Promises (Blood Brothers #1) (17 page)

As they drew near the compound, Rafe sent a telepathic message to Mercury letting him know they were close and accessing the gates.

“
We are pulling up to the gates, Merc.”
Rafe sent the silent message to Mercury, knowing that his brother would feel the instant he was back on their land. That instantaneous connection to his brothers, especially his twin, was a built-in alarm for all when they set foot back onto the property.

“Safe trip, I take it,”
Merc answered, a smile in his voice as the gates closed behind Rafe.
“I didn’t get any reports to send cleaners for dead bodies or feel any echoes of explosions.”

“All is well,”
Rafe chuckled, shaking his head at his friends’ morbid observations.

“What are you laughing at?” Jollie asked beside him, finally breaking her silence.

He could feel her small body actually shaking beside him, almost vibrating with terror. Rafe shook his head at her, wishing there was a way to calm her.

“Just enjoying the view, little one” was his only answer. What else could he say?

“How much further until we reach Chalye?” Jollie asked, clasping her hands in her lap, her eyes alert and watchful. Rafe was sure she didn’t miss a thing and it was interesting to watch her mind work as she tried to figure out the security of the place around her. He knew what she would see on the outside.

The drive up to the big house was like most in the northeast Texas hill country. An expanse of acreage to the front leading to the house, outbuildings scattered around were the training facilities, barns tucked into the trees and meadows, a wide path leading down to the natural lake, and lots of wonderful open space. What she wouldn’t see were security checkpoints, surveillance cameras tucked into trees, sprinklers, and posts, or trip wires that activated infrared notification systems everywhere. There was an entire floor of the house dedicated to the security of the ranch, not to mention the actual security building, which was Gabriel’s personal haven. The ranch had enhanced tech surveillance that would rival the White House. What Gabriel didn’t know about technology and surveillance hadn’t been invented yet.

Rafe watched Jollie for any expressions, how she held her body and kept her hands clenched in her lap. He could tell she was use to fighting but she was also patient, which was a good thing. He pulled into the driveway of the house, cutting the engine of the SUV.

“Ready?” he whispered, watching her closely.

“Do I have a choice?” Jollie asked, a terrified look in her eyes.

“Come,” he held out his hand. “No one will hurt you. I promise!”

He let his body move around the front of the SUV slowly so Jollie could keep her eyes on him, unwilling to scare her more than necessary. Rafe opened her door and helped her slide down to the driveway, then stepped back, letting her take her time to adjust to her surroundings.

She was like a wild animal that scented each and every thing around her, testing to make sure nothing was going to jump out to attack. Rafe could understand those instincts, honed from years of surviving alone, fighting just to stay alive. Gabriel had managed to hack into her government files, downloading even the redacted information that the Veteran’s Administration wouldn’t have been able to get their hands on, and it was an impressive training and mission history Miss Sanchez managed to accumulate before pissing off the big brass. She had wanted to be one of the few women who was allowed to enter Force Recon but the higher brass had set her up to fail. They had given her mission after mission and she had passed them all until the fated one that had taken her down, one that for all intents and purposes had been to take her out of service for good. But Jollie had survived.

The brass hadn’t known what to do with her after that, so it was muster her out on an honorable discharge. She hadn’t collected one penny of her retirement, had never reported in to any VA station, and had virtually dropped out of sight until Rafe and his brother had rescued her from the cabin in the mountains where they had also found Chalye. Rafe wanted to know why - he needed answers.

As he led her toward the large entrance of the house, dark wooden doors were flung open with a loud bang and Chayle was standing there, her face pale and her hands covering her mouth in shock. Both women seemed frozen in place for what seem like eternity, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes.

“Brother, you’d better get down here before Chayle does something stupid!”
he whispered to Kayne, praying his twin was close by.

“Coming up behind her, Rafe,”
Kayne chuckled just as a pair of strong arms encircled Chayle’s waist to pull her against his wide chest. He couldn’t help but gently rub her slightly rounded stomach where his child lay safely in his mother’s womb.

