Burned In Shadows

by Eden, Tigris

  Draven, it was Draven underneath the mask. Her hesitation and confusion cost her. Black eyes flashed open and turned forest green before turning back to the inky black. He pushed up and grabbed her by the arms and flung her into the wall. Her body hit with a sickening thud. He’d thrown her, but why? Did he not want her anymore? All her natural defenses shut down, opening her to a flood of overwhelming anguish. The pain was too much for her to do anything but lay broken against the wall. Was this all her fault? Had her rejection and not being able to tell him how she genuinely felt caused this? Blood filled her throat and over flowed into her mouth, seeping out at the corners. Her body was slowly repairing itself. She didn’t try to move, but watched as he quickly righted himself.

  He dragged an unconscious Marcus out the opening of the door without even a backward glance. She’d come face to face with the only man she’d ever truly wanted and he’d walked out of her life again, for the third time.

  # # #

  Mr. Black placed his unconscious cargo in the back seat of the car that was parked right in front of the station. The witches had been right when they said no one would be able to detect him. It’d lasted until he had the traitor in his grasp and that was fine, as long as he accomplished his assignment. He started up the car and rubbed the back of his neck. He had two more session and then the remaining memories would be gone. Memories he didn’t want to keep, memories that weren’t real. Dr. Grayson explained that the Agency had tampered with his memory and given him false ones. But that woman back there, she was real, and he clearly remembered her face. Or maybe it was the eyes. In his dream, he’d never actually seen her face. He’d been able to feel her long, soft curls in his hand, see those golden honey eyes. But never in his dreams did her eyes change color, nor a mouth filled with fangs.

  Black looked in the backseat at the traitor Marcus. The Agency had him locked up pretty solid, and he didn’t see why the master needed to retrieve him, but orders were orders. Marcus had taken one look at Black and knew who sent him. At one time, his eyes were green, but that was in the past. Now they were black, an emotionless window to his already dead soul, compliments of the Red Sun.

  War was never easy, and that’s what the Agency had declared on Immortals. People handled things differently during war, and in order to win, one had to cut out all of the emotional strings that came with it. It didn’t matter if you were a man, woman or child in war. You were either on the winning side, or you weren’t. Dr. Grayson had explained he’d gone missing six weeks prior, and they had to re-assimilate him. He didn’t remember much in that first week, but he did know with each session he was getting stronger, better, and ready for the dark days to come. Black was the commander of the Assassination Squad, and Enri was the commander of the Death Walkers. Enri’s squad dealt in death, and his squad dealt in quiet assassinations but of the gruesome persuasion.

  Black still wanted a piece of Marcus. For some reason the man got to him on a level that dug deep into his gut leaving venom surging through his veins. He’d go rounds with him but after the master had his turn first. The drive back to the facility was quiet, and he enjoyed the time it gave him to think about all the things he was going to do to make Marcus squeal like a pig. Black adjusted his rear view mirror so he’d get a better look at the man he wanted to cause serious bodily harm to. There was something familiar yet unfamiliar to him. Had they worked together in the past?

  Two hours later, the car turned into the paved drive that lead to the facility. The guard at the gate waved him past. The facility doubled as a training camp for new recruits and a housing facility. Black lived here but didn’t remember much about his time before it. Melissa had assured him, he was happy here. She was another enigma thrown into the puzzle. There were glimpses of their past in his head, and they weren’t bad, but they weren’t impressive either. There was something lacking and the fact that his wolf had serious issues was a problem. He was only able to stomach being around her in short bursts, and those were usually in bed. The first time they’d slept together he’d gotten sick and had to excuse himself.

  His body, as well as his wolf, acted as if they were mated. The side effects of being a mated wolf could be painful. If he slept with someone other than his mate, it would slowly begin to tear their mated souls in half. It wasn’t a pretty process either, that was one thing he remembered from his past. But he had no one to talk to on the subject and ignored it altogether. The pain was starting to subside, and Dr. Grayson assured him it was the side effects of his treatment. It was somewhat of a relief to know that he wasn’t attached to anyone. He was having another treatment today, but before he went to see Doc Grayson he was going to have a chat with Marcus.

