The Imprisoned Dragon and the Witch (11 page)

“The more I hear it, the better I’ll get,” she quipped back.

“Ah, fishing for compliments are we? What about,
Tá tú go h-álainn
?”

Starr punched his arm. “I am so not beautiful at this moment!”

His own laughter joined hers as he stood up, pulling her up after him. “Let’s get this meeting started, we have a hell of a lot to get through.”

“Yes, we have, I’ll stop off at IT and start them working on getting everything they can on Quintas Crane and
Na Cúnant Dorcha
.”

As they reached the lounge, they found Josef waiting on them, alone. “Peri’s just finishing up with the baby then she’ll join Gabe and Tania downstairs. That damned hotel finally managed to get the booking right. We’ll stay there until I have a clearer understanding of what our role in this will be.”

Starr turned, shouting down the hallway, “Goodbye, Peri, see you later.”

They heard a muffled reply before heading towards the door.

“Let’s go get this thing rolling,” Ronan said as all three left the apartment.

Chapter 11

As he and Josef entered the conference room, Ronan noted that if not all, then certainly most, of the Elite squad leaders were already there, together with Drake, Serge and his mate, Kyra. He should’ve known Serge wouldn’t have come without Kyra. Newly mated Wolves were almost super-glued to each other for weeks, and sometimes months, after they mated.

He did note that Kyra stood shyly in the back corner of the room, at the same time he noticed Sam was absent. Esther sat half way down the table, minus Celeste. Ronan made his way to the front of the room and everything quieted. “Thanks for getting the word out and for getting here early. Before we start I have an announcement. Serge, as you all know, has been on assignment for almost a year and boy, is it good to have him home. However, he’s not come alone. He’s found his mate and he’s brought Kyra with him. So, let’s give them a round of applause and we’ll need to get a party organized for them as soon as we can.”

Everyone started clapping, with a few raucous comments flying around. Or, almost everyone, Creed stood near the front but his hands didn’t clap or his face show any kind of emotion. The rest of the room took part in welcoming Kyra and she was blushing scarlet by the time the room quieted. Serge, however, had a puffed out chest and was strutting around like a peacock!

“Okay! Quiet now folks, we’ve a lot to discuss so I say we take seats and hash out some plans.”

Ronan noted Serge moving to the very end of the large conference table, sitting down with Kyra at his side as the rest of the Vamps and Wolves present took seats. Josef sat on his right and he made sure to keep the seat on his left for Starr. Before they got started she appeared, slipping in quietly and sitting down.

He turned to her. “Starr stopped off at IT. What did they say?” he asked her, hoping their guys would be able to work some kind of magic of the cyberspace kind.

Starr looked around, not shy in the least about addressing a room full of powerful Vampires and Wolves. “They’re on it. Matthew is taking it on personally and will have his preliminary results shortly. I told him to come straight here, hope that’s okay?”

Ronan was happy that their head IT guy was taking charge. “Yes, that’s good. I’ll be interested to see what he finds. Now, let’s get started.”

He gave a recap to everyone present on what Charmaine had told them. There were shakes of heads and some incredulous looks as he finished. “Creed, what’s your take? I’d be interested to hear what you’ve got to say.”

The dark Vampire’s eyes met his as he spoke. “We need to find and eliminate this threat as quickly as possible. It would change the world as we know it if his plans came to fruition and would cause an out and out war. Not something any of us need.”

Ronan nodded. “I agree. Our first priority is finding the three places that Charmaine spoke of and sending teams to take them out. Hopefully, we’ll find Quintas himself at one of them. We also need to orchestrate this so they are attacked at the same time so he has no warning.”

Josef piped up. “I’ll take care of the one near Vegas. I have more than enough men and Peri can deal with the magic side of things. I’m wondering though, how will you deal with the other two? As far as I can see, you only have Esther that can take on dark magic and even she can’t be at two different places at the same time.”

Esther’s face was grim as she answered. “I
may
be able to get at least one, possibly two, Witches that can wield dark magic. I’ll speak with you later about that, Ronan.”

Ronan acknowledged the old Witch and was just about to reply when a knock at the door stopped him, “Enter,” he said as he turned to see who it was.

