O-Men: Liege's Legion - Merc

by Elaine Levine

  “Don’t know. He’s still keeping himself shut off from us.”

  “Has the Matchmaker gotten to them?”

  “Merc lost his family. They were murdered—we think by the Omnis. If the Matchmaker is involved, it makes Merc’s response to Ash even more understandable. He’s panicking, Summer. And I don’t blame him.”

  “You didn’t panic when the Matchmaker brought us together.”

  Sam grinned. “You didn’t see my first reaction to him. And then once I met you—hell when I just saw you—there was no going back for me. I was prepared to spend infinity camouflaging myself from my daughter, just so I could have you.”

  “Why did you change your mind?”

  “Because you and Kiera are close. Because she’s mixed up in whatever’s going on with her clients and the Omnis. Because the truth is occasionally better than a lie.”

  “Only occasionally?” Summer didn’t like the sound of that.

  “Mutants are living, breathing, walking lies. We hide our appearance; we hide our presence; we scramble minds to save ourselves. Lies are easier than truths. For us, at least.”

  “But not you and me.”

  Sam slowly grinned. “Of course not.”

  Summer laughed. “I can’t wait until your trainer gets here. I’m sure he’ll help me learn some of the mind tricks you use, and then I can beat you at your own games.”

  “I accept the challenge.” His grin became a smile. “I’m sending Merc back to Colombia in the morning.”

  Summer nodded. “Maybe that’s for the best. Time away from Ash will help them cool things down.”

  “Maybe not, if the Matchmaker is involved. Being separated could cause a mental collapse. Once a couple has been bonded by the fiend, there’s only one way out of it.”

  “Death.”

  Sam nodded. He pulled her close and rolled over with her. “We’ll keep a close eye on both of them.” He kissed her forehead, holding his mouth against her skin as he compelled her to sleep. When she was out cold, he summoned the team to meet him in the upstairs sitting room.

  Acier and Lautaro joined via their mental connection. The others came in person, disheveled, having been roused from sleep—all except Merc, who didn’t appear to have slept at all. If a person could be all teeth and knives, that was Merc right then.

  Liege felt a wash of sympathy. The sooner Merc surrendered to his fate, the sooner he would find balance in his life.

  “Tonight, I learned that Ash has a token she bought in Valle de Lágrimas—a handblown glass medallion containing traces of dirt from the site where the village saint spilled his own blood.”

  Liege, Lautaro’s astral projection said to the group. I was able to clear his blood out of the pit, but not before the town’s priest soaked a lot of it up in one of his robes. He has that robe in the church.

  “You couldn’t have dealt with that when you were there?” Liege asked.

  Didn’t know about it until after the fact. I blocked the church from being accessed by any Omni, but Flynn’s been there and is curious about what’s in the church that needs protecting.

  Liege glared at Merc. “I don’t like Flynn hunting your blood.”

  Merc’s hard eyes met his, but still he said nothing.

  “You need to get down there, clean things up, then finish your mission—get samples from that mine and bring Santo to the fort. Collect a few ghoul heads while you’re at it.”

  Guerre shook his head. “Sending Merc’s not a good call, Liege. He’s still recovering and hasn’t yet been able to replace his blood stores.”

  “Then he better not need them.”

  “Let me go with him,” Guerre said.

  “No. You are far too valuable in this fight. The Omnis would kill to have a healer like you on their side.”

  “I would never be on their side.”

  “Don’t say never. There are ways they could get what they want out of you.”

  “Selena and I will go,” Bastion said.

  “Not gonna happen. You’re too noisy, and she’s too new. We have to keep this on the down-low.”

  Acier chuckled. You are loud, bro. To Liege, he said, Send me.

  Liege shook his head. “You’re training Selena. It’s critical that continues uninterrupted.”

  “Forget it. I don’t need any of you wankers to do my job for me,” Merc said.

  “There’s another reason it has to be Merc. To get into that mine, we’re going to need his newest skill—skin-walking.”

  Merc crossed his arms and spread his legs. “No.”

