Conrad, p.7
Conrad, page 7
Kylo relaxed into the seat, the tension easing as he appeared to consider the question seriously while he ate his first mouthful of sausage. “Nothing about what she’s doing now makes sense to me. Or at least not in connection with that house. Why is she hiding in there? At least we’re assuming that’s where she is, although I saw no damn sign of her in all the time I spent in that place. Assuming she is, is it ‘cause Duron found her home in the woods, and she’s worried an assassin could easily find her again?” He scratched his jaw before taking a sip of coffee.
Conrad waited him out, letting him get his thoughts out.
“Although that doesn’t make sense ‘cause she could be tracked to the house, too. Would you want to stay in a place that reeks of death? Is it the connection with… Devil, she’s after? What are we missing here? Magically, she’s powerful, yet she can’t find what she’s looking for. Why is that?”
Conrad met Kylo’s gaze easily. “Where they are has wards with magic stronger than anything she’s got in her arsenal, for sure.”
“Who’s that to protect? Him or us?”
“Everyone.” Conrad could feel his mate processing and he felt it, the moment Kylo understood Devil—James was no longer a threat to anyone.
The nod when it came was slow. “I see.”
Conrad couldn’t resist and came in quickly, giving Kylo a hard kiss that got a groan of approval before he eased back and witnessed his mate’s lust-filled eyes. “If you keep doing that, I’ll be taking a sick day.”
Conrad’s chuckle was deep and dirty. “I could live with that.”
“Behave,” Kylo said once more, with little to no conviction behind it.
Only Conrad understood Kylo was a man of honor, and throwing a sickie to have sex wouldn’t, in the long run, make his mate happy. So he behaved and changed the topic back to what they were discussing. “Selina, how much involvement has she had in James organization that you’ve found?
A frown appeared quickly. “The paperwork we found in the office and safe we broke into, nothing connected to Selina. From everything I’ve seen, I’d say there was nothing to point to her being involved with… James.”
Conrad swallowed the mouthful of delicious food and wiped his lips with the napkin. “Yet, she’s involved up to her pretty little neck. My senses are never wrong, and that’s what they are telling me after yesterday’s little show. It seems Selina likes the dramatics.”
Kylo, who’d cleared his plate in record time, eyed the food Conrad had hardly made inroads to. Lifting the plate, he moved half the remaining food to Kylo’s plate, getting a feeling of approval from his mate that warmed Conrad right to his core.
“Thank you.” He hesitated a second, then came forward and nuzzled into Conrad’s neck and placed a chaste kiss there before returning his attention to the food. “She was never prone to them before.”
Kylo spoke around a mouthful of food, making Conrad grin as he ate the remaining food left on his plate, giving some thought to what Kylo had said. When both plates were cleared, and they had a fresh coffee, Conrad twisted a little on his seat, hooking his free arm over the back of Kylo’s chair, his fingers running up and down Kylo’s arm below his T-shirt sleeve. “Do you think her previous behavior was an act?”
“What do you mean, an act?” Kylo pushed a little closer into Conrad’s touch.
“Think about it. They had to have taught her the same as the other assassins. Or that’s what makes sense to me, otherwise, she would be dead. The scientists wouldn’t have cared she was a girl, only in what her abilities were.”
“Go on,” Kylo encouraged when Conrad paused to think about what he’d witnessed, what Nico and Teilo, Ben’s mate’s had experienced at the hands of the trainers and scientists in the jungle.
“We are expensive assets. They created her in a test tube from James’ DNA for a purpose. They can manipulate DNA to make—”
“Fuck, created… you mean they wanted a girl!” Kylo’s alarm came across clearly in their link, along with his distress.
Conrad was sorry for causing his mate so much stress. “Yes. That’s exactly what I think.”
“To what end?” Kylo questioned, his anguish increasing.
“Manipulation? You tell me. I’d heard that she’s beautiful. Delicate. Folks just want to look after her. Protect her. Are those her assassin skills? Slip under everyone’s radar, gain your trust, and then use you?”
