Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting Us (Kindle Worlds Novella) (7 page)

Chapter 13

Maya

I woke up exhausted yet refreshed at the same time.

Not long after our swim in the pool Calder and I ended up in bed and there wasn’t much sleep going on.

It had been a very long time, but Calder was better than any man I could imagine.

I was nervous at first, I’ll admit, to be with a man who was missing his legs, but he showed me that there was more than just being an amputee. The fact that he still wanted me after seeing me shift made me love him even more

Love. I still couldn’t believe I said the words to him and when he said it back my heart swelled. There was no turning back now. Like he said, he was mine and I was his.

We had another day in the villa and as much as I wanted to spend all day in bed with him, I thought it might be nice to see some of the island.

Calder was curled up on his side, his broad shoulders and muscled back to me.

I leaned over and kissed the area between his neck and shoulders. “Maya?”

He turned over, looking up at me with sleepy eyes. “If you’re wanting to go another round, you’re going to have to give me a minute. You gave me quite a workout last night, and a few hours ago.”

I smiled, shaking my head. “I’ll let you rest while I go to the main lobby and check out some of the excursions. Maybe we could rent some snorkeling equipment and find a secluded place? I mean if you’re comfortable with that and all. If you don’t want to, we don’t have to.”

He raised his eyebrows. “I think I’m willing to try, but are you sure you’re comfortable with that?”

Leaning in, I pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. “With you, I’d do anything.”

He turned over. I could feel his morning wood pressing against me. “When you talk like that you’re making me want you to never leave this bed.”

I playfully wiggled my hips against him. “So does that mean yes to snorkeling?”

He smiled. “Now you’re just teasing me. Go get the snorkeling stuff and hurry back. I guess if we’re going to stay here we should see something other than this bedroom.”

I gave him one last kiss before I shimmied into a pair of shorts and a tank top. We’d both slept naked in bed and it was the most free I’d felt in a long time. I could be myself with him and he could be himself with me.

I knew we were still in the honeymoon stage and it wouldn’t always be like this, but for now, I was enjoying the afterglow.

It was a short, brisk walk up the hill to the main building, but I took my time. I wanted to enjoy every moment of every thing.

The flowers smelled sweeter. The air was warmer. The sky more beautiful. Maybe it had always looked this way, but to me it was as if the world had changed overnight.

The lobby was cool and smelled like tropical flowers. There were a few tourists milling about in Hawaiian shirts, but it wasn’t overly crowded.

The TV was on in a lounge area and, of course, Jay Morningstar’s face was plastered on some morning news show. This time they headlines read “Swimming’s Golden Boy isn’t so golden.” I stood and read some of the captions. Something about him partying in the Olympic village and photos of him underage at a club, hooking up with some Brazilian gymnasts who may or may not have been passing a bowl around.

I shook my head before going toward the concierge desk. I guess the spotlight went to some people’s heads. Deep down he was probably a good kid. Swimmers didn’t get much of the spotlight. Maybe he’d get tarnished enough that he’d forget about the partying and just focus on swimming again.

And maybe I could too.

If I could figure out how to control my shifting, there wouldn’t be anything stopping me from getting back in shape and getting in the pool again. Maybe not the Olympic team, but at least something. The thought scared and exhilarated me at the same time.

Thinking about my future in swimming, I browsed the rack for some snorkeling brochures, thinking how much I’d love to see Calder in the water. I’d never actually experimented too much with swimming with my tail but now that I had someone with me, maybe I could actually see how fast I could move.

I practically ran out of the lobby, giddy to get back and show Calder the excursions I found.

I wanted to get back to the villa as soon as possible and maybe even get a few laps in the tiny pool. Before I could get on the trail back to the villa, a short, balding man stopped me before I could get any further.

“Excuse me, ma’am, do you speak English?” he said in a twang.

I stopped running and slowed to halt in front of him. “Yeah. How can I help you?”

He pulled out a map from his front pocket and held out it in front of me. “Can you tell me where this town is? I can’t make it out without my glasses.”

I leaned over to see where he was pointing, but before I could read anything, a searing pain radiated from the back of my head and everything went dark.

***

I dreamt I was drowning.

When I woke up I was fully submerged in water. My body seethed in pain with my arms flush against the glass case I was enclosed in. I was barely able to lift my head up out of a small opening and gasped for air. Only my head could get out of the tiny opening.

Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I looked around the room. It was a small space with four gray, dark walls and a cement floor with only a tiny window in the corner. I was in a tiny water tank, like a small shower or an actual fish tank that was standing vertical. It was barely as tall as I was and my tail curled up toward my shoulders, barely giving me any room to move.

Automatically I reached for my necklace, but it was gone. I’d kept it on since the moment I got it, even when making love to Calder. Now I felt naked without it.

I sucked in a deep breath and looked around, beating my tail wildly against the glass.

Don’t panic. Don’t panic. There has to be a way out
.

