by Haley Weir
“Who was going to fly it before I came along?”
“Corey,” Michael replied with a smirk.
“I can’t fly a helicopter!”
“So, it’s a good thing I can.”
Tilly wanted to smack him for teasing her at such a dire time, but she did something worse. She kissed him. “If we make it out of this...I want to go on a date.”
“Now is not the time to bring up what’s his name or Derek.”
“I was talking about with you,” she snorted. His jealousy was sort of adorable. Tilly smoothed away his pout and braced herself for liftoff. The blades of the helicopter swooshed loudly, silencing all other sounds. Once they cleared the mountains, Tilly took a deep breath. She had to trust that they would keep one another safe and that their friends could manage without them. “Corey know where to go?”
“He’s getting his memory back more and more each day. He remembers where his father’s house is and that’s where we’re headed right now.”
“How do you know where it is?”
Michael tapped a finger against the navigation system. “It’s programmed as HQ right here. Not to mention, I’ve kept an eye on hunters since I first discovered them. I learned their ways and now I use them against Hydra.”
“And you think Destiny and Corey’s father is hiding their mom?”
“I know he is,” Michael replied. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. Family is the one thing he could never let go of. We’re all like that in a way, even you. You hang on to the things that remind you of your family even though they’re gone. I keep my brother close because he’s all I have left. You were right. I need to make contact.”
“I don’t like always being right.”
Michael eased them over the vast landscape and toward their destination. His hands were steady and sure on the controls, impressing Tilly beyond measure. She watched the light play upon his features. Michael caught her staring and smiled. If that smile was the last thing she saw before facing death, then she considered her life well lived. “You’re beautiful, Michael.”
“Men aren’t beautiful, Matilda.”
“You are,” she said. “I’ve seen every inch of your body and there’s not one flaw.”
“Funny, I thought the same when I saw you.”
She snorted. “Stretch marks, scars, and a consolation of moles here and there?”
“Yes, all of those things and more. I love the small dimples at the small of your back and the way your skin glows after a warm bath. The scent of your soaps haunt my sleep and I can barely contain myself whenever you give me that soft, sleepy look when you look up from your grading papers.”
Tilly felt her cheeks heat. “Thank you.”
“It is I who should be thanking you. The night we spent together was a gift, Tilly. One I will treasure always, even if we part ways down the road. Never think of yourself as anything less than perfect in my eyes.”
“I snore.”
“My feet smell sometimes and I’m told that I drool in my sleep. What’s your point?” He cast her sideways glance before returning his gaze to the front. “If you can’t look beyond the small things, then what’s the point in trying?”
“Is that why your service focuses on self-love so much?”
“I’m a firm believer that if you don’t like something, you should change it. I like everything about you, but I won’t stop you from changing something if it makes you unhappy. Your happiness should be the first priority.” Michael’s words made Tilly hopeful for the future. She wanted to be happy and she was starting to think that her happiness would never come unless he was in her life.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Michael landed the helicopter and forced Tilly toward the floor. The space was cramped, but he needed her out of sight as the soldiers approached. Once they were in the correct spot, he bashed one man’s head against the side of the helicopter and punched the other, knocking both men unconscious. He flexed his stiff knuckles and returned to Tilly. “I need to clear a path. Say low and out of sight. Only move if you hear absolutely nothing in the area. Take your shoes off so you make less noise and stick to the shadows. If you think something’s wrong, hide and wait for Corey.”
Tilly nodded and Michael kissed her one last time before kneeling down beside the soldiers. He took one of their headsets, a firearm, and the keycard that had been strapped to their belt. Voices came over the headset. It wasn’t anything important and Michael pushed on with the knowledge that they hadn’t been discovered. He slid the keycard through the door and moved through the halls with a confident stride.
A guard covered the next entrance. Michael attempted to walk past him, but the man placed a hand on his shoulder. He broke it, twisting the hand until the bones snapped and smashed his fist into the guard’s throat before he could scream. Michael then choked him out and then dragged the body into a nearby utility closet. He passed through the next checkpoint, making sure to jam the locks as he went so Tilly could get inside without issue.
No other guards were inside the small building. Michael opened the last door. Six guards patrolled a beat using the paths of the courtyard. A heavily armed man covered each entrance and Michael couldn’t see a way through without making contact. There was no way Tilly would- His eyes caught sight of movement nearby. Tilly met his stare and she shot him a mischievous look as she crept up behind one of the guards. She jabbed something in the man’s neck and eased him to the ground.
He watched with a combination of awe and frustration.
Michael’s gaze scanned the area for alarms or cameras as she worked on quietly dispatching the guards. Once they were all unconscious she boldly walked up to him with the most innocent expression on her face. “What? I heard over the headset that they rotate every hour, so I figured I should move quickly. We have an hour to get somewhere secure before the other guards show up.”
“I didn’t hear that over the com.”
“You only took one. I don’t think they all communicate on the same channel.”
Michael frowned and urged Tilly toward the door. “Why so many channels?”
