Retribution: The Lost Children World Book 1 Page 9

  “I could tell you always had a thing for her even if you were too much of a pussy to show it.” Aaron laughed.

  Flint advanced, but I held out a hand to stop him. As of right then, we had nothing on Aaron. All that I had was the memory of him from over two years ago when he’d attacked me in the mountains on Pete and Val’s ranch. After that attack, he had disappeared. We had never seen him again . . . until now.

  “What are you doing here?” I somehow managed the words despite the rage and fear rolling in my belly like a volcano that wanted to explode. This man had terrified me so much when I’d met him, but I hadn’t known then what I could do. I was stronger now—most definitely stronger than him. The thought of bringing him to his knees with a huge energy ball brought a satisfying feeling into the pit of my stomach.

  “What do you mean, what am I doing here? I live here.”

  At my side, Flint was still seething, but at least he had stopped advancing. If Flint attacked Aaron out here in broad daylight, Flint would be charged, not Aaron. Luckily, Flint seemed to realize that too.

  “So you’re a student?” I asked.

  He cocked his head. That arrogant gleam in his eyes hadn’t faded. “Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not.”

  More energy filled the air, and I knew another one of my family members had arrived. The anger in Di’s cloud grew the closer she got.

  “Aaron.” Di said his name as a statement, not a question. “It’s you.”

  Aaron snickered. “So it seems.”

  Inwardly, the conflicting emotions of fear and anger still warred for dominance. One part of me wanted to wipe that smirk off Aaron’s face, but the other part of me wanted to run and hide. I’d encountered only a few clouds like his in my lifetime, and now, the fact that it had always been him following Abigail seemed quite obvious.

  So does that mean Aaron is the serial attacker? Is he the one behind all of the assaults on campus?

  I knew without a doubt the man could be him. Considering he had tried to attack me, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had continued doing that after he escaped the ranch.

  “Well, as nice as this little reunion is, I’m afraid I need to get going.” Aaron took a step back before leveling me with a meaningful gaze. “It was a pleasure to see you again, Lena.”

  Flint took an abrupt step forward.

  My hand shot out to grip his forearm.

  “Not here,” I said.

  Already, a few students were glancing our way.

  Aaron laughed. “Still the little puppy who does whatever he’s told.” His taunt only made the energy around Flint grow, but I guessed that was what Aaron wanted. He knew that out here in broad daylight, we wouldn’t do anything, so he was having some fun with us in the process.

  “We’ll be seeing you around,” I said and pulled Flint back as Aaron gave me a leering smile.

  “I look forward to it.” He sauntered away. From his casual movements and the cocky sway in his hips, I knew he didn’t think anything would ever come of this, but he was wrong.

  Now that I’d found him, there was no way I was letting him get away.

  ~ ~ ~

  “You’re kidding me! Aaron was here? The same cowboy who attacked you on Pete and Val’s ranch?” Mica’s questions came out in a screech.

  “Yeah. It was him.” My arms were crossed over my chest as the wind whipped my long dark-red hair around my shoulders. “I should have known. It was only this morning that I realized something about his cloud felt familiar. Now I know why. I’ve encountered it before.”

  The six of us stood outside the building where Abigail had her last class.

  Aaron had left only twenty minutes ago. Luke set out after him so that, at the very least, we could learn where Aaron lived. Since Aaron had no idea who Luke was, he wouldn’t recognize him, and the werewolf could be very subtle. If Luke made up his mind to stalk someone, they’d have no idea he was there.

  A steady stream of anxiety strummed along my nerves. The more I thought about it, the more I was sure Aaron was the serial attacker. If we didn’t stop him now, he would continue attacking women for years to come.

  “I should have taken him down when I had the chance.” Flint’s energy still poured out of him like radiation from the sun. None of us were happy that Aaron had walked away, but Di had agreed with me that now wasn’t the time to do anything about it.

  The only good thing was that we’d accomplished what we had set out to do this morning. We now knew who the attacker was, but none of us had ever suspected that he would be someone from our past.

  “That sick bastard.” A scowl filled Jasper’s face. “He needs to be stopped.”

