Trapped In Shadow (Shadow Walker Romance Series Book 4) (20 page)

Hugh quickly opened a portal and Stacey braced herself for the cold. A silk evening gown wasn’t going to be much protection from the biting cold in this strange dimension. Stacey stepped into the darkness and black mist quickly enveloped her. The heart shaped tattoo that Shadow burned into her breast warmed before the mist finally fell to the surface and writhed around her feet.

Using the communication devices Stacey spoke to Hugh. “Do you think the mist in here is alive?”

“It does seem to be guarding the dimension from those who are not allowed to enter. I don’t know if the mist is magic or the actual consciousness that put the ward in place.”

Stacey shivered and gripped Hugh’s arm. “It gives me the creeps.”

Hugh chuckled. “You might want to keep that information to yourself, sweetheart.”

Robert appeared suddenly out of the mist. “Let’s go people. The general’s car just pulled up to the gate. If we leave Shadow, remember to use code names, Stinger, Thunder, and Lobo. We don’t know if someone might be listening in.”

Stacey nodded. Time to go to work, only this time she’d be guarding a life instead of taking one. She smiled. It felt good to work this side.

Grey Wolf took her wrist. “I want to show you a couple of places. I scouted the mansion last night.”

The mist rose up around them and when it lowered they were standing outside a door on the backside of the building.

“We meet here if we get separated.” Grey Wolf continued forward pulling Stacey behind him.

She closed her eyes when they walked through the door that wasn’t there in Shadow. Voices could be heard in the room similar to how sound reached the ears when going through high elevations and your ear needed to pop. Stacey opened her eyes to see several secret service men standing around an island in the kitchen. A woman wearing an apron shooed them away from a plate of appetizers. A waiter came through the door and picked up the plate, placing it on a tray. He quickly exited the room.

“This way,” Robert said, following the waiter.

The door opened into a dining room. Robert led them toward the front of the house and finally into an entrance hall where a metal detector and X ray machine waited to screen the Vice-President’s guests.

General Holland finished walking through the machines. Stacey followed her father farther into the house and into a small room where the wait staff set up a wine bar. Hugh kept his hand on her back. She appreciated the warm touch. Too bad she couldn’t step out of Shadow and enjoy the party, if only for the heating of the house.

More guests wandered in. Robert followed a woman in from the entryway. She wore a red evening gown with her long black hair flowing down her back to her waist. Stacey noticed the fluid way the woman moved.

“That is Cat,” Robert said. “The woman who works for Nadezhda. Don’t let her near your father.”

Stacey frowned and stepped closer to her dad. How was she going to stop this woman, Cat, from inside Shadow?

Robert followed closely behind her. Her cell phone rang and she stepped away from the other guests and against the wall next to a large plant. Stacey couldn’t hear what she said, but the phone was tucked back into her purse.

When she prepared to step away from the wall, Robert grabbed her and drew her into Shadow. Stacey gasped and quickly looked around the room. No one seemed to notice the woman disappeared.

“Hello, Robert,” the woman’s voice came through the communication device. Her voice actually purred.

Stacey didn’t know whether to watch Grey Wolf and the woman, or her father. When one of the secret service men came into the room and spoke briefly to her father, Stacey decided to concentrate on her dad.

“Hugh,” Stacey warned.

The general followed the man to a staircase and upstairs.

“Right behind you, beautiful.”

At the top of the stairs, the man ushered her father into a room where two other agents guarded the door. This was interesting. What was going on here?

She closed her eyes and walked through the door and into a masculine room with walls covered in dark paneling. Velvet drapes covered the windows and crystal chandeliers lit a table where six men sat, including the Vice-President. The men exchanged pleasantries and her father sat in the chair at the other end of the table from Linden

“Stacey, I recognize some of those men. They were at the top of the list we got from your father.”

“Six of the top nine men who control the American Zenith group.” Stacey started to get a bad feeling in her gut. Why was her father meeting with these men?

