The Order of Chaos

by Rhonda L. Print

  Hell yes!

  Should it?

  Maybe not.

  My heart seemed to be torn in two. Both of the men I had once loved betrayed me. Did I want to open myself up to that kind of pain again? I wished I knew. I pulled away before it could morph into more and gave in when Ian pulled my lips back to his. I put both of my hands on his gloriously sculpted chest and pushed away laughing.

  He pulled me back into the kiss. I let his mouth explore mine while my mouth discovered his again. My mouth teased. His mouth tortured. His tongue caressed, suckled and probed until I wanted to let all of my defenses down and pick up where we’d left off. I probably would have too if my damn cell phone hadn’t rang. Ian reached for it, keeping his mouth on mine until he flipped it open and handed it to me.

  “Wolfe here,” I breathed into the phone.

  “Good. You’re alive.” Jess had been worried. I could hear it in the cadence of her voice. “I’ve been trying to call you all day.”

  “I had my phone off.” I scowled at Ian. He simply shrugged.

  “It’s fine. I just wanted to check on you.” She hedged. “Well, Wilson and Alli wanted to check on you but they didn’t want it to seem like they were checking on you so they asked me to do it.” She got the words out on one long breath.

  “Let them know that I’m fine. I’ll call them after I take a shower. Okay?”

  “Fair enough.” She hung up.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The hot water did wonders to soothe my sore muscles. Much to Ian’s disappointment, he took a shower in the guest bathroom. I stepped out of the bathroom and found a fresh set of clothes waiting on the bed. The black jeans and dark tank top fit perfectly but the black lace bra and barely there panties made me more than suspicious of Ian’s intentions. I had no doubt he had picked out the outfit because it came complete with a mid-calf pair of leather boots and a button-down shirt that would hide my shoulder holster. There was also a sheath built into the boots to carry a knife hidden in each one.

  I’d convinced Ian I needed to go back to my house to pick up some things. Even if I was only staying for a couple of days, I’d need some of my own clothes and a few choice weapons. I also wanted to make a quick stop at the office. He was surprisingly agreeable. I should’ve known.

  * * * *

  I found Donovan at his desk. Donovan kept his eyes steady on his computer. It seemed everyone was in a pissy mood today. “You could have gotten killed, Leah.” He looked at me then, anger and relief mixed on his face. “I don’t want to bury another friend.” He pulled me into a hug tight enough to constrict my air then abruptly pulled away when he noticed Ian come through the door.

  “Sam?” Ian asked.

  Donovan jutted his chin toward Sam’s closed office door.

  “Thank you, Donovan.” I turned and gave Sam’s door two quick raps then opened it to find him inside. We stepped through the doorway and Donovan trailed in behind us.

  Sam sat with his feet propped on his desk and a cup of coffee in his hand. He’d strung his suit jacket across a chair and had the sleeves of his white dress shirt rolled up to his elbows. His hair was slightly tussled and he had dark circles forming under his eyes. What shocked me most was who sat in the chair at the opposite side of his desk.

  “Wilson? What are you doing here?” I walked to the desk and leaned my hip against it.

  Wilson and Sam looked at one another and some knowledge passed silently between them. Donovan stood by the door with his arms crossed and his eyes fixed on a spot on the carpet. Ian was a warm presence at my back. “What the hell is going on?” I demanded.

  Wilson cleared his throat. “We’ve decided that you should be in protective custody until Chaos can be dealt with.”

  I felt the heat of anger crawl up my face. “We?”

  “There’s a safe house we can fly you to. You’ll return for the meeting with Chaos, but until then, it’s safer for you to be away,” Sam added.

  I shook my head. “I won’t hide, Sam.”

  “Just until we have assurances from Chaos he’s not intending to harm you. Look, Leah,” Sam sighed heavily, “a coven of vampires is headed to this small town. We’re not equipped to handle this by ourselves if things go wrong. It’s better for everyone if this meeting with Chaos is contained to one area, an area we can protect and control.”

  “What’s your interest in all this, Wilson?” I wondered aloud.

