Act of Brotherhood_Paranormal Security and Intelligence_PSI-Ops an Immortal Ops World Novel

by Mandy M. Roth

  Vaguely, Garth was aware of the fighting taking place around him. He knew his fellow operatives had the matter under control or would very soon. And he knew with every fiber of his being that Auberi would protect Nicolette.

  Garth kicked Grid in the chest and followed as his brother fell backwards. Yanking Grid up by his shirt, Garth glared down at him before proceeding to punch the man in the face repeatedly. Every aggression he had poured out of him, and he pummeled his brother. All the wrongs that Grid had committed, all the lives he’d forever damaged, all the people he’d killed, it all came pouring out of Garth in one giant wave of rage.

  Grid smiled through the blood in his mouth, wicked glee showing in his green gaze. “Do it, brother. Become what I am.”

  That made Garth hesitate. He released his hold on Grid, and his brother used that lapse in judgment to his advantage, sweeping Garth’s legs out from under him. The tables were quickly turned as Grid stared down at Garth, letting his claws free from his fingertips. He drew his hand back to strike.

  “No! Stop!” shouted Nicolette.

  Grid did—and looked confused in the process before snarling as he glared in Nicolette’s direction. “You can still influence others with your voice.”

  Garth kicked Grid back and then sprang to his feet.

  Grid laughed as he stared past Garth. “Look who joined the party. Miss me, sweetheart?”

  Garth stumbled back to see Edee holding Nicolette to her with a battered but upright Auberi next to them. Striker and Boomer were close to them as well.

  Striker moved quickly in Grid’s direction, but Edee reached out and caught his wrist. “No.”

  Striker snarled. “Lass, he’ll nae be permitted to live. He harmed you. For that, he dies.”

  Edee met Garth’s gaze, and there was something in her expression that told Garth he should get the hell out of the way. He did—just as a massive ball of fire seemed to spring forth from her. It had to be at least six feet in diameter.

  Garth turned just in time to see his brother smiling at the sight.

  “There’s my girl,” said Grid, making no move to get out of the path of the fireball.

  Edee’s long red hair lifted in the air on its own and Nicolette took her hand, causing Nicolette’s hair to lift as well. The fireball doubled in size as it flew past Garth, slamming into his brother and exploding.

  Flames rolled back at Garth and he hit the ground fast as heat licked by him. For a few tense seconds, it seemed as if everything around him was engulfed in flames. The sounds of something exploding came to him. He stayed down, knowing better than to think he was fireproof.

  He wasn’t.

  Slowly, the fire and the heat dissipated, and he found himself being yanked up and off the ground by Auberi.

  The vampire sighed. “Oh goodie, you lived.”

  Garth grunted and dusted himself off, his gaze going to where he’d last seen his brother. Nothing was there. Whatever Edee had done left no traces behind.

  No scorch marks.

  No burn patterns.

  Nothing.

  It hit Garth then that there were no signs of any of the hybrids. Not one body. Confused, he stared at Edee, who was clinging to Nicolette. Clara burst free from the SUV and joined the women, bear-hugging them.

  Boomer grinned from ear to ear. “See. Told ya our women aren’t damsels in distress. Also, who knew Edee could light it up like that?”

  Auberi raised his hand, covered in blood, and then glanced around, shrugging. “What? She came to me last week, asking for my assistance in figuring out what all was done to her and Brooke when they were held captive. The subject of fire came up.”

  Striker’s jaw was hanging open as if he were in the process of catching flies. He looked at Edee, and then took a huge sidestep away from her and covered his groin. “Do nae be thinking of setting anything of mine on fire, she-devil.”

  Edee looked up, and it was then Garth saw the tears on her face. All of the women were crying as they held each other. Clara leaned and whispered something to Nicolette. Garth watched his mate glance at him before breathing a large sigh of relief.

  “You’re not hurt!” she exclaimed.

  Garth touched his front, checking to be sure he wasn’t. He seemed to be all there.

  Auberi snorted. “He is fine. The same cannot be said of his brother.”

  Garth stiffened. “It had to be.”

