Strength & Power: Dark Paranormal Tattoo Taboo Romance (The Chronicles of Kerrigan Book 10)

by W. J. May

  Another chill ran up Rae’s spine. He knew who Angel was. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind. But again—how? Did the PC have a list of Cromfield’s people? Or a possible list of those he’d abducted? That wouldn’t be too far-fetched. Lists of missing children were kept all the time in the real world; what’s to say the PC didn’t have a list? Surely Angel and Gabriel had been taken, not donated? What about Kraigan? Rae knew she was getting off topic, but how had Kraigan not been taken by Cromfield if her father knew about him?

  She shook her head. Focus, Rae. Mallins is just waiting for you to screw up. They’d been incredibly careful. No one outside Carter, Beth, and their tiny group of friends had any idea as to Angel’s real identity. And yet, somehow this man did.

  Julian seemed to agree with Rae’s thoughts, too, because he looked like he was having a mild heart attack.

  Calm down, Rae instructed mentally. Don’t give him what he wants.

  Together, the three of them braced for whatever was going to come next—but it appeared that Victor was done with his little show.

  Without so much as a glance behind, he turned and headed down the walkway to his car. “Grab your coat, Miss Kerrigan,” he called over his shoulder. “I’ll be waiting.”

  The door slammed shut, and the three of them turned to each other in panic.

  “That?!” Rae demanded, turning to her psychic friend. “You didn’t see that coming?!”

  For the second time that morning, Julian gestured to his towel with frustration.

  “I told you, I’ve been a little preoccupied.”

  “That’s it.” She shook her head disapprovingly. “No more sex for you.”

  Angel ignored them and took a step away from the door, shifting her weight nervously. “Was that who I think it was?”

  “Victor Mallins,” Rae confirmed, shaking her head at the prospect of a forty-minute car ride with him out of the city. She wouldn’t put it at all past him to simply dump her body somewhere in the rolling English hills. “And yes. He’s that charming all the time.”

  “How the hell did he even know you were here?” Julian murmured, scanning discreetly out the window. A dark town car sat idling impatiently by the side of the curb.

  “I don’t know,” Rae answered, “but right now I think that’s the least of our problems.” She and Julian locked their eyes on Angel at the same time.

  Angel glanced again outside but shook her head, physically calming down. After almost two decades of living in an underground cave with Jonathon Cromfield, it would take more than a morning visit with Victor Mallins to apparently rattle her now. “I’ll be fine. I mean—he knows me, that’s pretty obvious—but if he wanted to do something about it, it would have happened by now.”

  “What if that’s not true?” Julian’s voice dropped an octave as he stared at her fearfully. “What if he’s just waiting for the right moment to make his move?” His face tightened painfully, and he slowly shook his head. “Angel, maybe we should think about—”

  “No,” she cut him off. “I’m not going into hiding again, so don’t even mention it. I couldn’t care less about the Privy Council. I’m staying right here with you.”

  “You might not care about the PC, but that doesn’t mean that they’ve stopped caring about you,” he insisted urgently. “If Mallins knows that you were Cromfield’s lieutenant—that’s treason right there. A man like him wouldn’t just let something like that go. It doesn’t matter if Carter personally pardoned you or not; it’s a matter for the—”

  “It’s a matter for another time,” Rae interrupted, glancing anxiously out the window as the car honked its horn. “I’ll try to poke around and find out what Mallins knows, but in the meantime, just stay calm. Angel, keep your head down, and Jules…just stay with her, I guess. Now that you know who to keep an eye on, you’ll be able to see if anything’s coming.”

  She needn’t have added this last part. Judging from the expression on his face, there was no way in heaven or hell Julian was letting Angel out of his sight.

  “And what about you?” he asked quietly.

  “Me?” Rae repeated, trying and failing to sound cheerful. “Looks like I just got a free ride to Guilder.”

