The world was full of sick bastards.
Thankfully, nearly seventy of them were detained and no longer a threat, and almost twenty more were too dead to be an issue again. Those who were detained were being pumped for information in hopes of breaking up more trafficking rings.
One more thing PSI had on its plate. The list was never-ending.
The bust had taken down of a large number of bad men, but that didn’t minimize the damage the bad guys had done. The lives they’d already ruined. And it would never make things right for the victims. That was something he’d witnessed twenty years back. That trafficking ring had been one that focused on supernaturals as well—all women though. All seriously mistreated and most, by the time Corbin had gotten there, were in various stages of pregnancy that none had been willing participants in.
The memories of it all washed over him. One of the women who had been held captive and offered up for sale had been heavily pregnant. Corbin had burst into the small holding room she’d been in all those years ago and had nearly vomited at the state he’d found the young woman in. It had been uncovered later that she’d been first held in a breeding facility that he later found out had ties to the Asia Project, but at the time he’d been unaware of such overlap. The woman, who he took to calling Jane because her identity was never figured out, had been force bred and then sold on the black market to traders. Jane and her unborn child had been up for grabs. Available to whoever had the deepest pockets—no questions asked on what use the buyer had for them. Nothing.
By the time Corbin and his team had happened upon her and the others being held, the woman’s mind and spirit were long broken. He’d sat by Jane’s side while she lay in the infirmary under the watchful eyes of PSI doctors, a shell of herself. Corbin had even found himself holding the woman’s hand, though she didn’t acknowledge his existence. He hadn’t been able to walk away from her. A strange, almost feral need to oversee her condition had been all consuming. He’d been so obsessed with her child that someone had even asked if the child might have been his in some way. It wasn’t. He just had to see to the child’s safety. He couldn’t have explained it if he tried, so he’d not bothered trying. He’d not wanted to leave the pregnant woman’s side, but duty had called and he’d had no choice.
Upon his return he’d learned Jane had died during childbirth and that the baby girl she’d been carrying had been placed in a good home, with loving parents. He’d had to fight the need to demand the location, knowing it was for the best. He trusted that the man who had placed her—General Jack C. Newman, Director of PSI—wouldn’t have put the baby with someone he didn’t trust fully. Another mission had come up and it had been a welcome one. It had taken his need for answers from him.
That had been just over twenty years ago.
Yet the newest mission had brought it all to the surface again as if it were yesterday. His worry for the child that had been born long ago had hit him hard once more. He couldn’t shake the feeling from his head that he should be searching for her. That was absurd. She wasn’t a brand new baby in need of protection anymore. By his calculations she’d be nearly twenty-three years old by this point. And Jack would have told him if something bad had happened. If the closed adoption hadn’t worked out.
Jack had said nothing when he’d ordered Corbin and his men to head to the Middle East for the newest mission. Perhaps the similarities of the situation fell short on Jack. Corbin had been surprised when his team, in particular, had been deployed on the mission. They’d been handling hunting down bad guys affiliated with the Corporation, an evil catchall conglomerate that was like a hydra. They’d cut off one head, and two more would pop up. When the orders came for wheels up and to head to the Middle East, Corbin wasn’t sure what to make of it all. It hadn’t taken him and his men long to track and break up the ring. It wasn’t until they were on the flight home that the hows and the whys became apparent.
The newest ring had ties to the Corporation.
Corbin and James drew to the end of their kata and faced one another, the air to the room thickening with the pending conversation’s tone, though no words had been spoken. Laney, James’s mate and a gifted computer hacker, had been working on encrypted data the team had retrieved while in the Middle East. They’d been back nearly three days and she’d spent the first day giving James one hell of a welcome-home present and the next two assisting PSI’s analysts with cracking the encryption and decoding files. Nothing they had managed to decipher to date was good.
He waited for more bad news as he bent, grabbing his workout towel from his gym bag before putting it behind his neck. He held it with both hands as he faced his longtime friend. He wiped the sweat from his brow. “It’s late for you to still be here. Let me guess, Laney is lost in a sea of data mining again.”
James inclined his head. “She and Mercy are looking over some information on the Corporation that came through about an hour ago.”
Corbin hadn’t realized Duke Marlow’s wife had come in as well. It was apparently all hands on deck. “How was Duke with her being here?”
Duke was also a member of Corbin’s team. And the man tended to hate nearly everything. Everything but his mate Mercy.
“Not pleased, but when is he ever,” answered James with a shrug.
“Do I want to know what they’ve found?” Corbin asked, his British accent lighter than it had been when he’d first moved to the United Sates, but still very noticeable to others, or so he’d been told.
“No,” answered James softly, his brown hair longer than normal. His mate was helping James come out of his buttoned-up, prim and proper shell. Hopefully, James didn’t take it to Laney’s extreme. She was a Goth punk girl. Boomer was already Goth enough for the team. They didn’t need James going that way as well.
“How bad is it this time?”
