CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Spectra

 

The car ride back to the city Wednesday morning was silent. I sat in the back with Bay, Luke up front with Calin, who was driving. Bay woke me early to take his pleasure again, taking mine right along with it. He didn't even bother shielding with me, and he didn't need to now. Last night’s exposure finally stretched and sealed my shield to encompass me entirely now. When that seal formed last night, I felt something within me shift.

This morning, every one of my senses was more alive. Every little touch of Bay's fingers on my skin was intense in the way my receptors responded. As I watched the world pass by outside the windows, colors were richer, textures sharper. Breakfast was like an orgasm in my mouth as the taste of the bacon and eggs were taken to a whole new level. I felt like I'd been living in a bundle of cotton wool until this morning.

Bay's thumb rubbed against mine where he held my hand as we entered the city streets. “Are you nervous about your meeting?”

“No.”

“What was the recruiter like when you met them?”

“She kept talking up the company, telling me how there would be lots of room for advancement for someone with my skills.” I noticed Luke listening intently; his head was turned towards Calin, so he heard every word. I frowned, looking to Bay, who was watching me with the same intensity. “Is there something you two know about this meeting you want to tell me?”

Bay patted my hand. “There's nothing I can tell you yet. You said you have another interview tomorrow?”

“At Galaxy. I still have to figure out how I'm going to get out to Stokes. There isn't much in the way of public transport. And then I've got my formal interview at Baulkims on Friday.”

“Can you drive?” Calin asked.

“Of course,” I smirked. “I grew up in suburbia with an absentee mother. I was driving her car to the shops for food before I was even licensed.”

Calin nodded. “Stokes Business Park isn't even twenty minutes from the estate. Why don't you stay tonight at our place and borrow one of the cars in the morning?”

I looked to Bay, unsure how to word why I couldn't. “I am...”

“Meant to see your boyfriend tonight?” Bay finished for me. I swallowed and nodded. Bay's eyes drifted to Luke, who gave the slightest nod. “We'll bring him to you. Luke will arrange the guest room for your use.”

I narrowed my eyes and assessed all three of them. “Why?”

Bay raised a brow.

“Why would you be willing to allow me to sleep under your roof with my boyfriend and not you?”

Bay gave the tiniest smirk. “You chose shield, not intentions, Spectra. The offer gets you out of a bind; that's all that should matter for now.”

I couldn't trust there wasn't an ulterior motive. I turned my eyes to the back of Calin's head. “Thank you for the offer, but no. I'll find my own way. If I took the job, I'd have to make arrangements to get there anyway.”

Luke's smile disappeared, and he turned his face fully back to the front of the car. Bay just watched me, and I could see what he was thinking in his eyes.

I smiled. “You're only just working out how stubborn I can be?”

Bay's left eye squinted like he was concentrating. “You don't have any intention of taking this job today, do you?”

“No,” I answered straightforward.

“Why?”

“I've been aiming for Galaxy for two years. That was my goal.”

“Then why go in for the meeting at all?” Bay was highly suspicious of me now. His shoulders were tense, his body posture guarded.

“Galaxy isn't guaranteed. They are very particular about who they hire.”

“How are they different from the other companies?”

I looked around the car and noticed the other two were the same. “What am I walking into here, Bay?”

“Answer my question.”

“Look... I might be interested in the job at Pendant once I've seen the place, but if it's going to be like the NSIO, I'm not interested.” I met Bay's eyes.

He relaxed a little. “The recruiters at this place are trained profilers, they'll throw you out on your ear if they think for even a second you're not serious about being there.”

I nodded, and Calin pulled the car up to the curb outside a beautiful historic office building. “Good luck, Spectra,” Calin called. “Call me after you're finished, and we'll have lunch so you can get your bag back.” Calin's eyes drifted to the bag with my clothes at my feet. Bay's and Luke's eyes were on Calin, and surprise didn't even cover the look on their faces. It was a mix of surprise, disgust, possibly distrust. Whatever it was, it was hostile.

“Thanks, Calin. Text me so I have your number and I'll call you when I’m finished.” He handed me his phone, and I typed my phone number in. Bay's eyebrows shot up as he watched me hand the phone back, but he didn't say anything.

