By the time he emerged, John MacMurphy was leaning against the wall and Jeremy was on his knees, clutching Emma. And he knew two things clear as night.
The man was honest; he meant them no harm.
And they had no choice but to go with him.
Chapter Sixteen
The walk back through Amberley was a slow, somber one. Hailey didn’t say a word about what Jeremy had shown her and Jeremy didn’t try to find out on his own. She’d tell him when she was ready.
He kept his arm around her as they walked, holding her elbow for support. She was loosely hugging herself, switching arms every so often to take the pressure off the bottom arm for a little while. He’d checked her wrists while she’d … visited. They didn’t seem broken, just banged up. They might hurt like hell for a while and she probably wouldn’t be able to pick anything up but she’d heal quickly.
People smiled and greeted them as they passed. He was known here. Although his house was miles away near the lake, this was where he and Pixie came for supplies. Jeremy loved the easy camaraderie here. This was what he’d always wanted for Pixie.
The girl took to Torrey like a fish to water. She made friends easily; she was known here, and liked. She never walked past the baker without him giving her a pastry. The weaver and blacksmith were her favorite people to visit, and even the tanner had warmed up to her eventually. Jeremy never had to worry about her getting hurt here; he wasn’t the only one looking after her anymore.
Casting a sideways glance at Hailey—which she reciprocated with a suspicious one of her own—he could imagine his life here. His little house by the orchard, a wife, maybe children. Beautiful little girls and brave boys. He could see himself growing old, one of those people who always had a smile on their face and candy in their pockets.
Walking hand in hand with his love of countless years whose smile was the reason he got up in the morning with a spring in his step.
You’d think such simple dreams would be easy to attain.
“Are you not talking to me now?”
Hailey shrugged and switched her arms again. “Got nothing to say.” Nothing worthwhile ever came easy, he reminded himself.
They were about to go through the marketplace. This time of day it was crowded with merchants and visitors. It wasn’t just fruit they offered. There were stalls for painters, clothiers, and basket weavers, among others. One man even sold raw stones and crystals. At a glance they looked ordinary but all it took was a little time and attention to transform them into beautiful sparkling gems. These mountains were rich with them, and it was as much an adventure to find them as it was to uncover their inner beauty. Much like other things in life.
Jeremy pulled Hailey closer so she wouldn’t be jostled so much.
“I’m not an invalid,” she growled.
“What makes you think I’m doing this for you?” he returned. “Maybe I just like holding you.” And he did. She looked up at him uncertainly and Jeremy half expected her to pull away, but she didn’t. Was it his imagination or had she eased closer?
They slowly made their way through the marketplace and Jeremy could feel Hailey’s relief when they neared the other side. He’d arranged for a taxi to take them to Amelia’s compound. He’d have ordered a wagon just to see Hailey riding in one but the trip would have taken them three hours. With the taxi traveling at top speed, it would be about twenty minutes.
When they were clear of the crowd, Hailey finally relaxed. And it would have to be right at that moment that someone careened into them. Hailey was turned around and jostled out of his hold. He heard her hiss in pain and in his mind he heard her leopard wake angrily.
The man responsible gasped.
Jeremy winced when he saw Hailey’s eyes starting to glow as she turned around and he stepped between the two for both their sakes. “Easy,” he told Hailey. “It was an accident.”
“It’s you,” the man said.
Jeremy glanced over his shoulder at him, frowning. That voice sounded so familiar. “Hey,” he said in greeting. “Morgan’s brother?” he guessed.
The man ignored him, his attention rapt on Hailey. And the look on his face! Such relief and … adoration. “You’re here,” he said as a big smile spread across his face.
Jeremy turned back to Hailey. “Friend of yours?”
Hailey frowned, watching the man. Jeremy felt her searching her mind for a memory. There was nothing she could connect him to. Not a friend. “Do I know you?” she asked him.
The man’s smile faded. “Know me?” he said in a small, hurt voice.