  Liege didn’t accept his response. “Any other attempt to penetrate the energetic seal Flynn’s got on the mine will only call his attention to you. You need to ride someone else in.”

  “And if I get stuck in my host?”

  “You won’t. We’ll have access to your body. We’ll pull you back. What’s happening in that mine is almost more important than getting Santo brought back. Whatever’s going on is a big deal to Flynn, so it’s a big deal to us. I need you to watch the mine workers. Find one whose loyalties are flexible, and ride him through Flynn’s protections.”

  “And if I come back befouled by my host’s questionable morals?”

  “I’ll clear his energy from yours,” Guerre said.

  Merc’s gaze moved between the healer and Liege. Finally, he rolled his eyes shut and shook his head. “Fine. I’ll do it. When do I leave?”

  “Now.” Liege glared at Merc. “Except for your host, you handle yourself as you were trained—without involving regulars.”

  “Roger that.” Merc saluted then left the room.

  Liege sent his crew a wary glance. “Lautaro, keep an eye on him. He may need backup. He’s as low as I’ve seen him.”

  I will, as always, Liege. Lautaro flashed out.

  Merc had lied when he said he didn’t want Ashlyn. He’d wanted her from the moment they’d first encountered each other in his coma nightmare, standing at the edge of the cliff, looking at the wreckage that had taken his wife and daughters’ lives.

  What he’d meant to say was that he didn’t want to want her. He hadn’t corrected himself, though, and that was just as well. It was best that he cut her out of his life now, before things went where he knew they could, before they merged their lives, before he learned to let another love into his heart, before she grew his heart a size bigger and then left a gaping cavern in it when the Omnis came for her, because they surely would, like they’d come for his family.

  And that was the curse of the Matchmaker, wasn’t it? If he ignored the match, he would die. If he didn’t, his heart mate would.

  How was he going to keep the two of them apart? The hunger they had for each other was incendiary. If they could maintain their distance, maybe the Matchmaker’s Curse would vanish.

  Was the curse time-sensitive? Did it go away if it wasn’t acted on?

  Being so near Ashlyn caused his body to feel the pain of unfamiliar, unsated, endless lust. Merc had once told Acier that he’d wanted to desire sex again. Well, he’d gotten that wish tenfold, only it wasn’t just sex that he wanted; it was Ashlyn in his arms, in his life.

  This was bad. He knew she had to be suffering too, given the way she’d responded to him with every bit of the same hunger he’d been feeling.

  Maybe it was like a fever they could try to survive.

  Or maybe it would kill them both.

  Focusing, he sent his spirit nexus back to Ashlyn’s house. He went into her room and stopped just inside the door. He had to pause for a moment to calm himself. He looked at her sleeping on her bed. She couldn’t be his, he reminded himself. The Matchmaker would fail this time, because the fiend didn’t realize that Merc would rather die than go through what he had when he lost his wife, his whole fucking family.

  But crikey, he wanted one last glimpse of Ash. She wore a spaghetti-strap tank top and a pair of knit shorts. She was lying on her back. He couldn’t believe the hunger he felt. Coupled with the way she mad
e his heart hurt, it was overwhelming.

  Something about her was missing. He frowned while he tried to figure it out. The glass medallion. She wasn’t wearing it. He looked around the room for it. She’d been wearing it the night he’d first come to her. She wore it at the fort. Why wasn’t she wearing it now?

  Merc’s spirit wandered back down the hall to her living room and he found himself drawn to her shelf of knickknacks. He looked them over, trying to figure out what had drawn him in that direction. These were things she’d collected on her travels, artsy things, antiques, touristy things. If anyone was curious about what she was made of, he’d only have to look this collection over to see the wonder she saw in the world…and that her heart yearned for adventure.

  The soft, gentle kind of adventure, not the Merc kind.

  He stared at the shelf a moment longer. Her necklace wasn’t there…but his utility knife was.

  Shit. He’d come back for that later.

