“Drake!” Chase skidded to a stop next to him. “Look at this.”
Drake took the small canister popped the lid open and tipped it over. A key fell out onto his hand along with a small piece of paper.
You’ll find everything at 425 Brooklyn, basement frozen storage.
Jada.
“What the hell is that?” Chase took the key and Drake glanced once more down the street where Jada had disappeared. “I don’t get it.”
“Come on.” Drake slapped him on the back and jogged back up to the house.
“She’s gone, isn’t she?” Cole asked the moment they were inside.
“Yeah.” Drake opened the hall closet and grabbed his and Chase’s jackets. “Stay with him. We’ll be back later.”
“What’s going on?” Stefan asked. He stood at the top of the stairs, in his robe.
“Jada left,” Drake answered. “And she left something. I’m taking Chase with me to see what the hell it is. Try to keep Kane down. Have the doctor give him another shot if you have to. Come on.”
Drake was out the front door before Stefan could say another word.
“Are we going to find Jada?” Chase asked.
Drake wanted to. He really did want to drag her ass back, but his gut was screaming that what she left was too damn important. This was what Stan was willing to kill her for.
They reached the city by six. At a quarter to eight, they found the storage building that was on the note, but had to wait until nine to go inside. The place was a medical unit and the basement was where all frozen specimens were kept.
“May I help you?” A man in a white doctor’s coat came out from a glass office.
Drake looked around before he showed the man the key. “I’m here to collect Jada Leonard’s box.”
“Ah, yes.” He smiled. “She said you might be showing up today.
Follow me, please.” The man showed them to a room, took the key from Drake and left. Seconds later, he came in with a large yellow envelope and a small cooler.
Drake opened the envelope first, dumping another white envelope on the table. Chase picked it up and Drake looked at the information before him.
Jada took everything. There were the experiments that were done on him as a baby, each stage of development of Kane, when Sasha was born and what they did to them. Drake sat there, reading it, unable to believe the tortures his children had endured. Even Sasha had a few experiments done on her and was to be soon bred because of her birthmark. Once it was known that Kane would do anything to protect her it stopped. For her that is. Still they probed her, took eggs, and tested on them. Drake feared now that she wouldn’t be stable for a mate and didn’t think either would be able to have children ever.
“Drake, listen to this,” Chase said, getting his full attention. “This is the information that was worth killing for. I also took each sample Stan ever had on Kane and Sasha.” Drake reached for the box, opening it up. He pulled out three vials. One had sperm, another eggs, and the third was dated back thirty years. His sperm! “It’s a letter from Jada. She goes on to say that you have your sample back and the ones that were taken from Kane and Sasha.” Chase’s head came up fast. “Sasha?” He dropped the letter, snatching up the file that Drake had in his hand. “That fucking bastard!” he growled.
“She’s right.” Drake stated. “This shit is worth killing for.” He slumped back in the chair with a sigh. “How could she have pulled this off alone the way she has?”
“How am I supposed to go forward now?” Chase asked, tossing the information back on the table. “I can’t go through with this now, Drake. I can’t traumatize her again.” He shook his head and Drake watched him. “I’ve—I’ve got to get out of here.”
When he made a move to leave, Drake lunged; grabbing Chase by the front of his jacket. “Get it together, Chase.” Drake lowered his voice, vibrating it with a low growl. “Given time I understand, but you walk away there isn’t going to be a walk back in. Understand?”
Chase took several deep breaths before nodding. Drake let him go fixed his jacket and then ran a hand through his hair.
“What are you going to do?” Chase asked.
“First thing I’m going to do is destroy all of this shit,” Drake told him, packing up the information. “No one is going to use me or them ever again. Then after that, I don’t know.”
* * * *
Six weeks later Kane sat on the side of the bed, trying to get his shirt on but having very little luck. His rib was killing him, which went right along with his back and the hole in his stomach. He was so damn sick of being in that bed that he could scream. Speaking of screaming, Sasha was doing a nice little number inside his head.
“Hey what are you doing?” Drake came over to the bed, a glass of water in one hand, and some pills in the other. He put them down, taking the shirt from Kane’s hand. “You trying to bust something open?”
“I’m doing okay.” He sighed when Drake held the shirt up over his head, stretching the hole for his head. “Come on, man, this is embarrassing.”
“Humor me.”
Kane growled at the back of his throat and let Drake help him get dressed. By the time he was done, he was breathing hard and sweating. When Drake handed him the pain meds Kane didn’t hesitate in taking them like he normally would.
“You still haven’t found her, have you?” Kane asked.
“No.”
“Do you think you will?”
“We did last time.” Kane winced, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Sasha again?”
Kane nodded, “She’s worried, freaking out. It’s the first time we’ve been away from each other.”
Drake grabbed the chair dragged it over to the bed and straddled it. “We need to talk about Sasha some.” He rubbed around his mouth, then stroked longer on his chin. “There’s some stuff you need to know and things you need to come to terms with starting now.”
Kane frowned. “Why do I get this feeling I’m not going to like any of it?”
