SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 2

THE SECRET SOCIETY

By

Allie Harrison

( c ) copyright by Allie Harrison, January 2013

Cover art by Jenny Dixon

Smashwords Edition

New Concepts Publishing

Lake Park, 31636

www.newconceptspublishing.com

This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author's

imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or

events is merely coincidence.

Chapter One

It was 10:23 when Jack Holston got the call.
Because he kept only numbers in his cell and no names, only the number appeared

over the caller ID. Still, he recognized Dr. Paul Brand’s number instantly and took the
call before the second ring.

Jack and his crew had hardly been home three hours after spending two weeks on the

West Coast. Jack was tired from travel and moving, but it was a good-feeling tired, and
he thought his men probably felt the same way. And driving past the Arch a short time
before had been like a welcome home sign. Unfortunately, Jack knew as good of friends
as he was with Paul Brand, this was probably not a welcome-home social call.

“Hey, Paul,” he greeted his friend of many years.
“Jack, sorry to call you this late, but…”
“You know you can call me any time.”
“Are you back in St. Louis?”
“Yes. We got in a few hours ago.”
Paul didn’t waste time with formalities. He rattled off an address. “Do you know

where that is?”

Jack had a GPS that did. “Yes.”
“How soon can you be here?”
It surprised Jack Paul wasn’t asking him to come to the clinic where Paul worked or

to his office—but, of course office hours were over and for that matter, so were the clinic
hours. Jack’s heart pounded at the idea this must be something more personal—more
than a patient coming through the ER. Jack looked at his watch. “Twenty minutes, half
hour tops.”

“Thanks. Try to make it ten,” Paul put in, then the line went dead.

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Jack took a deep breath. Then he made a call—a conference call of sorts to contact

his team with the message they were back on duty. He relayed the same address Doc, as
Jack called him, had just rattled off. And Jack had no doubt they would all be there as
soon as possible. They worked for him and were paid well for the call status. Then he
reached for his gear, which he had never unpacked and moved to the door…

At the address was a small suburban ranch-style house in a middle-class

neighborhood. Jack didn’t park the van in the driveway, but in front of the house across
the street. Because he had no idea of the situation, he left all gear in the van except for
one bag of essentials. And he was never without the thirty-eight special strapped to his
ankle. Dressed in all black, he blended in with the cool spring night. Wind ruffled his
hair, but he ignored it as he made his way to the porch. He noticed the light was off.

Rupert Grayson, Gray to everyone who knew him as well as all of Jack’s team,

pulled up behind the van and parked. The two of them moved to the porch with little
more than a nod, being as silent as the night.

Doc opened the door before they reached it. The foyer light was off, and Jack and

Gray stepped into the dark. “Thanks for coming,” Doc said quietly.

“The rest of the team should be here in a matter of minutes.” Jack replied.
Doc was tall, his salt-and-pepper hair appeared darker in the absence of light in the

foyer. He was dressed in slacks and a white buttoned shirt with the sleeves rolled to his
elbows. The stress in his expression made him look ten years older than his years, but
Jack knew better than to mention it. In fact, neither he nor Gray said a word, knowing
Doc would soon tell them the reason for their summons.

And he didn’t disappoint them in that.
“This is the house of a nurse I know. She helped me start the clinic some time ago.

Her name is Stella McKinley. She’s been hurt…badly, I think. I gave her the day off.
She’d planned to pack and move out today.”

Doc led them down a short hallway into the kitchen. Jack peered into the dark living

room they passed and noticed boxes in there, as well as books strewn about the room. In
the hall, he couldn’t help but notice the framed water color on the wall. Striking and
perfect, a sailboat sailed within the confines of the frame.

The kitchen was bright. There were more boxes on the counter. There were also

dishes broken on the floor and in the sink.

One wall of the room was stenciled with a picket fence, brightly painted birdhouses,

grass, flowers, and several birds flying about. It was a lot of work, and it added warmth
and invitation to the room.

Jack didn’t dwell on it for long. His attention was drawn to the woman who sat on a

chair not too far away.

“I stopped by to check on her,” Doc continued. “And I found her like that.”
“Has she spoken to you?” Jack asked.
“Yes. She probably needs medical attention, but she refuses.”
Across the room, the kitchen table, a heavy-looking oak piece, lay on its side, the

legs pointing at him like four huge fingers. The young woman touched nothing, merely
sat on the stiff, wooden chair. She was so still, she could have been nothing more than a
mannequin in a store window. Her arms rested on her lap, her head was down. She
stared at her hands.

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She was perhaps twenty-six or twenty-seven. She was pretty, Jack thought, or she

could have been, with hair that fell below her shoulders, caught the light and revealed a
multitude of colors—red, gold, brown, and any shade in between. She was thin, too thin.
Jack saw her collar bones beneath the scooped neck of the shirt she wore. Her skin was
flawless, her nose slightly turned up, reminding him a bit of Nicole Kidman. He
wondered at the color of her eyes, but she didn’t look up as they entered the kitchen. She
didn’t move.

Jack had seen this stance, this look many times. Mostly it was in women, but a few

times, he’d seen it in men, too. And still, it sent his heart into skids. Then it filled him
with anger, anger that boiled him enough to cause his fists to clench before he managed
to roll it under the blankets of his insides where he could keep it under control. He forced
in a heavy breath and stared at her, doing his best to ignore the shiny black eye that
marred her beauty.

“Stella?”
Jack liked the way her name rolled off his tongue. He’d heard a few Hollywood

people with that name, but he’d never actually met anyone before—and Jack Holston
knew a lot of people.

She didn’t respond to his voice. When he moved to draw closer, Doc stopped him

with a touch on his arm. Jack met Doc’s hard gaze. “If we’re going to help her, you
have to let me do this my way.” He left his bag near the counter.

Doc nodded and released his arm.
Jack drew closer and knelt before her, putting himself into her line of vision. “Stella,

look at me.”

She shifted her gaze slightly, seeming to look beyond him, not at him.
Her eyes, he saw, were a soft blue, almost violet. The left one, the one with the

shiner, was bloodshot. For a moment, Jack hoped to meet the guy who did this to her.
He’d give the guy two. Then he forced that thought aside. He’s goal—his job—was to
make the victims safe, and keep them that way. His heart again raced in his chest. And
his breath caught.

He wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms. Hold her, protect her from

the monster who had blackened her eye. Hell, he wanted to protect her from the world.
His mouth was suddenly dry with the need to gently kiss her lips and show her there
should be no pain in that. Something warm pulsed through his entire body, and he
blinked at the vision of holding her body against the length of him. Without thinking, he
reached out to gently place his hand over her. Instinctively, she shied away from him.
He let her, but he didn’t move away from her. He had to clear his throat before he could
speak. “Stella, my name is Jack Holston. I’m here to help you.”

She looked away as if she didn’t believe him. “You can’t help me.” Her words were

hardly more than a whisper.

“Stella, don’t look away from me.” He understood the importance of saying her

name when he spoke to her. It was part of the long road to making her feel like a person
of importance. The guy who did this to her had easily taken that away from her with his
abuse. He also knew getting her to talk was hard. Getting her to talk about what
happened to her so he knew every detail was going to be even harder.

She looked at him again.
“I’m going to touch you,” Jack said.

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This time she didn’t try to move away.
“Why do you think I can’t help you?” he asked. He never took her gaze from his.

He had to show her that her attention was important to him.

“No one can help me.”
“That’s not true, Stella. I can help you.”
She let out a huff of disbelief. “Yeah, right.”
Jack was well aware of Gray, who left the room, probably to let in more members of

the team, but he never looked away from Stella. He gently placed his hand over hers.
Her hand was cold, but she let him touch her. “I can.”

“How?”
“The first thing we’re going to do is take you some place safe.”
She shook her head. “He’ll know. He’ll find out. Then you’ll be in danger, too.”
“He won’t know.”
“He has connections everywhere.”
“So do I,” Jack said. “Is he your husband?” Experience had shown him most abused

wives didn’t want to leave their homes. The unknown was more frightening to them than
staying with the abusive husband they did know.

“I’m not married.”
“A boyfriend?” Jack hated asking these questions. She was a victim once, and his

questions, made her remember that. But he had to have answers. He had to know what
he was up against. He had to know if she trusted him enough to tell him. Most of them
didn’t. And if they did learn to trust him, they were still too embarrassed and ashamed.
Stella didn’t look ashamed or embarrassed. She looked tired and defeated, mixed in with
a great deal of disbelief.

“No,” she replied finally. “He lives next door.”
Jack bit his lip to keep from letting out an oath. Damn, the monster was as close as a

husband could be, but far enough to stay safe behind his own locked doors. “What’s his
name?”

“Tony,” she replied after some hesitation. “Anthony Mantelli.”
“Do you know if he owns the place or rents?”
“Rents, I think. Most of the houses on this street are rentals. Does that make a

difference?”

“It just makes it easier for him to move around.”
“He moved in last month,” she went on. “And he came over within the first week

with that stupid line of needing to borrow a cup of sugar. What man does that?”

Jack didn’t answer. He knew he’d never borrowed a cup of sugar from a neighbor.

“Did you give it to him?”

“Yes. It was probably my first stupid mistake.”
“What then?”
“He asked me out. I said no. I thought the last thing I needed was to date somebody,

find out we didn’t click and then still have to live next door to him. But he kept asking.
It seemed like every time I was outside—it didn’t matter if I was getting my garden
ready, going out for the mail or coming home from work or leaving from work,
whatever—he always seemed to know and be out there too. ‘Come on,’ he’d say. ‘Just
dinner, or lunch or a picnic, nothing more.’ He said he didn’t know anyone in the

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 6

neighborhood, and he was bored. He said he just wanted to be friends. Finally two
weeks ago, I gave in and said yes. I insisted on driving myself and meeting him.”

“So you had dinner with him?”
“Yes.”
“Did you sleep with him?”
She slapped his face. Quick as the strike of snake. Jack didn’t even see it coming

and would never have guessed that in her present state she could move that fast. His
cheek burned. And there was fire burning in her eyes, too. He didn’t move away. Her
face was no longer pale. No, her cheeks were flushed with fury. He liked seeing it in
her, knowing this bastard hadn’t killed that part of her.

“Maybe you should leave,” she said, her voice was louder, stronger.
Jack liked that, too.
“Maybe you should tell me the rest of the story.”
“Wouldn’t you rather just assume you already know?”
“No. When was the last time you had something to eat?” He’d already screwed

things up with his question about sleeping with this guy. He was going to have sidetrack
a bit before he could get back to the heart of the story.

“What do you care?”
“I care,” he assured her. “I wouldn’t be here letting you slap me if I didn’t.”
He thought she might laugh at that. She didn’t.
“I can’t eat. I keep throwing up.”
“Where did you have dinner with him?”
“Charlie Gitto’s.”
Nice, Jack thought. “His idea or yours?”
“His. We had this wonderful dinner, wonderful conversation. I remember thinking

this is too good to be true.” She looked away and rolled her eyes. “He beat me home. I
don’t know how, but he did. Either that, or he pulled in right behind me. All I know is
that when I unlocked my door to come in, he was suddenly standing just off my front step
off the porch. He said, ‘we don’t have to end the night so soon, do we?’ I told him I’d
had a busy day at work and I was tired. He pointed out that he didn’t even get a kiss at
the end of our date. I told him I don’t kiss on the first date. The truth was, I didn’t want
to kiss him. It was a nice date, a nice dinner, but there just wasn’t anything there for me,
and I didn’t plan to see him again except to wave from the yard.”

She paused and looked down at her hands again for a long moment. She was closing

up. Jack saw it happening as if she used invisible mortar and bricks and easily put up a
wall. He’d seen a hundred times in women like her, women who had been hurt. He
knew they wanted to talk, wanted to let it out so it couldn’t hurt them any more, but it
equally hurt to remember enough to talk about it. “I know this is hard for you.”

She met his gaze again. “I’ve asked these same questions to countless women in the

clinic. And I always told them I knew it was hard for them, too. I never understood how
hard.”

“What happened on your porch, Stella?” Jack asked.
Stella took a deep, loud breath before she when on. “He asked if we could just shake

hands then, he said he just wanted to touch me, end the date with a touch. I said fine, and
he stepped onto my porch and I offered my hand. He took it. The next thing I knew, he
shoved me through the open door, into the foyer, and knocked me down. I fought him,

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 7

tried to gouge his eyes, tried to knee him in the groin. I kicked and scratched and tried to
wiggle away from under him. I even bit him on the shoulder. He hit me, gave me this.”
She moved for the first time, and pointed to her eye with the hand that wasn’t covered by
Jack’s.

She let out a frustrated chuckle. “It’s not anything like they show in the movies.

You know, how a guy gets hit and jumps right back in the fight, barely even turns his
head and is able to laugh about it. I don’t think it knocked me clean out, but felt like a
bomb exploded in my brain. He waited until I was coherent again, and then he kissed
me.”

“Then what?” Jack asked.
“Then nothing. He kissed me hard, stuck his tongue in my mouth until I thought I

might be sick.”

Now that was a first, Jack thought, an almost rapist.
She must have seen him raise a brow on her last statement. “Yeah, that was nice of

him, wasn’t it,” she chimed. “Not to rape me. I thought he was going to. But then when
I tried to scream, he put his hand over my mouth and nose. I thought I was going to
suffocate, which in my book is worse than being raped.” Her gaze met Jack’s evenly.
“Do you know what that feels like—to suffocate?”

“No,” he answered honestly. She stared at him, her one eye puffy and dark and

bloodshot and seeming oddly out of place on her beautiful face, like a cactus in the
middle of the field of bluebonnets. “Then what?”

“Then he kissed me again. But then he got up and left me laying there while he went

out my front door.”

Jack didn’t like the sound of that. Not that he was glad the bastard hadn’t hurt her

more—he was. What worried Jack was the fact the guy had to hurt her before he could
kiss her. And how much would he have had to hurt her before he could do more than kiss
her? “Did you go to the hospital?”

“I went to the clinic where I work with Doc. I called him. “I’ve dealt with many

victims. I know how it works—how medical reports are needed, how the police are
called to make out a report.”

“Is that why you think we can’t protect you? Because we aren’t the police.”
“I know things aren’t in my favor.”
Jack took a deep breath. He certainly had his work cut out for him with this one.

She was not the typical abuse victim. “Like I said, first we’ll get you somewhere safe,
then we’ll be with you while you file charges. It helps that you know who he is and
where he lives. We’ll keep you safe the entire time…”

“You don’t understand.”
He hated the flat sound of her voice. He’d rather she slapped him again. At least

there was emotion in that. “What don’t I understand?” She might not be the typical
victim because she knew how things were for victims, but this seemed like a pretty cut
and dry case to Jack.

“I did everything correctly. Doc X-rayed my face. I have a report that says I have

two facial fractures. And I used it to file charges against him.”

“Did he threaten you? Because if he did, I promise you, we can protect—”
Her dry cackle of laughter cut off his words. “Threaten me? Did he threaten me?”

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Jack was aware that the rest of the team was there. All had arrived and listened,

trusting and knowing he would ask all the questions that needed asking. Still, he didn’t
look at them. He never took his gaze off the girl before him.

“Oh, no,” she went on, her voice suddenly shrill and sounding out of control for the

first time. “He never threatened me. At least not because I filed charges.”

“Did they arrest him?”
“Of course not. They see no reason to arrest their best homicide detective. Gosh,

think how bad that would make the department look,” she said sarcastically.

Jack felt his heart skip a beat. A cop? This guy was a cop? Hell. She was right,

things weren’t in her favor.

“No, they just called him in to the boss’s office and had a little talk with him, quote

unquote. Told him he’d better be on his best behavior from now on, told him he should
be nicer to girls, treat them with respect. It was probably a lot like being called into the
principal’s office, back right after it became illegal to paddle students. But I didn’t know
any of that at the time. I never even knew he was a cop. He just told me he worked
downtown. I saw him wear a suit. I thought he was probably some manager of some
business. Do you know when I found out he was a cop and all they did was call him into
the office?”

