The Protectors Series Bundle (A superhero romance anthology)

by Nana Malone

  Seth rained punches in the brute's face, hoping one of them would knock the guy out. But the behemoth beneath him writhed and flailed his arms trying to get a punch in. Finally, Seth used all his strength and pressed his arm like a bar across the guy’s neck. It seemed like hours. Like weeks. Like months, but finally the Tracker stopped struggling.

  Leaning back, Seth checked for a pulse. It was weak, but present.

  Dragging in deep breaths, he refused to acknowledge his shaking hands. He almost killed three men. What the hell had he become? Before he could get too maudlin, Cassie called for him.

  Seth, I need you. Been shot.

  On instant alert, he mentally called out for her, but she didn't respond. Shit. Forcing his body to a stand, he turned in the direction he'd last seen her and ran through the trees. Before he went three hundred meters, he picked up the scent of citrus and vanilla. As powers went his heightened sense of smell was certainly handy. Running faster, he followed the trail, coming upon one downed Tracker. He checked for a pulse, but didn't find one. He was smarter this time and snatched the guy’s weapon and ammo. Even if Nisulin wasn’t lethal to people without powers it would slow anybody down.

  When he finally stumbled upon Cassie, he found her propped against a tree, two dead Trackers at her feet. Kneeling before her, he checked her for wounds. There was a hole just above her knee. Thick red blood slowly seeped from the wound in time with her pulse. She also had a few bruises, but no other gunshot wounds.

  He held her face in his hands. “Cassie. I need you to wake up.” She didn't budge.

  Shit. He should have insisted they stay together. Instead, he’d let her go off on her own.

  He scooped her up in his arms. Stepping over the bodies, he ran as fast as he could back to the car. He couldn't lose her like this.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Deafening cries ricocheted in Cassie’s mind. Her head shrieking with pain, thudding, pounding, threatening to consume her from the inside out. She knew what they were going through. Every visceral scream pierced her soul. The pain of the injections. The slice of the surgeon’s blades. She wasn’t the only one who suffered at Peter’s hands.

  Cassie gasped and jerked upright. The dream clung to her consciousness. Shadows surrounded her, but not the same oppressive darkness of her blackouts. A quick check of her senses told her she was in a structure with one other person. For at least a mile, she registered only breathing of one other person and the scurry or forest animals. Nothing out of the ordinary. Or dangerous. She relaxed slightly. Deeply inhaling, she smelled coffee, but not the bitter roast they used in the labs—something rich and chocolaty—mixed with a woodsy musk. Seth. He’d come for her.

  Tears pricked at her eyes as she turned into a downy soft pillow to hide her relief. She all but kidnapped him and forced him to help her. She'd nearly gotten him killed more than once. She turned him into something freakish and still he stayed with her. He hadn’t left her to die.

  Out of the darkness, Seth's voice was gruff. “Why are you crying?”

  Cassie swiped a tear from her cheek and pushed into a sitting position. When dizziness struck, she lay back down. “I'm not crying,” she lied.

  “I can smell your tears,” He dragged in a breath. “Light. Salty.”

  No point denying it. His senses were now as keen as hers. “I—you didn't leave me.” She snuffled again, annoyed with the relief and joy muddling her thinking process.

  She couldn't see him, but ice dripped from each of his words. “And that's the kind of person you think I am? You think after everything I'd leave you behind? Unlike you, I know I need you.”

  “N-No. But you didn’t ask for any of this. And I nearly got you killed—again. For like the third time since we met. I’m sure you wish you could go back to your normal life, before you ever walked into the lobby of Gentech.”

  He sighed shifted in the darkness. As his footsteps neared, her heart hammered in her chest.

  “I've had some time to think about all that, actually. While you were taking your catnap.”

  The outline of his features came into focus as he approached the bed. God, he was big. Her eyes slid to his waist. And armed. Whoa. Butterflies swarmed her stomach. He’d stood sentry over her, to protect her from things that went bump in the night.

