“Could we stop you?” Mason asked.
“You could try. I wouldn’t recommend it.”
The smile he directed at them was fierce and cold. Brax leaned back in his chair and considered his choices. He could cause problems with his mate by refusing to deal with her brother or he could use Carter to his advantage. If that was ruthless, who the fuck cared? He had more to concern himself with than anyone’s tender sensibilities. Well, except maybe Esme’s.
“Have a seat,” Brax invited.
“Who did you tell about the testing?”
“No one.” He held up a hand before Brax or Mason could try to reword that question. “I didn’t tell anyone and Esme came to my apartment to draw the blood.”
Brax scowled. “She’s a researcher.”
“With a medical degree.” Carter smirked. “Not very thorough are you, Lee? Missed me. Missed some of her education.”
Mason cleared his throat. “I was getting to that, Brax.”
Too damned late, and her background could wait a minute. “Someone let information about that DNA test slip.”
Carter shook his head. “Not us. We would never betray each other. And neither one of us would tolerate betrayal from a friend. Things would get bloody. She may look small and helpless, but she isn’t.”
“Shit,” Brax muttered. He could see the man’s conviction and it made him curious as hell about Esme’s childhood. That kind of sibling devotion came from somewhere. He had a bad feeling when he did discover their history it would be ugly enough to put him in a killing frame of mind. “We have a totally unknown element at play, then.”
Carter nodded thoughtfully. “She has several lab assistants. She started the tests when no one was there, but she probably left a couple times to eat or whatever.”
Mason shook his head. “That building is keycard access only. None of her techs were there yesterday.”
Carter snorted. “Those cards aren’t hard to obtain, man. Find the popular watering hole, get the right person drunk, you can get in the building and they won’t remember how they lost it.”
Mason was right. They needed to hire Carter Owens. “Want a job?” he asked dryly.
Carter watched him several long minutes before cocking an eyebrow. “I am between employers at the moment.”
His casual acceptance made Brax suspicious. “Why so easy?”
“I made a few calls before I came down,” Carter said with a cold smile. “My contacts say you’re clean and your businesses are completely aboveboard. And my sister is convinced the help Kaden needs is here.” He paused for a breath, and Brax knew his next words would be threatening.
“But?” he prodded.
“If you cause my family any harm, I’ll bury you so deep no one will ever find you.”
Brax didn’t appreciate being threatened, but he had to admire the man’s balls and loyalty.
“Fair enough,” he ground out, knowing he’d be an idiot to turn away a man with Carter’s skills just because he was aggravating. He jerked his chin at Mason. “Meet your new boss. Director of security.”
“Fine.” Carter leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees to meet Mason’s gaze. “We need a complete list of every card used yesterday. Once we narrow the who, we can figure out how they knew about her tests. Almost no one knows we’re brother and sister, and even fewer people know I have a son. My name is on his birth certificate, though. Florida birth records aren’t public record, but if you could get a copy of his mother’s, Jamie’s, driver’s license you could mail a request for a copy.”
“You think someone already knew he was Elect and didn’t want it discovered.”
Carter shrugged. “Ask Esme. He’s been sick off and on since he was born. No one could ever figure out what was wrong and never bothered to do genetic tests? A boy that age, that small, hospitalized over and over again for some mysterious disease? You think that’s really plausible?”
“I sure as hell don’t.”
They all turned to the door. Damn, he needed to shut that thing more often. Rose Esposito, as brilliant as Zach and a hell of a lot easier on the eyes, waited expectantly. Brax waved her in.
“It’s five in the morning, Rose.”
“Yes it is, Brax,” she said patiently. Like he was a dimwitted child. He ground his teeth together. She always had to be a pain in the ass.
“I’m not in the mood, brat.”
Her expression didn’t change, but she took pity on him. “I just got in. Zach has to sleep sometime, and losing a couple hours sleep won’t kill me.”
She turned to their newcomer. “Carter Owens?”
He nodded and Brax bit back a grin at the look on his face. A combination of fascination and wariness. Rose had that effect on people. Hell, most Elect females did.
“Can anyone join this party?” Esme drawled from the doorway.
“Your brother asked the same thing.” He smiled and crooked his finger at her as he stood. “Come here, baby.”
She’d put on her jeans and his T-shirt. He’d prefer her in just the shirt, but there were too damned many curious eyes for that, even if it did fall to the middle of her thighs. Hell, it was longer than Rose’s dress. Her expression was carefully bland as she came to him, her mind mostly controlled, but he could feel a hint of curiosity. Excitement. He pulled her close, ignoring her brother’s disapproving scowl, and kissed her.
“You should be in bed,” he whispered against her ear.
She shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“I didn’t say anything about sleeping. ”
When she twisted and moved out of his arms her pelvis brushed against his. It was just a moment, but it was all he could do not moan as she bumped his erection. Her gaze jerked up to meet his, shock and heat, lighting them.
“Can I do that too? ” She mentally directed the question at him.
“Angel, that’s all for you.”
“That’s not what I meant, but it does answer the question,” she said.
