He had found out about her mother’s
visits, their shared trips with adventure and motherly affection to
her daughter. The fact that his wife had gone behind his back with
such knowledge had enraged him, and he hadn’t minded expressing
it.
To both of them.
Chris had only helped with her
father’s complete separation of Jamie’s and her mother’s
relationship. The betrayal she felt towards her mother afterward
had dissipated, but not without reserves. She had demanded that her
mother tell her the name of her real father, but had known Jamie’s
intentions from the beginning and refused.
It had frightened her beyond her
comprehension.
Now, though, as she lay in
the large bed with a canopy that was as domineering as her
surroundings
and
the man sitting next to her, she realized how depraved she was
of everything. Of family, of love, of safety...She had finally had
another chance with her mother, and in an act of complete
carelessness, her luck had been ruined and she was no stuck in a
situation that seemed unreal and very horrific.
A sob ripped from her throat, hard and
loud and devastating. She lost her train of thought, turning from
the condemning eyes of Talon. The pillow that cushioned her face
was soft, soaking up her tears like her mother’s hand would, tender
and caring.
Once upon a time, Jamie had had a
small relationship with a friend of hers. It hadn’t had time to
grow into anything more than a fling before he had cheated on her
with her best friend at the time, the ultimate betrayal to Jamie’s
tender, fifteen year old heart. Her mother had come into the room,
a tissue in her hand, ready to console her daughter.
At the time, everything had seemed to
be crashing down around her. But now, as she sobbed and cried and
got snot everywhere she touched, she finally understood the term
“complete ruination”.
What was Talon thinking of her now?
The thought, and the fact that she cared, caused another sob to
break free. It didn’t help when the bed shifted, his weight moving
closer to hers causing her heart to stop.
A soft, feathery touch lingered on her
shoulder, the feeling that coursed through her like a gentle
breeze, a small comparison to how much the act actually meant...and
felt.
Jamie’s body convulsed. With pain,
with shock, with lingering sobs. She hadn’t known that she had
curled into a ball, her trembling arms wrapped weakly around her
knees. She hadn’t realized that Talon got so much closer, nor did
she realize that he was now leaning over her.
She started to flinch, the pain of her
nightmare drawing forth images of Chris and his sadistic moves. She
could just picture him, looming over her, one fist raised in the
air, the other undoing his jeans. Jamie squelched the scream that
built in her throat, trying to remember that it wasn’t her father
or Chris, but the man that she was going to rely on for
escape.
“
Jamie.”
His voice was dark, entrancing,
almost...comforting. Talon’s voice was nothing like Chris’s. He had
almost had a nasal tone of voice, but when angry... Jamie
shuddered. When he had been angry, it had almost been like thunder,
rumbling and deep and fear inducing.
“
Jamie, stop crying,” he
said, a large hand placed on her shoulders. The rough command
almost turned her self-pity into anger, but when his thumb began to
caress her shoulder in soft-as-light touches, she began to cry
again. Chris had never touched her like that, not even in the early
stages of their relationship.
The only one to even get close to
comforting her had been her mother, and still it had lacked the
need to care for her. It had only been to sooth her, to calm her
down, and then she would be off. For politics, her job, a hair
appointment, an elegant part with her friends — it had never been
just to care for her. Just for hushing her.
“
I’m not crying,” she
hissed, the fake venom that she tried to give off ruined by a
hiccup.
His thumb pressed into her shoulder,
turning her over so that she could see him — and he her. Feeling
her face flame, she started to press her hands over her face, aware
that she had snot and God knows what all over herself.
“
You are. I want you to
stop.” This time his voice was nothing but demand, an order. Her
temper flared, and she dropped her hands.
“
I probably just saved your
life — and you want to order me around?” she asked, incredulous.
Her voice was scratchy. She could only guess what sort of sounds
she had been making while she slept. Once before she had had the
same nightmare, and Chris had shoved her awake, pissed that she had
woken him from his sleep. Apparently, she had been screaming like a
banshee.
“
It wasn’t so hard to
listen, was it.” The abrupt statement confused her at first. Then a
smile curled her lips.
“
Shut up.” Her chagrin
statement was met with silence as she sat up, arranging the heavy
duvet around her body. Yes, her Columbia was still on, but that
didn’t mean she wasn’t freezing her ass off. The chill in the air
was abnormal.
It came from him. A burst of frigged
air came from his body, the shock of it making it feel like a frost
against her skin. Jamie backed away, pressing against the
headboard. The look in his eyes was dangerous enough to make a
tiger cower.
“
You plan on making an
escape.” Once again, he said it not as a question but as a
statement. Jamie nodded, rubbing her arms.
“
I can’t just stay here,”
she said, gazing around her. She should have been angry, scared,
but the way he had stared down at her flushed away any thoughts of
that origin. Her cheeks were still damp with tears, lashes heavy
and eyes watery. As she stared at him, she realized she had no
reason to be embarrassed.
He must have had his fair share of
tears.He might not show it, but she knew that he sure as hell felt
it.
“
I am to go with you,” he
said, nodding. His large, now clean arms, wrapped around his chest.
The straining muscle bulged, the fact that he must have lost a
large amount of body weight nonexistent.
Jamie answered his question with a
nod. “I would really appreciate it if you did,” she said in a
murmur.
Talon’s arms loosened around his
chest. He stared at her, trying to understand. Something about her
screamed determination — but the scream that he had heard from her
earlier belied that. She was as weak and broken as he was. He
recalled his deal with Auro in distaste. He didn’t want to do this,
to betray her. Talon tried telling himself that he didn’t care
about her, but... Hell, that was a lie.
