Franklin looked up and smiled at him. “I know you.” He squinted at Matt. “I really hate you, you know that?”
Matt smiled. He looked at Evan. “This is some pretty good stuff, eh?” Evan smiled and nodded back. Matt turned back to Franklin. “What did you do to our computers?” Franklin’s head was bobbing up and down and a wee bit of drool was forming in the corner of his mouth. “Hey, shithead, what did you do to our computers?”
Franklin looked up at Matt again and smiled. “I stuck a bug in them.” Then he chuckled and the drool slipped from his lips. “Yup. Stuck a bug in it so a hacker can steal all your little secrets.”
Matt’s jaw clenched. “Why?” Franklin’s head started bobbing again. He slapped him again…harder this time. “Why did you do it, Franklin?”
“Why?” He acted like he really had to think why he did it. “Why? Because. I need to destroy you. You and the Monster Squad. Need to take you all down at one time,” he said, his voice trailing.
Now Matt was pissed. “Why are you trying to take down the Monster Squad?”
“Because. If you keep going, you’ll kill my Damien. And I have to protect him. I have to protect him. He’s all I got left. All I got.”
“How were you going to bring us down, Franklin?” Matt yelled at him.
Franklin jumped a little. “How? Ummm. Expose you. All your secrets. Inside job. Emails from your accounts to the outside and make you look like fools. Nobody believes in monsters. It’s the real world. Silly rabbit, there’s no monsters. Go back to sleep, it’s just the wind…then bang! You’re all gobbled up! Heeheeheehee…”
“Expose us and you expose yourself, Franklin. You’d go down with us,” Matt said through clenched teeth.
“Plausible deniability. I don’t know you, and you crash and burn because you are wasting tax payer dollars, you know that, don’t you? Yes you are! Yes you are!” Franklin sounded like he was talking to a puppy.
Laura turned to Evan. “How much of that stuff did you give him?”
Evan nodded. “Mm, that’s about the right dose. He’s just an idiot.”
Matt turned to Evan. “So how do we do this suggestion thing and make it right?”
“What do you want him to do?” Evan asked.
Matt thought for a moment, then grabbed a pen and pad. He scribbled some notes then handed the pad to Evan. Evan scanned it and then looked up at Matt. “Seriously?”
“Yes.”
Evan smiled. “I think he’s just twisted enough that this is doable. Just give me about ten minutes.”
16
After Nadia had redressed and Jack helped her to calm down, they walked the grounds a bit. The gardens outside the dining hall were beautiful and Jack couldn’t help but notice how Nadia seemed to fit perfectly here, but he couldn’t seem to get her to open up to him. She always stayed one step away from him, just out of reach. She had led him out past the rock walls, beyond the ramparts surrounding the castle and toward the small natural woods that surrounded the island. When Jack looked back at the castle, he could see how, if the castle were shrouded in fog, one could almost imagine it floating above the earth on a cloud like a child’s fairy tale.
He started to feel an ache in his legs and slowed himself. He found a fallen log and took a break. Sitting on the log, he rubbed his legs to try and stimulate the blood flow again. Nadia, who had barely spoken to him since they stepped outside the stone walls of the castle, slowly worked her way back towards him. She took a seat next to him and slowly inched her way closer to him. He stopped rubbing his legs and finally looked at her. “I don’t bite, ya know.” He gave her a cheesy grin.
The sadness in her eyes was heartbreaking. She laid her head on his shoulders and closed her eyes. Jack sighed and patted her shoulder. He couldn’t blame her for being upset. Who’d want to be stuck with him as a mate? She was a natural born wolf. He wasn’t even a ‘made’ wolf. No, instead, his own government had stuck him with a needle and forced him to swallow pills to keep from changing. That was the source of his strength. His speed. His highly attuned hearing and eyesight. They hadn’t created supermen, but rather, low-powered werewolves. Wolves that never finished what nature…or would that be, the supernatural, intended.
