Frey (10 page)

Jasper entered the precinct a few hours
later than normal having spent the first part of the morning sword
training. If he were a human, his body would be aching. Frey was a
relentless teacher, not allowing the Goyles to take breaks other
than to work on technique. Jasper couldn’t remember the last time
he’d held a sword, much less wielded one. Dane had only seen a
sword once, and that had been at a Renaissance Fair as a child.
That one had been a replica. The half-blood didn’t complain,
though. He took his training as seriously as the full-bloods and
quickly adapted to the weapon. Speaking of his soon to be chief,
Dane came through the door right behind him. Kaya had sent in the
paperwork for her resignation and Dane’s promotion, but she had yet
to announce either until they were approved.

As Jasper reached his desk, his landline was
ringing. “Jenkins,” he answered, pulling out his notepad and
pencil, expecting it to be a case. When no one said anything, he
spoke again, “Jenkins, hello?” He received no response, so he hung
up. On his blotter was a manila envelope. It had his name written
on the outside, but there was nothing else indicating who it was
from. He was staring at it when Dane approached the empty chair
beside the desk. “What’s wrong?” his partner asked as he sat
down.

Jasper pointed to the envelope without
touching it. “That’s wrong,” he said. Remembering Rafael’s recent
episode with an unmarked package, Jasper was leery to reveal the
contents. “After what Rafe received, I’m afraid of what could be
inside.” Removing a pair of latex gloves from a desk drawer, he
slid them on and carefully sliced open one end of the envelope.
Dane sat up in his seat, also curious. Jasper slid the edges apart
and peered inside. “Photos,” he murmured, turning the package on
its end, the pictures sliding out onto his desk. The first one
didn’t make sense. Using his gloved finger, he slid the top one
over revealing the next one in the pile. Jasper continued pushing
photo after photo aside until he reached the end.

Dane had stood and was looking over Jasper’s
shoulder. “Do you know who that is?”

Jasper nodded. “Yes, that’s Craig.”

“
Your ex, Craig?” Dane
asked quietly. Jasper didn’t hide the fact he was gay, but there
were still those on the force who had a big problem with his sexual
orientation.

“
One and the same.” Jasper
studied the photos more closely. The lighting was dim, but it was
clear someone had his ex-lover tied up, bondage style, hanging from
a hook.

“
Why would someone send
these to you? To make you jealous?” Dane asked, studying the photos
more closely.

“
That’s a very good
question. We were broken up before I moved from the west coast.”
Jasper flipped the photos over, searching to see if the sender had
included a message. He wasn’t quite ready to share with his partner
what these photos meant. Jasper studied the knotwork. In another
lifetime, he knew someone who practiced Kinbaku. The art of tying
someone up had become popular in the BDSM scenes, but more often
than not, it was considered Shibari. The act of knotting and the
intricacies of the designs were the draw. Kinbaku went much further
into the partner’s psyche. There was a level of trust required with
both practices. If the trust was absent, the ropes only served as a
rough, often painful restraint. The memory of the ropes digging
into his skin, the pressure of his balls being separated, the tug
of the pins on his nipples; it all came rushing back. Jasper was
going to throw up. He grabbed the photos and stuffed them back into
the envelope. He couldn’t look at these. Not now. Not
ever.

“
Hey, Jas, are you okay?”
Dane asked, gripping his shoulder.

“
Yeah, fine,” he choked
out. He was anything but fine. Jasper needed water. Air. Needed to
have never been reminded of what happened so long ago. “I’m going
to take these to Julian, see if he can get anything off the
envelope. Can you cover for me?”

“
Of course. If anything
comes up, I’ll call you.” Dane had a concerned look on his face, as
well he should have. If he knew what the pictures really signified,
he probably wouldn’t let Jasper out of his sight. “I tell you what,
I need to go see Julian. Why don’t you let me take the envelope
when I go?”

Jasper agreed. He took an empty envelope out
of his desk and swapped the photos from the original to the new one
and placed the original in an evidence bag. If his suspicions were
confirmed, only then would he confide in his partner and the techy
about the sender, but not until.

