Brain(4)

“No. I had it packed in case I needed to leave in a hurry.”

“Okay. I’ll try to be with you when you wake up, but if I’m not, I’ll only leave people to watch you who won’t hurt you. If anyone has to hurt you, it’ll be me. That doesn’t mean you can abuse them, it just means you don’t have to be afraid.”

I heard the elevator ding, heard my captor letting someone the rest of the way in, and looked up to see a shorter but heavier muscled guy.

My captor leaned me sideways and stretched me out as he said, “It’ll be okay. Go to sleep for now. We’ll talk later.”





Chapter Two




Brain



The names she used most frequently were Ice, Faith, Crystal, and Destiny. She used more common names when checking into hotels, but I doubted they meant anything to her. The first name I’d known her as, though, was Ice, and it was still who she was in my head.

She’d been dressed as a boy when I first saw her, but her scent told me right away she was all woman, and it was all I could do to convince my wolf she was the enemy, and not someone we could pursue sexually and romantically.

Now, knocked out from the drug and in repose, without the defensive wall she kept up, she seemed so fragile and delicate… innocent. I knew none of those things were true, however.

Bash had brought up a large, rolling suitcase, and I arranged a pillow in the bottom before cutting the zip-ties and settling her into the suitcase. She was flexible, and though tall for a girl, she was thin. I positioned her so when we rolled her, she’d be situated as if she was kneeling, her head bowed, and the pillow under her knees.

“I’ll go out the way I came,” I told Bash. “You get her out of here and into the Expedition without being rough. You know the route to take, I’ll meet you at the cabin.”

Because Ice is smart, she’d gone to a tourist town to try to get away from us, as it’s easier to hide and get lost in the crowds. We were in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and Bash and I had rented a cabin on one of the nearby mountains.

I was hoping I could undress her and put her in one of my shirts before she awakened, as I didn’t want it to be a fight. I’d seen a tiny handcuff key clipped unobtrusively to a belt loop on the back of her pants. Odds are she had other escape tools on her, so I’d need to remove everything. I’d feel like a pervert doing it, but it had to be done.

I needed to get my head out of my ass when it came to her, though, and do my job. She’d hacked into our system and stolen information that could hurt us in the wrong hands, and I needed to know which of our enemies she’d given it to. I was honest enough with myself to admit the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours would go completely different if she were a guy.

But she wasn’t. She was a sexy as hell woman who was so far beyond a genius, she could give me a run for my money. The guys wondered why I only fucked women and never got serious? Because I needed someone who could hold a conversation with me, and intelligent women weren’t generally interested in bikers for more than a quick fling. I didn’t regret the life I’d chosen, though. This was me, and people could take me as I was, or go fuck themselves. Without lube.

I travelled to our rental cabin via a different route than Bash, plus I was on a bike, so I arrived before him. He was supposed to be taking it easy on the curves to keep from banging her around, so it was good he wasn’t here yet. I unlocked the door, did a walk through to be sure no one else had been here, and then went outside to wait.

Instead of rolling her inside the suitcase again, I lifted her from it and carried her in the house in my arms. Bash wisely kept his mouth shut.

I held her so he could see the handcuff key on her belt loop, and said, “Odds are she has more stuff hidden on her we can’t see. I’m going to get her out of her clothes before she wakes, and put her in one of my shirts. Once I get her restrained, I’ll try to catch some sleep while she’s out. You good to stay up and keep watch?”

“Yeah. I’m gonna make some burgers while you get her undressed. You want one?”

I nodded. “Make one for her, too. We can put it in the fridge, and warm it up when she wakes.”





Chapter Three




Ice



It was daylight when I awoke, and I did a quick inventory before I moved.

I was in a bed, under the covers. I was in a house, not a hotel. Generic bedside table with nothing personal on it, and an ugly lamp, so possibly a rental. My right wrist had a leather cuff locked onto it, with a lead going over the side of the bed. I couldn’t see what it was connected to, but figured it was likely the bedrail. My right ankle also felt as if it were bound, likely to the bottom of the bed. I had plenty of slack, so it hadn’t interfered with my sleep, but I doubted I could sit up, and knew I wouldn’t be able to reach my foot with either hand.