The Protectors Series Bundle (A superhero romance anthology) (23 page)

“They’ll be there in another two hours. Rendezvous with them on Wilkins. Do you have her location?”

Garrett heard the tight thread of the question, and he set his jaw. Rex planned to send the others after Symone on their own. Asshole. He kept his voice firm. “I’ll give it to them when they arrive.”

Again, Rex’s silence spoke volumes. Because of his little rebellion, he might be the next target on the list for his brother’s in arms. Shit. First things first. Save the girl, then he’d go after Michael and disappear.

“Oh, and Garrett?”

“What?”

“Reaper decided we need to run more tests on your brother. He’s bringing him to the compound. So maybe you better hurry and bring back the girl.”

Garrett cursed as he shut off the comm unit. A fist of agony gripped his gut. That asshole had his brother. If he didn’t follow through on the assignment, there’d be hell to pay for Michael. But if he did, an innocent woman would more than likely die.

He had to get Michael back. A little voice whispered a warning. Given the turn of things, if he showed up on the compound, girl or not, they’d arrest him. Maybe do worse. He’d need some help to get his brother. Good thing he had an idea of where to get it. Now all he had to do was find the girl.

As Garrett stood, his whole body trembled and pulsed. His head swam for a moment, and he could have sworn the dumpster moved. But as he dragged in deep breaths and centered his focus, his body swayed—almost like he was floating. He stared at his feet, but they never left the ground. Weird. That girl was lethal, and he’d have to be careful when he caught up with her again.

***

Cassie Reeser rolled over in bed, stretching her arms over her head and purring.

“God, I love when you stretch like that. It does outstanding things to your breasts.” Seth kissed her stomach.

“You always seem to think my breasts are outstanding.” She placed a hand on her belly. “Especially now.”

“Well, they’re huge.” He gently stroked and kissed her belly. “I still can’t believe it. You said it wasn’t possible.”

She smiled and stroked his sandy unkempt hair. “Lisa’s trying to figure out the how. You and I need to figure out how we’re going to keep the little guy out trouble.” She frowned. With both of their powers, any child of theirs could be the next Clark Kent. And Lisa, while a great doctor, was no geneticist like Cassie’s brother.

Seth studied her. “You look worried.”

“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t.” She shifted her gaze.

“Come on, Cassie. Something else is bothering you. I might not be some great mind reader, but I know you. Spill.”

She frowned as she met his gaze again. “It’s just since I told you, you refuse to touch me. I’m not fragile you know.”

“Don’t be silly. I’m touching you now.”

“Bullshit semantics, and you know it.”

He withdrew his hands and sat up against the headboard. “Cassie, I’m thrilled, but I’ve lived in fear of this for the last couple of years. The idea that I can lose you at any moment is something I go to bed with every night and something I wake up with every morning. I don’t know if I can protect you.”

“So you withdraw from me? After everything we’ve been through, you somehow think that’s the best course of action?”

He shrugged. “Shit. I don’t know. I’m scared shitless. All right? Is that what you want me to say?”

“No. What I want you to say is you love me, and no matter what we deal with it together. I want you to say that you have faith that I can do this. Be a mother and a soldier. I want you to say you stand by my side.”

“Cassie Reeser Adams, I always have faith in you. You’ve been mother hen to this house of ruffians for nearly two years and you’ve done a great job.”

“Then why did two of my ducklings leave the nest.”

“That has nothing to do with you.”

“I wish I could believe that.”

“Baby, I have total faith in you even when you don’t have faith in yourself. Soldier, mother, wife, you can do anything. And I am always by your side.”

“Then do your wife a favor, make love to her and make her forget she has a homicidal brother for an hour.”

“Only an hour? I can do better than that.” He glanced at her belly. “But you don’t think the little guy can hear us do you?”

Cassie barked out a laugh. “Let’s not get over ambitious here. And besides, Lisa says the little guy or gal is about the size of a blueberry right now. He or she doesn’t even have ears yet.”

“Good point. Then let me detain you for a couple of hours then.” Seth returned to his previous position and kissed his way up her belly, lingering at each rib and tracing them with his lips. Cassie whispered his name as he hovered over her breasts. Gently, he blew on one of her nipples, and she shivered as she wove her hands into his hair.

She pulled him down to her, but he resisted.

“Pushy, pushy. I’ll get to them.”

As his breath tickled her nipples, her hips rose to meet his—meeting his hard flesh with her moist core, already ready for him.

On every lift of her hips, he set his jaw. Without speaking, she probed his mind, gently pushing the thought. Don’t hold back from me. Give me everything.

On a growl, he positioned his cock at her entrance and slid home in one stroke. Tingling bliss erupted over each of her nerve endings like they were being stroked from inside.

“Seth,” she whispered on a moan.

Their movements were frenzied and quick as he slid into her and retreated. Each time on the outstroke, the tip of his cock stroked her g-spot, and her whole body shivered. Ducking his head, he suckled her breast and whispered homage to her beauty.

She dug her nails into his back as he rode her, and she met each of his thrusts with fierce passion. She felt the tingling at the base of her spine, and she tugged on his hair. “Baby.”

She could feel his smile against her neck and knew what was coming. He flipped them over and shifted their position so she straddled him. “Ride me home, sweetheart.”

Cassie knew he preferred to watch her. And especially now, he was so paranoid about being too heavy for her. Seth gripped her hips on each powerful stroke, and Cassie rode him planting her hands on his ripped stomach for support. His fingers dug into her hips, and she moaned, throwing her head back.

He slid a hand to where their bodies met and stroked his thumb over her clit. The teasing sensation on the bundle of nerves sent her crashing over the edge. The moment her pussy walls started to convulse around his stiff cock, his fingers dug into her flesh, and he cursed, his whole body quaking as he came.

