“You’ll never catch me,” the little boy said with a laugh as he darted away.
“Oh, yes I will!” Noah pumped his little legs as he rushed to catch up.
“I’m older than you. You’re too little and too slow.”
“You’re only older than me by six minutes, Chance!”
Noah caught up to the other boy and tugged on his arm. The little boy turned around, and it was as it had always been—like looking into a mirror. An exact replica of his face stared back at him, and then the little boy laughed and darted off again, leaving him behind.
“Noah? Noah, are you okay?”
Noah blinked his eyes in the darkness, frowning at the concern in Lily’s voice. He must have fallen asleep. He remembered thinking about how she’d changed his life, and then nothing.
Until the dream.
With a gasp, he jerked upright as the dream came to him—and then memory after memory slammed into him, stealing his breath. Eight years worth of missing memories, hitting him with the force of a wrecking ball. Stunned, he raised his hand to his chest, where the ache was at once better and sharper at the same time.
He finally knew what his missing piece was. Holy shit, how could he have forgotten, even for a moment?
It was too much for you, his lion said, still agitated as he paced, but his words calmer than they usually were. The attack, losing everything you knew, losing… him. Your mind locked the memories away to protect you.
Lowering his head to his hands, he shook it in despair. But I tried so hard to remember my life with my old pride. I. Tried.
Like I said, it was locked inside you where you couldn’t access it. Lily was the key to opening it all back up.
You knew this whole time, didn’t you? Why the hell didn’t you tell me?
You needed to learn this on your own. You needed to know because you remembered, not because I told you. The knowledge without the memories would have been just that—knowledge. It wouldn’t have meant as much if I just told you.
“Noah?” Lily asked, breaking into the conversation as she eased closer, smoothing her hand down his back. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
Shrugging at the same time he shook his head, he inhaled deeply. “I honestly don’t know. I tried to remember. I swear I did.”
“Remember what?” she asked, her voice gentle, like she was trying not to spook him.
“The missing piece. I know what it is now. I had a brother. An identical twin. His name was Chance.”
Her hand stilled as she sucked in a breath. “You had a memory while you were sleeping?”
Scrubbing his hands over his face, he nodded as he finally lifted his head. “Yeah. And when I woke up, it all came back to me. All of it. I remember the first eight years of my life now. I had an identical twin brother.”
She was quiet for a moment, and when she spoke again, her voice was hesitant. “Had?”
“I don’t think he survived the attack. In that first memory I had at the hotel, I was running away from the massacre. Me and Chance, we had a secret spot we played at that no one else knew of, and that’s where I was going. But I’d never been there in the dark and I got turned around in the woods. I never made it there. The next morning, I found my way back to our little town, but everyone was dead. And that’s when someone passing by found me. The one who knew Luke’s family and took me to them. I looked for him and I called out for him over and over, but Chance wasn’t there. And… my lion just now spoke of losing him.”
“I’m so sorry, Noah. So, so sorry,” she whispered, laying her head on his shoulder.
He swallowed hard as grief threatened to overwhelm him. He’d been unable to access his memories for so long, and he never really had an opportunity to grieve, because he hadn’t remembered any of his family—not his parents, who’d been nice but distant, and not Chance, who’d been everything to him.
He still couldn’t believe he’d forgotten him, even for a moment. Chance had been his other half. They shared an unbreakable bond, made even more solid by the fact that their parents were never really around much. They’d relied on each other for everything, and they were basically all each other had. And remembering him in that moment felt like losing him all over again—because he’d never remembered he had a twin, so he’d never grieved his loss.
He’s not dead.
Noah blinked at his lion’s words, straightening as his breath stalled. What? You just talked about losing him.
I meant in the sense that he wasn’t with us anymore. But you’re forgetting that Chance’s lion and I were bonded, too. I can feel him out there somewhere. I always have. That’s why I’m so restless. I can sense him, and it drives me nuts, knowing that he’s out there but I can’t get to him.
Fuuuuuck. His twin was still alive? Noah’s heart pounded so hard, he thought it would break out of his chest, and his emotions were all over the place. In that moment, he couldn’t have told someone which way was up and which was down.
“All the more reason you should have fucking told me about him before.”
Lily lifted her head from his shoulder. “What? How could I have told you? I didn’t know.”
His brow furrowed as he looked at her, but then he realized he’d spoken his words to his lion out loud. “No, that wasn’t directed at you. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that out loud. I was talking to my lion.”
“What I’m gathering here is your lion remembered your past, and your brother, but he never told you.”
Exhaling heavily, he nodded as he rubbed his hand over his head. “Yeah. He said I needed to remember on my own, that he couldn’t force the memories. That it wouldn’t have had an impact if he told me since I didn’t know it for myself.”
“Maybe he was right. I know you wanted to know sooner, but—”
“Chance is still alive, Lily. My lion just said he can feel Chance’s lion. He’s out there somewhere, and I could have been looking for him this whole time.”
She sucked in a breath as her eyes went wide. “He’s alive?”
He nodded, and she immediately swung her legs over the side of the bed. Catching her arm before she could stand up, he frowned. “What are you doing?”
