A Forbidden Love (2 page)

After wandering the largely empty streets for about fifteen minutes, Jamie made it home. An impressive wooden door led to the ground floor of a Victorian house that had been converted into flats.

Jamie had been occupying this space for the better part of three years now. Despite splurging on the finest furniture to make it as comfortable as possible, he barely spent time here. Somehow, no matter what he did, he found it impossible to feel at home anywhere.

Jamie lived for his work, just like everyone else at the Alliance seemed to do. After hours, Jamie felt like he was waiting. For something, or someone.
The girl? How ridiculous.

He took off his leather jacket and hung it neatly on one of the elegant dining chairs he never used. Then he checked his mail, even though he already knew that all he had waiting for him were bills.

It was four in the morning, according to the wall clock at the other end of the combined living and dining space. Jamie settled down in the armchair facing the TV that hung above the defunct period fireplace, but didn't switch it on.

How could he convince those people to talk? They were fanatics who truly believed in their cause and that made them dangerous.

Hell, we truly believe in ours too, don't we?
Jamie sighed deeply and rubbed his temples in an attempt to soothe the dull ache that usually started to build up in there around this time. He knew he was exhausted, but he also knew sleep wouldn't find him just yet.

He closed his eyes and went through a few breathing exercises he'd found online. With his eyes still shut, he breathed in sharply, then exhaled in a slow, controlled manner for as long as he could stretch it. Rinse and repeat.

It wouldn't work, he already knew that, but he was nothing if not persistent in everything he did.

After a few breaths like that, he opened his eyes again and started to look at the switched off TV. Jamie felt his body relax, the tension he'd been carrying around in his limbs slowly dissipating until his body was ready for sleep. The previously clear shape of the television blurred in front of him as he continued to stare at it.

His mind refused to cooperate with his body's demand for rest, though.

He needed to get those men to talk.

Perhaps they knew something that would help him.

Jamie's eyelids grew heavy until he gave in and let them fall shut again. He was surrounded by darkness, but only for a moment, before the blackest of black made way for the gray late summer's day that always came to him at this time of night. That day at the beach, back when he was only twelve years old. The day his brother had gone missing.

The pain of the loss stabbed him right through the heart, as it had done back then, when he first realized what had happened. But that wasn't the worst of it. The worst thing was that his baby brother was only a small part of what plagued his mind.

The girl.

He couldn't get the girl out of his head.

It made no sense at all. Why was he so fixated on her? He didn't remember when exactly the memories had started to change, because it had been so gradual at first. As the years had passed, so had his recollection of that day. Every night when these glimpses of so long ago infiltrated his mind against his will, the girl had aged right along with Jamie.

They'd been probably the same age back then. Tonight what Jamie saw wasn't an awkward twelve year old, but a full-figured redhead in her thirties, like him. And so lifelike, too. Her green eyes sparkled in what little light could escape the hazy clouds overhead. Her smile could stop traffic, it was so radiant. Her ample curves invited further scrutiny, but Jamie resisted the temptation, as usual.

Sometimes he did allow himself to focus on her beauty, just for a bit. But the guilt always got him in the end. It wasn't worth it. How could he fantasize about some girl he might have very well just imagined there on the beach, when his actual, real little brother had vanished without a trace?

How could a creature so beautiful have existed in the exact same moment as a loss so terrible?

His inner bear kept insisting that if only he found her, everything would become whole again. Secretly that was why he'd joined the Alliance in Edinburgh rather than anywhere else, because that's where she'd said she lived. If he found her, perhaps he'd find
him
too. But if he found
her,
did it matter?

Jamie frowned, furious at himself for even questioning the importance of figuring out what had happened to his brother. Angry for all the pain the disappearance had caused to his parents, who had never been the same since. Guilty over his own selfishness and carelessness. It had all been his fault, after all.

Breathe in deeply, hold, slowly release.
Who was she, though?

Breathe in, and release.
Why was she so important?

Breathe and release.

When Jamie awoke, he had no idea just when he'd fallen asleep, or for how long. He wasn't rested, but it was enough. He got up and stretched himself. Sleeping in a chair wasn't ideal, but it was better than not sleeping at all. A big mug of sweet instant coffee later, he felt ready for the day that lay ahead.

He would question the prisoners some more today. And today was the day Aidan would bring in their human informant, Alison, for more thorough questioning as well. Perhaps she knew more than she'd initially shared. Jamie was also curious about how she knew about the websites in the first place. She'd been too vague about that in the past. Either way, it was time for Jamie to step in and take control of the situation before the Sons got the chance to plan anything.

The first order of business would be to set up an appropriate area for them to question Alison. There was no way he would let her into the main office, and he certainly couldn't use the basement where the prisoners were kept. Perhaps one of the rooms upstairs...

Jamie could be the most single-minded and focused person in the morning, but come nightfall, his thoughts went everywhere at once. Somehow it was easier to keep the bear part of him under control when the sun was out. It was his bear who was suffering more than his human side.

