by V J Lee
“Daddy! My fwends are not moving! Why dem lights blinking? And who is dat?” he asked, pointing, as Trevor scooped him into his arms and held on tightly. “He is so bwight, it hurts my eyes.” He buried his little head under Trevor’s jaw, against his neck.
Trevor looked up from his son, right into the blue eyes of Cosmo. He wasn’t alone. Titus, the Overseer of the Light Alien colony in this state, and Draco, the leader of their warriors, flanked Cosmo. As if three of the baddest badasses in that colony weren’t enough, the Wolves appeared also. Siblings Tate, Timber and their sister, Sky, looked pissed. They looked like they were snarling, even in their human form. Vampires Ethan, Cody and James followed close behind. What the fuck is going on? Why are they here? As Trevor tried to make sense of what was happening, his fellow agents stepped forward from the crowd and lined up behind his back.
Cosmo stepped forward, even though Titus tried to pull him back. Coming nose to nose with Trevor, Cosmo spoke. “It looks like every single agent in your company was invited to the party. So, tell me, where is the hot one?”
When Petra stepped forward, Cosmo looked her up and down, then snorted. “Not you. Not in this lifetime, anyway.”
Trevor knew who he was referring to, but asked anyway. “Who are you talking about? Everyone is here.”
Cosmo’s calm Caribbean blue eyes turned stormy. “I want to know when the last time any of you sorry-excuse-for-agents talked to Rissa, or even checked on her, for that matter.”
Cosmo’s breathing sawed in and out of his lungs, his muscles straining against his black T-shirt. Draco, a muscle-laden redhead with spiked hair, put an arm around Cosmo’s waist, pulling him back. The gesture was almost made lovingly.
Trevor shook his head at the scene Cosmo was making. “Rissa is none of your concern. And we have all been checking on her. She’s fine.” As he said the words, the hairs on the back of his neck stood straight up, and he wondered if what he said was true. Still, the other agents nodded in agreement.
Titus stepped forward, holding his hand out. “May I see your phone?”
Trevor didn’t hesitate, placing the black iPhone in his large palm. Titus passed it back to Draco, who ran a small device emitting a blue light over it. He shook his head. They repeated the process, checking each agent’s phone.
Trevor noticed that none of the other party guests had moved in quite a while, as Jock asked, “What happened to them?”
Ethan stepped forward. “Don’t worry; it’s part of the sweeping process … they will have no memory of anything, once we make our retreat.” He looked at Jacob with questioning eyes, then looked around the group of others, before he stepped back.
Tate Runningwolf was next to step to the forefront of the group. “Is there someplace we can go to speak in private? Then we can release your party-goers to have their fun.”
“What’s going on?” Jock demanded. When no one answered, Trevor assumed that their lips were sealed until they had some privacy. “Follow me,” he said.
Trevor handed Jacob over to Petra, who said, “I’ll give him to Lizzy, then meet up with you.”
“Don’t you dare show up to this meeting,” Cosmo barked at Petra, as he marched down the long hallway.
By the time Trevor met up with everyone in the conference room, his stomach was in knots, and his heart was racing so fast, it felt like it was going to two-step right out of his chest. He was also wracking his brain to remember the last conversation he had with Rissa. He vaguely remembered her telling him that she was fine, just working on some computer recon work for their case … computer work and following up on interviews with the missing women’s families.
Entering the room was like entering a lion’s den. Everyone was either pacing back and forth or standing against the wall with their arms crossed over their chests. Sky was sitting on the counter where they kept their coffee pot, swinging her booted feet to the pulsing rhythm of testosterone in the room. Trevor asserted his dominance as the first to speak.
“Okay, we’re all here now. Will you please explain why you interrupted my son’s party?”
Cosmo sent him a scathing look, then sucked on his teeth in distaste.
Thankfully, Titus took over. “We can’t find Rissa.”
The room fell silent.
Petra entered, nonchalantly. “What are we discussing?”