She rolled her eyes and gestured around. “Dude, he’s clearly paranoid. Look at all of these guards. This is a private house, right? Why all the firepower unless he’s afraid of being attacked? He has no reason to think you would come here.”
“You think someone else is after Hydra?”
Tilly nodded. “He hires contract mercenaries to hunt down and collect shifters. Can you imagine how many he goes through? Some might double cross him, others might end their contracts but they would still know how to get here, and...Corey. He knows Corey is just itching to get his hands on him.”
“It makes sense that we aren’t the only ones looking to settle a score.” Michael held the door open as Tilly snuck inside. She stopped and dropped to the floor when two guards at the end of the corridor lifted their weapons. Michael unholstered his gun and squeezed off two shots before they could sound the alarm. Two perfect headshots and Tilly looked up at him with something akin to amazement and lust.
“Woah,” she whispered. “What are you? James Bond?”
“No. I’m Michael Adair.”
“You’ve never seen James—” Michael pulled her through another door with his hand over her mouth. She glared at him when he dropped his hand.
“I need to concentrate and I can’t do that if you insist on distracting me. Stay close, stay quiet, and follow my lead.” He pecked her forehead and she stuck her tongue out at him. They moved down the hallway and passed through a door that led to the interior of the house. Beautiful polished hardwood floors glistened beneath their feet. Sconces on the walls cast a warm glow through the house and Michael was surprised by the sound of a crackling fireplace.
He smelled the scent of leather, old books, and Earl Grey tea. It smelled like Books & Baubles. Tilly must have recognized the smell too, for she quirked a brow at him. Alexander Collier’s children took after him in ways they were unaware.
Tilly attempted to peek around the corner of an archway, but Michael pulled her back. A guard stepped through the opening and walked by without noticing them. Michael and Tilly held their breath until he was out of sight. He released her and the air from his lungs at the same time. She slipped into the other room and he followed.
The scent of a fireplace grew stronger as they came to stand in front of French doors. Michael opened the doors and locked the two of them inside. The room with the roaring fire was empty. Tilly hurried over to the desk and flipped through documents as Michael searched for another door. Corey remembered that his father spent a lot of time in the study, so it was their best bet to find something or even set a trap for Hydra.
Michael moved to the bookcase, stroking the spines of each book. Their topics varied from pseudo science to alchemy and the occult. He found one that felt strangely hollow in comparison to the others and pulled it. Like a scene from a cheesy spy film, the bookshelf revealed a panel and Michael had to stop himself from chuckling.
“Matilda,” he said. “Take a look at this, love.”
She came to stand beside him and snorted into his shoulder. “What do you think the password is? Open sesame?”
“Abracadabra?”
Michael leaned closer and tried to see if there were fingerprint indications on the buttons. Tilly had another brilliant idea. “What was the day his wife was diagnosed with her illness? I’m thinking if that’s where this all started, then that’s where it ends as well.”
“You’re amazing.”
“Well? What is it?”
“The second of May,” Michael answered. Tilly punched in the numbers and the door opened. They shared a lingering stare before descending the staircase with Michael in the lead. He pulled the com from his ear and kept his firearm low as they walked down a tunnel lined with tanks filled with what looked like failed experiments.
Michael heard something click and reached for Tilly, but it was too late.
***
Footfalls drew nearer and Tilly rolled Michael off of her. She checked his pulse and screamed at the top of her lungs when nothing throbbed against her fingers. Tilly pushed open his shirt and saw strange probes sticking slightly out of his skin. “What did you do to him?” she demanded. The men took him from her arms and threw him onto a table, securing Michael with straps as she struggled to free herself from the grip of the man known as Hydra. He had the same eyes as Destiny, she noticed.
“Leave him alone.”
“We can’t do that,” he said with mock sweetness in her ear. He sounded like an insincere parent trying to soothe a fussy child. Tilly stilled in his arms, seeing no use in fighting him. She needed to bide her time until Corey could get to them. Hydra released her, but moved to lock the door to the sterile room. The chamber near the back drew her eye and Tilly walked over. She glanced over at the machines and gasped.
Michael had been right about everything. Tilly touched the glass and sensed an overwhelming amount of sadness that confused her. She yanked her hand back, accidentally bumping into Hydra. “What did you see?”
“Nothing.”
“Do not lie to me,” the man snarled. Tilly was taken aback by how normal he looked. Streaks of silver rested at his temples and faded into thick waves of dark hair that reminded her of Corey and Destiny. The jaguar clearly had his mother’s eyes, but there was no mistaking the resemblance. Alexander Collier had an otherworldly beauty and an endless wisdom in his clear gaze.
She expected to find a crazed scientist, not the man that stood before her.
“I didn’t see anything, but I felt something.”
“What?” he demanded. “What did you feel, then?”
“Sadness. Profound sadness. It was like ice settling in my heart.”
Something flashed across his expression, but it was gone before she could analyze it. She looked over at Michael where the doctors prepared him for something. “What are they doing to him? I know you don’t want him dead or else you would have just killed him when we walked into the room.”
“I think his blood is the key.”
“Why?” she questioned. “What makes him so special?” Tilly flinched when Hydra reached out to tug the neck of her shirt aside. He traced the faint bite mark on her neck.
