More than Truth (Arcane Crossbreeds)

by Vyne, Amanda

  Brit narrowed her gaze on the closed bedroom door. They never gave her a moment of peace. She raked her fingers through her disheveled hair, trying to ease the need to scream with the mundane task of taming the wild red mane. It wasn’t working. In fact it only made her want to tear at it. How could they reduce her from a sane, rational, intelligent woman to this hormonal insane…person?

  “It’s the heat, love. Once you mate us, it will ease.”

  Brit’s fingers clenched in her hair, and she forced herself to stop and take a deep breath. She might no longer be rational, but she was still a clever, if hormonal, insane woman. She cleared her mind and carefully brought forth the image of Raife sitting on her exam table without his shirt. She was careful to ensure his bare chest came into particular detail.

  It got the reaction she childishly sought.

  “Goddamn it, Brit!”

  The roar filled the apartment, and she wasn’t even sure which brother it was. Not that it mattered anymore, since she was past getting satisfaction from beating them at their own game. The image she’d chosen to irritate them sent realization careening through her.

  She’d been treating Raife because of his nosebleeds. It was about the time she realized Raife’s body was changing, producing more platelets to meet Katya’s rising demands. If his body was indeed receiving information from her pheromones that caused his biology to alter to accommodate her, then it might very well be changing even now in an attempt to be what she needed. Brit would need to run some tests to be certain, but hope and excitement made her hands shake as she hurried to get dressed.

  Raife’s Drachon biology could well be the key to curing his mate.

  * * * *

  Tag sat slouched in an executive roller chair, elbows braced on the arms with his hands laced over his chest. He stared pensively at the security feeds from the lab, swiveling the chair side to side. After the doc had stomped into the master suite, gloriously naked, he and Vin had argued about what had happened.

  If this was going to fucking work, they had to get their shit together, and that meant his asshole brother couldn’t change plans in midplay. Although the idea to draw out the sweet little spitfire that lay hidden beneath the doc’s control was a good one, the ass could have clued him in on the plan. Not that it mattered, since the whole thing had gone to hell when their mate’s complicated little brain had very clearly and accurately formed an image of Raife Merrick in her mind. That had thrown them. Way off.

  What the fuck was that about? What female thinks of another man while getting fucked by her own? It made Tag want to pound on something, and Vin hadn’t been obliging. He’d simply disappeared into the guest room and then out to the street. Who knew where the bastard was headed.

  The doc had gone straight to her damn lab after showering and dressing. He’d been tempted to deny her access, since she no longer had clearance, but that was a sore subject. Tag frowned. Doc seemed almost hurt by the lack of trust. She might piss him off with her stubbornness, but he never wanted to hurt her.

  However, he had activated the cams in her exam room off her lab. He was the head of security. That exempted him from any kind of professional-privacy bullshit. It was his responsibility to keep Incog secure. He took it seriously. And he needed all the help he could get to stay one step ahead of the wily doc.

  Tag wanted to claim he wasn’t worried about her being in the same room as Raife Merrick, but he’d nearly ripped the arm off his chair when she’d taken the other Drachon male aside to speak to him. The only consolation Tag had was that his father was standing nearby, clearly listening in. Tag hadn’t been able to hear what they were saying. Despite the doc’s belief that he had her entire space rigged up, Forestor hadn’t given him permission to put audio surveillance in her exam room. His boss couldn’t stop him from keeping a telepathic link to his mate that allowed him to ride along with her most of the time. Although if she became aware of him, she usually shut things down so he couldn’t read her.

  Whatever it was they’d talked about, all he’d been able to pick up off her was relief and to some degree excitement. It wasn’t comforting. What could Raife had said that would relieve and excite her? Tag’s dragon seethed at the possibilities.

  After her talk with Raife, she’d spoken with his father, and the two of them had been working feverishly side by side for the last several hours. Until a few minutes ago, that was.

  Tag rolled his eyes to focus on the far screen. No, now his father was currently standing outside his door.

  “Taggart, I am well aware you know I am here.”

