The first floor was large and open, but the darkness kept her from seeing clearly. She pulled out her phone and turned on the flashlight. A scream was torn from her. The first thing she saw was a woman in the middle of the room hanging from a hook. Her red hair covered her face, but there was no way she was alive.
Her feet took her backward moving toward the door she used to come in.
“If you leave your friend dies.” A disembodied voice echoed through the building.
Sage stopped wanting nothing more than to run.
We have to leave, fear whispered knowing they were going to die.
There were times when fear had saved her life. So, it seemed expedient to listen to her. Her shoulders went back because running wasn’t an option anymore. She would face whatever was happening head on and find a way to stop it.
Lifting the phone, she swept the room looking for more dead bodies or shadows that would try to attack her.
“I knew there was fire inside of you.” The voice spoke again chuckling at its own joke.
Making a wide berth around the dead woman she walked the floor looking for anything suspicious. She found a circle like the one in Jim’s apartment on the floor where the body was hanging and one on the wall. Could Jim have done this? He wasn’t the same man she used to know, but this didn’t feel like his work. He wanted her dead, not others. There was no way he would have chased her for so long if another could take her place.
There was a staircase in the corner one she knew she had to climb. The sound of her heart beating so loud made her stumble. She caught herself and started to climb the stairs. There was something sticky under her feet.
Don’t look down she whispered to herself. She knew better but couldn’t help it. It was a river of blood. She grabbed the banister hanging over it as she threw up.
“Such a weak stomach, that’s alright it can take a while to get used to the pleasant aroma of blood.”
She searched the room again looking for a hidden figure watching her, but she didn’t anyone. Maybe there were camera’s, she looked and couldn’t spot those either.
“Keep walking we don’t have all night.”
Fear walked down her spine, but she did what the voice told her to do. This is for Rose; she told herself, but she was wondering if Rose was even alive at this point. When she came to the next floor, it wasn’t open. It was filled with offices and cubicles. Ignoring the first two doors, she went to the third. I was partially cracked like I was calling to her.
Her finger touched the door, she listened to it creak as it opened. Her hand blindly went to the wall looking for a light switch, clicking it nothing happened.
“Why me,” she whispered aloud. Did she attract lunatics?
Raising her phone, she swept the office. On the desk that was centered in the middle of the room was a woman who was naked. All she could see was her white skin that was graying and the red hair on her head and her exposed pussy.
“She was a natural red head.”
The voice sounded like it was coming from right behind her. She turned and screamed. There was a shadow reflected on the wall, but it wasn’t moving. It looked like it had been painted there.
“You still haven’t found Rose she doesn’t have much time left.”
She ran down the hall until she found a door leading to a stairwell. She walked up ignoring all the exits. She didn’t want to see what was on display on the other floors. When she got to the sixth floor, she stopped, it was the top floor of the building. She opened the door and walked in.
There was a narrow hallway that opened up into a larger room. She walked in further, enough so that the hallway was behind her, and she could see all the way into the room. Rose was sitting on a chair tied up. She was dripping blood, she had been hit and cut.
“And you thought she was dead. I don’t lie, most of the time. There would be no fun in that.”
Rose was a red head just like her. “Why are you doing this?”
“You’re important Sage. Your life is important.”
“My life was meant for more than to be a sacrifice for Jim, you, or anyone else.”
“You still don’t understand. Only you can open the doorway. Better get her before she dies.” She ran across the room, there was a net hanging over Rose’s head with arrows pointing at her body, it was unraveling. She tackled her moving the chair as they both fell to the floor.
In that moment, she realized there was no shame in asking for help. She reached for her mate hoping he could hear her.
Chapter Eighteen
She was trembling. No matter how many times she ordered her body to stand still, it ignored her in favor of shaking harder. The only reason she was standing was because Caden had her wrapped tightly in his arms as Detective Baker eyed her as a potential murderer.
“Ms. Stewart, can we go over this one more time?”
This would be the fifth time. “Sure, one more time. My cell rang catching me by surprise.”
“Who has your number?”
“Caden and Safire.”
“Why would only two people have your number?”
“I change it constantly because no matter how hard I try to keep it a secret; Jim always seems to track it down.”
“You don’t wish your ex to be able to contact you?”
“Correct.”
“Alright please continue.”
“I didn’t know the number or the voice on the other end of the phone. However, I do know Rose, and he threatened to kill her if I didn’t come alone.”
“So, you stole a car?”
“No, I borrowed Xander’s Jeep.”
“Xander is your brother?” Detective Baker asked Caden.
“He is.”
“Does he wish to press charges?”
“I don’t want to press charges. Sage is my sister and can use the Jeep whenever she needs to. I’m standing right here you can address any questions to me.”
“Mr.?”
“Xander will do.”
“I want to make sure you know your rights. She took your vehicle without permission.”
“Sage, you now have permission to take the Jeep whenever you need it.” He stared at the detective refusing to play the game where he lost his detachment.