“He’s marked you as his mate, claimed you in a way that is profound to his kind. Clearly the two of you have been...intimate. That’s a very beautiful thing. It’s one of the only things that I approve of that the abominations practice.”
“One love for the rest of time?”
“Yes,” he answered. “As you can see, I share a certain sentiment.”
“But she...she doesn’t want this.” Tilly knew her safety was fragile at best, but she needed to get inside of his head. She was a teacher; she knew how to deal with different behaviors in children. It allowed her to be empathetic while remaining objective enough to find solutions to the problem. “Look at her, Alexander.”
The use of his name softened his expression a little.
“You know the risks of keeping someone in a coma for this long. How are you sure that what you find on the other side will be your wife?”
“Because she speaks to me,” he revealed. “She gives me visions of our life before the illness and it gives me hope that I’m on the right path.”
“Or is she trying to remind you of the man you once were.” Tilly held his stare bravely and squared her shoulders. “I don’t think she wants you to lose yourself in order to find a cure that may never come.” She took his hand and placed it against the glass. “That cold sadness is her, Alexander. Don’t prolong her suffering.”
He took his hand from her and walked over to the table where Michael was strapped down without a word. Tilly hoped that she had gotten to him in some way, but she started thinking of a plan of escape in case she hadn’t. He peeled open Michael’s eye and checked the reaction of his pupils. “These rounds were made special for him.”
“What are they?”
“A toxin from a rare amphibious shifter. She was beautiful, like a poison dart frog. My doctors created a paralytic that attacks the bloodstream instantly. The toxin won’t kill him like it would a human, but it will keep him down so long as the rounds remain in his body. If even one is removed, he could shift and expel all of them.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you won’t get far if you try to run even with him fighting for you.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Michael couldn’t move or open his eyes, but he held on to the sound of Tilly’s voice. He wanted to reach out and hold on to her so the darkness didn’t feel so consuming. The feeling of her hand pushing his hair away from his brow was enough to settle something inside of him, but feeling helpless was not something Michael Adair was accustomed to. He suddenly felt her breath against his ear. “I’m getting us out of here,” she whispered and then kissed his lips.
He braced himself for whatever came next. Her hand snatched one of the probes from his skin and his healing system, though sluggish, pushed some of the toxins from his body. Michael jumped from the table and bashed his fist into the first doctor. Three soldiers stormed him as he placed himself between them and Tilly. She used the probe in her hand and stabbed it into Alexander Collier.
Michael knew he only had a short amount of time to find the antidote to the poison before it killed him. The soldiers fought Michael, but forgot to watch Tilly. She grabbed a gun from their belt and fired a shot, missing her target. “Put the gun down!” he slurred.
She dropped it to the ground and it misfired, ricocheting off the steel walls and hitting one of the soldiers in the thigh. Michael ducked to avoid getting hit in the face and slammed his shoulder into a soldier’s chest. Tilly grabbed one of the electric batons from one of Hydra’s men and shocked the one hitting Michael in the back. The electricity conducted itself through his body as well, and Michael thanked his body for building up a tolerance to electricity.
The paralytic slow
ed him down, but he felt himself healing despite it. One of the doctors pulled the alarm and footsteps pounded above their heads. Alexander leaned against a cabinet with a syringe sticking out of his chest. His skin was pale and sweat beaded on his forehead. “I told you that you wouldn’t make it far.”
An explosion caused the lights to flicker. Dust fell from the ceiling and Michael pulled Tilly toward the exit. The door didn’t open, requiring a handprint to open. Michael walked over to Alexander, intending to tear his arm from his body to get her free, but the door opened on its own. Corey and Anders pushed their way inside and Michael was relieved to see his friends. “Get Tilly out of here. We have to finish this.”
“I’m not going anywhere!”
Anders ignored Michael and so did Corey. They both walked over to the chamber that held Corey’s mother and the jaguar turned a death glare at his father. “You vile, pathetic little man! I should have killed you a long time ago.” Michael moved out of the way as Corey lost his temper against the man who ruined his life. He let the family sort through their problems as he limped over to Anders.
“Can we save her?”
“No. She’s been dead for a long time. Do you see this?” he asked while pointing to a section on the monitors. “That’s brain activity...or lack thereof, in this case. She’s entirely brain-dead and I don’t know how long she’s been this way. Even if we kept her on life support, the illness shut down most of her major organs, which is what the other machines are. He’s just prolonging the inevitable.”
Corey walked over and punched his way through the chamber. The machines beeped loudly before going silent. “Let’s take her with us for a proper burial. She needs to be put to rest. And that...” he said, pointing to his father, “...that can rot in a cell for the rest of his life. Let’s go home.”
Michael helped Anders and everyone fought their way out of the house. A sleek jet was parked near a runway and private airport. Corey carried his mother while Anders helped Michael and Tilly held a gun to Alexander’s head. Soldiers began shooting at them, so Michael shoved Tilly at Anders and grabbed the gun from her hand. He open fired while the others retreated. “Go! Get them out of here!”
