A Mate for Gideon (22 page)

Zane
smiled again. “Sorry about my…friend.” He almost choked on the word friend. In
any other situation, Gideon would’ve found it comical.

The
female licked her lips and nodded. She sat back down. “The lady that you’re looking
for didn’t come and buy a ticket, another guy did. He was pretty good-looking.”
Her eyes rolled up in thought. “He had dark hair, a killer smile. He was really
tall…” Her eyes flashed back to them. “Although not nearly as tall as the two
of you.”

The
male she described sounded exactly like him. That fucking bastard. Gideon’s
chest vibrated as a snarl was torn from him.

The
female shrieked. “Please don’t kill me,” she whimpered.

“You
have been extremely helpful,” Zane said. “What ticket did this male purchase?”

She
sucked in a ragged breath. “Um…” Her voice was shaky. She moved back to the
papers on her desk and rummaged through them. “Um…the 11:30 bus to—”

“We
will stay here and wait...just in case.” Zane growled, speaking over the female.
The destination didn’t matter. “I’m sure he bought the ticket to try and put us
off the scent. Though, you never know, he might just be that dumb and return.”
He turned back to the female. “Thank you.”

She
nodded once, breathing a loud sigh of relief as they walked away.

“Is
there anywhere else you can think of where he might have taken her?” Zane
asked. “I will send a group of males to investigate. I will post lookouts in
Sweetwater. Every male will be given a picture of her. We have a recent one on
file.”

Gideon
ran a hand through his hair. “I can’t just sit here. I need to do something.”

“Think
then, tell me where she might be and do it now. We will do everything to find
your female.”

“For
blood’s sake.” Gideon moved away from Zane. He could feel that he was breathing
hard but couldn’t stop himself. His heart raced. He struggled to control the
urge to run blindly. To tear his way through Sweetwater. To break down every
fucking door if that’s what it took. If he thought it would help any, he would
do it. The realization that such behavior would be detrimental stayed him, but
barely. He turned back towards Zane. “I don’t know…” He dug another hand into
his hair. “The only place I can think of is the home that they used to share. I
don’t think he will come back here and I don’t think he’s dumb enough to go
there either. I can’t think of anywhere else.”

“It’s
a start.” Zane put a hand on his shoulder. “We will throw everything at this.
Leave no stone unturned. I will send someone to go and speak with the human
authorities.”

“Liam,
the male, is a police officer.” Gideon ground his teeth so hard that he heard
them gnash together. “I’m not sure that involving the authorities is a good
idea.”

Zane
nodded. “What do we know about this male?”

“Not
much.” Gideon sighed.

“We
need to find out everything we can about him. Give me that address. I will get
the best computer hackers on it.”

Gideon
told Zane. His whole body felt numb.

Where
are you, Jenna? Hang on. Please, just hang on.

Gideon
scrunched his eyes shut and roared. It felt like his heart was bleeding.

Her
arms were tied behind her back. The rope so tight it chafed her flesh,
successfully cutting off the supply of blood to her hands. Her face felt dry
and tight from the crusted blood. The area around her nose was the worst
affected. Jenna suspected a broken nose but couldn’t be sure. Her whole face
hurt.

Her
legs were tied together. It was painful to try and stretch downward to try and
undo the knots. She was in a small dark room. There was a sliver of light to
the right of her. A crack at the bottom of a door. Shadows danced and moved.
Definitely more than one person. She could hear the low murmuring voices of men
speaking. It sounded like several of them.

What
the hell?

Liam
had others in on this.

Her
first instinct was to try and get up. There had to be a way out of here. She
wasn’t going to get very far tied up like this though so she stayed put, at
least for the moment. Thank god she was still clothed. Not that it would make
too much difference if Liam wanted to hurt her in that way. She was also
thankful that she had decided to go with the shorts instead of a dress.

Her
mouth felt dry. She tried to move, to push herself up to her knees. Pain shot
up her arms. She moaned. The movement from making the noise, caused the pain to
increase in her face. One of her eyes was swollen shut. Her head throbbed, the
pain dull, but insistent.

She
bit back another moan, not wanting to alert her captors to the fact that she
was conscious.

She
was in big trouble. Huge, unbelievable amounts of trouble. For a few seconds,
she struggled to breathe as the enormity of her situation sunk in.

Calm
down.

Focus.

Jenna
was tempted to fight against her restraints. To shout and scream. None of these
things would help her. Instead, she gulped in a lungful of air.

The
door opened. Harsh light hit her full in the face, making her squint.

“Look
who’s awake.” The guy leaned down, looking at her. His voice was familiar, but
she couldn’t quite place it. It was going to take a little longer for her eyes
to adjust. Make that eye, since one was useless at present. Right now, he was
just the outline of a man against a bright backdrop.

