The Hailey Holloway Complete Series

by K. C. Stewart

  However, he had avoided all questions about why she was there and when she could leave. Hailey had told him that if she could go freely, she could promise that Dak wouldn't retaliate. She even offered to come over once a week for movie night. He would smile sadly at her and shake his head. Their talks would usually end shortly after that.

  She had a few theories. At 2am when she couldn't sleep, Hailey would guess at the reasons why she was there and not in her bed with her dragon boyfriend curled around her. The ideas ranged from logical, like to piss Dak off, to nonsensical, Silas was actually a robot from an alien planet named Bob. He had taken her to be his bride alongside the twelve other women he had taken over the past fifty years.

  None of her ideas quite fit the situation though.

  "Now I know something is wrong. You just missed the squishy bit."

  "Hmmm?" Hailey said distracted. "Wait. I missed squishy! Alex, rewind it."

  "Nope," he smiled deviously. "You snooze, you lose."

  "Silas?" She turned her head and put on her sad eyes. "Please?" He stared back at her, his lips twitching occasionally in the corners. She gave a small lip quiver and he was done for.

  "I'm sorry Alex, you're going to have to rewind. I can't say no to those eyes."

  Hailey's face brightened into a smile. "I win," she told Alex as he scooted off the bed to grab the remote that was carelessly set down on her dresser. Seriously, whose idea was it to put it that far away? She noticed the smile drain off Alex's face, along with all the color in his complexion.

  "What is it?" she asked.

  "Who's this?" He reached for the picture of Lia, Darby, and Hailey.

  "Which one?" Hailey came off the bed to stand beside him and pointed out each of the girls. "Freaking thing of beauty isn't she?" Hailey teased when she noticed his eyes lingering on Lia. "I guess Goddess's need to be beautiful. I think it's a rule actually. Lia is my best friend…Alex?"

  "Mea speciosa Thaliea deae," he whispered.

  "Yeah," Hailey wasn't sure what he said but thought she had caught Lia's name, "her full name is Thalia or something." She sounded like a clumsy American when pronouncing it. Not like Alex. When he said her name, it sounded like a meadow of flowers soaking up the sun in the late summer.

  Silas had joined them and placed a hand on Alex's shoulder. "I'm sorry my friend. I did not put the two together."

  "I'm confused," Hailey stated looking between them.

  "Your friend Lia is Alex's Mate," Silas told her. "I'm going to leave you two to talk. I'm sure he would like to hear all about her."

  She nodded, dimly aware that Silas had left. All this time she had been next door to Lia's Mate and she never put it together. Here was the man Lia had been adamantly searching for these past few years and Hailey just stumbled upon him.

  Without thinking she slapped him upside the head.

  "What the hell!" Alex yelled.

  "That is for just settling with the hand you were dealt instead of trying to get out of here and back to Lia." Hailey smacked him again.

  "Stop that."

  She didn't. Hailey snagged her pillow off the bed and began to beat Alex with it. Each hit punctuated with a word. "How. Could. You. Just. Leave. Her?" She was furious at him. Lia had been unsure if he was alive or dead for years and he had been here all this time. Now that she had gotten to know Silas, she was sure he would have agreed to have word sent to her. Anything to ease her mind.

  He grabbed the pillow and ripped it from her hands. "I said stop."

  "How could you?" Hailey breathed heavily, as that was the most exercise she had gotten in some time now.

  "Don't judge me for my faults when you have a list of your own. I'm not perfect and handled my situation badly. There is no need to throw that in my face." Alex threw the pillow against the wall. It smacked and slid down to the floor softly. Pillows might not be the most satisfying thing to throw, but they were the quietest.

  "I know what I lost when that lock activated in my cell. I'm reminded of it every day by our dwindling Mate bond." He picked up the photo that had been dropped when Hailey assaulted him with the pillow. "How is she?" he asked looking at her face in the photo.

