by Honor James
Sliding his fingers free of her body Rayne took the time to lick her dry, smiling at the little moans she gave. “You’re damn sensitive, darling.” He breathed over her swollen flesh. “But that’s a good thing. I like how quick you respond.”
“And I love how quickly you give up to me as well.” She rubbed her rough cheek over his inner thigh and smiled. “I think that, from the cussing, that Slade might have watched us and possibly burnt dinner.” That thought only made her smile all the more.
Chuckling softly Rayne rubbed his fingers over her pussy lightly. “He’d never do anything to ruin a meal, not after all the grief I’ve given him. No he probably made himself a mess in there that he’s having to clean up. But since I’m betting our twenty minutes are well and truly up, sweetness, we should probably get up and get you covered all nice and decent again for the meal.”
“Right, that we should,” she agreed with a grin. “We should get in there so that we can enjoy our meal with him.” She had a feeling that her poor bond-mate had actually burnt their food but was working to undo it all. “Or should we give him just a bit more time?”
“I’d give him a few more moments,” Rayne said with a chuckle. Rearranging her he sat up and pulled her into his lap to cradle close. Pressing a kiss to her lips he breathed her in slowly. “But we should get dressed I think,” he murmured against her mouth.
“I think that sounds like a good idea.” Parker leaned in closer to him and relaxed against him. “I love you,” she whispered before pressing a kiss to his chest and hugging him close. “So,” she whispered against his ear. “Do you think that he burnt it and is working on fixing it now?”
“I don’t smell anything burnt and I would know, love,” he told her with a grin. Pressing a kiss to her jaw he breathed her in and helped her off his lap onto the sofa. Getting up he collected their clothing and passed over hers. “Here you are, sweetness. Dress and we will go see if there’s anything left of whatever he was making.”
She began to dress and laughed when she felt Rayne pull her close again. “How the hell am I supposed to get dressed if you don’t let me go to get dressed, love?” she asked happily. “Not that I’m complaining because I really, really love it when you pull me close but yeah I need to have some room to be able to dress, babe.”
Chuckling he kissed her neck. “I was just coming to help you,” he teased as he “assisted” her in dressing. In reality he was stroking her skin, teasing her breasts and, just to be impish, slid a hand into her not done-up pants to cup her pussy. “Am I not being helpful?” Rayne asked curiously.
“You are beings oh so very helpful,” she whispered. “You feel so very, very good to me, baby.” She reached out to touch his head, stroking her fingers over his cheek as she did so. “I love everything about you. We are so very good together.”
“Of course we are,” he said softly, nipping her ear gently. Removing his hand he did up her pants and smoothed out her shirt. “Come on, darling, let’s go see if Slade has it all together, in more ways than one, in the kitchen. I don’t know about you, darling, but I’m starving.” He growled, smacking her ass lightly.
“I’m starving as well.” Parker’s belly growled and she smiled. “I’m very hungry as well, love. Let’s you and I go and get ourselves in there before he gets grumpy with us,” she said with a smirk. “And so that my belly will stop growling if you don’t mind please.”
“He’d never be grumpy with you, darling,” he assured her with a grin. Taking her hand in his he led her toward the kitchen where lunch was on the table and Slade was getting drinks. “Wow, this looks good,” he complimented, leading Parker to her seat at the head of the table. “He made us soup in a cup and little finger sandwiches with fruit slices and cheese on the side,” he explained to her once he had her seated.
“Well it certainly sounds good and the soup smells amazing.” She reached out and touched the utensils before her once more and turned her face up to Slade when she felt him at her back. Smiling, she said, “You can kiss me you know. I really, really wouldn’t mind that at all.”
Leaning in he pressed a kiss to her lips and handed her the glass. “Half-full of ice-cold milk,” he murmured against her lips. Dropping another kiss to her mouth he pulled back. “Eat up, you two, before the soup gets cold,” he advised, grabbing a glass of water for both him and Rayne.
