Homecoming (11 page)

Damien tried to concentrate on the road. “Perhaps, but I didn’t want to announce our arrival.”

Rachel tried to appear uncaring as she stared at the landscape out the window. “Did they say which pieces they had recovered?”

“Only that it was ‘primary’. Hell, that could be anything. Considering we need all of them, I guess they’re all primary, aren’t they?” He gave her a weak smile.

She twisted a strand of hair around her finger as she thought. “I don’t know why, but this one has me frightened.”

“It shouldn’t. We still have the promised payment to the last grave digger, so if this one asks for more we can use that to bargain with.”

“What if this one is smarter? What if—”

“Don’t go worrying yourself about things we can’t change.” Damien glanced at his watch and then at the fuel tank. “We’re going to have to go to ground soon.”

Rachel nodded in the gloom of the truck and shifted in her seat. “I just have a very bad feeling about this.”

“Don’t worry, darling. We’re nearly finished.” Damien spied a thick stand of trees on a hill off the road and turned toward it. “Look, we can sleep there for the day.”

After he parked the truck and the two pulled the tarp out from the back and settled underneath the vehicle, pulling the tarp over them, Rachel turned to him once more. “You do realize what will happen once I’m restored, don’t you?”

“You’ll be complete.” Damien pulled her closer to him and wrapped an arm around her.

She snuggled her face into his neck and wrapped an arm around him as they waited for the sun to break over the surrounding hills. “I won’t be the same,” she whispered. “Not like I am now.”

Damien nodded almost imperceptibly. “I know, you’ll be the real you.”

“No, lover, I’ll be…different.”

He squeezed her reassuringly. “Don’t tell me you’re not a natural redhead.”

She fell silent a moment and Damien felt worry eat at him. “I’m different.”

“Different how?”

She waited a long moment while she tried to choose the right words. “I’m more dominant. Not like I am now.”

Damien tried to turn his head to look at her but couldn’t. Between the tarp and her head buried in his neck, he couldn’t see anything. He pulled her closer and squeezed her again. “But you’re still you, right? The woman I love?”

She nodded slightly. “But I’m…not nice.”

Damien laughed. “We’re vampires, darling. We’re
not nice
by nature.”

“Just…never mind.” She patted his chest and felt the sun break over the hilltop. Even though their bodies were covered with the tarp and a fine layer of soil, she could sense it. “Just go to sleep.”

6

Matt shuffled through the reports that Mark had left him during his trip and found his mind unable to concentrate. He couldn’t identify why, but his frustration levels were rising, and he could feel his anger climbing with it. Before he realized what he was doing, he found himself half standing behind his desk, his arm raised, ready to swat the entire stack of reports across the room as his teeth ground together. He felt as though his jaws were in a clamp when he froze and forced himself to take a deep breath.

Settling back into his chair, Matt hung his head and held his face in both hands. He could feel his inner wolf tearing at him just under the surface. The animal
craved
its mate like a drowning swimmer craves air. He could feel his mouth go dry as the beast within surged to the surface and roiled just under his skin. It took all of his self-control to tame the animal and get it back under some semblance of docility.

Matt leaned back in his chair and took a deep, cleansing breath. “She’s out there,” he muttered to himself. He knew that he was talking to his ‘other’ self. “We know she is. She just doesn’t want to be found right now.” He could almost feel the wolf’s pain as it pulled back from the surface and hid back in the shadows of his inner self.

Matt stood and walked to the window of his office. He opened the blinds and stared out at the underground facility. He could see Evan’s lab and the machine shop from his vantage point and it seemed little was happening at the moment. He knew what he wanted to do, but the larger part of him didn’t want to relive the pain. His pain seemed to keep the wolf placated. But reliving it was becoming more and more difficult.

Since the attack that took his wife JoAnn and their daughter Molly, Matt had the luxury of a decade to heal. He had over ten years to mourn their loss. He had buried himself in his job and his position became his new bride. His men were his new family. The support staff extended family. Laura was the daughter he’d never see grown up. He stared vacantly at the facility and barely realized that his hands had closed the blinds, leaving him leaning against the wall, alone.

Matt turned slowly to the large metal filing cabinet in the corner of his office and pulled open the top drawer. In the back of the drawer behind his personal copies of the squad members personnel files were three framed photographs. He felt the familiar cold of the frames as his hand pulled them out, and he fought not to open his eyes. He had long ago memorized every line, every shade, every detail…yet his eyes betrayed him. He could feel them misting as he stared into the last photos taken of JoAnn. Although the picture was printed in black and white, he knew the color of her hair. He knew every fleck of color in her eyes. He even knew which of her bottom teeth was slightly crooked.