  * *

  That ‘free ride’ to Guilder turned out to have certain strings attached. Forty minutes later, Rae was seriously considering jumping from the car and just running the rest of the way. She’d risk using Jennifer’s or Devon’s tatù just to get away from the man beside her.

  “I hope it’s not too cold for you,” Victor said unsympathetically. “I prefer to keep the thermostat around forty-five. Keeps people sharp.”

  Rae forced her glare into a smile, and made a conscious effort to stop shivering. She was still in her little jogging outfit, and the thin material was doing nothing to shield her from the unforgiving air conditioning. “Not at all. I like it cold.”

  His lips turned up in a grin. “But of course. I’m sure you’ve picked up some temperature-regulating tatù over the years. I would imagine it would take quite a lot to get under your skin.”

  Quite a lot to get under my skin? What the hell is that supposed to mean?!

  Chafing against his odd choice of words, Rae discreetly scooted as far away in her seat as possible and stared out the window, offering only a bland, “Mmm-hmm.”

  However, Mallins wasn’t going to let her opt out of his little game so easily. He had carefully maneuvered it so that they would share a car ride—and he wasn’t nearly finished yet. “So,” he continued innocuously, “why is it that you were going to Guilder today?”

  Her head snapped up to lock eyes with him for a moment before she leaned back against the leather seat with an air of innocence to match his own. “No particular reason. Just missed the campus. It’s been a while. And I still have friends there.”

  “That’s right.” He pretended to be surprised; Rae had no problem detecting the mockery in his voice. “You were a mentor in your final year. I suppose there are still those at Guilder who feel a certain kinship to you.”

  Again with the cryptic passive aggression! Just say what you mean, creep!

  He smoothed a non-existent wrinkle from his starched collar. “Rather strange, really.”

  Her eyes narrowed the slightest degree before she asked just as casually, “What is?”

  “Just that you would be put in a position of authority over children still in their formative years. A Kerrigan,” he answered with no pretense. “I suppose it was Carter who approved it.”

  Rae bristled, and for a moment she dropped her cool façade. “Yes, it was President Carter who suggested that I mentor. And yes, I did form a kinship with those kids. I’d like to think it was a good partnership for everyone involved. I got my community service hours to graduate, and they got hands-on help figuring out their new ink. Win-win.”

  Mallins’ dark eyes zeroed in on her like a pair of black holes, sucking away all hope and chance of happiness. “Well it was certainly a win for you, wasn’t it, Miss Kerrigan? All those new abilities. I suppose you’d leap at an opportunity such as that.”

  A wave of bile rose up in her throat, but she swallowed it down. “I don’t know exactly what you’re insinuating—”

  But just then, a security guard tapped on the glass and Rae jumped in her seat. She hadn’t realized how far they’d gotten. They were now stopped at the gates of Guilder.

  “Morning, Mr. Mallins,” the guard said routinely. “Just one guest with you today?”

  The first thing Rae noticed about the man was the heavy firearm strapped in a holster at his hip. The standard PC taser was not far behind. The second thing was the fact that the guard was there at all. She didn’t remember there being active security at the gates when she was going to Guilder. Her eyes drifted past him to an official check-point bunker right behind. When had this stuff gotten here? It looked like the school was gearing up for battle or some kind of siege.

  “Yes, Ethan, just the one guest.” Mallins turned to R
ae with those same expressionless eyes as they were waved forward. “The very thing that brings me to the reason I brought you here today, Miss Kerrigan.”

  “Yeah,” she shifted nervously as the familiar scenery flew by, “what’s that?”

  “To find out if you are indeed still a guest, or if you’ve decided to accept the Privy Council’s offer of employment. I’m sure this will come as no shock to you, but we aren’t exactly accustomed to waiting for a reply…”

  Are you a guest, or are you an agent?

  Question of the day. And he wanted a split-second reply.

  Rae stared at him for a second, mind racing, before all of a sudden it hit her. The solution to all her immediate problems. The ‘in’ that she and Julian had been looking for.

  She wanted to research the workings of the Privy Council? She wanted to troll around in their databases, searching for the answers she was aching to know?