Parker grinned and licked her lips. Shaking her head she began to eat the meal Slade had prepared for them, happy in the easy quiet that surrounded them as it had. Yep, life was very, very good for them indeed.
Finishing up Slade sat back and sipped at his water as he watched her enjoying the food. Smiling he reached over and wiped the corner of her mouth. “Just had a little something there, darling.” He chuckled at her curious expression.
Parker grinned and winked. “You don’t have to tell me, darling. Heavens I love being touched by you and any excuse to get you touching me is good,” she murmured and then sat back. She waited for a few minutes before she asked, “What was the phone call about?”
Right, the phone call. Sighing Slade toyed with his napkin for a moment. “It was Quincy calling,” he said quietly. “They’ve had a reported sighting of Nathaniel as well as two others who slipped away from the warehouse. They’ve kidnapped another woman and they weren’t exactly quiet about it or cared who saw them smack her around during the grab.”
Parker sat back and twisted her hands together in her lap. She nodded and whispered, “I see. But how? How could he possibly know who to take? I wiped every single name from every computer that he might have ever had access to. There were only two names that I had voiced aloud during torture, so how? How could he have known who to take?”
Slade shot Rayne a look and shook his head. “We don’t think that she’s a bond-mate, we think that she’s someone he met in the past while he was here setting up and that snubbed him. Best guess, he’s doing it out of retribution for the snub and the fact that you got away from him. The fact it wasn’t a surgical strike like everything before suggests he’s on the edge and looking for a release.” Unfortunately it was likely to be the girl that took the brunt of it.
“That poor girl,” Parker whispered softly. “I’ve been on the receiving end of his ‘release’ and it’s not pretty,” she whispered, lost in the past for many long minutes before she was able to claw her way out of it. “If he hasn’t killed her yet she will wish for it. And if she is only human she will end up taking her own life to escape the pain. Trust me.” She had tried.
Reaching over Rayne took her hand in his and squeezed gently. “What does Quincy need from us?” he asked Slade.
“He wants to get Parker on a computer and see if she can track them down. He lost them in traffic a while ago and then, according to his text, picked them up just as I finished eating. But he’s just lost them again due to camera maintenance in an area that had a lightning strike.”
Parker nodded. “I will do all that I can.” She rose to her feet. “Take me to the living room or computer room so that we can see what we can get to doing in tracking this bastard?” The sooner that they found Nate the better in her mind. She wanted to ensure that this asshole was out of the picture for good. “Quincy knows that he can’t possibly face off against Nate, right?”
“He’s not planning to,” Slade said, getting to his feet and taking her hand as Rayne stood to clear the table. “But he is going in with Talon and one of the Rogue Hunters if we can find him and pin him down for long enough. Everyone is on standby the moment you get into the computers, love.” Guiding her down the hall he led her into the computer room and to the desk. “I’m going to be right here but back out of the way, so you do your thing and I’ll be on the phone with them letting them know your progress as we go. You good with that?”
“I’m good with it. As long as you are close I’m good with it,” Parker whispered. “We will find him. We have to find him so that hopefully we can save the poor girl before it’s too late.” Even as sh
e said the words though Parker knew. It was too late for the girl. She was either dead or very, very soon would be.
Stroking a hand over her hair he got her seated and got the computer system on and running. “It’s all yours, love,” he whispered. Pressing a kiss to her cheek Slade stepped back and dialed. “She’s on and moving,” he murmured to Quincy as soon as the line was picked up.
Placing her hand on the screen she closed her eyes. “Find me Nate,” she murmured softly. “Give him to me. Don’t let him hide. Even if you are broken, show him to me,” she demanded of the cameras around the city, around the area. She was demanding of the systems but she knew that it could handle her demands and she would not allow anything to go because she needed to find him.
“The cameras, it wasn’t lightning,” she whispered. “He’s trying to draw them into a trap. He truly has a serious hate on right now and he’s praying that Quincy is one of the ones that he will get to blast. He’s pacing in the darkness. The camera’s sho…” She paused when she saw Nate lift his head to the cameras and heard his growl.
