Charley followed Wyatt through a hall of green carpet. The pale-cream walls reflected either a new build, a lack of design skills or both. The wood-chip and paint scent that emanated from the space gave Charley the impression they’d remodeled. Without pictures on the walls or any personal effects, she figured it had been recent.
He turned right into a room in which a brown desk stood in the middle like a centerpiece. A couple of flat-screen monitors and a keyboard made their home on either side of Julie. She stood, arms and ankles crossed, her head tilted toward the door. A ghost of a smile flitted across her lips.
Wyatt walked straight to her, reached for her neck, and seduced with his fingers until her smile grew bold. Julie tilted to her right, and Wyatt crushed his lips against hers.
Charley’s heart constricted. She willed herself to keep breathing and not to give up despite the sting within her chest.
Wyatt released Julie and together they turned. Her smile radiated pleasure in an almost obscene way. While Charley stood in the door, they leaned their hips against the desk.
“You said you had secrets,” Wyatt said, “and now you know mine.”
Shock and dismay filled her face, and tears leapt to the surface, but she held them in check. Her lips trembled while, within, her heart continued to thump in random bursts. Why?
“Have a seat, and my darling Julie will explain it all.” Wyatt motioned to two folding chairs that sat in a typical visitor’s spot. In a home, they seemed out of place as if they’d set it up for a particular purpose.
“I’ll stand.” Charley crossed her arms, remaining within the frame of the door.
If she sat, she wouldn’t be able to contain the emotions that struggled to burst free. From her spot, she could regard them with contempt while she considered how she and Lily could escape.
“Fine, but don’t think you can run.” Julie wagged a finger but kept her devious smile in place.
She sounded as she had in high school, though she held a touch of age that Charley could see in the wrinkles around her eyes. “My sisters are ready to bring you back if you try to bolt, Charley.” Julie traced a finger along Wyatt’s jaw. “Honey? Can you get me some coffee?”
She fluttered her lashes at him, and he smiled back, laid his lips against hers once more. With his eyes on Charley, he walked out. Julie turned, one eyebrow cocked, the other pressed down.
“Cat got your tongue? Or maybe it’s that Wyatt had mine?” She leaned against the desk with her arms outstretched at her sides and let her hair fall backward with a laugh. “How do you like seeing him in the arms of another woman?”
Charley remained mute, her feet sticking to the ground as she ran through every logical explanation. Keep your head in the game. Get Lily. Get out. Wyatt and Julie can go to hell.
“Nothing to say at all?” Julie grinned, tilting her head toward Charley. “You know, you did a lot of damage way back when. Took me a long time to find you. Wyatt was a big help.” Julie pointed toward the open door and recrossed her arms.
Charley took a quick breath but kept her gaze fixed on the psychotic woman before her.
“Well, actually Stuart was first. He talks in his sleep.” She waved with a hand. “He got the ball rolling, and man was it a good one! Just kept going down that hill until it couldn’t go anymore. ’Course I had to leave him then. Didn’t want him to know my plans.” Julie tweaked her gaze toward the door. “You guys are real freaks, you know? My Dad always thought it was true, but I got proof.” She put a hand on her chest in that southern belle ‘well, I declare!’ way. “And I know this is your last shot with him, too.”
Charley drew her lips into a thin line and bit her tongue to prevent the hitch in her breath. “What do you know, Julie? Last chance for what?” She grimaced as she said it.
“Your life. Wyatt’s your last chance for happiness. He told me all about it.” Julie picked at a nail as if to correct polish that had flaked. “The timing was too perfect!”
“If you wanted to keep me from Wyatt, why’d you take Chase?” She bit harder against her lip-the pain kept her eyes from tearing.
“Who?” Julie tilted her head like a cocker spaniel who’d just been offered a treat he didn’t understand.
You’ve got to be kidding. “My son. The boy you were supposed to release to me tonight.” Charley spit the words through clenched teeth.
“Oh. Him. Well… that stupid girl wasn’t you, and he followed us. Had to do something so our plans wouldn’t be all messed up.” She snapped her fingers as if disappointed.
Charley kept her fury in check as she thought through her next questions. Julie’s ‘ball’ wouldn’t get any moss on it at the rate she kept up the chatter. How long does it take to get coffee? Charley had a few words prepared for Wyatt.
“We, I mean, I just couldn’t help myself with the timing of all this. You’ll get nothing in life in what? Another twenty-four hours? Sucks, doesn’t it?” Her grin all but split her face. “All we gotta do is sit here for a few hours and you… will… lose.”