  “Yes, but that doesn’t make it any easier on you,” returned Auberi. “Go to your mate. She wishes to hug you, but girl power is winning out.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Nicolette sat in the van with Garth next to her, his arm locked around her waist, pinning her against his body. He kissed the top of her head while he continued to discuss exit routes with Boomer, who was driving the van. She knew the loss of his brother couldn’t be easy for him, but she didn’t bring it up. Not yet. It wasn’t the time.

  The man in the passenger seat, the one named Auberi, continued to look back at her, each time staring at her like he wanted desperately to say something, but he remained silent. He was currently in a T-shirt that announced he had a stake and was willing to use it. Boomer had given him the shirt before they’d loaded into the van. Auberi had been soaked in blood and was forced to take off the expensive shirt he’d been in and don the T-shirt instead. He hadn’t looked pleased when he’d noticed the slogan. Boomer got great joy from it all, going so far as to take pictures with his phone.

  Nicolette felt compelled to talk to Auberi too but didn’t know what to say. As she placed a hand on Garth’s muscular thigh, the man—or rather, vampire—in the front passenger seat watched the act and began to growl. It was low, but there.

  “Och, we’re nae gonna have to pull you two apart again, are we?” asked Striker from the backseat of the van. His nose had finally stopped bleeding and from what Nicolette could tell, it didn’t look broken in the least. That or the man healed in the blink of an eye.

  She gasped.

  Did he heal that fast?

  “Auberi, take a deep breath,” said Boomer, glancing over at the vampire.

  “He does not need to touch her so much,” returned Auberi. It was the most she’d heard him say. She caught a hint of a French accent in his voice.

  “You’re French?” she asked, spitting the question out like time was of the essence. Mostly she’d done so out of a case of nerves. How did one converse with a vampire?

  Your uncle is supposedly one. Talking to him isn’t hard.

  Auberi stopped with the menacing stare he’d been giving Garth and nodded. “I am.”

  “Cool. I love France. My uncle used to take me there yearly. Sometimes we’d spend summer break there. He’s Greek, but he’s always been big on me understanding French culture and the language.” She offered a hint of a smile, still nervous around the man.

  Garth kissed her temple, his arm remaining around her. “Beauty, I can sense you’re scared of him. He won’t hurt you.”

  She stiffened. “I’m not scared of him. I know he won’t hurt me. I just don’t know what to say but I feel like I should be talking to him. I’m babbling.”

  “Yer nae babbling, lass. Yer following what feels right. Yer heart recognizes who he is to you, as does yer vampire side,” said Striker from the back.

  Nicolette whipped around fast to stare at the burly man. “What do you mean by that?”

  He pursed his lips. “Was I nae supposed to tell her that bit?”

  Boomer groaned. “He’s like taking a small child on an outing.”

  “I’m not really a real vampire, am I?” she asked, feeling faint. “I’d know if I was one. I’d have fangs or something. I don’t drink blood. I’m not dead. I’m so not one of those things.”

  Auberi’s gaze held something close to compassion. “You have vampire in your genetic makeup, but you are not, in the full sense of the word, a vampire.”

  Nicolette gave in to the need to reach out and touch the man. She placed her fingers light
ly on his upper arm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make it sound the way it did. Please don’t be offended. I’m just learning about all of this and I spoke without thinking. I’m sure you’re a perfectly nice guy who just happens to turn into a bat.”

  His lips twitched. “I cannot turn into a bat.”

  “Oh.” She eyed him. “Can I see your fangs?”

  He nodded and showed them off quickly.

  “Neat.” She leaned forward a bit. “Will holy water hurt you?”

  He looked as if he was trying hard to keep from laughing. “No.”

  “Crucifixes?”

  Garth smiled slightly. “No. They don’t harm him. Trust me, if they did, I’d have kept one on me at all times long ago.”

  She glanced back at Garth as she leaned forward on the seat. “Why? Do you two not get along?”

  Striker laughed loudly. “’Tis putting it mildly. They hate one another. I cannae wait to see how this plays out, now that Auberi is the Viking’s father-in-law.”

  Nicolette glanced around at them and then stilled, thinking about what Striker had said, and what had been said back at the motel.