Matthew stuck his head in and Ronan motioned for him to come in, Sam rushing in behind him. Ronan raised an eyebrow at his friend. “I’ll need to speak to you when you get a chance,” Sam said, before finding a seat and sitting down.

“Matthew, do you have any information for us?” Ronan asked, as the young Wolf stood nervously just inside the door.

Matthew moved further in, keeping his eyes on Ronan as he spoke. “Uhm, yeah, a lot actually. This Quintas guy can’t be scared of anyone looking for him because it’s all there, online. I’ve got addresses of about ten properties he owns, got his bank accounts, vehicles, credit card statements. Jeez, I can even tell ya what size of pants he wears...all custom made from a high end tailor. There’s a saying my granddad used, ‘
You can lead a horse to water, but an ass is just an ass!’ and this guy is an ass leaving the paper trails he has. Either that or he’s cocksurenobody is looking for him.”

Starr almost laughed at Matthew’s analogy but held it in check. “Thanks, Matthew, can you get all that to us? The property is the most important, I think.”

Ronan concurred. “Yes, do you have the addresses so we can check them out on a map? We’ll need to send teams to keep watch on them. I think we should get that in place now, today, or as soon as we can. That should help us formulate our plans, once we know who is where and how much manpower they have. We’re going to have to contact our local offices and get them to do the stakeouts and once they get back to us, we can go from there. Sam, can you organize to get the large map in my office brought in here and put up? We can get everything color coded with pins so we know who’s doing what.”

Sam said a quiet, “Sure,” so Ronan carried on. “Anything else, Matthew? Did you find anything online specifically about
Na Cúnant Dorcha
?”

“No, well, rather I did but it’s locked up tight and we’re working on hacking in. The security on it is military class and I’ve no idea where they got it from. We’re working on it though and as soon as we’re in, I’ll let you know. I better get back and help and I’ll get that other information sent onto yours and Sam’s laptops.” Matthew finished, and hurried from the room.

“Okay folks, looks like we have the beginnings of a plan and no, Josef, I’ve not forgotten your point and Esther and I will discuss that later. Unless our teams can confirm there are no dark magic Witches on site, well, then that’s a whole different ball game. One thing’s for sure. We will not make a move until everything is scheduled to the very second.”

Ronan scowled, looking around the room. “Under no circumstances is Quintas Crane to get away. That is something that is
not
going to happen.”

Sam snarled. “I’ll rip him apart myself, if I get the chance!”

A few folks glanced at Sam, his face a cold mask of hatred.
“What the hell is wrong with him?”
Ronan wondered as people started to leave. He found out soon enough.

As soon as there were only he and Starr left in the room, Sam made his way over, pacing back and forth. “Sorry I was late, but the doc had been doing exams of Charmaine and she’s pretty beat up but we all saw that. However, the extent of her ‘punishments’ were touched upon. She’s been repeatedly raped and on two occasions, actually became pregnant.”

Sam stopped, taking a deep breath as Starr gasped. “No! What kind of animals are we dealing with here and where are the babies? Surely she wouldn’t have left them there?” she exclaimed, her own anger mounting.

Sam snorted. “The very worst kind of scum. She didn’t give birth. When it was found she was pregnant, she was beaten so severely that she lost them. The doc says she probably won’t ever have kids. Well, not unless she has corrective surgery of some kind and even then the chances are very slim. Fuck! Now I understand why she didn’t want to talk on the plane.”

Ronan noted Starr’s look, it was as they had thought, only worse.

Sam rambled on. “It was the punishment she most dreaded so they used it...a lot. Then they would beat her senseless on top of that. Fucking bastard! If I get my hands on him I swear I’ll tear him limb from limb!”

Sam paced a little more before stopping, turning with a look of horror on his face. “They cleaned her up, in the clinic, and fucking hell, she is absolutely covered in bruises. I mean everywhere, there’s not a part of her that’s not marked in some way! When I saw her, I almost lost it. Ronan, I almost freaking lost it completely!”

Ronan had never seen his friend so angry, walking over to him he placed a hand on his shoulder. “Sam, I know what’s happened is truly fucking bad, but I’m not getting why you’re reacting like this. Plus, the way you were with Charmaine on the plane, challenging me in front of the others. What’s going on, my friend?”