Jeremy’s instincts screamed an alarm. He took Hailey by the elbow again and steered her away from the guy. “We’ll be late,” he told her. She went along with little more than a shrug, dismissing the stranger without another thought. Jeremy happened to glance back as he helped Hailey into the taxi.
The man was still standing where they’d left him, staring at Jeremy now with murder in his eyes.
*
The drone of the engine drowned out most of the noise immediately around her and the unfamiliar scents of horses and people were too thick in the air to make out subtleties. Still, something about that chance meeting struck Hailey as wrong. Damned if she could put her finger on it, though. And not just because both her wrists and hands hurt something awful when she moved them. Har har.
In the taxi, she could finally rest her hands in her lap. The directions were already programmed into the console and this thing didn’t exactly follow the road. It had a destination and took the straightest possible route to it, which meant that aside for swerving around a tree or hill, it didn’t deviate from the path it had chosen.
A few minutes later, the ground beneath her window changed from green to black; not asphalt but smooth rock. A moment after that, the taxi came to a stop and Hailey looked up from the ground at the building standing on it.
“Hard to believe she got this done in a month.”
A month?
The behemoth in front of her was an entire compound, two stories high and sprawling over a hell of a lot of land. Knowing Amelia, this place wouldn’t be just bare walls on the inside. No way; Dr. Chase liked to work in style. She would have pulled all the strings she could to fill this place with state-of-the-art equipment and supplies.
Jeremy helped her down from the taxi and then pushed a button to send it back to wherever it had come from. Once it was gone, Hailey was left with the stark building in front of her and the picturesque countryside behind her. A strange contrast, but she should probably start getting used to it. She’d be spending a lot of time here. Maybe the rest of her life. However long that might be.
“Are you ready for this?” Jeremy’s hand rested on her lower back. It was a comforting gesture.
“I’m glad you came,” she said.
He got a strange look on his face and nodded in answer. Whatever that meant.
When they approached the door it opened from the inside and Amelia came rushing out. “Oh, thank God you’re here!” She launched herself at Hailey and hugged her so tight it hurt.
Hailey couldn’t breathe. “Hi, sis,” she squeaked.
Amelia drew back and caught Hailey’s face in her hands. She looked overjoyed, but her heart was racing and her hands were trembling. Amelia was nervous. Her hair was shorter, cut in a puffy bob that ended just below her shoulders. It was cute; it tempered the Doctor of Doom vibe her glasses and lab coat gave off.
“You look good, Ams.”
Amelia chuckled. She caught Hailey’s hand and pulled her along. Hailey winced in preparation for the pain but the worst of it had ebbed. “Come on. Everything is set up and ready.”
Before they could get through the door Jeremy caught Hailey’s other arm and pulled them both to a stop. “Wait,” he said.
It was his tone more than anything that made Hailey look over her shoulder at him. He was furious. Aggression poured off him in waves that made her dizzy. Her beast raised its head, scenting for threats. The muscle
s in Jeremy’s jaw were jumping and he looked just about ready to beat the crap out of someone. But his hold on Hailey’s arm was ever so gentle.
Amelia faced him too, the two of them standing on either side of the compound, one in, the other out, and Hailey in the middle. “Something wrong, Agent Calen?” Amelia said. She wasn’t smiling anymore and her eyes held that signature Don’t Piss Me Off attitude she usually reserved for people in her field.
“She’s not going in there,” Jeremy told her.
Hailey gaped.
“Excuse me?” Amelia said, raising a perfectly groomed eyebrow.
Jeremy met Hailey’s gaze and spoke to her, rather than her sister. “I gave you my word.”
“What word?” Amelia demanded. “What are you talking about?”
What if I guarantee that you will not be harmed?
Can’t guarantee that. Can’t account for the actions of others.
I will give you my word.
The conversation came back to her as if they were having it all over again. Funny, for a second there seeing her sister Hailey had made her forget all her fears about coming here in the first place.
“What’s in there?” she asked him. “What did you see that made you change your mind?”
