Lydia jerked and twisted, grumbling and stretching. She finally just sat glaring at the closed bathroom door. He’d made sure there was nothing available for her to use. She was still glaring when he came out of the bathroom, packing the travel case he carried back into his compact bag before he pulled the key from his pocket and opened the cuffs she wore.
She stood up, stretching and watching, head tilted to the side when he lifted her larger case and laid it on the bed for her. He stayed between her and the bed, his back to her while he packed up the food collection he laid out.
“We can get coffee or other stuff a little up the road,” Jude could see her rooting in her suitcase. “I’ve removed all weapons, Lydia.”
“You’re a very thorough kidnapper,” she grumbled, sighed and pulled the small bag with her tooth brush and personal stuff from inside.
“I’m sure you’re a very thorough thief.”
“I prefer cat burglar, thank you,” her nose went in the air as she sauntered into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
Now that one made him laugh, his head shaking.
Jude had the SUV quickly loaded. Answers weren’t adding up. He set the alarm on the SUV and waited inside for her, leaning against the closed door in thought.
“What did you bite me for?” She came out a few minutes later, the fingers of one hand lightly touching the mark on her shoulder.
“Why did you bite me?”
“You earned that,” she protested righteously.
“Does it hurt?”
And for the first time, he saw a hint of color flush her cheeks, her eyes avoiding his, especially when he straightened and walked toward her. Jude felt the grin tugging at his lips when she took a step back, bouncing into the wall behind her.
“I’m fine. Fine. I cleaned it,” two hands came up between them when he crowded forward. “Look…you seriously need to learn about personal space and get out of mine!” She hissed furiously, trying to twist to the side, growling and stomping when he gripped the band of her jeans and spun her to face the wall.
Jude braced one knee between her thighs, holding her in place with one hand in the small of her back and his face next to her ear.
“Hold still and let me see it, Lydia Jones,” his words whispered over the mark and he felt her shiver. “Cold?”
“You better not close your eyes,” she ground out. “Because I am going to kill you.”
“Hmm…I guess I think you’re worth the risk,” he used his teeth and pulled the edge of her shirt from the rest of the mark, his tongue out and swiping over the mark he’d left there.
Her body went stiff but her heart was pounding, her chest heaving rapidly.
“You don’t seem to be in pain, Lydia Jones,” he continued kissing around the mark, his body reacting and his words low and husky.
“Let me go,” she whispered shakily, her eyes closed as the wild sensations shot off in all directions through her body, tightening her nipples and making her squirm against him. Damn it, she just put on fresh panties! She could feel him now. “What’d you do to me?” For the first time since he’d thrust himself into her life, she was frightened. Had he given her something worse than the injections the ghoul used?
“You did it to me, first, mate. Never forget that,” he breathed against her skin, licking over the mark and groaning when her body quivered. Now she had a new scent, one thick and fragrant. One holding the male in him just at the edge of arousal and meant to make him insane with need.
“I…I’m not…”
“You’ve never mated, have you?”
“Mated?” Despite the sensual feeling that idiot mark brought to her, she tried bringing her palms up to push against the wall, but the man held her without a single inch given and he wasn’t even straining in the effort. She could feel every single one of his muscles pressed against her from behind, including the one between his thighs. “I told you! I don’t have mates because you lose friends too quick!”
“Not friends, Lydia,” he said softly, his lips touching the mark again. “Mated.”
“Mated,” she repeated the word, struggling to control her breathing and the heat bursting from between her thighs. “Animals mate. You…are you talking about that? About shifters?”
“How do you know about them?” He eased back very carefully, his fingers absently brushing over the thick silken strands around her ear. He decided he really liked the way the long strands drifted over one eye now and then. “Let’s get on the road. We need to talk.”
Lydia nodded, the fingers of one hand still clutching the small zip lock bag with her personal items inside. She moved forward, but only after he walked toward the door.
“What did you do to me?” She asked again, the heat in her slowly cooling. Very slowly.
She knew the world wasn’t the simplicity that played out in story books and cute movies. It wasn’t a vampire mark.
“Oh, god…werewolf?” She hated the high, uneven voice that came out of her mouth.
“In the SUV, Lydia,” Jude shook his head, reaching for her hand and opening the door. He cuffed her to the console in the center and closed the door, his head shaking.
“This had been a really good week for me,” she said softly when he was behind the wheel. “Then I met you.”
“And what was going to be your next move?” He guided them to the highway. It was still early enough that the road was fairly empty. “About an hour and we can grab some fast food and coffee.”
“Next move…I was following the ghoul to find another one of the facilities. I was going to go wandering in, dazed and hysterical, telling them how lost I was without them and how this group of crazy people dragged me kicking and screaming from all my friends…” she felt his fury and stopped, blinking in confusion at the sensation.
That was new. Normally you saw anger. But without looking at him, she could smell his anger. And it was very, very sharp.
