Emily’s Captive
By Bobbie Palmer Copyright 2015 To my fellow writers who have stood at tables with me, listened to me droning on about my books, and who have me advice countless times. You have helped me with my writing and getting my books out there. I will forever be grateful.
CHAPTER 1
Emily paced her room, trying to get up the strength to ask for the help she needed from an enemy. She hated to do it. She was a fighter, a killer, yet she had to get help for a rescue mission? She was better than that. Yet, here she was, about to walk through a door she could never come back from.
The Hunter was her prisoner, but she was being forced to go to him for help. She let out a frustrated growl and forced herself to leave the room and go to the cells in her basement. She had to walk quickly, before her pride got the better of her again. She’d been wrestling it around in her brain for a few hours, trying to force herself to do it.
What finally convinced her was the picture of Stacy on her nightstand and the thought of her locked up somewhere hurt, dead, in pain. It was too much for her. She was her baby sister. It was her job to protect her. Emily knew it was her fault Stacy had been taken. She should have kept a better eye on her. If she had watched her more carefully or taken better care of her, it would never have happened.
She walked up to the cell and looked through the window. Paul was staring at the door, seeming to know someone was there. And he looked like shit. There was dirt smeared across his face and his shirt was torn where the bullet had been dug out of his shoulder. She guessed he looked pretty good for someone who had been locked up for a few months.
Emily opened the door and found Paul staring at her with a surprised look on his face. “Hello Paul,” she said with an evil smile.
“What? Have you finally decided to kill me?” he asked, not moving from the cot. Once the shock was off his face, he just looked defeated. Maybe the boredom was getting to him. It wasn’t like she was a cruel captor. He had a blanket, food, water, and a toilet, and she didn’t keep it freezing down here or anything.
“No, I thought I’d stop by for a little visit, see how you’re doing.” She had to act like nothing was wrong, even if she felt like she was going to fall apart any minute. She didn’t like admitting that to anyone, herself included.
“I’m doing great. The food is five-star quality, and the bed is the best I’ve ever slept on,” he said sarcastically.
“Well, I’m glad I could be so accommodating,” she said with a smile. “So why are you really here?” he asked. “Because you are the only person who might be able to help me,” she said seriously. She hated that she had to go to him, but she really didn’t have another choice. She didn’t want to go to Bill and look like a failure who couldn’t take care of her own problems. She knew he’d help, but she wanted to take care of this on her own, prove to everyone she could do it.
*** Help her? He looked at her closely, trying to figure out if she was serious. “Why would I help you?” Paul asked.
“Because you’re the only one who can. I’ve tried getting information out of other Hunters, but they don’t seem to want to cooperate. I think deep down you’re a good person who wants to help people and make everything better,” she said with a slight sneer.
“I haven’t been a Hunter since right before you put me in here. What makes you think I even know anything?” he asked.
He sat back on his cot, waiting for her response. He did understand why she was coming to him, but he was her prisoner. You weren’t supposed to go to prisoners for help; you torture them for information, starve them, kill them. You don’t ask them for help.
“Because you’re my last hope,” she said with a defeated sigh.
“Oh, well, in that case, huh?” he said. She was Emily Kincade; she could do anything and never needed help. She was a bad ass tiger shifter with an attitude. Why the hell would she need him?
“My sister was taken by Hunters. I have to get her back.” He really looked at her and saw the worry in her face and the bags under her eyes. She looked like she hadn’t eaten or slept in a few days. She looked like shit.
“How old is your sister?” he asked.
“Fifteen.” “They don’t have her. Zeke doesn’t take children. He’s cruel and screwed up in the head, but that’s one thing even he won’t mess with.” For a second he thought there might be a chance for him to get out of there, but he couldn’t help her. He didn’t know where to look and he was certain Zeke didn’t have her.