“You know,” Jeremy said to Amelia, but he kept holding Hailey’s gaze, “I like to believe the best of people. I thought Hailey’s fears were unfounded, that the bond between siblings meant a hell of a lot more than some science experiment. Now I realize my judgment was clouded by my own experiences.” Then he met Amelia’s gaze dead-on. “See, I would die for my sister. I thought you would too.”
His words tugged at Hailey’s heart. She hoped to God she didn’t look all doe eyed just then. That would be embarrassing. When he met her gaze, he gave a little squeeze on her arm and his thumb brushed back and forth once. In assurance? Her knight in shining armor, coming to her rescue. Even after she’d spurned him.
“I’ll always come to your rescue,” he said in a tone that said she should know this by now.
“Why?”
Before he could answer, Amelia cut in on their private mental conversation. “Are you accusing me of something?”
“You should know better than to try to hide something from a telepath,” Jeremy told her.
“I’m not hiding anything and this is none of your business. Your job is d—”
“Why is there a tranquilizer in your pocket?” he cut in. “What is the cage for?”
Ah, so it was both, then. Hailey had figured one or the other. Should have known Amelia wasn’t one to take unnecessary chances.
Hailey’s sister looked between her and Jeremy, her mouth compressed in a thin line. “Tristan came by yesterday. He said Hailey was unstable, possibly a danger to others and herself. He told me in no uncertain terms that he would not tolerate her so close to his home and mate.”
“God,” Hailey muttered, “what an asshole.”
Amelia glared at her. “He’s just doing his job as the protector. His wife is pregnant.”
What about you? Hailey wanted to say. Are you doing your job as my sister? Had Amelia even argued her case? Or had she taken the shifter’s word without question? Hailey leaned toward Jeremy. He stepped up closer at the same time. He’d take her side. He already had.
“His wife isn’t anywhere near here,” he said.
“Do you think that matters?” Amelia crossed her arms over her chest, visibly uneasy. “Who knows how fast or how far Hailey can run when she changes? We know she can do damage. We all saw the news reports.”
Hailey flinched. Jesus. She grasped the doorjamb for support. It was one thing to have suspicions. But to have them confirmed, to have Amelia, the only family she had left, blatantly throw them in her face like a well-known fact…
“Y-you really believe that?” It was nearly impossible to say the words out loud, to acknowledge such betrayal. And that was exactly what it felt like. Even though Hailey and her sister didn’t get along. Even if they rarely spoke. Even if Hailey had screwed things up royally with her.
“None of that should matter.”
Jeremy said it. But he made her want to believe it too. She should deserve better. She did.
“I’m here,” Jeremy said.
Amelia’s shoulders slumped. She had that look on her face that doctors used to tell patients they would die. “I have to take into account every contingency. You said yourself you have no control over the leopard once it’s out—”
“So you think you’ll control it for me?”
Her sister drew herself up. “Wouldn’t you want me to? Isn’t that what sisters do? Clean up after each other’s messes?”
Hailey backed up all the way outside, her step perfectly synchronized with Jeremy’s. “Who are you?” she said, staring at the stranger who called herself sister. “God, Amie, is that what this is all about? Is that why you sent an agent after me? To clean up?”
Amelia and Jeremy exchanged a look. A meaningful one. The kind that was usually accompanied by a conversation no one else could hear.
Hailey felt as if someone had ripped her insides out. She looked at Jeremy and the answer was plain as day on his face. “No…” She shook her head a little, afraid that any sharp movement would make her shatter like brittle glass. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“Hailey…”
How could she have been so stupid? Of course Amelia wouldn’t give a rat’s ass about whether or not Hailey recovered. She only cared about the casualties being left in the wake of her screwup sister’s antics. She just wanted to hide any trail that might lead to her.
And Jeremy!
Oh God…
His big monologue about believing in people, all that crap about standing by her, taking her side. All a lie. One giant mind-fuck, psychology and telepathy at their best. To make her cooperate. To get her here.