“Is that you, little mouse? Are they using you to find me now?” Parker jerked back so hard that she tripped over the chair. “He knows that I’m helping you,” she whispered. “Son of a bitch, he knows. How does he know?”
Grabbing her so she didn’t fall Slade held her to him. “I’ve got you, love,” he told her, cradling her close. “Quincy, it’s a trap, he’s trying to draw you and T-Rex in, he knows we have Parker and are having her help us. We need an ID on the two that got away, Q. They have to be feeding him information,” he said and listened. “No, that doesn’t make any sense unless…” He trailed off and cursed. “He’s killed a dark Mage and is using dark magics. He’s taken it all into himself and he’s using that magic to fucking try and track Parker down. He wants her back and he wants us all dead so he can rule his little world his way.”
Turning her face into the side of his neck she cried. It was her fault. It was her fault that the woman suffered as she surely had. She was the reason that he was willing to bring the city to its knees, to find her. “He will never let me go,” she whispered. “I’m worth too much to him and I truly, truly hate that.” If only she had been able to simply give up and let go. “His male bond-mate had been a Mage and he was into the darker spectrum which was why he had believed that Nate would never harm him. The female had been terrified of Nate and rightly so.”
“Shh,” he whispered to her as he listened to the talk on the other end of the phone. Hanging up with a quick “call me later,” Slade wrapped her in his arms and moved her to the sofa in the office. Sitting he tugged her into his lap and encouraged her to curl up in a ball and just cry. Rocking her back and forth Slade rubbed her back and let her cry. There wasn’t anything he could say or do to make it better even though he wished he had that power.
It was a long while later but her tears had finally stopped and she just rested against him. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to lose it but I couldn’t seem to help myself,” she admitted quietly. “Thank you for holding me and just letting me cry it out.” She had needed it and now, even though her head hurt, she felt cleaner. She was ready to look forward to what was next.
Lifting her chin he gently wiped her cheeks dry and brushed a light kiss over her nose before wrapping her in his arms again. “Shush, it’s fine. You needed to let it all out, darling. You’ve been holding it all in for too long,” he murmured against her hair. “Can you tell me what happened with Nathaniel?” he asked softly. He’d seen, he’d heard, and he’d guessed, but he had a feeling she knew a lot more.
“Which time?” she asked softly. “Just now or what happened when he held me?” she whispered and leaned in closer so that she could move and curl against him once more. She felt safe there, in her lover’s arms.
“Let’s start with when he held you, can you tell me anything about the bond-mates he had and what he did to them, with them?” he asked quietly. “Any odd conversations or actions with them, things said about them behind their backs or just snide off-handed words. It all could lead us to figuring out how to stop him, Parker. We’ll get to what just happened later, but let’s start from the moment you realized you were a prisoner to do whatever he wanted when he wanted.”
Parker nodded and took in a deep breath. “I should start by telling you that Nate killed the couple that adopted him,” she murmured quietly. “He found me by accident, no, he found me by what I thought was accident. I found out much after the fact that Nate was the one that had put out the Dragon Fire and had saved by life on the beach.” she whispered. “However, he had come to the hospital that I was recovering in to see his sister, a woman that was actually his bond-mate, and find me evidently. The family that adopted him were magic users and knew just what he was the moment they saw him I guess.” She shrugged. “Anyway, the sister had been hurt and he had come to see her with his best friend. When I saw them all it was the first time that I saw the bond between bond-mates and it honestly scared and excited me both. I thought that perhaps maybe I was gaining my sight back.” But she hadn’t been. “He heard me telling my therapist what I saw and since he knew that he had two bond-mates, his sister and his friend, he understood then that I could see the ties that bind bond-mates together.” She breathed and shifted slightly so she could rest her head once more against Slade’s shoulder.