“So this entire thing was your idea?” Not a chance.
“Of course!” Julie’s hands reached out, palms up. “Had to convince Wyatt of the plan first, though. That was a toughie ’cause he’s such a softie. He’s really good in bed and very, let’s say, encouraging, so I scored-ha ha-and got the job done. It’s too bad he had to play you. Invite you to his house and all that.” She waved at Charley again.
You’ve already lost him. Go for the kill. Be done with her and get Lily. “Why would Wyatt want you now and not sixteen years ago? Why risk putting us together again only to pull us apart? You’re not smart enough to put all this into one cohesive plan, Julie.” And where in the hell is he? He doesn’t dawdle.
Julie took a step toward her. “I am so!” She yelled with one finger pointed in Charley’s direction. “And I know all about you and your… kind. Weirdos and freaks in that big house on the hill.” Julie stepped back and waved her finger. “You might have your uses every once in a while, but with few exceptions, you all need to be erased. You, for example. You ruined my life!” Her tone pitched up an octave as she continued her rant.
“How did I do that?” Charley gritted her teeth. Don’t let her get to you any more than she has.
“You took Wyatt away. Then you took Stuart. I got him back, too, but he wouldn’t let you guys go. ‘Family’ he’d say, and off he’d go to support one of your stupid ‘missions’.” Julie’s voice took on a distinct whine. “But, over time, I figured it out-at least enough to know what I needed to get all the real details. Better yet, he spilled about your birthday.”
Her voice got louder and her expression more manic as Charley pushed. Julie crossed and recrossed her feet, her arms flew in the air, and she shook her hair back and forth.
“I was nice to you your Senior year, if you recall,” Charley said.
“Oh, that’s what you said out loud, but I knew.” Julie pointed to herself. “You were just there to get Wyatt in your clutches, to steal him away from me.”
“It was my impression that he was nobody’s to steal.” Charley shifted weight from one foot to the other. If she could get past Wyatt, Julie’s sisters would be easy to contain. As she thought it, he returned with Julie’s coffee.
Charley turned to him, prepared to throw some obscenities his way but noticed a slight hitch in his step. He hadn’t had that on the walk in the hall.
“Did you add sugar?” Julie blinked her eyes at him in double time.
He groaned and turned back out of the door. She returned to Charley.
Why does he keep leaving? He’s used to butting in and being in charge.
“Wyatt was mine until you came along… and I had to settle for Stuart. Then you went and got that kid, and Stuart went on and on and on about him. I knew it was time to give you a taste of your own medicine.”
“I give you props for taking my boy.”
“Yeah, but he got back to you,” Julie pouted in clear disappointed. “My stupid sisters let him out.”
Sure they did.
“Now that you know I have Wyatt, and your time is on its last tick-tock…” Julie all but stuck her tongue out as she said it. “You’ll see how it really feels to lose. You won’t get to do that shape-shifty thing anymore, and you’ll be all alone.”
The woman had become as crazed as Stuart claimed. Charley switched tactics, held her voice light and airy. “I think you’re right, Julie.”
Julie stopped, blinked and stared. “Of-of course I’m right.”
Charley caught screams from the other side of the house. Julie started for the door, shook her head, and took her spot back. They stared at each other as Charley listened.
“You need an exterminator,” one voice yelled.
“Get over here and get this mouse! It got bigger since last time. Ugh!” the other yelled.
Mouse? Chase? Bigger? No. They wouldn’t send in a boy!
Heavy footsteps raced through the hallway with emphasis on one foot as if he had a limp. Wyatt passed the office where Charley and Julie talked. “Give it a rest, you idiots!” He yelled as the two female voices continued to screech ‘eww!’ and ‘yuck!’
“It ran to the garage! Get it!” Their shouts grew in tandem.
Charley let her grin grow wide. “Your sisters are afraid of a little mouse?” She motioned with her head toward their screeches.
“Yes. They always thought I was the ditzy one.” Julie flipped her hair off her shoulder.
“Oh no, I think you’ve shown them otherwise. Stealing someone’s fiancé, kidnapping a little boy, beating two women unconscious, and all of it two days before my birthday.” Charley pointed to the deluded bitch. “You’ve really outdone yourself, Julie.”
“Scott! Heads up!” one of the voices yelled, “That mouse is-” Her screech went silent.
Scott Bland? Charley slow clapped. Gotcha. “I gotta hand it to you.”
