Lydia ignored the two handsome men trailing behind her. And they were trailing behind her because she was seriously moving. She waved aside the hostess with a glance behind her.
“Talk to them. Restroom?” She followed the pointing finger and caught sight of the sign with a long sigh of impending relief. It wasn’t so bad until you stood up, she thought with a little growl, shoving the door aside and rushing into one of the stalls, wrestling with her jeans with a very long sigh. Then you stood up and everything rushed to your bladder.
It amazed her that she had to pee so much and it’d been several very long hours since she’d had anything to drink. But then she didn’t know what was in the tranquilizer they used on her. It seemed to suck the moisture out of her. She stood staring into the mirror, cold water splashing on her face and rubbed into her eyes.
She hated drugs. With more of a vehemence than she’d ever thought possible. She caught sight of the frown on her lips just before she left the restroom. But she didn’t hate Jude for using them. That, she understood and it made her head shake.
A philosophical discussion with self for another day, she mused.
Lydia walked out of the restroom, not surprised to find Jude leaning casually against the archway. His palm went with a proprietary gesture, resting low on her hip and guiding her to the table they’d gotten in the far corner, away from most of the customers.
Two large bowls of salad and breadsticks waited for them, along with tall glasses of iced water. Jude put her in the corner and watched her drain the glass before using the tongs and filling her plate with salad. Delicate fingernails lifted the rings of purple onion from her salad, shoving them to the side along with the olive. He plucked the olive from her plate and broke a breadstick in half, biting down and chewing while reading through the menu.
“What?” She looked up at the two men watching her, her palm subconsciously swiping at her chin. “Did I miss my mouth?”
Dev closed the menu and set it aside, leaning back and glancing around the room. “Sioux Falls?”
Jude nodded, setting the menu aside and looking up at the waitress. “Are you ready to order, Lydia?”
“Fettuccine with prawns and an order of calamari, please,” she said, pausing from her salad only long enough to speak. “And if you could refill the water and more salad, please?”
The males looked at one another once the waitress finished taking orders and left them alone with a refilled salad bowl. Dev just shrugged and relaxed, letting his coat fall to the back of his seat.
“This is the best place,” Lydia declared, sighing and biting down on a breadstick. “I think I was nineteen when I finally had enough money to come here with a friend. They have the most amazing stuffed shells.”
“You should have eaten breakfast,” Jude told her.
“I wasn’t hungry,” her fork pointed at him. “And once again, if I knew what my mother looked like, I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have hair on her chest or that really sexy shadow you’re sporting.”
Dev choked on the swallow of water he was taking, amusement in his eyes when she glanced over at him.
“You’re kind of cute, too…that whole biker without a bike look you have,” she said with a little nod at the leather pants and longer hair. Her head turned slowly toward Jude. “Dude…you’re growling again. What is up with that?”
“It’s a mate thing,” Dev jumped into the middle, ignoring the look from Jude.
“Again with the mate thing. I’m not even sure on a really good day I’d consider us friends,” Lydia said with a shake of her head.
Dev looked from one to the other, a dark brow arched.
“She doesn’t understand how it works,” Jude answered the unasked question.
Green eyes went from one to the other. “What don’t I understand?”
“You marked him,” Dev said simply.
“I…” she bit down on the forkful of salad, looking at Jude and the finger he raised to pull the collar of his shirt to the side. “He pissed me off. I bit him. Period.”
“And you have his mark,” Dev continued slowly.
“I am not having the conversation,” she declared, waving a palm that slapped the table the next instant. A thought dawned and she was pissed. “What’d you do with my stuff?”
“You mean your arsenal?” Jude returned, more than a little bit on the snarly side.
“My stuff,” she repeated more slowly. “Stuff I bought and paid for and was all in that SUV. Where did it go?” She waited, fingers picking at the bits of salad on her plate.
“Meredith added it to one of the units we have in Montreal,” Jude finally answered, pushing his salad plate to the side and watching her lift a ring of squid after drenching the plate with lemon juice.
