Forever, page 29
“You heard me. I’ve bonded with her—not that you’d understand that kind of thing as a human.”
Human? Daniel narrowed his eyes. “What the hell are you talking about.”
Blade got down on his haunches and stared through the flames. “Your woman says the lab under Deer Mountain is working on drugs to save your life. Is that true?”
Daniel put up a forefinger. “Can we not refer to her like that, thanks. And yes, it is.”
“But you haven’t taken them, why?”
“Too much to lose. Or so I thought.”
“You’re already dying.”
“Yeah, so time is really fucking important. Especially with the one I love—loved, I mean. Fuck.” Daniel rubbed his face. “You any closer to putting a gun to my head? If we could move that along, that would be great, thanks—”
“You should try the drugs, Daniel.”
“Like I’m taking advice from you about anything?”
“She’d be worth it. Time with a woman like her—it would be worth any risk.” Before Daniel cut in, the guy kept going: “Fight for her, Daniel. You need to fight. Do whatever you can to stay with her. It’ll be worth it.”
Daniel sat up, the crackling of the fire seeming to increase. Or maybe that was just his temper flaring.
“Don’t tell me what I need while you’re fucking the woman I love.”
Maybe if he repeated the words enough times, he could jam everything about her into his past, make her something in his rear view—so that it didn’t hurt as much.
“Look into my eyes,” Blade commanded.
“Fuck you—”
The instant Daniel’s stare was caught and held, the images started: He saw a progression of them, starting with the perspective of Lydia from a distance, through some trees—and Daniel felt an instant attraction, sure as if he were the one looking at her. Even though he wasn’t. These were someone else’s memories. Blade’s.
He saw it all. From when Blade had first seen her… to later, when he’d become transfixed by her and one of the biomechanical soldiers showed up… to when she had protected him… to the moment his sister, Xhex—
“Alex Hess is your sister,” Daniel breathed.
And then there were other memories. From inside the den with the hidden spring.
Of Lydia telling the guy she was happily married.
“Why are you doing this?” Daniel whispered as the man’s face came back into real-time view.
“I don’t know. It goes against my nature.”
Blade straightened back up. And then he looked to the heavens as if he were searching for meaning in the stars that shone, bright and cold, above them both.
“Maybe it’s because she was never mine to begin with. She’s yours, all the way. Always has been.”
“We’re not married,” Daniel whispered. “She lied about that.”
That cruelly intelligent face shifted back to him. “Strikes me as the kind of thing you should rectify before the Grim Reaper shows up on your doorstep, but that’s me. And I don’t care what you do with what I showed you. Destiny has always been subject to free will—so if you want to complicate this by distrusting me or my motives, that’s your prerogative. Frankly, I hope you do fuck it up. Because if you don’t? That extraordinary female will no doubt live out the rest of her life as some kind of recluse, forever pining for her one true love.”
Blade stepped back. “Be well, Daniel. Your business and mine end here tonight. I will not pursue any actions against that lab, providing they harm none of either of my kind. Or that of your wife’s. I protect what I once failed to defend. It is the only way I’ve been able to live with myself.”
With that, the man bowed—
And disappeared right into thin air.
Left on his own, Daniel stared into the darkness… and had to wonder whether or not he was dreaming.
THIRTY-NINE
TAP. TAP. TAP.
The sounds were muffled, and at first, Lydia dismissed them as the start of another dream, another descent into the madness that seemed to await her whenever her eyes closed.
But they continued.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Sitting up, she pushed her hair out of her eyes. Then she looked over to the glass sliding door. At first, the shape on the far side terrified her—another mechanical soldier, sent to kill them all!
Except no. She recognized the bald head.
“Daniel,” she cried out.
Scrambling through the messy blankets, she exploded across the room and fumbled with the lock. As she yanked open the plate glass panel, the cold air barged in as if it were sick of the great outdoors and looking to chill a new territory.
And there he was. Shivering, flushed—and looking at her as if he had been gone a lifetime.
It felt like he had been away that long.
“Daniel, you’re wrong about everything—”
“I know—”
“What?” She stepped back. “Wait, come inside, it’s freezing out there.”
His teeth were chattering and his lips blue, and she wrapped him in the duvet before he could argue he didn’t need it.
“Oh, God, Lydia… I’m such a fucking fool.” He captured her face in his hands. “I was a terrible, terrible fool and I’m so sorry—”
“Wait, I don’t understand—”
“Blade came to see me.” Daniel wrapped the comforter more tightly around himself, took her hand, and drew her over to the bed so they could sit down together. “I’m so sorry. When I walked into that cave, my emotions got the better of me. I should have listened to you, but I just… I wasn’t thinking straight. It’s pretty goddamn unforgivable—”
“I swear, that wasn’t what was going on. He’d been injured. Xhex brought a doctor to him, and I went there to see if he needed anything. I was naked under the robe because I traveled in wolven form out from this house for safety’s sake. There was nothing sexual in any of it.”
“I know.”
