by Anna Lowe
Ella walked up and slipped into a seat beside Jake, tilting her head and listening, too.
“Someone said they were surprised to see me engaged,” Silas started. “Believe me when I say I’m more surprised than anyone else.”
Jake smiled faintly as chuckles rippled through the room.
“Some surprises, well — they’re not so good,” Silas went on.
Jake’s cheek twitched as he thought about the day of the ambush.
“But some surprises are good ones. Really good,” Silas said. “The kind that make you wonder why fate decided to give so much to one man.”
Yeah, Jake knew that feeling too. Meeting Ella had been like that — and last night, too. He glanced over, but her eyes were firmly on the doors.
Silas continued, but a phone rang in the reception area, and a sports car hummed by outside, so Jake only caught some parts.
“Love…”
“…duties that sometimes seem crushing…”
Ella nodded as if she knew exactly what Silas meant.
A caterer came by with a rattly trolley of dishes, drowning out most of the next part of Silas’s speech.
“…But when destiny talks, it’s best to listen, and I learned that no man is immune…”
A man in the lobby started chattering on his phone, and whatever Silas said next was lost. But Hunter, who was standing by the ballroom doors, wore a goofy, sentimental look. The same look Boone had as he kissed Nina. They were just within Jake’s line of sight at the side of the ballroom, and the mirrors gave him a glimpse of Kai reaching for Tessa’s hand.
“Destiny,” Ella whispered. Her eyes locked on Jake’s.
Destiny, he nearly echoed. Was there really such a thing?
A moment later, Ella blinked and tensed again, fingering the silver necklace she wore.
“My Uncle Filimore said it best, I think…” Silas continued.
Jake looked around. It would be handy to have a wise uncle, but hell. Now he knew what he wanted. What he needed.
His eyes drifted to Ella. The first chance he had, he’d tell her that.
Ella whispered, “Looks like we have it under control.” Then she stood and spoke in a louder voice. “Oh! I think the light is just perfect for those flowers over by the sidewalk. I’ll be right back, honey. Meet back in the room soon?”
That was the signal for him to take his break, and he forced his voice to be light. “Sure.”
She was right, of course; the speeches were likely to go on for a while, and he would have to be extra alert later, with the comings and goings that would begin when the meal was served. There were two big guys at the lobby doors and several more scattered around the grounds — the extra security detail Silas had hired for the day — so now was as good a time as ever.
“See you, honey,” he called, releasing Ella’s hand at the last possible second.
We’ll talk once we get this reception out of the way and everything settles down. I promise I’ll explain.
Jake jutted his jaw to one side, hoping Ella wouldn’t change her mind. He rode the elevator up, entered the suite, and immediately grimaced. Housekeeping had been through and erased every hint of the previous night. The bed was made with tight, crisp sheets, stealing any hints of the intimacy he and Ella had shared the previous night. The coffee table was lined up with the couch again, the pillows back in place and fluffed. No champagne bucket. Not even a puddle to remind him of the best part. Everything was shiny and sterile, as if he had imagined it all.
He flopped down on a chair on the balcony, picking up the puzzle box for something to occupy his mind. If he tried to do nothing for ten straight minutes, he would go nuts.
Up. Left. Down. He pushed one row of squares sideways and another column up, rearranging the moving pieces in the eight-by-eight section of the lid. One of these days, he’d get that box open and find out what was inside. Even if it was empty, that would be okay. He would just scramble the pattern and try all over again. Or maybe he would find himself another puzzle box and–
Something clicked, and the lid pressed slightly against his thumb. It didn’t open, but he must be close. He leaned over the box, rearranging another couple of blocks. Three moves later, he’d moved the ivory piece two spots down and one over from the mahogany square, like a knight on a chessboard. Then he slid another section left, moving the sandalwood block closer to the middle, and—
Click! The lid popped open under his hand.
He stared for a minute, amazed he had finally cracked the code. A little deflated too, because what would he have to keep busy with after that?
