Chapter Sixteen
Lara woke with a start and felt around the bed, looking for the warm body that should be there.
“I’ve got to go do a check with Rem,” Magnus said from across the room.
She sat up and watched as he pulled a pair of jeans from the closet as well as a shirt.
“Is something wrong?” she asked. Worry cut into the sleepy haze she had been feeling. Despite their love-making, there was still the issue of the Azilians and the thugs to worry about.
Magnus shook his head and sat on the end of the bed to put on his shoes. She crawled down to where he was, just to be near him.
“Something tripped our alarms,” he said. “We need to check, just to be on the safe side. The guard on duty said he didn’t find anything, but it’s always better to be safe, especially with everything going on.”
She nodded but hated to see him go. What if he were stepping into a trap? The idea of the nasty Horatius Group getting their hands on him again sent chills through her.
“Hey,” he said and ran a hand along her cheek. “It will be fine.”
Lara nodded. She knew it would be, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to worry about him.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a passionate kiss. When she pulled back, they were both panting.
“Hurry back,” she said through her breaths.
Magnus smiled back at her. “You’re certainly a reason to come back.”
A knock came from the front door. He stood.
“I’ll be back,” he said.
He left the room. Quietly, she walked to the window and peered into the darkness. She knew they must have gone on foot for them to have left so quickly. Although if she could run like that, she’d probably go everywhere on foot.
A chill crept over her as she continued to stand in the window. The hairs on her neck stood, and she shifted the blanket around her body to cover it a bit more. For some odd reason, it felt as if she were being watched.
Lara looked back out into the woods, this time looking for anything that wasn’t right. If the alarm had been tripped, maybe someone had gotten in.
Darkness all around. She bit her lip and swallowed.
She walked over and flipped on the light. Really, this was silly. She’d gotten herself all worked up for nothing. Worry for Magnus was starting to take form in different ways, and she was going to need to get that under check if she was going to make it to being bonded to him.
Bonded. Not that he had said it yet. Maybe she was just making assumptions. Maybe this really wasn’t happening, and she’d just read too much into things, but it did seem to work that way with them.
Lara remembered the look on his face as she sucked on him. It was like he had no experience at all with it. The idea of it made her feel special, like they really were made for one another.
Still, he seemed to know just what to do to please her.
A blush crept over her face at all the ways he’d been able to satisfy her. She’d never had such a caring and attentive lover.
The ring of her temporary cell phone cut through her thoughts and brought her back to the present. She raced over to it, afraid that it might be Magnus calling. Lara pulled the phone from her purse and stared at it. Fear instantly took over.
“Court, are you okay?” she said into the phone. She hoped using her friend’s nickname would keep things light and calm her nerves a bit. It didn’t.
“Fine,” her friend said over the line. She sounded a little surprised Lara would be that scared, but it was late, and Courtney never called her late.
“What’s going on?”
“Did you see the trucks?” Courtney asked.
Lara frowned. It wasn’t that she wanted to lie, but there was no way she could explain jumping into the sack with Magnus when she’d never done something like that before.
“No,” she said casually. “I was sleeping.”
There was a pause on the other end of the phone. Courtney knew she wasn’t being totally upfront.
“Must have been sleeping pretty hard to not hear them,” she said. The skepticism was laced into every word. “About five of them just rolled through.”
“Five?” Lara said.
That was way more than they’d ever seen. The big meeting was tonight. Everyone had just assumed it would be later, based on what they’d overheard, but it seemed like it was happening right now.
She wondered why they’d move the timetable up. Perhaps they were nervous because of her.
“Thanks for the head’s up,” she said. “I owe you one.”
Without waiting for a response, she clicked the phone off and gathered some clothes. Lara had to find out what the hell was going on, and there was no way overprotective Magnus was going to support that. She’d just have to go it alone. Now she just needed to convince herself that she could.
* * *
Magnus cursed the cool, damp air. There were so many other things he’d rather be doing at that moment, and it didn’t entail tromping through the woods at night when a sexy naked woman was in his bed.
“Anything?” Rem asked.
Magnus shook his head. “There’s an odd scent, but it doesn’t seem to be anything dangerous.”
Rem inhaled deeply and frowned before shaking his head.
“Yeah, nothing dangerous.”
“You ready to call it?” Magnus asked his leader.
Rem nodded. “Let’s head back in. I’m sure you’re eager to get back.”
He gave Magnus a wide grin. For once Magnus didn’t really feel like punching Rem for his comment.
“She isn’t what I expected for myself,” Magnus said with a laugh.
Rem grinned at him. “They never are.”
He looked over to his leader with surprise. “Jenna wasn’t the woman you expected?”
“No,” he said simply. “She’s so much more than that.”
Rem’s words settled on him. He was right. Lara wasn’t what he envisioned, but she was so much more than he could have ever thought. Being with a woman like that was so much more than he could have ever hoped. All those years with the group, all that torture, he had never thought much about the future.
Many might say that if he hadn’t led the life he did, he would never have found her. He wouldn’t dare give those bastards credit for any sort of happiness he found. That wasn’t theirs to claim. He could, however, say that he was glad the journey ended with her. She soothed the ache that his past created.
They neared the camp, and he could instantly see that something was wrong. Carter stood at the edge of the trail.
“Jenna, Nyx and Lara are gone,” he said. Being ex-military meant he could hold his shit together better than most, but the worry had crept into his voice.
“Taken?” Magnus asked. His heart beat hard in his chest.
Carter shook his head and looked at Rem.
“Jenna took her guns,” he said.
Rem cursed under his breath. “Do we know where they went?”
Carter shook his head. “Not for sure, but I could take a good guess. The little reporter set out on a mission. Only one thing driving her right now, and that’s that damn cult.”
Magnus checked his watch. “It’s early,” he said. “It’s not supposed to go down until midnight.”
Carter shrugged. “Criminals and cultists.”
“I don’t understand though. Why did the others go?”
Rem chuckled. “My guess? They figured out she was going to go no matter what, and figured it’d be better to be with her then let her go herself.”
Rem sighed. “Let’s go,” he said. “We might be able to stop this before it starts.”
Magnus nodded. “Should we bring a few others?”
Rem shook his head. “Let’s keep this quiet. Several are having trouble with the humans. Last thing we want to do is have them out hunting our women.”
Magnus clenched his fist. He’d beat anyone that dared harm his woman.
“Right,” Magnus said. “Let’s go.”