After she checked on Julio, she switched with her mate. As they passed, they only gave each other a quick meeting of the eyes, a subtle nod, and changed duties. He watched Julio while she arranged their sleeping situation so they could get themselves fed and settled in for the night.
They hadn’t been avoiding each other the entire hike. When the terrain didn’t wind him terribly, Julio peppered E with questions, until eventually she spied more and more moments that reminded her of the old Julio Senior. He couldn’t refuse to answer Julio’s inquiries about his childhood, who his favorite superhero had been, what his grandma and grandpa had been like, and his job as a cop.
Yesterday, there had even been a period where E and Ana were finishing each other’s sentences as they were telling the story of how her young husband had tried to fix Nana’s lawn mower. It ended when he had disassembled and reassembled the machine, only to have at least two parts and five screws left over.
Their laughter had drifted off, with E peering at her, brow furrowed, like he was afraid of the sweet moments. Afraid Ana would reject him. Ana had just sighed and gazed fondly at little Julio, carrying his sturdy walking stick, trudging through the trees. That moment, while ending awkwardly, had felt like a gift straight from the heavens. As if her deceased grandmother had said, “Here child. You dreamed, so many nights, of what it would be like to raise your son with his daddy. This one’s for you.”
Ana threatened to tear up again and instead busied with straightening their sleeping bags. When the guys came back, after Julio dried off and dressed again, they sat and ate their protein bars and drank from a fresh supply of newly-filtered water.
“I think we can camp here until we find signs they’re on our trail,” E said around a mouthful of granola. “Vampires aren’t thrilled about going deep into the woods, they don’t like to risk it. I only know of one vampire for sure who can flash this deep into the woods, and I don’t think we have to worry about him.”
Ana lifted a questioning eyebrow, chewing on her own meager stash of food.
“Demetrius is supposedly Madame G’s partner, but I don’t think she trusts him.” E brought the bar up for another bite and wrapped his arms around his knees. They were sitting on the dirt floor of the compact little cave and Julio was snuggled into his down sleeping bag, snoring softly. “He’s actually not a bad guy, just an arrogant prick. I don’t know why he’s tied up with Sigma, just heard his family is big in the vampire world.”
“And you don’t think he’ll chase us?”
E lifted one broad shoulder in a shrug. “Nah. Others can get here, but they’d have to use a lot of energy to travel this far fast enough to keep out of sunlight. We’re small potatoes as far as Sigma goes. Me getting away hurts Madame G’s pride, damages her street cred, but we’re only important to her and whatever she’s planning. The rest of Sigma just wants to control shifters, or wipe them out if they don’t succeed.” E shook his head and chugged some water. “What Madame G specifically wants, we’ve never found out.”
“Power.”
“Most likely.” He considered her a moment. “Why do you think that, though?”
“Has she been getting more insane, or has she always been this demented?”
E rolled his head from side to side while Ana admired his chiseled jawline and the flexing cords in his neck. “She’s been batshit crazy since I was brought into her world. Stories from other Agents make it sound like she’s always been cruel. Modern technology has given her the means to move beyond plain torture to sadistic experimentation.
“Maniacal leaders always want power. Last year, a manager from hell was finally fired. No one had the balls to do it for years, even though every one of us complained. He started doing crazy shit, like taking away our supplies when he’d come in for work before everyone else. Yet, none of upper management batted an eye. Anyway, he was getting violent, and to save their own ass, the bosses started investigating and fired him.”
Ana took another bite, giving it a pond water chaser. “So anyway, I felt sorry for him. He never made the jump to the upper echelon and it drove him crazy. Like literally, until he was doing anything and everything that filled his need to feel omnipotent. So maybe Madame G… I mean, she’s a female. If she’s immortal, or whatever, I can’t imagine gender issues are exempt in other species. I mean look at the Guardians, only one female, and I’m sure other packs are like that. How about vampires?”
E’s expression was utterly perplexed. “I don’t know. I guess she’s the only powerful female I’ve met with fangs. I’ve been around female vampires,” he shivered almost imperceptibly, but Ana caught it, “and they’re more powerful than humans. But now that you mention it, when I hear talk of the shifter and vampire leading bodies, they sound mostly male.”
Her mind working over the problem, Ana felt like she was in her comfort zone. Her job in research didn’t mean she was the grunt who just carried out the testing. Often, the PhDs she worked for bounced theories off the whole office for a wide variety of input. She and E might not be talking about how a drug affects a certain strain of bacteria, but it was still like trying to discover a cause-and-effect relationship. “And if vampires succeed in controlling the shifters, where will that leave Madame G?”
E studied the tips of his boots, deep in thought. “Nowhere different. Still in charge of Freemont’s Sigma chapter.” He nodded his head slowly. “Unless she orchestrated and controlled the event that took over the shifters. Then she could use them to rule the vampire world. The problem is, we don’t know how she’s gaining her powers. Shifters all have standard physical abilities over humans, and at least one superior mental ability that varies among them. Vampires are the same physically, and they can flash from one location to another and have some mental powers, especially over humans.”
