Nicole

by Sherry Foster

  “I wondered. I did a bit of digging after that last mission. My guys turned up some interesting facts about a couple of your patents and who owns them. I wondered how you had managed to go into business with them after they were so abrupt about not sharing technology with my people. So you have a Krante with them?” Marcus asked.

  My business with them is between us. Sorry man, but deals are deals and trust is vital. If they are willing to tell you more then by all means you can ask them, but I would ask that you quit digging.

  “ I see, yes, it would be bad for the wrong information to get out. Or any information. We covered our tracks. Look, give them a call and see if you can get them on this with us. We can pick them up and they can deploy their toys but we need all the help we can get.”

  Damn Marcus, I can try but like I told Nikita while ago, they had some excitement down there last night. Rimier’s brother came to visit and, let’s just say with his job he may not be on board with helping us. But I will give them a call when I get off the phone with you. Now, my next question, are you sending a bird for me and some of my people or just for the drones?

  “The drones if you don’t mind. Your people are stretched thin as it is and I hate taking any of you away from your pack when things are going to hell in our world.”

  Alright, I guess I can understand that. I hate that we can’t provide more help this time. Got another question for you. Nikita said the mission was going to be fast and dirty. Exactly what is a dirty mission?

  “Now that I can’t tell you, I have no idea what he means. I’ll ask one of them when they get here. I will send Jamie there in a couple of hours for the drones. Are we going to be able to keep them or do we need to send them back?”

  I would appreciate if you sent them back. I have a patent pending on some of the technology in them and, well, I don’t need them flying loose until I get all the paperwork wrapped up on them.

  “Damn, alright, I will make sure they get back to you after the mission. Look I gotta go, we have to try to nail down all the details.”

  Yeah, alright. Is Nathaniel still in your territory?

  “Unfortunately yes why do you want him?”

  Believe it or not, yes I do. I have someone I want him to meet and I hope between the two of them they can figure out this curse we have hanging over our heads. If you can would you send Kate and her parents along also?

  “You believe in living dangerously don’t you. Sure, I will ask them if they mind heading your way. Casey is still here, did your guys get her cabin fixed yet?”

  No, we can’t get equipment up her mountain after that last snow. And even if we could, we can’t get inside till she lifts the spellwork she has on the cabin.

  “Alright, I will send them your way.”

  Marcus shook his head and looked back toward the meeting before calling through the bond to gather the ones Trey requested.

  Chapter Nine

  Nicole gasped at the sight of the little boy. He couldn’t be older than ten but he carried himself as though he were years older. She watched his stooped carriage as he limped to a stop in front of the cell. The matted and tangled mass of hair indicated he had not been taken care of. The tattered and worn clothing gave small glimpses of bruises both new and old. The young boy didn’t glance at them as he shoved two trays of food through the slot at the the bottom of the cell door before turning to limp away.

  “Wait.” Nicole called softly.

  The only indication the boy heard was the sudden hunched shoulders.

  “Please, please come back.”

  The young boy stumbled and paused before he looked back over his shoulder. Nicole couldn’t stop the shudder of unease when she saw his face. His eyes had the blank stare of a person who had been though unimaginable pain and anguish before finally giving up. He didn’t seem to see her as he turned his face back toward the floor and with a limping shuffle he was soon out of sight.

  Nicole looked at the two trays in distaste. The trays barely had enough food for two people much less three and with only two sporks and two bottles of water she wondered if someone else had their third tray or if what they had was it. She lifted the trays and looked around the cell but the only place to put the trays was on the bed. She had not had a chance to look at the cell when they were brought in, her attention had been on comforting her siblings and her own terror. Now she could see the cell was smaller than she had thought with a rough stone floor. A small toilet was in one corner of the cell with a short concrete wall barely taller than the toilet as the only separation from the rest of the cell. The sink beside the toilet was the smallest she had ever seen. With only one faucet, she wondered if the sink only delivered cold water.

  She looked back down the hall but no one else appeared with another tray. Sitting the two trays down on the floor with another look of distaste she divided the meager food three ways. After putting one third of the food on one tray she scooted it toward Chris while pulling Sammy closer toward her. Sammy could, and did feed herself but at three years of age often food was wasted due to her lack of coordination. The meager food meant they could not afford to waste a single bite.

  Sammy was barely awake but already sobbing for her parents. A moment more and Chris was also sobbing. The sobs of the two prevented them from hearing the approaching footsteps of the new person. An involuntary squeal rent the air when the newcomer spoke.

  “If they catch you feeding a slave they will beat you. Here, this is his food.” The strange female dropped the tray and used her foot to shove it under the door before she turned to leave.”

  “Wait. Stop. Please, what do you mean? Talk to me please.” Nicole begged.

  The female on the other side of the cell door looked down the hall before she looked back at the three in the cell. Hatred in her eyes she stared at Nicole before curling her lips in a snarl.

