“¡No te metas con eso!”
Her hand was slapped away.
She looked at the shifter in front of her.
“I don’t understand a word of what you’re saying, can you speak English, please?”
“No toque,.” he said, pointing to the collar.
Maybe he didn’t speak English; she’d just assumed it because he was blond and Anglo looking.
“Agua?” she croaked, “water” being the only other Spanish word she knew.
He shook his head no. “Luego.” He breathed out the word as if only for her to hear.
“I still can’t understand you.” Lila said, getting frustrated. Blondie stared at her. Giving up, she shrugged her shoulders and looked down again. The blond shifter moved away from her. Someone banged twice on metal and the engine started.
Lila tried to lean back, but there was little support, just the narrow bar that made up part of the frame. The truck was one with cloth sides instead of something solid. Lucky, because once the truck started moving, the breeze it created cooled.
The four shifters rode in the back with her. Blondie sat on the opposite bench, while the other three all sat at the front of the space, leaning comfortably against the only solid wall. Lila hoped it was hotter there, closer to the engine. All of them had their rifles across their laps. No one spoke anymore.
The truck did not move very fast, maybe 25 miles per hour. The road had to be dirt. Lila swayed with the movement of the truck. It was hypnotizing. Her anxiety subsided, and she fell into a semiconscious state. After what felt like hours of no thought at all, Lila slowly became aware of someone sitting next to her. She turned her head to her left, and sure enough a figure sat next to her. Lila looked around, counting the four shifters. No one else was paying attention to the newcomer. The back of the truck was open, the light from outside making it impossible for her to distinguish anything other than it was a man, tall and broad, with long hair down to his chest, dressed in dark clothing, and somehow very familiar to Lila. She squinted to see if that would help her identify him, but he remained a dark silhouette.
“Who-who are you?” she barely breathed out.
The stranger put a finger to her lips to quiet her. Then he gently put his arm around her shoulders and pressed her head to his shoulder. He slipped his other hand under hers and clasped it.
“You are not alone, Lila my child.”
He spoke softly so that only she could hear. Lila watched the curtain of his hair sway with the movement of the truck, and just before she closed her eyes, she noticed that he had one thin messy braid hanging among his locks. I must be hallucinating, she thought as sleep took over.
Chapter 18
November
Evan, Sebastian, Adam, and his ISF unit flew south to Lima, Peru. The flight would take six hours, and by Evan’s estimation, he was now fifteen hours behind Lila and her kidnappers, and he still only had a vague direction of where they were going.
In Lima, they were met by Jose Guerra, the lead for the South American ISF team Adam had contacted. Guerra was a shifter and was ready for them with satellite uplinks, maps, gear, even the proper clothing for a hot jungle mission.
Guerra led them into a small air conditioned building next to the main building of the private airport.
After the whole South American unit was introduced, Guerra said, ”I received an encrypted message for you Adam from someone calling himself ‘Swordfish.’”
Adam chuckled.
“That would be James, our computer hacker and all around ass hat.”
Guerra smiled, “I got one just like that.”
“What’s the message?” asked Sebastian.
“He said they have confirmed a suspect and are following up evidence. You are on the right track and any assistance from up north might compromise their search, so the New York office is going radio silent until you retrieve your package.”
“So, Lieutenant Conrad,” Guerra continued speaking to Adam, “It seems you are in charge of this operation. My men and I will back you up any way you need us.”
“Thanks Lieutenant, let’s get this shit show on the road before my vampire bridegroom decides to ditch us all and go it alone.”
Guerra raised his eyebrows at that and looked between Evan and Sebastian. He sniffed and looked at Evan again.
“You are blood bonded to the girl, yes?”
Evan nodded.
“Would you be averse to sharing a taste? It might come in handy when we are tracking.”
“Not going to happen.”
Guerra shrugged. “Doesn’t hurt to ask. What about sharing her scent?”
Evan’s lips thinned.
“We just have to sniff you up close. Sooner is better as her scent is still strong on you.”
Evan looked at Adam who nodded.
“It’s a good idea, Evan. They’ll commit the scent to memory. If we’re out in the jungle for days, the scent will fade and make tracking harder.”
“Okay,” Evan almost whispered. He closed his eyes and submitted to the encroachment of his personal space. He felt the heat of two bodies come so close to his neck and chin they nearly touched him. Then they breathed in for a long minute, not just sniffing, but tasting too. They retreated and two more came close to sniff and taste his and Lila’s mingled scent.
“Es dulce.” Someone muttered.
“Es sabrosa.” Said someone else.
Evan’s eyes snapped open and he throat punched the man who said ‘tasty’. The shifter fell on his ass and clutched his neck, trying to get air through his broken windpipe.
“Uh, you guys should know that we all speak Spanish,” said Adam, “and now might be a good time to remind you of how well vampire’s hear.”
“Yeah, important safety tip, thanks Adam,” said Guerra with a smile as he helped the other shifter back to his feet. His throat was already healing. The humans in the unit snickered at their comrade.
