She pinpointed the keys when she left the bathroom half an hour later. Neatly tucking the dirty clothes into her case and going to the drinks he had set out for them. She’d palmed the sedative and dropped it into his tea before carrying it to him.
“Thanks for the time,” Lydia took a long drink of her soda, lifting one of the subs and slowly unwrapping it. She took a bite, watching him drink his tea.
“Feeling a little better?”
She shrugged. “Not sure. Most of it I’m used to. I mean I know the ghoul is a slug. No issues there. I knew they were using the people for something, just not sure what or why. I don’t like the idea that they’re getting away with it, though,” she ate her sandwich, quietly cleaning up and putting things into the cooler he had sitting on the floor.
“Time for some sleep, Lydia,” he thought about the cuffs in his pocket but patted the bed at his side. “We’ll head out early in the morning. Maybe the doc has something to get the drugs out of you faster.”
“Maybe,” Lydia pulled the blankets down the huge bed, stretching out on the side and snuggled down in the pillows. “That would be nice. But I don’t believe in magic much, Jude. It’s okay. I’m doing just fine as I am,” she let out a long, slow yawn and closed her eyes.
“Good night, Lydia,” Jude lay facing her, the long day catching up with him.
She waited. Counting and listening. Fifteen minutes later, she had her case back in the SUV and carefully backed out of the parking lot. The white flashing sign telling her how long she had to go to get back to Montreal.
Jude St. John woke up cursing and yelling into the cell phone. He had a rental car at the hotel within the hour and people flying to Montreal from Seattle. And this time he’d damn sure wear her behind out.
He had a headache and he was not a happy camper. The connections they had in Montreal were on alert, watching for his SUV but hell if he knew what else to have them look for. He had no idea how she would look or what she was after.
No, that wasn’t quite true. He knew she was after any one of the research facilities.
He put a man on Dr. Morgan with orders to call him the instant anything looked out of place. He didn’t have to look in the mirror to know his neck had darkened with the natural spots and his canines refused to go back. He was lucky he wasn’t stabbing himself with claws he was so furious.
Furious and scared. She was bent on revenge and didn’t care what happened to herself in the process.
Lydia sat back in the SUV and watched.
Someone had found one of her suppliers. The building he’d been using still smoldered, the stench of wood and flesh enough to make her gag. Her anger boiled just beneath the surface, barely under her control. She’d gone to all her hiding places, collected everything she had and leaned back in the cushioned seat, staring up the long driveway.
She didn’t like snap decisions. She liked time and patience.
She’d spent three days taking photos from buildings and ground; under and over and all around.
A school girl taking pictures.
A tourist lost with a map and smiling brightly at the guard who met her when she wandered around talking in French about the flowers and trees.
So many personalities, but just beneath the surface of each, she now welcomed the large tawny colored cat that hovered in the back of her mind. She wondered how easy it would be to use those lethal claws and not feel a thing.
Damned easy, she decided, peering through a pair of high powered binoculars at the ghoul’s car as it wound up the nicely stoned driveway. It would certainly be easier to stealth in as a cat, she mused, lifting a long strawberry licorice strip and biting down thoughtfully.
The problem was getting the residents out.
Destroying the building was easy. From what Jude had said, even if they had shifters on guard duty, her scent would be easily mixed in with the others who hadn’t developed properly. She could easily lay the charges in one night. The only thing she could think of was a fire alarm. Something serious enough to have them empty the buildings. Or were the residents even worth enough for them to empty…she felt the anger rising inside her.
And once she did get them out, how did she help them?
She slid to the floor of the empty apartment, her knees up and head bent between them. It had been ages since she let tears rule. The acute anger and frustration that she couldn’t help them immediately hurt. It hurt so deep inside she wanted to rip and shred anything that she came in contact with. It was taking every ounce of her control to not just walk in there and start shooting.
She closed the aluminum case and moved silently through the building and out the side entrance, slipping into the SUV and closing her eyes. She swiped a palm at her cheek angrily.
And the stupid bite mark on her shoulder had been itching like mad all day long! She reached to scratch it and felt the arm that came around from the back, pinning her to the seat.
“Hello, darling. Miss me?” Jude growled, tapping the ring on his finger and waiting for her body to go limp.
“You two got a strange relationship,” a woman dressed in black jeans and heavy jacket, pulled the door open and held Lydia in place until Jude came around to take her from the seat. He carried her to side door, bound her feet and hands before laying a quilt over her and making sure she wouldn’t fall from the seat.
“You have no idea.”
“Why didn’t you tell Seth you’d marked each other? That’s an important detail,” she looked at Jude with a quizzically raised brow.
“It’s also personal. Our issue, our details.”
“She’s got enough stuff here to arm a small country, Jude.” Respect and an impressed tone in the woman’s voice. “Damned good stuff, too.”
“Take what you need. Fuck, take all of it. She’s not coming back here. Not on her own like this again,” he climbed behind the wheel, his head shaking. It had taken them three days and two dozen connections to find her, checking every location where a known research facility was thought to be. She had the advantage before because she’d been on the inside.
