by J. C. Diem
“So?” Franko asked. “There’s probably lots of foreigners living here.”
“They’re talking in an alien language, douche nozzle,” Yas clarified.
“Where are they?” Liam asked as he checked his gun.
“They’re up there,” I said and pointed at the roof of the church. “I think there must be an attic.”
“What’s the plan, bro?” Nick asked now that we’d found our quarry.
“We’ll split into pairs and surround the church on all four sides,” Liam decided. “I’ll go in alone and try to talk to them. If they run, don’t shoot them unless they attack us first.” He sent a hard look at the newbie. Heath nodded along with the rest of us, but we all knew he hated taking orders from a lesser wolf.
“Alex, you’re with Nick,” Liam said. He paired himself up with Crowmon and Sydney with Brynn.
“I guess that makes us partners,” Yas said, smirking at the alpha.
Franko clamped his lips together to hold in his protest. His hand was now resting on the butt of his gun.
Liam gave us our positions and Nick escorted me around to watch the east side of the church. Syd and Brynn had the west side and Yas and Franko had the north. Liam and Crowmon would approach from the south where the front entrance was located.
I could hear the supernatural beings whispering, but I couldn’t understand what they were saying. One sounded male and the other seemed to be female. They sounded frightened to me. The female was frantically trying to convince her partner about something and he was doing his best to soothe her.
I heard Liam push the front door open, then the whispering stopped. “My name is Agent Liam Levine-Garrett, from the Paranormal Investigation Agency,” my brother said. He didn’t shout, but his voice carried through the church. “I mean you no harm and I would like to talk to you,” he added.
Their response was to blast a hole through the roof and leap three stories to the ground. Nick and I watched in awe as the couple landed only yards away from us. Their skin really was silver and almost glowed in the dark. Their eyes were huge, dark and terrified. Their clothing was ragged and dirty and their feet were bare.
Seeing us, the male shoved the female behind him, but he made no move to attack us. He said something in his native language and I shook my head. “We can’t understand you,” I said and held my hands up to show them I wasn’t armed. “We aren’t going to hurt you,” I said. “We just want to talk.”
The female looked over the male’s shoulder, torn with indecision. She said something, but he shook his head in denial. I felt like they were on the verge of surrendering when Franko and Yas rounded the corner of the church and stepped into view.
“There they are!” the alpha shouted and drew his gun.
The male lifted his hands defensively and Franko fired a shot. Yas pushed him as he pulled the trigger. His bullet just nicked the being on the arm rather than hitting him in the center of his chest. Face filling with rage, the male blasted energy at the alpha. Heath was sent tumbling across the backyard and slammed into the fence hard enough to daze him.
“Let them go,” Liam said as the pair turned and ran. He was wary now that we knew the beings had powers. The whole team had come running as soon as they’d heard the shot ring out. “I told you not to shoot, Agent Franko,” he said icily when the werewolf rejoined us. “Why did you ignore my order?”
“He lifted his hands in a threatening manner,” the rookie said defensively. “You saw what he can do. It was either him or me.”
“He was being defensive,” I said hotly, annoyed that he’d shot at someone who was terrified and was just trying to survive in an alien world.
“You could tell that just by looking at him, could you?” he asked sarcastically. His gun was still in his hand, but it was pointed at the ground.
“After eighteen years of suffering physical and emotional abuse from an evil witch, I’m an expert on what defensive and threatening behavior looks like,” I said flatly. “Or do you think I’m too young and stupid to know the difference?”
“I never said you were stupid,” Franko retorted.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said in a mock sweet tone. “I’m too young, sheltered and not wise enough,” I corrected myself. Yas snickered at his chagrined look, but I was too angry to laugh about it.
“Alex is right,” Nick said to back me up. “The alien wasn’t going to attack us. He defended himself against the douche nozzle.”
He hiked his thumb at Franko, who tightened his grip on his gun. “These things are clearly dangerous,” the alpha ground out. “We should be hunting them down and eradicating them rather than standing around talking like a bunch of old women!”
Liam eyed the rookie and shook his head at his attitude. “Emma, you know what to do,” he said.
The squirrel emerged from my backpack and launched herself at the alpha. Heath’s eyes widened, but he didn’t have time to sidestep her before she landed on his chest. The pair vanished into the ground, then my zombie returned alone a few moments later.
“Please tell me she took the alpha hole to Siberia,” Syd said, holding her hands up and crossing her fingers.
“Nope, she just took him back to the base,” I replied.
“Which one?” Brynn queried. “The one here or the one in Colorado?”
“The one here,” I said, making a face that we would have to deal with him when we headed back to the local compound.
Hearing shouts coming from the townsfolk, we realized they’d heard Franko’s gunshot. Another siren wailed as the sheriff came to see who was responsible.
“We can’t let the humans track the aliens,” Liam said, pointing at the silver blood that the wounded male had left behind. “Follow the trail, while Nick and I handle Sheriff Unwin.”
Doing as we’d been ordered, we followed the drops of blood, being sure to scuff dirt over them to hide them as we went. The beings had disappeared into the woods and had left few traces of themselves behind.