  "Good. I mean, I didn't know her back when you guys were together but she seems ok." Hailey ran her mind through her encounters and talks with Lia. "Sometimes she's sad, not that she would tell me why but I can see it in her smile." It never quite reached her eyes.

  "Has she met anyone else?" He sank back onto the edge of the bed. Hailey fidgeted awkwardly. She really did suck at this stuff.

  "No. She's pretty adamant on finding you, dead or alive."

  He smirked. "Yeah, she has a stubborn streak in her a mile long."

  "She's close. Or I thought she was." If she was as close as Hailey had originally thought then they would have been found by now. "Lia knew it was Silas that took you. It's why she helped Dak and me."

  "Lia, eh?" He scrubbed a hand down his face. "Never went by that before."

  Hailey shrugged. "Maybe it was like a new haircut after a break up. She needed a change."

  "Sure, sure." He continued to stare at the picture.

  "What did you say earlier when you saw the picture. Was it Latin?" Hailey felt odd standing while he sat and took a seat next to him on the bed.

  "Something I used to say all the time. My beautiful Goddess Thaliea."

  "It's pretty."

  He smirked. "Can I," he began then looked at her, "can I keep this?"

  "Sure." She drug the word out. It might have weirded her out if he had eyes for anyone but Lia.

  "Thanks." Alex stood and was half way to the door when he turned and said, "Sorry about movie night."

  The door opened and Silas stood right outside the doorway. He had obviously been listening in from the tablet he held in his hand as it still held the video of the room. The two men spoke in hushed whispers, Alex nodded his head occasionally. They parted ways as Silas came inside. Her favorite guard, Mr. Creepy Smile, was waiting to escort Alex back to his room but made sure to get in his daily glare before the door closed completely.

  "Did you know?" she asked accusingly.

  "No. He told me a little of her but he kept that part of himself closed off. I never thought she was your friend."

  Her brows knitted together as she picked at her nail. Hailey felt the bed dip beside her as Silas sat. "You could let him go," she said quietly.

  "But I can't. I want to," he added, "I just can't."

  "Why not?" Hailey turned her eyes on him. She was tired of Silas always evading her questions. She wanted answers.

  "War," Silas stated simply. "If I let him go, there would be war between Green and Blue. His uncle is the king, you see. And we've been at peace for so long that I cannot risk the lives of both septs for Alex's love life."

  She knew that, it was logical after all, but she had a vagina so that meant she could overreact to many things, logical or not. Ever since Dak came into her life she had learned to show her emotions, what people thought be damned. At times Hailey wondered if he regretted helping her with that.

  "Then why not kidnap Lia instead of me. At least then both parties would be happy. Alex and Lia could live somewhere here in your lovely dungeon, and I could be at home with my own Mate."

  He frowned, his expression hardening into stone. She didn't like it, reminded her too much of the look he used to always wear.

  "Maybe not."

  "What's that mean?"

  "Look, I don't want to do this. I've been debating on whether to tell you or not, but I think you need to know." Silas opened up the tablet and handed it to her. At first she wasn't sure what she was looking at. A man and a woman sat in a café getting lunch. Nothing special in that, she thought. But as she flipped through the pictures it hit her that it was Dak sitting with a woman at a café getting lunch. The angle was from the back of the woman's head onto Dak's face. He looked happy, not extensively so but content. From what she could see of the woman, she was a knockout. Hail
ey had a bit of hair envy and leg envy at that. From the back she was everything perfect in a woman, someone who looked like they belonged to be sitting across from Dak. Not like Hailey who considered sweatpants God's greatest gift to mankind.

  "Who is she?" her dry voice croaked out.

  "Katherine."

  There was a pit in the dark hollow of her stomach that only made itself known in times of great sorrow or fear, it was sucking everything into itself like a black hole in her gut. Her finger swiped fast across the screen so each frame played almost like a movie. They got up from the table and she came into his arms, his eyes sparkled with something he had never showed Hailey.

  Then they kissed.

  The tablet slipped out of her fingers and landed on the carpet with a soft thud. Her elbows rested on her knees, her hands hung limply in the air. Dak had kissed another woman. Not only that, but a woman who had once been thought to be his Mate. Was he even looking for her?

