by J. C. Diem
“What’s happening there?” Kala asked as she bounded to the top of the stairs.
“My superior wasn’t very specific,” Mark replied. “He’s received a report of strange occurrences and he wants us to investigate them.”
“That’s pretty vague,” Reece complained. As an alpha, his instinct was to lead. I wasn’t sure how he managed to cope with Mark as his boss. Mark compensated by allowing Reece to take charge in other ways, such as always being behind the wheel and sometimes leading our missions.
“I’d noticed,” Mark agreed in a wry tone. “I’m sure we’ll discover exactly what is going on when we arrive in Bradbury.”
Unsure how long this mission would take, I packed my suitcase with enough clothes for a couple of weeks then headed to the garage. Mark had already called the pilot to arrange for him to take us to West Virginia. During the drive to the airfield, he called someone else to make sure we’d have transportation upon our arrival. His network of contacts must be spread out all over the country. The organization obviously had deep pockets. They were deep enough to ensure that we always had a jet on standby to ferry us to wherever we needed to go.
I’d lived in Virginia for a few months a couple of years ago. I knew roughly what to expect when it came to the towns, countryside and weather. My father was a soldier and we’d moved frequently, sometimes several times a year. A crack sniper, he’d taught me everything he knew about weapons. It was thanks to his tutelage that I’d ended up in the TAK squad in the first place. Mark had needed a sharp shooter and my dad had been on an assignment overseas. He’d sought my father’s permission to borrow me for a short time. Due to a quirk of fate, I was now a permanent member of the team.
My dream had always been to follow in my father’s footsteps and to join the army. That lifelong plan had been shattered on the night of my eighteenth birthday when I’d been bitten by Reece. If any of the men and women I’d once hoped to serve with ever found out what I’d become, they’d shoot me. Then they’d probably burn my corpse for good measure.
₪₪₪
Chapter Five
Mark had planned well this time and food was waiting for us on the jet. He didn’t want to listen to us whining about being hungry during the lengthy flight to West Virginia.
Bored and restless after listening to her music after an hour or so, Kala left her seat and plonked down next to me. I lowered my ereader to my lap when she gestured at my face. “How’s your chin?”
I touched my chin and found it to be intact. “It’s still there,” I replied and she grinned. The pain hadn’t lasted long and I’d almost forgotten that I’d come close to being knocked out.
“You’re lucky Bailey didn’t break anything. He must have pulled his kick.”
“I’m glad he did,” I said with a shudder, privately amused at her habit of calling her fellow agents by their surnames. It was something I’d managed to break myself from, although I backslid sometimes.
“Who wants a snack?” Flynn asked, oblivious that we were talking about him. The plastic bag he was searching was rustling too loudly for him to be able to hear us.
Kala and I put our hands up and he tossed us both a chocolate bar. I might not be able to fight very well, but at least I could catch. Kala tore into the wrapper with her teeth and stuffed half of the bar into her mouth.
“So, how are things between you and the eye candy?” she asked with her mouth full. Her eyebrows went up and down suggestively. “I haven’t heard you sneaking into each other’s rooms at night.”
Wrinkling my nose at the brown stain on her normally white teeth, I sat up high enough in my seat to see Mark and Reece conversing at the front of the jet. Flynn was still rummaging around in the bag, searching for food. Kala had spoken quietly enough that none of the guys had heard her. She was making an effort to keep our conversation private.
“Everything is fine,” I lied. In reality, we were doing our best to pretend that we weren’t mated. We might share a bond, but that didn’t mean we had to spend every minute together.
Snorting in derision, she chewed and swallowed before speaking. “I don’t get why you two don’t just admit that you’re attracted to each other. It’s so obvious to the rest of us.”
“If he’s so attracted to me then why did he tell me that I wasn’t his type and that there could never be anything between us?” His rejection still stung even now.
Her brows rose in surprise. “When did he say that?
“After we returned to our base when you three tore Greed apart.” That was a sight I wasn’t about to forget in a hurry.
Her mouth quirked up in a brief smile of remembrance. Mark had been called away for a couple of days and had left Reece in charge. We’d tracked down one of the Seven Deadly Sinners and she’d come close to flash frying me with her psychic power. The others had taken exception to that and had ripped her arms and head off. “We got a bit carried away that time,” she said then returned to our topic. “Obviously, Garrett lied. He’s had the hots for you from the moment you pulled your gun on him.”
That was another episode I wasn’t going to forget. He’d tried to intimidate me and I’d pulled my gun to show him that I wasn’t as defenseless as I looked. “How could you possibly know that?”
“Because I grew up with him. I’ve never seen him act so weird around a girl before.”
“Kala’s right,” Flynn said as he took the seat across the aisle from us.
Alarmed that he’d overheard us, I checked to see if Mark and Reece were still occupied. They were and I sank back down into my seat in relief. “What are you talking about?”
“He’s never acted this way before,” Flynn leaned over and whispered. “He was ready to rip my head off when I knocked you on your butt.”
“It’s the bond,” I said and waved away his erroneous idea that Reece cared about me. “It makes him territorial.”