Her prim tone didn’t have the desired effect. He was even harder hearing it. Suddenly, nothing was more important than getting this meeting over and her back upstairs to their room. She leaned against the edge of his desk, and he resumed his seat.
“Okay, you two get with Gabe. Get a list of all the doctors Kaden has seen and verify none ordered any genetic testing on him.” He held his hand when Rose started to protest. “Or verify that they did. It didn’t come through one of our labs.”
“I wondered about that,” Esme mused. “Assuming he was tested by an independent lab, then of course there are people who know about us. Why wait to make a move now?”
“The situation changed with my return,” Carter answered.
Brax agreed. “Yes. So what’s different about the boy living with you and not his mother?”
Carter’s eyes narrowed. “Two things. They had him with a foster family for the few days it took me to get here. And I changed his doctor when I realized how long this had been going on.”
“Access.” Esme took a shuddering breath and Brax wanted to wrap himself around her to protect her from the horrors of what they were suggesting. “If her death wasn’t an accident, then someone killed her thinking no one would come forward to claim Kaden.” She turned haunted eyes to her brother. “It would easy to control him or take him. He wouldn’t have had anyone to protect him.
“But he does,” Carter answered her softly. “He has me and he has you.”
“He has all of us,” Brax interjected.
Carter met his determined gaze with one of his own and nodded before turning back to Mason. “You get that list. I’m going to have a little personal chat with his former doctor.”
“I’m going with you,” Esme said, succeeding in getting out of Brax’s embrace.
“No, you aren’t,” he and her brother chorused.
She pinned her brother with a look that could flay a man alive then turned it on him. “The goon squad came after me, remember? Trashed my lab. T
here’s no telling what they did to my condo. We need to go there, by the way,” she told her brother.
He heaved a put upon sigh and nodded. Damn traitor, Brax thought. He’d been sure Carter could be counted on to help protect Esme. He didn’t expect the guy to rush into danger with her.
“Esme,” Brax said, and her focus returned to him.
That was more like it. Or would have been if the gaze raking over him wasn’t angry and pained. Shit. No wonder her brother gave in to her. He stood and held his hand out to her, breathing a sigh of relief when she took it and let him pull her close.
“You stay right by me. I don’t want you farther than an arm’s length at any time.”
He met Mason’s incredulous gaze over the top of her head. His old friend and security chief couldn’t believe he was allowing his mate to go confront the man who was possibly behind an attempt on her life. Hell, he couldn’t believe it. But he also couldn’t stand the hurt in her eyes, couldn’t do anything that would jeopardize her trust in him and his ability to take care of her.
“We should go now,” Carter said. “I want to catch him unprepared.” He looked at his watch. “It’s Sunday morning, so he probably isn’t up yet. Esme, I really need you here when Kaden wakes up.”
It almost worked. Brax saw the indecision cross her face a moment before she bit her bottom lip and shook her head. “Zach and Rose are here. They’ll keep an eye on him.”
“You and Rose know each other?” Brax asked. They hadn’t acknowledged each other when she came in.
“Genetics researchers. Small world.”
Esme gave him a distracted smile. He could feel her pulling away from him, trying to distance herself. He’d give her a little room, but he wouldn’t let her escape him long.
Chapter Four
She insisted on riding with Carter in his car while Brax took his SUV with the others. She needed time to think and she couldn’t do that with Brax filling her senses, physical and mental. Things were happening much too fast. The discovery of more people like her. The man trying to insinuate his way into her life. She fought the shivers threatening to overtake her body as Carter drove down the highway like a bat out of hell. She glanced in the car’s side window. The SUV behind them easily kept up.
“It’s pointless trying to outrun them. We have to go back to their compound for Kaden,” she reminded him.
He made the snorting, half laugh sound she knew well. He was frustrated and approaching the end of his patience. “I know. I think they’re being up front with us, mostly, but I still don’t like this setup. We get Kaden well, and then we disappear, Esme. If,” he took a deep breath, “someone is hunting our species, all of us gathered here together is one big fat target.”
“Agreed.”
She ignored the funny little catch in her heart. The safety and protection of her family came before her desire to wrap her body around Brax’s again. As tempting as he was, as much as she wished she could trust him, it was too soon. There were things about the Elect he was keeping from her, she knew. She wasn’t so worried about that though. In time she’d figure it out on her own. But she sensed his intentions toward her. His determination to possess her. To take her over. It scared the hell out of her. She didn’t know how to belong with someone like that.
Carter turned the lights out as they turned onto the pediatrician’s street. It was just after six in the morning. Despite the deceptively mild weather, it was winter, still dark and quiet. It was in an old, charming neighborhood, neat little Craftsman bungalows lined up in yard after yard of well-manicured lawns. They parked a few houses down and got out. She looked around slowly, trying to see into the shadows.
“You feel that?” she asked her brother softly.
He nodded. Someone was out there in the dark. Watching, waiting. She realized Brax felt the same disturbance as she watched him exit his vehicle and look around. He spoke to the two men who got out of the backseat. They disappeared into the trees, she presumed to search for the person watching for them.
“Think they’re trying to flush him out or run him off? ” she asked her brother.
