Jackson: NAC & The Holly Group (Alpha Team Book 1)

by Chelsea Handcock

  Turning to look out the window because it seemed like the safest place at the moment, she continued, “We tested our blood and ran several different tests with no results until we decided to check our DNA. Each of us has more than the standard 46. We narrowed down the results and found that we all carry animal DNA some identified some not.” Turning she pointed and looked at her dad, “Can you explain that father?” The father thing kind of slipped out but what else was she supposed to do? She was mad and wanted to somehow put him in his place. She had never called him father. It was what the person that contributed his semen to create her insisted that she call him and she hated the word. Declan knew that as well.

  He had lied to her, well, not really; he had just kept something paramount from her. Something that explained so much. Ryleigh waited, but there was only silence. But, oh, his eyes were conveying a lot. He was furious.

  “I’ve always known there was something different about you,” Ryleigh charged. “You never date and even beyond missions you used to disappear from the house without taking your car or letting me know you were going anywhere. I would look for you, but I could never find you and then you would just show up and act like nothing was out of the ordinary. I spent years looking through the house for a secret room or something to explain where you had gone, not once finding anything. I never put much thought into it and blamed it on your Seal training. Then there are the other things; your eyes glow when you are upset, and you seem to get bigger. Your skin gets a sheen to it that I have never been able to explain before and you have never once in seventeen years even had so much as a cold.”

  “Listen honey...” Declan said, trying to placate her.

  “No, let me finish,” she said placing her hand up to stop him from continuing. “Do you remember that time when I was about fourteen? You got me those roller blades and insisted I try them out. You said it was good exercise and you had heard all the kids were doing it. That my life should include some fun not just studying. I didn’t want to but you convinced me and I lost control and headed down the driveway superfast. The incline was so steep that I couldn’t stop, but you somehow managed to catch up to me before I hit the main road and the oncoming traffic.” She continued. “You had been standing on the porch a good 50 feet from where I was watering the plants. No way should you have been able to catch up to me and that car that you said swerved out of the way. Why weren’t there any skid marks from behind?” Ryleigh demanded. “You told me that you fell into the car when it stopped, but the door was crushed along with the window. I saw the skid marks from the tires moving away from you like it skidded from your push. There was really no another explanation for it. The driver never hit the brakes and he even admitted that when he got out of the car. You refused to call the police and gave him money to fix the damage when the accident was clearly his fault. With this new information, I started to see patterns that I blew off before. So, I had your DNA ran as well.”

  “What the Hell Ryleigh!” Declan yelled, crouching over his desk, planting his hands, and firmly staring right at her. He needed her to realize how bad this was and how serious he was. She needed to start talking but he needed something to ground him. For the moment, his desk was going to have to do; he ignored the loud cracking noise it emitted from his action. He would never strike out at his daughter, but he was infuriated. This was even worse than Declan had expected. If word got out about what he was or what his people were, the damage would be horrific. His people lived by rules of secrecy that would put the government to shame. He was a Shifter, a man that could turn into an animal at will. He and his clansmen had lived thousands of years right alongside humans without detection, and now it looked like his daughter might be the reason behind the downfall to his entire race. He had been so cocky to not realize that Ryleigh had picked up on some of his Shifter traits. Never once did he detect her discomfort or even her curiosity. She never mentioned a thing.

  Declan didn’t like the position that this new information put him in. He knew that his shifter DNA couldn’t be traced as his lineage and bloodlines were long extinct. Humans had no Dragon DNA to compare to his, but that didn’t mean the others were out of the woods. Apex predators were common, and although they were different from the traditional animal varieties, there would be similarities. Someone with Ryleigh’s brain or the others on her team could easily discern those similarities and if that information ever got out. Fuck! He wanted to scream at her to forget about this to never mention it again, but he also needed to know it all. What all did The Holly Group know? How could he protect his people while also keeping his daughter safe? Were all of the members of The Holly Group as NAC, could all her people be trusted? Fuck the list went on and on.

  Her Dad never had so much as raised his voice to Ryleigh in all the years that they had been together. So, to have him yelling now, Ryleigh knew that all of the theories her team had come up with were true, at least in part. He hadn’t denied anything yet, but he also hadn’t confirmed it. Her Dad was more than met her eyes.

  “Did you know we are related?” Ryleigh sneered. This was the thing she hated most about all that she had learned. Ryleigh could feel her lip pull up and tremor, but she forced her body to remain planted where it desperately wanted to see his reaction. They were blood-related and he had either not known, which she hoped he hadn’t, or kept it from her, which she loathed. Didn’t’ she have a right to know? Wasn’t family supposed to be the most important thing? That was what he had taught her.

  “Those extra chromosomes led right back to you or at least someone in your family,” Ryleigh declared. “The rest, the standard ones, they lead right back to those people that created me. I have to ask, is that why you took me from that place? Or how about we start with the simple question, what are you?” Ryleigh wanted to be pleased by the flinch those words invoked, but she wasn’t, this all hurt her too much.