“Look, you don’t have to be stuck with me,” he said. “We can find a way to break whatever this is so you can live your life the way you want it to be.”
She lifted her head and gave him a quizzical stare.
“I mean it,” he said. “You don’t have to be mated to me. I’m sure there’s a plant or herb or talisman or spell or magic bullet or some damn thing out there that can rid you of me. You can find yourself a nice natural born wolf and…and…well. Do whatever it was you pictured yourself doing.”
Nadia slowly shook her head. She was shaking and Jack was ready to kick himself. Well, he would if his legs were healed better. Then he heard her giggling. So. She wasn’t crying this time. Who could tell with women? Christ, he thought human women were complicated, he was never going to figure out female wolves.
“You are thick in the head, aren’t you, Jack Thompson?” she said, tapping him on top of his head.
“Well, I’ve been accused of that a time or two,” he said. “But I don’t underst—”
“I do not want another,” Nadia said flatly. “The mating is not just random.”
“Huh?” Jack was thoroughly confused now. “But I thought your mom said…”
“No, Jack. The mating may seem to strike at random, but it is not random. We were pre-selected, even before we were born.” She was smiling again.
“Wait a minute. I couldn’t have known I was going to be a werewolf before I was born. Hell, I didn’t even know until you told me just a little while…”
“No, Jack. We were selected to be mates long ago. Fate turned the wheels to make it happen,” she said, caressing the side of his face.
Jack just nodded. He knew better than to argue with fate. “So then, why were you crying? Why be so upset?”
“Because the mating is not like a marriage, Jack. It binds us together at the soul. We will feel the same things, become one, not just in the flesh, but in our life force,” she said, her face suddenly very serious. Still, she could see that Jack didn’t understand. “If you get hurt, I will feel it. If I am in danger, you will know it. If one of us dies…”
Suddenly Jack figured it out. “The other dies, too.”
She smiled sadly and nodded her head.
“So, when a wolf mates for life…”
“It is quite literal.”
Jack sat quietly while it all digested in his mind. He slid down the log and sat in the green grass. He let it cushion him as she curled up next to him. He played with her hair as he contemplated the entire enchilada.
“Were you the one who plucked me out of the attack?” he asked her.
“No,” she said. “It was my mother.”
Somehow, this answer struck Jack as more than just odd, but downright strange. The woman seemed so…off to him. Emotionless, almost hateful, even where her own daughter was concerned. “Why would she do that?” he asked.
“Rufus asked her to,” she said flatly.
“Is she always so ‘warm and fuzzy’?”
Nadia lifted her head and looked at Jack strangely. “I would not think you would describe her in such a way.”
“I was being sarcastic, actually,” Jack said.
“Oh.” Nadia nodded. “Then yes. She has always been so warm.”
“And fuzzy?” Jack added.
“Only when she is turned. Then she is very fuzzy.” Nadia laughed.
Jack groaned. “Okay. I guess I had that one coming.”
They sat in silence for some time longer. Jack kept bouncing a hundred different thoughts through his head. Finally he asked Nadia, “If we mate, will you only be able to shift to the true wolf, or will you still be a werewolf?”
“Once my mate has accepted me, I will begin shifting to the Halfling form again.”
/> “And if your mate doesn’t accept you?” he asked.
“It will take time, but once my chosen one is gone from me, I will eventually change to the Halfling again.”
“And how does your mate ‘choose’ you, once he does?”
Nadia spoke very carefully, “He must be absolutely sure of what he does. For there is no going back.”
“He knows.”
She simply nodded.
“So how does he do it?”
“He will take me,” she said. “Either in human or wolf form.”
Jack sat quietly for some time. Nadia was very still beside him. “You do realize I’ll have to ‘take you’ in human form, right? You’re making me take the little black pills again.”
She smiled at his comment and nodded. “If I decide to let you, you mean,” she said playfully.
“You couldn’t stop me,” Jack said. “I’m your mate. You’d die without me.”
