Cora's Kismet (The Twin Destinies Saga Book 1) Read online

  Frustrated, she stood up. “We’ll get nothing here, she has no tie here, nothing for me to grab onto. We need to go to the Kilpatrick’s house.” She shuddered at the thought, but knew there was no other way to find her sister, so she straightened her spine and sucked up the panic she felt at going back to the place where they’d spent years in the hands of their tormentors.

  Sage nodded, moved over to the door and opened it for her. He stood aside to let her pass before he stepped out and closed the door behind them. She moved straight over to the staircase and, from out of nowhere, she was surrounded by people. The group consisted of her parents and a contingency of guards. She was thankful that Sage stayed right beside her, and even reached out and placed a reassuring hand at the small of her back, which made her feel not quite as alone as she was feeling.

  They walked out of the house and loaded into three brand new, shiny black SUVs that were waiting for them. Cora instructed the driver on where to go, but said nothing else. She leaned back into the seat and closed her eyes, attempting to block everyone out as best she could. As soon as they were closed Liam’s face appeared behind her lids. In her mind, she traced the lines of his face. She saw the beauty of his deep, soulful eyes, and longed for him in a way that she’d never longed for anyone before.

  “Cora focus,” Sage said, low in her ear. Her eyes flew open and she stared at him. It took her a minute to pull herself together and then she nodded in his direction. Within minutes, they were parked outside of the place she’d called prison for so many years.

  “This dump is where they had my daughters living?” Thomas roared, making Cora flinch in response. Angelica laid her hand on his arm and spoke in his ear. Cora could tell her mother was no happier about this than her father was, but she also knew now was not the time to show their displeasure on the subject. Besides, Cora knew the outside was the best looking part of the whole place. If they were this outraged about the outside, she didn’t want to see their reactions to the inside, but knew she really had no choice. She was sure if she asked them to remain outside they’d refuse.

  Taking a deep breath, she followed Sage out of the vehicle and strode fast up the front walk to the porch. She pulled the hidden key from its location and let all of them inside the house. She watched as her parents took in the interior. Their eyes widened and filled with horror, which turned to a rage that Cora wasn’t sure she’d ever felt in her life, as they took in the dilapidated furniture, stained walls full of holes from Patrick’s abuse, and trash that littered, well, everywhere. She knew they would list this as one of Anna and Patrick’s many crimes. Shrugging it off, she headed toward the stairs.

  With Sage close on her heels, she ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. She didn’t know when, but at some point he’d pulled out a handgun and was holding it at the ready. When she reached the room she and Viola had called theirs, she stopped and placed her hand on the closed door. The vibration she felt from her sister was stronger here without a doubt. With a small smile and no hesitation she reached down and threw the door open.

  She felt tears pool in her eyes as she looked around the small room and took in everything she thought she’d never see again. She stepped through the door and over to Viola’s twin bed, ignoring her own side of the room. Sitting down on it, she cleared her mind and focused on her sister. It took a minute, but then a picture started forming in her mind.

  She saw Viola trapped in a room. The windows were painted dark so she couldn’t see outside. Viola paced like a wild animal around the room covering her ears from some recording that was playing in a continuous loop.

  Cora reached out to her sister with her mind. “Where are you?” she asked.

  In an instant, she felt Viola flooding her mind. She showed Cora everything that had happened to her from the time she’d been abducted in her sleep. Cora gasped out loud and her eyes flew open wide at the images that were seared into her mind and replaying themselves, as if on an automatic loop. Sage knelt down in front of her, but she could not see him at all, only sense his presence.

  Through the flood of images, Cora picked out a location. “Thank you Sis. We’ll be there as soon as we can. Hang tight,” she sent back, breaking the connection. Before she lost her sanity, and any hope they had of getting to Viola, she stood and grabbed her duffle bag. She walked around the room filling it with clothes, shoes, and personal items that were hers.

  “What are you doing?” Sage asked, confused at her sudden actions.

  “I’m getting my stuff. I never want to come back to this place,” Cora replied, as she continued to fill the bag. When that bag was full, she grabbed Viola’s bag and repeated the process with everything she knew was important to her sister.

  Sage backed off, seeming to realize nothing he said was going to stop her. When she was finished, he bent and picked up both bags and slung them over his shoulder, before opening her door for them to exit. She left the room without looking back. There was nothing left for her here.

  When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she called out, “I know where she is. Let’s go.”

  “What is that?” Thomas asked Sage, as he reached the bottom landing of the stairs carrying both duffels.

  “Cora insisted on packing up their stuff while we’re here. This is everything she wanted to take,” Sage replied with a shrug.

  “We could have had someone come and do that, honey,” Angelica said. “We still can if there’s more that you need, or want.”

  “I didn’t want someone I don’t know going through my things and I know that Viola would feel the same way. This is everything we have of value and it only took a couple of minutes. So no, there’s no need to send anyone here to get anything for us, but thank you for the offer. She’s waiting, can we go?” Cora said, impatience making her temper shorter than usual. Now that she had the connection they needed, she wanted to get to her sister, before the pull of Liam set back in and eclipsed everything else again.

