by Wade, Maddie
Felicity Lockwood was a hard-faced bitch. Maybe he should feel sorry for Hugo being raised by her, the woman didn’t have a maternal bone in her scrawny body. How she had carried a child without her venom poisoning it was beyond him.
She had a ruthless reputation and some very shady history. Her ties with The Divine Watchers certainly made him uneasy about leaving this kid with them.
He parked the SUV round the back of the Manor near the servant’s entrance; he scoffed at that, bloody servants’ entrance. What was this, the Victorian ages?
Reaching into the back seat, he was greeted with the disappointed gaze of the boy. What was it about this boy that made him feel like the worst of humanity and worse than that, made him want to be better?
“Come on kid, time to meet Daddy.”
“Okay, Kanan,” the boy said quietly, with only a slight wobble to his voice.
Kanan turned as the back door opened and a man decked out in full butler regalia stood watching them. What the fuck did he think he looked like? The man’s posture was so stiff he looked like he would snap. The man ushered them into the utility room that was filled with wellies and outdoor coats, and closed the door behind them.
“If you would like to follow me through the drawing room, Lady Lockwood will see you shortly.” Kanan was used to the pompous plumb in the mouth way he was speaking, but the snobbery and formality that surrounded some people still shocked him.
He’d met both Princes, William and Harry and Prince William’s wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, and they were the most down to earth people you could meet. Still obviously posh, but otherwise normal. Especially Prince Harry.
Kanan had been assigned to his detail while he served his combat tour of Iraq. There had been specific concerns about his safety, so K as an ex-special forces operative, had been chosen to go undercover and join his unit as a ‘specialist consultant’. That security detail had been the most fun Kanan had ever had while on duty. The Prince had been an excellent soldier and K would have been proud to have served with him anytime.
He’d noticed over the years, though, the true blue-blood never tried to be posh, it was just in their blood, and they were generally nice people. The ones that married into it were often the snobbiest and rudest. Thinking about that, he looked at the kid who he held in his arms. God, he hoped this kid was going to be all right.
He was such a skinny little scrap of humanity and his pale face with the shadows under his eyes belied the fragility his bravery hid.
Settling the kid on a plush Louis the XIV chaise lounge by the large roaring open fire, he studied his surroundings. The room was the epitome of opulence. It was elegantly decorated in rich burgundies and gold’s. There were several Monet paintings hung on the walls that Kanan suspected were the real deal. Every surface seemed to be covered in priceless vases or crystal decanters.
His eyes caught on the boy who was looking around, taking everything in. He seemed focused on the paintings on the farthest wall. It looked like they were family portraits and he could recognise a young Felicity in one. What struck him, though, was the little boy in the painting. He was the image of this kid.
His stomach twisted again and he got the worst feeling. It was a feeling of such foreboding he could hardly breathe. He took a deep lungful of oxygen and shook off the feeling. He, instead, concentrated on his surroundings.
The security was what really interested him. If he was going to keep an eye on this kid, he needed to know what security protocols they had in place. There was a state of the art alarm system and cameras in every room he’d been in so far, except the servant’s kitchen which only had an alarm that linked to the exterior door.
They protected the priceless art, but didn’t put as much security into protecting the people or the property. Idiots! The people in charge of security were either idiots or overly confident that there was no threat. In this case, it was good for him, though.
The boy was still quiet, but Kanan hadn’t really expected anything else. In fact, he was impressed with the kid’s bravery, so far. He hadn’t kicked or screamed or cried. He had been stoic and accepting. That made him feel like a bigger heel than ever.
Felicity Lockwood entered the room with her grandson, Hugo, trailing behind her. She was immaculately dressed, even at this late hour. Her silver hair swept up into a tight chignon and her pale pink tweed suit had not so much as a rumple in it.
At first glance, she looked like a normal socialite. Polished, regal, and dignified, but when you looked close, you could see the cold calculation in her eyes.
