by Sydney Addae
“Why? I’m done blessing cows or predicting the weather or saying go right instead of left.” He sighed. “They will figure it out on their own.”
“And you will continue to lose strength. Pretty soon no one will remember your name and you’ll join the rest of them. Pictures in a book and that’s all.”
“Pictures in a book…” Ira murmured. He frowned trying to remember where he was. The temple. He jumped up, remembered to bow, and walked backward to the door. Searching for the handle behind him, he found it and exited the room.
Sweat poured from his brow as the remnants from his dream or vision dissipated, leaving a disturbing sense of something terribly wrong.
Chapter 16
Later that evening Asia, Hawke and Damian arrived at their lodgings. They were surprised to see three cars parked out front and uniformed police officers walking around both inside and out.
“What’s going on?” Asia asked, watching a uniformed police officer carry out her laptop and place it in the back seat of one of the cars. When she noticed the handle of her sword, a gift from Angus, she hopped out the car, ignoring Hawke’s suggestion to remain calm while he checked out a few things with La Patron.
“Hey,” she yelled, stopping the policeman. “Where are you taking my things?” She pointed to the car and then looked inside the window to see what else they had taken. There were two other bags on the floor she didn’t recognize.
“The Colonel is inside, he’ll explain.” He turned and walked off, leaving her fuming on the street. She looked back at Damian and Hawke, still in their vehicle and then at the opened front door. Another officer walked out holding a canvas bag, she tried to see what was inside but couldn’t.
Face on fire, Asia stomped toward the entrance, intent on getting to the bottom of things, but stopped at the front door. Policemen searched through the trash, cabinets, beneath chair and sofa cushions…everything. Nothing remained neat or orderly as they’d left them this morning. How long had these crazies been searching through their things?
“Who are you?” A short dark man with military cut black hair, dark eyes, and a strong accent asked, looking her up and down. Considering she looked like a red-faced, crazed, mousy brown haired white guy who’d recently fought full-bloods she didn’t blame him for touching the Taser on his belt.
“I’m the person renting this house, whose stuff you are removing without permission. I hope you plan to leave this place clean and whatever you break you pay for. No laws were broken and yet you just walk in here and steal our stuff. Who are you?” She looked down at him.
His expression never wavered through her mini rant. “Colonel Kefalas of the Special Counter-Terrorist Unit of the Hellenic Police. We have been informed there is suspicious activity on these premises and are investigating. I will need to ask you questions.”
Asia bit back a scathing remark at the politely worded demand. She had no doubt the human would arrest all three of them and build a bogus case that they were terrorists.
“Asia? Are you all right?” Hawke asked, stepping inside the living area behind her.
She looked over her shoulder and noticed three more police cars had pulled up since they’d arrived. Great. “Pissed. What did La Patron say?”
“He’s working on it. Promised this hiccup will be fixed by morning and not to worry. But there’s more.”
“Would you come this way please?” Kefalas said, pointing to the dining area where they worked last night. He watched them carefully. Their clothes had seen much better days, but after hand to hand combat with twenty full-bloods, they were lucky to have their main parts covered instead of a few rips and tears.
Asia led and the others followed quietly behind her. “More? Like what?”
“La Patron received a message from Maheegan. She thinks someone went into your mam’s room in the tunnel.”
“What?” Asia’s eyes widened and she stared at him.
“Is there a problem?” Kefalas asked, his brow rose as he stared at them.
“Newlyweds,” Damian said with a grin.
The Colonel frowned. “We should get started. Why are you here in our country?” He looked at Damian.
“I’m here with my sire and his mate on holiday.” He leaned back in his chair and stared at Kefalas.
“Do they know who was in there? How’d that happen? I thought we were the only ones who could go inside,” Asia said, ignoring the Colonel.
“Your mam could go inside.”
Her breath caught and then her heart leapt. “She was there? Are you sure? When? How?” She stared at Hawke as hope threatened to choke her.
The Colonel slammed his palm on the table. “I asked you a question,” he said, frowning hard.
Asia spun around and stared at him. “What?” she snapped, hating the interruption.
“Why are you in our country?”
“We are tourists,” she answered. She didn’t bother to say more than that.
“With a sword? I am not sure how you smuggled a sword into our country, but I can assure you it is not allowed.”
“It’s ceremonial.”
“And you believe it appropriate to take to a foreign country?” His dour expression said it was not.
“Have we broken any laws?” Hawke asked. “Is there any legal reason for you to search our lodgings and remove our property?”
Kefalas’ jaw tightened. The tart smell of his anger filled her nostrils as he leaned forward. “It is enough that I suspect you and that a high ranking member of our community suspects you. You have no rights here, implied or otherwise as long as I suspect you of criminal activity.”
Hawke nodded. “This is the treatment tourists receive at the whim of your police force? Is that what you’re saying?”
The Colonel stood fast, his eyes darkened to charcoal pools. “Your questions are of no interest to me. You are foreigners in my country and will do as you are told. Do not leave these premises until I clear you of this investigation. If you leave you will be arrested and thrown in jail. You are not normal tourists and you know it.” He turned and walked off with a stiff gait.
