He had to take another breath to steady himself. “He found them. He’s the one who called it in to the police and then called their pod Alpha.”
He paused to collect his thoughts. “They were attacked. I don’t have all the details on that, either. But there was a guy found dead in their backyard, too. The police don’t think he was the one who attacked them, because it looks like he was murdered. He didn’t have any ID on him, and police are still trying to identify him.”
“We need to go get the babies.”
He turned to Sean, who suddenly looked like he hadn’t meant to say that aloud.
Then Sean focused the full force of his sweet mocha eyes on him. “We need to go. Right now. To West Palm. We need to make sure they’re safe.”
“I’ll go, and—”
“Fuck that noise,” Sean said in the same quiet tone. “I’m going to West Palm Beach, with or without you. But I’m going.” Sean found Sam, who still held Isla. “Dad, you and Mom and everyone, you keep Isla here with you. We’ll get her bags from the car.”
“Sean—”
“No.” It was a quiet no, with all the strength of the Rocky Mountains behind it. “I’m going. Besides, Olivia and Brad listed us as their guardians. The babies are our responsibility.”
Emery knew nothing he said would make Sean stay behind. He nodded. “Okay.”
“I go wit’ you,” Wyatt said. “We’ll take the SUV. We can fit two car seats in it.”
“I’d rather you stay here and…keep watch,” Emery said.
Wyatt shook his head. “Nope. Gus and Ben, dey stay. Dey armed. I already called the Lyalls, and dey got people on the way over, including Rick and Jan.” He stepped forward. “Let’s get movin’.”
“I’m going, too,” Emery’s dad said from behind them.
He turned to look at him. His mom, tucked against his side, nodded also.
“Okay. We’ll need two cars. Everyone else stays here until we have more information and find out what’s going on and who did this.”
They actually ended up taking Christopher as well. Wyatt drove his parents’ in their minivan, while Sean drove their SUV and Christopher rode with them. They were on the road fifteen minutes later.
Emery slumped in the passenger seat and stared out the windshield. “This doesn’t seem real,” he muttered. “This has to be a mistake. That’s what I keep thinking, that it’s a horrible mistake. That we’ll get there and it’ll be two other people, not them.”
In the backseat, Christopher didn’t reply. He stared straight ahead, locked inside his grief.
Sean reached across the seats and squeezed Emery’s thigh. “We’ll get through this,” he silently said through their mate-bond without taking his eyes off the road. “I promise you, we’ll get through this.”
Between traffic and road construction, it was after six when they finally pulled up outside Brad and Olivia’s house. They lived in a quiet, upscale neighborhood of older houses and large lots with huge shade trees in abundance. Their house currently stood out because yellow police tape ringed the property, and three cruisers and a forensics van sat parked on the street. A uniformed deputy stood guard outside the front door.
Two vans from local TV stations were also parked down the street.
Emery had called the pod Alpha, Gerald Collins, when they were close. The man stepped forward as they emerged from the vehicles. He greeted them with solemn, silent hugs.
“This way,” he said.
They followed him two houses down, where the driveway was filled with cars, and more sat parked along the street in front of it.
Once inside, Emery wasn’t sure who rushed forward faster, his mom or Sean, toward the two sleeping babies safely nestled in their carrier seats. He felt like he was watching the scene unfold from outside his body, detached.
Instinctively and intellectually, he knew it was the grief trying to settle in for good no matter how he wanted to deny it. Sofia and Julian were there, safe under armed guard.
This wasn’t a dream.
The living room area was filled with people, the population heavy on the large, male, and likely armed demographic. Some of the men were dolphins Emery knew or had met before. A young, pregnant woman who’d obviously been crying from the look of her red eyes and puffy nose walked over and hugged Emery. “I’m Lisa Riley,” she said. “Olivia and Brad’s friend. I’m so sorry.”
“Are they really okay?” he hoarsely asked as he stared at the babies. “Sofia and Julian?” They looked all right, but he wanted to be sure, to hear someone say it.
