Blade's Distraction (Paranormal Wars: Juarez Book 1)

by Shea Balik

  “That’s because it was nearly raw when you were done,” Zeke told him.

  Crossing his arms over his chest, he said, “Like I said, I didn’t burn it.”

  Zeke once more threw his hands in the air. “You need to hire a cook.”

  Everyone liked that idea, but Forest wasn’t sure where they were going to find someone. The problem with hiring anyone around in their territory was that they didn’t know if he could be trusted.

  In the week since Blade’s parents had visited several attacks against the Alpha manor have been attempted. They were amateurish at best, but they all knew it was only a matter of time before someone with more skill attacked them.

  They had to be very careful about who they allowed into the manor. Talon even had to hire guards outside the Juarez area in order to find people he trusted, although Ernesto was also very helpful in recommending men he’d worked with that were good at what they did.

  When they had shown up at the manor it was clear they weren’t all upstanding citizens, but they did what they were told as long as they were paid. Ernesto also assured them that he would only send men who could be trusted not to turn on them. Forest had to admit, so far the men had proved themselves with Talon’s inner circle. Even Blade had been impressed and Forest knew how hard that was to do.

  “Do you have any suggestions as to who?” Talon asked. He’d been in the kitchen making lists supplies for Maui to give to Alek. Since the territory was nearly broke as Raptor had bled the coffers dry, Alek offered to foot the bill for everything during their year trial period.

  Zeke blinked at the question. Apparently he hadn’t thought he’d be taken seriously. In fairness, they often teased the little mouse shifter because he got so flustered.

  Rangi, who never left his mate’s side, asked, “What about Gibson? Didn’t you say he was desperate to get away from the new manager at the restaurant he worked at?”

  Not bothering to answer his mate, Zeke just pulled out his phone and dialed. They all waited hoping this Gibson person would agree. While trying to teach them to cook, Zeke often talked about his best friend and what a great chef he was.

  Forest’s stomach growled at the thought of getting to try some of the dishes Zeke described. Looking forlornly at the mess that now filled the sink, he wondered how long it would take for Zeke to make them something else.

  A chuckle came from behind him as Blade closed the distance to press his well-muscled chest to Forest’s back. “Hungry, pup?” Blade whispered in his ear.

  “Yes.” Although he had to admit his appetite for his mate was more than his hunger for food at the moment.

  “Come on, I have a surprise for you.” Blade took Forest’s hand and pulled him along the hallway up one flight of stairs to their room. Since the manor was so big, they decided to make one section for the team only.

  Talon, Blade, Forest, and Kai were on the second floor. Each room was big enough for a king-sized bed, a sitting area, an en-suite bathroom, and a walk-in closet. There were eight bedrooms on this floor, at least in this part of the house. The plan was to tear down the walls so that Talon would have one whole side of the hall, or four bedrooms, all to himself.

  They would build an office, along with a sitting room for guests and a separate sitting area and bedroom for Talon. The four rooms on the other side would eventually be made into two. One for Kai and one for Blade and Forest.

  The need to fortify the house took first priority. Renovations would have to wait. Of course with Blade’s parents’ warning, Forest wasn’t sure they would ever have time to make any changes.

  As Blade opened the door, a table with two lit candles was set for two. Plates with silver domes were waiting for them. Next to the table was a stand with a bucket filled with ice and beer. The aroma wafting through the air made Forest’s mouth water.

  Stunned at his mate’s thoughtfulness, he leaned into Blade’s body. Tilting his head up for a sweet, slow kiss, he finally pulled away. “What is this for?”

  Blade traced a path up Forest’s arm with his finger. Mesmerized as he watched his mate’s dark skin against his pale skin. It always amazed him, how vividly their colorings contrasted.

  “You are my world, Forest. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you,” Blade murmured before capturing his lips once more.