Those eyes swept the room, landing on Noah, who was curled up in a ball now and watching Felicity closely, as if she was a snake about to strike. K didn’t like seeing the wariness in his eyes. He did concede to himself that the kid had excellent instincts, though.
“Is this him?” she asked Kanan sharply.
He really didn’t fucking like this woman.
“Yes. This is Noah.” It pissed Kanan off that she didn’t use his name. Granted, he’d been calling him kid, but that was because he was trying to maintain distance and he knew he meant it that way. She, however, was looking at Noah as if he was a specimen in a lab.
“Hugo, come see the boy you sired.” She turned and beckoned a bored looking Hugo Lockwood forward. He came over and gave the boy a cursory glance.
“He looks like his mother,” Hugo said disinterestedly. Felicity stepped toward Noah and Kanan saw the boy flinch. He had to fight the urge to step between the two. Noah was genuinely terrified of this woman.
Kanan was a big badass guy dressed in black clothing with a ski mask and had taken him from his bed and Noah had shown him no fear. His internal radar was screaming that this was wrong.
“He’s a bit scrawny, but we can fix that. Fine, you may leave now, Mr … ”
“K, it’s just K.” The less this bitch knew, the better, and he knew she was playing games because the people who set this up knew who he was. “What do you plan for the boy?” Kanan asked.
Felicity assessed him calmly, although she wasn’t as relaxed in his presence as she liked to have him believe. A pulse ticked in her neck as she played with the pearls at her throat. Good. At least she was getting the message that maybe she didn’t have the upper hand here and should be slightly afraid. She should be too, K could snap her neck like a twig and at this moment in time, he kind of liked that idea.
Hugo watched him from over by the bar as he poured himself a brandy. He looked mildly interested by the exchange but Kanan could tell his interest was piqued because Felicity seemed nervous, than the actual words that were being said.
“He is my great-grandson and he has been kept from me,” she said, deciding that maybe painting herself as the victim would be the best approach. “I just want the chance to get to know him. He is the future of the Lockwood name and I want him to know his legacy.” She turned on the waterworks a bit now.
Kanan got up close to her and bent down towards her face so he could talk to her quietly. He didn’t want to scare the boy and what he had to say was not for his ears.
“If I hear that you have harmed one hair on that child’s head, or scared or mistreated him in anyway, I will personally come for you and that pathetic excuse for a sperm donor over there. And believe me, you don’t want that. You know who I am and you know what I am capable of and if I think you’ve hurt him I will not only follow through with my threat I will enjoy it.” He saw her swallow and then straighten her shoulders.
“I can assure you there is no need for threats. I just want to get to know him.”
Kanan ignored her and walked over to the boy. He’d been silent during this entire exchange. He crouched down so that he could talk to the boy and look him in the eye. He still looked scared, but it was the trust he saw there that slayed him.
“I’m going now but I will be keeping an eye on you and if I think they are not being nice, I will come back for you, okay?”
“O…okay, Kanan.” he said sniffed q
uietly. “Be careful,” he whispered, “they are watching you and your sister. Noah paused and looked at Hugo and Felicity, then back to him. “Nate is going to come get me soon and he will be mad with you. Please don’t hurt him, he loves us.”
Kanan was, once again, floored by this kid’s knowledge. Nobody knew about his sister. This kid was an enigma, but somehow in the last few hours he had grown attached to this boy. That, in itself, was unusual because he didn’t really like kids much.
He didn’t say anything, just stood and laid his hand on Noah’s head affectionately. With one last pointed look at Felicity and Hugo, Kanan turned and disappeared into the night.
~~~
Felicity stiffened her spine and shook off the fear that that heinous man made her feel. She was not that hungry, weak little girl anymore and resented him making her feel like that.
