S.A. Price (6 page)

"I suppose so." Kira sighed, "As long as it takes. Now if you'll all excuse me, I have a few calls to make and then I must sleep, it’s been a very long day already and our journey here was hardly ideal.

Merrick I trust you'll help them with whatever they need from us and then join me." she asked standing.

"Of course Archon, I'll be up soon." He smiled at her bowing his head in a submissive gesture.

"Good, then good night everyone." She nodded leaving the room her head held high. She'd done well for today, but tomorrow brought its own new worries especially with Aiden’s arrival.

The second and third courses of the lunch went by with the usual chitchat of who had had a clutch of their own, and who was available. Elise kept her eyes averted from Merrick, as was proper, and enjoyed her meal with the rest of the Archons, rising before desert to take her leave. She swept out of the room with her Defteros, Myra, in tow, without so much as a backwards glance at Merrick.

He gave her fifteen minutes making sure that the others had the information that they needed to complete their map before making his excuses and leaving the room. It was time to make things right again with Elise.

~24~

SIX

Reece Evans walked into his bedroom, wrinkling his nose at the smell of the nail polish his mate was currently dabbing her dainty toes with. She had been out with Chrissy when Remy had called, updating him on the situation that was going on in Ohio. Things didn’t make sense, especially the news of a nest in Vegas that no one knew about. They had gotten married in Vegas and the only person to visit with them was Olivia’s emissary, so he was hard pressed to believe that this so-called nest was real.

He smiled at his mate as she looked up at him. She was sitting on the bed, knees up, her white cotton baby doll top and shorts just peaking out from her caramel colored thighs. She was the hottest and tiniest woman he’d had the pleasure of bedding, and was also the deadliest, being a pit viper and all. Their courtship had been rocky, and completely based on one of his sexual fantasies but it had all worked out in the end. She was his wife, the mother of their twins and the owner of his heart.

“Shower was good but would have been better if it wasn’t alone. Did you have a good time with fatty? How many cards are maxed out?”

"You're lucky Chrissy isn't a viper, she'd have killed you long before now... and I didn't max all that many." She grinned at him. "You can afford it."

"We can afford it, and I don’t mind, I just wanted to know which ones so when I open them I don’t have a stroke."

"And here I thought that was the fun of it all... plus I prefer it being your money love." She grinned at him setting the polish bottle down. "I like to think that I wouldn’t be as liberal with my own money."

He laughed and sat in front of her grabbing her tiny foot and slowly blew on her nails. "One of us has to be frugal. Did you have fun?"

"Yeah I did, Chrissy's fun and she knows her way around a shop. You know things are awful quiet around here... and a little tense." She chuckled wiggling her foot. "What’s going on?”

He sighed and then smiled. "I spent the better part of today getting the guest rooms ready. Elise has called the rest of the nest to come back to the compound. There’ve been disappearances."

"Is everyone ok?" She asked sitting up and taking her foot back.

"From our nest, yes. But others aren’t so lucky. Remy got a fax from Myra earlier today of the minutes of the meeting. Apparently the so-called Vegas nest has lost twenty-six females. It’s funny none of us knew of a Vegas nest as Vegas is in Olivia's territory. You remember the buff tall guy that showed up at our wedding breakfast? Brought the necklace for you? That’s Olivia's mate and Defteros, Elvin."

"Oh...he was kinda weird." She frowned, "Twenty- six is a lot of snakes, I didn't know there were that many in one place. Transient sure, but not in one place."

"I’m not sure the apparent Archon, a woman named Kira is younger than you, so it’s damn possible." he whistled. "And the fact that her Mate happens to be someone who was near and dear to Elise's heart isn’t helping much."

"Kira?" She looked at him strangely. "Who's her mate?"

~25~

"Merrick, the man that Elise has been mourning for the past ten years." he sighed. "Ever wonder why Elise is alone? Merrick is the reason why."

"John Merrick?" she asked, her face a picture of disbelief. "The patron saint of rogue snakes?

