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knight

IT’S BEEN A while since I’ve been in Cedar Falls, but I don’t have any problem getting in.

I go right downstairs, too. This bottom-level of the facility is still a secret, and most of the people who work here don’t know what’s really down there, but they think I’m just part of the staff now.

They think I’m down there doing research, innocent research, and that there are no victims.

On the bottom level, I have free rein of the place, and I go wherever I like. Some of the staff see me and say hello, giving me a friendly wave. No one asks what I’m doing. No one tries to stop me from going anywhere.

It’s not hard to get the stun gun from Dr. Acker’s old office, that’s all I’m saying.

No one’s even done anything with the office, either. All the stuff is there.

I get other things, things that are just in this filing cabinet she had in there. I get handcuffs and zip-ties and I put all that in a bag and I just walk out with it.

No one stops me then either.

They just smile and wave.

Good to see you, Knight.

Have a nice evening, Knight.

Easy.

The next thing I do is go and scope out an old, abandoned warehouse I used to know about. The place is still there, and it’s still easy to get inside. I check out a few rooms on the upper floors that still have doors on them. I think I can secure these doors with padlocks.

I need to get padlocks, though, so I do that.

I go to Walmart and buy what supplies I need. I get other things besides padlocks. I get some kerosene heaters and lights and I get blankets and I get a couple cheap beanbag chairs.

Finally, I’m ready.

I don’t need to be a tracker to hunt down Calix, because we have a life bond, and I can feel him in the bond. But being a tracker probably doesn’t hurt.

On the other hand, Calix is just at his sister’s house.

I remember this place, because it’s where we found Lotus the first time.

That time, we went to a window and yanked Lotus out of there.

This time, I go to the front door and knock.

The sister answers. “Hey, Knight,” she says.

“I know your brother’s here,” I say.

“Okay,” she says.

“Well, tell him I’m here,” I say. “Tell him I want to talk to him.”

“You know…” She looks me up and down. “You don’t own him.”

“He is mine,” I say darkly. “If you don’t go and get him, I’m going to come into your house and find him myself.”

“You’re a jackass,” she says. “Stay away from my brother, you abusive fuckwad.” Then she slams the door in my face.

I’m about ready to break the door down when Calix shows up at the door. He smells fucking good, and I remember the first time he got down on his knees for me, and I’m lost in that sweet reverie of his mouth on me.

“Knight,” says Calix, his tongue darting out to run over his upper teeth. He has that thing going on for him, that thing where he’s ostensibly afraid of me but also turned on underneath that. He knows I’m never going to actually hurt him.

I think he knows that.

Well, whatever.

“Calix,” I say. “Come with me?” He gets the choice to come willingly. I’ll start with that.

“Where?” he says.

“Don’t worry about that,” I say. “Yes or no?”

“What if I say no?” he says, and he’s fucking flirting with me.

I close the distance between us, seizing him by the back of the neck. I kiss him. He tastes like home and pack and sex and everything good in the world. “You want to find out?”

Calix’s scent is going haywire. He grins at me, his eyes half-lidded. “You’re… you scared my sister, you know that?”

“Do I look like I give a fuck?”

He laughs. “No, no, you never do.” He reaches up to rest his hand on my arm, which I’m still using to grip the back of his neck. He looks into my eyes. “Hey, I cannot come with you right now, but if you really want to talk—”

“That’s the wrong answer,” I say. And then I pull him up against me and we fight for just a few minutes.

It’s not much of a contest, because Calix is not trained like me.

He might be as big as I am—alpha genes or whatever—but he’s weak and he’s no match for me.

So, it takes me all of thirty seconds to subdue him and handcuff his hands behind his back.

He grunts, cheek against the ground as I have him pinned. “What the fuck, Knight?”

“You’re mine,” I tell him, hauling him up. I grope his crotch. He’s hard. He has a knot. I kiss him again.

He sags into me. “Are you kidnapping me, then, Knight?” He’s still flirting with me.

“Fuck yes, I am,” I say. “For your own damned good.”

He laughs into my chest, pressing his erection into my leg. He smells amazing.

His sister comes back to the door, and she’s screeching a lot of questions at me, saying that I can’t do whatever it is I’m doing, and that I need to let her brother go and I just ignore her. I push Calix away from the door toward the car I brought.

“It’s fine, Maggie,” Calix calls over his shoulder. “I’m fine.”

“Oh, what?” she says. “This some kinky game?”

“Something like that,” says Calix.

“Fine, so say your safe word,” she says.

Calix laughs helplessly.

“You have a safe word, right?” she shrieks.

“I won’t hurt him,” I tell her. “I’m in love with your brother. He’s my life mate.”

“I trust him, Maggie,” said Calix, and he grins up at me.

Trust.

Shit, I hadn’t known how much I wanted to hear that from someone.

I kiss him again, a desperate kiss. “I’m not losing you,” I tell him.

“You’re such a caveman,” he says to me, but it’s affectionate.

I shove him forward, getting out the keys to open the trunk of the car.

“Wait,” he says, looking up at me. “Let me ride in the back seat. Do not put me in the trunk.”

I put him in the trunk. He may be sexy as all fuck, and I may be in love with him, but he still has to learn a lesson.