Schooling her features, she turned to her grandson. She eyed his thin frame and his face, which was so much like her son’s at the same age. She fought off the familiar ache in her stomach that thoughts of him gave her. Hate and love were such a fine line and she still didn’t know which side she was on with him. Dismissing the past, she turned to Hugo. “Hugo take the boy to his room and for God’s sake, show some interest.” Hugo sauntered over to the boy and looked down at him with fascination.
“He has my eyes,” he said and the surprise on his face made her want to slap him hard for his idiocy.
“Yes, well, with his ability and our position and money, we will be a power to be reckoned with among the Divine Ones, and then we will be able to join the council.” Her drive and determination had gotten her to this position in life and she wasn’t about to be thwarted now. She deserved this. She deserved to be on the Divine Council and rule these lesser beings.
She watched as Hugo lifted the boy and carried him to his room. She hoped Hugo would show some interest in the boy and stop his whoring ways. He didn’t take his responsibilities and position in society seriously and needed to start. She tried so hard with him but he was such a disappointment.
Pouring herself two fingers of Remy Martin Black Pearl Cognac, she downed it in one swallow. It was a waste of the seventeen-thousand-pound brandy but she needed to calm her nerves. She poured another and sat near the fire.
Maybe having the boy around would help her regain some of the control she had lost of late. She needed to call her contact and have the drug delivered first thing. They needed to start the trials soon to see if they could control gifted ones once the drug took effect.
The fact that the boy was sick bothered her a little, as it might alter the results of the drug. But she knew from that nurse the Hugo had cozied up to that Noah wasn’t on any drugs right now. It would have been better to wait until after the bone marrow transplant that had been scheduled but time was of the essence.
The threat from K rattled her a little but there was no way he would be allowed to see the boy again. There was no way he’d know what was going on. Satisfied she made all the right moves, she retired for the night.
Chapter Four
As they approached the ground floor flat on the outskirts of the town centre, Nate was surprised to see that a woman living on her own had no outside security lights on. He knew Hereford had a low crime rate, in no small way due to the fact that you couldn’t throw a stone in this town and not hit a member of the SAS. It sometimes made people complacent about their own security.
Still, this seemed wrong. It meant she was either clueless to the dangers around her, or that someone had made it so her lights were out. The feeling of foreboding that assailed him when he saw the light smashed and her front door ajar was justified.
They all slipped comms units into their ears to help them communicate inside. Nate quietly pushed open the door with his weapon drawn. Zin at his other side and Drew to his back. Drew had learned incredibly fast in the short time that Nate had been training him.
His ability with a weapon was almost as good as his skills with a computer. Zack recently started his next phase of training and this included riding along with one of the other operatives. Tonight was Zin’s turn. Drew would be hard pushed to get a better operative than Zin to shadow.
Prowling into the room silently, they split up with Zin going to the kitchen at the back of the flat and Drew going left towards the bedrooms. Nate followed Drew soundlessly toward the bedrooms and each went into rooms on either side of the hallway.
Nate swore softly at what he saw; Joanne was lying on her bed at an odd angle. Her legs bent awkwardly underneath her and her arms hung uselessly at her sides.
Nate cleared the room, checking the wardrobes before assessing Joanne. He waited for the all clear to come through his ear from Zin and Drew and then turned on the light and spun as Zin and Drew joined him. Behind him, he heard Drew take in a breath and swear viciously.
Facing the bed, Nate crouched in front of Joanne. She had been beaten–badly. Her face was nearly unrecognisable. Both her eyes were black and swollen shut, and her left cheek was cut and bloody. The single bullet hole in her forehead indicated her cause of death.
Zin muttered something in Russian under his breath as he got closer and Nate knew he felt the same. None of the team could tolerate violence against women. Whatever happened to Joanne was bad and had suffered. No decent man was okay with that, regardless of what she might have done.
“I’ll call Zack and give him the news,” Drew said, solemnly.
