War Bringer (21 page)

“There were two girls there from the Friendship Community. They weren’t allowed to leave. Did you see them?”

“I may have seen one of them.”

“We have to go back and get them.”

“You’re not going anywhere near there ever again. I’ll call Kit on our way home and ask him to keep an eye out for them.”

Kelan helped Fiona off the bed, then wrapped an arm around her waist, trying to support most of her weight himself. They made their way out of the emergency room hall and into the waiting room. Angel was there. He took one look at Fiona, who was walking on legs as unstable as a newborn foal, and made as if he was going to swing her up into his arms. Kelan held a hand out and stopped him—he wasn’t certain how comfortable Fiona was being touched by other men just then, and he didn’t want to find out. He gave Angel a warning look. “She’s okay; walking is good for her—helps get that shit out of her system.”

Angel glared at Kelan in helpless frustration. He turned and walked next to them as they went outside. Angel opened the rear passenger door of the team SUV. Kelan helped Fiona inside and tossed their bags in the front seat.

Fiona leaned forward and touched Angel’s shoulder. “I really am okay, Angel. Just a little queasy.”

He rolled down all of the windows then turned up the heat. He handed her a bottle of water, which Kelan opened for her. “Best just keep washing it through,” Angel said.

Kelan opened the blankets and wrapped them around her. “Let’s go home, Angel.”

Chapter
 
Nineteen

All the girls were awake and waiting in the living room when the three of them arrived at the house. Kelan felt Fiona pull back against him. He thought about making their excuses and getting her out of there as fast as possible, but it occurred to him she might feel more comfortable in the long run if she got her reunion with them over with now. And, truthfully, everyone in the household had been worried sick since she was taken, so they needed to see her just as much.

Mandy came over and wrapped her arms around Fiona. She started to cry all over again. It fucking wrecked him.
 

“Oh, Kelan. God,” Eden said as she waited for her turn to hug Fiona.

“What happened?” Ivy asked. Her eyes were wide with horror as she looked him over.
 

Kelan glanced at all of the women who’d been confined to the house while they tracked down Fiona. “It’s a long story. But we’re here and we’re fine. Kit and the others are at the site down in Colorado where King was holding Fiona. They may be there a while. Lobo’s got his guys there, and there’s a huge police presence, too.”

The good news, which he didn’t yet tell them, was that he didn’t think they would be targeted next. Fiona had been taken because she was King’s daughter. They could probably resume their lives—Ivy at the diner, Remi at the university. Mandy and Eden had their work here. Hope was still in hiding from the WKB, so she wasn’t out and about anyway.
 

“Will you take care of her for a second?” he asked Mandy. “I have to go get something from my room.”
 

Upstairs, he grabbed his smudging stick, then hurried back down. Fiona looked ready to drop. If it weren’t such an important step in cleansing her spirit, he would have postponed the task. In the living room, he held out his hand to her. “Fiona, will you come outside with me?”

She put her hand in his and let him draw her to her feet. On the patio, he lit a sage and white cedar smudge stick, and let it smoke in an abalone shell. “Spread your arms.”

She didn’t question him, didn’t argue, just docilely did as requested. He floated the smoke over her body, feet to head, front to back, all while speaking words he knew she didn’t understand.

“Why are we doing this? Am I impure?” Her voice broke on the last question.

“No, you are not impure. Each of us is surrounded by an energy field. It’s a little sticky, and it keeps some of the energy that passes near it. Smudging helps clear that away, releasing what clings to you but doesn’t belong to you. It will help you regain your own balance.” When he was finished smudging her he smudged himself and then extinguished the stick. “Now we shower.” 

When they came back into the living room, it was empty. He was glad they wouldn’t have to field more questions just then. He wrapped his arm around her waist as he helped her up the stairs.

“Will you let me help you shower?” he asked as they reached her room. 

“I can manage. I think I need to be alone.” She folded her arms in front of her and hunched her shoulders.

Kelan kissed her forehead and nodded. “That works. I’ll take your letters down to Max to hold for Greer. Then I think I’ll have a shower myself.” He didn’t immediately leave. “Are you hungry? Do you want a sandwich? A cup of tea?”