  Thomas and Angelica nodded their heads and moved to the door. Cora took one last look around and walked through the front door, without ever looking back. This was the past she had every intention of leaving behind. The only thing that could have made her any happier to be leaving this place behind was if they were torching it behind them.

  Chapter Fifteen

  After describing everything Viola communicated to her and telling them where she was being held, Cora leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes again. It had been just over 24 hours since her life had changed in such a drastic manner and she needed a few minutes to try to sort everything out in her head with more desperation than she’d ever felt before. There was something bothering her, but she couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was.

  She recapped everything that had happened in her mind. None of it was sinking in. ‘It’s going to take forever to even begin to believe all of this. Nothing is as I believed,’ she thought to herself. She felt a gentle touch on her knee and opened her eyes.

  Angelica was leaning toward her, with a concerned look in her eyes. “Are you alright?”

  “Yes... No... I don’t know. I’m just so confused right now,” Cora responded, with complete honesty. There was no sense in lying to her.

  “I’m sure you are with everything that’s happened. We’ll get Viola back and then focus on getting everything settled in your lives again. I have the utmost faith that you both will find your way again. I am so proud of you, and Viola, I want you to know that,” Angelica told her with love filling her voice.

  “Settled? That’s not one of the words I would have ever used to describe my life,” Cora responded with a sarcastic snort. She saw Angelica’s body flinch at her cold words and watched as sadness filled her eyes with tears that went unshed.

  “Well, it should have been. Those who have mistreated you will pay. You will not be mistreated again, I can promise you that,” Thomas said with a simmering rage. Cora didn’t understand why he was so furious. It wasn’t like he was the one who’d ha
d to go through what she and Viola had. She brushed it off, thinking maybe she’d understand later. She wasn’t going to worry about it now.

  “That’s life,” Cora said with a shrug.

  “That’s not how your life was supposed to be,” Angelica responded.

  “Why? Because you said so? Because of some prophecy? Life is hard, period. You face what it throws at you and you either survive or you don’t. We happened to have survived,” Cora said without emotion, her voice sounding hard even to her own ears. She was so overwhelmed by everything that was happening, she was starting to feel numb inside. She missed Viola and Liam with such a vengeance, and feeling like she was being pulled in two different directions was not doing much to improve her mood.

  “No. Your life was supposed to be comfortable, stable and full of love and support. Both you, and Viola, deserved that,” Angelica said with feeling. Cora could see tears start to build in her eyes again, for the pain and suffering they’d endured and had no concept of. She felt no need to enlighten them to any of it either. She’d meant what she’d said about the past being the past and moving forward.

  “If you say so,” Cora replied with a blank tone, and shrugged her shoulders. She caught Sage giving her a sympathetic look out of the corner of her eye and looked away.

  She was starting to feel claustrophobic being trapped in the SUV with so many people, many of whom seemed to be picking her apart from different angles, and for different reasons. It was like she was under some giant microscope and all she wanted to do was crawl out from under it. She didn’t think she would ever be out from under that microscope again. That was the most unpleasant thought she’d had all day. In some ways, she’d almost rather deal with Patrick and Anna, and their endless depravity, than be under this type of scrutiny.

  When the SUVs began to slow down, Cora was almost crawling out of her skin to get out of the vehicle. She knew they were out in the middle of the woods and they had to be very careful of any security measures their enemy may have put in place. Knowing Anna as she did, there were bound to be quite a few. No one seemed to be in a hurry to get out, but her.

  “Sage, I want you to keep her here, in the car. The rest of us will search the facility and extricate Viola. If anything goes wrong, get her back to Liam and get them both as far away to safety as you can,” Thomas instructed Sage in a firm voice. Sage nodded his head at the orders and Cora had no doubt he’d follow them, no matter how hard she fought against him.

  “But…” Cora started but never got the chance to finish.

  “You are not going in there. If you do, and something goes wrong, we’ve just given them what they’ve been trying so very hard to get back, both of you. We cannot let that happen, under any circumstances. You will be left with four guards. Am I understood?” Thomas said, with authority in his voice that showed he expected to not be questioned. Everyone surrounding her nodded their heads and murmured their “yes, sirs” as her eyes opened wide in disbelief.

  “Do you understand Cora?” Thomas said in a commanding voice.

  “No. That’s my sister in there. We’ve always been responsible for each other and I’m not going to just hand that over and sit here, twiddling my thumbs, just because you said so. I really don’t know you and you just expect me to trust her life, both of our lives, to you. That’s not gonna happen so you might as well revise that plan of yours to include me, because I’m coming with you, whether you want me to or not,” Cora rushed out, furious that he was being so high handed and domineering.

  “No. You will stay here with Sage, restrained if need be. I will not put your life in danger because you are being stubborn. You do not have the training to enter that building and do what has to be done. If you go in there, the only thing that you will succeed in is getting yourself caught, and the rest of us killed. Is that what you want the outcome of this mission to be? You came this far because you were the only way we could find Viola before something fatal happens to her,” Thomas bit out. It was obvious she was trying his patience, but she didn’t care.