“Thank you, brother.” Now her body was shaking from the effort to hide her laughter. If she didn’t know Caden so well Xander’s calm façade would have fooled her. He was raging on the inside. Caden, Xander, and several others showed up before the police. They did a thorough investigation of the crime scene, making notes, taking pictures. Then they set up a laptop and patched Jasper and Chase through so they could look at the crime scene as well as digitally map it.
Cait looked at Rose. She had a broken leg and some cuts that would heal. There was a deeper cut on her abdomen as if the shadow was thinking of gutting her, Cait started the healing process on that cut before the cops arrived to call an ambulance. Then she and Tristan left on Declyn’s order.
“We found eleven females dead. They all shared your traits of red hair, and most of them had green eyes. A few were wearing contacts which I must assume was good enough for the assailant.”
Caden’s hand tightened on her waist helping her to keep what she was thinking to herself.
“Is there anything else you need from me detective?”
“Do you have any more information to share with me?”
“No.”
“If they call again contact me immediately.”
“They won’t, this phone will be destroyed before I make it back home unless you would like it. I will never be answering it again.”
Detective Baker stared at the phone for a while before he shook his head and walked away.
“We are leaving detective. I know you can get in touch with us if you have a need to.”
Caden kept his hand on her waist as he led her down the steps and out the building. Ven was leaning against the Jeep. He held out his hand with a new cell phone.
“You
’re going to need this. I’ll destroy your old one.”
In a daze, Sage pulled hers out and handed it to him before she accepted the new one.
“I’ll text Caden your new number.” He walked away with his back straight and his long legs eating the up the land around him.
“I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone quite like him.”
“He’s different. I often wonder if it’s because he’s a hybrid of born and created.” Caden opened the door to the driver side of the Jeep and helped her up. He went around getting into the passenger seat and waited for her to start the engine.
“Born and created?”
“Ven’s the only one of us that had a mother. She gave birth to him. They thought she was infertile they were wrong. So, he’s a combination of a natural-born Kur’ik without our enhancements and a created Kur’ik. The more he opens up, the more we see how different he really is.”
“Is that a problem?”
“Not for his parents, not for Xander or me or even the Alphas. It might be for others, but then they’re asking to be put to death.”
She nodded before starting the Jeep. The thing to do was go back to the compound, but she drove in a different direction until an all-night diner came into view. When was the last time she ate? She couldn’t remember and wasn’t going to have Caden cooking this late.
Cutting the engine, she got out hoping Caden would follow. The diner was almost empty. They chose a booth away from the few patrons and sat waiting for the waitress to come to them.
“Coffee or tea?” Caden’s voice brought her out of her self-induced funk.
“Coffee. I should say tea, but I need the caffeine to kick my brain into gear.”
The waitress came handing them the menu. Caden ordered coffee for both of them and told the waitress needed time to make up their minds before they ordered. She gave them a pleasant smile and turned away.
“She’s pretty bright to be working this late at night.” Sage opened her menu.
“You have every right to be scared Sage.”
She nodded and waited for the waitress to come back with her coffee before she placed her order. The only thing that looked good this late at night was breakfast. Caden ordered the same with a steak.
She laughed to herself. He was definitely a carnivore.
“I wish I was scared,” she lifted her eyes to meet his. “We have something they call the fight-or-flight response. It occurs when we are in danger or perceived danger. What happened tonight triggered my inner biotch. All I wanted to do was tear apart the person who killed those females. This person was torturing me making me see their dead bodies. I wanted to kill the person responsible for Rose's pain. I wanted to kill.” Her voice dropped to a whisper on her last statement, and she dropped her head so the anger in her eyes wouldn’t be apparent.
“I’m glad.”
“You are?” Her head came up, and doubt shone in her eyes. “I thought you might like me because I was like a shrinking violet always scared.”
“I never thought you were scared, not for a moment.”
The waitress came back and brought their meal before leaving them alone.
“You remind me of one of our females. I’ll have to introduce the two of you. Everyone thinks that because she resists confrontation and fighting that it makes her weak. They don’t see the fire inside of her. Personally, I think she’s scared that if she ever let loose, she would lose herself in the damage she would cause.
“I understand her fear. Xander and I share that fear. That’s what I see in you. You keep what you feel inside while you try to ride out what’s happening because if you ever let yourself go, there may be no coming back from the edge.”
He saw too much at times for her comfort. Most saw what she showed them a scared female running for her life. Tonight, she couldn’t hide the fury inside. It rose and conquered fear comforting it with her promise to destroy everyone who had ever hurt them.
“Sage, Kur’iks are nice. Not in the way humans classify the word. We fight for our lives and the lives of the ones we care for. We don’t stop or show mercy, and I’m one of the worst. If you wanted your alien tame, you needed to pick someone else.”
“Do I look tame to you?”
