by S. E. Smith
She appreciated that he didn’t try to lie or make excuses. Her throat tightened as it always did when she remembered that day the past had caught up with her parents. She closed her eyes and released her grip on the mental wall she had constructed to keep the memories locked away.
Core held her close. He seemed surprised that she wasn’t resisting him, and she couldn’t really blame him. She was surprised herself. For some reason, she wanted to share this with him. Perhaps a small part of her knew it was safe to do so—it wasn’t like it would make any difference.
She leaned her head back against him and let the memories come with every tiny detail vividly relived. He saw her naïve excitement, her fierce competitive nature, and felt the love of her parents. He also lived through the agonizing physical pain and the more devastating emotional one as she watched a young girl’s life sucked away and knew Kassy was simply collateral damage. She had been in the wrong place at the wrong time—near Avery.
“Sweet Goddess, Avery,” Core murmured.
He was reliving the moment the bullet ripped through her flesh and burned a path through her tender organs. The seeping of blood soaking the ground around her and the cries of a distraught mother had become mere distractions as she witnessed the assassination of her parents. Only then had the screams punctured her awareness, and she’d realized that she was close to joining her parents.
She would have given up if the man hadn’t turned and looked at her. Their eyes had locked for a moment, and in that split second, it was her desire for revenge that had kept her alive.
“What did you do?”
Avery opened her eyes and stared down at the counter. “When I was seventeen, I began searching for him. I was nineteen when I located him in Berlin. I hunted him down and executed him with the same calculated indifference that he used when he killed my parents and Kassy. My only regret was that I could only do it once,” she stated.
“For us, it is called the Right of Justice. If you and he had been on Prime, we would have facilitated the confrontation. It was your right to face the man who did this to you and your family,” Core stated without an ounce of judgement.
She turned in his arms. “I’m not a nice person, Core. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that I am. What I did had nothing to do with justice and everything to do with revenge. Under the right circumstances, I could slit your throat and walk away without a backwards glance,” she stated, staring unblinking into his eyes.
“She could do it, too,” a sultry woman’s voice murmured behind Core. “I always wondered what happened, Avery. I’m so sorry about your parents and Kassy,”
“What are you doing here, RITA2?” Avery demanded.
“Warning you that Teriff, Derik, and Hendrik are at the front door. It appears the council has been busy deciding that they absolutely must see Merrick tomorrow. You’d think Tilly having a film festival would have distracted the old bastards,” RITA2 said with a sigh.
“Merrick knows they want to see him. He will contact RITA to open the portal after he finds Addie,” Core said.
Avery frowned. “You didn’t tell me he returned to Earth,” she said.
Core grinned. “I was distracted. Besides, there was no stopping him,” he explained.
“It’s too dangerous for him to be back there,” she growled in annoyance.
There were still three main threats that had not been contained. It was more than conceivable that one or possibly all three still on the loose would search for Addie Banks to get to Merrick. God, she was stupid! When Core mentioned that Merrick had a bond mate on Earth, Avery should have immediately ordered security for the woman—and she shouldn’t have come here until she had Markham, Wright, and Dolinski’s bodies in a bag. Avery pushed Core out of the way when Core’s home computer system also announced that they had visitors.
“I’ll go get dressed,” she said as she walked away from him.
After a few moments, she heard Core’s deep voice growling at his visitors, then she was too far away to hear anything else. Once she was back in their bedroom, she pulled off her nightshirt, grabbed a change of clothes out of her bag, and went into the bathroom. She put the clothes on the counter and stepped into the shower.
Five minutes later she exited the shower and dried herself. Her thoughts were on everything she needed to do when she returned. If RITA sent her to their location, maybe she could keep the Gateway open until Avery could drop-kick the huge alien and his girlfriend back through it.
Avery put on her panties and bra, stepped into a pair of tan dress slacks and fastened them. Bending over, she brushed her hair and pulled the dark brown strands up into a ponytail. She grabbed her blouse off the counter and pulled it on, buttoning it as she walked through RITA2’s holographic body into the room.
