Dangerous Promise by Gwendolyn Cease (15 page)

“What the fuck?” Talon asked.

“I don’t know. I shot one in the face upstairs.”

“If it’s still alive, we’ll find it.”

From outside, Grimm could hear Reaper yelling to Charon. Shit, all the Hunters were on-site. Joelle wasn’t kidding when she told him he would have backup.

“Grimm.”

Kate’s voice lured him back from the edge. His fangs receded, and he turned to gather her in his arms. Safe, she was safe.

“Where are the girls?”

“I put them in the bathroom.”

“What the hell is going on?” Tori demanded.

He didn’t answer her and instead led Kate upstairs. She was pale and shaky but holding. He was damn proud of her.

A billion questions flashed through Kate’s mind. The biggest being—what the fuck was going on? Next was, why hadn’t the alarms gone off? Also, how did the man from the mall parking lot find them? Why did the other guy have crazy teeth? Why had he smelled like a dead skunk? She also wondered where Grimm had come from. And what the fuck was going on? She thought about opening her mouth to ask but was afraid if she did she would scream and scream and never stop.

The girls, had to get to the girls. The thought of them centered her. She had to get it together. If she showed the girls she was afraid, they would totally melt down. Couldn’t do that now. Maybe later, when they were safe, but not now.

Grimm knocked on the bathroom door. “Abby? Olivia?”

The door unlocked and slowly opened. Abby’s face peered out. When she saw Grimm, she smiled. Kate heard Olivia say, “I told you Grimm would come and we’d be safe.”

He crouched down as they came out and fell on him. He looked over his shoulder at Kate. She saw such raw emotion on his face and knew they would always be safe with him. Safe and taken care of.

“I need to get you all out of here,” Grimm said.

“We can go to Tori’s,” Kate finally spoke, proud that her voice only shook a bit.

“Come with me. Let me take care of you. Please.” Grimm stood with the girls in his arms. They were wrapped around him, and Kate wondered when and if they’d let him go. She nodded. She didn’t understand anything right now but knew staying with Grimm meant they were safe.

“Yes, okay, for right now. I need to get my bearings.”

He let out a breath. “Good. I’ll have agents pack your things. You can’t come back here until we can figure out what’s going on.”

“We’ll never come back here,” Kate said firmly. She never wanted to see the house again. Too many horrible memories, too many things that could have gone wrong. No, she was done with the place.

“Okay, then let’s pack bags for all of you and get out of here.”

Before she could reply, the large man who had shown up beside Grimm came up the stairs. “Is everyone all right?”

Kate slid closer to Grimm. The man was scary. Not as scary as the snake man but close. His eyes were a beautiful aqua like the tropical sea, but they were empty. She knew he wouldn’t blink at killing someone. He might even like it.

“Yeah,” Grimm replied. “What’s the status?”

“A human male is alive and on his way to headquarters, the other is dead. Two blood-addicted are dead, but we know one escaped. The van is still here so we’ll process it. Reaper and Styx are hunting, and once things are settled here, Charon and Aislinn will join them. The other two humans downstairs are a problem. I’ll wipe them and send them home.”

“No,” Kate burst out. “You leave them alone. They’re my best friends. They put their lives on the line for me and the girls.”

Grimm thought about it and nodded. “She’s right. They’ll be tracked. If someone could find Kate then it’ll be easy to find the other two.”

“So what do you think we should do with them?” the other man asked, his brows drawing together.

“I’ll take them back with us.”

The angry man opened his mouth, but stopped when he saw the girls watching him intently. He clamped his lips shut and nodded. Then in a blink, he was gone. Kate looked around then shrugged. In the last hour, she’d seen things she never imagined. She just couldn’t take anymore. It was better, she thought, to ignore and worry about stuff later.

“Do you want to pack some things or let the agents do it?” Grimm asked, bringing her attention back to him.

She wearily rubbed her face. “We’ll pack small bags.”

The four of them moved from room-to-room together, packing what they would need for the evening. Kate watched as Grimm removed Abby’s princess tiara from the wall. Hell yeah, no matter where they ended up, her little girl was going to have her things around her.

Olivia tucked Mr. Tiddles into her Monster High backpack while Abby fluttered between Grimm and Kate. Both girls were tired and scared and on major overload. Kate just wanted to get out of the house to someplace safe so she could cry, scream, whatever.

