Healing Danger

by Maddie Wade

  “I like you Honey, I really do. I’d like to see where this goes. We’ve wasted enough time, let’s give this a chance?”

  He looked so adorably unsure of himself at that moment. Most of the time he was Mr. In Control, take charge. Somehow spilling all the horrible details of her time with Jeff had helped to free her from her past and made her feel brave enough to try for a future.

  Lauren was scared to hope that he meant it, but she really liked him and she trusted him and that meant more to her than anything. As she had seen just lately, life was short and maybe this risk would be worth it. She smiled and said,

  “I’d like that, too. You’re very cute when you act shy, Dane.”

  Burying his head in her hair, he groaned.

  “Not cute, please not cute, that’s like the kiss of death. Kittens are cute, I’m manly and tough.” He said, jokingly and she laughed.

  “Not in this case, I think it’s kinda hot.” He looked at her with a shit-eating grin then.

  “Well then, in that case cutes’ my middle name,” he said as he released her from his hold.

  Walking around the table she grabbed her bag just as her phone rang, she grabbed for it before it rang off.

  “Hello,” she answered happily.

  “Lauren, it’s Nate, you need to come quickly. Drew’s been shot in the leg and is refusing to let me call an ambulance until he sees you.”

  “Oh my god, okay, I’m on my way,” she answered quickly. The shock of the situation not having caught up yet.

  “Oh, and Lauren tell Dane to answer his god damned phone next time.”

  Seeing the stricken look in her eye, Dane exclaimed. “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s Drew he’s been shot and wants me.”

  “Where is he?”

  “Oh no, I didn’t even ask.”

  “Come on, I’ll call Nate from the car and find out.” Relieved that someone else was in control of the situation, she jumped into the car. Dane hit speed dial as he hooked his phone to the Bluetooth, finding out from Nate that Drew had been shot outside the Fortis office. He sped through the early morning traffic towards the outskirts of town. Wondering who the hell had found out about Drew and how they knew where he was.

  Chapter Twelve

  Arriving at the Fortis offices, Lauren was surprised to see no emergency services there. Rushing inside they ran straight into Lucy.

  “Hey, he’s through here,” she gestured to one of the rooms at the back, “and let me tell you that is one stubborn man.” Following Lucy through the door with the retina scan, she tried to calm her mind. 24 hours ago, she didn’t know she had a brother and now she was feeling sick at the thought of something happening to him.

  Looking past Lucy, she saw Drew sitting on the edge of a single bed, with his leg up and a bandage wrapped tightly around it. Blood was already seeping through, turning the white bandage a dark red. As if feeling her watching Drew tried to stand up and come towards her, only to wobble.

  “Hey, sit your ass down!” Lucy exclaimed with more than a little exasperation as she gently but forcefully pushed him back down onto the bed. Being bossed around was obviously annoying Drew because he frowned at Lucy. Although she didn’t really know him Lauren felt it was out of character for him to look so gnarly, but that was probably the pain.

  Approaching her brother, she knelt down to look at his leg.

  “What happened?” she asked, while peeling back the soaked bandage.

  “Looks like daddy dearest didn’t trust me.” He said with a grimace, “He must have had Michaels-his trusted little pet, follow me. When Nate and I stepped outside to get some breakfast the bastard shot me. Luckily I had just spotted him and was about to run at him when he took the shot, the movement must have thrown the shot off and he got my leg instead of somewhere more serious, hurts like a bitch though.”

  “Okay, let’s take a look.” Lauren had seen a gunshot wound once before when she was in the accident and emergency wards doing voluntary work. A police officer had come in with a gunshot wound to the shoulder and she had wanted to test her ability, so she’d snuck in on the pretence of talking to him and had healed him. Luckily he had been unconscious and was completely unaware of what happened. It had been a close thing, but she managed to slip away unseen.

