by Sydney Addae
“After.”
“She’s not working today,” Shyla said.
Vanessa choked. “No? What was she doing here then?”
“Inviting you to lunch I guess.” Shyla shrugged.
“She came all the way here to invite me to lunch instead of calling? Really? Is that what you expect me to believe?”
Shyla shrugged. “I call it as I see it. She wanted to spend time with you today, alone.”
Vanessa thought about it. Last week Brenda had gone out of her way to speak, to engage in small talk, although the woman was horrible at it. Too bossy. Vanessa called her on it twice. “Maybe she wants to talk about Jim, I think they knew each other.”
“Maybe, but I doubt it.”
Vanessa glanced at the phone, leaned forward and whispered. “It’s weird Jim hasn’t called or sent a text since Friday. What if something happened to him?”
Shyla leaned forward. “What if he’s out on one of those hunting trips with his fuck buddy?”
Vanessa jerked back. “Shyla.”
“Vanessa.” Shyla said in a mocking tone. “Who gives a shit why he did the decent thing and stopped chasing you.” She eyed Vanessa. “You don’t really care do you? I mean you couldn’t walk a straight line this weekend, so I assumed you moved on.”
Face aflame, Vanessa glanced at the phone and threw a capped pen at Shyla. “Stop it. I care on a humanitarian level. But not a call me again level. Makes sense?”
“I suppose. And that explains the reason I’m single, because I wouldn’t give two cents why he stopped calling.”
Principal White walked in the room along with Mike, school Security. “Now can you come see what I wanted this morning, Ms. Prince.” He didn’t acknowledge Shyla with a greeting or gesture.
Vanessa patted her mouth with the napkin and stood. “Okay, almost done.” She looked at Shyla and rolled her eyes.
“Hi, Mike,” Shyla spoke to the guard.
When he didn’t look at Shyla or return her greeting, Vanessa stared at him, noticed how he watched her, and picked up her phone. “What do you want to show me?” Her gaze flicked between both men.
“Just come see,” Principal White said in a sharp tone.
“Technically I don’t have to go anywhere, I’m on my lunch break,” Vanessa said, testing the waters. Something was off. Mike wasn’t smiling like normal and sweat rolled down Mr. White’s face.
Vanessa slid her phone into her pocket, picked up her bottled water and took a long drink while watching the two men. Mr. White flinched, then jerked, and finally turned and walked out the room into the corridor. When he stepped outside, two tall, burly men wearing police uniforms walked in.
“Ms. Prince, you need to come with us,” one of the men said.
Her heart raced as she watched them approach. Shyla stood slightly to the side staring at the men. “What’s going on?” Vanessa asked, confused.
“It’ll be explained to you at the station, you need to come with us now.” The officer took a few steps toward them.
Shyla raised her hand. “Stop. First off this is a school, Ms. Prince teaches history, so she knows her rights. You must tell her why she’s being taken in for questioning and it had better be good. She can refuse to ride with you, and make her own way to the station. You should know that.”
“We were told to take her,” the other officer said
“Take me? Take me where?” Vanessa asked, anger over-riding her fear.
“To the station.”
“No thank you,” Vanessa said. “My friend and I will come to the station after school. Shyla call the police and tell them we’re being harassed.”
Shyla punched in 911 and repeated what Vanessa said. After answering a few questions, she looked at Vanessa and shook her head.
“What?” Vanessa asked, watching the police and Mike from the corner of her eyes.
“They don’t know anything about this at the police station.”
Dread rolled down Vanessa’s back and she sat heavily in her chair. Jim said the people who kidnapped her in Jersey had found her. But Mike? Had he been working with them all along? Sending reports on her whereabouts? What about Mr. White? He’d hired her based on her resume and a five-minute interview. At the time she’d been so grateful to have a job teaching she hadn’t thought much of it. She looked for him but didn’t see him.
Several minutes later two female police officers strode into the room, looked at the cops and snapped their fingers beneath their eyes. Vanessa wondered if they’d been outside all along or someplace close by but didn’t ask. She had no plans of going anywhere with any of them.
