Turbulence (18 page)

Avalon was just dozing off when a thought occurred to her.
“That’s it!”

“What is?” Greyson asked, his deep voice rumbling through
her chest.

“I think I know why I wasn’t able to see your future.”

“Why is that?”

“We are one, right?” she posed.

He eyed her curiously. “Yeah. Mates.”

“I can never see myself in visions, so it makes sense that I
can’t see you either. Our futures are intertwined.” It was so obvious to her
now.

Greyson kissed the top of her head. “That’s an interesting
discovery. I should have suspected something like that. We’ll talk more about
it later. Sleep, mate. I need you energized. I’m not done with you yet.” He
thrust his hips upward to show her that he could go at it again right then.
“And I still haven’t lapped at your sweetness.”

Avalon giggled. If she wasn’t so sleepy, she wouldn’t mind
another round. “You have to sleep too.”

He yawned. “I don’t think I can resist.”

Chapter 18

“They could have run off on a romantic getaway,” Dex stated.

Ross stop pacing around the living room of the farmhouse to
give him a
don’t-be-naïve
look. “Greyson wouldn’t do that.”

“Neither would Avalon,” Lily said. She stood beside Dex,
nibbling on her fingernails. She did that whenever she got anxious or nervous.
“I haven’t known her long, but she doesn’t strike me as the impetuous type.”

Ross knew something was wrong when he went by Avalon’s place
to check up on her. The last time they saw each other, neither of them had been
in a great place emotionally. But she wasn’t there and her grandmother hadn’t
seen her either. Ross didn’t think anything about it until Dex called him,
asking whether he had seen or heard from Greyson.

Days had passed without a word from either of them. Neither
was answering their phones. It didn’t sit right with Ross. Something was
seriously wrong.

Dex folded his arms across his chest. “The last I heard,
Greyson was planning an intimate dinner for the two of them. I called Avalon on
his behalf and got her to go to the Italian restaurant in town. Whether either
of them made it there is beyond me.”

Ross and Greyson had not been on the best terms lately. If
they ever were. Still, Ross loved his brother and he was worried. “Greyson
would have told us that he wanted to go off and be with Avalon for a little
while. He’s responsible. The couple of times he went to Vegas to see Nyah, we
knew about it.”

Lily turned to her mate. “Dex, you have a connection to
Homeland Security. Maybe they’d be some help. They could track the license
plates on Greyson’s vehicle or pull footage from surveillance cameras.”
Greyson’s SUV hadn’t been anywhere in town when Ross drove around to check for
it.

Lily rested a hand on her still small abdomen. The pang in his
chest forced him to look away. His feelings for Lily had no place in this
situation. His brother and his friend had disappeared.

Dex blew out a loud breath of air. “You’re right. Homeland
Security might be able to help.”

If it was anybody else but Greyson, Ross would have guessed
anyone missing for days without any contact had a strong chance of being dead,
especially with what happened to Davie Riddick. But Greyson was no weakling. He
could probably stop a bullet with his teeth if he wanted to. With the way he
went off on Ross about Avalon, Greyson wouldn’t let anything happen to her
either.

Yet, nothing about this situation made sense.

“What should I tell her grandmother?” Lily asked them. Veeva
had been driving them all crazy with good reason. She was concerned and so were
they.

Ross shrugged. “I don’t know. The truth, I guess.”

“That should go over well,” Dex responded dryly.

“Do you have a better suggestion then?” he retorted, his
fear making the temper he rarely showed apparent.

“Hey. Don’t get pissy with me. I’m just as confounded as you
are. This is like the Shay problem all over again.”

Ross hoped not. If Department X was involved with Avalon and
Greyson’s disappearance, they were in a world of trouble.

----

Greyson was enjoying this bonded thing more than he thought
he would. He couldn’t stop touching Avalon, couldn’t stop staring at her. He’d
made love to her so many times that he felt sorry for her. She had to be sore
by now. He just couldn’t believe she was his. This stunning, magnificent, kind
woman was his mate.

No wonder Dex was so gaga over Lily. Being blood bonded was
addictive.

Sex with Avalon was amazing. She was so tight, wrapping
around his shaft like a glove and milking him every single time until he was
weak. He found out that she was pretty daring as well. She didn’t shy away from
different erotic positions or how much he liked to taste her slit. Avalon
welcomed it. She was perfect in every way.

