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

by Chelsea Handcock

  Lifting his hand off of her mouth, Ryleigh was unable to say or do anything. Whatever he had injected into her with was fast acting. The maniac just kept on talking all the while running his hands all over Ryleigh’s body.

  Groping her breast, he said, “I know just how I am going to make you pay.”

  With those final words on her brain, Ryleigh was out.

  “Cash, you’d better fucking wake Wyatt’s ass up and get him to find Ryleigh right fucking now,” Jacks demanded. “I don’t care if he is dying, Ryleigh’s gone and I want her back right fucking now.”

  Jacks knew he was being irrational, but damn, Ryleigh was taken right out from under his nose. He also couldn’t get over the fact that one of his men had turned.

  “Fuck man, the EMT’s have him right now and he isn’t doing that well. He needs to go to the hospital,” Cash said. “Ethan, Dalton, and Bas are right behind him. They can’t help. I am so sorry.”

  Fuck this. He hung up the phone. Jacks did the only thing he could think of, and that was to call the most dangerous man he knew.

  “Senior, Ryleigh is gone,” Jacks said, “Eli took her and fucked up the rest of the Alpha Team.”

  “What the hell do you mean my daughter is missing?” Senior shouted. “Why the fuck would Eli take her? He is a part of our team?”

  “Senior. Fuck, Ryleigh is my mate. The mission wrapped up, but for some reason, Eli called me saying that Cash wanted to meet before we got to base. Eli screwed us. Senior, please, I need you to call the Holly Group’s tech person. She was working with Wyatt on the tracking device that Ryleigh has. Eli took Wyatt’s equipment. And shit Senior, Eli fucked him up bad and he can’t help. Please, Senior, I love her I need to find her.”

  Jack was shocked because he was pretty sure that Senior had just hung up on him. He hadn’t expected that. Fuck, the man was supposed to love Ryleigh just as much as he did. Why the fuck was the old man dismissing him? Jacks wanted to throw the fucking phone, he wanted to scream, and he definitely wanted to change; his bear was tearing him up. He wanted his mate. Jacks' hands were already transforming. The bear was taking over, and if that happened then Jacks wouldn’t be able to find their Ryleigh. With every bit of strength, he had, Jacks pushed back the beast. When his phone rang, the caller-ID said Unknown. With the hope of getting something, Jacks was able to calm the beast enough to answer. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to hold him for long, but he had to do everything in his power to find Ryleigh. And that meant staying human. Bears couldn’t talk on the phone.

  He answered the phone with more of a growl than a human would have. Maybe he hadn’t calmed the beast as much as he thought. On the other end was a woman.

  “Yeah, Jacks, this to Tory, Declan filled me in on what is going on, and I am pulling up Wyatt’s program as we speak,” Tory said. “Once I get the tracking enabled, I will forward the coordinates to your cell. We have two operatives currently in the area that I am sending your way to assist. Declan is going to make sure your guys are okay. The program will run automatically, so get in your car and be ready. I will call you back in five minutes to make sure you are receiving the information. I will also hack your car's navigation unit so that the program can run on it. I can’t do that until you are in the car. Otherwise, I would have to hack every car in the vicinity with a Nav system. That will free up your cell for coordination.”

  Tory’s voice broke. She had been all business before, but he could feel her pain just as he could feel his own.

  “Jacks, please bring her back. Ryleigh means a lot to us, to me,” said Tory.

  Choked up himself he managed to grunt, “Will do. She means everything to me.”

  Chapter 41

  Ryleigh woke up and even in her drug induced haze she knew that she had woken to her worst nightmare. She was in a cage. Not just any cage, but in the same cage her incubators had kept her in as a child. The two-people responsible for putting her there were arguing a few feet away.

  “Oh, I see you’re finally awake, Jennifer, welcome home.”

  “Don’t call me that Julius,” Ryleigh said. “Jennifer died a long time ago, and she is not coming back, no matter what you do.”

