Circle of Dreams (The Quytel Series Book 1) Page 6

  Bri watched as Mack cuffed Cole’s hands behind his back none too gently.

  He glanced up at her, a flash of something she didn’t understand in his unusual golden eyes.

  “Wait here,” he ordered. “I’ll bring the car around to the driveway so no one will see us loading his body. Don’t do anything stupid. I’ll return in less than a minute.”

  “You don’t need to be patronizing,” she scoffed, staring at Cole’s still form. A flash of desire raced through her, and her hands tingled at the memory of his touch, instantly distracting her from the gravity of the situation.

  She turned to avoid the judgment in Mack’s eyes. The man didn’t miss anything. She felt embarrassed enough by her intense attraction to Cole; she didn’t need anyone else to witness it.

  As soon as Mack left the garage, Bri knelt next to Cole’s body. She couldn’t stop herself from touching his face, brushing a lock of his black and silver hair from his forehead. His skin was deeply tanned, harsh lines she’d noticed around his lips and eyes softened now in unconsciousness. Bri ran her fingertips over his high cheekbones, along his sharp nose, and across his lips. Exploration turned to a gentle caress.

  The quiet engine of Mack’s car pulling into the driveway broke the strange trance she seemed to be in around the man. She pulled her hand away as if burned. His effect on her was too strong, too fast, and too intense to be trusted.

  She peeked out of the side door to ensure the street was clear. Mack unfolded his large frame from the interior of the nondescript green sedan and popped the trunk. Her heart tripped uncomfortably with apprehension as he approached, dangerous and threatening, though not to her. At least not right now.

  “I refuse to let you put this man in the trunk. Backseat,” Bri insisted, standing over Cole’s still body as though she were a soldier defending a beachhead.

  Mack glared at her. “He’s not safe.”

  They stared at each other in a silent standoff. Bri saw the moment he softened in the slight drop of his shoulders.

  “You’re in danger,” he said softly.

  “No shit.”

  He gave her a disapproving glare as he picked Cole up. With a quick glance at the street to ensure there weren’t any witnesses, he jerked his chin to indicate she should follow him.

  Bri darted in front of him to open the rear car door, and pointed to the seat. Scooting around the car, she closed the trunk, not before noting one of her overnight bags tucked into a corner.

  Depositing Cole across the backseat on his side, Mack checked to assure his hands were securely cuffed, before binding his feet and belting him down. Tight.

  “Get in. We don’t want to be here when the crew arrives to clean up the bodies.” He moved around the car, starting the engine before she could respond.

  As they pulled out of her driveway and turned down the street, Bri gathered her courage. “Start talking,” she snapped, staring straight ahead, trying to keep her voice steady.

  Mack remained silent, guiding them smoothly through traffic toward the highway.

  “You killed those men,” she said, more quietly.

  He glanced at her with a touch of sadness. “They would have killed you.”

  Gripping her hands tight in her lap, Bri stared out at her familiar neighborhood. “Who were they?”

  Mack’s silence stretched as reached the on ramp to the highway.

  “My bag is in the trunk.”

  He shrugged. “I grabbed some of your things. We’ll be gone for a few days, maybe more.”

  She faced him, incredulous. “Between killing those three men and finding me, when did you have time to do that?”

  The corners of his mouth lifted into a grim half smile. “I’m efficient.”

  “I’ll say.” She drummed her fingers on her leg and stared out the window. Dense forest lined the highway, and Seattle slowly slipped away behind them as they took the I-5 north. “Is Jonah in some kind of trouble? Is that why those men were at my house?”

  Mack reached for her hand. “I’m afraid this is about you, Bri.”

  She swallowed hard, snatching her hand away. “You knew. It’s why you came when you did.”

  “We suspected you could be a target, we just weren’t sure,” he explained. “I came to check on you . . . thought you’d have more time.”

  A spike of adrenaline hit her system. “Is this some retaliation because of something Jonah did?”

  Mack shot her a dark look. “It’s not that simple.”

  “So you don’t deny it.” She turned away to watch the passing scenery. She had tried and convicted them in her mind.

  Bri focused on the trees along the roadway, heart sinking. In the midmorning light, everything seemed fresh and clean. Jonah was most likely a criminal. The acceptance of that fact made her inexplicably sad and furious. How could she not have ended up caught in his violent world?

  “Where are we going?” she demanded a few minutes later.

  “The ranch.” Mack switched lanes to pass a slower driver.

  She couldn’t help the hint of a smile hovering on her lips despite her anger. She’d loved the ranch as a child, and it was still one of her favorite places. “I haven’t been there since I was about sixteen.”

  Mack glanced over at her. “I know.”

  The ranch had been their summer vacation destination when she’d been in grade school. Jonah disliked the heat of the Arizona summers, so he’d bought a ranch in the mountains on the secluded edge of Banff National Park in Canada. Mack had been a part of their family for as long as she could remember. It was often only the three of them, though others came and went, sometimes staying with her while Jonah went on business trips.

