“They will die all of them will die. We need to wait until after dark to go get her.”
“Why? I can’t stand the thought of her being there alone and scared.”
“Trasire, I told her to disappear into her surroundings. She’ll only be able to hold it for a couple of hours, but that’s long enough for us to get there.”
They pulled up to The Wolves Den where the doors were thrown open. She walked in to find the club full no one was drinking. There was an image floating in the air of the mansion where the mayor lived. Several routes to get in and out were highlighted. Not too far from it, the plans for the house was on the screen. They were becoming familiar with the layout.
“She’s in a small room underground. Mia doesn’t like being underground, my mother locked her in the basement once when I was job hunting.”
Another image of the grounds showed up looking for any hint of an underground cell.
“Wouldn’t he put her in the basement?”
“No,” Ven spoke up, every eye turned to watch him. “He wants to scare her, incapacitate her, so she won’t run. My mother’s mate tried to do the same with me. She’s outside, and she’s cold.”
Deja slid her hands behind her back not wanting anyone to see her nails lengthen.
“I found a picture taken a few years ago. It shows that there used to be a shed on the property. It’s gone now, but I have the coordinates of it.” Jasper put the before and after picture up next to the other images.
“There’s chatter on the line. I was able to bounce a signal off Mia and pick up voices within one hundred yards of her.” Chase pulled up the sound.
“Where the hell is she?”
“What do you mean? She’s in the hole probably crying, although she’ll cry more when you’re done with her. Try not kill her in one day.”
“She’s not there. I went to strip her, and the cell is empty.”
“Maybe her father came.” Another voice entered the conversation.
“What the hell?”
“The woman who had her told the girl not to worry because her father was coming and he would kill us all.”
“He wouldn’t dare. Go find her, I want her in my bed today. Now!”
“It’s dark enough. Let’s roll out. She won’t be able to hold it for much longer.”
“Jasper and Chase stay here and keep monitoring. Enzo and Ven will be getting you eyes as soon as we get there.”
The walked out and piled into cars.
“Cole, tell me we will get to her in time.” Her arms were wrapped around her waist as she rocked back and forth in the car. “Why didn’t I leave when she was a baby?”
“Where would you have gone, Jessie? You didn’t have a job. Your mother threatened to kick you out and take Mia. If you left, she would have made good on her promise.”
He’s right.
We had no money and no job.
Even if we went to a shelter, how would we have looked for a job?
We’re going to make it so that he never touches another child.
Your mother needs to be punished. I sentence her to death.
The alien within her that was so much stronger wanted to kill her mother. She was sick to her stomach, not because a part of her wanted her mother dead, but because she agreed with the voice.
There was an eerily green glow in the car. She turned to look at Cole and gasped. His eyes were electric green, and they glowed brighter than she ever saw them before. The tension in her body rolled away. There was death in his eyes. They parked at the bottom of the hill when they reached the estate.
“Stay by my side.” She nodded. He was going to make sure she blended in.
Declyn put up his hand signaling them to wait. “Enzo, Ven go.”
They disappeared, but she knew what they were doing. They were distributing a small device that would allow Jasper and Chase to see the grounds.
“All they need is an opening, and they will be able to deploy several MIL’s inside the house.”
“Mil?”
“Multi-Intelligent Lens.”
“I feel her fear she won’t be able to disappear much longer.”
“We’ll get her. Jessie when we do I’m going to leave her with you. I don’t want her in the midst of what happens next.”
“Nothing will happen to her.”
“We’re a go.”
She stayed close to Cole as they walked up the winding driveway. Her eyes searched the ground looking for an underground bunker or cage. It looked so quiet. Why wasn’t his alarms going off? Could they not detect them when they disappeared into their surroundings? He took her around the back until they found a trap door that was open.
She picked up the pace to keep up with Cole. He picked her up and jumped into the hole. Mia’s form was fading in and out. The male looking at her wasn’t sure what to make of something like that. He went to grab her. Cole put her down and slid his claws across his back. He broke the cell door allowing her to run into her mother’s arms.
Mia held her tight crying into her shoulder before she reached her arms out to her father. They climbed up the steps that had been built into the structure. He took them far enough away from the home that they wouldn’t be able to see what was happening.
Jessie took Mia and slipped between the trees to wait for him to come back.
“Go we’ll be fine.”
He turned and ran towards the house. There were bullets flying that made her flinch. She found her body jerking every time she heard a bullet wondering if any of her friends were shot.
“I knew you would be here.”
Mayor Connolly was standing before her with a gun held in his hand.
“I want her.”
“Why? Why would you continue to come after my child when you know she’s protected? You’re the type to cut his losses and run.”
“You were supposed to be mine, but you were too sick then you gained weight. Now you have a child that looks just like you.”
“I’m twenty-five. You’ve been doing this for that many years?”
“I know what I like.”
“Give her over.”
“No.”
