The Sigma Menace Collection

by Marie Johnston

  “We will find out everything when she recovers.” And they would find out nothing. X’s brother was still living in hiding with his wife. Sarah and Ronnie would be highly sought after by the council, even with hybrid blood diluted by their human mother.

  “Learn her familial origins,” Councilman Hargrath ordered. “Find out if she has any siblings, children. Sweet Mother only knows how that madwoman must’ve tried to breed her.”

  Rhys ground down so hard his teeth should’ve cracked. Madame G didn’t know X carried shifter and vampire blood, but she would’ve watched X for any sign of pregnancy. She most definitely would’ve provided enough partners, consensual or not. Thankfully, young born outside of a mating bond were extremely rare and female shifters’ fertile cycles were years apart. That had both saved and condemned many female shifters in the madam’s clutches. Once deemed useless, they were fed to the vampires.

  “I’ll notify you when I have information,” Rhys replied dutifully, hoping he could just delay them and sign-off.

  “And about Agent E?” Councilman Seether prompted.

  “E remains my responsibility.”

  “He should face a tribunal.” The other council members nodded their agreement.

  As if E would get a fair trial.

  “Esteemed council,” Rhys wasn’t above kissing ass for the safety of his pack, “I ask that you give me time to gather the history and information on the hybrid, before we discuss what will be decided with E.”

  “It’s too dangerous to have those two within close proximity of each other. Their reputation together was formidable.”

  “They worked extremely well together as a pair,” Rhys agreed. “Yet in the years I’ve fought them, we all avoided mortally wounding one another. I believe it would be ill-advised to apprehend E and treat him like a threat while trying to gain cooperation from his partner.”

  Ill-advised was an understatement. X’s status as his destined mate would mean nothing if E’s life was threatened. She would assume all the danger to protect E’s family as she methodically incapacitated the council until E was free.

  A moment of tense silence passed before Councilman Seether finally acquiesced. “Very well. We expect a full report of what you have, and a proposal of how you plan to proceed, in two days’ time.”

  Rhys’ hit the exit button and breathed a sigh of relief. Two days to figure out what the hell to do.

  X wandered through the woods. She roamed around, soaking in the quiet beauty, but didn’t transition to her wolf form like she had planned. The thought of running through the woods on four legs made her almost as agitated as the first round of visits had done.

  Yes, she had run as a wolf since she was captured. But it was only out of necessity and always where Madame G couldn’t see. The more it slipped the mad bitch’s mind that X could shift, the better. After those first couple of years when the madam forced transitions for her study, X always felt unease at the thought of shifting. Anticipation of what bad things would follow a shift diminished, but never left her.

  So here she was, walking barefoot through the trees, letting her mind wander. She thought about everything and nothing at all.

  A delightful scent tickled her nose.

  He was close.

  She waited for him to get closer before stopping and facing his direction. An extremely large, red-tinted wolf stood in the trees, as if awaiting her permission to come closer.

  Rhys was magnificent, even covered in fur. She hoped he stayed in wolf form almost as much as she hoped he’d shift so she could get a full view of his powerful body.

  He stared at her as if to ask if she was all right; he didn’t have to mind-speak.

  “I’m fine. Wanna walk back with me?”

  Rhys blinked his answer and waited for her to turn and head back. He padded through the trees next to her.

  Did you meet with anyone?

  “Yeah.” She didn’t bother with mentally speaking to him. She could sense that it was only the two of them and they were miles from his cabin.

  He didn’t ask how it went, noticing the unease in X. She could see him out of the corner of her eye, filtering through the leaves and branches as he kept pace with her. Maybe she’d run her wolf tomorrow.

  Maybe not.

  She was really tired. It occurred to her that she woke up from healing, but hadn’t had any real rest in weeks. Years.

  “When we get back, I’m gonna bunk down for a nap.” X didn’t know why she announced it. Just felt like he should know.

