Gregor (Stone Society Book 2) (23 page)

The other Clan members had gone about their own
lives. Some were getting ready to patrol, some were back at their jobs. Gregor just
wanted to go. Anywhere away from where he was. Where Tessa was. He walked down
the corridor to the men’s room and took a piss. He was washing his hands when
his phone rang. Fuck it. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. He dried his hands
then tossed the paper towels in the trash can. His phone stopped ringing but
immediately rang again. Sighing, he pulled it out of its holder and answered
it.

“Stone.”

“Gregor! I need you.” Tessa was breathing
heavily.

Gregor’s heart skipped about five beats. “What
made you change your mind?”

“No, I fucking need you. I’m being chased, and
there’s a fucking helicopter after me, too. Godsdamnit! I don’t know who the
fucker is on my tail, but I’m pretty sure the asshole in the bird is Flanagan.”

“Shit, where are you?” Gregor was running through
the corridors. He tagged Deacon’s shirt and dragged him along putting Tessa on
speakerphone.

“I’m headed north on Forty-One. Dammit, I know
these roads better than anyone, but with a chopper tagging my every move, I
can’t get away.”

“Okay, Baby, stay on the line. I’m getting Frey on
Deacon’s phone.” Deacon handed him his cell and he barked into the mouthpiece,
“Frey, I need the bird. The big one. Now. Tessa’s being chased and she thinks
it’s Flanagan. I’m headed her direction. She’s driving north on Forty-One. We
need to intercept her before something happens.”

Gregor realized he had ridden his bike to work.
“Deacon! Keys!” Deacon tossed him the keys to his truck and told him to go. He
would call the rest of the Clan to help.

Gregor climbed into the tall four-wheel drive and
told Tessa, “Baby, just hang on. I’m coming to get you.”

Gregor was banking on Jasper and Dane giving him
a police escort so any state troopers in the area wouldn’t slow his mission.
And he was definitely on a mission. How could Tessa have found so much fucking
trouble in the few hours since he had seen her? Was this the danger she had
been talking about?  Deacon’s four-wheel drive truck moaned under the strain of
being pushed so hard. Sirens blared in the distance. The scene in the rearview
mirror was two unmarked cars weaving around other vehicles that didn’t have
time to move out of the way.

When the vehicles pulled up alongside him, he was
relieved to see Dane and Jasper in one car, Kaya and Rafael in the other. Rafael
gave him a thumbs up, and he once more turned his attention to the voice on the
phone. Gregor was glad Tessa had hands free calling. She continued to give him
play by plays of what was happening and where she was. If it weren’t for the
helicopter, he was sure she could outdrive her opponent. For some reason, the
helicopter wasn’t pursuing her, it was just tracking her movements. Probably to
keep whoever was in the Mustang from losing her. If it was Flanagan, he would
want her alive.

Speaking of helicopters, the unmistakable whir of
blades came into earshot, and Gregor knew Frey was closing in. Now for the hard
part. To communicate with his cousin, Gregor was going to have to disconnect
from his call with Tessa. As soon as he got a break in her cursing, he
interrupted, “Tessa, I need to hang up for a minute. I have to tell Frey exactly
where you and the other bird are, okay?”

“Fine, just hurry the fuck up. And Gregor, when
you get here and you catch this motherfucker on my tail, I get first crack at
him, you hear me?”

“I hear you, Red. I will call you right back.” He
disconnected and called Frey.

“Gregor, Julian has radar on the screen. I have
the other bird’s coordinates locked in. I’m about 15 minutes out.”

“Roger that. Frey, I don’t have to tell you to do
whatever you have to do to keep Flanagan or whoever it is in the sky away from
my mate.”

“No, you don’t. I see the Chief has chosen to
take her role as Queen very seriously. We are getting out of her jurisdiction,
and things could get ugly.”

Gregor gripped the wheel tighter. He didn’t care
how ugly things got as long as Tessa came out of this unscathed. “You just do
what you have to. I’m hanging up and calling Tessa back for an update.”

