The Guardian (16 page)

Cole’s mouth tightened in worry, and they started
their trek up the mountains in silence.

Chapter
Sixteen

Cassie tried to work her wrists free from the rope
holding them together. She sat on the floor with her hands tied behind her back
and her legs tied. She watched Lucas pace as he talked to someone on a cell
phone.

“No, you can’t have her. She’s mine now.” He hit a
wall with his fist. “I said fucking no.” He shoved his phone in his pocket.
“Come on, we are leaving.”

“Where are we going now?” Cassie asked. Despite her
watching carefully, she had no idea where they were. He had gone in a different
direction than Pleasant Cove, to an area she had never been to before.

“The fucker thinks he can take what is mine. No, you
are mine.”

Cassie stared at Lucas in terrified, stunned shock. No
words would come for a moment. When her mouth and brain started to function she
swallowed hard and said, “I am mated to Michael, and we are going to get
married.”

Lucas gave her a long stare. “No, you belong to me
now. He owes me a mate and a child.”

“You lost your wife?” Cassie asked. Cassie had heard
little snippets of a sad story to why Lucas was crazy. She had not listened so
she would not feel sorry for him. He murdered her best friend who had never
harmed anyone in her life. There was no way she would ever forgive or feel
sorry for him.

“Yes, and she was pregnant with our first child.
Michael did nothing to help me. He stripped me of my territory, banished me,
and stood up for filthy disgusting humans that killed her.”

“Not everyone is bad.” Cassie decided reasoning with
him might buy her some time for Michael to find her. “Many people are good-hearted.
They just want to live in peace and raise their families like you.”

“Not these people.” The door opened cutting off
anything more Lucas had to say.

Cassie sagged in relief to see Michael and Cole walk
in.

Michael stared at Lucas in a long cold stare. He
prowled towards her while keeping his eyes on him. “Lucas, you took what was
mine.”

“You fucking owe me. You do not get to have a
Goddess-damn happily ever after. Not after what you did to me.”

“I didn’t do anything to you. I kept you from
self-destructing.” Michael’s voice was unnaturally calm as he stared at Lucas, and
he kept inching his way to Cassie.
  

“That bitch killed them. You not only banished me once
for ridding my territory of her filth, but when she came back, you fucking
judged me for killing her.”

Michael’s face turned sympathetic for a moment. “That
wasn’t the woman that killed Allie.”

Lucas stared at him in disbelief. “You’re lying. That
was her. She held us captive for months while she experimented on us. I would
know her anywhere.”

Michael shook his head. “She is here now. I have some
cholan
out tracking her.”

“No, I fucking killed her. I ripped her throat out for
killing Allie and our baby. It was my right as Allie’s mate.”

“It wasn’t her. Cassie has since spotted a woman that
looked just like Marcy.”

“You’re lying. You want an excuse to kill me, so you
are telling me I killed an innocent
woman.,
I didn’t.
I killed the bitch that murdered my mate!” Lucas screamed. He put his hands on
his head and let out another scream. “That was her. She destroyed my life.”

Michael got a little closer to Cassie. “No, Marcy has
a twin. They were separated when their parents were killed in an accident. They
didn’t even know about each other. Marcy was innocent. You ripped the throat
out of an innocent woman, Lucas.”

“No,” he whispered, “No, fucking no ... I do not kill
innocent women and children. I kill humans that betray us.”

“She didn’t betray you, Lucas. She was raised by Irene
and Barry Hewitt. You know that couple that lived about ten miles out of town,
that adopted a toddler thirty years ago.” Michael crouched down and was untying
Cassie. “They were friends to shifters. That is why Marcy knew about this
place. That cabin was still in Irene and Barry’s name, and that was their
daughter you murdered.”

Lucas had fallen to his knees. “No.” He raised his
head looking at the ceiling. “No, no, no ... you are fucking lying.”

“No, he’s not,” a cold, harsh voice said.

Cassie glanced around Michael to see the same woman
she had seen earlier. She looked a lot like Marcy, but there was an evil
feeling about her.
Nothing like the kindness of Marcy.
“That’s her. That is the woman I saw,” Cassie whispered to Michael.