“You know what the fuck they are and you’d throw yourself back into the middle? And hope they bought that feeble excuse for a story?” Jude growled this time, well aware of the wide eyes suddenly watching him.
“What did you do to me?” She whispered anxiously, scooting as far into the corner as she could go, staring at him and breathing way too fast.
“You said you knew about shifters?”
“Of course. It’s all over the news and…”
“And?” He prodded, watching the evasion on her face.
“The facility was filled with them,” she knew it was her voice, far too low and far too emotional. “That’s why I had to get them free. The ghoul was…they were only waiting for them to turn twenty-five and they…they were planning to breed them.”
His head turned too sharply, his hand out and pushing a button only to have it come up blank.
“Damn it!” Jude hit the dash with the heel of his palm. “Why the fuck aren’t you making sense? You were supposed to be safe and sound in Devil Hills with that idiot sheriff and Seth!”
“Well…we either have a communication problem or you’ve made a mistake,” she said clearly, pulling her knees up and watching him. Just watching while he drove and thought about her words. He wasn’t hard to look at, she thought, the memory of those lips on her shoulder causing her breath to suddenly hitch and almost stop.
“Then help me out here. Tell me about Lydia Jones. Everything and honest,” he said flatly.
“And just why would I do that?”
“Because we’re on the same side.”
“I don’t have friends for a reason. I got tired of seeing them die,” she returned quietly, turning away from his occasional glance and staring at the passing scenery. “Which means I don’t have partners or even confidants for the same reason.”
“You’re about to break your rule, Lydia. God, I need coffee,” he pulled off the highway and into a busy fast food place. “What do you want? I’ll get it and be right out. I can’t get through to anyone right now and that means you stay with me u
ntil we get this figured out.”
“Anything with lots of bacon, some of the little potatoes and an orange juice, please,” she answered instantly, the grumbling in her stomach making her sigh. “I’m starving.”
“Lydia…please…behave. I’ll be right back,” he wondered if he seriously had a death wish or had some kind of aneurysm over night that caused a severe loss of intelligence.
All she did was raise the fingers of the cuffed hand and wiggle them.
The smile should have told him. That smile should have set off to many alarms inside his head that he’d jump behind the wheel and not stop until he reached Devil Hills.
Jude stood at the driver’s side, glaring at the empty seat and the cuffs lying next to a paper clip she’d found in the glove box, which was now all over the floor. He locked the door, dropped the keys in his pocket and took a slow turn around the lot. He caught sight of just the back end of her near the dumpsters, easing around the side and bending by an old car, trying to work the lock up.
“You’re bound and determined to end up in prison, aren’t you?”
Lydia closed her eyes. She knew it was a long shot, but she’d almost made it. Damn idiot locks on cars these days. If she’d just gotten inside so she could hide…
“Let’s go,” he wasn’t surprised when she turned and took off running over the wide, empty field. “Lydia Jones, you’re giving me a headache.”
She didn’t know how but the next thing she knew, she ran straight into his chest. She’d turned her head to look behind her and smack. She swore her eyeballs bounced free inside her skull and would have landed on her ass on the very hard ground except he caught her wrist and pulled. Hard.
A yelp left her lips and her hands fumbled for something, anything to hold onto. The world certainly looked differently from upside down but damn, the man had one fine looking ass and nice, long legs.
“I could scream.”
“I could blister your ass.”
She decided not to scream, offering up a little wave at the elderly couple coming out of the restaurant. She smiled and shrugged.
“Honeymoon. He loves to role play,” she said with a wink.
Jude ground his teeth and ignored the throbbing of his cock and the need to really hit something other than that heart shaped ass right next to his neck. He had always been a man in control. He’d excelled at it and used it on each of his assignments. Until he met her.
“I used to be sedate and calm even,” Jude hit the alarm button and pulled the door open, dumping her on the seat and reattaching the cuffs. “Put the shit back into the glove box and try to make it neat.”
“Yes, sir,” Lydia raised her top lip and tipped her fingers off her forehead. “This is all your fault, not mine, so don’t bitch at me because suddenly you’re in over your head.”
“My fault?” Jude climbed behind the wheel and pulled the extra-large coffee from inside, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply.
“Mine.” She declared hungrily.
He opened one eye, following her gaze, his head turned slowly to find a tall, willowy blonde watching him. Jude turned away without acknowledging the woman.
He glanced down at the floor. The dark blond brow arched. Not a word spoken.
She looked at the floor and pulled in a long, slow breath.
“You really…seriously…need to watch your back,” she grumbled, stacking papers and small books and carefully putting everything back into the large glove box. Trying to figure out where and why that single word had shot from her mouth.
Like she gave a shit if some bimbo found him sexy?
Oh, god, she was infected with something. She knew it.
She closed the little door and leaned into the corner. “Now?”
He offered her the second bag he’d placed on the seat before digging into his for the large breakfast sandwich.