Kylo’s skin was ashen as a shaky hand picked up the mug of coffee, and he drank deep as if to rid himself of a nasty taste in his mouth. “That’s what she did to us!”
“Clever of her and those who trained her, then. No one would suspect.”
“No one fucking did until it was too damn late!” The scowl aimed at Conrad, he found just as attractive as Kylo’s smile.
“Exactly. A perfect little assassin in the disguise of a vulnerable female with no voice. Do we even know that she can’t speak for real? Did the guy who took her in even get her checked out?”
“It’s too late to ask him now. Duron killed him.”
Conrad kept his amusement to himself at the way Kylo wanted to kick his cage brother in the ass for that. “Is there any way to get access to hospital records? It might be a place to start while we wait for her to make her next move. Having as much information on her background would help us figure out what they trained into that pretty little head of hers.”
Before Kylo could answer his cell phone rang. He reached into his pocket, and another scowl appeared.
“What?”
“Felix! He’s probably pissed I took his SUV.” Kylo’s sigh was heavy as he accepted the call.
Conrad’s thoughts drifted as he stroked Kylo’s arm and recalled just how good it was to hold Kylo all night long. It had to be one of the best experiences in Conrad’s life. And he couldn’t wait to do it again.
How long would Kylo need to stay at the police station?
The sudden tension pouring off Kylo got Conrad tuning in to his mate’s thoughts. What he found was fear. A deep in the gut kind that stole his breath as he met Kylo’s terrified gaze.
“What’s happened?”
He handed the cell phone to Conrad with a trembling hand. Conrad took it and pressed it to his ear. “Felix, what’s going on?”
A shiver ran through his mate. Vulnerability came through, and then panic as Felix answered. “Our parents… Selina has kidnapped our parents!”
Chapter Twelve
Kylo
Most of the drive back to the house, Kylo was doing his level best to keep his breakfast down and his eyes on the road. All he could think about was what Conrad had said the previous day, after he’d been shot. That Selina—the woman he’d once thought about having a relationship with—had told Conrad that they would pay.
At the time, when Conrad related what Selina’s supposed voice said to him and his brothers, Kylo had imagined she’d meant to magically attack him, his mate, or his brothers directly. In a million years, he never would have believed she would touch his parents. His mom loved Selina and had always treated her kindly.
“Apparently, Felix got a text from your mom,” Conrad said quietly as Kylo forced the SUV around corners too tight for speed. “The text appeared happy—expressing surprise that Selina had sent a car for her and your dad at the airport—but your mom was expecting to be home in less than an hour when she sent the text. That was two hours ago. Did you even know they were coming home today?”
Shaking his head, Kylo slowed the SUV as he reached the gates to the family homestead. “I’ve been busy. Distracted by the mess with Devil and then with you. Then Mom stopped texting me her comings and goings a couple of years ago, because I’ve always been too busy to answer. How the hell could I have been too damn busy for Mom?” Pulling the SUV to a stop, he turned off the engine so quickly the key almost snapped in the ignition. “Why would Selina do this?”
“You can ask her when we find her.” Conrad got out of the passenger seat, but instead of coming around the vehicle, he started tugging off his clothes.
“What the hell are you doing? We don’t have time for that shit.” Kylo cursed the way his body responded.
“We need to get to the death house,” Conrad said calmly as he pushed off his pants, exposing his muscled legs and butt. “Dragon flight is faster than any car. When I shift, climb on, and hold tight around my neck.”
“But my brothers…” Kylo wavered. His brothers would need him to soothe them, protect them, and come up with a plan to find and thwart Selina once and for all. Something sensible that required copious amounts of talking. Damn it. There was a dragon on his mom’s immaculate lawn for the second time in two days, and the need to save his parents was higher on his list of things to do than anything else.
Scooping up his mate’s clothes—Conrad was not meeting his mom naked. Kylo scrambled onto the dragon’s back just as Mao came running out of the house. “We’re going to start tracking that bitch from the death house,” Kylo yelled at his incredulous brother. “Get the boys and meet us there—bring every freaking weapon you can find.”
