by Kimbra Swain
“I’m not sure. They had on costumes,” I said.
He brushed the hair out of my face. “Abby, it was a dream.”
“They were sacrificing you,” I continued as my chest heaved. His face grew dark, and he sat down on the bed next to me.
“Do you want to tell me?” he asked.
I closed my eyes and tried to focus. “There was a large stone temple with steps like a pyramid. A man wore a black jaguar mask, and his body was painted. There were men around an altar praying. It was dark, but there were fires in big stone bowls around the altar. You were on the altar. There was blood. Lots of blood. I was hiding in the trees. I moved to go get you from them, and you woke me up.”
“You were screaming my name,” he said.
“It seemed so real. I could smell the blood,” I said.
“Sounds like one of the Mayan temples,” he said. “It was just a nightmare. I’m here with you. No one is going to sacrifice me, and heaven help them if they try. They would have a crazy wizard to burn them down, right?” He was trying to get me to smile, but I was too disturbed to smile.
“I would kill anyone that harmed you,” I said.
“I know you would, and I’d do the same for you. It was just a nightmare. I’m just glad it wasn’t the other one,” he said.
“Me too,” I mumbled. Then I noticed it. It was quiet. The whole house was quiet. “Where is everyone?”
“Not here,” he said and smiled. “A car will arrive just after noon to take us to the airport, and we will take the flight there to New York. Ashley has everything arranged, of course. Until then, we have the house to ourselves.”
Then I smiled. “You think you are clever.”
“I know I am,” he grinned. He picked up his coffee cup from the nightstand and drank the last sip. He got up with the empty cup, heading to the door again.
“Where are you going?” I said bewildered.
“I’m going to put this empty cup up. You need anything from downstairs?” he asked.
“No,” I said. “After you do that, then what?”
“I’ll be back in a minute, and we can decide what we want to do today,” he said with a wink while leaving the room. I jumped out of the bed and ran to the bathroom. Checking myself in the mirror, my hair was a mess, and my eyes were red from the nightmare. I brushed my hair and my teeth. I could do nothing about the red eyes, but hope that the redness faded.
A wave of anxiety swept over me. It had been a very, very long time since I’d been with anyone. Plus, my list of experience was extremely limited. I’ve spent the last couple of days waiting for this moment, but now I was a ball of jitters and nervousness. And why the hell did he keep going downstairs? I waited a few minutes, but I couldn’t hear him downstairs. I went stomping down the stairs to see if I could find him. The patio doors were open, so I walked out on the patio. He sat in one of the patio chairs next to a table full of fruit, pancakes and syrup. A cup of hot tea sat in a black coffee cup with black jaguar spots on it. It sat next to an empty plate in front of an empty chair.
“I decided I needed another cup of coffee,” he said taking a sip. He grinned at me like the devil waggling his eyebrows. “Oh, and I made you tea.”
For a moment, I allowed myself to admire him. Ashley and I joked about his shirtless appearance. But even now, fully clothed, his warm green eye sparkled when he smiled, which I’d noticed was slightly crooked and adorable. He was fit, but not overly muscular. A fine shadow of dark hair graced his lower cheeks and jawline. His dark hair grew long again, and I imagined knotting my hands up in it. I shook myself out my adoration, sitting down at the table.
“Look all you want,” he smirked.
“Shut up,” I grinned knowing he probably caught half or more of my gawking.
“Go ahead eat. Who knows when we will get another meal today?” he replied.
I picked up my tea, taking a few sips. He had pancakes on his plate with several bites already gone. I put a couple on my plate with some strawberries. I took a few bites.
“These are good,” I said.
“Thanks. I made them,” he said.
“What?”
“Pancakes aren’t that hard to make, Abigail,” he explained. “If you can make tacos, I can make pancakes.”
“I didn’t know you cooked at all,” I said.
“Well, now you know,” he said smartly.
“You going to be a smart ass all day?” I asked.
“Not all day,” he responded while I laughed at him. “You okay now?” His tone changed to concern.
“Yes, it was just disturbing,” I explained.
