CHAPTER FIVE
He was packed, ready to leave with Jake and Isabella. His scouts and the rest of his team were already in position in Boston. As fury swarmed through his blood, he questioned whether he should go at all. Part of him knew he should fix what was broken between him and Ella, but he wasn’t sure he could. A part of him battled as to whether he should; perhaps it would be easier to let her go. Maybe giving her space would help.
Hell, he didn’t know.
He groaned, lost. He thought this mated bond shit was meant to be forever. It was supposed to mean Ella would always need and love him. Yet these days, she barely looked at him, and yesterday, only allowed him to hold her for a moment while she cried before she shoved him away. Most of the time, she was as cold as an iceberg and as distant as the sun to him. To be honest, it was the same for him. He knew he would burn in hell for his dark thoughts, but he couldn’t help them. She was right; he blamed her. Hell. He rubbed his face with both his hands, as if to wake him up and see sense.
“Are you sure, boss, leaving Ella here is the best thing to do right now?” Jake stood next to Marcus.
In a flash, Marcus pivoted around and grabbed Jake by the throat, squeezing his hand tight as he threw him against the vehicle. Jake glared at him, but didn’t retaliate in any way. He let Marcus slam into him. After a moment or two, Marcus eased his grip on Jake’s airway and stood back. Jake spluttered and coughed, heaving in air.
“Shit—shit.” Marcus twisted around and blew out his breath, his back to Jake. He placed his hands on his head as if to stop himself from killing his friend. He darted around to face him. So help him, if anyone else told him what they thought was best for Ella, he would be guilty of murder.
Jake stood there, his face a tight mask.
“Don’t ever push that button again, Jake, do you hear me? Ella’s out of bounds. I will not talk about my wife with you. Now, get your crap and find Isabella because we’re leaving.”
Jake stepped right in front of Marcus. They stood nose-to-nose like steaming angry bulls. “We’re not leaving until this is sorted. We don’t go out on a mission unless we’re focused—it’s suicide. Besides, Ella is my friend. I’m worried about her…”
He admired Jake for having the balls to stand his ground as he recited words he used on his men, but enough was enough. Could this day get any worse? Marcus reacted and punched Jake straight in the nose, knocking him back. But he quickly rebounded and a wrestling match ensued. Arms swung high and low. Grunts rent out and spittle dropped to the ground as the two collided. Marcus threw his fist into Jake’s gut, which made him stumble, but he managed to regain his balance.
Righting himself, Jake paused to wipe his bloody nose but he kept talking. “Ella blames me too, just like you. Go on—take another punch. Don’t you think I deserve it for not—”
Marcus dove at him full force, delivering a direct blow to Jake’s stomach. It took the wind out of him and sent him crashing to the ground. They tumbled in the dirt but only Marcus continued to punch and hit. Jake groaned in the dry earth and grass. Marcus cursed out loud as he realized the fight was one-sided, and shoved his friend away.
“Why won’t you fight back, damn it?” he said, lying on the hard ground. Marcus pushed up until he sat up, staring at the mess. His clothes were filthy and he brushed down his jeans to remove some of the mud and debris.
Jake sat there with his head bent, bleeding over his torn shirt and making no attempt to right himself at all. “Because as angry as you are, I can’t.”
Marcus stood in front of Jake and extended his hand. Jake sat there with his legs sprawled in front of him. He studied Marcus’s face and grabbed his hand to stand up too. Marcus held Jake’s chin and twisted it right and left. There were several years between them in age—Jake was younger—but sometimes he displayed more sense than Marcus. Sometimes. What the hell was he doing? They needed to leave and if Jake ended up injured, he would be useless to him.
“Doesn’t look broken to me—you’re lucky. Change your shirt. You look like shit,” Marcus huffed.