The way her eyes looked at him
affected him as none other had. There was no fear in their pale
blue depths, nothing that said she was repulsed by him. A normal
woman would have run screaming, but she stayed — if only because
there was no way out. Yet he thought of her plans to help him
escape. Adrenline rushed through him as he thought about finally
taking in fresh air, of finally feeling the sun on his skin in all
its glory. The window in that cage had been a small reminder that
he was not meant for freedom.
To feel a full ray of light on his
skin would be spiteful to Auro — and he was more than okay with
that.
Talon was torn. Her hands were small,
delicate, nails clean and dainty. What would he feel as he watched
her plead for her life, reaching for him with those very hands?
Auro believed that he would not care — but the more Talon thought
about it, the stronger the territorial rage in his chest
expanded.
Her voice was soft, compliant,
undemanding and caring. Would she scream for him, cry for him?
Would she rage her betrayal to him after he took her — and Auro
held her in his hands? Should he even take her —
“
Talon, we need to leave
tonight.” Her voice broke him out of his dangerous mindset. Her
face was pale, and she had not moved from her spot.
His head shook. The woman was crazy,
he would give her that. The strength that she possessed would get
her killed in the long run. Only one time had he tried to escape,
and his punishment had been traumatic. His eyes turned haunted as
he stared at her.
Jamie reached out a hand, hesitating
as he started to pull away. “We need to,” she said, conviction in
her feminine voice. Tears welled in her pale blue eyes, making his
heart turn. He kept a straight face, though, staring at her with
dead eyes.
When he spoke, all emotion drained of
her face — except one.
Fear.
Chapter 8
“
Ah, sir, I think there
might be a problem...” The tech rubbed his forehead, brows drawn
low. Lucian looked at him for all of a second before storming over
and jerking the monitor to his face.
He stared. Bit out a curse. Listened
as the tech’s chair rolled back. “Very few things piss me off,” he
started, his voice a deep baritone. The room, with all of it’s
clicking and scrapes of paper, stilled.
“
Sir, if I could just
—”
“
This
,” he said, jabbing a finger at the monitor, “pisses me
off.
That right there is
bullshit
.”
The shout rang around the room. At
that moment, it seemed as if the world had stopped. Time was still,
people were still — hell, even the fax machines were silent. Lucian
took a breath, clenching his hands at his sides. Carefully,
oh-so-very gently, he set the monitor back on the cluttered desk
and let out a breath.
“
Who let this happen?” he
demanded, ignoring the tech who tried to talk to him. The man had
ruined his day more than once, and he swore if he heard one more
thing from him, Lucian was going to rip him a new one.
No one answered.
“
Who let this happen
?”
His bark had a young woman, short with
blonde hair curled into a tight bob, jumped to her feet. Everyones’
eyes turned to her.
“
Mr. Xanthis, I emailed you
about it only an hour ago. I had hoped that you
would...”
“
You would email me about
something like
this
?” he shouted, storming over. One of the men sitting near her
stood to his feet, ready to defend her. Lucian snarled at him and
jerked a thumb at his office. “In.”
She moved like a hare, practically
running to his office.
The tech tried to intervene, face
beaded with sweat. Lucian just looked at him and he fell back, eyes
helpless.
He slammed the door shut behind him.
“What were you thinking? Email? Seriously? We both know that’s
bullshit.”
“
Mr. Pontros, I’m so
sorry!” she rushed out, eyes wide in her pale face. “I didn’t know
that it was so important, or I would have came to you
directly.”
He pinched his nose between his
fingers, fighting for patience. “Everyone was told to come straight
to me if anything like this happened — “
“
I know, but —”
“
Do
not
,” he barked, eyes flashing,
“interrupt me. You’re lucky you’re a damn fast typer or you would
be out of here. Fuck, you’re lucky you’re still alive.”
He strode to behind his desk, pushing
a button on the stationary phone. “Harper, send in Levi and Devlin
with their second in commands.” He let go of the button, turning
back to the nervous woman.
“
When I say ‘straight to
me’ I mean it.
Get out
.”
The door slammed with her
departure.
Lucian shoved himself into his chair,
eyes staring at the wall as if he could make it explode — which he
could. Long fingers curled into a tight fist. Fuck, everything was
messed up now. Just fucking everything.
That man had been the one
purpose for the whole mission. Now that he was gone... Lucian
banged on the desk, the hard oak wood shuddering. How had they not
found out sooner? Everything had been carefully placed, carefully
monitored, carefully
everything
. No one had been allowed a
break, least of all Lucian himself. The long nights at the office,
monitoring, searching, filling out papers and search warrants and
controlling the quickly depleting time — it had all been for
nothing.
He barked out a curse, stomping to the
door. It opened in time for Devlin and Levi to walk in. Devlin was
tall, elegant, long haired and thin. Her hair was a fiery red, the
colors mixing mysteriously in the light. Levi was dark, dull, and
almost lifeless. The only reason the dead man was even on his team
was because he had skills that Lucian suspected matched his
own.
And Lucian was always
right.
“
Did anyone come to you
about this? It’s been fucking months and we are just now noticing
this,” he snapped, slamming the door closed behind them.
“
I’ve never seen you so
angry before,” Devlin purred, saddling up to his side. Her lithe
body slid against his. Levi looked at her with unreadable eyes,
then turned to the wall, looking out of the window that reflected
the room before them, behind him..