“Do you have dreams about the future? Like Ashley’s premonitions?” he asked.
“No, I’ve never had visions,” I replied.
As we ate, I settled down, and the anxiety I had earlier evaporated. I can’t describe how great it was just to talk to him. We finally were able to laugh about the ogre. I couldn’t wait until some passing fisherman came across that on their sonar. We talked about Samara, Aiden and the panthers in Alabama.
“You think she killed their alpha?” he asked.
“Possibly. Not many packs have alpha’s anymore though. They tend to take each other out. More than likely he was just a leader,” I said.
“What’s the difference?”
“Alpha has an actual mental bond with his pack. It’s almost like an enthrallment, but not completely. The various pack members have plenty of free will. A leader is just someone they all pick to follow around. Rarely a magical component involved,” I said.
“I wonder if they need help?” he said.
“You want to be a pack leader and adopt some stray cats?” I asked.
“Don’t joke, Abby. Shifters are dying out. They could be useful,” he said. I could tell he had been thinking about it. He was right. If he could adopt the pack, they would follow him. And a pack is just as useful as a well-trained canvas crew. The best part is they are nomadic for the most part. As we moved around, they could move around too.
“I’m sorry to joke. We should look into it,” I said.
“Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously.”
“I think I’ll go for a swim,” he said looking at the pool just beyond the patio.
“You aren’t supposed to swim after you eat,” I said. I had enjoyed breakfast and the conversation. But I was done with the interlude.
“Okay, then what do you suggest we do?” he said. I wanted to slap the grin off his face. Instead, I stood up and walked over to him. I kissed him biting his bottom lip like he’d done mine yesterday. He tried to reach for me, but I held his arms down on the chair.
I looked him in the eyes and said, “I suggest you stop teasing me.”
“I’m not the one teasing anything right now,” he tried to pull loose again.
“If you want to go swim, you go ahead. But I’m going inside and suggest you go with me,” I told him releasing his arms. He grabbed for me, but I took off in a sprint to the stairs. Taking them two by two, he only caught up with me at the bedroom door. I spun around as he locked his arms around me, pressing me to the door. We were both laughing and breathing hard. In his most familiar move, he lightly kissed my forehead, and I sighed with anticipation.
His hands found bare skin under my shirt, and my body tingled with every movement of his warm hands.
“Why are you so nervous?” he asked.
“I’m a little out of practice,” I admitted.
“We can repeat it, if you don’t get it right the first time,” he said lifting his eyebrows. It made me giggle like a teenage girl.
He slipped the shirt over my head and threw it on the hallway floor. Lowering his head to my neck, his lips touched my neck without kissing it. He breathed on my skin from my neck to my shoulders, down to the space between my breasts which heaved as I trembled. Then, as he lightly kissed his way from my chest to my neck, I dug my hands in his hair, pulling his head up meeting his lips with mine. I pressed hard
er against his lips and he responded by pushing mine open. His tongue found mine, and they danced around in my mouth, then in his.
He pulled away for a moment, and I murmured, “Don’t stop.”
Turning the door knob and pulling me in the room behind him, he slammed the door shut and continued the flurry of kisses. In the midst of this, we removed each other’s remaining clothes, my skin burning as his touched mine. I moaned each time his lips kissed my body. I’d spent too many years away from the loving touch of a man, and the sensations overwhelmed my deprived soul.
With his hands in my hair and his mouth on mine, he drifted back to the bed, guiding me along with his lips as the tether. He reclined on the bed, pulling me to him. Our bodies blended together as one, the bond between us guiding the way. I felt his every desire and thought, responding to him and he to me, in ways that I never knew possible when making love.
Listening through the bond, we fulfilled the needs and desires of each other. We didn’t need any of my magic spells. I knew him, and he knew me.
As he had suggested, we repeated it, not because we didn’t get it right the first time, but because we did. In his arms, I watched the clock get closer to noon. I did not want to move from this moment.
“You are thinking about leaving here,” he said.
“I’m thinking about not wanting to leave here,” I said.
“Just stop thinking,” he suggested.