“I’m sorry—I let you down, man. I should never have let that woman of yours talk me into taking her shopping. I knew the minute we arrived something was off, but that sadistic fuck had it all set up. I don’t know what hit me but I was gone. How the hell they managed to get me out of the market, I don’t know. When I woke up, I was lying next to the garbage cans out back, seeing double. But what I don’t get is how. It’s giving me sleepless nights, Drayton. We didn’t have a pattern—hell, she hadn’t been off the compound. Yet they were there waiting?”
Shit. It had been eating away at Marcus too. He’d wondered whether there was a leak, a mole in the team, and had spoken with Steel about this, but another thought crept into his mind. Damn it. He had been so bloody preoccupied with stupid details—the funeral, Ella, his mother—that examining how this twisted situation had occurred in the first place slipped way too far down the list of priorities. A sudden memory from that morning weeks ago, when he had last made love to Ella, burst into his mind. She complained of a sore neck. She was scratching it. Shit. He slapped Jake’s shoulder and pushed him away.
“You’re the lead on this one, Jake. Go and get Isabella—take your Jeep. I have to go and see Ella. Go and find out what the bastard has to say, get his statement. Make sure you get every detail the doctor remembers, but I want to see him, Jake. Alive. Understood? Twenty-four hours. Don’t fuck this up.”
Jake lifted his shirt to wipe his mouth before stripping it off and studied Marcus. “Sure. Are we done? Are we cool?”
Marcus pressed his eyes closed. He knew Jake needed his forgiveness and the truth was there was a moment he wanted to kill him, but that moment had long passed. There was no one he trusted Ella’s safety to besides Steel. He knew Jake would have done everything possible to keep her out of harm’s way. All the fury was aimed at the professor and the Elusti. He gave a quick nod and met Jake’s gaze.
“There’s nothing to forgive. Now get the information we need.”
“What about Ella? Do you think she’ll ever forgive me?”
He couldn’t give him an answer. Ella wasn’t anything like her old self. One minute, she was vacant, an empty shell; the next, she raged at him. For a moment last night, when she sank into his arms, there was a glimpse of the old Ella, but it vanished moments later when she told him she wanted to leave. In that moment, he knew she would walk away from him for good. In a way, it stunned him, but he also wondered whether it would be for the best. He wasn’t sure he could forgive her for disobeying his one request to stay on the compound. The blame he held against her lay bottled away inside him, gnawing at him like maggots festering on rotten flesh. Why did she always fight him? When she discovered she was pregnant, she’d been reluctant to accept it. He understood her concerns after the professor had injected her with an unknown substance, but when the tests revealed the baby was developing normally, he thought she had changed her mind. Now, he wasn’t sure.
“Honestly, I don’t know, Jake. Ella’s a mystery to me at times. Only time will tell what one can forgive.”
****
The waves stretched out toward the shore, eating away at the golden sand, but it rolled back quickly, as if burnt, taking the shells with it. Ella carried her flip-flops and walked barefoot along the deserted beach. Josephine strolled at her side, also shoeless. Her small cottage was a blip on the horizon. The clouds dispersed and a hazy sun hung in the pale-blue sky as they strolled undisturbed in the shallow cold water.
“Are you in any pain?” Ella asked.
Josephine grabbed Ella’s hand and squeezed it but carried on walking. “There are many types of pain, Ella, aren’t there? But no, physically, I am not in pain. It’s not me everyone should be worried about anyway. I’m old. Ella, I know you don’t want to hear this now, but not everything that has happened is as it seems. You have to trust me on this. My dreams are filled with you and a child…”
Ella broke away. Josephine was a gifted seer, but she couldn’t listen to her while she rambled on and predicted a rosy future for Marcus and her with another child. That wasn’t going to happen. She let Josephine talk but she didn’t listen. Instead, she focused on the waves as they crashed over the rugged coastline, spitting white foam out like lava. She loved the sea. The color of the ocean was a dark teal, refreshing and vibrant. Josephine’s voice carried over the roar of the water and Ella forced herself to study the elderly lady’s warm face to assess her aura. The once brilliant white shadow continued to look gray, making it dull. Josephine was very sick. The old lady slipped her arm through Ella’s and clung to it. Her sharp chestnut eyes quizzed hers. She had missed this closeness.
