Dangerous Lovers (207 page)

Nixie set a tray down in front of Audrey, who looked at it with enthusiasm. Then I saw what she looked at. Grapes. Something changed in me at that moment. A simple fruit made her seem more alive than anything else. When I looked at Audrey, she became much more than the mystery we had to solve. She belonged to me. I stopped that train of thought before they could reach any other part of my mind or body. She couldn’t be mine. She would never be mine.

Nixie started to tell Audrey stories of the time she lived in the sea. Audrey seemed fascinated, but at the same time, she held back. I wondered if she would always hold back.

“Audrey.” Elijah’s detached voice came from behind us.

She turned to look at him; she was the only person I knew that would look a wraith in the eye for that long. Her shoulders sagged slightly as if in relief, and I wondered what it was about him that made her feel relaxed.

“Jacobs would like to have a word.” He turned away and headed toward Jacobs’ office. We all knew he probably wanted this to be a one-on-one meeting. That wouldn’t stop me though. Things had changed. She…I wanted her to need me there.

When Audrey didn’t automatically go after Elijah, my heart swelled. I stood and motioned her to follow, barely containing my smile. I wanted to hold out my hand, take her waist in my arm, and lead her, but I knew even offering her a hand would probably scare her. She took one last longing glance at the grapes and stood. It was as if she was expecting this to happen. Nixie looked like she wanted to follow.

“You can come back and eat when you’re finished, Audrey.”

She looked up at me with those big frightened eyes, and I didn’t know what else to say. I didn’t know if the look rooted from fear of punishment or fear of hope. Either forced the need to protect her more. What had those cruel bastards done to her? Elijah waited at the elevators for us, and his gaze shifted to me.

“You can stay. Jacobs needs to speak with her alone.”

As soon as the doors opened, Elijah turned on his heel, marched in, and waited for Audrey to follow. She looked back at me, tucked her head in and her shoulders slumped from her former taller position, and she followed.

Shit, I wanted to follow her. I wanted to hold her in my arms and tell her that she was fine, that she was safe here. But I didn’t know that for sure, did I? There had to be a reason Jacobs wanted to see her. He knew more than he said. I turned, heading toward Nixie. Hopefully, she knew more than she let on, too.

Chapter Twenty-One

Audrey

The doors shut. I remembered that my father hated elevators. I hated them too. They were small, too small. The air left my body only to return seconds later. I tasted the same air. The same. The same. The same. The walls that seemed too close before, now grew even closer. The space was suffocating, and Elijah stood still, a stone statue, safe in his unbreakable skin. I was fragile in my easy to slice through skin and breakable bones. Pieces of me could be ripped off. Breakable. I was so very…breakable. The doors opened suddenly, and Elijah pushed me out of the enclosed space.

“We will take the stairs.” He moved to the door next to the elevators, and we started upwards.

For a moment I felt grateful of Elijah’s actions. I didn’t know how to express it, other than to remain silent and keep my head down.

“Your fear was stifling. Are you claustrophobic?”

My head shot up before I could stop it. He had sounded different when he asked me that, almost perplexed. I had to see. But his eyes remained the same endless black.

“To be claustrophobic means to have a phobia or fear of enclosed spaces.” Back to the logical, unexpressive voice.

“I suppose. I-I don’t know.” It was true. I didn’t know. Most of the time I felt safe in small spaces. I felt a comfort there, but in that metal box, I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“This way.” He opened the door and I stepped out into a familiar looking hallway.

This floor was decorated in a soft green and I couldn’t get enough of the color. I stopped and stared. In the color, I saw the lust, the hate, and every other emotion experienced within the hall. The color remembered it all. I realized this wasn’t the first time I felt memories from colors. It was a strange, new sensation that I had been noticing more and more since I had arrived. Since white was the absence of color, in my white room I was safe from anything like this. In my stone room there were rarely times my eyes were open or not swollen shut.