Whoever
he was, he pulled himself upright and turned back towards the door. “Jenna is
awake!” He shouted, putting his hands around his mouth.

Anthony.

It
was the guy that had admired her butt at the barbecue a few weeks ago. One of
Liam’s cop buddies.

She
heard laughter. There were definitely at least three of them, maybe even four.
Panic made the air feel thinner. She was no match for a group of guys. She held
out hope that Gideon would be able to find her but she couldn’t count on that.

If
she wanted to get out of this alive, Jenna needed to keep her wits about her.
Use every opportunity. Look at this as if she was alone, which chances were,
she was.

Anthony
moved back into the room and leaned in over her. “You’re one fine woman,
Jenna.”

Unfortunately,
her eye finally adjusted and she could make him out clearly. His stare was glued
to her chest.

“Jen-doll.”
The room darkened as Liam stepped into the door frame. “So glad you joined the
party.”

Jenna
couldn’t help it, she whimpered. Liam smiled. It was genuine for once. He really
did get off in on inflicting pain and suffering. On her fear. He took a step
into the room and she tried to pull herself into the fetal position. The
restraints pulled, making her cry out.

“Remind
me again…” Anthony trailed his finger along her jaw line and she tried to
flinch away. “Why can’t I touch her? Fuck, Liam…I didn’t realize she was so
stacked. I’m getting hard despite her messed up face.” He threw out a snort
version of a laugh. “I could just put a bag over her head and—”

“Shut
the fuck up,” Liam growled. “You won’t put a single finger on her. Are we
fucking clear? She’s mine…mine!” It sounded different coming from him. When
Gideon said it, it was almost pained and with longing. When Liam said it, it
was demanding and final. It made her sick to her stomach.

He
smiled at her. The fake, psychotic smile. The one he used just before he hurt
her. “Mine…Aren’t you, Jen-doll?”

More
questions.

He
could go to hell because she wasn’t answering. Jenna knew that he would hurt her
anyway regardless of what she did or didn’t say.

“The
only problem is…” He nudged Anthony out of the way and cupped her cheek, almost
lovingly. “I don’t want a
vampire lover
as a girlfriend.” He cocked his
head. “Tell me, did you actually let one of them fuck you? You did, didn’t
you?”

He
squeezed her jaw hard, making her whimper.

“That’s
what I thought. You’re tainted, used goods. I think I’ll let you suffer for a
couple of days…by the time I’m done with you, you’ll beg me to kill you.” He
released her, a look of disgust crossed his face. Liam stood up. “Your
boyfriend must have realized what a terrible fucking lay you are. That’s why he
sent you away.” He shook his head. “Good fucking riddance.” He choked out a
laugh. “I should take you back to those bloodsuckers…the joke would be on them
then, wouldn’t it?” He looked away from her. Clearly done with her, at least
for the moment.

“Wait,”
her voice shook.

His
back stiffened as she spoke. For a second she thought that he might listen and then
he turned and took a step towards the door.

“Do
you want to make money? Lots of it?” Thankfully her voice sounded a little
stronger this time.

He
paused.

“I’m
worth a lot of money to the vampires. They are rolling in it. You could make
millions. It would be an easy trade off, my life for a truck load of cash.”

Liam
laughed. “You really expect me to believe that? I’m not an idiot, Jenna. You
weren’t dropped off at the bus station because you were important. They
couldn’t give two shits about you.”

“Wait!”
She yelled as he took another step away from her. “You’re wrong. The vampire
I’m seeing doesn’t know that I was sent away. He will be frantic with worry.
He’s really wealthy and would easily pay a million or two for my return.”

Liam
seemed to think on it for a time. Jenna was too scared to breathe. Please God,
let him buy it.

Then
he nodded. “You might be onto something. That motherfucker of a vampire that
jumped me last night seemed really into you. Quite frankly, I was shocked to
see you get out of that SUV that we had been following from the gates at the bloodsucker’s
territory.”

She
felt her brow crease. “No….you must be mistaken.” Gideon wouldn’t have gone to
see Liam, would he?

“A
dickhead broke into my house and threatened to kill me if I didn’t stay away from
you. He was wearing a ski mask. Must’ve hoped that I wouldn’t pick up on the
fact that he was a bloodsucker. What an idiot! His eyes glowed and he said
things like female instead of woman.”

“Is
that why you were outside the vampire gates waiting?”

Liam
shook his head. “You were not the target, but certainly an added bonus,
Jen-doll.”

“Why
were you there then?” She had to ask.

“None
of your fucking business!” He snapped back at her. She noticed how his hands
curled into fists and she shut her mouth so that she wouldn’t say anything to
really anger him.

Now
that Jenna really looked at Liam, she noticed he had bruises around his neck.
That his nose was swollen. Had Gideon really visited him? Threatened to kill
him? Her heart warmed as she realized that he probably had.