I leaned over to kiss him goodbye, and Luke coughed loudly, “Lipstick.”

I laughed, remembering that I was, in fact, wearing a rosy lip gloss just to give my lips some color. “I'll see you next week sometime.”

Bay caught my wrist. “This weekend.”

I shook my head. “I'm with Mercury until Sunday evening. He starts night shift again Sunday night. We need to work some stuff out between us, so we need this time.”

Bay frowned. “I'll contact you Sunday night to arrange to see you again.”

I nodded, opened the door, and stepped out of the car. I walked towards the front door of the building and looked back as I stepped into the revolving door. Bay's car was already gone. On the other side of the door, I instantly wanted to get back outside. Everyone I could see was a predator. I stood there scanning over the entry foyer. The security guards, the ladies at reception, the people coming and going, making their way to the elevators.

I stood there trying to remember to breathe. “Miss?” The security guard on this side of the door stepped forward, giving me a quizzical look. “Are you lost?”

I was certainly starting to feel that way. I focused on the guard in front of me, blocking out my surroundings. “Is this Pendant Security?”

“Yes, Miss.” The guard looked confused. I'm guessing they didn't get many humans walking through their door. “Do you have an appointment?” I nodded. The guard's brows nearly jumped off his face. “Tracey at the desk will fix you up with a pass.”

I nodded, took a deep breath, and made my way to the desk. The look on Tracey's face when I stopped in front of her was just as shocked as the security guards. Okay, they never got humans in here. “Good morning, I'm meeting with Miranda Jackson from recruiting this morning. My name is Spectra Michaels.”

Tracey typed into her computer and pressed a button, adjusting her headset. “Miss Michaels is in the foyer. Yes, sir.” Tracey disconnected the call. “If I could see your ID please, Miss Michaels?” I pulled out my license and handed it to her. She put it on a scanner and scanned it before handing it back to me. “Please look at the camera on the wall behind me.”

I looked at the camera, and then Tracey was typing again. She pulled a lanyard out of a drawer and the machine spat out a visitor’s pass. Tracey swiped the card through a device and pointed to a black pad mounted above what looked to be an optometrist's device on the counter. “If you could place your hand on the pad, your chin in the strap, and your forehead in the brace please and look straight ahead.”

I swallowed, becoming slightly nervous about this level of security, but did as requested. A red light shined over my eye at the same time I felt a tingling in my hand. “Thank you, Miss Michaels.” I stood straight, and Tracey handed me my pass. “You have limited access.” I nodded, slipping the lanyard over my head.

“Miss Michaels.” The man who now stood beside me held out his hand. I turned to look at the thirty-something de Sang and felt my heart rate pick up. He could have been Calin's brother. Since I knew Luke and Calin were brothers, I guess that made him Luke's possible brother as well.

“Son actually.”

“I'm sorry?”

“My name is Alfred Abernathy. I'm head of recruitment here at Pendant. I'm Luke's son from before he was taken and before you ask, no, my father did not take me. I got myself into the same sort of trouble some years later.” Alfred smiled a generous smile at me as he held out his hand.

“I actually asked that out loud?” I queried cautiously as I shook his hand.

'Not at all, Miss Michaels,' Alfred smiled as his voice came into my head.

'Fuck!'

Alfred looked me over with a very naughty smile. “I'd love to, but maybe later.”

“What?” I asked cautiously, not sure which of my thoughts he'd just heard.

Alfred smirked and directed me to the elevators. “Shall we get started? Our recruitment process is quite rigorous. We'll start with a lengthy interview, then I will give you a series of tests to see where your skill set would be most valuable to us. If you pass that, I will give you a quick tour of the area I think you would be best placed...”

“Wait.” I put my hand up as we stepped into an elevator alone and Alfred pressed the button for the first floor. “I'm sorry. I thought I was meeting Miranda, and she never mentioned anything about this process. I haven't had the opportunity to study for any test, and why is there is no other human in this building?”

Alfred's smile dropped, and he hit the stop button on the elevator as concern smothered his features. “Miss Michaels, you need to breathe. I'm not going to hurt you, but you are about to fail straight out if you can't control your panic response.”