“When?” Jack was afraid to ask.
“When I came home from work to find him sitting at my kitchen table, eating a bowl

of macaroni and cheese that he’d made in my kitchen, using my pots and pans and dishes.
He showed me his badge and his gun and sarcastically asked me why I didn’t call him
when I needed a cop. He held me down on my own kitchen table, and instead of
touching me with his hands, he continuously ran his gun up and down my body. He told
me if I reported him again, if he got called back into the office again, he’d use it on me
not just caress me with it. That was pretty much a threat to me.”

Jack forced back the shaking that threatened to take over. “Did he rape you?”
“Do you mean did he sexually assault me? No. But forcing me to lie on my kitchen

table in my bra and panties while he rubbed me down with a barrel of his gun didn’t turn
me on.”

This guy was scary. Jack did his best to keep his breathing even and controlled.

“Did he do that to the table?” Jack could just see this monster, unable to release his
frustration, destroying her kitchen and turning the table over in a fit of rage.

She spoke again with a calmness he wished he could summon. “No, I did, after he

was gone. I’ll never be able to eat on that table. Do you know someone who needs it?”

“Maybe. What about all the broken dishes and the boxes and the books in the living

room?” Jack didn’t want to ask about these things either, but he had to. He already knew
enough, and he could guess the rest. He was getting her out of here. Four hours from
now, she’d be far away and safe from the bastard next door.

“I haven’t slept in almost a week, at least no straight amount worth while. I told Doc

I was moving. Yesterday I put money down on an apartment across town, thinking I
could get away from him. Doc gave me today off to pack and move. I fell asleep on my
bed and woke to find him in bed with me. He told me to not even think about leaving
him. He said I could never get away from him. That hunting people was he job, that no
one knew how to do it as well as he did.”

“Did he break your things?” Jack asked, forcing his voice to stay even.

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“Yes, he dumped out the boxes I’d packed and broke things.” Her voice was back to

sounding flat and lifeless. She gave him a slow blink. “I can’t sleep in my bed anymore,
either.”

“What did he do to you?” He needed to know, but he didn’t want to know. He was

already to the point where he could easily tear this guy to pieces without remorse.

She moved down the pretty flowered scarf around her neck to reveal the bruises in

the shapes of his hands and fingers on her throat from his choking her. He must have
liked the reaction he got when he cut off her air.

She amazed him with the calm way she answered his questions. Most victims were

either hysterical or in shock. And usually getting answers from them wasn’t this easy.
“Stella, my men and I are going to get you out of here.”

She shook her head, slowly at first, then with a vengeance enough Jack thought to

give herself a headache. “He’ll know. He drives by when he gets the chance. He’ll see
you. He’ll hurt you. He’ll kill you.”

“If we don’t get you out of here, he’ll kill you.” He knew no other way that to make

the truth obvious. “He’s not even the typical rapist. He can’t touch you or even kiss you
without hurting you first. That goes way beyond the control rapists require.”

She met his gaze and her eyes filled with unshed tears as the reality hit her. “He put

his hand on my breast while he choked me.”

Jack again wanted to pull her into his arms, hold her close, show her he could keep

her safe, show her even more than it shouldn’t hurt to love or be loved or kissed. This
man had done unspeakable things to her, and yet, despite the flatness of her voice, she
was concerned for Jack and his men, who were all well trained to take care of themselves.
And cop or no cop, they would kill Anthony Mantelli before they allowed the monster to
lay a hand on Stella again. Killing was never part of the plan. Yet the plan always
centered around keeping the victim safe, no matter what. “He won’t know. I’ve got men
posted in strategic locations. We know what he drives.”

“How do you know?” she interrupted.
“You told me his name. I have his address. My men now know a great deal about

him including what he drives. We’ll stop him from coming down the street this far,” he
assured her. “You’ll be hours away before he even knows you’re gone. What would
you like us to pack?”

She didn’t answer. In fact, he wondered if the shock he thought she should feel

wasn’t beginning to finally set in. She stared at him with confusion in her expression.
“Pack?”

“We’re going to pack for you, Stella, whatever you want to take—everything or

nothing or a simple duffle bag of clothes. It doesn’t matter. If you want to take
everything, we’ll put most of it in storage because the place we’ll take you will be
furnished. All you need is some clothes and your toothbrush.”

Stella looked away from him for the first time and looked at Doc. “I can’t just leave.

I have a job.”

“I’m giving you leave for a while, Stella, until you’re better and things are taken care

of,” Doc put in, as if she needed his permission.

Jack rubbed her hand and drew her attention again. “Time is of the essence here,

Stella. What would you like us to pack? Everything?”

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“Not the bed,” she finally replied, her voice soft again. “Not the table or chairs. I

never want to see them again.”

Jack nodded and activity started as men about the house started packing.
Gray, who stood at the counter taking in the entire conversation, opened Jack’s bag

and pulled out a can of soda. From the cabinet, he took a glass, popped the top and
poured the bubbling golden liquid. Without hesitation, he handed it Jack.

“Stella,” Jack said, moving only slightly to take the glass. He lifted the hand beneath

his and put the glass into it. “I want you to drink some of this.”

“What is it?”
“Ginger ale. It will help settle your stomach and keep your sugar from hitting rock

bottom. Take a drink.”

She did as he instructed. Then she looked at him evenly. Jack had never seen a

victim like her before. She was strong—able to talk to him about everything that
happened to her. At the same time, the pig next door had managed to break her. “You
can really keep me safe from him?”

“Yes. You can trust me.”
“What are you? A Federal Marshall or someone with the witness protection

program?”

“Not quite. We work on our own, helping people who need help.”
“Why?”
Why, indeed. Each man of the team had his own reasons, but Jack didn’t want to

spend time sharing that with her, not now. “Why are you a nurse?” he asked. “Isn’t it
enough to know that there are people who need you and you can help them?”

“I suppose.”
“Did you want to pack some clothes, or would like us to do that?”
“I can do it.”
Jack nodded. “We’ll help you.” He didn’t have to look to know Gray left and

headed to the bedroom with a duffel bag in his hand.

She stood up, and again seemed uncertain. After a glance around the room, she set

the glass of ginger ale on the counter and slowly headed toward the bedroom.

“Stella?”
She turned back to Jack.
“The man who is in your bedroom is Gray. You can trust him, too. He’ll help you.”
She nodded and moved on.
Jack let her go on her own, knowing she had to take these steps alone, knowing she

had to recognize her own strength. Even though it wouldn’t be easy, it was easy to see
her strength and determination. He turned to Doc. “Why didn’t you call us after the first
time?”

“She refused to tell me anything. I had no idea he was a cop or that he lived next

door. And because she wouldn’t let me do anymore for her than a few X-rays.”

“What about the black eye? Seems to me that’s evidence of assault.”
“She refused to let me call the police. She insisted she’d take care of it herself.

When I threatened to call the police, she threatened to deny everything and say she
walked into a door. She was the worst patient I’ve ever treated.”

Jack let out a huff. Typical, he thought.
Why did women allow this?

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The question probably floated through his mind a few hundred times every time they

saved someone. And the answer never satisfied him.

Because they were programmed that way, that’s why.
From the time they were little girls, they learned that men get what they want and

women give it to them. It’s shown to them on the big screen, even in animation where
the female must give up her home, her family or something else important to her to be
with the male, who gives up nothing. How many little girls are given trucks or guns for
birthday presents? Few or none, Jack suspected. No, little girls are given dishes, little
ovens that bake with light bulbs and dolls, being shown their station from the time they
can walk. They might be told they can become anything they want to be, but when
young women say they want to be electricians or truck drivers, people laugh or
discourage them.

He activated a microphone on the inside of his sleeve and placed an earphone into

his ear. “Testing,” he said softly.

Several voices returned, all acknowledging they heard him.
“Anyone have a fix on this guy yet? Do we know where he is?”
It was Prell—Johnny Porleson—who replied after a few seconds. “All indications

tell us he’s at his precinct house discussing all the evidence from a double homicide.”

“Make sure.”
“Roger.” Then Prell was gone.
Jack turned away and started down the hall following Stella’s voice.
“I’m sorry for whoever has to pack my closet,” Stella said. “It’s a mess.”
Jack stepped into the bedroom and offered her a small smile when she glanced his

way. Gray stood across the room on the other side of the bed. As Stella handed clothes
to Gray, and he rolled them into the bag he held. The fact she worried about that small
thing about her closet and could make a joke about it was a good sign. The fact that she
avoided her bed as if it was infected with a deadly virus was not.

“I’ve dealt with closets way worse than yours,” Gray assured her.
“And you’ll take special care with my paintings, won’t you?”
“Of course,” Gray assured her.
“My mother painted most of them. They’re all I have of hers.”
Jack watched her for a long moment. He needed her to understand the next part.

And he knew even if she understood it now, she may feel differently by this time
tomorrow or next week. He casually leaned against the door jam and looked around the
room. It was a woman’s room, no question about that. Beads of various colors hung
draped on the frame of the large free-standing mirror in the corner. The comforter on the
bed was pink, the small pillows crocheted like lace. A huge antique armoire stood across
the room. It was a very romantic room, very inviting, old fashioned and warm. If Jack
didn’t know better, he’d think a thousand tiny knives sliced his heart at the idea of a
monster invading this room, putting his filth on the bed. “Stella?”

She stopped and looked at him, having that deer in the headlights look in her eyes.

He hated seeing it on her.

“What? What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing’s wrong.” Well, actually there was a great deal wrong. The wonderful cop

next door—a man children were taught to trust—wanted to hurt her, threatened to kill

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 12

her. How much more wrong could there be in that? So Jack felt as if his words were a
lie. “I just want you to listen to me very carefully.”

She relaxed, not completely but visibly. “All right.”
“Keep packing while you listen.”
“All right,” she said again.
“In a few minutes as soon as you’ve got a bag packed, enough to see you for a few

days, I’m going to take you to a safer place, and your clothes and personal belongings
will follow, okay?”

“Okay. I understood that before.”
He knew she didn’t. None of them ever did. They thought they did, but they didn’t

understand the extent. “This isn’t a vacation.”

“I know.”
“There’s a chance you might never be able to come back to this house.” He needed

to make sure she understood that. It was evident she’d painted and decorated a great deal
trying to make this a home. “And this is the really important part,” he said never taking
his gaze from her. “Once we leave, and you’re in the car with me, you have to let go of
this place. You can have no more connection to it until I tell you it’s safe to do so. And
it may never be safe to do so. Do you understand?”

She nodded. “I don’t want to come back to this house. I don’t want to spend another

night in it. He’s made it feel so dirty.”

“I know, but there’s more to leaving it than just leaving it. You can’t call any

relatives or Doc. You can’t call any friends. You can’t tell anyone—and I repeat anyone
at all—where I take you, not even Doc. You can’t come back and check the mail or even
just drive by. Do you understand that?”

She nodded again, looking tired and suddenly beaten. Jack knew this was the

hardest. Feeling safe and being safe were wonderful things, but giving up a home was
very hard even if she didn’t want to stay. She had still taken the time to make this her
home. And giving up all family and friends was probably even harder. Many victims
had to weigh the two.

“What about my mail?”
“Stopped as of now. And as soon as we can we’ll forward it to a post office box

under another name.”

She nodded, turned to the armoire and opened the double doors. Out of one of the

many drawers inside, she pulled out what looked to be lacy under-things. Jack closed his
eyes briefly as he worked to ignore the pink lace.

“How much more do you need to pack?” he asked. He didn’t want to rush her, but

he didn’t want her or any of team meeting up with super cop from next door. It wasn’t as
if he was a straight nine-to-five guy who had to stay behind a desk.

She reached down near the closet and picked up a pair of athletic shoes and shoved

them into the bag Gray held open. “I just need to get some personal items from the
bathroom. And I guess I should take things like my savings book and check book, too.
Then I think I’ve got everything I need for a while.”

Jack didn’t bother to tell her that her accounts would soon be closed. And within a

very short time, Anthony Mantelli, hunter-cop or not, would find nothing with which to
trace her.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 13

A few minutes later—they felt like hours to Jack—she stepped back into the kitchen.

Gray followed her. She grabbed three framed photos off the wall in the hall and two
more off the small table inside the front door and shoved them all into a second bag.
Then she all but emptied a drawer from the desk in the kitchen into it. Jack noted her
check book and various papers and envelopes.

“I hate leaving you like this, Doc.”
“Now don’t you worry about me or the clinic, Stella. The place won’t fall apart

without you.”

She paused in front of him. Doc reached out and gently placed his lips to her cheek

in a fatherly kiss. She gave him a small smile. “You go take care of you for a while and
if I need you, I’ll call Jack.”

“Thank you.”
Doc smiled down at her. “Get a move on it, now, time’s wasting, and you know how

I hate that.”

She smiled and nodded. For the first time, Jack saw tears glisten in her eyes.
She might not care about leaving this house, at least not right now when the terror of

what happened to her here was still fresh, but she hesitated in leaving her boss and a job
she loved. She reached out and gave Doc a hug, another good sign.

Jack took the opportunity to take her bag from Gray. “I’ll take the Porsche and leave

the van. You’ll be in charge when I’m gone.”

Gray nodded. “We all heard her story,” Gray said softly. “You know right now

she’s in nurse mode, going about this all in a professional manner, like she’s been trained
to do, like she’s done with others who have been in her situation. Sooner or later, maybe
in an hour, maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, but sometime, she’s going to have the
face the fact she’s the victim here. And it’s liable to hit her like a rock falling out of the
sky.”

“I know. That’s why I want to go with plan five so I can stay with her.
“Five it is, then,” Gray agreed. “We’ll get this packed up and out of here in no time

and be right behind you.”

All of his team knew all the plans merely by number. So there was no question as to

what they should do next, where they should go, or where they would all end up later.
They knew the drill.

Jack picked up the bag he’d brought in earlier and held it and Stella’s together.

“Stella,” he said softly.

She turned away from Doc and faced him. From his bag, Jack pulled out a black

hoodie, just like the one he and the rest of the team wore. “Put this on, and keep the hood
up, so that in the dark if any of your neighbors look out, they won’t be sure it was you.”
While she did as he instructed, Jack looked out the window of the front door.

She turned to Gray. “The paintings?”
“I’ll keep them safe,” he promised.
Then Jack gave her a moment to sling her purse over her shoulder before he pulled

the front door open. He looked back at her. “Stay behind me.”

He led her out into the night.
A black Porsche moved smoothly into her drive and another of his team climbed out,

leaving it running.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 14

Crickets chirped, a dog barked in the distance, the faded sound of music drifted out

from one of the houses across the street. It was just a typical spring night in the
subdivision known as Remington Place.

Yet, Jack ignored it all. “Any sign of him?” he spoke softly into the microphone on

his wrist.

“Negative…” came back in his earpiece.
Within seconds, he had the passenger door open and Stella climbed in. He somehow

half expected her to say, “Wait,” and perhaps even change her mind completely. This is
the point where leaving became real for many people.

She didn’t. She simply climbed in without a word and allowed him to close the

door.

Another ten seconds, and he had the car in reverse and out of the drive.
Into the night…

Chapter Two

Stella must trust him. She didn’t even ask Jack what his plan was.
Either that, or just taking her away from the danger next door was enough for her.
Or worse, shock was beginning to finally set in and she didn’t care where he took

her.

He heard her deep intake of breath and remained silent, hoping it wasn’t shock,

allowing relief to relax her. If she was relaxing, he didn’t ruin it by telling her she wasn’t
out of the woods yet. And if it was shock, he wasn’t about to make it worse. Hell, she
wasn’t even out of her subdivision. It would be another ten minutes before then.

He maneuvered the sleek car around a corner. He passed a house with all the lights

on and many cars parked out front, and he had to slow for the people who stood in the
street. It was an obvious party, and he didn’t have the patience for it. Jack hated these
subdivisions where there was only one way in and one way out.

In the seat beside him, Stella still said nothing. Jack noticed her hands clasped

tightly together. He wanted to reassure her, let her know that with him, she was safe.
But it was premature. Until he had them both miles away, he couldn’t count on their
safety.

He finally gave in to the need that drove through him. He reached out and placed his

hand over both of hers. It was a small gesture, he knew and yet the fact that she allowed
him and didn’t pull away was a huge reply. Her hands were warm, her skin soft, as he
knew it would be. Still, the simple touch was not enough for him.

It had to be. Anything more might destroy the thin layer of trust she allowed him.

Jack drew in a deep breath and managed to inhale the soft woman scent of her—flowers
perhaps with a hint of vanilla. He tried to keep from being captivated by it.

