Enduring Retribution e-book (8 page)

“Oh, but I do. We have mated, bonded in the way of my kind, our kind. You are my true mate, Bailey, love. And we’ve taken care of the final part in a very public place and once we talk, because as much as I’d like to take you again right now, bury my cock deep into you, I realize there are things we need to discuss. But mark my words, as soon as the last word leaves my mouth, you are going to be flat on your back, naked, with me pounding another release from us both.”

“I think…” Her cell phone chirped at that moment. She dug around in her pocket until she found it. Not even looking to see who it was, which he found curiously odd, she answered.

“I can’t talk right now. And a printing job is out of the question for you right now…no…you told me…you said that it was clear…a clean print up. It wasn’t.” Her pauses were getting longer, the voice at the other end louder. He felt her pull a shield down the moment she answered, so that all he could hear was her end of the conversation and loud noises from the other. “Bonus aside…okay triple that and I’ll think about it…shit…yes. Send the job to the main office…fuck off.” She put the phone back into her pocket and he could feel her anger.

“Bailey, I suppose if I asked you what that was about you wouldn’t tell me, would you?”

She was silent for so long that he thought she wasn’t going to answer. When she did, he wished that she hadn’t.

“I’m a hired killer, Tristan, a hit man. I have killed seventy-three people in the past eleven years.” She looked at him then. “So if you know anyone who has a lot of power, I suggest that you ask them to reverse this bond you say we have. And soon.”

~CHAPTER SEVEN~

They didn’t speak the rest of the ride to his home. When she had started to tell him more, he simply held up his hand to stop her. She slid away from him to the other side of the car and he let her, releasing her hand as well as his warmth. She should have figured it would happen. She had never told anyone what she did before because of this very reason. She reached out to the only other person in the world she trusted.

“Griff, I have a rush job coming in. It may arrive by this morning. I want you to contact me
as soon as you get it. I will also need some cash. Can you manage that, please?”

“Yes, mistress, anything you wish. I am at your command, as always. How much do you
need? And who am I sending it to?”

She frowned at his question. Who was she anymore?
“The name, I don’t know yet. I may
need to get something more very soon. Send the usual.”

“I understand.”
He hesitated for just a second and she waited for him to ask. But he didn’t.

She wasn’t sure what she would have said if he had asked her if she was all right. But what he did say didn’t surprise her either.
“I will take care of the rest, all the identification as well. Also,
mistress, there has been someone checking for you, under your name. It appears someone has
found you.”

It was both of their fears that someone who had gotten away from Co-Tech would find them and begin the project again. They had destroyed everything in the building that night, but nothing was perfect. The people had gotten out, they had made sure of that. Also the prisoners, those that had wanted to leave. The rest, the ones who just couldn’t stand to move among humans, had stayed behind when the building went up. She tried her best not to think about that.

She glanced over at Tristan. He worked fast, and she’d only told him her name about an hour ago. Since she had been with him since she had given him her name, she could only assume that he was contacting another of his kind by telepathy.

“How long do I have?”
She asked him, knowing it didn’t matter. The man sitting next to her not only had her real name, but he’d seen her as well.

“I have set up the usual blocks, so you will have no more than forty-eight hours. Less if they
have good connections with money to spare.”

“Count on both,”
she told him.
“All right, I’ll need to know the particulars as soon as you
get them. Thanks, buddy. Night, my friend.”

“Good night, mistress. Be careful.”

The car pulled up in front of a castle, an honest to goodness castle, a few minutes later.

Bailey had never been to a castle before, and didn’t expect to spend too much time in this one.

She would give him what he needed to know and take off. She didn’t know what they needed to do to complete their bond, or even if they had somehow already finished it, but she had a pretty good idea and had no intentions of letting that happen, not that she thought that he would want to anymore.