“You don’t believe that.”
“Shut up!”
God, how well it had worked! She wanted to retch, remembering the speech she’d given him just this freaking morning about how she needed to break things off. He’d made it all seem like her idea. He’d turned her animal instincts against her, made her want him and then so valiantly offered himself up like some great sacrifice for the good of the mission. And then he’d left it up to her to end it.
All this time she’d worried about hurting him. Idiot.
Claws erupted, fangs sharpened. The cat was pissed. Itching to do damage. To show them just how much of an animal she could be.
Jeremy reached for her.
Hailey hissed and pulled away. “Don’t you touch me.” None of it meant anything at all. How he must have laughed.
Her cat made a low, whining sound of pain.
Jeremy swore, reached for her again.
Hailey lashed out with a snarl. Not to hurt; just enough to scare him.
It worked. He backed up, hands in the air, splitting his attention between her and Amelia.
It worked on Hailey too.
Shocked at herself, at how damn much she hurt and wanted to do damage—she did, not the cat—Hailey stared at her claws, blinking back tears. Maybe they were right. Maybe she was a danger to others. Other women might want to scratch their men’s faces off for hurting them but Hailey could actually do it.
“Hailey, look at me,” Jeremy said urgently. “You didn’t hurt me.”
No, but she could have so easily. She wanted to.
She closed her eyes. Take away the emotion. Amelia did it all the time. It couldn’t be that hard. Hailey removed herself from the scene. She made herself a neutral observer, watching the dilemma of three people locked in a stalemate.
She knew without looking that Amelia had a tranq in her hand. She knew without seeing that Jeremy was doing his psych mojo to defuse the situation.
Remove the emotion. See the facts.
Fact: Hailey was unstable. She couldn’t do anything on her own, except die.
Jeremy swore. She ignored it.
F
act: She was dying. She needed to be here. She needed a lab and her sister’s expertise to find a way to fix herself.
Fact: They might be right to worry.
“No! Don’t…”
Hailey shook her head to dislodge Jeremy’s voice. Remove the bias. She felt herself shut down. The pain ebbed, the disgust faded, the tears dried. Calm settled over her as cool as an autumn lake. When she opened her eyes, she could look at Amelia without the hollow in her chest burning her insides. She could face Jeremy without the sting of humiliation making her twitchy.
Her claws receded, teeth dulled. Hailey sighed.
“Hailey?” Amelia said cautiously.
She met Jeremy’s gaze and he flinched. She didn’t.
“Hailey.”
“Thank you for getting me this far,” she said formally. “Your job is finished, Agent Calen. Well done.”
“Hailey, don’t do this. Just let me explain—”
“If I know my sister, your payment will be processed with utmost expedience.”
Jeremy speared his fingers into his hair as she spoke. That muscle in his jaw was jumping again.
“To hell with the payment!” he snapped, and would have said more, but Hailey cut him off again.
“Now, if you’ll excuse us, my sister and I have work to do.”
Chapter Seventeen
August 13th, 3032
Hailey negotiated a truce with Amelia. It was tentative and frail, and it rested on one assumption: that Hailey could control herself. Hailey would sleep in a room with barred doors and windows. Any other time she was free to roam the compound but as soon as she felt herself start to lose it she had to either lock herself up, or tell Amelia to do it.
Hailey had her suspicion that one morning she would wake up and the barred door just wouldn’t open so she’d taken precautions for that contingency. She’d stolen a key card. Fooled me once…
The first round of tests was grueling. They needed blood and tissue samples as well as extensive body scans to measure the damage. The second round would be the same to compare data and measure the speed at which the compounds degraded in Hailey’s system.
The one thing Hailey was grateful for throughout this process was the fact that Amelia wasn’t a gabber. She didn’t ask about why Hailey had done this, where she’d gone, what she’d done there, or why she hadn’t come back before now. All her questions were direct and relevant to the work at hand.
Blood Trails Page 19