“He must have either healed, or covered his wound,” Sydney said when the blood trail petered out after a few hundred yards.
“I have a feeling they’re used to hiding from their enemies,” Brynn said as she peered around at the trees. “Their skin and clothes were filthy, so they’ve been living rough.”
“I wish I’d stopped Franko from shooting the guy,” Yas said.
“You couldn’t have prevented it, lass,” Crowmon figured. “The alpha was itching to shoot someone. You’re lucky you weren’t his target.”
“I almost hope he does try to shoot me,” the vampire said dourly. “It would give me an excuse to rid the world of his ego.”
“The twins are coming,” Syd said and we paused to let my brothers catch up.
“What did you tell the sheriff?” I asked Liam.
“The truth, that Agent Franko fired his weapon at one of the creatures,” our boss replied. “I told her they fled and we’ll keep searching for them.”
“She didn’t believe us when we said the aliens didn’t attack us first,” Nick added. “She wants them dead even more than the alpha hole does.”
“It isn’t going to be easy to track them,” Crowmon warned us. “They’re adept at hiding their trail and the magic that brought them here has already faded.”
“What should we do now?” Yas asked.
Liam thought about it, then gestured at the faint lights of the town that shone through the trees. “Let’s give them some time to recover. It’ll just scare them more if they think we’re hounding them. We’ll pick up the search again tomorrow.”
Emma took us back to the van. We all decided to stick together rather than most of us heading to the base straight away. Liam took the wheel and stopped at a fast-food restaurant for dinner. We weren’t allowed to eat in the van, so we had to sit at the outdoor tables. Yas watched us enviously, with Emma hiding in the backpack that was now slung over her shoulder. No one needed to say it out loud that it was nice not to be subjected to Agen
t Franko’s presence.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
HEATH HAD COOKED DINNER in our absence. He’d only made enough for himself, of course. The alpha was far too selfish to anticipate the needs of his teammates. Or maybe he’d guessed we’d eat before we returned to the base. He was shirtless and was taking out his frustrations on one of the punching bags when we filed in through the door to the hallway.
Ignoring the rookie when he glowered at us, I examined the new base. The furniture was different and the counters in the kitchen were made from gray quartz rather than white, but the building was comfortingly familiar.
It was a relief to see the thick metal bars on the doors. We didn’t have a skeletal herd to guard the building, but it was doubtful Killion would be able to track us here. Then again, Irene could scry for me using a bowl of water and some of my hair or fingernails. The charm bracelet Ms. Ettenberg had given me only stopped the witch from seeing through my eyes.
“Who wants coffee?” Syd asked. It had been three hours since she’d had one at the fast-food restaurant and she needed another hit of caffeine.
“Did you find the aliens?” Franko demanded after the werecougar received affirmative replies from everyone. She knew I preferred tea and grabbed a teabag from the cupboard. They must have gone shopping while I’d been driving the van to Landsby.
“I decided they’d been terrorized enough for one night,” Liam replied. “Suddenly finding themselves in a foreign world, being chased by humans and shot by an alpha werewolf is a lot to take in.”
Flushing at the rebuke, the newbie turned away and smashed his fist into the bag. “You don’t know what these things are capable of,” he said in annoyance. “They could be powerful enough to wipe out Landsby and everyone in it.”
“They aren’t,” Crowmon refuted lazily as he switched on the TV and settled onto the couch. “They don’t have enough juice to do much more than blast small holes in things.”
“How can you possibly know that?” Heath asked, spinning around to face him.
“That’s classified,” Liam said with a straight face. We all knew he was laughing at the rookie on the inside.
Snarling beneath his breath, Franko returned to trying to kill the punching bag. I knew his display was for my benefit. He wore low slung jeans that revealed the swell of his butt. While he had an attractive face and body, his personality was enough to turn me off.
I sat with my back to him, trusting Yas and Emma to keep their eyes on him. The squirrel was hunched on my shoulder, beady eyes trained on her enemy. Stealing her crystal figurine had been a bad move on his part. He’d become her number one nemesis now. He treated her like an unimportant underling without realizing how dangerous she could be. Thoughts of revenge swirled through her mind. She wanted to drag him into the ground so deeply that the pressure would crush him to death.
I stroked her soothingly, silently telling her we needed to follow Agent Steel’s orders. He didn’t want the alpha dead, so we would have to let him live.
Yasmine’s blue eyes were flat and deadly as she surreptitiously watched the alpha while he worked out. I knew she was just as keen as Emma to murder him. Neither of them wanted to get kicked off the squad, so they knew better than to disobey our orders.
After a couple of hours of watching TV, we all went to bed. I could feel Heath’s energy fluctuating in the room next to mine. He was chafing at having to follow orders, believing he should be in charge because of his status. “He might be an alpha, but he’s a lousy leader,” I said to Emma. The squirrel was curled into a ball next to me, already falling into the weird doze that was her version of sleep.
It took me a lot longer to doze off. When I did, my spirit separated from my body and I was drawn to the base where Jax was now living. The compound was in the opposite direction from Landsby, but it was about the same distance away from our base. I swept through the concrete barracks and passed through the door into Jax’s quarters. He lay on his back and was deeply asleep.
