Devil Hills: #2 Luna & Lydia

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  “Inside, Lydia,” Jude gestured to the SUV, offering a palm that was ignored as she climbed back into the seat behind the driver. The seats had been put back upright again, the blankets folded and resting in the back on top of the suitcases.

  She watched Jude climb into the seat, close and latch the side door and swivel his seat so he could see both her and the man driving. He accepted the bags held out to him from Dev.

  “Thanks. Coffee?”

  “Two large inside. I know how you need your morning fix,” he met the fiery amber eyes in the mirror. “Even if it is noon.”

  “You need to move back here, Dev. I’ll take the day shift,” Jude took the coffee with him, waiting until Dev circled the SUV and took his seat.

  “There’s food in the bag, Miss Jones. Burgers with no onions and extra bacon,” he told her, watching her eyes go to Jude and then the bag. “And curly fries with extra salt. He’s not such an asshole when he’s not pushed to his limits.”

  “Evidently females aren’t permitted to have limits,” she said quietly, pulling a quilt from behind her and reclining the seat. She curled into the seat, her face pressed against the outer wall.

  “You drugged me.”

  “You’re up one,” she murmured, the quilt over her head and a long sigh easing free as warmth settled in her again. She’d been so cold the last few nights.

  Jude found a station playing the club music he liked, watched Dev shrug and put a pair of earplugs in place before crossing his arms over his chest, pulling the blanket up and his Stetson style hat down over his face.

  He was only lying to himself when he said he didn’t care if she ate or not. It was three when he lifted the bag from the back and ate the burgers inside. Neither of them had moved much, although the sounds coming from Lydia concerned him. The tiny whimpers, the single word he could make out now and then and the soft snarling and occasional gasp, as if she couldn’t catch her breath.

  His fingers touched the mark she’d placed there. Maybe her cat realized what she was doing; maybe it was nothing more than an accident. But it was done. He was hers. And if that meant he was fighting her to keep her safe and alive, so be it.

  He wanted her back with those doctors, no matter what she said. He’d stay with her, maybe that would help the fear. They’d know how to help her with the changes. Hell, he wasn’t sure he could even remember what it’d been like at twelve. He was antsy and excited and impatient. She was frightened, he could smell it, lying buried beneath a lot of other emotions coursing through her. She was too used to burying her fear.

  He heard the low groan just as he pulled into the fuel station.

  “It’s dark already,” Dev straightened slowly, righting the seat and cracking his head from one side to the other before working at stretching out his shoulders.

  “Just short of eight,” Jude answered, stepping into the evening cold and zipping his jacket, striding to the pump and beginning to fill the tank. The door slid to the side, both men looking at the woman, the small waking sounds letting them know she was joining them. Slowly. “Lots of places to choose from for a meal.”

  Dev wandered toward the restroom, leaving them some privacy.

  Jude didn’t try and stop watching her. The long, lean stretches she made, the small palms rubbing at her eyes like a little girl. She hadn’t eaten a thing since they took her and she was pale but the anger was gone from her eyes when they met.

  “Welcome back,” he said quietly. “I’ll drive up to the restroom in a minute.” She nodded, blinking and looking around the busy four corners of the interstate. “Anything look interesting for food?” Her eyes scanned the huge, colorful signs, landing on one in particular. “Italian?”

  Lydia didn’t like the uncomfortable jump her stomach gave and realized the jumping was sinking a lot lower in her body when she looked at him. She looked away, folding the blanket and setting it to the side.

  Why him? Why did he have to be such a good kisser, she groaned inwardly, ignoring the thumping and warmth spreading through her. Why did he have to feel so good when he held her, comforted her? She’d spent most of her life without being comforted. Why did it matter now? She was doing just fine, she told herself firmly.

  “Is your word important to you, Lydia?” Jude asked quietly, capping off the tank and moving to lean with a hand up on the open edge of the door. Dev came up from the side, waiting.

