Keira Kendrik (3 page)

Jasmine rolled over on the hard floor, bumped into a little body, and sighed.  The girls had all taken to sleeping really close to her.  For all intents and purposes, she was now their substitute mother and she treated them as such.  She thought it was helping them stay calm by trying to treat the time together as normally as possible.  Food and water were brought a couple of times a day from the men on the other side of the door.  Well, she guessed it was days, time had now lost all meaning completely for her and the girls.

Yesterday, the men had brought in doughnuts
.  Wonderful doughnuts with sprinkles, filling and icing that the girls went crazy over.  When they were leaving, she heard one say to the other that they would lose money if the girls lose weight.  The 'boss' wanted to make sure they were fattened up enough to fill out a little more.  Then the other had laughed and said they would have to bring more doughnuts then because the auction was happening in two weeks.

Jasmine shivered as she thought about those men
.  They leered at her when they came in, looking as if they were going to attack her at any moment.  She prayed that wasn't the case, she didn't want the girls to be subjected to that.  The man in the suit had not returned and she guessed he was the 'boss' they had spoken about.

Someone had to be looking for them
.  She knew they hadn't gone too far from her original captive room.  The only thing driving her crazy was she didn't know how far she was from the club because she had been out for that drive.  She knew with the girls, they had been taken some time apart, but the police had to be looking for those children.  She also knew Keni and Olivia well enough to know they would have called the police as well.  It's what she would have done if it were one of them.

The three of them had been very close since they had met
.  All of the girls worked in buildings in downtown San Diego.  Keni worked as a personal assistant to a developer and Olivia worked in accounting in the law firm where Jasmine was a clerk.  Jasmine researched the cases for the attorneys in the office, helping them to find past precedence to help them win each case.  She loved her job.  She wondered what Mr. Bronson was thinking about her absence, she was never absent or sick.  She figured the police had probably contacted him by now.  She hoped he wouldn't fire her over this.

She felt the unusual movement from the concrete floor again and it caused enough vibration that it jiggled her bladder
.  She got up quietly and used the bathroom then walked to the door to see if she could hear anything.  There was no sound coming from the other side or the door was so thick noise couldn't be heard.  She sighed and turned back to the girls.  They were all cuddled together near the back corner.  Her spot had been filled in as they tossed in their sleep.  She closed her eyes and prayed they would be found.  Even though she was stuck in there with the girls, she had never felt more alone.

****

Phoenix had Jackson come to the ranch for an update on Jasmine Dupree, he wanted to get started right away, something was niggling at him regarding the intriguing young woman in the photograph.  Jackson brought along his partner, Cade Weston, when he arrived at the ranch.  The two men shared a cabin just down the road where their headquarters for all things technical was located for the people and Champion, Inc.  Although they could transfer that anywhere they wished to at any time. Jackson and Cade were about the same height, standing at six foot three. Jackson had brown hair that he kept cut short with blue eyes, while Cade had brown hair that he left to fall shaggy on his head and brown eyes. They all sat down at the kitchen table and Jackson began to fill them in.

"I went through all her financials, work history, and criminal background
.  Everything was clear.  She has no enemies that we can find and has led a rather boring, regular life up until now," Jackson told them.

"We also talked to our connections at the precinct where her abduction went down
, and they have nothing.  No rhyme or reason," Cade added.

Jackson leaned forward
.  "On a hunch, we looked into other abductions around the city and have found that several have occurred at the time of Miss Dupree's."

"Some were girls, young too, as well as other women around Miss Dupree's age
," Cade said.

Phoenix sat back and crossed his arms over his chest
.  "This sounds more and more like it's not a coincidence."

"It sounds like that case we took last year involving the trafficking ring
," Gabe inserted.  "I'm going to give our contact at the FBI a call and see if they are watching anything around San Diego right now.”  He got up to make the call.

"We need to head over to her apartment
.  We need her scent," Phoenix stated.

Jackson and Cade nodded in agreement
.  It was the way of the Otherkin to breathe in a person's scent and they were able to get a sense of the person.  In most cases, they were able to use their powers to connect telepathically with that person on a level where they could 'see' through their eyes.  Some Otherkin could sense where the person was located if they got enough of their scent.  Phoenix and Gabe were able to do this with ease being the princes of their people.

Gabe turned back to them, ending his call
.  "The FBI's radar has been triggered with the disappearances.  They are looking into it.  They think it may have been a break away from the ring we busted last year,” he said grimly. "They figure there must have been a silent partner involved that they didn't find."

Phoenix stood and said, "We need to head to her apartment
.  Now."

The other men agreed and began to gather their things
.  Phoenix went to inform Marty and Lucy about the situation regarding Jasmine Dupree.  He informed them that they would return when they had located her.  Lucy packed them some food for the road and they left just after lunch.

*
***

The men let themselves into Jasmine Dupree's apartment an hour later with the key that Keni Creswell had given them
.  It was a small, one bedroom apartment, tidy and decorated to give it that homey feeling.  Phoenix and Gabe had barely walked into the living room when they both inhaled sharply and turned to each other.

"Mate
," Gabe growled.

Phoenix nodded and said, "Jasmine Dupree is our
life mate.  We must find her."