  He steepled his fingers and rested his chin upon them. “You’re my interest. I have to agree with Sam on this. We’re not prepared to handle a potential hostile supernatural situation, and while this falls specifically within federal jurisdiction, Sam has consulted me on it.” He dropped his hands to his lap. “But you’re my primary interest in this, Leah. It seems there’s nothing I can do to stop Chaos from coming to meet you, but I will do everything I can to protect you.”

  “I do not need protection,” I protested.

  Sam stood. “This is an order, Agent Wolfe. Not a request.”

  I let my head roll back in an attempt to ease the tension building there.

  “She can stay with me.” Ian placed his hands on my shoulders and began to knead the tension away. “If she agrees,” he added. “She will be safe there. This is still my dominion; Chaos will be bound by Marquis Law to negotiate his stay here. I will not allow him to cause harm.”

  Wilson and Sam looked to one another and then to me. The question of whether or not I wanted to stay with Ian didn’t seem important compared with keeping everyone else safe. However, if I was to be honest with myself the answer was yes. I wanted to stay with Ian.

  “Fine,” I conceded, “I will stay until Ian can negotiate my safety with Chaos.” I turned and walked into the outer office.

  “Leah,” Sam called, “there’s still a lot we don’t know about the supernatural community. Consider yourself a department liaison. Take the opportunity to learn.”

  I nodded. He didn’t say it out loud but his meaning was clear. I was to find out everything I could about Ian’s estate and report it back to him.

  Just fucking great.

  The ride back to my house was silent. Ian tried a few times to talk to me but I kept my eyes focused on the desert streaming by the car window. He finally gave up. When we reached my driveway I pushed open my car door. “You are not invited in, Ian. I’ll drive myself to your place later.” I turned toward him.

  “It is not safe for you be alone, My Love.”

  “I need some time alone.” I insisted. “Please, just give me that. You would know if anyone was here, right?”

  He nodded slightly.

  “Thank you.” With that I shut the door and strode into my house.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  I waited until I heard his car leave then went back out the door, climbed into my own car and left. It didn’t take me long to get to Wilson and Alli’s house. I knew Wilson wouldn’t be home yet but it wasn’t him I wanted to talk to. I parked in the driveway and walked up onto the porch. I stood in front of the door, took a few deep breaths and swatted at the tears flowing down my face.

  I had finally ended my relationship with Joaquín. I couldn’t be the “normal” Leah he wanted me to be. I wasn’t normal. I didn’t know exactly what the hell I was but maybe it was time to suck it up and figure it out.

  The door opened before I could even knock on it. Alli drew me into her arms. “Oh, my Leah,” she crooned. She moved me toward the kitchen. “Come on, sit down, I made some coffee.”

  Alli’s kitchen was warm, tidy and always smelled like home. When she wasn’t working at the hospital, she was cooking or baking. Wilson and I used to tease her that it was her therapy.

  I pulled out a chair and sat while Alli busied herself with the coffee and pulled a container from the cabinet. She set a cup in front of me, took her own seat and opened the lid to reveal homemade chocolate chip cookies. I picked one up from the bowl, broke it in half and took a bite, savoring the warm gooey chocolate. I took a sip
of coffee and asked, “So you know what they planned?”

  She nodded. “I just found out.” She shook her head. “If only Wilson would’ve asked me first…” She closed her eyes as if seeking patience.

  “So you think this is a bad idea, me going to Ian’s?”

  “No, Leah.” Alli reached forward and covered my hands with hers. “I do not think it’s a bad idea for you to be protected.”

  I raised my eyes in shock. “Then…” I trailed off.

  “I simply think they should’ve consulted you first.”

  I choked back a fresh sob. “But…” I prompted.

  She nodded once. “But, Wilson didn’t do this to hurt you. He didn’t do it for his own selfish needs. He did it for your safety, for the safety of this town.”

  I took a deep breath and let it out. “You know I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of me.”

  “I’m confident you will be safe with Ian. This supernatural stuff is all new to everyone.”