“There’s more to it than that,” Kala argued. She hesitated then said what had obviously been weighing on her mind. “I think he bonded you on purpose.”
Flynn’s brows rose in surprise. “I had the same thought.”
I’d heard his theory before, but this was the first time Kala had voiced it. “He’s regretting it now,” I said with a hint of bitterness. “I’m the last person he wants to be chained to.”
Kala shook her head in instant denial. “You’re wrong, Lexi. I’m pretty sure you’re the only person he’d have chosen.”
Flynn nodded in agreement and I scowled at them both. “I can sense what he’s feeling, remember?” I said quietly. “Even if he was attracted to me and lied about it, it doesn’t change the fact that neither of us wants to be mated for the rest of our lives.”
“Don’t you?” Flynn asked far more shrewdly than was normal for someone of his age. He was only twenty, barely two years older than me.
“You two are bonded, it’s permanent and there’s nothing you can do about it,” Kala said. “If I were you, I’d make the most of it.” Her lecherous wink told me how she’d go about doing that and my face turned red.
Flynn was more perceptive than our blond companion and his expression was sympathetic. “Look at it from their point of view,” he told her softly. “They’re stuck together for life and they’ll never have the chance to find their true mates now.”
Kala turned an assessing gaze on me. Whatever she saw on my face killed her amusement. “I’ve seen the way Reece looks at you. He feels more than just physical attraction.”
I knew exactly what he felt, but I wasn’t about to enlighten the pair. Reece hadn’t protected me from Flynn because he cared about me. He’d done it because he felt a sense of ownership over me. He’d claimed me body and soul and I was his until death.
“Are you going to eat that?” Kala asked, pointing at the half eaten chocolate bar in my hand. My appetite had fled and I shook my head and handed it to her.
I returned to reading as Kala and Flynn tried to guess what kind of monsters we’d be facing this
time. The words blurred before my eyes and I couldn’t concentrate. No matter how hard I tried to suppress the bond, I could always feel Reece in my head, just as he could feel me. Our ties were mystical and they were far more binding than any mere marriage could ever be.
A few hours later, the pilot advised that we were about to land. We dutifully buckled ourselves in. Once again, we’d utilized a private airfield. The usual black SUV was waiting for us when we disembarked from the jet. Reece slid behind the wheel as the rest of us stowed our baggage in the back.
“Where to?” he asked when Mark claimed the passenger seat up front.
“We won’t be able to stay at our base this time. It’s too far away from Bradbury and we’ll need to be closer to the action,” Mark advised. “It isn’t ideal, but I’ve booked us into a Bed and Breakfast nearby. It will have to serve as our base of operations.” He used the inbuilt GPS to key in the address and we motored away from the airfield. The jet was already speeding down the runway. It would return to wherever it rested when we didn’t need it.
We drove for several hours and it was late by the time we arrived at the bed and breakfast. The house was a large three story structure. A gigantic picture window overlooked the expansive, well-tended front lawn. The house might have been Victorian in design. I knew little about architecture and I wasn’t interested enough to learn more. From the outside it was charming, with fresh white paint and light blue trimming. A discreet sign near the steps named the building as ‘Dawson’s Retreat’.
Mark knocked on the door and waited for a few seconds. Flynn shook his head to indicate that no one was approaching. Mark tried the handle. The door was unlocked and we filed inside. Well preserved antique furniture graced the long hallway. A rug ran the length of the corridor. In shades of red, gold and royal blue, it was worn and faded. Black and white photos of long dead people hung at regular intervals on the walls. Faded wallpaper with a rose print added a touch of pink to the decor.
We passed a huge dining room on the left. A dozen small square tables with four chairs each were spaced neatly around the room. A door to the right led to a cozy parlor. I glanced inside to see an antique coffee table, overstuffed armchairs and a couple of chaise lounges. The chairs were a few shades darker than the beige carpet. I could imagine sitting beside the fire in winter, snug and secure against the cold and reading a good book.
If we hadn’t been here on a mission, it might have been a nice place to spend the weekend with a loved one. My traitorous gaze slid over to Reece before I could stop it.
₪₪₪
Chapter Six
A reception area waited at the far end of the hall. A staircase to the left of the desk led up to the second floor. An elderly man sat behind the desk, dressed in a worn gray cardigan and black trousers. Stooped, wrinkled and white haired, he looked old enough to have been around when the house had first been built. He snorted awake when Mark cleared his throat loudly.
Aged, faded blue eyes stared at us warily. They cleared when he realized we were customers. “You must be Mr. Steel and party,” he said and laboriously climbed to his feet. We were going incognito, hence why Mark hadn’t used his usual title.
“I apologize for arriving so late,” Mark replied courteously.
The old man waved the apology away. “These things can’t be helped. My name is Edward.” He gave us a courtly bow. “Your rooms are ready. I just need you to sign in.”
As Mark was signing the register, movement above caught my eye. I looked up to see a small boy staring down at me. It was way past his bedtime, but he didn’t look tired. Strangely, he wasn’t wearing pajamas. Instead, he wore a dark brown suit, a white button up shirt and suspenders. He also wore cheap black shoes that didn’t look at all comfortable. The whole outfit looked extremely old fashioned and made him seem like a really short adult.
