Bonded (42 page)

An insistent
sound, completely out of sync with their natural surroundings,
unexpectedly caught his attention and he groaned in frustration. It
was his cell phone.

Brandi took
advantage of his distraction, wiggling from his grip and partially
impaling herself. He staggered at the sensation of heat and
tightness, barely keeping them upright.

“My phone...”

“Forget it.”
Brandi rocked against him and he slipped even deeper inside her,
eliciting a groan from each of them. “Who’d call you anyway?” She
latched onto his neck and sucked firmly.

“Um...” He
couldn’t think, sensation clouding his mind and he gave a hard
thrust.

“Oh...” Brandi
gasped her approval. In the distance, he heard the phone quit
ringing only to begin again.

Ignoring its
summons, he set up a rhythm, the water lapping about them. Tension
built. Brandi raked her nails over his skin...

For a second time,
the phone stopped and then started up again. This time Brandi
groaned and stilled her movements. She pressed her forehead to his,
breathing heavily. “Someone really wants to talk to you...”

“Yeah.” He closed
his eyes and sighed. A moment ago, he hadn’t been sure they should
do this, at least not until they talked but now... “Maybe it’s not
important.” Yet even as he spoke, he was loosening his hold.

Brandi slipped
from him. “And maybe it is. Go check. We shouldn’t really be doing
this right now anyway. Klaus and the others...” She let her voice
trail off as they both recalled the reality of their situation.

Reno pressed a
quick kiss to her forehead and then waded over to his phone. A
quick check revealed it was Damien. “What’s up?”

“Dammit, Reno,
I’ve been trying to get hold of you for hours! What the hell have
you been up to? ”

“Just now?” He
smiled over at Brandi who scowled at him. “Or—”

“Never mind.
Listen, you’ve got to get your ass out of Kolding’s Pass.”

“Why?” Something
about Damien’s tone had all his senses on high alert.

“The captain is
leading the ACS squad in—”

He grunted in
approval. “Good. The place is crawling with Purists.”

“—and Brandi’s
name is on the list of those to be apprehended.”

“What? That’s
crazy!” Reno growled down the line not believing what he was
hearing.

“They’re going to
arrest her. She’s the leak.”

“No fucking way!”
Reno shot a glance at Brandi. She was watching him with a puzzled
expression, while squeezing water from her hair. He gave her a
tight smile and walked further away, keeping his voice low. “Is
this some weird joke? Because if it is, it’s not funny.”

“Sorry. I wish it
was. Beth and I were already at the airport, ready to fly out when
Jenny phoned me with the scoop. The captain was recalling everyone.
Apparently, all evidence points to Brandi.”

He jutted his
chin. “Well, the evidence is wrong.”

“You’ll have a
hard time convincing anyone of that. Brad Owen is the one who found
out. Apparently, she’s been hacking into computer accounts, reading
private memos and forwarding the information to the Purists.”

“And they only
found this out now?”

“I guess she was
doing a great job of covering her tracks. Brad’s been working on
this for ages but she finally made a mistake. He was able to track
it back to her computer and password.”

Reno was silent,
digesting the information. Brandi, a Purist? He couldn’t believe
it. He clenched his fists as he forced himself to view the idea
dispassionately.

It was her
computer and her password. And, if he recalled correctly, her file
at Lycan Link had something about her taking computer courses at
the Academy. He ran his hand through his hair and frowned. Hadn’t
she once claimed to have graduated at the top of her class?

And then there was
the fact that she had an amazing success rate working with the
Purist Alphas. Was she really that good? Or did they fall in line
because she was one of them? No, she wouldn’t have called him to
come to Kolding’s Pass if she was a Purist... Unless it was some
sort of set up or a trap.

He thought about
how easily she created elaborate yet believable lies. Was this just
another one? And if it was, had her recent passion been a lie,
too?

“Reno...?”
Damien’s voice caught his attention. “I hate to tell you this, but
it gets worse.”

“How?” Reno
couldn’t imagine how things could deteriorate even more. His
stomach was already in knots.

“You’re under
suspicion now, too.”

