by Sydney Addae
The Goddess smiled on her plans and blessed her with success.
Elyria watched Armin Bret drive in the opposite direction from the small quaint home near the Ohio state line, hours from La Patron’s compound. Still in Fresm’s car, she headed north to her den in Pennsylvania.
During the drive, Cyndy slept in the back seat. Armin had done some grocery shopping and picked up their dinner. By the time he reached California, he wouldn’t recall anything that had happened, and she could summon him at any time through the necklace. For now, she wanted him far away in case those pesky KnightForce bitches went house to house looking for clues. If he was caught, they’d never get any answers, the necklace would insure that.
She hit the steering wheel as her jaw tightened. “Damn you, Mélange, you didn’t warn me about them. I could’ve been caught…you would’ve liked that, wouldn’t you?” she murmured. “Didn’t happen. I outsmarted them all. La Patron, his bitch, even the great Angus. Me!” She slapped her chest. “I walked in their house and stole their precious pup.” She tapped her forehead as she glanced in the rear view mirror. “That’s because I’m smart, I think things through and work hard.” Her chest tightened. She paused. “Damn it, Mélange, you should be sharing this with me,” she ended on a whispery sigh. Her greatest victory ever and no one to share it with. No bragging rights. No way to shine. Nothing.
“Fuck it.” She pulled out her new cell phone, punched in Mélange’s number. Her thumb hovered over the connect button. In the end she canceled. For the first time in a decade she questioned her lover’s loyalty. Swallowing hard, she continued looking in her rear view mirror as the truth slammed into her chest. Her head throbbed with the realization Mélange was not a part of her life. “What the hell am I going to do now?”
Fate played a nasty trick on them both. Left alone, she and Mélange would’ve lived the rest of their days together. Now her days were numbered, she didn’t fool herself otherwise. The men on the KnightForce team were hunters. She hadn’t factored an elite team whose sole focus was to find her and the child, into her plans. Would she have gone through with the kidnapping if she had known? Elyria shrugged. To test her wits against the best of the best? La Patron? Other black wolves? Probably, the chance to fly so close to his face and walk away was hard to resist. Maybe she would’ve made alternate plans, ones that would’ve given her more time to escape.
Earlier, when she walked out the school and drove off, someone followed her. Even though her memories had been scanned by La Patron and Asia, she was still a suspect. Thank the Goddess her bracelet held. The intense look in La Patron’s eyes would’ve seared her on the spot if there’d been any inkling she wasn’t the goody-goody teacher.
He’d shook her hand, held it a short while, and then released it. There’d been a brief moment she hoped he’d see her, recognize something, but he hadn’t.
After arriving at Trant’s home this evening, she continued to play her role to perfection. She went grocery shopping, purchased comfort foods, ice cream, cookies, and a steak, all things a grieving teacher would need. Once she returned she cooked, ate, went for a walk and then back inside. One car, two full-bloods, watched Trant’s house the entire time. Around 10:00 p.m. she turned off the lights and prepared to leave around three a.m. to meet Bret and Sarita. Since he hadn’t contacted her regarding any problems she assumed Sarita’s necklace continued to hold.
By 3:20 that morning she’d morphed into Fresm’s body. The security system wasn’t live on the windows, she crept out the one facing the backyard and left. If they monitored Trant’s house for heartbeats, they’d know she was gone. She quickened her steps and pulled up the collar on his jacket. Two streets over, at the apartment complex, she approached his car, unlocked it and drove away.
Heart in her throat, she struggled to drive at a sedate pace while looking in the rear view mirror for the KnightForce agents to speed around the corner after her at any second. A few hours later, she reached the state line where Armin and Sarita waited to make the exchange.
After driving several additional hours, Elyria pulled into the large underground parking lot at the airport, transferred everything, and then Cyndy, into her silver SUV.