Trevor noticed how Draco stepped in front of Cosmo and Timber placed a hand on Sky’s leg, as if they were keeping their counterparts from lunging at Petra and shoving her words back down her throat. “They seem to think that Rissa is missing.”
Petra snorted as she gracefully moved toward Trevor. “Oh, please. I have never known anyone who craves more attention, than our dear Rissa. She’s probably just hiding out at her parents’ house.”
Every single set of eyes glared at her. For whatever reason, Trevor felt the need to defend Petra.
“You know, she could be right. Riss may have given them an impromptu visit.”
“This is ridiculous!” Cosmo slammed his fist through the concrete wall, cutting through it like a knife through soft butter. Dust and debris scattered about the room, causing a few to cough or clear their throats.
“Cosmo, I warned you before we got here to keep your shit together,” Titus raged.
“Fuck that, and fuck you! These fucking meat bags don’t have a fucking clue as to what’s going on with the one human in this Agency who any of us here give a shit about.” He turned on Trevor. “Tell me, lover boy, when’s the last time you saw your woman or talked to her? I want to know exactly what she was wearing, where you were, and what she said.” Then, turning to Jock, he asked, “How about you? When did you last receive an email from her? When did you last check in on her?” Spinning around to address the Washington brothers, he said, “She was the fucking leader of your team! Have either one of you bothered to show up to her house to talk to her about what happened the night you encountered those leeches?” He turned slightly to address Ethan. “Sorry … present company excluded from the whole ‘leech’ thing.”
Ever-regal Ethan bowed to Cosmo, but never moved his rose-colored eyes from him.
Everyone seemed perplexed and deep in thought, attempting to recall their last encounter with Rissa.
“Just tell us what’s going on. We can’t do anything until we know what the fuck you guys are getting at. Unlike some of you, we can’t read minds!” Jock boomed.
Titus stepped up, once again, putting his hand on Cosmo, as a signal to retreat against the wall that now housed a huge hole.
“Trevor, I believe you asked us to set up an energy bubble to protect Rissa. What you don’t know, is that every being we brought here tonight has been, in some capacity, keeping surveillance on her as well. We have been, ever since …” He trailed off, looking at Petra, then continued. “Well, for several months now.”
“I don’t know what makes her so special. I’m the one who’s been getting death threats,” Petra whined.
The low growl coming from the back of the room had Trevor’s hackles rising in fear.
Sky Runningwolf was a tall Native American princess (in the proverbial sense of the word, as Native Americans don’t adhere to monarchical philosophy) with long, thick, black-as-night hair, tan skin, and high cheekbones. She could make a man weak in the knees, but then her brothers would skin said man alive and place his hide in front of their fireplace to tan.
Her brothers didn’t seem surprised that she was the first to interject and call Petra on her shit. Sky’s presence was already dominant—she didn’t even have to raise her voice for her words to resonate when she said, “You fucking whore. You brought this shit-storm to our doorstep, I know it. Now, the only human I consider a true friend is missing, and if I find out you had anything to do with this, I will personally rip your fucking throat out and feed it to the pups.”
Her brother, Tate, grabbed her right before she lunged. “Down, girl.”
He handed her over to Timber. The three Spirit Wol
ves looked so much alike, it was clear they were siblings, yet they were each so different, it was easy to forget they were triplets. Tate and Sky both had long hair, down to their waist, which Trevor understood helped them with tracking, but Timber had shorter hair since he was the face of their construction company. They all had the same black eyes with flecks of amber that flashed like molten gold. Like many Others, their eyes revealed their mood and emotions—one of the only tells in their game. Sky’s eyes were currently flashing gold-neon. She was beyond pissed.
Her golden eyes turned on Trevor. “You are a worthless excuse for a man. If any of my brothers acted like you, I would castrate them myself and feel no remorse in doing so.”
“Sky, calm down. Maybe you should go for a run.” Timber’s voice was calm, trying to soothe his sister’s temper.