He could see the dark circles back beneath her eyes and judging by the wrappers and little else, she hadn’t been eating much but junk.
“I can understand her anger, Jude,” Meredith shook her head and loaded everything from the SUV but the suitcases. She tossed his to the back and closed the door, making sure it was locked before striding to the window and sighing. “Don’t be so hard on her. She’s lived it. Seen it all. We’re working from out here, she’s been part of it and it has to hurt.”
“Don’t lecture me, Mere…don’t need it right now. She’s willing to get herself killed and that’s not acceptable,” Jude ground between his teeth.
“Just talk to her, Jude. Don’t…Christ, don’t tear her apart for wanting to rescue people from hell.”
“Relationship advice, Mere?”
“Low blow,” she snarled. News of her previous relationship going up in flames wasn’t a secret. She was a wreck for a few weeks. “I just think she’s had a lot thrown at her. That last thing she pulled off was brilliant, but I know it had to have taken her a year to build it all so completely. Every one of those rescued had money and clothing and a safe house. We know. We’ve talked to some of the fosters. Hell, I’d bet she didn’t sleep an hour a night from some of the stories I heard,” she looked toward the back seat. “You’ll lose her if you cage her, Jude. Is that what you want?” She said softly.
“I want her alive, Mere,” he said tiredly.
“Patience don’t come in a pill…you better hit the road. I’ll get this stuff to our local office and have it put into a safe bunker. Like I said…a small country…” She chuckled and walked off to her van.
“Will we survive you getting patience, Lydia?” Jude hadn’t done much sleeping the last four days either. He pulled alongside the man at the curb two blocks down, put the SUV in idle and climbed to the street. “Dev…thanks for the help.”
“I understand I’m the only one who’s slept in the last few days,” he tipped his head and climbed into the SUV. “I don’t mind, Jude. I was planning a trip to Devil Hills anyway.”
Jude climbed into the back seat, carefully arranging Lydia in his arms and stretching his legs out.
“You’ve got a lady with guts, Jude.”
“So I keep hearing.”
“Relax, my friend, I used to be a chauffeur, remember? I’ll wake you come morning.” He poured coffee from his thermos, set the radio to an old country station and headed them to the highway.
Jude laid the seat back, not exactly a full sized bed, but damn close. She was exhausted, it was in each of her moves. And he’d been watching her all day. She went from place to place collecting things she had scattered around the city. No matter what she’d been through, they hadn’t managed to kill the innate spirit of the woman he held close to him through the night. Both of them slept until it was almost eleven in the morning.
Rain pelted the SUV, slanting at them even beneath the overhang at the fuel station. They had crossed into the United States through a back road and were just outside Chicago when she began to stir.
Pale lashes shot wide when she realized she was trussed up tight, her hands in front of her and bound together with the cuffs. She tried moving her feet, only to discover they were held together with duct tape. She kicked out furiously, striking the sliding door and letting both men standing and refueling know she was awake.
“Now the fun part,” Devereaux Myles looked at his friend with a casual shrug. “I’ll pull around to the restroom, you get the key.”
He climbed behind the wheel, glancing over his shoulder at the silver strip Jude had placed over her mouth.
“Good morning, Miss Jones. If you behave, we’re pulling up to a restroom now for you. If you try and run again, I’ll tranq you. It’s that simple. Might not be a bad idea, you look like you could use the sleep.”
She just glared at him, taking in the broad shoulders, hair that fell around his face in an off shade of deep red and eyes bright blue. She was seething. Evidently Jude had called in reinforcements. She wiggled, repositioned and managed to sit upright by the time the SUV was moved to the side of the large building.
The watch cap she’d had on to cover her hair had come loose and fell to the floor. A blast of cold air struck her when the side door was slid aside. A pair of dark amber eyes met hers, a pocket knife in his hand. He reached in and slit the duct tape, pulling it free and tossing it to the trash bin beside him. He had her feet and hands free and was reaching for the tape on her face when she beat him to it, pulling it free and throwing it toward him.
Jude reached in, her body immediately stiff when he lifted her to the ground, his body bracing her between the door and the SUV. He unlocked the cuffs and pushed the door to the rest room inward.
“Don’t be long. We have breakfast for you but we need to get back on the road.” He met the defiant green eyes. “Make a noise that’s not agreeable and you go back to sleep. It’s that simple at this point, Lydia.”
“I’ll get the food. A large collection of a lot of stuff,” Dev said, moving quickly to the fast food restaurant.
Lydia was never so grateful for a toilet in her life. She washed her hands and put several scoops of cold water on her face, damp fingers raking through the wild tufts of platinum blond hair and trying to get it to settle back where it belonged. When she decided she couldn’t stall any longer, she unlocked the door, stepping warily outside.
“Inside, Lydia,” Jude gestured to the SUV, offering a palm that was ignored as she climbed back into the seat behind the driver. The seats had been put back upright again, the blankets folded and resting in the back on top of the suitcases.
