by Jools Louise
Fly smirked at his mate, who guffawed.
“Sweetie, if you don’t know, I feel sorry for you,” Fly retorted, moving to the couch. He noted that Noah had placed a throw cover over it, and bit back a grin. Noah had some consideration after all.
“You should read this,” Mikhail said, handing Fly a file as he sat at the kitchen counter on a stool. “It will explain exactly what has been happening with your brother and your mother in the last ten years.” He looked sympathetic when Fly scowled at the offensive document wallet. “Don’t disregard the lengths that Flashpoint or their affiliates will go to, to achieve their aims. Remember what happened to your own mate? And mine?”
Fly flushed at that, ducking his head in shame. “I’m sorry, Mik,” he said sincerely. “I don’t mean to belittle what you’ve suffered, not at all. I just find it a little suspect that my brother had chances to contact me, to let me know he was okay, and he chose not to.”
“I didn’t choose…” Mercury bit out, only to be cut off by Ryder’s hard glare.
“Your brother has provided us with some detailed intelligence from England,” Ryder said grimly. “Those documents aren’t from your mother’s computer, but gleaned from a trusted contact over there…someone who has also gone missing. We’re concerned enough that we’re stepping up our Warriors program, and sending Mikhail to London early, to find out what’s going on. Fortress are not playing games. They’re vicious, and have murdered at least a dozen of our agents in the last seven months. We need to find out how and why they’re able to find our boys and girls, who’ve apparently been compromised.”
“You’re going to England?” Noah asked, looking concerned. “You’ve only been in training for a few months. Are you sure you’re ready?” He was looking at Mikhail with concern. Fly saw the flash of pure anguish that shot through Mik’s eyes, and remembered that the big shifter had gone through far too much pain recently.
“I will take the fight right back to them,” Mikhail replied mercilessly. “They hurt my friends, and deprived me of my mates. It is their turn to feel the agony of betrayal and loss.”
Fly saw the deadly gleam in the lion shifter’s eyes and knew that the guy was on a mission that might not end well for him. “Please take care of yourself,” he said, rising to give the bigger man a hug, seeing the surprise in Mik’s eyes, before a sigh escaped him and he returned the embrace briefly.
“I am not out of control,” Mik said, eyeing Noah and Fly’s skeptical faces. “I do not have a death wish, not for me. I just want to have some payback for all the people those motherfuckers have hurt. If that means I give my life to stop them hurting anyone else, so be it.”
“We all want that,” Fly replied softly. “Just remember that you don’t have to destroy yourself to do it. Then you’ll end up just like they are, without a soul, only searching for your next victim.”
Mik jerked back, staring at Fly through shocked eyes. “Is that what you think of me? That I am like them?”
“You could be, if you let your anger loose and go feral.” Fly didn’t back down from the anger that poured from Mikhail.
“I am in control,” Mikhail insisted. “I want justice, that is all.”
“If we didn’t think he was ready, he wouldn’t be going,” Cullen cut in. “No way do I want his death on my conscience, trying to help my friends and family.”
Mikhail’s gaze softened as he studied the little fox shifter. “Cullen, these pussies are used to dealing with smaller predators. I’m not so easy to kill.”
“That’s probably what Daniel and Stan said,” Noah said quietly. Mikhail flinched at the reminder of how his mates had been murdered.
“I will not take unnecessary chances,” Mikhail commented calmly, shooting a hard glare at his friend. “I am a trained professional, just ask Ryder.”
Fly watched the exchange between his mate and Mikhail, and wondered what had passed between them during their horrific incarceration at the fight club. There was a tense pause, then Noah nodded slowly.
“If I have to come and get you out of there, I will,” Noah said, utterly sincere. “Me and my bros, and mate, owe you a lot, Mik. It won’t be forgotten. You’re worth saving. If you’re in trouble, call.”
Mikhail jerked his chin in confirmation, and the mood relaxed visibly.
Fly glanced at the file that was still in his hand, looked briefly at his brother, who was watching him closely, then turned and headed for the bedroom, shutting the door firmly behind him. He needed to study, with no interruptions. If his brother didn’t like it, he could just go whistle.
