He flicked a glance, apparently not surprised she was awake enough to listen. “They threatened my sisters. I made them a deal.”
She wanted to cry. He had to know they would come anyway. He’d led them right to the house! She forced a sharp bark through her immobile lips. It was no more than a muffled grunt to her ears.
“I know! You think I wanted to do it?” He wiped his nose again. She realized he was crying, and fighting it, too enraged to be reasonable. “They can’t get near the house. Something happens and their scouts wig out, then disappear off their radars completely. Their sensors can’t pick up anything about it, like it’s some kind of black hole of space on the ground. I didn’t know they’d even been trying or I would have stayed. They might have missed the house, even with this stupid chip. Instead, I ran. They found me.” White knuckled, he twisted his fists on the steering wheel.
Lily tried to breathe deeper to help clear her thoughts more. Diego and Nathan had been removing scouts? She shivered, realizing it had to be true.
“You know, if Amy and Kathy had been there, I couldn’t have done it. But shit, I show up and no one is home. Where was everyone? Didn’t they miss me?” She couldn’t feel sympathy for his wounded feelings. They’re probably out looking for your sorry ass was her thought, but she wasn’t able to put it to voice. She had no answer either to where everyone had been when she’d awakened.
“I swear, ever since Tani hooked up with that watchdog of hers, she hasn’t been the same. Never around for anything!”
He was rambling now, alternating snarling with that pathetic whining. It wasn’t hard in the least to hear the bite of jealousy in his complaints. Unrequited love, and Tani most likely had never known it.
“They probably don’t even know I’m gone,” he bitched.
Oh, they know, all right.
She wished she could talk, ask him questions. Find out where he was taking her, though that was probably a foregone conclusion. She shivered, although she fought to ignore it.
“All I know is fuckin’ Hawthorne better leave my sisters out of this.” Her eyes widened. Was that where she was going? He was taking her right to Hawthorne?
“Lily!” Joaquin’s voice was crystal clear and so welcome.
“Oh God, Joaquin.” She almost wept in relief as she sagged in her seat. Lashes covered her eyes as though she were drifting in and out of consciousness if David looked. His misery went pretty deep. She doubted he’d taken two glances at her since he’d trussed her up for the car trip. “Took you long enough.” As if she’d never doubted him—because she hadn’t.
“I know, lovely. I couldn’t reach you.”
“I was knocked out with some drug. I can feel you!” She reached for him with every ounce of her willpower and was rewarded with a wash of tenderness so strong it was beyond anything she’d felt from him yet. Steady and calm. She was beginning to feel his influence spread throughout the coldest parts of her that were still shaking with fear and uncertainty.
“I’m with you always.”
Hearing him, the relief was immeasurable. She didn’t have the time to analyze why things felt different, stronger, or why she suddenly knew what he was doing down to the last drawn breath. “I think we’re heading south. He’s taking me to Hawthorne. It’s David,” she added, wishing it weren’t, knowing how this news would kill Tani and the others. “They’ve threatened him and his sisters. He’s desperate.”
“Taking you was not an option,” he replied, sounding far too composed about it. There was a chill in his words that told her his intent. He was coming for her. David, and anyone else, would pay.
She looked from beneath lowered lashes across the console to see David run a hand through his hair, then across his nose again. He seemed to be getting himself under some level of control. “Is everyone there safe?” she asked him.
“Yes.”
“Let him take me to Hawthorne.”
She knew the instant she made the suggestion, it wasn’t going to have a snowball’s chance in Hell in July. Then, she turned it around on him.
“Trust me.”
* * * *
Joaquin soared up over trees like a rocket possessed through a night daring to turn muggy, racing in the direction of her heartbeat, hearing her thoughts and feeling her absolute trust and faith in him. She’d never doubted he would find her.
Even though he had failed in keeping her safe. Neither Diego or himself had guessed David would come home on his own, and not like this, to kidnap someone.
“Hawthorne is one of Tenorio’s commanders. We can learn more if I make it into his camp.”
“I will not risk you.” She was determined to make it even harder for him to keep her safe by walking right into the lion’s den.
“We know he’s been tracking David. He knows the vicinity of the house, but hasn’t been able to breach Diego’s protections. That can’t last forever.”
They would if Joaquin had anything to say about it. “Then I will take you away.”
“I can’t leave Tabitha behind, Joaquin,” she reminded him gently. “Arguing about it isn’t going to do much good.”
“No, because I will win.”
He felt her grin, knowing she was remembering when he’d won the last ‘battle’, then a hopeless echo in his mind told him things were about to go from bad to worse.
“Not this time. We’re here.”
Joaquin lowered his head and put on the speed, following her distinct trail, weaving over the landscape as miles fell beneath his wings. And for the first time in too long, he prayed.
