Olympic Cove 2-Breaker Zone (23 page)

Liam hunkered down beside him. “You know
this animal?”

“Yeah, she’s Nick’s dog.” Aidan scanned
the people on the street, but didn’t see their mate. “She must have gotten away
from him.”

Norma bumped his hand with her head,
still barking,
then
ran off a few feet before pausing
and coming back to them. “If she belongs to him, we probably should get her
back to him,” Liam suggested. “Does she always make that noise?”

Her rapid barking didn’t sound like what
Aidan had heard from her before. “No, she doesn’t.” Suddenly he had a bad
feeling about Nick. Leaning down, he grabbed her leash. “Take us to Nick,
girl.”

This time
she woofed,
tugging him along. They followed her further down the street to a fenced-in
square lined with thick green bushes. As she dashed through the gate, he
spotted a furious Nick trapped between three humans, two of them bulky males whose
body language screamed “mercenary”. A third human watched with an amused smile.

Automatically he switched the leash to
his left hand, dropping his right to the knife handle under his shirt. “Nick,”
he called, keeping his attention on the dangerous humans. “Are you all right?”

All three humans turned, the bulky ones
glaring at them. The third gave them both a long, disdainful look. “My, my,
pet. You’ve been a busy boy, I see,” he said.

Pet.
This had to be
Barnard Whitfield. Rage surged through Aidan. “You sick fuck,” he snarled. “You
stay away from him.”

“Oh, I see,” Whitfield said with a
sneer. “I was wondering who Nicholas had been entertaining. I hate to
disappoint you, my dear boy, but I’m afraid he isn’t in the market for a new
Dom. Now, if you two will excuse us, we have a plane to catch.”

He nodded, and both guards slipped their
hands into their jackets. Ready to defend his mates to the death, Aidan went to
draw his knife.

“Is there a problem here?”

Cursing, Aidan turned to see two new
humans entering the park. Both wore beige caps, khaki shirts, and trousers with
gold badges, as well as heavy black belts that supported a variety of items.
Including, Aidan realized, a gun holster.

Human police
officers.
Mers were never, ever supposed to show themselves to human police officers, or
human authorities of any kind.

He winced.
Lord Ian is going to be so pissed.

****

Nick sagged in relief when the cops
walked into the park. The taller one, with dark hair and dark aviator shades,
had a nameplate opposite his badge that read CONNORS. “I believe I asked y’all
a question, gentlemen,” he called.

“There’s no problem, officer,” Barnard
said smoothly.

“Sheriff.”

Nick’s memory pinged, something about
Ian telling him to call a sheriff named Connors. “Do you know Ian West?” he
called.

Connors frowned at him.
“Maybe.
Who’s asking?”

“My name’s Nick Gardiner,” he said
quickly. “I’m a friend of his, and he mentioned you.”

“Uh-huh.” The sheriff studied him, then
Pitor and Milan. Nick noticed his hands stayed open and near his holster. “You
boys seem a little overdressed for the weather. Why don’t you relax a bit?”

The bodyguards remained silent, but
their empty hands came out of their jackets.

“That’s better.” The sheriff sucked air
through his teeth. “Now, I know I’ve never seen any of you around here before,
so let me explain a few things. We’re pretty easygoing around here, as long as
everyone understands and obeys the law. Which happens,” he pointed a thumb at
himself, “to be me, with an assist from my deputies.” The thumb now pointed at
the other khaki-clad officer, who looked particularly humorless. “And when I
see a bunch of guys in an empty park look like they’re about to open a can of
whoop-ass on each other, that bothers me. So I think you all need to find
something more relaxing to do. Sound like a plan?”

“Works for me,” Nick said, and Aidan and
Liam nodded.

“Good.” Connors turned his attention to
Barnard and his Eastern European muscle. “What about you fellas?”

Barnard’s expression was bland, but his
eyes burned.
“Of course, sheriff.
Nicholas.” He nodded
shortly to Nick, and there was a wealth of unpleasant promises in that one
gesture. “We’ll pick this up later,
pet
.”

