Embrace the Heat (26 page)

Raven gasped. “Where is Simon?”

“According to Ian’s last message, he’s been
captured. I can’t get in touch with either of them. We’ll need to
use the tracking devices to locate the phones. With any luck, Simon
still has his phone on him. Whoever took him may not search him
right away, and they may not realize the phone can be traced even
when they do search him.”

“We have to tell Layla,” Raven said.

“Not yet,” Connor said. “I’m going to get the
rest of the leadership team over here first. Well, first I’ll try
to track Simon and Ian with their phones. Before we tell Layla
what’s going on, I want to have more details. She’s too volatile,
and I’m not sure how she’ll react if she finds out Simon is
missing.”

Raven started to argue but closed her mouth
and nodded.

Connor wasn’t sure he trusted her agreement,
but he had other things to worry about at the moment. If it was
anyone else, he might worry about them calling or messaging Layla,
but Raven would insist on doing it in person. He knew Raven might
be considering sneaking out to tell Layla and, short of tying her
up, there was no way to stop her. Hopefully, Raven would realize
what a mistake that would be. Layla couldn’t do anything to help
Simon, and Connor had no intention of sending her out with one of
the search teams.

“Just give me time to sort this out before
talking to Layla,” he said.

Raven came over and kissed him on the cheek,
offering him comfort like the wolves had. “I love you,” she said.
“I’ll send out the message to have everyone come over while you
check the tracking devices.”

“Thank you,” he said, truly grateful for her
support. “We’ll find Simon. With any luck we’ll find Ian in time to
save him.” Connor wanted to believe they’d find Ian alive, but the
chances weren’t good. Ian wouldn’t have sent the message if he
weren’t mortally wounded. If anything, Ian had always been the type
to insist his injuries were less serious than they actually
were.

“Whatever happens,” Raven said, “this isn’t
your fault.”

Connor nodded, but he didn’t agree. He’d sent
them out there alone. Maybe Simon and Ian were right and it was
time to stop worrying about the safety of those in the human
settlements. Maybe it was time to tell the main vampire council to
go fuck themselves. His guilt was nearly suffocating him.

Simon woke up with the mother of all
headaches. It took him a few minutes to remember what had happened.
Then he remembered the attack. “Ian,” he called out, unable to move
yet.

“He’s dead,” said a familiar female voice
from close by.

“Narissa?” Had the wood nymphs stumbled upon
him and saved him? Then he cracked his eyes open. He was lying on
the cold stone floor in an unfamiliar room. If the wood nymphs had
saved him, he’d be outside. “Where am I?”

“Your new home,” she said and spun around to
gesture toward what looked like a dungeon from an old movie. There
were manacles and all sorts of scary looking devices along the
walls. That’s when Simon realized he was wearing a collar with a
chain attached to the wall. Naked. He was naked and chained to a
fucking wall. He reached up to yank off the collar, and it shocked
him hard enough that had he been standing he would have
collapsed.

“You stole a collar from us?” he asked
angrily “We welcomed you into our settlement, and you stole from
us? Why does this even surprise me? I figured out you were a
deceitful bitch months ago.”

“This must be the head injury talking,”
Narissa crooned as though he were a child. “You aren’t normally
this stupid.”

A man laughed, and Simon shivered at the
memory of that laugh. It was a laugh that still played occasionally
in his nightmares. One would think that after more than eighty
years, he’d have forgotten this human, but he hadn’t.

“We needed a way to control you,” the human
practically purred. “I’ll admit that when Narissa first approached
me with a plan to trap you, I wasn’t sure it was worth it, but
seeing you on a leash, makes it all worthwhile. Did you miss
me?”

Simon looked over at Roger, the man who had
made his adolescent years hell. The bastard hadn’t aged at all.
Well, that was no surprise since Roger had been taking treatments
made from nymph blood to maintain his youth. Then the man gave him
a toothy grin. The fangs were new.

“You weren’t a vampire the last time I saw
you,” Simon said, careful to keep his emotions in check. He
couldn’t forget how much Roger enjoyed tormenting others.