“Don’t give up on him, Ella. Marcus stores his emotions deep like most men, but he isn’t most men. You know that. He needs you and you need him. You have to help him to let go of the rein that he has held in so tight because of me. It’s not his fault—it’s mine—but he will need you and soon, more than he will ever know.”
Ella studied Josephine’s soft but heavily lined face and sucked on the corner of her mouth. Josephine didn’t want to talk about herself; she was only concerned about Marcus and their future. Choosing to let it go for now, she spoke her mind about Marcus.
“It’s not as easy as it sounds. We’re on different pages. I—I hold myself responsible. I don’t think I was meant to be a mother. I have never had that maternal instinct that everyone raves about. I never pictured myself with a baby. Even though Marcus did his best to reassure me the last four months, I always believed disaster was waiting. I always thought the baby would be a boy, and after burying Kate, well—see, I’m crazy…”
Her voice broke and before she could break away, arms wrapped around her back and pulled her flush against Josephine’s bony frame. Even though the old woman held little meat on her body, heat radiated from her through Ella and her reserve cracked. She held the woman tight and hugged her back, resting her head upon her chest and crying openly. Her body shook. After the other day with Marcus, the tears fell unchecked at odd moments and she had no control over them. When her parents passed, she hadn’t cried. It was shock and she was told that grieving was a process and different for everyone. The tears never came; she simply felt alone and abandoned. She wasn’t even angry that they had died and left her. Now, her mind lay scattered, going all over the place, feeling lost and empty. Ben was right; if she didn’t have a focus soon, this grief would devour her. There were too many demons to battle.
“Josephine, I know you’re sick. Can you tell me what’s wrong?” She shifted the attention to Josephine; she needed to know, to see whether there was something she could do to help. They broke apart a little, but Josephine steered Ella around to face the calm water.
“You can’t outrun destiny; it’s in the darkness—waiting. Come on, we should head back. Someone is eager to see you.”
Josephine often talked in riddles. Her words stirred her, but she didn’t push her for more. The CT scan was booked for tomorrow. She would ask the doctors. They retraced their footsteps in the silky sand.
“If you mean Marcus, he has gone, Josephine. He dropped me off and was leaving straight after that. I’m not sure when he’s coming back.”
Josephine stared straight ahead and nodded but she smiled. Ella followed the woman’s direction and sure enough, she couldn’t believe the sight charging across the golden sand at quite a speed. For a second, she panicked. Her heartbeat ramped up its pace and she told herself to stop the silly reaction. Josephine may see certain pieces of the future, but even visions were up for interpretation. She wasn’t always right. She shielded her eyes from the glare of the bright sun and watched, bewildered, as Marcus jogged toward them. His powerful rippled muscles glistened in the sunshine. Ella sauntered toward the approaching man, still linked to Josephine, as he came closer. He stopped about a foot away, unaffected by his jaunt as he admired the pair of them. Ella stopped too but couldn’t meet his direct stare. Josephine released her grasp and bridged the gap to Marcus, offering her cheeks, which he kissed automatically.
She looked back at Ella. “You two have to talk. I’ll make my own way back.”
Marcus frowned at his mother and Ella stepped nearer. She touched Josephine’s arm, concerned.
“I’m an old woman. I’m tired. I’m not going to die today.” She looked from one to the other. Josephine set off at a brisk pace, which was her style, and Marcus caught Ella’s arm.
“Will she be all right?”
Ella continued to watch Josephine before she switched her focus back to her husband.
“For the moment. She isn’t herself though, but isn’t revealing anything if she knows what’s wrong. Maybe she doesn’t know.”
They stood there in silence for a second, but as the icy-cold water splashed over her toes, she screeched and Marcus pulled her closer to him. Caught in his arms, again, she couldn’t quite pluck up the nerve to return his stare and could feel his eyes running over her dressed in skimpy shorts and a thin T-shirt.
