by Tisha Wilson
“Do you have a warming rack,” she asked. Braden shook his head.
“We can toast them to warm them,” Saul said as he pulled out a toaster and plugged it in.
“When did I get a toaster,” Braden asked in shock. He looked uncomfortable with the people in his house touching his things, but the fact that he didn’t say anything said a lot for how he felt towards Saul.
“You weren’t here and I had to stay nearby to make sure everything was settled in Madison with Miranda’s situation so I crashed here. I would have bought a coffee pot but I know how you are about coffee.”
“How is he about coffee,” she asked her eyes widening.
“Once he had some coffee and stayed awake for months. He doesn’t even like to smell it,” Saul said as he took the bread she had sliced and popped it in the toaster. The bread was only down long enough to warm before it flipped out. He plated it and reached in the fridge for some butter.
“You got the real butter. You are the queen of my heart,” he said hugging it to him in pleasure.
“May I remind you that this is my house? You cannot come and go as you please without my approval,” Braden insisted doing his best to look intimidating. It worked on her, but apparently Saul was immune. Didn’t the man know how armed Braden was?
“Really? Then why do you keep your cabinets stocked with canned goods when you don’t eat food,” Saul asked as he poured some boiling water into two cups.
“It’s expected to leave something in a cabin when it sits for so long,” he finally responded lamely. Saul scoffed.
“I knew moving closer to you would be impossible,” Braden said as he finally sat down.
“Stop it. You’ll hurt my feelings,” Saul replied without any emotion.
Miranda laughed again as she took the mug he offered her. He brought the instant coffee, fresh cream, and sugar to the table. They both mixed their coffee to taste. Saul raised his mug to her in a salute before he took a deep swallow. She sipped her coffee and nearly moaned with delight. Braden huffed and stood from the table. He went to a cabinet and pulled out a bottle with clear liquid in it. He pulled out a tumbler and poured a glass. He came back to the table and made his own salute before downing most of the liquid.
“Is that… vodka,” she asked surprised.
Saul suppressed a laugh and Braden snapped a warning glance at him. “I enjoy a drink on occasion.”
“Sure but not vodka,” Saul snuck in.
“You are about to wear out your welcome human.”
“What is it,” she asked.
He turned the glass around for a moment. “Peppermint Schnapps.”
Saul burst into laugher as well as the other agents whom up until this point had been quietly cleaning and putting away the weapons. Miranda waited for Braden to roar in disapproval, but again a corner of his mouth simply lifted. He threw back the rest of the clear liquid and the half smile vanished.
Saul passed her a piece of buttered bread and took some for himself. “She appears to be in good health,” he said to Braden.
“She has a name. I don’t think we officially met. I’m Miranda Jamison,” she introduced.
“Well met Miranda. I am Saul Munoz. I am an assistant mentor. I and the other agents assist the hunters and mentors, though they think we are slaves.”
The way he said her name made it sound romantic. He rolled his R’s the way the Spanish did and she couldn’t help but to smile at him. Braden didn’t seem to like that too much. If she didn’t know any better she would think he was jealous.
“I didn’t say slave. You just work for me, make sure my house is cared for, relocate me when I need it, clean up behind me,” Braden shot back.
Miranda saw them exchange measuring looks and nearly rolled her eyes. Men and their machismo. “What happened back at the cabin? Do you think those people will follow us,” she asked to break the tension.
“If they even get close I will know about it. I have their scent in my nose now. I already disabled the devices they left behind but maybe you can find out who produced them, get some type of signature from them,” he said to Saul.
“These groups have become so high tech lately. They think that makes them better at it, but it only makes it easier for us to track them,” Saul said with a shake of his head.
“What devices,” she asked.
“Sometimes the radical groups who are out to crucify the hunters think they can gather enough information to go public. They try to plant recording devices to catch the hunters at work,” Saul explained as he pulled one of the small recorders out to show her.
“But they only succeed in giving themselves away. Once I can smell them, if they ever get close to me again I will know who they are and they will be dealt with,” Braden stated plainly.
Saul put the mechanical gadget back in his pocket. She swallowed. “Dealt with?”
“Not that. We have a serum that when injected into a human can help them… forget say… the last few months or the last few years depending on how much we need them to forget.”
“This all sounds like something from a B movie.”
“It is as real as it gets. We have to stay a step ahead of the curve in order to keep up our mission. Otherwise the wolves win, and no one wants the wolves to win,” Saul said gravely.
She understood, but still. At lease they weren’t killing people. “How long will you stay here to watch over us,” she asked.
“We will only stay long enough to make you secure. We can not risk being here with Braden for very long.”
“Why not,” she asked. Surely they were not afraid of him. He was a good guy. Wasn’t he?
“A hunter does more than hunt,” Braden supplied. “A hunter produces a light scent that draws the wolves to them. We are magnets for the wolves. It makes it easier for us to find them. On average just coming upon a wolf randomly is as remote as winning the lottery. It is not safe for humans to be around us for an extended period of time. They are in greater danger of being bitten by the creatures if they stay around us.”
