He’s here?
Immediately, her gaze went in Jon’s direction with the hopes of seeing Green. The second her gaze fell upon the six-foot four-inch, muscle-bound man dressed in a black suit with a charcoal gray shirt and black tie, her heart leapt to her throat. Green’s close-cut red hair was so dark it bordered on brown. His emerald gaze locked on her. She stopped dancing and simply stared at him.
“Thaddy,” she whispered, unsure where or why the name had come out at all. It just felt right.
“Huh?” Wilson asked, placing his hand on her waist and moving in close to her. “Mel?”
“What?” She focused on Wilson and picked up where she’d left off with the dance. She’d spent her life dancing and singing. Her father said she came by it honestly, that it was something the women in his family did. Though he often joked she was the first woman who didn’t step on others’ toes while doing it.
“You just said ‘Thaddy’. Who is that?”
“Hmm.” She twisted and tapped the ball of her foot on the dance floor. “I’m not sure why I said it.”
“Oh, hey, if you want in on the bet going about Green’s first name, you’re welcome, but I have to say, he doesn’t strike me as a ‘Thaddy’.”
Melanie drew back slightly. “You don’t know your team member’s first name?”
“Nope. Lukian knows it but the rest of us don’t. I tried to bribe Lukian once. All I got out of him was a black eye so I stopped barking up that tree.” He spun her in a circle before cradling her to his chest and moving to the beat.
“Not knowing his first name doesn’t strike you as odd?”
Wilson’s dark eyes raked over her slowly. “Baby cakes, everything in our lives is odd. You get used to it.”
Baby cakes?
He leaned in closer. His warm breath skated over her lips. “Be honest with me. Do you really want to be here when you could be back at my place having your world rocked?”
Having my world rocked?
Not one to shy away from a lame come-on, Melanie smiled. “Just because I fell into bed with your friend doesn’t mean I hand it out to just anyone, Wilson.”
“Really? You knew Lance all of an hour before he had you bent over with his dick crammed so far into you that you couldn’t see straight.”
Images of standing in the cemetery as they lowered a casket containing Lance’s body into the ground hit her. She’d spent one night with him. It had been purely sexual, but that didn’t lessen the pain of knowing he’d been senselessly ripped from this world. And she didn’t need to be reminded how easily and quickly she’d given in to Lance. “Wilson?”
“Yes,” he said, his jaw tightening.
She made a move to step away from him, but he kept her close. “Truth hurt? And you can get the idea of sinking your claws into Green out of your empty head. I don’t really give a damn about what will happen to you,” he raked his gaze over her, “what is happening to you. I won’t let you pull a black widow on him too. You got into Lance’s head and he ended up dead.”
Melanie glared at him. “I’m empty-headed and a whore, huh? Tell me, is that because I fucked Lance and not you, or do you just have that opinion about all women, blonde ones in particular?”
Wilson drew her in more, tightening his hold on her waist. “I’ve got nothing but respect for Peren and Missy. They were fated to be part of us, of our group. You weren’t. And it disgusts me how everyone is all too willing to push a man who has no interest in you to commit the rest of his life to you because you couldn’t keep your legs shut.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked, completely lost. Wilson had seemed like a nice guy, but here he was treating her like an ignorant slut. It wasn’t the first time in her life a man had treated her in such a manner, and it wouldn’t be the last.
“I’m talking about you spreading those long legs of yours and entrapping two men at one time.” A wicked grin spread over his face. “Want to give me a go? I’m interested to see if your pussy is worth dying for. Green is a fucking bleeding heart. He’ll fall for the ‘poor helpless me’ act and spend the rest of his life groveling at your feet. He can’t help it. He’s weak like that.”
Enraged, Melanie drew her hand back fast and slammed it into his cheek, not bothering to hide her own supernatural strength. How dare he talk about Green that way!