“Perhaps you don’t know me as well as you thought,” I said.
“I know you biblically. I consider that pretty well,” he laughed at his own joke. I gave him a conciliatory grin.
“Promise me something?” I said.
“I’d promise you just about anything right now. You are either smart to ask right now or downright evil,” he said.
“Promise me that no matter what happens in this crazy world, that we always find time to just be together,” I requested.
“I promise. Otherwise we both go insane. Or at least, I know I will,” he said smiling.
I had avoided any dark thoughts until that moment. It was just a fleeting moment of knowing that he would be the number one target for my enemies. He moved closer to me feeling the uncertainty in me. “I’m sorry. It was just a moment,” I said.
“I told you to stop thinking,” he chided and kissed my shoulder.
“You did, and I didn’t listen,” I said returning the kiss on him.
“One day, my dear, you will understand and heed the wisdom of the great jaguar guardian,” he boasted, and I died laughing. “What’s so funny?”
“I think the great jaguar guardian is a teeny bit arrogant,” I said.
“If I’m arrogant, I learned it from you. I used to be the portrait of humility until you came along,” he continued to tease.
“Picking up all my bad habits,” I said.
“I want to be your bad habit.”
“You already are,” I said and kissed him. Our minds met again and conjoined in empathic lovemaking.
It was thirty minutes before the car was supposed to arrive, and we still lay quietly in the bed with each other. I thought about the bond and wondered if we had accelerated it to a new level. Earlier he seemed to know I was thinking about just staying in bed and not going to New York.
“Yes,” he said.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I replied.
“Nope,” he said. “But I have to actively listen to hear what you are thinking. It isn’t constant. I’ve been lying here experimenting,” he admitted. “You don’t hear me?”
“I haven’t tried,” I said. It didn’t take much, and I concentrated on him. I blushed, because we were thinking about totally different things. He started laughing. “You did that on purpose!”
“Yes, I did,” he continued to laugh. I had a moment of uncertainty. I didn’t know what I thought about having someone in my head whenever they wanted to be. We made the decision to move to this point in our relationship, but I was apprehensive about all of it. It still felt right. “I understand your apprehension. I admit to it being a little strange, too.”
“I’m sure there are spells I could make, but I’m not sure that I want to. It’s just unusual and I’m not used to sharing that much with anyone,” I groaned.
“You are over-thinking it. You don’t have to listen if you don’t try. I’m sure, with enough of my dirty thoughts about you, you will stop trying,” he said.
His phone on the nightstand starting ringing. “Times up,” I said.
“Hello, Ashley,” he answered.
I could hear her. “Get out of the bed. You are going to be late for your flight,” she demanded.
“How do you know where we are?” he said.
“I know these things. Get up. The car will be there soon,” she reiterated her demand.
“Thank you, Ashley,” he said sweetly.
“Shut up, Tadeas,” she said and hung up the phone.
“We have a whole flight to New York to figure it out,” he said, immediately picking up where we left off.
We got up, showered, and got dressed. He put on a black suit with a wider than normal lapel, which made it look more like a tuxedo jacket than just a regular suit, plus a white shirt and a red tie. I liked the red.
“I told Ashley about the red. This is what she found on short notice,” he explained.
“She works miracles. It looks really good,” I complimented him as I tied it up for him. I hadn’t decided what I was wearing yet when the doorbell rang.
“Get dressed, woman!” he yelled at me. “I’ll go tell the driver we need a minute.”
I went back in the closet and realized there was a garment bag hanging on the end that I hadn’t seen. I unzipped it and laughed, “Damn girl, you are good.”
I started down the steps while Tadeas was talking to our driver. It was Tony.
“Tommy is going to meet us at the airport with Tillens,” Tony said and looked up at me.
Tadeas turned to look, and once again, I wished I hadn’t been listening to his thoughts. I blushed. “You’ve got to stop that!” I told him. Tony looked at him puzzled.
“You quit reading my mind, and you won’t know what I’m thinking,” he said. Tony got it then, grinning.
“It seems Miss Montgomery left me a garment bag in the closet,” I admitted.
