by Aliyah Burke
“Tell me, what did he say? Who am I kidding, who would say no to you? Have you gone on your date yet? How was it? Is he a good kisser?”
Haley laughed and held up a hand. “He’s accepted. We’re going out next week. I don’t know if he’s a good kisser or not, but he looks like he will be.” She went to the back and opened the rising door, the rattling sound familiar.
Taylor went back there and watched her pull some boxes from the back and set them on the bumper. “Where are you two going to go?”
More packages joined the others on the bumper. “Not sure. He won’t tell me. Says he’ll surprise me.” There was disappointment in her voice.
“Are you not a fan of them?”
Haley shrugged. “Not usually. They don’t typically end up well.”
“Come on now, surprises are a good thing. Be positive,” Taylor encouraged.
“Let me know how it works out for you.”
“Huh?” She turned to see Haley step up behind her. Seconds later, a prick entered the side of her neck, informing her she was in trouble. Get Cale! She opened her mouth to scream, only Haley slapped a hand over her mouth, stifling it. Liquid entered her body as the syringe emptied.
“Don’t fight it.”
She wanted to but couldn’t. Whatever it was, it was fast-acting. Her limbs relaxed, the stems falling from her hand and the weight of her body was supported by Haley. The darkness overtook her as she slumped forward.
* * * *
Her head pounded like a steel band was putting on a concert inside her skull, and she struggled to open her eyes. It was such a chore and she gave up, not having the energy.
“Don’t get in my face, man. I succeeded where you and your men failed. You aren’t my boss, Blake. Don’t presume to give me orders.”
Haley’s voice hit her and she remembered the needle in the side of her neck. Shit! She kidnapped me. Where the hell am I? Taylor struggled again until she managed to prise off the chains holding down her eyelids. Not that it did much good. It was dark. A scratchy wool blanket that reeked faintly of moth balls rested below her right cheek. She lay on her side and since her arms didn’t want to cooperate yet, she just used her eyes.
The cell, or whatever—wherever—she was in—was shrouded in darkness.
“Light that thing, would you?” Haley sounded frustrated.
A slight glow appeared, barely lurking around the corner, yet didn’t approach further, however neither did it fade away. As she watched, it looked to her like it was dancing on the walls. Damn drugs. Peering up, she tried to figure out why she was in a cell. And it was an actual cell. Bars and all. She lay on a small—and uncomfortable—bed.
She returned her thoughts to Haley. What the hell was she thinking? Why did she do this to me?
The light grew brighter and she struggled to sit. As she did, she saw it looked like something she’d seen in some movies, where people were tossed into cells back in medieval times. Old.
Two people came around the corner and she had to blink a few times. Haley carried a torch. Are you kidding me? An actual piece of wood with fire? No lantern or oh…electricity to turn lights on? What kind of mess had she fallen into?
“What did you do to me?” she demanded, hating her scratchy voice.
A tall man, fit and well-dressed, stepped past Haley and stared at her through the bars. It took a few seconds but—to her incredible surprise—she recognised him. He knew it too.
“Hello, Taylor.” His voice continued to have the power to make her long for a shower.
Flashing her gaze between them, she desperately tried to make sense of the entire situation. “You? You’re Blake?”
He grinned, the light glinting off his gold teeth. “You remember me? I’m honoured.”
“I don’t forget assholes,” she snapped. He’d been a small time loan shark who’d often dragged her cousins into his clutches. They’d gone to their grandmother to either get money from her or to steal something to pay him back.
“So sassy. Not so proud now, are you? I wanted you so bad, but you would stare at me like I was the scum of the world. Like you were so much better than me.”
She lurched unsteadily to her feet and stumbled to the bars as her legs thought about working properly. Clutching the bars, she made sure to hold his gaze.
“I could be living in the sewers and I would still look at you like you’re scum, because you are. Nothing is going to change that.” Dismissing him, Taylor turned her attention to Haley. “What did you do, Haley?”
The woman stepped closer, the light from the torch glinting off her hard, dark-brown gaze. “I did what no one thought I could do. I got the one who brought the first pendant.” Her grin was pure evil. “If they want you back, or rather, if Cale does, they’ll trade the item for you.”
“They won’t trade for me. You’ll never get the item. How did I not know?”
She laughed. “No one did. Not even the Guardians knew. I had access to your place daily and you just made it so easy for me.”
“They’ll know you took me.”
“Not a chance, Taylor. I stuffed you in the back of my vehicle and even went back to put packages down. You forget, I was there every day. I know how and where to park so no camera can have access to the back of my vehicle. And tomorrow, I’ll go back again.” Her face twisted in an ugly mask of pleasure. “I even picked up your flowers you picked and threw them away after I left the grounds. You’re here for the duration, may as well settle in and get comfortable.”
She wanted to cry and curl up in a small ball. Instead, she adopted a sneer of her own. “I don’t think so.”
“You just said they wouldn’t trade for you. If they don’t think we’re serious, we send body parts until they know we are.”