  “I am going with you,” was her stubborn response. She met his eyes, hers flashing in defiance, his flashing authority.

  “Cora, your father is right. You and I need to stay here to keep you safe,” Sage said, in a soothing voice, trying to calm her down before he was forced to restrain her physically. He was pretty sure if he had to resort to that, Liam would have his head on a stake.

  “I am not some pampered little princess. I can help,” Cora responded through clenched teeth.

  “We all know that, Cora, but we’re trying to be smart about this. We don’t want to hand you to them on a silver platter. I’m sure they’re expecting you to come charging in to save her, because that’s what you’ve done your entire life for each other. It would be foolish to allow you to fall right into their hands,” Sage said, trying to be the voice of reason. Something told him Thomas’ commanding orders were not the way to get her to stay with him. He understood her frustration because he’d love nothing more than to go in there and be a part of the action. Instead he was babysitting his brother’s mate and keeping her out of trouble. He’d given his word though, and refused to break it, therefore, babysitting duty it would be.

  He could feel when she started to relent and nodded for the team to start exiting the vehicle. She threw up her hands, and growled in frustration, as she flung herself back against the seat. He almost laughed because, in that moment, she reminded him of a toddler throwing a tantrum.

  ‘Boy was Liam going to have his hands full with this one!’ he thought to himself with a silent chuckle. It was becoming harder and harder not to laugh out loud so he cut off his thoughts and focused on making sure she didn’t catch him by surprise. That seemed like it was going to be a full-time job in itself, so he settled back and monitored her jumbled emotions for any sense of calmness that would indicate she’d devised a plan. He would put nothing past her at this point.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Sitting in that car, while everyone else was risking their lives for Viola, was sheer torture. She ran through various scenarios in her mind on how to get past Sage and the four remaining guards. Nothing she came up with seemed to play out with the outcome she desired. She didn’t know how, but she felt Sage probing against her turbulent emotions. She wasn’t sure what he was searching for, but it was getting pretty annoying.

  As she began running another scenario through her mind, her thoughts were broken by the sounds of Liam’s voice in her mind telling her, “Be safe my love. Don’t do anything stupid. Come back to me unharmed.”

  She was so shocked that her eyes flew open as she gasped.

  “What? Did something happen to Viola?” Sage said as he jumped to full alert reaching for his gun.

  “No, no I don’t know what’s going on inside of that facility,” Cora gasped out, shaking her head, feeling like she was losing her mind.

  “Then what is it?” Sage said relaxing a bit, but still remaining on edge and alert.

  “Liam. I heard his voice in my head,” she said stunned.

  “What did he say?” Sage asked out of curiosity. He’d heard of mates being able to communicate like that with each other, even from long distances, but he’d never experienced it because he hadn’t found his mate, not that he was searching too hard for her. He was going to enjoy the single life for as long as he could.

  “He said, ‘Be safe my love. Don’t do anything stupid. Come back to me unharmed.’” She repeated Liam’s words to Sage.

  “You should follow his advice,” Sage said, nodding in agreement with his brother’s words. He also sent a silent thank you to his brother, because he had been wondering if they’d been getting close to the physical restraint part of their wait. He could tell every time she’d been close to coming up with a plan she’d thought would work.

  “Of course you’d say that. Aren’t you tired of sitting here not doing anything? You seem like you’re more of a man of action, a guy who gets in there and gets his h
ands dirty to get the job done. Not one who sits here babysitting the damsel in distress while others go to work,” Cora said trying to bait him. He chuckled at her effort of trying to get him on her side.

  “Any other day, I am. Today I’m not,” he said with a shrug, folding his arms over his chest feigning nonchalance.

  “Just today huh?” Cora asked, sarcasm edging her words.

  “Yep,” he responded, displaying a coolness he did not feel. He was edgy, wanting to be inside helping, not here babysitting. Cora was hitting closer to home than he felt comfortable with, but he kept all of that locked behind a façade of disinterest.

  “Why just today?” she asked, true curiosity in her voice.

  “Because family is very important to me. You are now family and my brother’s soul would be destroyed if anything happened to you. Once you find your mate, if you are separated, in any way that is permanent, it will drive the surviving mate insane or to death. I am not willing to let that happen to Liam if there’s something I can do to stop it. If being your babysitter through this is what protects both of you, then today, I’m not,” he told her, his voice heavy with the truth of his words.

  “Oh,” she said, not knowing what else to say. Her mind was swirling like a tornado battering against her skull. Liam had said family and friends meant a lot to Sage. “Do you think of me as family?”

  “Yes. Why wouldn’t I?” he responded confused.

  “You don’t know me at all,” she replied.

  “I don’t need to. I know Liam.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Just like that.”

  “I don’t know how you can just accept me, just like that. I just met my parents, yet I still can’t accept them.” She spoke almost in a whisper, thankful the other four guards were posted outside of the vehicle.