  “How long was I out?” She tried sitting up more slowly this time. She took it as a good sign when the room didn’t spin. Her eyes adjusted to the weak light of the moon filtering through the window.

  “Couple of days.” His jaw set. “I was worried.”

  She rubbed at the bandage on her leg. “Damn bastard got off a lucky shot.” Even though a little blood seeped through the bandage, she wouldn’t have so much as a scar.

  “Are your powers back?”

  “Hearing and smell seem normal, vision is taking a minute. I don’t know about the mind abilities.”

  He sat his hulking form next to her on the bed. “Read me.”

  She blinked at him. “I gave you my word I wouldn't do that.”

  The corners of his lips tipped up. “You’re not breaking your word if I ask you to.”

  “No.” She said stubbornly. “It'll be too hard anyway. Pushing thoughts is easier. Besides, I’m only able to read you if you’re projecting, and that still takes effort. I'm not looking for a migraine.”

  He clasped her hand. “Cassie. Try.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him, but braced herself none-the-less and probed. Instead of the pain she anticipated a sense of freedom filled her. Like she’d been pushing up against a wall but then the wall suddenly crumbled. His relief washed through her. His concern. She could hear every thought, experience every emotion.

  Can you hear me?

  She spoke her response. “Yes.”

  Good. Then promise me, you'll never go off on your own again. We're in this together.

  Cassie blinked at him, unsure what to say.

  You don’t have to say anything. Just promise me.

  Cassie offered him a small, sharp nod. The love welling up in her confused her. She wasn’t ready to really examine that emotion yet.

  “While you've been out, I came up with an idea to solve your Peter problem.”

  Even the mere mention of her brother’s name made her skin prickle with unease. “What do you have in mind?”

  Then she noticed the small piece of black plastic in his hand. He flipped the flash drive over and over with his fingers. “I made that call about your flash drive. Jansen will be here today to decrypt the files. I figured this was safer than trying to go to him.”

  “You realize if they’re looking for you, and he’s your friend, they probably have his phone tapped? Peter’s got powerful friends in the government.”

  He put up his hands. “This is not my first time at the rodeo with confidential informants. And Jansen is a paranoid mother fucker if I ever met one. I paged him with a burner cell. It’ll be fine. We will find the others. Not to mention, in a pinch, he’s the kind of guy you want on your side.”

  “How do you know Jansen? Or is this one of those stories I don’t want to know.”

  “Ex-marine. I’ll just say he saved my life more than once.”

  “We’re running out of time Seth. I can hear their screams. I don’t want to lose anyone because I wasn’t able to get to them in time.”

  “We’ll get to them. I promise. That brings me to our other problem.”

  “What’s that?”

  “We both need to work on our powers.”

  Nope. She didn’t like his plan one bit. “Seth, you saved my life. You went in after those Trackers even when I told you not to. And I’m grateful. But playing like we’re the Justice League or something will only get us killed. We don’t have enough time to train.”

  His jaw set again and he squared his shoulders. “Look. You’ve been asleep a while. I’ve had plenty of time to think about what I’ve been going through and how to control my powers. And, to think about your telekinesis.”

/>   “Seth, two days of practice hardly makes you an expert. What if we go into a fight, you get too many visions, and you’re blind? What if you rely on me to mind push and my body goes into full shut down at a crucial moment? We can’t go in commando style. It just won’t work. We have to go in stealth. “

  “You’re wrong. Not about the approach, but about our powers. I’m a secret weapon your brother isn’t counting on. Have you ever stopped to examine the root of your powers? Most of the time, you just do things because you can. The telekinesis and the pushing are different. You actively exercise your concentration when you’re using them.”

  Where was he going with this? “At the labs, they’re always on me to find my control point and concentrate.”

  “Right. And do you ever have to focus that hard with your hearing, your agility or your strength powers? Or do they just happen.”