“Next stop, my den,” she said to Sarita, who slept through the announcement. Daylight broke through the sky as Elyria pulled into her oversized basement garage. Her place lay nestled in the mountains, with clear views of the skyline in the front. Purchasing this place without Mélange’s knowledge had been tricky. Layers of dummy companies covered her ownership and credit information. When they questioned her former lover, Mélange honestly wouldn’t have a clue where to find her.
Stretching, she stood next to the van and then took the food, her equipment, and the supplies inside first. Since she’d bought the house furnished, she hadn’t done much to the rustic décor, with wood beams running the length of the ceiling and natural hardwood floors. The large kitchen and eat-in area opened into a living area, which faced the bank of windows revealing the beauty of the cragged mountains.
Many nights she sat alone in front of those windows wishing Mélange was there, that they could share the beauty of her hideaway. She sighed and glanced toward the hall with two bedrooms and a bath. One of the bedrooms held Ms. Trant. Hidden stairs opened into her private quarters and lab below.
Elyria gently lifted Sarita from the van and then carried her to the second guest bedroom. Sarita didn’t stir when she was placed, fully dressed, beneath the covers. Armin had packed a bag for his daughter, but Elyria was too tired to change the sleeping child.
Before retiring downstairs, Elyria checked on Ms. Trant. The woman laid peacefully, eyes closed, breathing with a regular heartbeat as the IV dripped nutrients into her system. Pleased her bracelet hadn’t killed the woman, Elyria checked the necklace she’d placed on Trant, and then locked the room on her way out.
Downstairs in her private quarters, she turned on all the security monitors and shed the male form. Shaking out her hair, she headed to the bathroom to shower. The hot water eased the tension and cleared her thoughts.
She’d done it! Nobody recognized her. Her throat tightened at that sobering reality. No one recognized her…a chorus depicting most of her life. The forgotten and ignored one. What did she expect? It couldn’t go both ways. If they’d recognized her heritage in any way, the plan would’ve failed and she’d be…what? Dead? Not likely. Imprisoned? Tortured? Any one of those things would make life intolerable, so it’s good she won this round.
Initially she had planned to taunt Asia and swap the chameleons for Sarita in an even exchange. But with KnightForce searching for her, plus that weird energy that wafted from La Patroness spooked her to the point she had no intentions of contacting them for any demands. Not until there was a continent between them. She had innate abilities which allowed her wolf to fight, but not on the same level as La Patroness.
The Liege had performed surgeries on Mélange without permission, added metal into her arms and legs. Without question the small Asian fought with cunning ferocity and made a terrible enemy. But Asia was just as ferocious. When she and Mélange met in Griff’s lab, her former lover had wanted the bracelet more than anything else and hadn’t challenged Asia.
No doubt that would change soon. Pity she’d miss that confrontation.
Elyria snorted and then turned her face up to the spray. There was something different about Asia, her energy and aura didn’t smell right. Elyria tried to place it, but couldn’t. She wondered if the old black wolf would share anything, but doubted it. Maybe if she hadn’t gone against another black wolf…the old wolf didn’t tolerate infighting. He would not help either party.
Steam curled around her head and opened her pores as she revisited her time at the school. La Patroness…now that human packed a punch that wasn’t all from La Patron. His energy smelled, tasted, and felt different. If they came after her together, she’d have a chance. But if La Patroness came alone…she shuddered to think what would happen. Elyria
rested her forehead against the tile as the water ran down her body.
Tired, but she realized rest wouldn’t come to her for a long time. Granted, she’d pulled a coup few could accomplish, but the high cost would alter her life forever. She was now hunted by the top wolves in their Nation. For some reason she never expected that, not for Sarita, which was one reason she hadn’t take one of La Patron’s pups.
Two of the investigators concerned her the most. Crescent Blue, she heard someone call him, gave her chills. Dark as coffee with eerie, steel gray eyes that penetrated her skin; he left her breathless with equal measures of fear and desire. The amount of time he spent on innocuous details surprised her. He noticed a cellophane wrapper on the floor that one of the kids threw away on their way out and questioned the garbage, which led to another series of questions, and a team had been sent to the garbage yard to search the trash.