Not wanting to go home,
Jasper decided to hit the gym. Even after training earlier, he was
ready to release his anxiety at seeing the contents of the package.
As he pulled into the parking lot, his cell phone rang. He looked
at the caller I.D., and it read
Unknown.
Ignoring it, he grabbed his
bag out of the floorboard of the passenger side and entered the
building. Mason was manning the front desk. He gave the younger
Goyle a fist bump as he walked by. After changing clothes, he taped
his hands and headed to the specially designed punching
bag.

Jasper wasn’t as proficient in the martial
arts as were Frey, Gregor, or some of the others, but he was a
pretty good boxer. Right now, he wasn’t worried with form. If Frey
were there, he would call him out for it. Jasper didn’t care. He
just needed to hit something. Hard. Fast. Something to take his
mind off those damn photos. Why Craig, and why now? If it was the
same person who bound him when he was young, Craig didn’t stand a
chance.

Getting in a zone, Jasper was unaware of the
men and women entering the facility to work out. His shifter
stamina allowed him to go for hours without stopping. He should
have been paying attention to the time, but he was lost in his
jabs. If he had been paying attention, he would have noticed one
man in particular staring at him, taking in his form. A wave of
light-headedness grasped Jasper, his right fist missing his
intended target. He backed away from the bag. The next off feeling
had him looking in the mirror. Trevor was there, behind him. His
mate was there, not moving, only staring.

Jasper couldn’t help the grin that spread
across his flushed face. Trevor didn’t return the smile, but he did
close the distance. “Is it real?” he asked.

Jasper turned to face him and asked, “Is
what real?” His adrenaline was still coursing through his veins,
and now that his mate was within reach, his beast was tearing at
him to be released. He stood still as Trevor moved even closer,
until they were almost toe to toe.

Trevor tentatively touched Jasper’s right
pectoral muscle, more or less poking at him. “This. You. Are you
real?”

Jasper gasped as Trevor’s fingers traveled
from his chest to his bicep. His clinical touch was replaced by a
soft whisper against his skin. Jasper glanced around the gym to see
if they were drawing attention. He didn’t care if people knew he
was gay, but Trevor caressing him openly could raise a few
eyebrows.

“
Yes, I’m real,” Jasper
whispered. It was all he could do not to grab his mate and drag him
to the changing room. Trevor was already dressed in workout
clothes, so he couldn’t use that as an excuse to be alone with him.
He had to get Trevor’s hand off his body, or he would ruin their
friendship right there in front of everyone. “You ready to work
out?” he asked, unable to move away.

“
You can still work out
after you did that?” Trevor removed his hand.

“
I belong to the badass
club, remember?” Jasper smiled and winked.

“
How can I forget? Yes,
let’s get this over with.” Trevor stepped toward the bench press
machine. He set it at more weight than Jasper thought he would, and
surprisingly, lifted the bar with no trouble. Jasper admired the
way the muscles in Trevor’s arms moved underneath his skin. This
obviously wasn’t his first time in a gym. They took turns on each
machine, giving the other time for their muscles to recoup before
the next set of reps. Jasper sat down and used the same weight
Trevor had. The first time he didn’t change it, Trevor called him
on it. “I know you can lift more than me.”

“
Yes, I can, but I’ve had
a pretty strenuous workout already. This is my cool down.” Jasper
was getting a different type of workout from keeping his beast
under control and his cock deflated. He was really glad he was
wearing loose shorts. He couldn’t help but notice Trevor’s were
just as baggy. As they were moving to the rowing machine, the bells
chimed over the door.

“
Jasper, glove up!” Frey
yelled as he stormed through the building.

“
Oh shit,” Jasper
groaned.

“
What’s wrong?” Trevor
asked as he put his hand on Jasper’s arm, but his eyes were
following Frey’s movement to the boxing ring.

Jasper sighed, “You’re about to see me get
my ass handed to me.”

Chapter Ten

Frey read every word Julian unearthed on
Abbi, from her parents’ car crash, her aunt becoming her guardian,
the aunt’s death, to Abbi graduating college. He was certain there
was much more, but he would have to be patient and get the
information from Abbi herself.

