Eternally Bound: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set (17 page)

Before Delaine could follow him, Sapa charged to the front of her conscience. The big cat’s presence was so strong, it was almost overwhelming. Delaine took in a surprised gasp as the lioness’ protective instincts surrounded her, strongly urging her not to enter the house. But as always, Sapa couldn’t overrule her. Any decision of what would be done was up to Delaine. But the lioness made her presence known. If Delaine needed her, she was there.

‘Sapa, calm down and tell me what’s going on here,’ Delaine whispered along the psychic link.

Sapa’s response confirmed Delaine’s suspicions. Someone had been in her house. Nothing appeared to be missing, but the house had been carefully searched and everything put back in its proper place. Yes, someone had been here all right. Someone meticulous and very careful.

Justin left the lights off and set Delaine’s weekend bag just inside the door. He signaled for her to take the upstairs while he searched the downstairs rooms. Delaine took off quietly up the stairs to search her bedroom. They met up in the kitchen and found a neatly folded piece of paper on the breakfast nook table. A note from Baker.

They looked at each other, silently communicating their rage. Both stiff and angry, they stalked to the phone together on the first ring. Pissed that someone would enter her private domain, she snatched the receiver off the hook and snarled a nasty hello. Her eyes went wide at the surprise of hearing Sarah Ann’s shaky voice on the other end.

“H-Hi, Ms. Jeris.”

“Sarah Ann? It’s almost midnight. What are you doing calling me this late?”

“I want to help you. Can I come in?”

“Come in? What are you talking about?”

“I’m sitting in my car across the street from your house. I really need to talk to you. Can I come over? Please?”

“And why should I trust you?”

“Because I hate Brian Baker,” Sarah Ann said on a choked sob.

“Well all-righty then. Come on over,” Delaine said pleasantly.

Justin stood behind the door fuming as Delaine opened it for a clearly distraught Sarah Ann. He wasn’t going to take the chance that Baker’s confidante might show up armed, or worse, with Baker himself in tow. Delaine had argued against it, not wanting him to be seen at all. But Justin wasn’t having it. He wanted Baker and anyone else to know that Delaine had a big, brawny, mad-as-hell ex-Jarhead at her back.

Delaine led Sarah Ann into the living room. Justin silently stalked behind them.

“Sarah Ann, would you like some tea?” Delaine asked, trying to distract the girl. Hands on hips, looking as calm as she was able, she asked what flavor she preferred.

“Jasmine Green Tea, if you have it,” Sarah Ann said, smiling sheepishly. She looked up and her eyes bulged. Now that she was settled on the couch, there was no missing Justin as he stood on the steps that led into the sunken living room. She shrank into the cushions as the huge man glowered at her, the muscle in his jaw ticcing furiously. He stood not five feet away, his big muscular arms crossed over his even more muscular chest. His expression clearly read, “One wrong move and your ass is mine”.

Sapa sent Delaine a mental picture of what Sarah Ann was feeling. Fear. Anger. Shame. All genuine. Delaine felt sorry for the woman. She’d been thrown into something she never wanted to be involved in. At least she had to guts to try to do something about it now.

“Sarah Ann, let me take your coat,” Delaine said, trying to make her feel a bit more comfortable. Now it was Delaine’s turn to gawk. Sarah Ann pushed her hood back and unzipped her coat. Delaine felt Sapa’s ears prick forward. Sarah Ann’s dark brown curly hair was now blonde!

Sarah Ann stilled at the intensity in Delaine’s eyes as she stared at her hair. She lifted her fingers nervously, and tugged on an errant curl.

“I didn’t want to be recognized, coming over here and all. I colored it just this morning.”

Delaine continued to stare. The vision her spirit guide had shown her on that first night out with Justin came slamming back into her mind. The woman with the blonde hair was Sarah Ann! So what about the rest of the vision? Who was the woman tied up in a chair with a bag over her head?

*
The woman who seeks to help us is distraught. She is afraid of our mate
.*

Delaine silently nodded at Sapa’s words and sweetly sent a menacing Justin to fix the tea. He could still see everything going on in the living room, but he still wasn’t happy with the idea of leaving his woman alone with Sarah Ann. He gave Delaine his I’ll-deal-with-you-later look and stalked off to the kitchen.