James exhaled slowly, his large shoulders slumping. “We’ve found another ring, linked to the one we just busted. The girls found the tie by following some accounts the Corporation has set up. This ring is run stateside and it’s big. Really big. A small faction of it is local and they’ve already grabbed new merchandise.”
By merchandise Corbin knew James was referring to supernaturals for sale. It turned his gut. Criminals never ceased to surprise him with their cruelty. He’d been alive a long time and he’d never known a world without mad men, a world without violence, and he probably never would. Peace was something on greeting cards, not something that seemed obtainable. Not when there were sick people in the world who would do anything for a profit.
James continued, “The Corporation has been placing bids of some of the merchandise—turns out, its not them holding these people, but they want them. They want them bad. There are several that are up for auction right now that are hot commodities. Looks like the Corporation has some competition for them. I had the girls set up a dummy account with offshore funding in an attempt to outbid these assholes, but, boss, there is no way the girls are going to win. The backers for these guys are big. Really big and really motivated. I think we’re going to have to extract the women ourselves.”
Corbin’s body tensed. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear more, but knew he had to.
James rubbed the bridge of his nose. “From what Laney was able to find, the Corporation and the other big bidders want these women for breeding, and they’re hunting for male candidates to use in hybrid testing.”
“Bloody hell,” he said in a hushed whisper. His disdain of the Corporation grew daily. Did their horrors never end? They had been a thorn in his side for months now, and he was frustrated with PSI’s inability to get ahead of them. The Corporation’s reach was far and wide, and they were so much bigger than Corbin or the others could have predicted or imagined. It didn’t help that rogues had been uncovered, working within PSI, feeding the Corporation and their allies information. “Tell me we have some leads on the whereabouts of those being held.”
“The girls are trying,” replied James, reaching ou
t and touching Corbin’s shoulder lightly. “I wanted them to go home and rest, but they’re refusing. They’ve been at this all day and night now. I don’t want them stressed. It’s not good for their pregnancies.”
Corbin didn’t want Laney or Mercy taxing themselves or putting their health at risk. The information was important, but so were Laney and Mercy. “I’ll order them to go home.”
With a snort, James backed away. “Let me know how that works out for you. Duke has been trying, and even with all his bluster, they’re ignoring him. Last check, they had him grabbing printouts for them and some ice cream. He’s been reduced to a glorified errand boy. He’s bitching the entire time, but he’s doing it.”
It was amusing to see his friend now that he was mated. James had always been known as the one who came off as easygoing but had a wicked temper. Since mating to Laney, the alpha male seemed to only fear her wrath.
No other.
The same went for Duke and Mercy.
“We need to get you mated off,” said James sternly. “It’s about time you had a woman and some kids. You know matings tend to happen in clusters. Look at the I-Ops.”
Corbin was far too British to want to discuss his feelings. He wiped his face once more with the towel as the entrance to the training room darkened.
Chapter Four
Mae tried again to pry open the door between her and freedom. It was no use. She couldn’t budge the old, rusty, metal door. Each time it closed she winced, hearing the thud echo around the room, knowing the door was too thick to get through. And she’d heard the noise more times than she could count.
Turning, she surveyed what had become her reality—though just how many days, she wasn’t sure. It wasn’t very big. There were no windows to help mark the passage of time or to help her figure out where, exactly, she was being held. Screaming for help had done her no good. No one had answered. It had only left her voice hoarse with no fresh water to quench her thirst or ease the burn.
She pushed her glasses up more, thankful to have them again. They’d appeared next to the small bed in the cell when she’d woken earlier. Before that, she’d spent all her time trying to focus on who and what was happening. At least with the glasses she could see. Not that there was anything hopeful to look at.
With a groan of frustration, she sank to the floor, its texture rough and unforgiving, her back against the metal wall, her gaze locked on the door. The only contact she’d had with anyone lately had been by way of the small opening in the door through which someone had pushed something that was to pass as food and drink. She thumped her head against the wall and was surprised when a follow-up thump came from the other side of the wall. She twisted and tapped the wall again, crawling towards the small return air vent near the bottom of the wall. “Hello?”
A deep, low growl was the only response she got. It sounded as if someone had a caged tiger in the room next to her. She froze, fearful whatever it was would somehow magikally appear in with her. Stranger things had happened in her life.
There was a scuffle and then the sounds of a commotion coming from the other side of the wall. Shouts followed as well as threats to tranquilize the occupant should he not pull himself together. Mae swallowed hard. She’d been shot up with something that made her sleep for long periods more than once since her arrival. She didn’t wish that upon anyone.
The urge to sing nearly did her in. She knew better than to dare and she’d been sure to avoid speaking when the guards were around as often nerves left her talking in more of a song anyways. She didn’t want crazy and out of control on top of scary. Yet, she couldn’t seem to stop herself as she pressed her hand to the return air vent. She began to hum softly, hoping to help calm the person in the cell next to her. If it backfired, they’d be even more agitated. The only saving grace was that they weren’t in the same cell. A few minutes had passed before a large, male hand appeared against the other side of the vent, startling her. She stopped humming and jerked in place.
