The Rogue Hunter's Mate [Paranormal Protection Unit 10] (Siren Publishing Classic) (6 page)

Unfortunately his eyes didn’t focus for more than a few seconds before everything went blurry again. Giving up, he shut the laptop and headed for bed. A couple hours and he’d get back up and start working again. Falling into his bed, he yanked a pillow under his head and relaxed. Just a couple hours and he’d get back on track.

Walking from the shadows of his dreams, Gaia watched the Hunter. Shifting his dreamscape into one she felt more comfortable in, she took a seat on a fallen tree by the stream and spoke to him, quietly. “To even the ones of my Children that I have to have walking the finest lines of darkness and light I give a bond-mate. Why shun yours?” she asked without hesitation or waiting for him to acknowledge her in his dreams.

Groaning softly he turned in the dream to stare at the Goddess. Of course she was there. Why wouldn’t she be? Watching her for a moment, he shook his head. “I’ve never wanted a mate, Gaia, ever since I knew what my role in life would be. Everyone knew this, which means that you had to know, too,” he said quietly. “I’m sure she’s a very nice person, likely perfect for me, except that I don’t want anyone having to live the life I do, especially a human that can be killed.”

“And yet I can see in your soul.” Gaia shook her head. “Why do you fight the desire that you feel for her? That’s not something that I can affect, by the way. That’s completely you and your pull to her. I just simply tie the souls together that should be together.” Waving a hand, she allowed the blooms of his homeland to seek the sunshine in his dreams. “Your father wanted your mother,” she whispered quietly. “Even though she wasn’t as strong as he was, he wanted her because he could see that she was more than what was on the surface.”

Rising to her feet, she walked closer to Zaidu. “What you might think is weaker than you sometimes is far stronger than you could imagine. Sometimes the monsters aren’t of my Children but are children of Man. That’s where her monsters lurk,” she told him quietly. “And she’s stronger than you might think she is.” She shrugged and moved back to the fallen log. “Is it because you still long for a lost love that was never meant to be, Zaidu?”

Looking at her sharply he shook his head. “No, that was lust, nothing more,” he told her truthfully. “What I refuse to live with is when my mate dies or is killed like my mother. I saw what it did to my father. I was the one to hunt him down when he went Rogue. I won’t bring more pain to my line than that. I’d rather it died out completely than ever have to live through that or with that.”

Gaia nodded and sighed. “Well, the honest truth is that your father had turned to the darkness inside of him before your mother died.” She felt it was time that he learned some hard truths. “He turned from me, from the light, and it was because of him that his mate was killed. His greed in the end was what ended up ending her life and in turn his. I know that you don’t believe me, Zaidu, but that is the truth. Ask Talon or perhaps return to your homeland and ask the hard questions, Zaidu.” She looked over the rushing water once more. “But if you truly wish to have all ties severed with the woman I will ensure that the protection Talon has put out to her is ended. Humans must deal with human troubles. Perhaps it’s for the best,” she added and rose to her feet. “Ask the questions that you couldn’t ask all those years ago, the questions that you didn’t want to hear the answers for, but you should ask them quickly and make your choices quickly because as I said, human troubles are what head her way, not troubles with shifters.”

He knew she spoke only truth and he accepted it at face value. There was no need to ask questions of a past better left in the past. Moving, he looked down at her. “You purposely say things in the hope that I’ll actually care, Goddess. I wasn’t built that way and you should well know. While I wish no ill will on anyone, I neither care whether they are happy or not.”

Gaia nodded and smiled a sad smile. “It’s not her happiness that’s in question,” the Goddess whispered and rose, the flowers of his homeland pressing back into the ground, the stream leaving his dreamscape and her perch that she had sat upon disappearing as well. “Rest, Zaidu. I just wish the shadows of the past would release you.” She turned and then looked back to him. “Just remember your wishes, Zaidu. Some things not even I can undo,” she admitted before leaving him alone in his dreams once more.