The helicopter went on ahead and Gregor took the
exit off the interstate that led to the smaller two-lane road. Dammit! He
wished he were in the helicopter with Frey. Fuck it, he was going to get there
quicker. He hit redial, and when Frey picked up, he told him to circle back
around. Gregor found a pullover and shut the truck off. When the others pulled
up beside him, he told them to go ahead and he would meet them there, wherever
there was. He would call them if Tessa turned off this road.

When the Blackhawk was closing in, Gregor removed
his shirt and phased, flying up to meet Frey so he didn’t have to land. Lorenzo
was in the co-pilot seat and pointed to his headphones. Instead of grabbing a
set of cans and putting them over his ears, he shook his head and dialed Tessa.
“Baby, are you still on Forty-One?”

“Yes, but the helicopter is trying to get me to
pull over. He keeps dipping down in front of me. I don’t know how much longer I
can keep this up.”

“Just hang on, Red. I’m in the bird with Frey and
we should have the other helo in our sights very soon. Please, Baby, hang on.”

Lorenzo pointed to the headset again and this
time Gregor put his on. “I need to keep talking to Tessa, what is it?”

“Julian has confirmed the other bird is an Apache,
and it’s loaded with an arsenal.”

“And he knows this how?” Gregor pulled one side
of the cans off and put the cell phone to his ear so he could listen to Tessa.

“Beats the hell out of me. He’s Julian. We need
to be ready to phase and bail if necessary.”

“Gregor, oh shit, Gregor I...” The sounds of
glass breaking, metal crunching, and Tessa screaming were coming through the
phone. Frey cursing came through the cans, and the sight that came into view
stopped Gregor’s heart. The other helicopter was hovering over one of the worst
crashes Gregor had ever seen, and his woman was down there somewhere. Both cars
had flipped and rolled down an embankment. The Camaro was on its top, jagged
sheet metal jutting out at odd angles. The Mustang was wrapped around a tree.
Once again, with no thought for humans in the area, Gregor dove out of the
Blackhawk, phasing on the fly, to get to his woman.

As soon as his feet hit the pavement, Gregor
retracted his wings and yelled, “Tessa! TESSA!” He ran down the embankment to
the front of her car. Upon first glance he didn’t see her anywhere. Sirens
screamed behind him and artillery fire was going off in the sky. “TESSA!”

Both cars screeched to a stop beside the
wreckage. Rafael took over, telling Dane and Jasper to secure whoever was in
the other vehicle. Kaya called for an ambulance. Rafael climbed down to Tessa’s
Camaro and scanned the area behind the car. Red hair was spread on the ground,
barely visible. “Over here!” Rafael called for Gregor.

 The sight of Tessa’s body pinned underneath the
wreckage had Gregor roaring. He lifted the car off his mate’s lifeless body,
flipping it onto its tires. “NO, NO, NOOOOOOOOOO!”

“Greg, don’t move her,” Rafael advised as they
knelt down next to Tessa. It had been a long time since anyone called him that.
He had insisted on everyone using his full name when he transitioned. Greg was
the little boy he left behind. Now it was appropriate. He felt like a helpless
child as he softly pushed Tessa’s long red hair off of her face. Cuts
crisscrossed her skin. Bruises were already forming. The femur of her left leg
was visible. Her right arm was at an odd angle and the left was beneath her
body. If she had been wearing her seatbelt she probably wouldn’t be all cut up.
Then again, she might have been crushed to death. He had no idea of the
internal damage done by the car landing on her. Rafael cursed as a fireball lit
up the sky. Even the possibility of his cousin being shot down couldn’t drag Gregor’s
tear-filled eyes away from his mate.

Frey had flown combat missions in more than one
war. He had never lost a chopper, and he wasn’t about to lose this one. The
Clan owned a commercial helicopter that was registered in the family’s name. This
bird, however, was not on anyone’s list. Frey happened to have commandeered it
several years ago and just forgot to return it.

Even though Lorenzo was a Gargoyle, he wasn’t
combat trained. Very few of the Stone Clan were. Still, it was good to have a
co-pilot to be his eyes on the ground so he could keep his own eyes on the
enemy. Whoever was flying the other helo had skills, but none that compared to Geoffrey’s.

