by April Zyon
“It actually wasn’t an optional thing, ma’am.” He took one of her wrists and pulled it behind her back, securing it with what felt like zip ties. “The other one. Or do I need to wrestle you for it?”
Reluctantly, she gave her other hand to the man and said, “I want to call my attorney right now. I get one phone call, right?” She was at the point now where she was starting to get scared and that was not good. She did bad things when scared, like shorting out anything electronic in her sight.
The gun finally lowered. “You are under the mistaken impression that you are under arrest. You are being detained until further notice, as a security risk. Which means no calls and no attorney. As of this moment, you cease to exist unless we say otherwise,” the big guy who’d held the gun to her head said, stepping back right before something was tossed over her head. The man she had been seeing in her dreams all of her life. He was the man with the dark and dreamy eyes. The man who had stood tall against forces clad in ancient armor, leather, and swords and held them off. He was a man who had defended with honor and more. He had saved her sanity in more ways than one, and she didn’t understand it at all.
After her hands were zip tied, a dark hood was pulled down over her head and cinched beneath her chin. In the next moment she was hoisted off her feet and over a broad and hard shoulder, to be jostled around as she was carried off. The upheaval had her nearly vomiting. “Seriously, big and studly, doing this is going to make me puke down your back.” Well, at least inside of the bag. Since she couldn’t see anything now, she was doubly terrified. “Why in the hell have I been dreaming of you all my life?”
She had blurted out that last question without meaning to, so she changed tracks. “You can’t do this to me. I’m an American citizen, and I have rights, you ass.” She wiggled. “And the moment that you broke into my place, cameras began to record you, so in five minutes you’re all hitting the Net as America’s Most Wanted.” Oh yeah, I can do that. Nice, lovely fail-safes are awesome.
The sudden stop made her stomach lurch. “If that happens, you will never be freed. What you did has international security ramifications as it is. Either stop it, or we burn the place to the ground,” her captor told her. She was flipped off his shoulder, the hood ripped away, and her back slammed into a wall with his hand at her throat. “You’re already in enough trouble as it is. Do not compound it with this stupidity. Stop it now, or I’ll do something that is guaranteed to test the limits of your control over your stomach contents.”
“I can’t do anything with my hands bound behind my back.” She gazed up into his deep brown eyes and licked her lips. “I’ve seen you on the deck of ancient Greek ships. I’ve watched you on horseback. Who are you?” She’d had the weirdest dreams of this man, and this wasn’t the time or the place to discuss them, but she couldn’t stop herself from asking.
She saw the look of shock in his eyes. It was only the smallest flicker of that expression but it was there. “Who I am doesn’t matter.” Spinning her around, he cut her bonds before whirling her back again. “Stop it, now,” he snarled at her. He drew the gun again and cocked it before pressing it to her thigh. “If I think you’re making it worse, I’ll put a bullet through you. It won’t kill you, but it will fucking hurt. Are we clear?”
She rolled her eyes and looked at the redheaded Marine. “You know, talking to you is looking better and better,” she muttered. “I’m not planning on making it worse, but I’m also not going to let you guys wipe me out of existence, either. So we need to get that fact straight right now. You could start by telling me why this fuss and grumble. Why in the world would the Marines show up at my doorstep?”
She glanced back at the man with the long, dark hair, the man she couldn’t seem to stop staring at. “And you. You aren’t a Marine, but you do have a military background, so talk to me. Who are you guys?”
“Quit digging your hole deeper with him,” the blond replied. He wasn’t a Marine, either, but the way he held himself also suggested some form of military training. “Do what he told you to, and quickly, before he gives in to the urge to shoot you. He’s not having a very good day, and your lies only made this situation all the worse.”
“I’m not lying, just telling it like it is.” She shrugged. “I’m just trying to figure out who the hell he is.” She was feeling things that she shouldn’t feel, not for someone who had held a gun to her temple and now her leg.