She’d heard of mated couples, of course. One couldn’t be around other beings without some knowledge of their rituals. But she had never really studied the process and didn’t really think it was all that big of a deal. He’d just have to find someone else to mate with. She was just too busy. Not that she held out any hope that after she talked to him he’d want it to happen anyway.

There was an older woman standing in the doorway when they entered the estate.

“Maria, this is my mate, Bailey St. James. She will be staying with us,” Tristan introduced.

“Could you please show her to my room on the upper floors, and then she will require some food. Please, have Stanley see to that for her as well for me.”

“Yes, my lord.” She curtseyed to him and then turned to Bailey. “Mistress, would you please come with me? Will your bags be following soon, or shall I have someone pick them up for you?”

“No, nothing to follow.” She left it at that.

The two of them went up the grand staircase to the second floor and was led into a massive suite complete with fireplace, sitting area, and bed, the biggest bed she had ever seen.

It had to have been at least half again as wide as even a king-sized bed and covered with the most beautiful array of colors that she’d ever seen. The deep, rich colors of the earth were a perfect match to the pieces in the room as well. Deep, dark cherry accented by lighter shades of yellows and greens. The drapes, closed now against the night sky, were heavy, hung on floor-to-ceiling frames, and looked as if they might have been made of velvet. In addition to the bed, there were two highboys and a long dresser. Along one wall was a massive shelf that was crowded with books, pieces of pottery, and objects of art. The hardwood floors had a scattering of rugs, all in the same colors of the spread. A pair of wingback chairs graced the fireplace that was lit with a cheery fire.

“Thank you, Maria. If you don’t mind, I would like to rest awhile, please?” She wanted to think. And to plan.

“Oh yes, mistress. I’ll let you know when the master…”

“Actually, I’m so sorry.” She thought to rest, but it had been a long night and she might as well get it over with. “Could you take me to the master now? I have something I need to tell him.”

“Of course. He would be in his...the study. If you’d like to come with me, I’ll take you right to him.” Maria had been surprised by Bailey changing her mind, but she recovered quickly.

Bailey had a moment to wonder how many other women he’d brought to his household under the guise of being his mate, then dismissed that thought. It was really none of her business and she was going to be out of his life soon enough anyway.

“I’d like to talk with you now if you please,” she told him as soon as Maria left her in his study and closed the door.

No preamble, just straightforward, that was Bailey. A rip-the-Band-Aid-off-not-peel-it-slowly kind of girl. She almost grinned at that thought. Bailey rarely thought of herself as a girl much anymore, even less of person most days.

“Good.” He nodded her to a chair. “I have a few things to say to you as well. You may start.”

She tried not to bristle at that and his tone. One would never know they had nearly had sex in a public place not two hours ago.

“You asked me what I am. Well, I’m a lab project from a place that no longer exists. It was called Co-Tech Industries. We, a couple of friends and I, destroyed it about twenty years ago.

There were three others that escaped with me twenty-two years ago next month.”

“What does that have to do with—”

She cut him off. This was her story and she was going to tell it her way. “Tyler Dunn, now deceased, Griff Smith, and Charlie Smith, also deceased. Charlie died before we were off the property. He had been shot and had bled out before we could…well, that doesn’t really concern you or what you want to know so I’ll skip that part.” She took a deep breath before continuing.

“All that I’m going to share with you is how this may affect you, and it will. I was created in the lab, in a test tube actually. I’m the combination of several donors, all of them immortal races mixed together to try and create an elite super-race of beings that would be used for war. One of the donors was a vampire. That’s why I could bite you. I also have the ability to do other things too. Whether it’s magically, mentally, or physically, thanks to the DNA cocktail I was given, I’m pretty much a fuck up of all races.”

“May I ask you a question?”

She wanted to tell him he just had, but thought he’d not appreciate her attempt at humor. She nodded.

“Do you know anything about the lab prior to it being destroyed? Who funded it? And who yet still lives?”

“No. We didn’t care past getting out and surviving. There are others like me, marked like us, but…I have a mark, a tattooed bar code that was burned into my skin. They put it there when I was small. We all had one. But no, I don’t know anything about the scientist.”

