by J. C. Diem
She let me go and her hand dipped into her shirt and came out with a necklace. A cross dangled from the gold chain. She swung it towards me and I leaped back, holding up an arm to shield my face. It missed me by a fraction, but the close proximity to the holy symbol had stung. I pushed my sleeve back to reveal a nasty red welt on my skin.
“You are doomed,” she said and cackled, revealing that she had lost her sanity along with her eyesight. “Doomed!”
Backing away slowly, I didn’t take my eyes off the oracle or her bird until I was safely outside.
₪₪₪
Chapter Fifteen
“What did she want?” Kala asked when I reached our SUV.
“To tell me I’m doomed, apparently,” I replied and showed them the mark on my wrist.
“The vampirism is getting worse,” Mark muttered worriedly after examining the burn. He kept his voice quiet enough not to be overheard by Aiden and his henchmen. “We need to find Flynn and wrap up this mission so we can deal with your mother.” He turned to the shifters and raised his voice. “We’re going to head east and see if we can find my agent. Do you have any objections if we explore the area?”
Aiden thought about it then shook his head. “No, but you’re not going alone. Take Patrick with you. I expect him to be returned to our campsite unharmed.”
Patrick looked excited by the idea of coming with us and my heart sank. He’d had a crush on me when we’d both been human. It looked like his crush was still alive and well. The poor guy was going to be disappointed again if he thought he had a chance with me. Reece might not want me anymore, but my heart still belonged to him.
Our new companion hurried over before Mark could object. He climbed into the back of the SUV beside me. Kala’s eyes and reflexes were far better than Mark’s, so she took up the job of driving since we would be heading into rough terrain.
“I take it you’re all federal agents?” Patrick asked as we sped away from the oracle’s cave. Kala returned along the same route we’d taken to get here, but at a much faster pace.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Who do you work for?”
“That’s classified,” I said with a straight face. Mark glanced back at me and his lips twitched in amusement that I’d stolen his line.
Patrick was disappointed. “Can’t you tell me anything about what you do?”
“We kill monsters,” Kala said flatly. “Including any shifters who eat humans.”
Her warning was clear, but he wasn’t concerned by the threat. “Our pack doesn’t hunt people,” he said. “Aiden is too smart to put us in jeopardy like that.”
“Your campsite looks fairly new,” Mark said.
“We move around a lot. Our territory is pretty large and Aiden doesn’t like to be tied down to one particular place for long.”
“Where do you go during the full moon?” I asked. There were twelve werewolves in their pack and they would require a lot of food.
“Aiden owns a few cattle farms,” he shrugged. “He arranges for some of the cattle to be moved to his favorite hunting area. He keeps us together so we don’t roam too far away and accidentally eat someone.”
Kala spared him a long, disbelieving look. “Your alpha doesn’t look like he has enough money to own his own truck let alone several properties.”
“He comes from a long line of werewolves. They bought a lot of property in Texas a long time ago,” he explained. “Most of his pack was wiped out in a turf war when he was fifteen. He was left with one grandparent, who died a few years later. He inherited everything, but I think the memories of losing his family were too much for him to stay at his family mansion.”
I’d had the feeling Aiden wasn’t as seedy as he looked. He’d been raised by wealthy people and some of that prestige still stuck with him.
“He started searching for the pack that killed his family when he turned eighteen,” Patrick continued. “He found them and realized that they’d lost a lot of people during the battle as well. There were only a few of them left. He snuck up in the middle of the night and set fire to their house. They didn’t even know he was there until he started shooting them one by one when they tried to escape from the flames.”
Kala nodded, agreeing with Aiden’s tactics. The sole survivor of his pack, he’d been a budding alpha and he’d wanted revenge. He’d been alone and without backup so he’d destroyed his enemies in the most ruthless and efficient manner he could think of.
“After that, he didn’t have a goal and he started wandering. He found Rick lying on the side of the road next to a motorbike a few years later.”
“What happened to him?” I asked. I hated to admit it, but I was intrigued by this story.
“He’d hit an oil patch and he wasn’t wearing a helmet. He’d broken a lot of bones, including his skull. They were hours away from a hospital and Aiden knew he wouldn’t make it if he tried to drive him to one.
“He was just sitting there, watching Rick die when a hawk landed on his shoulder. He almost had a heart attack, but he saw a note tied to its leg. It was messy and hard to read, but it told him that the biker could be saved if he followed the bird.”
“The oracle sent it,” Mark deduced.
Patrick nodded. “Aiden took a chance and put Rick in his truck. He drove east, following the hawk and eventually found the oracle’s cave. He knew she was a shifter straight away, of course and figured he might as well trust her. She made a concoction and forced Rick to drink it. It stopped his internal bleeding and kept him alive for a few days until it was the night of a full moon. She told Aiden the only way Rick would fully recover was if he was turned into a shifter. Aiden bit him and a month later, Rick turned. He came out of his coma, his injuries healed and he became Aiden’s second.”
“I take it the rest of the pack joined your group in a similar fashion?” Mark asked. It was clear they were a motley bunch who had all lived hard lives. Aiden was the only pure blood among them.