  She looked over, nodding slowly.

  “A deal with the devil?” Dev chuckled and took the keys from Jude, crossing in front of the SUV and climbing behind the wheel.

  “No scenes, Lydia. No yelling. No tricks. No running. You want Italian, I want your word you’ll leave the restaurant with us and get back into the SUV without giving me a pain in the ass. You need to eat.”

  “Stop trying to be my mother, St. John,” she said flatly. “But I agree.”

  He climbed in and looked at Dev. “Park over by the restaurant. They have nice restrooms and we’ll get a table. Say it, Lydia.”

  She sighed thickly, her hands folding primly on the black jean covered thighs.

  “I will be a good little girl tonight. I will not cause problems or make a scene. I will eat my dinner and leave the restaurant with both my wardens and get back into the SUV without a single thought to making a run for it,” flashing green eyes peered at him through half lowered lashes. “How’s that?”

  “Needs work, but it’s acceptable,” he answered, working to keep his laughter inside. Dev, on the other hand, let his hoot of amusement break free.

  “I’ll work on the tone,” she said easily, sighing and looking toward the well-lit restaurant front. It was the middle of the week so they weren’t too busy. She barely waited until the SUV came to a stop, reaching for the door only to have her wrist gripped tightly. “I gave you my word. I need to pee, Jude, don’t get in my way or it’ll be a tad embarrassing,” she warned through her teeth, hoping her well-honed muscles held until she wiggled the jeans down her legs.

  Jude pushed the door wide, stepping out and staying at her side after slamming the door closed.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Lydia ignored the two handsome men trailing behind her. And they were trailing behind her because she was seriously moving. She waved aside the hostess with a glance behind her.

  “Talk to them. Restroom?” She followed the pointing finger and caught sight of the sign with a long sigh of impending relief. It wasn’t so bad until you stood up, she thought with a little growl, shoving the door aside and rushing into one of the stalls, wrestling with her jeans with a very long sigh. Then you stood up and everything rushed to your bladder.

  It amazed her that she had to pee so much and it’d been several very long hours since she’d had anything to drink. But then she didn’t know what was in the tranquilizer they used on her. It seemed to suck the moisture out of her. She stood staring into the mirror, cold water splashing on her face and rubbed into her eyes.

  She hated drugs. With more of a vehemence than she’d ever thought possible. She caught sight of the frown on her lips just before she left the restroom. But she didn’t hate Jude for using them. That, she understood and it made her head shake.

  A philosophical discussion with self for another day, she mused.

  Lydia walked out of the restroom, not surprised to find Jude leaning casually against the archway. His palm went with a proprietary gesture, resting low on her hip and guiding her to the table they’d gotten in the far corner, away from most of the customers.

  Two large bowls of salad and breadsticks waited for them, along with tall glasses of iced water. Jude put her in the corner and watched her drain the glass before using the tongs and filling her plate with salad. Delicate fingernails lifted the rings of purple onion from her salad, shoving them to the side along with the olive. He plucked the olive from her plate and broke a breadstick in half, biting down and chewing while reading through the menu.

  “What?” She looked up at the two men watching her, he
r palm subconsciously swiping at her chin. “Did I miss my mouth?”

  Dev closed the menu and set it aside, leaning back and glancing around the room. “Sioux Falls?”

  Jude nodded, setting the menu aside and looking up at the waitress. “Are you ready to order, Lydia?”

  “Fettuccine with prawns and an order of calamari, please,” she said, pausing from her salad only long enough to speak. “And if you could refill the water and more salad, please?”

  The males looked at one another once the waitress finished taking orders and left them alone with a refilled salad bowl. Dev just shrugged and relaxed, letting his coat fall to the back of his seat.

  “This is the best place,” Lydia declared, sighing and biting down on a breadstick. “I think I was nineteen when I finally had enough money to come here with a friend. They have the most amazing stuffed shells.”

  “You should have eaten breakfast,” Jude told her.