  In the early years after her parents had died, she’d found solace in nature and all the animals Jonah kept on the property. She rode her favorite horse every day, and the housekeeper cooked whatever she wanted, no questions.

  As much as she would love to see the place again, she had no intention of going anywhere with Mack. She couldn’t be an accessory to murder. She also had a story to finish, a job to do. She couldn’t disappear for a few days. “I have a story due tomorrow. All my materials and files are at my house.”

  “The story is the least of your concerns,” he said dismissively. He and Jonah had never been happy with her career choice—too dangerous, too much travel. She knew there would be no getting away from Mack if he or Jonah felt she was in danger.

  “It’s my job, Mack, and one of my top concerns,” she shot back.

  She’d never missed a deadline, and the feeling made her sick to her stomach. Mack had a point, of course; her house had been broken into, and dead bodies likely being disposed of without police involvement. She couldn’t tell her boss about it without a police report. People at the paper would assume it had something to do with her story, or her father.

  “They’ll worry if I don’t show up for work, or if the story isn’t on my editor’s desk by five o’clock tomorrow.” Bri pulled her cell out of her back pocket where she’d tucked it away. It had been on silent, and she saw a missed call from her father.

  “Perfect,” she muttered. No service. As soon as they found a town, she’d make the call. They were heading into the mountains over a pass, so she would have to wait a while.

  After a few minutes, Mack glanced over at her. “Tell me everything that happened at your house.”

  Bri inadvertently squeezed the cell phone. It had been a close call. Too close.

  She released a shaky breath. Although she abhorred their methods, Jonah and Mack where on her side. “I was working from home. By chance, I looked out the window in my office and saw the Suburban parked on the street. Somehow I knew they were there for me. I thought they were FBI, maybe something to do with the story, or with Jonah. I had a really ba
d feeling, so I locked myself in the safe room.”

  “And he found you in there?” Mack asked quietly, not taking his eyes off the road.

  She nodded. “I don’t know how he even found it in the first place . . . he wrenched the door right off its hinges.”

  “And you didn’t think that was strange?” he questioned.

  “Of course I thought it strange.” Bri bristled. “But . . .”

  “But what?” he pressed, and when she hesitated he prompted, “Bri, I need all the details you have so I can figure out what happened. Even small details or seemingly bizarre things could help.”

  “You’re not going to believe this.” She took a shaky breath, feeling ridiculous for what she was about to admit. “We recognized each other.”

  He looked at her sharply and held her gaze. “From where?”

  “Watch the road!” She pointed, more to distract him from what she’d told him than any danger in their path.

  “Tell me,” he demanded, returning his attention to the road.

  “From a nightmare I’ve been having,” she admitted softly.

  Mack took his foot off the gas and slowed the car. Moving into the far right lane, he pulled onto the shoulder and stopped. Shifting into park, he turned to face her, lines of worry creasing his forehead, eyes flashing gold. “Tell me about the nightmare.”

  He was serious. For some reason that scared her more than the nightmare itself.

  “It started a few weeks ago, and has always been the same. I’m completely terrified and in so much pain I can’t stand it. There’s a woman, or some kind of a figure in pale blue, swirling robes who I can’t see.” She trembled now, embarrassed to reveal all of this to Mack. He’d think she was crazy for sure. “The last couple of weeks it’s been almost nightly.”

  “What does this have to do with him?” Mack pointed his thumb at the bound man in the backseat.

  “The last time it happened was a couple of nights ago. It started out the same, then he was there, and it all felt different.” She snuck a glance at Cole. How could it be that he’d been in her dream and then in her real life? She didn’t believe in coincidences. She also didn’t believe in the supernatural. Her mind started spinning.

  Mack’s intense scrutiny made her squirm. “You’re sure it was him?”

  She nodded. “He recognized me too, I think.”

  Mack closed his eyes and rubbed his hands over his face.

  “There’s one more thing.” Her mouth went dry and her blood thundered in her veins. “When Cole appeared in the nightmare, I saw the woman’s face for the first time.” She paused, a strange ringing in her ears. “Her eyes reminded me of my mother’s.”

  Mack went still as statue, his eyes locked on hers. Gold flashed at her, but she couldn’t read his expression.

  “What do you think it means?” she asked.

  He started the car, and they eased back onto the highway. Silence stretched between them. She couldn’t believe she’d actually told Mack about her nightmare or that he’d believed her about Cole.

  “Mack?” she prompted.

  He took one of her hands in his as he drove; his warm skin and his presence a comforting balance to her anxiety.

  “I believe you, Bri. Dreams can be strange and realistic, even sometimes a premonition of meeting someone or seeing a loved one who passed.” He kept his focus on the road as he spoke.

  Bri nodded slowly. She’d never known Mack to be superstitious. Maybe she could chalk it up to the bizarreness of dreams and an overactive imagination. Although unlikely, it was an explanation her mind could accept—for now.

  She leaned into her seat and Mack dropped her hand.

  The man tied up in the backseat confused her. Cole. How had he been at her house when it was under attack? How had she seen him in her dream, and why was her physical attraction to him stronger than anything she’d ever felt before in her life?

