by Camryn Rhys
Zolin’s bare feet smacked on the floor behind him. Two wild-looking men—even with Tomás clothed in jeans and a t-shirt—would be just as noticeable as a half-naked woman.
His lungs ached, but he couldn’t stop running. He had to find Lani.
Tomás looked toward the elevator bank and saw her, frozen in place, staring at him, crying and shaking her head slowly from side to side. He couldn’t have cared less if she wanted him to follow her or find her. He’d found her. That was all that mattered.
“Why did you do that?” he called to her in Spanish.
Upscale tourists in their travel-best gaped at him and whispered, but he didn’t stop.
He wanted to get his hands on her.
“Don’t,” she whispered with her arms out.
Before Lani could speak another word, Tomás had grabbed her shoulders and folded her into his desperate embrace. “Don’t ever run away like that again.” His heartbeat sailed wildly, and he wasn’t sure if he was feeding off her, or still just afraid the monster would find her. “You don’t know the city, but he does. You aren’t safe here. I’m sorry I brought you. This is all my fault.”
“I need to find her.” Her voice cracked through her tears.
Zolin reached out from over Lani’s shoulder, but he drew his hand back and clenched his jaw. “We should not be here.”
“I can feel her near. I just need to…I don’t know how to get to where she is.” Lani looked up at the gilded ceiling and tried to pull back, but Tomás held her too tight for escape.
He wasn’t about to let that happen again.
“Is she up somewhere?” he asked, following her gaze.
“Somewhere. I don’t know where.” She extended her hand, as though something floated just beyond her eyes. “But I have to get to her.”
A small group of hissing tourists crowded toward the elevator bank, keeping fluttering eyes on them.
Tomás moved Lani toward the far elevator and met Zolin’s eyes. “We have to get her out of here.”
The big warrior nodded. “If her mother is here, and this place is owned by the monster, that means he will be here as well. It is not safe for her.”
Tomás pushed a bit of calm toward Lani, but she resisted and pushed back. The deep blackness of her terror grabbed him by the heart and practically stopped his function. He choked on thin air. “What is that?” he gasped.
Her cheeks were wet as she looked up at him. “I don’t know. I can’t control my feelings. It’s like there’s chaos inside me.”
Zolin punched at Tomás’ arm. “It’s him. The monster. He knows she’s here.”
“We don’t know that.”
“I have to find my mother.” Lani wrenched out of his grasp. “Either you’re going to help me, or you’re in my way.”
She shuddered and he felt another gust of whirling emotion inside her. This time, it didn’t quite incapacitate him, but it was a force. If this was a parent bond being used against a child, the man was an adept. Even just being connected to Lani, he could barely escape feeling crushed by the weight of oppressive magick.
“He knows you’re here, Lani. He has to.”
The elevator dinged and a crowd of people streamed around them, smelling of the beach and expensive shops. They might be able to lose themselves in a crowd somewhere. Maybe go to a mall.
He needed a plan.
“Where are the people coming from?” she asked, pointing. “Those are different people than the ones who just got in there.”
“It’s an elevator,” he said.
A woman walked past them, sliding into the little box, and casting a judgmental glance down at Lani’s bare feet.
Tomás pulled at her arm. “Come away from there.”
“What does the elevator do?”
“It takes people up and down to the different floors.” He pulled her farther into the wall, out of the traffic pattern. If they made too much more commotion, someone would report them, and who knew if Adrian Rossi had spies in the hotel who might know what Lani looked like.
Wait.
He grabbed Zolin’s arm. “Tell me what her mother said. When she saw the man in the market. What exactly did she say? Her exact words.”
With a tiny shake of his head, the Huichol said, “It happened too fast. I can’t remember her exact words.”
“Did she say why he would capture them? What he wanted?”
“No. Only that he was dangerous and I shouldn’t ever bring Citlani here again.”
Tomás exhaled into Lani’s hair. “Why didn’t I hear that before?” He pulled out his phone and dialed Maggie. “He’s not after her mother, or why would she still be alive.”
