“I know I can. He wants me. I’ll be a field agent and he gets Elise. Besides, he might not realize it, but he needs her,” Lydia said confidently.
“A field agent,” Jude repeated the words slowly, his eyes meeting those of his friend for a long minute.
“Sleeping now,” she said with a yawn.
“Field agent my ass,” he murmured with a low snarl.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Jude was still snarling when she stepped from inside the SUV shortly before eight and stretched, the tee shirt she wore rising and betraying that sparkling little ring he’d bitten in her naval. Once or twice while exploring and caressing his mate. Nothing would have stopped his eyes from taking in the long, lean form, especially when she turned toward the north and bent over. In half. His cock jumped and his brain whimpered.
How long before the hot, burning need for your mate died off? Is that a question he could ask his father? Yeah, right. When he had been thirteen, it would have been okay. Now…not so much.
“Coffee…bathroom…” Lydia held up a set of waving fingers as she walked off toward the shop. She’d begun at a hurried speed that slowed as she realized people were not only staring but a few were pointing and the rest were whispering.
Usually not a good thing.
She came to a stop in the center of the coffee shop, silver-gold head tilted to the side slightly as she spun slowly on her toes. Green eyes went from person to person. She barely noticed the sudden quiet in the room.
“Did I wet my pants?” She asked in the silence, bending forward and checking the crotch of her jeans. “Nope…so…why are you staring at me?” She frowned, one palm up and one finger tapping on her pursed lips. “Hold that thought,” she looked at the girl behind the counter, the busy morning coffee crowd watching. “Bathroom?”
“Down there on the left,” the young girl pointed.
“Thanks.” Lydia shook her head and went down the clean tiled hallway. Jude and Dev had come into the shop behind her. She’d let them sort out the weirdness. She seriously had to pee.
Ten minutes later she re-entered the main area, smelling of soap and warm water. She’d splashed a bucket of cold water on her face trying to get her eyes to focus and not feel so tired. When the rush of scents struck her, she almost ran outside, looking for fresh air.
Jude stood off to the side talking with a man wearing a deep gray pinstripe suit, his hair a mix of brown and black and nicely arranged with a side part and business short. Wolf, her senses told her, his scent matching Dev’s. Then her gaze caught on the familiar redhead and she ignored them and went outside without looking back at them.
“Elise!” Lydia grinned and stepped off the curb, eyeing the pretty little sports car in a gorgeous shade of blue. “Pretty toy,” she acknowledged, nodding and walking around the low fenders, her fingers sliding over the curve. “Painful on the wallet.”
“Shhh…I don’t think about that part,” she scowled, tapping the button on her recorder and showing it to Lydia, who nodded in understanding as the small electronic device was slipped into the pocket of the snappy suit she wore. “So who are you really?”
“Will you tell me honestly if you’re okay?”
“Scared,” Elise said after a long pause, two hands up and raking through the thick mass of deep claret. She let the ringlets drop slowly into place, her head shaking. “I’m not the kind of person someone threatens.”
“Lydia Jones,” she held her palm out with a smile, their hands shaking briefly. “When did you get a threat?”
“This morning. Phone message telling me I was a disgrace as a human,” she laughed, a bitter sound that didn’t match the small, delicate features. “Every time I tried putting things back into place in my apartment, I started crying and kicking things. Not my most memorable evening.”
“Yeah…I need coffee and some food. How about you?”
“I think my stomach is doing flutters too much for food. I hate embarrassing myself when I meet new people.” She stopped and looked around, a little frown when Lydia began walking off toward one of the side roads. “We’re being watched.”
Lydia flashed a toothy grin at her. “They’ll find us. Let’s try that place,” she gestured to the diner flashing signs of breakfast. She checked the little purse she had slipped over her head. “So what do you think of the town? Think you can live here?”
“What makes you think I’ll be working here, Lydia?” Elise decided to ignore the three men who were abruptly striding out of the coffee shop, headed purposefully toward them.
