Critical Intelligence

by Critical Intelligence(lit)

  Knowing that Roi would never understand or believe her, Missy shook her head. “Why are you willing to go to bat for me? Just because we’ve mated doesn’t mean you really know me, Roi.”

  * * * *

  “Because I love you,” Roi said, understanding his brother’s urge to move heaven and hell for his mate, Peren. Roi would do the same thing for Missy. He’d give up his position on the team if required and spend his life keeping her hidden. He’d do whatever it took to be with her.

  “What?” Missy clutched tight to him. For a moment, he feared she’d pass out.

  Roi swallowed every bit of pride he had and laid his heart on the line, hoping that she wouldn’t shatter it. “I’ll do whatever needs to be done, Melissa because I love you. I’ve loved you since the moment I laid eyes on you. You’re my one true mate--my soul mate if you need a better term, although that sounds a bit girlie to me.”

  She wrapped her tiny arms around his waist and hugged him tight. Missy shook slightly. His chest grew wet where her face was and he knew she was crying. It ripped at his gut to know that telling her he loved her had caused this kind of response. He’d blown things with her from the first second he’d laid eyes on her.

  “Roi,” she said, sniffling. “I spent my life looking for you and when I finally find you, I can’t keep you. And trust me, I want to keep you.”

  “What?” He couldn’t hide his shock from hearing her say that she wanted to keep him in her life.

  Missy let out a soft laugh. “With an ego the size of yours, you can’t be surprised to hear me say that. You probably hear that at least twice a week.”

  “No, baby. I don’t. And even if I did, you are the only woman I want to keep me. I love you and if you dare think about trying to cut me loose there will be hell to pay.”

  You’ll be the one cutting me loose soon enough. Men can’t handle what I do. Not even an I-Op will understand my lifestyle. Hell, you don’t even want to fully believe me. You see what I created for everyone to see--an independent young woman who thinks life is a party. It’s the furthest fucking thing from a party that I can imagine.

  Not wanting to let on that he was listening to her thoughts again, Roi just hugged her tight and thought about what she’d tried to make him believe. She’d claimed to be with PSI. Was she telling the truth? “Missy, you told me that you have no idea what you are. How is it you can work for PSI and not know?”

  Yeah, like he’ll believe they keep my medical records from me. Especially after I told him my primary job is intelligence work. They send me off to obtain information about the other side but keep vital information from me, ‘for my own good.’ I can’t win with this. I’m going to lose him with the truth because he’ll continue to assume I’m lying and I’ll lose him with a lie.

  “Roi, I, umm….”

  He picked her up quickly and looked her in the eyes. “Baby doll, let’s eat and we’ll talk about it in the morning. I want a tiny slice of normalcy right now and I think you want it too.”

  “Roi, I need to use my phone or yours. I need to check in and you’re blocking my link with Eadan.”

  “How is it you have a mental link with him?”

  Great, how do I explain this to him and not have him hate me? I doubt he’ll believe that all my life everyone told me he wasn’t real, that no team of paramilitary men that could shift into animals existed.

  “Eadan and I are close--very close. We always have been. He’s three years older than me and…”

  Roi’s brow furrowed. “He’s thirty. You’re what? Twenty?”

  “No, I’m pushing twenty-seven, Roi. They tell me that I stopped aging a couple of years ago. I don’t really pay much attention.”

  “How long have you been sleeping with Eadan?”

  Drawing in a deep breath, Missy avoided looking at Roi. She didn’t want to face him at the moment. “He’s been in my life a long time, Roi.”

  “That didn’t really answer my question. You said that when you found your mate, you had a lot of explaining to do. So explain it to me.”

  “Eadan is the first friend I ever had. My father and Eadan’s father have been friends since they were just boys. The minute I was adopted, Eadan became a constant in my life. At first, three and half years was a big difference but by the time I was four, he was used to me following him around everywhere he went. He spent his time showing me the right way to climb a tree, hit a ball, hell, anything that I did that should have been reserved for boys.”