“Hawaii?”

Greyson shook his head. He and Avalon were discussing
vacation spots they would visit when they left this place. Honeymoons were not
a part of Jhetan tradition, but he wanted to give her hope and something to
look forward to. She was going to live. He’d die before he ever allowed Avalon
to do so.

Besides getting tired more quickly, her elevated body
temperature, and the flush beneath her skin, she wasn’t showing many more signs
of sickness. Greyson suspected she was trying to hide how badly she felt from
him through their bond. He wished there was something more he could do for her.

 “Too many flowers there,” he said, getting back to her
suggestion of Hawaii as a vacation spot. “They even make you wear them around
your neck.” He wouldn’t be caught dead wearing a flowered necklace.

She laughed, her blue eyes sparkling with mirth. “That’s not
a good reason not to go to Hawaii. What do you suggest?”

“Australia. There are beaches there too. I even hear they’ve
got kangaroos.”

“What are kangaroos?” Her forehead wrinkled in inquiry.

Greyson flicked the tip of her small nose. “You’ll see when
we get to Australia.”

“I never agreed to go. So you can’t keep me in suspense.”

“Yes, I can, sunshine. I can do whatever I want to you.”

One black brow rose. She jabbed a finger against his chest.
“Is that right? I’ll have you know, Greyson Kane, that you are not my boss
anymore.”

“I know.”

“I won’t stand for you being chauvinistic.” Another jab.

“I know that too.”

“Then why won’t you tell me about kangaroos?”

“Because I don’t know what they are either,” he admitted.

They both laughed. Their good mood was soon cut off when the
sound of locks sliding back got both of their attention. The bread and water
wasn’t due for hours. What was this about?

Greyson had been so wrapped up in bonding with Avalon that
he hadn’t thought about finalizing their plan of escape. What if this was it
and his answer was demanded? Could he say no at the risk of his mate’s life?

The door opened. Greyson jumped to his feet. Nile and
another “soldier” rushed in. They reached for him.

He skipped back, holding up his fists. “Don’t touch. It’s
rude.”

Neither responded. They ducked his punches with speed that
surprised him and grabbed his arms in a steel-like grip. One of them shoved a
thick, black hood over his head. If he really wanted to, Greyson probably could
have broken away, but being impulsive could mean risking Avalon’s life.

“Hey! Where are you taking him?” she yelled.

Greyson managed to look back over his shoulder at her though
he couldn’t see a thing. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back.” They dragged him out.
“You can let me go. I promise to be good.”

“We have orders to escort you. With force,” the male with
Nile said in a monotone voice. From the glimpse Greyson got prior to the hood,
this one was older, in his thirties maybe. Greyson had never seen him before. Yet
something about him screamed human.

“How generous of you. Nile, you have anything to add?” he
said, taunting.

“You’re not so tough now, are you, Mr. Leader of the
Colony?”

“I’d like to think I’m plenty tough. If not for a woman
saving your life, I would have killed you. Don’t forget, boy.”

He smiled when a livid snarl responded. Oh, the joys of
getting on someone’s bad side. It never got old.

The banter was just for show. Though he couldn’t see a
thing, all the rest of his senses worked just fine and he would use them to get
as much information as he could.

The floor beneath his feet was smooth and didn’t have much
of an echo. Cement? Were they in another warehouse? The last one had been blown
up by Dex. Wherever they were taking him, the air smelled cleaner, more
sterile. There were a number of people in the building, judging from the hum of
voices he heard. They took one turn then another. 

Hinges squeaked as a door opened. Nile and his weirdo
partner led him in and pushed him down on his knees. The hood was yanked off
his head. Greyson blinked his eyes to clear the blurriness away.

The room they brought him to was dark and warm. He noticed a
hearth with a fire blazing. On both sides of him were rows of the creepy
Department X experiments. Being around so many of them made Greyson’s skin
crawl.

On a low platform—a stage of sorts—was a high, wide chair
with silver spheres on the arms of it. A throne. What arrogant person did this
belong to? Even Greyson wasn’t that conceited.

“You can step back from him Nile and Baron. I don’t suspect
Mr. Kane will try anything.” It was the voice. Greyson should have known. The
voice wasn’t coming from the speakers this time. The man was there in the room.

Greyson schooled his features into the paradigm of boredom.
He might as well see who the bastard was who was in charge of Department X.
He’d know who to kill first…or last. It depended on whether he felt merciful.

