“They’re perfect.” Selena’s voice was quiet, but the whole room heard her. “There’s no way we can effectively fight them.” She sipped her coffee.
Owen looked at his dad. “Not yet. But we may, soon.” His dad, and the training he was about to start could be their key.
“Can these enhancements be reversed?” Kit asked.
“That depends on several factors,” Nathan said, “like how long the person has existed in an altered state—or rather, how established their altered state is, how old he or she was when they were altered, their general health, etc. In most cases, reversing these modifications means killing the changed person. If their modifications are dependent on a consistent supply of nanos, then weaning them from those nanos might be possible, but won’t be a quick fix. Going cold turkey on their supply would absolutely kill them—and probably within months, if not weeks. Their bodies have adapted to performing at certain levels, and when that is suddenly no longer possible, their systems rapidly fail. For those whose enhancements have been overtaken by their biology—no, the changes can’t be reversed because they’re being naturally regulated by their bodies.”
“But these beings can be killed,” Greer said.
“Yes. Of course,” Joyce said. “But killing them becomes exponentially more difficult, depending on their skills and their proficiency in using them. And because they heal rapidly, anything less than a catastrophic hit probably won’t end them.”
“I fought some of these enhanced guys at Wynn’s house,” Angel said. “Felt like they were hopped up on steroids, but they weren’t invincible.”
“Those were some of the Omnis’ newly minted fighters. They hadn’t undergone their training yet,” Nathan said.
“I have a question for you, Owen,” Joyce said. “I understand Bastion has been visiting your headquarters.”
“That’s true.” Owen exchanged glances with Selena. She looked tense.
“Has he connected with anyone in particular?”
“He’s affected several of us in different ways. He spoke to my son,” Owen said. Selena looked brittle enough to break. He wished he didn’t have to say what knew he had to. “He also has taken an interest in one of my team members.”
Silence on the other end of the line, then Nathan asked, “Which one?”
“Me,” Selena said, holding her hot mug in both hands. “He’s stalking me.”
“Selena, right?” Joyce asked.
“Yeah.”
Joyce sighed. “Our friends discovered, during their visit, that there was an unintended side effect of these enhancements.”
“And that is?” Owen asked.
“There are hormonal changes that occur because of their altered biology,” Joyce said, “which, when combined with their strengthened intuition and enhanced senses, means intimate relationships with anyone not perfectly compatible with them are less than pleasurable to the changed person. Theories why this is include the possibility that they are able to qualify a potential mate’s capability to successfully reproduce. The biologics of their changed bodies produce significant incompatibilities with most potential sex partners. The ones with mutations are effectively sterile when breeding with unchanged humans.”
“Except for someone who is resonant with them,” Nathan finished for her.
Selena looked shocked. “So you’re saying Bastion finds me ‘resonant’ with him? I have no choice in this?”
“We’re saying he may have come looking for us, but he’s returning because of you,” Joyce said.
“What can I do about it?” Selena set her mug down.
“Without extreme training, nothing,” Nathan said.
“I can leave.”
“He’ll find you again. He knows your energy signature. Like a bloodhound searching hundreds of miles for a lost child, he will find your scent and find you, even if your ‘scent’ is just an electrical current. He’s wired in to you.”
“Bloodhound, huh?” Selena sent a panicked glance around the room. She looked like she was starting to hyperventilate, then stomped out of the bunker.
“What can we do?” Owen asked the Ratcliffs.
“Get her out of there,” Joyce said. “Get her someplace unfamiliar to her. Don’t talk about it in front of her. Consider that he’s with her at all times now.”
Fuck. Owen met Jax’s hard eyes. His friend had offered safe harbor earlier. Maybe he’d send Selena with him. She couldn’t be alone—she wouldn’t be safe.
But then, nor would any of them while she was with them.
Jax read him clearly and nodded.
“What was the other topic you wanted to talk about?” Joyce asked. “You said there were two things…”
“I’m marrying Addy this weekend,” Owen said.