  Well, what better way to get inside than by open invitation?

  A glowing smile stretched across her face, as she stared back evenly across the car. “I’m afraid you’re not going to like my answer…”

  A muscle in Mallins’ temple twitched with frustration, but other than that he remained in a state of perfect calm. “You’ve decided to accept, then?”

  “I’ve decided to accept.”

  It was so simple, she was surprised it hadn’t occurred to her earlier.

  “To be an agent once more?”

  “Yes, to be an agent.” She was finding it nearly impossible to stifle her grin. The more times she reiterated her decision, the redder Mallins’ face seemed to become.

  Yet when he spoke, his voice was as dry and cracked and unreadable as ever. “I suspected as much. In fact, it’s the reason I offered you a ride. It gave me the chance to kill two birds with one stone.”

  Rae had never particularly liked that phrase, and it seemed particularly ominous coming from Mallins’ mouth now. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  He glanced at her blandly as their driver pulled into a parking spot near the Oratory. “Well, as an agent of the Privy Council, you’ll be reporting directly to me.” He paused long enough to let the chilling ramifications of that statement sink in before continuing. “And I’ve never been one to waste time. Now that you’re officially employed once more by the PC, I brought you here to brief you on your first mission.”

  Rae blinked. Her first mission? She’d just signed on again—what—two seconds ago? And he already had her first mission in mind?

  She had been hoping to get a little time at Guilder, enough time to formulate a plan. She and Julian would still probably have enough friends and access to get into the main computer system, and a general search was all she’d really need. Just two simple names… and all the mysterious, incriminating information that came along with them.

  “You already have a mission picked out?” she couldn’t help but ask, stalling as she was struck by a sudden wave of nerves as to what it might be. By the way he was looking at her now, she wouldn’t be surprised if it had some serious kamikaze overtones.

  “Oh yes. As I said, I anticipated your eventual re-employment.”

  “You certainly did,” Rae muttered, following as he slipped out of the car and stepped out into the bright summer sun. “You also happened to know that I was planning on heading over here today, and that I’d be at Julian and Devon’s new house.” She let it hang between them, but he didn’t reply. But she matched his pace as he headed into the Oratory, refusing to let him off the hook. “How is that exactly, sir? Or do I need to touch you to find out?” she pressured.

  There was a raspy, wheezing sound that took her a minute to identify as a chuckle.

  “Oh, Miss Kerrigan, what kind of President would I be if I didn’t keep a close eye on all of my assets?” He stopped so suddenly she almost ran into him. “And you are one of my assets now, are you not?”

  The Oratory door shut loudly behind her, and she jumped in her skin.

  “All of you are,” he continued softly. “You, Devon Wardell, Julian, and Molly. Your whole merry little band. You all work for me now.”

  Rae jutted up her chin, unable to keep the blatant defiance from her face. “I don’t know about Julian and Molly. They’re still thinking it over.”

  Again, Mallins chuckled. “Why, Miss Kerrigan, I’m afraid you’re behind the times. Both Mr. Decker and Miss Skye have already been officially reinstated. Mr. Decker was just this very morning.”

  Rae resisted the urge to roll her eyes, thoroughly unimpressed. Of course Julian signed up this morning. He had probably seen her signing up this afternoon, had guessed what she was up to, and made a quick phone call to follow suit.

  Molly was a different story. Why the hell hadn’t she mentioned she had signed back up with the PC? It wasn’t exactly the kind of thing you kept to yourself.

  The last time they’d talked about it, her best friend had seemed almost as reluctant as her. In fact, the only one who had been excited about the PC’s offer had been Devon. None of the rest of them were as easy to convince and so quick to believe once again in the system. After all, why should they be? That very system had failed them and the hybrids they were trying to save, in more ways than Rae could imagine.

  “Well, I’m happy to hear it,” she said, disconcerted but hiding it well. “Now that we’re all on the same team again, maybe we can put this whole summer behind us and get started on something new.”