“Come on guys, snap out of it,” one of them said. The other frowned while looking at Mike and the other two cops.
“This is weird, they’re not responding.” She looked at Vanessa. “You called this in?”
“No, I did.” Shyla looked at one of the women for a few seconds.
“Right. I’m Officer Garcia and my partner Officer Frances.”
Shyla nodded. “My friend Jayden sent word that some men got hold of some weird shit.”
Officer Garcia stared at Shyla, nodded, and then moved close to Vanessa.
“Should I call this in,” Frances asked Garcia.
“Yes, let’s have a record of it.” She tapped the camera on her vest and started recording Frances speaking to the men who appeared comatose until she asked a question.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
“To take Ms. Prince to the station, the first male officer said.
Garcia looked at Vanessa and then Shyla. “Why are you taking her to the station?”
“Orders.”
“From who?”
He opened his mouth and snapped it shut.
“Would you like me to provide escort for you and Ms. Prince?” Garcia asked.
“I have two more classes,” Vanessa said, still in shock that these men came for her.
“Mr. White probably has a substitute lined up,” Shyla said softly. “Plus you know Ethan’s on his way. He’s not going to let them take you anywhere without him.”
Vanessa swallowed hard, pulled out her phone. “Ethan?”
“I’m turning into the parking lot right now. Don’t go anywhere with them.”
“My students…”
“I know. I’m coming.”
Vanessa looked at Mike, who continued watching her. “I can’t let this touch my students, Ethan.”
“It won’t.”
The alarm went off in the building. Vanessa met Shyla’s troubled gaze.
“Shit,” Shyla said.
Chapter 31
Ethan cursed as he heard the alarm. “That bitch staged this.” He separated from Fulton and 20 mated pack members who were stopped by police officers outside the front of the building. He needed to get to Vanessa. Running to the side, past the athletic fields, he reached the door he normally entered and stepped inside. Inhaling, he slid along the back wall and stopped as footsteps approached. The door opened and then was slammed shut, the handle jiggled. The door didn’t open and the steps retreated back toward the main area.
“Sir, I’m in the building. Fulton and the others are outside with the police. A news crew pulled up as I ran around back. Any idea what she’s planning to do?” he asked Alpha Jayden while slowly making his way to the exit.
“I’m not sure. Shyla and Garcia are with your mate.”
“What about the cops and security guard?”
“They’re all in the room with her.”
Ethan didn’t like the sound of that. “The alarm is going off.”
“Shyla said the students are being evacuated, and will probably be sent home. Did you see school buses?”
He had. “In the parking lot.”
“This could be a good thing, sending the kids home after taking the school hostage. Fewer eyes and ears to see whatever she has planned.”
Ethan wasn’t sure that was Brenda’s thinking, but he’d be grateful for whatever breaks came their way.
After seeing the police officers out front with blank faces, he wondered what was her trigger? How did she gain and hold power over them if it wasn’t sex?
“I need to get to Vanessa’s room.”
“Be careful. Although you’re protected through Vanessa, Brenda may not know that. All of this was set up for a reason.”
Ethan agreed and eased to the door. Inhaling, he didn’t sense or hear anyone on the other side. Concerned over Vanessa, he entered the hall and walked in the direction of her class.
“Welcome Ethan, I wondered how long you’d stay in the gym. that you’ve come out of hiding we can start.” Hearing his name over the school’s intercom surprised and then energized him to get to his mate. He turned the corner and slammed into a wall of men, arm in arm like a chain. Whoever he hit first broke the link and opened a hole which Ethan went through. Before he reached Vanessa’s hall the men were after him and he prepared to encounter more. Instead of several men standing between him and Vanessa’s class, there was one. He held up his hand, as if he expected Ethan’s compliance.
“Stop. I’m Principal White and you’re trespassing. Leave these premises or I’ll be forced to contact the police.”