  Drew’s wound was a through and through so there was no bullet to deal with, thank goodness. She wasn’t sure how well she would fare if she had to dig round in his leg to get a bullet out. It might be that the healing process would push the bullet out but she was glad not to have to test the theory.

  “This only just missed your femoral artery, Drew, you’re either very lucky or Michaels is a crap shot.” Lauren said, as she looked at the wound closely. “Stay here I’m gonna go wash up and then I will sort this out for you.”

  “Are you sure, you don’t really know me, you don’t have to do this. I’ve had worse pain from beatings meted out by father.”

  Her heart broke, this poor young man had had so much to deal with on his own; well, not anymore.

  “I’m sure Drew, it’s fine.”

  Walking through the door to the small kitchen she, moved to the sink and began washing her hands thoroughly.

  “Are you out of your God-damned mind?” Dane demanded behind her. “You can’t, I won’t let you do it. You hardly know him. Let me call in a friend of mine to take a look at him.”

  Lauren’s spine stiffened, she hated being told what to do and would never tolerate it again. If he wanted a relationship he was going to have to learn, right now that she did not take orders from anyone, unless it pleased her to do so. Straightening to her full height, she spun round and poked a finger in his chest.

  “Listen up Mr., just because you gave me an earth-shattering orgasm, does not give you the right to tell me what to do. Never again will a man dictate to me-do you understand me?” She enunciated every word with a poke to his chest. So engrossed with her tirade was she that she missed the shocked look of bemusement on Danes face and the way he stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Now, either back off and give me some space or find me some pain medication for after.” She continued.

  ~~~

  Dane felt like a total bastard, but at the same time found her temper very cute and very sexy. Jeff had controlled, manipulated and abused Lauren and not an hour after she had bared herself to him, here he was telling her what to do. Granted, his reasons were completely honourable, but that didn’t give him the right. He was going to have to curb his bossy nature a bit, but seeing her stand up for herself and getting all feisty turned him on. So maybe him being a bit bossy was a good thing if it got her all worked up. As long as she knew it came from a good place not a bad one. Damn, she was something else.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, pulling her to him, by her belt loops and slipping his arms around her. “I just can’t stand the thought of you putting yourself in danger.”

  “Oh my god! Are you turned on?” she said, rocking her hips against the erection he was now sporting.

  “Well, you’re kinda hot when you’re angry,” he said completely unrepentant for that part. “And earth-shattering, I like that.”

  “Really, that’s the bit that got your attention.”

  “Hell yeah, I am a guy.” He laughed, “But seriously, I have become quite attached to this body and don’t want to see it hurt.”

  ~~~

  Well, hell, now she felt bad for ripping into him. Here was he being caring. Albeit in an overbearing, badass way and she had gone all ‘taming of the shrew’ on him. Bossiness was just a trigger for her. Resting her head on his chest, she listened to his heartbeat, inhaled the heady scent of him, and used it to calm herself.

  “I really need to do this, I’ve never had siblings, and now I do. I want to be there for him and I don’t want you to treat me like a victim because of what I told you. I may over-react to things sometimes, so just be patient with me, okay? She said, rubbing his chest where she had poked him, This is the first rel
ationship I’ve had since, well, you know. ”

  “Lauren honey, that’s not what this, is, I would never treat you like a victim, and that isn’t what I was doing. I just care about you and can’t stand the thought of anything happening to you. I’m sorry too, for coming across the wrong way, but I will never be sorry for trying to protect you. I’ll try to handle things better in the future, and I will be as patient as you need me to be. Come on, let’s do this,” he said, stepping away from her, so she could wash up.

  Quickly washing her hands with soap and then using alcohol hand gel, she walked back over to her brother. He looked a bit pale and pinched around the eyes, and she could tell he was in pain. Crossing, she knelt in front of him, absently noting that Lucy had not left his side. Lauren gently placed her hands on the wound. She closed her eyes and concentrated all the energy in her body on the wound.

  ~~~

  Drew felt his leg begin to get hot, the heat spreading outward from the wound and beginning to travel all around his body. His thigh started to feel tight and even hotter on the wound-almost too hot. He could see sweat break out on her brow as she concentrated, then all of a sudden the pain was gone and a lingering warmth just seeped into him.