She nodded. “I didn’t know anything was wrong until Gerald called me. I didn’t expect them back until after six tonight at the earliest.”
Gerald rested his hands on Emery and Joseph’s shoulders. “Let’s go out into the back of the house to talk,” he softly suggested.
Emery glanced at Sean, who waved him to go on while he stayed there with the babies.
Without a word, they followed the Alpha to a family room overlooking the fenced backyard. Emery knew Olivia and Brad’s house overlooked a wooded wetland area, and they didn’t have a fence along the back of their house. A large shifter who’d been standing by the back doors silently nodded to Gerald before leaving the room and giving them privacy.
Emery could never recall his father looking so haggard, crestfallen. Defeated. The older Nadel sat on the sofa with Christopher while Emery elected to stand.
“We don’t know much more than when I talked with you before,” Gerald said. “They still don’t know who the dead man in the backyard was, or who his accomplice was. Or if there was more than one other person.”
“How’d they die?” Emery asked.
Gerald looked like he didn’t want to answer.
“I need to know,” Emery said. “Just tell me.”
“Brad was stabbed in the thigh. It looks like it hit his femoral artery and he bled to death.”
When he didn’t continue, Emery forced it. “Olivia?”
“Emery—”
“Dammit, just say it. I’d rather hear it from you first.”
“There was…a lot of trauma involved. But she was also stabbed.”
“More than once?”
He nodded, lips pressed together in a tight, thin line.
“What about the guy in the backyard?”
“Stabbed. From what I could get the police to tell me, they think he was stabbed inside, and that he made his way outside, where he died.”
“Do they know who did this? Why they did it?” Although deep in his gut, he had his suspicions.
“No. They said it looks like some things are missing, though. Wallets, money, jewelry, laptops, cell phones. They say robbery might be the motive.”
Emery nodded but didn’t reply, trying to process it. Logic told him Erik was dead, that this was likely a tragic, horrible coincidence.
Instinct told him otherwise. This could not simply be a coincidence.
“I need to talk to the police,” Emery said.
“I’ll take you over there. I told them I’d bring you, but I knew you wanted to see the twins first.” He let out a cough. “I know Brad and Olivia designated you their guardians. I hope you don’t mind I called Brad’s parents. Sharon and Mark. They live out in Oregon. They’re flying in as soon as they can get here. Apparently Brad and Olivia never told them what they’d agreed upon. I don’t think they’ll try to fight for custody, but I don’t know what their feelings on the subject are.”
“Okay, thanks.” Emery ran a hand through his hair. “What about the press? Do they know about the babies?”
“No one’s said anything to the reporters about the kids yet. I know one of the detectives on duty, and I asked him to leave that fact out of it for as long as they could. They had to question Lisa and her husband, but he was at work all morning with plenty of witnesses. Lisa’s mom was here with her until about an hour before their bodies were discovered, and she got here just before Olivia dropped off the babies. My fr
iend was able to get the car seat bases out of Olivia’s car and bring them over for us. He also let Lisa’s husband and me go in the house and get some things for the babies, as well as Brad and Olivia’s paperwork. We were able to go out the back door and through the neighbor’s yard so the press didn’t spot us.”
Gerald heavily sat in one of the chairs. “I was able to keep DCF from taking the babies by showing them the paperwork and telling them that I’d called you and you were on your way.” He looked up at Emery. “I just cannot believe they’re…gone. I was at their house for dinner, my wife and I, three nights ago.”
“Where is their paperwork?” Emery asked. “I want that, please.”
“Of course.” He left and returned a moment later, carrying a folder. “I…” He stared at the folder before handing it to Emery. “I don’t know if Olivia had some sort of premonition or something. When we were over there for dinner, she pulled me aside and showed me where they kept it.”
His gaze fell to the floor. “Brad and my wife were playing with the babies. Olivia crooked her finger at me and motioned me into the den. She opened the desk drawer and showed me where it was, in the very front. ‘Just in case it’s ever needed,’ she said.”
