Circe's Recruits 2: Zack and Ace (14 page)

The phone clicked, and Kelly stared in shock at the receiver. It had to be a trap. Not willing to react out of hand, she called her home, but no one picked up.

She needed to tell the others. Her beast roared with denial. Take care of your own mates. Don’t endanger them because you’re too weak-willed to protect what’s yours.

Then again, if she told the others, they’d demand to accompany her, and Ace or Zack might die. She thought quickly. Scribbling a note to Doc, who would probably see it, at the earliest, later tonight, if he stopped by his office to work, she figured she’d have enough time to do what needed to be done.

Composing herself, she rejoined the group in the dining room. “Good news. The boys are happy again. I’ve gotta go. Straight home, and I’ll call you when I get there,” she said to forestall Hale’s arguments for protection.

“Come on, Hale. Give the girl some privacy,” Derrick said on her behalf. “She’s got two

‘hotties’ waiting for her at home.” He snorted with laughter.

“Thanks. I’ll see you later!” She left before anyone could question her, waving at Diego as she practically ran from the house.

Crap. What car to take? She’d let the guys have hers. After she raced into the garage out back, she fished for a set of keys off the key rack and took Derrick’s. Careful not to draw undue attention, Kelly drove his red truck down the long-ass driveway and away toward Morey’s Pier in Wildwood. She’d do anything she had to for her mates.

Patting her purse that held her favorite nine mil -- courtesy of her father-- she sped toward the meeting place, intent on saving the other pieces of her heart.

She remembered to call Doc’s a few minutes later to announce that she’d arrived home safely. A little white lie, but if it meant saving her men, she’d do whatever she had to. She parked as close to the boardwalk as she could. Running two blocks, she made her way up the boardwalk and onto the pier. Though not so crowded during the winter, the boardwalk still had several people milling about. And then she saw him.

Simon Dunn stared at her without smiling. “Not a word.” He quickly snagged one of her arms and dragged her back down the way she’d come, off the boardwalk, and onto the street. Before she could demand to see evidence that he had Ace and Zack, a jolting pain stung her neck. She turned to stare in surprise at the last man she’d thought to see next to a creep like Dunn.

“Stephen?”

Stephen Folsom didn’t blink as his gaze roamed her face with satisfaction. With possession. He tucked the syringe he’d used back into his jacket pocket. “Hey, Kelly. Nice to see you again.”

She stumbled into his arms, working hard to identify the suddenly garbled voices around her. She felt too weak to stand, no doubt thanks to whatever he’d given her.

“Easy, asshole,” Dunn reprimanded.

“Touch her again, and I’ll geld you where you stand.” She heard a growl. Stephen, growling? Even more confusing, Stephen trying to protect her? The man who could barely work up the nerve to kiss her good night or argue with his friend who’d once tried to cop a feel? That Stephen? “You don’t touch what’s mine.” Then blackness overtook her, and she knew no more.

* * * * *

The next morning, Zack woke Ace with the same kind of massage Ace had lovingly given him a few weeks earlier. Except instead of using his finger in Ace’s ass, Zack fucked him slow and easy, his cock stroking with a precision that had Ace shouting his name as he came hard all over the bed.

“Now, that’s a massage.” Ace struggled to catch his breath. “I hate to suggest it, but I think it’s time to see Kelly again.”

“Yeah.” Zack pulled out and groaned. “Do we have to get up?”

“Actually, ‘we’ don’t. You’re the one that had all the issues. I think you should go fetch our mate.”

Zack glared down at him, not surprised when the lazy Circ closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep. “That you could sleep in your own cum is a little disturbing, not to mention gross. But you even think about leaving me to take care of our mess, and I’ll --” Ace shot out of bed with a grin. “Kind of pissy, aren’t you? Not a morning person, eh, English?”

“Fuck off, cub.” Zack chuckled, caught by the playful gleam in his lover’s eyes.

Emotion hit him hard, the burgeoning love he felt for both Ace and Kelly so strong. Their future looked bright, all his dreams and hopes within reach…

The phone rang. “Yeah?” he asked as he picked it up. “Oh. Hi, Caitlyn.” He frowned.

“Why would you be calling here for Kelly? I thought she was staying overnight with you.” Had she returned, and he and Ace been unaware? No. No matter how into one another they were, they would have caught Kelly’s scent the minute she stepped through the front door.