And found it to be impossible.
Hell, why couldn’t they have met under different circumstances? Why couldn’t he

have walked into her clinic with a cut that needed stitching or something? He swallowed
hard at that thought, knowing he’d never need stitches nor would he enter a public health
facility to get them.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 15

He stared out into the night, into the blackness of it and tried to lose himself in it.

Yet, the woman beside him kept him grounded. There would be no getting lost in the
dark tonight for Jack Holston. At least not alone. And he knew that to be true when she
shifted slightly and took his hand in hers…

The street wove seeming endless. Driving this to get to and from work every day

would drive him crazy, Jack thought. How he missed the open sea air.

They finally reached the frontage road. Another two miles and there would be

nothing but interstate.

In plan five, the client was taken to the next-closest state. He and Stella would then

spend the night in a hotel, rest for the night and be back on the road in the morning,
driving until they reached their final destination—to be determined after the client was
away from danger for twelve to twenty-four hours.

Jack looked over at Stella and realized he’s already decided where he planned to take

her.

But first things first.
He could see the entrance to the interstate. In thirty seconds, one minute tops, they’d

have the speed of seventy under the wheels.

Another car exited off the highway and joined them on the frontage road, coming at

them.

“That’s…” Stella said. The single word was hardly more than a whisper. Then,

“That’s…” Louder. “That’s…” Her hand squeezed his.

Jack threw a glance her way. In the darkness, he couldn’t mistake the shudder that

moved through her. “That’s what?”

“That’s…” She suddenly sounded out of breath.
Jack pulled over to the shoulder and stopped, looked at her across the darkness. Her

breathing when she wasn’t speaking sounded as if she choked. “Stella?”

“Him…” she said as the car passed them and went on by.
Jack turned and looked, noticing the make and model for the first time. He didn’t

hesitate to contact his men. “He’s heading your way.” He looked back to the woman
beside him, determined to convince her she was safe. He really would take her in his
arms, if that’s what it took. “He didn’t see you. He doesn’t know you’re with us. He
can’t hurt you. I promise I won’t let him hurt you,” he began. He stopped at the sight of
her.

Her hand—the one not holding his—splayed her chest and throat. She really choked.

Her breaths were fast and labored and raspy. The fingers of her other nearly broke his.

“Stella?” The paleness of her face touched him through the dark like a cold hand

clenching his stomach.

“Asthma…” she let out, sounding raspy and harsh. “Can’t breathe…”
Jack let out an oath. No wonder she’d been so terrified about suffocating. She knew

what it felt like with every asthma attack. “What do you do for it?” It took everything he
had to remain calm. He’d dealt with abusive husbands and boyfriends. He’d dealt with
mobsters and criminals. He’d dealt with crying women, hysterical women, and women in
shock and terrified children . He’d even dealt with a few monsters. But this sent his
heart racing. This, he couldn’t control or fight or threaten to ward it off. Neither could
he run or drive to avoid it. And if seeing this guy drive by sent her into an attack like this

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 16

when he couldn’t even reach her, Jack knew damned good and well that another
encounter with him might have killed her without him even touching her.

She reached for her purse, but her hand shook and the bag dropped from her grasp.

Reluctantly, he let go of her as he grabbed it for her and dumped the contents out on to
the seat and her lap. There were two inhalers, as well as a bottle of pills in the array of
tissues, her wallet, keys, ink pens, a few packs of gum and other small items. “Does it
matter which inhaler you use?” he asked, fighting to keep terror out of his voice. He
didn’t just rescue her from the bastard next door to have her die in his front seat.

And now that he’d touched her, felt the soft allure of her skin, he couldn’t let her die

anywhere.

She shook her head violently.
He grabbed one, shook it and popped off the small cap on the end. He held it to her

lips and squeezed it, letting out a puff of medicine. After fifteen seconds, he sent another
puff into her system. He was preparing for a third when there was a noticeable change in
her breathing. It wasn’t so loud, and she didn’t have to fight so hard for a breath. In the
darkness, she no longer seemed to glow with paleness.

Jack felt his heart slow, not quite back to normal, but closer.
“Are you okay if I drive?” He wanted to get her as far away as quickly as possible.
She nodded, obviously understood the circumstance. “Yes. I’ll be all right now.”

She reached for all the belongings from her purse and began to put them back.

Jack noticed her hands still shook. But her breathing was back to normal. Her heart,

however, was still beating fast, although it wasn’t racing any longer as it had been before.
He heard it as easily as he felt his own racing painfully in his chest, but he wouldn’t let
her know. And his hands felt empty not holding hers. “When was the last time you had
something to eat?” he asked.

She didn’t answer for a long moment, as if she had to think hard and search for an

answer. “Breakfast, I guess. I…Gosh, it seems so long ago.”

Like twelve or thirteen hours, Jack thought, but didn’t voice it. And so much had

happened in between. Jack turned on to the interstate. As soon as she had her purse all
put back together, Jacked reached back for his bag and brought it to the front seat, placing
it on her lap. “Here, open it.”

“Is anything going to jump out?”
“Nope.”
The sound of the heavy zipper filled the car. “What am I looking for?” she asked.
He thought she was an amazing woman with great strength. She’d endured the pain

given by another and still remained calm. “There’s a Thermos filled with coffee, a few
more cans of soda, bottles of water, a variety of granola bars and candy bars, some snack
crackers, and even a couple peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”

“You were prepared.”
“That’s me, Mr. Boy Scout of the year, always prepared.” She was quiet. He went

on. “The truth is, I’ve done this long enough to know that anyone needing saving by us
doesn’t have dinner ready and waiting. I’d rather stop and get you a proper meal,
because you haven’t had one in a while, but we can’t take that chance right now. And
fast food doesn’t always settle well. What I definitely don’t need is you having your
sugar drop out the bottom. So eat a sandwich.”

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 17

It wasn’t a request, and he was glad she gave him no argument. He heard her ruffle

through the bag, searching for food like a scavenger raccoon searching through the trash
can at a campground. “Do you want a sandwich?” she asked.

It must be the nurse in her that caused her to continue thinking of others, despite her

situation, he thought. “Sure,” he replied. It may even be her concern for others that kept
her thoughts together, kept her from falling apart.

He let her unwrap his sandwich for him. He caught a hint of flowery soap under the

smell of grape jelly when she gave it to him. He didn’t have to ask, he already knew she
showered after her encounter with her neighbor. She probably scrubbed herself until the
hot water was gone and her skin was raw. And yet, she’d never confess it. She was the
type to worry about others too much, the nurse in her commanded that she care for others
and put herself last. “Thanks,” he said.

“I don’t know if I can eat this,” she said softly.
“Take it one bite at a time and chew it carefully, slowly.” He glanced at the

dashboard digital clock.

11:48.
Nearly midnight. Nearly the witching hour, he thought. And they still had far to go.

“I want you to take at least a half hour getting it down, so take small bites,” he instructed.
“Go on, try.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her take a small bite.

“Do you think your men are all right?” she asked, her voice sounding so small.
“I’m sure they are,” he reassured her without hesitation. “If there was anything out

of order I would have heard something by now.”

“But I’m sure when he got there and saw them at my house—hard telling what he

did.”

“I doubt he made it to your house yet.”
“What?” she asked.
“I would imagine he got a flat, perhaps two before he got close enough to home to

walk. And I’m pretty certain that before he gets his flat fixed, he’s going to be called
back into work regarding some minor detail he forgot. And if by chance that doesn’t
keep him off your street, the little fender bender at that party we passed will have the
street blocked.”

“There’s a fender bender?”
“Not yet, but there will be if it’s needed.” He glanced over at her, saw in an instant

the horror in her expression. “Don’t worry, no one will be hurt. My men know what
they’re doing. There won’t even be much vehicle damage. Just enough to keep him
blocked from your house for at least another hour if necessary, long enough so that my
men and most of your stuff will be gone. The biggest van with most of your furniture is
already gone.”

“Really?”
“Yes, left about two minutes ago.” The news had come to him via the radio earpiece

in his ear.

“So how often do you do this?” she asked.
“Do what?” He asked before he took another bite.
“Save people like me.” The last two words were barely whispered as if it was hard

for her to classify herself as a person needing saving.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 18

He shrugged as if there was nothing to it. “We save anyone and everyone needing

help. And it just depends. Sometimes, we can go weeks before we get called. Other
times, it’s several times a week. You’re the third this week. Must be a sale,” he added,
trying to lighten the conversation and make a joke.

“So where are you taking me?”
“To a hotel just over the state line. You’ll spend the night there.”
“Then what?”
Then I want to show how you should always be treated. “Then I’ll take you to a

more permanent destination to stay while things cool down. After we see how this guy
reacts, we’ll know how to proceed.” He didn’t tell her that he even had a few safe houses
in other countries, and he was prepared to take her as far as he had to go. “Yours is a
unique situation,” he put in.

“Because he’s a cop.”
It was half question, half true statement.
“That’s right. His badge opens doors for him, gives him computer access most

people can’t have without hacking, and gives him assistance throughout the country.”

“All he has to do fax or e-mail my picture to the police in any city in any state, and

they’d be on the lookout for me, right?”

“Right.” Jack didn’t go on to tell her this guy could use his authority to fix it so she

could never get another driver’s license or credit card or house loan. It was too soon. Let
her work past having to leave her home. That was enough for one night. The rest would
come soon enough. “Do you have any family you’d like to contact?”

“I have an older sister in Toledo.”
“How often do you talk to her?”
“Once a week or two or three times a month, it just depends. She’s pretty busy with

three teenagers who try and play every sport.”

Jack pulled a second phone from his pocket. It was what he and his men referred to

as the dead phone—a number registered to a non-existent person. “Call her on this and
tell her you’ll be out of town for a while. Tell her you’re on a vacation or going to a
conference, I don’t care. Just let her know you won’t be home and you’ll call her later.
Tell her you don’t know which the hotel or have the number yet, but you’ll get back with
her.”

She did as he instructed, sounding amazing light, as if she really was going on the

adventure of a lifetime via a vacation. Yet, when she hung up, she turned suddenly quiet.
Jack glanced over at her and was touched by the silent tears he saw streaming down her
cheeks.

“Stella?”
“This is really happening to me, isn’t it?”
Jack didn’t answer her right away, and she went on.
“I’ve dealt with victims every week at the clinic—women beaten by their husbands,

girls beaten by boyfriends or fathers. I once even helped a man who was abused every
day by his wife and her sister. How did it happen to me so quickly, so unavoidably?”

Again Jack had no answer.
“Why did he pick me? Did he think I was pretty? Was I an easy pick?”
That was a question he thought he could answer. “He picked you because he needed

a woman to dominate over. Rapists are seldom after sex. They aren’t like typical men

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 19

who see a pretty or sexy woman and get horny. Most of them do it for the control. Many
times, at some time in their lives, rapists had control taken from them perhaps in some
sort of abuse, so this is their way of trying to get it back. And chances are if you had
come on to him, had kissed him or touched him in a sexual way, he might have even been
turned off. Because you would have displayed control over him and also because you
told him no at first and set it up as a challenge for him.”

Stella let out a long sigh. “I’ve heard all this before. In fact I’m sure I’ve said it

once or twice to the women in my clinic.” She turned away and looked out the window,
taking the hood off her head for the first time as if she just now remembered it was up.
She put her elbow up against the window and leaned her chin in her hand. “Why didn’t I
see it? Why didn’t I recognize him for what he is?”

“Because he’s good at hiding it, so good in fact that his own colleagues find it easy

to ignore. That’s why he got nothing more than a finger shaking in his face and a blunt
warning to be nicer to women.”

She took another bite of the sandwich she still held as if, like the hood, she’d

forgotten it was there. Jack had finished his off before.

“So…” Stella began. “Who are you? I mean, what are you? Navy SEALs?

Mercenaries? Army Rangers?”

“None of the above, really.” Jack replied.
“You ask me to trust you, expect me to trust you, and yet you lie to me?” she asked

evenly.

“I’m not really lying to you,” he put in. “Okay so a few of the guys on the team have

had some military training, but we’re not affiliated with any particular group.”

“I don’t believe you.”
He glanced at her and found her staring at him. “We’re sort of like a secret society.

We help people. That’s it.”

“Yeah, right,” Stella put in.
Jack still didn’t like the flatness of her voice, but at least she talked.
“I’m not kidding,” he insisted.
“You just go around helping anyone who needs help?”
“It does sound rather simple, doesn’t it?” Jack offered her a small smile when he

found she still stared at him through the darkness. “But that’s pretty much it.”

“How did Doc know to call you?”
“A great many doctors know about us, a few cops, too.” That was the part that made

him the most nervous. He hoped her attacker didn’t hear about them or already know
about them. But since Jack had never heard of Anthony Mantelli, chances were he didn’t
know about the society, either. Jack didn’t share that with her. Besides, Mantelli worked
homicide—dead people, not live victims he needed to steal away. “Doctors are usually
the first to deal with victims, people in need of help. They call us. We come. We do
whatever we can to help. At the very least, we get the victim out of harm’s way.”

“And who pays for all of this?”
Jack had been waiting for that question. It always came up. As if there was ever

really a price on safety or life. “We have many investors.” It was the same answer he
always gave and it was the truth. Like the men on the team the investors had reasons to
invest and keep the secret.

She let out a heavy breath, and Jack saw her shiver.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 20

This wasn’t uncommon, either. Horrid experiences often left victims shivering. It

was part of the shock that threatened to take hold. From the bag she still held on her lap,
he pulled a cotton throw blanket. Small and light, but warm, he handed it to her. Then
he reached blindly into the bag again and pulled out another can. He didn’t care what
kind of soda it was, and handed it to her, too. “Cover with the blanket and drink some of
this. Then I want you to get some rest. We’ve got a while to go before we stop.”

Stella took another deep breath and snuggled under the blanket. Jack Holston

certainly had everything in his bag of tricks. The can of cherry white soda was only
relatively cool, but went down smoothly and tasted sweet and clean. She closed her eyes
momentarily and was amazed that her eye still ached from where that pig had hit her.
With a mouthful of soda, she swallowed down the anger that threatened her as she
worked to keep all emotions in check. She would not afford tears wasted on the Tony
Mantelli. He didn’t deserve them. Nor did he deserve her frustration.

It was the fear that was hardest to quench.
What if all of this was for nothing?
What if Jack Holston really couldn’t keep her safe?
What if she woke again to see that animal had found her?
What if she discovered this was all a dream, a nightmare?
She drew in another cleansing breath, forcing calmness into her thoughts to ward off

another asthma attack. She was already exhausted from the last one. As if she’d had
nothing more than a tough day on her feet at work, she forced relaxation into her body.
The hum of the car was lulling. Jack Holston’s presence beside her was indescribably
comforting.

She didn’t know why she trusted him. In the fact of all matters, she shouldn’t trust

him. She shouldn’t trust anyone. But she trusted Jack. There was something in the
warmth of his dark eyes, like a safe place to hide right there in their darkness. There was
truth and comfort and warmth and invitation in his voice. The patience in his tone and
his movements put her at ease like nothing else.

Doc had found her sitting on a chair, unable to think about taking another step. And

yet, the moment Jack Holston put himself into her line of vision, it was as if he were a
life ring tossed to her as she flailed and splashed and worked to keep her head above
water. His touch, just a simple touch to her hand had somehow sent strength right up her
arm and into her heart. She had wanted to reach out and touch the golden brown of his
hair and see if the waves were as soft as they looked. The scent of him—something like
woods and man and soap brought a freshness the shower had not.

It had been as if her soul or her heart, something deep within her had known Jack,

recognized him as being a man she could trust. She had thought he was going to kiss her
when he knelt before her and stared into her eyes. She thought it would have been a
gentle, tender kiss, a simple I’m-here-for-you kiss. And Stella would have welcomed it.

Her heart had skipped a beat at the idea.
Then her heart had nearly shuddered when she realized he was not going to kiss her.

Her lips all but trembled at the absence of his.

And for a brief moment, brief, but absolutely lovely and heart-warming, she had

been able to forget about Anthony Mantelli.

When the time was right, Stella planned to thank Jack for that moment. It was the

greatest gift she’d ever been given.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 21

She finished the can of soda, put the empty can into the nearby cup holder, and

snuggled even more under the blanket. The moon was high and not quite full, and there
were a million stars in the sky. Headlights passing them were like beacons in the dark.