Oh my god, it was just like that first time Bay dragged me into an elevator alone with him. Alfred watched me for a moment, turned quickly, and hit the start button. He waited for the doors to open, stepped out, and put his arm out to keep the doors open for me. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and took one step forward, followed by the other until I was standing in the open space of the lift foyer on the first level.

Alfred let the elevator doors go and watched me with curiosity. “Miss Michaels, are you aware you're claustrophobic?”

I swallowed and glared at Alfred. “Only when it comes to enclosed spaces and predators.”

Alfred grabbed my upper arm and dragged me off to the side where no one could overhear. “You were attacked as a child. That doesn't explain to me how you can tell there is not one other human in this building. Considering I can smell you had sex with a particular predator this morning, I can tell your fear of enclosed spaces is not restricted to a predator being in it with you.”

I met his eyes. “Just because you can see my thoughts does not mean you know me. I can tell there are no humans in this building because of the way the security guard and the receptionist reacted to my presence here, not on any Nachtwelt ability. Who I'm having sex with is none of your business, but let me assure you, it took a lot for him to convince me to see past what he is. He and his staff are the only predators I would trust in an enclosed space with me, and I only trust your father because he fears his boss. Now where is Miranda?”

Alfred glared at me for a moment. “Miranda is no longer with this company.” Alfred walked over to a set of glass double doors, swiped his staff card, and pulled one open. “Would you like to continue with your interview, Miss Michaels? Or would you prefer to give up now?”

 

Bay

 

“...will need to be ready to go active in two weeks.” Luke read calculations from his worksheet.

“We can do that,” Calin responded.

“Is that everything?” I asked, watching my inbox fill up out of the corner of my eye.

“Yes,” Luke sorted his reports, ready to leave.

Calin smirked. “How did Spectra go with her interview?”

“I haven't seen Alfred to ask yet,” Luke answered factually.

“How was she at lunch?” I asked as I opened an email I'd been waiting on.

“Pissed off would be putting it mildly. She wasn't happy to be interviewed by a telepath. Said she was glad she canceled her interview at the NSIO if she was going to go through a similar situation there.”

I felt my brows lift with curiosity. “She's canceled her interview with NSIO? When?”

Calin shrugged. “Not sure. Anyway, she doesn't expect she'll get an offer to work here.” Calin stood. “I'll get back to my work so we can meet these deadlines.”

“Why did you ask her to lunch?” Luke queried on my behalf. “She's not your type.”

“She's feminine, strong, beautiful, intelligent, and dangerous. What about her isn't my type?”

“She's not blonde,” Luke grumbled.

“She's also not available to you,” I added.

“I just wanted to make sure she was okay after she got out of here. She's a nice girl, but I know which bed she belongs in. However, I did manage to get her phone number for you.” Calin smiled, taking a piece of paper from his pocket and holding it up. “Should make contacting her a little easier, don't you think?” Calin put the piece of paper on my desk and walked out.

Luke walked over to my desk and picked up the phone. “Alfred. Come up to Mr. Ryder's office please.” He hung up.

I looked at him through my brows. “I have another meeting in twenty minutes and still a lot of stuff to get through. Couldn't it wait?”

“No.” Luke sat back down. “You want to know how she went more than any of us. More so, you want to know if he worked out what she was.”

I didn't argue with him. I read my emails, replying where needed while Luke scribbled notes in the margins of reports and typed other notes into his tablet. A few minutes later, Alfred knocked at the door and came in. He wasn't his usual smiling self, which said there was a problem straight off. The next giveaway was the look he gave me. He knew about my involvement with Spectra and wasn't happy about it.

Luke took one look at his son and sighed. “She passed, didn't she?”

Alfred handed a sheet to his father. “With flying colors. One of the best results we've ever seen, so it's particularly impressive for a human. I can see why the boss seduced her.”

“Let's keep that out of her file,” Luke grumbled.

“Easily done.” Alfred looked at me as he sank into the spare seat at the table. “I only know about you because I recognized your smell on her. Otherwise, I would never have gotten that out of her. She hid you quite well.”

Luke frowned. “You tested her fear response? That's not standard for professional staff.”

Alfred winced. “That was accidental. She is claustrophobic. Started having a panic attack in the elevator before I even got her to the interview room. It took me a minute to understand why she was freaking out, and I made it worse by stopping the elevator. Once I saw the connection to her childhood...” Alfred shook his head. “That girl will never hide in a wardrobe again, that's for sure.” Alfred shivered, and part of me wanted to know what he'd seen. “Anyway, I got the elevator going again and got out, holding the doors to watch if she recovered.”