Drifting closer, I studied him in wistful longing. It wasn’t his fault that someone had wiped his memories of me, but it still hurt that he couldn’t remember me. I wasn’t sure if it was a blessing or a curse that I could never remember my dreams clearly when I woke up. My waking form only had a vague idea of what had happened to Agent Remington. My astral form remembered everything.
I leaned down to touch Jax on the shoulder and was immediately drawn into his dream. He was walking in the woods I’d seen once before. He looked at me, then smiled and took my hand. “I was hoping you’d show up again, Alex,” he said.
“Do you know where we are?” I asked. The witch who had wiped his memories of me had altered his recollection of his past as well. I was glad he’d remembered me. Maybe the spell didn’t work as well when he was sleeping.
He shook his head and stopped when we came to a creek. “I can’t recall ever being here before, yet it seems familiar,” he said, stroking the back of my hand with his thumb.
“You once told me you think you were born here,” I said.
He frowned and shook his head, yet I sensed he knew I was telling him the truth. I could feel his confusion through our weak bond. “Ever since you showed up in my dreams, I can’t stop thinking about you,” he said and turned to face me.
“Do you remember me when you’re awake?” I asked.
He shook his head regretfully. “I never remember my dreams anymore, but I know they’re about you.”
I didn’t pull away when he drew me to him. He put his arms around me and I leaned against him, feeling his desire through both his body and our bond. “I’m in Georgia,” I told him as he planted light kisses on my neck. “I’m only about three hours away from your base.”
“Are you going to visit me?” he asked, hands dipping down to my butt.
“Do you want me to?” I asked, rubbing myself against his hardness yearningly.
“Of course,” he said as the dream changed and we were suddenly standing in his cramped quarters. “I can’t wait to meet you in the flesh,” he said, then pressed his mouth to mine.
Lust flared and we tore each other’s clothes off. Pinning me down on his bed, he thrust into me and I let out a guttural moan that echoed around the room. Jax sat up and pulled my groin flush against his, then watched as he speared himself into me. Completely vulnerable in this position, I didn’t feel scared that he was in control of me. I lay back and wrapped my legs around him, reveling in the waves of ecstasy that were thrumming through me.
Jax’s eyes met mine and he smiled with such tenderness that tears came to my eyes. He was nothing like Franko. He didn’t want to conquer and control me. He only wanted to bring us both pleasure.
Watching him pounding himself into me while gently stroking my thighs sent me over the edge. I cried out as my legs tightened into a crushing grip. Jax laughed huskily at my reaction, then it was his turn to groan in pleasure. He threw his head back and called out my name when he reached his peak.
Lying down next to me, Jax rolled me onto my side so we could both fit onto his bed. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said as he ran his hand up and down my side.
“So am I,” I replied with a grin. “I can’t wait to do this in real life.”
“Is that alpha still bothering you?” he asked.
My mood darkened and I nodded. “He’s getting worse by the day.”
“Do you want me to shoot him for you?” he joked, but I felt his alarm and anger.
I shook my head. “Yas will be the one who’ll get rid of him.”
“Who’s Yas?” he asked blankly.
“She’s my best friend,” I replied, but I didn’t tell him she was a vampire. I had other things on my mind than talking about my teammates. So did he. We spent the rest of the night tangled in each other’s arms, wishing our time together was real rather than just a dream.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
FEELING REFRESHED AND waking with a smile on my face, I had fleeting memories of intense pleas
ure before my dream faded. I knew I’d been dreaming about Jax again, but I couldn’t remember what had happened.
Yas was standing at my door when I opened it. She pushed me back inside and glowered at me. “What’s going on?” she demanded, closing my door so we could talk in private.
“What do you mean?” I asked in confusion.
“You were having more sex dreams last night,” she said accusingly.
“I don’t remember them,” I said in embarrassed apology. “I have no idea who I was dreaming about.”
She gave me an incredulous look. “I’d bet a million bucks his name was Jaxson Remington,” she said almost scornfully.
“It isn’t my fault you can pick up on my emotions,” I said in self-defense.
“Yeah, it is, Alex,” she said with an eye roll. “You linked us together through your necromancy, remember?”
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” I said miserably.
“Is there any way you can block your emotions, so you don’t share your sex dreams with me?” she asked.
“How the hell would I know?” I retorted. “It’s not like there’s a necromancer manual for me to read.”
That made her snicker, which broke the tension. “Maybe you should talk to your...to Lexi,” she said, narrowly avoiding calling her my mom.
“I can’t,” I grumbled. “The spells will punish me if I see her.”
“You could try talking to her on the phone, or texting her,” my bestie suggested.
“I’d rather not have any contact with her at all,” I said with a grimace. All I’d known since meeting my family was pain and anguish. I knew I was better off now that I was no longer beneath Irene Dawson’s control, but my life wasn’t exactly a picnic.
“Too bad,” the vampire said in annoyance. “What do you think will happen when you get laid for real?” she asked. My eyes widened at what she was getting at. “That’s right,” she said with a nasty grin. “I’ll feel every orgasm you have and I’ll know exactly what you’re doing and when you’re doing it.”