“You guessed it,” Patrick confirmed. “Most of us were turned by random werewolves and were left to fend for ourselves. We were all in a bad situation and he offered us a place with his pack.”
“If he has so much money, why doesn’t he just build a new place for you all to live in so you don’t have to live so ruggedly?” Kala queried.
“After wandering for so long, Aiden is no longer bound by material possessions,” Patrick said.
“Or apparently by the laws of general hygiene and cleanliness,” I heard her mutter softly. I had to bite my lips to keep in my laughter.
Mark took all this in, no doubt making mental notes that he’d later add to a file somewhere. I felt more empathy for Aiden now that I knew his history. Losing almost his entire family when he was so young would have been devastating. At least he wasn’t alone anymore. His pack was all fiercely loyal to him. I’d gathered that much from our short meeting.
Kala retraced our route to the abandoned farmhouse then skirted around it to avoid any snakes that might be lying in wait. Zooming past the property, we headed east, remaining vigilant for any signs of Flynn. The ground was too hard to leave many tracks, but we occasionally saw scuff marks that might have been left by our missing companion. Kala wound her window down and we occasionally caught whiffs of his scent, which meant that we were on the right path.
We drove long past dark, heading towards the distant mountain range. Kala came to a halt when we topped a rise and saw lights in the distance. Mark reached over and switched off the headlights before we could be spotted.
“I thought there wasn’t supposed to be anything out here,” Kala said with a frown.
Mark glanced back at me and I nodded at his unspoken command. Reaching into the cargo area of the SUV, I grabbed my already assembled sniper rifle. Zeus had been staring at Patrick ever since he’d climbed into the SUV. Even after several hours in his company, the Rottweiler still didn’t trust him.
I looked through the scope and a large concrete building came into view.
Only one story high, it was long and wide and had been painted the same color as the ground to help it blend in. It was surrounded by an electrified fence with armed guards on patrol. We’d approached the property at an angle and the front doors weren’t visible. I couldn’t see any signs to indicate who the building belonged to.
Lowering my gun, I caught a glimpse of Mark’s expression in the rear view mirror when he lowered his binoculars as well. He knew who the base belonged to and he didn’t want to say anything in front of Patrick.
“There’s only one building and they have multiple guards patrolling the area,” I reported.
“Do you want us to follow Flynn’s trail on foot and make sure he’s in there?” Kala asked.
Mark shook his head. “There’s no need for that. I’m certain that he’s in there. It isn’t safe to go any closer until we can perform some surveillance. We should head back to the campsite for now. I’m sure Aiden is anxious to have his pack member back.”
“You know who took your agent, don’t you?” Patrick asked. “Who is it?”
“That’s classified,” Mark said flatly, beating me to it this time.
Patrick looked at me and I shrugged. “He tells me that all the time.” I hoped it would happen less often now that my security clearance had been raised. I knew what it felt like to be kept in the dark. It wasn’t much fun, but it was sometimes necessary.
It was late by the time we dropped Patrick off back at the campsite. Aiden descended the slope and came to a stop at Mark’s window. “Did you learn anything?”
“Yes,” Mark replied. “I know who is responsible for taking my agent. They are probably behind the deaths in Northam as well. We’ll be taking steps to retrieve Flynn shortly. I’m hoping we’ll learn more about who is controlling the snakes when we infiltrate the base.”
“Do you need our help?” The alpha seemed eager for action. I didn’t kid myself that he trusted us. He was probably just bored and werewolves liked nothing better than to hunt.
“Possibly,” Mark decided after a moment. “Give me your number. I’ll be in touch if we need your assistance.”
Kala waited until after the men had exchanged numbers and we’d left the camp before she spoke. “It’s EERI, isn’t it? They took Flynn. Again.” Her tone and expression were both bleak.
He nodded in agreement, looking pale and strained. “I’m starting to think they lured us here so they could kidnap him.”
“Why do they want him so badly?” I asked, frightened for Flynn.
“I have no idea.” With that admission, he fell into a grim silence.
₪₪₪
Chapter Sixteen
It was agonizing to leave Flynn behind, but we didn’t have the equipment that we’d need to break him free. Three handguns and a sniper rifle wouldn’t be enough firepower. Kala and I didn’t pester Mark with questions. He was thinking hard and he was hopefully working on a rescue plan.
We reached our compound and trooped inside. Without needing to be asked, Kala made coffee while Mark headed up to the coms room. Zeus stayed outside to patrol the base. I sent him a quick message to alert me if he saw any snakes. I also warned him to stay away from them if any appeared.
Kala carried two mugs up to the coms room. I followed her, cradling my own mug carefully. Mark didn’t object when we took a seat at the table on either side of him. Kala placed his mug next to him and he immediately picked it up. He was paranoid about spilling anything on the expensive computer table.
With one hand now full, he was reduced to typing with one hand. It didn’t slow down his search for information on the EERI base that we’d found. By the time I’d finished my drink, it was obvious that there was nothing about the compound on file. He didn’t seem surprised.
Taking a different approach, he called up satellite images of the area. The timestamp indicated that they’d been taken several months ago. Instead of a concrete building, we saw only empty land. “They’ve been manually altered,” Mark said after close examination. He pointed out a few tiny wrinkles in the image that hadn’t been smoothed over very well.
