by Marie Harte
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Loose Id Titles by Marie Harte
Marie Harte
DAWN ENDEAVOR: 5
GRAYSON’S GAMBLE
Marie Harte
www.loose-id.com
Dawn Endeavor 5: Grayson’s Gamble
Copyright © November 2011 by Marie Harte
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Chapter One
Grayson Belle paced the soundproof office in the Pentagon, feeling like a wild animal in a zoo. The pressure threatened to undo his control. If the situation didn’t soon improve, he feared he’d pull his hair out by the roots. No, not his hair. The wild brown mane on that dickhead Decker would do one better.
To his boss he snarled, “Reassign him before I do something we’ll both regret. It’s been eight fucking months already. I’ve had enough.”
Admiral Geoffrey London smiled at the threat, and Gray snorted. Despite all the shit he’d been through in the past year, they both knew he wouldn’t hurt his superior, the man he thought of as an honorary grandfather, to make his point. But he didn’t intend to let his unhappiness go by unnoticed. When Gray continued to glare at the older man, Lonnie finally relented and took a healthy step back behind his desk.
He sighed as he sat down. “Now Gray, don’t you think you’re overreacting? You’re both doing so well together.”
“Well?” Gray stopped pacing and stared in incredulity at a man he’d always respected for his intelligence. “This is the third time in as many ops that I’ve had to pull Decker’s ass out of the fire. The idiot almost got his head shot off in Mexico. Seriously, Lonnie, the kid needs to be pulled and thrown back into training. Let Gunnar work him through his paces.”
Lonnie shook his head. “First of all, if I give him to Gunnar, he might get killed.”
“I know.” Gray smiled through his teeth. Gunnar was his brother-in-law and a badass who kept Gray’s sister in line. Any man who could do that could whip Decker into shape with ease.
“Secondly,” Lonnie continued, “that kid is twenty-nine. He’s only a few years younger than you.”
“He’s about as mature as a fifth grader,” Gray muttered.
“I think Sebastian has been doing a stellar job. The man’s been a Circ for just little more than a year. Remember how long it took the others to adjust. Not everyone is built like you, son.”
Gray clenched his jaw, wishing he didn’t have to restrain the temper building inside him. The risk of losing control was both foreign yet welcome from the sentience that lay just under his skin. That inner beast, that raw part of him that kept him safe from harm, seemed to encourage his rage. Where the hell had his legendary calm under fire gone? It seemed lately Gray wanted to beat the hell out of someone on a daily basis. Namely, his hulking partner. Until the bastard couldn’t move or utter one more smart-ass comment.
“Sebastian Decker might have been hell on wheels in the FBI, but he’s barely craptastic as a Circ,” he pointed out. “He can’t seem to control the change. Hell, last week he about tripped over his own two giant feet trying to save me. Me.” Gray shook his head, still stunned. “I’ve been working ops since I was seventeen. And I was born this way. Yet your artificial wonderboy thinks he can swoop to my rescue. Talk about delusions of grandeur.”
“And exactly why he belongs by your side. You take too many chances you shouldn’t. You don’t listen to your grandmother anymore, and let me tell you, it’s all I can do to prevent her from taking you out of action until your—and I quote—‘unsafe antics cease.’”
Gray swore. His grandmother, Alicia Sharpe, had serious pull in Washington as well as a host of other influential places. The woman played for keeps, and she didn’t screw around when it came to family. “She’s supposed to be occupied with Ava and the baby and the rest of the team. Why the hell is she putting her nose in my business?” Again.
“You might be family, but you’ll damn well speak with respect when you talk about my wife.”
“Oh come on.” Seemed like lately the admiral took any opportunity to brag about or defend his new bride. Not that Gray could rightly complain about the man protecting his grandmother.
“Boy, don’t press me.” The militant gleam in Lonnie’s eyes told Gray he’d pushed as hard as he dared about Alicia.
“Sorry. No disrespect intended.” Gray cleared his throat. “But the situation is serious. I’m so busy looking after Decker that I’m worried our missions may be compromised. He’s a liability, Admiral.” Maybe appealing to Lonnie’s rank and importance would help.
Lonnie studied him with an intensity that unnerved his beast. Gray didn’t trust the sudden smile that appeared on his face. Hell, he looked just like Alicia.
“I’ve seen Sebastian in action, Gray. I don’t know if you realize it, but part of your last mission was caught digitally. From what I saw, Sebastian saved you from being shot.”