  Boomer glanced in the rearview mirror at Garth. “Should I pull over? Is this going to end up with her in hysterics or you and Auberi trying to tear each other’s throats out?”

  “I’m gonna bet on yes,” said Striker.

  “Would someone mind telling me what is going on?” asked Nicolette calmly.

  Boomer put his hands up. “Not it.”

  Auberi rolled his eyes at the man.

  Garth cleared his throat. “Well, uh, you see, for a shifter male, when they…when we…it’s like this—”

  Striker leaned forward and patted the back of Nicolette’s seat. “The Viking did what’s called a claiming with you. Means he bit you during intercourse and said the word ‘mine’ to bind you to him. That means, in our eyes, he’s yer husband. Apparently, you bound yerself back to him, because the claim is strong. We can all smell it on you both. And yer scent is changing as we speak. Means yer with child.”

  She said nothing as she took it all in. Wife? Child?

  “And that one up there? The one who has issues with the sun? He’s yer father.” Striker leaned back in his seat, lifted his arms, put his hands behind his head and grinned. “There. Handled. Now, can we find somewhere to eat? I’m starving.”

  “Nicolette?” asked Garth, his voice low. “Beauty, are you okay?”

  They were all nuts. There was no other way to explain it. She lost it, laughing so hard she thought she might wet herself.

  When she realized no one had joined in with the joking, her laughter tapered off. A French curse fell free from her lips.

  Auberi lifted his brows.

  Boomer snorted. “Oh yeah, she’s yours all right.”

  She stared at the man they were claiming fathered her. Her hand went to just under her eyes. He had the exact same eye color as her. The more she looked at the man, who didn’t look to be any older than thirty at best, the more she began to see bits of his features that she shared. Another long line of French obscenities came out of her in a hushed whisper.

  “I like her!” proclaimed Striker. “Can we eat now? Killing bad guys makes me hungry.”

  “I don’t understand. Uncle Landros told me my parents were dead,” she said before taking another deep breath.”

  “Technically, Auberi is dead. He’s a vampire,” said Striker. “So that was nae a total lie on yer uncle’s part.”

  Nicolette stared up at Auberi. “Is my uncle really like you? Is he a vampire too?”

  Auberi inclined his head. “He is even older than I am.”

  “How old are you?”

  “Old,” he returned.

  She looked to Garth for guidance. “Why would Landros lie about my father being dead? Set aside the vampire part. That’s something my brain is having a hard time with. Why lie about my father? Did Auberi hurt my mom? Ohmygod, did he drain her of all her blood?”

  Garth took hold of her chin lightly. “Beauty, he’s no saint but he never harmed your mother. In fact, my guess is, Auberi never even knew your mother. From our best guess, the woman who gave birth to you was a distant relative of Landros’s sister—also named Nicolette. But she and Auberi didn’t know one another.”

  That didn’t make any sense. Had the guy bedded so many women he couldn’t remember them?

  Striker leaned forward. “The bad guys took his sperm and used it to make you. He was nae there for the fun part of baby making.”

  Garth gave him a stern look.

  The Scot shrugged. “I’m nae wrong.”

  Clara’s words about being cooked up in a lab came back to Nicolette. She’d been made by evil men. Why? Was she evil too? She looked at Auberi and teared up. “I’m sorry. I’m guessing you weren’t expecting me.”

  “You have nothing to be sorry for,” he said, turning in the seat more. He reached out and took her hand in his. “Yes. I only just learned of my ties to you. I won’t lie, I wasn’t expecting it. I’m struggling with the knowledge, as is the demon I carry in me. And before you ask, you do not have a demon of your own. My guess is you have some traits I passed on to you that are vampire related. For instance, I believe we linked mentally when I first saw you and you saw me.”

  She thought about the rush of emotions that hadn’t been her own upon first looking at him. “You were confused, nervous, excited, and lost.”

  He nodded. “As were you. And what happened when you knew I was in danger?”

  “I reacted,” she confessed. “Can you do what I did? Whatever that was? Can you make dumpsters and cars fly?”

  He winked. “No. That comes from the Fae in you.”