* * * *
Noah listened carefully, above the quiet conversation in the living room, and heard the door to Fly’s bedroom open softly, then the slap of his mate’s feet against the wooden floor along the short corridor. He looked up, and immediately went to hold his mate, seeing the evidence of tears on his cheeks, the pain in his eyes as he looked at his brother.
“I’m sorry,” Fly said. “I didn’t…I couldn’t believe…”
Mercury opened his arms as he got up from the couch, and met Fly halfway as the younger man ran at him, and hugged him tightly. “You always were a little snit,” Merc said wryly, kissing the top of his head.
Fly laughed at that, and the rest of those gathered grinned at the mild comment. “I know,” he retorted, leaning back. “You really are James Bond, aren’t you?” he asked, and the room erupted with amusement, even Mikhail, whose laughter reached his eyes.
“Dude, don’t tell everyone,” Merc whispered, placing a finger to Fly’s lips. Then he sighed and frowned regretfully. “I really am sorry that I didn’t contact you. I knew I should. I wanted to. Mother dearest changed so much after dad died. She went from the sweetest woman of all, to this nasty, vicious witch. She suddenly started wearing that perfume, too. It always made me sneeze. She was so horrible. It was as though suddenly she didn’t love us at all anymore. I saw what she did to you, how she belittled both of us. I didn’t know what she was capable of until I found out she’d sent you to that mine. Then I knew for sure that she would kill you to protect herself. I couldn’t believe that she could change so much, but maybe her grief was just too much. I don’t know. Ryder says she was an agent, as well.”
“Mother was still a bitch,” Fly muttered unrepentantly, pouting.
“Yeah, she was a pistol,” Merc said dryly. “She was never wrapped too tightly, after Dad died, and when they threatened her family, she became hard and…unraveled even more.”
“We think that she may have been a double agent,” Ryder said.
“There’s evidence that she could have been, but nothing concrete,” Mercury cut in, glaring at Ryder. “I have no clue. I do know that Ghost had some hold on her, ironclad.”
“What happened at the hotel?” Noah asked, recalling the devastating fire that had destroyed the wolf pack’s home and business, killing two of them.
“We don’t know,” Ryder admitted. “Meredith’s body wasn’t found, that’s a fact. We have no clue whether she was involved, or if she was taken out of commission once she stopped being useful to them. Or if Ghost found out about her being an agent, and she’s on the run. Now that Ghost is on the run, too, there’s only speculation.”
“I want to be an agent, too,” Fly piped up suddenly, staring fiercely at Ryder, daring him to object. “I don’t want to be a sitting duck if someone else comes to town. I want to help.”
“We can always use more eyes and ears,” Ryder replied calmly. Fly shot him a suspicious look.
“You can?” he asked, blinking at the quick acquiescence. “You’re not going to talk me out of it?”
“Why would I?” Ryder shrugged. “You work in town, you’re smart, and with the right training, I’m sure we can find a way that you can help. Mostly, we need people who can spot possible insurgents, members of Flashpoint, and the only way to do that is by getting to know anyone who might be vulnerable to Flashpoint’s brand of persuasion.”
“Traini
ng?” Fly asked, a little nervously.
Noah grinned at him. “Baby, I don’t think they’ll want you doing anything that would mess up your hair,” he taunted, getting a one-fingered salute in response. “And Christ knows you’re good at talking. Just do what comes naturally.”
Fly narrowed his eyes on Noah, and the bear shifter braced himself for an explosion. “If the Warrior Brigade needs an intelligent, well-informed, loquacious cheetah shifter to fill their ranks, I’m happy to be of service,” the man retorted with saccharine sweetness. “I just wonder what they’re going to do with a gimpy-legged bear shifter who wears a chicken hat for work.”
Everyone laughed at that one, and Noah smirked at his mate. The guy was asking for it. “Darling, I’d put my gimpy leg up against your spiral perm any day of the week. I was intending to attend target practice tomorrow. That shouldn’t dent your quiff too much.”
