Olivia nodded. “You’re right, Egan’s got it under control.”
She stepped into Sable’s arms and leaned into his strength. A big part of her wanted to believe he was right, that everything was okay. But the mother inside her knew something was wrong.
**
Sable left Olivia in the library, moving quickly to meet Terrence at the door. Terrence walked in, smile disappearing as he noticed Sable’s face. Motioning towards a small office just beyond the entryway, Sable walked away without waiting to see if Terrence would follow. Terrence closed the door behind him and flipped on the light switch. Sable typed quickly on his phone, his face contorting with rage when the screen popped up. Unable to see what was bothering him, Terrence waited patiently for Sable to speak.
“He bought two tickets to Florida. What is he doing?”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Sable. Care to fill me in?”
“I left Morgan with Egan. I left them in Canada so they would be safe, but he’s coming here. Why is he coming here?”
“I can’t even begin to answer that. What does Olivia think?”
“I didn’t tell her. It was all I could do to convince her that our child isn’t lying dead in a ditch somewhere. I’m not about to tell her that he’s on a plane at this very moment, headed to the last place we want him.”
“Do you have a way to access the actual tickets?”
Sable clicked on the link to the website where the charge originated. Typing in Egan’s information, an itinerary pulled up immediately.
“They’re on their way to Montreal right now. They’re scheduled to land at Jacksonville tomorrow afternoon.”
“I can go get them. You don’t have to tell Olivia. If we’ve found Grace by then, you and Olivia can take a team to save her and I’ll go to the airport to meet Egan and Morgan. Egan won’t make a scene in such a crowded place, and I’m sure I can convince him to come with me, knowing all that I know about you both. When you return, they’ll be safe here and Olivia won’t know they were in danger until they’re already safe.”
Sable relaxed a little bit. “Okay. Yes, that can work. What do we need to do before we leave tonight?”
“Nothing. Everything is done. We just have to wait for the sun to go down and we’ll head out.”
“Sounds good. Is anyone staying behind?”
“Just Olivia. I’m a little worried about that. If we give her a gun, will she be okay? Can she shoot?”
“She can, but I don’t know if she will. She’s never taken another life. I know she would if Morgan’s life hung in the balance. But on her own and cornered, I don’t know what she’ll do. There’s a panic room off my old office. It’s cozy and she can stay in there until we return.”
Terrence looked startled. He’d been in that office daily for over a year and saw nothing that indicated that there was another room located there.
Sable chuckled. “The look on your face says you had no idea there was a room hidden just off the office. It’s not in the plans; none of them are.”
“Sable, I’ve been all through this house, I know I haven’t found half of the hidden rooms you had built into this place.”
“She’ll be safe in there.” Sable opened the door and the two men headed out into the hall and to the great room.
Guns of all types and sizes were spread out on the conference style table. A large man stood in the middle of the supplies, handing tactical gear to each man as they filed passed him. They grabbed their gear and settled in around the room to rest while they waited. Sable and Terrence moved into line and picked up what they’d need for the night: a small firearm, black fatigues, night vision goggles and bullet proof vests.
“The news reports weren’t exaggerating then?”
“No, Sable. It’s quiet during the day, but at night, it’s practically a war-zone. There are shifters trying to bring back peace, but there are almost as many that want to see the humans removed from this area. The human resistance has so many off-shoots it’s doubtful any two groups have the same cause. It’s only gotten worse since the elders died.”
“Does anyone know how they died?”
“No. The human politicians had their bodies transferred to a secure facility for autopsy but the results were never made public. The violence started shortly after Aldrich’s death.”
“And those same politicians. Where are they now?”
“They’re the ones that changed the laws, making practically any human-shifter relationship punishable by death.”
Sable shook his head in amazement. For hundreds of years, shifters had lived peacefully among the humans, though for most of that, humans were blissfully unaware of the shifter presence. Once the knowledge became public, politicians from both sides rushed to capitalize on the unrest, manipulating the masses and shaping laws to suit their needs.
The system had been fragile at best, which was why Sable and Olivia’s love had so easily destroyed the delicate infrastructure. It was never about the species. It was about power.
**
Sable sat in a large recliner, resting his head back and closing his eyes while he waited. Olivia had gone to the master bath to shower before the men left. Until then, Sable needed to get some shut eye before they set out.
He was drifting in the darkness when someone shook him roughly. “Sable. It’s time to head out.”
Sable blinked Terrence’s face into focus. He sat up quickly and scanned the room until he found Olivia. She was sitting at a table, talking animatedly to one of the men, her voice rising above the din and floating towards him. She caught him staring and smiled. Sable stood and walked to Olivia, leading her down the hall and towards his old office.
“There’s a bathroom in the safe room and a television with a DVD player. You should be comfortable until we return.”
“How long will you be?”
“Not more than a few hours, hopefully. But we have to be back by sunrise. So ten hours at the most, probably closer to six. I’ll call the hardline phone in the safe room when we return so you know it’s safe to come out.”