“We know,” Nathan said. “We’re happy for you and sorry we aren’t able to be there with you.”
Owen nodded. He looked at his team. “As you know, the Omnis did some experimenting on her.”
“Right. How’s she feeling?” Joyce asked.
“She’s fine. Stronger every day.” Owen sighed. “This is something of a personal topic, but given the situation these enhancements are causing, I don’t think it’s inappropriate to bring it up here. Addy would like more children, but we don’t know if that’s possible, given her situation. In light of what you revealed here, is it possible that her biological changes are incompatible with me?”
“Yes,” Joyce said. “It is quite likely. There are many factors at play. We would need to examine both of you before being able to give an accurate answer.”
“Then perhaps that’s something we can schedule after the wedding.”
“Anytime. Our schedules are open.”
7
Kit’s phone rang as soon as they hung up from the Ratcliffs. Conversation stopped as he took the call. “Sel—” Pause. His shoulders dropped. “You can’t do that.” He shook his head. “Let’s talk this over—” The call must have ended, because he lowered his phone and stared at it.
“Another migraine?” Owen asked.
Kit looked shocked. “She just quit.”
“Shit.” Owen started for the hallway between the conference room and ops.
Ace hurried after him. “I’m coming, too.” In the elevator, she looked at Owen and said, “Selena and I had a pact.”
He hit the up button. “What kind of pact?”
“That I would be there for her if she lost her shit.”
Owen faced forward and ground his teeth, almost afraid of what he’d find in Selena’s room. They took the backstairs up to her room. He knocked on her door.
No answer.
“Selena, we need to talk,” Owen called through the door.
“It’s not locked.”
Owen went in first. Selena was bent over a pile of clothes, shoving things into a duffel bag. She flashed a glance at him and Ace. Owen saw faint bruises on her temple beside her eyes—something he hadn’t noticed in the weaker light of the bunker.
He leaned against her dresser, next to a column of empty, opened drawers. Ace moved about the room. Owen suspected she was checking for a man neither of them could see.
“Talk to me,” Owen said, folding his arms.
“I’m leaving. I’m done,” Selena said.
“Where are you going?”
Selena straightened. She looked at him then at the wall behind him, no ready answer coming to mind.
“This is because of Bastion, isn’t it?” Ace asked.
Selena glared at her.
“Is he here?” Owen asked. Greer had a protocol in place to alert them. Nothing had been triggered, yet Selena looked spooked as hell.
She resumed packing. “He’s not here. He’s somewhere three hours or so from here.”
“How do you know?” Owen asked.
“He told me.” Selena stared at her open duffel bag. “He was here, this morning.” She shook her head. “Not exactly here, but”—she waved her hands around the room—“here.”<
br />
Owen felt the sharp edges of a headache beginning. He wondered if he was just picking up on Selena’s raw energy. He walked over to her, intending to stop her from packing, but the pain in his head spiked. Was this what Selena had been experiencing? He felt nauseated.
Selena saw him stop without coming nearer. She shook her head. Her eyes watered. She backed away from him, holding a hand out. “Get away from me.”
Owen stood his ground, wincing from the pain blazing in his brain. “Selena, you have to stop. You’re not going anywhere.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I mean get back. Go back over there.” She pointed to where he’d just been leaning against her dresser.
He did back up a step, and another, and as he did so, the pain in his head eased—more with each step. “What the hell’s going on?”
“It’s Bastion. He’s doing that.”
“So he is here.” Owen looked around the room. Ace shook her head at him.
“No. He’s not in here.” Selena waved her arms around again, indicating the space of her room, then poked at her head. “He’s in here.”
Owen remembered Jax saying Bastion and his crew had telepathic, telekinetic abilities. Stuff that existed only in far-fetched fiction.
Selena covered her mouth with her hand, fighting back a ragged sob. “I have to go. He can get to us through me. He doesn’t have to be here to attack us.”