  Merc focused on the emotion surrounding the medallion. He followed its energy into the kitchen and stopped in front of the sink. Nothing seemed out of place. Telepathically, he opened the cabinet below the sink and found her trash. The necklace was in there. He pulled the glass-encased dirt medallion out. As soon as his spectral energy connected with it, he felt all of Ash’s energy around it, in layers that hit like waves. Fear, longing, hope, need, amazement.

  Love.

  He lowered his head and sighed.

  They were so fucked.

  He sent the medallion back to her room. She hadn’t moved positions.

  Open your hand, he compelled her. When she did, he put the necklace in her palm.

  Goodbye, Ashlyn.

  15

  Lautaro waited for Merc in the wide foyer of his sprawling Colonial home. He looked cool in his pressed, natural linens. His smile was wide and gracious. Not a damned fake thing about him. Merc was glad he’d met Ashlyn before Lautaro did.

  Wait. No. He didn’t give a fuck about Ash. Or Lautaro.

  Lautaro laughed as he reached a hand out to shake with Merc, then pounded his shoulder and laughed. “You are as volcanic as ever, I see, my friend.”

  “And you’re as sweet and perfumed as I remember.”

  Lautaro chuckled again, spreading his arms wide. “I wear no chemicals. What you smell is the scent of a happy man.”

  “How can you be so happy?”

  He raised a brow as he stared at Merc. “Because I have seen the alternative, and I like it not at all. Leave your backpack here. We’ll step outside and have a cup of coffee.”

  When they were seated, a servant brought out a tray with two steaming cups.

  “So, are you here because of your woman?” Lautaro asked.

  “I don’t have a woman.”

  “That’s not what the grapevine says.”

  “You know better than to listen to grapes.”

  Lautaro laughed. “I only listen to the truth.”

  Merc sighed. “No. I left a mess here. I have to do something about it, but I haven’t a fucking clue as to how to cancel a curse. Do you?”

  Lautaro thought about that for a long moment. “I told Liege that I’ve come to believe everything happens for the reason. I guess look for that reason.”

  “Fuck. Now you sound like Santo.” And maybe he was right, but that was too damned cryptic to unravel at the moment. “Any updates on Santo’s whereabouts?”

  “No change. I sent some of my men in to get a closer look at that mine you discovered. They can’t break through the protective shield Flynn’s got on it.”

  “Right. Got my work cut out for me.”

  “I’ve also learned that the government is sending a team back to clear out the mass graves again.”

  “Good. Maybe that will end the curse.”

  “We’ll see.”

  They sipped their espressos. The table they sat at was in the big, round corner of the veranda, overlooking verdant rows of coffee bushes that stepped down a steep hill toward a wide valley where a small village was. Lautaro’s workers came from that village. Everywhere Merc looked, the land was lush and vibrantly alive.

  It should have been a good place to rest for a bit, but Merc couldn’t seem to ease the tension in his chest.

  Lautaro set his cup down and focused on Merc. “Tell me what happened when you were down here before.”

  Merc sipped his coffee. “Nothing happened.”

  “You know, they say one of the world’s largest organisms is an aspen forest, because miles of trees are all connected by their root systems. I say the Legion is bigger, because we are all connected via our energetic links. We all know what happened.”

  “Then you have your answer.”

  Lautaro conceded that point with slight nod. “I asked the question poorly. Why did it happen?”

  Merc set his cup on its saucer and stared at it. “I was done, Lautaro.”

  “We held you together, all of us in the Legion, here and everywhere, until Liege could come to your aid.”

  “That’s bullshit.”

  “Just as our lives belong to the Legion, so too do our deaths.”

  “You’re all wankers, then, mate. I’d finally gotten the courage up to do what I had to.” He met Lautaro’s eyes. “You may have stopped me, but you didn’t save me.”

  “Perhaps not, but stopping you saved us. If we ever stop believing in the work the Legion does, we end.”

  “Maybe we should.”

  “Maybe you should take time off.”

  “Has anyone ever left the Legion?”

  “No.”