Wilson staggered and she followed quickly, her hand throbbing and her breathing ragged. “You will not talk about him like that. He is not a weak, bleeding heart. Green is a complicated man who doesn’t wear his emotions on his sleeve, act like a jackass, or feel the need to prove how much of a man he is by beating the living shit out of things. Because he’s not outwardly violent means nothing!”
She shoved him hard and could have sworn the corners of his mouth curved upward. Did he think this was funny?
“You can call me whatever you want to. You can accuse me of being an empty-headed blonde whatever, but you will not talk about a man who would do anything for someone he calls a friend. Understand me?”
Wilson shrugged. “Like I give a shit if Mr. Science Geek thinks of me as a friend or not.”
Melanie gritted her teeth. She wanted to use her power to zap Wilson’s ass to next week but she held back. Barely. “Never let me hear you making fun of Green for being a genius again. That man’s mind never stops racing with ideas, theories, and things you couldn’t dream of understanding.” She pointed at him as if it would help make it all clear. “Imagine what that must be like—living in a world where every time you speak, you know someone is going to make fun of you for what comes out of your mouth, that someone who doesn’t understand will belittle you to make themselves feel better.”
He put his hands up in a surrender position, but Melanie didn’t let up. Hearing Wilson say those things about Green made something inside her snap. She knew she was being irrational. Hell, she didn’t even really know Green. Sure, she’d been around him several times over the course of the last three weeks, but they’d never really had a complete conversation. She wasn’t even sure where she was coming up with her information about him or why she felt as passionate as she did about him. She only knew that she did.
“Wow, here I thought you were a pair of legs and an easy fuck. I’d never have guessed that under the obvious man-eater exterior you had a heart. Next you’ll be trying to convince me you have a brain too.”
Melanie went to hit Wilson again but found herself being lifted off the ground by a pair of large arms. Heat rushed through her as the person holding her set her down and slid their hands over her torso slowly.
Turning, she found Green staring down at her with nothing short of rage on his face. She drew back. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I just…”
He cupped her cheek and ran his thumb over her lower lip. His expression softened instantly. “Would you excuse me a moment?”
She nodded, too stunned to say a word.
Green turned and tipped his head back and forth, looking scary as hell. She watched as he struck out fast, knocking Wilson on his ass. Everyone stopped dancing, and from the way Lukian and Roi froze with equally wide-eyed looks on their faces, they were as shocked as she was that Green leveled Wilson.
Roi smiled wide. “Damn, I bet that felt good. My turn.” He made a move toward Wilson, and Missy planted her five-foot, three-inch self in his path. Roi, equally as tall as Green, came to a grinding halt, instantly looking like a whipped puppy. “Fine, but I still think it would feel great to slug Wilson.”
Lukian arched a brow and pushed his chin-length, wavy black hair back from his face. “Do I even want to know why you hit him?”
“No. You should just be happy I didn’t kill him,” Green said, his voice deep and his posture rigid. He stared down at Wilson. It wasn’t a side of Green she’d expected to see. Hell, Melanie didn’t expect to get to see any part of the man, let alone his violent side. “Set foot near her again, even glance at her, and I will kill you. Am I making myself clear enough for you? I’d
hate to speak over your head, though it is so very easy to do. And you should probably know that along with my affinity for science and the human body comes the knowledge of torture techniques you can’t possibly fathom.”
Roi formed an “O” with his mouth and shot Lukian an odd glance. “Never thought I’d hear myself say this, but do you want me to restrain Green, Captain?”
Lukian’s gaze fell upon Melanie. She didn’t want to hear his answer. No part of her wanted Green to be dragged out by anyone. Moving forward quickly, she took hold of Green’s muscular arm and tugged. “Thaddy, Thad, don’t…err, I mean, Green. Don’t. He’s not worth it.”
Green stilled and Lukian gasped. Melanie replayed what she’d just said through her head and sighed. “I’m so sorry, Green. I don’t know why I called you Thad. Just please stop.”
“He owes you an apology, Elizabeth.”
Lukian gasped again. Apparently, it was habit forming.
