by Niles, Abby
Liam looked horrified. “What did he plan to do with the video?”
“Nothing. He just wanted to get my attention and show me what he was capable of. How far he was willing go to get what he wanted.”
“Was the body ever recovered?” Liam asked.
“No. I spent days afterward searching the newspapers and the internet. I never found a report of a body. I don’t know what happened to it...or if it was even real. But I couldn’t take the chance...”
“And he did all of this just because he wanted you to leave me? You’re sure it’s the same guy that took us captive?”
She nodded. “ Yeah. I told you he called right after I got back from the hospital. It wasn’t until that moment, I knew all of this was connected. He was very upset with me for escaping.”
He scrubbed his hand over his face. “Fuck.”
“W-what?”
“Nothing.”
“Liam, no more secrets.”
“It’s nothing, Ava. I’m just digesting it all. Was that the only time you had contact with him before he kidnapped you?”
“No. I wasn’t quick enough to fulfill his demands. I didn’t want to hurt you, didn’t want to give you up, I loved you so much.” Her voice broke and she had to clear her throat. “I tried twice to go through with it, and then you’d smile at me and I just...couldn’t.”
Liam’s eyes softened. “Ah, hell, baby.”
When he took a step forward, she put up her hand. She had to get it all out.
“The bastard made sure I understood who I was putting in jeopardy by my hesitation. Emma had another accident. He took her skateboard and loosened the wheels. He got into her bedroom, Liam. Luckily, she only broke her leg when the wheels came off, but he promised next time it would be worse. I broke up with you the next day.”
Liam finally closed the distance between them and dragged her to him, cradling her head against his chest. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me, Ava?” he whispered.
She pulled back so she could look at him. “He was watching me while I was on the phone with him earlier. He knew when we were making out in the kitchen. No one knows who he is. After our kidnapping, SPAC’s been searching. Even they can’t find him. He’s like a menacing phantom out there, hell bent on destroying my sister unless I stay away from you.”
“Damn it, Ava.” His arms tightened around her as pressed his lips to the top of her head. “I hate that you went through this alone.”
She tightened her hold on him. “I felt like I had to, but I can’t keep hurting you, not knowing what I know now. Not knowing how he used my love for my sister to destroy you. Not knowing I had the ability to fix this terrible thing happening to you. I fixed it, right Liam? Please tell me I fixed it.” Her voice caught again, and she pressed her lips together, tears blurring the handsome face before her.
A warm palm caressed her cheek. “Ava, your love will always fix me.”
Her shoulders started to shake with sobs and he dragged her to him again.
“A couple of days ago you asked me if I trusted you and I hesitated,” she said against his chest. “I’m trusting you now, Liam, with my sister’s life. She’s still in danger. He can’t know I told you. He’ll kill her.”
Liam’s arms tightened around her. “Nothing is going to happen to Emma. I swear it.” He stepped back and swallowed. “I think you need to get back in the house now.”
She knew he was right, but she loathed leaving things hanging between them. “We’ll find a—”
He snatched her crutches off the ground and held them out. “Ava. Go in the house.”
Taking them, she saw his determination shining down at her. She gave a jerky nod and did as he asked.
Praying she hadn’t just made the biggest mistake of her life.
…
As the door closed behind Ava, Liam squeezed his eyes closed. He wanted to call her back, but he couldn’t be around her right now, not when the truth was battering him from the inside, leaving him and his beast stunned while the true reality of the situation took root.
He’d known this maniac was after him. His menacing utterance at Ava’s, and his actions during their captivity all but proved that. But the lengths he’d gone to—
Liam fisted his hands, soaking in the double-edged truth. Ava hadn’t left him because she didn’t love him, didn’t have room in her life for him, hadn’t left him because of what he was. She did love him. As he was, and she’d wanted him in her life. But she’d been forced from his side, from his arms—the first domino sending the forward momentum to bring the rest crashing down. Destroying him slowly from the inside.
What had he done to this man?
Why would any shifter want to put another shifter through this kind of living hell?
Everything other than why was completely clear now.
None of this had anything to do with Ava or Emma. They were just pawns in this sick fuck’s plan. Emma used to get to Ava. Ava used to get to Liam.
Liam had been the fucker’s target from the very beginning, made to believe Ava had rejected him, so he’d sink deep into Dsershon, so he cursed the Fewshon, cursed her, cursed the weak, pathetic man he’d become.
And it had all been done to him deliberately. Meticulously planned, ruthlessly carried out.
His tormenter had wanted him to be Dserted, and had used Ava and her sister to make sure it happened.
But Dsershon wasn’t all the man had planned for him, Liam was absolutely certain. The psychopath was out to make him suffer the ultimate hell of a Dserted shifter: Ava’s death.
Somewhere along the line Liam had clearly slighted the wrong man—a crazy, spiteful shifter who wanted Liam’s mate to be lost to him forever.
He didn’t give a damn about the reason. It wasn’t going to happen. Whatever misdeed Liam had unknowingly committed Ava would not pay the price. He would sacrifice his own life before that happened. To keep Ava safe, to ensure she lived a long, happy life, ge’d do anything.