He grinned. “I think you’ve got that man so confused he ordered them to do both.”
She punched him in the arm, hiding a moment of amusement behind a scowl. Then Mason and Brax joined them and she turned her focus back to the danger they were trying to identify. Brax looked like he wanted to protest when Carter handed her a pistol, but he kept his mouth shut.
She winked. “Don’t worry,” she whispered. “I know how to use it.”
“You two go around back,” Carter ordered. “Esme and I will take the front.”
“No. She stays with me.”
Brax moved close, crowding her and glowering at her brother. She gritted her teeth. Damn posturing males. It was a miracle testosterone hadn’t ruined the world. Brax pressed his hand to the small of her back, a proprietary move that should not have made her shiver. So maybe testosterone had one redeeming feature.
“Give me your kit. We’ll go in through the back, secure Dr. Franklin, then let you in,” Esme told her brother.
“I don’t like you being involved in this,” Carter said, but he handed over the slim, black fabric case anyway.
She gave him a cocky grin and set off down the street, cutting between two houses to approach from the back. Brax stayed right on her heels, radiating anger and aggression, then incredulity when they stopped outside the backdoor and she picked the locks.
“Why do you know how to do that, baby?”
She grinned at him. “Let’s just say my teenage years were colorful.”
She’d been bored, too smart for her own good, and rarely supervised. Falling into the wrong crowd was inevitable, and the adrenalin rush was addictive. It was only when her younger brother started to follow in her footsteps that she’d changed her path and forced him to do the same. They definitely weren’t her proudest years, but she kind of missed the excitement.
She slid the slim tools back in their case and opened the door. Brax smoothly cut in front of her and entered first. She figured arguing the move would be pushing her luck. Besides, she knew as soon as she opened her senses and peered inside there was nothing to protect her from. Nothing alive, at least.
Brax headed to the front door, but she veered off down the hall, checking out the rooms. She found him in his office, leaning back in a chair with a bullet hole between his eyes. An autopsy would give them time of death, but she trusted her senses more. Franklin had been dead about ten hours. She looked around the room, noting the wine glasses on the desk and the general disarray.
“What do you think?” Carter asked softly behind her.
“He knew his killer. And I’d bet he took anything we might find useful.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, coming farther into the room while Brax and Mason stood just inside the door. “No computer.”
She shook her head and moved behind the desk to check the drawers. Brax came inside and checked the opposite side. He pulled out a sheaf of papers and flipped through them.
“Bills. Nothing unusual.”
“We need to check his office. He probably wouldn’t keep medical files here, and if he did, his killer took them,” Esme said.
She arched an eyebrow, questioning as Brax pulled some of the bills free, folded them, and stuck them in his shirt pocket. “Phone records.”
Right. Franklin likely had been in contact with the people who’d tracked her, either by phone or email.
“I want to go to my condo first. I need fresh clothes.”
“I’ll take you. Mason and Carter can go on to the office.”
She bit her lip, trying to guess from his expression if Brax was going to insist. She wasn’t ashamed to admit she was afraid to be alone with him. The draw between them was too intense, the attraction too sharp. She needed time to process it all before she decided if she would stay or not. That she was even considering that after agreeing to Carter’s plan to leave confirmed her fears.
Damn. How should she deal with him? She couldn’t let him think he could order and she’d obey his every command. And he had the look of a man used to command. If she refused, he’d insist. It was clear on his face, in what he allowed her to see of his mind. Then Carter would get involved. It could get ugly, so instead of telling him to take a flying leap as she was tempted to, she nodded.
“You’re sure?” Carter stared at her.
“Esme? I don’t think you should be alone with him, sweetheart”.
“I’ll be fine ”
“He’ll seduce you. He’ll keep you and make you believe it was your idea. ”
“We have a plan, Carter. I won’t forget it”.
“I’ll be fine, Carter.”
“Sure about that?”
At her side, Brax growled and his hand tightened around her waist. “I would never hurt her and I think you know it.”
Carter gave him his fierce warrior look, and Esme barely managed to not roll her eyes. “We’ll meet you at the office.”
She turned and left by the back door without saying another word to her brother or Brax. Let them beat their chests and threaten each other. No skin off her back. But they all followed her, Mason bringing up the rear and relocking the door. Carter tossed her the car keys, and they went their separate ways.
Her condo was only a few minutes away, but it was a tense, quiet ride, and she regretted splitting apart from her brother. She’d been right about being alone with Brax. He was huge in the interior of her brother’s car, a common four-door that had never felt small before. And it wasn’t just his physical size that was overwhelming. He radiated a calm resolve that made her teeth ache and her heart pound with trepidation. He wanted her to know he had no intention of letting her go. That he’d fight to keep her.
She was so on edge, her senses so jacked up, that each block closer to her home brought an additional dose of unease. She knew something was wrong before she turned the corner. She slammed on the brakes, not that she could have gone any farther.
“Jesus,” Brax muttered. “Get us out of here, Esme.”
She stared at him in astonishment. She needed to get closer, not farther. “That’s my building. It’s on fire.”
Protector: The Elect, Book 1 Page 5