Nadia turned very serious when she turned to him, “And you could die with me, Jack.”
“I think you would be worth it,” he said as he lowered his mouth to hers.
*****
Apollo had the squads separated into two equal groups. Colonel Mitchell had him work with the trainers to assess each person’s strengths and weaknesses and formulate a working plan to fill each squads needs based on each person’s abilities. He was torn as he thumbed through the grades and assessments made by Ms. Youngblood and the trainers. Each squad member was assigned different scores based on marksmanship, leadership abilities, sniper abilities, CQB ratings and each squad had certain needs. Apollo wanted to keep Sanchez with him, but at the same time, he worried that working with her might impede his judgment.
It was time to come clean about him and Maria’s relationship and let the brass know that it was affecting his ability to do his job. At least, to this point. Part of him knew that she could work equally well on either squad, and part of him wanted her on his squad so that he could help keep her safe in a shit-hit-the-fan situation, but at the same time, he knew that she could hold her own with the best of them. He put the folders back into the pile and went to Laura’s office. He stood outside her door for a moment and tried to think of a way to professionally tell his boss that he’d been screwing his teammate, but he just couldn’t find the words. He almost turned around when Laura opened the door and almost ran into him.
“Apollo! Sorry. I didn’t expect to find you here. Can I help you?” she asked.
He cleared his throat and tried to find the words. “Ma’am, I…umm. I need to speak with you about a…umm...personal issue.”
Laura paled. “Oh lord, you’re not pregnant, are you?”
Apollo stepped back. “What?!”
Laura laughed, “Nothing, just trying to make you feel more at ease.” She opened her door and ushered him in. “See, if you’re not pregnant, then it’s all gravy, right?”
“If you say so, ma’am,” Apollo said as he walked into her office. Even though the chairs were oversized, his large frame barely fit them. And to top it off, he still felt like a little kid at the principal’s office. He was just waiting for her to yell at him and call his mommy in to spank him, or stick his nose in the corner.
“So, what seems to be the problem?”
“Well, ma’am, I’ve been going over everybody’s records. Trying to fit each member into which squad?”
“Yes, I remember the trainers said that you’d be best suited for the job.”
“Well, ma’am…I, umm…”
“Spit it out, Apollo.”
“Well, ma’am, I feel I may have a conflict of interest,” he said. There! Those were good words! Professional sounding words. Please, God, let them be enough for her!
“Because of your relationship with Sanchez?” Laura asked flatly.
Apollo didn’t realize his mouth had fallen open, but he distinctly remembered having to close it. “You knew about that, ma’am?”
Laura actually laughed. “Who doesn’t?” she said. She stood up from behind her desk and walked around to Apollo’s side. She was almost looking him square in the eye. “She’s not exactly ‘quiet’ in the shower, Mr. Williams, if you catch my drift,” Laura said. She patted Apollo on the arm and signaled for him to get up. “Now, I suggest you go back to the files and just…do the best that you can.” As Apollo stepped out of the door, Laura added, “We’ve always trusted your judgment in the past, and I’m sure that you can make the best decision for the squads now.”
Apollo found himself standing back outside her door almost as confused as before he went into her office. Only now he knew that the brass was aware of his and Sanchez extracurricular activities. He sighed and headed back to the stack of folders. If Ms. Youngblood trusted he could do it without letting his personal feelings get involved, then he knew he could do it. He just had to detach himself from what he felt for Maria and place her based on what was best for the squads.
*****
Senator Franklin woke up in a hotel suite and his head was killing him. It tasted like someone had washed his mouth out with battery acid and his eyes were blurry. Yet, something told him that he had to get out of there and back to D.C. He had to do something, but…he couldn’t remember. It was just outside of his memories.
He sat on the edge of the bed and his hand rested on another person’s butt. He allowed his eyes to focus and he realized it was a female butt. A very nice female butt. He had no idea who she was or how she got there, but she was in his bed and she had no clothes on. He smiled to himself. Still got it.
