Page 47 of Taken for Granite
“Is that why no one’s coming out of the house? They want us to sweat.” She sighed. “Shit. It’s working. I’m so nervous and I don’t want you to do this but—”
“Chloe.”
“Yeah. She’s just a kid. Five days is too long to spend with these assholes.”
“I agree.” He wanted to gather his mate to him and comfort her, press human kisses to her face, and wrap her in his wings to shield her from the harms of the world, but he held back. “I will escape again. I will find you,” he swore.
She nodded. “Fuck it. Let’s get my sister.” Juniper leaned on the horn until the front door opened.
Two black vehicles arrived, blocking their van. Agents appeared from the house and the barn. They appeared unarmed, but Tas knew better. Each would have tranq darts capable of puncturing his thick skin and sedating him.
Juniper slammed her door shut and roughly pulled open the passenger side door. “Sorry,” she whispered as she yanked Tas out of the van. He followed without resisting, adding a stumble as his feet hit the ground.
“Which one of you is the bitch who has my sister?”
“That would be me,” a female with an English accent said. She stepped forward, her hair so pale it verged on white. Wearing a smart black suit, her blood red lipstick appeared all the more dramatic. Tas recognized the voice in an instant: Rhododendron.
“Bring the girl,” Rhododendron ordered.
“A few conditions first,” Tas said.
More agents appeared from around the red barn. They had weapons trained on him. He did not move his head and acted as if he did not see them. Instead, he tilted his head to one side, listening.
“The Americans do not move as quietly as the British agents,” he said.
“Shit,” one the agents muttered.
“I told them, but they insisted on underestimating you,” his handler and nemesis said. “They didn’t believe me when I said you’d come back of your own free will.”
“I was captured, fair and square.” He held up his bound hands as proof.
Rhododendron gave a dry chuckle. “You just can’t resist saving a damsel in distress.”
An agent appeared with a juvenile female. The hair color was a dark blonde, but the resemblance to Juniper was unmistakable. The way she had spoken of Chloe, he expected a child, not an adolescent.
“Chloe! Did they hurt you?”
“Junie!” A strong hand restrained Chloe.
“Your… conditions?” Rhododendron asked.
“A vehicle for the females,” he said. “With a full tank of gas and no tracking devices.”
Rhododendron looked at the white van. “I suppose that old thing won’t make it back to wherever it is they’re from. Fine. Smith, the keys.”
A male standing next to a black vehicle paled. “I’m not Smith.”
“And I’m not interested in learning names. Keys. Now.”
He tossed a set of keys toward Juniper, landing them at her feet. “Should I?” she asked quietly.
“Yes,” Tas answered, just a quietly. He didn’t trust the vehicle not to have a tracking device, but he’d take care of that later. In a louder voice, “They leave unharmed and you do not follow.”
Rhododendron watched Juniper and Tas, her sharp eyes searching for something. “How positively chivalrous of you, Tas, and here I thought you hated humans.”
“I hate you more,” he replied.
She paled then, a sharp-edged smile settled over her face like a mask. No doubt the agent had many ideas about the nature of his relationship with Juniper. He needed to throw off Rhododendron’s suspicions and replace them with proof he loathed Juniper for returning him to his captors.