She relaxed into his muscular chest. “I wish you two could have found time for each other. She could be my sister-in-law by now, and I would be sitting in your living room drinking wine with her, instead of praying she wasn’t dead, or worse.”
Trevor swallowed the lump in his throat. “What could be worse than death?”
Cosmo shot him a fireball of a look, sending hate echoing through Trevor’s body. “Torture.”
The word was ominous to the very core of a person’s being. No one knew how to keep a human alive longer than Cosmo, simply so he could keep torturing them.
“Can we back up a minute, here? How do we know she’s gone?” Jones asked.
Titus explained. “We did, in fact, put up a protective bubble around her house. No one with the intention of hurting her could get in. Then the wolves put her on their regular patrols, and the Vamps did nightly checks as well. About two weeks ago, we felt something trying to penetrate the bubble, but they couldn’t break through. Even after we increased the surveillance, none of us seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary.” Titus walked around the room, running a hand over his blond crew cut. The man was beyond muscular, barrel-chested, with a slim waist and huge thighs. He was a physical threat to anyone, and very few dared to cross him. His blue eyes looked upon Trevor as he continued. “Four days ago …” He looked at Cosmo and Draco to ascertain their agreement of the timeframe. When they both gave him a single nod, he continued. “We felt a stronger surge attempting to penetrate the shield, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared. The wolves ran through the area shortly afterward. Tate, tell them what you saw, please.”
Tate stepped forward. “Her shoes were on the front porch, laptop sitting open on the couch, a half-eaten muffin was on the side table, and the TV was on a True Blood marathon. We assumed she was in the bathroom or simply out of sight. Nothing seemed out of place.”
“Ethan?” Titus nodded to the Vampire King.
“That night, we also stopped by, noticing the same set up as Tate has described. We didn’t have communication with each other, so we thought maybe she had left with someone …” He glanced at Trevor. “… As we did not sense a human presence in residence.”
“Cosmo checked on the residence a few more times, but we all had things that needed to be taken care of that took us away from the area.” Titus’s eyes swept quickly over Tate, then zeroed back in on Trevor. Without taking his eyes off Trevor, he said, “Cosmo, finish explaining, but be nice.”
The other man grunted. He had one booted foot against the wall and his arms crossed over his chest, as he spoke. “Things took a while to settle down, so I was only able to go check on her tonight. I was going in to see how she was and talk to her for a bit.”
“Liar! You wanted to go fuck her while you still had the chance, and you know it!” The words tore out of Trevor’s mouth, before his brain even registered them.
In a second, Cosmo had Trevor by the throat with Petra behind him, both pinned against the opposite wall.
“Do not disrespect her! EVER!”
Titus pulled Cosmo off him, as Sky, her voice trembling with emotion, said, “Just let him kill them both. It’s no big loss. The true loss will be if we lose Rissa.” Trevor had worked with Sky several times and had never seen her emotional. It hit him then and there that these beings were worried about Rissa on a level that should scare the living hell out of him.
“You’re right, Cosmo. I’m sorry,” he managed. Cosmo released his grip.
“Of course I’m right. I’m always right. Anyway, when I got to the door, her shoes were on the porch, but there was no more thermal energy radiating from them. The computer was still on, but the muffin was hard. I did a quick energy scan of the house.” He put his head down, looking at his boots. “There had been no one in that house for four days. There was no sign of a struggle, meaning that she probably left willingly. We don’t know why or with whom. We were hoping she was here with you.”
“Couldn’t you scan the outside perimeter of the bubble to see who or what was out there?” Jock asked.
“We tried. Too many animals running through scattered the energy essence,” Draco finally added.
Trevor felt sheer terror grip his heart then rush through his veins like poison. He knew this was bad, really fucking bad. He started digging down deep into the recess of his mind about when he talked to her last. It had to be every day for the last four days, right? He loved her so much. Why wouldn’t he have kept in touch? But he kept drawing a blank.