  She began to shake.

  Her whole body trembled into a panic. Her blood pumped too quickly. Air couldn't come fast enough. Yet, the tears seemed stuck. She should be crying.

  Why wasn't she crying? she thought in a frenzy.

  Hailey was clearly broken. Some of her parts were cracked and others were missing completely. Dacea had seen it and moved on. Her parents knew it and ignored her. Why was she the only one who couldn't see it?

  Her chest drug in air as fast as her lungs could expel it. The glaze over her eyes prevented her from seeing Silas bend down in front of her. She also missed him moving the tablet aside and taking her hands in his own.

  The warmth of his touch is what brought her back. Tears instantly flowed from her eyes. For all she did for him, for all the times he preached about Mates and this is how he acted. Hailey goes missing and what does he do? He runs into the arms of his old flame only days later.

  "Hailey. Honey, please don't cry." Silas pulled her in to his arms. She accepted his comfort and clung to him while sobs wracked her body. His hands rubbed up and down her back. Whispers of comfort were spoken against her hair as she held onto him.

  Hailey hated to cry, especially in front of anyone. Silas was kinda great in the way he treated her though. She didn't feel any judgment or pity, only the need to soothe her pain. When she had calmed down to only the occasional sniffle, Silas released her enough to look down at her. He searched her face for what she could only guess be signs of another meltdown. When he found whatever he had been looking for, Silas kissed her forehead and apologized.

  "How did you get those?" Her head was resting on his shoulder. She just didn't have the energy to lift it.

  "I was following him."

  "Why?" Hailey sounded hollow, her voice a mere dusting of her usual self.

  "To keep track of him. I knew Katherine was in the area and was curious as to what he would do." He ran a hand down her hair. "Do you want to come to the main house? I'll set you up in a nice room with no glass walls. I'll get you whatever kind of ice cream this situation requires and you can be by yourself or I can keep you company for as long as you need."

  "No, thank you." Hailey said pulling out of what was left of their embrace. She had begun to think of this room a surrogate home, being displaced now would only unsettle her further.

  "You sure?"

  Hailey nodded. "I just want to…" She looked around the room. She wasn't sure what she wanted but Silas seemed to understand.

  "I'll be down to check on you in a while. If you need anything just ask." He stood at the door, hesitating for a moment as if he wanted to say something more. He didn't though. Silas unlocked the door and left her to wallow.

  She waited for the door to close before collapsing on her bed. Hailey's body shook. Hands, feet, even her stomach quaked. Every time she closed her eyes she saw the slideshow of Dak's betrayal.

  She was going to be sick.

  Right. Fucking. Now.

  Hailey rolled, then stumbled with blurry eyes to her bathroom and expelled everything she had eaten for the past two weeks and possibly a kidney.

  Chapter Ten

  The pain hit him so hard he cried out. Dacea caught himself with hand on the wall as the tissues of his heart felt like it was ripped to pieces. Sorrow and heartache reverberated through his bones. Another sharp pain and black spots clouded his vision.

  "Dacea? What happened?" Lia ran out of her room and caught his arm as he lost his footing. She ducked under his shoulder and helped him to the closest place to sit down. His free hand grasped his heart for fear it would fall out of his chest.

  "I think," he panted in pain, "it's Hailey…she's hurt."

  "Your bond?"

  "Yes."

  "Can you follow it to her?"

  "I don't think so. I usually can't feel her this…this strongly. It's her emotions, she's deeply upset, more than I've ever felt her to be before. What the hell is Silas doing to her?" Dacea was still clutching his chest. The pain became more manageable as he breathed through the tremors of grief. In times of extreme emotion, he could usually feel a trickle of it through their bond. This was nothing like that. If it was this heavy for him, he could only imagine what if felt like for her.

  "What do you think it is?" Lia asked as she began to pace the hallway where they had settled.

  "Not…sure." He doubled over as another wave hit him.

