Chapter 12
Duncan rubbed his face, scratching his fingers through the stubble on his chin. He couldn’t believe that the vice principal of the school where Emma worked was part of the kidnapping. He supposed it made sense. She had access to newly bonded kids and a massive problem with alternative lifestyles. Of course, the idea of bonding would send the woman over the edge. Emma explained how, when Ms. Brown had interviewed her for the librarian’s position a few years ago, she expressed relief at the knowledge that Emma was single. She even questioned Emma’s beliefs about marriage and religion, despite the illegality of asking about such things in an interview. And she had a background in chemistry. Apparently the woman worked as a scientist for a pharmaceutical company for a while before she quit due to some sort of interpersonal conflict and turned to teaching. Emma didn’t know the details, but it wasn’t too far of a stretch for Duncan to believe that she would force others to conform to her extremely limited ideas about right and wrong. It made him feel sick to know that someone in charge of educating children could be so evil.
He slumped further down into the seat. He was so tired. He knew Jake and Emma felt the same, though in her case he sensed her pushing past the exhaustion into mania. She blamed herself for not seeing through Ms. Brown before the kidnapping. She sat on the seat next to him, leaning forward to give directions to Dave who was driving the car. She was practically vibrating as she cast her senses out, reading colors on the darkness. Duncan couldn’t see them, but he could sense them through her. When he let himself slip into her mind he could almost see the faint dots of color here and there in the city. Impatience stole through his exhaustion. He wanted to go home with his lovers and sleep, but they were the only ones who could find the missing bonded couples. They’d talked to the cop who questioned them in the ballroom before they left the hotel, but just as Emma had predicted, the woman didn’t believe them when they explained what happened. She didn’t even believe a girl that young could be bonded. Her supervisor took one look at the rock star and his “groupies” and dismissed all three of them. So here they were, in his car, off to play rescuer.
“There!” Emma exclaimed, pointing. “You see that warehouse? Pull over, so no one sees us. Here, turn down the alley.”
Duncan looked at Jake, wondering where Emma’s instinct for this came from. The other man shrugged as she turned to look at them.
“I watch movies, you know,” she said, smiling.
Jake rolled his eyes. “This isn’t a movie.”
Her face sobered. “I know. Believe me, I know.”
Duncan sighed, then closed his eyes, pulling energy up from inside until it was close to the surface. He could create sparks or scrub organic matter off a body. He had no idea how any of this was possible. He opened his eyes and called a spark to his fingers, dancing it from one to the other playfully. He felt eyes on his hands and looked up to find Emma watching him.
“That’s so cool.”
Duncan smiled at her then closed his palms over the sparks. “I don’t know how I’m even doing it.”
“I don’t know how I can see auras, but I can. It’s easy,” she said, grabbing onto the front seat as the car lurched to a stop. Her head flew up. She looked predatory, focused. Duncan loved her ability to change from a sweet, gentle woman into a hunter. He grinned fondly, but she didn’t see.
“We’re here.” She scrambled back, sitting next to Duncan and Jake for a moment. She looked down at her sparkling shoes ruefully. “I wish we had time to change before we go in. My poor shoes.”
Jake leaned over and grabbed her hand, squeezing it comfortingly. “It’ll be okay. We’ll buy you ten new pairs of sparkly shoes if these get ruined.”
Emma laughed. “Okay, you know I’m going to hold you to that promise.” Then she sighed, the smile dropping from her face. “I know I pushed us hard to get here. I just have a feeling that we need to get in there and help as soon as possible. I should’ve known that woman was involved somehow.”
Duncan smiled at her, tugging a strand of her hair off her cheek. She turned her face into his palm. “You couldn’t have known, Emma. Stop beating yourself up. Jake and I will do everything we can to keep this from happening to anyone else. The only thing we can do now is move forward.”
Emma nodded and took a deep breath. “Let’s go.”
They got out of the car, the three of them followed by Dave and Charlie. Dave kept muttering about how Lisa was going to kill him, but Duncan knew he was just trying to blow off some tension. He looked around, trying to spot any security cameras as they inched down the alley. The ducked down another side street and then yet another alley until they found the one that ran along the back of the warehouse. He didn’t see anything unusual. There was nothing there except stray garbage and graffiti.
“Jake, can you sense anyone around?” Duncan asked.
Jake shook his head. “The only people I can sense are actually in the building. I thought they’d post guards or something.”
Emma shook her head too “I don’t see any auras except the ones in the building, not that it helps. There are a lot of unbonded people in the world.”
“I guess we’ll just have to wing it.” Duncan looked for a door but there was no entrance on this side, then he spotted an open window on the second floor. “There.” He pointed.
“How are we going to get up there?” Charlie whispered nervously.
“I’m the tallest. I can boost everyone up. Then Jake can help pull me up,” Duncan answered. Emma nodded.
“I’ll go first since I’ll be able to sense if anyone’s inside.” Jake cracked his fingers and stepped forward.
Duncan spared a brief thought about the insanity of what they were about to do, then he laced his fingers together and boosted Jake until he reached the windowsill. The other man grabbed the ledge and Duncan helped guide Jake’s feet to his shoulders so he could tilt the casement window open far enough to crawl through.
It’s all clear far as I can tell, Jake thought. Duncan held still, supporting Jake’s ankles as he worked open the window then slid through. When he popped his head back out, Duncan heaved a sigh of relief.
“Take my hand,” Jake called down and Dave stepped forward. Duncan boosted him up, then Charlie went through the small space. Emma was next.
“Don’t let me fall,” she whispered. “I hate heights.”
“I won’t, sweetheart.” Duncan kissed her quickly then lifted her up to Jake. He shivered as he felt her slim legs step onto his shoulders, willing himself not to look up under her skirt. Now was not the time. Once she was inside, Jake slung his upper body out of the window, reaching down for Duncan.
“Come on, Dave and Charlie have me. I’ll pull you up.”
Duncan nodded and grabbed on, ignoring the spark of desire he felt at the sight of Jake’s gorgeously muscled arms. He grinned as Jake caught his thought. The bonding never really left them. Duncan found it strangely comforting as he tumbled into the dark room. He could sense where Jake and Emma were through their link but couldn’t see the other two men.
“Do you think we could have a light?” Emma asked, voice low.
Duncan smiled and brought the sparks to the surface again, the sudden illumination startling Dave and Charlie.
“It’s okay. It’s just light. These won’t even burn.” Duncan reached out, instinctively sticking a spark on Jake’s sleeve. “You can cup your hand over it when you want to muffle the light.” Emma held out her arm and he stuck another spark on her. He looked at Dave and his bodyguard sighed.