The Protectors Series Bundle (A superhero romance anthology)

by Nana Malone

  He frowned, and his grip loosened. Narrowing his eyes he said, “You would make a bargain like that? Maybe Reaper’s right, and you are a terrorist.”

  “Is that what he told you I was? Tell me, do you Trackers ever do any thinking for yourselves? I’m no terrorist. Your boss tortured me for years because he could. You’d better kill me now, ‘cause that’s the only way I’m going back.” She leveled a gaze at him. How the hell am I going to get my gloves back off? She had to get back to Riley. She’d avoid killing him if she could, but desperate times and measures and all of that. Though her whole body jerked in revulsion at the thought. What the hell was wrong with her?

  He shook his head as he backed off and let go of her arms. “My orders are to bring you back alive.” He shrugged. “I’m not so inclined to follow orders right now. But you and I do need to talk. I’d rather not restrain you while we do. We can do this the easy way, or I can knock you out, take you somewhere safe where people aren’t shooting at you, and we’ll talk there. Your choice.”

  She darted a glance around him, all the while trying to wiggle out of the gloves she’d hastily shoved on after her tussle with greasy. This guy was big. She’d never make it around him. Besides, she had to get Riley—running was out of the question. She wouldn’t be able to fight him off, get to Riley, and run without him following. Damn it.

  “I’ll take the restraints.”

  His lips tipped up. “Fair enough.”

  He spun her around to face the wall, and the jangling chime of cuffs filled the still night air. Blowing out a breath, she said a silent prayer that she wasn’t too late to reach Riley.

  When the cold metal bracelet clicked into place around her gloved hand, she offered him her other hand. And as he took it, she grasped on to his wrist and whipped around to face him, effectively drawing them into an embrace. His eyes popped wide but his lips tipped up into a smirk—until she placed her non-gloved hand over his cheek like a lover’s caress.

  “I don’t want to kill you, but I have no choice.” When his eyes rolled back into his head, she held on. He didn’t go down as easy as Greasy did. From her experience, those who were enhanced like her took longer. Depending on the powers someone else had, it could slow down the effectiveness of her gift. But in the end, they all fell.

  And so did he.

  Only when he crumpled to his knees and fell backward into a puddle did she finally let go. She checked for a pulse with her gloved hand and didn’t find one. In his current position, the moonlight lit his face—angled but handsome with a straight Roman nose and deep-set eyes. A momentary pang stabbed her in the gut, but she’d examine those feelings when she and Riley were safe.

  She careened around the dumpster and frowned when she discovered Greasy no longer occupied his heaped position on the pavement. Maybe she was losing her touch.

  Slipping back into the warehouse, she called out for Riley.

  “I’m over here.” A small voice came from the shadows.

  “Why the hell didn’t you stay where I put you?”

  “I heard the other gun shot, and I was worried.”

  Symone shook her head. “What? You were going to come out and save me?”

  Riley shrugged. “Whatever.”

  “Did you make that call?”

  Riley shook her head. “I-I thought maybe I could help.”

  Shit, what a disaster. “We have to go. I—”

  When Riley paused and winced, Symone examined her more closely. The sleeve of her jacket glistened in the darkness, wet with blood.

  “Shit, you’re hit.”

  “Just grazed, I think. Stray bullet.”

  Symone bit out a curse. “You should have stayed where I put you.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry but we have to move out. We have bigger problems than those gang members.”

  Symone grabbed the hem of her shirt and tugged. The tearing sound filled the silence. She carefully wrapped the strip of fabric around Riley’s arm. As tourniquets went, it was kind of crappy, but at least it was something. She couldn’t have Riley leaving a blood trail right to her place.

  Riley winced as Symone tightened the knot.

  “Sorry. Don’t know my own strength sometimes.”

  Riley nodded, then her gaze darted towards the dumpster. “What happened over there?”

  Symone shook her head and grabbed Riley’s back pack. “Don’t worry about it. Can you run?”

  Riley nodded.

  “Then get your ass in gear. We’ve got to get out of here.”

  The two of them headed back through the warehouse and took a short cut out the back. Symone didn’t want to go the long way to the tunnels, but she couldn’t take the risk. Symone pushed the pace, even though Riley lagged behind. Twice they had to stop. Riley puffed out short labored breaths but kept moving. Once they got to the tunnels, Symone finally let out a sigh of relief. Almost safe.

  A shift in the breeze had her pausing. She scanned the dark shadowy surroundings, but nothing stood out. There were no additional heartbeats in their immediate vicinity. No scent of leather in the air. He’s dead, girl. Get a grip.