Matt laid the picture frame down and stared at Molly’s picture. This one was taken when she was only five. Or was she six? She wore twin pigtails and her front teeth were missing. She smiled so big. She couldn’t wait to show daddy that she’d lost her front teeth. The tooth fairy was going to come and visit her that night.

The third photograph was of JoAnn and Molly together. Molly had nearly doubled her age, JoAnn looked remarkably the same. Her hair was a little shorter. Matt realized that perhaps those streaks weren’t put there on purpose. Perhaps she had actually aged a little. He ran his fingertip across the photo, outlining JoAnn’s jaw, her lips, her eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” his whispered voice cracked when he spoke. “I couldn’t protect you.”

He sniffed back a tear as he stared at the last photo of JoAnn that would ever be taken. Molly appeared so full of life. They both did. How could they…how could…just…how?

He didn’t realize the tear had escaped until it splashed upon the glass of the frame, and he jerked his head up and looked around. He pulled out a tissue and quickly wiped off the glass and began slipping the photos back in the rear of the drawer. As he reached the last one, the black and white of his wife, he paused and stared into her eyes one more time.

“She’s out there, ya know. According to people I trust, she’s supposed to be my mate.” JoAnn’s image didn’t say anything in reply. He almost seemed shocked that she didn’t crawl out of the frame and rip into him. “She’s supposed to be my ‘Fated Mate’ whatever the hell that really means.” He stared at JoAnn’s face and felt the hot tears run down his cheeks. “This isn’t right, Jo-Jo. She took you from me. You and Molly and now…” he choked on his own words as he stared at her image.

Matt felt suddenly ill and quickly slipped the photo back into the cabinet with the others. He shut the door and flipped the lock shut. “What the hell am I supposed to do now?”

Matt stood in the dimness of his office and stared at the ceiling. He took one, two, three deep breaths and was so tempted to dig out one of his hidden bottles of Scotch. He stepped to his desk and sat back into his chair, his mind numb but still racing, although none of it registering.

With head in hands once more, he fought not to lose control of his emotions. He whispered to himself, “What am I supposed to do now?”

Matt froze and dared not breathe when he heard a distinct voice in his mind tell him, “You need to heal.”

His head snapped up and he stared around the room. “Jo-Jo? Is that you?” He listened intently, but all he could hear was the air moving through the ducts of the ventilation system. Matt stood slowly and looked around again. “Please, Jo, if that’s you…”  He strained his ears to listen, trying his best to use his wolf abilities that he’d ignored for so long.

But there was nothing.

He fell back into his chair on the verge of sobbing once more, convinced that he was either losing his mind or that his imagination was playing tricks on him. As he sat slumped in his chair, he could almost feel JoAnn’s calming hands on his shoulder, soothing him.

*****

Laura struggled against the tape they used on her hands, but it did no good. The hood that was slipped over her head completely blocked her vision and the only indication she had of where they might be going was the fact that she had never left the beach. She was about to try once more to pull away when she was roughly lifted and deposited into what she could only guess was a boat by the wooden bottom and the way it rocked when her weight hit it. She felt the others climb in and soon heard a small engine come to life.

“Where are you taking me?” She fought to keep any fear from her voice but knew the wolves would have already smelled it.

Her question was met with a quick smack to the back of the head. “Shuddup already.”

She did her best to try to keep a bearing but soon found it impossible. The continuous rocking of the small craft with the waves had her more concerned about motion sickness than the direction of travel. She swallowed soda-tinged bile as it rose in her throat and tried to take deep breaths through the thick material of the sack over her head. “At the risk of getting smacked again, I think I’m about to be seasick.”

Her captors said nothing as the small craft continued on its journey, and she continued to fight the nausea swelling within. “I’m serious here, guys. I’m about to toss cookies.” She turned her head in either direction hoping somebody would assist her. “Look, guys, I don’t know my way around here and even if I could see, I doubt I could find my way back. Please, just take off the hood. I really think I’m going to be ill.”

Hope sprung within as she felt hands grasp her shoulders and still her. Then she heard the engine die and felt the boat strike something hard. Perhaps a wooden pier? Moments later she was lifted up and handed off to another set of strong hands that stood her on more solid footing.  The feelings of nausea weren’t entirely gone, but they subsided greatly as she felt something solid beneath her feet.

Laura’s shoulders slumped with weakness from the nausea and she waited in place while the others disembarked. Once the party was ready, she was pushed roughly in the direction they wanted her to go. “All you had to do was ask.”