“Me?” He felt his
brows shoot up in surprise.

“The captain has
been trying to get hold of you but you didn’t answer your phone. He
even texted you. Your lack of communication has been deemed
suspicious.”

“I’m on vacation.
I don’t have to be on call 24/7.”

“You’re on an
unapproved
vacation, which is another strike against you.
They tracked your flight and car rental through your credit cards.
The captain knows you were heading to Kolding’s Pass and thinks you
might be Brandi’s accomplice. From what Jenny was able to gather,
the captain said something about noticing a connection between the
two of you.”

“Shit.”
Immediately, Reno thought back to the night of Brandi’s goodbye
party. The captain had commented on the two of them, even noting
her lipstick on his mouth. Yeah, if Brandi was under suspicion, it
made sense to suspect him too. He couldn’t fault the captain’s
logic, even if it did put him in the middle of a messy
situation.

Sighing, he
pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to think of what he should
do. Real Purists were about to invade the area. A hunting party was
after him. Victor and Walt were likely chasing down Klaus and the
halves. Now, he had the ACS on his tail and—he looked at Brandi who
was trying to get the worst of the dirt out of her
clothes—his...companion...might be a traitor. Yep, the day was off
to a great start.

“Damien, where are
you now?”

“At the airport.
Beth’s renting us a car and then we’re heading to Renwick. That’s
the nearest town to Kolding’s Pass.”

“I’m surprised the
captain let you go.” Reno commented idly while calculating how long
it would take Damien to reach Kolding’s Pass and when the ACS would
arrive. Damien had a head start but the ACS would be taking a
private jet. Frowning, he decided everyone would likely converge on
the place at about the same time.

“The captain
didn’t let me go.” There was a hint of laughter in Damien’s voice.
“I left a message and then didn’t pick up when he called me
back.”

Reno huffed,
thinking of how the captain would have fumed over Damien’s absence.
Or, maybe Damien would have been considered a liability on the raid
since his partner was under suspicion. Perhaps the plan had been to
isolate Damien to keep him from providing a tip-off. It’s what he
would have done if he’d been in the captain’s shoes. Reno rubbed
his neck, not entirely comfortable with the knowledge that he and
the captain were so much alike.

“Okay, Damien,
here’s the scoop on what’s happening on my end.” As succinctly as
possible, Reno explained the salient points of the situation.

“So what’s your
next step?”

“Hell if I know.”
Reno glanced over at Brandi who was now dressed and waiting for
him. Could he trust her or not? His gut was telling him yes, that
somehow she’d been set up, but the Enforcer in him was urging
caution. “I suppose I’ll try to find the mixed families and halves,
make sure they’re safe and then find Klaus. He’ll likely need some
help dealing with Victor and the visiting Purists until the ACS
arrives.”

“And what about
Brandi?”

“She’ll be with
me.” He answered shortly.

“I’m sure it’s a
mistake,” Damien offered but his voice lacked conviction.

“Yeah.” He sighed
and tried to ignore the sick feeling twisting his insides. “Listen,
when you get here, give me a call. Hopefully by then I’ll have a
better idea of what’s going on. But keep Beth away. She’s a half
and you don’t want to chance having her near these Purist
bastards.”

Damien agreed and
they ended the call.

For a moment Reno
stood there staring at the phone in his hand, wondering what he
should tell Brandi, if anything. Was there any point in upsetting
her with the news? Not really. He scowled, questioning his own
motives, wondering if he was keeping the information from her to
protect her or because he thought there was a chance she really was
guilty.

Chapter
26

Brandi watched as
Reno concluded his phone call. Lines furrowed his brow and she
wondered if he’d received bad news and if so, what. That he was
talking to his partner, Damien, was no secret; she’d heard the
initial bit of the conversation. Then Damien had said something
that had made Reno begin to swear and he’d moved away, turning his
back and keeping his voice low so she couldn’t overhear.

