Fire's Touch (The Enlightened Species Book Three) (28 page)

The air rippled again. This time it was Shane who stepped through. What was this, a family reunion? The look on Shane’s face filled Conlon with dread. “Stacey, Johnny’s missing … and so is Mick. We are searching the area, but you need to come back right now.”

What?
Conlon turned an accusatory glare on Miguel. “I didn’t know, I swear.” Miguel’s sincerity made Conlon regret his quick blame.

Conlon apologized to Miguel, gave his brother a quick shoulder embrace, and ported back to his front yard in Mesa with Shane and Stacey.

“What happened?” Conlon demanded of the first person he saw, which happened to be Umbrae pacing his porch. Mattie ran up. From her expression, she already knew the situation.

****

“Where are the boys?” Umbrae had asked, sitting beside Mick at the playground. The nannies snapped to attention with mortified looks on their faces. With a shiver of dread, Mick and Umbrae jumped up and ran side-by-side toward the edge of the energy weave surrounding the property. Harmen sat near the brush line beyond it. Johnny was nowhere to be seen. A group of warriors charged with defending the weave were headed over. Uncaring of the risk to himself, Mick followed Umbrae past the weave. She lifted her son into her arms, searching the area visually for Johnny. Mick’s gut clenched. He dropped his mental shields completely in hopes that Johnny might reach for him.

“Hello, Ten.”
Osiris’s high-pitched voice oozed through his psyche and Mick felt his world slip away. He raised his inner metal shield, locking it completely, leaving the fringe open to his father.

“Where is he?” Umbrae’s voice held genuine concern.

Mick opened his mouth to tell her of Osiris. His father’s next words halted him.
“Unless you want me to open fire with bullets loaded full of caustic acid, I suggest you remain silent of my presence. I have Johnny. The only way you will ever see him alive again is if you do exactly as I say.”

The energy weaves were designed to keep intruders out not keep people in. Umbrae needed to get Harmen through one of the guarded entry points and to safety. “I’ll look for him. Take Harmen to the nannies.” Mick shadowed so the other warriors and Umbrae wouldn’t see him.

She nodded, her gray eyes full of tears as she stared at the spot Mick had just occupied. “I’ll be right back with help. We’ll find him, don’t worry.” Harmen giggled happily as his mother raced off with him in her arms.

Mick had already taken to the sky.
No, you won’t.
Driven by the love for his child, he mourned Mattie already. How would he save Johnny before Osiris killed him? Mick only knew he had to try.

“Go here.”
An image of a ravine floated into his mind.

Mick landed, holding the image in his mind, and ported there. A twig protruding from the steep incline shot pain through his shoulder. Volaticus only ported to known locations specifically to avoid twigs, walls, anything of mass that occupied the same space. Osiris had probably given Mick the location on purpose. With a grunt he yanked the twig from his muscle.

Two of his brothers dropped their shadow on either side of him. Anger ripped through Mick. “Where is my son?” The growled threat behind his words made his brothers glance at each other. Obviously Osiris had not shared that tidbit of information about Johnny with Nine and Seven. “Answer me. Where is he?”

Nine spoke. “Osiris has gone ahead with the boy. We are to take you to him.” He held up a tranquilizer shot with an ivory needle. “I didn’t know you married or that the female had a child, brother. I am sorry.” The apology and sympathy in his brothers hazel gray eyes did not soften the impact of Nine’s statement.

Seven scowled at Nine and Mick with disgust. “I told Sire you were too soft for this mission.” Seven threw a fistful of lead dust at Mick to make shadowing impossible. “Will you surrender or do I need to take you down?”

“Put the needle away.” Mick held his wrists together.

Having been the
capturer
many times, he knew the routine. Nine tucked the needle into a leather pouch at his waist. Porting away and back in moments, this time his brother held platinum/lead cuffs and a hood his brothers would have stashed nearby. Oh, yes, Mick knew the routine well. His brothers would have pre-gathered items containing metal like restraining items, secured SAT-type cell phones, canned rations, and other items probably weeks ago, just waiting for a chance like this. Only organic things shadowed. A snap or small button … maybe, but nothing larger—hence the ivory needle. It drove Osiris crazy that Eros had mastered a metal composition for shadowing that Osiris had obviously still been unable to duplicate.