Asia looked at Hawke. “So he knows we are full-bloods? Think this is the Alpha’s doing?”
Hawke stood and walked to the window. “Considering Geo is outside talking to one of the police officers, I’d say Barticus is using the police to slow down our search.” He faced her. “Makes you wonder why.”
“Especially since she’s in another country and not here, it is strange,” Asia said, wondering what the hell was going on. “And why did Wulfgar send us here if she’s over there? Can’t they sense each other like you and Niall?
“I don’t know. She gave them her name, claimed a dead man as her Alpha and then attacked three of Niall’s guards near the tunnel. I need to contact him. According to Radoff, he was beyond angry.”
Asia snorted. “Tell him I’ll kick his ass if he goes after mam.”
Hawke laughed. “I’ll need to tell him something.”
“Not yet. Wait to see if he does the rational thing. I want to know if he’s grown any since the last time.”
“Sounds fair.”
Hawke turned back and watched Geo and the Colonel talk before both men turned and looked up at him. It was going to be a long night now that Asia knew her mam was alive and they were in the wrong country. He hoped Chacal had some news that would take their minds off of things.
“La Patron wants us to remain here until he shakes us loose, but we need to be ready to leave when the time comes,” Hawke told Asia and Damian.
“He’s got contacts here?” Damian asked, surprised.
Hawke shrugged and turned from the window. “Don’t know, just repeating instructions.”
“At least he knows we’re in the wrong place and plans to get us out of here,” Asia said.
“Wait,” Damian said. His gaze swinging between Asia and Hawke. “We’re in the wrong place?”
Hawke told him about Radoff and Maheegan seeing someone w
ho fit Amynta’s description in their area and the need to check her out.
“Just think, if we had stayed a day or two longer, we might have run into her,” Damian said, missing the frown Asia sent him.
“We didn’t know,” she said after a brief silence.
Damian nodded and walked toward the living area. “Looks like they’ve finished in here. They tried to straighten things a bit but wouldn’t get jobs as housekeepers that’s for sure.”
Asia laughed and followed him into the room. A few moments later sounds from the television floated toward Hawke.
“Niall?” He walked in a tight circle preparing himself to deal with his litter-mate. They weren’t close, probably never would be, but Niall decided they should try and be civil. There were times that seemed impossible. Separated as pups they did not know each other, and had different agendas.
“Hawke. What’s going on?”
“I heard you had a bit of trouble recently.” He figured he’d open the door without delay.
“Not really. Just a mishap. You don’t need to come running every time there’s a little challenge. I appreciate you wanting to help, but we can handle this.”
Hawke gritted his teeth thinking his litter-mate’s weakness for jumping to conclusions was the main reason civility took a nose dive when they talked.
“I’m not calling to offer help,” Hawke snapped. “I want to know what happened.”
“Oh?” There was silence. “Didn’t think you were interested in that type of thing, but we did see her first. And the pack needs the money.”
“What are you talking about?” Hawke asked, certain he’d missed something.
“Amynta Sandulf. Isn’t that what you’re asking? About the three million Euros bounty on her?”
Hawke closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “That old thing, I doubt it’s any good.” Or so he hoped. An active bounty in these economic times was a complication they would love to avoid.
“No, I contacted the High Priest after she left to check, it’s still active. We’re gearing up to find her, won’t be easy, she’s got a head start but I’m confident we’ll catch her in the end.”
Hawke didn’t share Niall’s confidence or enthusiasm. “Tell me what happened, how do you know it was her?”
“She had just left the tunnels when security noticed her car on pack land. Normally we charge a fee and allow the violation to pass. But when she said her name and gave her sire’s name as her Alpha, I couldn’t believe my luck. I told them to bring her to me so we could talk, she took exception and left.”
Hawke bit back a grin. Amynta sounded like Asia, he could see her doing something similar. “I suspect you left out a bit so I’ll let my imagination fill in the blanks.”
“There was some fighting involved. If you’re not interested in the bounty, why are you interested?”
“I can’t tell you that right now, but I need you to back off. Stop your chase.”
“What?” Niall yelled.
“I can’t go into the why, but it’s important. Let this one go.” He spoke slow and calmly so Niall understood he was serious.
His litter-mate was silent.
Hawke wondered what it would cost him to keep Niall from chasing Amynta.
“The pack is broke. I’m sure I mentioned that.”
Hawke closed his eyes and thought of the three million he’d received from Wulfgar. They could share that with Niall.
“But I’ll let it go. I hope your reason is a damn good one even though you can’t share it with me. I need to deal with the others. Good luck.” Niall shut down the link, surprising Hawke.
“He didn’t ask for anything in return.” Hawke couldn’t believe Niall wouldn’t track Amynta just because he asked him not to.
“Geo is at the door,” Asia said.
Hawke strode into the living room and stood in the doorway blocking Geo’s entry. Neither spoke. When Hawke stepped back and moved to close the heavy inner door, Geo held up his hand.