  “What do you think of your new home?” Julius questioned. “Well, it’s not new; more like new and improved. Declan doesn’t know about this one. So, if you believe that your new Daddy is going to ride in and save the day, you’d better think again. Mom and Dad never did think big enough, and they talked way too much. It’s a good thing that I don’t have that problem. Don’t you agree, Jennifer?”

  Julius walked around her confinement, running his fingers along the bars.

  “Just so you know, no one knows about this place. I had your cage moved years ago,” he revealed. “Anyone who knew about this is either dead or has simply forgotten. When you had Mommy and Daddy put away, I had the lab dismantled and moved, just for you because I knew that you would be coming back some day. So here is what is going to happen, you are going to do whatever I tell you to do, because if you don’t, Eli and the rest of my staff have some rather unpleasant plans for you. But please do act up, you remember our games when we were children. Mommy always lets me decide your punishment. I miss the time we spent together. Don’t you? I made some improvements to your room just for this occasion. Would you like to see? Oh, come on, Jennifer. Aren’t you just a little curious?”

  “No matter. Your opinion doesn’t count anyways. Eli is the one that gave me the idea,” Julius said, motioning towards Eli. “You see, those animals that you have become so fond of have some rather exciting extracurricular activities. They are really into the whole BDSM scene. And since I kind of like the idea of seeing you bound, gagged, and whipped, I furnished the room just for that purpose. Remember how much you used to like the whips when you were younger?”

  Ryleigh was terrified.

  “What, are those actual tears in your eyes?” Julius taunted her. “Damn sister, you have gotten soft in your old age. When you were younger, it took much more to bring those out. Or are you crying because the man you finally spread your legs for is a beast that likes to do the very thing you stand against? What Jennifer, didn’t you know the bear you have been with, the bear you have spread your leg for, likes to beat his women?” Julius chuckled to himself. “Ironic if you ask me. The great and mighty leader of The Holly Group seeing a man that gets off on beating a woman. That little agency of yours will be destroyed I will make sure of it. The press likes a good story after all. Wouldn’t it surprise people to learn that the almighty Declan Quinn condones such behavior in his men? His sanctimonious ass won’t be able to handle the bad press. If you really think about it, it’s a win-win for me; two birds with one stone, all that. I can take that bastard down, and he won’t have the resources to find you.”

  “After a while, when the press dies down, I will have my guys take him out permanently along with all those animals he employs, such fun,” Julius said with a demented look in his eyes. “But that is neither here nor there. You do deserve it after all the trouble you put me through. After all, Mommy and Daddy wouldn’t be in prison if it weren't for their little mistake, namely you. I told them that pets needed to be put down when they misbehave, but they wouldn’t listen. They only wanted the money their little pet could provide. They had me. Why that wasn’t enough, we will never know. But now you are going to be my pet, and my pets get beaten when they don’t obey.”

  My god, the guy was a psychopath the only thing that was remotely good about the situation was Ryleigh knew a team had Julius under surveillance. As soon as Jacks made the call, they would come after her. She was sure of it. Jacks wouldn’t give up on her, even if he had been pissed. She knew it down deep in her soul. Jacks would find her, and Julius and Eli would pay for what they were going to do to her. She just had to get through whatever they planned until then.

  The lights brightened the room, and Ryleigh got the first good look at what Julius had been going on about. She knew that she was in seriou
s trouble. It looked like a deranged sex shop. One wall contained dildos and vibrators of every kind, on the other every impact device Ryleigh could think; whips, crops, canes, and paddles. Those were just the ones Ryleigh recognized. Ropes, chains, zip ties, cuff, and manacles lined the other wall and right in the center was a St. Andrews cross. The psycho even had someone paint fake bricks on the walls to give it a real dungeon feel. There were other pieces of furniture, all with the same purpose, but Ryleigh was focused straight ahead. Thank God, she had lost her virginity to Jacks because Ryleigh’s nightmare was about to get much worse. Julius and Eli planned to rape and beat her into submission. She needed a plan, and she needed one quick. She would not let these men take her back to the nightmare that she lived as a child. Instead, she would keep Jacks close to her heart and hope that she made it through this in one piece. They could hurt her, even use her body, but she would never break and give in to these men. Jacks would save her. She knew he would, and she would survive for him.

