Drake’s eyes flew open and he stared angrily at the man in the driver’s seat.
“What?”
“There’s a fire at the Old Mill Motel on Main Street.”
“How do you know?”
Goetz smiled tightly.
“I know many things, sir. It is why you find me useful.”
The men stared at one another for a long moment.
Oculus liked fire. It was often their calling card.
Drake shuddered as he remembered the house in New Haven, burning to the ground, taking with it all the memories of his family.
Could it be Oculus? Somehow they had managed to find Xavier after all this time?
It was a long shot but it was something.
“I assume you have your firearm, Goetz.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Of course, sir.”
“Then what the hell are you waiting for? Drive!”
It was the uncanniest sense of deja vu as the SUV squealed to a stop. Emergency crews had yet to arrive but fire spread outward from one area on the upper floor of the bedraggled complex. Two men were stationed just outside of the burn zone. One man, holding a fire extinguisher, tossed it behind him just as the man who was standing in the doorway leaned into the room as if to grab someone.
Drake watched in horror as his son was thrown from the interior, into the grasp of the waiting man. He would have recognized his second born anywhere.
Xavier tried to run back inside and Drake realized that someone else was in the room. Roger’s words replayed in his head suddenly.
“I drove him all the way to Lubbock and then him and his girlfriend took off…”
“No!” Xavier screamed. “Danica, no!”
As if in slow motion, Drake leapt from the car, pulling his nine-millimeter from his belt and fired two shots.
The first hit the man reaching to steady his son. Instantly, he collapsed to the ground, dead from a bullet to the head.
From inside the room, another man whirled to aim his own pistol at Drake but he was down before he had finished his pivot.
Drake did a half turn and took out Goetz, whose face contorted in shock as the bullet pierced his throat.
“Wh-wh – “Goetz gargled as Drake kicked the gun from his driver’s hand.
“You think I didn’t know you were working for Oculus?” he spat. “You are a disgrace - to both sides.”
He fired one last shot, ending Goetz’s life.
Screams filled his ears and he pulled his head up to see Xavier stumbling from the burning hotel room, a girl in his arms.
“Get in the car!” he ordered them. “We have to get out of here before law enforcement arrives.”
Xavier did not argue, placing the woman in the backseat before sliding in to join her.
Drake took the driver’s seat and they disappeared from the lot as the screech of sirens tore through the night.
“Do you need medical treatment?” Drake demanded, eyeing them in the rear-view mirror.
“No…I don’t think so,” Xavier muttered, looking at the woman. “Danica? Do you need a hospital?”
“No! No hospitals,” Drake told them. “I have a guy if she needs attention.”
“I don’t,” Danica said, sitting up. She coughed a few times but Drake could see she was unharmed.
“We’re going to drive all night,” Drake told them. “We have to relocate.”
“Relocate?” Danica echoed. “We don’t even have a location.”
“Yes,” Drake said gravely. “You do.”
“Who are you?” Xavier asked but as he spoke the question, Drake could tell he knew the answer.
“I am your father, Xavier. Drake Conway.”
The younger man slumped back against the seat, shaking his head in disbelief.
“I don’t understand what is going on. Why is this happening? Where have you been all my life?”
“Xavier, in 1989, you and your three brothers were taken from me and put away in secret spots for your own protection. The locations were unknown even to me. The only person who had knowledge as to where you had been sent was killed. I had no way to find you. I’ve never stopped trying though. I only recently found the information he had hidden that gave a clue as to where you had been sent.”
“Why? Why would anyone want to hurt us?” Xavier demanded. “I was a kid in 1989.”
Drake stared at him in the rear-view again.
“You must know that you are special, Xavier. You were not just any kid.”
“Oh my God…” Danica whispered. “You mean Oculus is after you? Has been after you your whole life?”
Drake’s head whipped around sharply.
“How do you know Oculus?” he demanded.
If I have to kill this one, Xavier is going to be crushed. I can see in his eyes that he cares for her. He just risked his life for her. I wonder how long they’ve known each other.
“It’s a long story…Drake,” Xavier muttered, turning to look out the window. “What are we going to do now?”
Drake paused, remembering his last experience in finding one of his sons. He hesitated, choosing his words carefully this time.
“That’s up to you,” he said gruffly. “I would like for you to stay with me. I can guarantee you protection and security.”
Xavier eyed him speculatively and Drake found himself cringing.
I promised him that once before, he thought. Why would he believe me now?
But to his surprise, Xavier leaned forward.
“You want us to stay with you?” he asked, a catch in his voice. Drake’s brow furrowed.
“Of course, Xavier, you’re my son. I have never stopped looking for you. When I learned about Sonia…”
He cleared his throat as a lump formed.
“If I had known, Xavy, things would have been a lot different for all of us.”
Their eyes met in the mirror and Drake saw that Xavier seemed to grudgingly believe him.
“What about Oculus?” Danica piped up. “What are you going to do about them?”
Drake paused.
“That depends on you,” he said again. “I have spent my adult life playing cat and mouse games with these terrorists, but I know that with the abilities the five of us possess, together we may be able to stop them once and for all.”