Just to drive the point home, Evan said in Spanish, “Rescue or no, anyone who gets even half that close to my woman gets his head ripped off.” Evan’s words might have been melodramatic, but his timbre and expression were so menacing, that a couple of the South Americans visibly gulped.
“Damn, Vampire, I can’t wait to see what you do to those conos who took her.” Guerra said with admiration.
“The sooner the better,” said Evan, relaxing a bit.
“Okay, let me catch you up with what we know for sure,” said Guerra, sitting at a table with one keyboard and three large computer screens arrayed in front of it. Waking up the screens he tapped some keys to show three different satellite photos. The first one looked like a runway completely surrounded by dense jungle. It showed a plane at the end of it.
“Our team has been watching Ramirez’s operation for a while. He mostly runs illegal logging and sometimes drugs. This is one of his air strips. This plane was not there two days ago, and the satellite shows only people getting off it yesterday.”
He tapped a few buttons and the edges of the screen went dark, showing a small blob of yellow near the plane.
“You can’t see it in this photo, but this blob is really three people walking close together.”
He pointed to four more yellow dots at the edge of the runway.
“These are four more people.”
The next photo was a regular satellite picture, closer to the end of the runway where the four people had been. Two of the figures had stepped out from under the jungle foliage, and a not quite hard line could be seen through spotty leaves.
“That is probably a truck or other vehicle.”
The last photo showed a dense jungle overlayed with red lines, a map of the road. It ended at a red square.
“The road ends fifty miles inland, here.” Guerra pointed at the square. “This is a single room hut, a way station. They probably stayed there overnight and continued on foot. My guys are looking with infrared, but the jungle is hot right now. They’ll get better results tonight.
<
br /> “We have no way of knowing if this is your girl, we’re making our best guess.”
“How soon can I leave?”
Guerra studied Evan closely.
“You got any sense that she’s there?” he asked, pointing to the screen.
Evan looked at the screen, willing himself to feel something, anything through the blood bond.
“No,” He finally admitted.
Lila woke when the truck stopped moving. Looking out the back she saw that the sky was beginning to darken. Blondie came over to her and cuffed her hands in front of her. Lila watched the cuffs click closed on her wrists. Her hands looked different somehow, but she couldn’t put her finger on why. She studied her hands. Dirt under her fingernails, a couple of scrapes across her knuckles, and...her ring! Her ring was missing! Someone must have taken it off her hand when she was unconscious. She looked up at Blondie who was watching her curiously.
“My ring. Where is my ring?” She held her naked hand up for him to see.
He looked at her hand and then her face in confusion and shook his head. Then he removed the chain from its D-ring on the truck’s frame, and led Lila to the back of the truck. He put a hand on her shoulder and pressed.
“Someone took my engagement ring. It’s a ruby and two diamonds in a platinum band.”
“Sientate,” he said and pressed down on her shoulder again.
Lila looked at Blondie with incomprehension.
“It’s too far to jump,” she said looking at the short chain in his hand. It was only about four feet long.
“Vamonos!” one of the other men yelled. The other three men were already outside waiting for them.
“Sit,” Blondie hissed, not moving his lips.
Lila stared at him for a moment and then sat. Either Blondie didn’t know anything about her ring, or he wasn’t going to tell her anything. The ring was lost or stolen. It gave her something else to cry over the next time sorrow over her predicament overtook her. Yay.
Still holding onto the chain he jumped down and then grabbed her hips and lifted her down gently.
“Tratando de conseguir algo, Blondie?” one of the other men jeered, and they all laughed.
“In your dreams, assholes,” Lila muttered. She didn’t know what he’d said, but she was pretty sure it was something about her. And how curious that the nickname she had given Blondie was in fact his nickname.
Blondie led her towards a shack. When she realized that they were probably going to chain her inside, she stopped, pulling Blondie up short at the other end of the chain. He looked back at her, a question in his eyes.
“I have to pee.”
He sighed and led her off into some bushes.
“La llevo a orinar,” he called to the others.
“Vas a compartir despues?” the other laughed again.
“Not in this lifetime,” Blondie muttered.
“What did he say?” Lila whispered.
“You don’t want to know, just be quick so they don’t come looking for us,” he whispered back.
They were only ten yards from the shack where the other soldiers were, but far enough that whispers would not be heard.
“Where are you taking me?”
Blondie just looked at her.
“Who do you work for?”
“Pee here now or wet your pants later, I don’t care,” he said.
Lila huffed and hooked her thumbs into the top of her yoga pants and her underwear. She stared directly into his eyes as she shoved one side down and then the other. Holding eye contact, she squatted and let a stream loose. He smiled at her, and his face lit up with amusement.
“Tienes cojones,” he said, taking a deep breath in.
“Still haven’t learned the language, Blondie,” Lila ground out. “Insults aren’t very effective if the recipient doesn’t understand the words.”
“It was a compliment,” Blondie said, still smiling at her.
Lila stood, pulling up her pants as she did, and revealing nothing to her captor. Thank god for yoga pants, she thought. She had to pull the pants over her ass first on one side and then the other, but she was very proud of not needing assistance. Blondie just watched and chuckled.