Drake snickered, “Probably because you’re not. But you need to know that she isn’t alone either.” He got serious and that put Kane on edge. He was the only one who ever took care of Sasha, and as far as he knew he was going to be the only one. “So I’m going to start you off easy by telling you that she’s a telepathic.”
“Huh?”
“Her gift for communicating with you is extra special. Twins of our kind can do that, and males do the mind seduction, as I told you before. Well, with her, and it has been proven with our kind, that when a twin is born with the mark Sasha has on her shoulder and no shifter traits, well the telepathic thing comes into play.”
“I’m not getting you.”
“She can read everyone’s mind,” Drake said. “But can only talk with you, using it.”
“Wow,” Kane breathed out.
“Yeah, well that’s not all.” Drake took a deep breath and Kane got uncomfortable. “She also has a mate.”
“No.” Kane shook his head. “No mate.” He was about to get up, but the sudden move had him wincing. “Shit,” he hissed.
“Kane—”
“No, you don’t understand.” Kane strained to talk with the pain.
He twisted the wrong way, pulling at his rib that was still very tender.
“She can’t handle this, us! She’s, she’s. . .”
“I know, Kane.” He stilled, looking Drake dead on. “Jada left us all of the stuff she took. Everything that Stan was willing to kill her to get back. I know, and so does he about what happened to Sasha before you were able to protect her.”
Kane gritted his teeth together in frustration. “Who is he?” He hated asking the question, but at the same time needed to know. He didn’t want to think about the things someone would do to her. The same kind of things that he had done to Jada, but couldn’t stop his mind from going there.
“Kane,” Drake sighed.
“I want to know.” Kane said through his teeth.
Drake took a deep breath and let it out slow. “Chase.”
Holding his side, and his stomach, Kane stood up. He walked away from Drake to the window, staring down at the pool, which was empty. “Is that why he left? Because of us?”
“I think partly, yes.”
“Partly?”
“Chase hasn’t even stood on his own. By leaving he can figure out who he is and what he wants.” Drake also stood up, coming to stand next to Kane, leaning against the wall next to the window with his arms crossed. “He was prepared to walk away after seeing what they did to her. He doesn’t want to hurt her or you.”
“When will he do this then?”
“Whenever he feels it’s time. Kane, why haven’t you asked me what you really want to ask?”
Kane turned away from the window. He didn’t look at Drake as he headed for the bathroom. “I want to go home, Drake. Tomorrow please.” He went in, closing the door. He leaned back against it, closing his eyes with a sigh.
“I lied to you, Kane,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I do love you.”
He heard her say it, and still she left him. Kane couldn’t shake the feeling of being abandoned by Jada leaving after she said she loved him. It hurt, but what hurt even worse was deciding when he woke up this morning that he was going to let her go. He just hadn’t told Drake yet. He didn’t want them to go looking for her.
In the morning, they left. Drake called Carrick to tell her they were heading back. She already went home with Sasha and told them both she had everything ready. Kane was going to stay at the house until he was completely healed. He didn’t complain. The entire trip home he sat in his seat, staring out the window saying nothing. When Drake stopped to eat, Kane ate. It was almost as if he was going through the motions of life, but not really living it.
Sasha was very excited to see them both. She hugged Kane tightly, and he in turn hugged her quickly, then he let her go to head up to his room. There he stayed for a couple of days, only coming out for the bathroom. He didn’t even eat much. So this is what depression feels like. It sucks!
* * * *
Three weeks later Sasha woke early, went to Kane to check on him only to find an empty room. She sighed, resting her head on the doorframe, staring at the bed then the tray of food she brought up. The bed was a mess and the food untouched.
“You’re up early.” Drake came up behind her, kissing the top of her head as he did every morning.
“He’s been home for three weeks now and hasn’t come out of it.”
She looked up at Drake with a frown. “I’m worried about him. All I hear is this sadness in him.”
“I know,” Drake sighed.
“He needs Jada,” she stated, letting Drake pull her away from Kane’s door. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they went downstairs. “This isn’t like Kane, Drake. It’s like he’s just given up or something.”
“He has.”
She stopped; he took another step before stopping also. “Then we have to fix it. I want my brother back.”
“Sasha, it isn’t that simple.”
“Yes, it is. We find her and everything will go back the way it was.”
“Honey, things never go back the way they were. He has made the choice not to go after her and we have to respect that.”
She shook her head. “I can’t do that.”
Sasha brushed past him out the front door. The first days of spring were here, flowers were blooming, the trees were getting their new leaves, and the air was so fresh smelling. But the air still held a bitter coldness.
Taking off at a run, she went into the woods, following the sadness that was in her head. Each step she took it got stronger. Kane hadn’t been back to his cabin since coming home. But he did spend a lot of time in the woods just sitting and staring out at nothing. It made her feel bad for him, but she didn’t know what to do.
