Into the Mist

by Maya Banks

  Mad Dog ran a hand through his hair, pulling it behind his neck in a ponytail. Then he let it go. “And what did you find out, Ty?”

  She closed her eyes. “Nothing.”

  She found herself being dragged to the couch.

  “Sit,” Jonah ordered. “Then you tell us everything that happened.”

  With a resigned sigh, she related the events of the night down to her escape from Eli’s apartment.

  Again, Jonah swore while Mad Dog muttered under his breath.

  When she finished, she chanced a look up at Jonah who regarded her thoughtfully.

  “You should have aborted the mission at the first sign that things weren’t going as planned. And you damn sure shouldn’t have been climbing into bed with him. If D knew, he’d shit a brick, and you know it,” Jonah said.

  “You handled the situation,” Mad Dog said quietly. “So what’s bothering you? What’s scared you so bad?”

  She looked back and forth between him and Jonah, wondering if she should admit what was really bothering her. Mad Dog’s eyes narrowed, and he arched an eyebrow expectantly.

  “I enjoyed it. The sex, I mean,” she said uncomfortably.

  Those words shouldn’t hurt so much to say. They shouldn’t have such power over her. Shouldn’t bring back such painful memories or highlight in stark clarity that she’d never had sex for the sake of enjoyment. No, sex was painful, dirty and shameful.

  Jonah heaved a deep breath and looked upward in resignation. His hand rose as he motioned to Mad Dog. “This is your department,” he muttered as he backed away.

  It might have been funny in another instance. Jonah always left the girly stuff to Mad Dog. Patience and understanding weren’t Jonah’s strong points. Tyana still remembered the birds and the bees talks that Jonah had pawned off on Mad Dog as she had gotten older. Mad Dog had dealt with Tyana’s first period. She was a late bloomer in that regard, and Damiano had been as clueless as she was when it came to the natural nuances of growing up.

  Mad Dog had handled it with an ease that to this day she was grateful for.

  “I’ll be outside,” Jonah said as he headed toward the door.

  Tyana sighed and glanced unhappily up at Mad Dog. She didn’t want to have this conversation. She’d much prefer him to go away and leave her to brood alone.

  Mad Dog knelt in front of the couch and gently cupped her chin in his hand. It was so easy to remember all the times before, when she and D were so young and Mad Dog had soothed their fears and nightmares.

  “Did he hurt you?” he asked.

  She slowly shook her head.

  “Ty, it’s okay to have enjoyed it. I’m guessing he had a pretty good time too.”

  Her cheeks tightened uncomfortably.

  “Sex is supposed to be enjoyed. You’re not a little girl anymore. Those bastards can’t hurt you. No one will ever hurt you while me or the others are around. Do you understand that?”

  “It scared me,” she admitted. “I lost it. For a moment…” She gulped, not wanting to relate just what had happened in that moment.

  “For a moment what?” he prompted.

  She looked down, shame crawling up her spine. “For a moment I forgot all about D, about why I was there, what I was after.”

  He chuckled softly and nudged her chin upward. “That’s what good sex does.”

  “I don’t know what to do,” she said miserably. “I acted like some green moron on her first mission. I can’t afford it to happen again.”

  “It won’t happen again, because you’re not going anywhere near him,” he said pointedly.

  “I have to go, Mad Dog. D can’t hold out much longer. I won’t lose him,” she said fiercely. “And Eli was stable. I saw him. He shifted right in front of me. He even had clothes. How could he have conjured clothes? He obviously has great control over his abilities which proves there has to be a way to help D.”

  Mad Dog gave her a look so full of love and sympathy she flinched. “Ty, when are you going to stop punishing yourself?” he asked softly. “What happened to you and D wasn’t your fault. The things that happened to him weren’t your fault. You can’t spend your life trying to make up for things that were out of your control.”

  “I can’t forget that he gave up so much to protect me,” she whispered.

  He stood and gently pulled Tyana up in front of him. Then he folded her into his arms and held her against his strong chest.

  “You have to stop blaming yourself,” he said quietly against her hair. “D doesn’t blame you. Neither should you.”

  Before she could muster a response, he pulled away from her and brushed his thumb across her cheek.

  “You should head on to bed and get some rest. You’re running on empty.”

  She nodded and turned away. She could feel his gaze as she walked out of the game room, knew he would be watching her closely over the next few days, if not weeks.

  As she stepped out the door, Jonah straightened from his position against the wall.

  She tensed and waited.

