by Avery Gale
Trace had rarely let her out of his reach any other time they’d been at The Club, but tonight he seemed almost distracted, and she found herself standing alone against a wall toward the back of the Main Lounge. Looking over the sea of faces, she had to keep reminding herself to refrain from making direct eye contact with the other Doms, something the lawyer in her struggled with each time they’d been here. Eye contact was such a huge part of her professional life that she always feared offending one of the stricter Doms the other subs had warned her about. The thought of any man other than Trace punishing her sent shards of icy fear racing through her each time she even entertained the thought.
Thinking back over the dinners she’d had at the Lamonts’ home, she shuddered when she remembered how Trace hadn’t let her wear underwear and how she had quickly figured out why as he’d brought her to orgasm right at the table…during dinner for God’s sake. She’d been mortified until she realized that each of the women he’d introduced her to that night had suffered a similar fate. The other women had welcomed her, but she had spent the most time with Kat and Jenna. Kat had invited her for tea on a couple of occasions and had been a great source of information about the procedures related to The Club. Tori had laughed at the small woman until she’d cried when she couldn’t get out of the chair and had pleaded with Tori to help and then begged her to not tell her husbands about the incident. Kat had said Alex and Zach were already hovering over her to the point she was about to “go postal,” and if they heard she couldn’t get out of a chair without help she’d never get out of their sight. Tori had crossed her heart in great dramatic fashion and sworn she’d take the secret to her grave. She wished Kat was here tonight, but knew her new friend would be in her suite with her feet propped high if her husbands had any say about it and after meeting Alex Lamont, she was certain he had plenty to say.
* * * *
Mitch was watching the monitors and was puzzled by Trace’s seeming indifference to Tori, the man had barely let her out of his sight for weeks, and suddenly he was ignoring the sweet sub, and she was quickly drawing the attention of Doms all over the room. Asking one of his staff to take over for a few minutes, Mitch left the Crow’s Nest as The Club’s Security Command Center had been affectionately dubbed and made his way down to the Main Lounge. When he moved alongside Tori, she jumped when he greeted her. “Oh my gosh, Mitch, you startled me…oh damn, I mean Master Mitch…I’m sorry, I really am not very focused tonight.” As her emotions flooded him, he knew she was struggling to not feel abandoned, and was fighting the overwhelming fear that she had worn out her welcome in Trace’s life on top of her concern that she was now messing up the rules in a big way.
Mitch placed his hand on her shoulder and turned her to face him. “Tori, where is Trace? I saw him come in with you, but I didn’t see where he got off to.” He kept his touch neutral but was using it to help him pick up on her thoughts, and he was concerned about what he was hearing. Her body language was screaming her insecurity, and the hesitance he saw in her dark eyes reminded him of how she had looked the first time they’d met.
“I’m sorry I don’t know where he has gone…um, Sir. He just seemed to kind of walk away as we entered this room.” She had cast her eyes down, and Mitch felt the waves of anxiety working their way through her. He’d been watching her inch her way toward the back exit on the monitors and remembered how close he and Bryant Davis had come to losing their new wife, Rissa, when she’d been attacked after ducking out that same door.
“Stay right where you are, Tori. It’s not safe for you to step outside that door alone. I’ll find Trace and be right back.” He was satisfied that she would wait for him to return when she nodded. He moved to the bar intending to ask Cort Douglas if he’d spoken with Trace, but saw the bar was swamped, so he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and moved to a hallway and dialed Trace’s number.
* * * *
Tori suddenly felt like she was going to throw up and she wasn’t sure why. The man who had bumped into her had murmured an apology and even though she hadn’t gotten a good look at him, there had been something odd about him. For some reason she’d had the thought that he had intentionally bumped in to her. It had felt like he’d poked her with a pin, but he’d quickly moved on, so she hadn’t really thought much about it until she started to feel dizzy and felt her stomach begin to roll. She leaned against the wall trying to get her bearings. Looking across the room she made eye contact with Rissa just before everything went black.