“Because they need to eat.” Ana stretched her legs out, trying to ignore how E’s dark eyes raked over her limbs. Glancing toward Julio, she found him passed out in his sleeping bag, the last three days of the excursion finally having caught up with him.
“Exactly. They seduce their prey, heal the fang marks, and make them forget. If they’re not demented and just kill their meals.” E followed Ana’s gaze. He never lost the look of awe and pride when he gazed at his son. The fear was still there, too. Fear this would all get taken away from him again. A feeling she shared. “Madame G is different. She can choke someone without laying a finger on them, use spells to bind her blood to another being, and we’ve even seen her create storms out of a clear sky and direct the lightning.”
Ana arched her back and stretched her shoulders, feeling E’s heated gaze land on her chest, although her thick long-sleeved shirt and sports bra kept her ladies tucked in nicely. “Like she’s stealing power? Can that happen?”
“Dunno.” E tore his blazing eyes off her breasts, shifted his position and returned to inspecting his boots. “They say vamps and shifters were created together, and one species chose to follow the light and earthly ways, the other chose to follow a dark-spirited path. Makes sense. Shifters live off the land, calling it Sweet Mother Earth. Vampires have always blended among humans, forced to use them for food. X and I have mulled over if demons really exist. We haven’t seen any, but we’ve seen some pretty sick, twisted stuff. That kind of perversion has to come from somewhere, right?”
Releasing a wry chuckle, Ana threw her hands up. “A couple of weeks ago, I’d probably disagree with you, saying there are good people and bad people. Now that I know humans aren’t the lone bipeds on this planet, I’d still disagree with you…to an extent. But after the stories I’ve heard, and from what I’ve seen, I’d say that level of evil is getting some help from down below.”
“X and I suspect she may have sold her soul,” E said softly.
For real? Now they’re talking about selling souls? What happened to the days vampires didn’t exist and dead husbands didn’t come back from the dead? “I guess if we’re thinking demons might be real, let’s assume sellin
g souls is possible. It would basically be a business transaction. What would a soul get you?”
“If Madame G wanted power, that’d be the price.”
“But she’s still trying for more power, and although she sounds diabolical, she doesn’t sound insane…much. The power she has isn’t enough; she’s still attempting to get more, more control, more domination. Would she be trying to get another soul to attain the level of power she wants?”
E’s brows shot up. “Motherfucker!” he breathed. “She’s been trying to tie herself to a shifter baby, implant herself into the baby before it’s even born. All of her attempts have been unsuccessful. The only successful insemination was Dani, but her and Mercury’s bond pushed Madame G’s influence out.”
Frowning, Ana pondered the new information. “How can she tie herself to a baby if she has no soul? Didn’t the commander say the blood bond ties our souls together?”
“You said to consider it like a business transaction. What if there’s some entity that gave her a little extra power up front, and in return, she needed to provide them with…What? She’s had plenty of shifter prisoners to trade.”
“I’m guessing souls need to be freely given, or in a baby’s case, if she tied herself to it, she has the right to give it away.”
A thought lightened E’s face. “And what if, this evil spirit needs a nice, fresh body? What better way secure her ties to the power source than to be a part of the power?”
“If all those bad sci-fi movies you dragged me to were correct, evil would be free to roam the earth.”
E gave a low whistle. “I’m going to find Irina and tell her our theories, let her pass them on to the Guardians.” He leaned over and gave her a solid kiss, lingering only for a second, before crawling out of the cave.
Before he disappeared entirely, he turned back. “I always thought your brains were as hot as your body.” Then he was gone.
Ana’s breath hitched. This was no place to get hot and bothered. Or, it was exactly the place, because she was practically throbbing for him after that searing look he gave her. They’d been tiptoeing around each other while hiking side by side. Neither one had mentioned their mating night when they’d come together so often it put their current relations in a whole separate class from their young, human, naïve sex.
Back then, he’d been so sweet, so romantic, concerned only for her pleasure. He had been her first, and he hadn’t had much more experience. They had learned together, laughed at their innocence, and took each other for granted. Maybe that was the biggest difference. After having almost everything ripped away, they both knew what could be lost, and that fueled them ravish each other with abandon. Having increased physical stamina certainly helped—for both of them. Never, never, would he have taken her then like he had on the night they were mated. He wouldn’t have lingered between her legs until they were shaking, tears of pleasure streaming down her face. There’d have been no tugging and nibbling on her breasts, and certainly no taking her on her hands and knees with such force that they both slid off the bed. The laughter though—after massively climaxing together on the floor—had been like old times.
Even now, it plucked at her heart. Old times. By far the hardest part of the survival game she found herself in was constantly being reminded of her former married life, when they’d been over the moon happy. Blissfully ignorant of non-human evil in the world, planning her school and their future.
Fondly drawing her hand down her sleeping son’s face, she marveled, like eight-thousand times before, at how much her son looked like his father. When her husband had still been thought dead, little Julio’s features only prompted memories of his dad’s strong jaw, dark eyes that glimmered when upset, and hair that curled tight and thick. But now, she could compare the two side-by-side, and she swore Julio was picking up more and more mannerisms of his father’s, even ones that weren’t developed ten years ago. Like the tight draw of his shoulders as if he was always expecting an attack, the constant scrutiny of their surroundings, and the lightness in his step that would ready him to spin and attack in less than a heartbeat. He was becoming a Mini Me of E, except for his bright smile, paired with a dimple that Ana could claim came from her.