He wanted Lani.
Maggie’s heavy breath greeted him when she answered. He could hear a crowd in the background. “We’re almost at the hotel. Where are you?”
“We’re here.”
“Who’s we?” Maggie asked. “Did Andrea get there already? Or Dani?”
“It’s a long story.”
He heard Maggie’s words echoing from the phone and from across the large space behind him. “I’m sure there’ll be time for long stories someday.”
Tomás turned and felt a small surge of relief course through him when he saw Maggie’s pixie-cut head and Alex’s wife-beater tank top. He could’ve kissed them both.
Maggie jogged toward the elevator bank, but slowed considerably when she saw what likely amounted to two barefoot, half-naked strangers. Either that, or she recognized what Tomás should have seen when he first laid eyes on Lani. Maybe she saw an echo of Marco in those eyes.
“Is this the long story?” Maggie raised an eyebrow.
He let out an edgy laugh. “You can’t even begin to imagine.”
“Shit.” Alex grabbed at his wrist and held it up for Maggie to see. “What the hell, man?”
Maggie’s eyes rounded and she stared at the green tattoos. Her eyes went immediately to Lani’s wrists, and her jaw went slack.
“I said it’s a long story.” Tomás yanked his hand away and rubbed at the new, knotty tattoos.
“Whatever you say, Rain.” The jab in her last word reminded him of the hours they’d all spent making fun of their old team leader ducking into the airplane bathroom or an abandoned alley to have hurried sex with his mate. But now that Tomás had felt the pull of the bond, he couldn’t make fun of Rain any longer.
A chuckle from Alex, a skeptical glance from Maggie, and none of it bothered him. He just wanted Lani to be safe.
“Alejandro Sureda, Maggie Gallagher.” He indicated each of his friends to Lani. “They’re from my team.”
“Nice to meet you.” Maggie extended a hand. Lani raised an eyebrow and Tomás touched Maggie’s arm.
“Hang on,” he said. “Let me translate. Lani doesn’t speak English.”
“No need,” Maggie said with a smile to Alex. “I know more than twenty words of Spanish now. Learning on the job.” She offered the same handshake and said in halting Spanish, “Good to meet you.
“Can you find my mother?” The desperation in Lani’s voice caught everyone’s attention.
Zolin grunted. “A woman? We do not need help from more women.”
Maggie’s jaw dropped open and she gave the warrior an oh really glare. “And who is this big hunk of asshole?”
Alex stepped out of the way when a couple of teenagers let out disgusted sighs. Another group filed past them into the elevator.
“Why are we all gathered in here staring at elevators?” Alex asked. “Isn’t this the one place he’s the most likely to see us?”
“Do we even know he’s looking?” Tomás said.
Alex indicated the front doors with his head. “Let’s at least move this to a place where we don’t have an audience.”
Maggie led them out of the alcove, but Tomás had a hard time dragging Lani away. She tried planting her feet, then clawing at his arms, but he wasn’t relenting. He wasn’t going to let her out of his sight again.
Zolin lagged behind, keeping his distance from the new people.
“Now. Are you going to tell us what’s going on?” Maggie crossed her arms. “You could have prepared me for this one.”
“Lani’s mother was one of the girls...” Tomás lowered his voice, “from the brothel, I think.”
“What the hell?” Alex rubbed his jaw. “Up in the mountain tribes?”
“Tomás said he would help me find her.” Lani stepped toward Maggie. “He said you would help me find her. But now he tries to take me away from here, when I can feel that she is here.”
“But there’s a wrinkle.” He smiled at a big blue-coated bellhop who passed them and stopped until the man was out of earshot. “Adrian must have her mother, or she wouldn’t be here, when she was trying to run from him. So he must’ve caught her, which likely means he’s holding her here hoping that Lani will come looking for him.”
“Why would he do that?” Maggie asked.