“The guy in the suit? Seth Anderson. The dark blonde, Jude St. John. The other one, Devereaux Myles. At least I think that’s the way it goes…” She frowned in thought. “It could be Myles Devereaux…huh…never thought to ask. Anyway…we’ll see. I have a plan. Don’t worry, Seth will pick up the tab for breakfast and make you a decent offer of a job.”
“Alright, we’ll let that one slide for now,” grinning despite herself at the cocky, positive attitude of her new friend. “Tell me why you look so much like Luna St. Germaine?” Elise shivered as they crossed the threshold, the door closing behind them and the mix of cold and warm sending chills down her spine.
“Good morning,” the older woman looked at them and then at Lydia. “Two?”
“Better make it for five, thanks,” Lydia suggested, her head hitching toward the men filing in behind them. She leaned her head down to Elise who was a few inches shorter, even in those killer heels. “Manipulation is such a fun game, especially when you’re playing against someone who believes themself a master.”
“Unless it backfires,” Elise warned, the tall good looking men coming up quickly behind them.
“Please,” Lydia chuckled, shrugging out of her jacket and sliding into one of the padded seats and picking up the menu. “A large glass of orange juice, please.”
“Coffee, please,” Elise managed to hold her breath, watching the three males adjust seats where they wanted them. The one with longish dark blond hair sat closer to Lydia’s side, his eyes wary, watchful and protective. The one who’d been with him at the interview, sat across from them, casually browsing the menu. The dark haired, expensive suit was on her left, very watchful and staring at her with an intensity that made her shiver.
Lydia reclined in the chair, one leg out in front of her, her elbows resting on the arms. She was very aware of the possessive, warm arm running along her back on the chair. It would have been really nice to have spent a few nights just locked up with Jude. Just being held and touched.
She sighed and her gaze fell to the cold juice being placed on the table; steaming coffee and all the necessary things to go in it added next before the older woman took their order.
She didn’t like this feeling inside her. It felt unbalanced. It felt unsafe. Not for her. She could take care of herself. But how did she protect Jude? She thought about the many people she’d made angry, almost losing herself in thought when she realized how quiet the table was. Pale lashes blinked and rose from the table to look over at Seth Anderson.
“Nice to meet you in person,” she said simply. “Gentlemen, Elise Winston.”
Lydia waited while people introduced themselves and did all the polite things.
“It would have been better if you’d come to the office, Miss Jones,” Seth held the large cup of coffee between two hands, trying to read the woman’s expression. He wasn’t sure what, but he was smart enough to know she was up to something.
“Do you have food there?”
“No, Miss Jones, there isn’t a cafeteria there at the moment,” Seth answered quietly.
“Your whole operation is fairly new, isn’t it?” Lydia watched him carefully, found herself opening her senses and trying to understand the emotions and scents coming to her.
“This isn’t the place to have this discussion,” Seth replied, a little stiffly, the scent of the woman next to him had taken top priority and he wasn’t sure what was up with that. It was distracting
and annoying, to say the least.
“You seem in a bad mood. Can I ask why or isn’t it the place for that, either?”
“It’s been a long couple days, Miss Jones. Sleep wasn’t high on my priority list.”
“Ahh…and that’s my fault. You males have problems with accepting words at their face value. I didn’t need rescued. I didn’t need dragged three thousand miles across the fucking country and I don’t need people losing sleep because of me,” Lydia shook her head. “However…since it did happen, I have a present for you, Seth Anderson. May I borrow your phone? I promise, it won’t be the least bit painful for you.”
Seth leaned back, dark eyes narrowed and sliding to Jude.
“Don’t look to me for an answer. I thought I was pulling Luna back from her father,” he shrugged, his fingers slipping absently through the silken strands of champagne that barely touched her shoulders. “I’ve decided it’s about to become my life’s work saving her from herself.”