  Riley was a trooper. Not once did she complain about the smell. She kept up as best she could and was careful to keep her arm from touching anything. Symone pressed on and reminded herself if could have been worse. As they left the sewers, for a precautionary measure, she took a circuitous route around the elementary school and down the throngs of Main Street.

  When they finally reached her car, Riley limped against the passenger door. “God, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep going.”

  Symone tossed Riley’s backpack by the door. “Take your jacket off. I need to look at that wound.”

  “What, so you’re a doctor now?

  “Something like that.”

  “What the hell happened back there?” Riley tugged her arm from Symone’s grasp and stared at her. “What are you?”

  Symone winced but didn’t respond to the question. What would be the point of explaining now? What mattered was that the kid was safe and on her way out of Mylands to somewhere even safer. “How bad are you hurt?”

  “Shit, I’m bleeding, so I’d say pretty bad. Are you going to tell me what’s going on? Are you some kind of radioactive, spider-bitten, super chick or something?”

  “You read too many comic books.” She opened the passenger side to let Riley in. “Now sit down, and let me take a look at your arm.”

  “You can’t pretend I didn’t see you throw a full grown asshole through a window last night and that you didn’t just take on a few more of Santez’s thugs all by yourself. You’re not human are you?”

  Symone snapped open the glove compartment and grabbed her first aid kit. Laying out a couple of strips of gauze and wrapping tape, she turned to the girl. “Roll up your sleeve.”

  Riley narrowed her eyes but complied. “You must be like Wolverine or something. You can’t get hurt.”

  Symone rolled her eyes. “That’s where you have it wrong, kid. Wolverine could get hurt. He just healed really quickly.”

  “So you’re saying you are like Wolverine?”

  Symone had to laugh at the redhead’s tenacity. “No, honey, I promise you I’m nothing like Wolverine.” Except for the accelerated healing and the fact that a psychopath had made her into a killing machine. "I’m just someone who’s trying to help.”

  Quickly, she cleaned the wound with the alcohol wipes. Riley cursed like she had an audition to be a sailor. Then Symone taped gauze pads over where the bullet grazed. It wouldn’t take much power to heal Riley, but Symone risked killing the kid with just a touch. She delicately placed the gauze and hoped it would be enough for now.

  “Looks like you’ll live. But you need to see a doctor to make sure that doesn’t get infected.”

  Riley gestured over her body. “Look at me. In case you didn’t realize, I’m a street kid. Where the hell am I going to get money to see a doctor?”

  “It’s funny you should ask.” Symon
e reached into the center console and pulled out the small bundle. “There’s a bus ticket in there, some cash, a couple of books, and your mother’s locket. After you left last night, I took it off of Raul.”

  Riley snatched the bag and quickly rifled through it. Her small hand closed around something, and she closed her eyes and exhaled a long breath. Pulling out her hand, she stared at the locket, twirling it between her fingers. “How—why would you do this for me?”

  “Because when I was your age, I needed someone’s help, and I used to lie awake wishing there’d be someone to come and save me.”

  Riley tipped her chin up. “I’ll pay you back. Every penny, I swear.”

  Symone shifted uncomfortably on her feet for several moments. “The way you pay me back is you get on that bus. I’ve got a friend who’s going to meet you in Atlanta and take you to a place for teenagers in trouble. They have GED programs and work assistance. They’ll even help you go to college, if that’s what you want. All you have to do is stay there and get off the street. That’s payment enough for me.”

  “And if I don’t go?”

  “That’s your choice. But if you don’t take the help I’m offering, I don’t know if anyone else will come along and try to help you. The opportunity is yours for the taking.”

  “Can’t I come with you?”

  Symone silently cursed at the tears stinging her eyelids. “Not right now. Those assholes back there and the other trouble I mentioned are all coming for me. In case it escaped you, the object of the game is to keep you safe. But I promise I’ll check on you at least once a month. You don’t hear from me, I means the world ended or zombies got me.”

  Riley’s eyes widened. “Shit, are there seriously zombies? Like in Resident Evil or some shit?”

  “Again with the way too many comic books and gory movies. No such things as zombies.” Though she wouldn’t put it past Peter to try and go there.

  “Riley ducked her head. “I—” She cleared her throat. “Thank you for this. What time does that bus leave?”

  Symone let out a breath in relief. “It leaves in thirty minutes.”

  “Then I guess we better haul ass. Seems like I’m headed to Atlanta.”

  Chapter Six

  Garrett floated in and out of consciousness. And given the initial shock and charge of electricity from Symone, he should have felt like shit. When she grabbed his wrist, he hadn’t been prepared for the jolt of electricity that charged up his arm. Nor had he been prepared for his body’s nerve endings to warn him of impending death. He certainly hadn’t been prepared for the feeling of severe bliss that followed. Before she had let go, a shudder of ecstasy had traveled up from his toes, spreading and infusing his cells.

