Mine. There was that word he’d carved into his victims’ chests. Anya rubbed her collarbone, her mind blanking. She couldn’t continue to act normal.
A phone trilled. Daniel pulled it from his slacks. He glanced at the screen and stood. “Finish your dinner so we can get on to the next part of our date.” Walking by her, he paused. “Try to escape, and I’ll make you pay in ways you can’t even imagine—and I have no intention of letting you die. Though you might beg for death.” He strode behind her, and the front door opened and closed.
Cold air whispered around her, and she shivered. He wanted to hurt her. To make her pay for forgetting him and taking up with Heath. Anticipation had filled his voice.
Tears blurred her vision, and she let herself shudder this time. How badly hurt was Heath? He’d been in the middle of an explosion, and it was unlikely he was even walking already. Nobody was that tough.
She was on her own.
Daniel scouted outside the cabin, paying no heed to the snow pelting down on him. Yet he didn’t want to appear disheveled during his date, so he pressed himself against the cabin and out of the wind. Threadbare eaves slightly protected him. “Dr. Madison. How may I be of service?”
“What is going on in Snowville?” she asked, her voice higher than normal. “I saw Heath and Denver being carted out of a burning building—I watched it on the news. Where are you?”
He kicked snow out of his way and angled further back to keep somewhat dry. “I saw the news but don’t know what happened. My guess is that they were messing with explosives they couldn’t handle and made a mistake.” It wasn’t as if those three had the lifelong training he’d enjoyed. They were amateurs. Strong and genetically enhanced amateurs, but still.
The doctor seemed to hold her breath for a moment. “Can you get to them in the hospital?”
“Negative,” Daniels said smoothly, wondering what Anya was doing at that very moment. Hopefully finishing her wine. “The FBI and local police are all over the hospital. Apparently Heath has been linked to the murder of his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend. It’s all so reality television here in the Pacific Northwest.”
The doctor didn’t laugh at his humor like she usually did.
Daniel stood straighter, and his head brushed the eave. He ducked down lower to keep his hair smooth. Anya seemed to like him well groomed. “I’m outside the hospital right now, monitoring the situation. If you want me to conduct a full assault, I’ll do so. But I don’t know where Ryker is. Only Heath and Denver are being treated by the doctors.” Probably. He’d monitored the police scanner on his way out of town.
She was silent.
He shuffled his feet. “Dr. Madison?” He hated how tentative his voice sounded. If he wanted to take command of the military side of the compound, he needed to show her he could do it. “I think the better plan is to wait and see if Ryker shows up. Perhaps even the Gray brothers will arrive here to assist, considering they’ve connected.” No way would she be able to ignore that dangling carrot. She wanted the Gray brothers as much as the Lost boys.
“Daniel, have you reported in to the sheriff?” she asked.
“No. If he shows up here, I need directions from you.” Daniel eyed the snow-laden trees surrounding the summer cabin on the river. There were other cabins close by, but they were deserted for the winter. “Doctor?”
“Whatever do you mean?” There was the calculating tone he was accustomed to hearing from her.
It was time to show her his loyalty and acumen. “Sheriff Cobb wants to torture and kill those brothers. You want them alive. At some point, you are going to have to make a decision. The sheriff or the Lost boys?” Daniel had planned to end the sheriff sometime, anyway, but it’d be easier all around if she ordered the kill.
“I’m not ready to give up the sheriff, Daniel. If you truly want to run this compound, you need to give me what I want.” Her voice firmed like it had when she’d studied him as a child.
Right now she wanted the impossible. “Only you can control the sheriff.” Daniel felt like he was nine years old again and had just disappointed her. He didn’t like to think how she controlled the men around her, although he’d probably have to satisfy her in that way at some point. He swallowed down nausea. If Anya turned out to be his soul mate, maybe he should just take her and start over like the Gray brothers had.
He’d finally found his love. She was his and his only. Yet could he truly leave home? He growled and scrubbed a hand through his hair.
His head hurt.
“I know this is difficult, my boy,” Dr. Madison crooned. “We’ll figure it out.”
He focused, and his headache whispered into nothingness. “Dr. Madison—”
“Isobel. It’s time you called me Isobel, don’t you think?” she asked.
He gulped. Desperation tore through him. He needed a redhead and now. That’s how he asserted control and became the man he was always supposed to be. “Isobel,” he repeated dutifully, feeling like a child again. His shoulders thumped against the icy log cabin as he tried to shrug away the sensation. He was a man, not a helpless child. There was a woman inside the cabin who made him feel like a man. His woman. She was made just for him.
Isobel chuckled through the phone. He instantly went from thinking of her as Dr. Madison to using her given name, even in his own thoughts. His shoulders slumped. “What are your orders?”
“Keep an eye on Heath and Denver, and try to find Ryker. I’m sending backup your way. Once they arrive, I want you to take all three men into custody, regardless of collateral damage or casualties.” Something clacked over the line, and he realized she was using her fingernail on a tablet. “Be vigilant, and if the Gray brothers make an appearance, let me know immediately.” She’d always valued the Gray brothers over all her other soldiers. That fact had stopped hurting him years ago.
Mostly.
“Understood.” Daniel wondered once again what type of skills they had that he lacked. He could create an assault plan in seconds, and he was brutal with a knife. Yet they’d always had something more. Did Heath and his brothers have more? Daniel rested his head back. He’d have to ask Anya. “If it comes down to your order or Sheriff Cobb’s wishes, what do you want me to do?”