Even if it was without him.
He turned to gaze down at the finished hope chest sitting on the workbench. As he ran his hand over the smooth, flat surface of the lid, Hhe opened it then traced his fingers along the deep grooves of blackened wood burned so carefully on the bottom of the lid.
Ava would bond to him willingly now, give him the peace he craved, save him from hell, ensure their eternity together. Everything he wanted.
But the moment she placed her mark on him, it meant sacrificing Emma. And he couldn’t let her do that. Not when she’d gone to such great lengths to protect her sister. Swallowing, he closed the lid. He needed to move the chest, make sure she never saw the inside.
Maybe one day, when this was all over, he’d be able to give it to her, knowing they could safely love the way they were meant to, when no harm would come to anyone because of their bonding.
As it stood, only one person would truly suffer now.
Him.
And he’d make certain it stayed that way.
“Liam?”
He blinked at the intrusive female voice. He turned to find Val standing in the garage doorway leading to the house.
“Hey, sorry. Ava told me you were back here.” She tilted her head and studied him, a sympathetic look on her face. He cursed her for seeing him lost in his own sadness, his own regret.
She stepped into the garage. “We caught a muted scent about fifty yards from the house.”
He straightened, completely alert. “When?”
“About forty-five minutes ago.”
“And you’re just telling me?”
“I don’t have time to stop my investigation just because you want a minute to minute update. I’m telling you now. Be happy with that.”
Liam ground his teeth, knowing she was right but not liking her answer anyway. “And?”
“He must have heard us coming and took off. He’s using chloroform to cover his scent now. He’d used Formaldehyde before. Now we know he’s switching them up and can be
better prepared. He’ll probably use propane or some other classic chemical for masking next. But we’re onto him. He won’t be able to come close to the house without one of my team being on him.”
He nodded, and Val left. They had to catch this fuck. It was the only way he and Ava would have any chance of a future together.
But he was prepared to do whatever he must to ensure that Ava had one.
Even if it meant he must die.
Chapter 11
“How could he have gotten within fifty yards of the house?” Ava glared the detective, who’d come back through the kitchen after speaking with Liam.
“Miss Michaels, you need to stay inside at all times. I haven’t gone up against another shifter like this in a long time. He knows the weaknesses in my abilities, and he is exploiting them.”
“Then put someone on the job who doesn’t have any weaknesses.” Ava exhaled harshly. “Isn’t the whole damn species special in one way or another? There has to be someone out there better than you.”
The woman’s eyes flashed as her chin went up. “I’m head of SPAC because I am the best at what I do. However, I do have my limitations. He is masking his scent. Every other member of my team can only smell the chemical, can’t pinpoint it to a specific area. I can smell the shifter underneath and can follow his scent more accurately. Tell me, who would you rather have on the job?”
“If you can smell the shifter, why can’t you find him?”
The woman’s fingers clenched then unclenched. Ava was pissing her off, but she really didn’t care. She didn’t understand what this woman was so good at and why she should keep trusting her to find this madman when he’d gotten so close to the house.
“Liam smells of worn leather.”
Ava frowned. Why the hell was she talking about how Liam smelled? And was so grossly wrong at that. “No, he doesn’t. He smells of wood chips.”
“That’s what you smell. Every person, shifter and human, has a unique scent that is his very own. You smell of jasmine. It’s subtle. I have to filter through all the other scents to find it, but I can find it. No other shifter can. That is why I am head of SPAC, and how I’m going to get this asshole. However, I cannot dig past the chemical smells. Which is why he is using it. I can smell he’s a shifter, but I can’t pinpoint his unique scent.” She pushed out a breath. “We are doing everything we can to end this quickly. You just have to trust that.”
She really didn’t have much choice, did she? “What about my sister?”
“Because of the recent events, we have a few more SPAC members watching her.”
“Are you telling me she is going to come home with a whole pack of dogs now?”
The detective’s lips twitched. “Um. No. We only have the one agent working undercover. The rest are shadowing her. She won’t see them, but they are there.”
Ava nodded. She was still terrified the man would be furious when he couldn’t get to her, and take it out on Emma. Having more people guarding her sister was a huge relief.
“He’s been chased back, and my team is sweeping the woods. He won’t get that close again. Either way, don’t leave the house until we have him in custody. Not even to go in the yard. He needs you to get to Liam. If you die, Liam might as well be dead, too.”
The last sentence had been delivered with such deliberate intensity, Ava’s gaze shot up to the detective. “Why did you say that?”
“I wasn’t that far into the woods. I overheard your last argument.”
“And?” It was embarrassing, but didn’t answer the question.
The detective stepped toward the front door, a small smile curving her lips, softening her hard features. “You’ve been a true pain in my ass, but I respect you for trying your damnedest to get answers, even though no one is willing to give them to you, including myself. So I’m offering you that tip to point you toward some very important information that you’ll need.” With that, she opened the door and left.