“Can we send in the drone to take a closer look?” Kala asked.
“They’d detect it and it would be shot down before we could learn anything useful,” Mark replied. After a short pause, he continued. “What I’m about to do is highly illegal and it could end up with me being jailed if I’m discovered.”
Kala and I exchanged a look. “We’ll come visit you in prison, boss,” she said with a weak grin. He frowned at her attempt at humor, but his heart wasn’t in it. Finished with his coffee, he put the empty mug on the floor then went to work.
My knowledge of computers was limited to operating a laptop. I had no idea what he was doing at first then I realized he was hijacking a satellite. He maneuvered it into position and new photos began to appear on the monitors. EERI might discover that their compound had been under surveillance, but they weren’t going to be able to alter these records.
The enemy base came into view in stark detail. I counted twenty guards patrolling the perimeter. All wore black clothing, tactical vests and helmets and carried assault rifles. It was the middle of the night, but they were on high alert for intruders.
Zooming in, Mark took photos of the concrete building from all angles then sent the satellite back to its original position. Hopefully, no one would realize it had been temporarily and illegally utilized. “You didn’t see me do that,” he said.
“Do what?” Kala asked, pretending to be dumb. He smiled, but he couldn’t quite mask his anxiety.
We studied the photos and our suspicions were confirmed. A sign on the front doors stated that it was an EERI compound. The building was far larger than our base even though it was only one level high. Flynn could be anywhere inside and it would take a long time to search every room.
“We’re not going to be able to rescue Flynn alone,” Kala said. “Even if we use Aiden and his pack, the odds still aren’t going to be great. We don’t know how many people they’ll have inside.”
“The pack might come in useful, but I’m afraid I’ll have to follow protocol this time,” Mark said with great reluctance.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I’ll have to call in the O Squad.” His tone was full of dread.
I looked at Kala to see her expression was as blank as mine. “Who are the O Squad?” she asked. “I’ve never heard of them.”
“It’s classified,” he said unhappily. “I can’t tell you anything further.” With that, he left us and entered his bedroom. It wasn’t much fun when he turned that excuse on us.
“I’m guessing the O doesn’t stand for orgasm,” Kala said. “Which is a pity, because an entire squad dedicated to giving orgasms would be pretty damn fantastic.”
I tried and failed to suppress a snigger at her wistful expression.
Mark’s room was soundproofed just like ours and we couldn’t hear the conversation he had with his contact. He returned a few minutes later and sank into his chair again. “Normally, the O Squad operates alone,” he told us. “I’ve offered our assistance during this mission and it was accepted.”
“Why?” Kala asked bluntly. “It sounds like we’re not even supposed to know they exist.”
“This job is different from normal. They usually have days, if not weeks, to prepare. This time they’ll basically be going in blind. My superiors are concerned about whoever or whatever is controlling the snakes. There’s no telling what they’ll find inside the base. We’re the experts in hunting paranormal creatures, so they agreed to let us ride along with them.”
“When will they get here?” I asked.
“By midday tomorrow.”
“They’re not going to call in the Mind Sweepers and wipe our memories afterwards, are they?” Kala asked.
“I doubt it,” he said wryly. “Having your memories erased is apparently an unpleasant ordeal. They wouldn’t want to expunge something important by accident.”
“
I watched Kurt Jorgen scrub someone’s mind once,” I said and shivered. “I definitely wouldn’t want to be strapped to a table and have him messing with my head.”
“Kurt who?” Mark asked blankly.
I’d forgotten that they couldn’t recall anything about the half-faery. “No one. Forget I mentioned it.”
His expression smoothed out immediately. It was always startling to see faery glamor at work. “We should get some sleep,” he suggested. “We’re going to have a long day and an even longer night tomorrow.”
I called Zeus inside then took a shower and went to bed. He lay on the floor at the foot of my bed again, ready to protect me from anyone who might try to enter. I didn’t want him wandering around outside just in case the mysterious snake charmer sent his minions to pay us a visit. Zombies had managed to infiltrate our base in Colorado, but it was doubtful that snakes would be able to get inside the building. Our compounds were safe from ordinary creepy crawlies.
Thoughts of Flynn being alone and helpless floated to the surface of my mind, making it difficult to fall asleep. Our bond was weak, but I sensed that he was alive. I couldn’t tell if he was in pain or not. Kala’s emotions were coming through much more clearly. Her room was right next to mine and she was broadcasting her concerns.
I eventually dropped off to sleep and woke up at mid-morning. Mark was sitting in the coms room, studying the photos he’d taken via the satellite. It was nighttime in the photos, but the pictures were clear enough.
I mumbled a greeting on my way past him then headed to the kitchen. Kala sat at the dining table. Bleary eyed, she grunted at me then concentrated on eating. In a couple of hours, the O Squad would arrive. They had no idea we weren’t human and we’d be forced to act as if we were normal once again. To me, that was the hardest part of being a shifter. What had once been my normal state of being was now foreign to me. It was hard to pretend to be harmless and fragile when I was anything but.