“You’re already dead no one will blame me for shooting you.”
“No.”
“Bitch.” He raised a hand that was shaking and shot her in the shoulder and not the gut where he was aiming.
He tried to reach for Mia, she screamed falling to her knees. A low growl came from her lips as she felt her insides boiling.
“Animal.” He screamed looking for a way around her to get to Mia.
Mia dropped next to her mother her little body shaking. Jessie placed her body in front of her daughters she looked up death in her eyes.
He walked over to her holding the gun. He knelt beside her and whispered in her ear exactly what he planned to do to Mia.
Jessie reared up ignoring the ache in her shoulder and tackled him. He fell backward losing his grip on the gun while she started punching him and rolling around in the grass trying to protect herself and Mia.
“You may kill me, but her father will tear you apart.” It came out as a scream as she rolled into a ball trying to protect herself from the punches he was throwing at her.
Her eyes blazed making him stop mid-punch.
Declyn grabbed him by the throat tossing him away from them.
“Monsters they’re monsters you have to help me.” The Mayor pleaded looking for sympathy
Declyn picked him up and turned him to see the graves that were unearthed in his front yard. He lowered his voice as he explained that Jessie and Mia were under his protection, then he continued to tell the mayor what would happen to him in jail.
Watching the mayor yell obscenities and shake with fear made her lips quirk into a disgusted smile.
“Jessie, you need to leave the authorities are on their way.”
Cole passed the mayor on his way to his family. He extended a finger and scratched him. “Truth.”
�
�I want to see. I need to see.” She looked into Cole’s eyes.
“Stay close. Let’s disappear Mia.” They moved off to the side and watched the flashing lights coming up the driveway.
“Your shoulder?”
“It’s just a flesh wound. I tried to make it look like he hurt me to give me an advantage.”
He pulled her into his arms. The way she thought and acted and made him proud to call her his.
Declyn dropped the Mayor in the middle of his graveyard before going to stand next to Cole.
“Sir, Mayor, what’s happening?”
Several officers came over with their flashlights to see the uncovered graves.
“Mayor Connolly why is there a graveyard in your front yard?”
“I ran out of room in the backyard.”
“Hands up. Raise your hands Mr. Mayor.”
“Read him his Miranda rights. Then take him. Make sure he goes into a private cell.”
“A private cell?”
“How else am I going to keep him alive? Look at the bodies they’re children. This could be every child that went missing over the last couple of years.”
“He’s the Mayor.”
“Monsters come in all shapes and sizes. You know that as well as I do. Get the coroner out here, and I want flood lights. Light the place up like it's noon.”
Cole, Declyn, Jessie and Mia walked away.
Jessie strapped Mia into her car seat before getting in the front seat.
“Is it over? Nothing left to do but rejoice?”
“No.”
She turned to look out the window the trees catching her attention. It was beautiful even at night, but this space held such evil.
“No? Tell me the rest.”
“The other Kur’iks went after all the men he had in his house and on the grounds. They were so sure they would prevail that they talked. Dead men don’t tell secrets was what one said to Ven. There’s a ringleader behind all of this. That’s the person who we have to get if we want this to be over.”
She turned to look at Mia who was shivering a little but her eyes were closed, and she was asleep.
“Who could be so cruel, so ruthless to do this to a child?” Her eyes were wide, and her body shook. She bit her lip as understanding dawned. Please no, tell me it’s not my mother.”
“I’m sorry.”
She sank back into the seat as her whole life played in front of her eyes. There was no doubt that her mother didn’t have much time for her growing up. When there was no food she taught herself how to cook what the was in the fridge, she went hungry when there wasn’t anything in there.
Her mother came to her graduation, not to tell her how proud she was but to tell her now that she finished school she was required to get a job.
When Mia was born, she picked her up by her ankle. It was the first time she threatened to kill her mom, and she meant it.
There was not one redeeming quality in her why was she acting so surprised.
“What happens next do we kill her?”
“First we wait to see if the mayor can take her down with him. I doubt he plans to be the only one spending life in jail.”
“I hope they kill him.”
“That punishment is too easy. He needs to live with it all, the fear, the shame and the memories.”
“Won’t the memories turn him on?”
“No, that’s why he was desperate for our daughter. Each face that he killed comes back to haunt him. They tear him apart at night. He uses a new child to keep the old ones from haunting him. We took away his drug of choice.”
“How do you know this?”
“I was close to him.”
He parked the car in front of the house. They carried Mia inside, Jessie took her and gave her a bath and put on her jammies.
“Do you want to eat, baby?” She shook her head vigorously.
“Take her to our room. The two of you get some sleep I’ll be back soon.”
He leaned over and kissed her before leaving the house.
Chapter Twenty
Cole strode up the steps to The Wolves Den where everyone was gathered.
“How did this happen?” He pounded a fist against the bar before he deliberately uncurled it.