  They sat in silence for a few moments. Merc emptied his mind, then let it fill again with the sounds of the plantation. Workers calling to each other. Birds chattering. The breeze wending its way through the veranda, bringing the sweet scents of dirt and plants and flowers to him.

  Lautaro broke the silence. “Tell me about the girl.”

  Merc met his curious expression. “Girl?”

  “You really do underestimate the reach of our connections. The Matchmaker has been busy in your corner of the world.”

  Merc scoffed at that. “You believe in that BS?”

  A sadness washed over Lautaro’s handsome features. “I wouldn’t, had I not experienced his curse.”

  Fuck. Merc shouldn’t have gone there. “It started with you, didn’t it?”

  “I can’t say for sure. All I do know is that I wasn’t prepared for what was given to me, nor was I ready when it was taken from me.”

  “I don’t want to love again.” Hell, Merc didn’t even want to live.

  “But it matters to the others who’ve been hearing about what’s happening in Colorado and want to have that for themselves. We lost everything when we were changed. Liege and Summer, Bastion and Selena, those matches give the rest of the Legion hope they might have somewhat normal lives again.”

  “And you think love fixes everything? It doesn’t. It only makes it worse. You have new fears, new sections cut out of your heart.”

  Lautaro smiled. “So it’s true. You love her.”

  “Not at all. I just don’t want her dragged into this. She’s an innocent. She deserves to have her life and her freedom, not be half of a curse.”

  “Ah. Of course. Your resistance means your death. It seems you’ve found your way out after all, my friend.”

  Merc got up and wandered over to lean against a support beam as he looked out over the vista. He shoved his fingers into his pockets. The breeze cooled the sweat on his neck and back. How crazy was it that he missed Ash?

  What had made her go to Valle de Lágrimas, anyway?

  Merc looked at Lautaro, who was watching him. If he were honest with himself, Merc had to admit that a ribbon of jealousy slipping back through him did make him glad he’d caught Ash’s eye first. Who could resist Lautaro’s lambent gaze and wide set of very white teeth?

  “I’m flattered, Merc. Believe me, you are lovely, but not at all my type.”

  Merc laug
hed, but just as his humor slipped away, a new edginess knifed through him. He straightened.

  Lautaro stood. “What is it?”

  “I have to go.”

  “Want me to join you?”

  “No. I want you to stay here and not get caught up in this. Flynn’s here, and where he is, so are his monsters.”

  Lautaro gave a gruff laugh. “Of course they are. His labs are here.”

  Merc frowned. “You know where they are?”

  “No. We haven’t found them yet. I know they’re somewhere here in Colombia, but whether that’s in the city, a small town, or the bush, I don’t know.”

  “I didn’t see anything that looked like labs in my exploration of his cocaine compound. But that may have been by design.”

  Lautaro stood. They shook hands. “I’m here if you need me. If you feel you’re on an edge you can’t step back from, just open yourself to me. Liege doesn’t have to know.”

  “He knows everything.”

  “Perhaps.”

  Merc watched as trucks were backed up to the pit, one at a time because it was too narrow a dirt road for two-way traffic. Men in yellow biohazard suits lifted each body out. There were so many layers of dead and mostly dead that the workers had to stand on bodies to get the remains out.

  He could hear the crew’s shock when they would pull out a living individual, some with insects in their ears or mouths, some with their flesh consumed by a jungle predator, animal or insect.

  None of the living taken from the pit moved or spoke. Sometimes their eyes were open and fixed, staring into space. Sometimes their eyes connected with the workers.

  Merc could almost feel sorry for the bastards, workers and cursed alike. He wondered what would happen to them out of the pit. The whole curse thing was brand new to him and the Legion. Would removal terminate the curse?

  Keeping himself hidden from the regulars, he followed one of the trucks carrying bodies out of the jungle. Several trucks were parked on a hillside. Corpses were lined up in rows with workers putting them into body bags.

  That was uninteresting.

  What was garnering a lot of excitement were the pits’ living victims. They behaved as if they’d been paralyzed…which fit with the curse he’d laid down.