A dark foreboding stole his earlier joy as he raced through the house. “Shit. She’s not here. Tell me again what happened last night.” As Caitlyn explained what she knew from the others, Zack headed into the bathroom to find Ace. “Caitlyn, tell the team to suit up. Kelly’s not here. So what you’re saying is that she’s been gone from eight last night until” -- he paused to check the clock on the wall --

“nine this morning. Thirteen hours. Shit. We’ll be there in twenty.” He hung up and yanked the shower door back. “Ace, Kelly’s missing.” Ace’s cocky smile disappeared. “Tell me.”

“Apparently, she left last night. Said we’d told her to come back after she took a phone call.”

“Bullshit.”

“Right. So why would she lie?”

“Good question. Let’s find the answers, fast.”

They cleaned up and arrived at the compound in under twenty minutes. Zack’s hair was still wet, and his clothing clung to him in spots, but all he could think about was Kelly in harm’s way. They found the others circled around the dining room table. No one looked happy.

“I called her father. He hasn’t heard from her since last week. She’s not in Maryland,” Doc said before Zack could speak. “Derrick’s truck was missing. Using the vehicle’s tracking device, he found it this morning parked down by the pier. No sign of Kelly.” Diego cleared his throat. The short male looked far too sober for Zack’s frame of mind.

“I gave her the phone.” He shoved his hands down the pockets of his neatly pressed shorts. A peer of Doc’s, as well as Doc’s good friend, Diego always wore a ready smile that beckoned others to feel his joy with life. That he wasn’t brimming with optimism spoke volumes. “A man asked for her. It wasn’t either of you, but with that relationship she has with that Folsom fellow, I didn’t think twice to ask her about it. I left her alone to take the call.”

“Folsom,” Ace snapped. “We need to find him.”

“If it was even him.” Zack’s frustration boiled over. “Fuck this. It’s the PPA. I know it.”

“Yeah.” Derrick exhaled slowly. “What say a few of us stake out our usual suspects? If we’re near the labs, we’ll be that much nearer to Kelly, I’m sure.” Roane took charge. “Hale, you check out Folsom. You find him, you make him tell you what he knows. The rest of us will check with our sources around Pearson Labs. But, guys,” he said, narrowing his gaze on Ace and Zack, “we don’t move on the labs until I give the say-so. We don’t have the manpower to rescue you two if Pearl decides he wants to get his hands on you while you play cowboy holding up the lab. We need to focus on finding Kelly and getting her back safely.”

“No shit.” Ace exploded into action, shoving his fist through the drywall in the kitchen.

“Right.” Zack put arm around his mate and pulled him close. “Simmer down. Focus on Kelly. Think about what we need to do.”

Ace growled but nodded and stepped away, trying to regain control.

“What about me? What should I do to help?” Caitlyn blinked rapidly. Zack could see the tears in her eyes. “I want to do something.” Roane kissed her. “Stay here. If by some chance Kelly calls or needs help, she’ll need you available. Doc might need a hand as well. We know a lot of people out there.

Somebody’s bound to have seen something.”

Caitlyn nodded. “Okay.” She shooed them with her hands. “So go already. Find Kelly.

She promised to take me shoe shopping once her men wised up.” Guilt choked Zack, though he said nothing. Kelly should have been home with them last night. Instead, she’d been without her mates because he’d had intimacy issues.

Motherfucker.

Ace pounded him in the arm. “Not now,” he hissed. “Don’t you lose it. We have to find her, together. Don’t leave me,” he said. “Not again. She needs us, Zack. We both need you.” Zack nodded. Ace was right. They had no time for recriminations. He followed the group out to the garage and into the hidden vault that held their defenses. Throwing on their light armor and arming themselves, they jumped into two vehicles and sped for the northern portion of the state, where Pearson Labs thrived.

Promising himself it would be okay, Zack reached out to his frantic beast and pledged his life to finding and protecting his mate. An arm sought him from the front seat, and he glanced up to see Ace looking at him with worry.

“We’ll find her.” Ace tried to reassure his mate.

“We will.” Zack nodded. Now wasn’t the time for doubt. Only one thing mattered: finding Kelly.

“No matter what it takes,” Derrick muttered from the driver’s seat. “The two of you need to dig out those cell phones and make some phone calls. Between your contacts and mine, we’ll find her. And don’t count Harry out. If he hasn’t seen her near the labs, she ain’t there.”