He maneuvered so he was alongside the other
helicopter. When he was close, he could see someone leaning out the side door,
eyes intent on the carnage below. Frey was staring at Gordon Flanagan. He
needed to get them as far away from the wreckage as possible, and away from any
neighborhoods below. When the other bird didn’t move, Frey eased around,
putting himself as close as he could without disrupting his family on the
ground. He edged closer, getting their attention. Flanagan motioned to the
pilot who moved away from the area. Kaya had already told Geoffrey to apprehend
Flanagan by any means necessary. Even though she hadn’t said the words, he
interpreted them to mean dead or alive.

Both helicopters were military grade, loaded for
bear. The Apache might be smaller and quicker, but Frey and his Blackhawk were
almost one entity. Neither he nor Lorenzo were scared of being shot out of the
air; they could phase and fly before they hit the ground. They just wanted to
capture Flanagan with as little damage to the area below them as possible. Their
plan was squashed when Flanagan’s pilot maneuvered the bird into a quick
one-eighty and opened fire. Frey dodged the rapid-fire rounds while returning
his own volley.

A game of chicken ensued with both pilots proving
to be unforgiving. “Do you want me to phase and take them out from inside?”
Lorenzo was obviously ready to be on the ground. Frey glanced down and took in
the number of rescue vehicles headed to the crash site. While humans usually
never looked up, the constant spray of gunfire was surely garnering attention.

“If there were no civilians on the ground, I
would say yes. It’s going to be hard enough to get out of this situation without
getting Kaya in trouble, much less ourselves. FUCK!” A small rocket barely
missed the tail of the Blackhawk. If his shifter hearing hadn’t alerted him to
the Hydra being launched, they would probably be going down. “I’m tired of
playing with this motherfucker. I say we go big or go home, and right now, I’m
going big.”

It might be overkill, but Frey locked on with a
Hellfire missile. He pressed the red “fire” button, and within seconds, Gordon
Flanagan’s helicopter erupted into flames. Geoffrey didn’t wait around to find
out if the man lived or died. He needed to get out the vicinity and hoped like
hell none of this came back on Kaya or the Clan.

He kept radio silence so that no transmission
could be tracked. Lorenzo looked back at the smoke on the ground. “Do you see
any survivors?” Frey asked as he flew east towards his home.

“No, all I see is smoke. Do you want me to call
to the ground, find out how Tessa is?”

Frey’s face became grimmer. If Tessa didn’t pull
through her injuries, Gregor was going to lose his shit. “Yeah, but call Rafe. Tell
him unless it’s imperative he has the bird for transport, we’re going
incognito.”

Frey sent up a silent prayer to the gods that
Tessa be okay. Lorenzo hung up and didn’t speak. He appeared to be offering his
own prayers.
Well fuck.

Kaya
was talking to Curtis Standifer, the local Chief, attempting to smooth things
over for being out of her jurisdiction. She explained she was there as family,
not as an officer of the law. Rafael had called Dante and told him to get in
touch with Joseph Mooneyham. Joe was a lone wolf sort of Gargoyle, staying out
of Clan business. He was Chief of Staff at New Atlanta hospital, and one of the
brightest doctors and surgeons in the States. Rafe explained the seriousness of
Tessa’s injuries, and how Joseph was the only one he trusted to work on her. He
meant no offense to Dante and none was taken. They both knew Dante’s
limitations, and neither was willing to risk a mate’s life because of pride.

The
fire and rescue crews were using the Jaws of Life to extract the driver of the
Mustang from his vehicle. Tessa was being secured to a board for transport. It broke
Rafael’s heart to see Gregor in so much pain. If the roles were reversed, he
didn’t know that he would be containing himself half as well as Gregor was. He
hadn’t moved from Tessa’s side except to give the medics room to maneuver. A
medical helicopter was on its way to transport her to the hospital.

Rafael
was proud of Kaya. She had taken one look at Tessa and immediately went into
Queen mode. She was not ordering her men around. She was consoling Gregor, and
asking Dane and Jasper for assistance in dealing with the police and emergency
crews. The only time she lost her shit was when Katherine Fox showed up, way
before any news crew should have received the information. Kaya threatened
Dane, telling him if he let Katherine anywhere near Tessa, she would rip his
wings off with her bare hands.

