by Toni Griffin
A throat clearing somewhere had Archie snatching his hand back as if he'd been burned.
Fuck, he really needed to keep distance between their two bodies. He didn't understand what was going on between him and Adze, and he really wasn't ready to even think about everything the man had said to him.
Hounds from Hell, serial killers, heart mates, it all just sounded so fantastical that Archie had no idea where to even start.
"I need to leave," Archie said, looking everywhere but at the man standing in front of him. He didn't want to see the expression on Adze's face right then. He was scared at the pull the other man seemed to have over his body.
Surprisingly, no one stopped him as Archie made his way to the door. It wasn't until he had his hand on the handle that Adze spoke up.
"I'm not going to stop you from leaving." Adze's voice was the softest Archie had heard it. "But I need you to be careful. I know you don't understand everything that happened last night or this morning. But you are my mate, and I need you to be safe. I will give you the time you need to work things out, but you will be mine, make no mistake of that."
Before Archie even opened his mouth to say something, Adze turned on his heel and walked away.
Archie stood there for god knew how long, just staring at the space where Adze had been before he finally snapped out of it and walked out of the lavish apartment and out of the building.
Chapter Nine
Archie staggered out of the opulent apartment building in a bit of a daze. What the fuck had his life become in just twenty-four hours? He glanced up and down the street trying to get his bearings. He'd never been to this building before. He recognised the street though and headed west until he made it to the tram station.
A car horn sounded, startling Archie as he crossed the road to get to the platform in the centre. Archie glanced around and realised he's stepped out in front of traffic.
"Sorry," he said as he waved his hand in apology as well. Archie walked along the platform before he sat on one of the grey metal benches they had for commuters to wait. He didn't have to wait long before the next tram arrived. Archie didn't even know if this tram would take him home, he just had to get out of here. His head was a swirl of thoughts and confusion.
Archie took one of the empty two seats at this time of day it was just tourists and the like commuting, everyone that actually worked a nine to five was already at work and had been for a couple of hours.
He was going to have to do some fast-talking with his boss about not showing up for work today. But there wasn't anything Archie could do about that until he made it home and plugged his phone in.
Archie had absolutely no idea how he made it home. He barely remembered the tram ride or the walk, his mind was such a mess at the moment. He locked the door behind him and leaned against it with a sigh. He was home, he was safe. His stomach took that moment to let him know he was hungry. Archie hadn't gotten to eat the beautiful meal from the restaurant the night before, he didn't even know what had happened to it.
First thing first. Archie headed to his room and plugged his phone it to charge. He'd call work just as soon as it had life. While he waited for that, he trudged back to the kitchen. Not sure he could handle much at the moment after the revelations of the morning Archie popped a couple of pieces of bread in the toaster and pulled out the butter and vegemite.
Toast in hand, Archie ate a piece as he made his way back to his room. His phone had thankfully charged enough that it turned back on again.
He groaned when he saw the number of missed calls and messages waiting for him. Not only from work but from his roommate as well.
Archie sighed deeply and placed a call to his boss, Bill Danvers. He had to come up with something plausible to explain his absence as he didn't think being kidnapped by hellhounds would really cut it.
"Archie? What the hell happened this morning? Where are you?" Danvers asked him as soon as the call connected.
"Hey, Bill," Archie said, putting on a quiet and rough voice. "Sorry I didn't make it in this morning."
"You sound horrible. Everything all right?" Danvers asked, his tone switching from annoyed to worried.
"Yeah, just up half the night with a migraine. Dossed up on mercendol at about five this morning and passed out, only just woke up now. Sorry I missed work this morning. I can come in now if you need?" Archie asked, hoping he knew his boss as well as he thought he did.
"No need for that. Just take it as a sick day. Next time try and let us know you're alive before lunchtime, especially with that serial killer running around. You had a few staff members worried."
If only they knew just how close Archie had come to being a victim last night. "Thanks, boss, I think I might crawl back into bed for a while and rest my head a little longer. Will see you tomorrow."
"Okay, Archie, see you then. Hope you feel better."
"Thanks, Bill." Archie disconnected the call and sighed in relief. He finished his toast, which was now cold, but still tasted awesome and sent his roomie a quick message to let him know he was home and safe and that he didn't have to worry.
Archie sat and stared at his phone for several minutes. He chewed on his fingernail as dialled again and placed the phone to his ear.
"Melbourne police, how can I help you?" a young man answered the call.
"I was just kidnapped," Archie said as he continued to bite his nail.
"Just a moment please sir and I'll transfer you through."
Archie sat and listened as the phone rang in his ear again. Was he really doing the right thing?
"Sergeant Carter, how can I help you?"
"Hello, yeah, I'd like to report a kidnapping… Well, at least I think I do." Archie was so confused. "Fucking hellhounds, seriously?" Archie muttered to himself, forgetting he was on the phone. "You did not see what you think you did." Archie berated himself.