The pain in Owen’s head was only a dull throb now. “You’re saying he caused the pain I just felt?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Selena sent Ace an embarrassed glance. “Because you and I— Because I had feelings for you once. Sort of.”
“Is he hurting you?” Owen’s eyes narrowed.
Selena shook her head then gave Owen a terrified look. “How do I know that he’s real? What if this is some psychedelic-induced craze? Or a full-on mental breakdown? How do I know?”
“I know.” Owen gave her a resolute look. “You aren’t crazy.”
“And Bastion’s real,” Ace said. “We just had a debrief on him.”
“You aren’t off the team, Sel,” Owen said.
“My being here endangers all of you,” Selena said. “I have to go.”
Owen sighed. “Maybe that is best. For now. Finish packing. I’m going to send you someplace safe.”
“Where?”
“Away from us. I can’t tell you specifics. Just know that it’s only until this blows over—or until we know how to deal with him. You’ll leave after the wedding.”
“I should go now.”
“I don’t have arrangements made yet.” Owen started to leave, but paused. “Please avoid the bunker for now, but other than that, there are no restrictions on your movements in the house. You aren’t going to reveal anything Bastion hasn’t already seen. Don’t leave the property.”
Ace confronted him in the hallway. “She’s not going alone.”
Owen was heading toward the backstairs, forcing Ace to keep pace with him. “She won’t be alone.”
“I’m going with her. I told her I had her back.”
Owen sent Ace a glare. “We all have each other’s back. You’re staying here.”
Ace stopped walking. Owen stopped too. She gave him a wounded look, then pivoted and went back to Selena’s room.
He couldn’t tell her why. He didn’t know if Val had ever told Ace that he and Selena had briefly had a thing—or contemplated having a thing, anyway. It hadn’t amounted to much for either Owen or Val, since she wasn’t the right one for either of them and none of them felt like playing games. But Bastion had ferreted out Owen’s passing interest in Selena; he would discover Val’s as well—if he hadn’t already.
Owen couldn’t risk that situation backfiring. If Ace went with Sel, then Val would go too, and whatever Bastion was, he was capable of causing Val harm—a thing Owen had no doubt the bastard would do.
Owen returned to the conference room in the bunker. Silence settled over the room.
“I have declined Selena’s resignation,” he told the group. “Somehow, Bastion’s gotten his hooks in deep with her. She fears he may use her against us.”
“Not an unfounded fear,” Nick said.
“She can’t stay here,” Owen said.
“I can take her to Addy’s house,” Jax said.
“I was thinking that.”
“I’ll get my team back there,” Jax offered.
“Good. It won’t be forever,” Owen said, “only until we can figure out a way to deal with the changed ones, figure out what they want.”
“I’ll go, too,” Nick said.
Owen shook his head. “You’re due to start your training. We need that to stay on track because we all need to learn as you do.”
“My trainer can come to me there,” Nick said.
“When is she going?” Val asked.
“Sunday,” Owen replied. “Maybe even Saturday night, after the wedding. He’s hurting her. She has to get out of here for her own well-being.”
“Ace and I will go with her,” Val said.
“No, you won’t,” Owen nixed that. “She’ll have my dad and Jax—and Jax’s team. She’ll be in good hands.”
Val shook his head. “She doesn’t know them. At least one of us should be with her while Bastion’s attacking her.”
“Jax and Nick are only peripherally attached to us. He could use any of you to get back here to us. He doesn’t know them. She goes alone with them.”
“How do you know he isn’t going to step up his game against her in order to get her back here where he can use her?” Blade asked.
“I don’t. She refuses to be here while he’s doing this. I’m accommodating her request.” Owen looked at Jax. “If her situation worsens, you’re to let me know immediately.”
Jax nodded. “I will.”
“It’s possible the trainer I’ll be working with will know some options for us, some countermeasures against Bastion she can put to use,” Nick said.
