Beginnings

by Sandra R Neeley

  When his teeth finally released her, he soothed the bite with his tongue, kissing the bruised flesh tenderly between licks.

  “I love you,” Nina said, watching him soothe her injured breast.

  Lethal looked up from her chest, his eyes once again hazel, and met her gaze.

  Lethal understood how important it was for her to tell him she loved him. She couldn’t handle it if anything happened to him and she’d never told him. She’d lived that once not too long ago, and she didn’t want it to happen again. Lethal smiled for her and stared into her eyes. “I’ve only ever loved you, Nina. Only you. That will never change.”

  Nina’s eyes filled with tears and he kissed her again, moaning when her tongue eagerly met his. “I waited so long,” he whispered. “I need more.”

  Nina cupped his face where she’d punched him, then pressed a kiss to his jaw. “Your female still needs,” she said softly, smiling at him.

  <<<<<<<>>>>>>>

  Outside Scorn, Feral and Two sat on the front lawn. They smiled at each other as the moaning and growling inside the house started up again.

  “Can I sleep at your place tonight?” Scorn asked Two, grimacing.

  “Yep. I got room for everybody,” Two answered, with a huge grin on his face.

  “Good. I don’t think anybody’s going to sleep in this house tonight. We want any rest, we’re going to have to bunk with you,” Feral commented.

  “I got lots of popcorn, and ice cream. We can watch movies,” Two said.

  “Ice cream? Yeah, okay, we can watch a movie,” Scorn answered, looking out over the people still dancing and talking. “Hey, you know that little brunette over there?” Scorn asked.

  Two followed Scorn’s gaze and realized he was looking at Shauna. “She’s off limits!” Two thundered.

  Scorn raised an eyebrow and watched Two, taking in his possessive behavior. “I’m guessing that’s a yes. Well, okay then. I didn’t want her for me, you damned fool. I was trying to tell you that every time she thinks you’re not looking, she’s glancing over at you.”

  Two looked like someone had slapped him. “She is?” he asked, the surprise clear in his voice.

  “She is.”

  Two allowed his eyes to wander over her way again and she smiled at him, but he hurriedly looked away.

  “What’d you do that for?” Feral asked. “She smiled at you. You should smile back.”

  “What if she doesn’t like me,” Two asked.

  “Two. If she didn’t like you, she wouldn’t keep looking at you and she wouldn’t have smiled at you. You should ask her to dance,” Scorn said.

  Two immediately began shaking his head. “No. Nope. All she’s going to do is say no.”

  “You’re wrong,” Feral said, then he placed his fingers in his mouth and whistled high and sharp. When some of the other males turned and looked at him, he called out to them. “Hey! Tell him to play a two step. Two wants to dance! Matter of fact, play a few of them!”

  One of the males gave him a thumbs up and walked off toward the DJ.

  “I can’t,” Two said, seemingly truly terrified. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “You don’t have to say anything, just dance,” Feral encouraged.

  “Well, would you lookie here,” Scorn said.

  Two and Feral followed his line of sight and found Shauna, making her way over toward them.

  All three of them watched her coming their way.

  Shauna had almost chickened out twice, but both times she’d set her feet in their direction again. She smiled nervously as she finally found herself standing in front of Two and his friends. “Hi. I’m Shauna,” she said.

  “Hi, Shauna,” Feral answered, trying to put the obviously nervous female at ease.

  “Hi. I was wondering,” she said, looking at Two, “I mean, you don’t have to and it’s perfectly okay to say no, but, I was wondering if maybe you might want to dance?” she asked, looking right at Two.

  Two didn’t answer. He wore an expression that said he was actually doing an impression of a deer in the headlights.

  “You know what?” Scorn said, getting to his feet. “I’ll dance with you, sweetheart.”

  That shook Two out of his stupor. “No, you won’t!” he snapped. Two got to his feet. “You will not dance with her!” he insisted and pointed at the ground. “Sit back down!”

  Scorn started snickering and willingly plopped back down on the ground.