J
ackson put his hand on Phoenix’s and Gabe's shoulders and Phoenix felt himself calm immediately.  It was one of Jackson's gifts as an Otherkin, he could control others emotions.  It was a helpful tool at times, coming in very handy like now when the princes’ emotions skyrocketed in scenting their life mate.

Phoenix took a deep breath, again inhaling the scent of his
life mate.  He looked over at Gabe who was trying to calm as well.  "We need to merge and try to find her."

Gabe nodded, he couldn't stop all the emotions swirling around in him
.  They had searched so long for her, had tried to find her in so many places, traveling the globe.  Now they found she was minutes away from them and had possibly been abducted by a human trafficking ring.  He couldn't even let his mind go to what they might be doing to her.  He snapped out of his thoughts when Phoenix placed a hand on his arm.

"Gabe, we need to merge
," Phoenix said to him.

Merging was a gift the Otherkin had to be
able to merge the spirits of life mates.  They were able to connect on a mystical level and once mated, could speak telepathically together.

Phoenix and Gabe moved to the living room, Jackson came in from the bedroom with one of Jasmine's pillows
.  "This one has the strongest scent," he told them as he handed it to Gabe.

Jackson and Cade moved the small coffee table from the center of the living room off to the side
.  Phoenix and Gabe sat down, Indian style, facing each other as they both took the pillow between them.  They closed their eyes and began the merge.  Jackson and Cade positioned themselves in the room to protect their princes while they were in the merge trance.

Phoenix felt the pull immediately to Jasmine
, eternally grateful to find her still alive.  He felt Gabe's shock as well that they had connected so fast to her.  It was as if their spirits were being pulled in by Jasmine's spirit.  They both guessed that she must be sleeping as it was the strongest time for a non-Otherkin to merge because their subconscious was more open.  They were pulled across the space of time to suddenly be in a small park in the city.

‘
Where are we
?’ Phoenix asked.

‘
I'm not sure, this looks familiar
,’ Gabe replied.

‘
Helllllo.  My, aren't you two hot
.’  The men both turned to see Jasmine sitting on a blanket on the grass.

Gabe smiled at her
.  ‘
Thank you.  May we sit with you
?’

‘
Wow, this is new.  I like it.  I have never dreamed of two men, this should
be fun,’ she said as she gestured an invitation to sit with her.

Both men sat on either side of her and she handed them a glass of wine
.  ‘
Drink
?’

Phoenix took the glass and set it down
.  ‘
Jasmine
...’

‘
You know my name already and everything.  Oh, I'm loving this dream.  I hope I remember it, I am not in a happy place right now and need all the boosting I can get,’
she said with a frown.

‘
Where are you?  We would like to find you
,’ Phoenix said.

Jasmine smiled a sad smile
.  ‘
I don't know.  Why do you want to find me?  I'm not lost, I'm right here with you, my two hunky men
.’  She trailed her hand down Gabe's chest.

Gabe took her hand and said,
‘
We are searching for you, baby
.’

‘
Ooh, that is so like the book I was reading!  You are too sexy, both of you.  Maybe that's why I'm dreaming of you two,’
she said.

Phoenix leaned over to her and looked her in the eye
.  ‘
Jasmine, we know you think this is a dream, but we need to know if you can tell us where you are.  Do you remember being at the Luxor?’

She frowned for a moment
.  ‘
Yes, with Keni and Olivia.  Then those two guys took me
.’

‘
Yes, sweetness, and we want you back
,’ Phoenix said.

‘
Can you tell us where you are
?’ Gabe prompted.

‘
No, I don't know.  I'm in a room with no windows and they covered my head when I was brought here,’
she said.  ‘
You must be my knights in shining armor coming to rescue me
.’

Phoenix smiled at her
.  ‘
We are and we want to rescue you
,’ he said, playing into her dream-like state.  ‘
Do you remember anything that will help us find you
?’

‘
Wait.  You two didn't even tell me your names
,’ she said, frowning at them.

‘
I'm Gabriel, but you can call me Gabe,’
Gabe introduced himself and then pointed to his brother.  ‘
This is Phoenix, my brother
.’

‘
Ooh, it just gets better and better.  Brothers.  Yum
,’ Jasmine said and laughed.

Phoenix loved hearing her laugh, it flew right to his heart
.  He promised all three of them silently that he would make sure she never stopped laughing once they had her with them.  He looked over at Gabe and saw he felt the same way.

Suddenly
, there was a vibration under them.  Phoenix and Gabe looked around for a threat, but saw none.

Jasmine put a hand on each of theirs as she saw their surprise
.  ‘
Don't worry about that, it happens often.  I am sleeping on the floor there and feel it happen from time to time
.’

In his physical body, he said out loud to the men, "
Jackson, she doesn't know where she is, but we just felt a vibration under us in her dream state.  It may be a train.  See what's running right now.”  Then he turned to Jasmine.  ‘
Is there anything else you can tell us?’

Jasmine had been sliding her arm around his neck when she pulled back with a puzzled look on her face
.  ‘
What?  This is the first time the man in my dreams doesn't want sex.  Is there something wrong with me?’

Phoenix took her hand in his and kissed it lightly on top
.  ‘
No, honey, there is nothing wrong with you.  We just want to find you in person so we can set you free.  Then we will explore these possibilities
.’