“Of course you do, because this time, I get the guy.” Julie glowed with a winner’s exuberance.
“No, Julie, I don’t think you do.”
“God! Do I have to do everything?” Julie threw her arms into the air. She took a step toward Charley but stopped again and shivered, her gaze directed to the hall floor.
Charley followed the line, turning to see a little gray mouse-larger than the one Chase had become-in the center of the doorway. “Afraid, Julie?”
“No.” She grumbled and took a step toward it.
The mouse didn’t move. Its whiskers twitched, once toward Charley and once to Julie. As it turned its tiny head in Charley’s direction, she noted the lavender eyes.
Hello, Maggie.
Charley smirked. “I think I’d be very afraid of that one.” She pointed to the animal.
Julie took another step. “I’ll just shoo it away, like you did me the night of the dance.”
Charley’s resolve grew. The will to fight rebuilt to a fire, and her heart beat with unmatched fury.
“Oh, I didn’t shoo you, Julie. I kicked your ass right out of his arms. Though I did try to be nice about it. I even suggested Wyatt date you.”
Julie and the mouse stared each other down.
Come a little closer, Julie.
Her eyes burned with rage. “And now he is! You don’t get him anymore. Ever. I got you on your last try.”
“Yeah, you have him all right. You can have Detective Bland today, tomorrow and every day afterward.” The flicker in Julie’s eye told Charley she’d scored a direct hit.
“I don’t think so.” Julie’s gaze moved from Charley to the mouse again. “Why isn’t that thing running?”
“What thing?” Charley asked with a raised eyebrow.
“That mouse.” Julie pointed.
“I’m sorry, Julie, but I don’t know what you mean. That’s my friend Maggie right there.”
Maggie began her shimmer upward. Julie’s eyes bugged as she scrambled backward to her desk. As soon as she bumped into it, she turned and climbed on top of it. The taller Maggie got, and the more her form took shape, the more Julie shook with what Charley assumed to be abject terror.
“How-” She slipped on the desk as her heels slid against the slick surface. “He said-”
“How what, Julie? He said what? Didn’t know we could be animals, too, did ya? How did this beautiful woman show up in your house?”
“Aww, beautiful?” Maggie shook off the rest of her change.
She stood barefoot, stark naked, and as lethal as if she had an arsenal of guns strapped to her hips. Her eyes burned with rage, as deep a violet as Charley had ever seen. Maggie mock-punched Charley.
Charley took a step closer to Julie. “Tell me where Wyatt is.” Her tone turned deadly as she let her own eyes shift to a purple as well. She bared her teeth as might a rabid animal and slammed one fist into the chair, knocking it over in one move.
“You already know. He’s helping with th-the mouse,” Julie stammered but looked again to Maggie.
“He’s in the garage.” James walked to the door and handed Maggie her clothes.
Charley turned and pushed past Maggie to James. “Where?”
“They’re getting ready to load him into an ambul-”
“Why-”
“Just go.” James moved out of her way but pointed down the short hallway.
“I’ll just keep Brick for Brains company, then-” Maggie said over her shoulder.
Charley ran down the empty hallway and followed it to the front where officers had secured Julie’s sisters and Bland, who’d retaken the shape she recognized. Red and blue lights dotted the windows from outside. Cael lifted Lily into his arms and walked out through the open front door.
“Where is he?”
The officers pointed to the end of the hall.
She made the ten feet in three steps and yanked open the door to the garage.
Wyatt lay on a bright orange stretcher on the cold cement floor. Two EMTs and three guys Charley guessed to be FBI colleagues surrounded him, along with the ropes from which they must have released him. His head lolled as they pulled wires free from his chest.
Bland tazed him. “Wyatt!” She screamed and ran to him, falling to her knees at his side. “Wyatt! It’s me, Charley.”
“Ma’am,” one EMT said, “I need you to step aside.”
Charley didn’t move. Fresh bruises appeared across his temples, along his naked shoulders and down his chest. Bland left him with only his boxers. She wanted to rub the black and blue away, but her hands shook with terror of the unknown.
She leaned her face to Wyatt’s and rubbed his hair and his cheeks. “Oh god, Wyatt! I’m so sorry.” Charley kissed his forehead.
“Ma’am? We’ve got to get him to the hospital.” The EMT signaled to lift, and the two of them did, flanked by two of the three agents.
Charley stood, stunned, fixed to her spot as they exited through the open door.