“What things can you do? I’ve seen your fangs, but you said mixture. Of what?”

She was hurt by his dismissive tone that sounded like he didn’t believe her. “I can shift into anything I need to so long as it has a heartbeat. I think that came from weres, a cougar and a wolf.” Now, for the hard part. “We were considered a failure, and were set for termination a few days before we escaped. When you took my blood, you subjected yourself to all that I am, including everything I can do. You will be able to shift, if you couldn’t already, your mental abilities will be exponentially stronger, also your strength. I can’t heal myself, nor am I an immortal, but those will not affect you, as they are things that you had prior to drinking my blood.”

“Did you have anything to do with Tyler’s and Charlie’s death?”

She turned away from him and looked out the window. Hurt ripped through her chest. “That would be the first thing you’d ask me, wouldn’t it, Lord St. James?” She got up from the chair and paced around the room. “Indirectly, yes, I did. They were the only friends I had besides Griff and I convinced them we could make it on the outside world. The only people I ever trusted were these three and now two of them are dead. I will ever trust again except for Griff.”

If he expected more, he would be sorely disappointed. Bailey felt him touch her mind, but she tossed him off. If he didn’t want her then he had no right to trod on her painful memories.

“Bailey, love, I’m…”

She cut him off. “You will have your information about me soon. Yes, I’m well aware that you are having me investigated, Lord St. James. I have just as good of help as you do when I need information. I’ve had it slowed down a bit until we could…but your computer whiz will break through soon enough. I’ve seen his work before. He’s quite good.”

“Bailey, you have to understand—”

“I don’t think so. Your information, it will be incomplete and most of it will be glossed over.

But with what I’ve told you, you’ll be able to guess the rest.” She opened the window, leaned into it, and took a deep breath. “I want you to stay away from me, Lord St. James. If you come near me, or you send someone for me, I will kill them and then you. And have no doubt that I can and will. I’m a heartless bitch and can do what I want. There’s a woman, the queen of magic.

If you go to her, she’ll help you get this…relationship you’ve found yourself in fixed. She doesn’t care for me all that much anyway.”

Bailey continued to look out the window. She wouldn’t, no, she couldn’t look at him. She had felt him touch her mind again, harder this time, trying to breach her hold, but she didn’t allow him entrance. She didn’t want him to see what he had done to her with his comment about Tyler. She needed to leave right now. She needed to get out.

She let go the first shimmer of magic then more power surged from her and around her. He watched her as her arms became covered in feathers, small white and brown feathers, as she held onto the sill. Then her hair changed, and with a snap, she was a falcon. A slightly larger than normal pedigree falcon with the greenest eyes known to man.

Bailey loved her bird of prey and how she made her feel in flight. Now, she was leaving.

She hopped up onto the ledge of the window sill. He moved to her then, flashed to her and the window she had opened, but he was too late.

“Bailey, don’t…” But it was too late. She was gone.

~CHAPTER EIGHT~

Tristan left the castle as soon as he could. Her scent was everywhere. He couldn’t figure out how that was even possible as she had only been there for just under an hour. And in that same time frame, he had lost her. He wanted to scream out his frustration.

Aaron was in his study when he materialized in the main hall of the estate. He went in search of Duncan first, who directed him to the master.

“Master Tristan, if you don’t mind my saying, you look rode hard and put away drippy.”

Tristan could only stare at the man. He’d heard that Duncan had a new friend, Eon, the newest member of the local pack, who had been telling him idioms to use, slang, he had called it.

Sometimes he messed them up a bit, but was cheerfully happy when someone helped him out.

The half grin Duncan was sharing with him made Tristan think Duncan was having fun at his expense.

“It’s wet, not drippy, rode hard and put away wet. And yes, Duncan, that’s just how I feel as well.” Tristan walked into the study like a man going to his own execution. He felt that way also.