When we arrived in Jacobs’ office, my eyes immediately went to the floor. Submission to males like Jacobs’ was the safest. They could always smell your fear but at least I could hide it in my eyes this way. Elijah left me in front of Jacobs' desk but I heard the door click shut. My body trembled slightly. Four years was a long time not to be beaten and I had grown accustomed to unbruised and unbeaten skin. Jacobs’ cleared his throat and began.

“No more games, Audrey. Elijah informed me that your memories were unlocked when the wraith was extracted. I demand to know what you know.” Jacobs’ voice was pounding into me, forcing a flinch through my body. He was holding back his anger though. I knew when someone held back. It was in the way they held back the bite in their words.

I shifted. I didn’t want to remember those memories. I didn’t want to talk about them. I knew what the Vedenins had wanted. I remembered the moment I woke up. I had pushed them away. I pushed them all away. Jacobs wanted the same. He wanted to know more about my father. Keeping my eyes lowered and my stance vulnerable, I waited. It didn’t take long. Jacobs’ fist came down on the desk with a loud crash.

“Goddammit, speak. Do you know how much I risked coming for you?” Jacobs let his anger go, he was yelling now. I shrunk into myself, waiting for the blow.

“Jacobs.” Elijah spoke up. His voice only slightly more raised than normal. Jacobs ignored him.

“I am done tip-toeing around. I told you, Elijah to look into her mind while you were in there. I needed that information. Cain wants it now. I know she is hiding something. Either you will tell me or I will make her tell me. The Vedenin aren’t stupid, they know who took her and are attacking our smaller facilities looking for her. Somehow, the York Clan also found out about her. There is no way Cain wants the York Coan breathing down our necks as well. I will not put our clan in danger because of this girl.”

I hadn’t realized that Jacobs had been moving around the desk. He was in front of me. His polished, black shoes touching my barely covered feet. He grabbed my chin roughly and forced me to look into his eyes. I only saw pure determination and the need to protect in his glowing yellow eyes. The force of his emotions were too much. His grip was too tight. I tried to pull away but he held too tightly, too roughly. I had let out a whimper.

“Jacobs, I will only tell you once. Release her.” Elijah’s voice was the most demanding that I had ever heard from him.

“You don’t give me orders, Elijah. You may be a wraith, but I am still your superior, and this girl is going to tell me what I need to know. By any means.” Jacobs’ eyes shifted from me to look at Elijah. His hold of my jaw tightened, extracting a whimper out of me.

My stomach hollowed out and tears started to form before I could hold them back. One hell to another. This was worse. This was much worse. They had lied. All those touches. All those looks. All those kind words. Fake. Fake. Fake.

“Release her.”

I felt the air around me drop. I didn’t even see Elijah’s hand move, but I did feel the release of Jacobs’ hand from my face. I backed away as I watched Elijah take my former spot in front of Jacobs. “I do not repeat myself Jacobs. Do not touch her, again. I decide what I do. Not you.”

I wanted to run from the room but my body seemed to be frozen, forced to watch the scene in front of me unfold. Elijah had Jacobs on his knees just by his hold on his wrist. Elijah’s voice had changed, deepened, darkened to the point it was hardly recognizable. My breathing had turned erratic and I couldn’t seem to get my eyes to focus anymore. My heart was beating too fast. Pound-pound-pounding away. I lost the feeling in my legs and started to go down. Before I could meet the floor, Elijah was there catching me.

“Come.” He picked me up with ease and I made no movement of protest. I couldn’t focus enough to react to his hold. My mind kept on with its broken record. Fake, fake, fake. I craved the contact of another being. Fake, fake, fake. I craved the friendship. Fake, fake, fake. The comfort they offered. Fake, fake, fake. The most heartbreaking of all, the looks I refused to see. Fake. Fake. Fake.