A third agent turned to her. “Charley Randall?” He tucked a pad of paper into his pocket.
She nodded, though tears fell with free abandon.
“I’m Agent Timms.” He held out a hand, but Charley couldn’t pull hers up to shake it. “Your team did a fantastic job tonight. They’ve secured your abductors and-”
He rambled on while Wyatt disappeared, head first inside the ambulance. The EMTs moved in slow motion. The lights swirled around, hypnotizing Charley.
“We’ll take the four into custody, and they’ll be charged-”
Charley did not register his recitation of their intentions.
“He’ll be fine, ma’am,” Agent Timms finished, and Charley turned toward him.
“You don’t know that.” Her tears burned as they ran down her cheeks. “And someone is going to have to answer to me.”
She stalked back into the house. Two officers held both of Julie’s sisters in handcuffs as they pushed them forward and out the door. Detective Bland stood in the hallway, one officer and James on either side of him, his hands cuffed behind his back.
Bland grinned.
“Keep those cuffs extremely tight. It won’t hurt,” she said to one officer. James may have already told him, but Charley wanted to be sure. “It’s the only way to prevent him from getting out of them. Apply pressure here.” She pointed to her own wrists. The officer’s eyes grew wide, but he moved to tighten the cuffs further.
Charley stepped right into Bland’s face. “Got anything to say for yourself, given you are a law enforcement professional?”
His cocky stance added to her fury. “Nope. I know my Miranda rights.”
“Good answer.” Charley swung with all her energy from the right.
Her fist connected with his nose just as she’d intended. Blood spurted as he fell to his knees, and the officer behind him let go. Bland’s face smacked into the floor with a thud.
“Whoops,” James said with a grin. “Guess he slipped.”
As they picked him up, Charley let a devil of a smile loose. “You’re a sorry excuse for a police officer and one of our kind.”
He spit blood at the floor. “Me?” Blood oozed from his nose as he shook his head and stood again. “It’s you guys that are the freaks, living together up there on that hill.”
Charley turned away from him. Next up… Julie.
She marched back through the house, made as much noise as she could as her feet pounded on the floor. At the door, she met another officer, but he stepped aside as Charley arrived.
Maggie nodded her head, dressed again in her jeans and T-shirt. “Princess there doesn’t want to get down. She’s afraid of wee little mice.” Maggie snickered as she stood inside the office, thumbs tucked in her pockets. “Someone’s got to get her. Shall I turn into a bird?” Maggie laughed.
“Not necessary.” Charley stepped into one of the unused guest chairs. That gave her a foot to Julie’s three on the desk. “You can either come down, or I will bring you down myself. And I’ll be just as nice to you as Bland was to Lily and me.”
“I had Barney Fife out there wait for you.” Maggie nodded toward Charley.
Julie turned her chin over her shoulder. “I’ll go with an officer of my choice.”
“Okay,” Charley said. “Officer? Would you please come and arrest this woman?”
He stepped into the room. “C’mon down ma’am, I’ll see to it that you’re taken care of.” He waved her down.
Julie stepped across the desk, to its edge, and hopped down.
Charley did the same off the chair. When Julie moved, Charley moved. As Julie got closer to the officer, Charley blocked her path.
“Did you really think it would be that easy?” Charley asked.
“Yes, because my husband is a Detective, and he’ll have it all taken care of.”
“Not this time.” Charley shook her head. “I hope you like orange because that’s about all you’ll be wearing. You know? It won’t be pretty enough attire for my and Wyatt’s wedding. Shame, but I’ll be sure to send you an announcement. Might even send a piece of cake, though the guards will probably eat it themselves to make sure I didn’t slip a shiv in it. You know what the best part of this is? In a few hours, I’ll have Wyatt and I’ll remember everything you’ve done.”
“What?” Julie’s bug-eyed response meant Bland hadn’t quite explained the entire process-the ‘what if Julie failed’ part.
“Yup, and I’ll be sure to attend every one of your parole hearings.” Charley turned away from Julie. “Let’s go, Maggie. I need to be with Wyatt.”
On the ride in, Charley barraged Maggie with questions on how they’d found them and filled Maggie in on what she’d learned. Everyone owed Wyatt more than the money they’d bet against him.
It’d taken four years, but Julie snagged Detective Bland in Florida. She’d planned to kidnap Charley, but her sisters botched the job and took Sophie instead. It had taken them the entire week to come up with an answer on using Chase. When he got away, they had to come up with yet another. Charley and Wyatt’s reunion had turned into the perfect solution.
