Chapter 9
Emmalyn ended the call with her mother, then snuggled back into the blankets on Hellen’s sofa. She picked up the channel selector and started channel surfing, looking for anything at all that would hold her attention. She smiled when she ran across the Disney Channel, which was showing a favored movie from her childhood — Bolt. She started singing along with the opening song and did her focused best to tune out all else. She didn’t feel unsafe, in fact, she felt safer than she had in a while. In no time at all, she had no doubt that her mother would have told everyone that she was safe and just angry at Barron and they’d all back off.
In the meantime, she had Bolt, and a roast and potatoes, and frozen pizza to hold her over.
~~~
A lone figure stepped out from between the two storage shelves he’d hidden himself between when the object of his attention had unexpectedly flipped on the lights in the garage. He’d been hiding here for a while, having quickly realized while watching the first member of his new collection, that whoever lived in the house was never home. Which meant it was a perfect place for him to hide among her own people. If whoever owned the house came back, he’d either kill them, or add them to his collection along with Emmalyn. In the meantime, he slipped out at night and watched Emmalyn, learning her habits. Watched her family, learning theirs, then came right back to the garage, easily staying out of sight during the day and remaining quite comfortable.
He only ventured into the house to grab a quick shower after lying in the mud for any extended period of time, and to find the occasional bit of food to keep himself going. But for the most part, he opted for the garage. He took blankets out of the boxes stored there to sleep on during the day, and put them back in their boxes when he left. It was pure luck that he’d not taken his blankets out of the storage boxes yet when Emmalyn herself had carelessly opened the door leading from the house into the garage. He’d returned a short while earlier from watching her boyfriend’s house. Oh, yes, he knew she’d spent the night with another male. He’d followed them when they left her parents’ home, and waited until just before dawn to see if Emmalyn would venture home alone. When she didn’t, he’d decided to go back to his safe spot until darkness fell again. And he planned on repeating the pattern until she slipped up and he found her alone in a situation perfect for the taking. And he’d do just that, take her.
Silently he moved across the cold cement floor and pressed his ear to the door. He heard a television, and Emmalyn’s voice. He couldn’t quite make out what she was saying, but it didn’t matter. He knew she was there, and he knew she didn’t know he was there. It was a perfect situation. Except for one thing… he had to find a way to get her out of the neighborhood.
He paused, his head tilting just a little as he thought about it. Maybe not. Maybe he could just play with her while he was here, leaving her body for her people to find. That might be even better than adding her to his new collection. It would certainly serve justice for all his lost females, and they deserved some kind of justice after all, didn’t they?
~~~
“What did she say? What’s going on?” Bam demanded.
“Basically, she and Barron had a falling out. She heard him saying some things that I think were out of context because she only heard a partial conversation. She left and is hiding at Hellen's. Brandt and Barron don’t know where she is, but they really need to know.”
“Why?”
“Okay, so, don’t overreact, but we think she’s being stalked. But she’s not sure the guy actually knows where she is. He’s threatened her, though. And her boss took it seriously enough to send her home to lay low for a while.”
“Lay low? I’ll show every fucking body laying low when I find this sonofabitch!”
“You can’t!” Everly insisted, laying her hands on his arms when he tried to move past her. Her touch worked, he paused long enough to look down at her hands on him, which gave her a chance to speak. “If this guy is really here and you let him know we know he’s here, he can get away before Brandt and the boys can catch him and eliminate him. If he gets away, this nightmare doesn’t end.”
Bam’s entire body was twitching with the need to kill the man who threatened his daughter. “I need to hunt him down.”
“No, you can’t. Because you’ll go into the woods blustering and bellowing, and he’ll know you’re looking for him.”
Bam snarled, his nose wrinkled up as his lips curled back over his teeth. He even sprouted some extra hair as he fought the natural instinct to shift and destroy whatever was hunting his daughter.
“I want to kill him,” he finally growled.
“And you can. But we have to locate him first. Brandt has the guys on lookout. They’re pretending they’re just out and about, hunting or checking their land. Sometimes they shift and wander through like a wild animal would. They do not shift in view of anybody or anything. They come over here, or go a mile or two away and come back already shifted so if this guy is here, he won’t see them shift.”
Bam sat on the arm of the sofa, watching her, his mind putting together the pieces. “How long have you known that she was in danger?”