“Which she did,” Luke affirmed, reading the report.

“Yes. This is not a good place for a survivor to work.”

“But?” I queried because there was a ‘but.’

“But, Evan would die to have her in his department. You don't get many with her skill level.”

“You got her to hack the Nachtwelt Security and Intelligence Office?” Luke damn near choked, reading through her test sheet.

Alfred smiled. “I didn't specify a place. I just asked her to access a secure database. She seemed pretty interested in the information she pulled on a...” Alfred looked at the file he was holding. “Raquel Nephilezza. A female Nephilim who's working at the NSIO as a personal assistant to L'Ordre. She then further impressed Evan by using the wireless on the laptop I'd given her to hack our network and email something from that girl's file to someone else. Though she did it so quickly, I actually missed she'd done it till Evan checked the laptop after she left.”

I frowned. “What did she email to who?”

Alfred's brow raised in interest. “You're obviously behind on your emails today, boss. She used my access and sent it to your private account, so look for an email from me.”

I changed accounts and scrolled through my emails until I found one time stamped just after ten.

Thought you might find this interesting. I think I'll be leaving town for a while.

I opened the attachment and found a thread of emails. I pressed print. “Luke, call Henry and tell him he needed to meet me an hour ago. Then call Calin. Tell him to find my ghost and get her underground, so deeply hidden that even I don't know where she is, but don't use her name cause it's likely your phone is cloned.”

I looked to Alfred. “I want your appointment with Spectra deleted instantly, so it never happened. Actually, just change the name to some other person we were looking at recruiting but failed.”

Alfred pulled out his tablet and started tapping frantically. “You think they'll try to find out who hacked that information?”

I looked at Luke speaking hurriedly in the corner. “It's what we would do.”

My door opened and Claire, my assistant, walked in on her ridiculous heels, placing what I just printed on the end of my desk. “Claire, I need to consult a physician about one of our staff. Could you call Saint Benedict's Hospital and put it through when you have the directory please?”

Claire nodded and walked out. She was a de Viande. I wouldn't let a de Sang near my office I didn't personally trust. It's why I had Alfred take Spectra's interview rather than one of his staff. Alfred was on his phone asking Evan to delete Spectra's digital trail from today. Luke was telling the front desk to bring L'Paix straight up as soon as he arrived.

My phone rang, and I picked it up. “I have Saint Benedict's Hospital for you.” Claire hung up.

“Hello sir, how can I help?”

“I need to contact one of your doctors on duty. His wife has gone into labor, and there were complications. She is being rushed to our local hospital and asked me to call him. His name is Dr. Mercury Raphangelis.”

“Please hold, and I'll find him for you.”

I sat, drumming my fingers impatiently as the directory assistant tracked down the doctor. Luke hung up and came over to the desk, reading the email. His eyes widened. “Are we bringing Alexander in on this?”

“No. We're going to use him.”

“Who is this?” Mercury's voice came on the phone, hostile.

“Mr. Raphangelis. I'm Mr. Ryder. Your wife works for me. She's gone into early labor, and I've been informed her current situation is perilous. Your wife needs you. I'm sending one of my staff to collect her hospital bag from your home. If you can meet him there, he will take you to your wife.”

I heard Mercury wanting to ask me straight out what was happening, but I counted on him being smart enough to know better. “Damn it. She's not ready for this. I'll be at the house in twenty minutes. Thank you for calling me, Mr. Ryder.” Mercury hung up.

I looked at Luke. “Mercury will meet Calin in twenty minutes at their house.” Luke nodded and was on his phone again.

Evan came through the door, his eyes fixed on his tablet screen. “We've got an internal hack. I found it while tracing the candidate's activities while here. It's why the girl could hack Alfred's account. Someone already opened the door for her. Damn, she was good though. Any chance we're bringing her on?”

“She could probably solve this faster than you,” Alfred teased.

Evan waved the tablet at him. “She already did. She tagged it for me.”

“In English, French, or even Gaelic please?” I grumbled.

