by Milly Taiden
Jane gave a little grunt. “When aren’t you?” This time, Tony let her up. “Erica, would you give me a hand in the kitchen, please?” Erica scooted from Trent’s lap and followed Jane down the hall.
From a kitchen cabinet, Jane pulled a multi-sectioned tray and sat it on the counter. She turned to Erica. “There is cut-up fruit and veggies in the refrigerator. We can make a tray to hold us until dinner.” The ladies washed and chopped broccoli, then opened a bag of edamame.
“How was your honeymoon? Did you guys have a good time?”
Erica smiled. “We did. The ocean was fabulous. Luckily the food was just okay, so I didn’t put on any extra weight. But who knows. Soon I may be putting on weight for another reason.”
Jane put down the ranch dressing bottle. “Are you pregnant now?”
Erica laughed. “I don’t think so. Not yet.”
“So you and Trent are having children? Are you going to quit the department?”
Erica shrugged. “I may cut back my hours, but I’m not quitting. Then in a couple years, I will come back full-time.”
Jane gasped at the new possibility. “You really can do that? How can you work with children to take care of?”
“It’s not that hard. Between Trent’s mother and sisters, I have full-time babysitters when I need to come into the office. Plus, a lot of my stuff I can do from home. I can Facetime anywhere on my phone.” She gave Jane a thoughtful smile. “You could, too. If you needed to.”
Jane ignored the comment. “What if you decided to have more children?”
“It’ll be more of the same. We don’t plan to have them back to back. I would like one out of diapers before the other one comes. Makes things easier, I think.”
“What if you had multiples?”
Erica scrunched her nose. “It would be a little harder but nothing we couldn’t work out. Children aren’t meant to be hindrances. They are supposed to make your life fuller.”
Jane pressed her lips together. “What if you decide to have ten children?”
Erica giggled. “Ha. Tell me who on this planet has ten children these days. I’m thinking three tops.”
That was true. People didn’t have that many children on Earth. Maybe it could work. And if she had three in one shot, she could stop there. Then again, she still had the option Nyl gave her: to have a baby for the chemical and have someone else raise it.
That would solve all her problems. But…that option felt wrong, so wrong. Why? It would be ideal. She wouldn’t have to worry and yet the thought of having a baby by the only man she had ever cared about and giving it away twisted her stomach in knots and made her nauseous.
With toothpicks, dessert plates, and a couple bags of chips, the two ladies made for the living room. The men had gathered closer to the coffee table, talking among themselves. As Tony pulled her to him, she asked, “What are the plans so far?”
Trent rubbed his hands together. “We’re either starting at the warehouse or the cement place.”
Jane smiled wide at the intelligence of the plan. “Brilliant. Let me write that down so I don’t forget.”
“You’re not going.” Tony squeezed around her waist from behind.
Jane sighed and rolled her eyes. “I’m just saying.” Tony nuzzled behind Jane’s ear, placing a tiny kiss on her neck. Holy freakin’ lord, that felt so good. The last time anyone did something so intimate was the night she spent with Tony. A hot shudder skipped down her back. Her heat came roaring back. Ruveen and Nyl glanced at her with a worried expression. She shook her head, wordlessly asking them not to worry about it.
Tony rubbed his hands up and down her arms. “You okay? I feel your body radiating. What can I do to help?”
Jane pulled away and headed toward the bedrooms, Tony behind her. “Look, Tony, I’m going to take a shower to get this mud off me and then lie down for a bit in my bedroom.” He opened the door to her bedroom and stepped in behind her.
“That sounds like a great idea—”
“Hold up there, tiger.” She bit back a grin and placed her hands on his chest. “This shower is sans animals. Aliens only.”
He gave her a shocked look. “But—”
“Eh, only one butt in the shower.” She couldn’t help but outright laugh at his wounded expression. Tony leaned in and brushed his lips over hers. Her breath caught in her throat. Never before had a kiss made her feel so much. She quickly slid her hand behind his neck and pulled him to her. She kissed him hard, conveying with the kiss how much she felt for him.