“I didn’t know she was in danger. I thought she might be.”
“Since when, Everly?”
Everly knew there was no getting around it, she had to tell him the truth. “Since Kaid told y’all that we were going on alert.”
“This is why Kaid has us doubling up on security?! Kaid knows and I don’t? She’s my child!”
“Bam, she is a grown woman.”
“Who happens to be my child!”
“And we decided that it would be better not to tell everybody so no one would go off half-cocked reacting emotionally and scare the guy away, if he’s really here, and leave him an opportunity to come back later.”
“I am not half-cocked!”
“Are you or are you not reacting emotionally?”
Bam glared at her.
“We can’t let him know we’re on to him. Kaid is the only one who knows other than Brandt and his guys. They’ve not told the women because Brandt didn’t want them to behave nervously and tip the guy off. So, it’s me, Brandt and his guys, and Kaid that knows.”
“You’re punished, but I haven’t figured out how yet,” Bam said, standing up and walking toward the door.
“Bam, you can’t give any indication that our regular day-to-day has changed.”
“How would he even know?”
“Because we think he’s been watching for a while. If we’re right, he’s familiar with our habits.”
Bam froze in stride. “How long is a while?”
“Well, I’ve felt like I’ve been watched for a few months now. And Emmalyn said that the last time she actually spoke to him was Christmas day.”
“She spoke to him?!” Bam yelled.
“He called, and said she looked nice, but like Emmalyn said, it’s a general thing to say and anybody would think they’d been watched. Maybe he didn’t actually have eyes on her.”
“But you feel like you’ve been watched.”
“True.”
“What the fuck do you expect me to do, Everly?”
“I expect you to stay here with me and get your emotions under control. Maybe call Brandt, call Barron, or even Kaid and tell them what you know, and find out what they’re doing.”
“I can’t sit here and do nothing.”
“She’s at Hellen's. She’s safe. No one even knows she’s there except us and Hellen. She begged me to give her a chance to work through her feelings before going over there. Let’s give her tonight. We’ll go over in the morning.”
“I hate this.”
“I do, too. And for the record, you are not allowed to punish me. I’m a grown ass woman.”
“Who kept secrets from her mate about their children.”
“There were reasons.”
“Reasons don’t count when it’s about the kids.”
~~~
Bam stood grumbling on Kaid’s porch, his back to the door, his gaze taking in everything around him as he wondered if he was being watched. Wondered at just what point he’d get his hands on the fucker who was threatening his daughter. A particularly feral growl had just rattled his chest when he realized he was no longer alone. He looked to his left and found Kaid standing beside him, mimicking his stature, looking out at the grounds around them. Bam went back to scanning the scenery.
Kaid leaned a little closer, but kept his eyes out on the property. “What are we looking at?”
Bam looked to his left again. “I don’t know, Kaid, why don’t you tell me.”
Kaid raised his brows in surprise. “Oh, so it’s like that?”
“You could have told me.”
“And have you act like this? Give everything away so Brandt doesn’t have a chance to take this guy out?”
“I’m taking him out.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
“Just one problem.”
“And that would be?”
“There may not even be a guy,” Kaid said, flashed a quick sardonic grin and went back inside his house, leaving Bam to follow him or not.
Bam stood in place for only a few seconds before opening the screen door and following Kaid inside. “You don’t know that!”
“No, I don’t. But you don’t know there is a guy. So, we’re about even on this.”
“The fact that there may be, is enough to be concerned!” Bam insisted.
“You’re right. Which is why I put everyone on alert,” Kaid said.
Bam scowled and stalked over to the table, flopping onto the bench seat.
“You know I’m right.”
“It wasn’t enough. You should have told me.”
“Thought about it. But I know how you feel things. We got this. All of us, and there’s no need for you to suffer for days when there may be nothing at all to suffer over but our imaginations.”
“He used to be an agent. He worked with her at the FBI. He was on the team with them on one of their cases, helping them look for a guy. He was the guy. He knows that Emmalyn profiled their target, figured out it was him and she’s the reason he was taken down.”
Kaid was busy straightening up the kitchen after Delilah had cooked a meal. He quickly turned to face Bam. “You’re fucking kidding me.”
“Nope. Not at all.”
