Authors: Elaine Levine
Fiona looked away. She burned to touch him, to feel his skin beneath her hands, to run her hands over his chest and arms, to learn him by touch as she did by sight, but, apparently, she burned alone. He never opened the door to more between them.
“Well, guess I’ll get back to bed. If Zavi wakes and I don’t hear him, come get me.” She put a hand on his knee and leaned up to kiss his cheek. “Night, Kelan.”
“Good night, Fiona. Sleep well.” He stood up as she rose. “If you need me, I’ll be in the living room.”
She paused outside her door and looked back at him. “Kelan? Were you angry that Mandy and Eden went out tonight?”
“Eden’s doing the job she was hired to do. But, no, I don’t think Mandy should have gone.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “Our job is to protect, not endanger.”
“But she had a chance to exonerate a friend. What if she’d wanted to go and Rocco hadn’t let her?”
“She belongs him. It wouldn’t have been my place to interfere.”
“She doesn’t belong to him,” Fee scoffed. “She’s her own person. Who thinks like that any more?”
“I do. He belongs to her, too. Because he’s claimed her, they can’t move forward in separate directions.”
“You mean because they are seeing each other.”
Kelan shook his head. “What they are together simply is. It’s immutable. It cannot be avoided. They’ll share their lives, as Ty and Eden will. They’re halves of a whole, and having found each other, they can’t be apart.”
“The world doesn’t work like that, Kelan. People come together and separate all the time.”
“Then they claimed a half that wasn’t theirs.”
She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. “What if that’s all you can find? Someone who’s most of a fit. What if you only find a part, a quarter? Not the half you’re missing?”
“Then you never become the whole you were meant to be. Perhaps it’s best to simply be the half that you are rather than two halves that never quite mesh.”
“We would never get along, you and I. I don’t like being controlled.”
“It isn’t control. It’s surrender. Each to the other half. It’s sacred, Fiona. It’s an honor.”
Fiona looked at her feet, set one before the other as she considered her words. “Sometimes, I do feel like just a half. You know? It’s lonely.”
Kelan smiled. “That yearning is a compass leading to your mate.”
She gave him an earnest gaze. “How do you know when you’ve found your other half?”
“As with all truths, you know it when you see it.”
She couldn’t stop herself from asking one more question. “Have you found your other half?”
“Yes.”
Ouch. That hurt more than she expected it to. He was so crazy. So hot and crazy. And solid. She hoped whomever it was that he wanted was worthy of him. “Why aren’t you with her?”
“It’s not yet the right time for us.”
“But if you’re two halves of the same whole, how can you not be together?”
“When one of the halves is much younger than the other.”
“Oh. You’re waiting for her grow up?”
“I am.”
“How old is she?”
“She’ll be of age in a few months.”
“Like me! Does she know you’ve claimed her?”
“Not yet.”
Fiona felt sad to learn he’d staked a claim with another woman. She couldn’t help the tears that rose to her eyes. “I hope she loves you, Kelan, with every fiber of her being.”
Kelan made a slight bow. “It’s my wish as well. Night, Fiona.”
“Are you scared?” Eden asked Mandy. They were sitting in her SUV on the side of the road, waiting for the meet-up.
“No. I’m mad.” Mandy looked at Eden. “How could Bobby get himself involved in something so bone-headed?”
“You’ve known him a long time?”
“We went to school together. He was a little ahead of me.” She thumbed the ridges on the steering wheel. “And we dated for a while.”
“Maybe the guys got their wires crossed. Maybe he’s not a mule for the WKB. We’ll find out shortly.”
“Stand by, girls,”
Max’s voice came over their earpieces.
“Take your position, Mandy. He’s headed your way.”
Eden looked around them, trying to spot where the guys were parked. They were near, but she couldn’t see them. Mandy got out and stood staring at the bad tire. When headlights rolled over the small hill by them, Val’s voice said,
“That’s him. Wave him down.”
