INVISIBLE FATE BOOK THREE: ALEX NOZIAK (INVISIBLE RECRUITS)

by Buckham, Mary

  But before I could get past the stranglehold the anger had on me, Bran strolled into the room.

  Why was it some men owned a room whenever they entered? Just once, I wished he would look like a mere mortal. But he wasn’t. He was a mage master who could reverse death.

  I eased back on my pillow. Not giving up as much as regrouping. Yeah, man it sucked when I started lying to myself.

  Kels slid to her feet, talking to Bran instead of me. “I’ll go get her some soup or something. Leave you two alone. You probably have a few things to talk over.”

  Traitor!

  I thought she’d had my back. But face one gorgeous, domineering, warlock with a determined glint in his eye and Kelly caved.

  She disappeared before I could call her back.

  Just as well. If I weren’t up to fighting Bran, even after being raised with four brothers, no way would Kelly survive.

  “Feeling better?” he asked in that low sexy, make-goose-bumps-along-your-skin voice of his that I didn’t trust for a second. He stood less than three steps away from the edge of the bed. Way too close for comfort. Hell, down the street would be way too close, but no way was I going to let him know he rattled me. He was arrogant enough as it was.

  When no words would come I nodded.

  “Good.” Some words meant the exact opposite and this was one of those times.

  He stepped closer.

  My skin went cold then heated. If I wasn’t naked and he wasn’t within a hand’s breath I’d have been fanning myself with the sheets.

  Instead all I could do was swallow. Deeply.

  “We have unfinished business,” he purred, stepping so close he bumped up against the bed.

  Oh, oh.

  Why did I know he didn’t mean a simple chat among colleagues? Or even a hair-raising peel-the-skin-off-my-hide tirade like Stone or my dad could do? No, this man was more diabolical, craftier, a master at scaring the willies out of you before he ever did a thing.

  But I was a Noziak. Offense was the best defense. Witches trumped warlocks. End of story.

  I popped into a sitting position, grabbing for the bedding before it slipped too far. For the space of a wickedly erratic heartbeat I noticed Bran’s gaze slipped too.

  So maybe I wasn’t the only one unnerved here and trying my damnedest to hide it.

  That gave a little oomph to my backbone, and by the Great Spirits, I needed it, Noziak blood or not.

  “You want to talk,” I started out, sounding a whole lot more in control than I felt. “Let’s talk.” I pointed to a chair. Not the one closest to the bed, but the one across the room. “You, there, and we’ll talk.”

  I thought that sounded reasonable. Two intelligent, mostly rational adults. At least I was rational. With Bran it was always a thirty-seventy chance.

  Like now. Did he nod? Walk across the room? Agree?

  No. This was Bran.

  He grinned a wicked, wicked smile that curled my toes and made my breath back up before he pressed one knee on the bed and leaned forward, space disappearing between us inch by inch until I had to bend my head back until all I could see was him.

  I went to shake my head, but his hand was there, caught in my hair, tugging my head even farther back, playing his own cat and mouse game. Him, the biggest, baddest, predator cat. Me, the trapped mouse.

  Then his lips eased toward mine.

  I told myself I should fight. Scramble away. Toss away dignity for escape. But I didn’t.

  Instead, I leaned toward him, not away.

  Chapter Forty-two

  Some kisses you ease into. Some you dive. This was shouting halleluiah as I plunged over Niagara Falls with a smile on my face!

  The rush started somewhere near the tips of my toes then exploded my brain cells.

  Hot. Wet. Deep. And we’d only started.

  One of us moaned. Maybe it was both of us as he pressed me back onto the pillows and I held on to him every inch of the way.

  His hands were in my hair, cupping my face, heating my bare skin, and I couldn’t get enough. I didn’t want to come up for air long enough to get him naked but there was too much bedding, too many clothes between us.

  I pulled back. My lips only, frantically demanding, “Here. Now.”

  He snarled, which was the sexiest sound in the Universe when made by a frustrated man who wants you as much as you want him.

  Then someone coughed.