It was obviously a
private conversation but her curiosity was piqued. Lycan Link
business? Or had Damien gotten himself into another romantic
pickle? She smiled at the thought. The man’s escapades were
legendary and she knew of more than one occasion where he’d become
a bone of contention between two females. With his black hair and
dark eyes, she knew he’d turned the heads of most of the ladies at
Lycan Link. It was likely she was one of the few who hadn’t given
him longing glances, but then again, by the time Damien started as
an Enforcer she was already bonded to his partner.

No, Reno wouldn’t
look that concerned over Damien’s love life. If she asked, would
Reno tell her what the problem was? Perhaps. And there was no harm
in asking, was there?

Tired of waiting
for him to come to her, she got to her feet and wandered over to
where he stood apparently deep in thought.

“What did Damien
want?”

He hesitated
before responding. “He’s heading towards Kolding’s Pass. I called
him last night, asking him to come as backup in case I needed help
getting you out of here.”

“Oh.” She digested
the information that Reno had been concerned enough about her to
ask for help. The idea warmed her heart. “So he’ll be here
soon?”

Reno moved off to
pick up his pants. Pulling them on, he tucked the phone into his
pocket before answering. “He gets here when he gets here.”

His answer seemed
purposely vague but she shrugged it off. “We’re not just going to
stand around here waiting for him though, are we?”

“No. I need to
check on the halves and their families. They were supposed to head
to the tunnels; however, given the cave-ins, they could be
anywhere. And I need to find Klaus, too.”

She noted how he’d
said ‘I’ rather than ‘we.’ Well, if he thought he was going alone,
that’s not how it would play out. They went together whether he
liked it or not! “The mine entrance closest to town is about a
couple of miles from here; that’s the one they were going to meet
at so it’s logically the first place to check but...” She paused,
recalling the conversation she’d heard last night. “You can’t go
that way. Walt has a hunting party searching for you.”

“No choice. I’m
not staying here twiddling my thumbs when they might need my help.
I’m an Enforcer and it’s my duty to protect.”

Brandi compressed
her lips tightly, knowing he was right but not liking it. “Well,
you’re not going alone. Don’t think I didn’t notice your
wording.”

The corner of
Reno’s mouth curved upward. “Force of habit. Don’t worry; I’m not
letting you out of my sight. We move as a team.”

Still worried
about his safety from the hunting party, she wracked her brain for
any means of reducing the danger. “We could go through the stream
at least part way; that would throw the hunting team off our
scent.”

He shook his head.
“Fallacy. The rafts—dead skin cells that all living creatures
shed—float on top of the water. And even if the water’s moving
downstream like this is, our scent is in the air. We’ll just have
to hope the hunters aren’t in the area. If they are...” he paused
and gave her a hard look, “I’ll distract them, and you take off.
There’s no sense in both of us being captured.”

“But—”

“No buts. I’m in
charge. You follow orders.” He lifted his chin, an air of authority
radiating from him.

Brandi swallowed
back her comment, instinctively acknowledging his leadership. He
was trained in these types of situations. She wasn’t.

They set off,
moving swiftly and silently, watching for signs that others were
about. Occasionally, Reno would signal her to stop and point out
tracks on the ground or crushed vegetation. Even though she wasn’t
a skilled tracker, she knew what the signs meant and could pick up
the traces of scent left behind. A hunting party had been through
the area several hours ago. She felt it boded well for them; if
this part of the mountain had been searched already they wouldn’t
be coming back this way soon.

As they neared the
entrance to the tunnel, Reno unexpectedly stopped. Thinking he was
unsure which way to go, Brandi gestured to the right, but he
grabbed her arm and pulled them both into the shelter of a bush.
His lips pressed to her ear, he whispered a warning.

“Something’s
wrong.”

His breath against
her skin made her shiver, but she forced herself to concentrate,
raising her brows questioningly. “What?’

“I don’t know.
It’s just a feeling.” He inhaled slowly, testing the air while
slowly moving his gaze over the surrounding area. “There are lots
of scents. Klaus has been here. Peter and the others. Some I can’t
place...”

Brandi sniffed and
smiled as she recognized some of those present. “Alice—that’s
Peter’s mate—is one of them. And their girls. I’m glad they made it
here safely. The cave-in must not have affected this area.”