PS02 - Without Regret (21 page)

too cocky about it had been her downfall, but after everything they’d put her through she’d earned it. Besides, it wasn’t as if she

wasn’t going to tell them the password. She fully planned on sending them a text message when she got home and the hell away

from them, but they seemed to have other plans.

And plenty of rope.

When Madison and the red headed beauty had come to her defense and begged them not to hang her upside down she’d felt

touched and hopeful. At that moment they’d had her undying gratitude. Although neither woman had been able to sway Chris

from tormenting her, both women seemed to be able to handle Ephraim quite well. Jill’s suggestion that they talk to her had

been wholly approved by her, but the men had ignored her. That is until Jill started to call Ephraim “Daddy”

and she did this little wobble with her bottom lip that Isabella was going to have to learn one day. After that the man’s

determination had faltered slightly, but not enough to refrain from floating, and yeah it was one of the coolest things Isabella

had ever seen, to a small metal circle in the ceiling and thread one end of the rope through, which she refused to wonder about.

That’s when Madison brought in the big guns, suggesting once again that they handle this by talking.

When she pressed Ephraim’s hand against her stomach and gave him one of those achingly sweet kisses she’d only seen in

movie she’d thought the woman had him.

At that point she’d been more than willing to sit down and discuss this like rational, mature adults after she screwed with them

just a little longer and got a ride to the airport that is.

Unfortunately for her that’s when Madison’s morning sickness decided to kick in, sending Madison running for a bathroom, she

assumed, and Jill running downstairs for a bag of blood and some toast to calm Madison’s stomach. The idea had done

anything but calm Isabella’s stomach.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Madison was whatever the hell Ephraim was. They both drank blood and had some

really cool abilities. Plus she’d seen Madison’s eyes glimmer a bright red when Ephraim whispered something in her ear.

Chris claimed to be a Sentinel and that she was one as well, which she wasn’t truly buying. He was a big bad warrior type and

she was not. She figured that Eric and his goons were Sentinels as well. She had no clue what role the priests, old woman,

Joshua and Jill played.

“I think this is the perfect time for us to ask a few questions, don’t you?” Chris asked, sounding annoyingly calm while she was

doing her best not to scream, again.

“Let me down and we can talk,” she suggested.

“So you can give us the runaround again? Oh, I don’t think that’s such a good idea, do you, dad?

“I think she’ll make you pay for this little stunt in more ways than one when she gets down, but for right now I think this is

probably our best bet to get answers,” he said, and Isabella somehow managed to twist herself in time to see the large man

shrug like it was no big deal.

“Won’t Madison be upset that you did this?” she pointed out, slapping her long traitorous hair out of her face so she could glare

up at the man.

He simply shrugged. “I assume I’ll be sleeping on the couch for a night or two after this,” he said, tipping his head to the side

as if he was listening to something and sighed heavily. “Make that a week,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Then maybe you should…….,” her voice trailed off when she realized something. “Didn’t you lose that hand tonight?” she

asked, narrowing her eyes on his hand accusingly.

Ephraim held up the hand, frowning. “It grew back, but I lost my wedding ring,” he said, sounding truly upset and it made her

feel guilty knowing that he lost it because of her. Granted he wouldn’t have lost it if they hadn’t brought her there, but knowing

that didn’t make her feel any better about it.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I’ll replace the ring of course.”

He tilted his head to the side and after a few seconds shook his head. “Madison says thank you, but she wants to go into town

tomorrow to pick out a new set.”

“And you know this how?” Isabella asked, stretching her neck to look around her very limited view.

“Because we can hear each other,” Ephraim explained.

“Like voices in your head?” she asked, worrying her bottom lip as she thought it over.

Ephraim chuckled. “No, we have very strong hearing.”

She frowned at that, but let it go for the moment. There were more important issues here besides what really cool things

Ephraim could or could not do and as long as he didn’t come to her looking for blood she was okay with him. Not that she

wanted to find herself walking down a dark alley with him late one night, but the man had saved her life so in her book, at least

for the moment, he was okay.

“Now, let’s get back to the task at hand, shall we?” Chris said, giving the rope a good tug and grabbing her attention once

again. “What were you doing at the park this morning?”

The smartass remark that was at the tip of her tongue almost came out, but she held it back, somehow, knowing it would just

prolong this and she really, really wanted to get down now. Her head felt like it was going to explode with all the pressure and

she just wanted this night to end.

“I had a meeting,” she admitted.

“At three in the morning at a park?” Chris asked.

“Didn’t I just say that?” she said before she could stop herself and was rewarded by a sudden two foot drop.

“Bastard,” she gasped when her stomach stopped rolling.

“Ooops, sorry. It slipped,” he said not sounding sorry at all, she noted.

She closed her eyes tightly as she was pulled back up.

When she opened her eyes she found herself face to face with the big jerk.

“Now,” he said, resting his hands on the banister as he leaned forward until their faces were less than a half foot apart, “what

was the meeting about and most importantly did they get what they were after?”

Since she now had a very good idea what those men that met her in the park were, not that Chris or anyone else for that matter

had explained all that to her yet, everything made a little more sense. She was also glad that she hadn’t given them the program,

not that they had much chance of getting it once she realized how monumentally stupid it would have been to hand over her

program to someone who needed to meet at an abandon park late at night.

“If I answer all of your questions will you let me go home?” she asked, already knowing there was no way she was going to

avoid answering their questions for much longer. She really wasn’t sure how much longer she could tolerate hanging upside

down like this, plus she wasn’t a complete idiot.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that these guys were working against the men who’d attacked her.

