Page 14 of Aaron (Dresden Pride #1)

“Then tell me what that means to him.” He said that he didn’t know the mind of his grandson, but he thought that he’d be beyond kind to her and would give her the world if she wanted it. “So he’s a nice man.”

“One of the nicest men that I’ve ever known, and that’s saying a great deal as I’ve known a lot of good men in my lifetime.

But Aaron, like his parents and brothers, is a good man like none other.

” She thought of something and asked him about it.

“Missing women? I don’t know anything about that.

Could be that they just run off when their man beat them too much.

I heard of a network that is used, but I’ve never been able to chase it down or anything.

What does that have to do with my grandson? ”

“Not about Aaron, but his brother Alaric.” He asked her what was being said. “That he’s kidnapping women to sell them off to other countries for sex and prostitution.” Frank shook his head as if in disbelief.

“Not with them boys. They’re momma and daddy raised them to respect women and men.

They’d no more do that than you would.” He eyed her hard.

“You didn’t use compulsion on me that time, but I can’t lie to you.

Not with you being Aaron’s mate. That makes you my granddaughter just the same as if you’d been born to my daughter. ”

“Thank you for that. I don’t know what to say.” He just stared at her again. “I’m sorry that I used that on you. I didn’t know I could do that. Is it true that you can’t lie to me? And who else can’t lie to me either?”

“None of us can that you’re not related to.” He looked at the door, and she did as well. “Aaron is coming right now. He’s brought you some food to eat. If I was you, I’d let him talk to you about him belonging to you. If you’d not mind.”

The door opened, and just like he said, it was Aaron.

He had a large bag of something that smelled wonderful.

When he told his grandda that he didn’t know he’d be here, the elderly man said he was leaving.

Just after he was given a hug by Aaron, he looked at her before returning his gaze toward his grandson.

“She knows about you being her mate. Also, she’s a bit stronger than I am, I’m thinking.

You take care that you tell her everything because there is no doubt whatsoever that you belong to her.

” Aaron asked him what he’d done. “Nothing. But she’s your mate, Aaron.

Don’t you forget that. And she’s strong too.

Like you, I’m betting. What do you feel that’s different? ”

“Nothing but then I’ve not been doing anything but sitting around my apartment.” Frank nodded and told him that he looked like he was bigger. “How can that be? I thought that mom said there would only be changes after we had sex.” That caught her attention.

“We’re not having sex. I don’t even know you all that well yet.” Aaron looked at her and smiled. It was like before, all dreamy and sexy like. “That might work on some women, you know, but it doesn’t work on me.”

“We need to talk, I guess.” She nodded and watched as he hugged his grandda again, and the older man left. “I brought us some dinner. I didn’t know for sure what you liked, but you mentioned a meatball sub. That’s what I got for both of us.” She thanked him.

As he unwrapped both long subs, she was suddenly starving.

As soon as he handed her the one he’d gotten for her, she bit down into it and moaned.

It was like a bit of heaven, she thought, with just enough spices to make her happy with his choice.

She looked at him when he stopped moving and asked him what was going on.

“You moaned.” She said that the sub was good.

“Yeah, I guess so.” He sat down, bit into his own sandwich, and did the same thing that she’d done.

Moaned. It moved through her body like he owned her with it.

Squirming around on the bed, she was surprised that her ankle didn’t hurt again.

But for now, she didn’t care; she was hungry.

“I went home to talk to my parents for a little bit. They said that it sounds like we’re mates.

I don’t know what Grandda was talking about when he left, but I’m sure now as I’ve ever been.

They told me some things that we might experience or not.

I guess it’s different for each couple.” She asked him about compulsion.

“I don’t know why not. Stranger things have happened in the last few hours for me.

Grandda mentioned that he was sure. Is that why?

You were able to make him do something that he might not have been able to do before? ”

“I guess I made him tell me about us being mates. He didn’t seem all that happy about it.” He told her that he’d get over it. “There are some things I have to tell you as well. It’s my job, my boss sent me here.”

~*~

Aaron listened to what she had to say about his brother and what was going on with the missing women.

How she was sent here to get the information needed about the missing women and to report it back to her boss.

She even told him how he wanted her to be healed again by this coming Friday.

His sub forgotten, he listened to her every word.

“What do you think is going on?” She said that she didn’t believe that he was selling off the women at all, but that they’d gotten out of a bad situation on their own and ran away. “That’s some of it. What else are you guessing about?”

“What do you mean that’s some of it? What do you know about this? Am I looking at the wrong brother?” He shook his head. “Use your words. I know you can’t lie to me, but I don’t know if that counts with just shaking your head. Tell me what you meant.”

“My family has been helping move people; it’s not just women who are abused out of the state for decades.

We give them a little money and set them up with a job and a place to live.

For the first few months, we make sure that they have everything they might need and then let them go about their own business.

They can’t ever return here, nor can they contact anyone from this life.

They get a new identity and assume a new life away from their abuser.

” She stared at him with her mouth open.

“I help when I can, but since I’m usually out on calls that are different than my brothers, who are police officers, they handle that end of it.

What I mean by that is they get the women to press charges, and while their abuser is in jail, they move the person out and beyond. ”

“Do they approach you, or do you just move them out?” He said that since his brother and dad work at the hospital, they can tell who is being abused and lets the rest of them know. “What if they come back and tell people what you’ve been up to? What do you do then?”

“Nothing. It’s our word against theirs, and to be honest, it’s never happened.

We’re not worried about anyone coming back on us.

We do them a great service to get them out of town, and they usually are more grateful than anything.

” She asked him how it worked. “I don’t know beyond them leaving here.

There is a network of people, and when someone leaves here, we make a single call.

After that, the person who is in line calls the next person.

We know not where they’ve gone nor where they end up. It’s better that way.”

She nodded, and he watched her. He hadn’t thought that he’d have to get into this right now, but was glad that he had the answers that she needed.

As she continued to ask him questions about it, he realized that he really didn’t know a great deal about it after the first call was made.

The network worked better that way in that only two people would ever know where she was going and where she ended up.

“Sometimes we take them to the next drop off, and sometimes we just put them on a bus or plane. Whatever is needed at the time. Once we have them leave, we call the person on the list that comes up, and then when they get her, they call the next person on their end. And so on until they’re safe.

” She asked how they were funded. “My family is very wealthy, and it’s not really a great deal of money that we hand over to them.

A couple of thousand dollars and that’s all.

If she gets more from some point down the line, we have nothing to do with that.

The places that we set them up in could be a rental or an outright home that someone owns.

We never get that far, so we have no way of knowing what happens at the end. ”

“But you know that they’re safe somehow.” He told her that he did after nodding to her again. “How can you be sure they’re getting what they need in the way of a safe place?”

“Because we only use tigers that are in the network. Tigers that don’t understand humans at all and their need to beat someone they’re supposed to love.

” She asked again how he would know. “I don’t.

I’m just taking it on faith that they are safe and get what they need.

But I have to trust that they do, or what are we doing this for? ”

They then continued to eat their dinner, with only a few questions being asked of him.

He had some of his own, too, but didn’t voice them until she was settled into knowing that what he was telling her was the truth.

When she seemed satisfied, he asked her what kind of job she had that she was watching over his brother.

“I work for the FBI. I’m an agent in an all-man world that gets me the shit jobs when something comes up.” He told her he was sorry that she had to deal with that. “Not as much as I am. I worked really hard to get there, and now all I do is run errands and make coffee. I don’t even like coffee.”