Chapter 14 #2
“I felt this buzzing in my head. It felt like something was trying to come in through static, but couldn’t. You’re telepathic, aren’t you?” she replied.
Gunnar and Nico stared at her. Nico smirked.
“What’s up with the smirk?” I asked him.
“I knew she had the ability. Try saying something to her and see if she hears you,” Nico prodded.
Piscín, I can’t wait to be alone with you again. I need a kiss.
I watched, stunned, as she leaned closer and kissed me. As she did, I heard clearly in my head, I can’t wait to be alone with you, too. I needed this kiss as much as you do.
We didn’t allow the kiss to get out of control. When we ended it, Nico was smugly smiling.
“I knew it.” Now, let’s see if she can hear anyone else, Nico said.
I felt Fiona’s body jerk, then she said, “Yes, I can hear someone else, Nico.”
“Hot damn, that makes three out of three,” Gunnar proclaimed.
“Three out of three?” Galen asked.
“Sorry, we didn’t mean to exclude anyone.
Yes, as Sentinels, we can use telepathy to communicate, which, as you can imagine, comes in handy.
It’s not normal for mates to be able to do it.
Unless you’re a vampire, and even not all of them can.
Cerys can not only do it with Brax, but she can with all of us.
The same is true of Akiva and of Fiona now.
It’s supposedly a sign of a true fated mate bond,” Nico explained.
“It is. But I’m not surprised my gariníon can. Her mamó and I were the same. Her parents couldn’t, and we can’t do it collectively. I’m happy she has that connection. My hope is one day when Gal finds his mate, they’ll be capable of it, too,” Galen admitted.
“I’m thrilled, too. But what were you guys discussing? Or is it Sentinel business and secret?” Fiona asked.
“It’s Sentinel business, but you can absolutely ask.
I asked Nico to get the others back home so they could connect with us.
Distance is sometimes a problem, but he can significantly boost our reach.
Anyway, I asked the team what they thought about offering you a job, Fiona.
It would solve so many issues. We need more help in the lab to achieve faster turnaround times.
And you are seeking a new job. I know how important that is to you.
Not only could you work there, but you could also oversee it.
You know. Make it into the kind of place people want to work.
Implement your ideas that would’ve made Daniel’s head spin,” I explained.
Her mouth dropped open as her eyes widened. Her expression screamed disbelief. I sat there, allowing it to sink in. It was a solid minute or so before she answered.
“Y-you want me to head up a lab? The one used by you guys. A lab that is a satellite to the one here and in LA.”
“Yep, exactly,” Nico answered before I could.
“Keir, you and your team have no idea if I’m any good at my job. Or if I’m capable of managing others,” Fiona tossed out.
“That’s not true. Once we arrived here, you and your family were thoroughly investigated.
Royal has amazing computer skills. He looked into you.
He found your school transcripts and the notes your instructors entered.
You graduated top of your class. You have labs all over Arizona asking you to work for them.
We don’t need anything else to show us how good you are.
You being without a job is fate. I think you’re meant to work with us,” I told her.
“I-I don’t know what to say. What if I can’t do it? I’d hate to let you guys down. And where exactly is the lab in relation to Needles?”
“We know you can do it. It’s why your supervisor and the woman he was involved with disliked you so much. They were jealous and felt threatened by you. As for the location of the lab, it’s on the outskirts of Needles, near our homes,” Gunnar interjected.
This would be the tricky part. She wouldn’t get to see her family daily, unless they moved with her. Could we convince all three to leave their lives behind? Apollo, please, let her heart lead her to move to Needles with me, I prayed,
Gal was pale. Galen was studying Fiona. She seemed worried he’d say no. And if she listened to him, what would it mean for us?
“Fiona, you’re a mated woman now. You must be with your mate, where he lives.
You know that Keir cannot live here. He must be with the rest of his team.
That means you need to be in Needles. I know you feel that you have to care for Gal and me, but we can manage.
He’ll be through high school soon. I have some savings that I’ve held back for an emergency or you finding your mate,” her granddad told her.
“But I don’t want to live away from you! And you won’t have enough to live on in the long term. What about college for Gal? You’ll need my support. Keir, what would the job pay? I need you to know that I won’t abandon my family. I’ve got to support them.”
I heard the panic in her voice. She thought I’d say no.
“Fiona, I would never ask you to abandon your family. And I know that they need your financial support. I hope that all three of you will move to Needles. I can help make that happen. What I can’t do is allow my mate to live apart from me.”
“But that’s not fair to you. If I pay for their housing and other expenses, I have nothing left to contribute to our household. I need to pay my share of a mortgage or rent, utilities, groceries, and more. Unless I got another job, then I could do both,” she mused.
“You’re not working two jobs! There’s no damn need to do that,” I growled.
