Warrior: The Elect, Book 3

by Loribelle Hunt

  They’d parked just around the corner and approached Stine from behind, splitting so they came up behind him separately before moving to the opposite of the table. His eyes flared in recognition for just a moment as he looked at her, and Jamie felt like she’d been touched by black, oily slime. Then his face cleared and he gestured to the two seats across the small table.

  “I take it you wish to speak to me?” he asked pleasantly.

  She tilted her head and examined the monster who still invaded her dreams. “I’d rather kill you, but that option isn’t on the table. Yet.” She made her tone light, sweet. She watched him carefully, saw the moment her words sank in, and by then she’d taken her seat.

  “Monster,” he hissed.

  “Tut, tut. Your true colors are showing, Stine. Tell me, do you get off beating women? Is it exciting?”

  Carter hovered at her back and she felt his rising concern, but he didn’t interfere. They’d discussed this. Breaking Stine shouldn’t have been easy, but it was much easier than she expected. His eyes were wild and out of control. He gripped the edge of the table so hard his knuckles were white. The man wasn’t stable. He leaned forward, gaze feral and face tight with anger.

  “Woman? Are you sure? You aren’t human.”

  “And that threatens you?”

  “You threaten all of us,” he snapped and then seemed to get himself under control.

  “Why?” she countered. “We only ask to live in peace.”

  He gave one sharp shake of his head. “Do you believe that lie, girl? They mean to take over, and we mean to be ready.”

  “Who? Who means to be ready?” she asked softly. She felt Carter’s shock behind her, but she’d been expecting this.

  Stine turned sly now. “If they haven’t told you, I’m not giving you more information.” Then he smirked. “Better get going before my backup gets here to catch you. It’ll be so much worse this time, Ms. Wade. You know what you are now. You might get the answers I need.”

  Carter lurched behind her—she sensed him—but when she shook her head, a silent signal, he stayed in position.

  “You’re smoking crack, Stine. We don’t want to take over. There isn’t some grand conspiracy.”

  “Is that right? I have someone who says otherwise. And you should see your people’s models that show you outpacing and killing off humanity in the next hundred years.” He jerked to his feet. “We won’t let that happen. You can take me out, but you won’t learn anything. And in this race?” He sneered. “We’re ahead.”

  At that point, all hell broke loose.

  “Get out,” Mason snapped in her ear. “Stine’s reinforcements are coming in. Fast.”

  Damn, that meant leaving this fucker alive. Unless they killed him here. They couldn’t take him away cleanly, but Jamie had a hell of a time just letting it go.

  Carter took her hand, but she didn’t let him pull her away. She shook her head.

  “We can’t leave him alive,” she hissed, her fury growing. He was a monster. He’d never stop unless they made him.

  “We can’t kill him in broad daylight in front of dozens of witnesses either,” Carter snapped back.

  “Don’t worry. Brax has snipers in place,” Carter told her telepathically, not giving anything away to Stine.

  “Y’all need to move now,” Mason said over the earpiece.

  Carter tugged her hand and she ran with him. They made it inside the car before three black-clad men rushed into view. They stopped in front of the vehicle, and two fired what looked and sounded like silenced pistols. The windshield was bulletproof, so she wasn’t worried until the third pulled what looked like a small rocket launcher from a case on the ground.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Carter growled, but Jamie barely paid attention.

  She was opening the door and rolling out of the SUV. Coming up on one knee, she pulled her pistol and fired at the one with the most dangerous weapon. When he fell—a tiny, round hole marring his forehead—she turned to the other two, who’d already rushed toward her. She got one of them, but the last reached her before she could fire. He tackled her, then grabbed her wrists when she struggled against him.

  She recognized him from her captivity—knew if he recaptured her, it would be hell. No fucking way. She wouldn’t lose Kaden and Carter again. She was still gripping her gun. She just needed him to let go long enough to get the shot off. Going for his balls probably wouldn’t work. He’d be expecting that. And where the fuck was Carter? She looked over long enough to see him fighting two more men. She was on her own.

