In His Keeping (Slow Burn #2)(66)

“That’s exactly what it makes you,” Beau grumbled.

Dane and Eliza, who’d discreetly backed away from the initial fracas, now stepped forward, both looking all business.

“This poses a huge security risk,” Dane said. “And it can’t be our only plan of action. Ramie herself isn’t certain of her ability to locate her parents so we have to operate under the assumption we don’t have her as our ace in the hole. And we can’t have Ari jaunting off to collect some personal item for Ramie to use. The danger is too extreme.”

Eliza nodded her agreement. “They’ll most assuredly have her residence staked out.”

Beau frowned. “She mentioned that her father has several residences and our records indicate when comparing the addresses Ari provided to the registered owner there’s a paper trail about a mile long and then begins repeating.”

“One does have to wonder why someone would go to such lengths to hide their whereabouts,” Caleb murmured.

“Makes perfect sense to me,” Zack said shortly. “If I had a daughter with powers like Ari, I’d do whatever it took to keep her out of the public eye and the risk factor to her low.”

“Very true,” Beau agreed. “However, I can’t help but think there’s more to it than that. Between the call from her supposed biological father to this mysterious faction who tortured a woman for information and then killed her when she finally caved.”

“I find it interesting that her biological father knows his wife or partner or whatever they were to each other was tortured and killed and that he also happens to know what they wanted and that they were successful in gaining it from Ari’s mother. That’s a hell of a lot of information to know in such exacting detail unless he was present and witness to the event,” Dane mused.

“And if he was present, how did he escape unscathed?” Eliza asked, tapping one blunt fingernail against her chin. “For that matter how the hell did he know where Ari is now and how did he get Beau’s private cell number?”

Beau hadn’t wanted to divulge all the gory details that had been provided him because he hadn’t wanted to scare the hell out of Caleb, and this might well be the nail in Ari’s coffin once Beau did reveal how Ari’s biological father knew what he purportedly knew.

“He told me they dumped her body where he would find her,” Beau said quietly. “It was bad. And they left him a message saying this was what happened to people who crossed him. Whether any of it is true is anyone’s guess. I’m not naïve enough to believe in the coincidence of receiving a ‘helpful’ call at a time we need it the most.”

Caleb’s features froze, and fear registered starkly in his eyes. He drew Ramie close into the shelter of his body as if protecting her from the unknown or the possible repercussions of her involving herself in helping Ari.

Beau sighed, rubbing a hand wearily through his hair. A glance at the grandfather clock in the corner told him he ought to be getting back to Ari before the meds wore off enough and she awakened. This was the perfect opportunity for Dane to inject the tracking device underneath Ari’s skin. With her already exhausted and under the influence of pain medication it would take mere seconds for Dane to make the insertion and then they had a way of finding her if the worst happened. And it would be the height of arrogance—and stupidity—to consider themselves invincible or impervious to such an attack. Beau certainly wasn’t taking chances when it came to Ari’s life.

He looked to Dane. “You have the chip ready? She’s out so let’s get it over with.”

Beau knew he was being edgy and impatient, but he wanted to be there when she opened her eyes. He wanted to be the very first thing she saw. He fidgeted with impatience, knowing none of this mattered if they weren’t able to locate Ari’s parents. Biological or not, she loved them dearly, and it was equally evident by the way she spoke of their affection for her that she was dearly loved in return. And well, if the information Zack had collected was true, then Ginger Rochester had experienced her share of heartache trying unsuccessfully to carry a child to full term.

It just seemed highly coincidental—too coincidental—that mere months after miscarrying a fourth baby late in the second trimester, a newborn baby had been simply left on Gavin Rochester’s doorstep right around the time his wife would have delivered her baby if she’d carried it to term.

More and more, Beau realized that the answer to everything was in discovering just where and who Ari came from. And what the hell his father had to do with the entire sordid affair.

TWENTY-TWO

ARI awoke to a dull throb at the base of her skull and her forehead, but the pain had lessened to a much more tolerable level. She was deliciously warm, and she tried to stretch, to work the kinks out of her sore muscles when her elbow collided with a hard chest. Which certainly explained the cozy warmth.

Their two bodies under the covers formed a seal and the air surrounding them was heated, mainly by Beau, because it seemed after using her powers, when she was utterly vulnerable and defenseless, that the strain on her brain made it so her body temperature wasn’t able to be regulated like normal. The result was that she always woke from the post-trauma, drug-induced fog with shivering cold permeating even her bones, and it seemed she was chilled on the inside, making it impossible for her to get warm.