“Ooh,” Fly drawled, running his finger down Noah’s chest. “Keep talking, just keep talking, sweetie. I know I have a gorgeous face, but don’t be fooled. Behind this stunning exterior beats the heart of a lion.”
“Courage is as important as anything else,” Joe McKellar interjected, rolling his eyes at their banter. “This town has grown three-fold in the last few years. We had barely enough residents to keep the businesses going, when I first came back after leaving the military. Now, after we blasted the lid off the shifter world, we have more and more shifters arriving daily, wanting to make this place their home. There are bound to objectors, and Flashpoint is our main concern right now.”
“They’re getting better at hurting us, too,” Ryder said. “The hotel was just one example. With Ghost out of commission they’ve lost a key ally, someone who was ruthless and capable of cold-blooded murder at the drop of a hat. We need to find out where his base was in town. That hunter who attacked Cullen didn’t appear from nowhere. These people have a network, and a way of communicating, off the radar.”
“Social media platforms,” Mercury said. “With encrypted software, they’ve any number of ways to hack into our profiles online, and monitor us without us even knowing about it. It’s time we went back to basics.”
“Old-fashioned spying?” Fly asked, clapping his hands together excitedly. “I can do covert.”
“We just need you to be able to differentiate between people who are making simple conversation, and those who are asking specific questions about residents,” Ryder said dryly. “You’re not James Bond.” Fly snorted at that, pouting. “We have no clue who these people are, but we do know they can get to us. Joshua was known to John, and he was able to lure Kathleen and Drew into telling him when they were leaving town. If the Spirit Ink crew weren’t on their toes, Joshua would have slipped by us…and Kathleen and Drew would be dead.”
Fly blanched, paling at the reminder.
“We don’t need to be told how deadly this game is,” Noah growled, cuddling Fly, soothing him with soft kisses. “We’ve all been under their control. None of us have come away unscathed.
A knock sounded on the door, and Fly got up to answer it. Drew entered the apartment, looking nervously around at everyone. “I know I’m not supposed to be too involved in all this,” he said, eyeing Ryder warily. “But I did some digging into Meredith’s history. Did you know she had a twin sister” he asked Fly and Mercury, who exchanged glances, and shook their heads.
“I knew there was a sister, but I thought she’d died years ago. She went missing. She was Mother’s twin?” Merc asked, frowning.
Fly glared at him. “Is there anything else you’d like to impart, or is that the end of the secrets that just keep on coming? Did you think that information might have been relevant?”
Mercury ducked his head. “I’m sorry. I thought…”
“Clearly thinking isn’t your strong suit, is it?” Fly asked sourly. Gee, let me think, Mom had a sister, who disappeared, and you didn’t think that might be something to tell us?”
“Better late than never,” Drew said drolly, handing over a report that he had clutched in his hand. “Apparently, they didn’t get along, and her sister, Morag, left home as soon as she turned sixteen, and never returned.”
“Morag?” Fly asked, frowning. “Why have I never heard of her?”
“Because she was arrested and charged with murder, years ago,” Drew replied. “Morag had a psych eval done on her when she was a teenager, and her records were sealed. Apparently she went after two girls who ‘looked at her boyfriend’ and killed both of them. I hacked into…I mean I obtained access to…her prison records. She was sent to juvie, then transferred as an adult. She has a history of being unstable. She’s apparently been in trouble for a long time, going back to childhood. She’s always had a penchant for maliciousness and violent behavior.”
Everyone looked at Mercury, who blanched and raised his hands in protest. “I swear, I didn’t know that. I never found any of that out. The only information about her was that she had disappeared. I just figured she died or something. I didn’t dig deeper.”
“You found something else out, didn’t you?” Noah asked Drew, curling his lip at Mercury in disgust, watching the teenager’s face carefully.
Drew smiled slightly, but his eyes were shadowed with some sadness. “Fly, Merc, your mother definitely didn’t die at that hotel,” he said. “She never even reached Sage.”
“What?” The brothers both spoke at once.