He stopped in front of the office door and led her in, flipping on the light switch and moving to a window to close the blinds and the drapes. He walked over to a small closet, opening the door and moving aside the small collection of suits. He reached into the corner and there was an audible click before the back wall swung inward. An automatic light turned on in the room beyond.
Sable led the way through the narrow door. A small foyer led to a bank vault style door and into a much larger room. The room was bright, lit from all sides by expertly recessed lighting fixtures that were nearly invisible.
A single vent fed oxygen into the airtight room and regulated the temperature. Sable showed Olivia how to work the door and where the mini fridge and supplies were.
“Is that food even good?”
“I snuck in and supplied it while you were napping earlier. Everything is fresh and I made the bed this afternoon. Terrence didn’t have the most eclectic collection of DVD’s but I think I got enough to keep you occupied while we’re gone. The room is completely self-contained. The house can burn down around you and you’ll still be safe. No one can open this door except you.”
Olivia looked around the bleak room, hoping they’d come back sooner rather than later. Her bottom lip quivered but she breathed in deeply and stood straighter.
“You can handle this, Liv. And I’ll be back before you know it.”
She nodded. “I’ll probably sleep anyway.”
He kissed her, capturing her soft mouth with his. “I have to go. I’ll see you soon.”
He pulled the door closed behind him, and Olivia hit the lock pad. Several mechanisms locked inside the door, barricading her in until she punched in the code to unlock it from her side of the door. The phone on the wall rang and Olivia reached to answer it.
“The password I’ll give you when I call later will be Morgan’s middle name and the name of the town we live in b
ack home. Got it?”
“Yes.” She paused, “Sable?”
“Yes?”
“Sable, I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
The phone clicked in her ear and Olivia hung up the receiver. The pullout sofa bed sat in the middle of the bare room. She popped in a DVD from Terrence’s collection and crawled onto the bed, pulling the covers around her and snuggling in. The lights dimmed shortly after she stopped moving, not turning off entirely but fading to a level that was comfortable for sleep. Within minutes, she was out, exhaustion dragging her into a deep, dreamless sleep.
CHAPTER 16
The man walked briskly into the room and set Grace down roughly. He shoved her into the room, causing Grace to stumble and fall to the floor. The heavy door locked tightly behind her and the room plunged into darkness once again. This time, they’d tied her hands behind her back, rendering her more helpless than before. Unable to break her fall, she had landed hard on the dusty floor, cheek burning from the impact, dirt creeping up her nostril with each breath.
She listened for his footsteps retreat before she moved, afraid that he’d rush back in and catch her when she was at her most vulnerable. Satisfied he was gone, at least for a little while, she angled her legs under her to get a better angle. She leaned to left and rolled hard to the right, using her momentum to sit up as she rolled. Her hands were still stuck behind her, but at least she was sitting. She scooted against the wall and braced herself against the rough wooden wall.
There was nothing to be done. Sable and Olivia were going to walk into a blood bath, and she had no way of warning them. Her attempt to escape had failed miserably, leaving her more vulnerable than before. Grace felt completely defeated and hopeless. She was trapped in a nightmare from which she could never awaken.
Tears threatened, pooling in her eyes, a single blink from spilling down her cheeks. Crying wouldn’t help either and would only reduce her beyond her current level of pathetic. She wished she’d never called Olivia back. At least then her friend would be safe and she could die in peace, without taking their entire family with her.
Grace laughed humorlessly. If she’d never called her back it wouldn’t have matter a bit. She knew Olivia and Sable would have come for her regardless. Olivia was nothing if not loyal, and Sable lived to see her happy. No, Grace should've fled to Canada with them when she had the chance, instead of begging them to fly her home so she could go back to her old life.
It had been immediately apparent that nothing would ever be the same when she’d returned that day, five years before. She was greeted with hateful words in graffiti on the side of her house, and her answering machine had been filled with hateful messages. Even then, she’d still refused to run, thinking the violence and the hatred would be short-lived before her world returned to normal.
Five years later and nothing had gotten better. She was foolish for thinking she could come home and things would be exactly as they were before.
Heavy foot-steps fell outside the door. The lock clicked open and the door swung inward. A large shadow blocked the doorway, his breathing heavy and his smell almost overpowering. She fought the urge to gag on the dense air that fell off him in heavy waves.
“I’m armed. If you try anything I’ll shoot you dead.”
Grace held perfectly still, her face hidden in the shadows the setting sun cast about the room. From where he stood, all he could see was her cheek, and maybe an eyebrow. He wouldn’t know her face was twisted in disgust at his very presence. Wouldn’t be angered by the green cast to her skin his stench caused.
“You don’t have to talk, just listen.”
The man was the same one that had been with Laskin, she was pretty sure she’d heard him call the man Gary. Laying over his shoulder quietly as he labored down the trail had been torture. His thick, matted body hair had poked through the fabric of her own clothes. He had sweated profusely while he carried her, briefly making her wonder if he would drop dead from a heart attack before they reached the rustic wooden house.