Julie’s sisters had copped to the entire plan, right down to the small details, errors, even Julie and Bland. Maggie had guessed right with her second theory that no one wanted to listen to: Bland had mimicked Wyatt.
It had been Detective Bland’s decision to drug and beat Wyatt senseless-Julie’s ultimate plan had been to force Charley to shift on her birthday and thus forget Wyatt before they had a chance to reconnect.
After more than thirty minutes, Maggie pulled up to the Emergency Room entrance. The doors slid open as Charley ran into their line of sight. She slammed her arm into one as she rushed through faster than it responded. The sting didn’t come close to the pain in her heart.
She slid on the slick surface of the ER floor as she ran from the doors to the reception desk. “I’m looking for Wyatt Moreland and Lily Crane.” Charley’s chest heaved as she breathed too fast, her mind whirling with everything that had happened.
A mature receptionist, ‘Terri’ by her name tag, had probably gotten used to the crazy family members who rushed to the side of their loved ones. “Take a breather there, honey.” She peered at the computer over her reading glasses. “Now, have they been admitted?”
“I don’t know.” With a little more force than necessary, Charley’s hands clenched the edge of the counter.
“Moreland,” Terri said. “Moreland.”
Before Terri could locate Wyatt’s status, James peeked through doors marked ‘Authorized Personnel Only’. Charley whipped out a quick “thank you” to Terri and jogged to him.
“Where is he? Where is Wyatt?” She hung on James’s shirt.
James took her wrist. “He’s back here with Lily.” He pulled Charley through the double-door entrance.
Curtains and closed doors lined the hallway as doctors in white coats and nurses in colorful uniforms walked in and out, between and around the rooms. Lab technicians pushed carts and walked with brisk purpose. James pulled her to the fourth room. As he reached it, he turned to look at her but didn’t say anything and opened the door to let her pass before him.
The occupants lay concealed behind curtains. “We got them in the same room.” James smiled at Charley as she turned toward his voice.
Charley pulled back the first curtain by a few inches. Lily lay in the bed, curled up under starched white sheets and cotton blankets. A monitor followed her vital signs as Cael sat in the chair next to her.
He twisted toward the interruption when Charley peeked in. “She’s fine,” he whispered, “just sleeping.”
Charley nodded to him in acknowledgement and stepped forward to the second curtain. With one finger, she pushed it apart just enough to peer in. Wyatt sat on the edge of the bed, pulling wires off his chest. Monitors began to bleep and blare, echo and bounce off the walls of the tiny space.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to be doing that,” Charley said over the noise.
She snuck through the rest of the way.
He stopped, his expressions so full of love it rained on Charley like spring droplets in the sunshine. A new beginning lay before them, its path free of obstructions. Before she could move, the door to the room banged open, and a nurse and a technician rushed in. They yanked the curtain around the bed and stopped.
The nurse shook her head as she rushed to the spot where Charley had stood. “Sir, we need to keep the monitors on you for a little while.” She pushed him back to the bed as the technician pressed the alarm buttons and quieted the blare.
“Told ya.” Charley’s voice hitched.
Wyatt held out his arms, and she rushed forward, ignoring the tech and the nurse, and wound her arms around his neck, leaning her body against his. Tears of pain mixed with joy fell like a deluge from her eyes; she cried a year’s worth in a minute. When her hitches faded, she pulled herself from Wyatt, but only by an inch.
“Ma’am?” the nurse said.
Charley turned to her.
“We really need to get these back on him,” she said.
“Oh, yeah, okay.” Charley stood to Wyatt’s side, his hand in hers. The nurse reapplied the pads to his battered chest and reconnected the wires to the monitor.
“I was coming to find you.” He let his head rest against the pillow again.
“I could see that.” She wiped a hand under her nose with a laugh.
“Ma’am?” the nurse asked.
Charley looked to her again.
“Are you his wife?” she asked.
Charley looked to Wyatt.
“As good as,” he said.
The nurse hesitated a moment as if in consideration. “He’s been a downright disaster since he regained consciousness. I know it’s late, or early, depending on your perspective, but can you make sure he remains on this bed until all our testing is done and his doctor clears him to move about?”
Charley hiked one leg and slid it onto Wyatt’s bed. He shifted to the side as she brought the other one up and snuggled into his side, reclined her head on his shoulder.
“You can count on me.” She closed her eyes.