Promises (Blood Brothers #1) (24 page)

Suddenly, Jollie heard a grunt and then silence over a brief pause in the program. Turning, she was surprised that the bodyguard was no longer by the doorway where he had been just moments before and she instantly went on alert.

“Rafe,”
Jollie sent to her mate.
“Did you call off the bodyguard?”

When she got no answer from her mate, Jollie rushed to the wall, putting her back to it. Whoever was out in the control room had to come through the door to get her and Jollie was determined not to go quietly.

“Did you think you could escape him that easily, bitch?” The voice that echoed in the holo-training room chilled Jollie to the bone. It was the voice of her nightmares, the one man who had concentrated her more than any of her other captors and who had inflicted more damage both mentally and physically than all of the rest. The fact that he was here, in their home, terrified her but it brought out a killing rage that this monster might get to Chayle. There was no way she would allow him to take her alive again, nor get close to a pregnant Chayle.

“I guess you really are stupid. You’re a dead man,” she whispered, backing up. “You didn’t have a choice and now you think you can come into my home? Take what doesn’t belong to you?” Jollie refused to lose her temper, but this asshole was not going to leave her alive. Not if she had anything to say about it. She wasn’t panicked yet, but it was worrisome that Rafe hadn’t answered her mental call.

“Your owner wants his property back and I’m here to retrieve it. So come quietly, or you will see the wrath he can rain down on those around you.” The ominous voice boomed into the room, trying to scare Jollie. It didn’t work.

“Bring it, asshole. Your retrieval license has been revoked!” Jollie hissed.

“Bitch!” The giant shadow moved from the gloom and into the overheads, allowing Jollie to face the man who had inflicted so much agony the last time he held her.

He stood at least six foot six with hulking muscles hidden under dark pants and tight long sleeve shirt. His dark hair and eyes only added to the look of evil as he slowly moved into the room. He stroked the scar along his left cheek, drawing Jollie’s eyes to the gift she had given him when he had taken her the first time. When she looked back into his eyes, death stared back at her as sure as the sun rose in the east.

“Gabe, can you hear me?”
Jollie pushed the question out through the silent waves, hoping her unique abilities would reach the security tech. Rafe didn’t realize she could connect with some of the men and Gabe was the strongest of them. Her only hope was that he could hear her if the goon in front of her was able to block telepathic transmissions.

“Jollie?”
she barely heard Gabe’s question, a whisper more than anything.

“Get Rafe. Hurry!.”
It was all the time she had before he moved.

“I’m not stupid enough to take you down, bitch. I know your moves and the Master wants you in one piece.” He came in hard and fast, thinking he could crowd her into a corner and take her down but Jollie had other ideas. She let him get close before dropping down and back, sweeping her right leg out and kicking his legs out from under him. The brute went down hard but back flipped back to his feet as she whirled around to kick the back of his knees out from under him once more. That’s when Jollie felt the sting in her neck and realized once again she had underestimated her opponent.

The room begin to sway as she fought to stay on her feet. Shadows were moving in around her like ghosts from the past as Jollie fought to keep her eyes open but a rough hand pulled her head back and she was looking into the eyes of the man who had tortured her once before. His demonic eyes were alight with fire, his teeth sharp and evil as he licked his lips with a split tongue and let it slip out to taste her cheek. Gods, not again! Don’t let them drug her again.

“You’re mine now, bitch and he’s waiting for you.”

Chapter 33

“Chayle!”
Chayle was laying on the chaise lounge resting her back when she heard the scream rip along the neural pathways through her head the instant the drug hit Jollie’s bloodstream.

“Get Rafe - they’re here!”
Terror, desperation, it was so horrifying Chayle felt the muscles across her huge stomach contract as Jollie’s emotions slammed into her mental barriers like they were made of tissue paper, shredding them into slivers of nothing. It sent pain through her stomach and back bending Chayle over double where she lay, making it impossible to breathe for several minutes.

“No, not yet little ones,” she whispered to her boys. “I haven’t told your father yet and he’s going to be so pissed.” She rubbed her lower stomach as the contraction eased.