She watched Jude climb into the seat, close and latch the side door and swivel his seat so he could see both her and the man driving. He accepted the bags held out to him from Dev.
“Thanks. Coffee?”
“Two large inside. I know how you need your morning fix,” he met the fiery amber eyes in the mirror. “Even if it is noon.”
“You need to move back here, Dev. I’ll take the day shift,” Jude took the coffee with him, waiting until Dev circled the SUV and took his seat.
“There’s food in the bag, Miss Jones. Burgers with no onions and extra bacon,” he told her, watching her eyes go to Jude and then the bag. “And curly fries with extra salt. He’s not such an asshole when he’s not pushed to his limits.”
“Evidently females aren’t permitted to have limits,” she said quietly, pulling a quilt from behind her and reclining the seat. She curled into the seat, her face pressed against the outer wall.
“You drugged me.”
“You’re up one,” she murmured, the quilt over her head and a long sigh easing free as warmth settled in her again. She’d been so cold the last few nights.
Jude found a station playing the club music he liked, watched Dev shrug and put a pair of earplugs in place before crossing his arms over his chest, pulling the blanket up and his Stetson style hat down over his face.
He was only lying to himself when he said he didn’t care if she ate or not. It was three when he lifted the bag from the back and ate the burgers inside. Neither of them had moved much, although the sounds coming from Lydia concerned him. The tiny whimpers, the single word he could make out now and then and the soft snarling and occasional gasp, as if she couldn’t catch her breath.
His fingers touched the mark she’d placed there. Maybe her cat realized what she was doing; maybe it was nothing more than an accident. But it was done. He was hers. And if that meant he was fighting her to keep her safe and alive, so be it.
He wanted her back with those doctors, no matter what she said. He’d stay with her, maybe that would help the fear. They’d know how to help her with the changes. Hell, he wasn’t sure he could even remember what it’d been like at twelve. He was antsy and excited and impatient. She was frightened, he could smell it, lying buried beneath a lot of other emotions coursing through her. She was too used to burying her fear.
He heard the low groan just as he pulled into the fuel station.
“It’s dark already,” Dev straightened slowly, righting the seat and cracking his head from one side to the other before working at stretching out his shoulders.
“Just short of eight,” Jude answered, stepping into the evening cold and zipping his jacket, striding to the pump and beginning to fill the tank. The door slid to the side, both men looking at the woman, the small waking sounds letting them know she was joining them. Slowly. “Lots of places to choose from for a meal.”
Dev wandered toward the restroom, leaving them some privacy.
Jude didn’t try and stop watching her. The long, lean stretches she made, the small palms rubbing at her eyes like a little girl. She hadn’t eaten a thing since they took her and she was pale but the anger was gone from her eyes when they met.
“Welcome back,” he said quietly. “I’ll drive up to the restroom in a minute.” She nodded, blinking and looking around the busy four corners of the interstate. “Anything look interesting for food?” Her eyes scanned the huge, colorful signs, landing on one in particular. “Italian?”
Lydia didn’t like the uncomfortable jump her stomach gave and realized the jumping was sinking a lot lower in her body when she looked at him. She looked away, folding the blanket and setting it to the side.
Why him? Why did he have to be such a good kisser, she groaned inwardly, ignoring the thumping and warmth spreading through her. Why did he have to feel so good when he held her, comforted her? She’d spent most of her life without being comforted. Why did it matter now? She was doing just fine, she told herself firmly.
“Is your word important to you, Lydia?” Jude asked quietly, capping off the tank and moving to lean with a hand up on the open edge of the door. Dev came up from the side, waiting.
She looked over, nodding slowly.
“A deal with the devil?” Dev chuckled and took the keys from Jude, crossing in front of the SUV and climbing behind the wheel.
“No scenes, Lydia. No yelling. No tricks. No running. You want Italian, I want your word you’ll leave the restaurant with us and get back into the SUV without giving me a pain in the ass. You need to eat.”
“Stop trying to be my mother, St. John,” she said flatly. “But I agree.”
He climbed in and looked at Dev. “Park over by the restaurant. They have nice restrooms and we’ll get a table. Say it, Lydia.”
She sighed thickly, her hands folding primly on the black jean covered thighs.
“I will be a good little girl tonight. I will not cause problems or make a scene. I will eat my dinner and leave the restaurant with both my wardens and get back into the SUV without a single thought to making a run for it,” flashing green eyes peered at him through half lowered lashes. “How’s that?”
“Needs work, but it’s acceptable,” he answered, working to keep his laughter inside. Dev, on the other hand, let his hoot of amusement break free.
“I’ll work on the tone,” she said easily, sighing and looking toward the well-lit restaurant front. It was the middle of the week so they weren’t too busy. She barely waited until the SUV came to a stop, reaching for the door only to have her wrist gripped tightly. “I gave you my word. I need to pee, Jude, don’t get in my way or it’ll be a tad embarrassing,” she warned through her teeth, hoping her well-honed muscles held until she wiggled the jeans down her legs.
Jude pushed the door wide, stepping out and staying at her side after slamming the door closed.