Now that it was morning, the world made sense again. Jamie grabbed his things and made the trip to the office on foot like he often did when the weather allowed it. A bit of drizzle like today wasn't enough of a deterrent.

"Morning." Jamie greeted the rest of the team as he swung the door open. Aidan and Heidi were already sitting at their work stations, while their resident computer genius, Kyle, was pouring himself a cup of coffee in the corner.

"Anything I need to know before getting things ready for Alison later?" Jamie asked.

Aidan looked up from his desk, as did Heidi. In the couple of days since her rescue, both of their behavior had changed drastically. They'd been distant toward each other earlier, especially Heidi, but now they seemed to have connected in a way one doesn't often see. Like they understood what the other was thinking without voicing it.

Jamie knew what it meant - they were mates, despite belonging to different species - and he'd tried to talk to them about it, but they were intent on keeping a low profile. Jamie couldn't blame them. Wolves and bears didn't ordinarily get along and there would be many who would oppose the idea of interspecies mating.

He suppressed a smile as he watched them exchange a subtle glance. They were talking to each other, communicating with their thoughts alone. Rather than worry about their connection distracting from their work here, Jamie was certain it made them more valuable to their cause. He would never have to second guess their loyalties, as long as they were on the team together.

"No progress on the prisoners. We've been keeping the lights on in their cells to confuse their sense of time in the hopes that it would help us break them," Aidan said.

"I see. Perhaps the girl can give us something that'll help."

Aidan shrugged. Jamie could tell from his demeanor that he didn't think bringing the informant in would make any difference. But it was Jamie's responsibility as team leader to steer this investigation forward. If he was called in by the Alliance Council, he wanted to be able to say that he hadn't left any stone unturned. They'd given him this chance to make a difference at a time when he was completely lost. He owed it to them, as well as himself to do the best job he could.

"Very well, I'll get things ready for the interrogation," Jamie said. "Kyle, walk with me?"

Jamie pushed the door leading to the staircase open and waited while Kyle caught up, steaming cup of coffee in hand. "I'm thinking of converting one of the upstairs rooms so we can use it for interrogations. The one closest to the back entrance. I want you to think about recording solutions."

Kyle followed him up the stairs as the door slowly shut behind them with an ominous creak.

"Right. I'm assuming you don't want to make things too obvious?" Kyle asked.

"Hidden cameras. Multiple angles."

"Sure thing. I have some equipment lying around that would be perfect. It'll take me a couple of hours maximum to set everything up." Kyle said.

"Wonderful. Let me know if you need any help." Jamie smiled. They'd all struggled to get along initially, but the team was finally pulling together as one. If they wanted to be successful in their fight against the Sons of Domnall, they needed to keep this up.

"This is a bloody disaster," Alison Campbell whispered, while sinking back into the sofa and shaking her head.

"Yep," her brother Gareth, who was sitting opposite her, confirmed.

"How did the Alliance find them, you think?" Alison asked.

"No idea, perhaps someone talked. Or perhaps they managed to sniff us out somehow. Who knows what these animals are capable of?" Gareth shrugged.

"Are you sure they're just holding dad and the others prisoner and they haven't actually killed them?" Alison had been talking to someone from the Alliance in an attempt to create her cover, but her contact was so distant, so cold, that she couldn't get a read on him. She was told that their entire race was made up of dangerous killers, but she hadn't been able to gather any real evidence of just how ruthless they could be.

"We don't know anything for sure. But it would make sense for them to try and squeeze him for information first. That gives us a little time before they realize he won't talk." Gareth ran his hand over his tightly cropped hair. He looked a lot like their dad when he did this.

"Shit. Well, how the hell will we find out where they're keeping him?" Alison wondered aloud.

"That's up to you, isn't it? You've got to find out where their base is."

Alison rested her face in her hands.
Damn
. "Did you guys
have
to capture one of theirs? This would have never happened if you hadn't taken the girl," Alison argued, tears welling up in her eyes.

"In case you forgot, they got awfully close to us thanks to the information
you
gave them!" Gareth retorted and crossed his arms. Alison hated it when he did that; when he gave her that cocky look like he knew everything.

"I had to give them something, otherwise how would I earn their trust?" Alison asked.

"Did you have to give them the message board, though? A lot of the guys feel that that cut awfully close to home."

"I can't be posing as an informant, if I don't
inform
, can I? And it was you who made the first move to meet with her. You could have just kept her at arm's length and they would have given up sooner or later." Alison felt the anger take over.

Her brother had never taken her particularly seriously. In fact, he probably hated that their dad had chosen her to get close to the Alliance by posing as an informant in the first place. Well, too bad for him. Dad had trusted her to get the job done, not him.

"Still, you're playing a dangerous game with these people, and now we're facing the consequences."

"I've done whatever was asked of me. You can take your hindsight and stick it somewhere."

Alison and Gareth stared at one another, neither in the mood to back down.