  “We need to get something straight, Ty,” he said with no preamble. “I’m pulling rank. Not as FMG leader, but as your brother. You know and I know there isn’t an assignment you can’t handle. I trust you implicitly. But as your brother, I’m shutting you down. You aren’t going anywhere near Eli Chance again. Are we clear? I’ll tie you to your bed if I have to, and you know I’m not bullshitting you. We’ll find another way to help D.”

  Tyana stiffened. She wanted to scream. She wanted to lash out at Jonah. She wanted to cry. But she did none of those things. She stood there rigidly, hands balled into fists at her sides.

  They stared at each other for a long moment. Finally Jonah broke the awkward silence.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, and she knew he was referring to her conversation with Mad Dog.

  She nodded. “Yeah, I’m cool. Heading up to bed.”

  He looked as if he wanted to say something further, but he nodded and walked back into the game room where no doubt he and Mad Dog would have a long talk about her discussion with Mad Dog. She cringed.

  She’d always been treated as one of the guys, but now they were going to see her as a vulnerable sister. Just another girl who needed their overbearing protection. She should have just kept her damn mouth shut and lied through her teeth.

  Emitting a disgusted sigh, she trudged up the stairs toward her room. When she got to D’s door, she paused before sliding her hand over the knob.

  She quietly pushed it open and walked inside. D was on the bed, his big body curled into a defensive gesture. It was a position she was intimately familiar with.

  Even in sleep, he fought for control. Sweat beaded his forehead, and his muscles contorted and spasmed in his chest and arms. He let out a low moan, and Tyana bent to soothe a hand over his face.

  There was no question of her offering comfort. She eased into bed beside him and wrapped her arms around him, just as she’d done so many other nights.

  His arm crept around her even as he slept, an automatic motion born of years of habit. They held on tight to each other as Tyana drifted into sleep. The two of them against the world.

  Jonah strode into the game room to see Mad Dog lighting another joint. There was a weariness to Mad Dog’s face that Jonah hadn’t seen in a long time. Mad Dog looked up as Jonah drew closer.

  “What the fuck are we going to do about Eli Chance?” he demanded.

  Jonah crossed his arms over his chest then relaxed them again and put his hands on the back of the couch. “Short answer? I don’t know.”

  “Ty said he was stable, that he shifted at will and had complete control over his abilities. I’d say that’s a big point of interest for us. What if Ty is right and he could lead us to a cure for D?”

  “Ty is going to keep her ass out of this,” Jonah bit out. He’d seen the fear and uncertainty in her eyes, and it was something he swore he’d never have to look at again once he and Mad Dog took her and D in. It pi
ssed him off that Eli Chance had rattled her so badly. It pissed him off even more that his confidence in Ty’s ability to handle herself was shaken.

  “We’ve been gathering intel on Eli and his team for weeks,” Mad Dog said evenly. “Ty was supposed to be on a simple fact-finding mission. Well, she found out plenty. The bastard is stable which means his team probably is as well.”

  “We don’t know that for a fact,” Jonah said.

  Mad Dog made a rude sound. “They all got gassed by the same chemical. D is a shifter, and we now know for sure Eli is as well. It’s not a stretch to say that his team also developed the ability. And if Eli is stable, what are the chances that his team isn’t? They obviously got help from somewhere. We just need to figure out how and where. I’m not one for walking up and saying hey, buddy, can you help my brother out after he left D for dead and skedaddled with his teammates.”

  Jonah’s jaw ticked in anger. The truth was, he wanted Eli Chance’s blood. Now more than ever. If it hadn’t been for Ty intervening, Jonah and Mad Dog would have gone after the asshole and taken him out. But she viewed Chance as a means to help D, and so Jonah had allowed her to approach him in Singapore. Big mistake. One he wouldn’t make twice. He was done allowing Ty any leeway when it came to Eli Chance.

  He looked back up at Mad Dog. “We let things calm down a bit. Allow Chance to relax his guard, and then you and I will take him out. I don’t want him to see us coming until he’s staring death in the face.”

  “And if he does have information that can help D?” Mad Dog asked.

  “Then he’ll tell us before he dies.”

  Mad Dog nodded. “Good enough.” He exhaled a thin plume of smoke then stubbed the joint out in the ashtray.

  Jonah turned and walked out of the game room. He trudged up the stairs feeling a hell of a lot older than he had just a few hours before. The burden of responsibility for his family, his teammates, weighed heavily. Things were fast going straight to hell, and he didn’t like the feeling of helplessness that gripped him.

