Critical Intelligence

by Critical Intelligence(lit)

  She blinked and stared up at him. The fear on her face stabbed at his gut even more. “Geoffroi?”

  His Missy was back. Part of him wished she’d start verbally sparring with him again. “I know that I’m the last man you want above you but I sort of need to hold you down right now, hon.”

  Her eyes swirled to ice blue and then went to brown instantly. Unshed tears filled her eyes and broke Roi’s heart. He’d failed her. He’d let them get their hands on her. He’d let them inject her with whatever in the hell it was they put in her. “I’m so sorry.”

  Missy’s body tightened as she arched her back. “Shhh, I’m not upset with you. Whatever is happening hurts, though.” She bit her lower lip and winced. Banging her head lightly on the floor, tears began to form in her eyes. “Make it stop,” she pleaded. “My body burns. Please, Roi. I think we both know what I need right now.”

  Roi wanted to end her suffering more than anything, but he didn’t want to hurt her. Without a guarantee that she’d be safe accepting his semen, he wasn’t about to enter her. “I can’t.”

  “Please help me.”

  Sighing, Roi shook his head. “You have no idea how much I want to be with you, Melissa, but I can’t. It’s hard to explain to…”

  She narrowed her gaze and her nostrils flared. “Help me or I’ll find someone who will!”

  The threat in her voice was real. The idea of Missy licking another man’s cock before opening her legs for him infuriated Roi. He pinned her harder against the floor, knowing that he was most likely causing her mild discomfort, but not caring. He let his eyes swirl with flecks of yellow and gold in a raw display of power. “You will not let any other man touch you! You are my mate. Do you understand?”

  Missy’s eyes flashed to ice blue as she stared hard at him. “Pfft, clearly I’m not your anything. But, I can tell you this--if you don’t help me I swear to you that I’ll find someone who will.”

  Roi fought hard to keep the beast within him from rising up and laying claim to what it knew was his. Hell, Roi wanted to take her too but knew better.

  I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything, but you don’t want me.

  “I can’t, sugar,” Roi said, refusing to confess his true feelings to her.

  Missy blinked up at him and her eyes quickly returned to brown. “I want you to be the one who helps me, Geoffroi. Help me,” she pleaded, her voice finally sounding like her own.

  It was her, she’d managed to fight through her beast. “Missy, honey, I want to help you, but if I … if we have sex, I’ll most likely get you pregnant and it’s not like you don’t hate me enough already but trust me when I say that taking my seed is the equivalent of signing a marriage agreement. Ain’t a condom in the world gonna protect you from what I’m packing at the moment.”

  The irony of attempting to talk the one woman in the world he wanted most out of having sex with him was not lost on Roi.

  Oh, yeah, the fates were having a field day with him.

  Must be sweeps week where they are.

  Chapter Eight

  Green ran his hand through his hair, staring at his cell phone.

  Lukian set a cup of coffee down next to him and tapped his phone. “What did he want?”

  “I think you know.”

  Lukian nodded. “Yes, to know if he could mate with Melissa safely.”

  “Yes,” Green said, sighing. “I won’t be able to deal with this if we lose another one. I hate taking chances. You know that we have to be certain the female can handle our DNA in her before we allow our semen to enter them.”

  The last woman Green had loved died during childbirth. He’d lost her decades ago, and had loved her greatly. Her loss was what alerted the team that their DNA was potent and could be transferred in their semen. A normal human woman couldn’t handle such a thing and if she was lucky enough to survive the first night, but became pregnant, she would still die as the supernatural child within her drained her of her very essence. Their offspring needed so much more than a human woman could provide, and Green had vowed to never make that mistake again. That’s why he hadn’t had sex since then. Fifty years was a long time to go without release, but it wasn’t nearly enough to forget the pain of loss his seed had caused.

  He pushed the painful memories of losing his wife out of his mind and concentrated on the task at hand. “I did some digging. It turns out that Gisbert Krauss has been funneling money throughout Europe and Asia for the last thirty years. Just about every contact we have said the same thing, he’s fascinated by the idea of immortality and power. He’s also rumored to have teamed up with Pierre Molyneux.”