And Jack was beside her. She still smelled the alluring scent of earthy woods and

man. She fought the urge to reach out to touch him, needing to feel the warmth of his
skin.

But when she glanced at him, she found him staring at her through the darkness.

Driving fast, at a frightening speed in fact and yet, his gaze was on her not the road.

“What?” she tried to scream out, but all she managed through a throat that suddenly

closed on her was a screech.

He opened his mouth and laughed, no longer Jack at all. No, he was Anthony

Mantelli, laughing at her. “You didn’t think you could get away that easily, did you? No
woman gets away from me, until I’m ready for her to get away from me! Then I take
care of her. I hide her away in shallow graves in the woods. And you’re next.”

Stella pushed herself against the door, but couldn’t get far enough away from him.

Wrapped in the blanket, she wasn’t able to get her hands free to reach for the door handle
or defend herself. And she couldn’t even breathe…

Hell, she hadn’t had this many asthma attacks since she was kid. At this rate,

Anthony Mantelli wouldn’t have to kill her. He could just watch while she suffocated—
slowly.

She jerked awake and wasn’t certain whether or not she cried out or just gasped as

she quickly looked around.

They were stopped in a parking lot.
Jack held her hand, and stared hard at her. “Stella?” he said sharply. “Wake up.

Take a breath, slow and easy, you’re dreaming.”

No, she thought. Dreaming was nice and inviting, taking people to places they

wanted to go. No, she hadn’t been dreaming. She’d had a continuation of the same
nightmare of her day. She stared back at him. “Jack,” she forced out. Her throat wasn’t
closed. She could breathe. She could talk and sound coherent. And the man who sat
before her and held her hand was Jack Holston. His hand was warm. It grounded her.
With her hand in his, she felt safe and somehow secure. She never wanted him to let go.
He was the most patient man she’d ever met, except perhaps for Dr. Brand.

“Yes, it’s Jack. I’m right here. It’s just me, Stella.” He simply held her hand and let

her relax. “We’re here. This is where we’ll stay for the rest of the night.”

She tore her gaze from him and looked around taking in the hotel, the bright lights of

the parking lot and several other cars parked around them.

“How do you feel?” he asked.
Stiff, she thought, like she was just beginning to mend after a terrible bout of the flu.

“Okay, I guess.” She hoped someday she’d really feel okay again. Today wasn’t it. She
licked her dry lips and hoped Jack didn’t see through her lie. Well, it wasn’t a complete
lie. She did feel okay when Jack held her hand.

“Do you feel up to going in with me?”
He asked it as a question. But Stella heard and understood his tone. He wasn’t about

to leave her out here alone. “Do you think my going in is a good idea? People will see
me. My black eye will draw attention, and people remember things like that.”

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 22

“You’ll be fine. Dawdle behind me, look around the lobby—at the plants, at

whatever else in there, but don’t approach the front desk, don’t make eye contact with
anyone. Think you can do that?”

She nodded. He made it sound so easy, though.
“Besides,” he went on, “it will take something much bigger and worse than a black

eye to take away from you, Stella.”

He was trying to make her feel better, Stella knew that. Just as she knew her looks

had little to do with what had happened to her. And still, questions flowed through her
mind. Would she ever feel right? What would she feel? Would the see-saw of
emotions—the fear, the anxiety, the anger, the repulsion ever stop swirling through her?
Would she ever look at another man and wonder if she could trust him?

She knew the answer to that question already. She looked at Jack and she knew she

could trust him. She did trust him.

Jack reached for his door handle.
“Jack?”
He turned back to her. The interior of the car was dark, but his dark eyes reflected

the light of the parking lot, and Stella thought it looked as if fire burned in his eyes.
“Yes, Stella?”

“Would you do me a favor before we go in?” Her mouth was suddenly so dry, she

could barely speak, barely whisper the question. And yet, this was something she had to
do, something she had to discover about herself. She could not take another step without
the answer to this question that plagued her mind. Could she ever again touch or be
touched by a man without feeling sick to her stomach and repulsed or lifeless?

“Of course, Stella, what is it?”
He readily agreed without knowing what she wanted of him. Amazing.
Hesitantly, she licked her suddenly dry lips. “Would you kiss me?” she asked.
His brows narrowed at her, as if he didn’t understand the question. “Kiss you?”
She licked her lips again and nodded. “Nothing fancy, just a simple kiss.”
Was there really such a thing, she wondered? Right then, she thought not.
To her amazement once again, Jack didn’t hesitate or question her further. With

smooth actions, he reached out and took both her hands in his. His heat drew her in like
the warmth of a fire on a cold night.

Then his lips were on hers.
She did feel.
And it was nothing close to repulsion or fear. Her stomach tightened, but not in

loathing or disgust. His kiss was like a healing kiss, the kiss that awakened the princess
put to sleep by someone evil.

Yes, she did feel. She was suddenly amazingly alive. And it was as if he was able to

send his strength right into her with his touch. She could handle this. She could move
past it and put it—along with the fear and other biting emotions behind her. She could…

With a kiss like the one that now pressed against her lips, Stella thought she could do

anything. Hell, she could damned well fly.

His lips were warmer than his hands. His kiss was as she thought it would be, gentle

and tender. And yet, there was nothing frail about it. It was like a defibrillator, full of
electricity and able to revive her. He tasted of grape jelly, sweet and good. He gave of
himself and took nothing from her, demanded nothing of her.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 23

A heartbeat later, or was it more like a lifetime later, he reluctantly pulled away, still

holding both her hands.

Stella had to force herself to breathe. In…Out…
“Thank you,” she let out. Just two breathy words, and yet she could think of nothing

else to say.

He nodded and offered her a small smile as if he couldn’t think of anything to say,

either.

Then he climbed out.
After a few seconds of collecting her wits, Stella opened the door and climbed out,

too. She leaned against the car for a long moment, uncertain whether or not her legs
would keep her standing. They finally did. Jack moved around the car to the trunk.
“Stella.”

She moved around to the back of the car to find he held their two bags in one hand.

He set them down and opened the trunk.

There was another large bag in the trunk. Jack zipped it open and pulled something

out. “Turn around and cover your face.”

She did as he instructed without question while he sprayed something on her hair.
“What is it?”
“Color spray, used for Halloween disguises. This is red. You’ll love it.”
“I’m sure.”
He dropped the can back into the trunk and took out a large pair of glasses. “Put

these on, too.”

Stella did. “Do you have anything else in your bag of tricks?” she asked.
“Mmmm. I think I’ve got a set of fake ears and teeth, want to try those?”
She smiled, feeling more at ease than she had in a week. “What do the teeth look

like?”

Jack chuckled. Stella liked the easy sound of it. “I don’t think you need them. They

might be overdoing it.”

“What about the ears?”
“They’re pointed.”
It was Stella’s turn to let out a chuckle.
“But I think the hair and glasses are enough. Do what I said, look around the room,

not at anyone in particular. If anyone really looks at you, he’ll notice your hair and
glasses and nothing specific.” He closed the trunk and picked up the two bags in one
hand while he took hers with his other.

Several minutes later, they were in the elevator, on their way up to room four-twenty.

“Mr. and Mrs. Jack Howard?” Stella questioned.

“I think Mrs. Howard fits you. Besides, he’d be looking for you, alone. He won’t be

looking for a couple, especially a married couple.”

She nodded in agreement. He was right after all. It was all cover, all for her

protection, something else to assure her safety and keep that crazy man from finding her.

They said nothing else until they were behind the locked and bolted door to their

room. Despite its lack of character, it was a lovely room with two queen beds, a sofa, a
small round table and two chairs. Jack took one of the chairs and tipped it under the
doorknob. A sliding door opened to a balcony that overlooked the pool and patio

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 24

furniture below. Stella noticed for the first time that Jack’s car was parked just beyond
the fence that enclosed that pool.

“Is this our quick get-away?” she couldn’t help but asked.
“If need be,” he replied without hesitation. He put her bag on one bed and his on the

other. He took off his jacket and tossed it over a nearby chair.

“Did you ever have to jump down into a pool to escape?” she had to ask.
“Just once.”
“Did you get away?”
He offered her a crooked grin. “Of course.”
Stella watched him for a long moment, then she kicked off her shoes and lay down

on the bed near her bag. Her limbs were heavy with fatigue and stretching out
horizontally was suddenly like floating on a cloud.

“Mind if I use the bathroom first?” Jack asked.
“Of course not.”
He moved near the television and took the remote. “You can watch the stupid tube

while I’m in there.”

“Okay.”
“And if anyone knocks or calls, don’t answer. Just come get me.”
“Okay,” she said again.
He handed the remote to her, picked up a smaller bag from inside the larger one and

headed for the bath.

Stella picked an old comedy sitcom about an army hospital and took a deep breath,

relishing in the feeling that she could sleep safely. Until the last week, she’d always
taken that for granted. Well no more. No more would she take anything for granted. And
yet, thanks to Jack Holston and many other unnamed people, she could feel safe again.
Jack, she thought. Jack—the man who had kissed her. How long had it been since she’d
been kissed like that? Never, she thought. Her heart skipped a beat at the memory. She
might not be with Jack for long, but she was with him now. She could easily make it be a
lifetime with little trying. Jack touched her and kissed her like no man ever had. Jack
had understood her need to feel his kiss. And he kept her safe. Even if it might only be
for this one night…

Jack stood under the hot spray of the shower. If he were smart, he’d turn the hot

water off completely. If he were smarter, he’d call Gray and have him come and stay in
this room with Stella.

She might be safe from Anthony Mantelli, but she wasn’t safe from Jack Holston,

not any longer, not after the kiss he’d shared with her.

He must have been out of his mind for kissing her. He had never kissed anyone in

his care before. But then, he had never had the desire or drive to kiss anyone in his care.

And yet, it felt like the most right thing to do. In fact, it felt so right he hadn’t

wanted to stop. Ever. And now he understood why.

Stella was meant to belong to him, to be with him forever.
His soul recognized her. Just being close to her sent something like tiny zings of

electric through his entire being. He couldn’t not be with her. He couldn’t not share his
life with her.

When he handed her the remote and her hand touched his, it had taken all his

strength to keep from stretching out on the bed beside Stella, molding his body to hers,

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 25

spooning up against the curvy little backside of hers and testing out the flesh of her throat
to see if it was as soft and alluring as it looked. To see if the rest of her tasted as sweet
and good as her lips had. He couldn’t blame the kiss. The kiss was like whipped cream
on top of an ice cream sundae, just the sweet start of something better hidden beneath.
Because they were meant to be shared souls, sooner or later, he would have felt the
electric shock that slithered through him with her closeness. Sooner or later, he would
have found a reason to kiss her. He couldn’t help that she’d given him that reason now.

And yet, just as she’d needed him to kiss her, just as she’d needed to feel the safe

touch of him, he knew, too, she needed her space. The pace that they’d be moving to
reach the safe house he planned for her would be fast enough. The move, the new
environment, leaving her job and family and friends and everything she knew would be
hard enough for her. She needed everything to be as slow as possible. And Jack knew
better than to push a victim.

But to Jack, she was no longer just any victim.
And knowing she was meant to be his mate and keeping his body from wanting her

while treating her as a victim were two totally different things.

That little voice in his head spoke again, reminding him that he hadn’t pushed her.

She’d asked for his kiss. She’d needed his touch. Wasn’t it his job to give his clients
whatever they needed?

Perhaps her soul had recognized his.
Hell, it didn’t help that Stella didn’t seem, didn’t feel like a victim to him. Nor did

she act like one. He knew the shock and pain might still come later, but Stella didn’t
cower in a corner crying. Nor did she scream when she was touched or demand
vengeance.

She faced what needed to be faced. It was more to draw her to him.
Was his kiss any different than a meal, a safe place to rest or new clothes or medical

attention?

Obviously, since giving those didn’t make his heart hammer.
Jack looked at his reflection in the mirror as he dried off from his shower. He was

fit, as fit as a man of thirty could be. Okay, so he was starting to grow a couple small love
handles, despite his work outs. He needed a haircut. He still didn’t look too bad. And he
knew his strengths as well as his own weaknesses. That was important when it came to
doing something like scaling down the side of a cliff or making a quick escape like
jumping from the balcony into the pool below. So when was the last time he’d kissed a
woman and felt his heart slam into the side of his chest like some hormones-out-of-
control teenager?

Never.
Just as he’d never found a woman as damned desirable as Stella. He sucked in a

deep breath. She was his mate. Even the sheer thought sent his heart racing and his
lower stomach tightening. The red he’d sprayed on her hair seemed to add fire to it, and
he’d given her the hilarious, too-big glasses to distract him from the need that itched at
him to run his fingers through her hair. He tried not to think about the morning when
he’d be giving her permanent hair color to use.

She’s sharing a room with him. That thought send a rush of electrical heat through

him that surged in the lower pit of his belly.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 26

It shouldn’t bother him. He’d shared the room with countless victims and clients in

the past.

But it did bother him. She bothered him. He didn’t have time for a mate. And he

didn’t have time to be distracted at the idea Stella was his mate. He had to protect her.

No, bother was the wrong word. She didn’t bother him at all. As long as tiny fires

igniting throughout his insides didn’t bother him. He took a deep breath. It was a good
thing he was great at control. He needed every ounce of it now.

She’d be sleeping just a few feet away.
Those few feet were much too far. Jack shook his head, trying to shake away these

thoughts. He would not, could not take advantage of her. He would not lose control. He
reminded himself it had been Stella who’d asked him to kiss her. The reminder didn’t
help, didn’t ease his need to feel her in his arms. He told himself he hadn’t lost control
during that kiss. He would hold on to it for as long as he needed. He pulled on a tee shirt
and pair of sweats and stepped out of the bathroom, planning to talk to her, voice some
boundaries. He’d keep the mate thing under wraps until the situation was safe. He
wouldn’t scare her by voicing all his feelings, but he would find out her feelings and
know where he stood with her.

But any talk he wanted to do with her would have to wait.
Stella was sound asleep.

Chapter Three

Jack woke with a start, uncertain as to what woke him.
The room was dark, but his vision adjusted quickly. The hair on the back of his neck

stood and he drew in a subtle deep breath, sensing any change, any danger. Without
hesitation, he reached out and grasped the cell phone he’d set on the table beside the bed.
Members of his team were a call away. Hell, they were closer than that. They were one
wall away, in the next room, on both sides of this one. All he had to do was knock. He
didn’t. Not yet.

With his other hand, he silently reached under the pillow and pulled out the .38 he’d

hidden under there. He didn’t even have to look across the small space between the beds.
He felt her absence.

Stella was gone.
Hell.
He moved fast, as fast as his heart pounded in his chest. He didn’t bother to switch

on the small lamp over the nearby table. His vision was as good in the dark as it was in
the light. Out of bed and on his bare feet in no time, he took in the room. The door was
still latched and locked, the chair still under the knob. The balcony door was locked, the
small table still blocking it as he’d strategically placed it.

“Stella?” he asked softly. He moved to the far side of the bed, knowing from

experience that sometimes victims needed to hide to feel safe. She wasn’t hiding on the
far side of the bed.

The bathroom door was closed. Before he went barging in, Jack stood outside it for

a long moment and pressed his ear to it. He heard the shower running.

“Stella?” he called louder as he tapped on the door with one knuckle.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 27

She didn’t answer.
And Jack didn’t hesitate. He walked right in. Victims were as unpredictable as

perpetrators. They could be fine one moment and shocked or depressed or unpredictable
the next. He’d seen it happen. And hadn’t he already determined that Stella wasn’t like
the average victim?

At first he thought the shower was empty with the water running. He didn’t see her

silhouette beyond the almost clear curtain. He pulled the vinyl back to find her sitting in
the back of the tub, curled in almost a ball, her knees drawn up against her, her arms
wrapped around her legs, and her head resting on her knees as water rained down on her.

She didn’t look up at him. She didn’t even appear startled that he walked in her.
Her skin was pink. Steam filled the room, and rose off Stella. Streaks of the red he’d

sprayed in her hair stained her back in places.

“Stella?” he said. He set his gun and his phone on the sink counter.
“I woke up and thought I smelled him. And I couldn’t get that smell out of my nose.”