  Turning his back to her, looking up at the ceiling like it held some answer he was never going to find, Declan was at a loss. Fuck, the hits just kept on coming. He had no idea he and Ryleigh were related. It wasn’t possible; his brother had died young, and he had no other siblings. His father would have been too old to have created Ryleigh. It was possible, but the old man had been so depressed after Seamus had passed that he was pretty sure he never left his home. Looking at the paperwork Ryleigh had given him, he noticed that he and Ryleigh did share a twenty-five percent DNA match. Not really knowing what that meant, he had to ask.

  Turning back to his desk, he moved his chair into place and took a seat. He wouldn’t get anywhere if he kept on ranting and raving. It looked like Ryleigh wasn’t the only one that needed answers.

  “What does all this mean, Ryleigh,” he said pointing at the open folder. He was avoiding her questions, and he knew it. She knew it too because her shoulders slumped and she was looking down at her feet for a split second.

  He wasn’t ready to disclose everything just yet. There was still a chance that some of the secrets could be kept. There was one in particular he would always keep from her. It was better for both of them that way. They had always had a bond and he was really never sure where it came from; it was instant and insistent. Never having children, he just assumed it came from his human side. Blowing off what he always knew was true was that his dragon had also claimed Ryleigh. It was unheard of and he couldn’t name a single time it had ever happened in all his years.

  He knew the moment he saw her and that he needed to protect her. His instincts had always driven him and that day they had been screaming at him. His dragon had been clawing at him. Declan had a firm grip on the beast, but now that he really got down to the brass tacks he realized how much he had really let slip. Ryleigh was family. He had no idea how or why but knew what she was saying was the truth. It didn’t change his feeling, but it explained so much.

  “What that means Ryleigh- “he tried again, still pointing to the paper.

  But this time she answered, taking her cues from him. She released
one of her arms around her stomach but kept it close like it would somehow protect her from what was going to come. She then pointed at the papers on his desk like they were going to jump out and bite her. Clearing her throat again she said, “What that means is you and I are blood-related. More specifically you are either my Uncle, Grandfather or Nephew. We had a twenty-five percent match.”

  Declan shook his head. He still couldn’t get his mind wrapped around what she was saying to him. When that didn’t work, he got up and started pacing. Pacing always helped him concentrate, but this time it did nothing. He kept stopping and looking at Ryleigh, wanting her to finish, but at the same time he was just unable to accept what she was saying. It didn’t make any sense. Instead of expressing this verbally to her, because he wasn’t quite sure how it would come out, he gestured at her on his next pass to continue.

  God, Ryleigh really hated this. Her dad was agitated and angry. It was instinctive for her to never want him to be that way, but she couldn’t just brush any of this under the rug. She couldn’t pretend that she hadn’t seen something; like she did when she was a child. She couldn’t ignore the evidence her team had discovered. She could make him happy and pretend that everything was all right, but it wasn’t. So, she gave him the facts. Sometimes it was easier to deal with data than it was to deal with emotions.

  “I discounted Grandfather because you said that you have never had any children. Furthermore, since you are only in your late forties, there is no way that one of your offspring could be my parent. Unless you are way older than I ever knew,” Ryleigh accused. “Same thing goes with Nephew; the timeline just doesn’t add up, so Uncle it is,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. The move helped her relieve some of the tightness. But she couldn’t resist just one more dig, “Or is there more to this than meets the eye here, like everything else I am finding out?”

  Declan flinched at her accusations. He had kept things from her, but he never lied and hoped that he wouldn’t have to. She had never mentioned any of this before. Not about his shifter traits or even his disappearances from the house. Why had she waited so long to confront him? Shit, he was just as clueless, not even knowing that they were related until this very moment. Even hearing and seeing the information didn’t stop him from his duty: protecting her.

  “Listen, little girl, you are treading in waters that could get you killed. There are people out there that will hunt you and your team down if this information got out. Shit, even if they get wind that you have knowledge of this information. Do you understand me?” Declan continued his pacing. When he got back to where she was standing he continued. “If not, let me make it clearer, just having my DNA and running it without my knowledge or consent is an act of treason in my world.” More pacing. “Not the kind of treason that gets you put in jail either,” he said, throwing his hands up in the air and quickly turning back and adding, “the kind that gets you eliminated. Do you understand me better now?” he said, perching himself on the edge of his desk.

  Ryleigh jerked. Surely the man that had been so loving and raised her as his own wouldn’t eliminate her or allow someone to ‘eliminate her’ as he so eloquently put it. She was confused and angry, but she still loved him just like she had prior to getting this knowledge. She just wanted answers. Was that so bad? This stuff didn’t only affect him. She was right in the middle.

  Chapter 3

  “Oh, don’t look at me like that, Ryleigh,” Declan said exasperatedly. He had thought that they were long over this. He promised to keep her safe. Hadn’t he shown her that he would keep that vow in a million ways? This information was bad, but he had to believe that once it all came out she would understand. Relaxing his arms and leaning back he said, “Not that look. Don’t ever think that I would hurt you. I swore to you the day that I found you that you would be safe. Fuck, I would move heaven and earth to make sure that happens. But, damn…” he said, raking his hands through his short hair before putting them out to her in a pleading way, “why couldn’t you just leave this alone? Why didn’t you come to me first before running your ‘tests’?” The word came out of his mouth like it tasted foul.