She drove her tongue into his mouth, letting it roam over his. Her body temperature shot out of orbit. Lust rumbled awake, heating her blood to boiling. He took her lips, curled his tongue over hers and rubbed her so sensuously, it made her eyes roll to the back of her head.
Emotions she’d tried to deny flooded her heart. Love, lust, need. They filled her to near bursting and reminded her she deserved to be with Tony. How much she’d denied herself and him already. It was time for her to finally take a chance on love, on them.
Crunching rocks from the driveway brought them back to reality. She wasn’t sure if that kiss helped or hindered her heat. Yup, hindered. She started to close the door on him. “Brock and Cyn are back. Talk with them and get a plan together. Come get me if I’m not up by dinner. I want to know what the plan is to get Sariana out.”
Tony licked his lips and her mind shot to the gutter. Not that the fucking hormones controlling her heat didn’t permanently live there already anyway. “Sariana? That’s her name?”
She cleared her throat and sighed. “That’s the name I gave her. Tony, she’s so traumatized she can’t even talk.” Remembering the pain and suffering the child had gone through brought tears to her eyes. “I did as much as I could to soften the memories, but that only goes so far.”
He wrapped his arms around her. “I love how caring you are. All you sacrifice for others. For years, I’ve watched you work through the night, only resting when your body demands it. You spend all your time working to bring back missing people, and if you can’t bring them home, you give all you have to find justice for the wronged. You’re such a good person. And I love you more than you realize. I almost don’t deserve you.” He winked. “Almost. But there’s no way in hell I won’t take your love and treasure you for the rest of my life. You’re mine, baby girl.”
Jane laughed, sniffling back tears.
Tony gave her a peck on the cheek before stepping into the hallway. On his way to the group, he scratched his hands through his hair. She was killing him. His tiger wanted to roar. Maybe after dinner he’d go for a run, see if Trent or Brock wanted to get out.
In the front room, Nyl stood, nervous and shaky looking. “Ruveen, if you’re going to discuss fighting and killing, I think I’ll hang out elsewhere. Read a book maybe.” He left as Brock and Cyn came in.
Ruveen made his way toward the newly arrived. “Hello, I’m Jane’s brother, Ruveen, and my friend who doesn’t like to participate in war games is Nyl Ward.” Each shook hands.
“Glad to meet you, Ruveen.”
A slight blush came to Cyn’s cheeks. “Did you by chance…travel in space to get here?”
“Yes, ma’am. We did.” Ruveen looked at what would normally be a wristwatch. The gadget had a bigger face than the usual timepiece. He pushed a button.
Cyn’s curiosity was obvious. “What do you have there?”
“This is a remote communicator to the ship. It links me to the control systems. I can get into the databanks from outside the ship, plus it warns me if the ship starts up without my authorization code.
“Everything seems fine with the ship. We have a place built at the base of the hill where we house the craft from prying eyes. We shouldn’t park in the driveway. It could draw attention from the neighbors.”
Cyn laughed at his words and Tony realized she’d been trying to figure out where the heck they’d parked their spaceship, but hadn’t wanted to ask. Tony stepped toward the living room. “Come in, we’re s
tarting to discuss a rescue plan for the girl. We feel sure she’s in the underground compound.”
Brock bunched his brows. “Cyn and I came to the same conclusion. There’s a lot more going on there than meets the eye. We need to figure it out and get the hostage ASAP.”
* * *
In the master bathroom, Jane stepped out of the shower and dried off. She felt so much better, and her heat had lowered to a tolerable state. She snorted. Tolerable as long as Tony McFurry Pants wasn’t around. Why was it he was the kitty, but the moment he touched her, she was the one purring?
She slipped on the clothes she set on the counter before the shower, then picked up a toothbrush and paste. A noised sounded in her dark room. She should’ve turned the light on before she took the shower.
“Tony, I’m so going to kick your ass into next week.” She set the paste on the counter, then stepped into the room and eased down the wall toward the switch. “Turn the light on so I can see to kick you.”
