Puma Pride, page 28
Mia and Jolyn led a group of females.
"Brady sit down and be prepared to be angry." Mia said on entering the office. "I've talked to our PR people. We are inviting one reporter and camera crew here. We will make a statement and let them ask questions. Then we are going silent,"
"We plan to talk about all of it," Jolyn said. "Brady, I need to bring in Selene and have that conversation we've discussed."
"Are we going public," Brady asked taking her hand.
“We're tired of hiding," Amanda said quietly.
"Are you sure," Bryan asked and watched the women nod in unison.
"We have a lot of planning to do, " Brady said
"I hate this, " Brady shifted closer to her on the back seat of the SUV.
She reached for him. "I'm not thrilled but going under this pretense allows us to meet without anyone jumping to conclusions."
"Which we both know they have already done."
"True," she turned to him. "Brady, the house..."
"Is full of bears and our people." He pulled her close as her panic made her tremble.
“I'm afraid we'll go home to a disaster," she whispered.
"I saw all the precious packages to their hiding place," Joel said.
"It will be all right," he soothed. “We're sorting your stuff and going home to a pizza party."
"I'll try to keep calm," Jolyn buried herself in his arms.
"You're doing great," Brady reassured.
Joel and Keyne were with ostensibly to help with moving her things. Joel made the turn into the driveway. A tall gate remained closed until Joel told them who they were.
"What number," Joel asked as he drove through the gate.
"Fourteen, " Jolyn said.
"To the left," Keyne pointed. "There are woods on that side."
"We're a row in from the woods," Joel said.
"Willie has people in the woods," Brady growled.
"There on the right," Keyne pointed.
"Stay put, " Brady unbuckled his seatbelt and stepped out of the SUV. He knocked on the door and it started to rise. Joel and Keyne watched the surrounding area. Jolyn saw the familiar furniture of her childhood home. Sliding across the seat, she pushed the door open.
"You're late,” Willie scolded as he hugged Jolyn.
"We had company. " Brady explained.
"Come on in, " Willie motioned them all in so the large door could be closed. Once the door closed, the back wall lifted.
"A secret door, "Jolyn grinned.
"This is all your stuff," Willie explained.
"This is where we'll go through and sort. I've got a truck out front to donate anything you don't want."
"We can make quick work with the big items," Selene rose from a chair in the open area.
Jolyn nodded but didn't say anything to Selene. She walked the rows.
Brady stalked behind her. "You okay," he murmured.
"Yeah, "she grabbed his hand.
"We can make room for anything," he saw her close her eyes.
"It's a lot of memories," Jolyn whispered.
“Good ones,” Brady reminded her.
“Tainted,” she sighed as she fingered a rocking chair.
“Alice told me,” Selene said quietly. “It was one of the comforts they allowed her. She kept it as a reminder of you and your sister’s early days.”
Jolyn’s eyes shifted from the rocking chair to Selene’s eyes. “I know. She would rock me to sleep and sing or read me books,” she leaned against Brady.
“This will come to the house,” Brady nodded to Keyne who carefully shifted it out of the furniture.
“It doesn’t match,” Jolyn reminded him.
“It doesn’t have to,” Brady said. “There will be a lot of babies soon. It will get used somewhere.”
A dining room set, bedroom set. “I don’t think you’ll fit in this bed,” Jolyn teased.
“The smaller of the two we could take back and use if we have kids,” he murmured so only she heard.
“Yes,” she agreed.
Joel and Keyne shifted it to the few other things. Once done with the furniture, they moved to the tables.
Willie pointed to the far side. “We started with all the kitchen items. The items from desks and such are piled next. There are boxes of books from kids to adult.”
Walking along the table of kitchen items, Brady stopped her. “Look a rolling pin,” he murmured. “Cast iron pans too. Maybe we can figure out how to put them on your belt like a gun.”
“Don’t be silly,” Jolyn said. “It was handy at the time. I don’t look for unusual things to…”
“Whack people,” Joel chuckled.
“Maybe I should use it on people who tease me,” Jolyn threatened but laughed.
“She’s pretty effective with it,” Brady stepped aside when she picked up the rolling pin.
“Whatever works,” Keyne said. “I personally am happy she’s a quick thinker.”
“Thank you, Keyne. At least someone appreciates me,” Jolyn bumped hips with Brady and he leaned down to kiss her nose.
“I appreciate you and I’ll show you later,” he raised an eyebrow when she blushed.
She sorted through the desk things, old bills, nothing to note. When it came to the boxes of books, she sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Brady peered over the top of the box. He saw kids’ books from board books to picture books.
“It’s the one thing I remember,” she whispered. “How am I supposed to sort and get rid of. I need to look at them. She bought so many books. I was too old for some of them but we looked through them, talked about how we would do them differently.” She closed her eyes and a tear escaped.
Brady assessed the dozen boxes of books. He put his arms around her and suggested, “Let’s take them all. I know we don’t have room for them all in our rooms but maybe for the kids or in the library. We can move out some of the furniture and add bookcases so you have your own collection.”
“There’s so many,” she leaned back on him.
“Can you tell me you can get through each box in under ten minutes,” Brady asked knowing she couldn’t.