She was bombarded with her son and his father being reunited. But E was not her late husband, yet he was. And she wasn’t the Ana of ten years ago, either. And they were mated now, not married. Technically, if he didn’t die then the death certificate was null and void. Right? Or does more than ten years give it a level of permanence? Ana gave her head a shake. It was mind-boggling, and she’d had enough unbelievable moments lately.
A dip in the little wannabe lake would be nice, and maybe she could pretend it wasn’t frigid and muddy.
Ana made her way to the waterside. Shucking her boots off when the ground became squishy, she stripped off all her clothing, but took her knife and only one gun with her as she headed to the water. Who knew she’d be comfortable as a walking arsenal? Could she even go back to the real world? Measure out drugs and chemicals for testing, gossip in the break room, and not think about her son getting attacked while she was at work, not feel the solid weight of the side arms strapped to her hip, and the blades harnessed around her legs?
Wading into the water, she paused long enough to let her ankles get used to the chilly water swirling over her feet. Not as icy as she feared, but cold enough deep in the woods, in early fall, to make a person pause. It would be the cold shower she needed after witnessing E’s strong, capable body maneuver the terrain, safeguard their son, and rest only a foot away. Not to mention his unique male scent wrapping her in comfort until daybreak as they both lent their warmth to Julio during the brisk nights.
She waded in further, steeling herself until she could sink down into a crouch with her shoulders in the water. Okay, there would be no lingering, it was too chilly. Quickly scrubbing sweat and dirt off her face and out of her scalp, she decided against a full wet head until the sun was out. If they were going to hide out here a while, then a wet head at high noon would be more comfortable and dry faster.
She rose, grabbed her weapons off the large rock she found to use for a shelf, and moved nimbly over little sharp rocks, on her way to the shore. Scurrying to her pile of clothes, she put her knife and gun back into their holsters, noticing too late, the dark figure waiting thirty feet away in the trees.
“I thought you’d be gone for a bit,” she said nervously, straightening and resisting the urge to cover herself.
His stance portrayed nonchalance leaning against a tree trunk, but his gaze burned as they trailed the water droplets over her chest, between her breasts, and down her belly, to run between her legs and drip to the ground. “I was gone for a bit.”
Ana made no move forward. “What’d Irina say?” Like talking business was going to dampen the desire between them.
Intensity flared from him as he eyed her taut nipples, jutting out from the chill at first, but now it was like they were straining to get to the intent male. They weren’t the only ones. It was all Ana could do to stay in place, and she had yet to come up with a valid reason why they shouldn’t indulge in each other’s bodies.
Julio was with them. But he was in a deep sleep.
They were on the run for their lives, but there were possibly days of reprieve where they could rest and wait.
She didn’t want to get close to the Agent only to lose him. Screw it, take him while you can, as often as you can.
Irina was still out there, and it’d be embarrassing if she heard them. Yeah, that was good enough.
“She said they had come to some of the same conclusions, but hearing similar theories from us, filled in with the information I gave them, made their assumptions more valid. Maybe they can start to plan an offense instead of always being on the defense.” Daylight was gone, but she could sense blistering emotion rolling off the male she was facing nude. “Come here.”
“We shouldn’t.”
“Why not?”
Because…why? Oh yes, the female shifter. “Irina’s out there.”
The corner of E’s mouth quirked up. “She headed back to get more supplies for us. Kaitlyn’s going to meet her halfway. We thought it was safe for her to be gone a day.”
Ana blew out a breath. There goes her defense.
“Come here.”
Uncertainty welled up, with a dash of shyness. This wasn’t survival, they had already mated. This would be for pleasure only. “I don’t know…”
His eyes narrowed on her, and she felt like she was timid prey that had a spotlight illuminating her. “You are mine, Ana.”
“For how long?” Anguish coated her words. Didn’t he see? Losing him again would rip her apart.
He started forward, and she commiserated with the bunnies that would go after Nana’s sugar snap peas. She now knew exactly why they froze in plain sight as soon they heard someone walk out onto the tiny porch facing Nana’s treasured garden. For a few seconds, they could pretend they weren’t seen by a passing predator, fooling themselves that their brown fuzziness wouldn’t be obvious against the green grass. Standing nude, the cool night air evaporating droplets off her skin, making it pebble from the chill, she was frozen, irrationally hoping E would pass her by. Because if he didn’t, and he swept her up in another maelstrom of passion, she’d be that much more devastated if she lost him.
Every time he talked, it suggested he was tangible, that her mind didn’t create this wild fantasy from deep-seated longing. Each time he interacted with their son, he was the father she’d wished for Julio his entire life. Every touch, every kiss, every conversation, made him a man again. Not enhanced, not an Agent, not a rugged male who used to be her husband, but a man. A man she could easily fall in love in with…again.
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