by Milly Taiden
Lael nodded. “Yes. I don’t have any more information for you. He’s brought in the rogues and vamps. It’s going to be a blood bath unless you can do something.”
Her do something? She had no idea what the hell was going on half the time since Caleb didn’t like her getting involved in what was going on. Too frickin’ bad for him. Now she was going to go in head deep.
“You need to go, now.” Lael said, motioning with her head to the side.
Emma glanced over her shoulder and caught two of the security guards pointing at her. Uh-oh. “Alright. Thanks so much for your help.”
Lael smiled. “Good luck, you’ll need it.”
She squeezed her way between people, pushing and shoving harder than before in order to get to the back door without the security guards reaching her. Once she reached the girls, they dashed down the back alley to her car. She had the engine going before they even got inside. Everyone piled into the car in a rush. She put the car in drive and floored it. A glance at her rearview showed the two guards running to the middle of the street. Too late. She was already speeding away and there was nothing they could do to her.
FOUR
The following morning, Emma sat down on her sofa with her laptop on and tried to find Aria Valderi. She was not just having shitty luck when it came to that, she was also pissed off because she’d gotten a rash from the stupid wig.
Her doorbell rang and she sighed. “It’s open!”
Nic shoved her head inside, looking all over. “Is it safe?”
Emma nodded. “He’s not here. I don’t know why that would make any difference.”
Nic laughed, carrying a giant bakery box in her hands. On top of the bakery box, she had a cup holder with two tog cups on it. She paused to wipe her feet on the carpet by the entrance. Emma was a stickler for everyone wiping their feet. Or removing their shoes. Sure enough, Nic then went ahead and slipped out of her flats and walked barefoot on Emma’s pristine beige carpet.
She sat down on the sofa across from Emma and opened up a box which contained croissants and breakfast pastries, on the coffee table. “You and Mason make anyone feel like a voyeur when you’re around each other. All that sexual tension. We swear you’re going to tear at each other’s clothes in a public place one of these days.”
Emma bit back a grin and leaned forward to grab a cheese Danish from the box. Those damn things were her favorites. She hoped Nic knew there was no chance in hell she’d get to eat one if there were more in the box. A single bite and she was moaning over the sweet treat. “Thank you so much for bringing these.”
Nic laughed, pulling out the soft insides of a croissant and taking bites. “No problem. So what are you up to? The last few days you’ve been way too quiet and none of the others have heard from you.” She raised her brows in question. “At first we thought you were spending time with Mason, but then we realized there had to be something else going on. So what gives?”
She leaned back, put her Danish on a napkin and sucked her fingers from the sticky sugar covering the pastry. “Nothing’s going on.”
Nic gasped. “Emma Linda Ferro! You’re lying to me.”
Crap. She kept forgetting that her friends were shifters now. Well, most of them. They wouldn’t know if Karla would take to the change until after she had her babies. For the past few months, things had been in an uproar at Blue Creek. First, Jordan mated Aric. That had been brewing for years. Then, Karla and Nate mated and Karla was having his babies. Three of them.
Good Lord, Emma would lose her mind if she were expecting that many kids. She loved kids, but one at a time so she can devote her time to them fully. Any more than that and she’d feel like she was only giving half herself. At least that’s how she felt in her classroom. Though she did have it down packed. Who else had a group of eight year olds call her “Drill Sergeant”?
After that, the team went to Vegas to have some girl time and give Jordan a proper bachelorette party for her upcoming wedding. What followed was a comedy of errors. Nic ended up marrying Jake in a drunken stupor. The proposal got tons of hits on the internet.
Then, Nic went on and killed the Vegas Alpha which would eventually bring some kind of problems but nobody knew for sure. Jordan saw her mother in the hotel and somehow got some closure. Eventually she finally married Aric and now they were all back. Except for the newlyweds. The original ones, anyway. Nic and Jake said they’d wait to go on a honeymoon once things settled down with the Rahound pack.
“I am,” she admitted and clicked the keys furiously. Something had to come up on Aria Valderi. “I have a student whose sister is missing.”
Nic frowned and picked up a cup, offered it to Emma and then grabbed the other and took a drink. “Is it Maria Smith?”
Emma gave a sharp nod and took a sip of her chai. She loved Vanilla Chai. It was one of her weaknesses. “Her other sister, Kelsie came to me for help.”
“Isn’t Maria like seventeen?”
“Yes, so?”
Nic shrugged. “What if she’s with some friends? Or what if she’s visiting someone? Her not answering her cell doesn’t mean there’s necessarily foul play, you know.”
Emma knew that. She also knew that was probably the reason nobody in the entire town did anything to go look for the girl. “Something’s happened to her and I need to know what.”
“Emma...”
“What?” She met Nic’s worried gaze with her stubborn one.
“Don’t go looking for trouble. You know that Mason will be the one to have to haul you out of it if you do.”
“I’m not an idiot. I’m not going to go poking at tigers and then running. I’m just trying to figure out if there is anything that I can find out which could give the family information of where she might be at.”
Nic shook her head. Concern flashed in her eyes. “How are you doing that?”