  She frowned. “Well, they mostly just happen, like reflexes. When a situation is out of the norm, then I pinpoint and assess.”

  “Well, what if the rest of your powers are like that? What if your limitation is like a wall you have to break through? But instead of breaking through, you wait for the wall to dissolve. Pretend your other telekinesis is just like your hearing. Your powers are not separate from you. They are an intrinsic part of you.”

  “You’re saying that if I stop trying so hard, then I’ll never have trouble using my power. Like finding the man of my dreams?”

  He smirked. “Well you already found him, but yeah. That’s the general idea. If you stop treating your powers like they are work, you’ll get better results.”

  She cocked an eyebrow. “And have you tested out this new theory of yours?”

  “As a matter of fact, I have.” He shrugged. “Nothing but time on my hands for two days now.”

  “Funny thing is, you can’t prove your powers to me.”

  He grinned wide and a glimmer of the old Seth shined through. “But I can.” Scooping her in his arms, he carried her from the large guest bedroom, moved through the spacious hallway of the cabin and brought her into the massive living area. The vaulted ceilings mixed with clean modern lines and contemporary, but luxurious leather furniture, reminded her of the pictures she’d seen of Manhattan lofts.

  She whistled as she scanned the open concept living room and kitchen. “This is some cabin. Look at that while marble countertop.”

  “Tell me about it. I couldn’t believe this place the first time I came here. There are five bedrooms in the main house and four guest cabins, each one with two bedrooms. Matt’s mother was old money. Lisa and Matt never sold the place. The only thing that makes this mansion a cabin is that it’s secluded and nestled in the woods. Otherwise, this place could put a movie star’s home to shame.” Flipping the massive, sixty-inch, flat-screen TV to a news station, he sat facing her on the soft suede-covered couch.

  The newscaster droned on and Seth repeated what he said. Though, as Cassie closely listened, Seth didn’t repeat the news cast, he recited it about two seconds before it blared out of the television. Her eyes popped. “How are you doing that?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. I found out by accident the first night we were here. I turned on the television to see if there was any news about us or Lisa. Took me a while, but I realized I was receiving the news cast before the announcer.”

  Could she control her power like that? If she could, she wouldn’t have to be afraid of the Trackers anymore. To them, she would be the thing that went bump in the night. “Show me how.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Seth couldn't take his eyes off of Cassie’s reflection as she licked her lips, concentrating on her task. From the window he watched her try to move objects of varying sizes from the desk in the den. For the last twenty four hours she’d been relentless about training. She only stopped to work with Jansen when he arrived. Though she initially wouldn’t go anywhere near the former marine, because to her, he looked like one of the Trackers. She had given Seth one of her you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me looks.

  The recovery time she needed decreased more and more as she learned to utilize her power. Relief didn’t begin to cover how he felt. She wouldn’t be marching to her death if Jansen found the Gentech lab.

  Seth cared about her. He still had to sort through his feelings about the superman thing, but Cassie he was sure about. She was the strongest woman he'd ever met. Not to mention her stunning beauty. And she’d given him muscles on Miracle Grow.

  Cassie’s bare feet padded on the wood floor behind him and she joined him at the living room window. “What are you doing awake? I told you I’d take first watch.”

  She shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep. You look like your thoughts are very far away. What are you thinking about?” Her voice was soft.

  “I was thinking about how beautiful you are.”

  In the dark, her lips curved up, showing a flash of teeth. Leaning forward and standing on tip toe, she pulled him to a standing position. A quick image of Cassie leaning over him and working his cock with her tongue invaded his temporal lobe and he fought a smile.

  The sound of Cassie pulling the zipper of his jeans down cracked through the silence in the room. He didn't realize he held his breath until his head swam. As Cassie's warm, delicate hands touched his hips, his need for her sizzled under his skin. He barely remembered his life before he met her. As if he hadn’t woken up until they met.

