United

by Maggie Walsh

  * * * *

  “The little lost boy returns. Lose your virginity yet?” Matthew said with a smirk as Bailey walked into the kitchen from the back door.

  “Matthew,” Evan admonished and then turned to Bailey, giving him a hug. He pulled away and looked at him. “How is Lexi? Is he okay?”

  “Yeah,” Bailey answered with a bright smile. “He’s doing much better. Doc Aaron said he just wants him to relax for the rest of the day and then tomorrow he’s good to go.” Bailey walked to the table and sat down.

  “So what are you doing here? I thought you took up vigil until he was healed?” Matthew asked sarcastically.

  “I have to go into work tonight. Gypsey called the Alpha house looking for me and asked if I could come in if Lexi was okay enough. I have to be there in about two hours, so I wanted to come home, shower, and change,” Bailey answered and looked around the room. “Is Josh home? I was hoping he could give me a lift.”

  “Your boyfriend is upstairs sulking because you found your mate and won’t need him anymore,” Matthew said, laughing.

  “Screw you, Matthew,” Josh said as he walked into the kitchen. “You better watch out there, Matt, your jealousy is showing.” Josh walked over to the counter and jumped up to sit on it. He looked at Bailey and smiled.

  “Jealousy for what? Finding the old ball and chain at eighteen? Yeah, there’s something to be jealous over,” Matthew said sarcastically and rolled his eyes.

  Josh ignored him and stared at Bailey. He took a deep breath and let it out slow. “So,” he said hesitantly. “How’s Lexi?”

  “He’s okay. He still needs to rest a little but he’ll be good by tomorrow,” Bailey answered cautiously. He didn’t know why he was so nervous to discuss this with Josh, but he was. He could see hurt in his friend’s eyes and it made him feel guilty over finding his mate.

  “So you need a lift to work?” Josh asked as he looked at his lap and pulled on a loose string on his jeans.

  “Yes. If you can,” Bailey said quietly and looked down at his own lap. He raised his hand and began chewing on his thumbnail.

  Josh jumped off the counter and went to Bailey. He stood in front of him and waited for Bailey to lift his head and look at him. Once their eyes met, Josh gave him a big smile. “Go get ready, Bales, and we’ll leave in an hour.”

  Bailey smiled at him and stood up. He wrapped his arms around Josh and hugged him tight. “Thanks, Joshie,” Bailey whispered in his ear. He pulled away and ran from the room.

  “Thanks, Joshie,” Matthew imitated Bailey in a mocking voice.

  Josh’s eyes met Matthew’s in a heated glare. “You’re jealousy is showing, and it’s not a pretty sight,” Josh admonished. Matthew’s eyes softened. He gave Josh a small smile, and nodded slightly. Josh returned the covert smile and winked. He turned and left the kitchen.

  Chapter 5

  Aaron stood before a white dry-erase board as he scribbled frantically with a black marker. He ran equations and algorithms across the board as his hand moved at top speed. Every once in a while, he would stop and stare at the board as he ran his fingers through his hair. Then he would curse and begin scribbling again. “Shit,” he hissed out and erased a few numbers and scribbled some more.

  “Wouldn’t all that mumbo jumbo be easier on a computer?” Storm asked as he walked into Aaron’s lab. But Aaron only acknowledged him with a grunt as his hand kept moving across the board.

  “Earth to Aaron,” Storm said as he moved closer.

  “I can’t play right now, Storm,” Aaron answered, but didn’t look at his brother. “I have work to do.”

  “What is that?” Storm asked and stood next to him, staring at all the numbers on the board.

  “These are what we call numbers, and when you put them together in a special sequence, they create other numbers,” Aaron said sarcastically as he continued to scribble.

  “Ha-ha, smartass. I know they’re numbers. I did go to school too, remember? I meant, what are you working on?” Storm asked.

  Aaron stilled his hand and sighed heavily. “I’m trying to find a way to use Dare’s blood as a weapon,” Aaron explained in annoyance.

  “Well I can tell you how to do that without all this,” Storm said and motioned toward the board.

