Michael
MICHAEL
“Do we need to intervene?” one of the agents asked as tried to look anywhere but at the screen. The zoom on the drone was too clear, and what it had shown him gave him nauseous chills.
It wasn’t even watching his son, his Jack, striding across that field, without a stitch of clothing on and very much raring to go, as he snatched the girl up and strode into the cabin with her.
It was the fear of what they might be doing in that cabin … and how much Baxter wanted them to be doing it.
Why was he so obsessed with this? With them sealing this mating bond, or whatever it was? What possible benefit did this have for the goals of the Operation?
“We do not. We hold off. We don’t have confirmation of them having consummated their … bond. I don’t want to bring them back in until we know for sure.”
“How do you even propose to get confirmation?” Harvey demanded from across the room. “Short of standing in the damn room with them to watch it all go down, how will we ever know for sure?”
glanced at Harvey. His friend was so thin, and his skin had a gray tinge to it.
wondered if he looked something like that, too. He’d been avoiding the mirror in the ensuite the few times he’d been permitted to return to the jail cell apartment. He found the thought of looking himself in the eye, after everything, turned his stomach.
Gretchen certainly had no interest in looking at him. She still didn’t know that Jack was missing. And he tried to reassure her that what he was doing for the Operation now was all to ensure the safety of their son.
Her son. Not his.
But the son of his heart, regardless.
He’d been so fucking stupid.
These glimpses of Jack, no matter how abhorrent this spying felt to him, were the only chance for to be sure that he was alive. That he was well. That he was safe.
Except was he ever safe, so long as Baxter knew where he was?
“Wait. Who the fuck is that?”
’s eyes snapped back to the screen as a pickup truck pulled up beside the cabin. A young man climbed out, heading casually towards the door.
“Shit,” Harvey muttered as the man peered through the open door, clearly witnessed whatever was happening inside the cabin, and then took a few steps back, running his hand over his face, before turning and sitting on the porch, leaning against the post.
“This … complicates things,” Baxter muttered, watching the man on the screen with a murderous gleam in his eyes. “We can’t have them … interrupted, or unsafe in this place.”
“But if we go in now, we may prevent them from … doing the deed,” another agent piped up. “If that fellow meant to hurt them, he would’ve done it already. Plus … they’re Shifters. We know what they’re capable of when threatened.”
Baxter nodded, stroking his chin. “Yes, you’re right. We won’t act yet. But we will watch this situation very closely.” He glanced at the agent who had spoken. “Make sure you have a team ready to retrieve them the second things look like they might go south.”
The agent nodded, and Baxter dismissed them. stood to leave, gut churning.
“Agents Rodgers and Turner, please remain.”
glanced over at Harvey, who met his eyes, his expression grim. They turned back to the table, taking a seat once more when Baxter gestured to the chairs.
“I have it on good authority that Blaire may well have formed a mating bond with a Drinker … the very same one the renegade who brought her to us in the clearing had been impersonating.”
’s eyes slid sideways to Harvey, who swallowed heavily. Did he know about this?
“I also have been led to believe that the Drinker in question is a wanted man in Coalition circles. Considered a huge risk to Fortis himself.”
was lost.
“What … I don’t understand,” he muttered.
“An enemy of our enemy is our friend. I think we need to find this male and bring him in.”
“And Blaire? Don’t pretend you’re not salivating at the thought of your little scientists sinking their claws into her,” Harvey snarled. “Especially if she has formed a bond with this male. You seem overly interested in mated immortals.”
Baxter turned the full force of his gaze on Harvey. His friend’s jaw twitched, but he held the other man’s stare.
“Do you think your daughter better off, out there, with a fugitive from the Coalition, on the run?” Baxter asked. There was a warning in his tone.
Harvey continued to glare, but some of the heat left his eyes. Eventually, he sighed.
“I don’t know. Can you guarantee she won’t be forced against her will into anything?”
Baxter nodded. “Aside from the standard medical testing, which realistically, you should want for her, to ensure her health and confirm her immortal status, I won’t touch her.”
, whose entire career had been built on calling people’s bluffs, on catching their tells when they were lying, pressed his lips together. Baxter was full of shit. But kept his mouth closed. He couldn’t rock the boat. Not when Jack was already in Baxter’s crosshairs.
Sorry Harvey. Sorry Blaire , he thought silently as Harvey nodded his acceptance of Baxter’s bullshit.
“What do you need from us?” Harvey asked, flicking a sideways glance at . In that moment, realized that his friend knew that Baxter was lying.
But he, too, had reason to toe the line. A Daphne-shaped reason, locked in the cell beside the Drinker hadn’t visited again.
“I need a list from you two of places that Blaire had a connection to. Places she might seek out. Places she might think to go and look for her family.”
Baxter pushed a tablet computer towards them, open on the maps app.
“Drop me some pins, please.”
This was so fucking wrong.
But tugged it towards himself, and with a brief look to Harvey, who nodded curtly, they started adding locations to the map.