“So much for talking things out or making a plan,” Mao muttered, but Conrad had clearly decided actions spoke louder than words, and Kylo yelled as the dragon’s wings spread and he took to the skies.
Fucking hell. Kylo had a mental image of his cat, tense and scared, clinging on by his claws as the air whooshed around his ears. It took a bit of fiddling because Kylo didn’t want to drop Conrad’s clothes in the jungle foliage below. He learned that Conrad’s pants made an excellent form of harness around the dragon’s neck, and while he got the impression the dragon was laughing at him through their bond. Kylo leaned over, holding on as best he could, scanning the jungle floor for signs of life.
There were none. And that right there told Kylo magic was at work. On normal days, the jungles came filled with life. As the dragon skimmed the trees, there were no signs of birds, insects or any animal life that usually lived among the vegetation. The closer they got to the death house, the more anxious Kylo became. That edginess that Conrad had identified as a ward, compelling him to stay away from the death house, was ten times stronger now, permeating the air and making his skin crawl.
As the house came into view, Kylo could feel the magic pushing against him—literally pushing him away. Suddenly, there was a loud pop. Kylo yelled as invisible forces thumped his chest, forcing him backward. He grabbed at the pants he’d been using to brace himself and fell… fuck, I’m falling!
Kylo’s cat scrambled to get free, but Kylo was damned if he was dying in his cat form—he’d likely end up on the jungle floor fucking naked. Just as the thought registered, there was a whoosh, and the dragon was beneath him—wings spread wide to catch his fall.
“Damn it—we should’ve taken the car.” Kylo was crying, clinging to scales, his mind desperately trying to process his relief. “Put me down. On the ground. I need… I need…”
Conrad landed on the lawn by the death house, and Kylo almost fell a second time getting to the ground. “Oh, my gods, Oh, my gods, Oh, my fucking gods.” If he’d been alone, Kylo would’ve kissed the grass. Instead, he jumped to his feet, glaring at the now naked Conrad.
“I heard a fucking pop and then you dropped me.” He pointed to the sky. “From fucking up there. You dropped me.”
“Actually, the wards pushed you off my back.” Conrad was coming closer, his hand outstretched. “My animal spirits can withstand magic to a certain degree, and that pop you heard was my body breaching the actual ward, which is a lot bigger and stronger than it was yesterday. What I hadn’t foreseen, and I accept responsibility for that, is that you didn’t have the same ability to get through the ward, which is why you fell. In my defense, I’ve never had a passenger before, and I caught you before you fell too far.”
“Yes. Well. Clearly I got through it, now—maybe falling to certain death does something to the ward,” Kylo huffed.
Conrad was right, and if the assassin was going to be in the habit of always being right, it could get annoying. “We haven’t got time for any snuggles or anything else you might be thinking of. We’ve got to find my parents.”
“I was actually reaching for my pants.” Conrad plucked them out of Kylo’s hands. “Good skills in holding onto them and my boots, Mon Bebe. I’m impressed.”
Flustered, Kylo brushed past his mate, stalking towards the house. He already knew there would be nothing in the ballroom or whatever the killing room was officially known as. He also knew, thanks to his cat, who was still rattled from the falling incident, that neither his parents nor Selina were in the house.
“We’ll have to go to the airport and try tracking them from there,” he muttered as he strode through the other rooms in the house, Conrad matching his strides. Sitting rooms, a huge formal dining room with a giant table, and an office space he’d already been through with a fine-toothed comb. “I don’t think they’ve been here at all.”
Kylo came to a stop outside the library, and then dropped to the ground, sniffing the floor, taking care not to actually touch the area where the scent he was looking for was the strongest.
“You getting something, Mon Bebe?”