  “I wasn’t hungry,” her fork pointed at him. “And once again, if I knew what my mother looked like, I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have hair on her chest or that really sexy shadow you’re sporting.”

  Dev choked on the swallow of water he was taking, amusement in his eyes when she glanced over at him.

  “You’re kind of cute, too…that whole biker without a bike look you have,” she said with a little nod at the leather pants and longer hair. Her head turned slowly toward Jude. “Dude…you’re growling again. What is up with that?”

  “It’s a mate thing,” Dev jumped into the middle, ignoring the look from Jude.

  “Again with the mate thing. I’m not even sure on a really good day I’d consider us friends,” Lydia said with a shake of her head.

  Dev looked from one to the other, a dark brow arched.

  “She doesn’t understand how it works,” Jude answered the unasked question.

  Green eyes went from one to the other. “What don’t I understand?”

  “You marked him,” Dev said simply.

  “I…” she bit down on the forkful of salad, looking at Jude and the finger he raised to pull the collar of his shirt to the side. “He pissed me off. I bit him. Period.”

  “And you have his mark,” Dev continued slowly.

  “I am not having the conversation,” she declared, waving a palm that slapped the table the next instant. A thought dawned and she was pissed. “What’d you do with my stuff?”

  “You mean your arsenal?” Jude returned, more than a little bit on the snarly side.

  “My stuff,” she repeated more slowly. “Stuff I bought and paid for and was all in that SUV. Where did it go?” She waited, fingers picking at the bits of salad on her plate.

  “Meredith added it to one of the units we have in Montreal,” Jude finally answered, pushing his salad plate to the side and watching her lift a ring of squid after drenching the plate with lemon juice.

  “I want it back.”

  “You’re not going to be needing it anytime soon,” he met the single arched brow with a stoic stare.

  “Probably not for a year or so,” she agreed thoughtfully, the plans slowly evolving inside her head. “But I want it back. I bought it. I paid for it.”

  “You stole for it.”

  “Prove it.”

  “Prove it’s yours.”

  She went silent and glaring when Dev gestured to the waitress with his empty glass of tea and let her remove the salad and plates. “Thanks.”

  “Devereaux is an interesting name,” Lydia said with a bright smile. “Are all the guys working for this institute as cute?” Her head snapped around to Jude. “What is wrong with you?” She hissed at the low, throaty growl from her side.

  “Figure it out, Lydia.”

  Dev sighed thickly, waiting until the waitress had laid out large, hot plates filled with their food.

  “He’s possessive, Lydia. And you commenting on another guy’s appearance brings that to the surface,” he almost laughed at the look on her face, her gaze going from the plate of pasta to Jude and back to Dev in disbelief. “Oft times it’s instinctual. Sometimes, deliberate.”

  “Seriously? In case you haven’t noticed, there are at least half a dozen women checking you two out. You with the long hair and leather pants thing you got going and him with that dark blond, bed-head look and the sexy shadow. You don’t see me ready to skin girls because of it, do you?” She continued frowning but her attention was on the plate of creamy pasta.

  “Bed-head?” Jude managed to ask after almost choking on his pasta and sausage.

  Lydia held a large prawn on her fork but set it down and leaned over closer to him, her hand up and fingers spearing the disheveled strands before he could move.

  “Bed-head – like you just got out of being tumbled and rode in bed,” she explained, ignoring the coughing from Dev and returning to her pasta.

  Jude grit his teeth, her cool fingers brushing his neck before they buried themselves in his hair, nails raking gently along his scalp. He turned a glare at the chuckle from Dev and glanced around the room, his gaze following the path hers had taken when they entered. He only just realized he doubted she was ever in a place where she slept soundly, feeling safe enough to allow it.

  “You told me you had a thumb drive, Lydia,” Jude watched the blank green eyes rise from the prawn she was peeling.

  She said nothing.

  “Where is it?”