“Don’t you want to invite our guest into the house to talk to her instead of just staring at her?” Kayne whispered into his love’s ear, taking a quick lick of her earlobe. He felt a shudder pass down her spine and heard the catch in her breath before she managed to muffle a sob. Chayle shot out of his arms toward the young woman standing in front of his brother.

“You’re alive,” was all Chayle could get out before she broke. Great, gulping sobs shook her body as she pulled Jollie into her arms, barely noticing the stiffness before the other woman finally relaxed enough to lay her head against her shoulder and nod.

“I was afraid you were dead. When they took me to the kennels they told me you were dying,” Jollie whispered, finally confirming what Rafe had suspected all along. That she thought Chayle was actually dead and that he was lying. He continued to listen closely and looked over the heads of both females, his eyes connecting with those of his twin.

“There is a bond here that will never be broken,”
Rafe’s eyes were solemn.

“True,”
was Kayne’s only reply as he watched the women disappear into what was called the Garden room.
“Come on, let’s leave them alone for a bit and go walk down by the lake. Chayle will call me if she needs anything and there are guards close by.”

“Chayle, why don’t you take Jollie into the house? Rafe and I will leave you to talk,” Kayne offered, stroking his lover’s arm. His only response was both women clasping hands and moving into the large house.

Rafe stood watching the two young women for a long time before following his twin down the slope away from the house. He was lost in thought, wondering how he could have missed the steel in such a small package like Jollie when Kayne shoved him out of the way of a stump.

“Are you going to pay attention or should I make sure you
mind walk,
too?” his twin teased as Rafe walked around the stump. His tight t-shirt flexed as he pushed his arms above his head, rolling his shoulders to relieve the tension that had been building in his neck and upper back ever since he had loaded Jollie into the SUV and driven to the compound. The unique dragon tattoo’s tail on his upper right shoulder seemed to move as his golden skin flexed, pushing the t-shirt sleeves up over thick biceps. He had worked out harder than usual the evening before in the Virtual room and the workout had buffed up his muscles more than usual.

“You’re doing it again,” Kayne laughed and pushed his twin. Now a race was on, the two men unable to stop pushing and shoving like a pair of kids as they reached the pier stretching out onto the water of their property as Rafe pushed Kayne in.

It was still March and the water was cold, but Rafe wasn’t too worried. It would serve his brother right to walk home a little wet.

Chapter 23

Chayle pulled the slim woman into her arms and walked them both into the house, ignoring the brothers. Head bent, all she could do was stare at the olive complexion and long hair of this woman who she had thought was only a girl when she was in the cabin. Small but strong, Chayle was stunned to realize she was actually fully-grown. They were sitting in the Garden room before she realized where she had taken them, clasping Jollie’s hands and trying to help her stop shaking.

“No one will hurt you here, I promise,” she whispered, rubbing both hands.

“But how can you be here?” Jollie asked, looking around the room again, taking in the bright walls, high windows and so many plants spread around the room. It was like a fashion magazine’s spread with vases of flowers and live plants everywhere. Then she looked back at Chayle and down at her stomach and blushed. “What happened? Is that from our capture?”

“Kayne and Rafe grew up here. When they were discharged from the military they brought their men home with them and they made it their base of operations since there are more than a thousand acres, which includes most of this side of the lake. No one can get in here, trust me. And no, the child is Kayne’s,” Chayle huffed, swiping a straggling lock of bangs from her eyes, “We’re safe here.
He’s
tried to take me at least once already just recently and failed.” She shivered at the memory, then pushed it away.

“What do you mean, He’s tried?” Jollie cringed back into the loveseat, instantly on guard and watchful. “How can you be sure it’s safe? They can’t hide us in plain sight, we have to go underground.”

“I promise you, we have an entire army to protect us here,” Chayle whispered.

“It’s not possible!” Jollie jumped up, running for the door only to have Chayle grab her arm. “You don’t know that for sure. I’ve been running for a long time, hiding and he still found me.”

