Up in Flames (7 page)

“Believe me, baby, you were wonderful.” He moved his mouth down her jawline, then slowly sipped from her lips. “Simply the best,” he moaned between kisses. His cock seemed to have a mind of its own as he felt it trying to stir to life.
Unfucking-believable
!
This mate business is going to kill me, but what a way to go!

Chapter Four

Meredith and Lucas spent the next three days in bed, only leaving the bedroom to go to the kitchen for blood or food, and the bathroom for showers. Lucas was beginning to wonder if his dick was going to fall off from all of the activity. He hadn’t been this horny, ever, even as a randy teenager.

After three straight days of sex, both knew the real world needed them to crawl out of their little hideaway and face a few problems. The most pressing of those problems was to find out where Eddie McDaniels was hiding and eliminate him once and for all.

Lucas met Walter in his private office. “Any new leads yet?” he inquired, placing a cup of coffee on his boss’s desk. While it was true he could only drink a couple of sips, he absolutely loved the aroma. Most mornings if he was in the office, he could be found carrying around a piping hot cup of coffee.

“Nothing concrete yet, but I am running a few leads myself, to see if we can catch a break on this case. How’s Meredith?”

“She seems to be doing well. She was going to check in with Doc and see if he needs her for anything. She feels helpless, though, and it bothers her. She feels like she is a sitting duck painted with a target, just waiting for someone to come and attack her.”

“I know. I do have one lead I wanted to talk to you about. I have done some digging into Lorelei Publishing. Some things don’t add up, which are making me even more suspicious of Eddie working there. Such as bills haven’t been paid in two months and no new work has gone out in about the same time. And of course all of this lines up almost directly in time of Eddie showing up. I’d like to go take a look around. Figured I’d go in on horseback. The place looks to be surrounded by woods, which makes me suspicious right there. Care to join me? I was thinking we could take Meredith over to my house. Both Sissy and her sister will be there, and they are both vamps. She wouldn’t be alone. And I’ll post Kade as bodyguard while we are gone. I trust him completely.”

“Hell yeah, I want to ride out with you! And I agree with you about Kade. He is a good guy. No matter what else is going on, Kade can be trusted. So, when do we leave?” Lucas was more than ready to go check out this location. He wanted his mate safe. He wanted her happy. And he damn sure didn’t want her spending the remainder of their long lives looking over her shoulder, always worrying. He had watched her do it for four days now. She, however, had been doing it for almost two years. He didn’t know how she hadn’t gone bat-shit crazy yet.

"Oh, shit, how do we get Meredith out of the building?"

Walter sat back in his chair and sighed. "Well, I was hoping since the two of you have mated, she would trust you enough we wouldn't run into problems," he paused and frowned. “Guess it was just wishful thinking."

Lucas chuckled at his boss, but realized the seriousness of the matter. He ran his hand down his face. "Yeah, I'm going to have my hands full!" Because he had no idea how he was going to accomplish this.

“Well, if we can get her out of here, let’s head out late this afternoon. We’ll sneak Meredith out the back entrance and drop her off about three o'clock, and then we’ll go check out our bad boy and see what he is up to.”

*****

As Lucas predicted, talking Meredith into leaving the confines of the building was a challenge. Knowing he would be late getting in this evening, he took some downtime before lunch and went to hunt down his mate. He found her sitting at the nurse’s station working a crossword puzzle.

“Hey, babe. Thought I’d have a little Meredith for lunch today,” he whispered in her ear.

“I thought you were working all day today,” she responded, accompanied by a low moan when he lightly nipped her ear and then ran his tongue over it to soothe it.

“Well, we had a slight change in plans. I am working, but Walter needs me to accompany him on some recon later this afternoon, so I have the next few hours free. Have any ideas on what I can do with so much free time?” he asked seductively as he wiggled his eyebrows up and down at her.

“Hmm, I might,” she replied. She was still a bit nervous around him, but was coming out of her shell. Picking up his hand, she shyly bit her bottom lip and led him back to her little studio.

Lucas had been hoping she would be free. He planned to make love to her until she couldn’t think straight before springing it on her that she simply was not safe staying there while both he and Walter were gone.