She stepped closer, trying to hear through the wall of Shadow. So far nothing being said was of any interest. Her father reached into his pocket and took out a pen. He fiddled with it as if he was nervous. Except her father never showed his emotions and wouldn’t fiddle with a pen, unless…

“Hugh!”

Everything seemed to slow in Stacey’s mind. Her father clicked the pen and rolled it down the table. It landed in front of the Vice-President. Hugh opened a doorway and grabbed the general’s chair. A bomb exploded in the room. Stacey couldn’t see from the flash.

“Hugh?” she called out, blinking her eyes.

She heard a cough. Her eyes watered and she kept trying to focus. Warm hands grabbed her.

“Come here. We need to get your dad to the clinic.” Hugh’s voice wrapped around her. “Robert, I have the general. We are transporting to Isanti clinic in three, two, one.”

First darkness and then white light made Stacey wince. Hugh pulled her into a warm room. Her eyes recovered enough to see blurry shapes, but she still kept blinking.

She heard the doctor and several other voices. Someone said something about burns. Then it got quiet.

“Hugh?” Stacey reached out her hand.

“Let me look at you,
tehila
. You must have looked right into the explosion. Nurse! Can we get a cold compress please? Here, Stacey, sit. Put this over your eyes. Rest a moment.”

“My dad?” Stacey asked.

Hugh positioned the compress over her eyes and placed one of her hands over it.

“He’s with Dr. Rick. He has some burns. I didn’t get him into Shadow quick enough. I think he’ll be okay. He hit his head on the chair and was knocked out. If you hadn’t realized what was going on, we would have lost him. You saved him, honey. Your father was on a suicide mission. He was willing to die to take out those six men.”

“Six of nine. Nadezhda needs to find the other three and take them out before they realize we know their identities.” Stacey sighed. The compress soothed the burn in her eyes.

An unfamiliar voice rang in the room. “Dammit! Something is burning me. Robert, what have you done? What happened to my dress? Where are we?”

Stacey lowered the compress. Her vision was almost completely back to normal. She blinked a few times. Robert Grey Wolf stood holding the woman from the party in his arms. Her dress must have disintegrated in Shadow, because she wore nothing more than a red silk camisole and panty set.

“Welcome to New Mexico, Catriona,” Grey Wolf said.

“Robert, she needs to call Star Fire,” Hugh said. “Honey, put the compress back on your eyes.” He pushed the compress up to cover her face. Stacey smiled. Her man took care of her, again.

“Anastacia Marie Holland, I can’t believe you had this lunk head pull me out of that room into Shadow. If I’d wanted your help, I would have asked for it!”

Stacey smiled. Her dad might have bandages all over his chest, but he would be fine. Hugh chuckled from the other side of the room where he waited in jeans and a T-shirt. Stacey wore an old sweater and a pair of yoga pants. After being sick this morning, Hugh insisted she come down to the clinic to be checked. The doctor ran a bunch of tests. Stacey couldn’t wait to share the news with her father. She was pregnant.

Word came from Nadezhda that Star Fire eliminated the other three men of the American branch of Zenith. That wouldn’t stop someone else from trying to step into their shoes. Star Fire knew everyone involved now, and it would be their mission to take them out. Her sister even promised to come to Isanti and speak to their father and thank him for the years it took to compile that list.

General Holland was thought to be dead, killed in the explosion at the Vice-President’s mansion. Dasan manipulated a few minds, so no one suspected the general of planting the bomb. Still, he’d need a new identity and Stacey had no idea what he would do next. At least he was alive with a chance to choose. She’d saved him.

Poor David would have to bury an empty casket. She’d called him this morning with the news before coming to see her dad. He too was coming to New Mexico and bringing his family for a visit to Isanti, Inc.

Lucy had been found and delivered to her father. Jim and Lucy could start a new life, with a new name, of course. Just like her and Hugh and her father. No more spying, no more risking their lives.