  “You don’t want to do this,” she whispered, making her voice sound weak. Scared.

  He sneered at her, his grip loosening. “After this, Stine will let me do whatever I want to you,” he grunted.

  He thrust his pelvis against her, and she had to force herself to stay still. To not respond when all she wanted to do was gouge his eyes out and shove his dick down his throat. She narrowed her eyes and moved, ramming one knee to his crotch, which he easily dodged. She’d anticipated that. He didn’t expect her other knee to meet his dodge, however. At the same time she lunged for his throat, biting hard enough to draw blood and making him rear back and release her wrists. A very serious mistake on his part. She didn’t hesitate at all as she swung her wrist up and fired point-blank. Blood and brains spattered over her as he fell.

  She shoved him aside in time to see Carter, Mason and Brax rushing toward her. They were all pale, tense, shaking with fury that skated along her nerve endings—those Elect senses of hers kicking in. She rose to her feet slowly and faced them. She could see, could feel their intent. To rush her away, hide her away, protect her when she could so clearly protect herself.

  “Don’t even think about it,” she snapped.

  Carter stared at her a long time, and finally the tension in his body seemed to ease a bit. She heard sirens in the background.

  “Shit,” Brax muttered. “Everyone clear out. Take the damned bodies.”

  Jamie didn’t help as they loaded the five bodies into another SUV that rolled up. Adrenaline was still crashing through her. If she helped she wouldn’t be able to hide the tremor in her hands, and she didn’t want it interpreted as fear or weakness. Removing the bodies was completed quickly, and she didn’t protest when Carter ordered her into the SUV. They were gone seconds before the squad cars pulled up to the restaurant.

  “You’re okay?” he asked.

  “I’m fine,” she murmured, ignoring the bruises on her wrists. “I can take care of myself, Carter.”

  His hands convulsed on the steering wheel. “That’s obvious.”

  “And you don’t like it.” She wasn’t sure what she was feeling. Pain was too tame a word. It was more like evisceration. She’d accepted him. Fully, completely. Would he ever do the same for her? Would his Elect genetics allow him to?

  “You’re projecting your thoughts, baby. I know what scares you. I like that you can defend yourself. That you can protect yourself,” he said carefully. “But the idea of you being in danger, of losing you, terrifies me.”

  “I won’t stand back and watch you put yourself in danger while I’m safe behind walls. I won’t sit back while Kaden is threatened,” she said softly.

  Her heart was breaking. If he couldn’t accept she was just as much a warrior as he was, what was the point?

  He gave a slight shake of his head, a subtle twist of his lips, and held one hand out to her. When she took it, he lifted her knuckles and nibbled. That quickly, the adrenaline still surging in her system changed from wanting a fight to wanting sex.

  “I didn’t say I expect you to stand back, baby. I said it terrifies me. I’ll show exactly how much later,” he added in a low tone that was pure sex and promise.

  She couldn’t think about that now. She turned her mind to the meeting with Stine and the events that followed. It didn’t make sense. Stine had been expecting them and he shouldn’t have.

  Carter didn’t speak aga
in until they were almost home. She felt his lust pulsing at hers, knew he was struggling to control it as much as she was.

  “What the hell happened?” he muttered while punching the code in at the gate, and though the mike was open, she knew he was asking her. She knew he wasn’t talking about what had happened with Stine’s guards but how they got there so quick, and she wasn’t sure yet. She shook her head.

  “Gimme a minute,” she said, soft, considering.

  Brax, Mason, Martin and Toler were waiting when they entered. She looked at the two newcomers.

  “You worked his security during the day. Where else did he go?”

  Toler shrugged. “The hospital. Restaurants.”

  Martin looked less convinced, though.

  “What is it?” Jamie asked.