“Again…the comprehension issues,” Lydia mumbled, her head shaking. “Alright…Seth Anderson…deal for the table. I want my friend here safe from morons. You need a PR person. I did some checking on the Institute, which is slightly more than a year old and still forming. In exchange for what I want, you get a collection of…” Lydia frowned, chewing on her lip. “If I accept a job with you, does that mean you won’t ask potentially embarrassing questions of where things came from?”
She felt Jude tensing at her side, wincing at the palm that suddenly gripped her neck.
“We have a fund established for bail,” Seth answered dryly.
“Obviously I don’t need bail,” she tossed back. “I’ve done nothing but transfer funds around a bit. I’d like to consider it a generous donation to the Institute and its ongoing goal of seeing that morons and insane scientists don’t get their way,” she looked over at Elise and the smothered chuckle she offered.
“What makes you think I’m the kind of man who negotiates, Miss Jones?” He leaned back, watching their breakfast being laid out on the table. His gaze slid to the petite woman with thick, dark claret ringlets around a heart shaped face topped with the biggest blue eyes he’d ever seen on a woman. Like something from a Disney cartoon, he thought fleetingly.
“Don’t know that you are. But I know what I want. You counter that with what you want,” Lydia shrugged negligently. “Either way, the donation is free. One of these times I’ll screw up, lord knows how, since I’m so good, but hey, it happens…and someone needs to keep trying to reign in the arrogant bastards who run those facilities trying to train kids to kill for them,” she closed her eyes, inhaling slowly as she chewed on the fluffy omelet she’d ordered. She set her fork down and opened the little purse draped around her neck. The pen moved over the piece of paper, lines easily interpreted when she slid it over to Seth. “Do your searches, check for anything you have to. It’s been sitting there for a while, though and I’m more than a little positive no one watches it. Wire that money to your corporate account. It’s yours,” she winked at him. “I have others for my personal use. That one is the oldest so I know it’s grown a bit since I started it with a few donations from generous members of the purist groups in Montreal and the east.”
“How did you manage to slip their brainwashing, Miss Jones?”
“Naturally stubborn,” she suggested, biting into the hash browns hungrily. “I bet you’ve managed to break into those files Jude sent you. I’d also bet you have a complete file on me by now. When I was little, I didn’t do such a good job keeping things about me secret. Things I felt; things I sensed weren’t right. I learned from that by the time I was five. I think their chief mistake was allowing television in my life,” she said with a chuckle.
“It’s a known corrupting influence,” Elise agreed, laughing at her new friend. She pulled in a long breath when the suit scowled at her. She gulped and forced herself to meet the dark, bottomless eyes. “Who handles your public relations duties now?”
He let his gaze move over her features, irritated at the way her scent always moved to the top of the list his senses chose to capture. New and annoying.
“I handle things on my own.” He answered flatly, unaware of the hot glitter in his eyes when he looked at her. He did not need this kind of distraction. He’d risen to take and make the Institute with a long, drawn out plan that did not include a distracting redhead.
“Which is why you need her,” Lydia beamed a smile at him, brows knit at the low growl and the hint of white fang from one side of his mouth. “You guys honestly think those noises and the flash of fang scare us. That is so cute. I seriously need to learn how to do that.”
Elise raised her hand, the very slightest look of panic on her face. “This part of us it does.”
“I need to toughen you up a little. It’s called posturing,” Lydia rolled her eyes. “Males ever present need to assert domination…yada-yada-yada…you get used to it. Just remember they’re free of diseases and always respond well to a thrown ball or biscuit.”
Elise quickly lowered her attention to her plate, biting firmly into her lip to keep from laughing at the expression on the faces of two of the males at the table. Jude just kind of groaned and sighed. Dev was thoroughly enjoying the exchanges with a low chuckle.
“Keep in mind,” Jude looked over at the dark expression on Seth’s face. “You told me to bring her here.”
“Keep in mind if I go along with this, she works with you,” Seth countered flatly.