“Looking for something, sweetheart?” A low voice said.

I looked up to see the silhouette of a man and the glow of my necklace.

It wasn’t until he stepped into the dim light of the single light bulb overhead that I recognized him as the guy from Ace’s. The one in the rugby shirt who acted like he was too good to be there.

“What do you want with me? How did you find me? Why do you have my necklace?” I demanded.

He laughed. “My, my, you have a lot of questions and you didn’t even answer mine.”

He dangled the necklace in front of my face.

“I was looking for my necklace,” I tried to keep my voice strong, but it came out in a stutter.

He smirked. “You’re awfully cheeky for someone who I can drown just as easily as I did your father.”

My breath caught in my throat and I stared at him open-mouthed.

The man smirked, putting his hands behind his back. “I guess you weren’t told what happened to him? Hmmm? He wouldn’t tell me what he did with the map to your rook, so I got rid of him. I’ve been looking for this damn thing for over thirty years and here it was on some bartender’s neck. I would’ve had it earlier, if that damn cripple didn’t get in the way, although I would’ve needed a seal to read it for me, so it worked out in the end.”

I blinked slowly, staring at his eyes. Those dark blue eyes that hovered over me, as strong hands pulled at my necklace. I wasn’t going to dignify him with an answer, not when he spoke like that. If he needed answers, he wasn’t going to get them from me.

The man grabbed the back of my head, yanking my hair so it felt like it was ripping from the roots. “Now, Maya, tell me what the damn map says and you won’t end up like your father.”

He held the necklace up to the light and just like at the gem shop, the jumble of words surrounded the room.

I still couldn’t read it. None of it made sense.

“Please. I don’t know what it says. I don’t know anything about shifters,” I pleaded.

“Liar!” He screamed into my ear.

I whimpered, wishing I could be brave, but I’d never been so scared in my entire life.

“I can’t. I’m sorry. Please just let me go,” I whispered, my bottom lip quivering.

The man let go of my hair, ripping out a handful as he pulled away. He didn’t say a word, just grunted before he went back into the darkness and closed the door behind him.

Chapter 14

Calder

I woke up, reaching my hand automatically to the other side of the bed for Maya’s warmth, but came up empty. Opening my eyes, I sat up, looking toward the open door of the bathroom but still no Maya. I grabbed a pair of boxers and slid them on before fastening my legs. I went downstairs, thinking maybe she was making breakfast again, but no such luck. Okay. Maybe she was in the pool.

Not in the pool.

Okay, maybe she ran out to the lobby to get some brochures. Or at least that’s what I think she said in my half-asleep haze this morning. I grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt then slid on my shoes before grabbing the key card and headed out the front door. I made it to the front lobby which was full of people gathering around for a tour.

But Maya wasn’t among them.

I approached the concierge, trying not to panic. “Excuse me, sir, did a woman from Villa number four come in? Maybe ask about a tour? She was short, tan. Dark hair and very dark eyes.”

The man in the suit thought for a moment then nodded. “Oh, yes, I remember her. I can’t forget those eyes. Black as night yet beautiful as the sky itself.”

I let out the deep breath I didn’t know I was holding in. “Oh, good. Did she book a tour or something?”

The man’s face fell. “No, I’m sorry, sir. She spent some time looking through the brochures then went back outside. I saw her briefly talking to a man with a map, but when I looked again, she was gone.”

A man with a map.

A SEAL team I was working with had gone on in Mexico a mission. There was a prostitution ring that was picking up young tourists by asking them for directions.

“Thanks, sir,” I muttered before I turned, running outside.

I scanned the parking lot. Then the thought hit me.

The guy in the parking lot pulling at her necklace. Luz talking about poachers. Maybe this wasn’t a random kidnapping.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I pulled up my contacts.

“I was wondering when you were going to call me,” Tex’s southern drawl came through the speaker.

Did he already know something was up? He’d talked about tracking devices he’d put on some of his SEAL friends and their wives but only with their permission. Maybe he wanted to track me after my little incident in the ocean.

“Did I say I was going to call you and forget about it?”

Tex laughed. “No, Benny told me you were hanging out with the new bartender at Ace’s. I figured you were calling to talk about dating advice.”

I shook my head, even though I knew he couldn’t see it. “I wish that was what I was calling about. That bartender from Ace’s? Her name is Maya.”

“I know. I already have her pulled up, have since you needed to get her address. What can I help you with, Doc?”

“Maya’s missing. We came to Mexico for…um…a trip…and she went down to the hotel lobby and now she’s gone. The concieriege said he saw someone asking her for directions and, I don’t know, Tex, I need to find her. Can you help me?”

Tex’s breath blew into the phone, making a crackling sound. “You know I can, Calder.”

He was the best with finding anything on a computer. I used to think guys like him only existed in movies, until I saw him work for myself.