Waking sharply he raked his hands through his hair. Fucking Goddess. Flopping back on the bed, he stared up at the ceiling. Forcing himself to picture Bethany, he remembered her scent and the feel of her skin to his. It had been pleasant and yes he’d felt a pull, but she was human and would die. He already walked a fine edge of darkness and light. Her death would be what would tip the balance of the scales within. No, he was better off with her leading her own life while he led his own. Yes, it was lonely from time to time, yes, he sometimes wished for things he shouldn’t, but there was no way he was tying himself to someone that had a finite number of years left on Earth. Gaia was too cruel to ask that of him, vicious and vindictive in trying to get him to feel things he just didn’t. Life was what it was and if Bethany’s fate was to perish, it would be that way with or without him. At least without him in her life the world would be safer when she did die. He wouldn’t go Rogue if she wasn’t bound to him. “I hate the Gods,” he muttered, still staring at the ceiling. “Interfering, two-faced annoyances, all of you. Why the hell do you insist on constantly fucking around with our lives?”

Ah, well there was the part that you wouldn’t listen to, Zaidu.
The Goddess’s voice was clear in the darkness.
Her life would be as long as yours, but again, those were words you didn’t wish to hear. And you should know by now there is more than one destiny for a person. The die has been cast though. It’s too late now.

“Actually, you never said anything of the sort, Goddess,” he said to the room. “But then, you Gods do like leaving things out so that we mere mortals look like fools before your apparent brilliance, don’t you?” he asked. Snorting, he rolled out of the bed. “You made the choice, not I. I never said one way or another. But you do prefer taking our choices from us. So much for free will, huh, Goddess?” he shot off. “You’ve already made your decision with very little input from me, so be it. But she’s a child of yours, too, so I’m glad you’re just fine with killing off your kids. Nice to know you’re as vindictive and vicious as the others. Quite like your brother really. When you don’t get what you want you get all pissy and kill someone off. Well bravo, Goddess, you win, ooooh,” he muttered, walking to the bathroom to shower. “The almighty and powerful Goddess shows her prowess again.” He was so going to die some horrible and painful death for the comments he was throwing out.

You made the choice of your own accord, Zaidu. You can yell and hurl insults at me all that you want, but the simple fact is that you have chosen to remain apart from the woman that was born to be your bond-mate. I am not fine with watching any of my children die, but I’m also not able to stop destiny from unfolding, just able to put in a way for it to be stopped. Be as angry as you wish, Zaidu, but the truth is that you made your choice, and it was your choice, not mine.
There was a pause and she said,
Do as you wish, Zaidu.

“You really don’t know me at all, do you, Goddess,” he said, shaking his head. He didn’t get angry, he never yelled, and his range of emotions was pretty much from annoyed to bored with nothing in between. “Go away and watch the world do as it does, Goddess. I’m done with you and I pray you are finally done messing in my life.” Turning on the water in the shower, he let out an exhausted breath. He seriously had to get the new Hunter trained. He’d had enough of everything.

Bethany looked at the painting before her and shook her head. “Crap.” Another dark image with Zaidu there in the background. Tossing her brushes down into the containers, she sighed. Standing, she began to pace, tugging her hair out of the braid that she had it in and running her hands through it in frustration. “Goodness, why in the world am I still painting him?” she asked.

Walking from her room she painted in and into the kitchen, she was going to pour herself another glass of wine and realized she was out. “Well crap,” she muttered. “Now what.” Now she needed to go shopping. Damn she hated to shop. Stepping into her sneakers she tugged her wallet from her purse and grabbed her keys. Leaving a small lamp on in the foyer she walked into the hall, locked the doors, and headed down to the parking garage.

Humming as she got off the elevator, she tried to refocus her brain, tried to put him out of her mind so that she could try to find a way to continue to live her life. Getting to her car she paused. “Oh God.” She felt sick. Her knees wobbled and she had to grab one of the support beams to keep upright. What she saw on the hood of her car made her sick. Patting her pants while keeping an eye on the dead body lying across her car she tried to find her phone, but came up without one.

“Oh God,” she whispered again and turned to flee. Racing for the elevator, she punched the up key, praying as she did so. She prayed that whoever put the body on her car wasn’t still down there, prayed that security was in at their desk, and prayed, God help her she prayed, that the words written in blood on her car weren’t true. The “You are next, sister dear” had her wanting to throw up.

Tears were falling freely from her eyes when she pushed out of the elevator and stumbled and tripped toward the security desk. Seeing the officer sitting there she blurted out, “There is a dead body on my car.” And with that she sank to her knees, sobbing as she did so.