Forcing herself to stand, Chayle knew something was wrong with Jollie as dark images swamped her as she tried to stand. Dizzying blackness, an awful taste in the back of her mouth, then the babes were doing an odd kind of tumble as they seemed to shimmy to the base of her stomach just over her bladder.

Another contraction hit, this one harder. It sucked the air from the room and took her to the floor of the sunroom. Her bodyguard had been standing just outside of the door but he was instantly next to her, screaming for someone to get Kayne. She felt the warm gush of water between her thighs and knew it was too late. Their boys were coming now because their aunt had been taken.

“Kayne!”
Panting, crying, Chayle damned all men to hell for what was happening and why it had to happen now, when Jollie was in trouble. She fought to keep the pain at bay when she heard her mate slam into the room. She could feel his panic, taste it as easily as she could her own and it terrified her.

“What? Baby, what’s wrong?” Kayne’s frantic hands reached for her as he slid down beside her, staring down at the fluid between her legs. It coated the long maternity day dress she had put on just that morning. Nothing else felt comfortable that morning, making her feel bloated and tired. Now she was thankful she hadn’t ruined one of the other outfits. “No, it’s too soon!”

“Kayne,” she whispered, reaching for him. Chayle pulled his panicked face to her, making her mate look into her eyes. Once she got his attention, she smiled. “It’s ok.”

“What the hell do you mean, it’s ok? He’s early. It’s too early.” Still frantic, Kayne started to pick her up, but another wave of contractions struck, almost killing in their magnitude.

“Ah damn,” Chayle screamed, dragging Kayne’s hand to her stomach. Once the contraction passed, she panted and waited. Finally able to breathe again, she looked at her mate.

“Now, I need you to do something for me, mate.” Chayle could see her strong male was on the very edge of killing someone, which was never a good thing. She would let him kill someone later, but she needed him to know about Jollie.

“Are you listening to me?” she finally yelled at him, grabbing his chin.

When he only nodded, still trying to decide if he should pick Chayle up or not, she slapped his cheek gently, getting his attention once more. It took a second for him to realize his mate had actually slapped him while she was in the process of laying on the floor in labor.

“
Jollie has been taken
,” she whispered to him through their mate-bond. She saw the instant the knowledge struck him and how she could know it.
“I don’t know how, but she reached out. Get Rafe, mate. Find your brother!”

“I won’t leave you,”
Kayne growled, finally picking her up and heading to their bedroom.

She hung onto his neck, thankful for his wide chest and huge arms. Safety and comfort for her babies. Home, that’s where Kayne would always be for Chayle no matter where they found themselves and she knew it to the very fiber of her soul.

“Of course you won’t leave, moron.” Chayle groaned out loud as Kayne pulled her close to him, her back killing her. “But Rafe needs to go after them. They’ve drugged her and I don’t know if she can reach him. I think it was the only way she could get to one of us, and I know now the babies helped her reach me.” Chayle knew the exact instant her mate realized what she had just said. He stopped on the landing outside their room, staring down at her like Chayle had just lost her mind.

“What did you just say, woman?” Kayne’s beautiful cobalt blue eyes were wide and filled with wonder as he focused on his mate’s huge mound of a belly as she rubbed it. Another contraction was coming and it was going to be a humdinger, but neither of them could do more than stare at each other.

“I said, your boys helped their aunt call me. Now,” Chayle groaned as the contractions started again. “Can I have my bed? I think they want to come out to play.”

“I’m going to kill you, woman.”

“Get in line, mate of mine!” Chayle tried to grin as another contraction ripped through her stomach, tearing a scream from her before she could stop it.

“Rafe, do you have Jollie?”
Kayne called to his twin as Chayle gripped his hand while they waited for one of his men to bring her doctor.

“No, why?’
The instant Kayne heard it, he knew.

“Rafe, fine Jollie. Someone took her. Chayle is in labor. The babies helped Jollie reach out to her when someone took her.”

Kayne could feel the snarl of rage that echoed through their twin-bond but the roar of it echoed through the house downstairs as everyone in the house heard a madman tear from the residence.

