Circe's Recruits: Gideon: A Multiple Partner Shifter Book

by Harte, Marie

  Typical of his sister to keep her personal life private. Though they’d been psychically linked all their lives, their family had never been close. Their mother an alcoholic, their father nonexistent, gone when they’d turned five, they’d had no one but each other to rely on. Yet something had always held Katie back. Her flashes of the past had soured her on trusting anyone, it seemed. Like him, she caught glimpses of the past through touch. But while he got images off inanimate objects, Katie caught visions through touching people.

  Too bad this Hayashi guy hadn’t been around to predict her future sooner. Then Katie might still be alive. Alex clenched the steering wheel. No matter what anyone said, he knew she’d passed. He felt the void inside him where she should be. No matter how long it took, he’d find who’d hurt her and make them pay.

  “Easy, Alex,” Gideon murmured, his eyes still closed. “Don’t want to get delayed by a speeding ticket.”

  Alex took their speed back down to eighty, but just ten miles over was no biggie. They reached a sign for Elmore, turned off the interstate, and followed GPS directions to the BlackLight Motel.

  As they turned onto the motel’s street, Alex saw flames shooting high into the black sky.

  “What the hell?” Eli sat up straight. “Shit. Slow down, Alex. We got problems.”

  Alex slowed, and Eli bailed. He dove out of the car and started running. Gideon swore and followed him, while Carter remained in the vehicle and rolled down the window.

  “There. Pull into the motel lot. Smell ‘em? Circs. Bad ones.” Carter sounded grim.

  Alex sped into the lot and screeched to a halt, but Carter had already gone. Wishing the guys hadn’t taken off in opposite directions, he parked the car and hurried after them, calling on his senses to follow…Gideon.

  He ran in a northerly direction and heard grunting, punching, and then the sound of muffled gunfire.

  “Damn it.” Alex put on a burst of speed and rammed into a Circ standing some distance from Gideon, aiming at the back of Gideon’s head. Alex recognized the sick smell immediately. “Myers.”

  Myers rolled over and socked Alex in the jaw. “Palmer. Now this just makes my day.”

  Alex got to his feet, facing Myers, and blinked at the change in the man. In just five days, Myers had gone from cocky asshole to looking like grim death. Alex smirked. “What the hell happened, Myers? Karma catch up with you?”

  “You could say that.” Myers swung and kicked at him, keeping him at a distance. “But you know, what goes around comes around. You turned on us, you bastard. You were part of our team, and you left us high and dry.”

  “Bullshit. I was tired of you beating up on Lang’s helpless victims. And God knows what you were doing on your off time.” Then he realized something. Myers smelled like Circ. “Hold on. I thought you were too smart to take the serum? That’s what Pratt said, that none of you were stupid enough to take an experimental drug that turned so many guys crazy.”

  “Pratt lied.” Myers flashed a set of fangs and withdrew a knife from his pocket, not using claws. “But I guess you lied too, because you’re as Circ as they come.”

  Alex wondered if the guy had limitations, because Alex had never sensed the Circ in Myers until now. “It wasn’t anything I planned. Lang or Smith must have doctored my food. I didn’t sign on for this.” Not for any of it, damn it. Katie…

  “I’m crying for you.” Myers sneered. “Because of your dumbass betrayal, they paired us with a new guy. Caldane.”

  Alex blinked. “Are you shitting me?” Caldane had been on the termination list when Alex had first been introduced to the world of Circs. A man who’d been psychotic to begin with, he’d been an experiment in learning what the serum did to an unhealthy psyche. He’d turned from serial killer crazy into monstrous times ten. “I thought he’d been moved to another facility months ago?” At the time, Alex had imagined the unsuccessful candidates were incarcerated or rehabilitated elsewhere. Now he knew better.

  “Nope. Norton likes to keep her pets close.”

  Norton. He committed that name to memory and let Myers get near enough to land a hit, to keep the bastard talking. “Yeah? And what about you? You still taking it up the ass from Smith and Lang, like a good little beast?” Apparently the wrong thing to say, because Myers went apeshit.

