Dante (Stone Society Book 3) (17 page)

The
tumbler Dante was holding shattered when his claws broke through the skin. Glass
and water flew through the air, landing on the floor at his feet. Had he been
human, the shards would have cut his hand. As it were, he’d just made a huge
mess. “What did you say?” he asked Tessa, accusingly.

She
pointed at one of the computer screens. “Look at the date of the newspaper.
Unless he has a twin, Alexi Sarantos is alive.”

Dante
took a step closer to the monitor, crunching broken glass as he did. He
couldn’t believe it. Even though it was there in black and white, he couldn’t
wrap his head around the fact his mate was still married. His claws were still
front and center, as were his fangs. He closed his eyes, calming his body. He
phased back and let out a deep breath. Luckily his outburst hadn’t scared
Tessa. Being a half-blood, she knew about shifting against your will. “I’m
sorry.”

Tessa
waved her hand in the air, dismissing his outburst. Gregor had retrieved a
broom and dustpan. Dante reached for the broom since he made the mess, and
Gregor didn’t hesitate in handing it over. He moved to stand beside his mate
and look through the other information Jules had sent them. Once the mess was
cleaned up, Dante returned to studying the data. At least he tried to. The fact
Isabelle was still married weighed on his heart. How could she not know this?

As
if reading his mind, Tessa turned to him. “Dante, Isabelle thought he was dead.
And after what went down, she will probably wish he still was once she finds
out he isn’t. Don’t worry about this. She can get a divorce from the skeeze.” 
Tessa stated what he knew, but still. They had a son together. Was that reason
enough for Isabelle to want to stay married to the man? Surely she wouldn’t
want to subject her son to the type of man she had portrayed him to be.

Gregor
pointed at his monitor, “Here, look at this. Julian just sent the info on Poros
Island. Take a look at the owner: WSD Holdings. That can’t be a coincidence.”

Tessa
asked, “Who is WSD Holdings?”

Gregor
explained the strange email Rafael had received a while back. “Rafael received
a bid request a couple of months ago from a Bartholomew Cromwell. It came from
an anonymous email address, and that rarely happens. The firewalls happened to
be down when it came through, but Julian did some digging anyway. He finally
figured out the parent company to Cromwell, Inc. was WSD, Inc. The email
originated from somewhere in Greece.”

“So
you think Alistair is behind WSD?” Tessa asked.

Gregor
nodded. “It’s looking that way. If he has been watching Jonas all these years,
he would know about Isabelle, and in turn, Connor. Alistair pulling the strings
makes more sense to me than Sarantos. Stavros or Alexi, now that we know he’s
alive, would have already gone after Connor.”

“Unless
they didn’t know about the kid until now. But if it is Alistair, why wait all
this time? Connor is six. That’s a long time to plot a kidnapping.” Tessa
turned back to the monitor. “We need more intel on Poros. If that’s where
Isabelle is being kept, we need to find a way onto the island without causing
suspicion.” Tessa began typing away at the keyboard. It surprised Dante at how
comfortable Tessa looked in their current setting. He had been around his
brother’s mate quite a bit, but he’d never seen the serious side of her.

Gregor
wasn’t as adept at computers as Julian and Nikolas, but he was doing his own
research on one of the laptops. Tessa, still typing, told Dante, “Please ask
Julian to dig a little deeper into the Sarantos family. If what Isabelle said
was true, they are corrupt. We may need to use that information against them to
get Connor back. For now, we have to assume your uncle is the mastermind since
we know Isabelle is on Poros. If we are going up against Alistair or his
people, we’ll have to tread carefully since he will know what you two look
like. As for me, he won’t see me coming.”

“What
are you thinking, Red?” Gregor asked his mate.

“I’m
thinking another Isabelle walking the streets of Poros will probably get
somebody’s attention,” Tessa replied, her usual playful mood gone. No wonder
her family chose her to be a watcher. She was pretty good at the cloak and
dagger stuff.

Dante
was thankful his brother and Tessa were with him. Now, he needed to get his
head out of his ass and help. Once he had called Julian, he studied the map. “I
think we should move closer to Poros, probably Athens. There are plenty of
tourists coming and going with the cruise ships. We would be less conspicuous
in a busier city.”

Tessa
looked up and asked, “What about Connor? We don’t know if he’s on Zakynthos or
not.”

“No,
but we do know where Isabelle is, so it’s my opinion we need to start there.
Once I have my mate back, I will worry about rescuing our son.”

Tessa
and Gregor both stared at him as if he’d sprouted a third eye. “What?” he asked
them both, looking from one to the other.

Gregor’s
mouth turned up slightly in a grin, but it was Tessa who answered. “You said
our
son.”

Dante
frowned. He didn’t tell them about the meditation or the feelings it stirred. “Yes,
well, if I have anything to say about it, he will be mine.”

Isabelle’s
emotions had run the gamut from scared to angry to sad to her current
condition: pissed. She was pissed off at herself, at her father, at Kallisto,
and at the evil man, but mostly herself. Her claws and fangs had once again cut
into her skin as she was pacing the small room. With no bathroom in which to
clean herself up, she rummaged through the dresser to find random items of
clothing. She removed a dark shirt from one of the drawers and, using her spit,
removed the blood as well as she could. She folded the shirt and replaced it at
the bottom of the stack.

