32.

I shared my plan with Adam, and after some discussion, he agreed. However, he couldn't accompany me immediately, promising to join as soon as possible. The only obstacle in my way was Damon. How on earth could I avoid him?

Suddenly, a voice echoed lazily and ominously in my mind, whispering, "Darling, that remote ranch you're considering... It's perfect. No one will hear you scream."

A shiver ran down my spine, and I couldn't help but wonder what horrors Damon had in store for me. I kept this disturbing thought to myself and began searching for ranches online. Finally, I stumbled upon the ideal one–a sprawling former cattle ranch, complete with remnants of a sheep farm. It boasted many outbuildings, functional machinery, animal enclosures, and even berry bushes and fragrant flowers. Everything seemed fine, with no cause for concern.

Suddenly, Damon's voice intruded into my mind again, sinisterly declaring, "I won't lay a finger on you at the ranch. Oh no, my dear. I have my secret place. You see, you've made your bases, and so I've constructed my own small hideaways equipped with an array of sadistic toys that I'll delight in using on you. And when you scream in agonizing pain, that's when I'll truly relish in my power over you. I eagerly await the day when you're weak and vulnerable, when illness has consumed you, so I can once again revel in the thrill of dominating you."

I tried to dismiss the disturbing images he projected into my mind and retorted, "Aren't you supposed to be my protector, not my destroyer?"

Damon chuckled darkly in my thoughts and replied, "I am who I am, darling. It's best you learn that early on. You, my perfect victim, won't meet your demise. The genuine challenge lies in breaking you down, reducing you to a pitiful state."

With that, his presence vanished from my mind, leaving behind only a racing heart and a chilling statement that intensified my fear. 

I then bought the ranch, and Adam booked the pack's plane and took me to the plane himself. He had first checked the plane to make sure it was empty, that the pilot had ingested Vervaine and had not been compelled. I then told Adam how Damon had threatened me.

It made Adam very defensive, so he had been very careful when taking me to the plane. Then Adam kissed me, and as we were kissing next to the plane, suddenly Adam's car exploded.

The voice in my head said, "I so wanted to wait for Adam to be in the car, but I couldn't watch that anymore. Baby, you have no right to be happy with anyone else but me. I'll show you. You belong to me and me alone."

Oh, this was not a darling type. I shivered with a start in Adam's embrace. He cursed softly, holding onto me and stroking my back. 

This was Damon in a rage, and I could imagine the thick smell of the wet dog that always wafted from him. Then, he was often still covered in some sort of odorous secretion and left greasy fingerprints.

This was the Damon who hurt, who played with the stabber, and who demanded to be begged. This was the Damon I really wanted nothing to do with. That's when Adam decided he'd come with me to Australia and take care of things from there. Getting a bomb in Adam's car was an incredible thing to do.

We boarded the plane. Adam was wrapped around me almost the whole time. I could sense his rage and protectiveness. Even though Damon's teeth had reduced the drug's debilitating effect on my vampire side, it hadn't completely disappeared, so my bloodlust was pretty non-existent, and I didn't feel as confident and invincible as I normally would.

We chatted on the plane for all or part of the flight while Adam used his laptop to set up ranch security. Luckily, we had fleas I could rely on in Australia. We would buy some animals at some point, and now there was talk of Mimosa not being unattached to me, at least not for long periods of time by herself, because Damon can't be trusted now not to hurt even Mimosa.

Lady was elsewhere, and Australia was a bit too hot for her. Adam wasn't taking any chances with Mimosa's safety, either. Even though she was loose on the plane and expressed her displeasure at not being allowed to run wild in Australia as she pleased, she did as our alpha told her. 

I tried to get my thoughts together and concentrate on the job. It was so natural, even though I had taken longer naps in between to do what I was actually good at: being a leader. I did some work myself during the flight, and we talked about sniper work.

Then I told Adam about the locker in my car and mentioned that I'd have to empty the bank lockers again at some point. There are an incredible number of them already. Adam asked how many, and I gave him a booklet with where they were all put.

Adam flipped through the booklet for a moment, put it in his bag for safekeeping, and said, "You must be a pretty damn rich girl. But we'll go through those boxes together sometime. I remember what was in them, so let's see if there are any stocks and shares in there and see if we can get Charles to look after your money. I hear he's a genius at that. I won't tell Bran about this, so don't worry. Salvatore is a different matter. I can't predict what he'll like when you're so rich. Do you have a prenup?"