Draco went on. “We know she left four days ago, at nine o’clock at night, of her own free will. There was no evidence she was scared … worried maybe, but there was no fear in the air. When I scanned all your phones, I found that not one of you has talked to her or heard from her. The last person to have contact with her was you, Jock.”
All eyes went to the man. He had an expression akin to a concerned father.
“I didn’t do anything to her,” he said, his voice cracking.
“We don’t believe you did. We were just hoping she was here at the party,” Ethan said.
Snorting, Cosmo bit out, “Why would she be here? She wasn’t invited.”
Trevor felt Petra stiffen at his back, but he couldn’t find it in himself to feel sorry for her.
“What do we do now?” Davis asked.
“I’m afraid we are at a loss,” Titus said, looking bleak. “If something happens to her, Aurora will go ballistic.” Aurora was bonded to Titus and was ready to have his baby at any moment.
“What about the blood you took from her the other night?” Jock asked Ethan.
Trevor turned toward the Vampire King. “What do you mean? What blood did you take?”
Jock put a calming hand on Trevor’s shoulder. “It’s not what you’re thinking. She got nicked by a dart, and he tasted her blood to see what kind of poison it was.”
Ethan looked up at Trevor. “Normally, a small amount of blood is enough for one of us to track someone. It was just very recently that I was able to take blood from someone else.” His eyes darkened with desire, then swung slightly to Cosmo. He got control of his emotions once again, and by the time he swung his head up toward Tate, the desire had dissipated. Had Trevor imagined it?
“I was able to track down Tate’s mate, but I never was able to read Rissa’s blood. It was like she was never in me.”
Trevor tensed at the mention of Rissa being inside the Vampire King.
“If only there were a way we could see what happened, right up to the time she went missing,” Steve announced. He knew Trevor had her place bugged. It was his way of telling Trevor to man up and let them know about the footage he had on Rissa.
“I have something,” Trevor said. “I need a computer.” No one had one. They had all taken their laptops home so no civilians would happen upon them at the party.
“Mine is in the office,” Petra finally piped up.
Trevor beat feet out of the conference room, down the hall and into their office. He yanked the bright pink laptop off the desk, sending papers and cords flying. When he hit the door back into the conference room, he heard raised voices. The elevated volume wasn’t odd; it was
whose voice being raised that gave him cause for concern. Timber Runningwolf was the mellowest one of them all, but he was screaming … something about, “If you knew there was a threat against Rissa, why weren’t you fucking doing something more to protect her?”
That’s when it hit him like a lead balloon: the threat against Jacob. If they gave up Rissa, the threats against Jacob and Petra would stop. Jock and Trevor didn’t mention that detail to Rissa. If she had known the power to save the little boy and his mother was in her hands, she would have absolutely gone willingly.
* * *
Trevor opened the laptop, and the screen blinked out of sleep mode. His heart dropped into his stomach at the scene frozen on the monitor in front of him: a still frame of Rissa on the counter of her house, legs wrapped around Trevor’s naked backside. Petra had hacked into the surveillance of Rissa’s house. It was safe to say that Petra knew about his reunion with Rissa, before she pulled the pregnancy stunt the other day.
He quickly fast forwarded from the evidence of their tryst, when he heard voices behind him, as the Others and his fellow agents started to surround him. He hated anyone standing at his back, but he knew he could trust all who stood behind him. He soon found the footage where Jock came to Rissa’s house after her confrontation with the Vamps in the alley. They all watched and listened to the exchange between them. When Jock left Rissa alone, she got up and went to the door after him, placing a delicate hand on the door and pressing her forehead on the hardwood. She looked defeated. In the office, Jock slid his back down the wall, until his ass hit the floor.
Timber sat back on his haunches in front of the man. “It’s not your fault. She had no regard for your authority. You did nothing wrong.” His voice was calm, soothing even.