“A cup of tea would be heaven. But Kelan, you don’t have to wait on me. Look at yourself. You are in worse shape than I am.”

“I’ll bring tea when I come back.” He hugged her and was so damned reluctant to let go. 

* * *

Fiona stood in the middle of the big bathroom in her room at Blade’s house. It was hard to get her head around the fact that she was home. Safe. Out of her father’s clutches.
 

Steam from the shower was making her hot in the knit top she wore. She really ought to strip and get in the shower before Kelan came back, but she couldn’t seem to make her arms unfold or feet move. She felt numb. Empty. Like a void. She couldn’t even summon tears.

She didn’t want to shut her eyes for fear the images that she had seen, which now made no sense, would haunt her dreams. The water in the shower ran and ran, creating white noise that droned like the chants that had filled the rotunda.

It hadn’t been statues standing around her and their white and black robes—they’d been people. People had been watching her almost get raped. She blinked, trying to clear her mind, a futile action because the fog was so dense, but she couldn’t let it go.

She kept seeing the satyr who had climbed on top of her, with his horned head and grinning face. It was a memory. Memories were real. They should make sense, but these didn’t. And monsters don’t exist…unless they had the name “King.”
 

What had happened to her? Had the drugs they'd given her distorted everything she’d seen, made her hallucinate? And there were bits that she couldn’t remember. How long had she been on the table? What had happened before Kelan came in and everyone started running?

She was glad the hospital had run a rape kit. At least she could put that out of her mind. Still, that thing had touched her. Kit was there at the end. And Angel and Selena. Had they seen her laid out in her shame on that table?

She was still standing in the center of the bathroom when Kelan returned. He stood at the bathroom door for a moment, then walked over to the shower and shut it off. His hair was wet, and his face newly shaven. His T-shirt hid most of his bruises, which was good, because they were hard to look at; he had them because of her.

* * *

When Kelan returned to Fiona’s bathroom, she was still standing in the middle of the room, fully clothed, arms folded about her. He shouldn’t have left her. This was the bubbly, vibrant, ballsy woman who had waited for him in her closet, waving an ancient Colt pistol at him. She was shattered because of his inability to protect her.

He shut off the shower, then wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her out of the bathroom. He rearranged the pillows on her bed, stacking them so that she could sit up, then flipped back the covers and waited for her to get in. She took off her knit jacket and left it at the foot of the bed. He covered her up, then didn’t know what to do with himself. Should he climb in bed with her? Should he try to get her to talk? Should he just sit quietly with her, guarding her while she slept?

He handed her the cup of tea and a ham and cheese sandwich he’d made for her. She took a bite of the sandwich and a sip of the tea, then set the plate back on her nightstand. He was sitting in her armchair with his feet braced on the bed.

“He looked like a satyr. The guy who tried to rape me—he looked like a satyr.”

“The ketamine cocktail they gave you distorted what you saw. Remember what he looked like in the arena? He wasn’t a satyr. Why don’t you have another sip of tea?”

She didn’t take more tea. Her hands were tightly clasped in her lap. “Those weren’t statues set around the room where they had me on that block, were they?”

“No.”

“Why would they do that? What were they doing to me?”

“It was a ritual of some sort. Why they did it? Who gained from it? I don’t yet know.”

“Did Kit find Ellen and Bryn?”

“No. They searched the entire silo and did not find the girls.”

“There are more tunnels than the ones they could see. I got out by going through the jewelry cabinet in my closet. Maybe they’re hiding in the other tunnels?”

Kelan nodded. “It’s possible. After I meet with Kit and the team in the morning, I’ll go back and look for them.”

Fiona pulled the covers up to her chest. “I’m going to try and sleep now.”

Kelan got up to shut off the lights for her. “No—leave them on.”

“It’s easier to sleep with them off,” Kelan said.

“Yes, but if it’s dark, I might close my eyes. And if I do, I’ll see it all.”

