by J. M. Davies
“If you mean Marcus, he has gone, Josephine. He dropped me off and was leaving straight after that. I’m not sure when he’s coming back.”
Josephine stared straight ahead and nodded but she smiled. Ella followed the woman’s direction and sure enough, she couldn’t believe the sight charging across the golden sand at quite a speed. For a second, she panicked. Her heartbeat ramped up its pace and she told herself to stop the silly reaction. Josephine may see certain pieces of the future, but even visions were up for interpretation. She wasn’t always right. She shielded her eyes from the glare of the bright sun and watched, bewildered, as Marcus jogged toward them. His powerful rippled muscles glistened in the sunshine. Ella sauntered toward the approaching man, still linked to Josephine, as he came closer. He stopped about a foot away, unaffected by his jaunt as he admired the pair of them. Ella stopped too but couldn’t meet his direct stare. Josephine released her grasp and bridged the gap to Marcus, offering her cheeks, which he kissed automatically.
She looked back at Ella. “You two have to talk. I’ll make my own way back.”
Marcus frowned at his mother and Ella stepped nearer. She touched Josephine’s arm, concerned.
“I’m an old woman. I’m tired. I’m not going to die today.” She looked from one to the other. Josephine set off at a brisk pace, which was her style, and Marcus caught Ella’s arm.
“Will she be all right?”
Ella continued to watch Josephine before she switched her focus back to her husband.
“For the moment. She isn’t herself though, but isn’t revealing anything if she knows what’s wrong. Maybe she doesn’t know.”
They stood there in silence for a second, but as the icy-cold water splashed over her toes, she screeched and Marcus pulled her closer to him. Caught in his arms, again, she couldn’t quite pluck up the nerve to return his stare and could feel his eyes running over her dressed in skimpy shorts and a thin T-shirt.
“You’ve lost a lot of weight, Ella. You’re too skinny.”
His hand held her elbow and the heat of his grip branded her skin. Ella could feel her cheeks glowing too.
“Some men like that.” As soon as the words tumbled out, she instantly regretted them.
“Well, not me. I like women who are soft and at least have some curves,” he growled.
She stole a glance at his face, which studied hers, unsmiling. His dark, brooding gaze bore deep inside her, as if asking questions she didn’t even know the answers to. She shook her head a little to break the spell or trance that he easily cast over her.
“Why are you here?” Needing to have space from him, she pulled her arm out from his grip and stepped sideways, away from the encroaching tide.
He shook his head as if he, too, was stuck for a moment and couldn’t remember why either. “We haven’t talked in any detail about the day you were taken. I know, there’s a lot to process and the doctors told me to be patient, but the time for waiting is over. I need you to write down every tiny detail because it might mean something. Also, the day I left, the day you were upset with me, you complained that your neck itched. Does it still bother you?”
Ella reached her hand up right to the spot on the back of her neck that still nagged every so often like a sore that wouldn’t heal. Her finger scratched the surface of her skin and felt the tiny raised bump.
Marcus stopped talking and stood a breath away from her face. His attention zeroed in on what she was doing as his thick brows dipped into a frown. “Turn around.”
It was a command and one she obeyed. She lifted her hair to reveal her bare neck. Marcus breathed warm air on her skin as he prodded the painful area. He squeezed, and something under her skin moved. When he pressed on one side, a pain radiated down her right shoulder.
“Damn it. There’s something there, Ella. I need to remove it back at Josephine’s. She has a first-aid kit there.”
Ella pulled his hand off her neck and swiveled around to look at him. Rage fizzed inside as her cheeks heated. The violation to her continued and she wanted to scream at the seagulls that swirled above them. “Get it out now,” she shouted.
If anyone else was on the beach, they would have wondered what was going on. They may even have called the police. Marcus pulled out a silver blade from his jeans. He pressed his muscular body in against her back close enough that when he spoke, his breath kissed her neck, sending shivers down her spine. His body called to hers and she relaxed into him.