Mandy waved her hand and jumped up and down to get his notice with enough time for him brake the trailer safely. He pulled to a stop and rolled his window down. “Mandy! What are you doing out here?”
“I got a stupid flat.” She held up her phone. “And, of course, I can’t reach anyone. The reception is rotten out here.”
“Want me put your spare on for you?”
“Would you? I’m so sorry, Bobby! You’d think I’d know how to do that.”
“I never mind bein’ a hero. Let me just pull over.” He parked on the opposite wayside, then came over, grinning. “Guess I’m more useful than that boyfriend of yours. Can he touch tires?”
“That’s mean, Bobby.” She knew he was referring to Rocco’s problem touching people, but since Zavi had come home, that wasn’t so much of an issue.
“Sorry.” He held up his hands. “Didn’t mean to insult the war hero.”
“And for your information, he’s doing a lot better.”
“But not better enough to be here when you need him.”
“Val, shoot the motherfucker,”
Rocco hissed.
“No can do, bro. He’ll get what’s coming to him,”
Val answered.
Bobby went to her SUV’s back hatch and lifted it up, coming face to face with Tank who was watching him from the back seat. “Wow.” He froze.
Eden was holding on to Tank’s collar, pretending it was a struggle to control him, though of course he wouldn’t take any action without being directed. “Hi. I’m Paula. This is Sammy,” Eden told him, giving fake names in case he’d heard about her from the WKBers.
“Hi, Sammy, Paula,” Bobby straightened.
“Oh, don’t worry about Sammy. He’s friendly. Just a big love, really. Thanks for helping us.”
Bobby leaned forward to grab the spare tire, giving Tank a worried look. When he pulled it out and went around to the flat, Eden let Tank out on the opposite side of the car. He sat down and looked at her. “Go find, Tank!” she ordered quietly. He went around the SUV to where Bobby was fitting the jack to the frame. He ran up to the man, sniffing from his shoulder down to his hand, then barked twice.
“Oh, goodness! I’m so sorry! He gets excited sometimes. Sammy! Sammy! Don’t do that! I’m just going to give him a potty break, Mandy.” She took his collar as if to attach the leash, but directed him across the street to the truck and trailer.
“Hey, Paula! Keep him away from that trailer. Don’t want the horses spooked.”
“Oh, will do!” Eden scurried across the road after Tank, who was sniffing excitedly at the truck door and tires. “Wow. He really has to go. It’s always so hard to find just that right spot.” She pointed him toward the back of the truck. “Let’s go.” Tank ran, sniffing where she pointed. Nothing caught his attention until he hit the front of the trailer. He barked twice and looked back at Eden.
“Good boy! Let’s not bother the man’s trailer. There’s a nice spot right over here! C’mon, Sammy!” She ran along the edge of the trailer and disappeared around back, moving back up the other side. Once again, at the front of the trailer, he barked twice.
“You hear that, Ty? It’s here,” she whispered into her comm unit.
“Good. Get outta there.”
She’d just caught Tank’s collar when a shadow intersected the tall street light. “Seriously, Paula. What are you doing? I don’t want those horses upset.”
“I’m so sorry. I should have put a leash on Sammy before letting him out of the car.” She hooked the leash to his collar and hurried back to Mandy’s car with him.
Bobby followed her and quickly finished swapping out tires. He gave Eden a dark look as he straightened. “Well, I guess you’re set. I’ll just put your spare in the back.” He put the jack and flat tire away, then shut the hatch.
Eden went around and put Tank in the back, then got in on the passenger side.
“Maybe when I get back we could do something?” Bobby asked Mandy.
“Rocco and I would love to have you over.”
“The fuck we would,”
Rocco’s voice rasped over their earpieces.
“Call me when you’re back. Thank you so much, Bobby! You saved us tonight!”
“Greer’s finished with the GPS. Get outta there, ladies. You both did great,”
Ty’s voice urged them along.
Mandy got back into the car, then pulled forward. She waved at Bobby as she merged onto the road.
