Chapter Three
“So, are you going to tell us where you think Kate might be?” Emesh crossed his arms over his massive chest, driving his impatience to the forefront to deliberately hide a confusion of emotions that roiled inside him. If they got moving, he wouldn’t have to think about Douglas and their possible future right away.
“She had to have gone to the…hospital…where I had a…prolonged stay.” Douglas’ words emerged choppily, and Emesh could feel, all the way to his bones, the difficulty Douglas had even mentioning the place. Something seriously wrong had happened there. Emesh tried to put Douglas at ease.
“We know about your father and how he forced you into that awful place. Don’t feel bad about it. We know you weren’t supposed to be there.” Emesh’s normally warm face turned hard, thinking of his own past. He’d had some fucked up problems due to his sexual preferences.
“Right.” Douglas shot him a look full of questions but continued, a little less hesitantly. “So, she would have gone to find Dr. Jacobsen. He’s the one who helped fake my death and got me out of that hell hole. The problem is he’s been let go since my mother disappeared. He’s no longer at the hospital. If her mind was intact, Mom might be able to look him up and find him here in Leverett, but if, as you say, she’s not all with it…” he stopped and shrugged.
“It’s the same trail we took,” Emesh concurred. “The nurse at the hospital said Kate had come and gone, but they wouldn’t give her any current information on Dr. Jacobsen. We weren’t so easily deterred. We located and talked to Dr. Jacobsen, and he hasn’t seen her.”
“That’s what I was afraid of.” Douglas ran a hand over his dreads in agitation. “There’s only one other person she would go to…someone she’d confront if she believed me to be in trouble.”
“And that would be Dr. Trask?” Emesh said the name without thinking and watched in horror as Douglas reeled back like he’d been punched. The man’s face held stark terror and hatred. What the hell had happened to Douglas at the man’s hands?
“How do you know about him,” Douglas asked between tightly pinched lips. Enten came up with a partial lie.
“Remember we told you we have some federal agents at our house? They gave us clearance to get into the hospital’s records.”
The color drained from Douglas’ face. “So, you’ve seen my file,” he lowered his head with a defeated groan.
Emesh put down the coffee he’d been savoring and stood, moving slowly toward Douglas before laying a hand on his arm. Emesh urged warmth to flow from his body into his potential mate.
A bond formed so quickly and so completely, it shook Emesh to the core. It took all of his resolve not to ramp up the scorching contact he, inexplicably, received back in kind. But it scared him, the exchange of power. Emesh had never achieved this level of contact with anyone before, mortal or immortal. It nearly knocked him on his ass. If Douglas felt it too, it quickly became overshadowed by the self-doubt the man held inside.
It became clear to Emesh what he needed to say to Douglas…what his potential Chosen needed to hear. The god focused and cleared his throat.
“We know the doctor wrote complete untruths about you,” he assured him. “The boy you were and the man you are suffer from no affliction. The only sickness lay in your father’s head and in the deviant mind of that horrible doctor. We’re sorry you had to undergo such horrendous procedures.”
A heart-wrenching noise ripped from Douglas’ chest. A sudden shaft of desolation and pain shifted from Douglas into him, and it nearly sent Emesh reeling.
“You have no idea,” Douglas whispered, and Emesh experienced a fresh wave of despair. Yes, he did.
As much as this had to be explored, it would do neither of them any good, right now. The thing of prime importance was to find Kate.
Emesh shook the bleakness off. He slowly regained his equilibrium, and―still touching Douglas―forced himself to stand tall. With every last bit of fortitude he could muster, he thrust away the negative emotions and drew on the power of the sun to fill himself up… and suffuse the man to whom he remained connected.
Good thing Douglas had his head bent and his eyes closed, because Emesh fairly glowed, inundating his godlike body with solar rays. He didn’t hold back this time. No mere warmth would do. He needed all the fire at his command to quench the darkness.
Emesh marveled that Douglas didn’t back away but soaked up every bit of heat he could conjure. In the god’s experience, most people being subjected to his god-like ability became singed or fell away, lolling about tipsy, overdosing on summer. But Douglas tapped into Emesh’s heat deeply to shore himself back up… and it worked.
“Ancient history,” Douglas’ strong voice rang out, clearly surprising himself.