“Are you sure? It’s going to hurt. It can wait until we get back to the cottage.”
She wriggled around to study him. Her heart beat faster and faster at the thought of a device buried inside her.
“Get it out or I will do it myself. I have felt pain. This is nothing. Just get it out.” Showing her back to him once again, she lifted her hair and waited.
Marcus held her shoulder to hold her in place and pressed the sharp tip of the blade into her skin. The sting of pain burned her flesh and she jerked. He stopped and released her.
“I think we should wait.”
“No. I won’t move again. I promise. Just do it.”
She sank her teeth into her lips and crossed her arms around her waist. Ella shut off her mind to what Marcus was doing. As the waves roared over the rocks, she stared out to sea, wondering how her life had changed over the past several months. How she had changed. Once, she wouldn’t trust anyone and battled anything on her own. Now, she had let her guard down and was weaker because of it. The sound of a seagull overhead caught her attention as he dug into her back.
“Got it. It’s a tracking device. I’ve seen this before. This high-tech gadget isn’t available on the general market yet. I need to get it to the lab and see what they can find out about the manufacturer. Ella, this confirms that the Elusti knew where you were all along. They had you under surveillance the entire time. I think the injection they gave you inserted this under your skin. At some point, they would have taken you. It was merely a question of when.”
She felt her heart pound as he spoke but it didn’t relieve her guilt. She nodded, accepting what he said.
“But—and I know you’re not saying it, but it’s there—if I had stayed at the house, things may have been different.”
Her neck throbbed and she rubbed it with her fingers, feeling wet and sticky. She brought her hand down and stared at the bright-red blood. Flashes of her lying flat out on the operation table appeared and before she knew it, the darkness claimed her.
CHAPTER SIX
Damn it to hell. Watching Ella stiffen under his touch as he used the blade to remove what he suspected was a human tracking device had almost been his undoing. She insisted it be removed right away, with nothing to alleviate the pain. He agreed and twisted the sharp knife into her delicate skin, probing and twisting it until the tiny device surfaced. It was no bigger than a grain of rice, and yet, he suspected, it alerted the Elusti to Ella’s whereabouts. He had heard about this type of geospatial technology being used by the Navy to track criminals as well as agents deep under cover. Staring at the plastic-coated gadget, he wondered how deep and far-reaching the Elusti’s power went.
Marcus glanced over at Ella, who stood with her shoulders shaking a little and her small exposed back faced him, wearing only her simple white lacy bra and shorts. Admiration for his woman’s bravery and resilience brought his manhood swiftly to life. His cock stiffened in a painful way, needing release. He adjusted himself to ease the discomfort. Resisting the temptation, he ignored the rush of sudden desire and returned his focus to the task at hand.
He pressed his hand to Ella’s arm to twist her around and show her what he had removed, but she dropped to the sand. He shoved the evidence in his pocket and crouched down to examine the flawless beauty sprawled out before him. He brushed away the sparkles of sand from her cheeks and lifted her gently into his arms. At his touch, she opened her eyes and blinked her long dark lashes at him. Staring into her deep-azure eyes, his heart galloped. She was breatht
aking.
“So stubborn.” He shook his head.
He hoisted her up and carried her with ease. In the SEALs, he used to carry more weight than what he held in his arms right now on a daily basis. Bouncing her up and down as he walked across the soft, uneven surface, he squeezed her tight.
Ella wriggled in his arms, digging her elbows in his chest. “I fainted, Marcus, but I’m not some helpless female. Put me down. I can manage,” she huffed out.
His breath hitched in his lungs. She really would be the death of him. Despite the guilt he laid at her feet, he’d kill anyone who would harm or take what was his ever again. And she was his. She needed to understand that. When he thought over how she had suffered, it made him crazy with the need to kill those responsible. Instead, he blocked it out. But watching her stand there, barefoot, on the sand, shaking her ass in his face and demanding he remove whatever was buried under her skin melted some of his anger toward her.