“Homeless” Harry saw everything, for the right price. He and a few of his friends lived outside the abandoned industrial area near Pearson Labs. His network of informants was vast, and he particularly liked Derrick. They had an arrangement, of sorts. No matter how many times Derrick had tried to find Harry a place to live, food, and employment, Harry would only work for money. And he only accepted it from Derrick.

“What’s with you and Harry?” Zack asked.

“It’s a black thing.” Derrick shrugged.

“But he’s white.”

“How can you tell with all that dirt on his face?” Ace asked.

“Good point,” Zack conceded.

Derrick grinned. “Maybe it’s because I’m black and bad and I impress him. More than you skinny-ass white boys.”

“Who you calling white?” Ace asked. “My blood’s darker than yours.”

“Please. I’m ebony, you’re --”

“Not ivory. The cub’s Cree,” Zack interrupted with a snort. “I agree you’re bad, though.” Zack grinned, despite his worries. Derrick had a way of pissing him off and making him feel lighter at the same time. “A bad dresser, bad tipper, bad with the ladies…”

“That’s pushing it.” Derrick huffed.

“Actually, D, Zack has a point. And you know, my mate’s never wrong.” Ace finally said it out loud. My mate.

Derrick smiled, a sincere grin that turned his stern countenance into a face of masculine beauty. “About damned time, pretty boy.” Ace frowned. “I hate it when you call me that.”

“I know. Now give me the phone.” Derrick took the phone and pressed a button. A few moments passed. “Yo, Harry. It’s D. I have a situation, one that’ll have you rolling in green if you have the answers I need. Here’s the deal…”

* * * * *

Sabrina Torrence stared down at the unconscious female Circ strapped to the gurney as she pushed it along the hallway. Bile rose in her throat as she realized what she’d done. No more pretenses. Pearl would know who’d sabotaged this latest lab work. But there’d been no hope for it.

The woman was pregnant.

The likelihood of Kelly Malloy passing on sane, rational Circ genes to her progeny was about an 89 percent surety. She’d done the math. With the blood and tissue samples Elliot had already collected, and his plans to remove the woman’s embryo now, Sabrina couldn’t wait. Even though Elliot knew he might risk this offspring by grabbing it at such an early state, he wanted complete control over its development. Not a rational decision for Pearson Labs’ top scientist, but then, she’d had her doubts about him for some time.

She rolled the gurney faster, nodding at the colleagues she passed. No one would question her. Not with her new clearance level. The CEO had seen fit to promote her, regardless of Pearl’s ambivalence. She knew Pearl respected her intelligence, but the man didn’t like the way she treated him. Well, fuck him. She hated his guts. If it hadn’t been for him, she wouldn’t be in this mess right now.

So much for a promising career in biochemistry. Her chance at leapfrogging from the Navy to something more lucrative in a state-of-the-art scientific lab, courtesy of Project Dawn, had tanked the minute Pearl created psychotic killers.

Sabrina still agreed with the project’s original intentions -- to help the military, her fellow sailors and soldiers, be less vulnerable. She’d already lost friends due to the current conflicts the military was thrust into. Why sacrifice hardworking troops when science could do what so many peacemakers couldn’t? Rid the world of evil one dreg at a time by force. A superior force. Unfortunately, an unstable, murdering, superior force.

Five of Circe’s Recruits had survived, and it killed Elliot that he didn’t know why. It also aggravated him to no end that Dr. Evan Dennis held the men’s loyalty. That his nemesis had the means to continue research on viable test subjects, while he made do experimenting with failure, time and time again.

“Where are you going?” a low voice rumbled, shooting tremors of fear through her every pore.

Sabrina stopped as McKinley stepped out of the shadows. Just twenty more feet, and she’d have made the elevator and freedom. The giant Circ’s yellow eyes gleamed with a predatory intent. She never felt safe in this environment, not with what she knew and what she’d done. But Sabrina felt positively hunted whenever she was around McKinley. She’d swear he knew all about her, except he’d never acted on her misdeeds. Yet the man was aware of everything. More psychic than any of the Circs they’d ever seen.

Even Folsom and Dunn’s new partner, Colins, didn’t possess McKinley’s ability to blend with the shadows, and they were Pearl’s new, top-of-the-line Circ generation. They’d both lasted weeks longer than any of the others and showed no signs of regression.

“Torrence?” McKinley hissed, growing impossibly larger. He towered over her, nearly brushing the ceiling as he radiated hostility.