“So what’s up, Sarah Ann? What can you tell us?”

Sarah Ann shivered with fear and glanced toward the kitchen. Her shoulders hunched forward as a stream of tears overflowed her eyes followed by a bout of rough, ragged sobs. Delaine gave her a moment to compose herself. Sarah Ann squared her shoulders, took a deep breath and pushed ahead.

“I hate what I’ve become because of Baker and his little experiments. He asked me to help him with research on a new product. After working late one evening he invited me for dinner at his place. We had one night of hot sex, and that’s when he first slipped it to me. I’m a good scientist, Ms. Jeris. I had no idea he wanted to use me as a guinea pig.”

Delaine felt such sadness at the pain in the woman’s voice. Poor Sarah Ann bawled like a baby. Delaine sat down on the arm of the couch and discreetly motioned for Justin to quietly bring in the tea. He set the tray on the coffee table and turned to leave.

The corner of his mouth quirked up when he caught Delaine admiring his tight butt, but she didn’t stop looking. She watched him stride back to the kitchen with the grace of a lion. With the exception of his blue eyes and fair skin, he reminded her of Sapa on the hunt. The set of his shoulders relayed his anger at Baker’s audacity to enter her home. Delaine was glad they were on the same side. The man looked ready to kill.

“I swear, Ms. Jeris, I didn’t know his secret project was a powerful synthetic aphrodisiac. The stuff is highly addictive and I didn’t want the drug. When I told Baker I wanted him to find a way to counter the craving for it, he threatened to have me killed.”

“Baker threatened to have you killed? Isn’t that rather ballsy for him? He doesn’t seem the type to want to get his hands dirty.” Literally.

“He’s got connections with some really bad people, Ms. Jeris.”

“So how do you propose to help us?” Delaine asked, sipping her own cup of strong tea.

“I know Baker planned to leave you a note with a phone number on it. Have you called the number?” Sarah Ann asked, blowing delicately into her steaming cup.

“No, not yet.”

“Good,” she said, sitting the cup down gently on the coffee table. “The directions Baker left you are false. It’s a trick. He knows you stole a tape from The Vault. He wants it back, but he’s not stupid. He’s got your friend, but …”

“Whoa, whoa,” Delaine stood to her feet, the tea all but forgotten. “What friend are you talking about?”

“Your beautician friend. His instructions, you haven’t listened to them yet. You’re supposed to meet him at Astin for an exchange, the videotape for your friend. But she won’t be at the meeting place. She’s being held at Baker’s home on Lake Norman by some Cuban guys who came up from Miami.”

“Why would he have people come up from another state?”

“Because that’s who he’s making the drug for. His connections are Cuban mafia. Some big-time drug lord from down south. From Miami. He contracted Baker to create and make the drug. It’s supposed to be the next big thing, the only truly synthetic and powerful aphrodisiac ever made. One that works on women in an explosive manner. If Baker fails to deliver, he’ll lose his head and a few other choice body parts. He can’t allow you to interrupt his plans, so he asked Tapia to send him some more muscle.”

Delaine listened quietly as Sarah Ann confirmed what Justin had told her over the weekend about Baker and his mafia connection. A cold rage climbed up her spine, wrapping around her core with every word Sarah Ann spoke. Bastard. She couldn’t wait to send him up.

“If you show up without the tape, he plans to have your friend injected with the drug. He’s always tested it with a tablet to control the dosage better. With an injection, she’ll have an instant reaction and overdose within half an hour. After his mafia thugs have fucked her silly.”

“How do you know all this?”

“I let the creep think I was completely under his control. As long as I played the mindless bimbo, he didn’t care if I was in the room while he conducted his business or not. I wasn’t a risk.”

“So what do you want out of this?”

“I want you to catch him, Ms. Jeris. Take him down.”

“Done. Now tell us anything else we need to know.”

* * * * *

It was three in the morning when Sarah Ann snuck out the backdoor and made her way around the side of Delaine’s house to her car. What was it about this assignment and unexpected things happening at three in the morning?