Gray huffed. “I’d have healed in minutes.” Born with an ability to self-regenerate, to communicate telepathically, and to turn into a stronger, faster creature with an astonishing capacity to endure, Gray rarely needed protection from anyone.
“But you shouldn’t have to heal when you can avoid harm altogether. Damn it, you’re not listening.” Lonnie pushed down on a button. “Miss Preston, could you please send in Mr. Decker?”
“Right away, sir,” came the response.
Gray groaned. “Not him again. I’m here on my day off as it is. Is this really necessary?”
“I think we both know it is.” The hard-nosed admiral sat calmly while Sebastian Decker, the bane of Gray’s existence, entered the office.
Six feet five and barely contained by the broad muscle and tightly packed frame of a man in his prime, Decker had the nerve to wink at him be
fore coming to stand before the admiral’s desk.
“Yes, Admiral?”
“Stand easy, Sebastian.” Lonnie smiled at him as if the two were fast friends. That in itself irritated Gray. But when Decker eased back and invaded Gray’s personal space, he barely contained a growl. Lately Gray had a hard time restraining his beast around the male. The damn thing wanted to fight, to prod and test Decker’s strength. He’d seen plenty of evidence that the bastard could and would fight to protect himself, but Gray had the sense Decker always held back when they sparred. And he didn’t like it.
Decker placed his hands behind his back and stood at a modified parade rest. In doing so, his hand grazed Gray’s arm. It was all Gray could do not to grow claws and rake them down Decker’s powerful chest.
Lonnie continued to watch them. Decker looked straight ahead, while Gray silently dared the man to make eye contact. Just once would be all it took, and Gray would… What? Gut him? Caress him? Kiss him?
Oh shit. Not those thoughts again.
Lonnie cleared his throat, and Gray blinked to focus on the admiral once more. He lived for the job. He just had to keep reminding himself of that. “Sir?” In private, Gray would address him with familiarity. But in front of a peer, he always afforded Lonnie the ultimate respect.
Lonnie, however, ignored him. “Sebastian, do you have a problem working with Grayson?”
“No, sir. Gray is legendary in the field. It’s an honor to work with him.”
Gray didn’t want to see where this questioning led. “Admiral—”
“Out on missions, would you characterize his performance as top-notch? Does he get the job done with minimal casualty?”
“Most of the time.”
Gray didn’t like Decker’s answer and glared at the man. “What does that mean?”
Decker turned his bright blue gaze in Gray’s direction.
Fuck, but the man has amazing eyes. His beast approved, rumbling deep inside Gray’s chest. Lonnie took no notice of it, unable to hear. But Decker’s eyes narrowed. His Circ senses, so attuned to the smallest change, must have heard the ultrasonic sound.
Decker’s lips twitched as he turned back to the admiral. “Gray will do anything to accomplish the mission, to include putting himself needlessly in harm’s way.”
“Needlessly?” Gray scowled. “I—”
Decker interrupted. “He thinks because he heals easily, he’s not at risk. But he forgets the enemy always has surprises in store for us, since it seems like everyone out there knows we Circs exist.”
“Bullshit.” Gray fumed.
The admiral stopped him from saying anything else with an upraised hand. “And his mood swings?”
“Mood swings?” Gray repeated, not understanding Lonnie at all. “I’m not moody. Christ, where the hell are you going with this?”
“Getting worse,” Decker answered. “But I can handle it, no problem.”
“Good, good.” Lonnie clasped his hands together on top of the desk. Then as if they’d never discussed mood swings or Gray’s alleged idiocy in the field, Lonnie briefed them on their next assignment. “I’m sorry to throw you two out there again, but we can’t ignore these reports of a rogue Circ. After that last batch we found in Mexico, I thought we’d contained the breakouts. But the file I have indicates another rogue, possibly the beginnings of a nest. Reports lead me to believe this one might turn mutant at any time.”
Before Decker could ask any of his stupid questions, Gray interrupted. “The rogues won’t be our worry here.”
“Rogues are always a threat, Gray. You constantly underestimate them,” Decker said in that uptight Northeastern accent that annoyed him.
“True,” the admiral agreed. “Like you, Sebastian, they were injected with the Circe serum and at first, turned Circ. Soldiers able to transform into bigger, faster warriors with claws, fangs, and hardened skin. They sense danger and can repel small-caliber rounds when changed. But because they’re rogue, their strength is doubled, as you’ve no doubt experienced in the field.”
“Exactly.” Decker nodded. “Superstrength too, so they’re not easy to take down, Gray.”