Walking back to her front door, she hit some buttons on a keypad hidden on the wall. “There. Cameras aren’t recording, and the feed won’t go live. Well, that is, it won’t go live unless I turn up dead somewhere. I have a program that will find my dead ass, too.” Well, she hoped, at least. “Or, if I don’t check in on it in three days. So there, you boys have three days to tell me what this is all about. I haven’t hacked anything that would require the military to come at me, so talk. Please,” she added as an afterthought.
“You did lie,” the big blond said. “When you answered the door, you were lying. The rest doesn’t matter, as it has nothing to do with what you went and got into. Pack it all up, boys. We’re going to need it back on the base. Hopefully by then D will have gotten over his upset or shot her. Either way, the boss is waiting for her in some form or another for interrogation.”
Her arms were yanked behind her again and secured. The hood went back over her head, despite her protests, and she was up and over a shoulder. This time, they didn’t stop until she was tossed into what felt like a vehicle seat, buckled in, and the door slammed at her side.
Demaratus. That was his name. She knew it. She had treasured those moments with him when she slept. But the real man and the dream man were two different beings, and she wasn’t so sure she liked the former very much. “I don’t like the dark.” She wasn’t trying to get out of the hold of the seat belt, but she needed them to know. “I can’t breathe.” It wasn’t a lie. She was starting to freak out.
Other doors opened, and the car shifted as more people climbed in. “Quit squirming around,” Demaratus ordered, his voice deep. He was next to her. “Why are you panting like that?” he asked, sounding vaguely confused.
“I’m claustrophobic and afraid of the dark.” No lies. Just brutal truth. “You know that, though.” He had seen her through so many dark times, well, the dream him, at least. “I don’t like this. Please, just take the bag off my head? I feel like I can’t breathe.”
“Lady, I have no idea who you are beyond the name the Marines gave us about fifteen minutes before they rang your doorbell.” Still, he rolled the bag up in a way that let some light in and allowed her to breathe easily, but she still couldn’t see where she was going. And they were moving, she realized suddenly. “Don’t attempt to throw the hood off, or I’ll put you on the floor and hold you there.”
Holly was confused, something she rarely was. She had dreamed of this man. She even knew his name. Sure, in her dreams he had been from ancient times, so that couldn’t possibly be this man, but somehow she knew he was. She knew that this was the man who had kept her company when she was a child, knew that he was the one who’d kept her sane when she had ventured into electronics. This man was the one that had her pulling back and into herself, but he didn’t know her. She didn’t move. She didn’t do anything but gulp greedily at the cool air around her.
“Slow your breathing. There’s no reason to suck it in like it’s going out of style,” he said beside her.
“Five minutes,” someone up front announced.
A couple warm fingers pressed to her throat, over her racing pulse point. “You’re going to hyperventilate if you don’t calm.” The large, rough hand moved to the back of her neck, where he squeezed the muscles for a time before releasing. He massaged the area slowly.
She closed her eyes and let her head fall forward. He’d done this when she had been freaking out as a child, too, in her dreams. “I’m trying to calm down, but you try having a gun pressed to your head and a bunch of oversized GI Joes pulling you
out of your home, and then we’ll talk about not freaking out. How do I know you aren’t taking me somewhere to kill me?”
“If we wanted you dead, we wouldn’t have used the hood to obscure your view of the destination.” His thumb and fingers were working up and down the length of her neck, along her spine.
They took a turn a little too hard and she felt herself falling toward him. But his grip kept her more or less upright. Then they came to a sharp stop. His hand dropped away as doors were opened, then slammed shut. Hers opened a moment later. The seat belt was removed, and a big hand on her arm guided her out to the ground.
“Thank you, Demaratus.” Holly spoke his name even though no one had said it aloud. She simply knew it. She stood still and took a deep breath. “Okay, where are we going? I really suck at walking on good days, so having a hood on my head is only a disaster waiting to happen.” She heard a snicker and shrugged. “I can’t help it. I’m a bit of a klutz, and I embrace it.”