  “He will be. Now, it’s just a matter of deciding how. How’s Abigail doing?” I asked Jasper and Mica.

  Jasper shrugged. “She’s fine. She has had absolutely no idea that all of us have been following her today. The girl is truly oblivious.”

  “I overheard her and her friends talking about going to the library,” Mica added. “Sounds like she’ll be hanging out with friends all evening. I don’t think we need to worry about Aaron attacking her anytime in the next few hours. So should we go home and regroup?”

  Hearing that reminded me that I still hadn’t heard from Grace. She’s definitely mad at me. That was one more stress to add to my plate.

  We returned to our apartment after sending Raven and Jet a text telling them to meet us there. We still had no word from Luke, but considering his immense strength, tracking abilities, expedited healing, and other subtle gifts that I still didn’t fully understand, none of us were worried about him. He was truly the best choice to keep on Aaron’s tail.

  Susannah showed up soon after we arrived at our apartment, as if she knew we needed her to return.

  With all of us crammed in our living room, creating so many tense emotions and so much rage-filled energy, a headache was forming in the back of my mind. Everyone in our original family of eight remembered Aaron, and considering what permeated the air right now, I wasn’t the only one feeling restless and charged. The pure power radiating off of Flint was enough to cause me a significant migraine.

  I welled up my energy, pulled my cloud from around my shoulders, and formed a protective bubble. Right now, I needed to think clearly.

  “So what do we do?” Amber sat on the couch, wrapped in a thick fleece blanket. Her nose was red and puffy, and pink skin rimmed her eyes. Balling a tissue to her nose, she sneezed before blowing her nose again.

  Jet gave her a look. “No offense, but you should probably go back to bed. I certainly don’t want to catch whatever you have.”

  Amber shrugged miserably. “This is horrible timing. I wish I was well enough to help you out.”

  Di shook her head. “There are more than enough of us to deal with Aaron. You just take care of yourself until you’re feeling better.”

  “I’ll make you some soup, love.” Edgar pushed away from the wall. “Go on to bed, and I’ll bring it to you.” From the relieved expression on Edgar’s face, he clearly relished the excuse to leave our current conversation. Once again, he wanted nothing to do with anything that involved using powers.

  Amber gave him a grateful smile. “Thank you. Chicken noodle would be great.” She stood and toddled off to the back bedroom.

  “I wondered if something strange was going on.” Susannah’s soft voice filled the room.

  “What do you mean?” Mica asked. She held a huge bowl of ice cream that she’d just helped herself to in the kitchen. She spooned another bite into her mouth.

  Susannah’s head cocked at unnatural speed, a trait that she didn’t seem aware of most of the time. “When I was circling above, I saw that man who must be Aaron. He was in the area the entire time, but he was on rooftops and going from building to building. He seemed to be following Lena. It was almost like he was stalking . . . her.”

  Susannah’s words confirmed what I’d suspected all day. My stomach dropped.

  The energy off Flint ex
ploded. “If that bastard tries to come near her again, I’ll—”

  “Flint.” Di’s sharp voice cut him off. “We’ll keep Lena safe. If anything, we need to figure out a way to catch him in the act so the police can arrest him. Until then, our hands are tied. Even if we go to the police and tell them our concerns, it would simply be our word against his.”

  “Even though he attacked Lena a couple of years ago?” Raven frowned heavily. He still wore his brown contacts. The fiery orange that normally swirled in his irises was hidden. “Surely, that counts for something.”

  Di shrugged. “It may. But even if the police arrest him based off of that accusation, it’s still her word against his.”

  “We should find where he lives.” Jasper crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “We can watch him more closely, then we can report him to the police when he goes in to attack.”

  “Good idea.” Di eyed all of us. “Does anyone know his last name?”

  Mica grumbled. “No. Since we only introduced ourselves with first names on the ranch, I don’t think we ever knew his last name.”

  Jasper shut the laptop. “So much for finding where he lives. Without a last name, that’s nearly impossible.”