“We didn’t want to go this far but you refused to remain for a conversation. Unfortunately, Alpha cannot make it here until tomorrow. So he needed to make sure you remained in one place until then.” Geo turned, walked down the steps, nodded to the police car sitting in front of the house and drove off.
Hawke closed the door and locked it. “Seems like we’ll be having company in the morning.” “Check for bugs and cameras,” he told Asia and Damian.
“Should we prepare snacks?” Asia asked, laughing as she fished out her sensor from her back pack and headed toward their bedroom.
Damian walked into his bedroom and Hawke scanned the common areas. Asia nodded. “It’s clean but I think we should limit conversation to be safe.”
Hawke nodded. “They may have amplifiers nearby.”
“I just want to say this is turning out to be the worst holiday, ever,” Damian said. He turned, winked at them, and headed to his bedroom.
Chapter 17
The television droned on in the background as Damian drifted in and out of sleep. Something teased his wolf and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get comfortable enough to fall into a deep sleep. It seemed just out of reach.
He glanced at the clock on the nightstand, it was after three. After turning on his other side, he closed his eyes, determined to get some rest before daybreak, and began reciting old literary works in his mind that never failed to put him asleep.
His wolf growled and pushed for him to move. He rolled over. It didn’t help. For some reason his beast was restless. Angus hadn’t mentioned this. It was as if his wolf tried to take control.
“Hawke?” He called his sire to find out what was happening. “Hawke, I have a question.” There was no answer. A breeze flowed through the window and his beast grew more agitated. Damian wrapped his arms around his waist and curled into a ball to keep his animal contained. Sweat beaded his brow and his arms trembled with the strain as his beast pushed to break free.
“Hawke,” he cried again. His heart raced as he took short breaths. Maybe if he stood and walked a bit that might help. It didn’t. It made it worst. He opened the window further for fresh air and to cool his over-heated skin and inhaled. His chest expanded and his eyes burned from within. Every cell on his body throbbed, goose bumps raced across his arms and a swath of fire raced up his back.
Claws sprung from his fingertips and his fangs dropped. He searched the dark for his prey, the one who called to him and stole his rest. His loins pulsed in preparation to answer her call.
A sound, a purring sound reached his ears. Turning quickly he spied the splash of yellow in the dark, stepped up on the windowsill and jumped. Eyes on his quarry, he walked with single-minded purpose to ease the fire she created and stoked in him. When he reached her, she smiled. Not that he needed a welcome, but it pleased his beast.
“Took you long enough, I thought I would need to enter the house,” she said, her face still in the shadows. “Come with me.” She extended her hand, he took it and pulled her to him. Her breasts flattened against his chest while he gripped her ass, rubbing her against him.
“You’re big and strong, I like that. But first we need to go where we won’t be disturbed.” She tried to push him back, but his wolf didn’t like that and he didn’t release her.
“Let me go.” She pushed.
The words penetrated his human side and he dropped his hand, taking a step backward. She stumbled backwards but didn’t fall.
Now that he’d gotten breathing room from his wolf, he saw her clearer and looked around for the others. Inhaling, he tried to find them and was surprised she was alone. “What are you doing here?” he asked Randi.
“I wanted to spend some time with you,” she said, smiling and moving closer.
His brow rose and he crossed his arms, looking at her. “You’re lying.”
She frowned. “I wanted sex, is that better?”
“At least it’s partially true. Why didn’t you just ask?” He wondered how she’d te
mpted him to jump from a two-story window in the first place.
“Will you fuck me?”
His wolf leapt in his chest almost toppling him. He definitely needed to get better control over his beast, but not right now. “Yes, come with me.” He extended his hand and she took it. Together they walked back into the house, past the sleeping police officers and into his room. Moonlight streamed through the open window, bathing her porcelain skin as she stripped naked.
She pushed him onto his bed and then closed the window, dimming the room. Standing in the middle of the room she raised her hands above her head and started dancing while staring at him.
Damian couldn’t take his eyes off her. His beast howled and tried to break free. A thousand needles pierced his skin, it was the sweetest torture watching her roll her hips, and rub and pinch her nipples.
His skin burned and itched. His claws broke free and his fangs dropped as she climbed on the bed and placed her knees on the sides of his hips. He ran the tips of his claws down her back, drawing blood.
She cooed as she arched and then offered him her nipple. Rational thought fled his mind as he suckled the offered tit and rolled his hips beneath her. His wolf pushed for him to take her, to give her what she needed, what her wolf demanded.
Randi placed a finger over his mouth and leaned forward, staring into his eyes. The air in the room felt heavy, with each breath his heart picked up speed. Every part of him ached to join with her, to ease the constant whole body throbbing that wouldn’t cease. Each thought, action and breath compelled him to take her.
“My wolf wants to fuck you hard all night long, but first, tell me why are you here?” The soft-spoken words wrapped around him and tightened his groin.
“To find Amynta.” The words slipped from his mouth as he tried to impale her on his seeping cock.
“Who is Amynta to Barticus?”
“He raped her a long time ago, they had a child.” The tip of his cock slid into her tightness.
“Oh yes, this will be good. Where is she, Amynta?”