“You won’t fall. Walk,” Demaratus told her. He didn’t acknowledge the use of his name. He lifted his hand up higher on her arm and led her along at a slow pace. She knew he was making sure that he could catch her if she stumbled. There was asphalt under her, but even a smooth surface wouldn’t stop her from taking a tumble if her feet had other plans.
She was walking along at his side, and that’s when it happened. Perfectly straight asphalt was nothing compared to her clumsiness. She tripped and would have fallen if he hadn’t wrapped his arms around her and caught her. Where her shoulder hit, she sensed heat before she was hauled back upright. “Sorry. I told you that I wasn’t exactly the most graceful person. Give me a computer and I’m a goddess, but make me walk, and I suck.”
He put his arm around her and scooped her up. Carrying her, he moved at a quicker pace, bouncing her a little with each stride. He only slowed when he seemed to be climbing up something. Then she was in another seat, with another seat belt put around her waist, and what seemed like headphones dropped over her ears.
“Oh now, this isn’t fair,” she grumbled. She felt someone sitting at her side. It wasn’t Demaratus. She pushed the sudden hurt away. These men were essentially kidnapping her, so why would she care about them? “So, tell me, boys, is this something you do often?” She couldn’t hear them, but they could hear her, and she was going to make sure that they knew she was still there by talking. A lot.
Whatever she was sitting in began to vibrate. The person at her side suddenly left his seat, and someone else settled next to her. Wider than the last one and warm. Demaratus, she was sure.
“Do what?” came through the headphones to her.
“Kidnap women. Are we in a helicopter? If so, keep the bag on my head. I’m afraid of heights, too.” She had a list a mile long of the things that scared her.
“We’ve never kidnapped anyone before.” This time it was Demaratus’s voice in her ears. “As they say, there’s a first time for everything. And yes, we are in a helicopter. If you need anything to drink, let us know, but be aware there are no facilities on this thing, so we’d have to open a door, hold you out there, and let you do whatever was needed that way.”
“Oh now, that is just so totally gross.” She frowned and laughed at the same time. “You guys are seriously not funny. Nothing to drink. Just knowing that I’m in the air is enough to wig me out, thank you very much. Thanks anyway, DC.” Another moniker she had given the man who looked like him in her dreams. Demaratus Corinth was how he had introduced himself. The motion of the helicopter made her briefly sway toward Demaratus. There’s that heat again. Strange.
“You will explain how you think you know me later,” he said quietly. “For now, it might be best if you closed your eyes and tried to sleep. We’ll be in the air for a while, without anything to do up here.”
“Jesus, you did that in my dreams, too. You’re a bossy bit of goods,” she grumbled. Oddly enough, she did find herself yawning. The warmth from the massive man at her side had her calming, even while the more logical part of her railed against it. He felt so right. She had grown up with this man in her dreams. She had lived with this man giving her his faith and his support, and even now she felt herself giving in to the comfort that he offered.
He cut the restraints loose from her wrists. “Since I know you won’t be going anywhere given our current location, those are not required.”
She moved her hands so that she could rub at the skin. “I always talk. I’m a talker, and when I’m not talking, I’m coding, and when I’m not coding, I’m talking to all things electronic. It’s just who I am.”
“I’m beginning to see that. I should have brought a gag.” He spoke in a tone she thought might have been teasing. “Sleep, Ms. Smith. We have a few hours ahead of us.”
Chapter Two
When Holly woke up next, she felt like she was floating. She was so warm and held close to a tightly muscled body. One of her arms was looped around a neck, she realized at the same moment she clued in to the fact that she was being carried.
“About time you woke up,” a low rumble told her.
When she blinked her eyes open, she was inside of a hallway that reminded her of a high-end hotel. The fact that she wasn’t wearing the hood any longer clicked a few seconds later in her sluggish mind.
“Hey, you.” She snuggled in closer to Demaratus. This was a dream. That’s what it had to be. “I don’t think that I’m ready to wake up yet, DC. I like being in your arms too much.” She yawned. “Three years, two months, and seven days, that’s how long it’s been since I saw you last. Where have you been?”