Mated to Kira? The bitch of..." She frowned, "Well she’s a bitch of something... darling I don’t think she has it in her to be anyone's Archon."

"No? And what makes you so sure? She’s there, as an Archon and she’s leading the charge on the situation about the missing girls."

She shook her head, "No I'm certain... I lived with them. Merrick found me after my brother died, that’s what he does; he takes in strays until he's sure that we can survive on our own. Kira's like a daughter to him, he practically raised her and her brother. Plus he's like gay or something...I never saw him have any and that was like five years."

Reece laughed. This was indeed an interesting development. "You’re shitting me? Well him and Elise are in the same boat. Apparently they have been something like betrothed for the past fifteen years."

"Wow... that's commitment. So what exactly is it that they're trying to pull? Bluffing Kira as an Archon? What’s to gain from that?"

"I suppose. I know that Merrick has been claimed dead for the past decade, which is why Elise is in mourning, bit of a shock to her when she saw him I can tell you."

"No wonder and with that tall bitch as well... Poor Elise."

"Needless to say she’s unhappy."

"I bet she was. Well whatever Mer's scheming I'm sure he won’t hurt her deliberately, it's just not in him. What do they have on the missing girls?"

"Not much, though Myra mentioned something about two theories, a military theory and one about a Lamia cult."

She looked at him horrified, "I'm so not leaving the house till this is over. What's a Lamia cult?"

"It’s a legend involving female snakes. Talking about females having the mystical power to make human men into a snake. The cults open up from time to time. This time though, they seem to have some backing for so many snakes to go missing without anyone knowing."

"They'll be targeting rogues and loners, that's why Mer's picked up on it...Oh god, what if it's people I know?" She looked up at him scared, her eyes too shiny. "It could have been me, are they still alive?"

"We hope so. I mean they are looking into it, but so far all they have found are males that have been tortured and either left for dead or dead. So yes, the compound is on lockdown."

"You're not going out there to help are you?" she asked chewing nervously at her lower lip. "You're going to stay here with us... aren’t you?"

Reece smiled and moved towards her placing his hand on her cheek and kissed her. "Carmen, my place is here, with you and the twins. Remy and I were named Diarkos until Elise gets back."

She smiled at him clearly relieved. "Good, because we need you here."

"And I need to be here love. Don’t worry. Beryl is meeting them there so we will have updates."

"That's a small relief at least..." She scooted over cuddling into him. "We're being hunted...

kidnapped and tortured. It's like something from a film, despite the fact that we occasionally change into snakes."

"Well changing is going to be restricted to the grounds as well, so the next month the hunts are going to have to be forgone, it sucks but there’s not much we can do. And we need to watch the females even more now. Carmen, I don’t worry about you, that venom you have is lethal, and I know you won’t hesitate to use it."

She shook her head against him. "Not if they try and get me... nobody can take me away from my babies. I want to know who the missing are..."

~26~

Reece smiled. "Remy is getting that information as we speak. I was hoping that since you are a reformed rogue, you might be able to help, though those toes aren’t near ready for you to walk." he grinned and kissed her.

"Mmm..." She purred kissing him back. "Reformed?"

"I believe you said it yourself pet, nothing will take you from your babies, and nothing is taking you from me."

"Oh never... but you make me sound like an ex junkie."

Reece laughed and picked her up, careful not to ruin her carefully painted toes. "So? The kitchen?

Phillip is making sandwiches and I think Remy said something about cold beers."

Nodding she wiggled against him getting comfy. "Sounds like a plan, the kids will be up from their nap soon wanting to be amused. So we have a little while to ourselves before then."

"Indeed. So let’s not waste any more time my love." he grinned and carried her downstairs, towards the kitchen and the task at hand.

~27~

SEVEN

Elise turned off the shower and sighed, the steam around her billowing out of the glass enclosure as she opened the door to grab her towel. She had spent the afternoon after lunch locked away in the computer control room of the south wing where her room was, making plans with Remy and checking in with the three other houses that the other members of her nest had on lockdown. Everything was good, but they had discussed taking extra precautions, and implemented the emergency plans they had from way back when hunting was an everyday occurrence.