Sam stared into Ronan’s face, uncertainty on his own. “I don’t know. That’s the truth, Ronan. I don’t have a clue and I’m sorry ‘bout earlier. I have no idea why I reacted like that. All I do know is that from the moment I saw her, I’ve felt something weird going on inside me and all I want to do is protect her. Oh yeah, and kill any fucker that tries to hurt her, or who’s hurt her...ever. I dearly want to get my fangs into that fucker, Quintas!”

Starr let out a small laugh as Ronan turned to her with a raised eyebrow. “Yes?” he asked and she stopped laughing, though a smirk was still on her face.

“Hell, if you two can’t figure it out I ain’t telling ya. Sam, all I’ll say is this...how did Ronan react once he saw me?” With that Starr patted Sam on the back and left.

Ronan watched as Sam’s eyes widened in shock. “No! What’s she saying? That Charmaine is my mate? That can’t be, she’s a Witch and us Vamps don’t mate Witches! She’s mistaken and I sure as hell am
not
acting like you did!”

As Sam finished, he stalked away, talking over his shoulder, “I’ll be back in ten, I’m just going to check she’s okay and then I’ll be here and ready to help with whatever you need me to do.”

Ronan stifled his own smile as Sam left. Maybe Starr was right, and if she was, then he couldn’t wait to see his
straip
of a friend reined in by the love of a mate. However, he didn’t think for a moment that this would be easy for Sam. He hoped his friend didn’t throw away his chance at happiness.

Shaking his head he left the conference room, heading back to his own office to get started on the mountain of work this kind of operation was going to take. First, he had to make
the
call. The one to his boss and he wasn’t relishing that, not one bit.

Starr was busy on the phone as he walked past her office. Her voice raised as she told whoever she was speaking to that they better “get their finger out!” Whatever the hell that meant. He carried on, into his own office and sat down. Biting the bullet, he lifted his phone and hit speed dial number one.

More than an hour later, he replaced the handset, Starr now sitting across from him and Sam lounging against the wall. “Well, I guess that went as well as could be expected. It’s not every day I get to tell the President of the United States that there’s a Witch ready to overthrow the world. I think he took it rather well.”

Sam grunted. “He sounded pissed to me.”

Starr agreed. “Yeah, he didn’t sound very happy, Ronan. Will he do as he said? Leave this to us or will he deploy troops of some kind?”

Ronan ran a hand through his hair, wondering the same himself. “I hope he doesn’t, I tried to let him know that wouldn’t work. Not against dark magic. Hopefully, he’ll keep to his word and let us deal with it. If not, then he’s gonna lose a hell of a lot of men.”

Sam pulled his lean frame from the wall. “What do you need me to do?”

Starr stood up. “I’ll be in my office if you need me. I’m following up on the information IT got to us. I’ll have a report with everything as soon as I can get it to you.”

Ronan watched as she left. “I’m worried about her. She hasn’t had any time to grieve her brother, and with all this going on, it looks like it’s gonna take some time before she can.”

His friend sat down across from him. “She’s tough, she’ll be okay and as soon as we’re done with this shit, I suggest you take her away for a bit. Maybe a few days in a cabin somewhere, just the two of you, would be a good idea.”

Ronan gave Sam the ghost of a smile. “Good idea. I’ll check with the Alpha’s. They all have land and I’m sure one will be able to help out. Somewhere far from everything and everyone is probably what she’s goin’ to need.
Cac
! This has been a hell of a day!”

Sam stood up. “Yeah, it sure has. Now, boss, what do you want me to take care of?”

“Thanks, Sam,” Ronan said quietly, “there’s a lot of organization in this mission. Can you coordinate everyone? Contact all local offices nearest to the property this fuck owns and get them to send out some scouts and get us reports. Once we have those, we can formulate some plans.”

“Of course, I’ll get on that right now.” Sam turned, stopping at the door and facing Ronan. “Sorry about earlier, it won’t happen again.”

Ronan nodded. “It’s okay, after all, the circumstances were...unique...so I’ll let you off. Remember and let me know how Charmaine’s doing and if you think she has any more information that can help, please, let me know.”

Sam gave a lopsided grin. “I will, she’ll be staying with me so if you need to ask her anything that’s where she’ll be.”

As Sam walked away Ronan laughed. “Yeah, I thought that’s where she’d be!”