  ~~~

  Lauren released his leg and sagged back. All the energy left her body and she collapsed into Dane’s arms.

  “Shit, Lauren you are amazing!” Lucy shrieked, causing everyone to look at Drew’s leg. It was completely fine, no wound, no scar, nothing just old dried blood from where the wound had been.

  “Good.” she said weakly.

  “Are you okay?” Drew asked her.

  “Yeah, just a little weak, just need to lie down for a while.” Going to help her up Dane caught her as she stumbled and winced.

  “What’s the matter are you hurt?” he asked sharply, scanning her body as if he could see it. She shrugged.

  “When I heal someone I take on their pain, but it should only last for a few hours or so and then I’ll be fine.” Dane swore savagely and swept her up into his arms. He carried her through the hall into another room with a big double bed. Setting her down gently, he sat next to her.

  “Do you need anything?” he queried.

  “No, just need sleep.” He nodded and went to leave.

  “Can you stay for a bit?” She asked quietly holding out her hand. Lying down next to her, he pulled her into his arms and fitted his body to hers. Lauren’s last thought before she drifted to sleep was how proud she was of the way she had handled their little confrontation in the kitchen, and how not at any point had she been scared or intimated by him despite his size and obvious ability. He’d shown her respect and had actually talked to her. It made her smile and think maybe this could work for them.

  ~~~

  He lay like that with her in his arms for hours until a soft knock on the door.

  “Dane?”

  “Hey Luce, what’s up?”

  “Can I have a minute, please?” Gently, extracting himself from Lauren he went out into the hallway to meet Lucy, Nate and Drew.

  “What’s going on?” He said looking at them all.

  “These were delivered here for Lauren.” Lucy said, holding out a bouquet of lilies. “Read the note.”

  Dane tilted the flowers so that he could read the note without touching it. A sinking feeling settled in his stomach.

  “Sorry for the loss of your friend, but you didn’t deserve her anyway. None of you did. I will make you all pay for neglecting my Claire. We will meet very soon.”

  What the fuck! “Is this Marcus?” He aimed at Drew. He was feeling rage at the thought of someone threatening his woman.

  “No, no way, not his style, he would just straight out hurt someone; he thinks he is above games.”

  “Then, who the fuck knows she is here, she has no ties to the place? Did you do a sweep of the area after Drew was shot?” he said, sounding more frustrated by the minute.

  “Yes,” said Nate, sounding a little pissed that Dane would have thought differently. “I did and the only sign of someone being here was over by the corner warehouse where the farming machinery company was, but whoever it was, and we are assuming it was Michaels when he shot Drew, is long gone.”

  “So how did he find her last night and again today, because I’m telling you we were not followed?” he said adamantly.

  “Could she be bugged?” Lucy asked.

  Dane looked at her as if coming to the same conclusion.

  “Get her bag!” He demanded of Lucy, who was about to call him on his rude behaviour, but thought better of it, it was obvious he cared about Lauren and it was making him act out.

  Lucy came back in carrying Lauren’s handbag and the bug detector. She laid the bag down and carefully ran the wand across the bag, which emitted a loud beeping sound. Everyone looked at the bag accusingly.

  “Fucking hell, how did I miss this, the first thing I should have done was check for bugs, God damn it.” Dane stood with his hands on his hips, fists clenched in anger watching as Lucy cut the bug out of the bottom of the bag lining.

  “It’s not a particularly sophisticated device, but whoever planted it had obviously been watching the crime network cause they did an okay job of hiding it.” Lucy said, as she removed the bug. She then dropped the bug to the floor and crushed it under her heel. “This must be the same guy that sent Daniel the note and the picture,” she finished.

  “Right, conference room now, we need to work this shit out.”

  Dane was furious with himself, he never made mistakes like that and now when the stakes were so much higher, with Lauren involved, he started. Well, no more, he had to take a step back and start doing his job properly.