  Missy didn’t really want to have this talk but she didn’t have a choice. “Eadan was the first person, other than my father that knew how very different I was. We spent so much time together that it was easy for him to pick up on it. Plus, he was different so it made it okay for me.”

  “I can understand why the two of you became friends. I’m not questioning that, Missy.” Roi just stood there staring at her. “I want to know how long you’ve been with Eadan.”

  “Since I was seventeen,” she whispered. “He was my first.”

  Roi drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She wanted to say something, anything that would make it better on him but she couldn’t. “Are you willing to remove him from your life?”

  Stunned, Missy was silent at first as she tried to make sense of Roi’s absurd request. “No. And you have no right to ask me to do that. You’ve been with how many women, Roi?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you.”

  “I get it. I have no room to talk.”

  Roi picked her up quickly and she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist. Putting her arms around his neck, she hugged him tight, needing to know it was going to be okay between them even though she knew it couldn’t last.

  “It can last, baby.”

  * * * *

  I hope you’re right.

  Doing his best to keep his emotions level, Roi had to bite back the smile that wanted to splay over his face as he heard Missy desire to have something with him too. It was clear that Melissa had as many issues with commitment as he’d had. No part of him wanted to scare her away but no part of him was willing to let her go either.

  “If I could hang onto you forever, Geoffroi, I would.” Missy tugged on the back on his neck and pressed her lips to him, making his entire body tighten as heat flared through him.

  Roi nodded and carried her to the closet at the other end of the house. He kept her held tight to him as he reached up and took her now clean clothes and pink cell phone down from the top shelf. “Here you go,” he said, as he went to put her down.

  Missy didn’t let go of him. Opening her phone, she punched in a sequence of numbers and held the phone up. With his enhanced hearing, Roi could make out what her voice mail was saying easily.

  The second Roi heard Melanie’s voice, he smiled. “Missy, I am positive that you know how to use a phone. If you took off on one of your ‘I’m out of town because my dad needed me to pick something up again’ trips I’m going to kick your tiny ass when you get back. If you’re screwing Roi’s brains out then I’ll forgive you because he’s hot. But give me a call. Eadan has been bouncing off the walls. If he asks me one more time if I’ve talked to you, I’m going to cut his hair off when he’s not looking. I think he’s moving on to bother Peren so I’m at least off the hook for the moment. Bye, sweets.”

  Missy’s cheeks flushed and she rolled her eyes playfully. “Gotta love her bluntness.”

  “Hmm, she reminds me of someone of else I know,” he said, staring into her eyes and praying that she only wanted to be with him. Not Eadan.

  “I do.”

  Roi smiled as Missy answered his thoughts again. It faded fast when he heard Eadan’s voice on her voice mail. “Melissa, I’ve talked with Peren. She swears that Dickhead is on the level. I promise not to send out the Marines yet. And I do mean yet. I need you in for a briefing first thing in the morning. I actually need to be briefed first so I can’t talk long. My gut tells me that they want you
to go back in. If they do, I’m begging you to tell them no. You’ve got the boss wrapped around your little finger. Pass on this, Missy-bean.”

  “Missy-bean? That only makes me hate him more,” Roi said softly.

  “Roi, he’ll always be in my life. Always. If you can’t deal with that you need to tell me now. Though, I’ll caution you that if you make me choose, you won’t like the outcome.”

  His breath caught. She claimed to want him more than Eadan only to flat out tell him that he would never win over the man.

  “Don’t make it a contest and you won’t have a problem. Asking me to cut Eadan out of my life is the equivalent of asking you to cut the I-Ops out of yours. I would never ask you to do that for me.”

  “But I would do that for you, baby.” He didn’t even need to think about it.

  “And the minute something happened to one of them you’d be beside yourself with grief and guilt.”

  He hated to admit it but she was right. He would blame himself for not being there for the rest of the Team. “I’ll do my best to accept him, Missy but in truth, I’m a little more concerned about you and your job.”