She looked like a goddess that should be rising from a nebula. Her red hair was wild around her shoulders while her green eyes blazed like she was a Kur’ik. Her nails had sharpened. He would bet she hadn’t noticed that. Her teeth were sharper she looked like a warrior going to war. He wanted to be deep inside her while the fire that blazed around her burnt him.
“You look like a warrior goddess.”
He’s a keeper, pride said lifting her chin a notch.
He’s ours. The alien always boiled things down to simplicity when she could.
She ignored the voices not because they were wrong. She didn’t want to feed into them right now. Caden had all her attention, and that was how it should be.
“What do we do next?” She took another bite of food amazed at the fact that the plate was now empty.
“We go home, get some sleep and regroup in the morning.” He signaled the waitress paying the bill when she came over.
She handed him the keys the fight draining out of her leaving her tired. The ride home was silent as they both shifted through what happened today.
Caden put the Jeep up while she sat on the porch waiting for him. When they entered the house, Xander was sitting on the couch waiting for them.
“Hi, brother.” She wasn’t used to having a family, so she was going to embrace every minute of it. There was a strange rapping in her head giving her a headache as a fuzzy picture tried to come into focus before she shoved it back down into the depths of the darkness hiding within her.
“Sister, you’re back. Have a seat.”
“What? No greeting for me?”
“Caden you can have a seat too.”
She put her hand over her mouth coughing as she choked on her laughter.
“Will you send your brother my new number, in case he needs to get in touch with me?”
She stopped staring at Caden. Had she really just reached out to him with her mind? Of course, she did because life was new and wonderful and scary as hell.
“Yes, Sageray you just talked to me directly.”
“Baby, I’m so excited.”
“We will have to talk about you calling me baby. Jade is a baby. Mia was a baby when she first came. I am not a baby.”
She brushed her mind against his calming him down. He was her baby, but she’d explain that later.
“What happened after we left?” Sage asked as she slid closer to Caden reaching for his hand.
“I stayed with Ven; the others cleared out not wanting to intimidate the officers.”
“I can’t imagine Detective Baker being intimidated.”
“He wasn’t, but the others were. So Ven and I stayed since we are the least intimidating.”
Caden laughed at his brother’s grin. If the officers knew what they could do, they would have run in fear, but not his Sage. She sat snuggled against his side holding his hand.
“On the back wall where you indicated the shadow was standing; Ven found a black substance on the floor. It was hard to detect because it was mixed with oil that had been spilled then dissipated over the years leaving nothing but a black mark. That young male has some serious talent.
“He collected a sample without the police noticing, I brought it back. Jasper took it. He was going to have Eli look at it.”
“Eli?” She looked at Caden for an answer.
“The closest word to describe him would be scientist. He kept abreast of the things that happened in space that were unknown. That included cataloging and studying alien culture. We came across several ruins when called to fight on planets outside our normal space. He may have a clue to what it is.”
He stood and took her hand. “Xander, Sage is tired.”
“I’ll see you in the morning.” She gave him a weak sm
ile.
Caden led her back to their bedroom. It was true she was tired, but she needed him more than she needed sleep.
Chapter Nineteen
Sage walked into their bedroom with her heart pounding and her mouth as dry as the desert. There was no reason to be nervous after everything that happened between them earlier, but she was. It felt like all her jagged edges were exposed. Now she was waiting for him to realize that she wasn’t worth the effort.
“I should shower.”
“I’ll wait for you here.” He sat on the bed giving her a smile that eased her a little.
There was a royal blue nightgown on the chair where the other clothes were. She didn’t ask questions, not in the mood. Picking it up, she went into the bathroom closing the door behind her.
She stripped and stepped into the shower, turning on the water as hot as she could take it. Bowing her head, she mourned for every woman killed. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Someone killed them because they resembled her. She could say it wasn’t her fault for eternity, but she would bear the burden of their deaths on her soul. Which meant that she wanted revenge for the dead, for her friend, and for herself.
Whoever did this needed to suffer like everyone else. They deserved death, unlike the ones who died in her place. Her hand clenched into a fist nails biting into her flesh. It would happen. It had to happen because Jim and his minions wouldn’t stop chasing her. She needed to be ready when they caught her because tonight they proved they could get to her.
She grabbed a gel to wash up allowing herself to become lost in the scent. When she was done, she turned off the water reaching for a towel to dry off with. There was a beautiful vanity in the corner she still hadn’t used. Taking a seat, she brushed her hair until her curls were tangle free.
The mirror caught her attention as she stared into it. She didn’t see her flushed cheeks or her hair all she could focus on was her green eyes. They shined with a life of their own. Once again, she felt a fluttering in her body. It wasn’t the evil that tried to possess her. The niggling feeling like something was trying to break into the horizon of her mind came back. It didn't matter how hard she tried to access it, it stayed far enough away that it was covered in fog. Finally, she gave up. Never rush a memory is what her mom used to say. When it’s ready, it will come to you.
Caden (The Wolves Den Book 4) Page 12