Chapter Fourteen
“Joaquin, do you need assistance?” The intrusion was subtle, as if he might have been surprised at the offer. He shook his head to the other man’s voice, but answered nonetheless.
“Where are you and Nathan?” He never dropped Lily’s welcoming embrace, homing in on her like a falcon on scurrying prey. He didn’t bother to relay the situation. Diego knew everything that happened within his protections, and Joaquin had found that now included him as well. With the complexity of this new set of circumstances, it was taking time for him to adjust. For a man unused to friendship, least of all from the very ones he’d ceased to trust, being accepted into the world Diego ruled with a fierce protectiveness was very unusual, and not in a small way, unsettling. Family was something he thought he’d never have again. It looked like he was going to be proven wrong, all because of one fiery woman who owned him body and soul.
“Near enough if you should have need. We are searching another of Tenorio’s offices, looking for information on his current projects.”
“Any new information?”
A touch of angst flowed on the mental link. “Not here, not yet.”
“I will update you soon.” He sent the thought, cutting the thread off as Lily’s fears spiked, making his worry for her safety crest with a rush. It was like a blind game of charades, but knowing to the detail what was happening because her reactions fed it all to him like a physical touch.
A snarl rose up as the tape was ripped from her face. He felt the flare of anger, the heat of the pain, and wanted to snap the man before her in two. “Don’t antagonize them,” he pleaded, knowing she was seconds from unleashing her fury on them and fearing the severity of the retribution she’d receive. The remembered images of her abuses made his body tremble. The situation had, indeed, gone from bad to worse. He pushed himself like never before to reach her.
* * * *
Lily glared at the man before her, thankful, at least, for them untying her feet if not her hands. The tape had hurt like hell, but she could breathe now, a stale, flat air she could have lived without ever knowing again.
By the time they’d arrived, she had been aware enough to make out some details when David had been given access through gates lit by floodlights bright enough to make the entrance look like a prison. How many places did Tenorio have to hide his projects? She shivered, wondering how many people had been tortured, how many were s
till missing, and how long this had been going on. When the car stopped, she barely had time to blink before the door was opened and she was yanked out. Someone sliced the tape around her feet and shoved. She didn’t have far to go. Through one metallic door after another into the belly of the beast.
She was now sitting in some drab, gray claustrophobia-inspiring room nearly alone, but not nearly enough. A man dressed in fatigue pants and a puke green T-shirt prowled in front of her where they’d dragged her to sit, his expression menacing, his gaze bitingly cold. The chair wasn’t comfortable by any means. Somehow, she didn’t think the decorator had comfort in mind.
“Oh goody,” she muttered scathingly. “Interrogation one-oh-one.”
A cruel fierceness darkened the man’s features. She refused to show a single twitch that his intimidation was working. “Good girl.” The proud praise came and she felt stronger.
A door opened in the wall behind her. “Sir. All signs show he was not followed.” She fought the smirk. Not followed in any way they’d be expecting.
“Good. Escort him to his quarters. We may need him again. He’s the only key we have to reach that damn site.” Poor David. Lily knew better than to think his sisters would be safe with just one recovery. Their escape had struck a hard blow to Tenorio. Sadly, now, David had proven himself capable of doing what none of them could do. Reaching the house and getting to the girls. He was screwed.
A clipped heel behind her signaled a salute and then the door shut, leaving an unfriendly silence between them.
“Hawthorne,” she sneered. There was no doubt as she studied the man before her.
He dipped his head in a mocking show of congeniality. “I’d say welcome, but I know you’ve been a guest in the past. So maybe,” he drawled with cutting condescension and a raised eyebrow, “welcome back.”
Lily rolled a shoulder in unconcern. The hit came from nowhere, snapping her head on her neck painfully. The snarl was so loud she would have said he was already in the room. Except she was the only one who heard Joaquin’s growling rage.
“Calm down. I can take a lot worse.”
“I knew this was a bad idea.”
She sent him a glorious smile and a cascade of adoration, even while she licked at the drops of blood pooling in the corner of her mouth, finding and keeping the dagger sharp gaze of the man before her. “I will be fine. This is my chance, Joaquin. This is my fight. There’s a world of difference between being hit for fighting back than them wanting to destroy me. I can control it.”
“A fair fight is when both can defend and attack. Remind me to show you a demonstration when I get there.”
She barked a laugh, enjoying their conversation too much to care what the bastard in front of her thought.
“You thought that was funny?” He braced himself with his palms on her chair, corded arms caging her, lowering his face to be right in front of hers. She almost told him what he’d had for lunch, but pushed it off of her tongue, managing that much restraint.
Joaquin groaned at her wayward thoughts. “Remind me to wash your mouth out with soap.”