I nodded. I had put it in place because I was earning more myself and had seen enough lucky women buzzing around men. I would finance none of those bitches. Damon had said nothing against it, and I knew he was rich himself. But certainty was the best thing. Damon had seen me emptying my locker earlier, so he must have had some idea. 

I said to Adam, "I have. Well, maybe I should talk to Samuel, but when he's always so busy and giving everything to his team, I have a problem with that. When I can't know if his team is 100% reliable, Sark is very sneaky and ruthless when he's looking for ways to get to me, and that's why that team is always a little bit questionable. Look, now that we've got all those drugs, and lots of them, from all over the place. Well, I've made some houses into medicine rooms, safe rooms with these drugs in them. Hugh has now developed a machine with a fucking powerful and efficient AI attached to it that knows everything about me and the drugs, so it can tell with about 98% probability what the drug would do to me. But if I tell Samuel about this, he'll give it to his team and the drugs, too. That AI is not a suitable weapon in the hands of the enemy."

Adam grunted and said, "Well, what about Colin, then?"

I sighed and said, " Colin is busy; he's got his own pack in Ireland, and he's filling in for Samuel while Bran keeps him busy with other things. Can we have full confidence in Samuel's team?"

Adam thought for a moment, he picked up his laptop, typed in his time and said "I've just got Burt and Billy looking into it, they have the means to find everyone on Samuel's team and make sure no one can be taken over to the enemy side. If there are any weak links, then we'll look into it, but say nothing to Samuel about this yet."

I said, " Have you talked to Burt?"

Adam grunted, nodded, and said, "And his mother, too. I tried to explain to them why I've been such a bloody bad alpha. See, now, normally, the families of pack members are part of the pack. They are defended, and I abandoned them, but then again, I'm pleased you've kept in touch all this time."

I nodded and said, " Burt is sometimes so like his father even though he is just a teenager, but he has expressed his desire to be on the field sometimes."

Adam nodded and said, "Yeah, Magnum has been coaching Burt and other youngsters that have come on board. I'm sorry about Pamela."

I nodded. Pamela had been one of the losses because of those spies, and her name was now carved into the slab on the Lake Lanier like several others. I was learning the downside of this job, the inevitable thing that I couldn't save everyone: a bitter lesson, but a necessary one. I was determined to keep the losses as small as possible.

Our trip went off without a hitch, and Adam was in as much work mode as one could be. I was online ordering everything for the ranch and figuring out what kind of horses to get and how to ride. Adam would take a moment to watch my every move and smile to himself.

Adam chuckled. " A horse is a living creature, not a piece of furniture, and you must get to know it before buying. It is not so easy to buy a horse based on looks alone. Character is the deciding factor."

I laughed and looked at Adam. I guess I was pretty intensely focused. I wanted to learn to ride, and I could even learn to ride a school rider. New hobbies are fun to invent. Another thing I wanted to do was to be a cat show judge. My dream was also to go through quite a few cat shows and see if Adam wanted to go into that business. I hadn't decided yet. Then there was racing, formula racing, but I had forever time as I was immortal. It was a long time, and I had time to do and learn everything forever. 

It was a long flight, but the plane was well-equipped. Adam fed me, took me under his arm, and held me tightly against him so I could sleep for a few hours. The feeling of being chased was slowly fading, and I knew it was the distance, but that didn't guarantee that Damon wouldn't already be on his way.

The flight was slower than usual as we had bad weather, but we didn't mind. Eventually, the plane landed, and Adam went out first. He had already booked us a rental car and carefully went through it.

Then we went for a drive to our ranch. It was a lovely place, and Adam went to check out the security while I wandered around inside and out, looking at the different outbuildings, plants, trees, and bushes. Mimosa was already on my mind.

She was also eagerly exploring, and then it just occurred to me I should see if I could program plants into that AI, which ones are good for me and which ones aren't. That would be my backup, Damon. The thought made me laugh out loud, and soon, the feeling that I was being chased came on full blast. I panicked and luckily saw Adam walking towards me.

Adam approached me and said, " We're not staying here yet; it's too big a risk. We're going to one of your safe houses here in Australia, so we can wait there for two weeks, whatever it takes to make that ranch completely safe."