He headed for the rear gate, Pitor and
Milan in tow. Once they were gone, Nick wiped his sweaty palms off on his jeans
as surreptitiously as possible. “Thank you, sheriff,” he said quietly.

The sheriff pushed his sunglasses down
with one finger, revealing sharp brown eyes. “I take it those boys had an issue
with you, Mister Gardiner?”

“Doctor.”
He grimaced.
“And you could say that.”

Connors grunted. “And your friends are?”

The mers looked uncomfortable at the sheriff’s
scrutiny. “Aidan and Liam O’Connell,” Nick lied quickly. “They’re friends of
mine from Chicago. We just rented the cottage next to Ian’s.”

Connors glanced at his deputy, then back
at them. “You don’t mind if I check that out with Miz Kuttner, do you?”

“Not at all.
Although she hasn’t met Liam yet.”
He glanced at the tall
mer. “He was kind of an unexpected addition.”

“Mm-hm.
And your buddy with the meat walls?”

Nick tried to think. Quite apart from
avoiding any possible law enforcement homophobia, he was pretty sure Ian didn’t
want the local authorities paying closer attention to the cove. “Former
associate of mine,” he lied. “I just ended a joint project, and he didn’t like
it. He has a problem taking no for an answer.”

“I know the type.” Connor sighed. “Is he
likely to hang around?”

“I don’t know. I hope not. I don’t want
to cause trouble here.”

Both of the officers snorted at that.
“Doc, this is a beach town,” Connors said drily. “Between drunken college
students and drug runners, we’re kinda used to trouble. If he shows up at the
cove, give my office a call and I’ll send a couple of deputies out.”

Nick was aware of Aidan and Liam moving
to flank him. “Thank you. Uh, we better get going.”

The officers escorted them to the front entrance,
pointedly checking the street. Barnard and his bodyguards were nowhere to be
seen. “You have a car around here somewhere?” the sheriff asked.

“Ian’s waiting for me at The Lady’s
Touch.”

“We’ll walk him there,” Aidan offered.

“Good idea. You have a good day, doc,
boys
.” Connor gave them all a last nod,
then
set off towards the beach with his deputy in tow.

Nick sucked in a deep breath, closing
his eyes. He’d known Barnard was possessive, but this had gone well beyond
possessiveness into psychotic behavior.
I
need to talk to Ian. Maybe Bythos can do something about that crazy bastard.

Norma’s leash tugged at his wrist, and
he opened his eyes to see Aidan crouched down next to the terrier, scratching
her behind the ears. “Good girl,” the mer crooned softly. “Thank you for
finding us.”

“Yeah, about
that.”
Nick coughed, clearing his throat. “What are you two doing here?”

“We came back a little early,” Aidan
shot a look at Liam.

“We missed you,” Liam said simply, hazel
blue eyes shining in the sunlight. “So we came looking for you.”

Warmth spread through his chest, and the
purest sense of relief. “How did you know I was here?”

“Lord Bythos said you were with his
mate, so we figured we’d search for his car.” Liam reached down and rubbed
Norma’s head. “And then this little beauty found us and led us to you.”

Norma was going to be one spoiled
terrier for the foreseeable future. “Thank God for that,” he muttered. “And
thank you for coming after me.”

Aidan reached out and rubbed his
shoulder. “Still don’t want me to kill him for you?”

Nick coughed out a startled laugh. “Let
me think about that again, okay?” He shuddered, and Aidan slid an arm around
him. “Shit. I’m sorry. I really thought he was going to take me.”

“He’s not taking you,” Aidan said,
pulling him closer. “We swear it, Nick.”

“We do,” Liam said. “He’ll have to go
through us first. And we’re damned hard to kill.”

Nick leaned into the comfort of Aidan’s
arm. “Can we just get out of here?”

“Of course,” Liam said. The three of
them started walking back to the shop, Norma trotting at Nick’s side and the
mers flanking him. Aidan constantly scanned the street as they
strolled,
looking over his shoulder every so often to make
sure no one was following them.