  He couldn’t deny the feelings that he had for her, but he would have to keep it locked down, until this was over. The thought of losing her to some psychopath made him feel light-headed. His father had never gotten over losing his mother and he couldn’t face that being him, but ending things didn’t feel like an option either.

  Heading to the conference room, Dane noticed how friendly Lucy seemed towards Drew. Hell no, that was not happening. He would have to have a word with her later about keeping her distance, although, watching them now, he could see that it wasn’t anything worrying. She was just trying to mother him as she did everyone else. However, for now, he needed all the help he could get and Drew could be invaluable with his inside knowledge.

  Grabbing cold bottles of water from the fridge, Nate threw one to each of them, and sat down next to Dane.

  “Firstly, I don’t want Lauren knowing about this, she has enough to worry about and this will only worry her more.” Dane could see Lucy wanted to say something, “Yes, Lucy, spit it out.”

  “You’re making a mistake not telling her. She won’t appreciate things being kept from her. I know you’re trying to protect her, but this is wrong.” He thought for a minute, back to the promise he’d made her to tell her everything. But he didn’t want her upset by this and if he could shield her from it, he would.

  “Maybe so, but it’s my operation and that’s what I want.” Lucy looked ready to spit nails.

  “Of course, boss,” she said, giving him the evil eye and letting him know that she really thought he was being an arsehole.

  Dane was in complete work mode now, issuing orders and making demands.

  “Drew!” he addressed him. “I need all the details I can on your dad and don’t leave anything out.” Drew seemed to pause, as if suddenly unsure of himself.

  “It’s okay, Drew,” Lucy said gently. “I know it’s hard to feel like you’re betraying your only living parent, but you have Lauren now and we need you to help us protect her.” Drew straightened as if Lucy’s words had hit home. Dane stood with his arms crossed waiting for Drew’s answer, and then started to pace.

  “Sorry. You’re right, and as of now, Lauren is my family-no one else. Okay, we live in a place called Bridport in Dorset. He has about four men who are very loyal to him, but Michaels i
s his right-hand man and head of security.

  “The house is a massive old farmhouse that has been completely modernised. The security is very tight. With armed patrols, alarms, and guard dogs that stay in the house with him. He is one paranoid bastard.

  “Okay, what does he do that warrants all this security?” Nate asked.

  “Mainly imports and exports of high end, luxury items like cars, paintings, jewels, etc. I’m not sure how much of it is legal, to be honest. He has many business meetings with clients at the house, though. He wasn’t the kind of father you had a conversation with and he didn’t trust me, so I don’t know the details.”

  Drew couldn’t hide the bitterness that that sentence evoked. Dane could see the hatred Drew felt for his father. It must be awful to want love and acceptance from your parent and never receive it. Sad, really. It must be a bitter pill to swallow, never to be good enough and have to compete with a ghost.

  Drew continued, “He believes that people with abilities are superior beings sent from God to rid the world of evil.” Everyone gasped.

  “Is he for real?” Nate asked. Drew nodded solemnly.

  “He’s always believed that, but for the last 2 years he has been having secret meetings with a group called The Divine Watchers. I don’t know a lot about them except they have the same beliefs and they make him look almost sane.”

  “I heard a bit about this when I was working for the Government communications headquarters,” Lucy commented, looking at Drew. “They were rumoured to be a radical bunch who believed that the earth needed to go back to the start of creation to fix all the wrongs of man. There were even rumours that they wanted to create an Armageddon to do this. It was also rumoured that they had some very powerful allies, although that was never confirmed. If they are still active then we need to find out how high this goes. I have a contact at GCHQ that I will call discreetly.”