by Shea Balik
After they ate, Talon, Maui, and Blade had a video conference with Alek. The Alpha wasn’t happy that there had been an attack. “I can’t leave my men down there any longer to help. The psy are ramping up their war against us, and I need the others back here to help.”
“Understood, Alpha,” Talon told the Alpha Primus. “We will be fine on our own.”
Blade had to stop himself from snorting at the obvious lie. Not that Alex’s men were going to be much help. They were there, and the rebels were able to put a hole in the building and kill three men. Clearly they were going to have to go on the offensive.
It would be a whole lot easier if they knew who their enemy was. Not that they had ever known easy in their lives. Because of their skills, they were usually assigned the most challenging missions where death was the most likely outcome, yet they’d always survived.
This would be no different. They refused to accept failure. No matter how long it took, they would find every last rebel. First they would start with those who attacked them, but eventually they would move to the bigger fish. There was no doubt that the Cadre was at the head of the rebels.
The twelve men and women who made up their governing body were some of the most corrupt people in the Latin Territory. Their money was endless, and their reach was long. Blade knew not all of them were corrupt, but because of the constant infighting it was hard to pinpoint who was corrupt and who was being framed.
They would be deadly to go after. The Cadre had the resources to start an all-out war against the Alpha. It was one of the reasons Alek made Talon Alpha. He knew it would take someone who was not only deadly, but cunning.
Direct confrontation wasn’t always the best way to take out an enemy. Sometimes it was easier to use their own weaknesses against them. Each member of the Cadre would be researched until no stone was unturned. The team would only go after the Cadre when they knew all there was to know.
Until then, they would work on finding trustworthy men and women to join their ranks. No one would be taken at face value. It wasn’t the way Talon liked to run things, but after much discussion, the team decided it was the best way to ensure their safety and the safety of the citizens of the Latin Territory.
Juarez would be the most at risk, as it would be where they lived. Ernesto had agreed to be their eyes and ears and report anything about the rebels. In return, he wouldn’t be charged for any of his past crimes. It was a good deal for all involved.
Forest was waiting for Blade when he got out of his meeting. A smile instantly appeared on Forest’s face when he saw him. What surprised Blade was that he wore the same happy smile when he saw Forest waiting for him.
After all he’d been through in his life, Blade was a fairly cynical man. It wasn’t until he met his mate that he found out how sentimental he really was. It unnerved him, especially in the beginning, but the more time he was around his mate, the more he liked that side of himself.
Taking his mate’s hand he led him up the stairs. Even though there was a lot of work to be done, Blade knew spending time with his mate was more important. The world wouldn’t come to an end, so he might as well enjoy what time he could with his mate.
Later, the team could discuss the ramifications of what was on everyone’s mind. The people of Juarez had declared war on them.
Epilogue
It had been two weeks since the attack, and so far nothing else had happened. Blade wasn’t fooled. Sooner or later there would be another one. Mostly likely it would continue for years since getting rid of the rebels wouldn’t be easy.
He hated that his mate had to constantly be in danger, yet he refused to be apart from Forest. So he did the only thing he could do. He trained Forest to be a killing machine, just like the rest of the team. He pushed Forest hard every day.
As much as he needed his mate to be able to defend himself, Blade hated what he was doing to him. As tough as Forest tried to be, he was actually a very trusting soul. That made it hard for Blade to teach his mate to be leery and watch everything around him at all times.
“Okay, the room has been set up. Remember ten seconds is all you get.” As part of Forest’s training, Blade was teaching him to scan a room in seconds and be able to recall every detail.
It was a lot harder than it seemed. In general, people might notice three to five things when they walked into a room. For their team, that wasn’t good enough. Not seeing something could get them killed.
With stopwatch in hand, Blade opened the door. As soon as Forest stepped inside, he started the timer. At ten seconds, he said, “Close your eyes.”
Once Forest did, Blade led him back out of the room and closed the door. In the hallway he asked, “What did you see?”
Forest kept his eyes closed as he started reciting various people and objects that were in the room. “From left to right. A chair from the kitchen sat against the wall next to the door. Hunter was sitting on it, looking at you and giving you the finger. He was wearing a black T-shirt and black cargo shorts with rainbow colored flip-flops.
“The next wall was covered with bookshelves. Most were technical manuals. Also, there were maps rolled up on the middle shelf. An ancient sword was on a stand on display.” So far, Forest had gotten everything right.