“And you honestly think I’d let her be with someone else? My mate works with me where I can promise retribution for dumb, mind numbing decisions.”
“I’ve never been fought over before,” Lydia shook her head and looked at them both. “Good thing my plans are always simple and successful.”
“We need to go to my office. Your sister is meeting us there at ten,” Seth took the bill the waitress had laid out and pulled money from his wallet before standing up. He kept his eyes on her, watching the slightest, just the faintest hint of hesitation. “Miss Winston, if you’ll come with us, we’ll talk.” He turned and walked toward the door, his head shaking slowly. He was too aware of the slight redhead following closely behind him, smelling like some wild exotic flower in spring and it was becoming annoying.
Jude felt the abrupt and sudden hesitation and the fear inside his mate, his fingers reaching for hers, uncertain if she’d pull away from him or not. Instead, her fingers curled around his tightly. He’d been around her enough to know she was breathing too quickly, the thought of meeting Luna St. Germaine had sent her heart racing and a panic through her she wasn’t used to dealing with.
“We’ll follow you in,” Jude nodded toward Dev, sending him with Seth and the reporter. He took the keys in one hand, his other wrapping around her waist, swearing softly when she stumbled against him. “Hold on, baby…just till we get inside…” He whispered hoarsely.
Lydia hated the trembling inside her. She hated the need to be held that he’d brought to life; the need for his touch and kiss.
A sister.
A mate.
She closed her eyes, groaning and doubling over after he’d put her into the passenger seat, curling against the closed door.
She couldn’t have a sister.
She couldn’t have a mate. She’d get them hurt; get them killed.
“We have to leave, Jude. We have to. If they followed…I shouldn’t have let you bring me around her,” Lydia shook her head. “I shouldn’t have…I didn’t know what I was doing when I…when I bit you. I’m so sorry. I heard her whispering to me. I heard her telling me you were mine,” she recalled fiercely, her breaths coming in little panting gasps. “But I don’t have that right to involve you in this! Either of you!”
“Her?” Jude studied her, fighting to get inside her mind and figure out the sudden panic.
“The cat,” she whispered back, her head shaking. “She told me. Said you were mine. Nothing was ever really mine before. It was always di
sposable. But you…”
“Lydia, what the hell’s wrong? I can’t help if you won’t explain anything to me,” Jude didn’t start the SUV. “You were fine. What happened? What’s wrong?”
“I’m scared. I…I haven’t felt like this since I was five. Since they found out how smart I was…how smart I could be,” she didn’t fight him when he slid across the seat, his hands on her shoulders and turning her to face him. “They lectured me. Night and day. Endlessly. The more they talked the worse I became. They’ll come for me. Why do you think I kept moving? Changing my appearance? Because I knew they were looking.”
“This isn’t Montreal, Lydia.”
“They won’t stop, don’t you see? They want me for the same thing…the same thing they did to our mother,” she whispered hoarsely. “You played into their hands, Jude. You brought me to her and made it easy for them. Now we’re in the same place. Now they found me. That’s something they hadn’t been able to do because I never allowed them to see the real me.”
“Then why the hell did you talk to the reporter?”
“Because she couldn’t. Because eventually, Seth would ask her to. She’d do it because it was right, not what was best for her, but right for others. Eventually she’d have to in order to get the public on their side. So I did it first. So he would have to leave her alone,” Lydia shook her head. “But she couldn’t. I couldn’t let her. It would hurt too much.”
“You don’t know her. You don’t know if she could have handled it on her own.”
“I do know,” she answered softly. “I saw it in her eyes. I know she’d force herself to talk to the press and you know why? Because eventually, they’re going to threaten her mate. Eventually they’re going to hurt people she loves and if it’s not out in front of the press so they’re so damn busy doing damage control they don’t have time to bother with her, then they’re going to keep coming until she’s a wreck.”
Devil Hills: #2 Luna & Lydia Page 30