Emesh also noticed the amazement on Enten’s face as Douglas came out of the onslaught unscathed, regaining enough fortitude and confidence to brush off Emesh’s hand and rise to his feet. “There’s nothing more that man can do to me. But he preys on the weak, and Mom fits that bill. She knows right where to find Trask. He’s had a private practice at the same place in Belchertown for years and years. That’s where we have to go.” Douglas’ feet were already moving, but Emesh stopped him with a palm to his chest.
“We can do this without you.” Witnessing the turmoil in the man’s heart, Emesh worried how Douglas would react, having to face Trask again. Clearly, even though Emesh hadn’t tapped the most private of Douglas’ thoughts, Trask had done some kind of number on him. Until Emesh grasped the full truth, he didn’t feel good throwing his potential mate back into the lion’s den.
“It’s my mother,” Douglas turned great liquid eyes to Emesh, and the god of summer fell into their depths. He wanted nothing more at that moment than to wrap the large man in his arms and breathe in the fresh, woodsy scent Douglas gave off.
Glory’s brother must have perceived the attraction, as well, because his feet inched one step closer to Emesh before changing direction and veering off into the cabin. The god let out a shaky breath, and Douglas’ voice carried back out the door.
“I’ll get my keys. You two go back to wherever you left your car, and I’ll follow you in my rig until we get through Amherst. Then I’ll take the lead and show you the way.”
Emesh and Enten looked at each other.
“How are we going to explain no car?” Enten chuckled.
Emesh, still caught in a web of tactile emotion, could only look at him blankly.
“You don’t have to answer,” Enten laughed again and shook his head. “Typical. I remember when I first met Glory. Rather disconcerting… yes?”
Emesh got a silly grin on his face. “I think in the past half hour I’ve run through every emotion I’ve ever experienced in my thousands of years of life,” he admitted. “How in hell am I going to survive this?” He knew his face looked bemused, but he floundered in unknown territory…extremely unknown territory. Dammit. Couldn’t he have had a few flings before meeting his one and only? He had no fucking clue how to proceed.
And Enten loved the problem.
“Douglas is a thirty-six-year-old human. He comes with experience.” Enten chuckled and Emesh groaned at the pun. “He’ll know what to do. Just take his lead…and relax,” his brother ended with comfort.
“What if he doesn’t like me?” Emesh hissed. “What if he doesn’t feel what I feel?”
“If he’s your Chosen, he can fight his attraction all he wants,” Enten scoffed, “but instinct is eventually going to win out. Has your…” Enten looked at his brother’s shoulder, and Emesh shook his head.
“No. I haven’t gone all neon-glow yet.”
When the gods found their one true mate, a life-giving force, an amulet deeply embedded in their left shoulder would go gloriously crimson. For some gods, it had taken weeks for the spark to ignite, for others, it occurred during the first sexual contact with their Chosen. A few even had their suspicions confirmed from their initial meeting. Apparently, Emesh wouldn’t be so lucky.
Footsteps strode closer from within the house. “So, what are we going to say about a car?” Enten whispered.
“We took an Uber…or a bus?” Emesh shrugged. There had to be buses in the valley. It wasn’t called the five-college area for nothing, and students had to get around. It would be a good bet.
“Douglas,” he called out, trying to keep the flutter out of his voice. “We took a bus then hiked into your property. We’ll need to ride together.”
Douglas stuck his head out the door first, followed by the rest of his delicious body. “You took a bus?” He looked at them like they were crazy. “Did you leave your car in Amherst?”
Emesh prevaricated. “We took the bus from Boston,” he said weakly.
“Federal agents my ass,” Douglas mumbled under his breath and walked down the porch steps, but god hearing being acute, both Summer and Winter heard the comment and had to bite tongues to keep from bursting into laughter. Emesh’s amusement became tinged with a bit of fear. What would Douglas say when he found out what they really were?
The twins followed the human male down a well-trodden path through the woods. His steps were firm and sure, and it looked as if he’d set his trepidation aside, ready to take charge. Emesh stifled a nervous giggle. Douglas had taken control as the alpha on this gig, and it suited Emesh’s purposes for things in the future where Douglas would have to take the lead. But how would his future mate react when Emesh and Enten dominated the scene at the doctor’s office? A sure thing that would happen because no way would Emesh let anyone run roughshod over Douglas. That evil doctor wouldn’t lay so much as a finger on the man, or he’d be toast…and when Emesh said toast, he meant it. One full blast of summertime sun and the man would be crispy-critter.