As they approached The Lady’s Touch,
Nick saw Ian pacing on the sidewalk, a panicked look on his face. “Where the
hell were
you?” he yelled when he spotted them, waving his
phone. “I’ve been trying to call you, goddamnit.”

“Crap. I left my phone at the cottage,”
Nick admitted.

Ian growled under his breath. “By said
Chiron is having a meltdown. Apparently you’re in some kind of danger.” He eyed
the mers.
“Or were, anyway.”

“I just ran into Barnard and his
bodyguards. He decided he was going to haul me back to Chicago,” Nick said. “Luckily
Aidan and Liam found me first, and then your Sheriff Connors ran him off.”

Ian’s lips pulled back in a rictus grin.
“Thank God for Jimmy. Okay, we’re going back to the cove now and figuring out
how to deal with that fucking lunatic. All of
you,
get
in the car.”

The mers looked to him, eyes wide. “You
heard the man,” Nick said, nodding at Ian’s Corolla.

****

“You moron,” Chiron snapped. “Why the
hell did you decide to wander off on your own?”

“And hello to you, too,” Nick replied
sourly. He, Aidan, and Liam stood in the middle of Ian’s cottage, and the
translucent centaur took up the other half. Ian hovered in the hallway leading
to the guest rooms and kitchen, arms folded across his chest. “Just out of
curiosity, when did you find out I was going to be in danger? Because some
advance notice that Barnard was in town looking for me would have been nice.”

His teacher threw his arms up. “I didn’t
find out until it was happening, dammit. I’m a centaur, not Miss Cleo.”

“How
did
you find out?” Liam asked.

Chiron made a decidedly horsey-sounding
snort. “Grandma decided to drop some knowledge on me. Since I can’t go among
the slobbering masses I laughingly call humans anymore, I had to tag the Tiny
Titan,” he jerked his head at Ian, “for an assist.”

“Back up,” Nick
cut in. “Grandma?”

“Gaia.
You know, the
earth goddess, the avatar of the whole goddamn planet? For some reason she
decided to step in and save your narrow ass from getting hauled off to Chi-town
and turned into Barnard Whitfield’s personal pumpkin.”

Gods, mermen,
crazy Nereids, crazier ex-Doms.
Now apparently the planet itself had an
interest in him. It was all suddenly too much. Nick’s knees went watery, and he
dropped onto the couch. “Shit,” he whispered. “Shit. Why is this happening to
me?”

Distantly, he heard Chiron say, “You
two,
get his head between his knees.”

Arms curved around his back and a large
hand slid into his hair, gently cupping his skull and pushing it down between
his knees. He found himself hunched over, staring at his sneakers and the area
rug underneath them.

“Just breathe, Nick,” he heard Liam say
softly, hand still in his hair and rubbing his scalp. Aidan performed the same
motion on his back, rubbing in wide, gentle circles. “It’s all going to be
okay.”

“Lying to him isn’t going to help,
tadpole.” A pair of translucent hooves appeared in his line of sight. “As to
why this is all happening to you, it’s part of your fate as the Bearer.” Chiron
sounded gruff but genuinely sympathetic. “I know that doesn’t help at all, but
those three old bats seem to think you’re strong enough to handle it.”

Taking in a deep breath, Nick slowly sat
up. The mers’ hands tactfully
disappeared,
Liam and
Aidan leaning back to give him space. He wished they hadn’t stopped touching
him. It helped keep his panic at bay. “Who do I look like, Superman? I can’t do
this,” he said, almost pleading. “I’m just an ER doc. I’m not a god, or a
merman, or anything special like that. I can’t do this.”

Ian stood next to the mers, looking
mournful. “Nick, I know just how confused you are right now, trust me,” he
said. “But if it’s any consolation, you’ve got a lot of people who will help
you figure out what you’re supposed to do.”

“Listen to blondie,” Chiron said. “As
for not being anything special, you’re the Bearer of Asclepius’s Rod. That
makes you a pretty powerful player in this game.”