Something donned on her. “That is why you don’t think it’s a good idea for me to go see my mother?” Braden nodded and she was quiet for a moment. She turned to Saul.
“Thank you by the way for taking such good care of her. She looked really happy.”
“It is my job to care for innocents,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. He then pulled an envelope from his pocket and held it out to her.
“What is this,” she asked as she opened the envelope. It was filled with cash.
“We are paying you for your house and business. We also emptied you’re families bank accounts. There is a new social security card and birth certificate inside. Your new last name is Rolling.”
She blinked in shock. “But you are already putting my mother up in that nice house.”
“That has nothing to do with you. It is a part of our cover up so we will cover the cost.”
She shook her head and looked at the envelop. “I guess its real then. Miranda Jamison is gone. I’ll never see my family again.”
Both men fell silent for a while as if allowing her to absorb that information and all its implications. The only sounds that filled the room were the two men situating the weapons rack. Katie was dead, her mother was taken care of, her father’s copy shop was sold, her childhood home was gone, just like that, after two days. The emotions that went through her were not all bad, but they were certainly disorienting. There would be no funerals for her loved ones but they were gone from her as surely as if they had died.
“We have brought some personal items from your house in Madison. They are in suitcases in the bedroom. I was going to bring them to you in the morning,” Saul finally cut in. He seemed to be waiting for some reaction, but when she gave none he turned to Braden. “So… do you think she’ll be all right to come back to base with me to wait for Bateman, or do you want her to stay here? She seems all right to me.”
“She can turn,” Braden replied evenly.
>
Something in his eyes told her that the last thing he wanted was for her to leave. Why? It wasn’t like she wanted to leave any more than he seemed to want her to, but she had good reasons to want to stay. This place was as close to home as it seemed she would get from now on. Maybe… just maybe there was a way to find out what had really happened to her sister. He, on the other hand, had no reason to stick with her when he didn’t have to.
Saul looked her over. He tried not to let them, but his eyes strayed to the wheel chair and she understood. “My legs work when I… turn I guess you call it.”
“She is untrained and still wild. She has snapped my neck, broken my collar bone and shoulder blade, and scraped the skin and muscle completely off my arm, not to mention blowing half my face off with a shot gun.”
The room became soundless as Saul and the other men looked at her with awe and respect shinning in their eyes. Apparently no one did things like that to Braden.
“He made me mad,” she said with a shrug.
“Well. Perhaps it may be best if you stay here then,” Saul replied with an amazed whistle. He shook his head and finished off his coffee.
Braden and Saul stood and headed over towards the weapons to discuss new developments made to them. They may as well have been speaking Portuguese for all she understood. She got into her chair and wheeled herself back towards the bedroom to inspect the cases they had packed for her. She opened the lid to each case reverently. There were photo albums and awards and trophies with her and her sister’s names on them in two cases. There were clothes and jewelry in two others.
One of her mother’s best patchwork quilts was folded and placed at the foot of Braden’s large bed. The vibrant colors were a sharp contrast to the black bedding he preferred on his bed. It was stark and oddly… fitting. The colors of the quilt almost belonged on this big black bed, as if the colors brought the room to life. She closed the cases and pulled the quilt off the bed and around her shoulders.
She pulled herself up onto the bed and cried a bit as she let the tears in her heart bleed. She had put on a brave front at the table but her whole world had suddenly come to an end all because of that stupid dog thing that had bitten her arm. She clutched the envelope full of money to her chest. That copy shop had been her father’s legacy and they had sold it as if it meant nothing at all.
The new owners would probably change the name and her father’s place in history would be forgotten. No one would carry on his work. No one would franchise his shops. He was just gone. She had never felt that more than at this moment. Somewhere in the back of her head she had always thought that she would turn things around at the shop and turn it into what he had always wanted it to be.
She cried from her soul. She cried for the loss of her sister who was just at the beginning of her life. She cried for the career her sister had sacrificed so much for. She cried for the golden haired bright eyed child that everyone adored, including herself. Katie had come out of her mother looking like a cherub and she had become so vital and necessary to Miranda that being without her was like forgetting how to breathe.
She cried for the mother that would never remember any of them, or if she did she might remember them as a dream that she had once had. Lost. It was all lost. There was no getting it back. There was only this new and confusing life that she would live as Miranda Rolling. She didn’t know anyone named Rolling. There was no love for that name, no connection, but she supposed that was fitting. She had no more family. She had no more roots, might as well have a meaningless name as well. Finally when she was all cried out she yawned deeply.
Panic overtook her in a wave. She pulled herself out of the bed and into the chair then went to the bedroom door and called Braden. He came into the room carrying a glass of water.
“I thought you might need this after crying.” He held it out to her and looked as if he wanted to run away before she could start crying again. She motioned him to set it on the side table before she shut the door behind him.