“He’ll find her, Chayle. Rafe will bring her back.” Kayne held onto his mate as another contraction ripped through her. They were less than two minutes apart and the damn doctor wasn’t here yet. Chayle’s grip was strong as she pulled him to her, a scream echoing throughout the mansion, Kayne’s curse close behind. He fought to stay calm but it was a losing battle as his mate fought the pain ripping through her body. Kayne was going to kill the damn doctor with his bare hands if the man didn’t get there soon.

Chapter 34

First Rafe knew from the telepathic buzz from his men that Jollie’s injured bodyguard would live and had been moved to the infirmary. The guard was still unconscious and would be lucky to live with the mount of drugs used to knock him out. Mercury was working with the medical team to ensure the guard received every possible advantage to live because Rafe needed to know who it was that took his mate. He needed answers, but Rafe barely managed to contain his rage as he realize whoever infiltrated the compound had already been inside. Rafe wanted to know who, how and when because he was going to skin whoever it was alive one inch at a time, and it would be a slow process.

Less than fifteen minutes after Chayle went into labor, Rafe was standing in Gabe’s technology nest, pacing. Every camera was checked repeatedly, every surveillance footage verified to see first, how they could infiltrate the compound and get his mate out of their home without anyone else being the wiser. Somehow, they had managed to get past every advanced surveillance device they had set up, get to Jollie, and disappear. He wanted to know who had helped them, how did they get into his home and how had they snuck his mate out without anyone seeing them.

Then, Rafe was going hunting.

He couldn’t reach her through their mate bond, which was unheard of. Rafe should be able to sense her but there was nothing but emptiness. It had been less than an hour and already darkness had fallen on his soul. Death walked next to Rafe McIntyre as he stalked the compound. No one talked to him, no one approached and no one dared touch him. Not yet.

News came that Chayle was in labor, forced by the kidnapping of Jollie when she reached out to her friend when she couldn’t reach Rafe. Somehow, whoever took her had the ability to block her telepathic abilities and that told him they were working with someone very gifted and very high up on the food chain. Not many could carry off something like this for very long. The energy it took to do so was debilitating and would kill an individual if they continued to pushed it for too long.

Those who could blank the void, create dead space were dubbed Nulls by the Special Ops groups working in Intelligence gathering. When questioned, Commander Derek had assured Rafe and Kayne that every identified Null had been accounted for and none were out there working for the other side. Nulls were sought after by both sides of the Intelligence community, and the fact that one or more could be working for the other side was now a very real possibility. An individual who could damper psychic abilities to the point that no one else could detect them for a defined period of time was an asset, especially in the world where Rafe now fought to hunt down his kidnapped mate. Evidently someone was out there, and they had just put a bull’s eye on their forehead by taking Jollie Sanchez from his home.

“I’ve got something,” Gabe grumbled, his fingers a blur as he maneuvered there over his keyboard. The large monitor on the wall flickered, showing a shadowy figure carrying a bundle over his shoulder running through the trees toward the end of the lake. “The time stamp on it is less than twenty minutes ago. Not sure how they managed to get past the sensor, but they did.”

“Where’s their exit?” Rafe moved to stand in front of the large monitor, his hands sweating as the figure disappeared into the trees.

“It looks like the highway at the end of the lake,” Gabe mumbled, his fingers pulling up more programs. Another monitor flickered next to the first, this one smaller and Rafe could instantly see it was a satellite image. His eyebrows rose and he twisted to look up at Rafe. “I hacked into a satellite network. They aren’t off the property yet, Rafe.”

Rafe was moving, his large body a blur as he clicked his ear-wig, mobilizing the team standing by so they could get in the air. In less than two minutes, he was outside and jumping into a stealth helicopter that shouldn’t even be legal to the private sector but thankfully Commander Derek had procured for his teams. It was in the air before Rafe fastened his seat belt. A click in his ear-wig alerted Rafe of an incoming.

“They’re moving,” Gabe directed. Coordinates came over and the pilot immediately corrected, taking the helicopter low and on a direct intercept. All Rafe could think was that they had to get to her before they left the property and masked their signature. Otherwise, the kidnappers could hide her anywhere.