  “Your damn papers that you stormed in here with, demanding answers, only give you a glimmer of the truth. But what they have done is put you and everyone you let in on this fucking secret in danger. Do you understand me?” He said pointedly. When she just looked at without acknowledging what he had said, he gave her something. Something small but still something. “What you have done is considered a cardinal sin with my people. Something that is punishable. Something that I might not be able to protect you from.”

  Yelling at her Dad for the first time in her life, “Then why don’t you give me the whole truth!” He still wasn’t giving her any answers and her frustration lead her to act in a fashion that she never thought she was capable of. Or maybe it was the fact that he had yelled. Whatever it was, she didn’t like it, but couldn’t stop it either.

  “Why don’t you tell me how I have committed this sin?” Ryleigh exclaimed. “I did my job, Dad, one that you taught me. I followed the patterns, put the pieces together, and then brought them to you for an explanation. I didn’t advertise these results,” she said, gesturing at the abandoned papers on the desk. “And I did come to you for answers. Sorry, it wasn’t my first stop, but this was about me. When we decided to make comparisons with my DNA, I never thought in a million years you and I would match as familial. But when the results came back positive I wanted answers. Don’t you think I deserve them?”

  “I was created in a test tube, Dad, and those people tortured me for eleven years. They kept me in a cage and did unspeakable things to me in order to get me to do what they wanted. Somehow you, or maybe me, made my mind erase most of those times. How do you explain a person with an eidetic memory losing whole portions of their lives? Don’t you think I have earned the right to know why?” Ryleigh demanded.

  Fuck, her words were like a knife to his heart. She had been through so much, and it looked like she was only going to go through more. He hated thinking about everything she had been through; what he had put her through, but it was her reality. For him, it was time to pay the piper. Sins of the past had a way of coming back and biting you in the ass. He apparently didn’t learn that lesson well enough.

  “Did I ever tell you how I came to find you that day Ryleigh?”

  Her Dad was speaking so quietly that he had stopped his pacing and was standing right in front of her. Even with him that close Ryleigh had to struggle to hear him. “Yes, you said that you were on a mission and got word that a child was in danger. You tried to go through the proper channels, but all you met with was red tape.”

  That knowledge hurt. From what she could remember plus what she had discovered, when she was older no one had been willing to risk the Abernathy’s wealth and power to rescue Ryleigh. They had connections in the government along with associations to other unsavory groups. Their influence and power made people; it also bought people. You would think that rumors of a caged child would bring outrage, but in Ryleigh’s case that was not what had happened.

  “Yes, that is true, but there is more,” Declan responded. “As you have already guessed, I’m not exactly human. I am a Shifter. A man that turns into an animal. It was how I was born, Ryleigh. I’m still the man that wiped your nose and bandaged your scrapped knees. Human but more.” Declan expected the shock that he was now seeing on his daughter’s face. She had noticed things, but she didn’t have the whole truth. Her eyes were open so wide that he could see the whites. Her gasp stopped her breathing and her mouth formed a perfect “O”. Yeah, she might be asking for answers, but she had no idea what he was going to say.

  Shit, she hadn’t expected that. Shifter? What the heck was a Shifter? She had anticipated that he was genetically engineered like her but not full on sci-fi; like what he was saying he was a werewolf or something. There were rumors of the military doing tests and procedures for years to try and enhance soldier’s abilities. Th
at is what she had thought this was all about. Not that he was born this way and if what he said earlier was true about “his people” then there were more of them. She hadn’t expected this. She didn’t even know how to rationalize this.

  Too dumbfounded to speak but too frazzled not to, Ryleigh said, “But How? I mean I thought you were like me; created in a lab or something. That the military did something to you experimented on you. I mean I was ready to expose them bring them down if I had to but this? No, this isn’t anything close to what I was expecting. You were born this way? How many other Shifters are there, have I met any? Would I even know? Wow, I have to admit it’s pretty amazing though and explains so much.” “I mean…” she said excitedly, “you can turn into an animal,” telling him like he hadn’t just explained it to her. “I have so many questions,” she declared.

  Declan chuckled, damn, so typical of his little girl. She was always so curious and rarely ever scared. “You know what they say; curiosity killed the cat. You need to remember that, honey. It is more important now more than ever,” Declan explained. “You need to make sure that this information stays in this room. You need to let me vet your people and ensure that this never, and I mean never, gets out. Or the things that you thought happened with the government would happen to us, or worse. Then there are my people, honey; we have strict laws against outsiders having this information. With you and I being blood-related I think I can spare you but not the others,” he said, taking her hands into his hoping that he got his point across, but also wanting some type of normalcy to return to them.

  “So, you’re not even freaked out that I can change into an animal,” Declan questioned. “You just want to know what kind I am. Oh, my brave girl, you will never change. The unusual doesn’t scare you, but the unknown and unjust has always had a foothold. Though I don’t think that will ever change. To answer your question, like I said before, yes, I was born this way and, yes, there are many others. My entire company consists of only Shifters.”