“You’ve lost a lot of weight, Ella. You’re too skinny.”
His hand held her elbow and the heat of his grip branded her skin. Ella could feel her cheeks glowing too.
“Some men like that.” As soon as the words tumbled out, she instantly regretted them.
“Well, not me. I like women who are soft and at least have some curves,” he growled.
She stole a glance at his face, which studied hers, unsmiling. His dark, brooding gaze bore deep inside her, as if asking questions she didn’t even know the answers to. She shook her head a little to break the spell or trance that he easily cast over her.
“Why are you here?” Needing to have space from him, she pulled her arm out from his grip and stepped sideways, away from the encroaching tide.
He shook his head as if he, too, was stuck for a moment and couldn’t remember why either. “We haven’t talked in any detail about the day you were taken. I know, there’s a lot to process and the doctors told me to be patient, but the time for waiting is over. I need you to write down every tiny detail because it might mean something. Also, the day I left, the day you were upset with me, you complained that your neck itched. Does it still bother you?”
Ella reached her hand up right to the spot on the back of her neck that still nagged every so often like a sore that wouldn’t heal. Her finger scratched the surface of her skin and felt the tiny raised bump.
Marcus stopped talking and stood a breath away from her face. His attention zeroed in on what she was doing as his thick brows dipped into a frown. “Turn around.”
It was a command and one she obeyed. She lifted her hair to reveal her bare neck. Marcus breathed warm air on her skin as he prodded the painful area. He squeezed, and something under her skin moved. When he pressed on one side, a pain radiated down her right shoulder.
“Damn it. There’s something there, Ella. I need to remove it back at Josephine’s. She has a first-aid kit there.”
Ella pulled his hand off her neck and swiveled around to look at him. Rage fizzed inside as her cheeks heated. The violation to her continued and she wanted to scream at the seagulls that swirled above them. “Get it out now,” she shouted.
If anyone else was on the beach, they would have wondered what was going on. They may even have called the police. Marcus pulled out a silver blade from his jeans. He pressed his muscular body in against her back close enough that when he spoke, his breath kissed her neck, sending shivers down her spine. His body called to hers and she relaxed into him.
“Are you sure? It’s going to hurt. It can wait until we get back to the cottage.”
She wriggled around to study him. Her heart beat faster and faster at the thought of a device buried inside her.
“Get it out or I will do it myself. I have felt pain. This is nothing. Just get it out.” Showing her back to him once again, she lifted her hair and waited.
Marcus held her shoulder to hold her in place and pressed the sharp tip of the blade into her skin. The sting of pain burned her flesh and she jerked. He stopped and released her.
“I think we should wait.”
“No. I won’t move again. I promise. Just do it.”
She sank her teeth into her lips and crossed her arms around her waist. Ella shut off her mind to what Marcus was doing. As the waves roared over the rocks, she stared out to sea, wondering how her life had changed over the past several months. How she had changed. Once, she wouldn’t trust anyone and battled anything on her own. Now, she had let her guard down and was weaker because of it. The sound of a seagull overhead caught her attention as he dug into her back.
“Got it. It’s a tracking device. I’ve seen this before. This high-tech gadget isn’t available on the general market yet. I need to get it to the lab and see what they can find out about the manufacturer. Ella, this confirms that the Elusti knew where you were all along. They had you under surveillance the entire time. I think the injection they gave you inserted this under your skin. At some point, they would have taken you. It was merely a question of when.”
She felt her heart pound as he spoke but it didn’t relieve her guilt. She nodded, accepting what he said.
“But—and I know you’re not saying it, but it’s there—if I had stayed at the house, things may have been different.”
Her neck throbbed and she rubbed it with her fingers, feeling wet and sticky. She brought her hand down and stared at the bright-red blood. Flashes of her lying flat out on the operation table appeared and before she knew it, the darkness claimed her.