  Flint began pacing. His movements quickly turned into a blur. I knew he was really struggling. He’d been incredibly angry after Aaron attacked me. If the cowboy had turned up after that attack, I had no doubt Flint would have ripped him to shreds. And now that Aaron had resurfaced, it was taking every ounce of Flint’s control to not finish what should have ended long ago.

  The door to our apartment opened, and a rush of air flowed in from the hallway. Luke stepped inside.

  My eyes widened. “Luke! What are you doing here? I thought you were following Aaron!”

  Luke kicked off his shoes and raked a hand through his hair. “I was, but he went back home. Or at least I’m assuming it’s his home since he had a key to it. I stayed outside for a while and watched him through his back window, but he wasn’t doing anything other than packing.”

  “Packing?” My initial excitement that Luke knew where Aaron lived dimmed.

  After sauntering over to the couch, Luke dropped onto it, which bounced Mica in her seat, causing her spoon to rattle in the bowl. She glowered at him.

  “Yeah. He seemed kind of in a hurry, like he plans to go somewhere.”

  My insides stilled. “Is he planning to run again?”

  Luke cocked his head. “Run again?”

  I groaned. Of course, Luke had no idea that Aaron had run the first time after he attacked me. Is that what he’s always done? Does he stay in an area, attacking women until there’s a chance of him getting caught? And then he flees?

  That would explain why he’d left so suddenly from the ranch all those years ago. None of us had known he would show up in a different city and continue assaulting women. Anger burned in my gut, making my hands clench into fists. He needs to be stopped!

  Jasper sat his laptop down. “So you know his address, Luke?”

  Luke nodded and rattled it off.

  Jasper jotted it down.

  “Nice job, Luke. So we need to consider following him from now on.” Di’s brow drew together in concentration. “Considering Abigail is spending the evening with friends, she should be safe for at least a few more hours. Should we go back to her apartment tonight to keep watch?”

  “But Aaron is packing right now!” I exclaimed. “Who’s to say he’s not already leaving town?”

  Di crossed her arms and tapped a finger against her biceps. “There is that possibility, but then we know Abigail is safe and he won’t be attacking anybody else here.”

  “Until he attacks somebody else at a different location,” I countered.

  Di nodded shrewdly. “That’s true. There’s a possibility he’ll just go somewhere else and assault a different woman, but what do you suggest we do? Track him throughout the country and hope that we eventually catch him in the act? It doesn’t seem very feasible, Lena. I know you want to see Aaron behind bars, especially after what he did to you, but we also need to stay levelheaded. The way you’ve been acting today has already shown him that you have an uncanny ability to sense when he’s near. You don’t think he recognized all those times you whirled around to face him? Remember what father said: we must keep our abilities a secret. As much as I want Aaron behind bars, I’m not willing to risk our powers being exposed.”

  She turned to the rest of the group. “I one hundred percent believe we should continue keeping an eye on Aaron and Abigail, but if Aaron leaves town, we can’t continue following him if we need to keep using our powers to locate him. It would be too risky.”

  Raven nodded. “You have a point, Di.” His gaze then shifted to me and softened. “But we’ll try to catch him before that happens. Okay, Lena?”

  I bit my lip. I knew the safest course of action was to do what Di said. We couldn’t let our powers be exposed. That would open an entirely new can of worms.

  But if Aaron left town, he’d continue assaulting women for who knew how long—probably for the rest of his life.

  And even if he did stay in town, we had no guarantee of catching him. To do that, we would need to catch Aaron in the act and then call the police. But I also knew Aaron was tricky. Following him hadn’t been easy. Just last night I’d been following him after the restaurant and had lost him. Who’s to say that won’t happen again?

  And worse, if Aaron did disappear from the area only to begin attacking women in a different city . . .

  My heart pounded. I can’t let that happen!

  The realization came to me that if I truly wanted to stop Aaron, I needed to do it myself.

  And I needed to do it soon.

  ~ ~ ~

  Another hour passed while everyone hashed out a schedule to follow Aaron. The sun was close to setting, and my stomach growled, reminding me I hadn’t eaten in hours.