With luck, Kate would be back, safe at the compound by later this evening, and the atmosphere would be cleared for romance. The anticipation had Emesh shaking in his Calvin Klein’s. Thinking about it, he’d rather be back battling demons in Hell than pondering a candlelight dinner, and the things that might happen thereafter. A painful dismemberment with claws and teeth he could handle. Douglas’ big hands on his body? Not so sure.
The path opened up to the back of another cabin, this one fronting the main road. Douglas led them around a barn and onto a hard-packed dirt clearing where several truck cabs were parked. He brought them to a shiny beauty of midnight blue, sporting a grill bright with chrome.
The name “Glory” had been written in script, just under the hood ornament of an angel. But that’s not what made Emesh stop dead in his tracks. The name emblazoned across the door? Sunrise Trucking. The graphic stood out bold and gold, with a bright sun peeking up from behind the letters. Emesh’s heart skipped a beat.
“This is your truck?” he asked, barely able to work the syllables up through his constricted throat.
“Sure is. Only she’s called a tractor,” Douglas confirmed. “My neighbor lets me keep it in his yard.” He ran a hand over the logo in a loving caress that Emesh felt all the way down to his toes.
He’s been thinking about you without ever realizing it, Enten taunted warmly. Try to take a breath, brother, before you pass out.
“It’s a Peterbilt. Ten years old, but she’s only got 400,000 miles on her; barely broken in. She’s still got a lot of life left.” He opened the driver side door and hauled himself easily up into the seat, his arm muscles bulging with the accustomed motion. “Head around to the other side. Someone will have to sit in the back.”
That’ll be me, brother, Enten smirked. You can ride shotgun. Just make sure he grabs the right stick when he’s shifting gears.
You’re such an asshole, Emesh sent back. At least my dick can be mistaken for a stick-shift. Yours barely qualifies as an automatic.
His brother laughed in response. They walked around to the passenger door, and Emesh became surprised at how far he had to step up. Not kidding when these got called big rigs. He hoisted up, grappling with questions as he buckled in, and the first one spilled from his mouth.
“How long have you been driving, and how come your truck doesn’t have a back end?”
Douglas gave a dry chuckle. “I can tell you haven’t had any experience with semi’s,” he replied. “A trucker usually doesn’t own the ‘back-end’ as you say. We call it a trailer, and when we get a job, it comes with a trailer and load. We pick it up and drop it off. Simple and sweet.” Douglas started up, disengaged the braking mechanism, to engage the gears smoothly.
“I’ve been driving for four years, but it seems like forever. I have five or six jobs a month which keeps me busy enough. My living quarters in the tractor are adequate, but I do like coming home to my cabin.”
Emesh turned and saw Enten checking out the back. His brother sat on a bench seat that looked like it would fold out into a bed, and a loft bed rose above him. To one side sat a small microwave and refrigerator and on the other a few cabinets. Sparse, but serviceable; just like the man they were coming to know.
“I like it,” Emesh said softly. “It suits you.” He studied the profile of the male next to him. He resembled an eerie combination of Glory and Lahar, with a huge dose of arrogant masculinity thrown in. If Emesh had ever imagined a mate, his mind couldn’t possibly have conjured someone as awe-inspiring as Douglas. Emesh had all he could do to keep his hands to himself. He wanted nothing more than to touch Douglas again and feel the heated connection that had risen up between them earlier.
On a whim, he threw a few tentative thoughts out into the air toward the driver.
Some god’s Chosen had been able to connect mentally with their partners before they were mated. He hoped Douglas could feel the tender warmth Emesh sent his way if not the actual words.
The subject of his musings turned his head abruptly and looked out the window. Hmm. Emesh’s heart fluttered. Either Douglas had caught the toasty waves or been embarrassed by Emesh’s perusal. The god readied to delve a little more deeply into a possible connection when Douglas preempted his attempt.
“We’re moving through Amherst now. It won’t be too long until we get to Trask’s office.” The burn instantly sucked out of the cab; Trask’s name a complete buzz-kill. The atmosphere cooled considerably, and this time Enten hadn’t caused it.