Chapter Twenty-two

Every round of arguments kept her from locating Anna.

“We don’t have days. I don’t think we have hours. They want me, and there is nothing to stop them from killing Anna. Her abilities are low level because she never used them.” Anna's abilities were latent. Whoever took her wasn’t interested in coaxing them to life.

“We don’t know where to start,” Cade pointed out.

“We start with Julie; she was Anna’s abusive girlfriend,” Tristan told them.

“You think she took her?” Mira asked.

Cade shook his head. “He thinks she sold her out.” Tristan nodded while Mira looked sick.

“Let’s go. I should have killed that bitch.” Jinx stopped her before she could leave.

“I want your kittens ready to roll in the next two hours. They still have a low-level connection with whoever took them. We need to break it.”

She nodded; they were the hotdogs, and she was the buffet. It made sense, now all she had to do was talk to Ven about his food metaphors.

“Thanks, Jinx.” Later, she would ask herself the crucial questions like how Jinx could know they were still connected to their captors.

They piled into the Jeep. Tristan was driving while Ven and Cade sat in the back.

There was a part of her that wanted to protest Julie being involved. She was a bitch, but a bitch that would put the person she was supposed to love in danger? If I can’t have you, no one can. Was that really a thing?

They pulled to a stop in front of Julie’s place to find Troy leaning against the wall.

“Took you long enough to get here.” He stood up waiting for them to join him at the entrance.

“Troy, what are you doing here?”

He studied her before answering. “They are my girls Mira, as well as my friends. No one touches who I protect.”

The blazing of his eyes reminded her he wasn’t human. Instead of arguing they walked in together. They walked the stairs making sure no one was around to get hurt or to hurt them.

She pounded on the door. “Open the door Julie, I can feel you in there.”

“You’re a freak, Mira. I always knew that you were going to take Anna away from me.” The door flew opened. An intoxicated Julie greeted them.

“Where is she?”

“Somewhere you will never find her. If I can’t have her, neither can you.”

“For God sakes tell me you weren’t stupid enough to put her life in jeopardy because she left you.”

“She wouldn’t have left me if you hadn’t encouraged her.”

“Wrong! Once again, you’re fucking wrong. You hurt her, beat her, and then tried to sell it as love. That’s why she left you. Anna was the best thing that ever happened to you. She loves freely, and you messed it up. You don’t deserve her. Where the hell is she?” She was screaming. It was tiring always holding it together. Knowing her friend’s life was in danger because this woman couldn’t keep her hands to herself was the last straw.

“I don’t know.” Julie tripped over her own feet as she backed up trying to get away from Mira. “They didn’t tell me where they were taking her.”

“Damn, you really sold her out. I should beat the shit out of you.”

Julie fell to the couch raising her hands to protect her face.

“It’s no fun being on the other side is it?” Mira bottled up her rage; Julie wasn’t worth it. “How do we find her?”

“You follow me,” Troy told her before he left the apartment.

They went back to the Jeep. Troy gave Tristan directions from the back seat.

Mira closed her eyes and allowed her body to sink into the passenger-side seat. Cade and Ven were quiet, not that they talked a lot, but she could use the distraction. She reached out blindly and placed her hand on Tristan’s thigh. He was keeping her grounded for the challenge to come.

“If something happens, if everything goes to hell, remember I love you. Every minute I have spent with you has been better than the last.” Mira reached out wanting him to know how she felt.

“Nothing will go wrong love.”

She gave a wry smile. “You can’t know that. Just remember. You are worth loving. In you, I found more than my heart could have asked for.”

“This sounds too much like goodbye to me. Mira, I never thought I would find you. In the words of your people, you’re my miracle. I’ve lived a long life and, in many ways, a good life. The life I live now only has one meaning that’s you love. Make no mistake wherever you go, I will follow. If it’s time for you to leave this plane, I will be next to you. If bondage is your future, I will be there holding your hand. Together love, whatever happens, we will be together.”