“Since I know you’re capable of talking through anything, tell me about Lydia Jones,” Jude opened the sandwich and bit down hungrily.
“You want a travel-log from day one?” She asked, looking at him oddly. “What I don’t get, is if you don’t know who the hell I am, why are you bothering me? I had plans, I had really carefully thought out plans…”
“Like going back to another of those facilities?”
“My plans…key word being MY…get it? None of your business. None of your concern.”
“Where were you born?”
Lydia pushed a long breath out after she’d finished chewing on a potato wedge.
“In some fucking facility like I blew up.”
“Parents?”
“I told you. No parents. No cousins, uncles, aunt or freaking grannies! They grew me in a lab. A little egg, a little sperm and poof…pop me in a waiting oven and bake for nine months,” she ground out the words and hated the intense humiliation of them. “When the time comes, pop the girl out of the oven and begin training.”
Jude felt his mouth open and close several times before settling on closed. He shifted to the side, watching her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Do you have blackouts?”
“Do I…do you ever listen to yourself talk?” She stared at him in amazement.
“Just answer me.”
“I suppose. Sometimes. Usually it’s when they…the shot they give me. I think my body fights it sometimes and it hurts,” her hand went to her chest, the memory making her gulp in air to fight it. “And it gets so cold…so really cold…” she whispered, her head shaking at the memory.
“And you would have walked back into that?” His voice was hard at the incredible idea of her plans for herself.
“If I could get others out, yes,” She hissed furiously. “Now tell me what you did to me!”
“Just keep in mind you marked me first,” he slanted a glance at her, moving into the next question before she could think. “Tell me what you know about shifters in the facilities.”
“Again with the stupid questions!” She crunched the paper wrapper and threw it into the bag. “Alright…fine…I only know what I’ve read. I don’t know…I know the ghoul and her friends don’t have the right to use them! I know they don’t have the fucking right to grow them or steal them off the streets for their Frankenstein experiments and I don’t even know what the hell they’re trying to do other than build an army of their own. I just don’t know and can’t get enough information!” Her voice had continued to rise in mounting frustration, with herself and the situation. “I have files. On a thumb drive but they’re encrypted and I can’t get into them,” she said with a tired sigh.
“Alright. How about this…how did you know they were shifters?”
“I’ve been sneaking out of the facility since I was eight. It started as a game. The first couple times I was caught and punished.”
“No allowance for a week?” Jude tried for light but had a feeling it wouldn’t work.
“Yeah…that would have been tougher than the stick,” she mumbled, shrugging and staring at the sandwich in her hands. She slowly peeled the paper wrapping back and took a bite, chewing and swallowing. “I became much better over time.”
“How did you know they were shifters?” He repeated quietly.
“I had friends. Nice people on the outside. They didn’t learn where I came from until I was a lot older but…” She nodded slowly. “They were friends. Puberty hit Sasha and I was there for a sleep over…usually I only stayed until they went to sleep and I’d sneak back. But that night…she woke up screaming and running a fever. She’d told me. She was my closest friend for so long…her mom came in and just held her, kept her warm ‘cause she said she was so cold. She showed me how to just hold her when she went for drinks. She told me Sasha needed lots of water and rest. It was just me and her…and I stayed with her until she woke up. Didn’t make it back to the facility before they figured out I was missing. I lied…said I’d been in the utility closet and the door closed on me. The janitor guy covered for me…so I slid that time.”
“Sasha knew where you lived.”
“I told her when we were about sixteen. What happened to her…” Lydia turned to stare out the side window. “I was the only one there for a long time. I don’t know why. I can’t really remember but I was a little past four when…one night, several vans brought these women to the facility. All of them carrying a child…unborn yet…I used to sneak around, out of the place where the nanny watched me and just watched and listened. Babies were born that night. All of them the ones I set free the other night. I watched the women leaving a day or so later. Some of them never looked back. Some of them cried, saying they changed their mind and wanted their babies,” she just stared, working to keep her voice flat. “I know they got paid. I heard some of them talking about how the money would help them. They were blind folded. A black strip over their eyes. Didn’t know what it was at the time.”
“You’re older than the people you rescued.”
“I don’t know why they kept me. I could never figure it out. I learned really early to play passive, kind of numb and vacant. And to excel at the physical training they insisted upon. I visited the nursery constantly, helping, playing with them, just being there, watching and listening. They were maybe two when we all started playing together and I started training them. Teaching them how to keep out of trouble. How to pretend to swallow pills…and we studied and they had training outside, physical training. I’d heard the orderly talking once…they were about eleven…they were starting the drugs. That’s when I smuggled Sasha into the facility and she could tell. She told me what they were. Wolves. All of them. But the drugs were stopping them. Keeping them from…from changing. On purpose.”
“What happened to Sasha?” Jude felt his claws slipping from his control, his imagination already answering the question. She didn’t allow friends for a reason.
Devil Hills: #2 Luna & Lydia Page 21