* * * *
Rissa stood in the Main Lounge and was pleased to see so many of the members had shown up to the New Year’s Eve celebration. She and her men had planned a big scene to go along with her collaring, but since they’d already known about her pregnancy, they’d shared a private ceremony upstairs a couple hours ago. Mitch had been working, and she was standing close to Bryant just enjoying being near him. He hadn’t let her be farther than he could reach all evening, and she was quickly coming to understand Kat’s frustration with her husbands’ overprotective natures.
Rissa had been happy to see that Trace Bartell had brought the gorgeous young woman with long chestnut hair she had heard so much about and had spoken to briefly one evening at dinner. Rissa remembered the woman’s name was Tori Paulson, but she hadn’t really gotten a chance to get to know her. Suddenly Rissa’s eyes met those of Trace’s date, and she was struck by the haunted look in the other woman’s expression, Rissa smiled at her, remembering when she was the “new kid” and vowed to reach out to the woman whose shadowed expression reminded her so much of herself. There was something in Tori’s expression that didn’t look quite right to Rissa all of the sudden, and just as that thought made its way through her mind, Rissa watched as Tori’s eyes seemed to roll up, and then she disappeared from view.
Rissa screamed and took off running across the room with Bryant in hot pursuit. It was just seconds before they made it to the spot where she’d seen Tori disappear, and Rissa was in a panic when she couldn’t find the other woman anywhere. Bryant turned Rissa to him, his eyes wild with concern. “Love, what on earth is this about? What are you looking for? My God, you scared ten years off my life.”
“She was right here…I saw her eyes roll back, and then she just disappeared from view…she has to be here. Something bad has happened. Lock the doors. Do something! Oh my God!” Rissa was almost hysterical as she remembered everything that had happened to her so recently. She grabbed Bryant’s shoulders and shook him “Please! You have to do something, she is in danger, I can feel it!”
“Clarissa! Stop!” Alex Lamont had stepped up beside Bryant, and the tone of his voice alone was enough to freeze Rissa in place. “Who are you talking about?” Alex demanded. As one of the owners of The ShadowDance Club, Alex was able to command attention just by his presence, but it was his power-filled aura as a Master that had Rissa spilling her story immediately.
“Tori Paulson. I saw her, I met her gaze, and something seemed off…like she wasn’t well or something and then her eyes rolled up and then she just dropped from my view!” By the time Rissa had gotten it all out, Alex was already on his phone and men were pushing through the back door. Rissa could hear the newly installed outside alarms blaring just as the cold outside air blasted by her, causing her to shiver. Honestly she wasn’t sure it was just the frigid air that had chilled her to the bone, but her deep fear for the other woman’s safety that was sending a steady stream of chills up and down her spine.
Bryant grabbed her hand and led her quickly to Alex and Zach’s office and sat her on the leather sofa. Just as he was turning to speak to her, Colt Matthews rushed in and seated his new bride, Jenna, next to Rissa. Colt looked at them both and warned, “Either of you move from this room without one of us and you’ll get such a paddling you won’t be able to sit for a week, understood?” When they both nodded, the men sprinted from the room.
“Holy shit, I’ve never seen Mr. Charming ever be so…well, Dom-like.” Rissa saw Jenna
to shudder from head to toe, and then a grin spread across her face just as a blush colored her cheeks a nice deep rose. “Well, I’m guessing that tone is reserved for playtime ordinarily, am I right?” Now Rissa was nearly laughing out loud at the look on Jenna’s face. “Oh for God’s sake, woman, we are both newlyweds, and I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be shocked by anything you could tell me. Remember, I’ve worked with the members of this Club for a while, and they’ve shared some pretty amazing stories with me.”
“Okay, okay enough of that. Now fill me in, what the hell happened out there?” Jenna told Rissa that she had been standing next to Colt, lost in thought about starting classes in a couple weeks, their impending move in to the addition being built on to the ShadowDance mansion and the hundred and fifty-three things she needed to get started on when Colt had answered his cell and then drug her to her brothers’ office before she’d even had time to blink, and then he’d barked his order to stay put and had been gone before she had even asked a single question.