“She’s good. So very good. I’m giving her a raise,” he said. The garment bag had a Dolce and Gabbana red sheath dress with matte sequins that gave it a formal, but not overly so, look. Paired with a black feminine blazer with a ruffle on the bottom, and a pair of Manolo Blahnick black pumps, I looked fantastic and felt the same way for the first time in a very long time. I added a double strand of pearls and pearl earrings with a diamond accent to the complete the sexy, business ensemble. As I reached the bottom step, he leaned into my ear, “What I want to know is where you are hiding your gun?”
I blushed again, “I was told not to leave home without one, so I assure you I have it. Later, I’ll let you find it. Let’s go, Tony.”
His thoughts flooded over me, and he wanted to find it now.
We went out to the black Yukon with Tony, where Tadeas joined me in the back seat. He slid his hand up my inner thigh, and I pushed it away. He groaned but enjoyed the tease.
We traveled to the Gwinnet County Airport with no incidents. When we got there, Tommy already had Tillens secured on board. Tony went to keep an eye on him, while Tadeas and I got seated for another flight. My phone rang. It was Lukas.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Hey, I wanted you to know before you left, that I found Tavaris. We have him here. Abby, I think he ran, because he got word that you were going to kill him.”
“What?” I said. “No, I wasn’t going to kill him. Why does he think that?”
“He’s discovered evidence that Tillens and Carboni framed his brother for it. We can’t find Jamal. His girlfriend, Sharonda Mitchell, is here trying to track him down for us,” he explained.
“S
end whatever you can to my email. Thank you, Lukas,” I said.
“You are welcome. I have everything under control here. Just hurry up and get back,” he said hanging up.
“Sounds like Giordano is trying to take apart the network himself,” he said.
“He has a wielder working for him, too. That suicide spell that I triggered in Carboni is subtle, powerful work,” I said.
“You want to deal with him now, or just pick up the proxy and get back to Atlanta?” he asked.
“We will see how he treats us once we arrive. I instructed Ashley to let him know we were coming. There better be a fucking red carpet waiting on us, or there will be hell to pay,” I said.
“Ruthless,” he said smiling.
“Actually, it is. Do you know what I’m planning with Tillens?” I asked.
“Yes, and I want you to let me do it,” he said.
“It should be me,” I said.
“Why? We are partners, and we will share responsibilities. You stand there and be beautiful and intimidating, and I’ll do the dirty work,” he explained.
“You sure you want to be the one?” I asked.
He wrapped his hand around mine and said, “Yes.”
The pilot informed us it would be a 2-hour flight to Republic Airport on Long Island. He also said that he had word that Mr. Giordano would be there himself to greet us.
Tadeas retrieved a couple of bottled waters for us, because through the bond, he knew I was thirsty. The bond experience was surreal and somewhat disturbing. I would become accustomed to its uncanny link, perhaps even rely upon it.
I opened my laptop and tapped into our secure satellite. I downloaded the evidence that Lukas sent me on the Giordano/Tillens/Carboni web. I read emails and texts sent from disposable phones and through “secured” connections. I knew that Tavaris had a lot of contacts in Atlanta, but whoever did this digging, I wanted to hire for my team. This stuff was hidden deep, and the traitors took multiple precautions to assure it wouldn’t be found. Tadeas read it over my shoulder.
“What I don’t get is why go after the Atlanta proxy?” he said.
“Well, when I spoke to Pastor Overton, he admitted to running things up to Mr. Gilbert as opposed to running them up to Giordano. We need to find out who else was running information to Gilbert. I’m sure Angelo hated that they ignored him, and he may have more operatives than just the Atlanta boys. I’ll email Ashley and have them start digging into the other major network cities in the Eastern Hemisphere.” I tapped through a few files, pulling up all the personnel files we had on Giordano’s men. I showed Tadeas each one of them. He had several supernatural body guards, and they were all very bad people. I showed him several news articles that I had recently dug up. He grimaced at the violent nature of some of the murders I’d uncovered in New York City and the surrounding areas.