Ethan continued running past the principal and stopped when he reached Vanessa’s class. He looked up the hall and saw the human blockade now stood at the mouth of the hall. The principal leaned against the wall. They all watched him. A frisson of cold dread ran down his back as he opened her classroom door.
Just inside, the previously friendly Security Guard stood with his arms across his chest staring in the direction of Vanessa’s desk.
“Vanessa?” He looked around the class and then at Shyla who stood near a door.
“Bathroom,” Shyla said, pointing to the door behind her.
He moved swiftly and knocked on the door. “Vanessa?”
“Ethan?”
He released pent up breath. “Yeah. I’m here.”
The door opened and she wrapped her arms around his neck. “What’s going on? Why was she waiting for you?” She whispered next to his ear.
“I don’t know. Are there cameras in the hall?” He hadn’t smelled or heard any, but he’d been in a hurry. His gaze flicked to Shyla. She shook her head.
Vanessa leaned back and met his gaze. “I don’t know.”
Ethan rubbed her back as he held her close. His heart raced as dark shadows entered his vision. Not now, he thought and stiffened.
“How does it feel to be in the arms of a murderer?” Brenda asked over the intercom, answering his unspoken question regarding cameras in this classroom. The whirring sound of the projection screen lowering sent goosebumps over his skin.
“What?” Vanessa said, looking up at the round speakers in the ceiling and then at him.
Throat tight, he prayed to the Goddess that his mate wouldn’t discover his secret, or that of his Nation like this. He’d planned to tell her tonight over dinner. The entire evening was planned down to the last detail.
“Brenda?” he asked Vanessa.
She nodded and held his hand tighter.
Shyla and Garcia both looked concerned as they watched the screen.
“Did he deny being a murderer? No, of course not, because he can’t lie to you. But he hasn’t told you the truth about who he is either,” Brenda said, her voice took on the tone of a moderator of a sporting event. “Since he won’t admit to what he’s done; I’ll share it with you.”
“Alpha, she’s telling —”
“I know, we’re on it,” Alpha Jayden said.
“Ethan, look at the screen,” La Patron said.
Since he’d been staring at it since it rolled down, he was ready.
“Hold your mate close, she’s going to feel you move in a second, think of an excuse.” Energy flew through Ethan stealing his breath. Vanessa’s arm tightened around his waist.
“Are you okay?” she asked, looking him over closely.
“Vision, it was bad. Dark. Hot energy.”
She nodded slowly, her fingertips stroked his chin and then she brushed a kiss across his lips, lighting the smoldering flame inside. Pulling her close, he deepened the kiss, tasting, teasing and taking them both to another plane. His heart overflowed with love for this woman, he’d lay down his life to secure hers. The circle closed. He was complete and prepared to face whatever happened next.
“I’d like to take my mate out of here but there’s at least eight human men blocking the exit.”
“There’s a report on the news of a former Marine holding several teachers hostage. This thing will go national soon, we’re working to shut it down,” Alpha Jayden said.
“She planned to keep us busy on several fronts so she could do what she wants,” Ethan said, irritated at the delay and his inability to break pack protocol to fight his way out of this.
“What happened to the screen?” Vanessa asked.
Ethan’s gaze swept over wisps of smoke from the projector and another place in the ceiling and shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“I’m ready to go.” She looked at Shyla. “Do you know what’s going on? Why is Brenda doing all of this? And why did Mike say we can’t leave?”
“Mike, why can’t we leave?” Shyla raised her voice.
“Because you won’t leave Vanessa and she’s not leaving until she knows the whole truth about him and his wolf pack.” Brenda looked at Shyla as she strolled into the room and then laughed. “I should’ve known. You’re one of them too, aren’t you?” Her gaze flicked between Shyla and Garcia. “Both of you? What about the other one, the blond you sent outside to talk to the guys, is she pack? No?”
“Brenda, are you crazy?” Vanessa asked. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Me? I’m not the one lying in bed with an animal, and I mean a real dog or wolf, like you did. Didn’t know you swung that way.”
“She is crazy. Would you like me to kick her ass?” Shyla asked.