As Rissa told Jenna what had happened, they both moved to the windows and watched as the entire mountain seemed to have come alive. After the trouble a couple months ago, the lighting and security systems had been enhanced to the point the name ShadowDance was something of a joke. If all the lightening was activated, the mountain was so brightly lit it would have been seen as a glow for miles around, and there wasn’t a chance in hell of a shadow surviving.
“Damn, those brothers of mine really are the masters of overkill, aren’t they? God help their children because they’ll probably wrap the poor kids in Bubble Wrap for their first, oh I don’t know, forty years or so!”
Rissa laughed with her friend and agreed that their actions were usually completely over the top most of the time, but right now she was awfully glad for their efforts. Wringing her hands, she turned to Jenna and asked, “Do you think she’s all right? I mean, where on earth could she have gone? One minute she was right there, and then she was just gone!”
“Oh shit, Rissa, I’m so sorry, I was so insensitive. They’ll find her, you’ll see. Cripes, girlfriend, no one is getting off this mountain without getting a fucking sunburn from all those lights. Hell, remember that Chevy Chase movie where he puts all those Christmas lights on his house and it blinds their neighbors? Just imagine trying to walk around out there without sunglasses.” Rissa smiled at Jenna and was grateful for her kind words. Jenna’s grin had turned mischievous when she said, “Now, let’s call Kat and give her the scoop. You know they have her under house arrest, too. We might as well settle in and make the best of our lockdown!”
* * * *
Kat had been thrilled that her friends had called to fill her in on the excitement at The Club, but she was worried sick for the sweet woman she’d talked with a few times when she’d had her over for tea. Trace had brought her to dinner also, but the chaos that was a ShadowDance meal wasn’t exactly conducive to chit-chat. Kat had sat with Tori and chatted about how she’d come to return to ShadowDance and had listened as Tori shared the horrors of being stalked by a police officer in Houston. Friendships forged through a shared history of being a victim seemed to be fast and strong ties that Kat had noticed usually ran soul deep. When she finally came back from her little emotional side trip, Kat had asked rhetorically, “God, what is wrong with people these days?” She sighed and continued. “I swear some men just don’t fucking get it…hey, do you hear that? Is that a siren? Look out the windows…my insane husbands installed those damned sliding, bulletproof doors over my windows, and the minute somebody farts in the wrong direction those things slide closed over my windows, and every door in this mansion locks electronically, and I’m a prisoner in thirty seconds flat.”
Jenna and Rissa smiled at each other as they moved to the windows and watched as the Climax County EMS pulled to a stop in front of The Club. They watched as Trace ran toward the ambulance carrying Tori in his arms. She looked like a rag doll, and it took Rissa’s breath away, and she had to back up and sit down before she dropped. Jenna disconnected the call, and just as she noticed Rissa lowering her head to between her knees, Colt, Mitch, and Bryant stormed into the room.
Chapter 10
Trace had been in the back hallway explaining to a very irate Mitch Grayson that he hadn’t been ignoring Tori, but had in fact had been meeting with a fellow Dom who also happens to be a jeweler. His friend had designed the most amazing engagement ring Trace had ever laid eyes on, and he had been planning to propose to Tori at the stroke of midnight. He admitted he’d been so nervous that he hadn’t even noticed her tension and his heart had nearly broken in two when Mitch had explained how Tori had interpreted his actions. They had just turned to make their way back to where Mitch had left her when they’d heard Rissa’s scream, and all hell had broken lose.
Both men had heard her explanation to Bryant and had hit the back door at a full run. They had been able to easily track whoever had taken Tori by his tracks in the freshly fallen snow, and the minute the security staff had hit the lights, the kidnapper had wisely dropped his precious cargo and made a run for it. Trace had stopped to tend to Tori while Mitch had continued to pursue the man who had left her lying nearly naked in the snow. Mitch had cornered the man, and Dylan Marshall, the local sheriff, had taken him in to custody.