“I was going to get my laptop and find your twin. You obviously feel like you missed the chance to find him. No need to let more time go to waste.”
Giving her a small half-smile, he tugged her back toward him. “It doesn’t have to happen right now. It’s three in the morning. It can wait.” Hesitating, he thought hard, fighting with himself, and finally exhaled with resignation. “Actually, it should probably wait longer than that. You’re already working hard, spending almost every waking moment on the dragon case, and I don’t want to add to your load.”
Her brow twitched as she studied him. “Finding your brother is important to you, though.”
Heart heavy, he nodded. “It is. But finding those women and making sure what happened to them can’t happen to anyone else is more important. We—you—need to focus on that first.”
Eyes narrowing, she cocked her head, continuing to watch him closely. “Are you sure it’s not because you’re stalling?”
He huffed a laugh, because she knew him so well already. “That might be a tiny part of it. I haven’t seen Chance since I was eight—and twenty-two years is a long time. And what if he doesn’t want to be found? I doubt he lost his memory like I did. Which means there’s a reason he hasn’t tried to find me. Honestly, though, it’s mostly because I think we need to focus on the case. It’s time sensitive, and those women could be hurt if we don’t find them. Finding my brother can wait.”
Laying back down, he held his arms out to her. She exhaled lightly, giving in and snuggling in next to him, her head on his chest.
“Okay. But once this case is solved and the women are safe, I won’t let you keep stalling. Just remember that.”
Nodding, he pressed a kiss to her head. He was secretly hoping for just that. He wanted to find Chance, he really did. Bu
t he knew himself well enough to know he’d keep stalling if she wasn’t there to push him. He wanted her to keep on him about finding him.
Chance. His brother, his identical twin—his missing piece.
Chapter Sixteen
Lily took a bite of her sandwich, her eyes flicking between laptops. She’d managed to break into the last of the files that morning, and in one of them was a ton of paperwork. She was trying to sift through it all to find the important stuff. Some had addresses on it, and a little digging revealed they were Fernandez’s real estate holdings.
She’d already ruled out a lot of the properties as places the Enforcers should look for the women at. Some of them were legit businesses owned by Fernandez, and some just didn’t feel like what she was looking for. She wasn’t sure how she knew that, but in her gut, they didn’t feel right.
Her laptop dinged, and she looked over to find the finished results of the search on the mansion in Idaho. She probably hadn’t needed to run it through again, since Fernandez, Damara, and his men had all cleared out, but she wanted to make sure all loose ends were tied.
Eyes widening, she leaned in. The property had just come up on the market. Fernandez was selling it. She wasn’t sure why that surprised her—she hadn’t thought he’d return, based on having an auction that let others know that location. But she hadn’t considered that he’d sell it, either.
Another tab she had running in the background started flashing and she glanced around, her eyes landing on Noah, standing at the bar as he talked to Luke and Tarun. Seeing that he was occupied, she clicked on the tab, frowning at what she found.
She wasn’t sure how shifters did a lot of things, but she knew they had identification. They had to, to live in a human world. But there were no matches for a Chance Benson anywhere, and the program she used was thorough. No address, no bills, nothing. She’d found a birth certificate, but that was it.
The plus side was that she hadn’t found a death certificate. But finding no record of him at all was presenting a challenge she hadn’t expected.
She wasn’t going to give up, though. She was determined to find him.
Her eyes landed on Noah again. She needed to find Chance for him. Yeah, he’d said to wait on the search, but she figured she could multitask. There was no reason she couldn’t plug Chance’s name into the program she used for that type of thing and let it run in the background while she focused on the dragon case.
Noah might feel nervous about finding his twin, but he needed it, too. She’d seen it in his eyes the night before. She wasn’t going to let him keep stalling.
But it looked like the search just got that much harder.
Blake walked into the bar and she lifted a hand, waving him over. As he walked toward her, he called for the others to join them. He looked a little better after a full night’s sleep, but she could still clearly see the worry he felt weighing him down.
“Did you find something?” he asked, taking a seat across from her at the large table.
“The mansion in Idaho just went up for sale. Fernandez won’t be back. And it might be a long shot, because running the kind of operation he does means he has to be pretty thorough about not leaving anything behind. But I was thinking Noah and I could go back over there. We can pretend to be interested in the property and have a look around. Maybe we could find something.”
Noah frowned as he sat down next to her. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. We don’t know that he doesn’t still have people in the area, watching things, and we’ve been there before. We could be recognized.”
“Luke and I haven’t been,” Tarun said. “We could go. It might be a long shot, but it’s better to make sure.”
Blake nodded as he rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Agreed that we should check it out. But I also agree with Noah, Lily. I don’t want to risk you being recognized. Besides, I need you here. Luke, you and Tarun head to Idaho and see if you can get a tour of the house. When you’re done, you can meet up with Dmitri and Liam. I’m about to head that way myself.”
Luke leaned forward as he looked at Blake. “Did something happen?”