“I don’t know if this is a clue, but this address keeps appearing. It seems to be a safe house of some kind.” Drew handed over a second piece of paper. “I think it might be important. There was additional DNA taken from items at the hotel, which is similar, but doesn’t exactly match, that of your mother. I think she might be here. I think the DNA at the hotel might be Morag’s. I looked at it myself, and the numbers are close enough, but not quite, if you understand.”
Ryder took the slip of paper from him, frowning down at the information, and then palmed his cellphone. He spoked briefly into the phone, and looked at Fly and his brother. “We have a team in that area, so we’ll check it out.”
“What do you think might be there?” Merc asked tensely.
“They think our real mother might be there,” Fly whispered, his hand over his mouth.
“You mean, that Morag, your aunt, was impersonating your mother for all these years?” Noah asked, blinking in shock. Talk about a convoluted storyline.
“It would make sense,” Merc said slowly, scratching his head thoughtfully. “Mother changed almost overnight, from a loving, caring woman. Her behavior was as different as night and day from how I remember it. The perfume, as well, to disguise her scent from us. Otherwise we would have known something was up.”
“I thought the British Government put some pressure on Mother, when she got pregnant?” Fly said.
“They did,” Ryder agreed. “But perhaps your mother, not knowing who else to turn to, contacted her sister. According to this report, Morag only ever served a few years. She got the verdict overturned, citing her most recent psych eval at the time, and she was released early. She used some excuse about familial abuse as her reason for being angry back then. If Meredith got in touch, needing help, perhaps Morag remembered old wounds, and decided to just take over Meredith’s life. Your mother was a skilled agent, and was well liked in her field. She put a lot of Fortress’s minions away in her time.”
“I need to sit down,” Fly said faintly. Noah saw him pale even more, and pushed him down onto a chair, then went to get a glass of water.
“Here, love,” Noah said, handing over the glass as he knelt in front of his mate, stroking his damp forehead gently. “The last few days have just been a bundle of shocks.”
Ryder’s phone rang suddenly, and they all looked at him expectantly.
“Ryder,” he said curtly. “Really? Any injuries? Good. No. See what else you can retrieve, then sanitize the area. No, don’t bother to follow them. You don’t have the back-up. It could be a trap. Retrieve what you ca
n, then come back home.” He shut off the call, and looked up, staring moodily at the carpet.
“Ryder?” Mikhail asked softly. “What is wrong?”
“The address was another of Flashpoint’s stash houses. My guys went in, with no problems, and took out three of the guards. Two escaped. The place was over in Texas. You might recognize the address,” he added, handing over the slip of paper to Merc, who showed it to Fly.
“This is our old house,” Fly exclaimed loudly. “I thought we sold it. Mother—damnit, Morag, told us she’d got rid of it, and only kept the summer house in New York.”
“She lied,” Cullen said dryly.
Fly scowled at the fox shifter for his quip. “Apparently,” he shot back. He got up, pacing restlessly, wringing his hands in distress. “What else?” he asked Ryder impatiently.
Ryder eyed him with a hint of amusement at his dramatics. Fly hated sitting still. “Your mother is alive,” he said. “Meredith, not Morag, although Morag’s still at large. She was being kept under house arrest by Flashpoint’s goons. My team have their hands full, because she apparently managed to not only stay alive, but seemed to be in charge. We’re taking DNA samples, to be sure, and she’ll be assessed at another facility before coming back to Sage…if that’s advisable.”
“You think she might be working with Flashpoint?” Merc asked.
“I have no idea,” Ryder replied grimly. “But she wasn’t acting as though she was afraid of her captors. In fact, from what my crew have told me, she seemed upset by the deaths of her three guards.”
“Stockholm syndrome?” Cullen asked softly, eyeing Fly sympathetically.
“What’s that?” Fly asked, sniffing as his eyes filled with tears after the news that his mother still might be bad news.
“A prisoner becomes sympathetic to the cause of her captors,” Ryder explained gently. “They’re almost brainwashed, because they have no other outlet for their emotions. It’s a survival technique, because the captive has no other moral compass to go by, and they form strong psychological bonds with their jailers.”