When Mitch made his way back to The Club where Trace held Tori waiting for the ambulance, he’d told Trace that it was likely the kid they had in custody was a patsy and wouldn’t even know who he was working for. Trace didn’t think there was any doubt who the young man was working for, but proving it would be another matter.
* * * *
Tori’s heart and respiration rates were awfully slow, but they were both steady, and that was the only thing keeping Trace from falling over the edge in to full-blown panic. He just kept thinking about how close he’d come to losing her, he’d already lost one woman he had loved deeply, and he wasn’t sure his soul would be able to walk that dark path again. When they’d heard the ambulance coming up the drive, Trace had run out to meet them, knowing full well she’d been drugged and that a few seconds could make all the difference in the world…how many times had he replayed the argument he and Nan had the night she’d stormed from the house for the last time? It he’d just talked to her for a few more seconds, she wouldn’t have been T-boned at the intersection at the main highway…Or if he hadn’t held her arm for those last few seconds, begging her to reconsider her plans to leave, she would still be alive today. Shaking his head in an attempt to leave those thoughts behind, he walked in to the emergency room at the local hospital right behind the EMTs and followed them in to the examination room despite the protests of the nursing staff.
Doc Woods was just a few steps behind him and assured the nurse Trace had valuable information relevant to the patient’s care, so the nurse Trace decided was surely possessed by the devil himself finally backed off. Trace had a lot of respect for the elderly doctor he’d known his entire life and smiled when Doc looked at him and simply said, “Talk to me” as he set about examining Tori.
Trace had filled him in on everything that had happened, including her past experiences at the hands of a stalker before she’d moved to Climax. Considering the fact that they lived in a very small community where the grapevine conveys information faster than the Internet, Trace figured it was likely Doc already knew who she was, where she’d been living, and all about her taking over old man Sherman’s law practice. Doc finally paused his examination and asked, “Any idea what she was drugged with?” When Trace shook his head, the elderly man yelled down the hall asking what the hell was taking the lab staff so long. If Trace hadn’t been so worried about the beautiful woman lying too quietly in front of him, he might have been amused at Doc’s gruff bedside manner, as it was he was simply terrified of losing his precious snow angel.
* * * *
Trace paced the crowded waiting room, trying to tune out the cacophony of sounds surrounding him. He had been run out of Tori’s r
oom while the nurses got her settled in a room in the small hospital’s Critical Care Unit. Since it would be a couple hours before the lab results were in, Doc had said he wanted to “Err on the side of the Angels” and keep her under careful watch until they knew exactly what she’d been injected with. He wondered how on earth it could take so damned long to settle one tiny woman in a bed and was just ready to storm down the hall when Doc strode into the room. Walking directly up to Trace, he spoke loud enough for everyone to hear, but kept focused on Trace as he spoke. “We’ll have the tests back in an hour or so, but truthfully, I’m fairly certain it isn’t anything we need to worry about. All her vitals are strong, and from what you have told me it’s more likely this was just meant to make it easier to take her, the intent wouldn’t have been to harm her.” He patted Trace on the forearm and continued. “We’ll take good care of her, I promise you, I’m not losing another one of your women. Damn, it broke my heart we didn’t get Nan in here in time…” The sadness was so evident on the elderly man’s face that Trace’s heart went out to him.
Rissa stepped up and gave Doc a long hug, the two of them had a lot of history between them, most of which Rissa had just recently learned. Finding out the man she’d always known as her grandmother’s best friend was in fact her grandfather had been a shock, and Trace knew they had just recently sat down and worked it all out between them. “Doc, everyone knows how dedicated you are. Don’t you be blaming yourself for things you can’t control.” The old man smiled at Rissa and pulled her close for another hug, and his deep sigh showed just how much her sweet words had meant to him.