  Lukian dropped his cup of coffee and stared at Green. “Why the hell would a master vampire team up with that stocky little paranormal wanna-be?”

  Green shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

  “Krauss deals internationally right?”

  “Yes,” Green said, unsure where this conversation was going.

  “It would look good on paper then to have a front to hide behind.” Lukian glanced up at the briefing room map. “With the right name, Pierre could move just about anything. Including--an army of supernaturals. The blond vamp that showed up with the shifter intruders … do you think he was one of Pierre’s vamps?”

  “I have no idea, but it would explain what a vampire with that kind of power was doing here. He managed to mask the enemy’s presence from us all. That takes some skill. You know,” Green said, lowering his voice a bit. “If they manage to get their hands on any of us they’ll not only dissect us for experiments, they’ll have additional clues in creating a stable super race that could wipe out mankind.”

  “That’s why we don’t get caught.”

  “And if we do?”

  Lukian cast him a wary look. “They can’t be allowed to study us. Dead or alive. Getting caught isn’t an option.”

  The briefing room phone ran and Green knew who it was. The Colonel would be looking for an update on the situation. Lukian grabbed and Green sat quietly, listening to Lukian give the abridged version of what was going on and then folded his hands as he caught the strain in Lukian’s voice to remain calm.

  Lukian hung up the phone, shaking his head.

  “That bad, huh?”

  “Apparently, the Director of Paranormal Security and Intelligence, you know--the one who we’ve never even met, is sending an agent in and we’re to follow his orders, assisting in any way we can. Supposedly, this guy is one of the best they have. Some of his specialties include intelligence and assassination when needed. They want us to find out what the enemy knows and how far along they’ve gotten in their experiments. They’re also concerned about the new weapons that they have.” Lukian sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. “The Colonel also wants Melissa brought in for questioning. Apparently, big brother found out about her because of the surveillance cameras outside. Jon thought of that this morning but when he got down there the tapes were already filed into the vault.”

  Outraged, Green shot out of his chair, sending coffee spilling everywhere. “He wants to do what? We can’t do that. She’s Roi’s mate not to mention Peren and Melanie’s best friend.”

  “Calm down, old friend. I’ll figure something out. There is no way I’m letting my future sister-in-law and my mate’s best friend be subjected to any of their interrogations. Tell Roi to keep her there for now. We are the only ones who know where the safe houses are. PSI has no clue. I’ll accept the heat on this gladly. I know in my gut that Melissa isn’t working for the other side. She’d have killed Peren long ago or let Roi die last night. And when I talked to her on the phone, before I even met my wife, all I could sense from her was concern for Peren’s happiness. She knew that Peren wasn’t human before Peren knew. She also warned Roi about the weapons and told him how Peren’s blood could protect the rest of us. Roi, the dumb ass, told us about it after the fact but still. I’ll march into the enemy’s camp and sort this out on my own before I let them harm on
e hair on that girl’s head.”

  Sensing the truth in Lukian’s words, Green gasped. “Captain, you can’t be serious. Sir, that is exactly what they want you to do. Don’t you think Parker filled them in on how we operate?”

  Lukian nodded. “I know, but it all boils down to critical intelligence. They have it. We need it.”

  “I’ll get the others.” Green turned and stormed out of the room. This was not only a suicide mission--it damn well could end mankind if their secrets fell into the wrong hands.

  * * * *

  Missy sat with her legs folded on the edge of the dock, looking out at the water. It was so calm here, so serene. Sitting out near the lake seemed a far cry from the way she’d behaved earlier. Roi, surprisingly enough, had been a complete gentleman, not taking advantage of her when she’d been more than willing to allow him free access. She wasn’t sure what scared her more, wanting to have sex with Roi or his newfound honorability.

  “You hungry?” Roi asked, scaring her with his sudden presence.

  No, I’m mortified.

  “I’m fine, thanks though,” she said, pushing the shirt he’d loaned her down in front, afraid that it wasn’t covering all of her. “I’d like to go home now.”