  “Fresh meat, I hate fresh meat. It never listens and I am the one to suffer. Listen up buttercup. I am gonna tell you the rules here and you better obey them.” She leaned closer to the cell door, anger and bitterness made her voice hoarse, “I don’t care who you are or what you think you can do, get it through your head you can’t. You can’t escape, you can’t change the rules and you can’t sweet talk your way out of anything.” She dropped her voice, “But when you disobey, and I get beat for not teaching you the ropes, I will find you and I will make you suffer.” The stranger straighted and sent a glance down the hall again before pointing at Chris.

  “That is a slave. I don’t care what it was before you came here, it is a slave now. You don’t feed it, you don’t take care of it and you don’t show it affection. Slaves are worthless and will be killed at the drop of a hat. You fight them, they will punish you. I don’t know why I bother telling anyone the rules, they always fight and I always get beaten. You and the little girl are nothing but cattle to these people. One step above a slave.” She snorted, “Unless one of you is different than the others here. Shifters?”

  Nicole looked at the girl in horror before she nodded her head.

  “Well, the slave won’t live past ten or so. They kill them all before they learn to shift. You and the little girl they will put up for auction to the highest bidder they may put the slave up at the same auction. Keeps them from having to keep up with you till you are old enough to mate among other things. For another, almost all the men here are human, I think. I can’t smell the difference anymore, not since.” The girl broke off what she was going to say.

  “Why are you here? Are you a slave? Shifter? You don’t smell like a shifter.” Nicole whispered. Her grip on Sammy had tightened and Chris had abandoned his food to hide behind her. The third tray still lay where it had stopped after the other girl shoved it with her foot.

  “Was, would still be if they could control the animals they hire. But I lost my wolf years ago. If you’re lucky you and the little one get to keep your wolf. Better pray you are lucky.”

  “Lost your wolf.” Nicole shook her head, terror raced
through her body. She didn’t realize she was squeezing Sammy so hard until she cried out. “But you can’t be more than fourteen, surely they value the wolf? Why else take the females?”

  “Humans don’t always believe what they are told. I was nine when they took me. I lost my wolf the same night. They didn’t do anything to the guy that took it. No one could prove what I was or wasn’t after that night.”

  “What are you now, I mean, they didn’t auction you and you are still here.”

  “A toy, same thing you will be if you make them mad before the auction.” The girl turned away and Nicole was too shocked about what she had learned to call her back again.

  Appetite gone she tried to calm the other two enough to feed them. Pulling the third tray toward her she forced herself to eat the food while she tried to figure out what to do.

  Chapter Ten

  “How many and how are we going to do the movement?” Nikita studied the map again before looking around the room to locate Gammon.

  “We will take 10 men minimum. Santiago has a bird on the way here. He already sent his team to Marcus’ territory. Trey doesn’t have the man power to send a team nor the training but he doesn’t need to, not if he can provide me with the toys I want.”

  Dimitri’s lips twisted to the side, he wanted to win the bet he had with Nikita. “Which one of us,” he nodded toward Nikita before looking back at Gammon, “will you be leaving here.”

  The bet was simple, Gammon rarely took both his Betas with him, the pack needed at least one to stay behind. Dimitri was betting Gammon would take them both this time and Nikita was betting on just one. A separate bet had been waged on which one of the two would be left behind.

  Gammon drew a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them he stared at the floor for a moment before he looked back at Dimitri. He shook his head. “Neither. I need you both here. I need our pack protected.” With that he turned his attention back to the papers coming through the fax machine from Marcus’ pack.

  Well shit, that wasn’t in the bet.

  Nikita narrowed his eyes as he stared at his Alpha before answering Dimitri. He is hiding something. Now what would make him leave us both behind? Do you think he expects trouble from Avery or the High Council?

  No, I don’t think that is it at all. Trey never gave a definite answer on getting his friends, and even if they were coming here everyone who knows of them knows our blood is poison to them so they are out. The High Council is the reason we have the school so a sudden break with them can’t be it. They can’t break with us, nor cause us harm without breaking the oath. We haven’t had any strangers around. We are not moving out from here to Mexico so he isn’t expecting trouble to follow us back and even if he did trouble can’t follow us back until we are back. No, he is hiding something. Now what can he be hiding that we would not know about?

  Nothing. He can’t hide anything in the pack that we wouldn’t know about. Everything goes through us before it gets to him. So in actuality we could hide things from him before he could hide something from us.

  Unless it had to do with Mia. I mean, anything that happened between the two of them would, holy shit! Dimitri swung his attention back to Gammon.

  She did look tired. Did you notice if she smelled different? Nikita had known Gammon as long as Dimitri and he had reached the same conclusion.

  I didn’t notice but then again, I wasn’t looking for or expecting a new smell. Act natural, if he is hiding something we don’t want him to know we suspect anything. If he is hiding something he must have a reason. Maybe she is having difficulty. Not every birth is successful. Dimitri offered.