He pushed the lid open. It was thick and heavy, housing a hidden mechanism that allowed the wooden blocks to move around and trip the lock. That only left about an inch of height in the lower portion of the box, and that was divided into four squares. Three were empty, but the fourth was stuffed with a white cloth.
Looking up, he nearly said, Ella, check this out.
But there was no one there. No one to share this minor victory with.
The cloth turned out to be a little pouch, soft all over except for an oblong lump in the middle. The light padding had kept whatever it was from bumping around and making a sound. Did the lady who sold him the puzzle box know there was something in there? Jake loosened the noose looped around the bag, hoping it wasn’t some kind of family heirloom that would require him to track the lady down to make sure she got it back.
“Come out already,” he murmured, pulling a wad of cotton out of the pouch. Then he carefully unfolded that to reveal what was inside.
Not a pearl. Not a marble. More like an oblong pebble, but the colors…
Jake held his breath as a ray of sunlight caught on the face of the stone. Parts of it were pink, others white, still others green — a whole rainbow of colors swirling through the rock. He pursed his lips in a cutoff whistle. Whatever kind of stone that was — an opal, maybe? — it was a doozy. The color shone blue when he angled his hand one way but changed to orange when he tilted it. Orange like the outer ring of Ella’s eyes. He tilted it left and right, wondering if—
His head snapped up in alarm. Not from anyone or anything in particular but from a tightening feeling in his gut. A bad, brace yourself soldier kind of feeling he had only felt a couple of times. The sense of impending doom, of a missile about to explode.
He stood quickly, pocketing the stone, and stood perfectly still, trying to get a handle on what was wrong. But there was nothing — no scream, no explosion, no revving engine or out-of-control truck. Still, his heart thumped and his blood rushed. Something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong.
He rushed downstairs, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and those, four at a time. The second he burst into the lobby, a babble of concerned voices hit his ears.
“Get her a drink.”
“Call an ambulance.”
“Put her feet up.”
He rushed toward the source of the commotion in the ballroom.
“I told you those babies were coming,” one of the older ladies observed.
Boone looked like he was about to have a heart attack. Nina was pale but calmly assuring all the people clustered around her she was fine, just fine. And finally, it clicked. Nina was in labor. But that wouldn’t set off this crazy danger reflex, would it? Jake whirled, surveying the scene.
Hunter spoke urgently into a phone. Silas was waving guests back, giving Nina space.
“Get the car,” someone said.
“No, get an ambulance.”
“Honestly, I’m fi—” Nina bit off the last word with a gasp and held her belly.
“Ambulance,” Boone barked. “Stay calm, honey,” he said to Nina, though he was the one who was white as a sheet.
“I’m so sorry,” Nina said, clutching Cassandra’s hand.
“Are you kidding?” Cassandra grinned. “Perfect excuse to move this event along. And I can’t wait to meet your babies. I bet you can’t either.”
Nina
beamed, gasped, and finally smiled again.
Jake hurried toward the lobby doors, because that ruckus wasn’t the problem. Not that Nina going into labor wasn’t a big deal, but that didn’t account for the man all stations alarms in his mind. He rushed outside, looking around.
“Where’s Ella?” he asked Kai.
Kai motioned vaguely as he barked into his phone. “When can you get the ambulance here?”
Jake dashed onto the lawn, looking everywhere, shouting for Ella in his mind. Where was she? What was going on?
A flash of red sped down the driveway and disappeared from sight, and Jake’s first impression was that must have been Boone, speeding Nina to the hospital in the Ferrari. But he’d just seen Boone in the ballroom, so—
He spun around then sprinted over to Toby — now back in valet mode — who strode over, grinning broadly. “You must be so excited.”
Not really, no. Nina was getting the help she needed. But where the hell was Ella?
“A honeymoon and a new property, right here on Maui,” Toby said, nodding cheerily. “Man, some guys can only wish.”
“The property isn’t really mine,” he murmured, wondering how Toby knew about the property Ella, Kai, and Hunter had inherited from their foster mother. He paced right past Toby, because that wasn’t important right now. “Anyway, my wife is selling it.”