  Roi sighed and she took that as a bad sign. “Yeah, about that. You kind of need to hang out with me for awhile.” He sat down next to her and tried to touch her back.

  She pulled away from him. “I need to go home, Roi. I haven’t checked in with Eadan or any of my other contacts. Eadan didn’t realize you were an I-Op. All the PSI coverts know the team exists or at least have a strong sense of it. But none are given your location, names and so on. The same goes for us as well. We know about other agents on a need to know basis. He’s got to be worried. Hell, he may be trying to track you down now. I can’t make contact with him mentally for some reason.”

  “You can communicate telepathically with Eadan?”

  Missy bit her lip and stared up at Roi, as she nodded her head. “Yes, but not now. Something’s wrong.”

  A light breeze blew open the white cotton shit he wore, revealing his tawny chest to her. Her stomach lurched with desire and she wanted to run her fingers over his washboard abs and know what it felt like to have him buried deep within her. Why he thought he was the last man on earth she’d want was beyond her. He was the only man she wanted.

  A tingling sensation moved over her lips, then her neck and chest. Something inside her was different, it wanted out, to be free and most importantly, it wanted to be fucked by Roi. “I need to go home.”

  “Missy doll, you can’t. You’ve no idea what it is you’re dealing with here and…”

  She cast him an angry look. “No, you have no idea what you’re dealing with here.” She stood quickly. “Now, take me home or I’ll walk.”

  Roi laughed, looking out at the lake. “You aren’t going to walk home, Missy. We’re over a hundred miles from your house.”

  Missy’s eyes widened. “A hundred miles away from my house? How? Why? When?”

  He laughed again.

  Missy smacked him in the back of the head.

  “Ouch,” he said, rubbing his head for effect. “Geesh, woman, do you think I’d keep you around an area where men were trying to rape you? What the hell kind of man do you think I am?”

  “Rape me?” Suddenly, she felt faint. To date, the enemy had only wanted to kill her. “That’s why they yelled at the guy who punched me in the face. They told him not to kill me.”

  Roi growled. “Someone punched you in the face?”

  Missy snickered. If he only knew the half of what she’d gone through in the fourteen years she’d been an agent with PSI he’d have a stroke. “Umm, yeah. I’d have ducked or something but I couldn’t really see at the time.” She cast him a tiny smile.

  From the look on his face, he didn’t take the joke as intended. Instead, he took her hand and pulled it to his lips. The warm sensation that moved up and through her arm as his full lips touched her skin made her shiver with delight. “Sugar, I didn’t mean to set that off. I didn’t know that the handle was pressure sensitive.”

  Bending down next to him, Missy adjusted the long shirt and leaned into Roi as he kept hold of her hand. “I’m fine. We’re both fine. Were any of the I-Ops hurt?”

  “No,” he said softly. His brow furrowed. “How did you know about the I-Ops before you became an agent? And why do you talk about us like there’s more than one team?”

  She balked. “There is more than one team, Roi. As far as I know, there are two official teams. I suspect that they’re trying to train more. But from what I gather, the second team wasn’t created, they were pulled in as is.” Needing a question answered that she didn’t really want to ask, Missy moved to sit down only to find Roi pulling her onto his lap. “Hey.”

  “Hey what?” The shit-ass grin on his face made her smile. “I didn’t want that sexy little backside of yours to get any splinters.”

  “Mmmhmm, I’m sure that’s the only reason.” Starring into his blue eyes, Missy wanted to surrender herself to him and not look back but she couldn’t. Not until she knew if he was who she thought he was.

  “Do you want to tell me about how you knew about us?” Roi wrapped his arms around her.

  “Are you a good deal older than you look?”

  Biting his lower lip, Roi nodded as he looked her in the eyes. “Yeah, baby, I am.”

  Melissa’s insides twisted with the hope that Roi was the man she’d spent her life looking for. “Roi, why don’t any of you seem to have a scent? The I-Ops had scents--distinctive. Umm, I mean, at least I think they did … er … do.”

  The odd look Roi gave her made her laugh slightly. “You really know how to make a guy wonder what’s going on.”