  His concern emanated off him, but she didn’t explain any further. She could go find Dani, do another hey-how-are-ya, maybe chance a meeting with one of the Guardians in her new role as their leader’s soon-to-be-mate. Yet, she didn’t because she didn’t want to.

  The well of disquiet rose again. She should be jumping for joy. She was free of Sigma, free to mate the most magnificent male she’d ever met, free to do a whole lotta shit. And it all made her stomach turn. Why? She’d been in a lot of stomach-turning situations, why was the good stuff bothering her?

  Like before, no answers were coming to her, so she just kept walking, aiming for Rhys’ cabin and that bed.

  Chapter 6

  The cabin was empty when X rose the next day. Her nap turned into a solid fifteen hours of sleep. She hadn’t even stirred when Rhys had climbed into bed with her. Being accustomed to his presence in her dreams kept her from jolting awake, shoving a blade deep into his belly. Which he’d probably take in stride, understanding her reaction and what had honed her reflexes.

  X sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Like usual, Rhys did nothing but protect her dreams until he had to go to work in the morning. They hadn’t said a word to each other since their walk in the woods.

  After cleaning up and changing into a fresh pair of pants and a new shirt that read, If you can read this, quit looking at my boobs, X wandered into the small kitchen. She found a pot of coffee waiting for her and a few breakfast items to choose from. Rhys either ate most of his food at the lodge or in his office, because it certainly wasn’t in the cabin. It appeared he did a quick stock for her and that was it.

  X wrinkled her nose and poured herself some coffee. The idea of going to the lodge to eat with everyone else was akin to peeling skin off her forearms. So she grabbed pretty much everything and ate it all, slowly draining the entire pot of brew.

  With caffeinated veins and a belly full of processed crap, she charged out the door, sans shoes again. Her skin brushing against leaves and branches centered her. Growing up, shifting had been severely limited. She and her brother had run barefoot to stay linked to nature.

  Steeling herself, she hiked toward Dani’s cabin. The question of whether anyone was home or not was answered by a crash from inside. Frowning, X trotted up the porch and listened briefly before knocking on the door.

  It swung open to reveal a flustered Dani. Her eyes brightened when they landed on her guest. “X!” Another thud. Alarm crossed over Dani’s face as she spun away, leaving the door open for X.

  Dani rushed into a main seating area and picked up a smiley bundle of baby. She propped him on her hip and bounced side to side. Books fallen off the bookshelves were strewn across the floor.

  “This is Dante,” Dani said, rhythmically swaying left and right while the little boy with bronze highlights in his brown hair fisted a handful of Dani’s dark locks. “He’s a little…he’s gifted.”

  X examined the books and clutter around the rest of the cabin. If by gifted, she meant Dante was already displaying telekinetic power like his daddy and loved throwing things off shelves, the evidence was easy to see.

  “He’s displaying his powers early, huh?”

  “Yeah.” Dani sounded flustered, exasperated, and extremely proud. “Mercury can help calm him, but he’s still learning how to use his own abilities. Mostly we end up being damage control.”

  X nodded. She had heard and seen the evidence of how the Guardians’ powers had been failing t
hem. When they began finding their mates, they regained control and strength. Mercury’s abilities were much more powerful than most shifters, and from the looks of the cabin, so were little Dante’s.

  Dani waved her to a chair. “Have a seat. I can’t promise nothing will fly into you.”

  X’s mouth quirked up. Dante must make the days exciting. He wasn’t even a year old yet. Most supernaturals didn’t gain use of their abilities until after puberty, when there was some hope they could control them. X wondered how full Dani’s and Mercury’s hands must be trying to raise a gifted baby.

  “So, uh, how’s it going?” Dani set the boy back down to crawl around on the floor. He instantly crawled to X.

  “It’s going.” It was all X said, watching the baby inspect her toes and then use her pants to gain footing so he could try to stand. She smiled inwardly. Babies were so cute and innocent.

  “I’m grateful for everything you taught me. I don’t hold any grudges, you know, for capturing Mercury,” Dani said reassuringly.

  “Good to know.” X’s awkwardness returned. She’d rather roll around on the floor with Dante making choo-choo noises than have this discussion.