On the bright side she wasn’t missing any of her snakes, but it was a bittersweet sort of victory.

Myra had still been in the control room when she left for her shower, faxing Remy information from the meeting, and the dossier on all twenty-six missing females, in hopes that someone on the east coast had seen them.

Drained, half blind from the computer screen and emotionally on edge, the only good thing she could see for the rest of the night was the comfortable feather bed already turned down waiting for her in the next room. She donned a light cotton tank top and matching shorts, and stood in front of the mirror towel drying her blond hair. Her eyes, a silver grey, blinked back the fatigue they felt. She grabbed her ponytail holder, and pulled her hair back, securing it with the elastic band, and sighed at her reflection.

She wasn’t ugly, she was aging well, and she still had a killer body. She had a lot to offer a male, aside from her position as Archon, and she was fertile, painfully so. Still she wasn’t a sweet young thing like Kira, and it was apparent Merrick was into that these days. It didn’t matter, once this was over she was going to forget him completely, and until then, all she had to do was avoid him, which shouldn’t be too hard as he was no doubt already ensconced with his lover for the night.

The thought infuriated her and she balled her fists, fighting the urge to cry. It took a few minutes, but she got her composure back and sighed, cleared her head, looking forward once again to the bed waiting for her, however lonely it would be.

As she opened the door and stepped into the bedroom proper, she stopped dead, blinking in surprise. Merrick sat on the chair closest to her closet, a blank expression on his face.

He started to smile then stopped a small pained crease forming between his brows. "We have to talk Elise."

"I have nothing to say to you John." she said and crossed the room to her hamper, stuffing the towel in it, she grabbed her hand and slipped the ring off her finger and into the pocket of her shorts.

"Though this is far from acceptable."

"I know," He sighed. "But I have no choice, I can't talk to you out there, not and be myself."

"Right. Well like I said, I don’t give a rat’s ass what you have to say John. You don’t owe me a damn thing, least of all an explanation."

"Don't I? I've been underground for fifteen years, you didn't even know if I was dead or alive. I didn't even get to see my mother before she died. Thank you for being there for her by the way. The only people to see my face have been rogues and outcasts, coupled with the occasional assassin and

~28~

now I show up here, with Kira... love, I think I owe you a bit more than an explanation." He watched her wringing her hands.

"No you don’t. And don’t you dare call me love; you don’t have the right to anymore. Solange was like a mother to me as well, so I didn’t do any of that for you." she said quietly. "So we are even."

"Elise, things are complicated but they're not what you think." He stood. "Just let me explain...

Things happened in South America and I couldn't come back. A friend of mine stuck his neck out for me and..." He sighed. "I couldn’t... I wanted to, hell I even tried. It just didn't work out, but not one day has gone by in the past fifteen years where I haven't loved you. You're always in my heart...

always. You're the reason I started picking up strays, giving them homes. I did something with my life.

It maybe hasn’t always been above board but I've saved a lot of kids. Scared and stupid ones like we used to be..." He chuckled, "They call me a saint, not to my face but I've heard it."

She gave a little chuckle, a nervous sound. "Glad I’m in your heart John, and I’m glad things worked out for you. Now if you’re quite finished, I believe the woman in your bed, your mate, is probably waiting for you." she turned to him. "You don’t owe me a damn thing John. Enjoy your life."

"Lise she's not my mate... or my Archon. Please believe me, I don’t have a mate...not since you."

He shook his head his eyes pleading with her. "I've known Kira and her brother Aiden since they were twelve. I rescued them from a traveling circus." He took a step towards her. "I can't enjoy my life without you... or at least with you hating me. If you've moved on then I'll understand but please just don’t hate me. I didn't want to hurt you today, but someone’s killing my kids Elise and I have to find out who that is before I lose any more."