“You have to get them out,” she said with fright. He looked confused at her change in moods.
“They are still searching for-“
“I am going to fall asleep,” she said as her eyes drooped nearly to closed.
“They won’t make any noise. I’ll-“
“What if I wake up with them here,” she asked with a pointed stare. He still looked confused and she wanted to smack him in the head until he understood. “Do you remember what happens when I wake up?”
He went still. “I will be in here with you.”
“How do you know that this… whatever it is that is happening, is just limited to you? What if whatever it is happens and they all come running back here like horny bulls?”
“I would rip them limb from limb.”
Even though she felt a surge of appreciation for his display of jealousy, it wouldn’t fix the problem at hand. “You are supposed to protect innocents remember. I want them out,” she said angrily. Fatigue hit her and her head fell into her chest before she could stop it. She felt him lift her up and tuck her in before she sank completely into darkness.
Chapter Seven
Braden shut the door behind him and strode out into the living room. Saul turned to him.
“Is she feeling better?”
He tried to control his annoyance with his friend, but for some reason he was feeling… was it jealousy? Why? He hadn’t felt anything at all in so long that the emotions were nearly overwhelming.
“It will take time.”
Saul nodded before he turned, hit the button on Braden’s key chain, and the armory slid back into the floor cleanly. The two men who had been helping load it left the cabin without further instruction.
“They haven’t found anything, but we will continue to search through tomorrow,” Saul said as he began towards the couch. He sat down and flipped open the lap top on the table.
“Your new chat room handle is going to be Viking Hunter. I was trying to be clever with a name for her but I don’t know her well enough to-“
“Kitten Hunter,” Braden supplied crossing his arms over his chest where he stood. He tried not to but couldn’t help but to smile at the thought of that. She would like it.
Saul grinned up at him with a lifted questioning eyebrow. “She have anything to do with this new look?”
Saul looked over the new wardrobe and shook his head. Braden shrugged. “She said that I was scaring people with my other look. She said I looked too much like a Viking.”
“I could have told you that,” Saul supplied.
“But you didn’t asshole. You let me walk around frightening young and old alike.”
“I thought you liked to frighten people.”
Braden nearly laughed out loud. Saul was one of the few humans Braden liked, but he knew not to get too attached. Humans were fragile and tended to die around him.
“The look suits you.”
“Well. I can just die happy now that you like the way I look.”
Saul laughed out loud as he typed in a few things on the lap top. “All right. She is all set up and you are too. I’ll write down your new passwords for you. You can take her into town soon and get her an account so we can deposit her pay into it.”
“Still no word from Bateman?”
“None. I will return to our archive in a few days and try to find out what I can about her… condition. In the meantime, we will set up a perimeter. The area seems to be clear of creatures at the moment since you ran them up towards-“
“You can’t stay,” he said evenly.
“What? Why?”
“There are some things about her condition… I’ll just say that you don’t want to be around when she wakes up in the morning. Trust me. It’s not safe for you or your men to be anywhere nearby.”
“She is violent in the morning?”
Braden kept his mouth shut unwilling to say anything more. Saul watched him for a while. He looked as if he wanted to argue. “You need help with he
r.”
Braden scoffed. “I can handle her plus any other threat that comes along. It is you and the others that I fear for. You must leave.”
Saul nodded. He stood up and gathered a leather binder from the table. “You have the number. Please. Try not to kill the humans if they return.”
“I will do my best.”
Saul laughed at that and went to the door. He stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Try to remember that she is human and fragile sometimes too. I don’t know why but she is different. You can hurt her.”
“I know that. You try to remember this is my house and not to bring things like toasters here without my permission, and if I ever find a coffee pot here…”
Saul snapped off a little salute before he took his leave. Braden went to the couch and sat down. He looked at the new coat and boots. Despite himself, he really liked them.
* * *
Miranda’s eyes fell open as dawn light filled the sky. She moved her legs beneath the covers and stretched her arms out above her. If there was any way to fight it at all she would have, but the need snaked up her body and coiled around her insides. She groaned as she was struck deep. She wanted the covers off of her. She wanted the nightgown off of her, and she wanted them gone right now. She pushed the covers away and lifted the nightgown. The core of her body felt like hot molten lava as she lay in the midst of the sleep warmed sheets.
Braden was coming to her and he was ready. His body was heat and steal and it radiated out to her as if calling her name. She could feel it and she welcomed it. The door swung open. He had begun to strip on the way down the hall and stood only in his briefs. She looked at him and her mouth watered. She wanted him. She wanted him now.
She opened her legs wide as she put her hands over her breasts. She massaged her breasts as he watched her and she licked her lips in anticipation. He removed his briefs and she hissed as she arched her back and continued to touch herself. He came to her his weight making the bed dip. He knelt between her knees as he hovered above her. She released her breasts and grabbed his shoulders, pulling him down over her.