Emma debated telling Nic what she knew, but this was one of her best friends and she didn’t like keeping things from them. “I’m looking for an Aria Valderi.”
Nic frowned. “Why does that name sound familiar?”
Emma straightened in her seat, her attention focused on Nic. “You’ve heard her name before? Who is she? What does she do?”
Nic waved a hand in front of Emma. “Shush! I’m trying to think.”
Emma watched as Nic’s eyes started to glow a faint gold. “Her name came up at home. Jake said something about the Mansion on top of Cherry Hill being taken over by some Spanish heiress.”
Emma blinked. “Is that her?”
Nic shrugged and picked up her cup to take a drink. “I guess so.”
“Dios mio!” Emma growled. “I’ve been looking for this woman all over and she’s like right up the street.”
Nic grinned. “Keep your panties on. It might not even be the right person. You can look it up in the local newspaper, though. That should mention that it was bought and by whom. I mean, something that important wouldn’t go unnoticed.”
She was right. Emma opened up a new window and searched for the Cherry Hill Mansion. The place was massive and had remained empty for almost ten years because the owners and their entire family had died in a freak accident during a family vacation.”
The search paid off. There was an article by the local press about Cherry Hill having a new owner. She scanned the words, searching for a name but all she came up with were initials. AV. That was the one reference made to the mysterious owner.
“AV has moved in to Cherry Hill with a host of friends and family to help use up the almost fifty rooms inside the giant mansion.” She read from the article.
“So this Aria chick got a few of her closest friends and moved in to that massive mansion. I bet she has some serious money.”
Emma snorted. “Shit, she better. Can you imagine the utility bills on that place? I don’t think my savings would cover it.”
Nic giggled and took another bite of her croissant. “What else does it say?”
Emma continued reading to h
erself then out loud. “AV has been living on her private island in the Caribbean until now. This is the first time she makes any public moves.”
“That doesn’t even sound right. Who the hell lives that closed up?”
Emma swallowed down the last bite of her Danish. “Someone hiding something.” She mumbled.
And she was going to go pay Ms. Valderi a visit.
“What?” Nic asked, narrowing her eyes. “I know you. I can see the wheels turning inside that twisted head of yours.”
Emma choked on her drink and sputtered her Chai to the side, trying not to get any on her laptop. “You,” she coughed, “are crazy.”
Nic lifted a brow. “Right. Run that by me again but with the truth this time.”
Ah, shit. How did everyone know her so well? Probably because her ideas got her or the others in trouble at some point or another. Although, they should all be thanking her for their men. She’d strategically worked with Ellie to ensure the guys knew where each of the girls were located. Except for Mason, but he would have found her anywhere. The stupid shifter was like a bloodhound. She could leave a pair of panties in the middle of the city and he’d probably find them blindfolded. He was that good.
“I’m just going to go see what this Aria chick knows about Maria,” she said. It was crazy that the kid had disappeared without a trace and nobody was out looking for her. Everyone was so obsessed with the Rahound issues that it seemed they’d forgotten there was more rogues and vampires than normal in their town.
“Emma, please don’t do anything that can get you in trouble,” Nic pleaded.
“I’m not. Since when does talking signify trouble? I’ll go be nice and welcome her to the neighborhood.”
Nic blinked, the surprise in her face obvious by the way she widened her eyes. “Maybe I should come with you.”
She shook her head. “No way. I’m sure it’s nothing.”
Nic bit her lip and clearly debated arguing her point. “Fine, but at least give it a few days and I’ll ask around about Maria. Maybe someone does know where she is and you’re just not talking to the right people.”
“Stop worrying so much,” she said and picked up another pastry. “You really need to be positive.”
Nic’s shoulders dropped. “I’m positive. Positive your ass is gonna end up arrested or kicked out of somewhere. Again.”
Emma grinned and lifted her cup in salute. “It’s not fun any other way.”
So maybe she had a bit of a reckless streak in her, but that was part of her charm. At least she liked to think so.
* * *
That evening, she waited until she was sure Mason was at his club before she drove to Cherry Hill mansion. She parked down the hill in an area her car wouldn’t be found but easy for her to hike up and go through the back if she chose to. She debated on how to approach Aria. The woman had taken great pains to keep her solitude. There were three gates up the driveway and a giant guard post near the entrance to the mansion. She decided to call Mason and test his knowledge before making a decision.
“Hey, sexy brat,” he said as a greeting when he answered his phone.
And this was the man her heart did flips for? It was insane. She needed therapy. “Hello, mutt. Got a minute?”
She’d been calling him that for years. Not that he really liked the named, but she didn’t care. This man was hers. She just needed to accept his proposal for mating, but she wasn’t quite ready. Mason needed to learn she was independent and couldn’t be bossed around. If anyone would do the bossing around it was her.
He sighed loudly. “I’ve got time. What’s up? You’re not getting arrested, are you?”
She grinned. Not yet she wasn’t. “Why do you always think the worst?”
“Because this is you I’m talking to. You’ve almost been arrested twice in the past few weeks,” he said, reminding her of their Vegas trip.