  Two turned to Shauna. “I’m Two,” he said.

  Shauna smiled up at the very huge male she knew as Two. “I know. Nina told me your name.”

  “She did?” Two asked.

  “Yeah. She said you’re very kind. I like kind. So I thought I’d invite you to dance since I don’t really know anyone else.”

  Two grinned at her. “Okay.”

  Shauna held out her hand and Two very carefully wrapped his hand that would make two of hers around it; then, she led him out to one of the makeshift dance floors they’d assembled. And for the rest of the day, she and Two danced together.

  Chapter 52

  Nina woke early with Lethal’s head between her legs, his lips and tongue busy teasing her into an intense need. “Whoever that is, you should be careful. My male doesn’t like to share,” she teased.

  Lethal’s head popped up and he looked at her with a single eyebrow raised. “Don’t make me kill somebody before I’ve even had my breakfast, female,” he rumbled at her.

  Nina smiled at him. “Possessive are we?” she asked, stretching her body as she grinned lazily at him.

  “Absofuckinglutely!” Lethal assured her. “Now hush, woman. Let me enjoy my female.”

  Nina reached down and stroked her fingers through his hair.

  Lethal turned his face just enough to kiss her palm before sucking her clit into his mouth again.

  An hour later they finally walked into the admin building, heading to the cafeteria for breakfast. Lethal opened the door, and led her inside holding her hand in his. They got less than a dozen steps inside the cafeteria before the place erupted in applause and cat calls. As the noise died down, a voice called out. “Congratulations! And thanks, Nina. Maybe now we can relax a little when he’s nearby, since he won’t be so damned high strung!”

  Lethal shook his head and didn’t manage to hide the smile he tried to control.

  “Thank you, Law,” Nina called back.

  Brutal came over to them as they got in the serving line. “I’m happy for you both. You realize you’re the first, and most likely the only couple that have found each other and committed on the outside?”

  “Partially right,” Lethal answered, still holding Nina’s hand in his.

  “How’s that?” Brutal asked.

  “I committed on the inside. Just had to wait for my female to realize it,” Lethal explained.

  “True. That much was obvious,” Brutal agreed. “Congratulations again. You are a very lucky male,” Brutal said, winking at Nina.

  “I am very aware,” Lethal said.

  “Athena said to tell you you have an open invitation to join her squad at any time. You impressed the hell out of her when you went all Amazon warrior on her ass,” Brutal said.

  Nina’s smile faded. “I didn’t plan to hurt her, but she shouldn’t have touched mine.”

  “It was intentional. She was trying to get a rise out of you, so, any collateral damage she takes full responsibility for,” Brutal explained.

  Nina looked up at Lethal. “Did you know?”

  “Not exactly. I knew she said she was going to get a rise out of you to see if you could be pushed to the point of instinctively using your training, but I did not know she planned to use me in her plan, or touch me like she did. I told you last night I bent her wrist back and forced her hand away from me. I did not welcome her touch,” Lethal said, while rubbing his thumb over Nina’s hand.

  “Is she okay?” Nina asked Brutal.

  “Yeah. Some of us got not only superior stre
ngth and instincts, some of us got superior healing. You damn near broke her knee, but not quite. She’ll be in a brace for a bit, and the doctor suggested she wears support whenever she’s doing something athletic, but, it won’t stop her from walking,” Brutal explained.

  “So… you and Athena?” Nina teased, trying to change the subject.

  “No,” Brutal said, shaking his head. “She’s a friend, but there’s no mating drive there.”

  “I don’t know, you’ve been spending a lot of time with her,” Nina continued.

  “Because you were spending a lot of time with her. We didn’t train with her, or know what her limits were,” Brutal said.

  “So you were babysitting me,” Nina said.

  “No, just keeping an eye out for a friend’s female,” Brutal said, winking at her. “My breakfast is getting cold. I’ll see ya’ll later.”

  “You had Brutal keeping an eye on me?” Nina asked Lethal, smiling up at him.