  As he passed D’s room, he stopped and frowned when he saw the door slightly ajar. They were careful to keep the door closed. Usually locked. A measure as much for D’s protection as their own.

  He nudged the door open and peered inside. He swore softly when he saw Ty in bed with D, the two wrapped protectively around each other. It wasn’t a new sight, but in recent weeks, he’d cautioned Ty to be more careful. D was growing more unstable. He couldn’t control when and how he shifted, and he retained none of his human characteristics or understanding. He could easily hurt Ty, never meaning to, never realizing it until it was too late.

  Overwhelming guilt squeezed Jonah’s chest. He hated that Ty blamed herself for D’s pain. Jonah knew whose fault it was D was in this predicament. It was Jonah’s.

  D should have never gone on that mission to Ahdarji. It should have been Jonah who led the American team. He had more expertise, more experience with all things Ahdarjian. He should, it was the country of his birth. But his anger, his vow never to return, had placed D in a position he should have never been in.

  It should have been Jonah. And he’d live with that for the rest of his life.

  He moved quietly to the bed, and he gently disentangled D’s arms from Ty. Then he picked her up, cradling her in his arms.

  He walked out of the room and down the hall to Ty’s bedroom. He laid her on the bed and pulled the covers down, lifting her again before settling her back down on the sheets. He pulled the comforter over her and tucked her in. He kissed the top of her head before leaving the room.

  He backtracked to D’s room, checking on his sleeping brother one last time before retreating, locking the door securely on his way out.

  Chapter Three

  Tyana jogged along the beach, occasionally skirting the incoming surf. Usually she jogged a few miles as part of her daily workout, but today she pushed herself beyond her usual endurance.

  She darted closer to the water then away again when the waves chased her back. Her shoes left deep imprints in the wet sand, and her legs ached from the strain of the sand sucking her feet downward.

  The morning sun beat on her bare shoulders. Sweat beaded and rolled down her back, making the thin material of the muscle shirt cling to her skin.

  She scrubbed her arm over her forehead and pushed herself further along the beach. Her mind centered and focused on the issue plaguing her.

  Despite Jonah’s insistence that she not go after Eli, she knew she had no choice but to confront him again. Somehow she had to find out how he maintained such control over his shifting abilities. Maybe they’d gotten their hands on a cure.

  D had led Eli’s hostage recovery team into Ahdarji to extract two prisoners. She knew from the file they’d compiled on Eli’s team that they were a highly specialized, highly trained former military combat unit. With their contacts, it wasn’t unreasonable that they’d been able to seek help when they all turned into unmanageable shapeshifters.

  If they possessed the know-how to help D, then by God, she’d track them down. She’d sleep with the devil himself if it meant her brother would find peace.

  The formula a trusted doctor friend had come up with had at first been successful in controlling D’s shifts. But as more time elapsed, D had grown resistant to the injections. The aerosol that had prevented shifting for several hours at a time had long since failed to be effective.

  It hadn’t worked on Eli either, but then Eli had shifted with ease, his mastery of his body and abilities apparent in the way he’d taunted her.

  The sun lifted higher in the sky as she continued to push her aching body. She rounded the eastern corner of the tiny island and headed down the southern strip of the beach.

  When she raised her head to look down the sandy stretch, she saw Mad Dog step onto the beach from the rocky path leading up to the main house. He motioned her over then stood watching her, arms crossed over his chest.

  She sighed and jogged toward him, irritated at the disruption to her solitude.

  “Jonah’s called a meeting,” Mad Dog called out as soon as she drew within hearing distance. “We’ve got company coming.”

  On cue she heard the whop whop of an approaching helicopter. Mad Dog reached out to pull her close to him, and he urged her under the cover of the trees lining the rocky path to the house.

  “What’s the meeting for and who’s coming?” she asked as they started the climb to the house.

  It wasn’t like Jonah to allow a meeting on their island. When they met a client, they always did so in a large international city.

  “I don’t know,” he muttered. “It came through Burkett.”

  Tyana raised an eyebrow in surprise. Burkett rarely got involved in their jobs. Though if he’d recommended a client, she could understand why Jonah was at least entertaining the offer.

  “Be on guard,” he said as they neared the house. “I don’t like that Jonah let them come here. Our location has always been a secret.” He turned to look at her. “Are you packing?”

  She shook her head. She’d left her gun in her room while she’d gone jogging.

