Titus: Luna Lodge #2 (13 page)

Her head lolled forward, and she lost sight of him. Her body fell toward the glowing red eyes. His arms reached out to catch her.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered in her ear. Her stomach rolled.

“I hope I vomit on your shoes,” she said quietly.

She felt him laugh and struggled to stay awake.

“I can see why he likes you,” he said to her. “You make a good partner for a leader. My partner.”

Fear pulsed through her, but there was no way to struggle at this point. She had lost use of her arms and legs.

Still not able to see his face, he passed her to someone. Her eyes were heavy, and she found it harder and harder to keep them open.

“Place her on the seat next to me,” he said.

She noticed that his voice came out raspy, like he wasn’t used to using it much.

The man who held her roughly shoved her into the seat. When the door closed, it banged against the top of her head. She grunted in pain.

The red-eyed man rolled down his window to yell at the other man.

“Is that any way to treat my bride?” he roared.

“Bride?” she whispered. Her eyes refused to open.

His calloused hand caressed her calf.

“You really will make the perfect bride after we get the stench of that man off you.” He growled, and then laughed. “Most grown men can’t last as long as you have with the amount we’ve just given you. You are tough, Kate Walker, no question on that. Yes, you will make the perfect bride.”

She shivered in the seat as the world around her faded into nothingness.

Only the word bride lingered in her head.

* * *

Titus paced in the living room of his cabin. It had been nearly two hours, and he still hadn’t heard from her. She had said she’d only be gone an hour and a half at most. It didn’t help that all his calls only went to her voicemail.

“The gate men said they saw her go, but a new guy was working,” Sol said.

His head shot up. “New guy?”

“No one had worked with him before, but he had all the appropriate paperwork.”

“Bring him to me,” Titus said slowly.

Sol shook his head. “No one can find him now.”

“Shit.” He leaned onto the back of the couch and hung his head.

She was gone, and no one seemed to know where the hell she was.

Carter stepped in the front door.

“I came as quick as I could,” he said. “What’s the word?”

“We’ve got nothing,” he growled. “She said she would be back soon, and she’s not. I knew something was up.” He ran a hand through his hair. “She was so quick to get out of here, and I got distracted when asking here what the meeting was about.”

“You made up?” Carter asked.

Titus shot him a glare.

“Just making sure she wasn’t trying to get away from you,” he said.

Titus shook his head. He didn’t think it was anything like that. She had seemed happy earlier.

His heart squeezed. Something had to have happened.

One of Carter’s men came in. “Sir, Woods is on the line. He wants to talk to Titus.”

Carter nodded. “Bring me the phone.” He looked over to Titus. “You keep in mind that this is what he wants. Don’t say anything that can be used against you.”

“If he’s hurt her…” Titus started.

Carter held up a hand. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about. If he’s done something, you can bet his hands are about as clean as it gets.”

Titus nodded. Carter was right. Threatening Woods wasn’t going to do much good and could cause him a whole lot of trouble.

The man came back into the room with the phone and handed it to Titus.

“Woods,” he snarled.

“Titus, I’m here with Kate’s parents, and we’re concerned that she’s not here yet.” He could hear the smile in the man’s voice, and a bolt of rage passed through him. “It would be a shame if something happened to her along the way.”

Her parents? He frowned. She’d put her safety at risk to meet the people she’d explained didn’t treat her well. He wondered for a second if they were actively in on whatever scheme Woods had in play.

“Yes,” he said, “It certainly would be. I know I would stop at nothing to find the people responsible and hold them personally accountable in accordance with our laws.”

Silence met him over the phone.

“You can tell her parents they will have to meet with her another day,” he bit out. “I’m about to go find my woman.”

He pushed end and passed back the phone.

“Any ideas?” Carter said to him.

“There’s got to be some way of tracking her.” Titus paced.

“Of course,” Carter said, looking at the phone in his hand. “The phone.”

Titus shook his head. “It’s shut off,” he said. “Goes right to voicemail.”