A cold, hard hand slapped over her mouth and she felt a pin prick her arm. With practiced instinct, she threw her elbow back into her captor’s ribs. The lights in the bathroom dimmed more and more. Her arms felt heavy. Her legs wouldn’t support her. She realized what the pin prick was as she succumbed to the drug, her vision tunneling to black.
THIRTEEN
After a couple hours of getting nowhere, tempers started to flare from frustration. Tony wanted to pull out his hair because Cyn nor Erica would let him check on Jane. Yes, she needed rest, but the rest should be with him. He had a bad feeling. Dammit. It wasn’t even sex related. He really felt Jane needed him by her side. Something was not right.
Even Brock had to admit they didn’t have enough intel to go in hot after the girl. They needed more recon, maybe try to get to someone on the inside.
Cyn leaned against Brock, rubbing her temples. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m not sure what it is but since we got here, I’ve not felt right.”
Brock held her with a gentleness Tony wouldn’t have believed possible had he not seen it. “Are you picking up a negative vibe?”
Cyn looked pale for a second then she appeared to be trying to shake the sensation off. “I’m not sure. It’s subtle.”
Brock looked closely at each person. Other than Ruveen, they all knew each other well. Tony had no idea what to think. Maybe Cyn was picking up on the same thing he was.
“Ruveen,” Erica said, “do you have a special ability like Jane does?”
He nodded and put his hands on his lap. “I do. All in our family do. But not everyone is that advanced.”
“What does that mean?” Erica asked with a puzzled look.
Ruveen leaned forward, setting his elbows on his knees. “I think I mentioned we’re technologically ahead of Earth in many ways. Our scientists have scanned and mapped our brains in great detail. We understand things I’m not even going to try to explain.”
Erica’s brows rose high. “How does that give you powers?”
“It doesn’t give us powers, per se.” He sat back, stretched out, crossing his ankles. “After a child is around ten revolutions, around six years on Earth, they go through a battery of tests to see if the child has the potential to develop a certain part of the brain. Based on where their strongest waves are located, that determines which ‘power’ they should work to advance its innate ability.
“Jane has one of the rarer abilities on our planet. While she’s amazing with handling technology to a degree some of our best can’t figure out, she has an even rarer gift. She’s able to ‘travel’ through a brain. She excels at turning on and off the neurons that hold memories.”
Erica’s eyes grew wide with surprise. Tony knew exactly how she felt. “What does that mean?”
Tony grunted. “It means she can erase your memories.”
Ruveen started to nod but stopped. “She can erase, but that’s against our ethics. She simply turns neurons off.”
Erica frowned. “What’s the difference?”
Ruveen appeared to be looking for the most comfortable position on his seat as he shifted to stretch his legs further. “Over time, we have discovered that erasing is effectively destroying the neurons. That produces a hole in a person’s lifeline.”
Cyn gasped, horror filling her eyes. “Lifeline?”
“That’s a person’s life, every moment from birth to present. Everything we experience is imprinted onto our brain cells. At birth, those cells aren’t developed enough for us to recall easily. Jane has the ability to bring those cells online for the person to remember. Needless to say, birthing is quite a traumatic event.”
The others, along with Tony, winced at the idea of having to remember their own birth.
“Our brains function in a chronological process, since that’s how life is lived. If there are dead spots, places where neurons are destroyed, the process gets a hiccup which can lead to mental issues later. If those cells are turned off but still in the timeline, then the process can flow as normal.”
“That makes sense,” Tony said. “She had me put memories into a box and store them away, setting up a trigger word for them to return. They were turned off, so she could bring them back.”
Everyone but Brock stared at Tony. “Jane did what?”
Brock cleared his throat. “Not a discussion for now. Let’s focus on the mission.”
Sighs went around the front room. “We have no clue about anything except Jane and Sariana were held on the third floor and all the rooms have a card reader to get in.”
Cyn jumped from Brock’s lap. “I forgot.” She disappeared down the hall to the kitchen area then returned quickly. “When I took off Jane’s wet, muddy clothes, she had a badge in the back pocket.” She handed Brock a white cardholder.
He glanced at the card with a deep scowl. “That’s more than what we started with.”