“Ms. Smith, this is not a dream. You are awake, mostly anyway, at the moment. We are at the base, where you will be questioned. Depending on your answers, you will either get a pass or fail. Be very careful with my boss. He doesn’t like humor, or smartasses, either.”
Why couldn’t the dream Demaratus be the one that she was waking to? The one from her dreams comforted her. He kept her safe and he cared for her and didn’t question her every motive and move. “Sounds like a very dull boy.” Holly smirked. “Humor is good for the blood, keeps it pumping or something like that.” She was scared shitless and her way of dealing with that was by talking. “And I’ve never been good with tests.”
He gave a hum of sound as he continued to stride along the really long hallway. When they reached an intersection, he swung left and headed down a few doors. Finally, he stopped, let her legs drop, and unlocked one using a code she couldn’t see, since he’d moved to keep her view blocked. It didn’t even have sound, so she couldn’t figure it out that way. Pushing the door open, he waved her in, reaching past her to turn the lights on inside what appeared to be a very comfortable and homey apartment or condo.
“This is nice,” she said as she looked around. She walked away from Demaratus to stand before a painting of an ancient Grecian vista. “I’ve dreamed of this place. Tall grasses surrounded it, trees, and the sounds of quiet. I know, odd, but I swear that the quiet there had a sound. How is that?”
“Nothing out in nature is ever truly quiet.” He moved past her up a short hallway and pushed another door open at the end. “This way,” he called to her.
She moved with him, studying things as they walked along. “Where are we, anyway? Who is your boss? This definitely isn’t military. It’s more homey than that. Wait, shit, I didn’t accidentally hack the mob, did I?”
“We’re in my suite of rooms. This is the bedroom. The bathroom is through there, if you were interested in cleaning up. My boss is in a meeting right now but will let me know when he’s free. You probably have about ten minutes.”
“Oh God, I did hack the mob, didn’t I? I really don’t remember doing that.” She was in so much trouble right now. If she had been able to get into one of the family’s systems, then she would never again see the light of day. Crap.
“We’re not the mob.” Rolling his eyes, Demaratus muttered under his breath in that same language he’d used with the blond
guy at her place. Ushering her into the bathroom, he showed her where the towels were and a new toothbrush if she felt like cleaning her teeth. Stepping out, he pulled the door mostly closed. “We’re much worse than the mob ever could be,” he added.
“Oh great, you even have the freaking accent,” she grumbled. “Seriously, I haven’t done anything really too bad.” Okay, so she might have put out some crooked companies’ information for the police to find, but she really hoped that wasn’t what this was about.
He was waiting for her in the bedroom when she finally exited. Feet apart, hands behind his back, he was staring right at her. “Feeling better now?” he asked.
“I would feel even better if I knew that I would get out of this alive.” She walked toward him and reached out tentatively so she could touch him. “I feel like I’ve done this before. How do I know your name? I know that I do. You are Demaratus. I’ve dreamed of you for years. Why? You have to know, because I’m clueless on this right now.”
His gaze dropped to where her hand rested on his chest, and he shook his head. “Until this morning, I’ve never seen you before. You seem to know me, but I’m sorry to say that I know absolutely nothing about you.”
“Oh.” She moved back a step, allowing her arm to drop. Holly shoved her hands into her pockets and walked back to the painting on the wall. She forced down the hurt that she was feeling. She had no reason to feel hurt. It was silly, in fact. Instead, she needed to concern herself with getting out of there and going home. Where she would be alone again. Right, that holds so much appeal to it. Not.
She felt him at her back a moment later, the heat of him along her spine. “You seem upset by that. Why?” he asked her in a curious tone.
“Because I’m a stupid, stupid woman,” she admitted and closed her eyes again. “Ignore me. This hasn’t been the best day.” She sighed. “Being taken from my home at gunpoint isn’t exactly what I call stellar.”