Her voice sounded so small.

All Jack could smell was lavender from the hotel soap she’d used. “It’s all right.”

He stooped down bedside her. The smell of lavender grew. “He’s not here. He’d have
to go through me to get to you. I promise you that.”

She finally looked up at him. Her eyes were so large on her face. She looked like a

drowned rat. Her lithe body was all tucked up, her hair stuck to her. She’d obviously
scrubbed herself until her skin was raw. “I believe you.” The shower beat on the top of
her head. She ignored it.

So did Jack.
“There’s something I don’t understand,” Stella said.
Just one thing? Hell, there were a million things about this world Jack didn’t

understand. “What is it?”

“He never touched me,” she said. “But I feel so dirty. I feel like I smell bad.”
“You don’t smell bad,” he assured her.
“The first time, after he hit me in the eye and knocked me down, he made sure he

never touched my skin. He was like careful when he pressed his mouth on mine. And he
only touched my wrists when he held my hands down. Before he hit me, I was too busy
trying to fight him to realize that. But I woke up, and I remembered that part. It was like
he was afraid to touch me or didn’t want to. The second time on my table, he touched me
with the barrel of his gun, and of course, I didn’t move. I don’t even think I breathed, I
was so afraid. But his hands never touched me, never touched my skin.”

She paused and cleared her throat. “The third time, when I woke to find him in my

bed, I jumped out and ran to the door, and he said, ‘stop right where you are.’ And it was
like he’d hypnotized me or something. I stopped, and I couldn’t get my feet to move any
further. He told me to come back, and I did. He told me to take off my nightshirt, and I
did. I was shaking with anger and fear and loathing and all these other things I can’t
describe, and still I did what he told me to do. Like he’d trained me like a dog.”

“You aren’t a dog,” Jack put in.
“Why didn’t I pick up the lamp and smash in his head?”
“Because you knew he’d hurt you if you missed. You did what you needed to do to

survive, Stella. Don’t forget that. You’re a survivor. That’s what’s important.”

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 28

“He was in my bed, between my sheets—my lovely Egyptian cotton sheets, sea

foam, my favorite color. And do you know what those sheets cost me?” There was
evident anger in her words.

Jack had no idea and knew it wasn’t important. The sheets were just another item on

the long list of things dirtied by a pig named Anthony Mantelli.

“Eighty-seven dollars,” Stella answered her own question.
“It’s not important. What’s important is that you’re safe, that you survived. I’ll buy

you new sheets,” Jack promised. He didn’t tell her that by the time this was over, she
would have new everything. But he doubted she’d be sleeping on sheets that were sea
foam colored. He wasn’t even sure if he knew what color sea foam was. Women knew
more about things like that. Jack was always just grateful to have a place to rest his head.

“It was so awful, Jack.” The anger was gone out of her voice. Now her words were

filled with bewilderment. “He ordered me to take off my nightshirt, but then it was as if
he was disgusted by my body. It was like…”

“Like he didn’t know what to do with you after he got you to take your clothes off,”

he answered.

“He jumped out of my bed and shoved me up against the wall and choked me. I

thought he was going to kill me.”

Jack didn’t want to think about what might have stopped him from doing just that.

He hadn’t raped her. He hadn’t killed her. This guy might have scared the hell out of her,
but Jack had to be grateful for the fact she was alive and Jack could now keep her safe.
Jack had to be grateful it wasn’t too late for her.

“Don’t you think that was strange?”
“The man is an animal. Animals do strange things, and he’s one of the most

unpredictable and dangerous,” Jack muttered, not saying what he really thought.
Strange? How about psychotic? How about beyond the realm of morally or socially
acceptable? Strange was a mild word for what Jack thought. But Stella didn’t need
Jack’s opinion.

Just his safety.
But he wanted to give her so much more…
The spray of the shower touched him with hot mist.
“Stella, this water is too hot. How hot do you have it?”
“As hot as it would go,” she replied. “I was so cold.”
No wonder she looked like a cooked lobster. “Let’s get you out of there, get you

under the covers in bed where it’s warm.” Jack knew how that sounded, and he didn’t
care. All he cared about right then was Stella. He reached for a towel and grabbed two.
And he wrapped one around her, not caring that it got wet from the spray before he
hauled her soaking wet to her feet. Doing his best not to notice her small breasts, her thin
waist, or the enticing shape of her legs, he wrapped her with the second towel. He told
himself he should be glad that bastard Mantelli didn’t touch her. Otherwise, there would
have been more—many more—bruises besides the black eye. But no, her body looked
pretty perfect to him.

And her smell…Beneath the lavender, with his keen sense of smell, he easily picked

up the sweet, enticing aroma of a woman—his woman. He swallowed hard and tried to
ignore it. Only to find the task impossible.

She stood unmoving as he turned off the water.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 29

Then she started to shiver.
He absently grabbed another towel and wrapped it around her. Then without

hesitation, he lifted her into his arms and carried her out of the bathroom. He set her not
on the bed where she’d slept before, but where he’d slept so she could feel his warmth.
His body temperature, after all, was a few degrees warmer than hers. He wondered if
she’d noticed that. With the two towels still wrapped around her, he dried her arms and
lower legs with the third.

“Why didn’t I fight him, Jack? I could have fought him. I should have done

something…” Her teeth chattered a few times between words.

“I already told you, Stella, you did the right thing by not fighting him. Instincts do

that. They teach us the right moves to make. Besides, you fought him the first night.
Remember? And he gave you that shiner.”

“But I should have…”
“No.” He stopped drying her foot to meet her gaze. “None of this is your fault, and

you did the right thing. If you had fought him, he would have hit you again. He would
have hurt you more. He would have perhaps even killed you.” He finished drying her
foot and turned to reach into his own bag where he pulled out a clean large tee shirt. He
slipped it over her head and didn’t pull the towels away until the shirt fell enough to
cover her.

Then he pulled the covers back and waited for her to climb under, doing his

damnedest not to look at her curvy backside that the shirt wasn’t long enough to cover.
When she did, he tucked the blankets under her chin, making damned sure there were
plenty of covers between her body and his.

He reached up to the switch to turn off the small lamp he’d turned on before.
“No, leave the light on,” Stella said.
“Okay.” If the night went by easier for her with the light on, it was fine with him.

He moved away, planning to lie down where she’d had been before on the other bed.

She snaked her hand out from under the covers and grasped his hand, stopping him.
He turned back to her.
“Don’t leave me, Jack.”
“I’ll be right over here.”
“No, stay over here with me.”
There was a moment of indecision for him. Stay? Go?
The stay won. And Jack Holston told himself that Stella needed to trust him. And if

she was going to trust him, she needed to know he’d be there for her no matter what. It
was a lame excuse, but he used it anyway.

He told himself, too, that he had in the past always done whatever victims needed.

This should be nothing new to him.

And yet, it was.
She scooted over in bed to give him room.
“I have to get my gun and my phone. I’ll be right back.”
He brought them back from the bathroom and set them both on the nightstand. Then

he lay down beside her.

Only Jack was smart enough to again stay on top of the covers.
“Will you hold me?”

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 30

He’d jump off the top of a cliff if he needed to save her, he thought. He said

nothing, merely put his arms around her and pressed himself up against the back of her.
The covers separated them, and still he felt the warmth of her. Still, he heard her heart in
her chest. Still her wonderful scent touched his nose. He had to clear his throat before he
could speak. “Get some rest. Tomorrow will be a long day.”

“You won’t leave me.”
“I won’t leave you.” He paused. “I promise.”
Whether she slept or not, Jack didn’t know.
What he did know was that he never slept. He stayed awake all the rest of the night,

listening to the beating of her heart, savoring the way she felt in his arms, breathing in the
sweet smell of lavender in her hair…

* * * *

The sunlight poured in through a small crack of the closed curtain and blinded Stella

when she woke the next morning.

For the span of a simple breath, she didn’t know where she was, didn’t recognize the

room.

But she recognized the man lying against her back. She hadn’t known Jack Holston

for twelve full hours yet, but she’d know him anywhere. She recognized instantly his
clean, woodsy, manly scent. She knew the feel and warmth of his touch.

It was nice to know she wasn’t afraid of it. In fact, she welcomed it.
His touch, his closeness made her feel safer than anything else had. From the first

moment Stella had heard his voice or felt the touch of hand, she’d known she could trust
him.

Why had it taken such dyer circumstances for her to meet Jack Holston? Stella

couldn’t even guess.

Stella blinked at the sun that blinded her through the small opening in the curtain. It

looked to be a glorious day. And she could let it be a glorious day, too. She could, yet
again, push Anthony Mantelli from her thoughts and keep the sun shining on her. Of
course it would be much easier to do with Jack Holston standing close by or holding her
hand…

“I hear your stomach growling,” he said softly near her ear. His voice was husky

and deep with the morning. “How about some breakfast?”

“That sounds great.”
The hotel offered a continental breakfast, but Jack ordered room service. While they

waited for it, Stella went into the bathroom.

The reflection that started back at her was a woman she hardly recognized. Despite

her time under the shower spray, her hair still held a few tips of the dark pink – red color
Jack had given it. Her eyes were shining, but one was completely circled with black.
The other just had a dark circle under it. Why bother with make up, she thought.
Nothing could help this. Nothing, but time.

And thanks to Jack Holston and his friends, she would have time.
The idea made her smile.
Stella put on some soft-smelling lotion, hoping for softer skin and a softer day. Then

she dressed in a pair of jeans and a long sleeved tee. And despite her idea that make up
didn’t help her face, she applied lip gloss anyway. Normal felt good, and well, lip gloss
felt normal.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 31

When she stepped out again, she found Gray and another man talking with Jack. The

three of them stood on the balcony, looking out. They’d left the door standing open and
the morning breeze blew the sheer curtain. Stella heard the murmur of their voices. Her
heart skidded to a halt when she heard, “Problem…” Then, “Gray, you’re the stealthiest.
Take Jim, his eyesight is the best and check it out.”

“Check out what?” she asked. “What problem?”
Their stances and the alert expressions on their faces softened when they took her in.

But they didn’t fool her for a second.

“What?” she insisted.
“There may be no problem,” Jack said. “One of our men appears to be unaccounted

for, that’s all.”

“That’s all?” She took in a slow breath to calm her lungs and her heart.
“It could be nothing more than the fact he’s in a dead zone and has no cell service or

perhaps he dropped his phone. Or he could have even just forgotten to charge it,” Jack
took a step closer.

“Probably forgot to charge it, knowing Jeff,” Gray put in.
Before they could say more, there was a knock at the door, and all three of them

turned to look. All three moved as if to reach various places of their bodies. Did they
have guns hidden? Stella didn’t want to find out.

“I’m sure it’s just room service that you ordered, Jack,” she said lightly. Then she

swallowed hard. Just when she was starting to feel safe, just when she thought she could
move past all of this and allow herself to heal, they had to remind her that the danger still
lurked close by—perhaps even on the other side of the door.

“Stella, go back in the bathroom,” Jack ordered. “Gray, go with her.”
She gave him a slight shake of her head. “Is this really necessary especially if your

man simply forgot to charge his phone?”

“Yes,” Jack said softly as the three of them stepped back into the room. “Please

don’t question me, Stella.”

The impact of his words hit her like a punch in the stomach—or perhaps a punch to

the eye. “Did he follow us?” She could barely utter the words. Her throat was suddenly
tight. Funny, she thought, how quickly that safe feeling could go down the drain. Well,
funny was the wrong word. It was more like horrifying. And with that safe feeling went
the hope she’d held that with a new day and the promise of sunshine she could have her
life back.

“There’s no indication of that, but we’re making sure he didn’t.”
Gray touched her arm and tugged as he moved past her and into the bathroom. Stella

followed him and allowed him to close and lock the door. “Please get into the shower.”

“Do you really think—” Stella began.
Gray halted any further words by holding up one hand like a traffic cop. “We just

think we need to be prepared for anything. There’s nothing new or even a sign that he’s
close. But we can’t let our guard down, even for a second until we know you’re safe.”

Stella stepped into the bathtub, her heart pounding. “Well, your man is missing,

that’s new, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” He had to agree. “It’s why we need to be as careful as possible.”
“You seem very close to him, Jack I mean,” she pointed out softly.
Gray looked at her evenly. “He’s my brother.”

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 32

That was news. “Oh,” was all she could think to say.
“And to say he’d be upset if I let anything happen to you would be putting it mildly,

so if there’s any sound at all of anything out of the ordinary, hit the deck,” Gray said.

But there were no sounds out of the ordinary. There were the muffled sounds of Jack

opening the door and greeting the waiter who obviously brought breakfast. A moment
later, Jack closed and latched the door and gave three taps to the bathroom door to let
them know the coast was clear.

Gray didn’t let her leave the tub until he opened the door and saw for himself.
“This is Johnny Porleson, you can call him Prell for short.” Jack introduced her to

the third man.

And within minutes they were sharing a breakfast of hot cakes, bacon, biscuits and

gravy, juice and coffee.

“Eat up,” Jack encouraged. “We’ve got a long trip ahead of us.”
“And where’s our final destination?” Stella asked.
“An island off the coast of South Carolina,” he informed her.
“And,” Gray put in, “your belongings are all safe in storage. I took extra care with

the paintings. Your mom was very talented.”

“Yes, she was.”
“As soon as we know you’re in a safe place, we’ll bring them to you or tell you

where they are, whichever you prefer.”

“Do you know what he did when he found out I was gone?” Stella was terrified to

ask, but had to know.

Prell shrugged lightly. “I doubt he knows you’re gone yet. He was only home for

about ten minutes before he got called back to the homicide scene again. Then it seems
as though paperwork and a few reports got ‘misplaced or lost in the computer’ in all the
activity and he had to do them over. Then the poor guy got involved in a little fender
bender on his way home. And the cop who took that report thought he smelled alcohol
on Mantelli’s breath, go figure. Anyway due to reports and paper work, his night has
been tied up.” Prell looked at his watch. “I think right now he’s probably getting some
much needed shut eye since it took a while for him to get a rental car.”

“You said it was just a fender bender,” Stella said.
“It was, but it was enough to set off his air bag.”
Stella stared at her plate of food for a long moment. “He’s bound to be really upset

when all of that is topped off with him finding out I’m gone.”

“We know the make and model and license of his rental,” Prell assured her. “If he

even gets within a mile, we’ll know it. Does he know about your sister in Toledo?”

“Jo?” Stella was surprised at the communication between the men of this team. It

amazed her. “I don’t know. I suppose he could have looked through my things. And
there were some family photos in the living room he might have seen. But I never talked
about her to him.”

“Good, that’s a plus,” Prell said. “But just in case, we’ve got people watching out

for her.”

For a moment, Stella thought her jaw might drop to her chest. “But how could you?

I never even told any of you her name.”

Prell grinned and shrugged. “We have our ways.”
Stella had to settle for that. “I think I heard that before. When do we leave?”

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 33

It was Jack’s turn to look at his watch. “Check out is at eleven. We’ll be out of here

long before then.” He left his plate on the table. “But before we go, there’s a few things
I need for you to do.”

“Oh?”
He pulled two boxes out of his bag of tricks. “You get to choose.” He held up two

boxes of permanent hair color. “Frankly, I think the red would look better on you.” The
second color was blonde, very brassy.

Stella agreed with Jack and chose the red. It was a deep, vibrant color, looking much

more natural with her skin tone than the pink color from the spray can. And while she
again used the bathroom and waited for the color to work, she absently listened to the
men’s talk that mixed with the game show that played on the television. Twice, other
men of the team came and went. They all knew the direction they headed. Stella might
not know a tenth of the plan, but the team knew every step.

As it turned out, they were out of the hotel within an hour and half.
Stella again wore the huge glasses. Gray laughed out loud when he saw them on her.

And with laughter still ringing in the room, he pulled a St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap
from his own bag and shoved it over her just-dyed hair. “Now…your look is complete.”

They didn’t leave together. Gray left first, driving an SUV. After a few minutes,

Jack and Stella followed in the Porsche. Prell—and other men of the team, Stella
assumed—followed behind. But she had no idea what they might drive. There were
three larger vans parked in the lot when she and Jack pulled out.