  Heaving out a harassed breath, Tag leaned forward and flicked a key on the control panel that had the door hissing open.

  “What do you want, Dad? I’m busy,” he said without looking at him. A frown pulled at his face when he watched his damn brother enter the room, although he found it gratifying to see Brit ignore Vin. Reaching forward, he zoomed the camera in to where she was leaning over, peering into a microscope. A little bit more and he had a perfect view of her ass.

  “I can see that,” Kahn said drolly from over Tag’s head. Tag shrugged. She did have a very fine ass, in and out of clothes. More so out of clothes.

  “Taggart Jennings, can you or your brother fuck this mating up any worse?”

  Tag arched a brow and cast a glance up at his father. “Such language and from a Drake.”

  Kahn’s sigh was nearly a growl, a sound that seemed reserved specifically for Tag. “This is not the time for your sarcasm, son. The young woman is beyond confused. Yesterday she tried to touch me in front of your brother.”

  Tag felt his eyebrows lower as he glanced at his father. Females were not permitted to touch other males until they were securely mated and knocked up. There was good reason for it, which his rumbling dragon could attest to.

  “Exactly. And earlier I was forced to explain the mating marks to her when she confronted Agent Merrick, asking to see his chest.”

  This time Tag cursed fervently. Damn woman. Why hadn’t she asked them?

  “I’m going to assume you boys attempted her again, and she was put off by the instinct to mark you. I understand it’s a rather unsettling sensation. Your mother said it presented as a desire to feel my blood on her skin.”

  “That’s just great, Dad. Don’t be surprised when you receive the bill for my therapy.” Tag shuddered, but his father had pointed out what could be a very important piece of the puzzle. His doc wasn’t a normal female. She analyzed everything, needed to understand every aspect of every situation. It could be part of her resistance was linked to that.

  Tag rubbed his freshly buzzed head and considered how to explain Drachon mating to Brit. His attempt would likely just piss her off. Hell, he was going to have to talk to Vin about it. With a sigh, he rocked back in his chair. As much as he hated including his brother in anything, the ass would know how to put it into words she would accept, and this was too important.

  On the screen, Brit leaned over the counter to scribble onto a paper, the material of her skirt pulling tight over her ass. His eyes were instinctively drawn to the sight, and he could see he wasn’t the only one. Vin lifted his head from his microscope, gaze fixed on the soft curves.

  “Tell my brother to stop staring at your ass, baby. If I can’t have it, neither can he.”

  Brit jerked upright and cast a startled glance to Vin before glaring up at the camera. She turned and whipped her white lab coat off the back of her chair before sliding her arms into it. It didn’t deter him and in fact actually encouraged him. He’d always wondered what she’d look like in nothing but that coat. When she bent over her microscope, would the hem rise just enough to show that intriguing spot where the curve of her ass met her thighs?

  “If you ever want to find out, you will let me work.” Brit’s voice sounded clearly over the audio feed, although she never looked up.

  Tag felt his smile fall. Had he been broadcasting that?

  Kahn chuckled behind him, and Tag had to f
ight a blush. Shit, therapy would definitely be on the horizon at this rate.

  “She’s an exceptional woman, Taggart. Reminds me of your mother.”

  Yep, lots and lots of therapy.

  Hating the heat in his face, Tag turned to look up at his father. “Is there a reason you’re still here? Don’t you have some DNA to push around with my mate, who, if you ever want grandkids, you will never again compare to my mother?”

  Kahn wasn’t laughing, but his brown eyes twinkled. “It’s because I want grandkids that I’m still here.”

  Tag rose out of his seat and folded his arms over his chest. “So, I take it this psychological torture isn’t over yet?”

  “You need to make things right with your brother.”

  Tag groaned and paced over to his workstation to pick up a circuit board. “I think I’d almost rather you go back to talking about your and mom’s sex life.” Almost. Tag shuddered and admitted he would never grow mature enough to ever talk about that with his father.