“On the wall opposite the door was Talon’s desk with Talon sitting in a chair behind the desk. The desk was stacked with papers. In the center of the desk was a book called Cooking for Dummies. Talon had on a dark green T-shirt. As he was sitting behind the desk, I couldn’t see what he had on for pants. His arms were both down under the desk and a potential threat.”
Blade couldn’t stop smiling as Forest finished describing the rest of the room. He’d missed only a few things but had been able to describe the room perfectly overall.
Those gorgeous green eyes opened when Forest finished. He looked nervous, like he was afraid he hadn’t gotten it right. Leaning in, Blade kissed him hard on the mouth, licking at the seam until his mate opened up to let him in.
When they were both breathless and needed air, Blade finally pulled back. “You did great. I’m so proud of you. Clearly you have been working at this and it shows with how quickly you have improved.”
Forest seemed to relax at Blade’s praise. “How much did I miss?”
“Only three things.” Blade hated having to tell Forest that he missed anything, but he’d asked, and Blade wasn’t about to lie to his mate.
Forest nodded. “I’ll do better next time.”
Blade pulled his mate into his arms. “Pup, that was good. All of us miss a few things from time to time. We do our best and that’s all we expect out of you.”
“I know, I just want to be ready. Just because the rebels have been stupid so far doesn’t mean they all will, and I want to as deadly as you guys are so I can help defend our home,” Forest told him.
Blade leaned his forehead against Forest’s. “I hate that you have to live like this.”
Forest’s lips pulled up into a slight smile. “As long as I have you by my side, I’m willing to live anywhere, no matter the danger.”
The softest, sweetest lips met Blade’s in a sensual kiss that made Blade’s head spin. He loved how his mate made sure Blade knew how much Forest loved him. He’d never really seen a loving couple together for long. Wyatt’s parents were the only ones who truly seemed to love each other, but he hadn’t spent much time at their house.
“If you are done making out, would you mind joining us so we can get down to business?” Talon called out from the office.
The rest of the team was already in the room as they had participated in Forest’s test. As soon as they walked back in the office all eyes were on them. “Well?” Paytah asked.
Blade smiled like an idiot as he bragged about his mate. “He only missed three things.”
Everyone congratulated Forest. Paytah even gave a shout of joy at Forest’s accomplishment. “You’re already better than Evan, who can’t scan a room to save his life.”
&nb
sp; Suddenly, water poured down from thin air over Paytah’s head. “Hey!” Paytah shouted while glaring daggers at Evan.
It was good to see the team back to their old antics. Ever since the rebels had planted a bomb against the west side of the manor, they had all been on edge. Talon had talked to Blade about the need to get the team back into the right frame of mind, but neither were sure how.
A small line of fire zipped through the room, starting Evan’s chair on fire. Evan didn’t even move, he just put the flame out while he smirked at Paytah. Determined to get Evan back, Paytah sent another stream of fire, this time aimed for the bottoms of Evan’s shoes.
Evan put of the fire quickly, but not in time to save the soles of his shoes from melting. “Damn it, Paytah!” Evan exclaimed as he took off the ruined shoes to study the bottoms, hoping they could be saved. He glared at Paytah when he saw they would have to be thrown out. “I just bought those.”
“Maybe you should have thought about the consequences before you started playing, water boy.” Evan hated that nickname, and Paytah used it whenever he wanted piss off the water mystic.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Talon said as he tried to stop laughing at their antics. “Paytah, I expect you to buy Evan a new pair of shoes.”
“Baby,” Paytah muttered under his breath.
“Fuck you!” Evan fired back.
“This is your last warning, or you’ll both face me in training.” Talon’s threat worked. No one wanted to face Talon. The man was deadly, not that he’d kill anyone on his team, but there would definitely be pain.
When Talon saw Paytah and Evan were done with their bickering, he began. “Okay, we have a lot to cover and not much time to do it. First, Kai, Paytah, and I will be leaving for a few days to track down some leads as to who blew up our home.”
Blade had argued heatedly with Talon when his Alpha told him the plans yesterday. Talon was the Alpha now, and he shouldn’t be taking that kind of chance with his well-being. Unfortunately, Talon overruled him.