“Core is right, Avery, I have researched the man who murdered your parents, and he was truly an evil human being. Even his handlers expressed concern about his mental stability, but their superiors wanted him to continue working. That program was eventually shut down, in large part because of you,” RITA2 said.
Avery paused. This was the reason she had been so careful to hide her background. Once RITA or RITA2 had even a small piece of information, the AI supercomputers would search through millions of databases worldwide—Earth-wide, Avery silently corrected—until they had located, processed, and analyzed all the relevant data—and then the RITAs would proceed to ‘help’ however they saw fit.
Avery turned and looked at RITA2. The hologram was dressed in a style similar to Avery’s, with white slacks and an emerald green blouse that matched her eyes. For a moment, Avery felt like she was looking at a living person before she shook her head.
“Delete the information from your systems, RITA2, or I will,” Avery ordered in a low, frosty tone.
Avery watched as RITA2’s eyes flickered before returning to normal. “All information has been deleted,” RITA2 replied.
“Good,” Avery answered, turning back to her bag.
She pulled her weapons out and strapped one knife to her arm under her sleeve, and the other knife to her calf under her slacks. She carefully checked each gun out of habit to make sure the clips were full before tucking one into the holster at the small of her back. She picked up her short, black leather jacket from the chair by the bed, shrugged into it, and put her other gun into the pocket, then calmly packed the rest of her personal items in the bag.
“Oh dear,” RITA2 murmured, her eyes suddenly glowing.
Avery looked up and frowned. “What is it?” she asked.
“My sis just connected to tell me that Trudy has been shot and Merrick has asked for our help,” RITA2 explained, her eyes still glowing.
She turned when Core suddenly appeared, his face grim. “You know about the situation?” he asked.
Avery nodded and watched as Core kicked off his loose pants and reached into a drawer to pull out a black uniform.
“Debrief us, RITA2,” Avery ordered.
“Merrick went through a portal to Earth the day before you arrived here. RITA tells me the Portland police are investigating two currently unidentified men’s deaths in Addie’s apartment and her disappearance. Merrick and Addie are currently in her family cottage in Seaside, Oregon. Trudy tried to warn Merrick and Addie that Markham and Wright would know about the cottage. Trudy has been shot. The extent of her injuries is currently unknown, but she is alive. DAR informed Teriff, Derik, Hendrick, and Core of the situation. The other three are outside retrieving weapons from their transport. I’m afraid information is mostly limited to what was discussed before Trudy arrived and the phone call RITA received from Merrick,” RITA2 said with an apologetic smile. “I’ll program your Gateway device to the location, and once you are through, my sister will program it to bring you to the medical wing of the ‘Tag Krell Manok palace.”
“Let’s go,” Core said as he slid a long, deadly blade into a sheath at his waist, grabbed the silver cylinder that Avery knew was the Gateway device from a d
rawer, and took her by the arm.
They entered the lift. In seconds, they were stepping outside. Two of the men sent her an inquisitive glance while the third frowned at her before turning a dark, disapproving look on Core. She recognized Teriff ‘Tag Krell Manok, the leader of Baade, from the dossier that RITA had compiled for her.
“What is she doing here?” Teriff demanded.
“Vacation,” Avery shot back.
“Vacation?” Teriff repeated with a frown.
“It’s a long story, Teriff,” Core added.
“RITA2, open the Gateway,” Avery ordered, checking her gun to make sure the safety was off before looking at RITA2.
Core swung his arm out and blocked her. “Let me go through first,” he murmured.
Avery opened her mouth to protest, but then took one look at Core and nodded in agreement. Core’s features were hard now. All signs of the gentle lover were gone, and in his place was a ruthless, alien, killing machine. She looked at the other three men. Their expressions reflected the same intense focus that she had seen on the faces of soldiers before a mission. Even the youngest of the group would have made her think twice about challenging him. She returned her attention to the shimmering doorway when the Gateway opened in front of them.