  “Give him the chance to explain things, Taggart. You might find that the truth is not what you think it is.”

  “The truth?” A bitter laugh escaped. “And what is he going to tell me that’s somehow going to make things all better?” Tag threw down the electronics and spun to face his father. “Is he going to tell me he didn’t just walk away twenty years ago? That I didn’t not hear a damn thing from him for twenty years? Not a fucking letter or call or—hell—even smoke signals would have been better than just being cut off from him.”

  Tag snapped his mouth shut and turned away. His heart crashed against his ribs as that old emotion rose to choke him. That abrupt sense of loss had been the worst. Vin had been his best friend, his companion—his other half. And then one day he was just gone, leaving this yawning emptiness that nothing had been able to fill—not even their mate.

  “Taggart?” Vin’s mental touch was hesitant and resonated with concern.

  Sharply drawing in a breath, Tag slammed his walls down, locking his brother out. Long ago they’d always known when the other was upset or in trouble, and it had taken him years of reaching out only to touch emptiness before he’d been able to break himself of that habit. He swore he would never give in to it again.

  “Taggart,” Kahn sighed, his gaze no longer reflecting any amusement. “Vincent had been told by our mantis that he would escort in the salvation of our people. When Bryce died, he took it really hard.”

  “You don’t think that our great spiritual leader didn’t say the same damn thing to me? I was a part of a sacred triad,” Tag said snidely and then snorted. “Sacred shit. I was the last moron standing, left to shoulder the weight of our people’s disappointment when Vin ran off. Bryce’s death was just as hard on me, but instead of losing one brother, I lost two.”

  Tag turned away from the shock and sympathy on his father’s face. Inhaling to ease the tightness in his chest, he pushed the old pain away where it couldn’t touch him. His gaze caught on the screen displaying the lab security feed. Brit stood with her arms wrapped tightly around her middle, head bowed as though in acute pain. Alarm shot through him.

  “Doc?” He slid into her mind and recoiled at the intensity of the grief that radiated from her. It crawled over his skin, seeping in past the barriers that had protected him from it for so long. His dragon roused and writhed, snarling at the discomfort.

  Behind her, Vin stood with his head lowered and his arms braced against the counter, fingers gripping the edge so tight he would have broken it off if he’d been at full strength. Were they both projecting their emotions onto Brit? Tag knew he could protect himself from his brother’s emotions, but could she? She was as close to human as an Arcane species could be, and her mental barriers were very elemental. When she was pissed, she could keep him from dipping too deeply into her mind, but could she defend against receiving thoughts and emotions, especially from her mates?

  Fuck.

  “This isn’t just about you, Taggart.” Kahn stepped up next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s time you let this go and made things right, or you may stand to lose more than just your brother this time.”

  * * * *

  “I’m sorry you got caught in the middle of that.” Vin’s voice sounded softly from behind her, and he touched her arm.

  “Just don’t,” Brit snapped and slapped away his hand. Keeping her back to him, she scrubbed at the tears with the sleeve of her lab coat. Tag was always so sarcastic and glib about everything it was heart wrenching to feel his pain. And then Vin had responded, and she’d gotten trapped between them, twisting and convulsing helplessly under the onslaught of their emotions.

  “Tag and I have a few issues to work out, love. It doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

  “It doesn’t have anything to do with me?” Brit spun to face him with a sense of incredulity. She still ached from whatever their “issues” were. That brief impression of the grief and anger that existed between them clung thickly to her, and she didn’t think she would be shaking it anytime soon.

  “It has everything to do with me, or you would have retreated back to where you came from in accordance with whatever ‘deal’ you struck with the Triumvirate. And that Neanderthal,” Brit snapped, flinging a hand up to the camera, “would have been content with just annoying me by pounding his chest from afar. Now I am irrevocably ensnared in whatever is happening between you.”

  Vin’s brown-and-green eyes were regretful. “It was never possible to go back, for any of us.”