  Before he answered, Martin glanced at his lieutenant, who nodded to speak. There was no way to ignore how much that bothered Brax and Carter. “There were a few times Stine went somewhere with his private detail and there was no itinerary left behind.”

  “What do you think?” Brax asked Jamie. She was surprised when he asked her, but she thought she’d earned her place here.

  “I’m not sure what to think yet,” she said. “Stine seems to think we plan to take over. Breed humans…out of existence, I guess. Do you have models that show that?”

  Brax shook his head. “Zach has many models. Some show us outpacing humans in a hundred years and some in a hundred thousand years. We certainly don’t have a plan to do it on purpose.”

  “But for some reason, they think you do. They have someone. Someone not at Stirling who likely has been tortured into making up whatever he has to to survive,” she said. It was speculation, but she was sure it was true. “Did Mason get the trackers in place?”

  “Yes,” Brax replied, finally sounding satisfied. “We’ll find them, we’ll take them out—and if they are holding one of ours? We’ll get them free. Personally I think that’s all the wild imaginings of a crazy old man.”

  Maybe. Or maybe not. She shrugged. “Either way, it’s time to get aggressive and start thinking about exposure.”

  Brax nodded sharply. “And we will. I expect you in on those meetings.”

  “Sure.”

  “And you’ll be working with Mason. I want you to see if you can find holes in our compound security,” Brax continued.

  “No problem.”

  He smiled. “You have a couple hours. The rest of the family is in Merilee’s suite having dinner. You should join them.”

  “Thanks,” Carter said. He took her hand and tugged her out, up the stairs, but he didn’t turn for his mother’s suite.

  As soon as their door shut behind them, he had her pressed up against him. “What do you really think?” he asked her.

  “It’s hard to think with you warm and plastered to me?” she asked, teasing.

  He chuckled. “Seriously.”

  The question might be, but his hands were working on her clothes.

  “I think there’s a bunch of well-funded, well-educated SOBs that have a total misread on a situation. And that doesn’t matter, because it makes us all a target. We can’t hide.”

  “You might be right,” he murmured, but his response was lost.

  He had her shirt and bra gone, and then his tongue was flicking over her nipple. She found the strength to shove him away. He gave her half a foot.

  “This isn’t over, Carter.”

  “No,” he agreed, shaking his head.

  “I won’t back out.”

  “I know, sweetheart.” His hand lay flat over her stomach. “Not for Kaden or our daughter.”

  She was stunned. Daughter? She couldn’t be pregnant now—with so much still in question. But life didn’t work that way, did it? Life went on.

  “Protector. Guardian. Warrior,” Carter whispered against her skin. “What will our daughter be?”

  Jamie knew it didn’t matter. The child would be what she was and would be loved unconditionally.

  And that was more than enough.

  About the Author

  Loribelle is a former Army MP who traded in her combat boots for motherhood, flip-flops and all the Diet Coke she can drink. (She almost misses the combat boots.) She’s the author of more than twenty books, none of which her children are allowed to read. Ever. Visit her website, www.loribellehunt.com, or www.facebook.com/loribelle.hunt for information on new releases.

  Look for these titles by Loribelle Hunt

  Now Available:

  Forbidden Passions

  Passions Recalled

  Renegade Passions

  The Elect

  Protector

  Guardian

  Print Anthologies

  Forbidden Passions

  A second chance born in fire…

  Guardian

  © 2012 Loribelle Hunt

  The Elect, Book 2

  Mallory Littman is the only human born child in an Elect family, but she’s far from normal. She can call fire, control it, mold it. As an arson investigator, she has a life separate from the Elect. No reason to live in their compound, or to try to mend the rift with her estranged husband.

  Until a case involving an Elect mate forces her to return to the home she fled three years ago. Her nursing background makes her the best choice to infiltrate The Stirling Institute. It’d be an easier job if her ex didn’t insist on shadowing her every move—to keep her “safe”.

  It’s not her body she’s worried about. It’s her heart.