My wife. Jake shocked himself with how earnestly he’d uttered the word.
Toby looked confused. “You mean, buying it. I thought that’s what he said.”
“Selling,” Jake grunted, looking around. He, she — Toby was obviously confused. But, man. Couldn’t the kid see he didn’t have time to chat right now?
He started to walk away, but Toby’s words stopped him dead in his tracks. “Your wife is feeling better, right?”
Jake spun on a dime. “What do you mean?”
Toby motioned vaguely. “Well, when she fainted—”
“When she what?”
Toby motioned over his shoulder. “Just a few minutes ago. She wilted, just like that. A good thing that guy was with her.”
Jake’s mind spun. Ella didn’t faint. Ella didn’t even yawn. She never showed weakness of any kind. Maybe the clueless kid had gotten Ella mixed up with Nina going into labor or something.
“She’s fine. The ambulance is coming to take her to the delivery room.”
Toby shook his head. “Not Ms. Miller. Your wife. She fainted, right over there.” He pointed to a copse of trees at the edge of the lawn.
Jake’s heart jackhammered away. “Where is she now?”
Toby motioned toward the parking lot. “Someone helped her over to the shade.”
“Someone?” he demanded, a heartbeat away from sprinting to the parking lot. Did Toby mean Boone? Kai? Hunter, maybe? “The big guy?”
Toby nodded. “Yeah, that big guy. The one with the red SUV.”
Jake stood still. Hunter usually drove the Land Rover. “Big guy, brown hair, brown beard?”
Toby stared at him. Jesus, it was like playing charades with a chipmunk.
“No, no beard. The other man. The realtor.”
Nothing Toby was saying made sense. “What realtor?
“The really tall dude with a shaved head.”
Jake was on the verge of saying the realtor looked nothing like that when it hit him who did, and his mind spun.
Red SUV, hightailing it out of the resort. Tall guy. Shaved head.
His stomach lurched. Gideon Goode?
Jake raced for the parking lot; Toby trailed behind. “What’s wrong?”
Everything was wrong. Ella didn’t faint, for starters. Gideon Goode had no business on the resort grounds, and he wasn’t a realtor. And finally—
Jake stopped in the middle of the parking lot and pivoted in every direction. “What shade?”
Toby caught up, puffing, and pointed. “Over there.”
Over there was a leaning palm tree with no one in sight. Jake raced over and toed the rut marks in the ground. The marks of a heavy vehicle with an interlocking, toothy tread. Something glinted underfoot, and he crouched, picking it out of the mud.
“What is it?” Toby asked.
Jake picked the tangle apart with shaking fingers. A plain silver necklace. Ella’s necklace.
The next instant, he was sprinting for the pink Jeep with it and groping under the carpet for the key. A second later, he revved the engine to life and accelerated out of the parking lot. The tires squealed as disapproving guests shot him dirty looks, but he ignored them. The resort gates were open as an ambulance rolled in, and Jake swerved around it, fishing for the phone in this pocket. Moments later, he peeled onto the highway and accelerated while hitting buttons on the phone.
“Come on,” he muttered, hoping Kai would pick up. “Come on…”
Chapter Fourteen
Ella sucked in a sharp breath and kicked out into the darkness. But her leg barely moved, and everything was foggy. Worse than foggy – everything was black, as if a blanket had been thrown over her. Her shoulders ached. The taste of bile filled her mouth, and her head spun. What was going on? Why was she lying down?
She tried to reach for her face, but her hands were stuck behind her. A low, grumbling chuckle sounded, neither near nor far. Somehow the distance was impossible to judge.
“How long does that stuff work?” a gruff voice she didn’t recognize asked.
“Depends on the shifter. But seeing as she’s just a little fox, it could last another few minutes,” an even deeper voice said.
Hey, she wanted to protest. I’m not little.