  I looked at her with my eyebrows arching into my forehead.

  She held up her hand. “Okay, not everyone. The news of a coven of vampires coming to town could start a panic. When people panic, they do stupid things.”

  I nodded and took another bite of cookie.

  Alli swept my hair out of my eyes. “Ian is not Joaquín, Leah. Have you taken the time to think about why it is that Ian’s betrayal hurt you so deeply?”

  I knew what she was thinking. It takes someone you really care about to hurt you the deepest. Someone you maybe even loved. “Love doesn’t work out for me, Alli. It never has. I’m too supernatural for the humans and too human for the supernaturals.”

  “You think too little of yourself, Leah,” Alli said sadly.

  “And you think the world of me,” I replied.

  She stood and smiled. “Yes, yes I do. Now, you go get packed.”

  I stood and hugged her. “Sam is calling it a training mission.”

  Alli snorted. “I’m sure they’ll learn a few things from you.” She pulled back and kissed my forehead. “I never planned on marrying a cop, Leah. All those nights of worrying, wondering if he’d be coming back home every time he left for work.” She shook her head then smiled. “The heart wants what the heart wants. Even with all of the worry and fear, I’ve never regretted a second I’ve spent with Wilson. Not a single second.”

  She placed her hand on mine. “You’re not defined by the challenges you face, Leah. You’re defined by how you react to those challenges.”

  I thought about Alli’s words as I drove back to my house and packed. Later that evening, when I opened my door and found Ian standing on my doorstep, I wasn’t the least bit surprised. “I told you I could drive myself,” I said as I threw a duffel bag full of clothes on the porch.

  “Leah,” he said with a slight bow, “would you kindly allow me to escort you?”

  “Grab the clothes.” I smiled to myself and walked past him, pulling the door shut.

  “The bags in your hands look heavier, allow me.” He held his hands out. I held the bags tight and gave him a look.

  “As you wish, My Love.” He grabbed the duffel bag from the porch and walked to his car, popping the trunk with his key fob. He set the bag inside then I added the two I carried.

  “I would have gladly purchased anything you desired, you did not need to pack at all, money is not an issue.”

  “I don’t want your money, Ian.”

  “What do you want?” he all but whispered.

  What did I want? Hmmm, hell if I knew, so I didn’t answer the question at all.

  I let myself melt into the relaxing aura of Ian. The deep, heavy feeling where you lie, not fully awake yet not asleep either, clinging onto the last images of your dream before your body either falls back into the dream or pulls itself into consciousness. I’d never been able to relax that completely with anyone before. I was constantly picking up on their emotions. Ones they weren’t even aware of as their brain flitted through the never-ending cycle of random thoughts. I didn’t know if Ian was capable of turning off the constant musings of his mind or the emotions associated with them, or if his mind was simply blank. Perhaps that was a benefit of being undead—peaceful stillness. Yet another question added to the list of those I might never be able to answer.

  The sun had set beyond the mountain range, leaving the sky streaked with shades of pinks and oranges as it painted the wispy clouds above its peaks. I never grew tired of observing the many moods of the mountains surrounding the valley of the desert. They stood tall and majestic, unencumbered by the petty problems of the human condition. Shadowing themselves to keep their own secrets obscured from the curious eyes of those who dared to trek their peaks and flirting with the clouds as they danced over them to the music of the rays of sun or moonlight.

  Stars flickered in the ever-darkening sky with only a sliver of moon to replace the setting sun. It would be a dark night, moonless and black so deep it would keep a blue sheen to it. An evening for predators to search skies and earth for their prey of choice.

  Once at his house, Ian showed me to a room down the hall from his. As we passed his doorway, he hesitated, asked if I’d like to stay in his room, then shrugged and continued down the hall when I refused. I set the two bags I’d insisted on carrying at the foot of the bed I would sleep in.

  Ian gave me a curious glance. “What exactly do you have in those bags?”

  “Consider them my toy boxes,” I answered with a wry grin.