  Cutting Julius’s rant off Ryleigh asks, “So Eli, are you going to let him call you an animal? I would think you had more pride than that. What is he offering you? It had to be pretty big for you to betray your team, break your oath, and make enemies of not only one, but two of the most lethal men I know.”

  “Shut the fuck up you little cunt,” Eli barked. “If you had just let me put the fucking IUD in, we wouldn’t have the damn problem. You would have been sterile, Jacks would have dumped you and moved on to a more appropriate mate; one that isn’t a mutt. You and the first batch were all failed experiments. We should have put you down when we had the chance. But no, Senior the sanctimonious ass just couldn’t let that happen. He had to get involved when he heard what the Abernathy’s were up to. The bastard couldn’t mind his own business. He pushed for the raid, and his superiors listened. My associates weren’t in the position to take you out then, but we are stronger now. We have been working for years to get Franklin's fucking list. There are women out there that can give us guaranteed Shifter babies, not wishes and hopes. I am not going to let you a damn mutt mess with my race’s future.”

  “Jacks will search for me he will find you. If he doesn’t, my dad will. How do you feel out dragon fire Eli?” she said, mocking Eli.

  “That’s not going to be a problem, Ryleigh, because right about now everyone thinks that I am dead right along with the rest of the Alpha Team,” Eli countered. “You see, before I left, the base kind of exploded with all the guys inside. It was kind of spectacular if I do say so myself. No one, not even Shifters, could survive that type of explosion.”

  Eli continued his rant.

  “Jacks isn’t going to be able to control his bear, and the enforcers are going to have to put him down. Which is really kind of sad because Alpha genes are exactly what my species need to rise up and rule. His cubs would have been exceptional, but you had to go and ruin that, too didn’t you? As for your dad, he is going to think Julius took you, just like I planned. He will come after him, not a dead man. Problem solved. Now tell me where the hard drive is. I have a date with destiny and I’m not going to be late.”

  “What are you talking about Eli?” a concerned Julius asked. “We are in this together. You came to me with this plan, and I followed all your instructions. We are going to make money off of Jennifer and use her until we are sick of her, and then when we are done we are going to kill her. That’s the plan; not Declan coming after me.”

  Eli turned to Julius.

  “Shut up you fucking sniveling little brat,” Eli snapped. “I can’t believe that I had to stoop to your level. You disgusted me, and that was never the plan. You are just the distraction to keep NAC off my ass while I got Franklin’s hard drive. The sociopath recorded everything. My associates and I will know where all the females are. That was the plan, not your demented little revenge. Once we have the list, we can pair the women with suitable mates, putting my race in the power position.”

  Eli focused on Ryleigh again.

  “So, I suggest you start talking. It wasn’t in the car or with your stuff, and I am really getting sick of this shit. If you talk, I will make it quick, unlike the plan your perverted brother had. But to show you a little good faith, I will take care of one of your nightmares for you.”

  Ryleigh was shocked. She didn’t like Eli from the start, but she gave the jerk the benefit of the doubt. How had he fooled Jacks and the rest of the team for so long? He was evil to the core. Ryleigh could also tell that he was lying. He wasn’t going to make any of this easy for her; he hated her and what she stood for. His words kept on playing on in her mind: mistake, failure and mutt. She knew if Eli had his way, she wouldn’t make it through the day. Ryleigh wasn’t deluded enough to think that Eli would ever show her any kindness.

  Eli lifted his gun and pulled the trigger, shooting her pseudo-brother right between the eyes.

  Chapter 42

  Dang, the man showed absolutely no emotion for just killing a man in cold blood. Ryleigh knew the men on the teams were trained and had done their fair share of killing; they were soldiers. What she wasn’t prepared for was the gleam in the man’s eyes after he had done the deed. Eli didn’t have a good bone in his body.