He returned his focus to Emery. “I asked her why she thought it would ever be needed. She told me she’d had some bad dreams lately, that her doctor assured her that was normal for new moms sometimes. But she told me she didn’t want to take any chances.”
“Dr. Alberto? Over in Tampa?” Joseph asked, breaking his silence.
“Yes, I think that was her name.”
Emery tapped the file folder against his other palm before forcing himself to open it. There, in the front, was the will, dated three days after the babies’ birth. He knew it was the second version, complete with the twins’ names. The first version had been slightly more generic, simply saying “any children.”
Also included, a power of attorney granting himself and Sean full custodial rights in case of Olivia and Brad’s deaths.
He slowly closed the folder. “Let’s go talk to the detective. I want to get this over with.”
Chapter Nineteen
Sean felt Louise’s grief radiating off her as she gently cradled Sofia against her, eyes closed, silent tears rolling down her cheeks as she slowly rocked back and forth with the baby asleep in her arms.
In Sean’s arms, Julian never awoke when he removed him from the carrier and held him tucked against his chest. So tiny compared to Isla.
He watched as Emery returned with Joseph and Gerald from the back of the house. Emery walked over and laid a folder down next to him.
“I’ll be back soon. I need to go talk…” He looked at his mother. “I need to go take care of something. We’ll be back soon.”
Sean tipped his head toward the folder. “The folder?”
“Paperwork. Don’t let it out of your sight.”
Sean nodded and watched as Gerald, followed by Emery, Joseph, and Christopher, walked out the front door. He didn’t miss how one of the larger shifters, who he suspected wore a gun holstered under his loose shirt, moved to lock the door behind them and then stood sentry in front of it.
Lisa awkwardly knelt in front of them despite her baby belly, with what looked like a painfully forced smile on her face. “They ate and I changed them a little bit before you guys arrived, so they’ll probably sleep for a while. We have some of their things. Enough for a couple of days.”
“Thanks,” Sean said. “We appreciate it.”
“Olivia loved you and Emery,” she said. “She always spoke fondly of you guys. She told us after they got back from the recognition ceremony that she could rest easy knowing they could count on you.”
A painful bubble of grief threatened to burst from deep inside him. He knew he couldn’t let it through, had to keep it contained. At least, for now.
Wyatt sat on the floor next to Louise and draped an arm around her shoulders, gently tucking her against his side. He pressed his lips to the top of her head. “It’s a’right, Momma Flipper,” he softly said. “Jus’ breathe. We get through dis one breath at a time.”
And still the silent tears rolled down her cheeks, but she leaned into Wyatt and let his strength envelop her and Sophia.
Sean fought the urge to move over and let Wyatt drape his other arm around him and be his rock for a while, too.
Louise didn’t open her eyes, but she slowly nodded, at least giving them a clue she’d even processed what Wyatt said.
They were going to have some long, dark days ahead. As he met Wyatt’s sad gaze, Sean hoped he had the inner strength to support his family when they needed him most.
Lisa and her husband busied themselves preparing dinner for their houseful of company. Sean remained seated on the floor, his back against the sofa and Julian in his arms. Sean didn’t feel like eating, but when Wyatt offered to take Julian for a few minutes, Sean took Sophia and made Louise down a little soup before he took a turn eating.
He knew they all needed whatever strength they could get.
It was after dark two hours later when the four men returned. Sean and Wyatt sat on the sofa, Louise protectively tucked between them.
“We need to get moving,” Emery said. “It’s late, and I want to get on the road and home as soon as possible.”
“Where were you?” Sean asked.
Emery glanced at his mom. “We, ah, had some official stuff to deal with.” He focused his gaze on Sean. “We had to go officially identify their bodies and make arrangements.”
Sean knew there was more, but that was all Emery was prepared to share with him right then. At least Louise had stopped crying a while ago, although her silent, blank expression was somehow worse. She softly cooed to the baby when she awoke, but didn’t speak to anyone else.