He stumbled out of the bed and to the bathroom. The plastic placard said, ‘Welcome to the Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans’. New Orleans? Franklin ran the water in the sink and took the glass from the edge and rinsed his mouth out. He carried the glass out to the room and found the ice bucket. Most of the ice was melted but there was still some in it. He shoved the glass down into the bucket and scooped up some of the ice. It felt good in the back of his throat and he drank down the melted water. He walked over to the window and cracked open the heavy curtains. The sun was either just coming up or just going down. He had no idea which. The heavenly body in the bed let out a tiny little moan and rolled over. He could just see a glimpse of the side of her breast and decided that he must have had one hell of a nice time. He ran his hand along his manhood and it came back sticky. He chuckled to himself. I may not remember a lot, but at least I got lucky.
His head was muddled, but he had this nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he needed to do something. Desperately do something…important. It was on the edge of his mind, if he could only remember what it was. Franklin rested his head against the window pane and closed his eyes; if he could only remember why he was here in New Orleans. What could have brought him here? Did he have personal business here, or was it government business? Too many questions racing through his mind. His ears picked up the sound of a helicopter in the distance and the ghost of a memory flashed in his mind. Something about airplanes or air travel. He knew he would have flown here, but this tickle meant more. He needed to do something about an airplane or…air support. Yes. He needed to make sure somebody had air support. He stepped away from the window and got another glass of the melting ice. It soothed his aching head and wet his throat.
This air thing was important. He knew it. He glanced around the room. The telephone, the radio, the television, the placard for the fire exit, the placard advertising the best in satellite television…satellite. Satellite? Floods of fuzzy memories came rushing into his head. He had to get air support and satellite coverage for the Monster Squad! he thought. He didn’t know why it was so important, but he knew it was. It was life or death…but whose? His? He felt like he was about to hyperventilate, but he felt like he had to get this done. He didn’t know why…it made no sense. He hated Mitchell and his fucking monster hunters. They threatened Damien’s very existence…well, in a roundabout way. But this air support, this was important. It couldn’t wait.
He
glanced at his watch. Patek Phillipe? Where was his Rolex? What the fuck was going on? No…it had to wait. He stepped to his pants and fished out his phone. He scrolled through his Blackberry and found the head of the Oversight Committee. It was either late or early, but this was important.
Franklin waited until the man picked up the other end and began babbling about how the Monster Squad had to have their own satellite and drones. Predator drones if we could swing it. “Budget be damned, we have to make it happen!”
He argued until he was blue in the face, although the lead on the OC didn’t need convincing, he just wasn’t sure that it was actually Franklin on the other line. He assured Franklin they’d get it done, though he wasn’t sure what caused the change of heart in Franklin. Even Franklin couldn’t explain it; he just knew it had to be done, that it was life and death. Life or death, dammit!
When he hung up the phone, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. He tossed the phone down onto the pile of clothes and went back to the window. Ah. The sun was coming up. Good. The start of a new day. A wonderful day. He heard his bedmate shift under the covers on the bed and he stole a glance at her curvaceous form. He walked over to the bed and ran his hand along the firm round cheek of his bedmate’s ass. He licked his lips then leaned down and bit down on the succulent cheek. It bought him a giggle from under the covers. He couldn’t see her face still, but who cared at this point. He wanted something to remember from this trip. He began kissing his way up her back and along the side of her ribs, working his way to her breasts.
She giggled and play-swatted at him. “That tickles,” she murmured.
“I got something for you,” he said and placed her hand on his stiffening manhood. She giggled again and squeezed it in her delicate hand. He moaned when she did.
“Are you wanting to play again already?” she asked. “I barely got any sleep.”
“Who wouldn’t want to play again?” he teased, pulling the pillows away from her. He finally saw her face and was captivated by her beauty. Deep auburn hair, emerald green eyes, curvy hips and full breasts.
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