“This isn’t going to go well, and I hate to see a pretty girl like you on the wrong side of the War. Laskin has been leading the brotherhood for years, and things are finally falling into place. When the shifter and his whore come to save you, Laskin is going to make an example of them to show the world who they are and what they’ve done is not okay. They are an abomination. Humankind will rise to power again, and the shifters will serve our needs or be killed.”
He walked further into the room, kneeling beside her and speaking close to her ear. He smelled of sweat and alcohol, his breath a rank mixture of his latest meal and bad dental hygiene. Grace had to force herself not to shrink away from the man, instead lifting her chin in defiance and staring him straight in the eye.
“Laskin has a score to settle with those two, and he’s not going to rest until they’re both dead. Sable nearly killed Laskin; threw him over an embankment like garbage after he tore him to pieces. I found him like that, bleeding and weak, barely clinging to life. I came to him just in the nick of time.
I carried him to safety and we hid while Sable bellowed his name like a fool. I followed Laskin to the forest that day, even though he’d told me to stay behind. And he was so grateful to see me. I’m his right hand man and the reason he’s still alive. He’ll give me anything I want.” He paused dramatically, licking his lips and looking down at her menacingly. “Anything.”
He took his filthy index finger and stroked her face, digging his nail into her chin and pushing her head up to force her to look at him. His other hand reached out and grabbed her breast, squeezing it forcefully, causing Grace to grind her teeth to avoid crying out.
Still clamping his hand down, he pulled her towards him, dropping her breast as her skin stretched impossibly and slapping her hard across the nipple while he held her face steady. Hot tears streamed down her face, but she didn’t voice her pain. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
“When this is all said and done, you’ll either be dead or you’ll be mine. Laskin has promised you to me. Better get used to it now, sweetheart. I’m going to make you so happy.”
He licked his lips and leaned in to kiss her. She spit in his face and slammed her forehead into his nose, catching him off-guard and sending him reeling. He sputtered angrily, advancing on her. He backhanded her across the face, sending her sprawling and then kicking her over and over again in the ribs and stomach before grabbing her pony tail and yanking her up off the floor. Grace sat up, spitting blood onto the floor, smiling at him defiantly.
“I’d rather die than touch you.”
“That can be arranged. Until then, know that you will be mine, and your little friends can’t save you.”
He stormed angrily out of the room and slammed the door. Grace held her breath as she listened to his retreating footsteps. It didn’t matter what she did, but she had to get out of here. She had no doubt Sable and Olivia would come for her, but what if they failed? She couldn’t be the wife of a madman.
**
Egan and Morgan departed the plane, carry-on bags rolling behind them as the boy’s excited chattered continued non-stop. They’d packed only one bag apiece, so they bypassed the baggage claim and headed straight for the rental car kiosk. Egan held Morgan’s tiny hand in his, his grip firm in the crowded airport.
Finding a safe place to stash the child while he went after his mate was going to be challenging enough, it wouldn’t help matters if he lost the excitable kid in the airport first.
He could feel her, her pull on him growing with each passing minute. During the flight, it was all Egan could do to force himself to listen to Morgan rattle on about everything that popped into his head. Luckily, he’d been able to impress upon him how important it was that he not mention anything about where they lived or the fact that they were shifters. Somehow, that had translated to everything else being a topic of discussion for the little guy. He smiled and nodded, but on the inside, the fire was building
within him. With every passing mile it grew stronger.
Landing in Florida had been almost excruciating, proving to Egan that they were definitely on the right path. Every mile brought him that much closer to her, stoking the painful fire within him. He had fought his urges for so long, his body had given in to her allure. Sight unseen, his body ached for her in a way that couldn’t be explained to those who had never felt it.
His pain permeated every facet of his body, all the way down to his very cells. His need for her wouldn’t be quenched until he found her, and even then he would always feel that attraction.
He’d seen it with Sable, the way he ignored everything else when he hadn’t seen Olivia in a few hours. Only the needs of his child could interfere with the pull Olivia had on him. Olivia loved him too, but as a human, she didn’t feel that overwhelming need to touch him that threatened to demolish him.
When she found out what he’d done, that he’d brought her child into the very city they were trying to avoid, she would be furious. There was no way she could possibly understand. But Sable would. Hopefully.
“Uncle Egan, I’m hungry.” Pulled out of his thoughts, Egan looked down into Morgan’s little face. He was startled to realize they hadn’t eaten since the flight that morning.
“Of course you’re hungry, it’s been a long day.” He scanned the restaurants, looking for something he knew he would like. He settled on a fast food joint, changing his course to walk through the crowds of people and get in line.
Morgan scanned the menu, trying to figure out what he wanted by the pictures alone. “I’ll have four cheeseburgers and some milk.”
Egan leaned down and spoke low into his ear. “Remember how I said we had to be undercover?” Morgan nodded, “You can’t eat four cheeseburgers in one sitting, people will wonder what’s up, and they’ll know. I’ll get you the meal with two, and I’ll get a few more you can eat in the car, okay?”
Morgan nodded again, trying his best to remain quiet and solemn like his uncle. He was doing his best to be good at undercover, but it was hard for him. Egan squeezed his hand and smiled at him.
The Tiger's Pregnant Bride Page 15