“Liam called. They weren’t able to keep eyes on the van Damara was in, but they’re still in listening distance. Fernandez’s men made her ditch her clothes, including her shoes, so we don’t have access to the tracking device. Fernandez’s camp was just crossing the state line into Oregon when they lost her exact location. But she says they’ve stopped now, and she’s been placed with the other women. They must be in Oregon.”
Lily frowned as she pulled the tech’s laptop closer. “Oregon? Hmmm. If I’m remembering right…”
Noah glanced over at where she was doing a search in the files. “What is it?”
“I’m pretty sure I saw Oregon in the properties—yes! Here it is. According to this, it’s a large property. And the only one Fernandez owns in the state.”
Blake straightened with interest. “Email all that information to me. That might be the break we’re looking for. And we need to move fast. Damara said they’re preparing the four women who were bought. We have them covered even if they’re taken away—I have Enforcers from other crews watching the buyers. But I’d prefer to stop this before they’re sent away, and we need a little time to get the lay of the land before we go barging in.”
Noah looked at him questioningly. “And you’re sure you don’t need me with you?”
“You guys are better off here, finding any other information we can use. And I want to move quickly, but something’s telling me it’ll take time to resolve this. If that happens, we’re going along with Damara’s plan—getting the women out one by one. And we’ll be sending them here. We need you and Lily here for that.”
Lily felt her eyes widen. She was supposed to help dragons who’d been held captive? How was she, a human, going to be able to help with that? Glancing over, she eyed Noah. Then again, at least she was another woman. She couldn’t see the kidnapped women looking kindly on men after this. She knew she wouldn’t.
“Okay. We have somewhat of a plan set in place,” Blake said as he stood. “Luke, Tarun, you two go to Idaho and see if there’s anything to learn there. I’ll text you the address where Fernandez and Damara are, and you guys can meet us close by. Lily, Noah, you guys stay here and hold down the fort. Keep looking through those files and see if you can find anything else we can use, Lily. We’ll let you know how things are going and when we start sending the female dragons over. I’m going to go join Dmitri and Liam now. Everyone—be careful and stay safe, okay?”
“You too,” Lily said softly, watching as everyone left to do their part.
Blake paused and looked back at her with a smile. “Oh, and welcome to our Enforcer family, Lily. This has been one hell of an introduction to us, but I hope it hasn’t scared you off.”
She shook her head, fighting the urge to tear up as her sense of belonging intensified. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good,” he replied with a nod before striding away.
Noah put his hand on her thigh and squeezed. “You sure this isn’t too much for you?”
“Underestimating me again, are you?”
He chuckled as he held his hands up. “Never. Just checking on you. I’ll leave you to your work. Just don’t forget to take a break, okay? I’ll be in the office.”
Leaning over, he kissed her softly as he stood. She watched him stride away, full of so many conflicting emotions. The sense of belonging she felt, of being exactly where she was meant to be. Love for Noah, so potent that she felt overwhelmed by it. Worry for the other Enforcers. Urgency to find the kidnapped women and get them away from Fernandez.
She had a feeling Blake was right, though. The dragon case wasn’t going to be solved any time soon. She just hoped they could get the women out before they were lost forever, or hurt worse than they already had been.
A part of her felt guilty for finding so much happiness while they might be suffering, but she still couldn’
t bring herself to regret any of it. Maybe it made her a bad person, maybe it didn’t, but there was nothing in this world that could make her regret loving Noah.
Noah walked toward the bar, sure he was going to find that Lily hadn’t heeded his advice about taking a break. He was on a mission to make sure she did. She was a human—she could get sick, and he didn’t want her stressing out so much that she made herself ill, or gave herself another headache.
He’d meant to check on her sooner, but he lost track of the time while he was in Blake’s office. Despite his words to Lily the night before, he hadn’t been able to resist at least attempting to search for his twin. The need inside him to find Chance was overpowering. So, he’d powered up Blake’s desktop computer and set to work.
He was no hacker. He didn’t possess much more knowledge than the basics. But he’d thought maybe he could find Chance somewhere, and once he started looking, he hadn’t been able to stop his search.
Even though he hadn’t been able to find a trace of his brother, he still couldn’t call a halt to it, trying every search engine he knew of, scrolling through pages of results. Not until he glanced at the clock and saw he’d been in there for almost four hours. Deciding that was enough for the day, he turned the computer off, determined to make Lily take a break while he cooked dinner.
Frowning as he reached the bar and found the room empty, he called her name as he walked over to where the laptops were still open. He glanced idly down as he called her name again and then stopped as his eyes fell on a tab that said Chance.
That couldn’t be a coincidence.
He debated for a moment, torn. He should probably find her and ask her what she’d been doing, but instead, his hand reached for the mouse and he clicked the tab open. He’d been right—she was searching for his twin.
But it looked like she hadn’t found anything more than he had. A big, fat nothing.
Exhaling with disappointment, he clicked the tab shut again and walked to the front window, looking for Lily. He saw her struggling to get a box out of the back of her car and he rushed outside to help her.
Thief (Blood & Bone Enforcers MC Book 2) Page 19