Fear grew in a large knot within her stomach. She ignored it. “I said they wouldn’t trade for me. I never said they wouldn’t come for me. Cale loves me, he’ll be here and when he gets me out…I’m coming for you.”
Her blustering bravado must have had some effect, for Haley’s expression held a flash of fear. Blake’s as well. Haley hissed some obscenities at her before stalking away, leaving Taylor in the dark. Carefully, she made her way back to the bed and sat on the inch thick mattress, if she could call it that. More like piece of foam.
Scooting back until she rested against the cold wall, she hugged her legs and rested her chin on her knees.
Please find me, Cale. She didn’t know if he loved her or not. She hoped so, but there wasn’t anything concrete she could hang her hat on in that venue. He would protect her and that was her single ray of hope shining through the darkness in her soul. Cale would come for her. He would. Maybe not for love, but he would come, she held on to that ideal.
Chapter Fifteen
Cale paced. Where the hell was she? This wasn’t like her, not at all.
“Anything?” He sent the question out to his brethren who were assisting him with the search.
Unfortunately, they all sent back a negative response. He ran his hands through his hair some more while he paced back and forth outside the front door. Soon the other four Guardians stood with him outside. The lights shone down on them all, highlighting the worry in their expressions. All aside from Tiarnán, who was as readable as a brick wall.
“I don’t know where she could be.” Fear was growing swiftly inside him. “All her stuff is in her room. None of the kids have seen her. In fact, the last ones to see her were the ones at the winery, she’d spent time down there earlier.”
“What about her cell?” Roz asked. “Can we track her that way?”
He shook his head. “It’s in her room.”
I’m not letting that woman out of my sight again!
“None of the vehicles are gone, do you think she just took a long walk off the property and got tired? Settled down to rest and fell asleep?”
“I don’t know, it doesn’t seem like her, but I’ll check off the property.” He wanted to scream his frustration to the hea
vens. “Thanks,” he muttered, jogging to his car. It didn’t surprise him in the least when Tiarnán clamped a hand on his shoulder, halting him from entering his vehicle.
“I’ll drive, you search.”
Moments later, they rolled from the vineyard in Tiarnán’s truck. Night had long past fallen and it wasn’t easy to see as the thick cloud cover didn’t allow for much of the moonlight to sneak through. His frustration grew as time ticked past and they remained unable to find a single sign as to where she had gone.
They drove back up the drive at three in the morning. Cale was tired and pissed. Tiarnán didn’t try to stop him when he jumped out and strode inside without waiting. He wished Billy were here to talk to. Cale made his way back to her room and checked it one more time, although he already knew what he’d find. Her things, but not her.
Thunder rumbled off in the distance and he walked out to her balcony and leaned against it, fingers curved into the wood as he struggled not to lose it. The wind picked up and the clouds overhead began moving at a much faster pace.
“Storm’s coming.”
“Do you know where she is, Lian?” He didn’t even face the direction the voice had come from, knowing Lian would be in the darkest part.
“No.”
Now he turned. Lian was a man who relished giving them riddles and making them figure things out on their own. The rapid way he answered concerned him. Sure enough, the man stood in the corner, hands braced upon the top of his cane.
“That’s it? Just no?”
“I know you wish this was a test and I want you to figure it out, but I don’t have any idea where she is. Who she is with is another thing entirely. But her location, I haven’t a clue.”
“The New Order took her.”
“We’ve had contact!”
Aminta’s voice burst into his head and without hesitation, he ran for the ops room, Lian following behind him. All but Billy were in there. Edmond sat in his usual spot, fingers flying across the keys.
“What happened?”
“They made contact. Pulling up the video now.” Edmond didn’t stop while he updated what showed on the screen.
Cale’s heart seized painfully at those words. Video. He sat in a chair, knowing his legs may very well give out on him if the images were bad.
“Here we go,” Edmond said.
An image popped up and he leant forward. Taylor! She lay on a thin cot, curled up in a ball.
“As you can see,” a computerised voice said. “We have something we think you’ll want. You have something we want. So we’re proposing a trade. The pendant and necklace for the girl. You have five hours to come up with an answer and will be contacted then. You say yes, we’ll set it up. You say no and she gets to spend the rest of her life—which wouldn’t be that long, although would seem like an eternity to her—with us.”
The camera zoomed in on Taylor’s face and his gut clenched at the sight of dried tearstains on her cheek. Rage unfurled and spread throughout him.
“Five hours.”
The voice and the image disappeared.
“Where is she?” he demanded, glaring at Edmond.
“I don’t know. I can’t pull up anything on them which would tell location.” He shook his head in frustration. “I’ll keep working on it, though.”
“Play it again,” Tiarnán said.
He didn’t want to see it. “Why?” Cale demanded.
“So we can see if there are any recognisable things in the background.” Tiarnán never raised his voice, maintaining his usual tone.
“I taped it in case it was something that would disappear once it had been seen,” Edmond said. He pressed a few buttons and it popped back up on the screen. This time, the image was much larger. Still mostly dark, just a soft light in the background.
“Can you lighten it any?” Tiarnán and Dracen asked simultaneously as they moved closer.
“Not much, but a little.”