11
On the other side of the shimmering portal, Avery could see Merrick crouched over Trudy. Addie was huddled next to them. Avery followed the four men through the opening, hoping the shooter couldn’t see their shadows through the frosted glass in the front door.
While Core was barking a sharp warning to get down, Avery was silently cursing as she launched herself out of the path of the bullet. She hit the wall near the door. The bullet ripped through the door and created a hole in the wall across from her. There was no doubt in her mind that the shooter was a professional. She decided she would go with the more powerful of her two handguns. Pocketing the one she currently held in her hand, she reached behind her and pulled out the second gun as she rolled to crouch next to Trudy.
Merrick’s eyes widened when he saw Avery. He turned and scowled at Core. Avery ignored them as she gently pressed her fingers against Trudy’s forehead and looked down to where the other woman had been shot. Trudy’s skin felt unnaturally cold and clammy, she was shivering, and a glazed look was beginning to cover her eyes. Trudy was going into shock.
“Who is she, and what are Teriff, Derik, and Hendrik doing here?” Merrick quietly grumbled.
“Teriff and Derik came to inform us that the council wants to meet with you tomorrow,” Core snapped out. “Hendrik tagged along, and the female is Cosmos Raines’ Head of Security and my bond mate.”
* * *
“I am no one’s mate,” Avery snapped back. “Shit, Trudy. What the fuck are you doing here?”
* * *
Trudy turned her head with a moan. “Getting shot, what the hell does it look like?” she answered before her head sank back to the floor. “It hurts. I knew it would, but damn, no one said it would hurt this bad.”
“She needs medical attention. We have to get her out of here,” she said, looking up at Core.
Core held out the silver cylinder he had used to open the Gateway. “Avery, open the portal. Derik, take Avery and Trudy back to Baade,” he instructed.
Derik nodded, moving around Trudy so he could gently lift her in his arms. They would have to move quickly once the Gateway opened. There was no telling where the shooter was and they already knew he could see them through the glass when the portal opened.
Avery hesitated. “Derik can carry Trudy through. I can help you here,” she replied.
Core shook his head. “Go with Derik. He may need your assistance to save Trudy. Teriff has another Gateway device, and we can always notify RITA to send someone from Baade if we need to open another portal between our worlds,” he replied.
Avery reluctantly nodded, knowing her first priority had to be Trudy. She looked over at Addie to see if the other woman was ready to move. Her heart clenched when she saw Merrick brushing the back of his fingers down Addie’s cheek.
“Go with them,” Merrick ordered in a husky tone.
Addie nodded, looking at Merrick with wide, frightened eyes as he moved down the hallway. Core followed Merrick, and Avery touched Addie’s arm to get her attention. Startled, the younger woman jerked her head around to look at her. Avery signaled that Addie should follow her. Addie vigorously nodded.
Avery slid her gun into the pocket of her jacket and held up three fingers. She held the silver cylinder in her other hand. With a nod to Derik, she counted down, then pressed the button to activate the Gateway.
The moment the doorway shimmered into existence, Avery moved through the opening, followed closely by Derik with Trudy in his arms. Avery turned when she noticed that Addie had waited for Derik to go through first. She was motioning for Addie to follow when the cylinder in her hand suddenly shattered and the portal between the two worlds closed.
“Shit!” Avery cursed at the blank wall at the same time as she heard Derik’s curse when Trudy began convulsing in his arms.
Core moved through the darkness parallel to Merrick, then paused and picked up a metallic casing from the ground. He held it up for Merrick to see. His cousin gave a sharp nod and pointed up into the trees.