“Think of it like a leaking pipe. To find where the hole is, you run blue dye into the pipes and see where things start turning blue.” Evan tapped his tablet screen and put it in front of me. “They're monitoring your activity, boss, and this is where all your internal communications are leaking out too.”

Luke looked over my shoulder. “A witch. Makes sense.”

“Not to me.” I looked at the profile. “I thought older witches were technophobes?”

“This one definitely,” Evan agreed. “She sits down in archives so it's unlikely anyone would see if she were up to anything. I would say someone set it up for her and she just passed on any information that might be valuable. Security is already collecting her and her system so we can analyze the activity.” Evan picked up his tablet and walked to the door, opening it. “I want that girl on my team come Monday.”

“You know why that can't happen, Evan,” I groaned.

Evan gave me a mischievous look. Alfred shook his head in warning, but Evan didn't get it. “I can make it happen.”

“She is protected,” Luke warned.

“She is human. Who the hell would protect her?” Evan looked at everyone, confused.

“That would be me!” Henry Williams’s voice boomed into the room. Evan stepped back to let a very unhappy Henry walk into the room. “That is, I assume you are talking about Spectra?”

Evan blew out a frustrated breath. “Damn it. She found this in under two minutes in our system. She is really good, boss.”

“That is why she is coming to work for the NSIO.” Henry smiled at an unhappy Evan.

“Not anymore she's not,” Luke murmured, and Henry turned his angry dark eyes on him.

“We might move to another office while this one gets checked over a bit more thoroughly.” I stood, grabbing the emails Spectra forwarded to me. “Sorry to drag you out, Henry, but we found one of the leaks at your office.”

I walked down the corridor and into the ladies’ bathroom. Henry followed with a slight smirk as I shooed the one de Sang touching up her lipstick out. “I love what you've done with your meeting room, Bay.”

“Would you bother bugging this room?” I asked. Henry shook his head. “Spectra came in for her interview today...”

“I gathered that.”

“To prove her skills, she hacked your office.” Henry's eyes bulged a little. “Since she's recently been heartbroken by your son...”

Henry frowned. “What have I missed?”

I looked at him, astounded. “You know he's taken up with the Nephilim, correct?”

“Yes, that's old news. How does that affect his relationship with Spectra?”

Luke and I looked at each other. “He's marrying the Nephilim.”

“Not a chance in hell, that bitch isn't strong enough for him, and she certainly isn't decent enough for my family.” Henry crossed his arms, determined. I raised my brows at him. Henry ground his teeth. “He didn't tell Spectra?” I nodded. Henry's power exploded through the room. “He can't be serious! Why would he give Spectra up for that... that… I can't even find a decent word to use.”

“Um, for the potential to marry a woman and have children?”

Henry raised his brows at Luke's condescending tone. “We will see about that.” Henry looked back at me. “What does all of that have to do with Spectra hacking the NSIO, which I'll speak to her about later?”

“Well, since Spectra believes Alexander is going to marry the Nephilim girl, she thought she'd check her out while she was there. Interesting that Raquel entered your son's life by becoming his personal assistant, or did he get her the job after he started seeing her?” Henry ground his teeth, and I continued. “Either way, Spectra pulled these emails from your future daughter-in-law's account.”

Henry took the papers from me and read through it. I could tell when he read the description. “You said you pulled the beast out of the man. It was Spectra?” Henry looked to me for confirmation.

I met his eyes unflinchingly. “How on earth would a human girl be able to do that, Henry?”

Henry scoffed at me. “You know very well she's not human, Bay, don't give me that. You're not stupid. I dare say you know exactly what she is by now.”

I let one eyebrow lift. “Enlighten me, Henry.”

Henry huffed. “She's a balance. Nephilim of the third generation most likely. Not powerful enough to marry even the weakest of our kind... unless this is true?”

I relaxed back against the sink and shook my head. “She can't do what is claimed here. She got scared and just happened to run the same instant this happened.” It was an easy lie. Spectra couldn't do it again, so there was no point admitting she ever did it in the first place. “That's not going to stop them coming after her though.”

Luke's phone rang. He stepped outside the bathroom to answer it.

Henry stood straighter. “I'll have Alexander pick her up.”

