Ron Franklin sat in his office. He'd just finished reminiscing about one of his favorite times with Ellen with his blinds closed. A knock came and he hid the tissue in his top drawer. He unlocked and opened the door as if he hadn't been wanking off on company time. An underling told him there was someone he needed to see. Xavier brushed his way in. He made himself comfortable at the desk.
"Look, you. I've found your girl. The price's risen, though. We've complications."
"What kind of complications?"
"You never said she was missing out of upstate New York. There's a guy looking for her. Hell, I'd kick your ass myself, but I'd rather watch what he does to you," he leaned back in the chair.
"Ha! You can't be serious. How would you get your money?" Ron flustered.
"Did you take a fifteen year old from her family?"
"It wasn't like that. I was young then, too. We ran away...."
"It wasn't her choice, was it? She was promised. You knew that," Xavier pointed over Ron's desk.
"Who does that anymore? She married me. She was my wife! What was I supposed to do, not fuck her?"
"Little punk, you'd better own up to it, or they'll get you."
Ron straightened up and said, "Just tell me where she is now, and I'll go get her."
"I found her in Missouri, but she's not there anymore. Another group's involved. You wouldn't survive ten minutes..."
"Damn it, I want her, so spill it."
"Did you just snap at me? I don't think I heard that right." Xavier stood over the thin man and cocked his head to the side.
"Okay," Ron whimpered with his hands raised. There was a group outside the window, now. He'd have to calmly get the man to leave. "Where is she?"
"She's in northern Louisiana. You go there and be a dead man."
*
I felt the scratchiness of the blood drying on my skin. I fell asleep in the hole they'd put me in. A straw mat and a bucket were my only furnishing. I heard voices above me.
"Just give her a few days and she'll be hungry."
"Look man, she could just kill you an' eat you, bra. Let's just feed her. She's a queen. Some alpha's gonna come for her, you know how it goes."
"Our duty is to our queen. She says she starves. We don't feed her."
"Okay, I'll wait until tomorrow. Maybe the rage is over an' she'll just be cool. We feed her then, right?"
"I won't let her die down there, but Stella...."
"What about Louis?"
"He's not her mate. You heard what she said."
*
"We're sorry to have detained you, ...." the investigator tried to get a name out of him.
"Rousseau. I see no point in this. I wasn't carrying any weapons."
"You have a first name?"
"Yes, doesn't everyone? It‘s on my ticket and the ID in my wallet."
"We need it to run a background check."
"For what reason? I pose no threat. I have all of the necessary paperwork for the ceremonial sword. It‘s completely dull…"
Another thin man came in and shut the door. "Bonjour, Monsieur Rousseau. So, we meet again."
"As if it matters," he said as he rubbed at the handcuff that held him to the table. "I have someone I am supposed to be meeting."
"You don't remember me do you. I'm sure you wouldn't. I knew your cousin better than you."
Rousseau pulled off a heavy sigh, "This is unlawful imprisonment. You kept me here to be seen by this...."
"Where is my wife?"
He looked directly into his interrogators eyes and said, "I wouldn't know where your wife is. I would like to call my attorney."
"Good. You know what to do when you don't want to talk," the one that knew him hissed.
"I beg your pardon?"
"You know where my girl is. You're gonna tell me. The high and mighty prince, huh? Yeah, your mama fed you a lot, but you don't remember too well. You think back, monsieur. Think about the family gatherings. The unrelated males area. You got to watch through the binoculars as I played with her. The way she smiled and laughed. You had to know what was happening. You didn't want that. Not for your future wife. You people have one nutty family."
Rousseau scoffed, "You don't know me at all, do you? You would know that I never went to a family gathering. I'm too much of an alpha to be even that close."
The thin man launched over the table and grabbed at Rousseau's coat. "You liar! I saw you. I saw your hair! How can you lie? Why did they put you guys up there anyway? You're a bunch of perverts aren't you? Sitting up there and undressing little girls with your eyes."
"Little boy, let go before..."
"Before what? I hold the cards! I can have you strip searched if I feel like it and there's nothing a request for an attorney can do about it."
"You will let me go," he spoke softly. Ron shook his head and whined, "No, I won't."
Ron's hands slid down to hang free over the table. He moved back and straightened his shirt. He looked down at the floor.
"Where is my wife?! Where is my Ellen?" He seemed to implode from just saying her name out loud.
"She's not your wife anymore." Rousseau's plain words fortified him a little.
Ron pointed at him, "Where is she? You have no right to take her like that."
"This from a man who kidnapped a fifteen year old girl."
"Ron?" The previously silent investigator moved forward. "Look, I'm already stretching the rules a bit to have you here. You better not be involved in some..."
Ron hissed, "Look, man. I didn't kidnap anyone."
"You took her away and married her. She wasn't even interested in you," Rousseau sighed.
"She loved me! She wanted to leave with me. How would you know?"
"You think I don't know what you did? I'm the one that allowed them to tell you she was promised to me. I let you take her that night. If I had known you wanted to wipe out her past, I'd have forced her to change that night. It might have hurt her, but at least she'd have known who she was."
"What are you talking about?" The other man pointed at Rousseau and asked, "You're saying you would've raped a fifteen year old girl?"
Rousseau bristled, "No, I never said that. Just my presence would have made her turn. I wanted to wait until she was twenty at least to introduce myself. Her body would have matured by then. He couldn't wait for her to be old enough to understand. It would spoil his plans. He took her to be married. To shape her."
Ron looked at the other man, "I never did anything to her that she didn't let me do."
"I'm tired of this, Ron," Rousseau clasped his fingers together in a tent, "You don't know me. Stop painting me as some pedophile, when you're the one to worry about. She left you without my help. You know that. Why am I still here?"
"You smug bastard! She's mine! Give her back!"
"Even if I sent her back, she'd know about you. She doesn't want you anymore. Let it go."
"Ron," the friend growled, "you told me she was in danger. It doesn't sound like that's the case. She's with this guy now, isn't she?"
Rousseau corrected the man, "No, she isn't with me. I came down here to see if she wanted to..."
"I knew you'd know where she is," Ron let the words hiss out.
Ignoring Ron‘s satisfaction, Rousseau addressed the investigator, "Did this one tell you that he was convicted for raping her? You just gave him access to stalk an innocent woman. I won't even mention what Dominic told me about your whole birth control fiasco."
The two humans stood silent as Rousseau cracked the cuffs off easily. He stood up and walked out of the room.
As an afterthought, he said, "I could've snapped your little neck at anytime. You were perfect for her first time. That's what you should have been. Nothing more. Back then, your eagerness was admirable. Now, I see it for what it is. A predatory drive. Who would've thought it would bore into you like that."
He looked specifically at Ron and smiled, "I should sue this place, but I don't think this'll happen again. She'll be seeing you on her terms or not at all."
***
It had been too easy to drift into the compound. Dominic showed James the way to go. They crossed through the forest and passed the simple guards without much effort. Dominic's perception of the mental power that could come made him very cautious. He felt the roving scan as it reached out. That was more like it. He could easily make their minds seem as though two deer were standing by the fence. The ones he couldn't feel were the real danger. They scaled the fence and blended with the visiting humans.
"I can't believe they think this is a game. The retreat idea can bring in a lot of money," James whispered to him.