Kids could be weird about what they wore. They’d insist on dressing in their favorite outfits every day for a month straight and throw a tantrum if their parents protested. I had no idea where he would have found an outfit like this, though. It wasn’t the kind of clothing that someone would have stored in their attic. Maybe it had come from a fancy dress store.
His tiny hands clutched the railings. His skin was startlingly pale and his expression was far too solemn. I waved and after a moment he lifted a hand in return. It must have been a trick of the light, but for a second there it almost seemed like I could see right through him.
“Who are you waving at?” Kala asked me curiously.
I turned to see her staring upwards. “I was waving at the kid…” My voice trailed off when I realized that the little boy was gone. “That’s weird. He was there a second ago.”
“You probably saw one of our ghosts,” Edward said. His tone was casual, as if seeing ghosts was a natural everyday occurrence.
“This house is haunted?” Mark asked and paused in the act of handing the pen to Reece.
“Oh, yes,” the old man replied. “There are five ghosts that we’re aware of.” His smile was sunny, but it did nothing to warm me. I’d never seen a ghost before. The only reason I could be seeing them now was because I was a shifter. A glance at my friends told me that none of them had seen the child. Maybe being a werewolf wasn’t the cause then.
With great reluctance, I acknowledged the possibility that my torn spirit was to blame. I didn’t just have werewolf DNA in my system. I’d also been infected to some extent with vampirism. So far, I hadn’t seen any visible evidence that I was turning into a bloodsucker. My skin had always been pale, but I wasn’t as white as the kid. My teeth only turned into fangs when I became a werewolf. Most telling of all, I didn’t have a craving for blood. Not yet anyway.
“My daughter, Margaret, will be serving breakfast between seven and eight in the morning,” Edward said as I signed my name in the book. “Dial one on the phone if you need anything and she will answer your call.” I put the pen down and he gestured to the stairs as he shuffled out from behind the desk in a pair of ratty gray slippers. “I’ll show you to your rooms.”
Edward didn’t offer to help us with our luggage. I didn’t blame him for the lapse in courtesy. He had to be at least in his eighties. I’d have felt pretty low asking him to lug my bags up the stairs.
Another ghost appeared when we reached the second floor. Thin and insubstantial, I could almost see through her. She’d been in her early twenties when she’d died and had been delicately lovely. She wore a corset beneath her dove gray dress that made her waist seem impossibly tiny.
Floating several inches off the floor, she was staring bleakly at an old sepia toned photo that had been taken when the nearby town had been new. Half a dozen stern faced men and women looked back at the camera. A backdrop of what looked like a general store was behind them. The three women wore black dresses with scratchy looking lace on the collars. Their hair was pulled back into a severe bun. The men wore black suits and white shirts. None were smiling.
All six looked very similar. It was obvious that they were related, but it was hard to tell which one was the oldest and which was the youngest. They looked roughly the same age. It seemed highly unlikely that they could be sextuplets. They were rare in this day and age let alone back then. Medical care had most likely come in the form of an untrained midwife. I was sure that the survival rate of babies had to have been much lower back then.
The ghost shifted her attention to us and she watched wistfully as we filed past her. Her gaze sharpened when she realized that I could see her. Holding out a hand beseechingly, her mouth moved, but she made no sound. I shook my head to indicate that I couldn’t hear her. She clutched her hands together in despair then disappeared.
Flynn had watched our silent exchange with interest. Unaware that she was gone, he drew in a breath to try to pick up her scent. As a were-constrictor, he tended to taste the air rather than smell it. I couldn’t pick up any scents that didn’t belong to us or the other humans staying in the house. For all I knew, the ghosts wer
e just figments of my overactive imagination. Yet Edward had seemed pretty certain that they were real. I obviously wasn’t the only one who was able to see them.
We stopped at the first door in the long hallway and Edward handed a key to Mark. “This is your room, Mr. Steel. Unfortunately, I’ll have to split your party up. We currently have a full house and two of you will need to stay up on the third floor.”
“Alexis and I will take the rooms on the third floor,” Reece said firmly.
I opened my mouth to argue, but Mark surreptitiously shook his head. “Agreed,” he said, putting an end to my argument before I could voice it.
He didn’t know everything that had transpired between Reece and me in New Orleans, but he probably suspected that we’d consummated our bond again. I grimaced inwardly at the predicament that we were in. My mother had come close to breaking the bond between us and sex had been the only thing that could strengthen it. In the event that our link came under threat again, it made sense for us to stay close together.
Kala’s lips quivered with mirth, but a warning look from our boss quelled her laughter. She had the most playful personality in our team. She often had a hard time remaining serious.
Kala took the next vacant room down the hall and Flynn took the third. Then just Edward, Reece and I were left. We trudged slowly up the creaking stairs to the third and final floor. The hallway was much shorter and there were only four rooms up here. Reece was given the second last room down the end of the hallway and I was delegated to the last room.
“Have a pleasant night, what’s left of it,” Edward said with a smile and shuffled back towards the stairs.