This tiny woman never backed down. She didn’t know when to quit. She was a danger to herself and he wished, not for the first time, to come up with a way to keep her safe. Staring down into her deep blues that defiantly met his gaze, he knew locking her away wouldn’t work. His mother had chosen to be hospitalized to save him, but in doing so, his father paid the ultimate price and his relationship with Josephine suffered. No, you couldn’t outrun the inevitable but you could be better prepared.
“Marcus, answer me. Have you lost your tongue? What’s got into you?”
Dear God, if she struggled with him any longer, pressing her hips into his body with her scent infiltrating all his senses, he wasn’t sure he would be in control much longer.
“You have two choices the way I see it, Ella. You either let me carry you until we reach Josephine’s or I will take you right on the sand until you are screaming out my name regardless of whether anyone is watching.”
He needed to regain some control, and her body stiffened in his arms at his words. He smirked. Sex was the one area he asserted his dominance, and she knew if he started to caress her, she would be unable to refuse him. They hadn’t kissed or hugged and weren’t even in the same bed since the abduction. The slightest reminder of that day made his blood run cold. Recalling it now increased his blinding rage and the rampant desire dissipated. He released Ella until her feet reached the sand.
“Marcus, don’t.”
He held her arms but dropped his hold instantly as he digested the panic in her eyes.
“It’s okay. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”
He caught her elbow and brought her close to his body, breathing down over her face. She looked up at him with alarm, her eyes wide and searching.
“My body responds to yours when you’re near, Ella, like a magnet. It’s hard to ignore that pull, but my head is all over the place.” He didn’t want to explain his anger. He couldn’t fully understand it himself but it was aimed at Ella and her actions that day.
A seagull overhead screeched, distracting Ella. “You don’t have to explain. I get it. I’m not the same woman, Marcus, you married. I think we need space from each other to figure out what’s going on.”
He nodded and studied the impressive ocean waves cresting and falling away. “Maybe, but know this: I promised to protect you forever and the truth is, in the end, I couldn’t. I need to rectify that. What happened, well, let’s say, I have demons that I need to slay. Until then, I will give you the space you need. But, and this is non-negotiable, we’re bound together. You’re mine and no one else’s. Do you understand, Ella? You’re my wife, and I won’t let anyone stand between us. You’re not running or throwing away what we have. We will figure this out.”
The words spilled out before he could stop them. A part of him didn’t agree with what he had said, but a deeper instinctive part growled at him to keep her. He watched the woman next to him walk at his side, wondering whether she would run away. It was true: no matter the gulf between them, or how much they argued, she belonged to him. He stopped and twisted her around, placing his hands on her back to check the cut on her neck. Marcus flicked her hair away and brushed his finger near the small incision he had made, and she trembled under his touch. He noted the wound was clean but caked with dry blood. He pressed his body into her back and dipped his head to kiss the skin on the curve between her neck and shoulder above the mark.
“I’m not running, Marcus.” Ella twisted around to face him but shrugged away from his touch. “But, I need to occupy my mind. Ben’s right. I need to go back to work.”
It was like a punch to the heart, hearing her admit that Steel was right. Why did it irk him so? He gave a brief nod and they strolled back to the cottage.
“I need to clean your wound and dress it before it gets infected,” he said as they reached the steps that led to Josephine’s home.
“I can look after the cut, Marcus, you know that. Don’t you need to take that chip to the lab?”
He stood there with his head dipped and inhaled the ocean. He wanted to pull her in his arms and make everything better, but he couldn’t. He needed to find the professor and put him in the ground, and only then could he address the disaster zone that was his marriage. Neither talked much about the day she was taken, and it scratched like a wound. He needed to understand why she had left when he had insisted she stay. Anyway, for now, tucked away here on the coast with a shadow security team, Ella was safe, and she was right; he needed to get to the lab. He leaned in order to give her a kiss, but she darted up the steep wooden steps that led to the garden. The professor had killed his child and even though Ella lived, he’d taken her too.