  He started a beatdown Alex was hard pressed to get out of. Then Myers aimed his knife at Alex’s throat. Alex stopped him, but it wasn’t easy. They struggled for control of the blade, and Alex’s fingers brushed the hilt.

  “No. Please.” Katie sobbed, disheveled, obviously abused. Tears tracked down her bruised cheeks and bloodied lips.

  Around her, Myers, Yates and another man, Sheer, stared down at her as if fascinated.

  “Come on, pretty lady. You’ve been spilling secrets. We all know about it. How about you tell us the truth? Who knows about our facility and what we really do at U-Ground?”

  Katie sobbed, then spat in Myers’s face. “Fuck you.”

  “We’re gonna get back to that, precious,” Yates said with a chuckle. “But how about you tell us the truth? Who are you working with? Who else is on the inside, because it isn’t just you. I can smell it on you. Something familiar…”

  Katie screamed and grabbed at the knife in Myers’s hand, then dragged him down on top of her, plunging the blade through her heart. As her eyes closed, she whispered, “I always knew this was coming, but it’s okay. You needed to see this. You need to find the others. Save Bailey. Love…you.”

  A dying message meant for Alex, because she’d known he’d find the truth.

  Alex froze, staring into Myers’s eyes, caught in a hell he couldn’t get out of. “It was you. You killed her.”

  Myers shoved him back and grinned. “You’ll have to be more specific. I’ve killed a lot of bad pussy.”

  Alex lost it. He launched himself at Myers and started hitting. He gave his furious beast free reign and sliced his claws into Myers over and over, leaving a bloody mess on the ground. Blood and entrails gathered. Screams from mutant Circs surrounded the motel, enemies gathering closer. But nothing mattered but getting revenge for Katie.

  He shook off the hands trying to separate him from his conquest, needing to rip out the bastard’s throat with his teeth. He leaned closer…

  “No, stop!” A female in distress broke through to him. Katie? She was dead, wasn’t she? But the woman who’d cried out had golden brown hair, long, like Katie. She ran from some bastard, trying to survive in a world gone horribly wrong.

  “Katie.” He dropped what was left of Myers and ran after her, determined to save his sister. Past and present mired his reality, leaving him with nothing but memories to hold onto, a sister who needed him. Now.

  He scented his pack drawing near, coming to help. He flashed his fangs in a raw smile, satisfied that they’d corner their prey and attack, leaving nothing but bones behind. He’d save Katie this time. He had to.

  Chapter Nine

  Gideon didn’t know what the hell had happened. One minute he’d been pounding Yates into tomorrow, the next he’d sensed Alex snap. Gideon’s beast rallied him to protect the pack. But when he’d glanced behind him, he’d seen Alex looking strong, kicking the shit out of Myers.

  Then Carter yanked at Alex, trying to pry him free, and Gideon realized Alex wasn’t Alex. Something had hurt the pack, something bad. A female scream distracted him. She distracted Eli and Alex too, because they rushed in her direction.

  While Carter dealt with more Circs coming from all directions, Gideon rushed to join the others after the female.

  Shit, but the mutants all around them sure made him glad he’d been able to tolerate the serum. The poor misshapen bastards trying to suck him down for a late night snack had left humanity long behind. Except a few of them seemed to know it. The grief, the anger, burning behind those red eyes. He pitied them, ending their existence with compassion, a quick kill for those he reached.

  But not for Myers, Yates, or the other two f
reaks sniffing after the female.

  Her scent was…unusual. She smelled like Circ for sure. But her allure had more to do with a unique femininity than her beastly side. At least, to him. It confused him, because he wanted to draw her in, to his lungs, to his soul. The man wanted more than the beast. And the beast decided that was just fine.

  He raced through the dark, seeing without issue. The moonlight helped, but his night vision needed no enhancement.

  He caught up to two large Circs dragging the female, men bigger than Carter even. Gideon stood shoulder to shoulder with Alex and Eli, trying to gage how best to get the woman to safety. Covered in scratches and bites, her blood smelled rich, ripe.

  Mine.

  He licked at the air and snarled at the enemy male closest to him. Before he could reach out, fire licked at the ground in front of him, and he jumped back.

  “What the hell?” Eli stepped aside before he could burn.