“I find it funny that you’re going to die.” Calm and without a grain of worry, she informed Hawthorne. “Who else are you holding?” she taunted. “I can’t be the only lucky guest tonight.”
Her bravado wavered when he snapped straight and motioned to the door. She hated not knowing what was behind her. A window, maybe. In the door or in the wall, or maybe a camera. It gave her an idea of what kind of security measures they had within those gray walls. That was good information, along with what she’d seen outside. She passed it on. Joaquin would come, but he’d be prepared for the possibility.
“Where are the others?” he demanded, growling like a rabid dog. “Who rescued you? Where did they take you?”
“I’m a little tied up this evening. Can we reschedule?” she asked in a pleasant voice, batting her lashes coquettishly, as though he’d only stopped in to chat over tea.
He lowered to taunt her with a cruel smile again. He was no different from the men she’d suffered under for the last three years. At their souls, they were empty. The door opened with a snarled signal, capturing her gaze to make his intentions clear. “Take her to the cages. I’m sure her memory of them is a sweet one. Maybe after a few days there, she’ll be more willing to cooperate.”
At the mention of the torture chambers, she almost balked, but then found the strength to smile up at him again without a care in the world. “Club Med.”
This time, the fiery clash of flesh left a sharp ringing in her ears when his fist connected with her aching jaw. Two dressed as soldiers appeared and dragged her bodily from the room—she’d be damned before she’d help them imprison her again. The dull ringing in her ears faded, but didn’t go completely away, and she wondered for a split second if he’d damaged her eardrum. It was a small price to pay in her mind, and she would heal. She’d survived all their abuses and tortures too many times to count already. She pretended to hang her head in utter defeat, but searched the corridors and corners, opening her mind to absorb every sound, every thought of every soul within its walls.
She almost screamed as the sounds crashed into her all at once, clenching her jaw tight to hide the vicious pain. Voices, emotions, intentions. She heard it all. She hardly felt the chains when they were each locked around her wrists as her head rolled, then listed, her mind being drenched in the world surrounding Hawthorne. Trying before had been futile in an effort to escape. Like now, it hurt in ways a human wasn’t meant to experience to open herself up to so many influences. And the last thing she wanted was for Tenorio to learn how deep her telepathy ran. He’d never had a clue.
“Lily! Stop!”
“I… No. I’ll…be fine.” That was when she felt Joaquin’s terrified realization for her adamancy to be taken into the bowels of Hell.
Because she had the very gift to find out everything they needed to know. She prayed it didn’t drive her mad in the process.
* * * *
“Lily!” He felt her conscious mind respond, but she was so deeply smothered under the bombardment of every person’s thoughts surrounding her, she didn’t react for several minutes. He kept breathing strength into her to bolster her efforts, to keep her from drowning under it all.
“I’m here.”
A whispered acknowledgement. It didn’t ease the strain he felt, knowing she was feeling it a thousand times stronger. He reached out to divert some of the pain, hurtling as fast as he could through the night to reach her side.
She was in pain. She was hurting, but she didn’t stop, ignoring his pleas when the striking of all those voices rose like storm tossed tidal waves to pummel against her mind with tsunami strength. It was tearing his insides apart. All that pain. He knew what he felt wasn’t nearly close to what was bombarding her every second. The way she forced each voice to override the cacophony as she endlessly searched for the one, or few, that would tell her what she was looking for struck him at the depth of her ability and her strength. He couldn’t see how she had ever thought herself to be weak.
He knew he was getting closer to her with every passing minute. The intensity of anguish flooding over her was impossible to push away, impossible to not feel in every pore of his being. David had several hours head start, being able to drive in sunlight. It was proving to be the greatest disadvantage Joaquin had at the moment. Each second it took to reach her was another second she was in pain. And he couldn’t stop it. She wouldn’t let him.
“Lily.” He reached out to her again, forcing his way past her barriers to shoulder some of the effort, relying on his own strengths to pick up some of the overflow. The blast of pain was crippling when he broke through those barriers, shaking his concentration so hard he almost lost his form for the second time since he’d met her. He shuddered at the impact. “Enough! Stop. You must stop!”
Her answered words were faint, dragging and slurred. “For now.” Several heartbeats passed before the whispered
sound of her voice reached out to him again. “I didn’t find anything, but I will.” It was a vow to not fail. He feared how far she would push to gain that success, to find Tenorio’s whereabouts, or to locate the other project prisoners. To have her chance to fight back, but at what expense to herself?
“Rest, corazón. You need to rest.” He hated to impose his will on her, but he pushed the compulsion on her before she had an inkling of his intention. It had to be done to keep her from searching for too long. Exhaustion emanated from her in pulsating waves.
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