Bastian actually pinched himself to complete his release from the gazelle’s hypnotic spell.
Neal rushed forward, realizing that this chance wouldn’t last forever, and Bastian and Travis followed him into action.
Taking the weapons from the men was laughably easy; they didn’t even startle until the shoulder straps were released and the gazelle was leaping away in her deer form again. They blinked stupidly at Neal and Travis, but it didn’t take a lot of time to convince them they were beaten. They gradually shook their heads and put their hands up, scowling.
Chapter Thirty-One
Mary looked from Lewis to Scarlet as they walked into the courtyard that opened onto Scarlet’s office and personal quarters, glanced at Benedict and the men with the guns, and then turned her attention back to the most important two.
Scarlet’s face was a perfect mask, utterly impenetrable, but Mary could feel the anger sparking off of her, and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the woman had no actual intention of turning her resort over to these men. Neal’s revelation that Lewis was a criminal had changed the transaction for her, turning it from something inevitable that she would have to accept to a battle she was bracing herself to fight.
Lewis must have sensed the same thing Mary did.
“There’s no reason to make any of this unpleasant,” he said, voice silky, but threatening. “You know that you don’t have a choice in the matter. It’s all quite legal and above board, and no one needs to get hurt if we do it the easy way.”
Mary bit back a squeak as one of the mercenaries pointed his rifle more obviously at her.
“Take only what you need, I will have my men pack the rest to ship to you on the mainland within a week’s time. I assure you I pay them well enough that they won’t be interested in your belongings.”
“You aren’t going to just let us leave,” Scarlet said, her own voice chilly and skeptical.
Lewis chuckled. “You may, lady, and any of your staff that chooses to go. It’s quite true that I can’t leave Neal free to tell tales.”
Mary startled, and sudden terror for Neal overwhelmed her own fears.
“But you owe him nothing,” Lewis continued smoothly to Scarlet. “Our history is none of your concern, and you can preserve the remainder of your staff and take advantage of our very generous monetary offer simply by using a little good judgment.”
Scarlet’s face betrayed nothing as she turned to walk into her office, but Lewis stopped her anyway.
“No, I think you should not go into there yourself,” Lewis suggested, and he looked to the closest and burliest of the mercenaries with a question on his brow.
He got a surprisingly toothy smile in return, and a nod. “This is one of the strong places, one of the places of power,” the man said.
His words crystallized something that had been bothering at the back of Mary’s mind. Scarlet’s office had always left her feeling unsettled, but the mercenary’s words made her recognize that it wasn’t Scarlet herself, but something deeper and older, something asleep beneath the resort. She felt like a more powerful shifter here, and she suddenly wondered how much of a role that power had played in Neal’s swift recovery.
“No surprises,” Lewis warned, and all of the mercenaries felt so tightly wound that Mary expected them to snap.
“It’s not a power that can be controlled,” Scarlet said, her voice full of warning.
“You mean you can’t control it,” Lewis scoffed.
“I mean it doesn’t like to be controlled,” Scarlet said softly. “If you wake it, I don’t think it will appreciate either you or your actions.”
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
Mary felt adrift, like a child listening to a conversation that adults were having, understanding their words, but not their meaning. Benedict looked nervous, and Mary caught him crossing his fingers superstitiously.
Scarlet went into her office with the bodyguard and carefully gathered a few things—a handful of files and a laptop were tucked into a rolling bag, and she picked up a unadorned wooden box, all under the scrutiny of the watchful bodyguard and Lewis, who stood with his arms crossed, watching through the door.
“Let’s see you off in the car then,” Lewis said, almost merrily. He seemed to think that Scarlet’s quiet was a sign of her defeat, but Mary strongly suspected otherwise. “Our plane is waiting at the airport to take you back to the mainland.”
They walked through the courtyard, two mercenaries in the front, and two trailing. Lewis, still holding Mary’s hand at his elbow walked behind Scarlet and Benedict.
Benedict was babbling something like an apology to Scarlet. “I’m sure you understand. The offer was just too good. I couldn’t turn it down…”
No one paid him any mind.
Chapter Thirty-Two