Ave knew from her conversation with Jaylin that there was more Liam needed to tell her, but Detective Calhoun’s words made curiosity claw at her. Liam had said her death would ruin him, and she had wondered then if it had meant more than her human mind could comprehend. It seemed her suspicions had been spot on. And he was keeping her in the dark again.
Detective Calhoun had said the team was in the woods right now. That meant the madman wasn’t anywhere close to the house and probably wouldn’t try again anytime soon. She had to grab this opportunity while she could.
Slowly she opened the door to the garage, and was disappointed when she found it empty. She stepped inside, letting the scents of wood and Liam surround her.
The hope chest still sat on the workbench. She walked over to it, running her palm along the top. Yet another magnificent piece created by the hands of Liam Doyle.
But he’d said the Dsershon had kept him from working.
The thought was unimaginable. Woodworking was ingrained in him—a part of him. His eyes had always lit up when he talked about a project he was building. Pride had resonated off him every time he finished one. He was alive when he created, and not being able to do so over the past few months was a testament to just how awful the time had been for him.
Dsershon.
Seemed a cruel fate for someone as good as Liam.
She lifted the lid of the chest. Air whooshed out of her lungs as she froze, unable to believe what she was seeing. She stared at the burnt-in symbol, terrified that she was somehow projecting the image onto the wood, terrified she’d blink and it would disappear. But it didn’t. It stayed seared deep into the wood just as the symbol had always seared deep into her soul.
This hope chest was hers.
Tears blurred her vision.
He’d been making this for her.
She reached out a shaky finger to outline the sideways figure eight.
The infinity symbol.
Her heart expanded, pressing against her ribs, until she was certain it would explode. It had been too long since she’d seen the design, felt the overwhelming love that filled her when she looked upon it.
Liam had never left average love notes around the house. No “I love you” scrawled on a piece of paper placed on her pillow. It had always been this symbol—on her pillow, in her lunch, stuck to the refrigerator.
Words hadn’t been needed. The symbol had said everything.
Them…together…forever.
She’d always thought it was a sweet gesture. Something special between them. But was it like everything else about him, and meant more? Had some kind of secret meaning?
“You weren’t supposed to see that.” The quietly spoken words came from behind her. “I was just coming back to get it.”
“When?” It was all she could get past the emotions clogging her throat, but he seemed to understand her question.
“I started it before we broke up.” He knew exactly what she was asking. “For a long time I couldn’t work on it…not until recently.”
“Liam.” She breathed his name with everything that spiraled within her: regret, sadness, endless love.
He came to stand beside her, gazing at the symbol. “I was going to give it to you on our wedding night.”
“You’re the fiancé.” She remembered what he told her when he brought the chest to her house.
“No. I was never the fiancé. Wanted to be, but never got the chance.” He shifted his body toward her as he looked down at her. “It was meant to store our memories. Our wedding. The births of our children. The years afterward. I wanted to give you something to place them in to cherish. And when we filled that one, I’d make you another.”
No longer able to hold back the tears, she covered her face with her hands, the magnitude of everything she had taken away from him slamming into her. “I-I am so sorry…for everything…I’ve done.”
He took her in his arms, cradling her head against his chest as he shushed her. She burrowed closer, wrapping her arms around him, holding tight, not
ever wanting to let go again.
“It’s okay,” he gently said. “I understand now. It doesn’t make it easier, but at least I understand.”
She pulled back to look up at him. “I never wanted to hurt you, Liam. And it’s killing me knowing the extent I have. I didn’t know. I swear, I didn’t know.”
He brushed back her hair, pain in his own eyes. “How could you when I never told you?”
“I-I took everything from you. How can you ever forgive me for that?”
“Ava,” he breathed her name in a comforting tone. “I never told you. You were protecting your sister. Doing what you thought was right. There isn’t anything to forgive.”
“Will you tell me now?” When he glanced away, she grabbed his bicep. “Please, Liam. Don’t shut me out, now that I am finally starting to understand your world, too. I want to know everything, and not just the bad stuff, I want to know the good, too.”
And this symbol meant something good. She was certain of it.
He reached out to gently touch the infinity symbol. “I’m sure you suspect now that it means more than me being romantic.”
“Yes.”
“This represents the shifter bond, Ava. A love that never ends. A connection that continues…even after death.”
After death? That far surpassed anything she could imagine. “But how?”
“Do you remember the first time we kissed?”
How could she ever forget? “Our first date.” Despite her roiling emotions, a small smile came to her lips. “You’d walked me to my door. And then you kissed me. A sweet kiss.”
“It didn’t stay sweet for long.”
No, it hadn’t. It had become carnal seconds later…on both their parts. He hadn’t left that night, or any night for the months to follow. And suddenly, she knew. “That’s the night you marked me.”
“Yes. The moment I placed my lips to yours, the mating instinct in me awakened, and I knew you were supposed to be mine. It’s called the Drall, and once awakened, the shifter is driven by the need to mark his mate.”
Drall. The first word she’d heard that didn’t have an ominous sound to it, something she could relate to. She’d been drawn to Liam, pulled closer, first out of curiosity, then attraction, and finally love. “But what is the bond for?”