  “Oh yeah? And how is that o’ wise one?”

  “Just have him bleed on his enemy,” Storm said with a chuckle.

  “Thanks, I’ll take your suggestion into consideration,” Aaron replied coolly in a tight voice.

  Storm sighed heavily and shook his head. “So what exactly are you trying to do?”

  Aaron’s hand froze again and he pressed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “It’s a little complicated.”

  “How about you try me and see how stupid I really am?” Storm asked angrily.

  Aaron finally turned his head and met Storm’s gaze. “I’m trying to find a way to use dragon blood in bullets, without it destroying the shell casing and the gun. I was able to stabilize Brett’s blood so that it could be put into a syringe and then be injected into someone. I don’t have my notes on how I accomplished that, so I am trying to remember the composition I came up with. I know I’m close, but not there yet. I think I figured out the right thickness for the shell to house the blood and then disintegrate inside, but I won’t know for sure until I can test it with actual dragon blood,” Aaron explained and then turned back to his board.

  Storm’s eyes never left Aaron as he stared at his brother in awe and fright. “You’re scary sometimes, you know that?”

  Aaron looked at him again. “Thanks,” he said stiffly and turned back to his work.

  “I didn’t mean in a bad way,” Storm said.

  “Whatever,” Aaron mumbled. “Can I get back to work now?” Aaron asked in exasperation.

  Storm ignored his question and his attitude. “So if you figure this out, what exactly would you do with it?”

  Aaron sighed and turned back to Storm. “How difficult is it to defeat these rogues that Malachi created?” he asked.

  “It’s not easy. They’re fast motherfuckers. And their strength is incredible,” Storm answered.

  “Exactly. You have to do hand-to-hand combat with them, or shift and go against them, yet it’s still not that easy to defeat them. In the meantime, you all take some pretty bad hits. Now, while I was being held against my will at the casa de Malachi, I noticed some of the work he had been doing. It looked like he was working on a new serum that would enable the rogues to infect anyone with one bite.”

  “Wait a minute,” Storm interrupted him. “So you’re saying that he is making it possible for the rogues to change others into rogues by biting them?” Storm asked in horror.

  “That’s what it looked like. And I don’t need to tell you how serious this is if he is able to pull it off,” Aaron said.

  “No,” Storm said and shook his head. “No, you don’t. If he can do this, then we’re all dead. The number of rogues would double in no time.”

  “More like quadruple overnight and snowball. If you have one rogue that bites one other, now you have two. Two bite two others, then you have four, and so on. It would spread faster than the flu. But unlike the flu, shifters aren’t immune. No paranormal is.”

  “Shit,” Storm hissed and ran his hands through his hair in frustration as he turned away and began to pace. He stopped and turned back to Aaron. “Why haven’t you informed the council?”

  “Because I’m not totally sure about my theory yet, and I wanted to have a solution ready for all of you when I did,” Aaron answered.

  “But if Malachi has been able to do this, then we could all be in danger right now if we come up against them. Without knowing they could turn us we wouldn’t be so careful of their bite when we fight them. We would just assume we could shift and heal,” Storm said angrily.

  “You’re right. Although I have been keeping an eye on a few factions of rogues around the country and so far there are no reports of chan
ges in them. I’m so damn close to figuring this out, I just need to finish it,” he said in frustration.

  “How will your weapon work if you’re able to make it? And how the hell are you keeping an eye on rogue factions?” Storm asked.

  Aaron gave him a smirk. “I have my ways,” he answered. He turned and walked to his workbench. Aaron picked up a shell casing and turned to Storm. “This is the casing I believe might work. If I can stabilize the dragon blood enough that I can load it into these casings, then you won’t have to get up close and personal with the rogues. You can shoot them. What I’m hoping is once this bullet of dragon blood enters their bodies, this casing will disintegrate, which will leave the dragon blood behind, which in turn will…”

  “Will kill the rogues from the inside out.” Storm finished for him.

  “Exactly,” Aaron said. Storm reached out to touch the casing and Aaron pulled his hand back. “Don’t touch it. It’s made of a very thin carbon fiber. I don’t want you to damage it by holding it too tight.”