Melanie snorted. “I’ll take satisfaction out of you punching him. I don’t need his—hey…” She looked with bemusement at Green, who looked equally as surprised. “You called me Elizabeth. That’s my middle name. How did you…” She shifted her gaze to Missy. “Was it you? Did you tell Green my middle name?”
Missy shook her head, waves of black hair falling over her tiny shoulders. “No, it wasn’t me, Mel.”
Something was definitely off and made her head hurt to think about it. Instead, Melanie pulled on Green’s arm. “Please, Thad, don’t.”
Wilson got to his feet just in time for Jon to come rushing in. “Uhh, people. I don’t know or care what’s going on here, but we’re drawing a crowd. And I think we can agree that’s a bad thing.”
Peren slid around and stood before Lukian. She glanced at Melanie. “Sweetie, why do you keep calling Green ‘Thad’ and varying forms of it?”
“Because it’s my name,” Green said softly, still refusing to back down or look at Melanie.
A collective gasp went through the men.
Yep, habit forming.
Jon shook his head. “No fair telling her your name and making us spend years guessing. That’s cheating. No way is she winning the pot.”
Chapter Four
Green stood still as he tried to soak in what was happening around him. Last night he’d been blowing up buildings and tonight he wanted to blow up his own teammate. How he’d held back from ripping Wilson’s head clean off his shoulders was a mystery to him. The rage tearing through him was a foreign feeling. One he wasn’t sure he liked, but knew he was powerless to stop.
Something about Melanie had caught and held his attention from the moment he met her, but he never expected it to be what he thought now it might be. There was no way Melanie was his Elizabeth, his wife who had passed away some sixty years ago while trying to give birth to his child. In the end, Green had been left burying two people he loved, his family.
Hearing Melanie call him “Thaddy,” the nickname Elizabeth had used for him when she was in a playful mood, shook him to the core. The minute he’d screwed up and called Melanie by Elizabeth’s name only to find it was hers as well, he’d fought the urge to throw her over his shoulder and run with her as fast as he could.
The very idea that Wilson had insulted her the way he had still had Green wanting to invent a new form of execution. He glared at him.
Wilson straightened his suit and winked. “I thought you might have some aggression in there somewhere, Green. Sorry I had to go about getting it out the way I did.”
Huh?
Wilson nodded toward Melanie. “I’m sorry about what I said, Mel. I was just sick of waiting for the genius here to get around to coming to you. Are we cool? I didn’t mean any of it. I swear. I’ve got nothing but respect for you. Honest. You can hit me a few more times if it’ll make you feel better. I deserve it, but I promise I only wanted to provoke the big guy here.”
Green shook his head. “You were nasty to her to get me to intervene?”
“Hey,” Wilson’s smirk was cocky enough to make Green want to hit him again, “I was all out of ideas. It’s clear you two are interested in one another. I thought playing off what a gentleman you are might work. It did. Happy?”
Roi burst out laughing and Missy elbowed him hard. “Ouch. Sorry, but you have to admit it was a good idea. Plus, I can’t ever remember a time in my life that Green threw the first punch or threatened to use his brains to come up with freaky torture techniques—hell, any torture techniques.”
Melanie tugged on Green again and he couldn’t deny her any longer. Turning, he locked gazes with her. She smiled widely and winked. “Come on.”
Green didn’t look back at the others. He just followed Melanie, lacing his fingers with her long delicate ones. The woman drove him mad with need. His cock seemed to be in a permanent state of readiness around her, and walking proved to be an issue. Thoughts of sinking into her, burying himself so deep that they’d lose track of where he stopped and she began, besieged him.
Snap out of it.
It had been sixty years since he’d had sex with anything more than his hand. As an I-Op, a genetically altered super-soldier, his sperm could kill a human. If she survived the first night and he got her pregnant, she would die before the child was born. Carrying a supernatural child was too taxing on a human female. He’d learned that lesson firsthand with his own wife.