“So he worked his way into my life. Coming to see me often and talking to me. He was the one to explain what I was and what happened to me.” Even if he had known what had happened to her since he was the one who had wanted her friend Henry. “So when my sight companion didn’t show when I was finally released and he was there I trusted him enough to go home with him. Mistake. Massive. Huge. Fucking crappy mistake,” she whispered.
“So he brings me to his home and demands that I help him. He wanted to be certain that I was being honest and put his adoptive parents in the room with me and told me either I go to them or he would slit their throats. I didn’t believe him,” she whispered with sorrow weighing her down, but she continued. “He killed the mother first,” she admitted. “She was the stronger in magic of the two of them. He was reciting some kind of strange spell when he killed her and I swear, for a moment, the bond shifted from the woman to him and then winked out of existence.” It was like for a brief moment the woman’s soul was inside of Nate. “He told me the one and only way to save the man was go to him so I went. It didn’t save him.” She licked her dry lips and nodded.
“I know we were on a beach because I heard the waves washing up on a shore and I heard him telling his guards to toss them to the sharks.” She shivered. “As for his bond-mates.” She felt ill with this one. “After that one time in the hospital I didn’t see them again until that night. The night he took their power from them. I knew that was what he did when he recited the spell as he killed his father.” She closed her eyes and said, “He brought me into their bedroom. He made me ‘watch’ as they had sex. I could see the bodies merging and forming together as one and he asked me, midcoitus, if he had created a child within the woman. The fetus was formed so it hadn’t been created in that moment in time but I didn’t want to say that. I was hopeful that if I didn’t tell him that the child was likely created at least eleven or twelve weeks earlier that I could buy the woman some time. However I was too afraid to lie and nodded. I told him there was a being inside of her and it was reaching to one of his guards. What happened next…” She wished she could take the sounds out of her mind forever but she couldn’t. “I heard the spells. I watched as he killed his best friend first. His guard didn’t move though,” she whispered. “He then moved to his guard and I don’t know, moved him maybe, closer to the bed. He then forced the man to watch as he cut the very early-stage fetus from the mother’s womb and pulled the power from her as well as the child as it died in his hands. He then killed his guard.” She felt ill with the words she had said but he had to know what a monster Nate was.
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��He’s cruel, power hungry, and vicious. He cares for no one and nothing save himself. He’s a true monster, Slade.”
Looking up he saw Rayne leaning against the door and sighed softly. Resting his cheek to her hair Slade stroked her back. “I know the spells he used, all magic users know them. We know them so that we know never to use them and why,” he murmured. “There are spells that can go either way, good or bad, but it all depends on the intent of the heart. But even with the very best of intentions we can cause harm to those we love. No.” He smiled when she stiffened. “I’m not saying Nathaniel loved them or anyone. That boy has had hatred in his heart too long and has been corrupted by the darkness and is a true minion of Chaos. But that is how we’re going to beat him, his ego and the fact that he’s going to hate the fact that he’s not the one in control of his own strings.”
Parker nodded. “And he’s got so much hate inside of him that it’s truly…” She shrugged. “It’s painful how much hate he has inside of him. If you are around him too much you feel that hate without him even touching you or even speaking.” She closed her eyes and moved so that she could kiss Slade’s neck. “I know it was near the ocean. That’s all that I have though. Wait.” She hesitated. “There was…” She chewed her lip and frowned. “There was fresh water, too. Hot springs. Yes, we were near hot springs and the ocean as well. Both were very, very close.”
Stroking her hair he nodded. “That’s good, love, anything you can give us,” he whispered to her as he rocked her gently. He hated pushing her, especially when she’d just had to tear open a wound, but they needed every detail they could get. They had to stop this asshole and soon. “Do you remember any smells, the feeling of the shadows, maybe shapes in the shadows?” he asked quietly.
“The room that he kept me in before moving us to the place where you found me was round. It was weird but it was round and it echoed. I think it was a really tall room because it wasn’t overly round.” She licked her lips when she spoke. Too many things were coming at her too fast.