  The lab test timer on the counter chimed, and Brit turned to look at it. It was a reminder that three lives hung in the balance just one room away. She shook her head. “I don’t have time for this. Lives depend on me, and I can’t risk them while you two decide if you want to live yours.”

  “Britony.”

  “Stop.” Brit busied herself by gathering the printouts being emitted from her lab equipment. She frowned down at the readouts, flipping through them again before lifting her gaze to him. She couldn’t be a pawn between the Jennings brothers and work on the cure for Katya. She was just…too tired. “Vin…please, just leave.”

  The lab door slid open, and Kel Sheridan and Gideon walked in. They paused, the tension in the lab more than obvious. Brit could feel their stares.

  “Wow,” Kel said, and Brit nearly cringed in anticipation of what else the woman would say. She was Raife Merrick’s partner, and the part of the brain that filtered thoughts had malfunctioned a long time ago. “I thought they broke the mold with Tag. So, big guy,” she said and wiggled her eyebrows, “do you call top or bottom bunk?”

  Vin studied Kel for a moment, but his focus came quickly back to Brit. “I will leave you to do what you need to do. But don’t fool yourself, love. I have no intention of staying gone.”

  Brit didn’t respond, but it took every ounce of self-control to stop herself from watching him leave. She needed to stay focused. Kel didn’t have any problem with eyeing him as he walked out to the point of twisting her body. She held the string of a colorful Mylar balloon that boasted a big festive THANK YOU on the front with FOR NOT DYING scribbled in black marker underneath.

  Typical.

  Gideon followed Brit’s gaze to the floating atrocity and shook his head. “She would not be swayed. Can we see Katya?”

  Brit nodded and motioned for the pair to follow her. Inside her exam room, they’d exchanged the simple padded cart for a more comfortable bed. A laptop lay closed on a side table, and Forestor had managed to get them a fetal monitor to keep a closer eye on the baby. The rapid swishing of the baby’s heart could be heard just beneath the sharper beat of Katya’s heart monitor. Katya was curled up on her side beneath the blankets, with Raife stretched out in a chair next to her, half on the edge of the bed, one big arm extended over the top of his mate’s head as though to protect her. Although Katya didn’t move, Raife’s eyes immediately fixed on Brit from the moment she appeared in the door. He dropped his gaze to the papers
in her hand before meeting hers again.

  The weight of her responsibility pressed down heavier, and she had to force herself to breathe. She half expected to feel Tag slip into her mind and offer her his sarcastic version of support, but there was nothing. She was alone.

  It wasn’t as much a relief as she’d thought it would be.

  “I brought a balloon,” Kel whispered with a grin, jerking the absurd offering in front of her.

  “That’s real classy, Sheridan,” Raife said softly and chuckled, but there was little humor in the sound. His gaze found Brit again. “Those the results?”

  “Yes.” Brit lifted the test results to read through them again. “The transfusions are helping, but they are only a temporary fix.” She and Kahn had collected blood from Raife as soon as his body replenished it to a stable point, but even Raife’s body was weakening. A venous infusion of Raife’s blood was the only treatment they found that slowed the degeneration and bought them time to find a more permanent solution.

  Gideon was frowning down at Katya’s pale face tucked into Raife’s shoulder. “She looks to be getting worse. What is happening to her?”

  Brit cast a questioning glance to Raife.

  He nodded. “They’re family.”

  Brit flinched, pulled her jacket closed, and crossed her arms over her chest. Her exclusion from that family was obvious, and it hurt. Focus on the science. Her purpose here was to fix the damage she’d caused. “While Katya was at the Triumvirate lab, she underwent a genetic experiment to infect her with the ARSA genome. That’s the gene that evolved due to the blood magic. The Triumvirate is trying to replicate it and find a way to infect the unaffected Arcane, including or maybe especially Drachon.” Brit sighed and stepped forward to check the strips from the heart monitor. Katya’s heart rate was still irregular, but at least it wasn’t deteriorating further. “Katya was administered a synthetic form of the gene, but it mutated. I believe it happened once she mated. Now her body is attacking the cells that were reproduced after the mutation.”