“I know it was them,” she said sternly. Paul decided to listen to what she had to say, but he knew it wasn’t his old boss. Maybe he could use this, though. Maybe he could get a few things from her first. He would kill for some food that actually tasted like food, a shower, and some clean clothes. He hated to hear that a kid had been kidnapped and he really hoped she was found. He wasn’t trying to be insensitive about it, but he knew Zeke better than anyone. The man had morals. They didn’t always make sense, but he had them and he stuck to them.
There was a slight chance that Paul might be able to help her, but he doubted it. All his contacts were through the Hunters and he was sure Zeke had told them all to shoot him on sight.
CHAPTER 2
Zeke was very happy when he’d found a good right-hand man in Richard Samson. He seemed to be fitting right in. He had the same hatred as Zeke did and wasn’t afraid to use it. He seemed to be a much better fit than Paul ever was. Richard seemed a little unstable at times, but really, who wasn’t? He wasn’t too worried about it, but he was still keeping a close eye on him.
“Zeke, I want to show you something. I found a way for us to eradicate the shifters,” Richard said as he walked into the room. Zeke perked up. After Paul’s betrayal he needed a win. He was all for a new plan to take down the animals.
“What’s that?” Zeke asked as he stood from his chair. He wasn’t getting around as easily as he used to. Since he’d been shot, he’d had to use a cane to walk. He was making vast improvements, but would never be what he used to be.
“Let me show you,” he said with a smile. Zeke followed Richard to one of the holding cells they had. He’d never used it, but figured it
would come in handy when they had a shifter they wanted information from. It was state of the art with titanium bars and electric locks. It was his baby, and he really hoped to use it one day. He’d put so much money into it that he wanted to find out if it would work.
“I got her two days ago,” Richard said. Zeke looked up and saw a girl in the cell. She couldn’t have been more than sixteen. He might kill shifters, but Zeke never went after kids. It was just wrong. It might eradicate the species if he did, but that was just cruel.
“Why do you have her?” he asked. “Because I’m going to train her to kill her own kind. She’ll be the ultimate fighting machine,” Richard said with pride.
“But she’s a child,” Zeke said, horrified. “Yes, but they’re easier to break. I’m likely to have fewer problems with her than I would with an adult. She’ll fight me at first, but when I break her, she’s going to be perfect.”
Zeke saw the excitement in Richard’s eyes. He had to put a stop to this. He was too weak to kill him himself, but he’d find a way to release her and put Richard down. He couldn’t stand for that. He wanted the monsters dead, but was not prepared to go after the innocent.
***
Richard was so proud of himself. He couldn’t wait to break the girl. Maybe he could have her all to himself too. She was a shifter, but they had to be wild in bed. She was an animal after all.
He looked over at Zeke and saw the disgust on his face. He had a
feeling his boss wouldn’t like him taking her, especially since she was so young, but he wanted to show his boss it would work. He looked up to the old man. Richard had come so far in his life, and killed so many shifters. He wanted to learn from Zeke and maybe one day take over from him. The only problem was the man had gone soft in his old age. He seemed to not want to torture them or make them suffer. He wanted them to have quick deaths. The man wouldn’t even touch the kids. Didn’t he know they grew up to be those monsters? They all had to be eradicated. If you kill only the adults, the kids are just going to grow up and multiply. They would never be able to get rid of the disgusting things.
“How do you know you can control her?” Zeke asked. He knew Zeke was trying to get information. He could see the look in his eyes. He was pissed. Richard was just fighting for the cause, didn’t he see that? “She’s young enough; we shouldn’t have a problem.”
“Are you sure? She looks like a fighter.” “Yeah, that’s why I picked her. She’s tough, but everyone has a breaking point. You just have to be patient,” Richard said with a smile. He was really looking forward to it. She was going to fight him, but he knew it was going to be worth it. Didn’t Zeke know he had a plan? He wasn’t going into this blindly. He’d broken humans before. It couldn’t be that much harder. Well, maybe a little, but the process was probably the same.