"Sir, did you just say hellhounds?" The policeman's voice went rather quiet on the last word like he couldn't believe he'd heard Archie correctly.
Archie gasped, hearing the inflection in the cop's voice made Archie feel even crazier than before. How was any of this real?
"Are you still there? Were you kidnapped? Are you safe?"
Not wanting to sound like even more of a lunatic he hung up the phone. What the hell had he done for his life to divulge into this? Should he call back and tell the cops everything? Archie was home, sitting on his bed. If he really had been kidnapped then surely, they would still be holding him hostage. Hellhounds! Who the hell was going to believe that he'd been kidnapped by hellhounds and then released because he asked to be? No one, that's who!
Archie didn't know what he was doing. His mind was whirling, and he thought he might do exactly what he told his boss he was doing to.
He toed off his shoes, crawled into bed and curled up under the covers. He hoped that when he opened his eyes again, he'd find the last twenty-four hours had just been one hell of a dream.
* * * * *
Adze had just sat down in the office to call Matti when the phone rang.
He answered it, sighing a little as he recognized the number. "Hello."
"Which one am I talking to?" a man's voice asked him.
"This is Adze."
"This is Sergeant Carter."
"I'm well aware, what can I do for you, Sergeant?" Adze asked, not sure why the man was calling him in the middle of the day. The police usually dealt with Matti not them, except in exceptional circumstances.
"What you can do is be more careful." Carter hissed down the line, his voice low. Adze suspected he didn't want any of his co-workers overhearing his conversation.
"What are you talking about?" Adze asked puzzled now.
"I just received a phone call from a young man claiming he was kidnapped by hellhounds." Carter paused, obviously waiting to see what Adze would say to that.
"Shit!" Adze cursed. He really didn't think Archie would go so far as to call the police on him. "Are we going to be expecting
the police around here any minute now?"
Adze was already on his feet and heading to the door. Even though they'd known Sergeant Carter for several years, there was only so much they could expect their contact to do for them. Taking the fall for one of their fuck ups wasn't on the list. The others needed to be warned about what was about to happen. Then the sergeant spoke again, and Adze stopped in his tracks.
"No, thankfully switchboard put the call through to me, and the young man hung up not long after he mentioned the hellhounds."
Adze breathed a sigh of relief. It was always a pain in the ass when they had to try and cover up who they were. He wasn't happy that Archie thought he had to call the police. Hopefully, he could convince Archie that they really didn't mean him any harm and that Adze would do anything the man asked of him.
"Thank you for letting me know, we'll deal with it," Adze assured Carter.
"Please see that you do. I would hate to think what might happen if someone else managed to get a call like that. Now, you mind telling me just what happened?"
Adze sighed and leaned back in his chair. "You're obviously aware of the serial killer case?"
"Of course, the whole department is on the lookout for this guy."
"Bates was out last night. He attempted to kidnap the young man that called you. We interrupted him, he let the guy go so he could escape."
"You mean you let him get away?"
"There's only so much we can do," Adze growled, then took a deep breath to try and calm himself down. "The young man he attempted to kidnap last night is my mate."
"Fuck!"
"You got that right. Bates ran before the others could arrive, we didn't pursue, I'm afraid I was a little distracted at the time. Bates had used chloroform on my mate, and he was out cold. We took him home to recuperate, unfortunately when he woke up and we tried to explain the situation to him he became a little agitated, so we let him leave, which is what he wanted."
"Okay, so you didn't kidnap him." Adze had to stop the smug smile from breaking out on his face.
"Which is exactly what we tried to explain to my mate."
"Okay, thanks for letting me know. I'll keep an ear out here in case anything pops up."
"Thanks, appreciate it."
"Oh and Adze,"
"Yeah?"
"You might like to know that I've had a Corporal Lance asking questions around the department."
"I have no idea who that is," Adze stated confused what this had to do with them.
"If I told you he reported the location of Andrew Collins's body would that ring any bells?"
Adze racked his brain for a name for a moment before it finally came to him. "Charlie?"
"The one and the same."
"God damn it, why can't he just leave things alone," he swore. "His sister was fine!"
"I've put him off, but I'm not sure how long he'll stay gone for. He looked pretty determined to get to the bottom of what happened."
"Thanks for the heads up, sorry to have dumped yet another thing in your lap."
"It's what I'm here for, my life certainly hasn't been boring since I found out about you guys and what you do."
"Trust me when I say we do appreciate all that you do for us."
"I know, now, if you'll excuse me I have police work I need to get back to."
"Thanks again." Adze heard a grunt followed by beeping in his ear, letting Adze know that Carter had hung up on him.
Adze sat back down at the desk and sighed. He had a lot of work to do if he was going to be able to get Archie to even talk to him. To do that he had to call Matti.
"What the hell happened last night?" Matti asked as the call connected.
"In a minute. Right now, I need everything you can get me on one Archibald Courtney Eugene Hennings."
