Leaf, Erin M. - Tango Trio [Dream Marked 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (22 page)

Tessa!
Jared pulled up short.
Are you okay?

I’m fine
, she sent.
Keep going. You can’t lose her! I’ll catch up!
She was already pulling in energy from the ground to heal herself. Jared took her at her word and loped off, Parker following his lead. A few minutes later, the wound was healed, and Tessa took off after them, following their scent and aural trail easily even though she could no longer see them. As she ran, she worried. If she wasn’t there to heal them, how could they fight off the psychic acid? She almost stumbled again, instinctively pulling more energy from the ground, ready to heal herself. Instead, she felt the energy boost her speed.
What the—?
She opened the slight connection more, savoring the rich feeling of the earth’s power sifting into her body, strengthening her. She opened wider, and the power hit her aura, motes of it bleeding off into the air like the fiery stars of a sparkler.
Freaky
. Tessa kept going, absorbing energy, and then she tried to filter the pressure and send the excess to Jared and Parker. They were fast, but a Jeep was faster. They needed every advantage they could get. She felt them yelp with surprise and smiled internally. Yup, it worked. She gathered the sparks and blended them into their auras even as she drew closer to her lovers. She fed the power into the braided threads of their bond until the shimmer made her eyes ache. Then, with a last surge of speed, she finally caught up to them, squeezing in between their sleek bodies as they ran.

About time you caught up with us
, Parker thought to her, a hint of teasing in his mind voice.

Tessa sent him a mental image of her giving him the finger. She felt his laughter inside her head and returned it before abruptly sobering as Jared slowed down, skidding off the rural road. She joined him on the gravel, not surprised to see a dirt road leading into the forest. She recognized this spot. The trees grew thickly along this stretch of road, and the underbrush was thick, almost obscuring the dirt track.

They went in there?
Tessa asked with a stab of foreboding. She could clearly see fresh tire tracks in the soft dirt leading into the depths of the forest.

Jared glanced at her and sniffed the ground.
They turned here.
He looked at the dirt road then sniffed again.
This leads to an old coal mine, doesn’t it?

Tessa sent affirmation.
Yeah, we’re at the southern foot of the Blue Mountain range. There isn’t a lot of coal on this side of the mountain, so this mine was only open for a few years back in the 1800s. It’s been abandoned for a long time.
She glanced at the opening again. She did
not
want to go in there. Usually she enjoyed hiking in this area, but knowing that her mother was in there, set on killing or bleeding her and her bond-mates dry made her want to run the other way. She remembered disintegrating her hand, and she wanted to run even more.

Parker bumped Tessa with his head encouragingly, sensing her disquiet.
We should be careful
. He cautiously stepped past her.

Dude, you read my mind
, she sent, amused as she felt Jared mentally rolling his eyes at her.
Well, it’s true
, she thought petulantly, then quieted her nerves as she forced herself after him, slipping into the brush along one side of the dirt track to minimize any chance of discovery. She sensed Jared watching approvingly before he did the same. Parker ventured a few more steps in the open before he melted into the trees.

The trail is clearly marked
, Jared thought as they moved forward.
It’s easier to track here.

Tessa agreed. The hard road didn’t hold impressions or even scent very well. She knew Jared had been following the traces of ash on the air more than any smell that lingered on the asphalt. Here she could see tracks in the dirt—turned stones, some crushed grass. She looked at Jared.
The mine entrance isn’t far. I remember walking along this route when Parker and I went hiking last year.

Parker sent affirmation through their link, and then Tessa caught a hint of worry.
We need to be careful. I’m worried about an ambush
.

We can’t let that stop us
, Jared sent.

Tessa growled, wanting to get moving. If they lingered any more, she’d lose her nerve. Jared glanced at her, his green eyes piercing, unfathomable. Tessa was glad he was on their side. When he moved forward, keeping to the shadows, Parker and Tessa followed.

Ten long minutes later, the trio paused on the edge of a small clearing. Her mother’s Jeep was parked to the side of an old coal mine tunnel, the front end shoved into the brush along the side of a stone ridge. The entrance was overgrown with vines and shrubs, but Tessa could still see the crumbling bricks that defined the edges of the small hole in the mountain. The scent of her mother lingered on the breeze along with an acrid, cold smell from the depths of the mine.

This is it
, Tessa sent, inching forward into the open. She swung her head around, using vision to augment her other senses. She didn’t hear or feel anyone else around. She opened her mental senses wider, gathering more power from the ground and shoving the extra into Jared and Parker. They shuddered as the energy sunk into them, and Tessa concentrated on weaving their auras tighter, until they became impenetrable shields.
This energy will help, but we’re going to have to get some real rest when this is all over.

Jared sent agreement to her.

I hate small, enclosed spaces
, Parker thought, his mind voice glum, even as he shrugged the sparks of energy into his body.

We have to do this
, Jared insisted. He walked ahead of Tessa, rubbing his long body along her side. Tessa shivered, enjoying the sensuous feel of his fur against hers, but it wasn’t enough to calm her nerves. Parker growled under his breath, the sound heightening her unease. She waited until Jared cautiously inspected the entrance.
It looks clear.

Tessa moved closer, the thought of her mother’s rage flashing across her mind. It didn’t matter that she didn’t want to do this. They had to stop the woman before she hurt anyone else. Tessa snarled quietly then followed Jared into the darkness.

* * * *

Jared inched along the mine shaft, using his nose to find the way. They’d long since lost the faint illumination of the mine entrance. This particular mine was so old, he didn’t think it had ever been wired for electricity. He scented the crumbling rot of ancient lumber and hoped the beams shoring up the ceiling would hold.