But Tomás saw the truth land on Alex’s face. The Miami wolf cursed below his breath and gazed at Lani with glassy eyes. “She’s his daughter.” He poked Maggie with his elbow. “See the features. She’s Marco’s sister.”
Lani pointed back at the elevators. “I felt her the strongest when I was in that place with the tiny moving rooms.”
“She doesn’t know what an elevator is?” Maggie’s brow arched. “Really?”
“She was raised by the Huichol, up in the mountains.” Tomás rubbed Lani’s bare arm, feeling a chill run across her skin. “She probably doesn’t know any of this.”
Maggie slung the pack off her back and dug through it. She pulled out a tablet and swiped a few times. “If I know hotel owners, then I’m going to guess that he probably has her in a highly secured area, which means penthouse level.” She kept swiping. “The elevators are floor-specific and key-card operated. Only certain elevators can get to the penthouse level, and they’re all accessed from here, or the parking garage level.”
Zolin walked around the circle and stood behind Maggie, looking over her shoulder. When she sensed him, she turned her head and Tomás could almost see her hackles rising.
“Do you mind?” The bite in her tone would have felled a lesser man.
“I never mind.” Zolin crossed his arms. “I want to know what you are doing.”
She grunted, like that was the stupidest question ever. “Getting us into the penthouses, genius.”
“Take it easy on him, Mag,” Tomás whispered, avoiding the Huichol’s gaze. He wouldn’t like the interference, but they didn’t have time for fifty shades of angry flirting. They needed a plan, so Tomás could get Lani far away from this place.
“I’ve been working in the car on hacking the system.” Maggie turned the pad so Tomás could see it. The screen had a square on it that looked like a QR code, all different sized blocks of black that formed an intricate, scan-able pattern.
“I can’t actually make a card. But if the reader operates the way I think it should, I can at least get us into the elevator.” She nodded at Lani. “Can she find her mom from there?”
Lani perked up. A shard of hope cascaded through her and it was the first time Tomás had felt any peace from her since they’d entered Choaca.
He let out a long breath through his nose. “Fine. But understand me. The first whiff we get of Adrian Rossi, and I’m pulling her out of there.”
“Fine.” Maggie took off for the elevator bank.
Tomás slipped his hand into Lani’s cold one and pulled her along behind Alex. If they were lucky, Adrian was out in the city somewhere and they could bust out Lani’s mom before he returned.
He didn’t want to imagine what would happen if they weren’t…lucky.
Chapter Nine
Citlani followed Tomás and the spritely female toward the tiny moving rooms—elevators. Zolin and Tomás pushed her into the back corner and stood in front of her. She peered between them and watched the tiny woman with a brightly lit device in her hand fiddle with something on the wall of the room. A couple of strangers tried to get on the elevator with them and the big man Tomás had called Alex had told them to ‘catch the next one.’ The doors slid shut and the room shook.
She grabbed Tomás arm. “The volcano is shaking the earth. If she wakes we will die.”
Tomás covered her hand with his. “It’s just a machine. No volcano. I promise.”
“Is she for real?” The one called Maggie glanced over her shoulder with a look of disbelief.
“She is very real.” Zolin leaned down until he was at eye level with Maggie. “And neither of us has ever seen this kind of machine before. What moves it?”
“There’s no time for schooling the natives on the inner workings of elevators,” Alex growled. “Maggie, what’re we looking at once the doors open?”
Maggie smirked as Zolin straightened to his full height and faced Alex, a growl rumbling in his chest. “Cameras show two guards on the top penthouse level.”
“Get out of my face and stay out of my way. Why are you even here?” Alex said.
Lani sucked in a breath. No one spoke to Zolin in such a disrespectful manner and remained standing for long, especially when they were smaller. And most people were smaller than Zolin, Alex was not an exception. He was taller than Tomás, but the big tribesman still dwarfed him as well.
“I am here to help Citlani. If you speak rudely of my princess again, I will not be, as you say ‘in your face.’ Your face will be firmly pressed between my foot and this floor.”
“Zolin, he’s here to help,” Tomás said, inching himself toward the standoff.