As soon as they were out of the parking lot, Stella took off the glasses, but she left

the hat on. The brim protected her eyes from the sunlight. “It’s such a beautiful day,”
she said. “How can so many things be wrong in life when the sun shines so brightly?” It
was a question she expected no answer.

But Jack gave her one anyway. “The sun always comes out. It’s just sometimes we

all have to deal with a few clouds, rain or storms. It’s how we weather those that’s
important.”

“I suppose.”
“Speaking of which, we’re bound to run into a few, storms that is.”
Stella leaned forward and looked to the sky. “But it’s so clear.”
“It won’t be a few hours from here.”
Was he talking about the weather or something worse?
She looked forward and did see clouds in the distance.
At the same time, she knew one big thundercloud waited behind them…
The thought of Anthony Mantelli sent a shiver through her.

* * * *

“Why do you do this?”
“Do what?” Jack asked.
They’d been driving for almost three hours making small talk. Stella flexed her

ankles and tightened her leg muscles. Yet, it did little to ease the stiffness she felt taking
over. She wasn’t used to sitting all day. In fact, in her job at the clinic, she wasn’t used
to sitting at all.

“Save people,” she replied.
It was a long moment before he replied. So long that Stella thought perhaps he

wasn’t going to reply at all. When he did, his voice was low enough that she barely heard

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 34

and wouldn’t have heard it if the radio had been on. “My sister was a person in need of
saving. And there was no one to save her.”

The car was quiet for several seconds. “I’m sorry,” Stella said.
“Everyone’s sorry,” Jack replied. “Everyone at the funeral was just as sorry as he

could be.” There was no sarcasm in his words, merely fact. “Except for me.” He let out
a heavy breath. “I was angry.”

Stella couldn’t imagine that. Jack Holston was the most patient man she’d ever met.

“What about Gray?”

He looked over at her for a moment.
“He told me you and he are brothers.”
“I was so angry I wanted to kill that bastard husband of hers, the man my parents had

welcomed into their home and treated like a son, the man who had vowed to love, honor
and cherish her. I thought about those words he’d spoken to her, and I wanted to rip out
his tongue and shove it down his throat. I actually had to stop Gray from doing that very
thing.”

His words were harsh and horrible and still there was not an ounce of sarcasm, hate

or anger in them as Jack stated them now. They were just a matter of fact.

“What did you do?” Stella asked.
“What any good son would do.”
His words were still even and free of emotion, but Stella noticed he gripped the

steering wheel until his knuckles were white.

“I comforted my parents, and my other sister and Gray and our other brother, Tim. I

helped with the arrangements, met with all the well-wishers who stopped in at my
parents’ house and at the funeral home. Then I called some friends in high places to see
that he was arrested. I wanted to see him get a life sentence for murder, but he pleaded
out for manslaughter.”

“Is he still in prison?” Stella had the advantage. She watched Jack closely as he

talked.

He had to keep his attention on his driving, so he couldn’t watch her. “Yes.

Unfortunately for him, every time it gets close to his release date, something happens.”

“Oh?”
“He gets into a fight with a guard or a fellow inmate and time gets tacked on to his

sentence.”

“That is unfortunate,” Stella said.
“Yes, my heart bleeds for him. It is rather funny seeing a lawyer like him wearing

state issue coveralls, though.” Jack took another heavy breath. “Anyway, after that—
after seeing my mother cry every day and not having a way to ease her pain, I talked to
my dad. He had friends in high places. And they had even more friends, and we started
helping people. It was only a small team then. We now have people all over the country
who help us.” Jack’s voice grew lighter as the subject moved to the team.

“That’s amazing.” Stella didn’t know what else to say.
“I used to think so, too. Now it’s just the way it is—people helping people. Safety

first and always. And if we can save one person, then my sister didn’t die for nothing.”

For several moments, there was only the sound the highway speeding by beneath

them.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 35

“What was her name?” Stella asked. As a nurse and a victim and a survivor, she

knew the importance of identity and having a name.

“Erica.” He glanced into the rearview mirror then back to highway before them.

“The autopsy revealed she was four months pregnant. It was the baby that set him off.
He apparently had made it clear he never wanted kids, and he felt she’d pulled a fast one
over on him. I have no idea how my dad sat there during his trial and listened to that bull
where he talked like everything was Erica’s fault and her death was just a punishment she
deserved. After a week of trial, he must have seen he couldn’t win, and that’s when he
chose to change his plea and take the manslaughter charge.”

Stella couldn’t help but reach out to him. His hand was on the console between

them. She placed hers over his, remembering the comfort that slight touch had brought
her when they’d been in her kitchen the night before. He turned his hand slightly so he
could grasp hers, and he held tight.

“Nothing was her fault,” Stella reminded him.
“I know that, but it doesn’t help with missing her.” He tossed Stella a glance.
“What was she like?”
He smiled at the memory of his sister. “She was my twin. Pretty. Smart. Fun. She

liked every sport—climbing, horseback riding, rafting, soccer, and gymnastics. She
wanted to try them all. And she easily pulled people in to do them with her. ‘Practice
kicking the ball with me, Jack! Hey, Jack, let’s have a little catch!’ Or, ‘Jack, I packed
your gear in the car, and I found this great new place to camp and climb. Come check it
out!’ That’s how it always was with her. When she met Jeffrey, I even questioned her on
it. I told her he didn’t like sports, why would she want to be with him. She told me she
just loved him like he was. She told me he was going to go places in his career and she
wanted to go with him. Well, he sure went some place, didn’t he?” He paused and took
a breath. “They both went some place,” he muttered. Then he squeezed Stella’s hand
hard. “What do you say we stop and grab something to eat?”

Stella wasn’t hungry, but she was thirsty and needed a potty break. She also

recognized that he was done talking about his sister. And the best part would be
stretching her legs. “That sounds like a great idea.”

They pulled off the interstate and stopped at one of those combination gas station

and fast food restaurants. Stella started to climb out, but Jack grabbed her arm and
stopped her. She met his gaze. “What?”

“Put the ball cap back on. There’re cameras here. Keep your head down when you

get out.”

She put the cap on. “You think of everything.”
He grinned. “It’s my job.”
She climbed out and stretched, but kept her head down and away from the camera

shot. Jack climbed out, too and Stella looked at him over the top of the car. “I need to hit
the ladies’ room,” she said.

She started to turn and move away, and Jack stopped her. “Stella?”
“I meant to ask before—do you have a cell phone?”
“Yes.”
“Give it to me.”
Stella didn’t question him. She merely moved around the car to him, opened her

purse and pulled out the phone and handed it to him.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 36

To her surprise, he handed her another phone. “This is programmed for speed dial

for me, Gray, Prell and a list of some of the other team members. Keep it with you.
Mantelli can’t trace it to you like he might be able to trace your phone. But don’t call
anyone unless you talk to me, first, okay?”

She nodded. “Okay. Thanks.” She moved away, amazed again at his patience and

caring.

“Stella?” He stopped her with a touch to her arm.
She turned back again and was touched again with the idea that he might kiss her just

as she’d thought he would when he talked to her in her kitchen the night before. Her arm
tingled where he touched her. She had to clear her throat before she could speak. “Yes?”

“I’ll fill the car, then I’ll be inside getting something to eat. Would you like me to

order something for you, too? A burger and fries?”

“And a shake, too,” Stella added.
“Chocolate?”
“Of course, what else is there?” She gave him smile, kept her head down and turned

to head to the restrooms.

Inside the restroom, Stella began to shake. At first she wasn’t even sure what was

wrong with her. It had been the need to keep her head down and wear the cap, or so she
thought. Was this how her life was now to be? Forever hiding? Never again able to hold
her chin up? This need to hide constantly was worse than what Mantelli had forced on
her, worse than the anger that followed it. Stella understood the need to leave her home.
She even understood the need to leave the city where she worked. And she understood
the need to lay low for a while. And yet, every action merely reinforced the terrifying
aspects of her situation. It seemed that every time she felt good about where she was or
the idea Jack was with her and she wasn’t alone, something had to remind her of Anthony
Mantelli, what he had done to her or what he might still do to her if given the chance.

Would she ever be free of this man?
After Stella used the facilities, she looked into the mirror in the ladies’ restroom and

had to take a second look. Again she was reminded—when she took in her new hair
color. And it was another long moment before she brought the shaking to a stop.

To make matters worse, she couldn’t even pinpoint her own feelings. Was she

angry? Frustrated? Vengeful? Terrified? Grateful to be alive? She see-sawed between
hating Anthony Mantelli to pitying him to nearly being thankful to him because through
him she’d met Jack. She was also thankful Mantelli hadn’t killed her or maimed her or
scared her for life. Every one of these emotions swirled and mixed within her and
threatened to devour her like a giant tornado. They weren’t terrible when she was with
Jack. He grounded her as no one else ever had. But it seemed as if the moment he was
out of sight, the threat and the fear of her situation swallowed her whole.

She turned on the water and washed her hands. She would get through this. She

breathed in one deep breath, then another. She thought of Jack’s sister. And Stella was
thankful she’d escaped without having family and friends gather for her funeral. Yes, she
would get through this. She could wear the cap and keep her head down for as long as it
took to be free of Anthony Mantelli…

To her surprise, Jack came through the door.
With purpose and something close to fear written in his expression, he stopped short

when he saw her. “Stella?”

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 37

“This is the ladies’ room, Jack,” she informed him.
“I know. You were in here a long time. I got worried about you.”
“I’m fine. Really.” She wasn’t certain whether it was true, but she knew it would

be—in time.

The door opened and another woman came in. She looked at Jack with exasperation.

But when she looked at Stella, complete with her shiny eye, she stared at Jack with rage.
“Did you do that to her eye?” the woman asked, unafraid, holding back nothing. “Didn’t
your mama ever tell you not to beat up on women?” She had a strong southern accent,
and her biceps were nearly the size of Jack’s.

“He didn’t,” Stella put in.
The woman glanced at Stella. “Don’t you go defending him. I know how it is. I

was where you are for three long years—had a boyfriend who liked to use me for a
punching bag whenever I turned my head the wrong way or he had a bad day at work—
when he went anyway. Well, I’ve got friends who can help you. All you’ve got to do is
say the word, and this boyfriend or husband or whatever he is will be toast.”

Stella fought the sudden urge to giggle. “He,” she said indicating Jack, “is the man

helping me, but your friends are welcome to head north and take care of the guy who did
this to my eye.”

“Are you telling me the truth, girl?” the woman asked.
Stella nodded. She looked at Jack. “He’s one of the good guys, I promise.”
The woman still looked as if she didn’t believe what Stella said. And it was obvious

she didn’t when she reached into her purse. “I guess I have to take your word for it. But
just in case you need me or you change your mind about what you said about him, here’s
a card with a number of friends who can help.” She handed a small business card to
Stella.

“Thank you.” Stella tucked it into her jeans.
“Are you ready?” Jack asked quietly. It was obvious he didn’t want to cross the

woman.

“Yes.”
He held the door open for her and waited to allow another woman to enter the

restroom. The second woman looked as annoyed as the first at finding Jack in the
restroom.

“Where’s our food?” Stella asked as Jack opened the door to the parking lot for her.
“I’ve already taken it to the car.” He was silent until the two of them climbed in and

closed the doors. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

“To tell you the truth, I’m not sure about anything,” she admitted. She didn’t

confess that she was sure she was safe as long as she was with Jack. “But, Jack?”

“Yes?”
“When we get to wherever it is we’re going, will I have to continue to keep my head

down and wear a hat to hide my face?”

Jack stared at her for a long moment. “No, Stella.” He paused. “But keep in mind

that we will do whatever is necessary to keep you safe.”

“I know.” And she geared up for more leg cramps as he started the car.
Before Jack put the car in reverse to move out of the parking area, he reached over

and pulled the cap from her head. He tossed it into the backseat before he playfully
ruffled her hair. “I like the red,” he said. “It fits you.”

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 38

Stella remembered having to look at her reflection twice. “It might take a while for

me to get used to it.”

Jack smiled at her and fingered her hair again.
His touch sent a shiver through her entire body.
His action sent her heart pounding.
She told herself he didn’t need to be nice to her. He hadn’t needed to kiss her when

she asked. He hadn’t needed to come looking for her in the bathroom. Her safety was
his main goal. And as long as he knew she was safe, that should be enough. Her comfort
didn’t need to be included.

And yet, it was.
And the comfort he provided touched her heart and healed her soul as nothing else

could.

What helped even more was the way he wasn’t afraid to touch her. He didn’t treat

her like a porcelain doll that might break. He didn’t treat her like some helpless victim he
couldn’t approach. He didn’t beat around the bush when he spoke to her. He didn’t even
hesitate when it came to curling up beside her and sleeping with her.

And he didn’t hesitate when she’d asked him to kiss her.
That memory left her warm all over despite the fan he had running through the vents.
She pulled the card from her pocket. “Isn’t this your number, Jack?” She indicated

one of the four numbers on the card the woman had given her.

“Yes, it looks really familiar.”

* * * *

Stella watched the highway before them. It was, she thought, a lot like her future,

unknown and uncertain. Then she noticed the dark clouds approaching on the horizon.
She hoped her future wasn’t filled with those.

She suddenly realized Jack held her hand…

* * * *

After driving through about two hours of large-drop rain with lightning in the

distance, they reached the coast by dark. The town was small. In the darkness, a school,
several churches, a few bars, a closed grocer, the dark post office and several houses—
some lit and some dark slowly slid passed as they made their way to the ocean.

“What is this place?” Stella asked.
“Crescent Cove,” Jack replied. He waved to a couple walking a dog. “It’s a nice

place, homey, warm, welcoming, with great schools and a wonderful beach.”

“Will I get to spend any time getting to know this place?”
“Perhaps,” he said without hesitation. “We’ll have to see how things go. See that

park?”

Stella looked where he pointed. She saw silhouettes of playground equipment

against the bright lights that lit up the three baseball diamonds. “It’s nice.”

“They just got all that equipment and the ball fields,” Jack explained. “The people of

the town gathered and actually asked kids what they wanted in the park for their
playground. One of the engineers of the town drew it all up and everyone else pitched in,
donated, and held fund raisers. I think everyone in town helped in some way. So the
park really does belong to everyone, and everyone works to keep it nice,” he explained.

“That’s amazing,” Stella muttered.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 39

Jack reached out again and took her hand. “I’ll make sure you see it, no matter

what.”

She smiled at his promise as it gave her something which to look forward. “Thank

you.” The words nearly caught in her chest. The gift didn’t sound like much, and yet in
the wake of everything that happened to her, it was wonderful. She would never again
take anything—whether it be a walk in the park or being able to sleep safely in bed—for
granted again.

To her surprise, he stopped and parked in the lot of Marvin’s Marina. The building

was small, but the docks seemed endless in the dusk and housed what looked to be
hundreds of boats in all various sizes.

Without thought, Stella reached back for the cap again and went so far as to slide on

the huge glasses again, balancing them on her nose. When Jack climbed out, Stella
hesitantly opened her door and stood up, too. She flexed her leg muscles and looked
around. There were people in the parking lot wiping down a boat on a trailer. There
were more people on boats that docked in the slips. Two kids came running out of the
door the Marvin’s Marina building, excited about the candy bars they held. All around
them, night settled in, with chirping crickets and the light of a few fireflies. The light lit
on the porch of the marina looked like a camping lantern.

“I thought we were going to a safe house,” Stella pointed out.
“We’ll get there eventually.” He closed his door and moved toward the marina

building. “We need a few provisions first.”

He waited for her to catch up. “Like what?”
“Milk, eggs, bread and butter. The house is stocked with things like cans of soup

and stuff that doesn’t spoil. I thought we’d get a few steaks for supper, too.”

“That sounds great. Actually, anything sounds great.”
“I know. The drinks we had a few hours ago weren’t much, but I didn’t want to use

any more time with a meal, and the idea of fast food sounded far from appealing. So if
you can wait another hour or so, we’ll have a real meal on the beach.”

“I can wait.”
They entered the well-lit marina, which looked strangely much larger on the inside

than it did on the outside. A rustic outdoors smell filled the air, and Stella soon
discovered that Marvin’s Marina sold everything from beer to shotgun shells to live bait
and fresh made pizzas and sub sandwiches. The steaks looked fresh, too. And there were
live lobsters crawling around in the bottom of an aquarium tank.