Carter grinned at him. “The phones we’ve issued here have GPS in them.”

Titus nearly laughed. Everyone had been up his ass about how by the book he was, but all his protocol was about to pay off.

“I’ll have to get the okay from further up the ladder, but we should be able to trace her if she’s still got her phone,” Carter said. He sighed. “It’s a long shot, but it’s the best we’ve got. If we do this though, you can only have a small number of men. There’s no way my superiors are going to let a large force of hybrids deploy stateside. They still don’t want a large force of you deploying anywhere.”

Titus nodded and turned to Sol. “Get a few men together. We get the call we’re going to need to be ready to roll.”

Sol nodded. “I’m in this time.”

Titus shook his head and leaned in. “Something fishy is going on. I need you to be on hand here. I have to go, and I need to know this place is protected.”

Sol frowned. “You’re going to need me.”

“I’m more afraid I’m going to need you right here.” He grunted. “Seems we might have a fox in the hen house.”

Chapter Fourteen

The air was chilly when she woke up. Kate stretched and knew she must have been out hours for the ache to have set into her body like it had. She blinked her eyes a few times as the room came into focus.

It was well decorated for a cell, with a luxurious bed and a rather ornate rug. She looked around. It was an open air cage in a large room.

“Do you like it?” a voice rasped from the other side of the room, which was shrouded in darkness.

“No,” she said dryly.

His chuckle only pissed her off more.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said. “I’m afraid we’ll only be here a few days until the drug take effect.”

“What drugs?” She stood and moved to the side of the cage.

His large red eyes beamed back at her, but his face remained a mystery.

“He was very close to hitting your ovulation cycle,” he said. “I knew you were close at the hearing but had to be certain at the café.”

She could hear him breathe in deep and shuddered. “If it weren’t for his stench on you, you would smell perfect. But it won’t be long before you smell much better.”

A flash of heat rippled through her body, and she gripped the bars of the cell.

“What did you give me?” she groaned.

“Just a little something to help your ovulation along,” he said.

She dipped to the floor and shivered uncontrollably. Kate panted through the ache. Her nipples tightened, and she felt her inside flutter awake.

“Ah.” He heard him breathe in the air. “I see the side-effects have kicked in. It’s really not such a bad thing.” She could hear him moving around and knew he was closer when he spoke. “By this time tomorrow, you’ll be begging me to take you. The pain will be so bad and that will be the only thing that will ease the pain.”

“Don’t bet on it,” she gritted out.

His chuckle echoed against the walls.

“Oh, you’ll want me tomorrow if you know what’s good for you,” he said.

Within seconds he was face to face in front of her, his glowing red eyes just inches from her own. She stared at his pale skin and long white hair. It seemed more like a mane than hair. She shivered and looked away.

“You’re a smart girl, Kate,” he whispered. “Smart enough to bring a phone.”

She whirled around to look at him. The man held her phone in his hand just outside the gate.

“Tomorrow can go one of two ways, Kate. Either way ends with us becoming one. The only question for you is how that happens.”

He reached in, and she clamped her eyes shut. Her stomach lurched forward as he brushed a finger along her face.

“I hope that you’ll be more willing then,” he said softly.

She heard the rustling of clothes as he stood and opened her eyes once again. He stood just on the other side of the cell, watching.

“No one knows where you are,” he said quietly. “You’re on your own, Kate.”

He dropped the phone to the floor and stepped on it.

“Someone will be in soon to take you to shower and bring something to eat,” he said and walked to a huge metal door. The man stopped at the door and looked back. “You should eat to keep up your strength for tomorrow.”

Kate stood on shaky legs.

“What’s your name?” she asked loudly.

She could see the whites of his teeth as he smiled.

“Romulus,” he said. “Curious about me?”

Kate shook her head. “I just like to know the name of the man Titus is going to kill,” she said loudly.

His eyes blazed red. One second he was by the door, the next he was hauling her to the side of the cage by her arms.