I said, "I was just thinking about using the AI, and I named the reserve Damon, and I already got the feeling that I was being hunted."

That got a pretty long torrent of cursing out of Adam, and he packed me into the car pretty quickly, and we took off. It took us no less than eight hours to drive to the safe house, and we ate on the way. Australia would be one place where I could concentrate on the flea business and get more bases. We had even fewer safe houses, but Adam wanted me somewhere very safe now.

The safe house was an old school. There was space, and it wasn't a base, but more of a place to stay between gigs. Very safe, as Magnum had been doing this himself. We drove into the courtyard of the building; it was fenced off, and I punched in a code on my phone that got the gates open.

Only the codes from certain phones opened the gates, and everyone had their own passcode and emergency code. The emergency code was that if you were threatened and someone was forcing you to drive into the safe house with bad intentions, well, the emergency code opened the gates, but it closed the doors and windows, alerted everyone, and there were good places to shoot from inside the house.

The emergency code did nothing weird. Everything would look normal when the car drove through the gates. Then, only when the flea was out of the car, and the bad guy was out of the car. The flea had a trapdoor made for it to get in when it had a chance, and then the bad guy would be easy to take out. We had quite a few protocols developed, and this had been a joint idea of Magnum, Adam, and Jake. Magnum and Adam had been running drills for the gang now and then, so it was a sure thing.

We got out of the car and went inside. There were people in the safe house, but that didn't bother us as such.

I went inside, and Adam was already chatting to people when a man came up to me and said, "I know what your room is; Damon was here a couple of hours ago bringing your stuff in. He's a hell of a guy, though. We've pulled off a few gigs under his leadership really well."

I was quiet, swallowing, panic setting in, and I told Adam in my head. I tried to sound calm, but one look and Adam would see the name of the game.

"Adam, Damon's been here already. He brought some of my stuff a couple of hours ago."

Adam looked up and came over to me. " Oh fuck, how the fuck did he get here? Oh yeah, our route was that bad weather, fuck Damon went the other way and was here earlier. Fine, let's go see what he's brought."

We went into the room together.

The room had three sports bags and an enormous bunch of black roses with a note on the bedside table.

It read, "Baby, don't think for a moment that Adam can protect you from me. But I'm going to chase you a little first. This is way too much fun. Panic. It feels so damn good to feel your panic, Damon."

Fine, I can believe and know some things. I don't have a problem. I tried to convince myself and get my thoughts straight. I wouldn't fucking give that bastard any satisfaction by panicking. That was a fucking wonderful challenge. Don't panic, so I took my anger out and let it wipe the rest of the panic out of my mind. 

 Adam had lifted the first bag onto the bed, and there were spiked shackles, restraints, a straitjacket, and silver handcuffs—a platinum silver collar with spikes. Oh, the gentleman is in a fun mood. In another bag were bottles of medicine, anesthetics, and sedatives. There were even a couple of bags of jelly. Orange jelly. Someone's found a new toy. Jelly. Opened syringe and a needle packet so I'd probably know he already had medicine on him. Even the paralytic for the vocal cords was less than a packet.

The third bag had my clothes in it. They had holes and tears in them. It's like I'd been in a fight with them. They smelled like wet dogs, and I immediately threw all my clothes away. That smell disgusted me. Adam put all three bags out of the room and took them to the outside storage room behind the locks.

He also told everyone he saw and put out a message to the nearest base that if you see Damon, let him know. According to him, Damon is having a little trouble with his Alpha and would like to get his hands on him. Adam also said not to warn Damon about this.

By then, I had already called Dresden and had him cursing because he wasn't going to Australia. But I explained that this could take some time and he should be ready when this escalates. Magnum cursed when he couldn't make it. An enormous bunch of demons and bad ones. I got it.

I had Adam and myself. Neither one of us was asleep. We both kept vigil and were mostly in our room, yet every morning now for a week, when we went to breakfast, there was an enormous bunch of black roses and some half-threatening always with it.

Adam couldn't figure out how Damon would get into the house properly, so we went on a road trip for a week before the ranch was ready. But Damon was a telepath, and he could get the entry code from anyone's mind or even compel someone. I'd been drinking blood now from Adam when he insisted my vampire side get stronger as fast as possible because the nearest blood farm was several hours away, and he didn't want Salvatore to find it.