It
wasn’t lost on her this room belonged to someone. Kallisto possibly? Highly
doubtful. The woman was tall and curvy. The clothes Isabelle found would fit a
much smaller woman. She thought back to her captor’s cryptic message. If she
behaved, she would stay where she was. If she misbehaved she would be sold. He
was a slave trader? How in all that was holy had she found herself in the
clutches of a slaver? Had that been the plan all along? Lure her out by
kidnapping her child? That didn’t make sense.

Isabelle
flopped down on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
Think, dammit. You’re a
doctor. You’re smart,
and
you’re shifter.
She was still getting used
to that aspect of her life. She reached out with her senses to listen. Noises
throughout the house, she assumed she was in a house, were muffled. She calmed
her heartbeat so she could concentrate further. Tessa had coached her on
separating the noises. She let all the sounds infiltrate her senses, and one by
one, she put them into boxes. The mundane sounds such as the air conditioner
went in one box. The opening and closing of doors, another. Voices. There they
were. How many? Two, no three. Three voices, all women. Hushed talking from
down the hall. Isabelle strained to hear what they were whispering about.

“The
Princess brought in another girl. She must have been drugged, because Sergei
was carrying her,”
woman
number one said. Princess, who the hell was the Princess?

“I
wonder where they put her? Was she giving them trouble? Why would they lock her
away?” w
oman
number two asked. Was Isabelle the
her
who had been carried in?

“The
choosing is in two days. She will not be ready by then.”
This was woman number three. What
were they being chosen for? She listened closely again, but their voices were
quiet. A door opened and a fourth voice sounded.

“Eve,
The King wishes for you to join him in the sitting room. Please follow Sergei.”

A
quiet response of “Yes, Princess” sounded. So Kallisto was a Princess? Did that
make the evil man the King? These women obviously behaved. The sound of
footsteps leading away from her door eventually quieted while a set leading
toward her door got louder. Isabelle sat up as a key was turning in the lock.
The door swung open and Kallisto appeared, taking in the room as well as
Isabelle’s appearance. “Good, you’re awake. We need to have a little chat.”

Isabelle
didn’t want to have a chat. She wanted to scream and punch and kick. Her ire
from earlier returned with a vengeance, but she was not a fighter. She knew
nothing about the woman standing in front of her other than she was regarded as
The Princess.  Isabelle couldn’t imagine true royalty would be involved in
kidnapping, so she assumed it was just a moniker the woman used to make herself
sound important. Kallisto could be a fighter, and Isabelle preferred to use her
brains over her fists. For now, she would play along and work on a plan that
would outsmart her captors.

Kallisto
walked farther into the room and shut the door. “I apologize for drugging you,
but the King has very specific rules about our guests knowing their exact
location.” Isabelle couldn’t help the rude sound that escaped her throat.
“Isabelle, you may not believe it, but you are a guest here. Are you here
against your will? Yes, but we will not harm you. We hope you will eventually
become comfortable in your new surroundings. I want to show you to your bedroom
where you will be staying from now on. If you will follow me please, I will
tell you the rules as we walk.”

Kallisto
waited for Isabelle to grab her purse, then opened the door and turned right,
away from where the other women were. “The rules are simple, really. You will
speak to no one else in the house with the exception of me, Sergei, and the
King. You will take all your meals in the main dining room. Your allotted times
are seven a.m., one p.m., and seven p.m. You will have twenty minutes to eat. No
matter where you go on the grounds, a guard will be present at all times. The
library, the gym, and the swimming pool are for your use as long as no one else
is using them. You may help yourself to anything in the kitchen at any time, as
long as you dine at the previously mentioned times. Your job, while staying
here, is to tend to any medical needs that are brought to your attention. Here
we are.”

Isabelle
felt as if she were in a dream. She had willingly allowed herself to be held captive,
and now she was expected to be compliant to the demands of the demented.
Kallisto opened the door to a huge bedroom. This one much larger than the one
she just left. The furnishings were opulent, as if she were in a home fit for
royalty. The bed was a four-poster with swaths of silk hanging between each
post. An open door showed a bathroom she imagined was as extravagant as the
bedroom. A set of double doors led to a balcony that overlooked the swimming
pool.

“Do
you have any questions?” Kallisto asked from directly behind her.

“Where
is my son?” Isabelle turned and was face to face with the woman. Too close,
really, but the allure of her beauty had long been forgotten by the events of
the day.

“Connor
is safe. I do apologize for luring you to us using your son as bait. However,
it was a necessary ruse to assure your compliance.”

 Isabelle
fisted her hands and willed her claws to stay inside her skin. “And what about
Rico and Maria? Murder wasn’t necessary for my compliance.”

 “Casualties
of war, I’m afraid,” Kallisto stated as if they were discussing which color to
paint her nails. Unbelievable.

“Now,
I will give you time to get settled. Feel free to freshen up. Your closet and armoire
are filled with clothes in your size. The bathroom is stocked with all the
essential toiletries you should need. Your guard will be outside your door. Remember,
lunch is at one, and you are expected to be on time. Once you are finished
eating, you will be shown the grounds. Your assigned guard will take you on a
tour, but you are not to speak to him,” Kallisto said with a smile on her face.
A smile!  “Oh, I have something for you.” Kallisto handed Isabelle an envelope.

Isabelle
couldn’t believe the nonchalance rolling off the blonde. The acts of kidnapping
and murder were business as usual? What kind of people had she given herself
over to? With the click of the door closing, Isabelle was left alone. If they
thought she was going to be compliant and basically start a new life with them,
they had another thing coming. She would play it cool, as cool as she could,
given the circumstances. She would bide her time, find out where they had taken
her son, and then she would get herself out of this mess.