“No,” said a deep voice. “Don’t stop. It helps.”
She kept going for a while more, sensing him calming. When she drew to a stop, she leaned against the wall. “Are you okay?” she asked softly, keeping her hand in place.
“Better now,” he replied, his hand still there. “What did you do?”
A shaky laugh escaped her. “I’d tell you, but you wouldn’t believe me.”
“Oh, you’d be shocked at what I’m willing to believe.”
The walls of the cells were thick and the vent was small. She couldn’t have fit through it if she wanted, not that she wanted to, considering how scary the man had sounded only moments before.
“Got a name?” he asked, the hard edge leaving his voice.
“Mae. And you?”
“Brad.”
They didn’t talk for a spell, but both left their hands against the vents. After a while there was a loud noise, and she eased to her feet. The metal in the wall between her holding room and Brad’s drew back in the center, revealing a large, glass window. She found a man standing there in a thin pair of what looked to be hospital-issue bottoms, the kind a doctor or nurse would wear. His dark hair was just past his shoulders and looked unkempt. He had a face full of hair and looked like a wild man. He was big, yet it was clear to see he was malnourished.
His dark gaze locked on her and he glanced around the room wildly. “What is it this time? I’m not going to hurt her. You can’t make me.”
Mae squeaked as she realized he must be Brad. She got the sense he wasn’t speaking to her.
There was a clicking noise and then a voice came from above, leaving Mae turning in a circle trying to figure out where the intercom system was. “We thought you might like a look at your new breeding partner.”
Mae cupped her mouth. His new what?
Brad growled, and she watched as his dark eyes went from nearly black to ice blue. “No. I haven’t bred any of the women you’ve put me in with before. I won’t with this one either.”
“You will,” said the voice from above, sending chills down Mae’s spine. “Soon neither of you will be able to resist the drugs we’ve been administering to you both.”
Brad snarled. “I’ve resisted them just fine all this time, dickwad. I’m not hurting the girl. Period.”
“You’ll fuck her, or you’ll eat her,” said the man over the sound system. “Either will amuse me. Agree or I’ll hold your food and force a change. Will your shifter side be so willing to forego fresh meat?”
Brad’s gaze whipped to her, and he took a step back from the window.
Shifter?
She didn’t want to guess what kind. Unless he shifted into a hamster, she knew it wouldn’t end in her favor. Tears she’d done her best to hold back burst free from her. Brad moved to the window, placing his hand upon it. Mae went to the glass and put her palm to it, feeling a strange bond to him, though she couldn’t figure out why. Maybe it was because he was the first person other than guards she’d seen since being grabbed. Whatever the reason, she felt a connection to him.
“I won’t hurt you,” he said loud enough for her to hear through the shared vent between their rooms.
The slot on the cell door opened and a tray of food appeared through it as had been the case multiple times before. She was hungry and thirsty, but each time she ate and drank anything given to her, she felt ill and tired. She saw through the thick glass that a tray appeared in Brad’s cell as well.
He glanced at it and then shook his head, his gaze landing on her. Was he trying to tell her not to eat from it?
A lone tear trickled down her cheek, and Brad offered a sympathetic look. There was the slightest of clicking from above, and then Brad spoke once more, “The food is laced with drugs that keep us somewhat sedated and sometimes with things that make us want to have sex. I’m guessing something to help make sure you end up with child too.”
“What?” she gasped. “Why? Where are we? Who is holding us? What do they want?”
> He exhaled, looking tired. The dark circles under his eyes said he didn’t sleep much. She wondered if she had matching ones. “I don’t really know who has us. I get moved around a lot. One of the places I was at got raided. I thought, at first, it was the good guys coming to save the day. It wasn’t. I’ve been with this group now for a few weeks. I don’t know for certain, but I may have been with the others for months—possibly a year now. I honestly couldn’t tell you. I’ve sort of lost track of time.”
She shook her head. He’d been held for months?
“They got me on a trip to South America. You?” he asked.
“Leaving the Student Union on my campus,” she confessed. Mae had been at the Union waiting for Corbin, who never showed. After giving him an hour, she’d prepared to call Alice when she realized she’d done as Alice had feared, she’d left her cell phone back in the dorm room. Mae had set it down with the intent to apply the lipstick Alice insisted on. She’d remembered the lipstick but not the phone.
Mae forgot a lot of things. Her adoptive father said she lived her life with her head in the clouds, and he thought that was wonderful, always encouraging her to continue to see beauty in all things. And she did—at least until she’d been grabbed leaving the Union.
Had her blind date not stood her up, she would have been out with him and not even near the Union. Nowhere near the creeps who had snatched her shortly after leaving the building. Their grip had been unlike anything she’d experienced before.
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