8. Vivianna
VIVIANNA
“So, now we just need to figure out what they would want just as badly as they want you,” Bentley mused. “The whole reason they are fixated on you is the ability to make more females that are pure and could potentially have magic, right?”
“That’s it.” I exclaimed, twisting to sit sideways so I could see Darius.
“We were already going to look into who else might have been created like Nicole and I were. What if there is a chance that the created woman didn’t carry the gene but somehow it transferred to her child?
If they thought something like that had happened, they would absolutely go after both the cast-off creation and her child. ”
Darius frowned as he thought. “But how would we even know where to start looking?”
“We have Tim. There had to have been more women that they were working with than just Diane. It wouldn’t make sense to keep their hopes pinned on one, which is why they had so many facilities working on it.
What if he could tell us where some of the others are that might not be as guarded?
We could go after them and get information,” I said excitedly, my words coming out a mile a minute.
“Whoa, slow down, babe,” Koit interjected with a chuckle.
“This could be a whole other mission for us, trying to find and keep these women safe. I’m not saying it won’t happen, but we need to be focused on Hope, then we can expand our rescue mission.
Besides, once the two heading this whole thing are gone then who’s to say it all won’t end? ”
As he spoke, I kept shaking my head, knowing in my gut that it wasn’t the case.
“Koit, now that they know it can be done, they won’t stop.
The need for fertile females doesn’t change just because the men doing it for the wrong reasons are gone.
I have a feeling when word gets out there are fertile females scattered across the globe, we’ll become hunted. ”
“Sweetheart, he’s right though,” Rik challenged.
“I get where you’re coming from, but that’s a problem for after we make the world safe.
If Jason and Vadik are left in power, they could create an even more dangerous environment for Hope and all the other women like you.
Once they’re gone, we can absolutely start on this plan, but we need to start with the real problem first, then deal with the fallout. ”
I tried not to pout, as what they said made sense, but I could feel in my gut that this was going to be a problem. “Fine, but I still think having Diane inform them that there could be another mother and child out there is going to put them right where we want them.”
Christian raised his hand, drawing my attention and making me smile as I nodded for him to go ahead. “So what I’m hearing in all of this, is that we need to have a sit-down with Tim and Diane.”
“Yes, I suppose that is the best place to start. Then we’ll know if she’s already talked to an informant, in which case this is all too late,” Orion pointed out.
“So do we let them have breakfast first, in a good-cop bad-cop situation, or are we thinking, bag-over-the-head toss-them-in-the-basement kind of talk?”
This caused us all to burst out laughing, even though I knew he was being serious with his question.
Wiping the tears from my eyes, I answered his question, “So far, neither of them have been trying to hold things back, other than Tim’s omission of what his true job was at the facility.
Let’s have an honest conversation with them and if that doesn’t go well…
then we bag ’em and toss them down into the basement. ”
“I’m glad you feel that way, because they’re walking up now,” Christian shared with a smile as we all paused to hear the sound of the door opening.
Kate got up from her seat and headed out to greet them. “Good morning. Did you sleep alright? We have plenty of coffee and food if you’re hungry.”
Tim and Diane walked in, but Nicole didn’t, which made me frown. “Where are Nicole and Brady?”
Diane looked crestfallen at the question, giving me an idea of what she was going to say. “They chose to be in their own room, and she refuses to talk to either of us. I’m not sure she’ll come to breakfast.”
“Not to worry, I’ll go bring them something to eat. I’m sure little Brady is more than ready to have some breakfast,” Kate reassured them as she started to make up a plate.
Tim poured himself some coffee but didn’t even glance at the food Kate set in front of him.
Meanwhile, Diane just pushed hers around on her plate, her bottom lip quivering like she was going to burst into tears at any moment.
My heart went out to her, feeling a connection to her as a mother, lost and unsure what to do to fix the problem between her and her daughter.
Reaching across the table, I covered her hand with my own, causing her to look up at me, sorrow plain to see in her eyes.
“Give her time. I know from personal experience, it’s a lot to wrap your head around and I didn’t have loving parents to lean on,” I shared.
“Finding out that everything you thought you knew about yourself isn’t true is a lot to take in.
Trust me when I say that I won’t let anything bad happen to her or that beautiful little boy. ”
A large tear rolled down Diane’s cheek as she turned to grip my hand. “Thank you, that means everything to me.”
“Diane, I need to ask you a question and I need you to be honest with me so I can keep my word about their safety. Will you answer my question?” I asked, holding her gaze, watching for any sign she was lying.
She licked her lips and nodded. “Yes, I’ll tell you anything you want to know if you can promise my babies will be safe.”
My gaze flicked over to Tristan who told me what I already knew, she was being honest. “Have you been approached by Jason or Vadik’s men recently?”
“Yes, about a week ago, I was stopped while at the grocery store. They told me we had been under their surveillance for a while now, but if I helped them, we could remain free to live our lives as we have been. All they wanted was for me to inform them if I came across you—”
“How did you know they were looking for me?” I pressed.
Diane pulled her hand from mine so she could clutch hers in her lap. “They showed me a picture of you with your daughter, telling me you had been taken from them and you needed to be returned for your safety.”
Of course they would play the mother card on her. It was obvious that she was willing to do whatever it took to keep her child safe.
How long do you think Jason knew there whereabouts?
Who knows? Could have been the whole time. But seeing as she didn’t have any more kids with Tim, it might be safe to say she couldn’t. Maybe they wanted to see if she could conceive naturally?
But even if she had, it would have been a male, not a female. Why would they let a woman who can carry a female werewolf to term be left to her own devices?