“I want it back.”
“You’re not going to be needing it anytime soon,” he met the single arched brow with a stoic stare.
“Probably not for a year or so,” she agreed thoughtfully, the plans slowly evolving inside her head. “But I want it back. I bought it. I paid for it.”
“You stole for it.”
“Prove it.”
“Prove it’s yours.”
She went silent and glaring when Dev gestured to the waitress with his empty glass of tea and let her remove the salad and plates. “Thanks.”
“Devereaux is an interesting name,” Lydia said with a bright smile. “Are all the guys working for this institute as cute?” Her head snapped around to Jude. “What is wrong with you?” She hissed at the low, throaty growl from her side.
“Figure it out, Lydia.”
Dev sighed thickly, waiting until the waitress had laid out large, hot plates filled with their food.
“He’s possessive, Lydia. And you commenting on another guy’s appearance brings that to the surface,” he almost laughed at the look on her face, her gaze going from the plate of pasta to Jude and back to Dev in disbelief. “Oft times it’s instinctual. Sometimes, deliberate.”
“Seriously? In case you haven’t noticed, there are at least half a dozen women checking you two out. You with the long hair and leather pants thing you got going and him with that dark blond, bed-head look and the sexy shadow. You don’t see me ready to skin girls because of it, do you?” She continued frowning but her attention was on the plate of creamy pasta.
“Bed-head?” Jude managed to ask after almost choking on his pasta and sausage.
Lydia held a large prawn on her fork but set it down and leaned over closer to him, her hand up and fingers spearing the disheveled strands before he could move.
“Bed-head – like you just got out of being tumbled and rode in bed,” she explained, ignoring the coughing from Dev and returning to her pasta.
Jude grit his teeth, her cool fingers brushing his neck before they buried themselves in his hair, nails raking gently along his scalp. He turned a glare at the chuckle from Dev and glanced around the room, his gaze following the path hers had taken when they entered. He only just realized he doubted she was ever in a place where she slept soundly, feeling safe enough to allow it.
“You told me you had a thumb drive, Lydia,” Jude watched the blank green eyes rise from the prawn she was peeling.
She said nothing.
“Where is it?”
“You rummaged my luggage,” she answered with a little shrug. “You didn’t find it?”
“You know I didn’t or I wouldn’t be asking. I can upload it and Seth can have his team start work on breaking the encryption,” Jude ground his teeth, taking another bite of his pasta while she returned to her food.
“She’s wearing it,” Dev said quietly, his eyes on the stainless steel looking replica of an old compass that hung around her throat. “Have you ever seen her without the pendant?”
Lydia continued eating, ignoring them both.
“If I give you the drive will you take me back to Montreal?” She looked up curiously, watching Dev’s expression go blank and Jude’s darken.
“You’re coming to Devil Hills. You need to see the doctors there and…”
“I’m not seeing any doctors. Period. I – am fine. I – intend to remain fine,” she informed them firmly, dredging a breadstick through the creamy white cheese sauce left in her plate. “That was incredibly good. Thank you.”
“Lydia, we need to find out what’s in your blood so they can attempt to counter it,” Jude spoke quietly, the threads of his control stretched taut.
“You said I’m not dying,” she said thoughtfully. “I know the shots are given to stop the inner me from breaking free. That’s why they’re timed with the monthly thing. I’m free of them for the moment. I don’t need another doctor poking and stabbing at me and I won’t let it happen.”
“The hell you won’t.”
“And exactly how is what you’re demanding any different than the vampires at the facilities?” She asked softly, her head shaking. She raised one hand, turned the pendant and slipped the small drive from the space it was fitted to in the back. She held it out to him. “Take it. I hope it helps him, honestly. But I’m not a lab rat. I’m not a test subject and I’m not letting one more white coat hurt me.” She stood up, her palm out. “I promised. I never go back on my word. Just a bathroom run. No worries. I will be back here in a few.”