“Show’s over, shifter,” she said starting back to where they’d come from.
Walking behind her Blondie let out a low whistle.
“Best job ever,” he said breathing in again.
“Shifters are gross,” Lila said disdainfully.
When they reached the shack there were five shifters arguing in Spanish. Ignoring them, Blondie took Lila inside and over to a pallet on the floor in one corner. There was a D-ring embedded in the wall about ten inches off the ground. Lila watched as Blondie attached the chain to it. It looked like it had a simple push clasp, similar to a carabiner, but when Lila tried to undo it, there was no latch at all, just a smooth chain link.
“Is this Magic?” She asked in a whisper.
“Yes,” he said and handed her a canteen of water. “Drink up fast, I’m not supposed to give you any.”
Lila chugged half of it before he took the canteen from her and walked to the middle of the room. One of the other men came in just as Blondie was raising the canteen to his own lips, his back to Lila. They had a short conversation in Spanish, and then the Latino left.
Blondie sat in a wooden chair next to a small table and, facing Lila, put his feet up. They stared at each other until the sounds the men outside made stopped and all was quiet.
“Where did they go?” Lila asked, but Blondie just shook his head. He held up one finger and then pointed to the door. Lila took this to mean that one man was still outside. She sighed and lay down on one side, cradling her head in her elbow. She had to reposition the collar on her neck so that the D-ring was just behind her ear, and the chain could drape behind her head to the floor. The collar fit her neck snuggly, but it also slid around easily, and was never uncomfortable. It must also be magic, like the clasp.
Curious, Lila toyed with the link and collar where they met. Fingering them, she could feel no hole for a key or even a seam for a clasp. She wondered why her Teacher had never said anything to her about magical objects such as these. Blondie had clasped and unclasped the chain, was it shifter magic? And what about the fact that I can’t reach my magic? It still felt like there was a barrier separating them. Was that more shifter magic? Lila wished she had asked to learn more about the other Magique races. She really had no idea what shifters could do beyond change into an animal. It was frustrating to not understand what she was up against.
Lash, (aka. Blondie,) watched the mage lie down through half lidded eyes. She was magnificent, even if she was dirty, disheveled, and tired. Her skin, when he had to touch her, was silky soft. She had traveled for a day on an airplane, and a day in a truck, but still she smelled like flowers and honey. It was enough to drive him wild. His animal agreed, having never stopped pacing since he had been given the collar to place on her neck.
He had gotten that feeling that his mated friends had told him came only when you met your true mate, which made no sense, because not only was she a mage and not a shifter, but she was already mated. He could smell the scent of something foreign on her, the other male’s scent. What did it mean? How could she be mated to some other breed and still be his true mate? He would have to try and keep his distance from her, and continue with the undercover operation that he’d been hired for 18 months ago. He only hoped that his instincts to keep his mate safe did not interfere with the operation. Scratch that. He hoped that the operation did not interfere with keeping his mate safe, because he knew without doubt that he would die for the woman in his custody.
Despite the fact that Lila had slept in the truck, she still fell asleep on the floor of the shack. She slept dreamlessly all night, and woke in the early hours to the call of exotic birds and insects all around. She also heard the sound of conversation, and the smell of meat cooking over a fire. She sat up slowly and took a personal inventory. Her nec
k and shoulders were sore from sleeping on the ground, and her back was sore. She probably had bruises from being thrown around during the rough landing. Her eyes and throat felt scratchy, most likely from not enough water, and for the moment, she was alone inside the shack. Immediately her hands went to the collar on her neck, while she reached for her magic to set herself free. Nope, denied. Her magic was still veiled, and the collar would not budge.
The door to the shack opened and Blondie strolled in. His movements were graceful and fluid as he approached her and sank down on his haunches in front of her. He held a handful of fragrant cooked meat, and without a word extended a piece towards her face. Lila brought her hands up to take it from him and he pulled it away. When she dropped her hands, he extended the meat towards her mouth. When her hands came up again to take it, he again pulled it away.
“What the Fuck!” exclaimed Lila at the same time that her stomach growled.
He smiled deviously, and extended the meat towards her mouth. This time she did not raise her hands, but waited until the aroma of cooked meat filled her nostrils and touched her lips. Then she chomped at the meat before he could pull it away. He let her have it and watched her with satisfaction as she chewed and swallowed. Starting to catch on to his game, Lila was determined not to give him any more power than she needed to. She stared back at him impassively and waited for him to make the next move. After a minute he took another piece of meat from his hand and offered it to her mouth. She did not open until it touched her lips, but this time she did not snap at it as if he might pull it away. Instead she opened her mouth for him to put it in. When the meat touched her tongue, she closed her teeth around it to take it in. They continued in this manner, all the while staring at each other, until the hand holding the meat was empty, leaving only a greasy palm behind. Blondie held his palm close to her face, offering to let her lick it? She declined by turning her face away. He grinned at her, showing his perfectly aligned white teeth in his boyish grin, and he licked his own palm clean. If he thought he had won some contest here, Lila didn’t care. She’d been hungry, and he had fed her. Big deal, as far as she was concerned, problem solved.
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