The
medical helicopter arrived and landed in the middle of the two-lane road Tessa
had been driving on before she flipped. “We’re ready, Sir.” The medics were
speaking to Gregor, but it was Rafael who spoke up.

“Take
her to New Atlanta. Dr. Joseph Mooneyham is standing by with his team.” They
nodded, gently lifted the board holding Tessa, and carried her up the hill to
the waiting transport. Gregor didn’t move. He was immobile and still silent,
having not said a word since he found Tessa’s body. Rafael placed a hand on his
shoulder, “Greg, are you going to ride with her?”

Gregor
blinked back the tears and nodded. Rafael grabbed his neck and touched their
foreheads together for strength. When Rafe released him, Gregor followed her
broken body and climbed in the helicopter beside her. Rafael yelled after him,
“We’ll meet you there.” The bird lifted off the ground, headed to the one man,
the only man who could possibly put Tessa back together. If she had been fully
human, she would not be breathing. But Tessa was tough, and Rafael had to
believe the fates wouldn’t put her and Gregor together only to tear them apart
so quickly.

Rafael
walked over to where Kaya was finishing her statement to the locals. “We need
to go, Love.” When the Chief opened his mouth to object, Rafael interrupted.
“Kaya is the Chief of Police in New Atlanta. You know where to find her should
you need further information. My brother needs his family with him. Now.”

Rafael
walked Kaya to her car, with Jasper and Dane going to theirs. Once underway,
Rafael asked, “How bad is it?”

Kaya
kept her eyes on the road. “If Geoffrey covered his own tracks, then not bad at
all. I explained to Curtis what happened, how Tessa called Gregor who happened
to be with us. He thought I should have called for back-up sooner than I did,
but I explained we weren’t absolutely sure of what was happening. I told him we
don’t know who the driver of the Mustang is or why he was chasing Tessa. That’s
the truth. Do you think this Joseph is going to be able to save her?”

“If
anyone can, it will be Joe.” Rafael put his arm on the seat behind Kaya and
placed his hand on her neck under her blonde hair. He had been itching to touch
her for the last hour. The need to be close to her had not waned in the last
few weeks. If anything, it had intensified. With Kaya going back to work,
Rafael was still getting used to not seeing her twenty-four seven.

“Is
he part of your Clan? I haven’t heard you mention him before.” Kaya was far
enough away from the wreckage that she flipped on her lights and her siren.

“Joseph
is hard to explain. He showed up about ten years ago. When new shifters enter
an area, they are required to meet with the leader and declare their Clan. He
refused to give me a Clan name but assured me he would gladly serve under my
leadership. I didn’t push it. We needed a good doctor on the inside. Rarely do
we need medical attention, but on the off-chance we do, it needs to be one of
our own.”

Rafael
could see the medical helicopter ahead in the distance. He called Julian to
give him an update and have him call the others. A waiting room full of
shifters might not be a good idea, but with Tessa as critical as she was,
Gregor needed all the support he could get. “Julian, see if you can trace
Elizabeth Flanagan’s number from when she called the Pen. She needs to know her
daughter’s condition.”

“I’m
on it. Do you want me to call Nikolas back?”

“No,
let him go. Sophia is his mate, and if she’s in trouble, he needs to be there
for her. We have a long wait ahead of us. Please get with Dante. I need you two
to find out who was driving the Mustang. I also want to know if there were any
survivors in the helicopter.”

“Will
do. And Rafe? Tell Gregor I’m there for him.” The phone disconnected. If
anything ever happened to Kaya, Rafe would not want to live. How could she have
burrowed into his soul so quickly? He would just pray that Joseph could undo
the damage to Tessa.

The
medics constantly worked on Tessa to keep her stabilized. Her vitals were all
over the place. Gregor stayed out of their way but did not move from her side.
His hand was on her bare leg. He felt the tears wetting his eyes when he
noticed the shirt that had been cut away from Tessa was actually his. She must
have snagged it from his dirty clothes hamper before she left. She was laid out
in front of him and everyone else in only her underwear. He wanted to cover the
black lace panties, but the attendants were not focused on her crotch. He
realized his own shirt was still wrapped around his waist, so he quickly
shrugged it on.