She nodded and sniffed trying to reign in the tears that were trying to fall. To love someone in the good times was a miracle. To be willing to walk through hell with the person you love was beyond what she had words for.

“We’re almost here,” Troy told them. She nodded; she could feel the darkness getting closer.

“We are back at the first location.” Her eyes were still closed; her sense of sight wouldn’t help her now.

“How do you know?” Cade asked her.

“It was a trap. It’s been a trap from the beginning. It’s just starting to make sense. Whoever is waiting has always wanted me.”

“The male in the club from the first night,” Tristan growled.

Troy nodded. “I knew he was going to be a problem.”

“If I had killed him.”

“You would have gone to ground. I would have been alone, and still; I would be making this trip or one like it.” She nodded her head, seconding her statement. This was how it had to be. The only thing that mattered now was Anna.

“Stop here.” She opened her eyes to see the same abandoned house one hundred yards away. They climbed out of the Jeep.

“Troy.” She turned to face him.

“No goodbye’s Mira. Fight your ass off and come back.”

She nodded. Ven walked up to her hugging her tight. He whispered in her ear before moving back.

“I have loved being part of your family.” She took a few steps away. “You know you can’t come with me.”

“Us,” Tristan said.

“Us.” She smiled up at him with her heart in her eyes. “Hold down the fort and get Anna to freedom. Promise?”

“I’ll make sure she gets free while your family holds down the fort,” Troy told her giving her a hug.

She felt a tingle run through her body before she turned around and took Tristan’s hand. “Ready?”

“Yes.”

They walked towards the house. The door opened when they were about ten feet away. The same person who would come and watch her dance was standing there. Tristan growled.

“He’s the one I fought the day I met you.”

“He was always watching me. I don’t remember when it started. One day, he was there.”

“Mira so good of you to join me.”

“You have someone I want back.”

“Ahh, the female. I thought she might bring you out.”

“Is that why you took her?”

“Partially, her female wants her dead. I decided she would make an excellent bargaining chip.”

“Julie wanted her dead? What made her think you would kill Anna?”

“The money she paid me.”

She closed her hands. The cute, sharp nails she inherited when she mated Tristan bit into her the palms of her hands reminding her to hold on to her composure. She could kill Julie later.

“Where is she?”

“The one who paid me to kill this one?”

“Where is Anna?”

“Aww her, she’s inside. Come in.”

“No, send her out and break the connection.”

He gave her an innocent look. “Connection?”

She stared at him refusing to say another word.

“You would think I wouldn’t underestimate humans.” He walked away and came back with Anna. “The connection has been broken. There is no way she could satisfy my appetite. Go. You’re free.”

Anna walked into Mira’s arms crying. “We have to leave now. He’s a monster,” she whispered between choking sobs.

“Troy is waiting for you.” Mira hugged her tight refusing to allow the relief she felt to materialize in wet eyes. “Call Eve when you're away from here she’s crazy with fear.”

“Aren’t you coming?”

“Not yet. Go find Troy. I’ll be along.” She gave Anna her best smile and sent her off before she could ask any more questions.

“Why are you still here?” He asked Tristan.

“Were a package deal,” Mira told him. “What’s your name?”

He looked at her with a big shit-eating grin.

“It only seems fair you know my name.”

“I used to have a name. It was boring, ordinary. I need a new name.” He frowned as he thought before a subtle shake of his head said he was satisfied. “You can call me Aalam.”

She stared at him before answering. “King.”

“You are powerful. I am the first, so it is fitting that I be the king.” He stepped back through the doorway gesturing for them to enter.

They walked in before stopping several steps inside the house.

“It’s an elaborate trap.”

“You will be a worthy opponent.” He lashed out battering at the wall she built around her gift.

Mira reached for Tristan securing her hand in his. She closed her eyes constructing an elaborate chess set in her mind. Aalam destroyed the pieces leaving one queen and two kings.