  “Sorry, it’s an honest question. You’re a shifter but you have no scent. For all I know, you could be a weregoose.”

  “I know a wererat. Does that come close?”

  Missy smiled. “No.”

  He caressed her back softly. “We began to mask our scents about twenty years ago. It took some practice but we sort of do it naturally now. And to answer the question you’ve got on your mind, I’m a lycan or a werewolf. You pick what you call it.”

  Missy burst into laughter and clung to Roi to keep from falling out of his arms and into the lake.

  “I see that my being a werewolf is funny to you,” he said, smiling as he pulled her close to his lips. “Care to tell me why?”

  “I have issues with dogs. In fact, they seem to be the ones with the issues. They don’t seem to care for me too much. I don’t know why.”

  Roi chuckled as his lips drew even closer. “Hmm, I have no idea why that would be.”

  She wanted to give into the desire to take him, kiss him, love him but she couldn’t and she couldn’t seem to find the words she needed to ask him about his past. Part of it was fear he wouldn’t be the man she’d been searching for and the other was that he would be. Closing her eyes momentarily, Missy sighed. “Roi, I need to go home. It’s important.”

  He held her tight. “Melissa, the Colonel wants you brought in for questioning. I highly doubt he’ll do it himself. My guess is that another source wants to know what’s going on. I can help. I can keep you here for now until Lukian gets a hold of the Director of PSI.”

  “No.” Reaching up, she stroked stray strands of his hair back from his rugged face. “You can’t help me. The fact that you told me they want me brought in tells me that you’re too close to be objective in this, Roi. I’m assuming the I-Ops have been ordered to detain me. Lukian won’t because he’s Peren’s husband and your brother. If he believes what you believe, that I’m your mate, then he wouldn’t risk your chance at a family and happiness. The others will follow his lead. That puts you all at risk. I can get to who I need to and be safe. Eadan will know where to find me.”

  Roi closed his eyes and turned his head. “Baby, just tell me that we can release who you are and who you work for. Tell me
and Lukian and I will go before the people we need to and sort this out.”

  Her heart rate sped. “No! Too many people’s lives would be at risk on both sides, Roi. The good guys aren’t the only ones who have something to lose. I have many, many people who have risked their lives to help me. I won’t put them in jeopardy.” Cupping his face in her hands, Missy gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek. “Don’t put your neck on the line for me. You’ll end up dead.”

  The look on his face made her want to kiss away his worries. “Are you trying to tell me that they have a right to be worried about you? About how you’ve come to know all that you know? Why in the hell would the enemy inject you with something right in front of our faces if you were working for them?”

  Smiling softly, Missy nodded. “You refuse to see it objectively, Roi. Others don’t. It’s safe to assume they believe it was done to throw your team off, make them stop looking in my direction. That the hormone was introduced by them in a manner that allowed me to not only keep your trust but to bed you as well. They’ll also see how close to Peren I am and assume that I was planted to keep tabs on her from day one. They’ll also read through the files and reports you all had to fill out two weeks ago when Parker killed … umm … when Parker killed Lance. They’ll wonder why I didn’t fight you when you took Melanie and I from the bar. They’ll look at the fact that I said nothing during the events at the safe house, events that more than led me to believe Lance was a shifter, and they’ll combine that with my knowledge of your existence—and it will not bode well for me. You know that. Plus, other less known facts may surface, only serving to support their theory. By all outward appearances, Roi, I work for the enemy.”

  Roi turned to her a bit. “And why didn’t you fight me, Melissa?”

  Laughing softly, she looked downwards. “This sounds ridiculous and I think we both know they won’t believe me but from the moment I laid eyes on you, Geoffroi Majors, I knew without a doubt that you would never hurt me. I knew that none of you would hurt us. That’s the reason I let Lukian go after Peren when she ran off. I’ve spent my life protecting her.” Missy put her head on Roi’s shoulder and chuckled. “I knew something was going on that wasn’t good but I couldn’t sense exactly what it was. I couldn’t concentrate to save my life or Peren’s. Having you close to me sent every natural born instinct I have into a state of mass confusion. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to go with you or kill you.”