*** “How about I take you to the living room where we can talk? We can be more comfortable and we’ll get you a real meal,” Emily asked as she leaned against the door frame of Paul’s cell.
“Sure,” Paul said, standing up and stretching. Emily watched him move. Even after being in a cell for so long, he looked to be in good shape and ready for anything. She admired that. He seemed ready for some type of trap though. That wasn’t her plan, but she had no intention of telling him that. It was a chance to see how he’d react and handle things in an unknown situation. If he was helping her, she needed to be sure he knew what he was doing. It was her baby sister.
When they got to the living room, Emily said “sit”, then went into the kitchen. Her cook was standing at the stove, preparing a big meal. She always did, no matter what Emily said. “I need a big steak.”
Maggie raised her eyebrow at her. Emily knew better than to talk to her like that. She was human and younger than her, but when it came to the kitchen, she was the boss. “Please,” Emily added with a sigh. She loved the woman dearly, but she still got on her nerves sometimes.
“That’s better,” Maggie said with a smile. “Is this for the prisoner you’ve got that I’m not supposed to know about?”
“You knew?” she asked incredulously. “I know everything. You should know that by now.” Emily knew she shouldn’t be surprised, but she was. She thought she’d kept Paul well hidden. She’d have to try harder next time she needed to hide someone. “Now, it’s for him right?”
“Yeah it is.”
“Good. That boy needs some meat on his bones. He’s too skinny.” “You saw him?” she asked. Maggie was just full of surprises. It was her job to know everything, she did run the house… and most of the shifters in the area.
“I’ve taken him food a few times. We’d chat sometimes. He’s really sweet. Why did you have him locked up?” she asked.
“Because he killed a lot of shifters. And Maggie, no more talking to the prisoners,” Emily said, trying to sound authoritative. It never worked on Maggie, but she had to try.
“Yes, he told me about that. Something about believing what someone said about shifters, but then finding out none of it was true. I believe him. If I thought he was dangerous, I wouldn’t have gone down there.”
“Maggie, please, stop putting yourself in danger. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you,” Emily said pleadingly.
“Em, I’m sixty years old. Something is going to happen to me. You’ll survive it, well, unless you don’t find a new cook. I’ve had your cooking; you might kill everyone with it. Plus most bad guys won’t mess with an old woman, especially me. I’ll hit them upside the head with a frying pan, just like I did to you,” she said with a smile.
“I know,” Emily responded with a smile, and went back into the living room. “Maggie’s cooking you some food. Do you need anything?”
“I’m okay for now,” Paul said. Emily knew what that meant: he wanted more before he agreed to help. She just hoped she could get him what he wanted.
*** Paul couldn’t figure out what Emily was trying to do. He had every intention of helping her, but he did plan on milking it. But, she seemed very nervous about it all. She was supposed to be some bad ass killer, but here she was trying to impress him and doing a really bad job of it. She kept twisting her hands and looking at the floor. Did she really think he wouldn’t help her?
“Please, sit down. You’re making me nervous,” he finally said. That was not how he had pictured her. He’d expected ruthlessness, like she was when he met her right before she captured him.
“Okay,” she mumbled, then sat down in a chair across from him. She was jittery and kept jiggling her foot or moving. He couldn’t take it anymore. He thought she might have just said it, gotten it out of the way, but there he sat, waiting.
“Tell me what’s going on,” he said, leaning forward and putting his elbows on his knees. He needed her to get it out so maybe she’d calm down some. He could tell she was nervous.
“My sister, Stacy, was taken a few days ago,” she said bluntly.
He expected more, but it was hard enough just to get that out of her.
“Okay, and what makes you think it was the Hunters?” he asked, knowing it wasn’t them. “The scent. I’ve scented the man before when I was after some Hunters, I am certain of it. I don’t know why they took her and I really don’t care, but I want her back and I’ll kill anyone who stands in my way,” she growled out.