“Five of us?” Xavier echoed. “We all have abilities?”
“Well…yes,” Drake said slowly. “But we can discuss all that later.”
There was a long silence, each member of the car lost in their own thoughts.
“You don’t have to decide anything today – “ Drake started to say, feeling like he might be losing them.
“I’m in,” Danica interrupted. “You are offering us a chance to get revenge on the group who killed my best friend and separated you from your family for almost thirty years! I am so in.”
Drake smiled in appreciation, but her answer wasn’t the one he was holding his breath to hear.
“Xavy?”
“There is no question that we are with you, Drake, but I do have one question…”
The older man’s heart filled with relief.
“Ask me anything,” he murmured, feeling tears burn his eyes.
“Is there any chance that your house has a white picket fence?”
He stared at his son but Xavier was looking into his girlfriend’s surprised grey eyes.
“If you want a white picket fence, I will have one built,” he said gruffly.
“I do want one,” Xavier confirmed and Danica laughed.
“Yeah, me too.”
Epilogue
Six Months Later
Sacramento, California
“Gran! There’s strangers at the door!” Alex yelled.
“Oh for heaven’s sake, Alex, be polite,” Elise Berkley scowled, appearing at the threshold. She peered at the couple, a cool smile on her face.
“Hello,” she said, trying to keep the exasperation from her voice. “What can I do for you today?”
>
“Good afternoon, ma’am, I am Christine and this is Daniel. We’re from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We wanted to spread the good and joyous word of our Lord and Savior to your household. Could we come in for a few moments?”
“Oh, gracious, actually, I am just about to take my grandsons out to a movie. Maybe you could leave a brochure – “
“This will only take a few minutes of your time and there are no more eager ears than that of our youngest generation,” the woman said, smiling pleasantly.
Elise’s mouth parted slightly but no words came out.
A long pause ensued and then the couple turned away.
“Thank you for your time and God bless!” the man called back.
The door closed quietly in their wake.
The young couple made their way down the long drive and back up the street where Drake waited in the SUV.
“Any problems?” he asked.
Xavier smiled, shaking his freshly cut hair.
“Nope. ‘Christine’ here really knows her bible speak.”
Drake snorted and looked eagerly back at them.
“Are you sure you got everything? Let me see.”
“I got it,” he assured his father, holding up the paper with the coordinates that he had quickly copied for him to look.
“Do you think this will help us get to the others?” Xave asked hopefully. Drake grinned at him.
“Yes,” he said. “At minimum, it’s a start.”
He sat back and pulled away from the curb, humming to himself.
“Hey, Dad?” Xavier called. “Could you turn on the news?”
Danica cast him a sidelong look.
“Honestly, Xave, you’ve got to let that go,” she sighed. “They aren’t going to find him.”
“Who?” Drake called back.
“No one!” they answered in unison.
“Are you talking about that sexual predator NBA guy who went missing in Austin?”
His inquiry was met with silence.
“Danica’s right,” Drake said. “They’re never going to find him.”
“How can you know that?” Xave scowled. “You don’t know anything about the situation.”
“I know that someone dropped him in Lake Tanglewood where he would eventually float to the surface or be found. But lucky for that guy, someone else went and disposed of the body properly.”
Xavier gaped at him.
“How did you know anything about that?” he gasped, looking at Danica in shock. “Did you say something to him?”
She shook her head vehemently.
“Of course not!” she hissed. “How can you ask that?”
Drake chuckled.
“Your friend at Lady Katrine’s would have been a very poor witness if someone had questioned her. And she doesn’t know how to clear out her GPS tracker. What was her name? Sasha?”
Xave exhaled.
“It’s over?” he asked quietly. “All of it? All the running and hiding?”
“That part is over,” Drake assured him. “The future is just beginning.”
Xave looked at Danica and smiled, grasping her hand tightly.
“You are my future,” he murmured, kissing her cheek softly.
“And I think, that you have always been mine,” she replied.
Later that evening, as they were preparing for bed, Danica noticed that Xave seemed deep in thought – granted that was not unusual for the quiet strong type that he was, but so much had happened that she was a little worried.
“Is something wrong, Xave?” she questioned. “You seem like something is on your mind.”
He regarded her levelly, pausing as if he was trying to choose his words carefully. “I just want to make sure. Really sure. That you are okay with all of this. A few months ago, your life was completely different. Now, because of me, you’re an Oculus enemy instead of an Oculus employee. You’ve had to dispose of a dead body. You’ve been shot at, and almost killed a few times.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “And you’ve learned something about me and my family that no one has ever known. I’ve never told anyone about my abilities, Danica. Never. I’ve never trusted anyone…” And then he paused, looking away, as if realizing he had shown too much of his hand.
“Xave, if I would have known what kind of organization Oculus was, I never would have worked for them! And neither would Twila. They have no conscience! How could they just kill innocent people like that? And how could you think that finding out about your abilities would change how I feel about you?” she said with exasperation. “If anything, your ability explains a lot about how you grew up. And frankly, it explains a lot about why you are the way you are,” she said with a sly grin.