  “You’re a fucking genius, Aaron,” Storm said in awe.

  “Yes, I know. I’ve been telling you that for years,” Aaron said with a smirk.

  Storm chuckled and shook his head. He took a deep breath and released it as his face got serious. “What happened, Aaron? We were so close once,” Storm asked in genuine curiosity.

  “It was a long time ago, Storm,” Aaron said and turned from him, putting the casing back in its box. “Let it go.”

  “I can’t let it go, Aaron. I don’t like how we are with one another now,” Storm said softly.

  “Why, because your mates say so?” Aaron said with a hint of bitterness.

  “No. It’s because my mates are right. You’re my brother, Aaron. I love you.” Aaron spun on him, his face full of rage. Storm held up his hand to stop him. “Whether you believe it or not, I do love you, Aaron. We were close once and I do miss that. I have missed it for so long, and I would like to have that back. Talk to me. Tell me what I can do to repair us. Tell me what I did that broke us in the first place,” he pleaded.

  Aaron turned away from him again. “I don’t think there is anything that can fix this, Storm. There’s too much hurt and bad memories,” he said softly.

  “I disagree. I think that if we both want it, then we can do it. If we both work at it.”

  “Maybe I don’t want to work at it,” Aaron whispered.

  “I don’t believe that,” Storm said softly and lightly placed a hand on Aaron’s shoulder.

  “There are too many years and too much pain to just say I’m sorry and go on as if nothing happened, and I don’t think I have enough fight in me to do it. Between my mates, the clinic, this pack, and my work here in the lab, I have enough on my plate,” Aaron said sadly.

  Storm sighed heavily and withdrew his hand. “Well you know where I am if you change your mind,” Storm said and headed for the door. Aaron kept his back to him and his head down, hiding the tears that began to form. Storm stopped in the doorway and turned back. “I think you should bring the council up to speed. Whether you have the bullets or not. We need to know everything that’s going on,” Storm said and left the room.

  Aaron brought his hand up and wiped the stray tear away. Dry your tears. No more crying over that. Then another thought slammed into him as the first thought registered. “Dry your tears,” Aaron whispered in shock. He went to the door and closed it, turning the red warning light on. He walked back to his board and erased everything. He picked up the black marker and began scribbling a new equation.

  * * * *

  It had been two weeks since he had awakened from his collapse. He was feeling good and in top form again. He and Bailey spent as much time together as they could between Lexi’s duties and Bailey’s job at the café. Lexi found out that Bailey and all the other boys were actually taking high school classes online in cyber school and Bailey was very close to finishing high school. Bailey would be turning nineteen in four weeks and graduating the next week.

  Lexi walked through town on patrol as he thought about his mate and their future together. Cass walked beside him, but didn’t say a word as if he knew Lexi was lost in his own world. Suddenly he felt Cass’s stress as he heard him begin to growl deep in his throat. He looked at Cass and saw that his eyes had changed to his wolf and his canines were peeking through his lips. “What is it, Cass?” he asked in concern.

  “I smell death,” he growled. “And a lot of it.”

  Lexi raised his head and sniffed the air. The foul stench of death was in the air. It hung heavy and thick on the wind and Lexi turned in the direction it was coming from. “Over there,” he growled out as his wolf started to come to the surface. They headed down the street and ended in the town square. A few people were scattered around, their faces twisted in horror as they stood gawking at the sight that lay before them.

  Bodies were scattered across the square, bloody and ripped apart. “What the fuck happened here?” Cass asked in a horrified whisper.

  “I don’t know, but we need to call in Micah and the council. These are some of the visitors who haven’t returned to their packs yet,” Lexi answered as he took a closer look at the victims.

  “I’ll call Micah. You get these people out of here, unless they saw something. Then the council will want to speak with them,” Cass said. Lexi nodded and walked toward the onlookers. Cass pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Micah. The phone rang three times before Cass heard the angelic sound of their Alpha’s mate Jesse.

  “Hello, Micah’s phone.”