“No, you won't!” I growled. “You may as well put a neon sign pointing to her if Alexander makes any move to protect her. I've already arranged for her and her boyfriend to leave town for a while. What you need to do is use your son's bride-to-be as a way to misinform our enemies.”

Henry read through the emails again. “I don't even understand how she got this information. He's feigned amnesia since the event each time we've questioned the man.”

“Possibly he's only spoken to those he knew were of Essence. Like Alexander's girlfriend.” I tapped the papers he held. “We can use her and when we're done with her...” I shrugged. “Let Alexander marry her.”

Henry glared at me. “She's not strong enough. For me, yes maybe, but not for him.”

I smiled. “Oh, I'm very sure of that.”

“You would let Alexander kill the woman he loves?” Henry's eyes went dark, his power swirling to a focal point.

“God no! Spectra is far too good to deserve that. The one he intends to be his wife? Yes.”

The side of Henry's mouth lifted slightly. “Spectra is his, Bay. Even if she separates herself from him, he owns her heart and soul.”

I leaned forward slightly. “But not body.”

Henry's brow dropped in confusion. “They've been sleeping together for nearly eight years, Bay.”

“Spectra is paranoid about getting pregnant out of wedlock, Henry. She's never let her lovers claim her, and that includes your son.” Luke came back into the room. He looked pale and worried. I stood straight immediately. “Where is she?”

Luke shook his head. “They must have gotten her name before we could stop them. They had three hours on us. They killed a nun when they took her. The Angelis is going nuts. It looks like she tried to make a run for it, but they got her. They found her bag stuffed with clothes and her laptop halfway across the grounds. Calin is trying to track where they took her. He's called some of his students to help and added it as extra credit.”

I was heading for the door. “Henry, you need to head this off at your end. Make sure the Nephilim finds out I have a ghost, but it was just coincidence that she passed through the beast the same moment Gina hit him with the antidote. Maybe, if we're lucky, she'll pass it on quickly that it was misinformation and they will release Spectra.”

“If we're unlucky?” Henry grumbled, following me back to my office.

“Your future daughter-in-law is taking out the competition while she can, and we find Spectra dead by morning.” I walked into my office, opened a Word document, and started typing furiously.

“What are you doing?” Luke queried.

“Writing a statement that Henry is going to leave with the Nephilim bitch for Alexander to read.” I finished typing a plausible explanation for what the beast saw. “It might be good to make a scene with Alexander, too.”

“What about?” Henry was tapping into his phone.

“As far as everyone is concerned, Spectra got married to her Angelis boyfriend of four years last night, and they were leaving on their honeymoon this afternoon.”

Henry stopped. “Did she marry an Angelis last night?”

“Not your priority concern right now, Henry.” I pressed print and stood up, grabbing my jacket.

“Did she marry last night?” Henry pressed angrily.

I met his eyes. “Yes.” Henry stepped back like I'd punched him. I wasn't going to explain that it wasn't a legal marriage and it wasn't the Angelis, but last night Spectra had naively married her body to mine. That was close enough to the truth to cause the stir I needed right now. Spectra would marry Mercury now anyway, so if the rumor made its way back to them before it happened, so be it.

“I have contacts to run down if we're going to save her, Henry. You do your bit, I'll bring her back safe.” I stormed towards the door as Claire came in. I grabbed the document and held it up against the door as I signed it. “Copy that for me and give the original to Henry, Claire.”

“Yes, boss.” Claire ran, well the equivalent of it in her heels, off to the photocopier.

“Luke, let's go.” I walked out of the office, slipping into my jacket as I made my way to the elevator.

When the doors closed, Luke looked at me. “You didn't tell me you married her last night.”

I kept my eyes straight ahead. “She doesn't know what she gave up last night, Luke. They kept her ignorant in the hope Alexander could manipulate her every step of the way. They weren't going to give her a choice if she proved strong enough.”

Luke met my eyes in the reflection of the elevator door. “Which she is, isn't she? You would have killed her last night if she wasn't.”

I watched the numbers count down to the ground floor. “She was using me to build her resistance so she would be strong enough for him. He'd given up on her because they didn't know who she is. Until last night, she'd wanted to prove herself worthy of him.”

Luke bowed his head. “And she is.”

“No.” The elevator counted down to P. “She's too good for him.”