****
Marcus stashed his round bike helmet on the chrome handlebar of his classic Harley-Davidson bike, which he parked outside Steel’s mansion. When he placed one foot on the lower steps to the house, he paused and looked briefly back at his home. The neat cottage tucked away in the corner with little rose bushes stood empty, and he wondered whether he would ever share it again with Ella. Something about her words the other day—“I’ll stay with Josephine until you get back”—made him want to question her further. But he knew she was returning to work, which meant she wasn’t planning to disappear.
At least not anytime soon.
He wished he could read her mind and understand what was going on inside. Returning to study the front door of Steel’s home, he darted up the remaining several steps. He scanned his thumb and let the small camera view his eye for identification purposes. When the red light changed to green, he pushed the door handle to gain entry. Inside the black-and-white tiled hallway, with its high ceiling and elegant crystal chandelier, it was eerily quiet until a tapping of boots came from the direction of the kitchen.
Steel appeared, his focus zeroed on him as he walked directly toward him. The older man’s bushy gray eyebrows dipped and deep rivers formed across his tanned forehead. Sharp hazel eyes pinned on him. His boss could be intense.
“What the hell are you playing at, Drayton? You were supposed to be in Boston with the others. Jake and Isabella have arrived but this bastard is insisting on seeing Ella before he says anymore.”
Shit.
“That’s not going to happen. Stall the bastard. I went to see Ella, and you need to see this.”
Steel stood a foot away, waiting. Marcus pulled the tiny gadget from his pocket and lay his palm out flat for the other man to see. Steel studied the tiny mechanism and flicked his gaze back at Marcus. “Where the hell did you get that?”
Marcus stepped closer to study the man, whose response was not to question what it was but rather to ask where he had obtained it. “You’ve seen this technology before?”
Steel removed glasses from his shirt pocket and placed them on his face. He peered at Marcus and reached for the tiny electronic device. “Do you mind?”
“No, take it. But I want answers, Steel, before I take another step.”
Steel lifted the minuscule object and examined it back and forth, glancing at Marcus and
cursing under his breath. “This enabled them to know Ella’s location, but they still would have needed to know where she was headed to. To be operational like they were, they must have possessed inside knowledge.”
They eyeballed each other and Marcus knew they were both thinking the same thing.
“That device is military, and this confirms we have a leak,” Marcus said as Steel replaced his glasses in his pocket.
Lately, it didn’t take much for him to fall out with anyone. Steel turned and strode back the way he came and Marcus followed. He watched as Steel pulled out a small plastic bag from the drawer and slipped the gadget inside. He leaned against the center kitchen island in the enormous stainless-steel and white kitchen with every modern convenience at his fingertips. Along the back wall, the wide glass window overlooked a sprawling lawn and mature bushes. A long pine farmers table rested in front with seats for twelve.
“You once said there was something you needed to tell me about you and Ella. Would now be a good time? You see, to answer your fucking question, yes, the military tag individuals. Even though the budget for the military has been declining over the last several years, there is a wide consensus that the use of geospatial technology such as Global Positioning Systems, remote sensing, and geographical information systems to track and locate our enemies is going to increase. Hell, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is creating human robots and devising bullets that reposition in midair. Who knows what else? What I do know is the military is invested in acquiring the latest scientific developments for national security. Having said that, I haven’t seen this sort of nano technology in operation—ever. I swear. Which begs the question: why is Ella important to them? I knew she was a target, but tagging her, abducting, inducing labor, and leaving her and the baby for dead? That’s medieval. There’s something else at play here. I want to know what.”
Marcus scratched his head and shoved his stray hair back from his face. He knew that going down this path would open up the Pandora box of secrets, but he had no other choice. In order to ensure Ella’s safety, they all needed to be on the same page. Hiding who they were wasn’t working.