Justin and Delaine called the number on Baker’s note and listened to the pre-recorded message. He held Delaine’s hand while adrenaline pumped their hearts up into their throats. The threats to Pam were explicit—deliver the tape or Pam was toast. But by the end of the message, both he and Delaine were shaking their heads in wonder. If the situation hadn’t been so grave, they would have laughed out loud. Good ole Pam, loud and clear in the background, cussed her head off while telling Baker how she was going to kick his ass for making her miss work. They had to give her credit. The woman had a lot of guts. Now they had to keep her alive.

Justin lay face down on the carpet in front of the fireplace with a splitting headache. He was tense as a bowstring as the events of the night played over and over in his head. He groaned when he felt Delaine sit on top of his butt and begin to work the muscles of his back and shoulders.

“I can’t believe I didn’t figure this out before,” she said quietly, kneading a particularly stubborn knot on his left scapula.

“Hmmm? What are you talking about?” he drawled sleepily. Delaine’s fingers worked magic on his tired, aching back and he began to drift into a light doze.

“I still can’t believe Sarah Ann was the blonde. And the bound woman in a chair with a bag over her head was Pam all along. Damn, I can’t believe I missed it.”

“Okay…so what are talking about?”

“Look, you’re probably going to think I’m crazy but I got the information from someone who helps me with this kind of stuff. I was told about the blonde woman asking for help and the tied-up woman, but we weren’t sure who they were.” Delaine felt the honed muscles in Justin’s back bunch and tense just before he turned over. She slid off his back and landed on her butt on the carpet beside him. He was all protective alpha now. Damn if she didn’t like it.

“What kind of help? Better yet, who kind of help?”

Oh lord, the man was actually growling at her! Delaine was sure he didn’t mean to sound so sexy, but it didn’t change the fact that the deep rumbling made her skin ripple and her breath hitch in her throat. He was just so…everything! She instinctively felt the need to calm and reassure him.

“Justin, relax. It’s not another man, if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s a she. I have a spirit guide.”

“A what?”

“It’s a Native American thing.”

“A Native American thing?” Cool, as long as it wasn’t a man thing, it seemed he could handle it. He rolled to his stomach and Delaine climbed back on and continued her massage.

Delaine explained how Sapa had come to her when she was a little girl. At ten years old while out playing, she’d wandered to far from home and couldn’t find her way back. She’d stared with wide eyes at all the cars whizzing by and almost peed her pants when an old streetcar rumbled past, shaking the ground underneath her small feet. On the verge of panic, she spotted a huge cathedral standing out from the rest of the crowded buildings and ran as fast as she could to its towering doors. She ducked inside and looked around frantically but didn’t see anyone in the lobby or along any of the long candle-strewn aisles. Curled up in a dark corner, the tears gathered and fell in endless streams until she was all cried out. When she quieted, Delaine heard her grandmother’s gentle voice in the far reaches of her mind.

‘Meditate, child. Push away your fear and call on your spirit guide,’ the voice said.

From as far back as she could remember, Delaine had spent every summer with her grandma on the Rosebud reservation up in South Dakota. Granny had taught her about God, called the Great Spirit or Wakantanka in the Lakota tongue. Whether Delaine was visiting the res or her granny had come to see her in California, she’d always taken the time to teach her little granddaughter of their ancestry, the importance of understanding their natural connection to the land, walking the old paths, and knowledge of natural and spiritual guides.

That day, a frightened and alone Delaine closed her eyes. She cleared her mind the way her grandma had taught her and called out to the Great Spirit with all her strength, heart and mind.

‘Great Spirit? It’s me, Delaine. Can you help me please? I’m lost and I want to go home. Granny said you would help me if I asked you to.’

That’s when Sapa had come to her. The black female mountain lion calmed her with gentle strokes against her mind, sending concern and care through their newly forming bond. The lioness had been with her ever since, guiding her through dangers and sharing her spirit’s wisdom through the years.

Justin’s mouth hung open, but not because he thought she was crazy. He believed her. In fact, he not only believed her words, he was surprised to find he was somewhat jealous of Delaine and her guide. He’d never had such a close relationship with anyone, human or otherwise. And in his line of work, he’d expected to be alone until he died.

*
Since you love us, that will change. You will indeed be close to us
.*

Justin flew from his spot on the floor. “What the hell was that?” he yelled in surprise, dancing on the balls of his feet.

*
You are a worthy mate
.*