Okay, so a few hours ago she may have thought they were all working together and that she was drugged, but she’d long given

up hope that drugs were responsible for her current situation. Her only chance was to tell them what they wanted to know and

hope that was enough so she could go home and pretend that none of this ever happened. It was a good plan, a solid plan, and

one she desperately hoped they were on board with.

“No,” he said without any hesitation. “Once you’re done answering our questions you will be transported to one of our

compounds where you will be further interrogated. The council will find a purpose for you after that.”

She licked her lips nervously as his words sank in. “Bbut I have a life! I have a job a-a-and other things, very important things

that need my attention!” she stammered on when she realized she really didn’t have much to go home to, besides her work and

since her work was very important to her and she really didn’t like the sounds of what they had planned for her she was going

to do her best to get out of this.

“That life is over now,” he said, giving her a sympathetic shake of his head, one that pissed her off.

How dare he?

“Do I at least get to tell me boyfriend goodbye?” she demanded, at least having enough sense not to lie hugely and say her

family would miss her or that she was married, two things they could easily look into.

“Boyfriend?” Chris repeated, looking truly taken back, which shouldn’t please her, but it did. Right now she’d take what she

could get and hope that it would somehow work in her favor. “Why the hell would you have a boyfriend?” he demanded as if

the very idea of her having a boyfriend was unheard of, which just went to piss her off even more.

“For sex, what else?” she demanded, quite pleased with the stunned expression on his face even as the pressure from being

hung upside down for so long was starting to making her stomach flip over again.

“Chris, perhaps you should go and let me-“

“Dad, why don’t you go make sure that Madison is okay?” Chris suggested in an obviously forced tone as he kept his eyes on

her and that little muscle below his eye ticked double time.

She swallowed nervously as his intent gaze never wavered from her face. “I’d love to go and check on Madison. So, if you let

me down we can all go make sure that Madison is okay and then maybe we can all talk about this like calm rational adults?”

she asked, sounding too damn hopeful even to her own ears.

“No, I think you and I will stay right here and have a little talk of our own,” Chris said softly as he reached over, she may have

flinched a little, and gently pushed a few errant strands of hair off her face to join the rest of the mess hanging upside down.

“Oh, I don’t mind making this a group thing,” she said, shooting Ephraim a pleading look.

“Chris?”

“We’re more than fine, dad. Izzy and I are just going to have ourselves a little talk and then we’ll make that call to Eric and

figure out where she’s going,” Chris explained. Even Isabella, who just barely stopped herself from reminding him that her

name was not Izzy, wasn’t buying his little calm facade. The man looked ready to kill something and thankfully Ephraim

seemed reasonable and probably wouldn’t leave so”Call me if you need me,” Ephraim said, sighing as he left faster than her

eyes could follow.

“What? I need you!” she called out. “Get back here!

Don’t leave me alone with him!”

“If I didn’t know better I’d think that you didn’t want to be alone with me,” Chris said, drawing her attention as he gave one of

her long strands of hair a slight tug to turn her so that she was once again facing him.

She blinked. “Because I don’t?”

He simply shook his head slowly as he sighed long and heavy. “I’m just going to pretend that you didn’t say that because I

know you didn’t mean it.”

“Oh no, I meant it,” she admitted as she tried to look around for a way down or help. At the moment she wasn’t choosy as long

as either option helped her get back to solid ground.

Chris chuckled softly as he leaned in until he was cheek to cheek with her, further unnerving her since she couldn’t really tell if

he was angry when he spoke. She needed to keep an eye out for that angry tick beneath his eye so she knew when to shut the

hell up.

“Now,” he said, sending a delicious wave of his warm breath over her neck, “why don’t you tell me about this little meeting

and what they wanted?”

She opened her mouth to answer him when she felt the first brush of his lips against her neck. “Oh god,” she muttered, gasping

when he pressed another kiss against her neck, careful of the shallow cuts that marred her skin.

“Izzy?”

“Hmmm?” she asked as her eyes threatened to close from pleasure. Who would have guessed that such simple chaste kisses

could set her body on fire? She certainly hadn’t. She could almost forget that she was livid with him for everything he’d put her

through, including scaring the hell out of her tonight.

Almost.

“You were telling me about what they were after,” Chris said softly against her neck.

“I was?” she asked, feeling a little confused.

“Mmmhmm,” he said, tracing a line to her ear with his tongue before taking her small lobe into his mouth and lightly suckling it,

making it hard for Isabella to breathe never mind think.

A small embarrassing moan escaped her lips before she could stop it, but really when he did that little grazing thing with his

teeth she could really care less. She blindly reached out and grabbed his biceps, needing something, anything, to keep herself

grounded as he continued his sensual assault. His muscles tightened beneath her touch and she wondered if she affected him as

much as he affected her. When she felt the soft gauze pad beneath her right hand she shifted her hand to a gauze free spot.

“What did they want, Munchkin?” Chris asked in a husky whisper that sent chills down her spine. She licked her lips as his

biceps bulged even more as he reached up and slid his fingers through her hair. His small groan of appreciation did wonders

for her already too sensitive body. She felt her nipples harden almost painfully and her stomach tingle in anticipation.

Somehow she managed to speak even though the way his head was brushing against her right breast was making her crazy, but

she knew she had to answer the questions if she wanted to make any progress here.