“Where is Emmalyn?”
“She and Barron are already fighting. She left, he’s out looking for her.”
“The fuck is wrong with them?!” Kaid snapped, tossing a dish towel rather forcefully onto the cabinet top. “We have to find her.”
“She’s tucked away at Hellen’s house. Doesn’t want anybody to keep her company. She wants some alone time. She’s angry at Brandt and Barron and doesn’t want to talk to either of them. They don’t know where she is. Or, they didn’t.”
“They do now?” Kaid asked.
“I called Barron on my way over here. Told him where she is but that she especially doesn’t want him or Brandt over there and that they need to give her space. But at least they know where she is and can check on her without her knowing.”
“Good move.”
“Yeah.”
“Want to go over there and talk to her? Brandt may be her immediate Alpha, but I’m his, and while she might try to defy him because she grew up with him, she won’t defy me. I’ve been her Alpha since before she was even thought of.”
“She begged us to give her until tomorrow. So, we’re going over tomorrow. I was going over today, now, even. But I decided to tell Barron where she is so they can keep an eye on her while she cools off.”
“Alright. Sounds like you thought it through. We just need to keep up our level of concern and awareness and support them when and if they need it, and take that bastard out if we see him first.”
“Yeah,” Bam muttered.
“You good?”
“I will be. Tomorrow. I’m bringing her ass home. I don’t care how damn grown she is.”
Kaid smiled. “I feel ya. Gotta say, I’m proud of you. You’re doing well.”
“Everly keeps saying that they’re grown women and I need to accept that they can make their own decisions and live their own lives. I understand that, I do. But I don’t like it one damn bit.”
“Yeah, I’m not relishing the idea of Tessa getting older, either.”
“Sons are so much easier,” Bam muttered. “Or at least they look like they are.”
“I don’t know about that. I got a son, running around fucking up everything that has to do with his mate. Sometimes I wonder how me and Delilah made that boy.”
“Naw, Barron’s a good kid. They are both just so damn stubborn. They can’t get out of their own damn way.”
“It’s this generation. We took care of ourselves, but we were so focused on taking care of our mates we didn’t do all this damn bickering and game playing.”
“Yeah, it’s all me, me, me, me. I feel, I want. If they paid a little more attention to their mates, they might not have all the trouble they’re having!” Bam said.
“True. Very true. Ours are better than most, though. I mean, we raised them with our values, so they’d have to be. But they do still have a little of the what-about-me entitlement thing going on.”
“Like I said, it’s the generation.”
~~~
“Open the door, Em,” Barron said, careful to keep his voice low, his tone calm. He was leaning against the front door, doing an imitation of Brandt knocking on his own door earlier in that morning. “I’m going to stand here and continue to knock until you open the door.” And he did just that for another five minutes.
Finally having had enough of trying to be reasonable, he raised his voice and shouted angrily. “Emmalyn! Open the damn door!” He leaned against the door again and pressed his ear to it, listening for any sound or movement at all. There was nothing, except the whiff he caught of the roast she was cooking, but not a single thing more.
“Fine! You’re wrong for this! So wrong, Emmalyn. What you heard was only a piece of the conversation and had you bothered to eavesdrop a little longer you’d have heard me tell Brandt there was no way I’d let you go. I said what I did to make you come home with me, but I lied only about letting you go. I’m not letting you go! So, you can sit your pretty little ass right here and pretend you hate me all you want. We both know that’s not true, and when you’re tired of having your little tantrum and shutting us all out - me especially, Em! I hate this shit! — you can come home. Everybody was supposed to come to our house tonight for a clan get together. But I’m pretty sure because you’re pouting, nobody’s coming anymore. So, thanks for that!”
Barron stood there for a few more minutes. “Come on, Em. Open the door. I’m sorry you’re upset, but it’s not what you think.”
Listening for any sound, and picking up on nothing, he shook his head as he took a step back. “Alright. I’ll leave you alone. But only for a little while. I’ll be back. You can only do this for so long.” He walked backward toward his truck, his eyes darting from the windows to the doors and back, hoping for a glimpse of her. “At least I know you won’t starve,” he grumbled as he got back in his truck.
He sat there for a few moments to give her an opportunity to change her mind, then drove away slowly, every nerve ending he had, and every emotion running through him, tied up in knots.