  Black pulled his car in front of the training center and cut the engine. He sat there for a moment going over in his head what would be the best course of action to take with Marcus. Why did he have these feelings towards him? What was it that got deep into his skin and sizzled? Determined to get to the bottom of his issues, Black got out of the car and went about the business of taking the other man inside.

  # # #

  “Where are the women?” Royce asked as they filed back into the conference room. He’d heard Jes scream and was worried about the idiot who single handedly had taken his teammates down, him included. The masked fucker was quick. Neither he nor his brother got a bead on his thoughts. Normally that would have been deemed uncommon for them. Lately, it was just another day in the life and times of fucked up beyond all recognition. Fuck a FUBAR if you were going to say it, don’t abbreviate it. It had taken all of them to try and first catch the guy, and then try and keep him from snatching Marcus. After the numerous attempts of not succeeding, it had taken all six of them to watch the guy haul ass up the stairwell to freedom. Nicely done. This kind of shit was not supposed to happen to them. Not ever.

  “Women are in the stair well.” Dietrich informed him. They’d taken the opposite exit on the other side of the interrogation room in hopes to cut the guy off. Clusterfuck of a day if you asked him. He should have known they weren’t going to listen to Ronin. Bad enough Bells didn’t want to talk to him. And why the hell not? He was decent looking, had all his teeth. No scratch that, he was muthafuckin fine. At least that’s what they were saying about him, and he would know. He knew the score and so did Ronin. It didn’t surprise him that the pretty pretty princess was high and mighty. All up on her pedestal and shit. Gods, she made his chest hurt and his dick hard. There had been several circumstances where he’d wanted to go up to her and tell her what was what. It sounded right in his head, he just was unable to get the words out. Hey, you happen to belong to me, its fate. And, by the way, you belong to my brother too. Ever heard of the R&R sandwich? We take rest and relaxation to a whole new level sugar. Nope, he wasn’t about to say that shit. He and his brother would do more than take her to the next level. They’d fuck her unconscious and hope she’d survive the mating. Damn why was life this fuck up of epic proportions? Why couldn’t he meet a delightful girl named Sally, from the valley? It happened to humans. Why not him?

  “Fuck it.”

  “Fuck what?” Hawke asked.

  “Just fuck it.”

  “Whatever.” Hawke walked in and took a seat at the table and let out a series of curses himself. They were all on edge. They’d been attacked, okay well they’d been robbed was more of a justified statement. But still, that shit didn’t sit well in his gut. How the hell had the guy gotten through all the damn wards? Why didn’t they go off? Why was it only the wired security system that alerted them? Somehow he knew about the wards. The wards were set for specific entry into the underground facility. Unless you were a member of the unit or escorted by a member of the team, you were unable to gain entrance.

  “Any of you wondering how the masked avenger got in?” He asked no one in particular.

  There were a lot of heads shaking yes in response.

  The women bust through the door, Bells helped a limping, bleedin
g Jesminda to a chair.

  “What the fuck happened to you two?” Royce and Ronin both said at the same time. Fucking twin gene.

  “He’s alive.” Jes said between breaths.

  “Who?”

  Bells sat down next to Jesminda. She had a bruise forming on the side of her face.

  “What the hell happened to your face?”

  “It was Stone. Draven was here. Jes and Draven grappled in the stairwell.”

  The entire room became silent. Dravaggio walked over and sat next to Bells and looked her in the eyes.

  “Say that one more time.”

  “She’s not stuttering,” Jes said around a mouth full of fangs. What the fuck is that shit! Now the girl had fangs? What next? Please do not develop a dick. Ronin hit him on the back of the head and placed a hand on Jes’ shoulder. She flinched and moved away.