He looked at her quickly, his mind put at ease a little about how she was feeling about all the changes in her life – and more importantly, about him. “Oh yeah?” he said with a glint in his eyes, as he stalked her toward the bed. “And what exactly do you mean when you say ‘the way you are’?”
She held her hands up defensively, placing them on his chest, but he kept advancing on her until she had no choice but to sit on the bed. He bent forward, placing his arms on either side of her, trapping her in place. “I mean, how you’re so…distrustful…and…strong. And…dark.” She placed small nibbling kisses along his chiseled jawbone as she gave him her description. Then she lifted her arms, wrapping them around his neck and pulling him down onto her on the bed. His hand slid up her ribcage, under her shirt, lifting the fabric up until he could slip it over her head.
“Oh yeah? Dark, hmm?” And his hand pulled her breast from her bra by pinching lightly on her nipple. A soft moan escaped her as she felt the assault on her breast all the way in her core. “Well let’s see if you can’t brighten up my day, shall we?”
As his lips tugged on her other nipple, two long fingers slid inside her, making her gasp with pleasure. “Want to know a secret?” he murmured, as he continued the sweet torture he was putting her through. She had a hard time concentrating on what he was saying when his fingers continued to spear into her, drawing forth hot honey, and paving the way for him to go even deeper.
“Danica,” he coaxed a little sharply, biting her nipple gently to bring her focus back to his eyes. She cried out at the pleasure, trying to focus her eyes on his as he continued to strum her body. “I asked you if you wanted to know a secret.”
“Y-yes. Of course.” The words poured out of her in a rush, as she tried desperately to concentrate on what he was saying instead of what he was doing to her.
“The first day I saw your house, and then the first moment that I saw you, I knew. I knew that you were mine.”
The bed dipped as he moved himself up, drawing off her pants and underwear. Soon, his fingers were back, delving deep inside. “That’s right, Angel, I knew we needed to be.” He punctuated his statement by blowing a gentle, hot breath onto her core. “To be together.”
His tongue slid along her folds, making her arch against his mouth. God, how am I supposed to form sentences when he’s doing that? She thought vaguely, as the pleasure in her body continued to grow.
“You like to torture women?” she cried out, desperate for release already.
He chuckled against her skin, his soft breath making her clit tingle with awareness, begging to be sucked next.
“Not ‘women’, Angel. Just you.”
She tried to lift her hips upward, but he held her firm against the bed with his free hand. Before she could let loose a whimper of protest, he lowered his head, and his tongue was back on her core, his fingers pumping inside her in tandem with the hot assault of his mouth.
“Oh God,” she whimpered, the tide rising inside her like a tsunami. She grabbed fistfuls of his hair and canted her hips against him, riding the growing waves of pleasure. She squeezed her eyes shut, shocked that he could bring her to this precipice so quickly. She tried to hold back the climax, but then he curled his fingers upward and sucked her clit between his te
eth. The lights exploded behind her eyes. Her whole body clenched and spasmed, her core becoming the center of her universe. A loud moan escaped, as he held her down with one hand while keeping her orgasm climbing until she thought she’d die from the intensity. He didn’t stop until she was whimpering with abandon. The intense pleasure kept the tiny tremors and aftershocks coming, each one bringing a little extra zing of pleasure to her whole body.
As he pulled away from her for a moment, she felt bereft. That soon after the most powerful orgasm of her life, she felt like she was floating away. But within moments, he was back, beautifully naked and stretched out beside her.
“There, I was sure you could turn my darkness to light,” he teased her. Danica was pretty sure her eyes were still crossing from her seismic orgasm, but she couldn’t stop herself from grasping onto his steel cock. Her fingers wrapped around his length, and she murmured, “Hmm, I think that I was the one that just got lit up there. And I think you’re still a little too dark. What could I do, in this moment, to light up your world?”
“Right now, the number one thing that would light me up, is to fuck you until you make those noises that I love to hear when I’m buried deep inside you.”
His words brought her body right back to life. How could she go round two when she was just now able to breathe again? But she had a hard time taking her eyes off him, as he moved on top of her, pinning her down with his body. God, she loved his wide shoulders, and his toned chest and rock hard abdomen. In an almost aggressive move, he grasped the underside of her knee and lifted her leg over his shoulder. He gazed down at her core, his jaw clenching as he breathed in her arousal.
“Fuck, you’re beautiful, sweetheart. I can’t hold off any longer.” And with that, he slid his cock smoothly into her, the angle of her hips helping him impale her deeply on his first thrust. They moaned in unison, the feeling of being joined so deeply overwhelming them both.
The stretch of her channel, that wonderful feeling of fullness, sent intense pleasure through Danica. She didn’t think she would be able to become aroused so quickly – or ever again – after that five star orgasm he had given her, but she felt herself rise again as he started to pump into her. He rocked his hips back and forth with a little more strength on every thrust. Soon he was pounding into her, almost viciously.
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