Gray didn’t need the history lesson. “That’s Circ 101, genius. But in the time you and I have been partnered, we’ve yet to run across a mutant. You don’t know what they can do.” He turned to Lonnie. “I thought they’d capped the last one in Brazil last month.”
Lonnie’s mouth turned grim. “So did I. The Circe’s Recruits team suffered a beating but managed to take care of a nest growing in the jungle. Problem is we have information that indicates the leader of this new group is turning fast. His name is Al Ross, and he’s gathering a following we don’t want.”
“Terrific, just what we don’t need. A gang of mutants.” Gray turned to Decker, conscious the man smelled faintly like cocoa. Though most Circs tended to have a unique scent all their own that any Circ could identify, Gray always detected Decker with little effort.
“So we have mutants.” Decker shrugged. “We take care of them like we handle rogues.”
Gray knew Decker had yet to face the real rough stuff, and he was curiously loath to subject the younger Circ to the ugly side of his condition. Which made little sense, so he forced himself to continue. “Mutants are rogue Circs who react even worse to the Circe serum. When they don’t satisfy their sexual urges with other Circs, the buildup of hormones mutates their genetic structure. So instead of looking like hulking weightlifters on steroids, they get seriously weird. Their skin grows black, their eyes turn red, and they kill everything in their path…after fucking it. Nothing much human about them except their capacity to destroy.”
“Hell.”
“Yeah.” Gray sighed. Maybe after this operation, he’d take a few weeks off. He was getting tired, exhausted by the constant cruelty he saw way too often in the course of his job. Lately, even time spent with his precious niece couldn’t nudge him from the depression settling into his bones. His beast felt restless, his need to shift into his more primitive, stronger form all-encompassing.
“Gray?”
He blinked at Decker, not surprised to see a measure of concern in the man’s eyes. “What?” he snapped.
Lonnie answered, “Your partner was asking if you needed to sit this one out. He said you took quite a hit saving him from a bullet—one he wouldn’t have been exposed to if you’d taken more care with yourself in the jungle.”
“Ah, I didn’t exactly say that, Admiral.”
Holy shit, Decker was blushing. Gray blinked, bemused at the sight of his partner looking less than reassured. If he hadn’t known better, he’d have thought himself attracted to the guy. But Gray had always favored women. Unlike most of the artificially created Circs, he’d been born this way. He didn’t undergo mating heats—periods of intense sexual arousal, when only sex with another Circ would do. The Circ way of perpetuating the species.
Lonnie pierced Gray with his stare. “You might not have said it, Sebastian, but we both know it’s true.”
Gray refused to agree.
“Very well.” Lonnie stood up and handed a folder to Decker. “I want you two to study up on your quarry. No picture, I’m afraid. This rogue was never part of an official project. But we have a name, his last location, and a few crime scenes. Your plane tickets are reserved for Friday, so you have three days to get yourselves together while we gather some last-minute intel from our sources out West.”
“Where West, Admiral?” Decker asked.
“Bend, Oregon. Center of the state, and in the Cascade Mountain Range. Lots of mountains out there for our guy to hide in. And lots of snow too.”
“In June?” Gray asked.
The admiral nodded. “Oh, and before you think about doing anything ‘we’ll both regret,’ you screw with this mission at all, you answer to Alicia from now on. You go by the book on this. My orders, my way. We clear?”
Gray wanted to stay far away from the matchmaking woman. Lately, Alicia’s answer to everything
involved mating and babies. Gray had a career to think of, that and a life he chose to live. He’d be damned if he’d let some ancient mystic tie him up in fate and destiny with a great big bow. Even if she was his grandmother.
Gray left with the admiral’s blessing, but Bas—as Sebastian referred to himself—stayed behind at his superior’s request. “Sir?”
Personally, he liked Admiral London. The man had been straight up with him from the get-go, unlike the pricks at the laboratory where he’d been kidnapped and injected with that nasty serum that turned him Circ—involuntarily. He could only be glad he hadn’t succumbed as so many others had. The mating heat had never affected him, much to the bemusement of the admiral and the myriad doctors who’d studied him.
But he feared he might be more like the Circs of Circe’s Recruits and Dawn Endeavor than anyone thought. Lately he had…needs. Sexual needs that his beast wanted only one particular man to satisfy. The scent of Grayson Belle lingered like a fine cologne. Wild and earthy and uniquely male. A mug on the admiral’s desk trembled, a residual of Bas’s telekinetic energy escaping, and he hurriedly tamped it back down. Another problem he’d been trying to handle lately—his unstable and unwelcome psychic ability. Fortunately, the admiral didn’t notice.