“I know. When you told me you thought you saw Marcy I
did some digging, and found out Marcy had a sister. I figured out that she was
the woman you saw. I can feel the evil coming off of her.”
 
Michael stood up to face her. “You are the
woman Lucas thought he was killing in the woods.”

“Very smart, kitty-cat.
When
I get my new lab up and going again, maybe I will try shit out on you. My name
is Dani, not ‘Marcy’s twin’. You seem smarter than the dog over there. I’m
surprised you never found out my name.”

Lucas jumped up, his eyes full of hate.
“You.”
He ran at her, but she took out a gun and shot him.

Cassie screamed at the loud percussion of the gun
going off.

Michael had stood over Cassie, watching Dani as she talked
to Lucas. “I have
cholan
in the area. You will not
get away from us.”

“Oh you mean the oaf out there I knocked out with a
tree branch. Not much of a warrior.” She spat dismissively.

“What is it you want?” Michael asked.

“New test subjects of course. I had been on the brink
of a breakthrough when doggie boy over there got loose and took my experiment
with him.”

“That experiment was his family.”

“Oh come on, he is a fucking animal.”

A large man in a black business suit, with a mask over
his face walked in. He wore a voice distorter around his neck. “Dani, I told
you I would get you test subjects. Did you kill my errand boy?” He nudged Lucas
with his foot. He let out an evil chuckle. “It was entertaining watching this guardian
self-destruct,
then
eventually kill an innocent
woman.” He looked at Dani. “I only wish I could have told him myself that he
killed the wrong twin.”

Dani shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t mean to. His
whining about my experiment failure was annoying me.”

“Hmm, yes, it does get old hearing him drone on about
her and the brat she was carrying.”

Michael had tensed in front of Cassie. “Who the hell
are you?”
 

“I am the man that is going to destroy you. I am going
to force you to watch as I take everything from you, and then if you are lucky
I will let you lick my shoes clean for me at the end of the day.”

“What the fuck do you want?” Michael asked.
 
Cassie saw the veins in his neck bulging, and
his hands clinching. She knew he was enraged, but he kept his face calm. “You
are going to take Dani over here and tie her hands behind her back. Then you
are going to wait for the
cholan
to show up with the
truck.”

The man laughed. “Your guardian powers do not work on
me, idiot. I am far more powerful than you could ever hope to be.” He pointed at
Lucas. “I destroyed him. I took a guardian and made him kill an innocent woman.
I can and will do the same to you.”

“Not many are more powerful than a guardian, and I am
stronger than Lucas.”

He nodded his head at Michael. “I am. I can block all
of your pathetic guardian senses, as well as defeat
you.You
can try to take me down—in fact, please do.”

Michael lifted his hands, but the other man was
faster. He was on Michael before he could dodge out of the way.

Cassie screamed and worked on kicking free of her bonds
while the two men fought. She hoped she could knock him out by hitting him with
a chair.

“Time to say goodnight, boy,” the tall man told
Michael.

“No,” Michael screamed.

The man’s hands
glowed
an
ominous red as he wrapped them around Michael’s throat.

Cassie screamed, and Michael tried to punch the man
away from him. Within seconds his struggles were growing weaker and his body
was sliding to the floor.

“Don’t kill him, please,” Cassie begged.

The man walked over to her. “Oh, have no fear. I do not
want to kill him, I want to use him. After I find a way to control shifters
such as Michael and Lucas, I will have the perfect army. I’ve even worked on
some humans, but they turn into
psycopaths
that I
can’t control.”

Cassie stared at him. Did he just come to gloat over
destroying strong shifters
?“
Why are you here?” Cassie
asked shakily. It was easy for her to forget Dani was still there. She stood so
quietly in the doorway.

“I am here for you, my dear.”

Cassie’s eyes widened as he pulled out a syringe and
uncapped it. She jumped up and kicked free of the twine.

Strong arms wrapped around her.
“Oh
no you don’t.
Be a good girl and behave.”