  Their enemy raised his hands, and Gideon saw flames reflected in his dark gaze. The fire obeyed his commands. Shit. Gideon felt like a moron when he realized he should have immediately blasted his opponents with his mind instead of relying on claws. He aimed a psychic blast at the pyro’s brain and knew satisfaction when the guy crumbled. Eli gouged his side with enough venom to put down a small horse, no doubt.

  Alex kept his attention on the large monster biting into the female’s arm.

  She screamed and swiped at his face, making contact with an eye. Oh yeah, the claws and fangs definitely said “Circ” even if her scent was a bit off. The coppery tang of her blood tasted like wildflowers in the air. An odd, poetic notion he couldn’t shake.

  “Bailey Duncan?” he growled, catching her gaze.

  Her eyes widened when she saw him, grew even bigger when she noticed Alex and Eli moving in. She had light brown eyes, the color of fine whiskey, and despite the fear turning them golden, it was the rage burning deep that truly got to him.

  She shrieked and dug her thumb into her captor’s eye socket, removing the orb. But he only continued to eat her, uncaring of his lost eye. She tossed it to the ground and fished her claw free of his face. Gideon shot a psychic blast at the monster, but nothing happened. The freak didn’t react. Hell.

  In the next instant, a milky substance replaced the missing orb. In seconds he had his eye back—his red eye.

  “Oh yeah. Freaky.” Eli jumped forward and dug his claws into the guy’s abdomen. Alex yanked the monster’s jaw free from the female, taking a chunk of her skin with it, while Gideon pulled her to his side.

  Then Carter arrived and yelled, “Back off, Caldane. Come meet your brothers.”

  Caldane stopped moving and turned to face Carter.

  Gideon had no idea what the hell Carter thought he was doing. Surrounded by ink-black mutants, he seemed to be holding court with a dozen of them. They stood around him, swayed by his mind control.

  Caldane seemed unable to resist as well. At least something got through to the guy.

  “Get her in the SUV and get ready to move,” he murmured to Alex, placing the woman in his care. “Eli, call for backup. We can’t leave all these creatures to attack the public.”

  Eli nodded and whipped out his cell as he and Alex took the woman back to the vehicle.

  Gideon rushed to Carter’s side, bypassing the unmoving Caldane. Jesus. Seeing him up close, with no distraction, Gideon felt real unease.

  Unlike the other more human-looking Circs, Caldane’s eyes had no pupil or iris, just a solid orb of red. His pale features and striking, model-good looks looked wrong on so many levels. Like an angel of death with a hellish sensibility. The monster had serrated teeth and continued to lick Bailey’s blood from his fangs, going so far to lick the drops that had landed on his long fingers.

  He had to be seven feet tall, if not a few inches more. Yet…the fucker was growing.

  Hell. Time to go. “Carter, get your ass in the SUV.” Out of the corner of his eye, Gideon saw the vehicle pull closer.

  “Just as soon as Caldane comes over to see his brothers.” Carter turned to the mutants. “He wants to come home. Bring him with you when you go. And swallow him whole, brothers. Eat him up but good.”

  The mutants screeched and raced for Caldane, who smiled as he walked to greet them.

  Not wanting to watch any more cannibalism than he had to—Good God—Gideon hustled over to Carter and met the vehicle, shoving Carter inside before hopping in the front. He glanced around. “We all here?” He noted Eli driving, Alex with the woman in the backseat, Carter in the way back, and himself. “Check. Let’s get the fuck gone.”

  But the woman—Bailey—kept babbling about her files. Eli followed her directions to a cluster of trash cans by the side of the motel. She pushed past Alex and got out to retrieve a large tote. She hopped back inside in seconds. “Drive.”

  Her voice had a husky quality he liked. And so did the others. Eli and Alex appeared to soften. Carter cocked his head, as if confused.

  “Sorry,” she apologized. “I mean, can you please get us out of here?”

  He heard her tears, didn’t want to deal with more emotional crap, and closed his eyes. But he couldn’t close his heart to its furious pounding inside him, or to his beast that wanted nothing more than to stroke the woman into an easy, peaceful sleep.