“Sit down Cole, we are just as upset as you are. Yes, I know it’s your family that is being targeted.” Declyn ran his hand through his brown hair looking at his people.
“We have to do better. So far, we have discovered two mates each with a target on their back. Until we know better, we operate under the assumption that any new mate is being targeted by one of her people. The mate at hand is Jessie. She and Mia are not safe.” He sat and nodded to Chase.
“We were testing the barriers. I didn’t want to bring down the ones around the compound we did that before with disastrous results. So I took down the one over the compound. I’ve gone back and looked at images from all sides of the barrier. I believe they saw you and Jessie leave. Their attack was mounted when you weren’t here under the false assumption that we wouldn’t care about Mia.
“We got lucky that the barrier was down. If it had been up, we would have been subject to a military threat. We killed them all except for the ones who took Mia.”
“I killed the others except for two they weren’t there.” Ven turned to Deja who hugged him as she showed how proud she was.
“You’re spoiling him,” Enzo whispered trying to hide his grin.
“Enzo, and Ven, good job getting the MIL’s in the air.”
“What about her mother?”
“I’ve been doing some digging. I’m glad this planet is advanced enough to have the internet.” He touched his screen, and an image of Jessie’s mother appeared before them. “There are no records of her ever being pregnant or delivering a baby. I looked back as far as I could and found several pictures that she posted when she was pregnant.”
Cait who was sitting in the corner got up to look at the picture.
“She’s not pregnant.”
“How do you know?”
“She looks to be around seven months pregnant. Look at her spine, she’s standing straight up there is no curve in her back. Her face looks like it’s not showing any state of pregnancy. Look at her hips which have not widened. I’m not there, but I’m telling you that female is not pregnant.”
Declyn nodded and walked around the picture. “What else do we know?”
“We have Jessie’s birthday. She insisted she was born in this city, so I started checking birth records. I pulled up pictures of children born within the week she was born that had black hair and blue eyes. I narrowed it down to babies that seemed to share her features.”
He placed five pictures on the screen. “They’re all little girls they were born in two different hospitals. I also have pictures of little girls that were born bald but had blue eyes.”
Cole walked up and touched a picture. “This is Jessie. I would know her anywhere.”
“Her name is Jessie Clark. She was born prematurely having trouble gaining weight and breathing. When she was finally able to go home, her parents had a fatal accident that killed them. Her body disappeared, it was thought she was thrown from the car and was dragged off by a wild animal.”
“Cole, stand down.” Enzo hissed the order to him.
“I’m in control. How could she do this to those children and their families.”
“It’s no different than some of the atrocities that happened on our planet. Our people almost killed Ven. You find issues no matter where you go.”
“I want her dead.”
“We have to be careful. The authorities will be looking for her. Her disappearing would focus eyes on Jessie and Mia. None of us want that.”
“Camire, can you get that lawyer on this?”
“I can. He’ll monitor it and let us know what happens.”
“Go home, Cole. Spend time with your family. The Wolves Den will open tomorrow make sure your family is here.”
“Yes, Alp
ha.”
Declyn watched as he walked out the door.
“I don’t want Cole to kill his mates mother. I want options, think about it tonight.”
“Who will kill her?” Deja was staring at Declyn.
“The kill belongs to me.” She nodded taking Enzo’s hand. They followed the others out.
He jumped up on the bar looking around his club. The thoughts and feeling of his people were overwhelming him. He focused on putting up a barrier until he heard her. She was singing and dancing.
He would never understand why anyone wanted to hurt a child.
“Come closer, casca.”
“Alpha.” She stood in front of him.
He reached out and touched her. It was the same thing he did when they brought Ven home. He took the pain and the experience dimming it, so she knew it happened, but it didn’t touch or scare her. She backed up and smiled at him. He gave her a quick mental hug and told her to go back to her dream.
*~*~*~*
“Hi.” Jessie was sitting up in bed waiting for him. Mia was sleeping next to her.
“How is she?”
“She was murmuring in her sleep tossing and turning, then she calmed down, and now she’s sleeping soundly.”
He pulled off his shirt and toed off his shoes before climbing into the bed with them.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t say that.”
“I told you that I would protect the both of you. You were almost torn apart in the game preserve.”
“Because I allowed fear to cloud my better judgment and you did save Mia and me.”
“I should have handled it better. You were shot.”
“Cole, I panicked I saw my mom dead in the street. What else could I do? Before you say it, there was no way we could know someone would make an aerial attack on us. I bet it won’t ever happen again.”
“It won’t.”
“You’ve done everything right and more importantly Mia, and I are right here with you.”
“I don’t know what I would do if I lost you.”
“We’re here. You won’t lose us. Let’s get some sleep.”
They entwined around Mia and fell asleep.
Cole opened his eyes to find Mia jumping on his chest.
Cole (The Wolves Den Book 2) Page 13