An older man worked behind the counter. He wore a fishing hat decorated with

fishing lures and hooks of various sizes and colors. “Hey, Jack, long time, no see.” He
pumped Jack’s hand with enthusiasm.”

“How ya doin’, Marv?” Jack put in.
“And who’s this pretty lady with you? Don’t tell you went and got married and

didn’t tell me?”

To Stella surprise, Jack replied, “It was a small ceremony, hardly anyone knew.”
Stella had to clamp her mouth shut. Heck, she hadn’t even known, she thought, then

had to stifle a chuckle. She smiled at the grinning man who took her hand and shook it
with even more enthusiasm than he had Jack’s. “I’m so pleased to meet ya, Mrs. And
I’m so glad Jack finally found a pretty lady to share his life with. So I’ll forgive you for
not sharing the grand news sooner.”

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 40

“Thank you,” Stella put in, not knowing what else to say.
“Now what can I get you kids?” He didn’t seem to think twice about the fact she

wore dark glasses.

Jack shared their list.
Marvin moved to gather things for them. “And how long do you kids plan to stay?”
“It’s kind of like an indefinite honeymoon,” Jack said with a broad smile. “And we

don’t want to be disturbed. You understand?”

Marvin laughed heartily. “Of course I do.”
“So you’ll make sure you contact me if anyone’s looking for us or heads out to find

us, won’t you?”

“I sure will.” Sure sounded like shore.
“Thanks.”
Marvin packed their steaks and other supplies into two bags and slid them across the

counter while Jack pulled out his wallet and paid. “Thanks, Marv.”

“You’re welcome, son. Tell your mom and dad I said hello, and you two be careful

heading out there. There were a few tournaments around today and some people are still
making their way in.”

“Thanks, Marv, I will,” Jack said again.
Stella followed him to the door.
“Congratulations, you honeymooners!” Marvin called back to them before the screen

door slammed shut.

“Married, huh?” Stella asked quietly as they moved to the car.
“Does it bother you?” Jack asked, not replying to her question.
Bother wasn’t the right word, Stella thought. What ‘bothered’ her was pretending

when it wasn’t true. What ‘bothered’ her more was that being married to a man like Jack
would be quite nice. She hardly knew him a day and she felt as if she’d known him
forever. And she was drawn to his kindness, his quick thinking and his patience. The
fact that he looked like he could grace the movie screen and he smiled easily and
genuinely was a plus, too. “Not really,” she finally replied. She followed him around to
the trunk and he popped it open.

“Jack?” she asked, her voice hardly more than a whisper.
He met her gaze and his eyes looked dark and endless. “Yes?”
“Do you think I’m a bad judge of character?”
He didn’t hesitate. “No. I think you’re a good, kind person and a predator took

advantage of that.”

“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Can you take these?” He handed her the two bags from Marvin.

And he pulled their two bags from the trunk. “Is there anything else you need from the
car?”

“I have my purse, so no. Where are we going?”
“Down this way.” He led her down to the docks.
She followed him carefully as the dock moved easily beneath each step. The cruiser

to which he led her was beautiful, large—no huge—with polished teak. There was a
deck with a bolted table and two stools. The wheel house was under cover with an open
front deck. She soon found there was a small galley and one sleeping cabin below deck.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 41

She looked around in awe as Jack flipped on lights with a sense of familiarity that told
her he was well accomplished on this boat.

She didn’t question who the owner might be. Like the safe house to which he took

her, it was probably best that she not ask questions. Knowing she was safe would have to
be enough. He set the bags on the bench seat at the stern. Not knowing what to do,
Stella stood and watched as he untied the large rope that held them securely to the dock.
Then he moved forward and untied the rope at the bow.

Within minutes, the large engine of the cruiser roared to life. Stella stood next to

Jack. He held the large wheel in his hands and maneuvered the huge craft out of the
marina and no wake area with the ease of an experienced sailor.

“How long before we get there?” Stella asked quietly. It was senseless to ask where

he took her. She hardly had any idea where she was.

“About a half hour.” He looked over at her. His eyes glistened in the darkness.

“You’re free to move about and enjoy the ride. You can even go below and take a nap if
you want to lie down.”

“I’m too antsy to lie down, but thanks. I think I’ll step out on the deck, though.”
It seemed strange to her to move away from him. She felt like she’d been glued to

his side for a week, not just a bit over twenty-four hours. Never having to have
developed sea legs, she moved carefully as she made her way to the deck at the bow
where she looked out at the dark water, distant lights of other boats and lights on the
shore in the distance to her left. Ahead of them was nothing but open water.

Jack had them cruising at a comfortable speed, and the wind blew her hair. The

smell of the sea surrounded her, and the night was cool. Stella didn’t bother going to the
lower back deck to her bags to retrieve a hoodie. She felt like laughing, thinking of
Anthony Mantelli and how many miles away from him she was. Yes, she’d been afraid.
Yes, she hated what he’d done to her. Yes, she’d felt helpless. But she hadn’t realized
how helpless and terrified she was until she was out of danger. She supposed it was a
great deal like her patients in pain who got used to the pain and never knew how bad it
was until it was cured and gone.

At the first chance, she would call Dr. Brand and thank him. She closed her eyes, let

the wind touch her face and raised her chin, knowing now the meaning of freedom…

Jack watched Stella as he took them to Hideaway Island. He liked how she had

never once looked back, only forward. She understood the importance of looking ahead.
She understood she may never get to go back to her life or her home. She understood she
may have to make a new home.

He thought she even understood that she may never be completely safe again, that

she may spend the rest of her life always looking over her shoulder. Jack had dealt with
guys like Anthony Mantelli before, and he knew—as well as the rest of the team knew—
Mantelli wasn’t going to give up easily. Guys like him didn’t like being out of control.
Guys like him didn’t walk away without a fight. And Mantelli had resources at his
disposal, resources like computer access to the DMV, court records of name changes,
credit card accounts, and he might be able to access Stella’s social security. And those
were only some of the legitimate things his badge granted him. Hard telling what he
could check out illegally. Jack and his team needed to be very careful. Because Mantelli
was a cop, he might even know about the Society. And there was still no word on or
from Jeff. Jack didn’t like the feel of that. Jeff was new to the team, but he knew his job.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 42

It had been his job to see that Dr. Brand was safe at the clinic this morning since finding
out where Stella worked would be one of the easiest things for Mantelli to discover.

Yes, Stella understood these things in her future.
But did she understand where Jack fit into her future? Did she understand who she

was to him?

He watched the way the wind blew her hair. He remembered the way her body felt

molded to his as she slept. He gripped the wheel tightly, wishing the two of them could
stay out on the water forever. Mantelli could never find them out here. They could travel
the world, and if they were careful, he could never track them. There were no computer
records in the ocean.

He’d keep that idea tucked under his sleeve, it could be an option if Mantelli

managed to track them down.

The moon was rising and its light reflected off her newly dyed red hair. She looked

like a goddess with fire down her back.

Seeing his woman silhouetted by the light of the full moon sent hot blood churning

through him. He felt his change begin and willed it away as he fought the urge to make
her his own under the light of the moon.

Jack wondered if that old pick up line of ‘sorry, we’re out of gas’ would work on her

off the coast of South Carolina. He chuckled. But the sound was little more than a growl
lost in the wind. Hell, they didn’t have to run out of gas. He could just shut off the
engine, and they could simply drift out here. He could kiss her in the moonlight while
the waves lulled them. They could make love on the deck. Never before had he been so
drawn to a victim or any woman for that matter. Then again, he’d never kissed a victim,
either. Nor had he slept so close beside one. But then none of the others had been his
mate, either. He continued to watch her.

He didn’t remember shutting off the engine. He just knew they now drifted as he’d

dreamed of doing. His footsteps made not a sound as he made his way to her. She still
looked out over the water at the huge, rising moon.

Her soft woman scent with vanilla—and he suddenly realized the flower he smelled

when he was close to her—gardenia was enough to make him lick his lips with
anticipation.

She knew he was there behind her. She didn’t question his presence. “Have you

ever seen the moon look like that before? Because I haven’t.”

The moon was full, beckoning him. And he could no longer ignore its call any more

than he could ignore his need for the woman before him. When she reached back and
gently placed her hand on his arm as if to reassure herself of just how close he was, her
touch set a fire that coursed through him in an instant. He could no longer stop the
change in him as his teeth grew pointed. Her back was still to him as she was held
captive by the moon.

Jack leaned closer and ran his tongue up the softness of her throat. The sound of her

heartbeat filled his ears in unison with the rush of his own blood. The salty taste of her
skin was the greatest of feasts for him. He couldn’t help but follow it with a touch of his
lips.

She leaned her head to the side to give him greater access. And the soft moan she let

out sent his need for her into overdrive. The boat moved with the waves, seeming to
work in their favor as she leaned closer into his arms with the motion.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 43

“Why does this feel like the right thing to do?” she asked.
He moved his lips up her throat, saw she was still looking at the moon.
“Because it is,” he said softly. Then with his fingers guiding her jaw, he turned her

toward him and pressed his lips to hers before his change could continue. He knew his
words were a lie. This wasn’t the right thing to do. He had the job to keep her safe. This
would distract him in the biggest way, a way he couldn’t and shouldn’t afford right now.
And yet…

There was no fighting the moon.
There was no fighting his need to possess his mate.
There was no fighting her as she eagerly gave into his need.
The moon seemed to have hypnotized her.
She should stop him. She should tell him no.
She didn’t tell him to stop. She kissed him back. Hard.
And he was lost.
When he growled in her ear, she giggled.
When he made them one, she moaned, and the sound of it sent his heart racing.
His rhythm matched that of the boat in the waves.

* * * *

It was hours later, the moon high in the night sky, when he looked down at her.

Stella slept in his arms. Carefully, he moved away and ignored the actual ache in his
chest when he was no longer close to her. He covered her with his shirt before he pulled
on his jeans. He hated himself for not being able to stop. He hated that she didn’t
understand what had just happened.

And he felt as if he’d taken advantage of her worse than Mantelli.
Damn.
And yet, as rotten as he thought he should feel, he wanted nothing more than to lie

back down on the deck and be a part of her again.

This had already become the trip of firsts. He took a deep breath. He had no doubt

he and his team could keep her safe from Mantelli. Could he keep her safe from him?
Did he even want to?

Chapter Four

No, he didn’t.
Jack finally admitted it to himself when they reached Hideaway Island, and he

maneuvered the huge craft into its usual slip at the dock.

Besides, it was too late to question. She was now a part of him, as he was a part of

her. Before, he would have done whatever necessary to protect her because it was his
job. Now he would die for her—without hesitation.

Under the light of the full moon, within the moss-filled trees, the house appeared to

be quietly waiting. The sounds of the ocean, crickets, and locusts filled the night. Jack
secured the boat. He offered his hand to help Stella ashore. The warmth of her touch
moved to his soul like a lightning bolt.

It took all of his willpower not to pull her into his arms and kiss her. He didn’t dare.

He had work to do. And kissing her would only lead to more.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 44

“What is this place?” Stella asked, looking up at the house.
“My mother named it Hideaway Island or Hideaway House. When I was a kid, we’d

come here, and my mom always said we were hiding away from the world.”

With his hand still in hers, he led her up the boardwalk to the house. Tall dune grass

blew in the night breeze all around them.

“Do they still come here—your parents?”
“Now and then, but not as often as they used to. For one, they never know when I

might need to use it. And two, it’s difficult for them since the loss of my sister. There
are a lot of memories here.”

“What about for you?” she had to ask. “Are there a lot of memories for you?”
She noticed he stared up at the dark house for a long moment before replying. “It’s

not as hard for me,” he said finally. “I’m using the house to save others. It makes it all
worth the time and effort.” And now he’d shared it with his mate—that started new
memories.

“It’s beautiful. Even in the dark, with the wide porch and the French doors.”
“We all like to open the doors and let the sounds of the ocean in. And my best

memories are on that porch, playing checkers, eating roasted hot dogs, watching a
thunderstorm. The back porch looks out over a sandy beach. I’ll show you as soon as we
get everything inside.”

She followed him up the boardwalk to stairs leading to the porch. The white of the

house glowed in the moonlight. The dark shutters were little more than shadows, as was
all the outdoor furniture of the porch. “Is there power?”

“Yes—battery-powered generators, I’ll fire them up as soon as we get inside.” He

retrieved a key from his pocket and unlocked the front door. The inside of the house
smelled of sandy beach. “There are a few things I need to show you, too.”

“Like what?” Stella asked, looking around as the front door led into a dark living

room. In the shadows, she saw a stone fireplace, fluffy although rustic furniture, the bar
counter that divided the living room from the kitchen.

Jack set the bags down. “Like the way the bathroom in the middle of the house is a

safe room and the hidden space and tunnel beneath the floor—created for an escape if
one is needed, also there’s a radio in both the kitchen and the safe room bathroom as well
as walkie-talkies in the tunnel. Wait right here while I get the generators up and running.
Then I need to contact my team and let them know we arrived safely.”

“I guess there’s no cell service out here.”
“Nope, no towers for fifty miles. Will you be all right if I leave you in the dark?”
“I’ll be fine.” She forced the words out. Never would she tell him how suddenly the

dark now terrified her. Waking up in her dark bedroom to find Mantelli in bed with her
had opened that can of worms. She told herself there was still plenty of moonlight
filtering through the windows. And when she looked out, the moonlight reflected off the
ocean. Besides, Jack could have the lights on much quicker without her fumbling around
the dark with him. She set the grocery bag she carried on the counter and found her way
through the shadows to the sofa, working with each step to keep her heart at an even
pace.

The house was silent as a tomb when Jack was gone, and Stella forced herself to

ignore the silence.

“Listen to the ocean,” she whispered. “Think of Jack.”

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 45

The waves crashed up on the beach. It was a lulling sound, one she could get used

to, one that brought the memory of a short time ago, Jack making love to her.

Even now that seemed like a dream. His hands on her were warm and perfect,

seeming to know just how and where to touch her without bringing pain or any painful
memory. He’d made love to her as if they’d been lovers for years. It was new and
exciting and familiar at the same time. She had been amazed as well as turned on by the
way he used his tongue and teeth. By the time he’d finished, he’d set every inch of her
flesh on fire with his tongue, leaving her quivering with need and want of more.

And once when she’d opened her eyes and looked up at him—as he filled her so

completely and perfectly, she thought he looked different with bigger teeth, more
distinctive eyes. She’d blinked several times, and then just saw Jack, who smiled down
at her before he sent her to the stars with another deep kiss and even deeper thrust.

Her body tingled with the memories.
Thinking of Jack, wanting him again made the dark easier to face. Still maybe she

should have asked to light a candle or start a fire before he was swallowed by the dark
making his way to the generators.

Stella rested her head back and closed her eyes, using one deep breath after another

to relax. Yes, making love with Jack had seemed like the most natural thing to do even
though it had happened quicker than she ever thought possible. She’d never before had a
two-night stand. And she wasn’t worried about a future with Jack or what tomorrow
would bring regarding Jack. Somewhere in their lovemaking, she had heard his voice,
although it seemed as if it had been in her head and not spoken out loud.

“You are mine forever,” he’d said.
In the dark, she smiled at the thought. She could stay with Jack—as long as he made

love to her again.

She didn’t think she could sleep after sitting in the car all day, or after being revved

up with Jack’s touch, but resting and not moving and doing nothing but listening to the
waves certainly felt wonderful and relaxing.

A few minutes later when the lights still never came on, she didn’t open her eyes,

just continued to relax and breathe as sleep overtook her.

But she did open them when she felt a hand on her neck…

Chapter Five

Stella’s taste lingered on his tongue.
Her enticing scent lingered in his nose so strongly he barely recognized the familiar

rustic scents of the house where he’d spent many a summer. Although his eyesight was
as perfect in the dark as it was in the light, he used a flashlight from one of the bags he’d
carried in and made his way to the storage shed behind the house where the generators
were stored. The soft sounds of the tall grass swishing in the night breeze mingled with
the sounds of waves.

The shed was unlocked and he wondered who might have used the house last and

forgot to lock it. And damn, the door must have been left open at another time. For the
smell of an unrecognizable animal mixed with the mustiness of the old shed and the

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 46

earthly smells of dirt and grass and dust and water. For along with the generators, the
shed housed tools and boat gear.