Nine cuffed Mick’s wrists, leaving them tight enough that Mick could not get them off, though loose enough to not pinch. Seven held up a photograph of a shoreline; a smaller photo inlayed within showed an aerial map of Chili with an X on the bottom tip of the continent. Mick met Seven’s hostile expression with a single nod. His brothers each grasped one of Mick’s arms, linking them. To port while touching, they had to do it as a unit. One goes, they all go; one deviates location, they all deviate location. Mick played with the idea of folding the port back to the Human Integration Campus. As the middle porter he held the directionality of the destination. If Osiris actually gave a shit about Nine or Seven, he might do just that.

“Try it. I dare you,”
Osiris challenged Mick’s brief thought, reminding Mick that he was monitoring Mick’s peripheral psyche. Much as Mick wanted to shield entirely, remaining open should Johnny reach for him was too important. Stacey could reach Johnny. The maternal bond is a powerful thing.
“Oh, don’t you worry, I have a plan for that, too.”

Mick did something he’d never thought to do before. He pushed back at his fathers bond and learned instantly that Osiris had drugged Johnny, tapped his son’s tiny vein to port, but didn’t take enough of Johnny blood to create a bond or put his son in danger anemically … yet. Osiris roared with fury and shoved Mick from his mind.

Mick felt physically ill from the black-ooze feel of his father’s emotions. His father was full of narcissistic, sanctimonious, psychotic-driven darkness.

Mick turned to Nine. “Before we port, you should know. Johnny is my
biological
son. Hulven males are not sterile; it just takes the right female.” He gained a small satisfaction when Osiris growled with displeasure at Mick’s disclosure. Mick turned to the disbelieving smirk on Sevens face. “If I live long enough, I will tell you how and why. You have my word.” He was a dead man anyway; giving his brothers a reason to leave Osiris might be the last thing he did.

Seven spit into the dirt. “Your word means nothing, traitor. You lie about this to spare your miserable life. We port now.”

Nine’s expression held an entirely different reaction. “One, Two, Three.” Mick and his brothers ported through the folded space as the whirl of helicopter blades neared the ravine.

Mick stepped through and saw waves lapping within a few inches of his feet. The air temperature was easily sixty degrees colder than the Arizona desert they left behind. Farther down the beach, several speedboats were docked off of a steeped pier. One broke free to speed out into the ocean. Mick caught sight of Osiris and the halo of black curls held by a short-haired female within the boat.
Johnny,
he thought as Nine slipped the lead hood over his head, negating Mick’s psychic ability. Seven tugged his arm Mick stumbled clumsily over the rocky shore toward the pier. Where the hell was Osiris taking them?

Chapter Twenty-Three

Stacey’s hand clenched at her stomach, which knotted painfully as she listened to Umbrae recap what had happened. She sought Johnny through her maternal bond and found emptiness. Even in his sleep, she could sense his dreams. “Conlon … I can’t feel him.”
What if …
“I CAN’T FEEL HIM!”

Eros, with Aymee running behind him, skidded to a stop at the porch. “They’ve been taken. My son’s found a stash of items buried just beyond the energy weaves. It’s something shadowers do when stalking targets. Osiris and his son’s have probably been watching this place since Mick arrived.”

Stacey felt her heart flutter in her chest. “But, I can’t
feeeeeeel
Johnny.”

Eros set a heavy but comforting hand to her shoulder. His silver eyes, full of compassion, reflected her image. “Stacey, Osiris would have tranquilized Johnny, not killed him. I promise you, I know my nephew. An
Elven
child of his bloodline is something he has desperately wanted for eons. Females have the ability to release an Elven fetus’s energy and spirit in vitro. Because of that, Osiris’s young are Hulven and, to my knowledge, males.”

Stacey cleaved to Eros’s reassurance, her lifeline of hope, and leaned into Conlon’s hard chest. His arms wrapped around her waist from behind; otherwise Stacey knew she’d be crumbled on the ground.
Taken … kidnapped …
Every horror Stacey could imagine flashed through her mind. The sound of a helicopter lifting from far into the desert had her head snap up.
Johnny.

The small cluster of people who had gathered was already on the move with hard wing flaps as the Volaticus filled the sky. Stacey saw Mattie and other Tellus sinking below the surface for their quickest means of travel. Aymee, flanked by Aquaties, ran flat out like blurs of lights.