A man dressed in a beige suit stepped from behind the big
throne-like chair. He had sandy brown hair, could have been blonde if the
lighting in this hellhole were better. Eyes were dark. He was tall, which was
common for a lot of Jhetan men. And he was Jhetan. That prickle in Greyson’s
brain informed him of it.

Something about this guy was familiar.

Greyson noticed the man staring at him as well. No,
staring
was not the right word. It was more like examining him. Did they know each
other from Jheta? They had to.

None of them looked the same on Earth as in their Jhetan
forms nor had the same names. So figuring out who was who could be difficult at
times.

“Who are you?” Greyson asked. He had enough with the
guessing games.

“I told you you’d find out in time, boy,” the man shot back.

“I’m not a boy. Haven’t been for a long time. How about you
tell me, old man, who you are?” Greyson stood to his feet. Every one of the
soldiers in the room moved to stop him until the man held up a hand to halt
them.

“Stay where you are. Let Mr. Kane make himself more comfortable.”

Greyson scoffed. He didn’t need anybody taking it easy on
him. “I can take them all. Then you too. Who the hell are you?”

The man chuckled. It sounded like mocking to Greyson’s ears.
It made his already tense muscles tightened even further. “You never were very
patient. Guess that hasn’t changed.” He clasped his hands together and stepped
down from the dais.

“Don’t act like you know me,” Greyson spat. If this was just
going to be a match of who knew who then they needed to escort him back to Avalon
where he could tell her the plan he’d come up with on his way here.

The man’s lips spread into a thin smile. “I do know you.
Very well. Here I go by the name of Philip O’Day. But you probably know me as Dad.”

----

Greyson staggered back. The air that he so expertly
manipulated had deserted him, leaving him breathless. No. No. No. This man in
front of him couldn’t be his father. His father was dead. He died on Jheta
along with his mother.

“You. Are. A. Liar.” This man and Ross were both lying
bastards, disgracing his father’s good name.

“I am your father, son.” Philip O’Day gestured to himself.

“My father died.”

“Can’t be true if I’m right here. Who else remembers the
time when you were a child and lost your tooth trying to wrangle one of those
boar-like water creatures we had on Jheta?”

Greyson narrowed his eyes. “Everyone knew. It was in our
version of a newspaper.”

O’Day dipped his head in agreement. “That is true. What
about all the times you beat up on your little brother because you thought it
would make him tougher? Or the time your mother tried to take you boys away and
leave me, but I found you.”

No one knew about that last thing. Greyson had forgotten all
about it until now. He’d been so young. Five or six in Earth years. His mother
had said they were going on a trip for a while, but they couldn’t tell their
father. It was a surprise. When his father eventually found them, Greyson
remembered a lot of screaming. They returned home where his mother became sick
again.

Ross’s words replayed back in his mind. Had his little
brother been right this whole time? The man standing before him knew something
no one outside of their immediate family knew. If what Ross said about their
father was true then it wasn’t impossible to believe that this scoundrel was
his dad.

“How?” was the only thing Greyson could utter.

“How am I alive?” O’Day asked. “Easy. I left not too long
after you and your brother did.”

“Is mom here too?”

“No. She passed away before I left Jheta. It was
unfortunate. Fell and hit her head. Poor thing.” There wasn’t a glimmer of
sadness in his voice or his eyes.

This was the man that taught Greyson love was weakness. He likely
never loved their mother. He used her to bear children. Children who would
carry on his legacy. O’Day probably killed their mother. For that, he would pay
even more than he already was going to for poisoning Avalon.

“Why are you working for Department X?” Greyson asked
instead of the question waiting on his tongue about his mother.

O’Day gave him a ‘duh’ look. “Why wouldn’t I? I have money,
prestige, power.”

“How did you get involved?”

“Originally, they caught me like they did a few others
before me. They tried to experiment on me, but I convinced them not to. I gave
them advice, new ideas. Pretty soon I was working with them and moving up the
ranks. Eventually it led me to the position I have now. I am the king of this
castle.”

“You make me sick,” Greyson spat with all the vehemence and
betrayal he felt. O’Day was a traitor to their people, his own kind. He was an
embarrassment to their family.

He shrugged. “Good thing I don’t care about your opinion,
huh? How is your brother? What name is he going by now?”