No one else had any ideas how to pull off this rescue. The sun had fallen behind the forest, letting the cold fingers of dusk creep into the room.
Cyn looked to Erica. “Let’s get dinner started. I’m hungry, so the guys must be close to gnawing their arms off.”
Tony rocketed from the sofa. “Finally. Jane said to wake her if she wasn’t out for dinner.” He tapped on her door in less than two seconds. “Jane, sweetheart. You up?” He stuck his head through the door opening. It was hot in the room, like the AC wasn’t working. Light came from bathroom. He flipped the light switch and saw a toothbrush on the floor in the middle of the room. A terror zipped through him. “Jane?”
He rushed into the vacant bathroom, noting the toothpaste lid off the tube. He ran out of the room, heading toward the kitchen. “Jane!” At the sink, Erica stared wide-eyed at Tony. “Is Jane in here?” She didn’t need to answer; he saw the answer himself. He checked the back porch, laundry room, then made for the bedrooms. He threw open every door, scaring the hell out of Nyl reading on one of the double beds.
He frowned. “Isn’t it polite to knock on this planet?”
“Have you seen Jane.” Nyl popped up from the bed.
“No, why? She’s not here?” Tony paced up the hall. The others gathered at the end of the aisle.
“Tony!” Nyl ’s voice came from the master bedroom. Tony sprinted to the door. “Did you open the window?”
“That’s why it’s so hot in here. No. I saw a toothbrush on the floor and never noticed the window.”
“Toothbrush?” Brock stepped behind Tony, focus aimed at the floor. “Oh, fuck,” he whispered. “This isn’t good.”
FOURTEEN
Anger, terror, and loss roared through Tony. His mate was taken. Again. And under their noses. It was cliché as hell, but he would hunt for her until it killed him.
Tony shoved Nyl away from the window and stuck his head out. His tiger noted the trampled ground directly below. With a deep inhale, he tasted Jane’s scent and an unknown one. No, wait. The second scent was familiar—he smelled it in the kitchen when he first got to the cabin. This wa
s the same person who took Jane the first time.
He slid from the opening then closed and locked the window frame. “She’s gone. Her smell and the guy’s who took her the first time lead away from here.” He slammed his palm through the drywall. “Fuck!”
Cyn went to him and took his hands into hers to calm him. “It’ll be okay, Tony. We’ll get her back. We know where she has to be.”
Frustration grew, along with rage and fear for her. “Yeah, a place we have no fucking idea how to get into without getting caught.” He gently broke away from Cyn, glancing at Brock with wary eyes. “Now what?”
“Calm down, everyone.” Ruveen lifted his hands. “Let’s go to the front room to figure out what we’re doing now. It’s too cramped here.”
Tony was too ramped to sit and when he paced, his tiger wanted out. Nothing he did would help find his mate. Ruveen leaned against a window overlooking the valley below. “Do any of you by chance have camo gear and bulletproof jackets?”
In unison came a yes.
Ruveen turned toward the group with a raised brow. “Do you carry this stuff around everywhere you go?”
The group looked at each other. Another unified yes was voiced.
“I’m starting to understand what my sister means when she says her work is her life. She was being literal.” The members of FPU looked at Ruveen as if saying “of course.”
“All right then, Earthlings, suit up.”
“Hold on a second.” Brock looked at Cyn beside him. “You’re not going.”
“What?” Her cheeks grew red splotches. She grabbed his shirt collar and raised to tiptoes. “You better rethink that, my love.” Her narrowed eyes were dark. Tony was prepared to run, if need be. He’d yet to see Cyn angry, but he could tell she was ready to kick Brock’s ass.
Cyn leaned toward Brock and planted a kiss on him that made everyone look away. Cyn backed down and smiled at him. A red flame-like tendril lit Brock’s eyes.
Tony rushed a few steps away from Brock to give himself a safety zone. Tony’s tiger was even more shocked at the obvious fire in Brock’s eyes. I knew there was more to him than just his wolf. We knew he was no ordinary shifter, but fuck me if I know what he is, or want to know. Get going, human. We’ve got a mate to save. Tony remained rooted to his spot to see how this played out.