“Okay,” Nate said knowing that Drew was struggling with the scene in front of him. “Zin we need to look for this card and see if anything obvious has been taken. I’ll start in here. Can you start in the living room?”
“Fine,” Zin responded shortly. This was not unusual. Zin was not a chatty Cathy by anyone’s standards.
How was Joanne involved in all this and why had she been killed? Was she just a loose end? Nate was thinking this as he looked carefully through her bedside drawers. Just the usual stuff–book, phone, contraceptive pills, condoms. Nothing that looked out of place.
He crossed to the wardrobe and looked inside. Joanne clearly had very expensive taste. Her wardrobe was crammed with designer labels next to her nurse’s uniform. Nate went through the pockets and hit the jackpot when he found a card with a single phone number, with no name on it, in her nurse’s uniform pocket.
Nate met Drew and Zin back in the living room.
“Zack is going to call Detective English and fill him in. They should be here soon. The pathologist is also on his way.” As he was saying this they heard multiple sirens. They stepped outside and holstered their weapons. The last thing they needed was a rookie cop getting excited at the sight of three armed men. Especially ones that looked like they did.
Nate watched as Detective`s English and Herbert pulled up and got out of their Vauxhall Insignia. He was walking over to Detectives English and Herbert when his phone rang.
“Yes,” he said quickly when he saw Dane calling.
“Hey, Nate. You might want to come home, and by that I mean back to Skye’s place.” There was humour in Dane’s voice and that confused Nate.
“Yeah I got that, hermano. Why, what’s happened? Is she okay? Have we heard any news?”
“No, nothing’s happened, but her uncle just arrived, and, umm well, he is eccentric, to say the least.”
This didn’t sound too bad, although, Skye hadn’t mentioned him–but she hadn’t mentioned her family at all really except to say they were estranged.
“Okay, we have a situation here. Joanne is dead and it’s not pretty. I’ll see if Zin can handle it and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Fuck. That’s not good,” Dane said quietly. Nate appreciated him being discrete around Skye. She was not going to take this well.
“See you soon, man, and thanks.”
“Yeah, later Nate.”
Nate spoke to Zin who assured him he could handle the police and would pass anything they found straight to Zack. He, also, said they would keep the card to
themselves for now and get it back to Fortis so that they could try the number and attempt get a GPS lock on the phone. He promised, again, to keep Nate in the loop so he left to see what was going on at home. At home, he liked that. He liked the thought of coming home to Skye and Noah every day and he was going to do everything, and more, to make it happen.
Chapter Five
Walking through the front door of Skye’s bungalow, Nate was met by an amused Lauren, a baffled Dane, and an exasperated Skye. He didn’t get further than the hall before Skye reached him.
“Mi cielo what’s going on?” he asked as she slipped into his arms. “Dane said your uncle is here.”
“Um…yes he is. But the thing is, he is…different. I never mentioned him because, well, I’m not sure how to explain it.” Her uncertainty was cute and unsettling at the same time. He smiled at her, encouraging her to continue. “He is gifted and very eccentric and very protective.”
“Okay. So what’s the problem?”
“Well…he kind of talks to his wife all the time.”
Nate was confused, now. What was wrong with that, so he asked.
“Well, she died ten years ago. I know it sounds crazy, and believe me, many people think so, too but he also talks to other dead people,” she said, rushing through the sentence as if trying to get it all out before he could react.
Nate was trying to process this latest development when a loud, masculine voice shouted from the living room.
“I told you once, woman, stop bloody nagging me. I will tell her when I’m good and ready. Now pipe down.”
Skye just looked at Nate with a resigned look on her face. “That’s Uncle Reg, talking to dead Aunt Tilly.”
Nate had had enough of this. He needed to meet this Uncle Reg. Taking Skye’s hand, gently but firmly, in his, he pulled her towards the living room. What he saw stopped him in his tracks. He cast a disbelieving look to Dane who had Lauren curled in his lap on the sofa. Both just grinned at him.