Within a few minutes the generators were up and humming. He smiled, thinking for

breakfast he’d fix Stella steak and eggs.

Hell, whatever little critter had crept into the shed was still here. Its smell was

stronger than ever, perhaps it had even died in here he thought with disgust as he turned
to look for it. He licked his lips and tasted Stella.

The distraction was merely a second, but was long enough.
There was a flash of light, then white, hot pain.
Then nothing as blackness swallowed him…

Chapter Six

“This is Gray Wolf calling Pack Leader.”
Gray’s voice crackling over the radio in the kitchen startled Stella. Her hand flew to

her chest to calm her instantly racing heart as she let out an embarrassed gasp. The warm
hand on her throat was gone the moment she jumped forward on the sofa. “Did you get
the generators working?” She didn’t understand why he hadn’t turned on the lights.

“Pack Leader, come in,” Gray said.
“Aren’t you going to answer that?” She finally turned and looked up at the man

standing behind her.

Despite the dark, she easily made him out in the moonlight. And her heart pounded

so painfully in her chest at the sight of Tony Mantelli, she thought it might stop
altogether.

She stared at him, trying to breathe through her chest which felt as if it was suddenly

squeezed in a vice. She couldn’t even scream. In her terror and surprise, all she could do
was stare. And no, she wasn’t sleeping this time. This wasn’t another nightmare. Well, it
was a nightmare, but she was fully awake.

From the radio again came Gray’s voice. “Jack, dammit, pick up. We have a

problem here.”

That’s an understatement if I ever heard one, Stella thought.
“They certainly do have a problem,” Mantelli chimed in. “It seems when I went to

see what I could get from your boss, Dr. Brand—who wouldn’t tell me anything, by the
way, I managed to get my hands on one of their men—”

“Jeff.”
“That’s right.” He smiled and his teeth seemed to glow in the dark.
“What did you do to him?”
“Nothing, really. He escaped me, I’m still not quite sure how. I had him tied to a

chair and I went to get a cup of java while I thought of the best way to interrogate him
and when I came back, he was gone. The ropes and his clothes and everything were still
there, but he was gone, like some damned Houdini or something. But it paid for me to do
my homework enough to know this Jeff has a pretty little wife and little baby.”

Stella thought she might just throw up. “Tell me you didn’t hurt them,” she forced

out. Her throat was so tight, her words were little more than whispers.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 47

“No, but all it took was a simple phone call with that little baby crying in the

background for Jeff to tell me about this secret society and where I’d find you. And just
what took you so long to get here? I was hours behind you and still managed to get here
before you and your long-haired rescuer.”

“What did you do to him?” She tried to swallow past the tight throat and found it

impossible.

“I’m sure he’ll have a headache in the morning, but knowing he couldn’t save you

will probably hurt more.” His comical expression turned serious, deadly in the darkness.
“You should never have tried to leave me. Perhaps I should have told you about the
others, and then you would have understood what happens when one of my girls tries to
leave me.”

Others? There have been others?
Stella took a step back. The sofa stood between her and the man she was certain

would kill her. And what had he really done to Jack?”

“Remember how I caressed you with my gun, Stella?”
She shuddered at the memory.
“Do you!”
His sharp, loud words made her jump.
“Yes,” she forced out.
“Well, I’m sure it will ease your mind to know I don’t plan to use my gun at all.” At

her terrified expression, he went on. “I have something I think that will be much more
efficient.” As he spoke he pulled out a knife—a knife with a jagged edge and a blade big
enough to skin a deer.

It reflected the light of the moon and Stella let out a gasp at the sight of it.
As if to demonstrate its sharp ability, he sliced open the sofa. Fluffs of stuffing flew

about the darkness.

The action snapped Stella out of her terrified paralysis. She turned and ran toward

the door. She didn’t know how to maneuver the boat or if there were even keys with
which to start it. But she was a strong swimmer. She had, after all, won a gold medal for
the Brook Hill Swim Team. And although that might have been ten years ago, she knew
she had no chance if she didn’t swim for it.

Anthony Manelli was going to slice her up in tiny pieces and leave her for Jack or his

team to find if she didn’t run, if she didn’t swim. She had to trust that since his team
knew there was a problem, they were on their way. She could swim long enough to meet
them. She had to.

She made it as far as the dock when he stopped her by grabbing her hair. He stopped

her with enough force to hurt her neck as he whipped her around to face him.

Stella hardly had time to think, to comprehend, this is the end. She caught a glimpse

of the knife as it sliced through the air. She expected pain and was literally shocked
when she felt none.

A deep growl came from behind him. And the sound stopped Mantelli from bringing

the knife close. He turned to the sound just as quickly as he’d turned her to face him the
moment before.

In the moonlight, it was brown, large, its fur standing on end. It stalked on all fours

and bared its teeth, howled, then growled again.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 48

It was by far the largest wolf Stella had ever seen. She wasn’t afraid of the wolf

nearly as much as she was of Mantelli.

She stared at it, mesmerized. It met her gaze. She looked at its eyes…
And recognized Jack’s eyes.
Then just as when he’d made love to her, he spoke in her mind. Don’t be afraid, my

love. Just back away. Move toward the boat.

The recognition and the sound of Jack’s voice in her mind came to her in less than

two seconds. She took a step backward. A wave sloshed onto the dock. She ignored it
as she stared at the sight before her.

At the same time, Mantelli let out, “What the hell…” Then he pulled out his gun, the

same gun Stella had felt against her skin.

Before he could do little more, the wolf pounced.
Stella stumbled backward several steps out of the way where she landed on her rump

on the dock. Not that it mattered. Mantelli had little chance. The great wolf bit the hand
that held the gun. Mantelli screamed like a girl, and the gun slipped from his fingers
making a small splash as it sank into the water off the edge of the dock. He then tried to
use the knife he still held in his other hand. It seemed in his haste to use his gun, he’d
forgotten all about it. He cut through the air one time, moving his arm across his body.
The wolf moved like lightning and bit that hand, too. Then, as if the wolf knew exactly
how to move, how to fight, how to pin its opponent, it held that bleeding hand down with
its paws as it moved its powerful teeth toward Mantelli’s throat.

“No!” Stella cried out.
The wolf paused and again met her gaze. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t

kill him.

“He said there were others.”
The wolf blinked at her.
“If you kill him, we may never know who they were or what he did to them or where

they are.”

To her amazement, she heard Jack chuckle in her mind. Always thinking of others,

aren’t you? Do you ever think of yourself?

“Their families deserve to know.”
“You, of course, are right.”
Mantelli moved, trying to punch the wolf with his right hand. It bit again, this time

near the wrist at the bottom of the hand, ripping and tearing bone and flesh, tendons and
ligaments, making the fingers useless.

I won’t kill him, but he’ll never threaten anyone with a gun or a knife, and no one

else will ever have to wear a shiner like yours. Hell, he’ll have to hire someone to zip his
fly for him.

When Mantelli simply tried to push him off, the wolf did the same to the other hand.
By the time it was over, Mantelli’s hands were bleeding all over the deck as he sat

curled in a ball, crying like a child.

Stella couldn’t help but pity him. But she still kept her distance.
Get the rope from the bow of the boat, Stella.
Stella turned and did as was asked.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 49

When she returned with the rope, she found Jack, standing tall and naked in the

moonlight, now on just two legs. There was dried blood on his neck from where Mantelli
had obviously hit him on the back of his head.

“Are you all right?” she asked as she handed him the rope.
“My head hurts,” he replied, having to talk loud enough over Mantelli, who was still

making noise. “You?”

“I’m okay,” she assured him.
“I’m sorry I let him get this close, Stella.”
“Are you kidding? You saved my life.”
Tentatively, she reached out and placed the palm of her hand on his chest where she

felt the strong beat of his heart.

It took all of Jack’s willpower not to pull her into his arms. But he couldn’t be

distracted by her, not again, never again.

So now he simply stepped between her and the crying man on the dock. “My team is

coming.” He stepped down in the boat and unzipped a bag. Pulling out a pair of shorts,
he quickly stepped into them before he used the rope to tie Mantelli’s feet together.

It was two minutes later when Stella heard the motor of the approaching boat,

bringing his team to Hideaway Island. His ears were obviously much better than hers.

Chapter Seven

Stella sat on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket. Prell was with her. He handed her a

steaming cup of tea.

Jack watched through the window as he stood out on the porch. He leaned against

one of the porch beams.

Gray sat in one of the porch chairs as the sun played peek a boo sending pink

morning rays through the darkness of dawn.

“Dr. Brand’s all right?” Jack asked.
“Yes. He suffered a broken finger from Mantelli hitting it with a hammer, but he

never said a word about us. It was when Jeff went in to check on him that he got caught.”

“Jeff and his family are safe?”
“Yes, but he wants to resign his commission. He feels horrible he couldn’t keep the

secret or that his family was used and threatened.”

“We all take the same chance.”
“I told him that. I also told him that even though this is important, he’s not expected

to sacrifice his baby.”

“I’ll talk to him when we get back.”
Gray looked at him. “So what’s up with you? You’ve been somewhere else since

we tied on to the dock. Are you upset we handed Mantelli over to the Feds and didn’t let
you rip him to pieces?”

Jack was quiet for long time as he stared through the window and watched Stella sip

her tea. It was Earl Gray tea. He could smell it from here. Just as he could smell her.

“Stella knows about us, about me at least.”
“And you don’t think you can trust her to keep our secret?”
“I think I can trust her,” Jack said absently.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 50

“So what’s the problem?”
Jack turned slightly and met his brother’s gaze. “She’s my mate.”
They were both quiet for a long moment.
“You’re certain?”
Jack let out a heavy sigh. “Absolutely.”
Gray slapped his leg loudly, let out a whoop, and then laughed heartily. “Just wait

until Pop finds out you acted faster than he did!”

Jack rolled his eyes and let out a huff. “This is not funny,” he said evenly.
“The hell it’s not,” Gray said with a continued chuckle. “You just handed over to the

Feds the killer of possibly five or six women, and you caught your mate on the same
night. I don’t know of anyone else who’s ever had that much fun or luck.”

“She. Could. Have. Been. Killed.” Jack said, looking at his brother as if he wanted

to knock the smile off his face with his fist.

Gray’s eyes sparkled in the sunrise. “But she wasn’t. You saved her, even with a

knock on the head.”

“I don’t know how she feels about me. I know some women tease about having a

wolf in bed, but they don’t mean literally.”

“So ask her.” Gray turned and glanced through the window at Stella. “But, Bro, I

don’t see her running away. Do you?”

Jack said nothing, merely watched Stella. He could have listened to her conversation

with Prell if he chose. He didn’t choose.

“Besides,” Gray went on, “did Danny ever tell you about Michelle?”
Jack looked down the boat dock where Danny and two other men of his team sorted

supplies. “What?”

“He said she’s always madder about the phone calls in the middle of the night than

she is about the fact Danny can change shape and fly as an eagle.” For the first time in
several minutes, Gray turned serious. “Talk to her, Jack. See how she feels. She had to
feel something to have mated with you, especially given her situation.” Gray pulled
himself to his feet. “I’ll send her out so you can talk to her.”

“Gray?” Talking about his greatest fear had him chewing on his lip like a school boy

who had just been called to speak in front of the entire class.

Gray reached the door and turned back.
“What if I hurt her? It was so hard to control when I was with her. My teeth kept

changing, my hands kept growing tight. I want to bite her. A lot.”

“I’ve never heard of any of our kind ripping out the throat of his mate.”
“That doesn’t ease my mind, especially since this entire trip has been nothing but

firsts for me—first time to mate, first time to kiss a client, first time to sleep next to a
client.”

Gray shrugged as if that meant nothing. “That was all before you knew she was your

mate. Now that you know, your heart and your soul will protect her. You’ll see.”

“Yeah, right.”
Gray gave him a usual grin and stepped into the house.
Three minutes later, Stella stepped out.
She met his gaze. Then she sat down in the seat Gray had vacated moments before.

He noticed in the soft light that filtered through the windows that her shiner was showing
some yellow. It was healing. She was healing. He liked that idea.

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 51

For the first time in his life, Jack had no idea where to start, what to say. “Are you

sure you’re all right?” His heart still pounded at the memory of seeing of Mantelli
threatening her with his knife.

“Yes. Are you?”
The fact she would be more worried about him than she was about herself touched

him like a hot brand. It was a step in the right direction. At least she wasn’t saying see ya
later, gator and asking Gray or Prell or Dennis to get her out of here. “Yes. I have a bit of
a headache, but I’ll be fine by—” he glanced at his watch, “probably by dinnertime.”

“Fast healer, huh?”
“Yes, very.”
“You should still have ice on it.”
Always the nurse, he thought as he offered her a small smile. “I’ll get some in a few

minutes.”

“And in case I didn’t say so before, thank you for saving my life.”
He didn’t tell her that if she had died, he’d probably not be able to live, either.

“You’re very welcome.”

“So you’re a—a—a—wo—wolf?”
He nearly chuckled at the way she stumbled through getting to the point. But if there

was ever a time to remain serious, now was it. “I can shift into one, yes.”

“Easily?”
That question came out smoother than the last. He went with his gut and simply

answered her questions. “Yes, now that I’m a mature adult. As a teen going through
puberty, it wasn’t always controllable.”

“A pretty big one, too.”
“Yes.”
“What about Gray?”
“He can change, too.”
“A wolf?”
“Yes.”
“What about the rest of your team?”
“They all change, but into other things.”
“I see.”
Jack bet she saw clear as mud, but he knew now more than ever, she needed his

patience.

“I slept with you.”
At least he heard no regret in her voice, only point of fact. “I made love to you. I…”
“What?” she asked.
She stared at him evenly and Jack wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms.

“I made you my mate.”

“Oh…”
That wasn’t much of an answer. And he wished to hell he knew which direction to

take this. Never had he felt so utterly helpless. He’d helped and guided countless victims
and suddenly for the first time he felt lost. He pressed his lips together. There wasn’t a
single thing he could say. He had led his team into dangerous situations and faced armed
adversaries and yet right now he was at a complete loss for words.

He held out his hand to her. “Come. Walk with me.”

SECRET SOCIETY Allie Harrison 52

For a moment—merely a blink of an eye, she looked as if she might refuse, as if she

still might ask Gray or Prell to take her home. She could go, too, after all, it was safe.
She was safe. Mantelli couldn’t hurt her any more. There were federal charges against
him. His friends at his precinct would not be able to get him off.

Then her hand was warm in his.
He didn’t say a word until they reached the beach. Nor did he let her hand go.
The fact that she didn’t pull away from him sent his heart soaring.
“If you didn’t want to be with me, I’d understand,” he began, thinking at least it

would let her off the hook and give her the chance to tell him her feelings.

Much to his dismay, she said nothing as she walked along with him, hand in hand,

her attention seemingly on the setting moon, the lightening sky.

Never again would he ever look at the moon without feeling the pull of her in his

heart, in his soul.

“But there’s more you should know,” he went on, more uncertain with each word. “I

wanted you from the first moment I saw you. And because we are meant to be mates, we
would have met eventually. Meeting now as we did was a bit inconvenient, I know. It
wasn’t as if I bumped into your shopping cart at the supermarket and asked you out to
lunch. And I hope you don’t have any regrets, because I know I don’t…” He also knew
he was rambling, but it seemed that now once he started, he was unable to stop.

Still, she hadn’t said a word.
“Stella—”
Before he could take another step or say another word, she pressed herself against

him, leaned up and kissed him.

Her lips were soft but demanding as she all but made love to his mouth. She kissed

him until he became pliable and obedient beneath the intensity of her kiss. He let go of
her hand, just enough to put his arms around her.

Their kiss deepened until he thought he might drown in it.
Suddenly she pulled away, leaving him searching for breath as well as a way to calm

his heart.

“I thought that might be only way to shut you up,” she said.
“You haven’t said a word about any of this,” he said as if he needed to point it out to

her. “At least tell me what you think, what you feel.”

She smiled up at him. “I think you should make love to me again. Show me what it

means to be your mate.”

“Right here?”
“Right here. And after that, can we make the steaks you promised me and eat them

here on the beach? Because I’m starving.” Then she kissed him again…

The End

**If you are a victim of abuse, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at

1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or 1-800-797-3224.