Cale watched as it got a bit brighter on the screen. He could see bars now. They were holding her in a cell. A fucking jail cell. His fury thickened and he forced himself to remain still and not break the table he was at. He rose and went to gather closer as the others did. No one offered him any words of comfort and he was glad. They couldn’t possibly know what he was going through.
“It looks old. That one stone there by her head, this isn’t a modern cell.” Roz tapped the part she talked about. “They don’t have rough walls like this now. Plus, look at the top by the bars on the cell, that’s old mortar.”
“So we’re looking for an old prison?”
Cale couldn’t keep his eyes off the woman lying there. She was everything to him and if they didn’t play it right, he’d never have the chance to tell her so. “Wait,” he said.
The video paused. “What?” Dracen asked.
“Edmond, zoom in near her hand, by the floor.”
A few clicks and it was done. Sure enough, he hadn’t been seeing things. She had written a name in the dirt floor. Blake.
That was all he needed to see. Cale whirled around and ran from the room, his rage pushing him along. Outside the windows he ran past, lightning flashed and rain began pelting the glass. He didn’t slow, taking the stairs down in almost two jumps.
With a feral growl, he strode into their prison and holding area. Two men were in there. One nursed a broken jaw and the other looked like he’d gone rounds with Ali in the ring.
They looked at him.
“Here’s the deal. The first one who talks I let have a much easier time.”
They narrowed their eyes at him.
“Who’s Blake and where the hell do I find the fucker?”
Both glanced away and he snarled at them, getting them back to looking at him.
“Don’t make me ask again.” He stared at Broken Jaw. “I know you can’t speak, but you can write. So write it down.”
The man shook his head defiantly.
“You thought we were vampires, if you don’t tell me what I want to know, you’ll wish I was one.”
“What’s the matter, man? Lose your woman?”
He whirled on the man. “What do you know?”
“More than you,” he taunted. “Every step you make, we’re already ahead by six. You’ll not get her back unless you do as they say.” A shrug. “Maybe.”
He stepped to the bars and glowered at the man in there with his smug expression. “You.”
“Me what?” he asked crossing his arms.
“You, you get my attention.”
He scoffed. “You don’t like torture, remember?”
Cale opened the cell door and stepped into the small space. “That was before your New Order fuckers dared touch my woman.” The door clicked behind him, locking them in there together. “Now it’s you…and me, until someone else comes to open the door.”
The man’s eyes widened and he took a step back. Power flared and Cale crossed his own arms.
“Wh-what do you want?”
“I want to know everything you do. And we will begin with the man named Blake.”
“I told the other one all I know.”
“You’d better tell me something more.” Another step.
“What are you doing, Cale?” Tiarnán sent the question.
“Getting answers.”
“Okay.”
“He is connected to them somehow. He knew they’d taken Taylor.”
“Are you sure?”
“He just told me.”
“I’m sending Dracen.”
The connection ended and he met the man’s gaze. Now it seemed more fearful.
“Tell me where I can find Blake.”
“No way, he’ll kill me.”
“So you’re not that important to The New Order, then.”
He puffed out his chest. “I am.”
“Right.” He backed him into a corner and put a blade to his throat. “I know and you know that you have some way of contacting them. Some mental thing? I don’t know how, b
ut next time you make a connection, you tell those bastards I’m coming for them.” He leaned in close. “And when I get there, there will be hell to pay for daring to come after her.” His voice fell in a low growl and a line of red began to coat the metal blade.
“Let him go, Cale,” Dracen said.
The door opened and he saw her step in. The door stayed open, but he didn’t move from the man.
“Cale.” It was a warning. He listened this time, removing the dagger and stepping away.
“What are you going to do?”
“We all have our gifts, Cale. Leave us.”
“I’m staying.”
No way they would push him out. She may be older than him, but, damn it, Taylor was his mate. No one else’s.
Mist filled the area as she walked by him, blocking the majority of his view of Dracen and their ‘guest’. The man’s gut wrenching scream was such that it sent chills up Cale’s spine. It began and it was done. The mist faded as Dracen moved back towards him.
“What happened?” He didn’t know much about what her powers were—she didn’t talk about them much, just fought.
“I found out who Blake is and where he lives.”
Falling into step behind her, he cast a glance at the listless man crumpled on the bed. His eyes were glassy and unfocused as he stared off into oblivion.
“He dead?”
“No. He’ll wish he was though, when he comes to.”
They secured the cell door and took off at a run. One good thing was that he was always ready, for he carried his weapons with him. Pushing outside, he was instantly soaked.
“Be safe.” Lian’s blessing came down.
He dashed through the rain to the helicopter on the landing pad. It was running and he knew Aminta was behind the controls. He hopped in and she lifted off.
“We will be there, Cale,” Dracen said as the chopper shot forward and continued to gain altitude.
“I’ll let you out about fifteen clicks away. Then you’re on your own. Edmond showed the security, it’s impressive so we’ll be picked up if I get closer than that. Right now, I’m just a police chopper out.”
“We sure she’s there?” There was no need for headsets with Aminta, not when they could communicate mentally.
