Chapter Twenty-five
Candy luxuriated in the haze between sleep and consciousness, snuggled against a hard, hot body that pleased her to no end. She wanted to fall into dreams, as long as they weren’t some screwed-up, brimstone -and-hail visions. Her father and mother’s death always comprised those types of dreams for her.
Now, after telling Josh the story, the whole incident seemed less traumatic. She saw and felt things differently. Yes, the gamut of emotions were still there, but muted. She was able to separate herself from the memories and put them away gently, not shove them into a box that wanted to explode any second a crack presented itself.
Josh had shown her she had the power to let go and forgive her father, not the other way around. If she released the pain, it would go now. And that’s what she wanted. She’d never forget her past, but it would no longer affect who she was. It would no longer make her hateful and angry. Her father’s power over her was gone. Her mother’s death caused her sadness, but it wouldn’t dictate her feeling for others.
Candy scooted closer into the arms of her “mate.” He spooned her on the office rug. The fire popped and crackled.
Mate.
She thought back through the night and recalled the other men calling their wives mates. Wait a minute. Was a mate a companion like “married spouse” and not just “best friend”? Josh had said it was the simple definition. Ha, more like the understated definition of the century.
She knew wolves in the wild mated for life. Did the same go for the human version? It’d probably be similar since instincts drive those innate things.
“What you thinking about, love?” Josh asked.
She rolled her body onto her stomach and reached for a cracker with meat on the food tray beside her closed laptop. “Just wondering when you want to get married and how many kids I want.”
When his mouth dropped open, she laughed, blowing cracker crumbs from her lips. His hands were instantly on her, tickling her sides. The laughing heightened as she wiggled and begged him to stop.
Grabbing his hands, she pulled them out to the side, making his body fall closer to hers. She stared into his eyes, seeing love reflected. The love that gave her the strength to face her demons and conquer them.
All these ideas about her and Josh mating and having children worried her. What if he wasn’t the right one? What if he was? Her body and heart screamed yes, but her head said clamp on the brakes.
She could accept this gorgeous man with her would be her husband, but she didn’t know the first thing about love. Even though she was getting an idea of what it felt like in her soul, she didn’t know what to do when in love or how to act for that matter.
PDA—pubic displays of affection—was strictly prohibited in the military. She’d never had problems with that. Never had affection to show anyone. But now she knew she had to express herself or there would be problems. Was there a book or video she could watch that gave her the answers she needed?
There had to be websites that would tell her exactly what to do. She’d learn like she had her schooling and practice with the same fervor she did her military training. Then their lives together could get started.
At that moment, something in her changed. It was infinitesimal, but it shook her world. She had no reason, now, to keep running. Since the day she’d walked out of the house with her siblings in tow, she’d been running from her memories and emotions. She couldn’t handle them on her own.
With Josh in her life, it was all different. She had someone to lean on, someone who would keep her strong during those times when she felt the world would overtake her. She was no longer alone.
Her biggest fear flew forward. The smile faded from her face. A worried looked came from him.
“Promise me something,” she said.
“Anything,” he replied.
“If you ever see me turning into my father with you or the kids, intervene. Kick my ass, if you have to. Just don’t let me treat them badly.”
He kissed her forehead. “My love, the fact that you are asking this of me means you won’t ever let that happen. But if it does, I will spank your scrumptious ass.”
She lifted her hips off the ground. “You mean this ass?”
Josh disappeared under the blanket covering them. “Yes, this.” Playfully, he bit her butt cheek. She squealed and laughed. A sense of happiness she’d never felt slid over her. Was this love? She felt light and free. She could face anything the world threw at her with her mate beside her. This was how she wanted to be the rest of her life, which wasn’t likely. Life would hand her shit on fine china, but once she got through it, the end was priceless.
But something else niggled at the back of her mind.
As if enough hadn’t happened in the last four hours. She’d gone from saving the intelligence department to saving herself with her mate by her side all the way. The last hour alone blew her mind. How her brain even functioned was a miracle.
She was perched half on her guy, arm over his chest, thigh across his lower abs. It was the most comfortable position she’d ever been in.
“What’s wrong, love?” Josh asked.
She let out a sigh. “I don’t know. Something’s bugging me and I don’t know what it is.”
He partially rolled to face her. “Is it about us? Are we moving at light speed for you?”
“Absolutely.” She laughed at his slightly panicked look. “But that’s doesn’t bother me. It’s something else.”
“Oh, good.” He lay back and closed his eyes. She pinched his nipple and twisted it slightly. His eyes popped open, gold rings flaring.
“Don’t be an ass,” she said. “Help me figure this out.”