  She let out a soft laugh. “I figured you’d be like every other man who knows what I do.”

  “Every? How many men have you dated?”

  “Roi.” The stern look she gave him shut him up.

  “What happened to a slice of normalcy?”

  Nodding, he hugged her tight. “Let’s eat.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “Captain, we’ve been waiting for this PSI agent for an hour. Is it safe to assume he ain’t coming because I’m hungry,” Wilson said, his feet perched on a tiny table. “And why the hell did we have to come here? The briefing room back at headquarters is more comfortable and I didn’t have to drive a half hour out of my way. Can someone tell me why we even have more than one building anyway? There’s five of us. We don’t take up that much room.”

  Roi stood silently with his arms folded as he leaned against one of I-Ops’ many training room walls. He didn’t want to be here anymore than Wilson did. He wanted to be out tracking Missy. When he’d woken to find her gone he could barely breathe. If Lukian and the others hadn’t have shown up to collect him, he’d still be searching for her.

  “Wilson, I just friggin’ talked to the Colonel less than fifteen minutes ago. And I told you that he said we have to stay put, that something had come up but the agent would still be here.”

  “If he’s not here in five minutes, I’m fucking leaving,” Roi said, daring Lukian to tell him different.

  “Roi, we all promised to help you look for your mate the minute we get this out of the way. She left on her own accord so we’ll continue to operate under the assumption that she’s fine.”

  Roi was about to comment when the double doors to the room opened. Two men walked through them. The first, a tall man with wide shoulders and a build that could rival Roi’s, looked to be in his late thirties but smelled centuries older than that. Picking up the scent of a lion, Roi uncrossed his arms and stood tall. The second he looked at the man with the werelion, he lunged forward.

  “You son-of-a-bitch! Tell me where she is now!” Roi yelled as he went for Eadan.

  Lukian and Green were suddenly in front of him, seizing hold of him and pinning him in place. “Calm down, brother, and tell us what’s going on.”

  “Blondie is Melanie’s brother, Eadan. Fuck if I know the lion.”

  The werelion laughed. “Well, Geoffroi Majors, you are mistaken. Our paths have crossed before.”

  “Why in the hell is Melanie’s brother here?” Green asked, loosening his grip momentarily before tightening it again.

  The werelion nodded towards Eadan. “He’s one of our operatives. He serves as a liaison between the Shadow Operatives and myself.”

  “And you are?”

  The man looked at Lukian and smiled. “General Jack Newman.”

  Green gasped. “The Jack C. Newman. The Jack C. Newman that is the Director of Operations at PSI?”

  Lukian leaned forward and stared past Roi at Green. “How in the hell do you know the name of…?”

  Wilson snorted. “Tell me you aren’t going to ask brainiac how he knows something. The man’s a book of useless knowledge. We’ll end up here for another hour listening to him ramble on. Roi’s sure to blow by then.”

  Jon smacked Wilson in the back of the head and stared at the General. “Excuse me, sir, but you look very familiar.”

  “I should. I’ve appeared at various times in your lives for decades keeping up on what you’re all doing. I also attended Lance’s funeral. I’m sorry for your loss. We weren’t aware of the situation until after the fact.”

  Eadan’s face went hard and Roi couldn’t help but smile. “Hey Blondie, did you figure out what your little sister did with Lance yet?”

  “She signed her own death warrant, Major. It’s nice to see you smile when you remind me of that. I don’t personally find it amusing but our tastes in humor clearly differ greatly.”

  Roi shook his head, suddenly feeling bad. “I’m not … umm … it’s not….”

  “What he’s trying to say is that he didn’t think before he spoke. Roi likes Melanie and since he doesn’t care for too many people, that’s a big step,” Lukian said, squeezing his arm tight. “He loves Melissa and doesn’t want to see anyone she cares about suffer. Neither do the rest of us.”

  Roi locked eyes with Eadan and saw the anger in them.

