Forever Love (Circle of Ghadan Book 1)
Page 25
She stared at her hand. She’d been so sure she’d never see it again this time. At a loss for words, she smiled up at him like an idiot. How had the worst day of her life led her to a better future than she could ever imagine?
“I asked Althea about her vision when I picked the cat up from Sidney,” Keegan said.
The kitten settled into her arms and Cass scratched him between his ears while he fell asleep purring. “I’d forgotten about that. What’d she say?”
“She said no Oracle ever has visions about Daughters, so she knew you were a true Aeterni which was why she had to meet you.”
Cass nodded, no great revelation there. “Okay, I got that from what she said in the car, but what did her vision tell her?”
Keegan smiled, his dimples creasing both cheeks. He bent to kiss her lips before he continued in a solemn tone, “‘Cassandra will bring forth the rebirth of an old friend or foe.”
“Friend or foe?”
Keegan shrugged. “Guess it depends on what Thales is going to do next. Derian wasn’t happy when she told him and because it’s so vague, there’s nothin’ he can act on.”
Cass shook her head and laughed. “Are we ever going to have a quiet moment again?”
He hugged her and the sleeping kitten close. “Not if I can help it because every night will be filled with pleasure-filled sounds, a stóirín. Every night forever.”
Thank you! I hope you enjoyed Forever Love.
Please visit my Facebook page for more information on the Circle of Ghadan series and Together Forever.
Facebook facebook.com/kimberlycummonsauthor
Blog kimberlycummons.blogspot.com
Read on for an excerpt from book 2 of the Circle of Ghadan series, Together Forever.
Together Forever
Crouching behind the barracks of the abandoned military base just outside Miami, Bastien St. Clair watched through night vision goggles as a man entered the building south of his position. Behind Bastien, Caiden checked his weapons for the tenth time. Despite the need for action, they would stay where they were until Micah gave the word.
Just past midnight, the clouds hiding the waning moon gave them all the cover they needed. Too bad the night hadn’t brought cooler temperatures. It was still too damn hot and humid. He wiped sweat from his forehead, pushing back wet bangs. The only sounds were the crickets and the occasional vehicle on the highway nearby. The five men with Micah were invisible.
Micah and his men had already swept the area and the main building was the only one occupied. If Thales, Bastien’s father, hadn’t lied in the email he’d sent earlier in the day, there were four women being held in there.
He clenched his fist fighting the urge to smash his hand against the rusted-out corrugated metal building beside him. If Thales hadn’t been being an ass, one of those women was Sidney Sheppard. Dammit. Beautiful, vivacious, life loving Sidney should not be in there.
Micah returned and crouched next to them. “From what we can see, it appears there’re five men. If Thales is right and they only have the four women, they probably don’t need more.”
Bastien nodded. “I just saw a man go in, did you count him?”
“Yes, he’s the fifth.”
“Are we movin’ now, lad, or do we have to wait for something?” Caiden asked, his Scottish accent stronger than normal.
Micah shook his head. “No, we’re good. My men are in place, we just have to join them. They found a broken window at the back of the building. Looks like our best way in.”
Bastien stood removing the goggles, happy as hell to get this show on the road. He wanted to take Sidney home. Hopefully before anyone got a needle in her. She’d been missing three days already. According to the timetable used on Cassandra the year before, Sidney should be more than halfway through the transformation. The formula better be in there, as well, or they would be in trouble. No, he wouldn’t think of that now, they would cross that bridge when and if they needed to.
Bastien felt Caiden’s hand on his shoulder holding him back. “We’ll find her, Bastien, never doubt that, but don’t go rushin’ in there and gettin’ yourself killed. That won’t do either of you any good, and the Circle would rip me a new one.”
Despite his worry, Bastien smiled at his bodyguard. “Thank you, mon ami, I will not do anything stupid.” At least not intentionally.
“Aye, see that ye don’t, lad.”
As they moved without making a sound to join Micah’s men, Bastien swallowed hard. He would not think there was any chance of anything happening except Sidney’s safe removal from this building tonight.
She frustrated him, angered him and drove his libido crazy, but he’d missed her since she moved out. He should have been more insistent on her staying with him. She was too damn independent. With her father locked up, and nothing happening to another Daughter since Cassandra was changed, he’d let her go. He’d listened to Thales’ promises that he had the formula under control.
Besides, at twenty-six, Sidney was still too young. Or that had been their belief until he’d received his father’s email, where Thales revealed that new research had shown a Daughter could be changed at any age. Damn, that was going to cause a shit-storm once it was made known.
They reached the back of the building without incident. Micah’s men went first. Bastien shook his head. His father never had that damn formula under his control, and once again he’d had to admit it was stolen. When this was finished, and he had Sidney back in his home with her cat, he’d find a way to contact his father and insist he give control of the formula to the Circle who could protect it better than he obviously could.