  Have you seen his face? Watch him. Every so often, despite the cluster fuck going on, he grins then he catches himself and looks around. He has made me nervous more than once today with that look. For fuck’s sake, a pregnancy would explain much. I thought, fuck, never mind. No, if Mia is pregnant she isn’t haven’t problems. He would never wear that shit-eating grin he keeps smoothing away if Mia was in any difficulty. So assume she is pregnant, we are going to need a castle and a moat, high towers, maybe a tank or two, no four tanks. One tank for each side and more guards we gotta get more guards.

  What if it is a boy? The silent laughter echoed through the bond between the two men as Dimitri tried to hide his laughter from the room.

  He wouldn’t not dare produce a boy. Not the Alpha in charge of keeping the shifter females safe.

  We better hope it is a boy. We don’t have room for all the bodies of men who would come courting his daughter. Dimitri’s comment caused both men to abruptly stop their internal laughter as they turned startled eyes toward each other. Both men growled at the thought of any male approaching the daughter of their Alpha before jerking their attention back to the meeting. Each man swore to himself to guard Mia with their lives while Gammon was gone and thus started the very situation Gammon hoped to avoid.

  Chapter Eleven

  Samson looked toward the direction of the compound then back to his phone. He was torn between doing his job and making the phone call he knew he had to make. Finally with a snarl of frustration he turned his phone on and walked outside. He couldn’t afford to make a mistake and he couldn’t afford to wait. If anyone found out about the call he was about to make he could kiss his nuts goodbye because his bosses would use him for target practice. Looking in the direction of the compound one last time he turned his phone on before doubling over in pain.

  Save mate.

  Please gods stop ripping at me. We are trying to save our mate. Give me time.

  Save mate. Go now.

  We are going to save her. I am making the phone call now. We will get her out.

  Go now. Save mate.

  We can’t save her if you don’t stop ripping me to pieces.

  Getting attention. You ignore me. Mate gonna die.

  Our mate is not gonna die. We won’t let her. I am calling for help, see, I have the phone in my hand.

  You had phone all day. You always have phone. You never make call.

  I am making call now. Let up on the pain.

  Call now?

  Yes yes call now.

  He almost fell over in relief at the abrupt cessation of pain. For hours his wolf had been ripping at him. At times the pain had been so bad he had lifted his shirt and looked at his chest. It didn’t seem possible to have such excruciating pain with no blood to show for it. He dialed the number and waited.

  Well, well if it isn’t my favorite brother. What brings a phone call from you after months of silence. I am assuming the mission you were on is complete. When are you coming home. Mom and dad have a surprise for you and so does our dear sister.

  Samson swallowed hard before abruptly cutting his brother off with a harsh whisper. “Look, just listen for a minute. I need help. I can’t talk long. I am still running dark, or I should be. I found my mate and I need help getting her out of the country. Hell I need help getting her out of where she is. We don’t have much time. Pull up a map and find Peto Mexico P E T O. I gotta go. I will call back in two hours. See what you can pull together. I will help you as much on this end as I can.”

  WAIT!

  “Brother, I am breaking protocol, please gods make it quick.”

  Sex trafficking ring with auctions?

  “What the fuck man, how do you know that?” Samson looked around as he whispered the question.

  We are sending help. Day after tomorrow. You need to coordinate. Call back in two hours but call this number and tell whoever answers anything you can.

  Samson stared at the phone as his brother rattled off a string of numbers, memorizing them as he went. The phone went abruptly silent as his brother hung up. He hurried to punch the number in his phone and saved it under the code phrase White Knight before turning his phone off again. As he walked back inside he played the conversation over in his head. Who the hell was the we and how did they know about the trafficking ring his people were after? His brother talked like they a
lready had a rescue team on the way but that was impossible. How could they know what was going on down here in Mexico from Colorado? And since when did his brother get involved in rescues in foreign countries? What the hell had been happening back home these last few months? And whose number did he now have in his phone?

  He looked around the small house he had called home for the last few months. His team had been tracking this ring for months and they were almost ready to move in but operating in a foreign country meant they had to be more careful of their actions. He and his partner had staked out the compound gathered intel and silently fumed every time they missed an opportunity to raid the place and rescue the children inside. Glancing back toward the bedroom where Jeffrey was sleeping he pondered his options. His people were making it damn hard for them to set up a rescue and the pain of knowing how helpless they were had caused him and Jeffery many sleepless nights and days, depending on who was on which shift.

  He sat back down at the computer to monitor the compound. So far no one had noticed the cameras they had on the place but that would not last forever. For the last few weeks they had watched and waited and each time their bosses had refused to move yet. This morning they had run out of time. Somehow he had to get Jeffery on his side, which shouldn’t be too hard after the horror they had silently watched. With his mate inside that compound he needed to make a decision about the mission and Jeffery. He looked at the monitor one last time before nodding his head. He trusted Jeffery with his life, he would have to trust him with his secrets if they were to save his mate. Decision made he headed for the bedroom.

  “Wake up man, we have a situation.”