Talon hadn’t given a reason but Blade guessed it had to do with Blade’s mother. He appreciated Talon wanting to keep him from going after his mother, but it was his job to do this as Talon’s second. If Talon could kill his own brother, then Blade would find the strength to bring in his mother. Ultimately Talon had to dole out the punishment since he was the Alpha so Blade wouldn’t have to do anything more then bring her in.
“The repairs to the west side of the manor are finished. The construction crew is now working on extending the wall to twenty feet. They expect to be done by the end of the week.” Talon, Alek and the construction crew they had hired out of Northern Territory had come to a mutual decision to extend the wall.
Talon had actually been against making it that tall, but Alek overruled him. The fact was, nothing would be completely safe when it came to the paranormal community. Shifters and mystics could scale just about any height, but would make it more difficult.
“While they are working on that, Rune, Wyatt and Evan will be installing a state of the art security system that Alek sent down for us to use,” Talon informed them. “Blade, obviously you will be in charge during my absence.”
Talon smiled as he looked down at his notes. “And Forest, you have passed the initial stage of your training.” Just like earlier, there were several congratulations along with several cheers. “As such, you will be added into the rotation with the guards.”
Blade saw just how proud Forest looked to finally get an assignment. It had been what his mate wanted since he started training. Proud of his mate, Blade squeezed Forest’s thigh. “I’m proud of you, pup.”
The way his mate’s green eyes lit up at Blade’s praise nearly stole the breath from his lungs. Not caring what his team thought, Blade leaned over to kiss Forest in an attempt to capture the sheer joy of accomplishment his mate felt. He loved that his mate had worked so hard and succeeded.
The catcalls made them both laugh, especially as Paytah and Evan started competing to see who could be the loudest. Breaking their lip lock, Blade turned back to Talon for him to continue the rest of their meeting.
An hour later, they were finishing the tasks each of them would have not just for the next few days, but as part of the Alpha’s inner circle. Blade was still his second. Kai, Talon’s enforcer. The rest would continue their same jobs with the addition of having to train others to help with the workload.
The doorbell rang. Cruz, one of the men Ernesto recommended for a guard, was in charge of the door. After a few moments, they heard a male raise his voice to Cruz. “Look, I’m telling you Alpha Talon is expecting me. Instead of arguing with me, why don’t you go ask him?”
They all stood up and went to the foyer to find out what was going on. A man who couldn’t have been more than five feet six or seven stood there glaring at Cruz, who looked lost as to what to do.
“And just who are you?” Talon asked the man.
“Gibson Martin, your new chef.” Blade was impressed. The guy didn’t back down even though Talon had clearly been challenging him.
Once the rest of the team heard he was the chef Zeke sent to them, they crowded around the man to welcome him. A growl rolled through the foyer, the warning clear. Just as quickly as the team had gotten close to welcome Gibson, they stepped back, turned to Talon, tilting their heads in submission.
“Out.” It was only one word, but they all scrambled to get out of there before Talon attacked one of them. No one seemed to understand why Talon was acting like that, but Blade did based on his smile, which Forest also understood.
Taking Forest’s hand, Blade led him upstairs to their room. Kicking the door closed behind them, Blade pushed Forest against the wall, trapping him with his body. Lifting his hand to cup Forest’s cheek, he stared at where their skin came together. His dark skin against Forest’s milky white skin was striking.
Tilting Forest’s head up, he pressed his lips against his mate’s for just a moment before pulling back. Staring down into the emerald eyes he said, “I love you.”
Forest gave him a sweet smile. “I love you too.”
Blade didn’t know what was going to happen as they tried to get rid of the bad elements in the Latin Territory, but he did know with Forest by his side, he was ready for anything.
THE END
Coming Soon
June 2020
Strengthening Their Bond
Miracle 13
Hart Medical Center 6
Title TBD
July 2020
Mystic Pines 3
Title TBD
Talon’s Prey
Paranormal Wars: Juarez 2
About the Author
Bestselling author of the Cedar Falls Series, Hart Medical Center Series, Miracle Series, and Paranormal Wars Series, Shea Balik has always had a vivid imagination with stories running around in her head. Often her stories are taken from observations of other people with her own spin. Traveling is one of her favorite ways of fulfilling her passion of people watching. You never know, one day you may spark her imagination for her next book.
Whether at home or traveling she is usually in front of her computer writing or curled up with a good book. Find Shea at any of the links below!
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