The more Frey read, the madder he got. How
in the gods’ names could a man do that to a woman? At first, it was
just a fracture or broken bone that could be explained as an
accident. When the red flags began going up, Troy changed his M.O.
The visits to the emergency room lessened, but the next few visits,
the real tragedies, sickened Frey. Three pregnancies. Three
miscarriages. The reports showed stress as the cause, but Frey knew
in his soul Troy was responsible. Even if he didn’t lay a hand on
Abbi, he was the cause of her losing her babies. That probably
wasn’t all of it, but it had to be the worst of it.

He removed the thumb drive from Dante’s
laptop and shut it down. Julian was sitting in a lounge chair
beside the pool, waiting as he said he would be. “Are you okay?” he
asked Frey, concern etched on his face.

“
No, I’m not. I need to
hit something. I’m going to the gym.” Frey stalked to his Jeep with
his brother following behind. Frey opened the door, placing his
foot on the running board. He noticed the tension in his brother’s
body. “Thank you, Jules.”

Julian opened the door to the Corvette and
nodded. Frey knew his brother was torn about something. “What’s
wrong?”

“
I’ll do anything I can to
help you with Abigail.”

“
I know you will, but
there’s something else.”

“
I need to help Nik get
Sophia back.” Julian’s shoulders sagged as he said, “He hasn’t
asked me to, but I feel like I have to go.”

Frey placed his foot on the ground and
walked over to his brother. He wasn’t a hugger, so he placed his
hand on the side of Julian’s neck, giving him a small smile. His
brother’s heart was warring on doing the right thing. “I get it,
and I would be upset if you didn’t go help Nik.”

“
But…”

“
But nothing. I got this.
Trust me. I have the information I needed, and you gave that to me.
It’s up to Abbi now; she just doesn’t know it yet. Go. Help Nikolas
find his female and her parents. When you get back, there will
hopefully be two more members of our Clan.”

Julian placed his hand on top of Frey’s.
Nothing else needed to be said.

Frey climbed into the Jeep and headed to the
gym. He had almost asked Jules about tutoring Matthew, but when he
saw his brother was needed elsewhere, he decided to figure out
something else. Julian had done his job, and now Frey would do his.
Just as soon as he beat the shit out of something.

By the time he reached the dojo, he was more
keyed up than ever. He needed Gregor, but Gregor was in Greece.
Then he was off to Egypt. Between him and Julian, surely the two of
them could help Nik find Sophia and her parents. He stalked in the
door, seeing Jasper. Good enough. “Jasper, glove up!” He didn’t
wait for the redhead to answer him. Jasper wasn’t as proficient in
martial arts sparring, so Frey would have to do with plain old
boxing.

He didn’t bother taping his hands before
sliding a pair of gloves on. He climbed into the ring and bounced
around, loosening his muscles. Jasper did the same, not wasting any
time. They stood in the middle of the mat, tapping gloves, rocking
back and forth on their feet, getting a feel for the other. Frey
had only boxed with Jasper once before and knew he would have to
take it easy, even if the male was a Gargoyle. Jasper threw first,
a right jab that Frey easily avoided. Both men punched and jabbed,
bobbed and weaved. Neither was landing many punches, but the
concentration of the movements was helping to clear Frey’s
mind.

He really wished Tamian was still in town.
Tessa’s brother was more proficient than even Frey in martial arts
and the best sparring partner he’d ever come across. At the time,
Frey hadn’t been aware St. Claire was a half-blood. He had worked
out at the gym for over three years with no one knowing who or what
he was. It wasn’t until Gregor found out Tessa was his mate that
Tamian’s true identity was revealed. Had Frey known the quiet man
had Original shifter blood coursing through his lean body, he could
have really let loose. Granted, they would have needed to spar when
the dojo was closed. Frey was already pushing it now with
Jasper.

He’d obviously lost track of time, because
he noticed Jasper’s punches were coming with less intensity and
quickness. Frey backed away, holding up his hands. Jasper leaned
over, hands to his knees. “Thank you.”