He’d met her, fallen in love, and asked for her hand in marriage. Elizabeth had accepted. They’d married and she’d become pregnant the night of their wedding. Eight and a half months later, she’d fought for her life and that of their child’s on a table before him. It was a battle she had been strong enough to win and one he couldn’t fight for her.
Lukian had been with him at the time, and Lukian who had pulled him away from Elizabeth’s side as he stood there begging her to come back to him, all the while knowing she was already long gone. Until that point, none of the I-Ops knew their sperm could be fatal to a human female.
Missy and Peren both carried an ample amount of supernatural DNA. In truth, they carried more strands of it than any of the I-Ops did. Lukian was a full-blooded lycan and had been born that way. Roi carried Lukian’s wolf DNA in him and was in essence Lukian’s brother because of it. Wilson carried the DNA of a rat due to another lab’s screw-up and Jon carried the DNA of a tiger. Their newest member of the team, Eadan, was a full-blooded Fae and Melanie’s brother.
Green wasn’t like the rest of the team. No. He hadn’t been injected with a strand of animal DNA, nor had he been born that way. He’d been in his early thirties and working for the government on a project intent on creating a superhuman. A full-blooded were-panther had been captured and caged. Green was never told that it wasn’t a normal panther, nor was he one of the scientists who experimented on it. He’d have never condoned the behavior. When it broke free, it attacked and slaughtered almost all of the scientists in the lab, but for some reason it hadn’t killed him. Instead, it had left him alive but infected with its DNA.
It had taken Green years and years to learn to control the panther that now resided in him. He’d never once given any thought that his condition could be deadly to anyone else or transmitted through his semen. That’s why the I-Ops were freakish about wearing condoms when they were having sex, even though they themselves couldn’t catch or carry human diseases. And it was part of the reason why Melanie now suffered and was suffering from withdrawal.
She’d given herself to Lance, an I-Op who had been created from Green’s very own strand of DNA, making him a brother by blood. The condom had broken during sex with Melanie when Lance had lost control of his beast, shifting partially in her when he came. That meant he’d filled her with semen loaded with were-DNA. It also meant he had begun the claiming process. If he’d bitten her, she would have been considered his wife. As it stood, she was more than likely suffering from withdrawal. And withdrawal in the world of supernaturals often meant death. The possibility she was also with Lance’s child was gre
at. The thought of her being with Lance did hurt, but the idea that a tiny piece of his brother, by way of DNA, might live on in some fashion, eased that.
Lance may have died, but his connection with Melanie didn’t. The withdrawal she suffered from could be fatal unless someone with matching DNA stepped in and claimed her for his own. Green was the only other person with Lance’s DNA. It was his responsibility to care for her now. By all standards, he should have been livid at having a woman whom he had no choice but to claim dropped in his lap. That wasn’t the case at all. He harbored guilt for resenting Lance for being with her first—for doing what he wanted to do—bed the woman.
From the moment he’d laid eyes on Melanie he’d dreamt of sliding in and out of her perfect body, seeing her vivid blue eyes stare up at him while she accepted all that he had to offer her. It took everything in him not to reach out and run his fingers through her long blonde locks.
The silver dress she wore dipped down so low in the back that it just barely covered her ass, and the slits on the sides of it left her long legs teasing him. When she turned to face him, her low-cut V-neck dress left the majority of her breasts showing. She didn’t have a modest bone in her body. The Fae in her blood probably had something to do with that.
A low growl emanated from deep within him as he moved his body in front of hers, not wanting every other man there to see what was his. Melanie laughed and brought their joined hands to her cheek. She was soft and smelled delicious.
“Thank you for what you did, though I wish you hadn’t.”
“Why?”
She smiled. “Because peaceful men shouldn’t feel as though they have to resort to violence.”
He glanced around her and laughed softly. “Where’s the Melanie I met three weeks ago?”
“Oh, the one who would say or do whatever or whoever was on her mind?”
Radar Deception Page 4