  Zach Littman made one major screw-up in his life. He let Mallory go. As long as she stayed away, he was willing to leave her be. But now she’s back in his territory, and he has every intention of making up for his past mistakes.

  If she lives long enough…

  Warning: Take one sexy, alpha scientist, add in an estranged wife, and he gets very creative winning her back. Contains make-up sex hot enough to singe, a little light bondage, a dangerous undercover mission, and a heroine who doesn’t quite breathe fire.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Guardian:

  Arson investigator Mallory Littman pulled up to the call box at the imposing gates and took a deep, fortifying breath. The high walls concealed a very exclusive, very private community. Apartments, houses—heck, even a small town complete with schools. All of that was a few miles from her current location, though, and not her destination. She was going to one of the few houses that sat alone, where Braxton Lee, president of Lee Enterprises and leader of the Elect, lived and worked. It was amazing the place was such a well-kept secret. Mallory wondered—not for the first time—how long that would last.

  The people who called themselves the Elect looked human, but they weren’t. Maybe they’d evolved alongside humans or maybe they were something new. That’s what their scientists believed, but Mallory wasn’t so sure. They were definitely different. Most were telepaths, but that wasn’t what set them apart. Plenty of humans were too. They were, however, stronger, faster and smarter. And insanely protective and possessive. They created a mental bond with their mates and rarely split up. And she was both one and not one of them. Usually their offspring were Elect. But not always. She should know. Her father and brothers were Elect, but despite having some unusual talents of her own, Mallory’s DNA was as human as her mother’s.

  With a shake of her head, she leaned on the buzzer. She didn’t have time to ponder the intricacies of interspecies mating. She had a case to finalize, even though the official report would be a farce, and she needed Esme’s signature. But more importantly, Brax, Esme’s mate, was waiting on the information Mallory had gathered on the Stirling Institute, the mysterious group that was suddenly much too curious about the Elect. But hell, she wasn’t looking forward to going inside the compound. She knew who else was behind those damned gates. She used to live in there with him.

  She’d thought at first that Zach would stop blaming her. That he would come around. She didn’t lose their child on purpose, after all. But she’d rarel
y seen him since that night. The first year they’d had very little contact. An email, the occasional phone call. She figured they’d both been too emotionally shattered. Later they’d tried face-to-face meetings. Dinners that started out well, but ended with both of them pissed off and bitter. He didn’t like the life she’d chosen, refused to bend even a little. Refused to see that she was a strong, independent adult. She didn’t need a man to take care of her. She could handle that herself, thank you very much. He thought she was weak. She’d made herself strong. He thought she needed a protector. She’d made herself a guardian.

  And still, he stayed away.

  She was surprised at how much that still hurt, but she sighed and bucked up and pushed the call button. He didn’t want her, so he probably wouldn’t even be around. But if that were true, why wouldn’t he sign the freaking divorce papers? She’d sent them twice in the last six months. Both times they were returned in shreds. And she was honest enough to admit a part of her was relieved. They couldn’t go on as they had. She ignored the tiny hope that there might be a way to repair their relationship.

  The call box hissed. “Mallory Littman,” she said into it. “I have an appointment with Brax.”

  They knew who she was. She wasn’t giving them more explanation than that. The voice on the other end surprised her, though. It was warm, welcoming and teasing, a familiar voice she was grateful to hear. She’d grown up in this compound, gotten married in it. Maybe she shouldn’t have stayed away so long.

  “Returning to the fold, Mallory? Come on up,” Gabe said.

  Her moment of pleasure was gone with a snap. She pushed down a surge of acrimony as she drove through the gates. Returning to the fold? Not likely. She wasn’t one of them. Her father and brothers were Elect, but she wasn’t. If it were up to her she wouldn’t have to deal with any of them at all. So why hadn’t she left Tampa? Why did she stay within range of temptation? She tamped down that thought. She’d learned the hard way how to hide her emotions from the Elect. It was the only way to survive in their midst.