He waited only long enough for her front door to close before taking her in his arms and capturing her lips in a kiss that threatened to scorch their lips. He let her up for air a few minutes later, but kept her firmly in his arms, pressed up tightly against his front. Unfortunately, her brain decided to catch up with her at that moment.

“Wait a moment! Did you say a few minutes ago that both you and Walter had recon? As in neither of you are going to be here?” Lucas could hear her heartbeat increase, and the distinct sharp scent of fear started coming from her.

He sighed deeply, knowing that his well-made plans had just gone up in smoke. “Yes, I did. And no, before you start to hit the panic button, we had no intention of leaving you here unprotected.”

She cocked her eyebrow up at him.
At him. A Texas Ranger.
“And just what exactly do the two of you have cooked up for me?”

*****

Lucas purposely remained calm as he led a very nervous Meredith out of the elevator and over to the back door. He could feel her hand shaking under his own, but other than just getting her outside and into his car safely so she could see for herself that he was going to take care of her, he simply didn’t know what else to do.

He had argued the point for almost an hour earlier, and then when she had reluctantly given in, spent the next hour making slow sweet love to his woman, in the hopes it would take her mind off the matter.

They had just reached the backdoor when he heard Walter call behind him, “I’ll be right behind you guys in just a moment, I am waiting on Kade to finish up on a phone call.”

Lucas nodded over his shoulder and opened the backdoor. The door slammed shut a few seconds later, effectively locking them out since it locked automatically. They were about halfway across the parking lot when the problems began.

The first shot hit the gravel directly in front of Meredith’s feet. Lucas automatically wrapped his arms around her middle, bending her over as he went, trying to shield her body as best he could. He drew his gun to return fire, but didn’t see any targets. When the second shot was fired, he realized it was coming from somewhere on top of one of the nearby rooftops.

Three more shots, in rapid fire, went off as he and Meredith took off in a run toward his truck. It would have done no good to try to get back to the office; they would have been sitting ducks while Lucas unlocked the door.

Still, he was happy to see Walter come out of the building in a hurry with his gun drawn, accompanied by a bunch of his coworkers. By the time they reached the truck and were safely inside, the gunfire had stopped.

Lucas knew Meredith was scared. Hell, he was so damn pissed right now he could have punched down a brick wall. Two fucking years she had been running and eight months of it not stepping foot outside. And the first time she did, her attacker lay in wait for her.

As soon as his ass hit the seat he was starting his truck and peeling out of there as if the hounds of hell were on his tail. He watched closely to assure no one was following him, as he sped away from the Ranger headquarters just as fast as he could.

Finally, satisfied that no one was following him, he pulled off into a small park and cut the engine. He hopped out of the truck quickly and went to the front of it. Lifting the hood, he checked over everything. Satisfied all was well, he lowered the hood and came back over to his door.

As he opened the door, he glanced over to his mate. “Baby, I’ll be right back, I need to check this vehicle for any bugs.” Meredith’s first thought had been, why would he be looking for insects under the hood of his car? And then she felt like smacking her own head as he lifted out of the rear a long pole with a mirror attached to one end. He wasn’t talking about insects, he was making sure someone hadn’t planted a bug or tracker on the truck.

He walked slowly around the entire truck, checking the underside. Finally satisfied the truck hadn’t been bugged, he put the pole away and climbed back into the truck. He had just barely turned in his seat when Meredith launched herself at him, curling up against his chest. She was shaking, and her skin felt cool and clammy to the touch.

Her head was buried in his neck, but he could feel the wetness of her tears as they fell from her. He ran his hand soothingly up and down her back as he placed small kisses on her forehead. “Shh, baby. I’ve got you. I am so sorry that happened back there.”

She made no motion to acknowledge him; however, he noted she was breathing his scent in deeply.
Good, that should help calm her down somewhat
. Before he could figure out his game plan from there, his cell phone rang. He looked down to see an unknown number.

Lucas picked up the phone, convinced it would be Eddie himself calling to gloat over the small victory he’d just had. Growling into the phone, Lucas answered, “What do you want, fucker?”