“Well, how do you propose we do this? I can’t let you carry all the responsibility.”
“I own my home. There’s no rent or mortgage.
I’m almost six hundred years old. I’ve had centuries to amass a fortune.
I’m not extravagant. While there’s room in the house, if they prefer more privacy, we can build a smaller house on the property.
I have the acreage. It will allow them to be close while still having privacy.
“As for your salary, we’ll need to see what the current pay is at the lab and go from there.
I have no clue. Gal, if you want to go to college, we can make that happen.
Galen, claiming your granddaughter doesn’t mean you lose her.
It means I gain more family. I lost my blood family a long time ago.
Now, I have the Sentinels, their families, and the two of you in addition to my beautiful Fiona.
Say yes to the job. We’ll work out the rest.”
“You’d really take us with you and let us live near you?” Gal asked softly.
“Of course,” I told him.
Tears made his eyes sparkle. “I thought you’d take her away and we’d barely get to see her,” Gal confessed. His voice was choked with emotion.
“That’s why you were less than happy when I claimed her,” I guessed. He hung his head and nodded.
As the tension in the air dissipated, I thought we were through. I was wrong. Gunnar cleared his throat.
“Keir, I wish I could leave you to enjoy this family moment, but there’s more. Back to those interviews we did. We have more to tell you.”
Fiona and I both glanced over at him. “More?” I asked at the same time she did.
“Yeah, more. With additional verified cases, we found a pattern. One that might explain why this letter is addressed to Fiona,” Nico added.
“Go on,” I told him, impatiently.
“It seems that in each of the households, there were women, aged anywhere from fourteen to thirty-five. In the cases that there were beatings, the women got smacked around, but never as severely as the men. Out of the ones where they disappeared, every one of them had at least one female, if not more, in that age range. It got me thinking. What if this is a diversion? A way to get their hands on the women. Then, while everyone is searching for a family, what they should be looking for is the women and where the others…bodies are.” Nico finished on a low thread of sound.
“You think they're dead. But not the women?” Fiona asked.
“I got to wondering. People are taken all the time. They can be sold or kept for various reasons. If you sell people, you have to keep resupplying yourself with new merchandise. And if someone is out there wanting special ones, like shifters or other supernaturals, how do you get your hands on them? Babies and young children can be adopted. Men and boys, especially the older ones, could be used for manual labor. While some girls and women could be used for that as well, or as drug mules, you get the idea, the rest can be used as domestic or sex slaves, even breeders.”
Nico’s line of thinking wasn’t as far off base as some might assume. His mind was remembering what we had learned about Akiva’s father, Lazarus Kincaid. That man was a monster and was still out there somewhere, as far as we knew. He was one person we prayed to find one day.
“You’re remembering Lazarus Kincaid,” I said.
Nico and Gunnar nodded. “We are. As soon as we saw the letter was addressed to Fiona, we went back through the cases, and it was plain to see. If it’s not like what he did, then I’m not sure what the reasoning is.
Yes, they’re supernaturals and shifters, but what does someone get out of targeting only them? ” Gunnar questioned.
I thought about it, then I shook my head. “I can’t think of a reason other than just to get rid of our kind. But if that were the case, why not make all of them disappear?”
“When you investigated, in the cases where the families didn’t disappear. Did the females you referenced do anything out of the ordinary?” Fiona asked.
“Out of the ordinary, how?” Gunnar asked.
“Did they get married, go away to college, or move to another state? Hired bodyguards? Or disappeared on their own?”
“I don’t know if that was noted. Let me see if Royal can check for us,” Gunnar said.
He took the usual route and sent a secure text. All our equipment – phones and laptops – was heavily encrypted, so no one could read what we wrote. Was it uncrackable? So far, it has been.
“We’ll have to give him time to work, so it might not be answered until tomorrow, but Royal will find out for us,” Nico stated.
“Well, while we wait, is there anything else we need to talk over? What about the move? I can show you pictures of the house. I know this seems crazily fast. It is to humans, but not when a shifter finds their fated mate.” I gave Fiona a loving kiss. She kissed me back with as much love.
After we finished kissing, I got out my laptop and showed the three Katzes pictures of my home and the surrounding property. There were appreciative remarks from all of them. As they marveled over it and touched on the logistics of moving, I thought about the next step after moving.
While a mating was better than a marriage in the shifter world, because marriages could be easily broken, I still wanted to adhere to that tradition.
I wanted to marry Fiona the same way Brax and Fen married their mates.
And if we were to marry, an engagement ring was necessary.
I’d have to sneak time to find her the perfect one.
Damn, how I wished we weren’t in the middle of an investigation, but it was okay.
I could handle it. All I needed was a little organization and a bit of luck. I wanted the ring to be a surprise.
With that added to my mental list, I got back to the discussion about moving. We had resources to make it as stress-free as possible.