Lani tightened her grip on his arm and pulled him back. “Do you want your head under his foot instead?” she hissed.
“Geeez, testosterone much guys.” Maggie made a gagging sound and turned around to fiddle with the buttons on the wall again. A blue light flashed on the screen and she held her tablet to the light. “Alex, you take the one on the left. Zolin, big guy, you take the ugly fucker on the right. Got it? Good.”
A bell rang and the doors opened. Alex and Zolin surged out and each disappeared from view.
Lani held her breath and squeezed Tomás’ arm. Pain surged into her mind and she whimpered at the overwhelming flood. She’d put walls up years ago to block the emotional pain her mother was constantly troubled by. But this was different. This pain was fresh and the bond between them was weakening…fading. They needed to hurry.
A couple of growls and then two very large thuds echoed from outside the elevator.
“Come on out,” Alex’s voice called. “They’re down.”
Tomás grabbed Lani and followed Maggie into the quiet hallway. Two large guards lay on the floor, one on each side of the open elevator doors.
“Lets find her mom, find that sonofabitch, and get the fuck out of here.”
“She’s there.” Lani pointed to a large door on the other side of the hallway.
Tomás rushed toward it and laid his ear against the wood.
“How many heartbeats?” Maggie asked.
“Only one. It’s weak.”
“She’s hurt,” Lani cried, running toward him.
He held his hand up to stop her.
She paused, sobs racking her body. His emotions swirled through her mind, mixing with the chaos filtering through her bond with her mother. She was safe with Tomás and his friends. They were helping her. Even Zolin was doing everything in his power to assist when he’d much rather take her back up the mountain and hide her away forever.
That wasn’t how she wanted to live. Not like her mother. She couldn’t stay there forever. She wanted to be with Tomás—wherever he wanted to be. Wherever his home was, that would be her home. But she needed to make sure her mother was safe. Zolin and the chief would make sure she stayed that way.
“Are you sure there’s only one heartbeat?” Citlani gasped for air. Each breath was harder and harder. Something was reaching inside and strangling her from within.
“Move,
outsider.” Zolin roared and charged the door. It splintered around him. Alex and Maggie followed. Tomas ran to Lani’s side and lifted her from the ground. “I need to get you out of here.”
“No,” she hissed. “You promised.”
He glanced at the splintered doorframe and then at the elevator behind him. The choice to honor her wishes warred in his heart and reflected in his eyes and mind.
She took a deep breath and pushed herself down from his arms. “I have to.”
He nodded. Taking her hand, Tomás led her through into the home of the man who’d stolen her mother—now for a second time. A wave of pain slammed into her chest, but she kept walking, pushing it back the best she could.
“Mama!” Her mother was on her knees in the corner of the enormous living space. Chains on her wrists shackled her to the floor. Blood dripped down her face from open wounds. Her tunic was stained with dried blood.
Lani tried to wrench free, but her mate’s vise-grip didn’t relent. She pulled him forward and he moved cautiously, his gaze swinging from one side of the room to another.
“No one is here,” she whispered.
“They’re close,” Tomás whispered.
Alex cursed under his breath behind them.
Zolin passed Lani and went directly to her mother’s side. He yanked on the chain, pulling against the anchor in the floor. The links clanked loudly and Lani’s mother growled.
“How dare you let her come here,” she hissed. “You promised me.”
“Mama, I couldn’t leave you. How could you think I would leave you?” She knelt and tucked a ratty lock of her mother’s hair from her face.
“Your daughter mated a stranger to escape my protection.”
Her mother’s gaze fell to Citlani’s arms. “You gave yourself to a man? How could you? After everything that happened to me. I told you never to bond yourself to a man. It makes you weak.” Her mother snarled and gold flashed in her eyes. “You need to go. He’s almost here. He will kill me and take you to his island and kill you or worse.” She glanced past Citlani to Tomás and the others. “You’re all idiots. I’m bait. Couldn’t you see that? Get her out of here.”