  “You rummaged my luggage,” she answered with a little shrug. “You didn’t find it?”

  “You know I didn’t or I wouldn’t be asking. I can upload it and Seth can have his team start work on breaking the encryption,” Jude ground his teeth, taking another bite of his pasta while she returned to her food.

  “She’s wearing it,” Dev said quietly, his eyes on the stainless steel looking replica of an old compass that hung around her throat. “Have you ever seen her without the pendant?”

  Lydia continued eating, ignoring them both.

  “If I give you the drive will you take me back to Montreal?” She looked up curiously, watching Dev’s expression go blank and Jude’s darken.

  “You’re coming to Devil Hills. You need to see the doctors there and…”

  “I’m not seeing any doctors. Period. I – am fine. I – intend to remain fine,” she informed them firmly, dredging a breadstick through the creamy white cheese sauce left in her plate. “That was incredibly good. Thank you.”

  “Lydia, we need to find out what’s in your blood so they can attempt to counter it,” Jude spoke quietly, the threads of his control stretched taut.

  “You said I’m not dying,” she said thoughtfully. “I know the shots are given to stop the inner me from breaking free. That’s why they’re timed with the monthly thing. I’m free of them for the moment. I don’t need another doctor poking and stabbing at me and I won’t let it happen.”

  “The hell you won’t.”

  “And exactly how is what you’re demanding any different than the vampires at the facilities?” She asked softly, her head shaking. She raised one hand, turned the pendant and slipped the small drive from the space it was fitted to in the back. She held it out to him. “Take it. I hope it helps him, honestly. But I’m not a lab rat. I’m not a test subject and I’m not letting one more white coat hurt me.” She stood up, her palm out. “I promised. I never go back on my word. Just a bathroom run. No worries. I will be back here in a few.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Dev waited, watching her go before speaking.

  “You need to let up a bit or she’s going to bolt so far, you won’t find her again,” he said quietly.

  “She’s my concern now.”

  “Her cat might have known what it was doing, but she didn’t,” Dev continued as if his friend hadn’t spoken. “But I don’t think that will make her run as fast as the cage you’re trying to throw around her.”

  “I told you – butt out.”

  “If you don’t want her as a mate, walk the fuck away, Jude,” Dev lean
ed over the table. “A year or two away from her and you know damn well the mark will disappear. Like it or not, what she does in Montreal is her only outlet for revenge. She might not label it that, but it’s there and she needs it.”

  “You don’t think I realize that? How the hell do I keep her alive? How the hell do I keep her out of the hands of Morgan and her ghouls? Not to mention Gaudarville,” Jude shoved his plate back and drained the tea. “The instant she goes back there, they start pumping drugs into her again, or worse, use her to breed. Force that on her when she’s too drugged to fight them. How the hell will she fight back from that?”

  “She uses them to get into the facilities,” Dev didn’t move when the threatening growl came. “You can’t lock her up, Jude. Maybe just find a way to redirect her abilities. I’m not her mate and I still wouldn’t want her back inside one of those facilities,” he sighed, his head shaking. “But I don’t see how to stop her, either.”

  “I’m working on that one,” Jude said flatly. “Don’t let her fool you.”

  “It isn’t me walking around with a hard-on. For her as well as for her safety. She’s done what all predators do, she adapts. The facility people see what she wants them to see and she uses it to take control and Alpha those who don’t even know they need an Alpha,” Devereaux Myles watched the woman in question speak with the waitress, laughing and smiling. “I almost feel sorry for Montreal when she gets out with a purpose and the city is laid at her feet.”

  “No shit,” Jude pulled his wallet out and glanced at the bill, tossing down his card and handing it to the waitress that had followed Lydia to the table. “Ready to go, Lydia?”

  “Why is it so hard to work with her instead of fighting it?”

  “When you see a fucking gun aimed at your mate’s head, you come ask me that same question, Dev,” Jude kept his voice low, watching the woman at his side studying them both.