She sighed, “You know I can’t. If we have so many books in our rooms, we won’t have room for us.”
“But you will have time to look and remember and decide,” Brady said.
“Okay,” Jolyn gave in to his suggestion.
“We’ve got a place for you to clean up,” Willie said. “Then we’ll sit to eat some lunch and talk.”
While they cleaned up, Willie’s people loaded the items they wanted to keep into a truck. It headed out as soon as it was full.
“We’ll take care of the rest of it after you’ve gone,” Selene said as they ate sandwiches and chips with soda.
“Tell me your side of things,” Jolyn said softly. She still wasn’t sure she wanted to hear.
“I’ll go all the way back. I think it will help. I was raised separate from my siblings. Bernie’s and my mother didn’t survive all they did for her. I was the only girl so they separated me from the boys. I don’t know how old I was when she was no longer there. I just woke up and she was no longer there,” Selene took a breath.
“That must have been difficult,” Brady said.
“My life became a matter of lessons and following orders,” she closed her eyes. “No one to hug me when I felt bad or encourage me when I did poorly. Success and reward or failure and punishment. It’s all I knew.” She gripped Willie’s hand for a long moment.
“At eighteen, I was pulled out of my routine with an assignment,” Selene said. “I was to shadow this couple and befriend them. I was to report back what they did and if I did this, I had the freedom of living outside the Center.”
Keyne jerked, “Sorry. I didn’t mean… sorry.”
“Is that what they called where they kept you,” Jolyn asked.
“Yeah, but they told us all the females died from a disease and so we were protected and kept apart from any others,” Keyne admitted.
“In the first three months everything was new and vibrant and amazing,” Selene said. “Then they dragged me back to the center for a treatment.”
“Shit,” Keyne muttered.
“I don’t know what you’ve been through but treatments were painful and basically another word for punishment,” Selene said. “I asked why? I had done what they wanted. I never got an answer. I think it was a reminder I belonged to them and as much as I loved the new freedoms I had they wanted me to know it wouldn’t last.”
“After I bumped into your mother and you,” Selene remembered. “I was sore and miserable. You were chipper and sweet but dropped your ice cream on the ground. We started a conversation and things grew from there.”
“Did she know you were part of the center,” Jolyn asked.
“Not for a long time,” Selene admitted. “They wanted it that way. They wanted them watched and controlled.”
“Brent Ladika, how does he fall into this,” Brady asked.
“He was my controller,” Selene said. “He was their controller too. You see they educated us to college level and higher in the case of your parents. They were brilliant.”
“I know,” Jolyn folded and refolded a napkin.
“I don’t know how but they kept him at bay,” Selene said. “I don’t know if it was because they had to do the more in depth work or what but they didn’t have to give them much to keep Ladika happy.”
“So, they cooperated,” Jolyn frowned.
“Sort of,” Selene said. “She took a lot of time building a network of shifters she interviewed. I went with and got to know the shifters too.”
“It’s how we met,” Willie said. “They were nearly three years into gathering myths.”
“I was careful to not tell too much to Ladika about the progress she made because I didn’t want to mess them up. Even though it cost me,” Selene took a deep breath.
“We were coming up on three years, I asked Ladika what he hoped to get out of all this information. I… I was slapped,” Selene touched her cheek. “It was the first time he hit me in the face. He held me for a weekend. He told me I was defective biologically or I’d be in a breeding room. But the scientists determined my DNA had too many anomalies. If I wasn’t willing to do better than he had a whole squad of men who needed a good whore.”
“What did you do,” Jolyn felt concern.
“I returned to my work,” Selene said. “We met the bears. Willie took one look at me and wouldn’t let me leave.”
“A risk,” Brady said.
“She’s my mate,” Willie said. “I smelled the fear on her and convinced her she was safe with me. I learned as much as I could about the center but it was kept off book, I think. No one knew anything. I got bits and pieces but never enough to put a stop to them.”
“I became kind of a double agent,” Selene said. “I contacted Brent by phone and told him I was claimed by one of the bears.”
“He checked into me and discovered it wasn’t wise to annoy me,” Willie said. “He changed her assignment.”
“I was to report in once a week,” Selene said. “I told him Willie wouldn’t let me leave his side. I told him the things we wanted him to know.”
“He wanted her to stay in touch with Alice and Bernard so we brought them to Bear land and learned about them,” Willie said.
“We didn’t report much,” Selene said. “If Alice confided she wasn’t happy with Bernie, I told Ladika they were having marital problems. If Bernie told Willie something about their work, we kept track of their goals and progress. We told them little steps, always smaller steps than where they were truly at.”
“We thought better we tell him something very small or he would go after them,” Willie said.
“I understand,” Jolyn said. “I remember an argument.”
“I don’t know what made them suspicious but they became very suspicious, I suppose along with all the other things going on, they wanted an out. For whatever reason, they took my DNA from a cup we think. When he realized we were siblings, they knew I was from the center.”
“We had an argument,” Willie said. “We tried to explain how she was as much a victim as they were but I think it was one thing too much.”
“I remember a lot of whispered conversations,” Jolyn said. “They didn’t stop me from seeing you though.”