Brenda laughed. “My ass has been kicked by bigger, meaner bitches than you, but feel free to try. None of that changes the fact Vanessa fucked an animal. A full-blood wolf. Part man, part wolf.” Brenda shrugged and sat on the top of a student desk.
“What?” Vanessa asked, frowning.
“Hard to believe, right? Same for me until I was captured and used as an incubator for several years. Lord knows how many times I was raped and impregnated.”
“Stop,” Vanessa yelled and pointed her finger at Brenda. “From the first day I arrived at this school, you and Pamela did everything you could to make my life miserable. You think I don’t know about the visits to my classroom when I wasn’t here, taking my stuff, stealing my lesson plans, and reporting me to the Directors. You’ve never had my best interest at heart and you don’t now. Whatever you’re doing, whatever the reason, it’s not for me. It’s for you. You want something out of all of this.” She shook her head, her gaze flicked over Mike and the cops who remained still.
“Now I don’t know what you’ve done to these guys, or what you’re talking about. I don’t want to know or care, so if this was to tell me something, consider it told and leave these people alone,” Vanessa said.
No one spoke. Ethan dropped a kiss on Vanessa’s forehead.
Brenda pulled out a pistol and fired, hitting Ethan in the shoulder. The bullet passed through and hit the wall.
Vanessa jerked from the impact, screamed and attacked Brenda.
Shyla stepped close to Ethan. Garcia picked up the pistol from the desk where Brenda tossed it and walked back toward Vanessa.
Fear raced through Ethan as his body went into self-preservation mode. Rather than tell Vanessa, Brenda planned to show his differences and there wasn’t much he could do.
“I’ll slow down the healing,” La Patron said.
Relief rolled off Ethan in waves even though the pain intensified.
“Bitch.” Vanessa ran toward Brenda and punched her on the side of her head. Sounds of Brenda screaming and flesh hitting flesh careened around
the room. Other than throwing up her arm to protect her face, Brenda didn’t do anything to stop Vanessa. Instead she watched Shyla wrap his tee shirt around his shoulder.
Brenda stepped behind the police officer, effectively stopping Vanessa’s attack. “I didn’t hurt him. Go and see for yourself, he’s almost healed. Their bodies don’t remain damaged for long, neither does ours. Remarkable benefit actually.”
Chest heaving, Vanessa ignored Brenda’s advice and tried to grab the woman from behind the cop. “Call the fucking ambulance, Shyla. Call the police. If they won’t help call the Sheriff, the National Guard and the whole fucking army for this crazy bitch.” The officer slid to the right and blocked her. “You don’t go around shooting people to prove a damn point,” she yelled. “That’s fucking crazy.” Vanessa spun and then placed her finger in the officer’s chest. “No. What’s really crazy is I stepped into some kind of alternate universe and you’re protecting her after what she did. That’s my friend Mike, the kindest man I’ve ever known, yet he’s spent the last 30 minutes staring at me like I’m on the FBI’s most wanted list.” She inhaled deeply.
Ethan wanted to hug her, he was so proud.
“Stop this right now. Release these men,” Vanessa yelled.
The officer shook his head. Mike’s shoulders slumped and he leaned against the wall. “I’m sorry, Miss Prince. I don’t know what’s going —”
“No,” Brenda yelled.
Vanessa grabbed her by her neck and lifted her from the ground.
Mike straightened in slow motion as if he was a puppet whose strings were being pulled. The officer’s face showed shock, dismay, and then removed Brenda from Vanessa’s grasp.
Coughing and moving back a few steps, Brenda pointed at Vanessa. “You don’t challenge me. Not after everything I’ve done to help you.” Chest heaving, she stepped away from the officer, and took a few steps toward Vanessa.
“Bitch please, you’ve never helped me,” Vanessa scoffed and curled her hands into fists.
“Who got you this job? White? Hell no. I told him to hire you. After Jersey you needed a safe place. I made sure my class was across from yours so I could watch over you. I promised Priscilla I would do that for her so she could rest in peace.