“You
see,” she spoke softly and carefully. “That particular vampire really cares
about me…a lot. He will pay…I promise. Call him…please.”

Liam
frowned and shook his head. “Let’s just say hypothetically, and for the purpose
of this conversation, that the bloodsucker loves you…I’m not convinced he has
the cash. You just want to alert him about your current predicament. Want to
hatch some sort of a plan for escape. You can fucking forget it.”

She
shook her head, trying hard to ignore the pain. “That’s not it. Look in my
purse, you’ll see a withdrawal statement.”

Liam
grinned. “Yeah, about that, thanks for the cash.”

“Think
about it for a second. I don’t have any money. Have a look at that withdrawal
slip. You’ll see that two cash deposits were made into my account, one from the
vampires and a second one from him.”

Liam
stared at her for a while before finally nodding once. “Wait right fucking
here.” He strode from the room.

“You
can just forget it, little missy. Liam would never take filthy, bloodsucker
money and risk our organization in the process,” Anthony whispered as soon as
Liam left the room. “We are going to put a stop to this filthy program. Our
women should not be breeding with those monsters.” Anthony looked her up and
down. “You’re a stunning woman, Jenna. You could have any man you want. I don’t
understand why you would choose a bloodsucker?” He leaned in, his hot breath on
her cheek. She tried to move away but couldn’t. “The first chance I get, I’m
going to show you what a real man can do. I’ll make you feel real good. You can
count on that.”

Not
a chance
. She felt her stomach lurch at the thought. “I’ll
tell Liam. Don’t you dare come near me.” She bit back a choice name like pig or
better yet disgusting pig.

“You’ll
tell Liam?” Anthony snorted. “That dickhead plans on killing you, which would
be a crying shame. If you play your cards right, show me that you can actually
enjoy what a real man can give you, then I might put in a good word with our
superiors. I might be willing to take you.” There was a slurping noise and she
realized that he was licking his lips. “I can’t wait to put my dick inside…”
Anthony moved away as soon as footfalls sounded, moving steadily closer. She’d
never been so happy to see Liam before.

“What
is his number?” He had a cellphone in his hand. “You’d better not be fucking
with me, Jen, or so help me…” Liam growled.

“I’m
not lying.” She pleaded. “You saw my bank balance. Both he and the vampires
have money and lots of it.”

“I
can fucking read, thank you. Give me that cunt’s number.”

By
some miracle, she had decided to memorize Gideon’s number, just in case. She
gave him the numbers and he typed them into his phone.

Liam
put the device to his ear. It felt like a lifetime before something finally
happened. “I have her,” Liam said.

There
were loud growling noises on the other end. She couldn’t make out what Gideon
was saying. Only that he was pissed. That much was clear.

“Are
you fucking done?” Liam growled. “The next time you threaten me, I’m going to
cut off one of her fingers. Are we clear?”

There
was a barked response.

“Good.”
Liam smiled. “Right, let’s get to business. I want three million dollars in
unmarked bills in return for Jenna.”

He
paused, while Gideon said something.

“She
is perfectly fine. At least for the time being.” Liam smirked. Then he grimaced
and Liam held the phone away from his ear. Jenna clearly made out one of two
choice expletives in amongst all the growling and snarling.

When
it became silent once again, Liam put the device back to his ear. “You
obviously didn’t listen the first time, I will fucking cut off her finger if
you do that one more time.” Liam winked at her, like she was somehow in on a big
joke. He raised his brows, looking amused. Liam pointed at the phone. “He wants
to know if you’re alive. Wants proof.”

Then
he put the device against her ear. “Gideon,” her voice broke as she said his
name.

“Jenna,”
a loud growl. So filled with emotion that she felt it deep inside of her.

Then
Liam reached over and pinched her nipple between two of his fingers. He twisted
cruelly and a loud scream was ripped from her.

She
wasn’t sure what happened during the next few seconds because the sharp pain
drowned out everything else. When she was finally able to focus again, Liam was
laughing into his phone. “I want the money by five o’clock today. I will inform
you of the drop off location and the details, closer to the time. Will you be
able to deliver it by then? Think very carefully before answering because if
you agree and then try and delay, I will kill her.”

There
was a long pause as Liam listened. “Excellent. We’ll talk in a few hours.” He
ended the call. Grinning broadly.

“What
the fuck, Liam? You didn’t just do a deal with those bloodsucking bastards.”
Anthony looked like he was in a state of complete disbelief. “Our superiors will
never stand for this. The plan was to watch and learn. To take out those
vampire kings and to put a stop to this whole fucked up program. I’m calling—”

Liam
pulled a gun from the holster on his chest. There was a loud bang and a flash
of light. Something wet sprayed her arm. Anthony fell like a ton of bricks, on
the floor next to her. His dead, staring eyes seemed to look right at her. The
hole in his forehead leaked blood.