“Stacey, you aren’t even listening to me?” her father complained.

“Sorry, Dad. I got a little sidetracked. Aren’t you supposed to eat that food?” A hospital tray sat in front of her father. If she was lucky, she could distract him from his lecture.

He pushed the food around, but didn’t take a bite. His eyes remained downcast. “I’m a spy, Stacey. I don’t know how to be anything else.”

Stacey frowned. “You’ll learn something new. You’ll have a different job, like being a grandfather. You did a horrible job with David’s daughter, Amy. You need to fix that. With my child, I expect you to get it right and be the best grandfather ever.”

“Your child?” Her dad’s head flew up. “You’re pregnant?”

“Yeah, Dad. I am. I’m getting out of the spy business and taking time to be a mom. Hugh and I are building a house on land the tribe owns in Montana. We’re going to give our kids the kind of life I always wanted.”

“I did a poor job of being a dad, to all my children.”

“Well, now you have another chance. You can spoil your grandkids rotten and give them what you couldn’t give us.”

Her dad blinked quickly. Were those tears? “Okay. I’ll take the job. I can be the best grandfather ever.”

“I never doubted you for a moment,” Stacey said, squeezing her dad’s hand.

“Shouldn’t you be lying down or have your feet up or something?” Her dad asked, glaring at Hugh.

Stacey laughed. “And so it begins.”

One Year Later

Stacey stared at the new boathouse on the lake in Montana and smiled when David and Nadezhda laughed and came running out. They had finished taking a ride in David’s boat and just in time too. Dasan had announced the meat was cooked and people should grab a plate.

Her dad sat under a tree on a blanket with Amy reading her a book. He glanced up and caught her watching them. He winked at her and then turned the page.

Amber, David’s wife, dozed in a lounge chair on the patio, her big belly and the baby she carried inside making her tired. Soon another child would join the clan.

Strong arms grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into a hard chest. Stacey immediately relaxed and leaned back into the warmth of her husband.

“Our son is finally taking a nap.” Hugh nuzzled her neck.

“Did Luke take all of his bottle?” Stacey asked, turning in her lover’s arms.

“Of course, Lucas Thomas Thunder Hoof knows his daddy means business.”

Dasan came from the grill and met Nadezhda on the walkway. He grabbed her around the waist, and twirled her around. Everyone laughed as she squealed and begged for him to stop. David came onto the porch and kissed his wife to wake her.

“We need to eat, people,” Dasan groused. “I didn’t spend all that time slaving over an open fire to have the food go to waste.”

Stacey smiled. She loved having her family together. “The plates and utensils are in the kitchen. Leave some for Alyona and Radu. They should be here soon.”

Dasan dragged Nadezhda inside while David helped Amber from her chair.

“Dad, bring Amy. We’re going to eat,” Stacey called. Her father waved.

“Are you happy,
tehila
?” Hugh asked softly.

“More than anything, honey, and you made it all possible.”

“No, you made it possible, by agreeing to a life at my side. I love you.”

“Oh, Hugh, I love you, too. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me. Come on, I’m hungry.” Stacey took Hugh’s hand and led him inside their dream home, knowing full well she’d found her happily ever after.

§ § §

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Coming Soon

Fiery Magic

Book Three of the Witch Guardian Romance Series

Haytham Luften is an Air Witch Guardian supporting his team members while fighting Blood Cult members and the Marwolaeth possessed. He never expected to be gifted with a Destined One, or to hear his uncle, head of the Air House, threaten to renounce him if he dared claim the one woman who could share his magic.

Candace Kindle grew up on stories of “destined love” and sharing her magic with one special person. But with the Marwolaeth attacking, true love will have to wait for another day. Following her brother’s advice she walks through a dimensional portal to take shelter with her mother and finds herself a slave in a land ruled by Dragons. There’s only one person who can save her, the Destined One she walked away from.