The other, Ethan Mope, didn’t speak to her, but questioned the reaction of the children to Sarita’s disappearance. He believed they knew more or had seen something they weren’t willing to tell. La Patron wouldn’t allow him to question the children, but he did allow him to watch to see if any of them behaved oddly. Considering they walked from the assembly auditorium to the classroom and then prepared to go home, she had been surprised when Cyndy had been one of the 10 students he identified.
Fortunately, by the time he made his assessment, Armin had picked up Sarita and taken her to their meeting place. Someone would eventually visit Armin’s home to discuss Cyndy’s behavior at school, and possibly search for the father and daughter for questioning.
Elyria wanted to scream.
It should’ve taken months, years, for them to find Cyndy’s bones, or days before they tracked Armin across country. She would have had more time to savor her hard won victory, now she’d need to find some corner of the globe to lay low for a decade, or introduce herself and allow the chips to fall wherever. That last option curled her stomach. She didn’t need them, not now after all this time. Blood ties were good to a point; after that it didn’t matter.
Stepping outside the shower, she pulled on a robe and wrapped her hair in a thick towel. Hungry, she ate the rest of her cold steak sandwich. Armin had been useful, but she wouldn’t involve anyone else at this juncture.
She was on her own. Now was the time to grow into the Black Wolf her mam claimed was her destiny. After tossing the remains of her meal into the trash she sat at her computer to start searching for a place to hide. Whether she took the kid would depend on how hard it’d be to disappear. Trant? Either she’d eventually wake or die.
Elyria’s gut tightened in frustration. Self-preservation warred with intense curiosity. What had she done differently this time that saved Trant’s life. None of the others she’d used the chameleon on survived. If she could replicate her success, there were a few people who’d pay millions of dollars for the bracelet, even with the 48 hour limited window. Clicking through contacts and places well known for offering shelter, she discounted more and more of them because of La Patron’s long reach.
“Arrgh, damn it,” she yelled and closed her eyes, and held her head in her hands. “Alright, I admit this was a stupid idea, I didn’t have all the facts and a child is dead,” she paused and exhaled. “A child is dead.” Thinking of Cyndy for the first time, Elyria sighed and shook her head. She hadn’t been thinking clearly. When did she start killing children? She’d never done that in her life. How could she have gotten so caught up in her plans she didn’t count the costs…all of them?
Chest heavy, she wrapped her arms around her waist to ward off the chill. “What the hell did I do?” she whispered through a tight throat. When did it become alright to use children?
Never.
Her stomach heaved as her misguided actions settled heavily on her shoulders. For several moments she remained frozen in place while her mind ran the images over and over, until her belly released its contents in the nearby trashcan.
“Stop this! Get it together. You don’t know how much time you have before they knock on your door or blow it up. No, they won’t use explosives, not with Sarita inside.” Sweat beaded on her brow as her gaze roamed the room, looking for weak spots. Exhausted, she tried to focus on the things she needed to do.
“Keep moving. Take the kid as insurance until you get where you’re going…don’t know where, but we need to leave soon…how soon is soon? Tomorrow. No, gotta be smart. That’s why we’re in this mess, you’re too smart.”
Elyria walked to her bed and fell face down to shut out the noise from her mind.
Chapter 18
“Grandfather?” David called as soon as he fell asleep. “There’s a problem Grandfather, and I need your help.” As the fog lifted, David walked through tall bunches of grass punctuated with lemongrass and other odors he couldn’t define. The air cooled as he continued searching for Grandfather, and his voice echoed in the breeze.
David stopped, put his hands on his hips and slowly turned. Strange, there were normally others playing in the glen, but today it was quiet. Unsure why no one raced or huddled together in large puppy mounds, he strained to see the shadowy figure in the distance, hoping Grandfather finally answered.
The dust picked up. David covered his eyes and coughed.
“David?” The deep, melodic voice of Grandfather eased him.