  Amazed at just how loving and demonstrative Blade had become, Forest sank into the kiss. Since his near death experience, Blade praised Forest often during his training sessions. When Blade was on patrol, he insisted Forest come with him to learn what was expected.

  At first, Forest thought his mate was just placating him because he’d almost died, but over the last two weeks Blade had proved how serious he was about training Forest to be the best, just like the rest of the team.

  As far as their relationship went, Blade did something every day to let Forest know how much he loved him, like tonight with dinner. Since none of them had been able to cook anything remotely edible, it was a good guess tonight would yield the same results. Forest couldn’t help but melt at the sweet gesture.

  Blade slowly ended the kiss and led Forest to the table. His mate pulled out a chair for him to sit in. Forest couldn’t help but feel pampered and cherished at the attention his mate was lavishing on him. Once they were both seated, Blade opened a beer for each of them, then he removed the covers off the plates.

  Forest almost laughed. This romantic dinner consisted of hamburgers and french fries. His mate knew him too well. Nothing beat a great-tasting burger in Forest’s book. Grinning like a fool, he picked up his fully loaded burger and took a bite.

  He groaned as the taste of perfectly cooked meat exploded across his taste buds. The combination of lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese, and ketchup only added to the flavor.

  “I know it’s not exactly gourmet, but I figured you would appreciate a hamburger more,” Blade told him as his mate watched him chew.

  Once he swallowed, Forest answered, “It’s perfect. Thank you.” Leaning over the table, he gave Blade a quick peck on the lips before taking another bite of his meal.

  It didn’t take them long to finish. Forest was really looking forward to thanking his mate properly for the meal, so he didn’t linger. When they were finished they seemed to both agree to leave the dishes until later. Instead they moved into each other’s arms.

  Their lips met and, as always, Forest sank against his mate as he let his lover take control. Forest had come a long way in finding peace with his need to submit in bed. With Blade’s reassurance, he no longer felt that he was subservient just because he liked to be dominated in bed.

  Blade thrust his tongue into Forest’s mouth, branding him as Blade’s. He felt a strong, callused hand slide up his abdomen to tweak his nipples. He couldn’t stop the groan of pleasure as his cock hardened, straining against the zipper.

  A loud explosion rocked the house. Blade ripped his mouth away from Forest’s as their eyes met for an instant. Both of them tore out of their room and ran down the stairs. The rebels had ramped up their attacks.

  They hadn’t taken out their earpieces for the night, allowing Blade to bark out orders to the others while others gave him reports of what was happening. With his shifter hearing, Forest could make out most of the conversation. The western side of the compound had been compromised.

  No one was yet sure how, but most of the manor’s wall was no longer there. There had been ten teams on patrol. Ten of the men they had managed to hire had been paired with the ten men Alek had left behind to help with training. Two teams weren’t reporting in, and one of the teams was pinned down by snipers across the street.

  When they hit the first floor, Blade turned away from the main part of the house. Instead he went to the nearest door that led them out the back of the manor. They ran along the back of the house to the western side, keeping to the shadows as they had no idea who might be out there.

  They had known the west side of the manor was the weakest. It sat close to the street with only a
six-foot wall to keep intruders out. Every other part of the manor was secluded with several hundred acres of open land between the structure and the street.

  Talon and Blade had discussed increasing the wall to fifteen feet. It wouldn’t completely stop someone from entering, but it would make things a lot more difficult, especially if they were carrying explosives or guns.

  He heard Blade ordering all teams to stay in place in case this was a diversion. Since the rest of the team had been in the kitchen at the time of the explosion, they were ahead of Blade and Forest, just arriving at the scene. Rangi stayed back to guard the mates and help Rune with communications. Maui was right there with their team.

  The sound of gunfire carried on the night air. “Fuck,” Blade swore. “Hunter, Evan are you in position yet?”

  Suddenly, Forest’s earpiece crackled to life as the team prepared to defend their home. At first only the Alpha, the second, and the communications coordinator heard the constant communication, but once battle started, the entire team was connected to each other. It allowed them to react quickly without having to wait for information to disseminate down the line.