The only thing I can think of, is they had others with better success and didn’t bother with her, or somehow something else came into play.
I still don’t like it. Something is fishy.
Have to agree with you there, but let’s see what information we can get first before we start going in for the kill.
“Did you tell them about me when I came in with the others yesterday?”
“Yes,” Diane admitted, hanging her head, refusing to look at me.
“That explains how Jason’s men were there when we tried to evacuate Tim,” Rik commented. “I thought it was odd for them to have discovered the place already, but assumed Luis was the one who told them.”
Thinking back over the chain of events, I had to agree. Luis didn’t have a chance to tell them because we stopped him and his runner before they could share their knowledge… but how did they know about the cabin we were staying at?
“When you talked to whoever, did you tell them that I had men with me?” I questioned.
“No, I said others came with you and that you were in the office for a long time, but didn’t say much more than that,” Diane answered meekly. “I truly thought I was doing you a favor. That these men had kidnapped you like they’d said.”
Letting out a heavy sigh, I rested against Darius, who was still holding me. “I know that. They played on your emotions like the assholes they are. Did you tell them anything else? What about any other questions they asked you?”
“Since I only saw you walk into the shop and then head back with Tim, I didn’t have much to give them. They wanted to know if a man named Luis was with you. I told them no one said names but there was a man with you,” she answered.
“Clearly, they knew Luis had you, so it wouldn’t be too shocking for them to know the location of the cabin.
It simply could be that they were coming to collect you and send two teams in case you were still at the shop,” Tristan mused.
“In a way, they could have turned it on the rebels, saying they kidnapped Jason’s mate and they were rescuing you since they didn’t know we were alive.
You two killed all of them in both fights, right? ”
“Oh yeah, they went up in flames with the shop,” Koit said with a grin. “That was a rush.”
“As for the clearing, we dealt with everyone there as well. No witnesses survived, so the secret should still be intact,” I stated as I ran through the fight in my head, making sure to count them all.
It would seem that by some miracle, the fact that my mates were still an unknown was advantageous in this fight.
“Diane,” Darius spoke, shifting me so he could see her better. “Do you still have the contact information for the man you called?”
“Yes, I called him from my cell phone, which I still have with me,” she answered.
“Fuck.” Darius cursed, lifting me off his lap to get to his feet. “Do you have it right now?”
“It’s back in the room. I didn’t think I’d need it right now. Is something wrong?” she stammered.
“Room key, now.” Darius demanded, his hand held out.
Tim gave it to him without question, and faster than I could blink, Darius was out the door.
“What… what just happened?” Diane whimpered, clutching Tim’s arm. “Was I not supposed to bring my phone? No one told me I couldn’t.”
Rubbing my forehead in frustration, I couldn’t believe I didn’t think of checking.
Having Darius as a mate, I knew the cell he had was untraceable, the same with Christian, seeing as he was the rebel leader.
In this day and age, it would make sense for Diane to bring her phone without another thought.
People didn’t go anywhere without them. “There is a chance a tracer could have been put on the phone from when you called them. Darius is going to deal with that now, but we might need to move on from this place much faster than we planned. I refuse to put more people in danger.”
“Viv, we cleared this place out, knowing its cover might get blown. Everyone here is fully aware of what it means to be a rebel and fight for the cause,” Kate informed me as she joined us back at the table.
“If it comes down to a fight here, then we will be ready. One reason we picked a place off the beaten path was to lower the risk of involving those who are innocent.”
“Be that as it may, it still ruins our chances for a surprise attack if they learn we’re here, even if they don’t know how many of us there are,” I countered.
“We need to at least leave to make it look like we spent the night and left if she does have a tracker on her phone. If we stay, we lose what little control we had of the situation.”
Diane looked like she was about to burst into tears at what I was saying, but I didn’t have time to console her. Things were moving faster than I wanted and we didn’t have a plan, which was not a great place to be in all this.
“Christian, do you have other safe houses in the area?” Tristan asked.
“There are a few that aren’t being used.
None that are close by, but that might help us,” Christian answered.
“If there is a tracker, we can have Diane call and tell them we are here but share that we are moving to another location that we didn’t disclose to her.
Then we can have Tim and his family head in a different direction while we take the phone. ”
“Misdirect, I like it,” Koit piped up.
We all turned when the door opened, but it was Neveah, Nick, and Maria coming to join us. The table wasn’t large enough for us all to fit, so my guys got up to let them have space to eat, while Kate grabbed more chairs for my mates to sit instead of lurking about the room.
“How is it you guys, of all people, were the first ones awake?” Neveah mumbled as she sipped on her coffee. “Keeping the whole goddamn neighborhood up with you screaming.”
I just grinned at her. “Shouldn’t you be used to it, living with Maria? Rumor has it, she isn’t shy about her bouts in the bedroom.”
“That’s behind closed doors. You were out on the fucking beach where someone could have mistakenly come upon you,” Nick muttered, his cheeks blushing.
This caused Koit to burst out laughing. “You should be thanking us. There is no way you could have walked up on our orgy and not gotten lucky yourself.”
Neveah and Nick refused to say anything more on the subject, but my money says they totally got it on once they were back in their room.
Once we all settled down after that revelation, I pinned my gaze on Maria. “You sure seem to be awfully quiet this morning.”
“If you must know, cachorro, I was up late warding the place to discourage people from coming here and to alert me if someone crosses the perimeter. Now that you recharged my magic, I’m able to do things as I did when I was younger,” Maria stated.
“Now, what have we missed? The atmosphere was quite tense when we arrived.”
“Take a moment to eat first. It’s a lot to unpack before coffee,” I said, as I refilled my own mug.