  Cassie tucked her thumbs in his boxers and tugged them down with his jeans. Even though cool air caressed his skin, his body overheated with anticipation. She wrapped her hand around his shaft and stroked—as if in awe, testing, sampling the texture. His cock jerked in her hand and her eyebrows rose. A smile danced in her eyes.

  The heat from her hand poured over him. Pressure built in his body until he thought the top of his brain would pop off. Then she parted those lips and his vision came to life. As the tip of her tongue tasted him, he yanked off the scarf she used as a hair band and twined his hands in her dark tresses, calling out her name.

  She sucked him deep, until the tip of him brushed her throat, and then eased back. Her hands held his hips in place as she engulfed all of him.

  Cassie’s tongue tasted and sucked. He didn’t think he could take much more. “Cassie.”

  But she didn't let up. He crashed over the wall with an orgasm so strong, his whole body trembled.

  Several minutes passed before he found his voice again. When he spoke, he kept his voice low. “Cassie, look at me.”

  Bringing her gaze up, her feverish green one met his. Her brows furrowed when he slowly walked over to the nearby table and leaned against the edge.

  “Strip. I want to see you.”

  Her jaw dropped, but a wicked glint sparked in her eyes. “But Jansen is upstairs. He could come down at any time.”

  Seth dropped his voice. “He sleeps like the dead. And if he did wake up, he’d figure out soon enough what was going on and leave us to it. He won’t come down. Not to mention we’d both hear him. Now stop stalling and strip.”

  She sucked in a breath, but complied. Cassie dragged the T-shirt over her head, exposing the soft swell of her breast over a transparent, demi-cup bra. His mouth watered at her puckered nipples.

  “Where did you get that from?”

  “L-Lisa picked these up.”

  Cassie looked him directly in the eye. Her hair hung thick and straight, framing her face. Her thumbs hooked on the edge of her black thong.

  “No, leave that on.”

  Need drove Seth and also kept him rooted to his position at the table. He’d never seen anyone more beautiful. “I want you to lie back on the couch.”

  She didn’t question him, just walked over to the couch and lay back against the cushions, propping her torso up with her elbow, giving him the barest hint of a show. From where he stood, he scented the damp heat of her body. He knew how her soft lips would swell and part for him. Cassie drew up one knee and reached for him.

  He stopped breat
hing, but he didn’t join her. Instead, sat in the chair at the side of the couch. Smiling, he asked, “Do you trust me?”

  Her breathing was even and slow as she nodded.

  “Good.” His voice was gruff. All he could think was he wanted to eat her whole. Holding up the scarf she used as a headband, he leaned over her and when she scooted nearer, he gently but securely tied the scarf over her eyes. “Lie back again.”

  Once she lay back on the couch, that’s when he touched her. He let his hands skim over the swell of her breasts and belly. He drew circles over her rosy nipples until they tightened into buds. The muscles in her belly rippled under his hands as he traced a path to her mound. Unlike that fevered half-dream of their first time, now he was awake. He knew where to touch her and how she would taste. She slid her hands over his, trying to guide his hands to her heated core, but this was his exploration. He wasn’t going to give in that easily.

  Cassie moaned when he breathed over the perfect peak of her breast. With every movement over her nipple with the stubble of his chin, her hips lifted and she reached for him. Knowing she was completely open to his ministrations was the most erotic thing he’d ever experienced. He wanted to slide his aching cock into her and drive her toward an oblivion so deep, neither one of them would wake from the stupor for days.

  He lifted her torso and unhooked her bra. Once removed, the cool air puckered her nipples. She sucked in a breath.

  “Mmmm, so pretty. You like when I touch you don’t you?”

  Nodding, she mewled softly as he placed kisses along the undersides of her breasts, lingered over each of her ribs, and tickled her belly button with his tongue.

  She gasped when he secured one nipple and sucked her deep into his mouth, moaning his name when he suckled harder. Desire thundered in his blood as she held him to her nipple. He ached with the need to be inside her.