  “Among others,” Lethal admitted, his face softening when he looked down at her face.

  “Were you worried about me?” she teased.

  Lethal lifted a hand and ran his thumb along her cheekbone. “Every moment of every day since I first laid eyes on you.”

  Nina smiled and leaned against him. “Love you,” she said.

  “Ditto,” he answered.

  Nina grinned. She knew he was not the type to gush in public and be all touchy feely. Ditto was just fine with her while they were in public. She knew when they were alone he’d had no problem telling her what she meant to him.

  Nina and Lethal finally made it to the front of the line, then took their breakfasts to the back table where their squad was already sitting.

  “What happened to you four last night?” Nina asked once they were seated.

  “Really? With all that caterwauling going on in the house, you seriously think anybody could sleep through that? We bunked with Two,” Scorn answered.

  Nina laughed. “It wasn’t that bad!” she said, blushing as she looked around. “Where is Two?”

  “Already went out on his morning route,” Feral answered.

  Lethal didn’t want them to make her uncomfortable. “Weren’t that loud,” he remarked.

  Valor glanced up from his food. “Yes, you were. But, you deserved it. It’s been a long time coming. We’ll be back tonight.” Then he focused on Nina. “It’s good to see you smiling again. Glad you’re back with us, as you were meant to be.”

  “Thank you, Valor,” Nina answered.

  “I’m guessing you didn’t see Roscoe yet this morning?” Valor asked.

  “No. What’s happening?” Lethal asked.

  “When we walked in, he came over to us. Said he’s planning a mission. Found three men that show the last address they worked is the facility we found in Minnesota. And when we checked they’re listed as security personnel on the flash drive we found.”

  “And he found their home addresses?” Lethal asked.

  “He did. He requested additional intel on them. Sent out Grudge’s team three days ago. Came back last night with a complete report including photos. Wants us to take a look and see if we recognize them.”

  “And?” Lethal pushed, hoping they would be tasked with the mission to act on that intel.

  “He said if we’re up to it, he’ll give us first crack at them, but we can’t kill them. He wants them brought in alive so we can see if they have any information at all that may be valuable to us.”

  Lethal looked around the table, making eye contact with each of his males.

  “I’m in,” Steel said.

  “Hell, yeah,” Feral answered.

  “Just tell me when,” Valor said.

  “Can we go now?” Scorn asked. “I’m kinda getting bored.”

  “Then it’s settled,” Lethal said, glancing over his shoulder toward Roscoe’s office to see if he was in there. “We’ll stop by his office after breakfast.”

  “I’m going, too,” Nina said. “Not that you asked me.”

  Lethal looked down at his female, sitting beside him, completely relaxed in a way he’d never seen her. She was not only at home at his side, she was completely secure in the fact that she was a fucking badass and completely aware of it and owning it.

  “I need you centered and on point. On mission there is no distraction allowed,” Lethal said.

  “And you think I can’t do that?” she asked.

  “I’m sure you can. I’m just saying, we each have a job to do, we can’t look after each other. Do the job swiftly and efficiently, rendezvous for exit and go to extraction,” Lethal explained.

  “I’m perfectly capable of doing that,” Nina said, setting her fork down and preparing to chew his ass out for underestimating her.

  “Squad?” Lethal asked for their input, still looking at Nina, trying to figure out how he’d ever thought taking her on missions would be no different than going on mission without her.

  “Thought we already welcomed her to our squad,” Feral said.

  “After seeing her take out Athena, and cold cock your ass yesterday, I have no issues at all,” Scorn said.

  “You pull your weight, you’re in. You don’t, you’re out,” Lethal said.

  “If I don’t, you won’t have to remove me from your squad. I’d remove myself. Above all I want the five of you safe. If I’m not performing at my level best, then I endanger you,” Nina said.

  “Alright, then. We’ll find out when Roscoe wants us to move on it,” Lethal said.