“Two to one that isn’t fair.” He placed a cage around Tristan severing the hold they had on each other. “Now there is you and me, the white king and the black queen.”

“How did you become the white king?”

“Didn’t you know; you're the villain of this story.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” In front of her was a playing field ripe with mines and holes. Aalam sent out a feeler it was made of dark emotions. When it touched her, it exploded against the shield she kept around herself. She rocked from the blast of the explosion.

Unease and fear slipped through her shield; he feasted on it as if it were the finest wine.

“You live on emotions, not food?” She asked to distract him as she repaired her shield.

“Don’t be ridiculous. My body is as human as yours. I’m a land and sea kind of guy. Give me a steak and lobster, and I’m happy. Then add a succulent emotional chaser to the meal, and I’m great.”

She took a step closer advancing on him before she threw out an emotional blast of her own. It was filled with memories of happier times. He rocked on his feet but stayed upright.

“Is that all you have?” He laughed throwing another dark bomb her way.

Before she could recover, he sent out emotional tentacles that wrapped around her dragging her off her feet. He hung her in the air with them.

“Let me in Mira. I’m going to crack you open like an egg and eat out the center.” He battered against her shield, against her mind and emotions until he found a way in.

“You’re so strong. I take, and you rejuvenate. You will be enough to sustain me for years to come.” He hummed as he pulled strength from her body. “I have not been this well-fed since I came to be.”

Mira hung in the air unable to move. Aalam’s forced entry into her mind and emotions felt like being emotionally raped. It took the last of her strength to open her eyes. In front of her was Tristan. He was frozen, his hand reaching for her.

She remembered the first time she saw him sitting at the bar holding a beer he didn’t like. The frown on his face said it all. She went to say hi and somehow ended up calling him suga. The pet name she always used in her fantasies for the male she would love forever. She never thought she’d find him, but a fantasy couldn’t hurt, right?

Memories of their first car ride ran through her head. How he looked sleeping next to her. How hard his body was, but the skin covering his strength was so soft. She thought about how she kissed down his chest and how he was ticklish in one area.

Every thought she had reminded her of how much she loved him. It reminded her of how much he loved her. She could feel him in her mind giving her the one thing she needed, strength. He would die to make her strong. That thought spurred her on, she took every bit of love she felt and blasted it at Aalam. It was like she was carrying a laser cannon with continuous charge.

He screamed breaking away from her. She fell hitting the floor. Tristan broke free and roared as he changed shapes.

“You can’t do this.” Aalam’s shape changed. He became more shadow than man.

He and Tristan met in the center of the room. Claws were out, they tore at each other's skin as blood and gore painted the room. She wanted to jump into the fray to tear the skin off Aalam with her own claws. She stayed back knowing that if Tristan needed to protect her that would make him weak.

She flinched when Aalam's claws made of shadow's tore down Tristan’s back. He jumped on Tristan growling as he tried to invade his mind. They rolled back and forth on the floor as Tristan protected himself while trying to sink his claws and teeth deep into Aalam to get the upper hand.

While they fought, she worked her way to her hands and knees crawling behind Aalam. He was covered in a black shadow. It only seemed to be able to go so far away from him until it was pulled back. They were one being, but how was that? She was sure he used to be human.

He pulled away from Tristan whose claws were embedded in his side. The scream on his lips was one of pure pain. He ran at Mira. She lifted a shield one she learned to create from him. He bounced back.

“You will pay; all of you will regret the day you defied me,” Aalam screamed before he disappeared.

Tristan walked to her on legs that barely held him. He dropped at her side. His hands were bloody with red blood that was coated in another substance. He pulled her to him.

She went to her male, her Kur’ik who was a werewolf. The very thing she should be afraid of. When he ran his claws over her skin, she closed her eyes and thanked whoever was looking out for her. She was in love with a male who wasn’t a man. She was fine with that.