“You pathetic boyfriend is no match for me. Even if he did make it here before we leave, there’s no way he’d ever be able to take me on,” he hissed in her face. “It might seem to you that we are in competition for your love, but unlike him, I have no problem taking what rightfully belongs to me.”

He leaned forward and licked her neck through the rails. The cold bars bit into her flesh as he pressed her to the hard metal. Bile burned her throat, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how much it had bothered her.

He set her down, and she scrambled over to the bed.

“I’ll see you tomorrow night, Kate,” he said stiffly and stalked out the room.

When the door was shut she turned to the pillow and cried silently into it. All that time she’d spent trying to be so independent was going to come back to bite her in the ass. If only she had just called Titus, this would all be in the past.

Kate sat up and looked over to the phone. With any luck, it would still dial.

She got off the bed and walked back over to her spot on the floor. Just within reach, she slid the phone to her through the slots.

Kate hit the power button and prayed that it might somehow work.

The light stayed off. She bent her head over her knees and tried to think of something. There had to be something she could do about all this.

She moaned as another wave wracked her body. Her body clenched in need, and she gritted her teeth. Romulus might be right. If this kept up, she might be begging him by the time he came tomorrow.

Never before had she felt so over-sexualized. Every piece of her hummed with need.

Kate stumbled over to the bed and lay down. Maybe if she concentrated on something else, it would pass. She started counting by threes in her mind. Anything to keep her mind off the pain.

After a few moments the pain subsided. Drained, she let sleep take over.

* * *

“Three hours away by air,” Carter said as he hung up the phone. “In a remote part of the northeastern US.”

“Another facility?” Titus asked. His heart slammed into his chest.

He was glad they had found her, but he didn’t know that she was safe.

“Possibly,” Carter said. “Should I send in local law enforcement?”

“No,” Titus said forcefully. “It’s the Pale Man. I just know he’s behind this, and if that’s the case, we’re all in grave danger. He’d swat them like flies.”

“You’ve mentioned him before,” Carter said. “Tell me about him.”

Sol pushed a bag into Titus’s hand and spoke. “We never really saw much of him, and there are many rumors as to how he came to be,” he said. “But what we do know is that he’s ruthless. There’s nothing he won’t do.”

“But aren’t most in the Horatius Group?” Carter asked.

Titus shook his head. “It’s worse than all that. He’s dangerous. He isn’t just a hybrid, he’s a super-hybrid.”

Carter walked toward the door, and they followed. “So what works against him?”

“Light,” Titus said. “It’s the only thing. He can’t go out in the light. If we strike during daylight, we should be able to avoid him.”

The major looked at his watch. “Almost eleven,” he said. “That doesn’t leave us many hours does it?”

His lips pressed into a firm line. With travel, it didn’t leave them many hours. It was more than likely that they would get in, rescue her and have to hole up somewhere. It could end very badly.

“Chopper should be here in a moment,” Carter said. “We’ll take it to the plane and go from there.”

Titus nodded and looked to the sky. She just had to make it a bit longer, and he would be there.

* * *

“Ow, that hurts,” Kate groaned.

Groggy, she slowly opened her eyes. A man in a gray uniform stood over her. He glared at her.

“Good,” he said sharply. “I don’t have all day to wait for you to wake up. Eat your lunch. Then, you need to take a shower.”

“I don’t want a shower,” she said.

“Do I look like I fucking care?” The man pushed his face next to hers. “You’ll eat, or I’ll force you. You’ll wash, or I’ll wash you.”

Kate shivered and sat up. The aches from the shots were coming more often. Romulus had been right. She was in such pain most of the time but ached for someone to touch her. Anyone.

“Quit day dreaming and fucking eat,” the man said and shoved her toward the sandwich.

Kate stumbled and landed next to the sandwich on her hands and knees. He chuckled behind her. She pulled at it and quickly ate what was there. It sat like lead in her stomach, but she did need to keep up her strength. If she wanted any chance of escape, she’d need to be alert and ready.

He walked over and jerked her to her feet.

“Shower,” he said.

Shoving her every so often, they made their way to a small bathroom with showers.