“True,” Roger said. “Graham didn’t like the
idea. He was a fool for refusing to embrace this power. One of
Graham’s many flaws was his inability to adapt to modern times. He
was too caught up in trying to recapture what we lost to truly work
toward building something new.”

Simon didn’t want to ask why Roger was here.
Something told him he wasn’t going to like the answer. He noticed
the armband to control the collar was on Roger and not Narissa.
Maybe he could use that to his advantage. Narissa didn’t like to
share. The one time she’d shared him in bed had been a desperate
attempt to get him to take her back. Even then she’d been jealous
and bitchy with the other wood nymph. If he was lucky, he could get
her to turn on Roger. All he needed was a chance to get his hands
on the armband.

“How did you get involved in this?” he asked
Narissa. “Even if it was your suggestion, you obviously aren’t in
charge. Or did he convince you that you’d get something out of
this? No, you can’t be that stupid.”

“Roger was right,” she said. “You do need a
firm hand. Luckily, I’m prepared to deal with your problems to get
what I want from you.”

Simon snorted. “You’re not likely to get much
of anything. Lying on a cold stone floor isn’t a big turn on. Come
to think of it, neither are you.”

Narissa’s pretty face morphed into something
decidedly ugly as she scowled. “You won’t be saying that soon.
While I’m away, I’m going to mix up a special treat for you. It’s
an aphrodisiac only wood nymphs know about. We normally use it
during a nymph’s fertile time. The males can get tired after a few
times, but this makes them crave sex for several hours. You’ll do
anything I ask. Oh, and lucky for you it’s near my fertile time.
You’re going to give me a baby, and then I’m going to keep you as
my own personal play thing.”

Simon wanted to gag. Instead he went back to
his original attack. “Well it would appear that you’ll have to ask
for permission.” He gestured with his chin toward the armband Roger
was wearing.

Roger laughed. “Once she fulfills her end of
the bargain, she gets the armband. Did you know that you’re worth
three wood nymphs? Naturally, we have an agreement that allows me
to play with you until the wood nymphs are in my possession. Are
you as excited as I am? I’ll get you all to myself until Narissa
brings the wood nymphs, and that could take a few weeks. Oh, the
fun we’ll have! It’ll be just like old times.”

“I stayed because I wanted to be here when
you woke up,” Narissa said sweetly. “I also wanted to be here for
the branding.”

“Branding?” Simon asked cautiously.

“Yes,” Roger said and then called out. “Bring
it in!”

Two humans entered with a brand, an honest to
God brand. The end was red from the heat. Simon knew that a burn of
that severity could scar even a vampire.

“My father had it made shortly before he
died. The plan was to brand all blood whores, but we never got
around to it. Lucky you! You get to be the first one. I’m sure you
won’t be the last, but you’ll be the one I enjoy most.”

When the humans got closer, Simon had trouble
containing his fear. They were going to brand the word ‘slave’ into
his flesh. He tried to scramble to his feet, but Roger hit a button
on the armband. The pain from the collar was so intense that Simon
dropped to the ground and nearly blacked out.

Narissa giggled with glee and watched with
wide excited eyes as the humans pressed the hot iron against
Simon’s flesh. Simon screamed from the pain and then lost
consciousness again.

Danny was the one to give Layla the news
about Simon in the form of a message on her phone.

Simon is in trouble. Con said not to tell you
yet. On my way to a meeting. Get ready to go.

Layla’s heart seized. With shaky hands she
entered her message into the phone.

What happened? Who was with him?

The phone buzzed again with another message
from Danny.

He was out with Ian. They think Ian is dead.
Still don’t have many details. Raven will be at your house
soon.

This couldn’t be happening. How could she
live without Simon? Then her thoughts drifted to Mitchell. Who was
going to tell him? Where would he go? Ian was like a father to
him.

It was hard to fight the urge to walk over to
Connor’s house and demand answers. Layla quickly dressed in her
fighting gear. Danny had made it clear that she should be ready to
go.

As she was getting ready to strap on her
knives, she heard the soft knock at the door and wasn’t surprised
to find both Raven and Norah on her front porch. Raven took in her
appearance and sighed. “One of the guys told you already?”