  “In position,” Evan reported.

  Nothing came from Hunter. That could mean that either he was near the enemy and was trying not to give his position away or hurt and unable to answer.

  “Rune report,” Talon said just as Blade and Forest came up to the rest of the team.

  “He’s fine, there must be enemy nearby.” One of the abilities of the COBI unit was to monitor all vitals, including consciousness. “I’ve muted his earpiece until he responds.” This was a new feature Alek had added mainly because of Forest’s experience at Devil’s Ride.

  They hadn’t made the earpiece completely invisible yet, so it would still be a risk for undercover assignments, but by allowing the earpiece to not transmit any noise, the wearers would be able to hide without giving away their position. Once they were safe again, they’d just have to report their name and the device would reactivate.

  Once they caught up with the team, they waited for word from Evan and Hunter. Until they could see where the threat was, it would be suicide to go in blind. Since they all wanted to come out of this alive, they waited. Another shot was heard from across the street of their position. Then a barrage of gunfire went off, from the other side of the street. Apparently the rebels weren’t well trained, as firing only announced their positions and there was no one to fire upon.

  Forest hated having to stand there and wait. Not that he wanted to get shot, but the thought of someone attacking their home made him want to rush across the street to kill those bastards.

  Chapter 20

  Blade waited with the others for Evan and Hunter to find their enemy. This was always the worst part of any operation, waiting. It never sat well with him to let others do what he was trained to do. Being second forced him to help Talon oversee the battle and only get involved when it became necessary.

  Before becoming Talon’s second, Blade would have been in Hunter’s position. He was still the best at stealth, making him one of the best assassins in the Alliance. There wasn’t anyone he couldn’t sneak up on. When Alek had been there, Blade wanted to try his skills on the Alpha but figured that he’d get knocked on his ass for trying.

  “I got a lock on a man in the third story of the house at one o’clock,” Evan said.

  “Is he the one shooting?” Talon asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Are you sure he’s not just trying to keep his home safe?” Talon asked.

  “Yes, Alpha,” Evan said.

  Talon looked at Blade for a moment in silent communication. Their ability to do so was honed over years of friendship. “How can you be sure?” Blade asked Evan.

  “Because Mrs. Mendez lives there alone, with no living relatives and the ugly-ass man with a scar down his face and the dumbest looking mustache I’ve ever seen is not her,” Evan reported back.

  That was the thing with Evan, he was very outgoing and tended to get know everyone around him. “Take your shot,” Talon ordered.

  The echo of the gun rang through the night. He felt Forest jump since Blade had his hand on his mate’s back. With the danger around them, Blade needed the physical connection to his mate to reassure himself Forest was okay.

  “Threat neutralized,” Evan said.

  Hunter’s voice suddenly came through. “Three intruders on this side of the house neutralized.”

  They started to round the side of house just as two figures were climbing over the wall that lined the street. Without being told, Kai and Paytah took off after them. They would follow the pair, hoping they would lead them back to whomever planned this.

  The rest of the team fanned out to scan the area for any more intruders. When the area was secure, they turned to look at the damage to the manor. A hole two stories high and twenty feet wide now decorated the side of the house. The rooms that lined this part of house were hardly recognizable.

  “Listen up,” Talon said to his men. “Teams four and five haven’t reported in. They were in this vicinity at the time of the explosion. Fan out and find them. But keep your eyes and ears open. We can’t be sure others aren’t out there waiting for us.”

  They had been searching for about ten minutes when the hairs on Blade’s body stood up. After years of being in military, he’d learned to trust his instincts. Right now they were screaming at him. Someone was watching them, and if he had to take a guess they were doing so through the scope of a rifle.

  “Everyone scan. There are eyes on us.” Thanks to the COBI system, he didn’t have to speak loudly and possibly alert the enemy.