The last time we’d had an actual conversation was after his girlfriend Melody was taken by a crazy stalker chic. He said that he was forced to take off his leg and protect Melody without it. Our phone call had been interrupted by an emergency at the university clinic, so I didn’t have time to ask him what he’d done or how in the hell he’d been able to protect his girlfriend without his leg. Now that I had my own problems with protecting Maya, I wished I’d called Tex sooner.

“Call me when you find something?” I asked.

“I will, Calder. Keep your phone on you and I’ll ping it as well as Maya’s to see what kind of signal I can get.”

“Thanks, Tex. Always appreciated.”

“No problem, Calder. Anything for a friend.”

I disconnected the call and ran as fast as I could down the hill to my car and peeled out of the parking lot.

Tex may have been on the case, but he didn’t know all of the details. I knew I had to get to Luz, no matter if she wanted to see me or not.

***

I drove to the same spot where I parked before when Maya and I came to meet Luz. She said they were leaving, but I had to hope they’d still be there.

The same men were camped out and before they could even say anything, I threw a fist full of bills at them and didn’t look behind me as I trudged toward the bordello.

I knocked hard on the knocker and a different girl answered, but was in the same half-dressed get-up as the other.

“I need to see, Luz,”

“You have to have an—”

“She knows what I’m here for,” I growled, cutting her off.

Good. She hadn’t left yet.

My eyes went to the small security camera above the door. “Open up, Luz. I’m here about Maya.”

The woman in front of me nodded, holding her finger to her ear, much as Glorianna had done the day before. “She said she’ll see you.”

I didn’t even bother waiting for the woman to guide me upstairs. I took the steps two at a time, going as fast as my prosthetics could carry me until I was at the intricately carved wooden door.

Before I could bring my hand up to knock, it was thrown open.

Luz’s eyes narrowed. Her hair was pulled back into a bun that looked so tight it had to be cutting off circulation. Instead of the pant-suit, she was in a rainbow colored robe.

“Didn’t I tell you not to come back here?” she demanded.

“I wouldn’t have if Maya wasn’t missing.”

Luz’s face fell. “Maya’s missing?”

I nodded.

She ushered me inside and shut the door behind us. There were boxes packed up and even though the place was sparse before, now it was practically barren.

Instead of looking at me, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked out one of the large windows. “Since when? Do you know anything about her capture?”

“Whoa, I didn’t say anything about someone capturing her.”

Luz sighed, her whole body shaking. “You didn’t have to. I knew as soon as you two showed up here yesterday that it was only a matter of time before Garavan found her. I thought, you’d be able to protect her. But I guess I was wrong.”

My fists clenched. “She left to get some brochures in the lobby of the resort we’re staying at. She wasn’t gone that long. I thought she’d be safe.”

Luz spun around toward me, her dark eyes now completely black. “Well, you were wrong, weren’t you?”

I sighed. “I really didn’t expect anything to happen when she was just going to the lobby. I guess I was stupid to let her go and I have to live with that regret. I’m a trained Undersea Medical Officer. I may have lost my legs, but I can still do whatever I need to do to save her. Just tell me what that is.”

Luz’s shoulders slumped. “I wish we could. Last time Garavan took someone I loved, he was killed before the rook could even get together a search party. I assume that Garavan sold my brother’s pelt on the black market. Shifter pelts go for higher than normal. Some people who believe in folklore think we have some kind of magic that mortals don’t. They’re partially right, but we need to be alive.”

“So if Maya has magic, she can save herself?”

Luz pressed her lips together. “Not spells or special powers, darling. We can shift. We can protect each other, but this isn’t some fantasy movie. The only saving grace she may have is if she can read the map for Garavan, but if she does that…then none of the rook is safe.”

I shook my head. “She can’t read the map. Neither of us could.”

“She had so much more training to do…” Luz whispered sadly.

“Then what do we do?” I demanded.

Luz tightened her robe. “
We
will not be doing anything. I am leaving. I have to keep my rook safe.”

She tried to push past me but I grabbed onto her shoulder, spinning her around. “That’s it? You’re not going to help me? Not going to help Maya?”

Luz sighed. “Darling, I wish I could. I do. I’ve been waiting a long time to see Maya. To finally meet my brother’s half-human daughter, but I also need to preserve my rook and this is the only way I know how.”

“By running and hiding?” Every hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I’d been a soldier for so long I couldn’t even think about running. I’d always fought.

“It’s the only way I can protect the rook.”

I nodded, letting go of her shoulder. I thought that Luz would have the answers, just like Maya did when we walked in here. Now I had to hope that Tex could help me save Maya. “Then tell me where to find this Garavan.”

Luz widened her eyes. “You think you, a mere mortal, can defeat this poacher that has been taking out shifters for decades?”

I didn’t know what the hell I was dealing with, but I knew that I had to protect Maya.

“Ma’am, I may be a mortal, but that’s not going to stop me from saving her.”