  “You know, it’s really kind of sick. If you stop and think about it, I just did you a favor,” Eli declared. “That fucker wanted to fuck you; his own sister. And then he wanted to watch me fuck you, no way was that happening. You are disgusting, but he got hard at the thought, go figure. Do you know that he wanted to make sure there was blood? At least you will die knowing he went first, right? Just consider it my present to you. Now, where is the hard drive? I’m not going to ask again.”

  Ryleigh knew that she only had minutes, but she wanted to know why. The men of Alpha Team and her Dad had respected this man; lived with him. He had to have some good in him, didn’t he? Yet he killed them. Oh god, Cash and the others were gone.

  “Why Eli?” Ryleigh pleaded. “Why would you have killed them for some information that we don’t even know for sure contains anything? You were like brothers; all the guys told me that. You all were a family, and you just killed them without a second thought, why? There had to be another way.”

  Eli was losing it. His eyes were bright. Ryleigh wanted to believe it was because his animal was surfacing, but she had a sneaking suspicion that wasn’t it. The man was insane; a fanatic. He wanted his race to be superior, and Ryleigh threatened that.

  “Come on. Out you go,” Eli said, opening her cage. “Don’t try anything, Ryleigh. I will shoot you. But time for a little fun, don’t you think? You will tell me where that drive is, but please keep it to yourself for a little while. Julius went to all the trouble of creating this dungeon, might as well get some use of it.”

  Ryleigh fought, but the drugs were still affecting her, and Eli managed rather quickly to get her attached to the St. Andrews cross.

  Walking over to the wall of impact items, Eli asked, “What do you think we should start with? Julius said you were especially fond of the Cat-O-Nine, but I prefer the kiss of the bullwhip. What do you say? Not that I really care what you think, but we can pretend, right?”

  He came back with the whip and ripped the shirt right off Ryleigh’s back.

  “Ah, I see you have experience with the whip as well, but maybe I can make it better for you. I am a professional after all,” Eli declared. “Do you know how long I have been waiting for this, Ryleigh? I should really be thanking you. I have had to play the Boy Scout for so long. Now that my cover is blown, I can do what I really want to do; hear a woman scream in pain, not pleasure. Safe, sane and consensual: that is what the guys are always preaching. It made me want to puke. Human women and mutts like you should not have a choice in what happens to them. You are just holes to relieve some pressure, nothing more. Since you fall into that group, this should really be fun. Too bad your fucked-up genetics didn’t include Shifter healing abilities. If it had, we could do this over and over again, until I got sick of the soun
ds of your screams. Granted, that could take a while. But let’s do a little experiment, shall we?”

  Walking back, he took his first shot and Ryleigh screamed. Eli had hit his mark with expert aim. Ryleigh could feel the blood running down her back. Memories of her childhood assaulted her. Knowing she couldn’t lose it, she withdrew into herself, picturing Jacks and all they had been through in such a short time. She had to believe that he would find her, and she would do everything in her power to survive until that happened. This wasn’t the first time a sadistic bastard had decided to cause her pain. She got through it before, and she would get through it now.

  “Ah, yes. I do love that sound. Tell me, pet, how does that feel?” Eli taunted.

  The word “pet” pulled her from her safe place. She hated that word. Deciding to give it one more try and give her poor back a bit of a reprieve she asked, “Why Eli? They loved you. You were their brother.”

  Eli started spewing his hate, “You fucking bitch, they wouldn’t listen. I tried to get them to stop helping the fucking humans, but they wouldn’t budge. They thought it was the right thing to do. We are better than the human scum we are constantly helping. And you are the worst. You’re not human, and you’re not Shifter; you are nothing. Did you know that only five of the first batch of mongrels made it? We have been watching all of you for a very long time. Sweet Zoey is one I will personally miss, but at least she had a use until you got your hands on her. That girl could really take the whip. I guess training her from childhood helped with that. What do you think? You know, I actually got to spend some time with her about ten years ago, and I have never been able to forget her. She would bend so beautifully for me. The only disappointment was that she didn’t scream until I fucked her ass, and then it was only a little cry. I knew if I had more time, I would have made her sing. But if wishes were horses and all that.”