  “He didn’t recognize me, his eyes were all wrong. First green, then black, then green, and then black again. Just like Oliver. I didn’t know it was him until I pulled off the mask.” Her voice was shaking, and her shoulders shook as silent sobs racked her body. Why would Draven come here and attack them and take Marcus? It explained how he’d gotten past all the wards, they hadn’t removed his signature.

  “What do you mean his eyes went from green to black?” Hawke asked. Adam got up from the chair and walked over to the water cooler to get her some water. Over the six weeks she’d been in the infirmary, Adam, along with Draven’s parents, had sat by her side day and night. Royce knew the guy had a crush on her. Adam wasn’t new to the group, but he socialized a lot less. The only time he pulled out the killer dimples as he’d been known to have were during meetings that were held with the Agency or when he had to do press conferences. He enjoyed his time away from the team when he went out on missions. But because of Jes, he stayed close to base now.

  “Just what I said.” Jes reached for the glass of water Adam was holding in front of her and took long gulps. The lights in the building finally came back on, bathing the room in its bright white glow. They weren’t little fangs. She had some serious meat grinders, skin puncturing, blood sucking fangs. What the fuck was she?

  “When were you going to tell us about the fangs?” Dravaggio asked. He was irritated. Normally there was a don’t ask, don’t tell policy. But that had all been blown to shit. Not that Royce needed to hear each man say what they were. He and Ronin knew from day one. Well, except for Gabe. No one knew, not even Dravaggio. But they’d all signed affidavits in blood. If you didn’t want to tell, no one would ask. It was up to each of them to decide. But after the debacle with Jes, Royce asked Dravaggio to retract the policy. With the onset of Jes’ new found gifts, all attention had been focused on her. The only one who hadn’t stepped forward was Gabe, but then he wasn’t a field man like the rest of them. His job was to sit behind a bank of computers and provide information.

  “Just found out tonight. It happened when I touched him.”

  “Touched him?”

  “Did I stutter fool? Yes, when I touched him,” her eyes flashed a brilliant gold. Damn chameleon changing eyes, shit was freaky as hell.

  “Alright, I get it. When you touched him.” Dravaggio said as he stood back and leaned against the wall. Everyone was out of sorts.

  “We need to find out what’s going on around here.” He looked around the room to each man, his stare was penetrating. He didn’t have time to mess around. Unexplained shit was happening, especially now that they knew they were dealing with the ridiculously named villain, The Red Hand or Sun, some shit like that, who cared?

  “I’m going to put a team together. This one can’t be solo. We have too much at stake here. We cannot and will not compromise this building.” Each man around the room nodded. Jes and Bells did as well, there was no way the girls were getting a piece of this. Hell no.

  Chapter 4

  “We need to follow him, something!” Jes threw her hands up in the air and continued to pace the room. She was agitated and still out of sorts. Draven would never betray her, never. The fact that he threw her against a wall, and they actually had to come to blows was mind boggling. But she knew it had something to do with his eyes changing color. Somewhere in all this mess, he’d been tampered with. He wouldn’t jump ship and join the other side. She needed to talk to Ann before she exploded, it wouldn’t be pretty if she did. In her last session with the doctor, she’d done what Ann called a ‘look back’. The doctor had taken her into hypnosis, and when Jes regained consciousness, Ann’s entire office had been destroyed. She’d apologized repeatedly, and the other woman assured her it came with her job description. Moving objects with her mind was scary, but when she was under, she had no control over her new found abilities.

  “We need to think this through Jesminda,” Dravaggio said calmly. He was trying to soothe her with his words, but in her current state, it had no effect on her. She glared in his direction and knew her eyes were changing color. All the men in the room were talking over her, throwing ideas out that didn’t make sense.

  “We should track him down.” Adam was saying.

  “How shit head?” Royce said back.

  “Didn’t we all get one of those bug things?” Adam quipped back. He was holding the bridge of his nose and tilting his head back like he had a nose bleed, all while he was teetering back on his chair. All this chaos was bullshit!