Sitting back on his heels, Kylo looked up at his mate. “Back when Roiu first found Selina, he used to tell us how fascinated she was with the magical books he had collected. Roiu was another cat shifter, but he had a morbid curiosity, I suppose you’d call it for other paranormal beings—especially magic users. I never saw those books, but the force of the magic that threw me off your back… it got me thinking. Devil…” he stopped. Swallowed. And then said, “When I checked this house after the carnage, the library was in pristine condition, and it seemed James had the same fascination with magic that Roiu had and noted in Selina.”
“Which makes sense,” Conrad said, nodding. “And you’re sniffing the floor because…?”
“You don’t have her scent. I do. She hid behind her wards yesterday, and you only heard a female voice coming from a man’s body. Not actually Selina herself. You know what it’s like with the way we scent out our prey, food, or even mates. Every smell is unique and almost impossible to describe specifically. I wanted to check that Selina’s hasn’t changed in some way. She was here this morning.” Kylo waved at the floor area he’d been sniffing. “You can pick up her scent from here.”
“And we couldn’t sniff a chair, or a book, or something similar instead?” Conrad got down on his knees and took in the scents from the floor, despite his question.
“Books and upholstery absorb all kinds of smells from the air, and they accumulate over time, which would make it difficult to get a clean scent. The floor is marble—it doesn’t absorb anything. That scent right there is pure Selina.”
“That’s smart thinking, Mon Bebe, and I will be able to use that smell to track that woman and your parents down.” Conrad got up, holding out his hand, which Kylo took as he stood up too. Although, instead of heading back outside, Conrad pulled him close.
“Just take a minute,” Conrad suggested. “You’ve had another two shocks, and our day has barely started. Lean on me for one minute, and then we’ll find them.”
Kylo sank into the embrace, nestling his head in Conrad’s neck, breathing slowly and deeply.
“I know you’ll find this difficult to believe, my strong and capable mate, but your parents will be safe with Selina. They won’t be able to get free without our help, I should imagine. They will be safe.”
Kylo stiffened. That was not what he expected to hear. “How can you even say that? She’s a trained assassin, just like you, and her brothers and her father before her. You, more than anyone, have to know what she is capable of.”
“That’s right,” Conrad agreed quietly. “Which is why I believe Selina won’t hurt your parents. You see, the trainers, the scientists, the council members who were in on the scheme—all of those evil people—every last one of them was terrified that the killers they’d created would turn on them.”
Kylo thought that was a fair enough concern. It was like owning any wild animal capable of tearing a person apart—eventually that animal would turn on the hand that fed them, especially a cruel hand.
“There was a failsafe in their training methods,” Conrad continued. “They taught us to fight, maim, and defend ourselves just for the right to survive. But part of the program included a form of aversion therapy, I suppose you can call it, when it came to taking a life. I saw so many lost boys, as Marvin calls people like me, killed because they didn’t have those restraints, and they turned on people for no reason.
“That aversion therapy is why we assassins can be in a group of people and not just go on a bloody rampage because someone bumped our drink. We cannot kill without a reason. We will not kill without a reason.” Conrad went to say more, but then he snapped his mouth shut.
“What?” Kylo pushed. “I can see there’s something else. What is it?”
Kylo’s chin was tilted up, supported by Conrad’s solid finger, so he met his mate’s eyes. “I think the reason they subjected us to aversion training was in part because of James. It’s just a hunch, and this information has to stay between you and me, and no one else, not even your parents or brothers. From what I can gather, James is over a hundred years old—he’s likely one of the very few assassins left from earlier training efforts. From the brief things Duron and Beaumont told us, and what I saw…”
“When you saw him with Wyatt,” Kylo prompted when Conrad hesitated again.
“Exactly.” Conrad nodded. “It’s my belief that James has skated on the edge of madness for a very long time. I saw that for a brief second in his eyes. It would not surprise me to learn that James didn’t escape but rather killed all of his trainers, the scientists, and everyone else associated with his original abduction. From what Todd Thalassa has found in older records concerning the assassin training program, none of those safeguards I was trained with had been put in place until a lot later.”