Okay. That was it. That was all he could take. He went around on the other side of the bed and stretched out next to her. He pulled her against his side. “Most of that’s coming down from the ketamine and roofie high. Let your mind go—it’ll begin sorting it out. I’m holding you. I won’t leave you. If nightmares do come, then the moment you open your eyes, you’ll see I’m still with you."

Fiona nestled into him. “This happened because of me. Because I insisted on staying at CSU. Because I’m the spawn of King.”

Kelan’s face was pressed to the crown of her head. He shook his head and sighed. “This happened because of me. Because I failed to keep you safe like I said I would.” He adjusted his hold on her. “I’ve got you. Close your eyes and sleep."

* * *

It was close to two a.m. when the team returned from Colorado. The light was still on in the den. Val poked his head in and saw Owen sitting at his desk. He was writing something by hand. He covered the paper and stood up as they came in.

Val knew that Kit had updated him on the news that Fiona was King’s kid. What Val wasn’t prepared for was the intensity in Owen’s cold eyes.
 

“Tell me. Everything.”

“Can it wait until the morning?” Kit asked. “We’re beat. It’s been a hellishly long few days. We’ll do a full briefing with the team in the morning when Kelan joins us. For now, let’s just leave it that he and Fiona are safe. Lobo’s team is processing the site. And Rocco’s cover with Jafaar is still intact.”

Owen’s face tightened. He nodded. “I’ll wait until the morning.”
 

Val started to follow the guys out of the den, but then he remembered seeing Fiona as Kelan held her. She was going to want her hair back to normal ASAP, otherwise every time she looked in the mirror, she’d be reminded of her abuse. He hadn’t told her or anyone yet, but he was going to make damn sure she got the extensions removed tomorrow. It was a small thing he could do for her. Maybe the only thing. But it was something, anyway.

“Hey,” he said, turning back to Owen. “I’m gonna see if Fiona will let me take her to the salon tomorrow to remove the hair extensions they made her wear. Don’t make a big deal about it and freak her out. She’s already been through enough.”

Owen met his eyes. His nostrils flared. “What did they do to her?”

“Rocco didn’t give you the down-low?”

“He did. I want to hear it from you.”

Val sighed. “They drugged her, then made a spectacle out of what would have been a ritualistic rape—had Kelan and Rocco not gotten there in time.”

Owen didn’t blink. He made a fist and pressed his knuckles against the top of Blade’s desk.
 

“They held the ritual in a special rotunda. There was a pentagram in the tiling on the floor. Someone, maybe King, sat on a throne, watching the proceedings. There was blood on the knife that Kelan threw at him, so we might have a DNA sample. If it matches Fiona’s and Lion’s DNA then it might be King’s.”

The muscles in Owen’s cheeks bunched. “Was she bound?”

“Not physically, but the drugs they gave her paralyzed her.”

“Is she all right?”

Val shook his head. “Honestly, I don’t know. We won’t know for a while.” He drew a long breath and slowly released it. “I’m not sure how an innocent like Fiona can recover from such abuse.” He gestured between them. “You and I, the team, we have armor we’ve built around ourselves. If something gets under it, we know how to deal with it. She had no defenses, O. Nothing. And Kelan is damn near wrecked over it.”

“I’ll talk to Kit. Kelan needs to take the time he needs to deal with this.”

Chapter
 
Twenty

Wynn brought a bouquet of daisies to her grandmother’s room at the palliative care center in Cheyenne Sunday morning. The room smelled of industrial disinfectant, but it was clean and not a horrible place to convalesce. The staff was nice, but they were often spread thin. Wynn frequently helped bathe her grandmother and change her bedding on her twice-weekly visits.
 

She would have had no choice but to continue assisting with her grandmother’s care here, if not for her new job teaching and babysitting Zavi. Now, she could afford to move her to a more expensive facility that had better options for her care and rehabilitation. And she could do it without having to surrender the deed to her grandmother’s house. Just the thought of that made Wynn’s heart ache. That house was the one her grandfather had built for Grams when he came home from the Korean War. It was the house where her mother had been raised, and where Wynn herself had lived after her parents died.