  Without any noticeable change in what they were doing, everyone starting scanning the area for a potential threat. Blade stepped closer to Forest when every sense he had went on alert. His instincts kicked in, and he tackled his mate to the ground. Pain seared through his back, and he knew he’d been shot.

  Another shot rang out. “Threat neutralized,” Evan said through his earpiece.

  Not caring about his own injury, Blade rolled off Forest to check his mate for injuries. Not seeing a bullet hole, Blade visibly shuddered at the thought of his mate having been the target for the shooter. He had no doubt it was his parents who were behind this. It might have even been one of his parents who pulled the trigger.

  Now that he knew his mate was okay, Blade felt the throbbing pain of his own wound. The biggest obstacle was the bullet was still inside his body, or Forest would have been hit with it. His body would heal the wound, but it wouldn’t push the bullet out.

  They needed to remove it quickly or the wound would heal forcing them to cut him open again just to get to the bullet. That happened several times through the years, and it hurt like a bitch, so he liked to avoid it if possible.

  Having smelled blood, Wyatt came over to see what was wrong. Fire shot up into his body as he rolled off Forest completely to let Wyatt work. No one on their team was a medic in the true sense of the word, but Wyatt had learned the basics to stabilize them until they could get to a doctor.

  Taking out a bullet was something Wyatt had done more times than he wanted to remember. In the military they usually had a medic assigned to them but had never felt comfortable enough with one of them to add him to their team.

  Forest’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he saw Blade’s back. “You’ve been shot,” his mate exclaimed.

  “It’s just a bullet. Once Wyatt gets it out, I’ll heal quickly enough.” Blade tried to reassure Forest, but he could tell his mate wasn’t listening.

  Within seconds, the reality of all that happened seemed to catch up with Forest. His face went white, and his already wide eyes got wider when he turned to look into Blade’s eyes. “That bullet was meant for me, wasn’t it?”

  Talon stepped up at that moment, his expression solemn. Blade watched his friend’s lips move, but he had trouble understanding what he was saying. He would swear Talon said, “I’m sorry, Blade, it was
your father,” but it just couldn’t be. Sure he’d thought the same thing, but to have it confirmed was too much for him to take in.

  His father tried to kill Blade’s mate. The last act of his father’s life was to hurt Blade, for he had no doubt Evan hadn’t missed the shot. He’d known it was stupid to hope one day his parents would love him. Until his father had tried to kill Forest, Blade never really accepted how much his parents hated him. Now he did.

  “What about my mother?” he asked, knowing that if she were alive, she’d continue to attempt what his father had failed to do.

  He could see the answer in Talon’s eyes. “She was there, but we lost her.”

  Forest held Blade’s hand while Wyatt pulled the bullet out, but Blade hardly felt it. All he could think about was what was wrong with him that his parents couldn’t love him.

  Lips touched his, firmly demanding his attention. Blinking, he stared into a mesmerizing green gaze. Once Blade gave his mate his focus, Forest pulled back. “What they did is on them, not you.”

  How his mate had any idea what he was thinking, Blade wasn’t sure, but his mate’s words sank deep within him. No matter what his parents felt, Forest loved him, so he had to have some redeeming qualities.

  “Forest is right. There has always been a screw loose with your parents. How you turned out okay is a fucking miracle,” Talon said before directing everyone to get back to looking for the four men who were still missing.

  * * * *

  They searched for nearly an hour before finding the four men. Three of them were dead. The fourth had his leg ripped off his body when part of the house fell on him. There were a lot of things that both shifters and mystics could heal from, but that wasn’t one of them. He’d live, but he would have to learn to do so without his right leg. It made Blade’s injury, which was nearly completely healed, seem trivial.

  As the first rays of light lit the sky, the men headed back into the kitchen. Zeke had prepared them an enormous breakfast with just about every imaginable breakfast food ever made. They all ate, but Blade doubted any of them really tasted the food.