  Between Jonah, Mack, and her abandonment issues, which no doubt came from losing her parents at such a young age, Bri hadn’t had the best of luck with men. Growing up in a house with so many secrets, dating had been challenging. If Jonah didn’t scare off potential boyfriends, Mack did.

  After she’d graduated from college, she’d traveled all over the country and internationally, which made it hard to keep up a relationship. She’d found it easier to bury herself in her work and push away the need for a normal life. Two years ago she’d landed a job at the Seattle Times, bought a house, and decided to settle down. The problem remained, she didn’t find many men attractive, and the ones she did manage to date for a while ended up drifting off for one reason or another.

  Yet this mystery man set her body on fire.

  She closed her eyes. The soothing vibration of the car’s engine felt oddly relaxing. Sighing, she drifted into a restless half-sleep.

  Mack’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. The green of the forest blurred with the blue sky as he drove them further north to the Canadian border. Bri finally dozed off and now slept fitfully.

  He reached deep into the core of his mind for the telepathic link binding him to the other thirteen Quytel members and his Commander.

  “She’s alive,” Mack said, for Jonah’s ears only.

  “How do you know?” Jonah’s sharp, authoritative reply rang in his head.

  “Bri has been dreaming of her for the last few weeks. The man we found in her house, Cole Courtland, somehow entered her dream.” Telepathically explaining this to Jonah went beyond unbelievable. “Bri recognized her mother’s eyes, Jonah. And the man who found her had sketches of both Bri and Rowan, probably from the dream they shared.”

  Jonah remained silent. Mack knew the impact this news would likely have on his Commander and oldest friend.

  “She needs to be protected,” Jonah finally warned.

  “I’ll take care of it,” Mack assured him. “She needs to know the truth.” He would go behind his Commander’s back if he had to. He didn’t want to, so he’d offer him a chance. Those thoughts, Mack was careful to shield behind an iron wall in his mind.

  “Yes,” Jonah agreed. “It’s time. I’ll join you at the ranch tomorrow morning.”

  “She’s strong, she can handle it,” Mack tried to reassure him.

  “She doesn’t have a choice.”

  “Neither do you.” Mack broke the link and focused on the road. Bri’s gentle breathing clawed at his tortured soul.

  This young girl he’d helped raise had no idea how her life was about to change, forever.

  Chapter 7

  Cole jolted awake when the seat under him dropped and pain burst through his arms and legs. He was in a car and had no idea how he’d gotten there. Bound tightly at the wrists and ankles, trying to move proved impossible. The wolf might be able to break free. His animal side had jerked awake at the same time, raging against captivity.

  Swearing internally, Cole struggled to keep his breathing slow and even. He needed more information about what the hell had happened to him. The occupants of the front seat spoke freely to each other, so Cole listened in.

  “How much further?” a woman asked, soft and confident. Brianna. Bri.

  Memories of their brief interaction flooded his mind on the wave of the woman’s voice—the feel of her hand in his, the beauty of her face, the smoothness of her skin, and deep green eyes sizing him up.

  She’d been distracting, and he’d failed to detect the threat to them even with his heightened senses and connection to the earth. His first thought was he’d failed to keep her safe. On the heels of that, he berated himself. She sat comfortably in the front seat, not a tremor in her voice. Obviously he was the fool.

  “A few more hours,” a man’s deep voice replied in a friendly tone. Bastard. Probably the one who’d knocked him out.

/>   Keeping his eyes closed, Cole remained still. He believed in a good strategy; it was one of his strengths. At the moment, he didn’t know whose side Bri was on or what exactly had happened to him at the house. By now Danny would have reported to Maliha and the rest of the team that he’d gone missing, and they would be looking for him. Nathanial was most likely already on his trail. All he had to do was gather information and wait for an opportunity to get free.

  “I can’t wait to see the place again,” she mused wistfully.

  “Your father updated a few things,” the man replied, affection ringing in his tone. “No one stays there now, so we moved the animals to a neighboring ranch.”

  Silence.

  “They are well cared for,” the man said with a glint of humor in his voice.

  Cole tensed at the easy familiarity between the two, their history. The pearl had led him to Bri’s door and was thankfully a soothing presence, thumping like a second heartbeat in his sternum. His wolf, its attention now divided, spent the time pacing laps around the pearl with hackles raised, uncertain which was the greater threat; the compulsion or the alpha male sitting in the driver’s seat.

  Several hours later, Cole’s body screamed in protest. He’d kept himself as relaxed as he could during the ride, but he could no longer ignore the cramping in his bound limbs. He heard faint rhythmic breathing from the front seat, which meant Bri had fallen asleep. He concentrated on the oddly comforting sound to block out the pain.

  When smooth pavement gave way to a bumpy dirt road, Bri woke with a start. Cole winced with each dip in the road, trying not to grunt aloud. She turned to the backseat and their eyes collided. He searched her face in the semidarkness, and she inhaled swiftly before breaking off the contact to face front.