  <<<<<<<>>>>>>>

  Roscoe stood just to the side of those gathered in Law’s office. Law had a conference table in his office that could accommodate an entire squad, so that’s where his missions were usually presented. The shades had been pulled down to keep anyone from seeing the images they were displaying on the white board. And Roscoe moved them through the power point presentation at a relaxed pace, showing the faces of the guards he was ready to go after. At the presentation of each face, he’d turn and look at the faces of the males that he planned to send on this mission.

  “From the look on your faces, I’m sure you recognize them,” Roscoe said somberly.

  Lethal gave a single nod. As did most of the others. “Two of them,” Lethal said.

  Feral shook his head. “I don’t, but I wasn’t in that facility. We’ve yet to locate the facility I was in.”

  “We will,” Roscoe answered. “No matter how long it takes.”

  Feral nodded with his eyes still glued to the shot of all three guards on the white board behind Roscoe.

  “I recognize the first two in particular,” Nina spoke up to add. “I think I may have seen the third, but I’m not sure.”

  Roscoe looked toward Nina. “I’m sorry, Nina. You shouldn’t have to sit through these. I know it must be painful,” Roscoe said.

  Nina’s chin lifted and her expression became unreadable. “Not any more difficult than it is for the rest of my squad to sit here and remember what those guards put us through,” she snapped.

  “I know. And that’s why we’re planning to track down as many as we can as quickly as we can. Lethal’s team, Grudge’s team, and Savage’s team will all strike at the same time on these three guards. We do not kill them, we bring them in. As you all know, we’ve been granted recognition as a military operation with top secret clearance,” Roscoe answered.

  “That means no matter what we do, it’s sanctioned,” Savage said.

  “No, that means that we still have to proceed as under the radar as we can, but, we can take people into custody now. We can hold them without explanation. And once we have all we can get from them, we can turn them over to the government for further prosecution. But, at that point, we’ll have to make ourselves known. We’ll have to introduce the world to the Variant people before we can turn prisoners over to the government,” Roscoe said.

  “Why is that?” Grudge asked.

  “Because we want to be sure that it’s not all swept under the rug. We will
make ourselves known. We will campaign for justice, and for ultimate prosecution. If we’ve made ourselves and what you all survived common knowledge, there will be outrage, there will be a demand for answers and for holding those accountable responsible,” Roscoe explained.

  “Then why don’t we just do that now?” Steel asked.

  “Because, we need to find as many squads as we can first. These guards may have the answers,” Lethal answered.

  “Has there been any luck at the other squads figuring out what part of the country or world they were trained in?” Nina asked.

  “A few, we’re close to pinpointing a couple of them now. We know one was in the Appalachians in West Virginia, another was in Washington State, we believe there was another in Nevada, we’re working out the exact locations and will move on them soon,” Roscoe answered.

  “We want in on whatever you’re willing to give us,” Lethal said.

  “I’m sure the five of you will be in on more than your fair share. We appreciate all your effort on the behalf of the rest of us,” Roscoe said.

  “Six,” Lethal corrected.

  Roscoe looked confused for a moment, then seemed to figure it out. “Two’s back on the squad? Great,” he said, nodding.

  “No, I am,” Nina said.

  “Nina…” Roscoe started.

  “You want me to break your knee, too? I’m on this squad,” she said defiantly.

  Half the males in the room chuckled at her threat since they’d seen her attack on Athena and on Lethal himself.

  Nina glared at Roscoe.

  Roscoe glared at Nina. Finally he gave in. “It’s not my concern. If your male thinks it’s smart to have you on a mission like this, who am I to contradict?” he said with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

  “Got a problem with my female being able to take care of herself, Roscoe?” Lethal asked from his place at the end of the conference table.

  Roscoe turned his attention to Lethal. Lethal was kicked back, his arms crossed over his chest loosely, his left foot up on the leg of the chair beside him, and in that chair sat Nina. Lethal looked like he had no care in the world, but Roscoe knew better than to bait the male. Though he was pretty sure he could hold his own for the most part, he knew he was nothing like these males. They’d been altered. He decided this was not a battle he needed to have.