  He reached into his jacket and pulled out a Glock. She nearly chuckled. He likely had two more guns and at least three knives stashed on his big body. Knives were his specialty. There didn’t exist a way he couldn’t defend himself with a blade.

  He pressed the cool metal into her hand. Then he shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. “Come on. Jonah’s waiting.”

  “And D?” she asked.

  Mad Dog shook his head. “He’s still sleeping. I gave him another injection early this morning. He’s fighting…” He let his voice trail off as they entered the house.

  “His body is fighting the injections,” she said softly.

  “Yeah, something like that. I’ve called Marcus to come out and take another look at him.”

  “He can’t last much longer like this and you know it,” Tyana said fiercely. “You know Eli Ch
ance is our best hope right now. We need to go after him.”

  “If you hope to sway me against Jonah, it isn’t going to happen. In this we’re united. Call us overprotective older brothers, but we’re not going to sacrifice our baby sister for our baby brother. It don’t work like that. We’ll find a way to help D. One that doesn’t involve you getting yourself killed.”

  Tyana ground her teeth but didn’t argue. When Jonah and Mad Dog made up their minds about something, there wasn’t anything she could do to sway them.

  She pushed her arms into the sleeves of Mad Dog’s jacket and shoved the gun into the inside pocket as they headed down the hall to the meeting room. They stepped in to see Jonah standing behind his desk, arms crossed, a serious expression creasing his face.

  “What’s going on?” Tyana asked as she dropped into a chair in front of the desk.

  “We’ve got company,” Jonah said grimly.

  She lifted one brow. “You let them come here?”

  He returned her gaze. “I had our pilot pick them up. He flew a flight pattern that would have you confused about where you were going. And I made damn sure members of our security team frisked them for any GPS equipment. I think we’re just fine.”

  She winced at his rebuke. He didn’t like that she’d questioned his judgment, and in his defense, it certainly wasn’t something she normally did.

  “I’m sorry,” she began. She was interrupted when the intercom beeped. Jonah leaned forward, pressing the button on his desk.

  “Yeah.”

  “They’re here. We’re coming up.”

  Tyana recognized the voice as their head of security. Jonah employed a dozen men to maintain the tight security net around their island. In short, no one got on or off the island without Jonah’s permission.

  “Who’s here, Jonah?” she asked.

  “Someone about a job,” he said shortly. “Burkett called and asked as a special favor for us to entertain what the man has to say.”

  She frowned. Burkett never asked for favors.

  A few moments later, a knock sounded at the door.

  “Come,” Jonah called.

  The door opened and Henderson, their chief of security, entered. Behind him walked a man in an expensive business suit. Smarmy was the first word that came to Tyana’s mind. But then a lot of their clients weren’t exactly the upper crust of humanity.

  He was flanked by what looked to be two personal bodyguards who were in turn surrounded by members of FMG’s security detail.

  “Burkett said you were interested in hiring our services,” Jonah said abruptly. But then he’d never been one for formalities or beating around the bush. He seemed on edge, and Tyana knew he wasn’t keen on having clients on their home turf. Must be one hell of a favor he owed Burkett to allow people on their island.

  The man pulled his sunglasses off, a flashy move that didn’t impress Tyana. His gaze flickered around the room until it settled on Tyana, making her shift uncomfortably beneath his scrutiny.

  Mad Dog moved closer to her and slid his hand over her shoulder.

  “I was under the impression there were four of you,” the man said mildly.

  Jonah scowled. “You’re wasting my time. Either outline the job you want to hire us for, or leave.”

  The man raised an eyebrow but smiled, flashing straight white teeth. “Very well.”

  He reached inside his suit jacket and withdrew a folder. He flipped it onto Jonah’s desk. “We’d like you to deliver these three men. One of them we want alive. It’s imperative that he isn’t harmed, merely immobilized. If you deliver, we’ll be content to let you name your price.”

  Tyana raised her eyebrow in surprise. Money clearly wasn’t an object, but she sensed desperation in the man’s tone. Whoever the men were he wanted them to find, they must be bad news.

  Jonah opened the folder, glancing over the contents before passing it over to Mad Dog. Tyana leaned forward to peer over Mad Dog’s shoulder, her curiosity piqued. She sucked in her breath when she saw the photos. She recognized two of the men immediately as part of the team that had hired D, and the third… She was on intimate terms with the third, also a member of that same team. Eli Chance.

  “Why do you want them?” she spoke up.