“Danny,” Layla answered. “He also told me
you’d be on your way. I assume I was intentionally excluded from
the meeting.”

“Connor is dead set against you being part of
one of the search teams,” Norah said. “He didn’t even want you to
hear about Simon until after they had more details. Rand actually
agreed with him.” The last was said with more than a little
annoyance.

“I’m going,” Layla said.

“I know,” Raven said with a sad smile.
“That’s why I came over to tell you everything Connor knows before
we head out.”

“Do Connor and Rand know you’re here?” Layla
asked and then noticed Raven and Norah were also in full fighting
gear. Her eyes widened. “Ah, hell. Are you sure about this? Connor
and Rand are going to be pissed about you taking off like
this.”

“As long as Connor hasn’t ordered the guards
at the gate to prevent us from leaving, we should be okay,” Raven
said. “I don’t think he’d do that.”

Norah snorted. “He’ll do it. The question is,
has he realized we’re going to make a break for it yet? Once he
figures it out, we’re screwed. Honestly, the only reason he hasn’t
realized you’re gone yet is that he’s having a hard time with all
of this. We need to get our asses moving as soon as possible. I
took Rand’s jeep.”

Raven gave them a tight smile. “You’re right.
I feel a little guilty taking advantage of Connor’s distraction.
This is really hard on him.”

“How did you manage to get out of the house
dressed like that?” Layla asked. No matter how distracted Rand and
Connor were, they would notice that Raven and Norah were dressed in
fighting gear.

“I waited until Rand left for the meeting,”
Norah explained.

Raven gave an innocent shrug. “I may have
climbed out of an upstairs window while the meeting was starting
up.”

“Then we’d better hurry,” Layla said. “Connor
is going to lose it when he figures out you’re gone. I’m almost
ready to go. Do we know where we’re heading?”

“The tracking device on Ian’s phone shows him
really close to where you ran into the other shifters,” Raven said.
“Connor wasn’t able to track Simon’s phone. I figured we would
start by looking for clues where Ian’s phone is located.”

“Then I’m pretty sure we can get some help
with the search once we get out there,” Layla said. “I just hope I
can find Jase, Cam, and Zane again. They said it was their
territory, so they should know of any settlements.”

“It’s mating season for the lynx shifters, so
I’m pretty sure they’ll find you,” Raven assured her. “Well, I hope
they’re the ones who find you and not more hostile shifters. Now
hurry.”

Raven didn’t need to tell Layla twice. In
less than five minutes Layla was fully armed and sitting in the
back of the jeep trying to look innocent as they passed through the
front gate.

Simon just had to be okay. She wasn’t sure
what she would do without him.

Connor waited impatiently for Jack to give
his final instructions. Shelby still wasn’t back on rotation, but
she was there because he needed her. Norah’s absence was a
surprise, and he was tempted to send for her. What stopped him was
the fact that he needed Rand focused. Norah was a distraction for
Rand when they were sent out at the same time. Connor couldn’t
blame Rand for wanting to keep Norah safe. He felt the same about
Raven, but he wasn’t stupid enough to fight her on it too much.
Luckily, Raven was happy working at the school most of the time.
While she trained regularly, she rarely went out on patrol.

Everyone already knew the details of the
message and the approximate location of Ian's phone. Those details
had been discussed in Jack’s absence because Jack could be briefed
in the jeep.

Jack finally raced into the room. “Sorry,” he
said panting. “I was at the doctor with Muriel. We got back as soon
as we could.”

Connor nodded. “We need to move out right
away, so Shelby will fill you in on the details in the jeep.”

“Shelby and Jack,” he began. “I need you to
go up to the northern settlement and bring back the extermination
team. The messages I sent ordering them to return aren’t being
answered. The teams at Treasure Island are already on their way
back. We are putting everyone on this.”

Shelby nodded but didn’t look happy. Connor
knew she wanted to be out searching, but her arm wasn’t fully
healed, and she might be more of a liability. Jack was being sent
because he was the most diplomatic and most likely to be able to
pull the extermination team without resistance from the northern
settlement.