Lydia blinked. And prayed she wasn’t dreaming this all. But then she got pissed. “So he told you. And you believe him and not me—”
“He showed me.” Daniel touched his temple. “He let me see inside his brain somehow, I don’t know what he did or how. But you’re right, I should have just listened to you, and I go cold when I think what would have happened if he hadn’t come and found me.”
“Where were you,” she asked.
“At a campsite about fifty miles from here.”
“But… how did he find you?”
“He’s my former boss. He’s the head of the Federal Bureau of Genetics. And I need to find C.P. He has a message for her. He’s dropping her lab from his list of things to do.”
“Your boss?” she murmured.
“Former boss. That’s one of the reasons I jumped to the conclusion I did. It would be just in his wheelhouse to do something like that in retaliation for me not following through on my mission—not that it’s any excuse. I was an ass—”
“I lied to you.” She lowered her head. “So what you thought is not unreasonable. I lied first, Daniel. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Yeah,” he said softly. “I still don’t really understand why you couldn’t tell me about everything.”
Tucking her legs up to her chest, she shrugged. “It was the start of my goodbye to you. Selling my stuff, closing up the WSP, giving my car away, getting out of my rental agreement. That was all part of your death, you see, and I felt like if I talked to you about it, I was starting the process—and I couldn’t bear that. But I shouldn’t have lied to you. I should have had more courage—”
“I love you.”
Lydia looked over at him and wiped her eyes. “Oh, Daniel… I love you, too.”
* * *
Sitting beside his woman, Daniel heard her say the words, but not with his ears. No, the magic she spoke resonated much deeper than that. And when she reached for him, he went to her like they were out of time: in a desperate rush.
Putting his arms around her, he drew her up against him, and she held him back, and they…
Kissed.
Their meeting of the mouths was the kind of thing that happened when you were trying to figure out whether the nightmare was over—and the truth was, he knew that this was just an intermission, at best. But he had learned something recently.
Don’t argue with the gifts that you were given.
Maybe they weren’t precisely what you wanted. Maybe they weren’t even anywhere near what you’d prayed for. But to turn down a blessing just because your à la carte wasn’t what you had demanded? What a way to disrespect fate.
Assuming this was all real—and it sure as shit felt that way—he was going to take this respite, this restart, and cherish it for as long as it lasted.
Daniel eased back and brushed a lock of hair off Lydia’s cheek. “I’m sorry about all the drama.”
And God, didn’t that cover more than just what had happened in that cave.
They talked some more. Were silent some more. And spoke once again.
And then there were no words.
Just love.
Tucking her against him, so that her head was under his chin, Daniel stared across their bedroom. Deep in his chest, he had the instinct that this was the eye of the hurricane.
The storm was going to come back for them. Though they were reunited, the churning wheels of destiny were still grinding against them, and the winds of suffering were going to batter them once again.
But was anything more powerful than them being together?
No, he thought. Not even death.
It was with that conviction that he closed his eyes. “Shh…” he whispered. “We’re safe.”
“Yes,” she said softly. “We’re together so we’re safe.”
The next thing he knew, he was stretching out with her pressed against him. Soon, he was falling asleep, and so was she. Maybe they would meet in their dreams.
Practice for when he wasn’t here any longer.
Forever, in the mind, in the heart… in the soul.
EPILOGUE
THE NEXT MORNING, Cathy Phalen sat at the desk in her study and watched on her computer monitor as Daniel drove Lydia off on his Harley. Neither of them were wearing helmets, so the glow on their faces, which had nothing to do with the cold, was easy to see.
Struck by the moment, she followed their progression as they passed in and out of the views of various cameras, the images shifting, the reality staying the same. Diagnosis: true love. And she was happy for them.
As her hand went to her lower abdomen, they passed through the final checkpoint at her main front gate… then they roared off. The last video she had of them was of Lydia turning her head to the side and laying her cheek on Daniel’s back.
She hoped they would enjoy the good days ahead, however many of them there were. Whatever had happened, whatever conflict had occurred, had clearly resolved itself—and she wouldn’t be surprised if she had to talk to Chef about a wedding cake.
Gus would have been great at that ceremony, as a best man, she thought. Maybe even the officiant. Then again… Gus was great at everything.
Tucking her feet under her seat, she pulled his fleece even closer to her. She had expected him to call her when he received the document she’d asked Daniel Joseph to witness and had one of her guards deliver, but he hadn’t. Perhaps he was getting his own legal counsel to look it all over. That’s what she would have done if she were in his position—that’s what she would have advised him to do. If he’d asked her for advice.
She really wanted to hear his voice. One last time.
She really wanted to tell him that he’d been right. She had been too rich for too long, and had gotten in the habit of everything—and everyone—going her way.
And she really wanted to explain that she had taken care of Rob’s ashes properly, and placed them in the back meadow in a very good spot—which was a strange confession, and maybe proof that she hadn’t yet learned the full lesson of not using people to her own advantage. Why would Gus want to hear that she’d paid her respects to the father of her child?