  We froze. His expression promised pain to someone. Skin drawn tight, nostrils flared, the blue of his eyes swallowed by the black of his pupils.

  “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I can come back later.”

  Kelly’s voice and the scent of chicken soup reached me at the same time.

  I couldn’t help it. This time I was the one who laughed. It started as a small snort, waltzed into giggles, then became a full body chuckle I tried to muffle by pulling the duvet up to stuff in my mouth. It didn’t help.

  Bran, ever the aristocrat, narrowed his heavy-lidded gaze at me, promising retribution for my enjoying his discomfort a little too much, stood with that slow, pompous dignity only mastered by Brits and male movie stars from the forties, and tugged his clothes into a semblance of neatness.

  I could have told him it wasn’t working, he still looked like a frustrated, aroused Alpha male who was being thwarted.

  I could see Kelly standing near the door, a tray acting as a flimsy barrier between her and Bran should she need one. She raised one brow at me, girl talk for should-I-stay-or-should-I go?

  I smiled at her in return. What are good friends for except to save you from your own rash and potentially stupid mistakes. Yes, I wanted Bran. Would that have complicated things? Enormously and that wasn’t even touching the heartbreak still splintering me at the thought of what Bran had done to my brother. That alone sobered me. Sobered and reminded me.

  Thank you Kels, and your sense of timing.

  Kelly held her ground. I owed her.

  Bran gave me one last we’re-not-done-by-a-long- shot look, which whooshed the giggles right out of me, nodded at Kelly and marched from the room.

  “Oh my,” Kelly released one hand from the tray to wave in front of her face. “Oh my, oh my, oh my.”

  I scrubbed my hands over my face even as I mumbled through my fingers. “Yeah, Bran has that impact on a lot of women.”

  “You lucky girl,” she smiled, adding, “You know you might be sending him mixed messages.”

  “Seriously?” I meant it as a snide comment, mostly to myself, but leave it to Kels to take it as a serious question.

  “One minute you’re trying to kill him. The next—” She actually blushed as she set the tray down beside me. “Just saying.”

  “I know.” And boy did I. I hadn’t meant things to get out of hand, but the road to Hades was paved with good intentions, or weak will, or both. “This soup smells great.”

  Yes, I was trying to change the conversation and lord love her, Kelly let me. “Ling Mai has called for a team meeting in about,” she glanced at her watch. Did anybody really wear a watch anymore? Now that I thought about it, Kelly always did. An old-fashioned one that looked like it belonged to someone she cared for some time ago. “In about twenty minutes,” she finished.

  I choked on my sip of chicken noodle soup. “Twenty minutes?”

  “You’ve got plenty of time to get ready.”

  “I don’t think there’s enough time in the world to get ready for facing Ling Mai.”

  “Good point.” Not what I expected Kelly to say. “But on the bright side the fact she’s coming here to see and talk with you means you’re still on the team.”

  Miss Sally Sunshine had a point. I refused to consider the word—yet—at the end of her comment.

  I slurped my meal like an Olympic racer, ever so thankful that Kelly had tracked down my suitcase and brought me a change of clothes. I even took a shower, though I braided my wet hair before I quieted my nerves and braced my shoulders when the knock on the door cam
e.

  I’d joined Sabina, Bran and Kelly in the front room of what looked like a hotel to rival Ling Mai’s. Only Bran would expect comfort and class from a safe house. Kelly went to answer the door but I stopped her. “I’ll get it.”

  Movement gave some release from the ants crawling along my skin. Of course some of those ants were because of Bran who had been looking at me like a snack ever since I had walked into the room.

  I know Kelly told me team meeting but I hadn’t really expected eight people marching into the room one after the other. Ling Mai led the procession, followed by Stone and Vaughn together, Jaylene, Mandy then Herc, and a new woman I’d never seen before.

  “Who are you?” I asked, glancing back at Kelly.

  “Your replacement,” came the whip-fast reply as her coal brown gaze locked with mine. Attitude in spades. But she was messing with the wrong Anglo-Native American chick, especially after she added, “You smell like a shifter.”