  The General took a step forward and gave Roi a questioning look. “Is what Lukian said true? Do you love Melissa?”

  That was an odd question coming from the head of the PSI.

  “Hmm,” Wilson mused. “It only took the four of us and a tranquilizer gun to get him here today. He was adamant that he was going to find Missy come hell or high water. You’re welcome to check Jon. He’s got two more bottles of the stuff that makes Roi pass out for about fifteen minutes, just in case he tried to bolt to get to her again while we were waiting for Blondie here. The shit is powerful enough to take down ten shifters but it barely fazes the psycho.”

  “I see. Do you behave this way for every woman who comes into your life?” The General kept his eyes firmly locked on Roi.

  Wilson almost fell out of his chair laughing. “Ohmygod, that’s good! Roi can’t even remember a girl’s name the next morning. Hell, normally he has them home before the night is even over. The fact that the man not only started tripping over his own two feet the moment he first met her but then tied himself to her for eternity should answer that for you.”

  The General arched a sandy blond brow. “Did you claim Melissa? More importantly, did she claim you as well?”

  “Sir, I don’t see how this is relevant to….” Jon fell silent as the General put his hand up.

  Roi stood tall and nodded. “Yes I claimed her and yes she claimed me as well.”

  A slow smile splayed across the General’s face. “Right then, let’s get down to business.”

  Growling, Roi went to go after the General only to find Lukian and Green jerking him backwards. “The only business we’re going to discuss is you ordering my wife to be interrogated. That’s the only thing we’re discussing. You can take your blond little sidekick and shove him up your ancient ass. I don’t care how whatever Missy is mixed up in looks. She’s not working for the other side and I’ll fucking kill anyone who touches her or claims different. She told me to get in touch with you. You’re fucking impossible to get in touch with then you show up here with pretty boy and a damn smile on your face. I’m going to rip your Goddamn…”

  Green leaned into him. “Umm, Roi, stop threatening the head of PSI.”

  “I don’t give a rat’s ass if he’s a god. He will not subject my wife to his henchmen and he will not lay one damn finger on her. I’ll rip the thing off and cram it…”

  Eadan snickered. “If you’re done, Major. The General didn’t order the investigation into Missy. The man who did has been dealt with
.”

  “Dealt with?” Lukian asked.

  The General nodded. “Yes, Lukian. He’s dead. I handled it myself. I also handled two others that were aiding him and have come to watch the rest of the men involved in that die.”

  “Why would you come here for that?” Green asked.

  “Because when your Colonel called PSI wanting to know where the agent I promised was, my instincts told me that the rest of the men I was after were already here.”

  Lukian stiffened. “Oh shit, they’ve got your agent in here don’t they?”

  All of the Ops looked at each other. Roi knew what they were thinking. They wanted to know how they could have missed that.

  Nodding the General stared at Roi and sighed. “I hate to ask you to do this, son, but I need you to mask your scent and keep it masked until I tell you it’s safe to stop. This is a matter of life and death. Any slip up will result in the death of the agent.”

  Son? Did he just call me son?

  Confused, Roi masked his scent and stared at the General.

  “Thank you,” he said, glancing at Lukian and Green. “You can let go of him. Eadan will handle holding him back from here on out.”

  Roi, Green and Lukian chuckled.

  Eadan rolled his eyes and flicked his wrists. Suddenly, it felt as though someone had shackled Roi to a brick wall. The sly smile Eadan cast in Roi’s direction made Roi want to kick the shit out him even more. As though that was even possible.

  “Very good. Now, as far as the rest of you go, you are not to interfere regardless of what you see happening. While this was unexpected and makes me want to peel the skin from each and every man participating in this, it’s necessary to prove the agent’s competency and loyalty. Trust me when I say that it will come into question. My guess is, it already has. And trust me when I say that this is harder for me to deal with than any of you.”

  Lukian looked at Roi as his brow furrowed. Roi shrugged. He was as lost as the rest of them.