Owen nodded. “If not him, then someone the Ratcliffs know may. Find someone we can consult.”
“Copy that.” Nick slowly smiled.
“What?” Owen snapped.
“Nothing,” Nick said, his smile widening. “I’m taking orders from my son. That’s fucking weird. And awesome.”
Owen shook his head. “Nothing is what we expect it to be.”
“That’s true,” Nick agreed. “None of the old rules, systems, or paradigms apply in this new world. We need to figure it out fast and get onboard or get run over, ’cause this shit is spreading.”
Owen took the elevator back up to the first floor, coming out in the bedroom next to his. Addy was there, in the closet, talking to Mandy and Ivy about her wedding dress. He’d forgotten that she was using that closet to hide her wedding finery.
“Addy?” Owen called, careful not to look into the closet.
“Owen! You can’t be here,” Addy scolded him.
Owen bit his lip. The last thing he was worried about was some hypothetical curse that his seeing her wedding dress would cause. But she cared, so he cared. “I’m not looking. I need to talk to you.”
Mandy laughed and touched his arm as she and Ivy went past. “The room’s yours. Addy, we’ll be in the living room if you need us.”
Addy came out of the closet. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I need a favor.”
“Anything. Of course.”
“You remember the scare we had last month when Greer discovered we’d been infiltrated?”
“Yes.”
“Well, it seems this person has been ‘visiting’ Selena—not physically but mentally. Somehow he gets into her mind. She fears he may use her to get to us. We don’t know what he’s after, but he’s compromised her. Would you mind if I sent her to your house for a little while?”
Addy shivered. “It’s a horrible place, Owen. Especially in the middle of winter.”
He nodded.
“If
she’s being stalked, isn’t it a dangerous place for her to be? It’s so remote.”
“She won’t be alone. Jax and my dad will be with her. Jax is going to reassemble the team that he had there.”
“If she’ll be safe, then yes. Use it for as long as you like.”
“Thank you.”
“When are they leaving?”
“After the wedding.”
“I’d hoped to have more time with my brother.”
Owen nodded. “I know. And I’m sorry. We’ll arrange another visit as soon as we can. I spoke to the Ratcliffs a moment ago.” He reached for her hands. What he had to say must have been written all over his face, for a shadow passed across her features.
“And?”
“There’s some evidence that you and I may not be able to have kids. They need to have some samples from us both to do more analysis. It’s possible that I may have to take the modifications in order for us to be compatible.”
“That’s too dangerous. I almost died.”
“There are a lot of different kinds of modifications. They would need to know more about yours before deciding on mine. And it’s entirely possible that it’s not the issue for us at all. But there will have to be more analysis done before we’ll know.”
She looked crushed as she nodded, and even though she smiled, the sorrow was in her eyes. “I understand. You know what? I’m over it. We have two beautiful boys. We’re very lucky.”
Owen nodded. “We are.”
“And tomorrow I get to marry my best friend.”
“So do I.”
“I love you.”
Owen pulled her into a tight hug. “Not as much as I love you.”
Everyone involved in the wedding ceremony gathered in the hallway outside the doors to the gym. Addy had been in and out of the room as it was being set up for them, but when Blair, the wedding planner, opened the doors for their rehearsal, the full effect hit her.
A huge tent had been set up in the room. Stepping inside it was a clear break from one reality to another, one that was mystical and full of extraordinary possibilities.
The tent glowed from streamers of fairy lights interwoven with pale aquamarine banners that were draped from the peak of the tent. Other lights strategically placed cast an icy-blue hue over the far edges. Garlands of gardenia leaves and flowers highlighted certain areas of the venue. Chairs with pale blue seat covers surrounded tables draped with white tablecloths. The place settings featured large hand-blown glass chargers in the same color as Addy’s engagement ring. The lighting and pale blue colors gave the tented space an ice palace effect.
OWEN and ADDY_A RED TEAM WEDDING NOVELLA_THE RED TEAM, BOOK 14 Page 7