Gregor
studied the cuts marring Tessa’s skin. He knew plastic surgery could heal those,
but he didn’t care. She would still be the most beautiful woman in the world if
the gashes all over her body healed to pale pink lines. The important part was
getting the internal damage fixed. The pilot alerted them that they would be
landing soon.

Once
the helicopter set down on the pad atop the hospital, nurses were waiting to
take Tessa inside to surgery. The medics carefully lifted the board and Tessa
onto the waiting gurney, and they all moved as one unit. Gregor followed until
they came to a double door. Joseph Mooneyham was waiting for his patient. He
nodded at Gregor. When he turned his eyes to his patient, he whispered, “No.”

Gregor
stepped up to the doctor he had met a couple of times. “What’s wrong? Joseph,
she’s my m… she’s my fiancée. You have to help her.”

The
other man nodded. “You have my word; I will do my best.” Joseph directed the
staff to the O.R. and Gregor shouted, “Wait!” He hurried to the gurney and
leaned over Tessa, softly kissing her lips, whispering “I love you” against
them. He knew it was too soon to declare his feelings, but he also didn’t want
it to be too late.

Gregor
found himself alone. He glanced around feeling lost until one of the nurses
came back out. “Mr. Stone, if you will follow me, I need to get some
information.” Gregor followed the nurse. He filled out the paperwork as if Tessa
were indeed his fiancée. He listed himself as the individual responsible for
payment. After that, he expected to be put in a small room where he would feel
as caged as his inmates. Instead, he was taken to a large room that was filled
with the faces he needed to see right now. Gregor prided himself on being
strong, but at this moment, he felt anything but. The emotion roiling through
his heart and mind was one he’d never experienced: despair.

Rafael
was the first one to reach him, pulling him into a tight embrace. “Brother.”
One by one the others offered their own support, then they all settled in for
what was sure to be a long night.

“Dante
and Julian are working to find out who the driver of the car was and if there
were any survivors in the chopper crash.” Rafael was barely whispering, knowing
the others’ shifter ears would detect his words. They didn’t need the humans to
overhear any part of their conversation. Kaya was already privy to the
knowledge, so she had gone seeking coffee for them all. “Deacon is manning the
Pen, and Sixx is on his way.”

Gregor
just nodded then turned toward the door, waiting. Kaya came back with coffee,
but he declined. His adrenaline was still at an all-time high, and he needed to
calm himself. Caffeine would not help. The others settled into the less than
comfortable waiting room chairs and let Gregor have his space. Time dragged on.
Minutes then hours passed. The second hand on the clock was deafening as it
ticked, so very slowly. If by some miracle Joseph was able to save Tessa,
Gregor would spend every minute of every day making up for lost time. Even
though she was the one to steal the last three years away from them, he would
be the one giving them back to her. If she would let him. Maybe she only reached
out to him because she knew he had the resources to help her out of the dangerous
situation she had found herself in. He had to trust that she would not have
called him if she didn’t want him in her life.

Gregor
could feel the pull of the moon. He wanted to go outside for some fresh air,
but he would not be any farther away from Tessa than he was at this moment.
Some of the others had gone outside for a break, never staying away long. Dante
called with an update. The driver of the Mustang had been dead at the scene when
they pulled him from the wreckage. His neck had been severed and the blood loss
too substantial. He was identified as Richard Merrick. The Redhead Killer had
been the one chasing Tessa.

This
brought about another conversation. Frey was pretty sure the man in the other helo
was Gordon Flanagan. At least he looked enough like him to make that
assumption, but the man who died in the warehouse a few weeks back had looked just
like a Flanagan too. Until the body was recovered and a positive DNA match
made, they wouldn’t know conclusively.

The
night had turned into day when the waiting room door opened. Joseph walked
through, looking like he had spent all night fighting Unholy. The man was worn
out and weary.

Gregor
couldn’t stand the silence or the unknown any longer. “Joseph, please tell me.
Is Tessa okay? Is she going to make it?”