Cassie screamed and struggled to get away from him,
but his strength was far too overwhelming. Dani didn’t even move to help him.
He simply wrapped an arm around Cassie, with his hand holding her arm. The
needle in the other stuck into her. She let out another scream when she felt
the sting of the needle then the burn of the drug.

“Relax,” he whispered. “Don’t fight it. Just let it
take you away.”

Cassie ignored him and fought the languor. Her eyes
wanted to close, but she forced them to stay open. She could no longer fight
though, and did nothing when he picked her up in his arms.

“What of these others, Master?”

“Leave them. I have what I came for.”

Cassie could do nothing to save herself as he walked
out of the cabin with her. She spotted Cole on the ground with a bruise on his
forehead. There was no one to save her, and she had the feeling this man was
far, far worse than Lucas.

****

Michael woke up and blinked in confusion. He could see
the worn wooden floor and a stained area rug. This was not familiar at all.
Where am I?
 
Everything came back in a rush, and he sat up. Panic gripped his
heart as he remembered Cassie. Looking around he saw she was gone. He had to
find her, and he hoped she was simply hiding somewhere.

He looked over to see Lucas lying on the floor. He
painfully got up off of the floor and stumbled over to him. He turned him over
to see some bleeding from his side, but it didn’t appear like a lethal wound.
He saw a feather and got a closer look. Lucas had been shot with a dart from a
tranquilizer gun instead of a bullet. Since he was only drugged, he hoped Lucas
would not be out long.

He heard groaning outside and turned towards the door.
Cole was up on his hands and knees.
“Fucking son of a bitch.
Someone hit me.”

“Yeah, the bitch that killed Allie hit you.”

“The one Lucas got mixed up? I can’t figure out how
his guardian senses missed that. I thought you all were able to sense when
someone was evil.”

Michael shook his head. “He killed Irene and Barry’s
girl. I never saw her alive, so I can’t say if he sensed things that made him
believe she was the same one that killed Allie, or if that bastard messed with
him.”

“Irene and Barry.”
Cole
thought for a moment. “Fuck.
That couple that lived on that
farm?”
Cole asked as he felt the lump on his head.

“Yeah, they moved away, then died in that house fire a
few years ago,” Michael said while he held his hand out to help him up.

Cole glared at Michael. “They’re dead? Why didn’t you
tell me? I thought the whole time they had just moved.”

Michael walked around looking at the ground.
“Because I had only just found out myself.
Cassie said Marcy’s
parents were dead, so I decided to do some digging. I found out about Marcy
having a twin and put everything together at the same time. She grew up over by
the Mt. Reiner territory. I thought all along that Lucas had killed the wrong
woman, but I had no idea she was related to the real threat.”

“Shit, we’re not usually this slow, Michael.”
 
Cole brushed the dirt off of his jeans and
sniffed the air. “Someone knows us well. The air has been sprayed with
perfume.”

“Yeah, it is burning my sinuses. Whoever it was took
Cassie. I need to have a talk with Lucas to find out
who
.”
Michael was doing his best to show a calm leader who was in control, but his
senses were on fire with worry over Cassie. He had to find her, and Lucas was
the one that could give
them
answers.

Michael and Cole walked back into the cabin to see
Lucas sitting up and looking at his chest. “She shot me with a fucking
sedative.”

“Could be worse.
You could be
fucking dead.” Michael grabbed a chair and sat down. “Who were your friends?

Lucas looked at him. “I don’t know.”

“You really expect me to believe that?” Michael asked
with a humorless laugh.

“Yeah.
I didn’t know he was
working with her, and I call him 'the fucker' since I don't know his name. I
have never seen his face. He has been very careful about that. I am sure he is
a shifter even though he has covered up his scent."

“Yes he is. He was able to put me out.”

Lucas raised his eyebrows.
“Really?”

“Yeah, really.
He took
Cassie. Why.”

Lucas looked up at him. “Michael, I really don’t know.
He has had an agenda of taking over or some dumb shit. I didn’t think he could
pull it off. I just wanted revenge against you.”

“Fucking drop it already, Lucas. We all loved Allie,
and we all were heartbroken when she died.” Michael stared at him intently. “I
need your help, Lucas. Harming Cassie won’t bring Allie or your baby back.”