After Kate finished packing a bag for herself, she turned to Grimm. “I think we’re ready.”

“Momma,” Abby said, “I’m scared.”

Kate dropped to the floor and enfolded the little girl in a hug. “I know, baby. I’m kind of scared, too. But we’re safe now. Grimm’s not going to let anything happen to us. And I’m not going to let anything happen to us. We’re going to be okay. It might not feel like it right now, but we will.”

Olivia looked up at Grimm, and he instantly picked her up. “Thank you for coming for us,” she whispered in his ear.

“I told you. I’ll always keep you safe. No matter what. I’m just so sorry that the two of you were scared.”

She nodded and put her head on his shoulder. He took her backpack, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

They came downstairs to find Tori and Deacon sitting in the kitchen. The two of them looked as exhausted as Kate knew she did. She wasn’t sure what was going on but knew if it weren’t for the two of them she and the girls would have been in major trouble.

Tori jumped up and hugged her close. “What the hell? What is going on? The goon squad told us to sit here and not move. They’re some scary mofos.”

“What are mofos?” Olivia asked.

Tori’s shoulders slumped. “Crap, I forgot the munchkins.”

“Why don’t we talk about it when we get to where we’re going?” Grimm suggested.

“Is it a bad word?” Abby asked.

“Little girls shouldn’t say it,” Kate said.

“Kate, what is going on?” Tori asked again.

“I’m not sure. All I know is we’re all going to go with Grimm and hopefully figure this thing out.” She looked at the man she trusted with her life and the lives of her children. He nodded. “Would you and Deacon go with us? I worry that if these people found us then they’ll track you down, too. Please, Tori?”

Tori and Deacon stared at each other for a long moment then finally he nodded without saying a word. Kate wondered what was going through his mind. The man was notoriously close-mouthed, but he had been in the thick of the action so he had to have thoughts. She hoped by the time they’d gotten to where Grimm was taking them, Deacon was ready to talk.

“Okay,” Tori finally said. “We’re in, but we want to know everything. Obviously, there’s some major…crap going on so I think we deserve to know the truth.”

This time Kate didn’t look at Grimm. “You’re right. So let’s go and figure this out.”

Chapter Ten

The large SUV drove into an underground garage in a tough part of town. Grimm eased the vehicle to a stop and turned off the engine. Kate wondered what the hell she’d gotten all of them into. Everything had happened so fast, and now they were someplace…who the hell knew. Grimm took her hand and brought it to his lips.

“You and the girls are safe.”

She nodded, and they climbed out of the car then assisted the girls. She was so tired she wasn’t up to any conversation. She just really wanted to go and curl up somewhere. Maybe it was all a nightmare, and she’d wake up. Okay, not all of it—she wanted Grimm to be real. But everything else she could so do without.

Another vehicle parked, bringing Tori and Deacon. Grimm said he worked for some covert agency so she imagined everyone she saw was part of it. How could they do the things they did without anyone discovering? Or were humans so blind they totally overlooked what was right in front of their faces? Kate imagined the later was true. Hell, she’d never noticed, and she’d had close, intimate contact with Grimm.

The man in question led them to an elevator where he used a palm pad to gain access. Once inside, he put his eye up to some kind of scanner, pushed a button and they dropped. Everyone, other than Grimm, gave a little gasp. He smiled and winked at Kate, who couldn’t help but smile back. It hit her that she loved him. Good heavens, she loved him. She almost had to lean against the wall since the thought made her a bit dizzy. There was no one else she trusted more, no one else she enjoyed more, no one, but him. To say the timing sucked was to put it mildly, but it didn’t matter. She loved him.

When the elevator came to a stop, Grimm took her hand. They walked out into a room that was every male’s personal fantasy. Huge flat screen TVs dominated the space as well as a pool table, air hockey and foosball. One wall was lined with electronics equipment Kate was sure could launch some kind of spaceship. In the middle of the playroom were well-used leather sofas large enough that she was positive everyone could sleep on them comfortably without being crowded. .

Grimm led them through the room to another door that was also heavily secured. Once through, they walked down and around corridors. Kate wondered if they were just roaming in circles, but things did change so she didn’t think so. She hoped they came to where they were going to soon, since she carried Olivia. The little girl had fallen asleep and was heavier than Kate remembered. Of course, she hadn’t carried her this way for some time. Jeez, her babies were growing up, and she hadn’t even paid attention.