  When she and E had been in charge of Dani’s training in Sigma, the girl had been so full of questions, so willing to learn. It had been obvious Dani was wrong for Sigma, and X respected the hell out of her for getting away. She just didn’t know what to sit and talk about.

  “How’s it going with you?” X asked, before the silence stretched on for too long.

  A cloud crossed the young woman’s face. “Good.”

  She was lying. “You sure?”

  Dani blinked. “No. It’s wonderful, it really is. It’s just…” She took a deep breath. “I’m pregnant again.”

  It was X’s turn to blink. “Wow. Congrats?”

  Drawing in a shaky breath, Dani put a hand lovingly over her abdomen. “Yeah, it is great. It’s just scary. Terrifying. Shifters don’t usually have young this close together, and Dante has such strong abilities, and I feel so damn unqualified to raise powerful babies. And…” Dani sucked in a ragged breath. “We haven’t told anyone else, but…it’s twins.”

  Whoa. “So you’re a little stressed?”

  “That’s an understatement,” Dani said, nodding.

  Heavy boots climbed the steps outside. Dani’s face brightened as X stiffened. The front door opened to reveal a hulk of a male with dark hair that gleamed silver. The same silver glittered through the male’s eyes as he took in X sitting in his living quarters, hanging out with his mate and kid.

  “’Sup, Merc?” Drool pooled onto X’s foot as Dante laughed and bounced at the sight of his father.

  Mercury’s gaze warmed when they landed upon his son, then trailed down to the drool and back up to X. It was like he was waiting to see her reaction at getting baby body fluids on her.

  Please, baby drool was the tamest body fluid she’d encountered.

  Standing up, she bent down, winking at Dante when his bronze gleaming eyes caught hers. She gently dislodged him from her leg.

  Mercury was still tense, Dani’s mouth tightened in irritation at her mate, but she knew the history, and only waited for the confrontation to play out.

  Dante babbled happily where X had set him down.

  “You have a beautiful family, Mercury.” She made her way to the door.

  “I know.” He eyed her warily and stepped aside to let her pass.

  “Catch you later, Dani.” Stepping across the threshold, X turned and caught the door before it closed all the way. The muscles in Mercury’s chest flexed. Irritation at his reaction glinted in Dani’s eyes. “For what it’s worth, Dani, my mom talked about how nursery rhymes would soothe little vampires when their urges would get to be too much for them. She said singing helped me and my brother calm down when our eyes would get the vampire-red glow.” X left without waiting for a response.

  She really wished she could get down on the floor and hang with the baby. Just like Julio and his Legos were the best part of the previous day, she suspected seeing a cute, chubby baby would be the only highlight of today.

  Stepping off the porch, X decided to walk back to Rhys’ cabin and…totally not hide. Read, maybe. Would it kill Rhys to get a TV or something? Hell, even a radio. The silence in the cabin was going to drive her batshit, otherwise. She needed to watch Jeopardy or something to keep her mind occupied.

  She was halfway back when movement caught her eye. In an instant, a throwing knife was in one hand and ready to go. A young male stepped from behind a tree. His pale hair and pale-blue eyes was so much like his seer mother. X lowered her hand.

  They stood staring at each other for a long time. She hadn’t encountered him his entire time at Sigma. Madame G had kept him secret and highly protected. And in all truth, X and E ensured they got assignments that took them away from the compound often, for as long as possible.

  A trace of ever-present guilt laced through her mind. If she and E had been around more, maybe they would’ve heard that a young shifter had been studied, tortured. A little interference, a small accident and oops he escaped…They could’ve done something to help the kid get away.

  His hands started moving, and X tensed, her hand closing tighter on her knife. She held back a scowl at her reaction and sheathed her knife. He was still a damn kid, barely eighteen. Even if he did attack her, she wasn’t going to hurt him.

  He was communicating to her in sign language. She shook her head. “Sorry. I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

  He frowned and slumped his shoulders, his pale hair falling into his face. He was tall like most shifters, and carried a good amount of muscle, but it was clear he still had more filling out to do.