Core looked up and saw a thick limb approximately fifteen feet above his head. He bent and jumped. His hands wrapped around the branch and he pulled himself up. Like the rest of his clan, he was an exceptional climber, as much at home in the trees as on the ground. In seconds, he had quickly scaled the tall fir tree. A break in the clouds overhead gave him a clear view of the ground below.
Core watched Merrick pause as the wind shifted. A faint scent on the breeze drifted up to him. One of their attackers had made the mistake of applying a flowery scent to his skin.
A movement forty yards to his right caught his attention. He uttered a short, musical whistle to alert Merrick. The whistle would be too high for the human to hear. Core narrowed his eyes when he saw two other humans. They had spread out.
He whistled again to warn Merrick. From his position in the tree, he could see one of the figures rise up and throw something toward the house before the man sank back down into the tall ferns. Core looked toward the second human as the man stood and began to move forward, some kind of gun in his hands.
Core silently dropped down to a lower branch as Merrick closed in on the first man. His teeth lengthened, and he crouched with one hand on the limb. Out of his peripheral vision he saw Merrick burst out of the darkness toward the human near him. Core released a terrifying growl of rage and jumped from the tree.
He landed on the ground behind the second man, grabbed the human by the back of his shirt, and lifted the slender man off his feet. He ripped the gun out of the man’s hands, letting it fall to the ground as he pulled his knife from its sheath and drove it through the human’s clothing into the tree trunk. Core left him hanging there. At least one of them would be alive to question at the end of this. He turned his attention to the third man.
Core almost laughed when the human’s eyes widened in terror, and the man uttered a loud, terrified scream. He grinned, watching as the human stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. Stepping forward, he ground his booted heel into the human’s weapon. The gun snapped under his weight.
“Please…. Don’t hur… hurt us,” the human whimpered.
“You’re nothing but a boy,” Core growled as he got a good look at him.
He turned his head to look at the other boy helplessly hanging on the tree. The boy had wet himself in his fright. Reaching out, he jerked the knife out of the tree. The boy crumpled to the ground and rolled into a shivering ball.
“We didn’t mean anything!” the boy that Merrick had tackled cried out. “Please, it was just a joke! We were just joking!”
Core reached down and grabbed the two boys he had captured by the scruff of their necks, pulling them both to their feet. He pushed them toward Merrick.
They fell to the ground in front of the tree.
Merrick released a low, menacing growl and crouched down in front of the crying boy. The other two were trying to curl up as small as they could get. Merrick rose to his feet and picked up one of their guns. It was nothing but a metal and plastic toy.
Merrick looked down at them as he demanded, “Who sent you?”
The crying boy wiped at his dirty face with one hand and held his right leg with his other. After so stupidly letting themselves be decoys, they should feel lucky they only had minor injuries.
Core scanned the area, looking for signs of anyone else. Teriff and Hendrick should be making their way back unless they had discovered something. He stared at a spot near the edge of the woods by the road, stiffening as he saw movement, but his warning died on his lips when he saw the shape more clearly as the large bird took flight.
“Some… guy… He was at the gas station. He said he had a friend staying here and wanted to play a trick on him. All… All we were supposed to do is fire some paintballs at the house. He gave us a hundred bucks and told us there was another hundred after we got done,” the boy mumbled, his voice filled with tears.
Core turned back to Merrick when his cousin uttered a frustrated growl, lifted the toy guns in his hands, and broke them in two. He raised an eyebrow in warning when his cousin’s teeth elongated. With a shrug, he turned his own sharp-toothed grin to the boys.
“Holy shit! We’re gonna die,” the boy who had wet his pants breathed in terror.
“You will if you remain here. Run home,” Core warned in a low, harsh tone.
He and Merrick watched as the boys nodded at the same time. The two who were standing helped the third one up off the ground. In a hurried, clumsy gait, they stumbled through the ferns down to the road. Core turned and looked at Merrick with a frown.
“Why would the human killers use children?” he asked.
“Addie—they wanted a distraction to get to Addie,” Merrick murmured, turning to give him a grim look.