Bastien had tried to email him back that morning, but the mail had come back undeliverable. Micah’s best men had all agreed. The email address was invalid and they couldn’t trace it back to anything more specific than it’d come from outside the United States.
Micah touched his arm and indicated he was to go next. Bastien nodded and climbed through the window. As soon as his feet touched the concrete floor on the other side, he pulled out his Browning 9mm and held it firmly in his left hand. Grabbing the Maglite out of his back pack, he held it in his right without turning it on.
Caiden stood beside him, a gun in one hand and a sword in another. Everyone knew they’d be encountering Aeterni and beheading was the only way to ensure death. If need be, but capture was preferable. They needed answers more than they needed the satisfaction of killing the Aeterni. Besides, it would only be lawful if the kidnappers were declared Mortuus, and so far they hadn’t been.
The room was dimly lit by battery operated camp lights on the floor and scattered tables left behind when the base was closed. Stirred up dust and bugs of all sizes moved around in the dim light. The dust and musty smell made Bastien’s nose itch and he pinched it stopping a sneeze. The closed up room was a good ten degrees hotter than outside. His black long sleeved t-shirt clung to him as sweat ran down his spine. His feet were too damn hot in the heavy boots.
He shoved the hair off his forehead with the back of the hand holding his gun, wiping away the sweat before it could run in his eyes. It’d been a while since he’d been on this type of mission as he’d spent most of the last fifty years secluded in his home with his books. No matter how long it’d been, he was ready and knew precisely what he had to do. First up was ignoring the heat and any other discomfort caused by weather or environment. Which included the buzzing mosquitoes that were abandoning the lamps in favor of fresh blood.
The front man had taken out the guard by a door and opened it, indicating there was a stairway down. Micah nodded motioning the man to go. Silently, they filed down the stairs. To Bastien’s surprise, there wasn’t a man on duty at the foot of the stairs. He looked at Micah who looked equally confused. Shrugging, Micah signaled they spread out.
The hallway went off in three directions from the foot of the stairs and Bastien and Caiden turned to the right moving cautiously down the hall. The institution gray concrete
walls were peeling and moisture from the humidity and outside heat ran down them staining the concrete floor dark. The walls and floor made it damp and cold, chilling the sweat coating his skin, causing him to shiver. The smell of mold and rat droppings was overpowering. A sound to his left had him pointing his gun and Maglite as a rat scurried past, disappearing into the shadows in front of him. Merde, he wanted Sidney out of this hole. Now.
“Lovely accommodations our friends have given the lassies.” Caiden’s whisper carried the same disgust Bastien was feeling.
Bare bulbs in the ceiling were sporadically placed, giving off enough light to illuminate the area directly below them, leaving the doorways shadowed. Bastien slowly opened doors, sweeping the rooms with the flashlight, Caiden ready at his back. There was nothing but random pieces of discarded furniture.
Another rat ran down the hall hugging the wall disappearing into the darkness behind him. On second thought, please do not let Sidney be down here. Don’t let any young lady be down here.
When he reached the middle doorway, he cautiously pushed the door open. The copper smell of blood hit him before he saw the decapitated man spread-eagle in a pool of blood. It had to be one of the kidnappers based on his dark clothing and mask that still covered his head.
He felt Caiden come up behind him.
“What the fuck?” Caiden said. Moving past Bastien, he squatted near the body and pulled the mask off the head. “I’ve no idea who this guy is, do you?”
“I have never seen him before.” Pushing the button on his Bluetooth mic, Bastien whispered, “Micah, we have company and he is killing the bad guys.”
“Shit, yeah, I just stumbled across one and there’s no doubt whoever’s doing it knows about Aeterni. Take care, Bastien, this makes the situation doubly bad.”
“Agreed,” Bastien said as he watched Caiden search the body. He looked up and shook his head. Damn, nothing to identify who these guys were.
Returning to the hallway, Bastien slowly closed the door and turned away. Even more cautious, he opened first one door then the next, but they didn’t run into any more downed men or whoever was taking them out.
A beep sounded in his ear followed by Micah, “Bastien, we’ve found the cells, but only two women so far. They’ve been drugged and are out for the long haul. We can’t get them to flinch let alone wake.”
About the Author
Kimberly Cummons wrote her first Gothic romance novel while still in high school. Believing there were more profitable ways to earn a living, she turned away from her first love and earned a Bachelors’ Degree in Business Education. Over the years, she’s worked at a number of interesting small businesses. Her favorite job will always be the local historical society where she met her own personal hero. Never forgetting her love of writing, Kimberly continued to write romances in different genres, but paranormal, fantasy and suspense have proven to be her favorites.
Kimberly, her husband and their cat live in Michigan.
Table of Contents
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
About Forever Love
Dedication
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Excerpt from Together Forever
About Kimberly