God… she missed him. Somewhere, along the line, her business partner had become so much more to her, but she had been too busy being a created persona that the real person underneath had lost out on someone who had been one of a kind…
Her eyes were still on the monitor, on a static black-and-white image of the landscape across the county road from her gates, when her cell phone rang.
Reaching out without looking, she turned the screen over. And rolled her eyes.
But if she didn’t answer, he was just going to keep dialing on his end.
Swiping to accept the call, she said, “I already told you, Gunnar. You need to talk to Gus. He owns Vita-12b now, not me. I even sent you a copy of the goddamn paperwork.”
She thought again of that document. Gus had told her she needed to appoint someone to take over her business affairs—so she had. Who else could she have left Vita to? And the fact that he had accepted another job before he got the envelope she’d sent him had been a funny punch line, hadn’t it.
“I would talk to Dr. St. Claire,” that European accent drawled, “if I could. But he’s missing.”
Cathy frowned and sat up properly. “I’m sorry?”
“When I couldn’t reach him following our conversation, even after many, many phone calls, I sent a representative to his address. His car was in the drive, but the back door was open. My agent went inside—there had been a disturbance in the front room. Blood and scuff marks on the carpet.”
Cold terror tightened Cathy’s throat. And then she felt an anger that went into her marrow. “Gunnar, so help you God, if you are fucking—”
“I want to buy that drug. You know this. Why would I harm the owner of record—and then call you to tell you about it? No offense, Phalen, but you are stupid if you believe that.”
Her hand tightened on her phone. “I’ll find him.”
For them both.
“Good luck,” Rhobes murmured. “Nasty business we’re in. I’ve been a target myself of late, and it is not an enjoyable experience. Call me when you have him—or his body. If it’s the latter, perhaps you and I have something to talk about again.”
The call was ended and Cathy shot to her feet.
Her first instinct was to call for her guards.
But she followed through on the thought that came after that.
* * *
Daniel slowed the speed of the Harley as he and Lydia came up to the side entry of the apple orchard. After a series of humps created by truck tires, and then a stretch of molar-rattling vibration over uneven ground, they hooked up with the road that ran down the eastern side of the field. Given the season, the leaves were all off the craggy branches, but he loved the view.
Then again, with the sun on his face, his bike on a roar, and his woman on the back with her arms around him? He could have taken them on a tour of a municipal sewage plant and still thought everything was beautiful.
When the road made a fat circle and changed directions to intersect with another route, he took them deep into the acreage, slowing to a stop when they could see nothing in any direction except for the apple trees.
After he cut the engine and threw out the kickstand, he tilted the bike and let it set itself on the packed dirt of the lane.
Lydia got off first, and as the wind caught her loose hair, the waves of blond and brown feathered over her features. He was the one who tucked them back behind her ears, and then she leaned in toward his mouth.
The kiss was not brief. And when they separated, he was breathing a little heavier. So was she.
“This is such an incredible place,” she murmured as she looked around.
“Beautiful,” he said as he stared at her rosy cheeks and her bright eyes. “Best view I’ve ever seen.”
“You’re not looking at the trees,” she teased.
“Are there trees out here? I hadn’t noticed.”
Lydia laughed and wandered off a little, going over and bringing a branch down to her level. “I’ve driven by here a number of times, but I’ve never picked anything.”
“Maybe…” He cut himself off. There wouldn’t be a harvest for him next year. “I’m glad we’re here now.”
“Me, too.”
Swinging his leg over the seat, he dismounted and put his hand into the pocket of his leather coat. He hadn’t had time to get her a proper ring yet, but he couldn’t wait. Here. Now. He was going to ask her to be his wife—and knowing his Lydia, the fact that he only had a zip tie that he’d trimmed the long end off of was going to be endearing.
“Come here,” he said. “I’ve got something to ask you—”
The vibration started up in the inside pocket of his jacket, the one that was right against his pec, but as his woman turned to him with a smile, he forgot all about the phone call.
“What do you want to know?” she asked as she came over.
While his phone continued to ring on silent, he searched her face and saw nothing but simple curiosity. She had no idea what he was about to do—
“Is your phone ringing?” she said with a frown.
“No.”
Brrrrrrrrrrr. Brrrrrrrrrr. And then things went silent. Which was a good thing as he was about to take the fucking phone out, put it on the ground, and run it over a couple hundred times with his bike.
“Oh, I thought it was—”
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
As Lydia lifted her eyebrow, he shoved his hand inside his pocket and took the thing out. When he saw who it was, he frowned and answered.
“Cathy?” he said.
He was still getting used to calling the woman by the informal name, but then she wasn’t dressing like C.P. Phalen anymore—and she was going to be a mom. So yeah, big changes on the ol’ house front—
“Something’s happened to Gus,” came the urgent voice. “I don’t know anything other than he may have been abducted from his home. I don’t know when, I don’t know by who—but I need your help, Daniel.”