“Hey! Those were misunderstandings.”
“Do I need to come tie you to the bed again?”
She smirked, knowing he wanted her to say yes to his offer. She’d never met a man that loved her being bad so much. “What will we do there?”
“Do you want me to tell you now or would you rather I just come show you?” His voice was low and rough. Not what she needed to hear at that moment. Not to mention the memories of the last time or two he’d tied her had all rushed forward to the front of her mind. Each time she’d ended up having amazing orgasms of the multiple kind.
“Mason, stop it. Not everything is about sex.” Mostly. Okay, she lied. When it came to him she thought about sex a lot.
“Right, Emma. So what do I owe the pleasure of your call?” The music got louder in the back ground. “Or are you calling to finally tell me you’re ready to be mine?”
Asshole. Every conversation they had he had to bring up their ‘impending’ mating. “Are you ready to stop thinking I’m a little kid that needs a keeper?”
He growled. “I guess you didn’t call for that.”
“Nope. I just had a quick question. What do you know about Aria Valderi?”
“Emma, whatever you’re thinking don’t do it.”
Too late. “Geez, I’m only asking what you know.”
Daylight slowly faded and she was losing precious moments of talking to Aria to find out what she knew about Maria.
“I don’t know anything about her, yet. But I know she’s got an entourage the size of Alaska and they don’t like anyone asking questions. If you want information on her, I’ll ask around for you.”
She grinned, her heart growing just a little bigger for him. It was times like those that she loved the annoying wolf. “Thank you.”
“I have to go,” he said, a loud commotions sounding near him. “I’ll come see you later with whatever I can gather.”
“Later, mutt.”
“Later, sexy brat.”
She sighed, the grin on her face not going anywhere. Mason knew just what to say to bring out the soft side in her. But she still needed answers and only God knew where Maria could be. Lael said Aria would know and she’d do anything to help that poor family find their missing daughter.
The walk up the hill to the back of the mansion wasn’t bad. She’d done it a bunch of times as a kid when she’d played with her brother in the area. They’d been independent children from a young age. When you came from a military family, you learned to go off and make your own fun because it was hard having friends. Constant moving ensured that Emma and her brother spent all their time together.
She glanced down at her hiking boots and scrunched her nose in distaste. The ground was muddy due to the rain from the prior evening. She hated getting her shoes dirty, but there was no going around it. She picked up a stick and climbed up the back of the hill, looking for the lower wall she used to climb as a kid.
Back then, the owners were never home so she and Joey used to go over the fence all the time. Their house wasn’t far from the hill so it gave them something to do since they weren’t going to stay long enough to make friends. They hadn’t either. Once Emma left home for college, it was then she decided to go back to Blue Creek. She’d loved the peace and quiet of the town and chose to make it her new home.
She made it to the top of the hill without having to stop more than a few times. She’d slowed down on her hikes and was now paying the price. Most people thought that because she was a big girl, she did nothing but sit on her ass all day and teach. The truth was, she loved walking the outdoors, swimming and even did her Just Dance on her Wii when nobody was around. She didn’t need to spend hours in a gym to get a workout and a lot of people didn’t understand that. Except her friends. They all knew what it was like to be a plus sized woman since they were big girls too.
The old gate was hidden behind a bunch of bushes that faced the back part of the mansion. She knew that she was trespassing as she climbed over the gate only to fall and land on her ass with a thump.
There were no lights at that side of the mansion an
d she noticed a group of people had left minutes before, the noise lowering as they moved away.
Where should she go? She knew the master suite was located on the left side of the mansion in a section that was about the size of her house. With Aria being the main person in the mansion, she figured those would be her rooms.
She’d downloaded a floor plan of the mansion before she left her house and studied it a while. Glancing around in the growing darkness, she made sure she didn’t see any moving bodies before rushing to the side of the house. She was almost positive Aria would be on that side. Sweat gathered in her palms. She wiped them on the back of her pants and hurried to the sliding glass door that was slightly ajar, which belonged to the master suite.
She could only hope the woman wouldn’t freak over her showing up unannounced, but she’d seen the guard and she knew that it was going to be hard for her to get anyone to let her in, much less to speak to Aria unless she went in inconspicuously.
She stepped into the room without making any noise. Then, a flash of movement and she was dragged through the air, until her back hit a wall. Air rushed out of her lungs as she tried to catch her breath. She blinked and found herself staring into deep violet eyes.
FIVE
“Wow,” she gaped at the woman openly. “You have beautiful eyes.”
It was then she noticed she was being held up by the front of her shirt, feet dangling midair.
“Who are you?” Her captor asked, baring her teeth and showing off an impressive set of fangs. Now things made sense. Aria Valderi was a recluse because she was a vampire. The entire mansion had to be filled with them. Shit. She had not expected that. This might be her guard, but she had to try to speak to Aria. If the guard didn’t kill her first.
She hoped this woman would allow her to see Aria without sucking her dry. Fucking hell. She really should have given more thought to seeing Mason and letting him rock her world before the possibility of being killed by vamps.