  I made sure to keep my thoughts to myself as I formulated my own agenda. If Flint or Di caught wind of what I wanted to do, they’d tie me up and stow me away in a back bedroom—especially Flint. If he knew I intended to go after Aaron by myself tonight, he’d go into a rage.

  But I needed to. After all, Aaron had been following me this morning, not Abigail. He wanted me.

  An image of Aaron watching me from across the sidewalk yesterday filled my mind once again. No wonder he stared at me for so long. He obviously recognized me—the girl who got away.

  He probably wanted to finish what he had started all those years ago. I shuddered at the memory.

  For weeks while I worked on Pete and Val’s ranch, I had felt the cowboy’s hungry gaze follow me every time we met. He’d wanted me—for what reason I didn’t know—and I’d known that from the beginning. But . . . he’d never been able to act on it. Not really. I’d foiled his plans to assault me after escaping on a horse.

  The wheels turned in my mind while everyone else discussed various options of what to do next. Since the discussion grew heated, nobody seemed to notice my quietness.

  He still wants me, so if I give him the opportunity to trap me, I can turn the tables. I’m stronger than him, but he doesn’t know that. If I can lure him somewhere, let him believe that he’ll be able to attack me, even let him rough me up a little bit, I can call the police and they can catch him in the act.

  The plan was risky, but I had an advantage. I knew I was strong enough to stop him whenever I wanted to. One blast from my energy ball, and he’d be knocked out cold.

  Flint’s heightened cloud continued to fill the room. His pacing hadn’t lessened. As much as it killed me to keep this from him, I knew he would bar the door and windows if he found out. And I had promised Flint I wouldn’t go after Aaron alone again.

  But if I don’t go alone . . .

  There was someone in this group who I bet would join me.

  I glanced at Mica just as she took another big bite of ice cream. She was on her second bowl. “Mica? Do you want to go with
me to buy some groceries?”

  At the mention of buying more food, she perked up. “Groceries? Sure!” She polished off the last bite, licked her spoon, and set her empty bowl down.

  The discussion in the room paused.

  “Groceries?” Jet raised an eyebrow. “You’re thinking about groceries right now?”

  Mica put her hands on her hips. “Regardless of this douchebag from our past, we still need to eat. Jeez, Jet . . .”

  I suppressed a smile and stood. I could always count on Mica to think with her stomach first. After retrieving my shoes and jacket from the front door, I slipped them on. Nervous energy filled me. It was possible that within the hour I would be alone with Aaron, and he could be trying to do who knew what.

  But before I could leave, Flint appeared in front of me. “Where are you going?” The worry pouring from him made my gut tighten.

  “We’re just going to pick up a few things for supper. If you haven’t noticed, we’re running a bit low on food.” I kept my gaze averted since he always seemed to know when I was hiding something.

  He tilted my face to his, forcing me to meet his gaze. With narrowed eyes, he said, “Jet’s right. Are you really telling me you’re worried about having enough food in the house right now? We just ran into the psycho who tried to attack you two years ago. I think it’s more important to figure out a way to stop him. Don’t you?”

  Mica grabbed her jacket and rolled her eyes. “You too, Flint? Seriously, what do you guys have against talking and eating?”

  Flint ignored her.

  I laid a hand on Flint’s forearm. His muscles bunched beneath my grip. “We’ll stop him. But it’s not happening tonight.” I leaned up on my tiptoes and kissed him on the lips before he could catch the deception in my intentions.

  His arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me close. Beneath the angry raw energy radiating from him, at its base I felt his true emotion—fear.

  I pulled back and continued getting ready to go. “We’ll be fine. I’m not going alone. Mica’s with me.”

  Flint took a deep breath and raked a hand through his hair. “I know, babe. But when I saw him today . . .” His eyes clouded over. “You don’t understand what I went through when I saw you slumped against that tree in the mountains all of those months ago. I went to hell and back in a split second. I thought I’d lost you.” Pain rimmed his eyes. “And now that he’s back and showing interest in you again . . .” A muscle began ticking in his jaw. “I’ll kill him if he lays another finger on you.”