“Park in the garage when you get home. I’ll see you later tonight. Love you, Em,”
Rocco told her.
“We’ll follow you back.”
Eden looked at her and smiled when she heard Rocco’s endearment. “Ty, I don’t know if you noticed,” she told the team, “but Tank smelled the drugs on Bobby, too. He isn’t innocent of what’s happening. He had to have helped load it or touch it in some way.”
“Good to know. Thanks, Eden.”
“Okay, we’re over and out,” she told him.
“Hold it, babe. Leave your ears on until you’re inside the house and safe,”
Ty ordered.
“Ok, Ty. We will.” Eden looked over at Mandy. “I’m sorry about your friend.”
“I am, too. The girls all worshiped him in school. And the guys respected him. He had such big dreams—he was one of the few who dared to shoot for the sky. I think we all wanted him to succeed. And it looked as if he had, but really he just sold out.”
Eden watched a pair of headlights head in their direction in the opposite lane. It was after 1 a.m. In a little town like Wolf Creek Bend, where sidewalks were rolled up at the dinner hour, it was curious to see someone else out and about. She looked away as the headlights came close. She wasn’t prepared for the loud crash, or the terrible sideways push that almost had Mandy’s car rolling off the steep hill to their right. The airbags deployed. Someone was shouting at her.
Nothing made sense. They’d been driving home one moment, then were at a dead standstill with deflating airbags in their faces the next.
And still someone was shouting at them.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Eden looked in the backseat to check Tank. He was lying half on the floor, half on the seat and not moving. Men were coming at them with rifles. Big, angry men. Her head was buzzing. Was that the team?
“Go, Mandy! Get out of here!” she urged, but Mandy was as stunned as she was. It took precious long seconds for her to collect herself. Eden reached over and tried to start the SUV. It wouldn’t start. The engine just kept turning over.
Not that it would have mattered. The vehicle that hit them was parked half in front of them, blocking their forward exit.
“Stay in the car. Eden, do you copy? Stay in the car!”
Ty ordered in a calm but authoritative tone.
“Yes,” she answered, finally realizing who’d been shouting at her.
The men with guns pounded on their door. “Get out of the car!”
Mandy still seemed dazed. She shook her head, then started to reach for the latch. “Don’t. We have to stay put.”
“Get out! You got two seconds, bitches. Get out now!” one of the men ordered.
“Don’t do it. We’re almost there,”
Rocco ordered.
The man with the rifle wasn’t taking no for an answer. He shot into the SUV, shattering both the driver- and passenger-side windows. Mandy screamed and covered her face, but the bullet had already passed through the car. Pushing away the broken glass he reached inside and opened the door from the inside. He pulled at Mandy, but her seat was still buckled. It took him a second to reach over and release it.
Eden no sooner realized they were dragging Mandy out when someone reached inside her door and did the same to her. She stumbled and fell. Her captor hoisted her by her arm and drag-walked her toward the Suburban that had hit them. The man dragging Mandy shoved her into the back of the Suburban.
“No! Stop! Let me go! What is this about?” Eden blustered, trying to slow them down. She did not want to get into their SUV.
“What did you do with it?” the man holding her asked, yanking her arm for emphasis.
“Do with what?”
“The shit you took from that trailer. We saw you sniffing around it. Where did you put it?”
“I didn’t take anything! We had a flat. That guy helped us put the spare on. While we were waiting, my dog had to pee.”
“You took the junk. We watched you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Shut up!” The man backhanded her, scrambling her thoughts for a moment. She must have cried out, for the next thing she was aware of was Tank running toward them. And then there was a snarl of activity.
The man with Mandy opened fire on something behind them. Tank leaped at her captor, grabbing his arm, twisting and thrashing. The man lifted his handgun and aimed down at the dog. Eden shouted and grabbed his wrist, trying to keep him from shooting Tank. They struggled, but even with Tank savaging one arm, the man’s strength was greater than hers. Just when she feared he would shoot Tank through her body, a red dot appeared on his forehead.