“Hey! Watch it!” Walter growled back at him.

“Sorry, buddy, thought you were someone else,” Lucas mumbled out. “What happened to your phone?”

“Hmm, it ran into a wall after Kade took it apart and discovered a bug had been planted in it. I’m on a throw away number for the time being. Listen, I’d be willing to bet money we are going to discover a bug has been planted in my office also. I am still trying to keep things contained, so I figure you and I can do a sweep later tonight after everyone leaves. In the meantime, I have to go with the assumption the meeting point of my house has been compromised. Take her to safe house “B”, and I’ll meet you there with the other two and Kade.”

“Got ya, see you in a few,” Lucas stated before disconnecting. He turned the phone over and took off the back, searching inside for a small bug device. Satisfied when he didn’t find one, he tossed the phone over into the passenger seat and turned his attention to his still shaken-up mate.

Meredith looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes. He tightened his hold around her as he tried to comfort her. “Are you okay?” she asked him.

“Yes, baby, I am fine. Are you?”

The sun was shining directly into the front windshield of his truck. She turned so she could put her face in direct line with the sun. Closing her eyes, she moaned softly. “Boy, have I missed this.”

“Baby, I promise you, we are going to take Eddie down. And when we do, you can stay in the sun all you want. Does it drain you at all like it does full-vamps?” Despite what Hollywood insisted on shoving down the public’s throat, real vampires could be out in the sun. It did drain them, and they needed to go to a very cool or cold spot afterward to rejuvenate, followed up by fresh blood, but they could definitely be out in the sun, at least for a while.

She smiled serenely as she kept her face in the sunlight. “No, I have never had any aversion to the sun whatsoever. I can stay out in it as much as I like. The only effect is I do burn very easily, so I have to watch my exposure.”

He moved his hand up to caress the back of her neck, and then moved to massage her scalp. He let her stay there, basking in the sunlight for about five minutes before saying anything. “Sweetheart, we have to get going. We are meeting Walter and his wife and sister-in-law at a safe house. Don’t worry, you’ll be protected there, and Kade is going to stay with you women, just to be on the safe side.”

*****

It was just reaching dusk when Walter and Lucas neared the small publishing house. Walter had told Lucas on the ride out there was just something suspicious about the whole thing. And after the ambush this afternoon, he was even more suspicious. The publishing house looked to be legit, although with enough digging, it became obvious they were in financial hot water. And Walter had not been able to find a single thing they had published since Eddie showed up. Prior to that, the small company had been in no position to take on Wall Street, but at least it was keeping its head above water.

They had changed plans after the attack earlier that afternoon and decided not to take the horses. They drove Lucas’s truck until they reached about a mile out, and then left the truck to do the remainder of their trip on foot. When they were close enough to the building to see what was going on, without being detected, they watched a number of vampires coming and going through the front door. From where they were watching, it looked pretty much like an ordinary business.

But something was off and just didn’t look right. They were especially concerned when they had watched a couple of human females enter along with Eddie’s goons. To the untrained eye, it may have looked as if they were accompanying the men of their own accord, but the Rangers knew better. They knew how easy it was to get inside the mind of a human and manipulate it to do whatever you wanted. And it didn’t take a vampire to drug an unsuspecting woman, either. It was impossible to know exactly what you were dealing with when it came to rogues.

A moment later, Walter murmured, “Hmm, I don’t like the looks of this. I wish there was a way of getting closer so we could see what they are doing.”

“Give it a few minutes until it is dark out. Then I should be able to sneak over there and do some poking around,” Lucas replied.

They waited patiently and silently. It was almost nine o'clock at night when Lucas quietly spoke. “I’m going in, cover me.” A whistle went off toward the back of the building. Even though Lucas had whispered, evidently one of the security vamps walking the perimeter had caught it. He had alerted the other security members that something out of the ordinary had been spotted. Lucas glanced over at Walter, who simply shook his head and pointed behind them. It didn’t look like they would catch a break tonight. They eased back, leaving as silently as they had arrived. The security officers were now all on alert, listening and looking for anything unusual as they began to fan out and scan the nearby woods. They would never find the Rangers; the two were long gone.