She stopped when she saw the freshly worn path that her brother had made. For weeks now, he kept coming to this hot spring and just sat there. Sasha knew it was a place that Kane had watched Jada swim. It was a memory he often relived in his mind. At first, it made her blush seeing it, then she became curious as to why it was so special or if the emotion she was picking up right now was sexy. She didn’t understand how one person could feel that by looking at another without clothes. It didn’t make much sense to her, until Carrick had the sex talk with her. Now that was something she hadn’t seen or noticed. She didn’t understand the whole thing. How could one get pleasure doing that? Kane did with Jada, and he was missing that contact now.
She went up to him. He was sitting on a rock, his back towards her, but he knew she was there. She saw that.
Sasha wrapped her arms around him from behind, resting her head on his shoulder. “Please don’t give up.” She whispered. “It’s going to be all right.”
Kane moved his head so his cheek rested on her arm. “I’m lost, Sasha, and can’t find my way out this time.”
She walked around to the front of him. She took his face in her hands, tilted his head up to look at her. There were tears on his face.
For the first time in her young life, she watched her brother cry.
“You’re not alone this time, Kane. We have family to help.”
“I…I…I.” he broke down and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight and close.
Kane held onto her tightly also, crying into her stomach when he fell from the rock to his knees. He fisted his hands into her sweater, and she fisted her hands into his hair. She felt his pain and hurt inside her head, but Sasha took it. This time she was going to be the one to fix things. She couldn’t let Kane hurt like this for a moment longer.
“It’s going be all right,” she soothed.
* * * *
Sasha stood at the top of the stairs, biting her lip, straining to pick up where Drake and Carrick were, and what they were doing. So far, they were in the kitchen talking and Kane was in his room, resting.
Once she was sure they were busy, she walked as softly as she could down the hall to their room. Drake’s cell was on the nightstand, which was just what she wanted. She sat down on the bed, picked the phone up and tried to figure out how to get the contacts to come up. It took some time, but she was able to get the one she wanted to show.
Cole.
“Hey, Drake what’s up?” Cole said after a few rings.
“Cole, its Sasha.”
“What’s wrong?” She heard the concern in his voice, and even on the phone, she could feel it.
She smiled. “Nothing. I need to ask you for help. You’re the only one I could think of to ask, who is still in the city.”
“What do you need?”
She licked her lips, glanced at the door to make sure she was still alone before going on. If Kane knew what she was doing he might get upset, but then again he might not care. “I know you found her last time. I want you to find Jada again.” Silence. “Cole?”
“Sasha, I don’t think that would be a good idea.” He sighed.
She frowned. “He’s dying inside, Cole. All I feel is this sadness in him. We need to fix it!”
“Honey, its something he’s going to have to do on his own if he wants that.”
“No. That’s not acceptable.” She shook her head.
“Sasha we can’t interfere here. I know you don’t understand, and I do get it that you want to help Kane. But his shifter pride won’t let us help him this time.”
She didn’t want to hear anymore of it and hung up on it. Tears of frustration came to her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She needed to help Kane. Someone had to!
Taking a deep breath, she flipped through the contacts again. One name stood out. A name she had heard, but hadn’t really ever seen or met. She knew he was at the house when they got Kane home. He brought Celine home to be with Cole. And he was friends with Jada.
Sasha placed the call to the name Chase. Her nerves started to scream at her as she waited for him to answer
the phone.
“Drake, you sure do know how to call when I’m busy as hell.”
Her mouth went dry and hands started to shake. His voice was so deep that it made her feel funny. What really had her scared to talk was that she didn’t pick anything up from him. There was no feeling, no sound in her head. Nothing! Everything around her seemed to go quiet.
“Drake! You there.”
“This isn’t Drake,” she had to force herself to speak, and her voice shook when she did. It went quiet on the phone and Sasha almost feared that he had hung up. “Hello? Are you still there?”
“Sasha?” he sighed her name and it sent chills down her spine.
“Yes,” she answered. Swallowing hard and taking a deep breath she went on: “I need help to find Jada. Can you find her, please? Kane really needs her.”
Time seemed to stand still. She couldn’t pick up a thing from him. She was afraid that he was going to tell her no like Cole had. It was so strange not being able to read him or see what he was thinking like the others. Even before Cole answered her, she knew he wouldn’t. She just hopped that he might change his mind when he talked to her. With Chase, she didn’t know a thing.
“Are you still there?” she asked tenderly, fearing that he was going to say no and hang up on her. He sounded so strange.
“Okay.” He sighed again. “I’ll find her for you and let Cole know so he can have Drake bring him.”
She smiled, even though he couldn’t see it. “Thanks! How long do you think it will take for you to find her?”
“It won’t take me too long.”
“Thank you so much. I owe you one.”
She heard him take a deep breath. It almost sounded like he was trying to get control or something. “No, you don’t. You don’t owe me anything. Take care.”
The phone went dead. She put it back down and left the room wondering why she couldn’t read him or pick up anything at all. For the moment she didn’t care. Someone was going to help her help Kane and that’s all that mattered.
Chapter Twelve
Jada walked down the clean, sterile halls of one of the fanciest and most expensive private hospital/nursing homes around. Only a few people had large enough bank accounts to be able to stay here for treatment and James Leonard was one of them.
The New Breed Page 20