had been so calm afterwards. Most people didn’t deal well with that first kill, but Lucy had been fine. She turned to face him then, and all thoughts left his mind except her.

  “Jace?” She asked softly. Involuntarily his feet moved toward her until he stopped inches away from her. She looked up at him, and he sank down next to her on the two-seater sofa.

  “Luce baby we need to talk.” She turned so that she was fully facing him and her knees were touching his thigh. Her eyes watered as she reached out to grab his hands.

  “I know, and I’m sorry I should have given you a chance the other night, but I just reacted.” Her voice broke, and tears filled her eyes.

  “Oh baby, it wasn’t your fault and don’t you dare apologise.”

  Jace hauled Lucy across his lap so that she was tucked into him, her head in his neck, her hands on his chest. He held her tight to him as he relished the feel of her in his arms. “I’m going to tell you everything, and then we can discuss it afterwards. Is that okay?” He felt her nod, so he took a deep breath and began. “You know how the team and I were captured and you know about how Smithy and I were separated and held in a hospital wing.” He felt her nod against his chest again, so he continued. “The first night we were drugged pretty heavily, but the next day they eased off. We were strapped to the beds, and the doctors or scientists came and took blood and skin samples, but that wasn’t all.” He shifted his body and tried to find the words to explain the other samples taken. Lucy kept still, and he felt her belief and love for him give him the strength to carry on. “They also had one of the male doctors perform a procedure known as MESA which means Micro-Surgical Epidydimal Sperm aspiration.”

  He heard and felt Lucy’s in-drawn breath but thank God; she stayed tucked into his neck as if knowing he needed privacy for this. He felt her burrow in tighter to him, though, and that bolstered his nerve. “They removed sperm from myself and Smithy. They then re-drugged us, and when I came around, I could hear a man and woman talking. They were saying how the big one was to be used for added security and the other was the foretold Prime Fecund of the Divine ones. They said that they would need to accelerate the abilities in the Prime Fecund so that they could start the program ASAP. I was the Prime Fecund,” he announced on an exhale.

  Lucy leaned back and looked at him then. “What does Fecund mean?” she asked hesitantly and he could see that she had a clue but wanted confirmation.

  “It means capable of producing off-spring,” Jace said softly. He watched as her face paled.

  “So, they are going to use your sperm to impregnate women followers?”

  “The first sample was going to be used on one of the chosen daughters, which was Megan as it later turned out. The rest they were going to make me do the natural way.” His voice was steady and his eyes still on her face, saw her blanche, and she looked like she was going to faint.

  “Take a deep breath baby,” he said as he cupped her face in his large palm, “I’m okay, and it didn’t come to that.” Lucy took some deeps breaths, and he saw her blink back the tears that threatened, her colour returned, and she settled against him again and started to ask questions.

  “How would they make you impregnate these women?”

  “They talked about using a plant called Rhodiola Rosea which has testosterone and libido boosting properties. Apparently used in high concentrated doses and with other drugs like Viagra it can cause the person taking it to be unable to deny their baser instincts. The drug would be used on the male and female, and then they would lock us in together until nature took over and the physical overrode everything else.” Jace knew he was talking as if it wasn’t him that it would have happened to, but it was the only way he could keep his emotions under control. Having Lucy curled up in his lap her hand tucked to his chest her breath on his neck seemed to help him distance himself from what had happened.

  “How did you get out?” Lucy asked softly. Jace dropped his head so that his face was against her silky soft hair, inhaling the scent of her shampoo and the shower gel she used and continued.

  “Megan was in the room with me when this conversation was overheard. I had just been given the first injection, which I presume was to enhance my abilities as they kicked in soon after. She was also meant to be giving me another shot of the drug to knock me out. God, you should have seen the look on her face when she overheard what was being said. It was like the bottom dropped out of her world, and her eyes just went dead. The people talking were outside the room in the hallway and obviously they hadn’t realised we had heard.”

  Jace got lost in his retelling of what happened and absentmindedly started running his hand up and down her back as if he was trying to soothe her, but in reality was soothing himself. “She looked at me, and for a second, it was like you were there with me Luce. The scared, dead look left her eyes, and the strength of you was there. She emptied the contents of the needle onto the floor and backed away. They came in shortly after and asked if I had been given the drug and she said yes. She seemed as calm as anything.”

  “But why did she give it to Smithy?”

  “I don’t know. All I know is she slipped a small scalpel into my hand and then left. Her hands were shaking like a leaf, but she didn’t utter a word. The rest you know.”

  “She must have been terrified” Lucy said in a small voice.

  “Yeah, I think she was,” Jace said quietly. “So, you see that’s what I was trying to tell Zack on the phone. I didn’t want you to know what had happened. What if they have managed to use the sample taken from me on someone. Fuck Luce, I can’t get my head around it, so how could you when it could have been used on your sister?”

  Lucy started to wriggle, so he let her get up off his knee. She paced to the fireplace and threw another log from the basket onto the fire that was dying down. Then she turned to face him.

  “I’m not gonna lie and say it would be easy Jace but none of this was your fault. You didn’t get caught or violated like that voluntarily. You didn’t screw my sister and get her pregnant behind my back. You were both victims of those bastards.

  Jace propped his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands. “But a kid Luce? Could you really get past that? Because I wouldn’t turn my back on it and I will do everything in my power to make sure any child that results from this and its mother are safe. Jace lifted his head and saw Lucy approach him. She kept coming until he had to lean back and look up at her. She sank so that she was straddling his thighs on the sofa and placed her hands either side of his face.

  “And that is just one of the reasons I love you, Jace. You are so bloody loyal, and whatever happens be it bad or good I want to be with you.”

  “But what if…..”

  Lucy stopped him. “If it’s happened then we deal with it. It’s time to bring my sister home to her family and if that includes a baby then so be it. But I am not going to let them take us away before we even have a chance to make a life together.”

  Jace sat forward gripping her hips as he looked into the face of the woman who had stolen his heart so many years ago. He could hardly believe that she was willing to stand by him like this. Everything he thought he knew about Lucy paled into insignificance over what he had learned about her strengt
h today. “I’m sorry I hurt you, baby.” He said remorsefully. She stroked the bridge of his nose that was bruised from when Dane had hit him and asked

  “Dane?”

  “Yep, you know your hot head of a brother; nobody upsets his sisters.” Lucy laughed at that.

  “I hope he has daughters, and then maybe he will ease up on me a little.”

  “Seriously though Luce, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I just... I don’t know I guess a part of it was I felt less of a man because of it.” Her face went stern then, and she pushed her face close so that their noses were touching.

  “Don’t ever say that. You are the best man I know. God, I only have to hear your voice, and my body responds.” She laughed at the hungry look on his face and the response of his body. “And by the feel of it,” she wriggled on his lap, the apex of her thighs coasting along the ridge of his erection, causing him to hiss. “It’s all still working perfectly and I think we need to go back to my place so that we can give it a further inspection.”

  Jace felt his cock pulse against her heat as she wriggled on his lap, and his one hand slid up to cup the back of her neck, while the other went to her lower back as he pulled her flush to him. Her breasts now pressed against him, he lowered his head and took her mouth in a slow sensual kiss. The second he touched his tongue to her lip she opened to him and met his passion. Her hands trailing into his hair and tugging slightly as she arched her body closer to his.

  Sliding his hand up over her rib cage, he cupped the heavy soft weight of her breast. He needed to feel her skin, though, so his hand dipped down and went back up under her top. Skimming the satin softness of her skin he felt her shudder as he touched her breast running his thumb over her nipple on the outside of her bra. The nipple peaked, and she pressed herself against his cock causing him to groan into her mouth.