Cassie collapsed on top of him, panting and whispered against his chest. “I love you. You know that?”

“I love to please a la—”

His voice cut off, and Cassie popped her head up to study him. “Seth, what’s wrong? Is it Peter?”

His voice was distant as if he were speaking through a tunnel. “No. We’re getting company.”

Chapter Seven

“We’ve got a problem. And by we, I mean I.” Symone paced up and down her darkened hallway. She knew she had to call in the attack by the warehouses. But it pained her. She didn’t need everyone on the compound worrying about her, or worse, insisting she come back. They all knew she couldn’t.

“Define problem.” Jansen’s voice was droll, but concern braided its way through. He was still pissed she’d hung up on him yesterday.

“I was jumped by a Tracker.”

“What the fuck?” Jansen’s bellow had her holding her phone away from here ear.

“About an hour ago. He snatched me behind a dumpster by the Milk Street strip mall. Said he was taking me back to Peter. Except he called him Reaper.”

A string of inventive curses filled the airwaves. “Shit, I’ll come get you. Did you handle it?”

“Yeah, he went down like a sack of potatoes. But—”

“Now isn’t the time to mince words, kid. Spit it out.”

Symone ground her teeth. She hated it when he called her kid. He still saw her as the scrawny nineteen-year-old that he’d pulled out of that building in Riddenwell. And he treated her like it too. “He didn’t respond like he should have.”

“I thought you said he went down.”

She hesitated, unsure how to explain. “When I grabbed him, I could feel some of what he was feeling, and it wasn’t entirely unpleasant. At first he felt more shock than agony. And it took longer than usual to send him down. I know he’s been enhanced, but even if I accidentally touch Seth, it’s like he’s been hit with a Taser. This guy was different.”

“Wait, back up. What the fuck do you mean enhanced?”

“I smelled the compound on him. And he was quick. Practically snatched me out of thin air. There’s no way he should have been able to do that. And when we fought…” She sighed. “I dunno. I can’t pinpoint it, but the guy could fight. Like he could anticipate my every move.”

Jansen was silent for several beats. “How are you feeling? What did you get from him?”

Symone didn’t like the round of questioning—as if she’d need to be fitted for the latest in straight jacket chic any moment. Yeah, she sometimes picked up personality traits and thoughts from people when she touched them, but it wasn’t like they possessed her. “That’s the other thing. I only got memories from the last day or so. They’re mostly of some guy named Rex and me.” She left out the part about the rush of heat in her body every time she accessed the guy’s memories of her. Jansen didn’t need to know all that.

“That’s bad news. I’ll be there in a couple of hours.”

Her breath caught. He might be a certified killing machine—he’d already proved more than once he could hold his own against Trackers—but Jansen wasn’t like the rest of them. He didn’t have powers. All she’d been told about him when she first met him was that he was a former special ops Marine. Real bad ass kind of shit. But he never talked about his past. If he was coming, that meant he would bring heavy artillery. But he’d be risking his neck for her—again. And she didn’t want that.

“Jansen, thanks. But I’m faster on my own. I’m going to throw my shit in a bag and head for the Lair.” She knew he was going to argue, so she followed immediately with, “Look, I know you’ll come guns blazing, but honestly it’s quicker if I come on my own. If he’s looking for me, he probably has reinforcements. I don’t want to be a sitting duck while I wait for you. Unless Alex is available to teleport me back home.” She left out the part about it being safer for Jansen if he stayed at the Lair. She prayed the safety angle would work, because she didn’t want to have to point out to him that a suped-up Tracker could kill him.

“Negative. Alex is getting a little R&R with his family.”

Symone could tell he didn’t like it, but there was nothing he could say. Without the ability to teleport, it was more dangerous to wait for him than to head home on her own. “That settles it. On my way in an hour. I’ll see you before dawn.”

Another string of curses filled the airwaves. But she knew she’d at least won the battle.

“Get your ass in gear. You’re not here by morning, and I’m coming after you.”

“Roger that,” she mumbled before disconnecting the line. She’d have to hurry and pack light. There would be no coming back here. This location was burned.

No sooner had she hung up with Jansen, than her light flickered. A grip of fear welded her to the hardwood in her darkened hallway. Someone had breached her security perimeter. She smelled leather in the air.

***

Garrett didn’t bother with the fire escape or the front door. He didn’t want to get picked up by the cameras. And he figured Symone had the place booby trapped to the hilt. She seemed like the resourceful type. Considering it had taken two hours to find her, she was careful about where she lived. He’d been wrong about her being careless with her life. Any time he’d been able to follow her was because she’d allowed it. When she wanted to be hidden, finding her had been a challenge he didn’t want to repeat.

Just because he’d been able to follow her from where she volunteered, didn’t mean squat. Her unique scent of cinnamon and saffron led him on a merry chase round half the town. She’d doubled back more than once. Eventually he’d given up and followed the other scent mingled with hers. The Bubble gum one. That one hadn’t moved around as much.

By now the other Trackers must have realized he wasn’t going to show. He prayed that the same cloaking that masked Symone would keep them at bay for a little longer while he tried to get her out.

If he came through the front door, he’d only get more of the “Hi, how are ya?” electrocution she gave him by that dumpster, and he needed to be conscious if they were going to have a conversation.

He rubbed his hand where she’d grabbed him. It still tingled from her residual touch. The sensation was dangerously close to arousal. Not a complication he needed right now.

Tying his climbing rope around the base of the antenna on the roof, he strode to the edge and peered down. Five stories. The scent was strongest from the north side corner unit on the fourth floor. Lucky that unit had a fire escape, but the damn thing was locked up tight. The window facing the west side, however, was open. Garrett smirked. There was always more than one way in.