  “No, his body would have released the bug six weeks back. Without regular check-ins here at the building, it would automatically disengage. It’s a safety mechanism.” Gabe said as he stretched his long arms out grabbing hold of the table.

  Everyone was trying to come up with a feasible plan. And none of it was making sense. None of it. Bells sat quietly in the corner, watching. Jes would have walked over to talk to her friend, but all she’d been able to picture was Draven and his black eyes. Eyes that stared back at her in recognition. It had crushed what little was left of her world she was managing to piece back together. She knew he was still alive. Every day it felt a little more of him would disappear. Pieces that meant the world to her. They didn’t have many memories for her to hold on to. When something from their past did slip by, it killed her a little more each time.

  “I think he’s a traitor.”

  All heads turned to Dietrich. He sat calmly in the chair at the head of the conference table with his sun glasses still attached to his face and smoking a Black n Mild. No one said anything, but they were all thinking it. Jes knew they were, saw it all over their faces. The finality of a lost brother in arms was ground in their faces; etched into the corners of their mouths in a lasting frown. They were processing what D had said, but Jesminda wasn’t about to stand there and let them bash her mate.

  Something was wrong with him, she didn’t know what or how, but she was going to find out.

  “Wipe those pathetic looks off your faces. You act as if he’s already lost to us.” Jes slapped her hands down hard on the table, trying to stop the tears from leaking down the sides of her cheeks. So many emotions were swirling, and she knew Royce picked up on them, but she didn’t care. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Bells approach, her friend touched her shoulder and Jesminda stopped her motion with a growl.

  “Don’t you dare give me that pitying look? None of you believed he was alive.”

  “Jesminda.” Dravaggio said calmly. She wasn’t trying to hear what he had to say. She was ready to explode. If one more person deemed her mate a traitor she would tear them to pieces with her bare hands.

  “Don’t fucking Jesminda me! Put a team together, come up with a solid fail proof plan and make sure that I am on that fucking team.”

  Jes turned on her heels and pushed through the conference room doors. All of them were lucky she didn’t take their heads off. Dietrich and the twins might prove worthy adversaries, but the others she would decimate them one thought. She wanted to rage, blow up the inside with everyone in it, she didn’t care anymore. All she wanted was
Draven back. She needed him, Faith needed him, his pack needed him and so did his backstabbing team members. Regardless if they didn’t have faith in his loyalty. This was done against his will, and she knew it. He would never betray her or the team.

  Belinda was following closely, but at a safe distance. Her friend knew she needed time to calm down. She’d give everything she had to get her mate back. That last piece of sanity that teetered on its pendulum was threatening to bring her house of carefully constructed cards crashing down. She’d been slowly piecing things back together. The thread was wearing thin, and the weights unbalanced for far too long. She’d go over any minute at the slightest provocation. Jes slowed her pace as she came to the bank of elevators. Faith was with Ellie, and she knew her daughter would want to know what was going on, but before she saw her daughter she needed to take her anger down to a slow simmer. Otherwise, she’d upset her little girl.

  “Is it safe to talk to you now?” Bells asked.

  “No, but you’re going to talk anyway so whatever.” Her friend rolled her eyes and lightly bumped hips with her.

  “That’s what besties are for.” Bells said with a wink.

  “Well?”

  “You were an ass, for a minute there I thought I was looking at Draven’s twin.”

  Jes smirked at that. She had taken to getting pushy with everyone around her, but it was only because they all thought they knew what was best for her. She was tired of people deciding what she did or how she said things. She was going to do whatever the hell she wanted when she wanted.

  “I’ll try and work on my delivery next time.” Jes said sarcastically. The men were still in the conference room trying to come up with a plan. She knew because she could hear them going back and forth over what would work and what wouldn’t. She even heard Adam make a comment about her being bat shit crazy and maybe Ann needed to dose her. Let her try it.