  She’d been so preoccupied with his appearance, and who his mother was, that the details of his scent finally registered.

  A Guardian. No wonder he’d been kept here after Mercury rescued him.

  She wanted to laugh. That would really piss off the Lycan Council. Parrish’s pale coloring indicated he was a seer. A seer who was a Guardian. A seer who the council couldn’t completely control.

  Did she suffer?

  X was startled by the voice filtering through her mind. “What do you mean?”

  She always tried to console me, told me lies to make things seem better than they were. Was she suffering the whole time? The kid’s head hung even more, and he rubbed at his temples, like the effort was giving him a headache.

  Oh hell. X would take two more months of maladroit visiting over this experience. “Uhhh, I don’t know.” He glanced up at her perplexed; she shrugged. “None of us knew about her until a few weeks ago. But when I saw her, she seemed well-cared for.”

  His hands dropped to wipe at his eyes, and he sniffled.

  She didn’t know much of his history, just what Rhys had passed on. The kid had spent most of his life at Sigma, and it had only been the last few years that were miserable for him.

  “I can tell you that we tried to save her.” At her words, he yanked his head up, his pale-blue eyes anguished. “She was ready to go. She knew it was her time, and that you were where you needed to be.”

  He considered her for a minute before nodding and dropping his gaze. Her heart wasn’t so jaded that it didn’t go out to the kid. He was a seer. He must’ve known it wouldn’t end well for his mother.

  She felt a tickle at her mind like he was going to telepathically say something else, when they were interrupted.

  “Parrish, you doing okay?” Bennett Young strode smoothly out of the shadows, eying X like a coiled cobra.

  As if she’d hurt a kid.

  Parrish ducked his head, his hands flying. X would bite her tongue until she drew blood before she asked Bennett what Parrish was saying.

  “He’s says he’s sorry.” Bennett snapped his gaze back to X. “Why does he look like he’s in pain?”

  X snorted. “Cuz you’re here,” she shot back at him.

  Parrish was waving
his hands, brushing off Bennett’s concerns.

  “Why do you have a headache?” Bennett asked him. To X he asked, “Were you trying to hypnotize him?”

  Bennett thought she mind-blasted the kid? “Fuck you.” X shot back at him without thinking. Well, this day was going down the shitter.

  “It’s not me you’re fucking with,” Bennett hissed at her.

  She cocked her head at him. What the hell did he mean?

  “Parrish.” Bennett didn’t take his eyes off her. “Head back to the lodge.”

  The kid was about to argue. Instead, he shot X an apologetic look and followed Bennett’s orders.

  Crossing her arms over her chest, she waited for Bennett to elaborate.

  “Look,” he ran a hand through his hair, “I get you’re Sarah’s aunt. And you’re supposed to be the commander’s mate. But,” he shook his head, “he didn’t think we saw, you know, how crazy you made him. I helped patch him up after his fights with you. Hell, we all carry scars from you.”

  “Are you dead?”

  Bennett scowled at her.

  “Exactly,” she kept going before he responded. “Rhys understands. I did what I had to do.”

  “And what if you have to do something in the future and Sarah gets hurt?”

  X clenched her jaw, her anger flaring. Mostly because he hit a nerve. “I protected her and Ron the best I could.”

  “You protected yourself even more.” Bennett’s navy-blue eyes matched her ire. “I respect Commander Fitzsimmons. He wants you as a mate. Whatever. But I don’t want to find myself patching up Sarah’s wounds because of you.”

  “And what does Sarah have to say?”

  Bennett’s eyes flicked away briefly, the only indication that his mate had no idea he was confronting X. “I already had to moderate a fight between her and Ronnie after you left yesterday.”

  X recoiled in shock. They were fighting? Over her?

  Bennett nodded. “Seems you stopped by. She thought Ronnie said something to piss you off since you left so abruptly. Then they were arguing about what to tell their father about the sister he thinks is dead.”