“Then stop running, he can’t get you here! I promise you, they won’t let anything happen to you - ever!” Chayle’s genuine belief seemed to reach through Jollie’s fear and touch her, almost like it did while they were held in the cabin. She turned, studying the woman standing there so confident and sure that where they were was safe from the monster who stalked them.

“How can you be so sure?” Jollie whispered, shaking so hard her teeth chattered.

“Because Kayne would move heaven and earth to keep both of us safe,” she said, rubbing the small mound of her stomach. “And he promised me no one would get to us here! Kayne wouldn’t break his promise.”

Jollie could see the determination and trust so firmly in the other woman’s eyes there was no way she could voice her terror. However, there was also no way she would ever trust another male like that again.

“Now, help me plan how we are going to help the guys bring this psychotic bastard down.” Chayle grabbed her new friend’s hand as they put their heads together.

Chapter 24

Rafe and Kayne walked back along the lakefront confident the women were under enough surveillance and heavy guns that no one could get to them without one of them knowing. It was rare that the two of them had a moment where they could just breathe; take in the woods, the lake, and the compound without the demands of leadership pushing down onto their shoulders. At the moment they both allowed each other the quietness of their own thoughts, a long time advantage of being able to separate the “twin-speak” as they called it from so much other white noise in their heads. Somewhere, far across the lake, someone was using a chain saw to cut wood, while close by one of the teams must be repairing the fence line that had recently come down in a storm.

This was their home, their sanctuary. After every mission, the core team of four men came back here to regroup, rebuild, and find balance. It didn’t matter they were not all brothers by blood, they were brothers by common goals and by common strengths, molded by the same adversity and challenges thrust on them by a government who took advantage of their patriotism and need to serve their country. Now, they were considered nothing more than animals useful for hunting those who were considered more dangerous than the animals the team had been named while still serving their country.

“Are you going to tell me what is going on with Jollie?” Kayne finally asked, picking up a large branch, breaking off the end so that it made the perfect walking stick for his height. He didn't bother looking over at his twin, he could feel the conflicting emotions boiling and churning in Rafe, like a hot cauldron of molten metal ready to spill over into the humid air.

“She is different,” Rafe whispered finally, stopping to stare off toward the hills in the distance, hidden by the dense hardwood forest bordering the lake. “There is something about her that is not quite right, but I can’t put my finger on it just yet.” Kayne stopped walking, becoming stiff and alert.

“Stop it,” Rafe growled, turning to look at his brother. “She would never hurt Chayle. There is something within her that wouldn’t allow it. Jollie is inherently good to the core, soft and fragile yet struggling to prove she is stronger than most men. The times I’ve checked on her while she was unconscious amazed me at the core strength that woman has and it’s probably the only thing that kept her alive during the time she was held captive.”

“Then what do you sense?” They continued to walk but Rafe could feel his twin’s unease.

“She was as much a victim as Chayle,” Rafe picked up a rock and skipped it across the lake, never seeing the final landing. His mind was turned inward, picking apart the pieces of so many puzzles, and Jollie was just another piece that had been added to the maze. “But I also sense a deep need to obtain revenge, against whom I haven’t figured out yet.”

“Do we need to separate the women to keep them safe? I will not have Chayle hurt again. And if some assholes think they can walk into our home and take her, they will find a war on their hands.” Kayne tossed a rock across the lake, trying to skip it past his brother’s but his anger and deep seated terror for his mate caused the stone to sink half-way out.

Rafe laughed, both at his brother’s toss and the absurdity of his suggestion. After watching the two women at the house, he was convinced he had done the right thing in bringing Jollie here. At least here he could protect her, tempt her here to eat more, and possibly find out what those in pay grades higher than his had been hiding when her personnel jacket was stripped of so much information.

“I doubt seriously you will be able to split those two up now that they are in the same house, brother. So forget it. I, for one, don’t want to tackle Chayle if she decides to protect her little chick.” Kayne groaned and rubbed the back of his neck.