  Suddenly Bran was at my side, one hand pressing against my shoulder hard enough to weld me to the floor. But that didn’t stop my tongue. “I might smell like a shifter but I sure don’t act like one.”

  Whatever was going on with my being a shifter or not was my nightmare to untangle, not her business to agitate.

  I offered a take-no-prisoners smile, leaned a smidge closer to her with a small whisper meant only for her ears, “Meow.”

  I thought she was going to start swinging right then, but either she had smarts she was hiding, or a stronger sense of self preservation than she’d shown so far. Of course, Ling Mai interceded with a quick, “Alex, this is Nicki Yarblonski, our newest team member. Nicki, Alex Noziak.”

  “Play nice, ladies,” Stone said, then when we both cut as-if looks his way he added. “If you’re going to draw blood do it on your own time. Not now.”

  Got the message. I grabbed the only remaining spot in the room, one Kelly saved me, that also put me right next to Bran. Beginning to wonder what side Kels was on.

  Ling Mai cleared her throat. “Nice to see you alive and well, Miss Noziak.”

  No she wasn’t. Dead I was no longer a pain in her ass. Alive? Alive, I caused complications.

  Bran nudged me, which was his subtle way to tell me to play the game. I gave a tight smile and nod. There. That was mostly polite.

  “After contacting the librarian for some more information on this Zaradian demon, it appears this threat should be taken seriously.”

  As if I hadn’t already? Oh, yeah, she hadn’t had gangs of angry Weres attacking her regularly for the past few days, so maybe that explained why she was a little slow on the threat assessment issue.

  “Miss Sabina, I notice you’re still with us,” Ling Mai continued, doing a total about face and making every gaze whip to Sabina’s.

  Oh, no you don’t. No throwing the teen witch to the wolves, metaphorically.

  “She’s here because whoever wants me also wants her. If I’m not available, they’re going to go after her and the demon will be released.” Sabina would probably die, too, and I made sure my tone said just that.

  Ling Mai’s expression was a cross between how droll, the screw-up-speaks and not-our-problem.

  Stone was the one who stepped in to avoid a second dust up. “Alex has some valid points. We’ve agreed the primary goal is to stop the release of this demon.”

  “And all we know about the process is that a witch is needed to make that happen. Sabina and I have been targeted as witches who possess whatever talents they want.”

  “How do we know other witches aren’t also being held?” New Girl said, slurring the word witches just enough to indicate what she really meant.

  “Because they keep coming after us,” I replied, glancing at the rest of the room, a duh tone in my voice.

  Ling Mai interceded, “If the demon is successfully called—”

  “Holy shit, humans are screwed,” Herc blurted out, earning an eye roll from Stone.

  Sabina leaned toward me to whisper, “Is that what she meant?”

  I nodded. “Yup. We’re all about to get screwed if Z-demon dude gets here.”

  “Then why didn’t she just say that?”

  “She’s speaking Ling Mai speak. You’ll get used to it.”

  Not that she’d be hanging around that long. If the demon came, none of us might be around for long.

  Ling Mai continued, “Which leads me to believe we should inform the Council of Seven about what’s happening.”

  It made sense. So why did goose bumps crawl up my skin?

  Bran spoke up. “There’s another key element we’ve been missing and haven’t discussed. Something that needs attention before the Council is notified.”

  Leave it to a warlock to add more fuel to the conflagration.

  “Such as?” Ling Mai asked.

  “Who is behind wanting this demon unleashed? We have to stop him—”

  “Or her,” I mumbled, thinking about Bran’s cousin Dominique, who had been one nasty villain that got her comeuppance when I killed her. A fact Bran still held against me, just as I held his killing my brother against him. Had I mentioned Bran and I had a complicated relationship?

  “Or her,” he didn’t miss a beat. “We also have one additional piece of intel that can give us a clue to who is behind this scheme.”

  I had no doubt I looked as confused as my teammates, as Bran looked at me. “The Irish male voice you heard while you were being held captive. He seemed in charge?”

  I nodded, remembering I’d actually rooted for that guy. He seemed like my protector then. And now? Colin Farrell voice was behind using and destroying me as well as the bigger point of unleashing horror and havoc on the world.