“Where are we going?” Tori broke the silence.

“My place,” Grimm said without glancing around.

Kate looked over at her best friend and found Tori making a face behind Grimm’s back. Kate tried to hold back, she really did, but after the day she’d had she couldn’t stop the laughter. She burst out, almost dropping Olivia, who instantly woke up. Kate put her down and laughed until she was weeping. Every time she caught Tori’s eye, she just laughed harder.

“What’s wrong with Momma?” Olivia asked.

“She’s losing her mind, chicklet,” Tori replied.

This caused Kate to go into more gales of laughter. She finally sat in the hallway to try to get ahold of herself. Unfortunately, like most things, the laughter led to tears. She didn’t want to cry in front of the girls but couldn’t seem to stop. By this time, Abby was awake and standing next to her, patting her head. Kate knew she sucked as a mom, letting her baby attempt to comfort her. She should be comforting them. Instead, all she could do was cry. Grimm knelt down and dragged her into his arms, holding her tight.

“Ah, jeez, Kate,” Tori said with a sigh. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. But you have to admit, you’re acting pretty strange.”

Kate gave a watery giggle and shook her head. Tori was her best friend for a reason. The woman knew her extremely well and knew just what to say to bring her back. Kate used her shirt to wipe the tears from her face and leaned back to look at Grimm. He watched her closely until she gave him what she hoped resembled a smile.

“We don’t have much farther,” he said softly. “You and the girls can take baths and then crash. We can talk tomorrow.”

“What about us?” Tori asked.

Grimm glanced up at her. “What about you?”

“I thought we were going to talk.”

“Tomorrow,” Grimm said firmly. “We’ll talk after all of you have had a good night’s sleep.”

“Tori,” Deacon finally spoke, “I’m beat. We’ll let it go for tonight, but tomorrow we want answers.”

“That’s what I want.” Grimm eyed the other man.

He rose off the floor and pulled Kate up with him. He led them down one more corridor until he came to a heavy wood door. He threw it open and motioned to Tori and Deacon. “This is where you all will stay. It’s a suite and should have everything you need for the night.”

“What about Kate and the girls?” Tori asked.

“They’ll be staying with me. We’re down the hallway. Oh and don’t go wandering around. I don’t want you lost. If you need something pick up the phone and press one.”

After Tori and Deacon had gone into their room, Grimm led Kate and the girls down the hall and around the corner. He opened the door at the end of a short hallway to a spacious though a tad sparse living room. The ceilings were tall and Kate couldn’t imagine climbing up to change a light bulb. A flat-screen TV dominated one wall with a large sofa in front of it. Across the room was a wonderful area with three walls that were lined in bookcases. They were empty, but Kate could picture them filled with books.

He led them into a room off the library area that contained two large beds. The room was painted in shades of pink and purple, and Kate knew it was for the girls. She wondered when and how he’d had it done. He put their bags on the beds and smiled.

“The bathroom is through this door,” he directed, showing them a bathroom that would rival anything in a magazine. “It has everything you need—towels and shampoo and girl stuff. If you want to change anything let me know. Or, if you don’t want to share a room then I can fix that, too.”

Kate smiled. Once again, she could see he was nervous and fell even more in love with him. The girls checked out the bathroom, but Kate could tell they were exhausted. Abby yawned wide and Olivia rubbed her eyes, clutching her Monster High backpack.

“Why don’t I get the girls cleaned up? They can take baths tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Grimm nodded. “If you need anything yell, okay?”

As he turned to leave, Olivia said, “Grimm, would you come back and help tuck us?”

He stopped and smiled at her. “Olivia, you just give a shout, and I’ll be here.”

“I know you will.”

When he’d gone, Kate ushered the girls into the bathroom and quickly got them cleaned up. She brushed their hair, just as she did every night, and they brushed their teeth. She let them pick the bed they wanted and pulled out their pillows she had packed. Abby snuggled under the covers and sighed, seeming to relax for the first time in hours. Olivia pulled Mr. Tiddles out of her backpack and climbed into bed. Kate helped her get settled. Both girls were quiet, and Kate didn’t know whether to try to talk to them or let them be. They were both so damn tired, and after everything that had gone on, she didn’t want to put more stress on them.