"I'm sorry what?" Matti coughed down the line.
Adze couldn't blame her, it really was a mouthful.
"I know, poor guy, but I need the intel. Anything you can get me, especially an address or phone number." Adze paced the office. He was going stir crazy not knowing where his mate was. Or if he was safe. It had taken every ounce of willpower he had to let Archie just walk out their front door this morning. He'd seen Archie was at the end of his rope. Adze couldn't blame the man at all. He had been through quite the experience and had his world turned upside down by Adze in the process.
The clacking of Matti at her computer came down the line, not helping soothe Adze's frayed nerves one bit. He paced back and forth in the small office, only able to take a half a dozen steps before he had to turn and go back.
"Anything?" Adze growled down the line, this was taking far too long. He needed to know where his mate was and now!
"Don't you growl at me or you'll get nothing!" Matti scolded Adze.
"Matti!" Adze growled again.
"Adze!" Matti volleyed back.
Adze groaned and flopped into the leather desk chair. He'd forgotten just how annoying Matti could be. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Would you please just tell me what I want to know?"
"I don't think so," Matti said slowly, cautiously.
Adze sat up straight.
"What do you mean, no?" his voice lowering into a menacing growl.
Matti paused down the line, Adze could still hear her breathing so knew she was still there.
"Matti!"
"Look, I get that this guy is important to you."
"And how the hell do you know that?" he asked suspiciously.
"Oriax called me last night, remember, he filled me in on the events."
"So why won't you tell me what I want to know then?" Adze asked confused.
"Before I answer that, I need you to answer a question for me."
Adze wanted to growl again. Instead he took a deep breath and tried to tamp down his annoyance.
"What?" he asked shortly.
"What are you going to do with the information I give you?"
Adze furrowed his brows. What the hell did she think he was going to do with the info? "I'm going to use it to make sure he's safe."
"What about everyone else?" Matti asked.
"What about them?"
"If you're spending your days camped outside this Archibald's residence then who is going to be tracking down Bates? You have a job to do. One charged to you by a much higher power than me. Can you honestly tell me you'll be able to carry out your duties if I give you this information?"
Adze thought about Matti's words for a minute, really thought about them. Could he still carry out his sworn duties if he was constantly worried about his mate's safety? Or trying to figure out how to get the stubborn man to talk to him and see they could be great together? He didn't know, all he did know was that every bone in his body was telling him he needed to track Archie down and make sure he was safe.
"Look, I understand what you're saying, I really do. But my team is more than just me."
"This is what…" Matti started to talk, but Adze cut her off.
"Please, let me finish."
"Go ahead."
"I would never neglect my sworn duties, I don't have that in me. We will track Bates down and end his miserable life if it's the last thing we do." Adze paused for a moment before continuing, "But thanks to our interference last night Archie managed to escape from Bates. And from everything I've seen on this guy, Bates doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would just let that go."
"No, I don't believe he would," Matti agreed with him after a moments pause.
"Then I need to know where I can find Archie, as you can bet your ass Bates already knows if he's been following Archie for any length of time before he attempted to grab him."
"I want daily updates on your progress, even if it is just to tell me you've found shit all."
"Deal," Adze said. He grabbed a pen and scribbled down all the details Matti had managed to uncover about Archie in the short time they'd been talking.
"I'm not kidding, Adze, I want to hear from you once a day until
this son of a bitch is dead."
"I know. Talk to you tomorrow," Adze said and hung up the line.
Adze stared down at the address in his hand, he wanted to race out and bust the door down to make sure Archie was safe. But knew he couldn't. He had responsibilities, and as much as he hated it, they had to come first. Plus, he had to woo his mate if he wanted Archie to take him seriously, not charge in there like a bull in a china shop.
Now that he had the man's home address, two work addresses, phone number, email, Facebook, Twitter account handle and everything else possibly under the sun, the wooing could start. Adze picked up the phone and dialled.
Chapter Ten
Nine days. It had been nine days since Archie's life had been turned upside down.
Archie refused to play the damsel in distress. Instead, he threw himself into work, both at his day job and at the restaurant. Adze had thought he'd been inconspicuous, but Archie had seen him and the others following him. Every day when he left the office, and when he left home, he saw them standing in the shadows, watching him.
At first, it unnerved him, making Archie feel he had lost his mind. He almost called animal control twice, considered the cops again, however, the dogs or men never approached him, just watched over him from a safe distance. And strangely, that's how it felt. That Archie was being guarded against the evil that had hunted him. He felt a little safer, especially at night as he walked home from the restaurant and had to pass by the spot he was nearly abducted. Every time he passed it he caught sight of the black hounds, following him just a little bit closer as if they knew how it made him feel. It allowed Archie to breathe a little easier until he was home.
Now if he could only reconcile them being hellhounds that shifted into sexy men. That was his other hang up. How was he supposed to tell the cops hellhounds saved him and now guarded him as a serial killer stalked Melbourne?