Another smack to the back of the head was her reply. Laura ground her teeth as she wished she knew the identity of the guy who liked to hit women. Wolf or not, the one thing she would put at the top of her Bucket List would be the neutering of a certain werewolf.

The party marched for what felt like forever. Laura distinctly felt vegetation rub against her pant legs. She felt rougher, rockier soil under her feet. She almost felt, at times, that they marched in circles, except the terrain was constantly changing. Hills and wooded areas were obvious. Rocks and sandy soil she could identify. She was beginning to wish that she had the stamina of her captors when she was finally pulled to a stop and her legs pushed out from behind her. She landed hard on her knees and waited. She dared not speak or faced getting smacked in the back of the head again.

Laura strained her ears and could hear murmuring in the background. A woman’s voice, Jennifer’s most likely, was arguing in a heated whisper with another…a male. Laura felt fatigue all the way to her bones and was at the point where she wished they would either kill her or let her loose so she could take a nap. Her body ached in places it shouldn’t and her hands had lost feeling kilometers ago.

“Why have you come here?” a male voice asked.

Laura lifted her head and tried to zero in on the direction. “Could you let me loose please?”

“I asked you a question, human.”

“And I asked for a little common courtesy. I’m obviously not a threat. You said it yourself. I’m a human. You’re surrounded by wolves.” She tried not to let her aggravation reflect in her voice. She failed miserably. “Look, I’m exhausted, I’m hungry, I’m thirsty, and my feet are killing me. Not to mention, one of your smack-happy hounds has given me a headache like you wouldn’t believe. So, if you want a little cooperation from me…”

“Does she always talk so damned much?” the voice asked in irritation.

She felt the sack pulled roughly from her head and had to shake her hair out of her face in order to look around. She immediately took in her surroundings. She sat at what appeared to be the edge of a rain forest or jungle. A large clearing had been made and an estate erected for a very well-to-do person. Large men patrolled the grounds, obviously security. Four men surrounded her, two on either side, and the man in front of her bore an uncanny resemblance to Jennifer. If that was her real name.

The man leaned down and invaded her personal space. “I asked you a question.”

“And I’d
really
like to get some circulation back in my fingers.” Laura tried to smile, but she was almost certain it came across as a scowl.

The man rolled his eyes, and his mouth twisted up in anger. He pulled out a rather large spring assisted knife and flipped it open in front of her face. In the blink of an eye, he reached behind her and sliced the tape holding her hands together. “Now, answer the questions.”

Laura pulled her hands in front of her and rubbed some feeling back into them. As she suspected, her fingers were a nice shade of blue. “What was the question again?”

The man’s eyes narrowed as he leaned closer and spoke slowly, “Why have you come here?”

Laura nodded, as if suddenly understanding. “I came here,” she answered just as slowly, “because a bunch of big, dumb, muscle-bound dogs dragged me here against my will.” She stood on wobbly legs and stared at the man. “Trust me when I tell you, I’d much rather be back at the beach sipping a Mai Tai.”

She watched as his face slowly turned red, and he turned to Jennifer who was stifling a smile. “Is she…do you…” He waved his hands animatedly. “Tell me why I shouldn’t let the boys just eat her now?”

Jennifer shrugged. “I tried to tell them, but they wouldn’t listen.”

“This was your idea, remember?” The man turned to Laura again. “This is your last chance, human. Tell me the truth or I will let my boys use you as a chew toy.”

Laura narrowed her gaze at the man and squared her shoulders. “I told you the truth. Your ‘boys’ brought me here against my will. And if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to go
back
to the beach and—”

“Why are you in Belize?” he shouted.

“Oh.” Laura stood back and placed her hands on her hips. “You should have just asked that in the first place.”

“I am asking that now.” He was losing his patience, and Laura felt it best to stop goading him.

“I came here to talk to her.” She pointed at Jennifer.

“What about?”

Laura gave him a suspicious look. “And who are you to her?”

He ground his teeth together and pointed a finger at her. “I am her
father
!”

Laura cast a glance to Jennifer who simply nodded. “Very well, I came here to talk to her about what happened back in the States. And about the man who keeps following her.”

“Her captor, you mean.” The man’s voice held venom.

“Potatoes, Po-tah-toes. The point is—”

“The point is, he was her captor. You work for this man. That makes you part of the problem.” He nodded to his men and one of them grabbed her about the shoulders and pinned her in place. “Chew toy it is.”

Jennifer jumped between her father and Laura, “No, Papa, I told you, she has information that I need.”

“Bah! She has nothing that you need. She can be disposed of and nobody will miss her.” He made a motion to the man and Laura was lifted from her feet with a squeal. “She will be taken care of. You are safe now, my dear.”