“I think…” Selene closed her eyes. Willie rubbed her back.
“Just say it,” Jolyn insisted.
“I think they were planning to run,” Selene said. “They never loved each other. Bernie was more interested in men. I think they were planning to separate and disappear. They wanted you to have someone to turn to.”
Jolyn wanted to object to what they said but she remembered the hurried conversations she heard when they thought she was busy or not listening. She covered her face as she tried to logic out what Selene said. “It’s possible,” she finally admitted. “The house was paid off. The car was newish and paid off. They sat me down to have a conversation about all sorts of things… almost end of life stuff. It seemed odd at the time but it’s possible they were running off.”
“If your center is the same as mine, they would have done anything to stop them,” Keyne said. “I saw them kill one of us. Oh, they played it off that he had a defect and the only way to save him was to kill him. But they would kill to preserve the secrecy.”
“Are you willing to talk about this publicly,” Jolyn asked.
Selene turned to Willie. He held her close. “My love, you’ve been through so much. The choice is yours.”
“I… I am,” Selene agreed.
“We’ll be doing a press thing,” Brady said. “If you want to join us, it will add to the story.”
“I do,” Selene said. “It’s time to come out of the shadows.”
“More than,” Willie kissed her.
“We’ll let you know when,” Brady said. Turning to Joel and Keyne, he motioned for them to go bring the SUV around.
“My people say it’s clear,” Willie assured them. They walked towards the door.
“I never meant to hurt you or your parents,” Selene put a hand out to Jolyn. “When I met Willie, I could barely make a decision on my own. He helped me learn independence and strength. I was shocked when Bernie told me we were siblings.”
Jolyn stepped closer and hugged her. “I overreacted.”
“You were in shock,” Selene held on as tears raced down her cheeks. “Once they were gone, I didn’t know how to tell you. With the slaughter of the pack, Willie and I were terrified for you. He wouldn’t let me leave the compound alone.”
“All of this is… it’s crazy,” Jolyn said. “I don’t know how they got away with it or how they justified it.”
“We’re animals to them,” Selene sighed. “Even the shifters, the only thing they want from them is a way to make a better human and a way to control the shifters.”
Jolyn stood back from the door until Brady motioned her forward. “We’ll talk soon,” Jolyn hugged Selene one more time.
“Good,” Selene followed her to the door.
As soon as Jolyn stepped out a squeal of tires rang out as a car turned the corner.
“Take cover,” Brady motioned for Jolyn to go back to the storage unit.
She turned and ran. Gun fire forced everyone to take cover. Jolyn felt a thump on her back and she couldn’t breathe. She fell into Selene’s arms, knocking her back and down.
“Take them,” Willie ordered into a com.
Brady made sure Keyne and Joel were all right. “Jolyn,” he called. When he got no response, he bolted to the door. He stopped as he stared down at Selene holding Jolyn in her arms.
“I don’t see a wound,” Selene cried. “She’s not moving.” Her hands frantically rubbed over Jolyn’s body.
“Jo,” Brady gently moved her off Selene. “Jo.” He said her name again.
“No, I saw her step in,” Willie growled helping Selene to stand.
“It’s in her back,” Brady breathed a sigh of relief. He turned her over and held her to him. “She’s breathing and has a steady pulse.”
Suddenly, Jolyn gasped for air. “Oh,” she moaned.
“Hurts like a bitch,” Joel commented as he took a deep breath.
“What? How?” Willie leaned over to examine her back as Jolyn leaned forward to catch her breath.
“Bullet proof vest,” Brady said. “Her suggestion, believe it or not.”
“Thank the fucking gods,” Willie growled.
“Let’s have a look,” Brady took off the shirt she wore and put his finger through the hole in the back. He noted it was right where her heart was.
He peeled off the vest and they saw the bullet stuck in there. “We’re saving this for evidence for the captain.”
“Brady, the house,” Jolyn gasped out.
“I’m on with them,” Joel said. “All’s quiet.”
“You’ve got a hell of a bruise,” Brady bent down to kiss the bruise and she winced. “More liniment for you.”
“They weren’t after me,” Jolyn grabbed Brady. “I got in the way.” She turned to stare at Selene.
“Cleaning up loose ends,” Brady said. “She can testify against them.”
“And it’s the first time she’s been out of our compound since we went to your place,” Willie added.
“Me. Because I know about the program which… Willie, give it to them.” Selene’s face paled and her lips tightened.
“We’ve been afraid of this,” Willie took a necklace from around his neck. He handed it to Jolyn. “This has every meeting, call, and contact we ever had with Ladika. Additionally, it’s got her talking about her life growing up, in detail. I’ve put the few things on here which I’ve been able to collect over the years.”
“Is this the only copy,” Jolyn asked as she draped it over her neck.
“No, there are others in safe places,” Willie said. “I’m not telling you where, but I will say if anything happens to us, they will be released.”
“Good,” Jolyn hugged Selene.
“I’ll pull the SUV closer,” Joel said.
“Will you be all right,” Jolyn asked as she hugged both Willie and Selene.
“We have alternatives,” Willie said. “Go, stay safe.”