  "Shit."

  "You can say that again." After a few minutes, the emotion reseeded slightly. Enough for him to ask, "Have you found any more on her adoption?"

  "Yes, nothing good either." Dacea gave her a please continue look mixed with equal parts agony. "I've found records of someone looking into all this recently. I have video footage of them at the hospital and the adoption agency."

  He knew but asked anyway. "Who?"

  "A Mr.Silas Greenwood."

  "My day just keeps getting better and better." He straightened in the chair as much as he could but his stomach still felt cramped. "Any theories?"

  Lia stopped her pacing and sent him a pitying look. He wasn't sure if that was for what he was currently going through or what she was about to say. "I think we need to find Hailey, now."

  "That's not a theory, but I can't argue with you."

  "No it isn't, but each of my theories is worse than the one before. I know we have been doing fine on our own but I think we need to call Darby."

  "No." The pain was ebbing away at a steady pace leaving him numb.

  "Dacea, I think we need her particular set of skills."

  He hated to bring her back into all this. Darby was like a sister to him and he put her through a lot in the past few weeks. But Lia was right; with Darby's magic they might be able to locate Hailey faster and he could punch whoever caused her this pain.

  "Fine." He held out a hand. "Give me a phone." Lia pulled out her own from her back pocket, his being on the desk in his office.

  They waited in silence as it rang, neither one liking the idea of calling the witch. "Darby, we have a problem…"

  *****

  Around 4am Hailey had finally passed out. Silas had kept vigil over her from his office. He watched her cry herself out, only to be woken an hour later. Alex tried his best to calm her but she wanted none of it and closed herself into the darkness of the room.

  So he watched and paced from his office. Then he watched and paced from the outside of her door, only to come back to his office and drink himself into oblivion. So this is what it's like to care for someone other than yourself, he thought bitterly.

  He had been fine, had almost won the vendetta against Dacea too. Silas poured another glass of scotch. Hailey had been off his radar until that damn spell. To think, he had almost killed her. Karma was a cold hearted bitch but that would have been Fate's cruel hand. He had always thought it was because of Dacea that she felt so familiar to him, but it wasn't until he had been forced from Hailey that Silas had recognized her for what she was. If he hadn't recovered so fast from the spell, Hailey would be dead. Instead, she wa
s in his dungeon wishing she were.

  Gaining her trust turned out to be process that he just hadn't been prepared for. In order for her to trust him, he needed to open up. Silas hadn't allowed anyone to become more than an acquaintance to him in years. And at this point, he was so well feared that people would say whatever they thought he wanted to hear. It was beautiful actually, the power he held. Silas reveled in it. But Hailey didn't see his ability to twist a man's head from his body as a reason to trust. So he sucked it up and sat with her, talked with her, watched fucking Disney movies with her.

  And somehow, he liked it.

  "Fuck," he announced to the empty room as he finished his scotch. She twisted him up to the point where he lost sight of who he was and what he had been working so god dammed hard for.

  Dacea.

  It always came back to the Red dragon. Now he had to choose between letting go of his crusade for Dacea's head, or letting go of Hailey. Silas knew there was no way he could have both.

  He glanced at the clock 4:37am. He had too much energy to sleep at this point. There were a number of things he had been putting off in order to stay there and build Hailey's trust. They held no more appeal to him at 4am than they did at 2pm. No, what Silas needed was his energy to be exhausted from him physically. That meant sex or fighting. There were women who would meet him at any hour, but he felt raw from the ordeal earlier with Hailey. When he met with them, he didn't want to feel anything but their sweat soaked body surrounding his own.

  He needed to punch something.

  Silas hit a button on his phone and turned on the speaker.

  "Sir."

  "Get me something to hit."

  "Any preferences, Sir?"

  "I want it to bleed." He ended the called and in a perfect calm he hadn't felt in days, Silas began to roll up his sleeves. Pouring another finger of scotch he tossed it back. His body was ready for what his mind had planned. The energy reverberating within him changed and melted into something useful and productive.