  Again, Mallins’ face twisted up into a rather frightening smile—wrinkled with age and malice. “I couldn’t agree more. In fact,” he slipped through a side doorway and led her down a darkened hall to a waiting room, “I was hoping to introduce you to your new partner.”

  He pulled open the door and the tall man waiting in the corner turned around.

  “Or should I say, your old partner.”

  Chapter 6

  Rae spoke without thinking, her surprise getting the better of her. “Devon?”

  He stood, just as shocked as she was, looking like he, too, had been similarly yanked from his morning plans and ushered here instead. “What’re you doing here?” he asked curiously. “I thought I was meeting my—”

  “I thought you were debriefing the Collins case,” Rae interrupted, echoing his words to Julian just an hour before.

  “No,” it was Victor who answered, as he paced behind his desk, “Mr. Wardell was in the library. Somewhere you could stand to go more often, Miss Kerrigan. Our minds need training just like our bodies if we want to keep them sharp.”

  Devon rolled his eyes and flashed her a small smile behind Mallins’ back.

  Rae stared, unsure and troubled. Not about Mallins, but about Devon. What was so embarrassing about the library? Why would he feel the need to cover it up?

  Julian knew he was lying… She put it together in her next breath. This isn’t the first time this has happened. Julian already knew he wasn’t telling the truth. Her blue eyes narrowed slightly as she stared back into his. She was surprised once again to see that he was looking at her with a similar distrust.

  Probably wondering why the hell I’m here at Guilder with Mallins when I repeatedly said it was the last place on earth I wanted to be. My surprise trip to NYC probably didn’t help either.

  “You finish jogging already?” he asked softly, gesturing down to her athletic clothes.

  Her skin flushed light pink, but she stared back evenly. “About as quickly as you finished up with the Collins case. In the library.”

  “That’s neither here nor there,” Mallins interrupted, willfully oblivious to the tension emanating between the two teenagers. “I brought you two here to brief you on your next mission.”

  There was a brief pause and then—

  “Wait—what?!” Rae exclaimed, looking at Devon like she’d never seen him before. “Devon’s going to be my new partner?”

  Devon looked just as distressed as her, turning in supplication to Mallins. “Sir, after everything that’s happ
ened, I really think that we should probably be paired with different—”

  “Excuse me?!” Rae cut him off, mid-complaint, stunned to hear that he was trying to get rid of her, blatantly ignoring the fact that she was trying to do the same. “Oh, I’m sorry, Dev, I didn’t realize I was no longer up to your standards.”

  His eyes flicked momentarily to Mallins before he turned back to her, forgetting himself as well. “That’s not what this is about, and you know it. Do you really think that you and I are in the best position right now to work as partners? I can’t think of anything worse.”

  “Than working with me?” Rae put her hands on her hips with a dark scowl. “You can’t think of anything worse than working with me?”

  “Oh come on! Like you want to work with me?”

  “Actually, I absolutely don’t,” she hissed, “but that’s not the same thing!”

  He threw up his hands. “How’s it not the same thing?!”

  A throat cleared loudly between them, and they both turned to see Mallins watching them with a bland smile. “Then it’s a good thing it isn’t up to either of you, isn’t it?”

  “Sir,” Devon tried again, lowering his voice beseechingly, “there has to be someone else you can pair us with. I could go back with Julian, and Rae could start working with Molly—”

  “Mr. Wardell, I made these assignments myself. Let me assure you, they are final.” He glared at Devon over the top of his spectacles. “Furthermore, I have to say that I’m surprised at your behavior. Not only do you and Miss Kerrigan already have a working relationship to fall back on, but I was told to expect more from you. This level of insubordination is beneath you.”

  If he’d slapped Devon, it couldn’t have stung more.

  His tan skin turned a particular shade of crimson before he fell back a step, bowing his head respectfully. “Yes, sir. I apologize.”

  Rae was not so easy to appease. “So this special mission you thought of for just the two of us…” she crossed her arms over her chest. “What is it?”