  My taste in men obviously needed some work.

  Bran continued, “I say if we can find this man, we’ll be that much closer to stopping the demon.”

  “What then?” Mandy demanded. “We accost every Irish-accented guy in this city on the off chance Alex will recognize his voice?”

  She didn’t have to say it that way. I had no doubts I’d recognize his voice again. But she was right about the needle in a haystack mission. Paris was a ginormous city and who knew if he was even still here? Bad guys could fly in and out just like ordinary tourists.

  I caught Bran watching me, waiting for me to reach some conclusion he already understood. When I realized I was shaking my head, he glanced around the room. “We need to go further back than the attack on Alex.”

  Now he was really losing me. I was used to being Johnnie-on-the-spot. Or Jane-on-the-spot, but I was in a fog here.

  Bran was using his CEO voice, the one that sounded like it was okay to be clueless, just trust him and he’d lead the way.

  I felt a rather heated flashback on where I’d like him to lead me but he was already explaining. Thank the Spirits, as I subtly fanned myself.

  Bran gave me a wicked, I-know-what-you’re-thinking look before prodding. “Before someone kidnapped you, they kidnapped your brother.”

  That fast the ice-cold tsunami of reality hit me. I knew what happened next. Van died. And here I was lusting after his killer. How screwed up shallow could I get?

  “Someone has been manipulating all of us, not caring who was killed.”

  I tried to pay attention, though my emotions were locked in on Van’s death. He so did not deserve that. He was one of the good guys.

  “What’s the common thread among what’s been happening?” Bran asked the room at large.

  “Alex,” Kelly piped up.

  But Bran wasn’t finished. “And?”

  I think we were all at a loss until I started thinking a few things through. The drug dealer, Vaverek, used Bran’s cousin Dominique to test a nasty designer drug. Van’s capture by Vaverek led to my enlisting Bran’s aid to find Van. But Bran had his own reasons to help, as he wanted the ones who embroiled his cousin in a plot that led directly to her death. Van led to Vaverek, and Vaverek led to someone higher. Someone with connections to th
e Council of Seven.

  I glanced at Bran, suddenly seeing fine details in the puzzle pieces. “The Council,” I murmured, still working through the gray areas. “Which could explain Philippe Cheverill’s murder.”

  “And your father being in Paris,” Bran added.

  That pulled me up short. “You think my dad’s behind all this?”

  He so had the wrong end of the stick. I might still be PO’d at my dad but no way was he this Machiavellian. I could see him killing someone, but it’d be a fair fight, not a knife to the back and then going after all the person’s relatives.

  “Not your dad. Think!” Bran prodded.

  “The Council.” I could hear the kerching of the key piece sliding into place. ”You think the Council is behind this?”

  Even Ling Mai raised her brows at that, but it was Kelly who spoke first, “But that doesn’t make any sense? They work to keep humans from being aware of preternaturals. Wouldn’t unleashing a dangerous fallen- angel -demon guy on the world be counterintuitive?”

  “It would.” Bran nodded his head with a calculated precision, before he went in for the zing. “But what if it’s not the Council itself but one person on the Council working for his … or her,” he cut me a glance while continuing,“… for their own gains with the Council’s mandate.”

  “Or it could be someone associated with the Council,” Sabina spoke up, earning a few what-do-you-know-about-it looks. So she added, “You’re right, I don’t know anything at all about this Council but aren’t there assistants or people or beings or whatever that help?”

  “She has a point,” Vaughn conceded, offering an atta-girl smile.

  “So notifying the Council—” Jaylene started and Mandy finished, “—means we’d be tipping off the very individual we’re looking for.”

  “They’d go to ground,” Stone, the strategist said. “Postponing their plans until they could eliminate those who know too much.”

  “Us.” Kelly cleared her throat and said again. “We’d all be at risk, not just Alex and Sabina.”

  Stone nodded. “And then the master-mind would unleash the demon without fear of being stopped.”

  “But if the Council or someone near it is involved how does that get us closer to the master-mind?” Kelly asked, which saved me the trouble.