They should
, Parker sent, catching the edge of Jared’s thoughts.
I can smell Cynthia more now than I could outside. Obviously she’s been using this mine for a while. Today’s scent trail is overlaying many older ones.

Jared agreed. The scent of ash lingered much thicker in the passageway than he’d expected.
We should be very careful
, he thought as he turned down an auxiliary shaft.
I’m not sure how stable these tunnels are.
The ceiling was much lower, and part of the wall had caved in, but her footprints were still strongly marked. He wished he could blow his nose or even grimace, but his cat form, for all its many advantages, prevented him from expressing those simple human gestures of disgust.
I don’t think one shower will be enough to wash this stench off of my body.
He felt Tessa and Parker’s agreement as he thought about how much he hated Cynthia’s peculiar smell. It permeated his nose and fur until he wanted to snarl at it. It was a perversion of the beautiful scent of a true bond. He stalked the tunnel floor, sniffing only when he had to, consoling himself with visions of Tessa and Parker in the shower with him when this was all over.

Did you hear that?
Tessa thought suddenly, breaking into his reverie. Her mind voice crackled with alarm.

Jared froze, listening. For a moment he heard nothing, and then he caught a hint of a faint snapping sound as it echoed in the tunnel.
What is that?

Parker sniffed then snarled.
They’re burning something.

In a mine?
Tessa sent, an edge of panic in her thoughts.

I don’t think they’re burning anything large
, Jared sent to her. He inched forward, straining to hear. The sound grew louder, and he felt Tessa feeding him more energy. It boosted his hearing. The crackling sound was like listening to a thick liquid burning over a stove. He heard glass clinking against wood, and the answer abruptly came to him.
This is a ‘Path lab!

Tessa’s shock reverberated along their link.
Are you sure? I thought it was just my mom’s hideout in this area.

Jared fed her the images his sense of smell constructed.
We know they take the blood of bonded couples and use it to manufacture ‘Path. We know that ‘Path is a liquid. What we don’t know is exactly how they do it, but it stands to reason they have to put the blood through some sort of chemical process to create the drug.

Parker eased himself forward.
I hear voices.

Jared tensed and followed until he could hear them, too. Tessa fed them more energy, and he let it sink into him, heightening his connection with the ground. She slipped up behind him as he continued along until all three of them could hear clearly.

“I don’t care! We’ve got to pack up and go to the secondary site!” Tessa’s mom was saying. Jared noted the shrill tone of her voice. She was stressed. Good. “Do you see this? This stump is all that’s left of my fucking arm. My acid pistol rounds bounced right off of them!”

“We can’t leave until we finish processing this batch,” a man’s deep voice responded.

“They’re going to kill me! Give me another dose.”

“Like hell. You didn’t even pay us for the last one. And if you couldn’t capture your daughter, you should’ve killed her and her bond-mate. We could have used the blood,” the man responded, his voice calm. Jared eased forward. He could make out a faint light ahead.

“Johnson, she disintegrated my hand,” Cynthia argued. “Who knows what else she can do? I need more ‘Path.”

Johnson was her assistant!
Tessa sent, her mind voice excited.
But he doesn’t seem to be taking orders from her.

Yeah, that’s weird
, Parker offered, his large body slinking up beside Jared. He felt both warm and menacing.

“Cynthia, I don’t really give a flying fuck about your hand. You had one assignment to do here, and you fucked it up. Which doesn’t surprise me.”

“I’m the one that got you this job, Johnson,” Cynthia stated, her frustration evident by the brittle edge in her voice. “And we didn’t have enough information on them. I had no idea she’d bonded and could call big cats to her. No one could’ve predicted that!” Her voice was growing raspy. Jared reasoned that the blood loss was probably making her weak.

“Does that matter? You know what they’ll do to us if we fail,” Johnson stated, his voice hard. Jared heard more clinking and the sound of a crate being shifted. “I don’t intend on failing them.”

Who’s ‘they’?
Tessa wondered.

Jared shrugged in his mind.
Maybe your mom needed resources to set up the drug trade
.

“You have to help me,” Cynthia begged.

“I don’t have to do jack shit. You got yourself into this mess. You get yourself out of it.”

“What if my daughter followed me here?” Cynthia’s voice turned cunning.

“Then I guess you’re going to die, especially if her cats came with her,” Johnson stated. The crackling sound abruptly stopped. Jared was close enough now that he could see the turn in the tunnel ahead. He bet there was a semi-open cavern ahead where the lab was set up. He heard the faint whine of a generator. They had power, and water was probably abundant this deep in the ground. He knew that mines typically had to pump water out, so he figured they’d have everything they needed to manufacture the drug.

What do we do?
Tessa sent.

We need to assess how many of them are in there
, Jared answered, even as he wondered how exactly they were going to manage that.

Maybe I can use my aura-sense
, Tessa mused.

Jared sensed her concentrating, and then a burst of energy sizzled against his aura. His fur stood on end, and it was all he could do not to jump straight up in the air.
Tessa! What the hell?

Sorry, sorry
, she muttered in his head but didn’t drop the energy load. Jared wished he could help her, but his talents ran more to brute, physical force. Suddenly she gasped.

What?
Parker demanded, his mind voice irritable. Jared knew his bond-mate’s fur was as ruffled as his.

Look
. Tessa invited them deeper into her mind. He saw a crude image of auras and earth energy, the currents and colors shifting like a bad infrared scope. The flares of color and sparkles of energy confused him for a moment, and then he realized that Tessa had used her ability to scent auras and draw energy to construct a map of the hidden cavern ahead. If he concentrated, he could make out several bodies and equipment. There were a stack of crates along one of the walls and a large table in the center of the space. On the table were numerous burners. A bright thread of energy lead down another shaft.
I think that’s the electrical conduit that leads to a generator.