  Bailey tried calming her breathing, thinking about butterflies, anything to forget the nightmare that had found her. Myers and Yates had been horrible. But that red-eyed demon… He’d been eating her! Biting her not for any sexual or physical pleasure, which would have been bad enough, but because he intended to eat her. To devour her power, he’d whispered.

  She flinched when the man next to her touched her shoulder. “Easy, Bailey. It’s okay.”

  Another huge shocker. The sexy fantasies she’d had of guys in orgies had become real. Well, not the orgy part, but the wild men she’d dreamed were here. The sad, gray-eyed hunk sat next to her. The tatted guy drove them. The blond giant sat in the back, humming with energy. She could feel him vibrating inside her, in some weird way, as if he was trying to psychically figure her out—which was just weird on top of weird.

  And him. The green-eyed leader. He looked practically feline with those slit pupils, that wicked danger in the way he moved. So smooth, so silent. She’d smelled him before she’d heard or seen him when the monster had been sucking her blood and teething her bones.

  The shock of seeing him had broken her from the pain of being chewed on. But now, surrounded by so many large, powerful men—Circs—fear came rushing back, threatening to drown her.

  “She’s not going to be okay because you tell her to, Alex,” the driver said, full of sarcasm. “I know. Hey, honey, why don’t you forget all about the freaks we just fought and think about puppies and kittens instead? Meow. That helping?”

  “Shut up, Eli,” Alex, her comfort, snapped at the driver.

  Eli laughed. “Yeah, right. See? That ain’t gonna happen either.”

  “She’s scared. She should be,” came the low voice from the back.

  “That ain’t working either, Carter. Damn, what a bunch of pathetic do-gooders. Bailey? We’re not here to hurt you. If we’d wanted you dead, you’d be tits up already.”

  “Eli, you’re not helping,” Alex snarled.

  “Guys, enough. I think Bailey knows we’re on her side.” The leader had a gritty, smoky voice, one that brought her beast to life. “And Bailey, tone that creature inside you way down. We all need to relax if we’re going to make it home without tearing each other apart.”

  She swallowed around a dry throat. “Wh-what?”

  “What’s in the bag?” Eli asked, changing the subject.

  “Who are you people?” she blurted, overcome, and reached for Alex’s hand, gripping it like a lifeline. She felt his surprise, but he didn’t disengage. If anything, he held her tighter and covered her hand with both of his.

  “I’m Alex Palmer. I used to work for U-Ground security.”

&nb
sp; “But not regular security. One of the lower levels.” Obviously. He was friggin’ huge. She turned to get a better look at him. Handsome, sculpted, gorgeous. Pack.

  She tried to clear her mind from the beast wanting out.

  “Yes, the lower levels.” He gave a half-smile, half-grimace. “My sister…” He cleared his throat. “She was a huge conspiracy nut, and she believed something was going down at U-Ground. So she investigated, then she disappeared. I showed up to find her, going undercover as a security guard. They invited me to work below, and I saw things.”

  He sounded so sad. She clutched his hand tighter and felt him relax.

  “That’s where I met these three. Elijah Ortiz is our mouthy driver.”

  “Call me Eli, sweetheart.”

  “Carter Freeman’s the big guy in the backseat.”

  “Hi.” Carter nodded at her.

  “And Gideon’s in the front.”

  “He thinks he’s in charge,” Eli added. “As if.”

  “Yeah?” Gideon said, his voice like gravel. “You want to challenge me, pretty boy? I’m game.”

  She shivered, feeling the threat like a physical slap.

  Eli only shrugged, seeming unconcerned. “Relax, jefe. Just wanted to see if you were awake.”

  “Funny guy.”

  Carter chuckled. “He’s not that funny, actually. But he kind of is.”

  “Oh, that makes sense.” Eli drawled. “You’re blond for sure.”

  Their banter made her feel better. It sounded normal, something regular guys would say to get a rise out of one another. They felt… Her beast tensed, then relaxed. Yes, like pack. A unit. Strong together.

  “Anyway,” Alex cut in again. “When I found out what was really going on, I called in a few favors, got a special branch of the government involved. We rescued Gideon, Eli and Carter. Dr. Lang, you know him?”