  Cass couldn’t help but smile. Jesse was the sweetest thing in the world, but fierce as hell. “Hey, Jesse, it’s Cass. I need to speak with the big guy right away. Is he available?”

  “Sure, Cass, hold on a sec,” Jesse answered and Cass could hear his muffled voice talking to Micah. Then Micah’s commanding voice came on.

  “Cass, what’s up?” he asked.

  “I’m sorry to bother you, Micah, but we have a serious situation in town, at the square,” he explained.

  “What kind of situation?” Micah asked.

  “I think you and all the boys better get here as quick as possible, along with the council,” Cass answered.

  “That serious, huh?”

  “It’s horrible, Micah. You’re gonna want to see this for yourselves,” Cass informed him.

  “We’re on our way, cousin,” Micah said and hung up.

  Cass put his phone away and turned back toward the carnage. He walked farther into the town square, being careful not to step on anything. As he approached the gazebo in the center, he noticed a message written in blood across the top. Death to all paranormals.

  * * * *

  The bell over the door chimed and Bailey walked out from the kitchen area to see who came in. The café was pretty empty at this time of day, but dinner was rolling around and it would be busy as hell soon. He smiled when he noticed it was the man who had been coming into the café every day since that first night when Bailey gave him the last cup of coffee.

  “Good afternoon,” Bailey greeted him happily. “The usual?”

  The man returned his smile. “You know me too well already, Bailey. Yes, I’ll take the usual please, but can you throw in one of those delicious-looking blueberry muffins, too?”

  “Sure thing,” Bailey answered and went about making his order. “You’re in luck,” Bailey said as he grabbed the muffin. “These just came out of the oven ten minutes ago and they’re still kind of warm.” Bailey placed the muffin in a bag and grabbed the cup of coffee and brought it to the counter. He handed it to the man and the man gave him a twenty. Bailey turned away to ring up his order.

  “Did you make these yourself again?” he asked.

  Bailey turned back with a big smile and handed him his change. “Yes, I did. They came out pretty good, too.”

  “Well if they’re as good as the croissant you made yesterday, then I’m in for a treat,” he said with a smile and put two doll
ars in the tip jar.

  Bailey giggled and thanked him. The man nodded and turned to leave. Then he stopped and turned back. “The name’s Gary by the way, and thanks for the coffee and muffin. Have a great night, Bailey.”

  “You, too, Gary. Don’t work too hard,” he said cheerfully as he watched Gary head for the door. The door opened before Gary could open it and in walked his mate. Bailey’s smile grew wider as he saw Lexi.

  Lexi held the door for Gary to exit and then turned toward Bailey. He smiled as he walked to the counter. Lexi reached across and put his hand on the nape of Bailey’s neck. Drawing him closer, he kissed Bailey. Lexi pulled back but kept his hand on his nape and smiled. “Hi, beautiful,” Lexi whispered. “Gods, I missed you.”

  Bailey returned the smile and ran his hand up Lexi’s chest. “I missed you, too. Am I going to see you tonight?” he asked with excitement.

  The smile dropped from Lexi’s face and was replaced by a serious one. Bailey got worried and looked at him in concern. “That’s why I came here,” Lexi began to explain. “Something bad happened in the town square, and Micah and the council want everything shut down for the night. I came to help you close and lock up. Then I’m taking you home. Micah has already informed Evan. He wants you and the boys to stay inside tonight and keep the house locked up.”

  “What is it? What’s happened?” Bailey asked with a hint of fear in his voice.

  “I would rather not tell you that now. We need to get you out of here and safely home first. I have to go back on duty after I drop you off, but I’ll come by your place later. Micah has already offered for me and Xander to stay with all of you for the night,” Lexi explained.

  “That bad, huh?” Bailey asked with wide eyes.

  “Yeah. Come on. Let’s get this place locked up and get you home. I’ll explain on the way,” Lexi said and walked behind the counter to help Bailey.

  * * * *

  “I didn’t smell any other paranormal, other than the victim’s themselves,” Raith said from his seat in Micah’s office. “I did get a hint of human though.”