“Stay here.” Conlon started after the others.

“No. Damn it, he’s my son!” Stacey shimmied out of her dress and extended her wings, wearing only panties.

“What if we’re wrong? Someone has to stay here,” Conlon reasoned.

He hit the air like a bullet. She knew he was right, though part of her wanted to find her son and then wring Conlon’s neck for being right. Her cell phone rang inside the house. Stacey dashed through the door, praying it was news. The call came up “unknown.” “Did you find him!”

“If you mean Johnny, he isn’t lost.” The high male voice had the kind of lilt that raised the hair on Stacey’s neck.

Stacey took a long, deep breath as her fear deepened and called on the other emotion the voice stirred in her. Anger. “What do you want? Where is Johnny?”

“Good to know your concern is not for my traitorous son.” The slimy voice that could only belong to Osiris seemed amused. “I have what
I
want. The question is, what do you want, and what are you willing to do to get it?”

Stacey’s felt the steel doors of the breeding cage slam, the cries of females in adjacent cells. “I will do whatever you tell me to.”

“I’m glad to know my grandson’s mother is at least intelligent. The helicopter is a ruse to give you a few minutes to pack quickly, and
warmly.
Leave your phone and fly south. Someone will meet up with you at some point. A child needs his mother, Stacey, especially an Elven child. If you are followed, this offer is void.” The call ended.

Stacey looked north out the back window where Conlon and the others had gone for just an instant before grabbing a notebook and flying to the top of the stairs. She wrote a single-word message for Conlon. In minutes she was packed and flying low to the ground on a southern course away from the male she loved while continuing to reach for the her son through the hollowness of her maternal bond.

High above the shifting sands of the Imperial dunes outside of Yuma, Stacey heard a long, high-pitched whistle. With her hearing, she tracked the sound over a dune. Standing in the center of the sand bowl beyond was a bare-chested male, his dark hair shining under the hot desert sun, his arms folded as he watched her land. Every inch of his face, neck and upper chest was covered in an intricate tattoo. Eyes so dark in color they looked black watched her descend intently.

“Where is my son?” She shot at him the second her feet touched down. The male lifted the corner of his lip in a smirk. His eyes traveled her body.
Try it, buddy?
The paths Miguel had just helped her navigate to control her ability were instantly put to the test. She wanted to incinerate that look off her escort’s face and then felt foolish when he stepped up and tapped the bulge of money in her front pocket before bending to pat her down, beginning at her ankles. Stacey stood rigid while the male searched her thoroughly with a detached professionalism. When he was done, she handed him her bag. He smirked again before quickly leafing through her clothing, items for Johnny, and the fifty-thousand dollars inside. Apparently satisfied, he shoved it back at her.

Without a word, the male lifted a heavy bag from the sand next to him onto his shoulder, extended his wings, and took off. Stacey’s novice flying skills struggled to keep up with the fast-moving switchback pattern of the male. At one point she lost sight of him completely. Panic nearly immobilized her until the male came from behind to fly alongside her.

“You are not a strong flier. No wonder it took you forever to get here. I’d almost left without you.” His voice startled her. “Give me your bag.”

Maybe she could sway this guy. “Thank you, that is very kind.” She smiled brightly at him.

He took the bag and snorted. “I’m not being nice. We’re late. If you don’t keep up this time, I’m not turning back for you.” Effortlessly he surged ahead of her again.

“Why the hell can’t we just port?” she called after him. The male never looked back. Asshole. The memory of how everyone but Mick refused to speak with her in the breeding lab returned.

Even without her bag weighing her down, Stacey had trouble keeping up. She suspected the male slowed his pace despite the threat he made. She was pretty sure they neared Acapulco, Mexico when the male landed in a grove of lime trees. He cut a few of the fruits in half and handed them to her.

“You need to cover your scent.”

Stacey took the fruit and rubbed the juice over her exposed skin while the male peeled another one, discarded the meaty center on the ground, and extended the peels to her palm up. “What do you want me to do with those?”

He rolled his eyes. “Tuck them into your clothing.” The annoyance at her ineptitude flared a mirroring annoyance in her, but she snatched the peels and put the rinds into her pockets.