Smiling, he opened his eyes and gazed into the emerald and gold eyes of the large dark wolf. His heart raced and his fears eased. Like his sire, Grandfather could fix anything.
“Sarita is missing. She disappeared.” Without allowing time for questions, David told everything he knew about the matter.
Grandfather nodded but didn’t speak for a long time. David moved closer and sat near his large paw and stroked one of the long claws. You couldn’t rush Grandfather, he always took his time, but when he said something, it was usually good.
The old wolf sighed. The air brushed against David’s cheek and lifted his hair from his neck. “I can only tell you this, the person who took lovely Sarita is one of ours. What will happen to the child remains a mystery.”
David’s heart plummeted. “One of ours? How can that be?”
“Yes, sad state of affairs.”
“No! That’s not possible, everybody here loves Sarita.” David couldn’t imagine who in the compound would take Sarita away. Asia, Hawke or Damian would hurt that person really bad.
“It happened.”
“She’s not dead,” he said with stubborn determination. If his best friend was dead, he’d know.”
“No, she’s alive.”
David released a breath and thanked both the Goddess and the Christ for his best friend’s life.
“Is daddy going to stop us from going to school?”
“Rest your mind for a few moments, young one. La Patron has many responsibilities covering millions of pack members. Allow his mind to be at ease over his den, you are all safe and he searches diligently for your friend. Regain your strength to help in the search when you awake. I’ve cleared the meadow of noise and distractions so that you can sleep undisturbed.” He paused. “Your brother and sisters have been calling for me, I’m not ready to meet them, but I will in time. Tell them.”
“Yes.” David yawned as his limbs grew heavy and his eyelids drooped. “Yes, Grandfather, I’ll tell them.”
“He’s still sleeping.”
“I see that.”
“Want me to wake him up?” David recognized Adam’s voice but hadn’t caught the other one yet.
“No. I just wanted to make sure you guys were okay.”
“We’re still sad,” Adam said.
David’s eyes were heavy, and his mouth tasted horrible.
“I know you are, Champ. My team is doing everything to find her.”
“Find her? Who?” David wondered and then it hit him. Sarita was missing. He opened his eyes and saw Uncle Angus sitting in the chair, holding Adam.
“He’s awake.” Adam pointed.
&n
bsp; “Yes, I see that,” Uncle Angus said. He removed Adam from his lap to the side and leaned toward the bed. “How you doing, big guy? Get enough rest?”
Unsure how he felt, he nodded and stared into his uncle’s green eyes.
“Good, good,” he nodded and turned to Adam. “Champ, go tell your dad, David’s awake for me.”
“Yes, Sir. Watch how fast I run, Uncle Angus.” Adam took off toward the door without looking back.
“You and daddy mind-talk,” David said, realizing Adam had been sent out of the room on purpose.
Uncle smiled. “Yes, he knows I’m here and that Adam’s on his way.” He paused. “Did you talk to Grandfather?”
David nodded.
“Good. He used to talk to me all the time, or maybe I went searching for him to talk, either way, knowing he was available always helped me make it through tough situations many days.”
David sat up on his elbows. The dimmed light created a halo around his uncle and he wanted to see his eyes when they talked. “Grandfather spoke to you? Were you a little boy like me?”
“No. More like Rese and Rone’s age. Grandfather saved my life and my sanity.” He looked at David. “Does he know where Sarita is?”
David shook his head. “All he said was the person who took Sarita was one of ours.” He met his uncle’s gaze. “But she’s not dead.”
Uncle Angus closed his eyes and then breathed hard, making funny sounds. “Thank the Goddess for that.” He placed his finger on his lips and stared at the wall. “One of ours…that’s a surprise.”
“I told him Asia and Hawke would hurt whoever took Sarita.” He frowned. “I think I told him that.”
“No worries, we’ll work with that. Let me tell you about the time grandfather made me leave town out a second story window.”
Chapter 19
Countdown clock: 62 hours remaining