Elijah placed me onto an unknown bed. The room was different shades of black. While white was the absence of color, black was all colors. It was slightly overwhelming, but only at first. Until I closed my eyes to the only darkness that was truly colorless.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Stone

“Find her,” Jacobs said, dismissing some of the guards.

I waited for them to leave. I wanted to know who he was talking about, and the sinking feeling in my gut told me all I needed to know.

“Are you coming in, Stone?” I rounded the corner into his office. Jacobs’s eyes were a deep yellow and his voice gruff.

“Maybe it would be a good time for you to go for a run, Jacobs.” I was only somewhat joking.

“Where the hell is she?” His Alpha voice rang out in those words, but I wasn’t going to back down. Shape-shifters didn’t listen to any Alpha and definitely not a werewolf Alpha without a pack.

“You are overstepping yourself, Jacobs. You’ve been keeping us in the dark, and we’re pretty damn sick of it.” I stood a couple inches taller than Jacobs. Looking down at the werewolf, and the wrinkles lining his skin, I thought he was getting too old for this job, but I could also see the fierce look in his eyes.

“Audrey’s location, Stone. I will tell you what you need to know when it’s time and not just because you are throwing around your weight and acting like an overgrown pup.” That did piss me off. My eyes flashed a bright red and I knew Jacobs saw that he had pushed me a little too far. I needed to find out exactly what the hell was going on and got into his space.

“Look mutt, I respected your decisions because I thought you had the best interests of the clan, but Audrey is now
mine
to protect. So, trust me when I say I will not listen to you unless it is in her best interest.” I had him by the front of his shirt, and it ripped under the strain of my grasp. His thick nails were bit into my skin, but I didn’t dare give up the eye contact we had. The first to look away submitted. I wasn’t submitting this time.

“Dad!” Dallas came between us, shoving me away. Dallas took a protective stance in front of his father, who fixed his shirt and composed himself.

“Back down, Dallas. Stone is letting his emotions get the best of him. Dallas, let the guards know that she is unstable and needs to be brought directly back to me.” Jacobs didn’t take his yellow eyes off of me. I knew that smirk he was giving me though. He thought he won this round. I swore to myself I would protect. Even against Jacobs.

I needed help though. Nixie wanted to protect Audrey too. Together, we could find her faster. Maybe even before Jacobs. I turned to walk out.

“Dallas, go with Stone.” Jacobs walked back to his desk. Dallas glanced at me, and then at his father.

“I don’t need a babysitter.” Dallas let out a low growl. I ignored it as I turned away and started out of the room. I heard Dallas mutter something to his father, then he followed me out of the door. I needed him away from me as I looked for Audrey, she would never believe that I was trying to keep her away from Jacobs if I had Dallas with me.

“Dallas can you sniff out Nixie and tell her to meet me back at her room. I will look for Audrey.”

When I looked at the hot-headed werewolf, instead of making some argument, he just nodded and headed the other way.

I had no idea where to look, but I was going to find her. I had to.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Audrey

“Audrey.” I turned away, I preferred to stare at the wall than at the open, empty space around me. More than ever, I missed my white walls with their colorless feelings.

Finally, I looked up at Elijah. He remained unwavering in his dispassionate state.

“Why are you helping me?” I didn’t back away from his black eyes.

“I do not know. For once, fear did not taste that sweet.” He looked away for only a second. “Stone is at the door. Would you prefer to be kept a secret or would you like to hear what he has to offer you?” Hearing Stone’s name made my heart pound a little harder, from fear or something else, I was not certain, but it had been a very long time since my heart pounded in fear. What would he offer? Would he tell me I needed to go back? I felt helpless and for some reason the idea of losing this place, that started to feel like home, felt like too much. Who did I truly belong to? I had no one to run to, no clan, and I was no longer safe in the place that I thought would keep me safe.

“I suppose let him in.” There was a knock at the door as soon as I answered. Elijah disappeared and I heard grunts, sickening smacks, and finally heavy footfalls.