  “Fae?” she asked.

  Garth replied, “Fairy. Magikal creatures.”

  “Oh. Wait, those are real too?”

  Striker laughed. “Aye. I love pixies. They’re crazy guid in bed.”

  “Is he always like this?” she questioned.

  Auberi, Boomer, and Garth all answered at the same time. “Yes.”

  “How have you guys kept from killing him?”

  Striker grunted. “Hey. I’m nae that bad.”

  Boomer smiled back at her. “It’s really a daily exercise in restraint. Wait until you meet your husband’s best friend, Gram. He’s as bad as Striker.”

  Husband.

  She took a deep breath and clutched Auberi’s hand tightly as she made eye contact with Garth. “We’re considered husband and wife now?”

  “Yes.”

  She licked her lower lip and looked down at her stomach. “And we’re having a baby?”

  He nodded.

  “If you want, I can kill him for you,” said Auberi. “Say the word.”

  “Erm, thanks but let’s not go to that extreme just yet,” she replied.

  Auberi winked again and then kissed the back of her hand.

  She stared harder at him and snorted. “I feel like I’ve met you before.”

  “You have,” said Garth. “Auberi and I were some of the men who raided the lab you were held in as a small child.”

  “How old are you?” she asked.

  Boomer laughed. “Older than your dad.”

  She thought back to what Garth had told her about his age. “You’re really twelve hundred years old?”

  “I am,” responded Garth.

  Nicolette let go of Auberi’s hand and slid over to the side of the van, putting space between herself and Garth.

  Boomer waggled his dark brows. “Looks like she’s not into older men.”

  Auberi nodded to her. “Good girl.”

  Garth reached out and snagged her, drawing her closer. He dipped his head and kissed her lips tenderly. “Beauty, I love you. You’ll warm to the fact I’m old soon enough.”

  Nicolette jerked. “You just said you love me.”

  Boomer laughed.

  Garth nodded. “Because I do.”

  “Stop it,” she protested.

&
nbsp; His eyes crinkled with mirth. “I can’t. You’re irresistible.”

  She looked at Auberi. “I’m rethinking the you-killing-him bit.”

  Auberi beamed. “Good.”

  “Lass, do you nae love him?” asked Striker, seeming overly curious on the matter.

  She opened her mouth to say no but found the words wouldn’t come. She stared at Garth, thinking of everything they’d been through in a short period of time. She thought about how she’d instantly felt drawn to him. How she’d loved every second of the time she’d had with him.

  No. You love him.

  The reality hit her, and she sat up straight.

  Garth winked. “Your secret is safe with me. And I kissed you but you didn’t kiss me back.”

  She melted as he made a play off when they’d first met. She did love the man next to her. She took hold of his hand and squeezed it. “Are you okay?”

  He lowered his gaze a moment, clearly following her meaning.

  Grid.

  “I will be,” he responded. “He couldn’t be allowed to go on. He’d caused enough devastation and destruction. It had to end, and it was evident he couldn’t stop himself.”

  She leaned against him, squeezing his hand more. “I love you, Viking-Cupcake Dude.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “Good thing, beauty. I was planning on keeping you regardless.”

  A tiny laugh escaped her.

  “Are you okay?” asked Auberi of her. “This has been a lot on you. It can’t be easy.”

  “I will be,” she said, taking Garth’s answer for herself as well. “Are you all right with me calling you Auberi for now? Dad seems weird.”

  His eyes widened. “I agree. Dad is weird. Auberi works.”

  Boomer laughed. “Dude, your wild bachelor ways need to cool down. You’re a father now.”

  “How about we not bring that up,” said Auberi sternly.

  Striker laughed. “Lass, yer father is quite the wild child. He makes me look tame most days.”

  Auberi’s cheeks reddened and he looked forward.

  Boomer lost it. “I’m guessing those days are numbered.”

  “What now?” asked Nicolette.

  Garth lifted their joined hands. “Now, I take you home. The organization I work for will make sure your classroom is covered for the time being. I know you love the children, but we need to be sure the threat to you and Clara is contained. You’re with child now too, beauty. We can’t risk—”