  “Ah,” he considered, “weapons.” And let the matter drop.

  A four-poster bed, surrounded by a canopy of sheer lace, dominated the far side of the room. Purple and lavender silk sheets draped over the thick mattress and a mountain of pillows of every shape and size were artfully arranged. An oversized chair and ottoman were placed in a corner by the floor-to-ceiling windows. A small table, complete with reading lamp and a vase of flowers sat beside it. I stepped across the room to the closet and opened it to put my duffel bag inside. The walk-in closet was stocked with clothing. Formal gowns on one side, casual in the center and jeans and T-shirts to the right. Shoes lined the shelves placed below each section and a small set of drawers opened to reveal a selection of sleepwear and under garments. I flipped through the clothes and felt my cheeks warm when I saw how little actual fabric would cover my skin.

  “They’re all my size?”

  “I estimated. Do you like them?” Ian stood to the side, allowing me space to browse through them. There were more clothes in this closet than there were in my own and I couldn’t help but admire Ian’s impeccable taste.

  “I didn’t need these,” I announced, turning to face him.

  “Yes, but do you like them?”

  I took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. “Yes,” I said softly.

  The corners of Ian’s lips tugged into a smile.

  “I won’t take them with me when I leave.”

  His smile faded a little. “They are yours to do with as you please, My Love,” he conceded.

  I nodded. “Do you really think the town is in danger?” I asked, trying to turn the conversation away from me.

  “I do not believe Chaos will harm anyone.”

  I let out a sigh of relief.

  “Mayhem, perhaps,” Ian continued, my shoulders tensing once again, “but I will negotiate with Chaos until he has agreed to my terms. There are certain,” he paused to search for the right word, “etiquettes that must be followed, even by Chaos.”

  I took a step closer and put my hand on his arm. “Thank you.”

  He shifted even closer. Close enough for me to feel his warmth and breathe in the deep scent of him. We stood like that for a long moment before I turned away. “So what’s the game plan?”

  He sighed. “I believe it is time for your evening meal. The others are awaiting your arrival.”

  I wiped my palms on the thighs of my jeans. “Let’s do it.”

  He kissed me lightly then led me to what may have
been considered a dining room. Two separate buffets were set up with food and drink. One with a variety of beverages, salads and meats and another stocked with bottles of synthetic blood and raw meat. “The shifters prefer their meals very rare,” Ian explained at my raised eyebrow.

  I recognized everyone in the room. The usual suspects, so to speak. Falcon with his dark brown hair and crooked smile leaned casually along the wall, his eyes not missing a thing. He gave a short nod to me in greeting then continued his conversation with Bear and Mouse.

  Bear wore military fatigues over his weightlifting-enhanced body. His tall frame was a mass of solid muscle and true to his name, he was able to change forms and become a large bear. At first glance you would think he was Native American, but closer inspection would reveal that his skin was pale. You would definitely notice the three scars that crossed diagonally over his face from forehead to nose, dissecting his left eye. His military cut dark hair only highlighted the scars, giving him the desired badass persona.

  Mouse, to the contrary, had long brown hair. His build could only be described as lanky. He was tall and thin but the muscles on his arms were corded, showing the strength he had hidden in his stretched-out body. I suspected he kept his hair long to hide his unusually large ears.

  As I got closer to them Bear bellowed out a hearty “hello” in his deep rumble of a voice. Mouse smiled brightly at me and gave me a quick wink as if to say “I knew you’d be back”. I smiled back a greeting but my words were cut off as Cougar stepped behind me and gave my sides a squeeze, causing me to jump.

  I wheeled and gave him a short punch in the arm.

  “The prodigal child returns,” Cougar exclaimed. He wore his usual attire of faded jeans and a T-shirt. His hair was layered to perfection, outlining his wide smile and amber cat-like eyes. It was blonde, yet held golden highlights like someone had weaved gold strands into it.

  “You startled me!” I laughed.

  “You’re ticklish,” he accused.

  “Am not.”

  He raised an eyebrow speculatively. “I bet Ian could tell me.”