“Figure it out? So this doesn’t mean you want more sex?” He whimpered like a hurt puppy. She laughed again. When was the last time she’d expressed such happiness twice in the same minute? This man was a godsend.
“Wanting sex and figuring this out are not mutually exclusive. One doesn’t dictate the other,” she replied.
He drew a brow down. “Sooo, does that mean yes or no to sex right now?”
She giggled. Giggled! Her. Sergeant Major Obermier giggling. Hell was definitely freezing over and the pigs were flying south for the winter. “It means no, horny toad.”
“Hey,” he said. “Get your shifters straight. I’m a horny wolf, not frog.”
She gasped. “There are frog shifters? Really?”
“Uh, maybe,” he said with all seriousness. “I haven’t met any, but they would’ve been frogs so I wouldn’t have talked to them in the first place.”
She didn’t want to think about herself talking to every creature she came in contact with asking if they were a shifter or not. Rather quickly, she’d find herself in her own padded room playing with small plastic G.I. Joes.
“Okay, I’ll let that go for now,” she said, not sure how to approach such a statement. This conversation was getting weird. “We’re way off topic here. I’m forgetting something and I don’t know what.”
“Oh, yes,” her mate replied. “And it’s not sex.”
Exasperated, she sighed. “No, it’s not sex. We’ve confirmed that.”
“Damn,” Josh said. “I was hoping you’d forgotten that you said no already.” His smile warmed her heart. It would take a little time to get used to his serious-faced, playful banter. “Playful” wasn’t a word in the military handbook.
“You’re such a dork,” she responded as she scooted away and rolled onto her stomach. He laughed, smacking her on the ass. She could get used to that. No, no, no, stay focused. After pulling her laptop in front of her, she logged onto the Internet to see the latest news. “Shit. Look.”
She angled the monitor for him to take a peek. The bold headline read Hostages in the NIB?
“What’s NIB?” he asked. “I’ve heard you say it before.”
“That’s what we call this building, National Intelligence Building of the National Intelligence Agency. I think they are naming it after some senator when we move out of it soon.” She scanned the article, looking for anything scandalous. Clicking a link, she was taken to a page with various photos of the night and a few statements. Director Pommer was quoted giving the standard spiel when pressed by the media too soon.
Nothing about her or shifter involvement. And thank god there were no photos of the four dead men on the roof. She googled Yulian’s name again to see what else she could find. The fact that Mikhail wasn’t a part of this bothered her. They were a pair, it seemed. Maybe they got in a fight and no longer talked.
“You think we’re missing something?” Josh asked.
She sighed. “I just can’t believe that the brother Mikhail had no part of this. Of the two of them, he’s the smarter one. Yulian was always the more brute force type.”
“Mikhail was part of something,” Josh replied.
She looked at him. “What do you mean?” she asked.
“When you were on the phone with the president, Day listened to Yulian’s phone call. It had something to do with Mikhail finishing up at a home,” Josh informed her.
“What home?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Didn’t say. Does he have relatives or know someone here in DC?”
She didn’t know. He could’ve, but that didn’t seem right. Why hold a group hostage just to wait until his brother did something at someone’s house?
Josh snuggled up to her side. “What you said about Yulian not being the brains was definitely true. The men with him weren’t highly trained. We took out the four guards with little effort, and the guys inside seemed to be joking around a bit much. I’d have been pissed if they were my men.”
“I’m with you there. Very unprofessional, which wasn’t how the last run-in I had with them seemed. Their part was well planned and executed. It took us a while to locate their hideout. Here, it appeared they were just waiting for something. Yulian looked at his watch a lot. And if their plan all along had been to take the helicopter, he’d known only two other men could leave with him and a hostage.”
“He was going to leave his guards behind, wasn’t he?” Josh said. “What a bastard to sacrifice his own men. He should be shot and hanged by his balls.”
She felt something coming to her. The answer to all this. They were close. “How long after the conversation Day listened to till the time they left?” she asked.
“They started moving out right afterward,” he replied.
She sat up. “That’s it. Yulian’s part in this was to be a distraction. Like the news woman and Sheldon calling the police to distract the hostage takers.”
“Distraction for what?” he asked. “A robbery of some kind?”
“The brothers aren’t the stealing type. Not flashy enough for them,” she said. “They ransom people for money, so I don’t see them coming all the way over here to shoot out a Tiffany’s when they have the same thing much closer to home.”
“What about abduction? That makes sense if they took someone from a home,” Josh theorized.
“That works for me, but why the big distraction then? Why not just go in, take the person, and leave?” she wondered. Damn, they were missing something big.
“If you need a distraction, then that means the target has to have eyes on it or is out in public,” her mate said. “What house is out in public or easy to see?”
“Oh, fuck,” Candy said, dropping her face into her hands. “The White House.”