But she couldn’t speak, and she could barely move. With her hands bound behind her back, all she could manage was a weak wiggle. That made the nausea well up again, so she gave up except for rolling sideways. She might throw up, but at least she wouldn’t choke on her own vomit.
“You sure she’s a fox?” the other man asked.
The deep voice chuckled. “Trust me. I’ve got the best nose in the shifter world.”
“Well, I think she’s coming out of it.”
Coming out of what? All Ella remembered was making a quick patrol of the grounds at the resort. Silas’s speech about love and destiny had tugged every frayed string in her heart, making all her emotions bubble to the surface at the same time. So she had hurried outside to distance herself from all those happily mated couples while they celebrated something she could never have.
Jake. She wanted to whisper his name. To reach for his hand, to look into his eyes. To explain. That morning, she’d been ready to search for some way to make their relationship work. But then Kai had called to check in about the day, and gradually, the folly of her fantasy became clear. If she really loved Jake, she would let him go. The fact that she wanted to cry for his help right now was just another reason to call it quits. He made her weak. Unfocused. Unprofessional.
Fragments of memories raced through her mind, all mixed up and ragged around the edges. A foul smell. An evil grin. Footsteps…
Her body froze as a face emerged from the fog in her mind. Gideon Goode, the shifter who had come to see the property on Pu’u Pu’eo. The one she assumed had business connections with Silas. Had Silas misjudged his allies — or had she connected the wrong dots?
He’d stepped out of his SUV in the parking lot of the Kapa’akea Resort, dressed to the nines in a suit tailored to his giant frame. She’d gone over to check his invitation and, shit — fallen for a trap.
Miss Kitt. What a surprise to see you here, he’d said, smooth as can be.
Mr. Goode. Invitation, please.
She’d even held out her hand, grudgingly expecting him to be legit. But Goode had pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket, not an invitation, and covered his mouth as if to sneeze. Then he’d gestured over her shoulder and—
She made a face, recalling what little there was of the rest. She’d turned to see what he was indicating — total amateur move — just in time to hear footsteps and the hissing sound
of spray. A burning stench had filled her nose, making the world spin and her knees buckle. She hadn’t even gotten a look at the man who’d snuck up behind her, just a lungful of that obnoxious smell. And then she was falling…falling…
Gotcha, honey, Goode had chuckled, picking her up like a rag doll.
“Gotcha,” he murmured now.
Something warm touched her leg, and she jerked away. Then the vehicle hit a bump, and she bounced on the seat.
Shit, a vehicle. Goode was taking her somewhere — never a good scenario, even if it did mean her friends weren’t in danger at the moment. But, crap. She sure was.
The weight pressed over her leg again — a wide, callused hand — and she flinched as it stroked up and down. The car swerved and Goode chuckled, making her skin crawl as much as his touch did.
“Nice little fox we got here. An unexpected bonus to this entire trip, wouldn’t you say, Burman?”
She jerked away, trying to force her eyes open. But the second she did, another wave of nausea made her squeeze them shut again.
“What will the boss say about that?” the second, more nasal voice — Burman, she supposed — asked.
Goode slammed the dashboard with a fist and roared, “Moira is not my boss, you got that?”
Ella jerked her head around. Moira?
“Sorry,” Goode’s accomplice murmured. “But Moira wanted us to take out the pregnant one, right?”
Ella’s eyes went wide. No, not Nina. Please, not Nina…
Goode grumbled. “There’s no way we’d get close to that bitch. What Moira wanted was to send a clear message to the shifters here, and we’ve done that. Meanwhile, I get to take care of my own wish list. A win-win. You get that?”
“I get it, I get it,” the second man rushed to agree. “So Moira gets the fox—”
“I get the fox,” Goode boomed. “She fits in perfectly with what I already have running. Moira gets what she asked for — and nothing more.”
Ella’s mind spun. So Silas’s fears were founded — Moira had targeted the shifters of Koa Point once again. She hadn’t dared launch a strike at the estate, but obviously, she’d had enough money to hire Goode, who also harbored some grudge…