Sean desperately didn’t want to talk about the situation aloud in front of her.
“Let’s get the cars loaded,” Wyatt said, carefully rising from the couch so he didn’t disturb the baby. “Looks like all dem reporters left.” Joseph took Wyatt’s place next to her on the sofa.
Sean didn’t move. It broke his heart when Louise closed her eyes again and tipped her head over onto Joseph’s shoulder. Maybe they didn’t have a mate-bond, but she loved him, of that there was no doubt in his mind. And Joseph loved her, too.
Lisa had taken the time to write out detailed instructions about formula and the babies’ routines. “And, please, feel free to call us anytime, day or night, if you have any questions.”
Louise rode with Sean and Emery, in the backseat and sitting between the babies’ car seats, on the way back to Sarasota. In the other vehicle they’d loaded the supplies, including two folding travel cribs and other things.
Sean’s mom rushed out the front door as soon as their headlights swept the front of the Nadels’ house a little before 4:00 a.m. that morning. As Louise climbed out of the SUV, she burst into tears and practically fell into Helen’s arms.
Joseph walked over from the other vehicle and helped Helen get her inside the house, while Wyatt came over to help get the babies and their things out.
This time, Sean carried Sofia. The infant didn’t awaken when he unhooked the carrier from the base and carried her inside and upstairs to one of the guest rooms, where his mom and dad had already moved the bed to the far side of the room to make space for the travel cribs.
Thirty minutes later, Sean and Emery were locked in another guest room with Helen, Sam, Marisela, and others standing guard over the babies.
Sean watched as Emery stood next to the bed, as if uncertain what to do next.
He walked over to his lover and began unbuttoning his shirt. Emery looked down and watched him, a lost expression on his face, as if hollowed through his very core.
When Sean had him naked, he made him lie down in bed before he quickly stripped and joined him. Then he pulled Emery into his arms, his head cradled against Sean’s chest, and pressed his lips against Emery’s forehead.
&nb
sp; “Let it out,” Sean whispered to him. “Please don’t hold it in. You’ve been strong all day for everyone else, and right now, it’s just you and me. You have to let it out. Let me be strong for you.”
Sean felt it first, the silent sobs wracking his lover’s body. Sean tightened his grip on Emery, draping a leg around him as well, cocooning him with his body as much as possible.
Then the tears, hot and heavy and pooling against Sean’s chest as Emery silently cried in his arms. Pain radiated off him, a furnace of grief and rage.
And Sean never felt more helpless in his life.
Time passed, and it was nearly daylight, based on the dim light struggling around the edges of the blinds, when Emery finally passed out in his arms, crying himself to sleep.
Only then did Sean allow himself to close his eyes. He rested his head back against his pillow and followed Emery into dreams.
* * * *
Erik didn’t know how long it would take the authorities to identify Castle’s body. If he’d never been arrested, it might take a while, without prints to go on.
Hopefully, it would be enough time for him to return to Castle’s house and do a little research before he headed off to finish things once and for all.
He stopped along the way and hit an ATM machine. He’d watched Castle punch in his pin number, and sure enough, when Erik did, it allowed him access.
There was only $467 dollars in the account, so he drew out $460 and pocketed it.
So much for that line of credit.
He’d need a cash infusion at some point.
It was almost dark, between traffic and construction delays on I-95, when he returned to Castle’s house. He quickly grabbed the suitcase full of stolen goodies and made his way inside.
It only took him a few minutes to find news reports about the murder.
A wide grin creased his face. Emery and his family would have their hands full at least for a day or two. They would be too busy dealing with the police and the babies to focus on what happened.
He just hoped Emery quickly suspected who was really behind everything. He’d thought about going down to the house where Olivia had dropped off her brats and decided against it. He had seen a fairly large, strong-looking man leave earlier. If he came back, there’d be no way he’d be able to fight him off.
Porpoisefully Yours [Placida Pod 4] (Siren Publishing Everlastic Classic ManLove) Page 13