He could tell she was pissed off. No more nerves getting the better of her. That was the Emily he’d read about. He knew she had to be in there somewhere; she was just hidden underneath all the worry. He had always admired her tenacity and strength. Paul might not have seen it firsthand, but he’d read about it in reports from Hunters who’d encountered her.
“Okay, I know you guys are good with the whole sniffing thing, so I believe that you smelled him. I’ll help you, but I’m still not sure it’s Zeke. Your sister’s far too young for someone in his collection, and he doesn’t mess with kids. That’s one of his main rules: you don’t kill kids.”
“Well he took Stacy. I’m sure of that. What if it was just one of his men doing it on his own? If we find the man, we’ll find her.”
CHAPTER 3
Emily hated that she had to go to Paul for help. She was a fighter and a soldier, yet she had to ask him for help. That wasn’t her, but she needed information from Paul. She went back into the kitchen and saw Maggie, who was back to cooking dinner, and a maid walking out into the dining room with a plate of steak in hand.
“I hate this,” she said to Maggie.
“You should have gone to Bill,” she singsonged. “I can handle this myself,” she grumbled. She didn’t want to go to Bill; she wanted to do this on her own.
“I know you can, but there’s no shame in asking for help every once in a while.”
“But I can take care of my sister. I don’t need anyone’s help with that.”
“Except for Paul’s,” she said. “I need him for his intel, nothing more. Once I’m done with him, I’ll throw him back in the cell or kill him. I don’t want him going out there and killing more shifters,” Emily said. And she meant it. She had no intention of using him any more than was necessary. Emily hated him for bringing this on them, and for killing so many of her kind.
“Well, I don’t think he’s going to harm anyone. I think he might have learned from his mistakes. He did agree to help you, didn’t he?”
“Yeah,” she grumbled. She wondered if he had an ulterior motive, such as wanting to slip the Hunters information about where the shifters w
ere vulnerable, or using inside information on when they were going to attack a compound or something. She wasn’t buying that he was reformed. He was too high up in the ranks to be swayed so easily.
“So technically, you aren’t doing it yourself, so you can call Bill before you get yourself killed.”
“I will… tomorrow,” she said, and walked out into the dining room where she saw Paul talking to the maid. Emily tried listening in, but they were so quiet she couldn’t hear anything without getting closer. When the maid laughed, she knew she had to intervene. He was her prisoner; he didn’t need to be flirting with her staff. She squared her shoulders and walked into the room, ready to splash some cold water on the new lovers.
***
“You are so sweet to bring this to me,” Paul said to the maid flirtatiously. She giggled and said, “No problem. If you need anything, just let me know,” she said and touched his arm gently.
“Is there any possible way I could get a cup of coffee?” he asked her, leaning in close. She giggled again and nodded before slowly walking away with an extra sway to her hips. He knew he shouldn’t be doing that, but he wanted an ally, even if it was a flirtatious maid. She might come in handy.
Paul looked down at his plate of steak and potatoes before he started eating. He knew Maggie could cook, but wow! This was the best meal he’d ever had.
“Making friends already?” Emily asked as she walked in. He looked at her face and she looked mad. He didn’t know why; the maid was just staff. It wasn’t like they were friends or anything. Maybe that was it. Maybe Emily cared for her staff more than just as an employer and wanted to keep the big bad Hunter away from them.
“Yeah, she’s really nice,” he said before taking a bite of steak.
“Do you even know her name?” Emily asked. She sounded really mad. “Melinda?” he guessed. He had no idea. How was he supposed to know? He’d just met her when she brought in his food.
“Carrie,” she answered angrily. Paul tried holding in his laugh. He didn’t think he was very successful when she started clenching her fists. He took a deep breath and said, “I was just flirting to get some coffee. I didn’t mean any of it.”
Emily's Captive (A Lilly Town Shifter Novel Book 2) Page 1