* * * *

“We have a dead body in a parking garage,” Quincy reported as he continued to pull in other members of the Teams for other missions. “Talon wants you to check it out. He thinks it is a little too close to something that went down a couple years ago.”

Getting his coffee from the server, he thanked her and turned. “Where?” he said into the phone as he headed for the door. When Quincy gave him the address he frowned. It sounded familiar for some reason. “I’m only about four blocks from there. What are we telling the locals?”

“Special Agent with the FBI,” Quincy said, knowing that Z would have the ID on him as part of his roving work. “We gave them a heads-up that you were coming in to take a look because it sounded a little too familiar with a serial that we’ve been tracking. Which is true to an extent. Don’t give them too much but get what you can. Talon will be here in twenty and hopefully we can all do a call then and hear what you found out.”

Going to his bike, Zaidu dug out the appropriate credentials and headed for the address. Since he’d just bought coffee he wasn’t ditching it and as it was only a couple of blocks, he’d walk. Which didn’t take him long but he did have to flash the creds to get through the police line. “All right, Q, I’m switching to comms,” he murmured before replacing the phone at his ear with the earpiece and slipped the phone into a pocket. “I’m heading into the parking structure so I may lose you. If I do, I’ll call you back when I come topside.”

“Copy that,” Quincy said and winced. He hated leaving bits and pieces out when passing info on to the guys. But Talon had been very specific, don’t tell Z just who lived there and who was involved. Ever since Gaia had pulled Talon’s protection over the woman, the Dragon King had been in a seriously foul mood and more than a little pissed with his mother-in-law. But the Goddess wasn’t one to explain anything to anyone if she didn’t want to. Unfortunately they all thought the same. Z was getting manipulated into something with a heavy guilt trip side dish from the Goddess.

“In the garage, you still got me,” Z’s voice came through again.

“Copy you loud and clear, but I’m picking up echo from the concrete so don’t mind me while I adjust a few levels on this end. Just talk. I’ve got everything recording as of…now,” Quincy said, hitting a button, and then played with the sound levels.

“Cops have the area cordoned off down here, a few lookers trying to get pictures but the cops are being pretty strict,” Zaidu murmured as he walked forward and flashed the credentials again. “Lead detective is a Mark Crumbs,” he said, stopping to wait for the man to acknowledge him. In the meantime he said, “Car has blood all over it. A message is written and it reads, ‘You’re next, sister dear,’ right alongside and under the body. I think it’s a male but can’t be sure from here with the lights they have at odd angles.”

The detective in charge approached Zaidu. “I’m Detective Crumbs. I have been told that you are a Special Agent sent to view the scene to find out if it’s a serial that you are chasing.” Rocking back on his heels he added, “I can tell you now it’s not. We have a perp and he’s had a very strong alibi for the last five years. Been locked up in a max security psych ward for that long. But you are welcome to view the scene if you wish.”

“I’d appreciate it. The higher-ups like their t’s crossed and i’s dotted after all,” he said and ignored Quincy chuckling in his ear. “Anything about the owner of the vehicle? I’m assuming it was targeted toward her?” he asked. “It is a her, isn’t it?” Seemed obvious from the message but he also knew better than to jump to assumptions.

“She lives here in the penthouse. The perp that broke out of the ward is her brother. Her twin,” he said softly. “We have her in protective custody right now. We feel strongly that she’s one of his targets. We’ve also sent cars for his lawyer at the time of his court date, for his psychiatrist, and also for a nurse he had fixated on while in custody. We aren’t sure where he will strike next but we have to assume that his sister is the one that he’s planning on toying with the longest. It’s a shitty situation, that’s for sure.”

“No kidding,” he muttered, walking with the detective toward the car. His nose twitched at the scent of blood but he didn’t react otherwise. “I would like to speak with her if possible. Like I said, if I don’t pursue every possible avenue and we miss our guy my ass will be on the line. At least if I figure out for sure it’s got no link to our case my bosses won’t use me for a scapegoat.” Leaning in, careful not to disturb anything, he frowned and inhaled slowly. He knew that scent, but the blood was messing with the undertones and he couldn’t quite identify it. “Do we know the weapon of choice and time of death yet?”