  His heart hadn’t stopped, but rather slowed to a dangerous level. He had actually felt his whole body slowing down, each heartbeat booming in his ears.

  He didn’t know how long he lay prone by the dumpster, but he remembered everything about how he got in that position and the woman who had put him there. He recalled the softness of her hand and the way the moonlight lit her café au lait skin. The steel in her eyes when he told her she’d be coming with him. Not once had she given any indication that she’d given up. The concern in her eyes when she leaned over him, the grim determination when she thought he was dead.

  There were a slew of other things he knew about her but couldn’t explain. Almost like when she touched him, she’d transferred something. Her fear had singed his nerve endings. But the fear wasn’t for her life. From the way she’d defiantly fought him, he’d seen her strength and determination. He knew she didn’t want to kill him. That girl was no terrorist.

  If he’d had any doubts that Reaper and Rex had lied to him, they were gone now. Garrett would find out why Reaper wanted Symone so badly. Clearly she was an enhanced soldier like himself. But she’d be the first female, as far as he was aware.

  Grimacing, he rolled on the pavement so he was face down. The mere act took more effort than he anticipated. Bringing his hands to shoulder width, he pushed himself up, dragging his feet under his body to support a crouch. He didn’t know who Symone Jackson was, but whoever she was, she packed a hell of a punch. She was a hell of a weapon.

  Garrett frowned as something niggled at his memory. When he’d put the cuffs on, she’d had gloves on one hand. But he focused in on the image of her as he shoved her out of range of that bullet. Both of her hands had been gloved. She knew the kind of power she wielded and chose to conceal it. Why else wear the gloves?

  But when had she become one of Reaper’s soldiers? As far as Garrett knew, his unit was the only. Reaper had plans for more, but that all depended on their mission success. Then Symcore would decide whether or not to continue funding them.

  He pressed the comm unit in his ear, not attempting to stand until he felt more stable. While he waited for central command to pick up, he scanned his surroundings. He didn’t need some tweaker to get the jump on him while he was too shattered to defend himself.

  His CO didn’t mince words. “Garrett, where the fuck are you? You’ve been out of touch for hours.”

  Garrett cleared his throat as he tried to remind his tongue how it should work. “I ran into a complication.”

  “What kind of complication?”

  “The girl. She’s no terrorist, but she is some kind of weapon.”

  Silence for several heartbeats. “I told you not to approach until I sent back up. It doesn’t matter what she is. Reaper wants her, and that’s all that matters. If she’s a Spanish hooker he wants to get his rocks off with, that’s none of your business. You bring her back like you were told. It’s an order.”

  Fury bubbled under Garrett’s skin. There was no way he was handing Symone over now. “I may have my orders, but I’m telling you, she’s just a girl. She volunteers and tries to help people. But I’ll do what I have to do.” He just needed one piece of information. “When does back up arrive?” He needed to get to Symone first. And now that he’d gotten close enough to her, he knew her scent. But the clock was ticking.

  “They’ll be there in another two hours. Rendezvous with them on Wilkins. Do you have her location?”

  Garrett heard the tight thread of the question, and he set his jaw. Rex planned to send the others after Symone on their own. Asshole. He kept his voice firm. “I’ll give it to them when they arrive.”

  Again, Rex’s silence spoke volumes. Because of his little rebellion, he might be the next target on the list for his brother’s in arms. Shit. First things first. Save the girl, then he’d go after Michael and disappear.

  “Oh, and Garrett?”

  “What?”

  “Reaper decided we need to run more tests on your brother. He’s bringing him to the compound. So maybe you better hurry and bring back the girl.”

  Garrett cursed as he shut off the comm unit. A fist of agony gripped his gut. That asshole had his brother. If he didn’t follow through on the assignment, there’d be hell to pay for Michael. But if he did, an innocent woman would more than likely die.

  He had to get Michael back. A little voice whispered a warning. Given the turn of things, if he showed up on the compound, girl or not, they’d arrest him. Maybe do worse. He’d need some help to get his brother. Good thing he had an idea of where to get it. Now all he had to do was find the girl.

  As Garrett stood, his whole body trembled and pulsed. His head swam for a moment, and he could have sworn the dumpster moved. But as he dragged in deep breaths and centered his focus, his body swayed—almost like he was floating. He stared at his feet, but they never left the ground. Weird. That girl was lethal, and he’d have to be careful when he caught up with her again.

  ***

  Cassie Reeser rolled over in bed, stretching her arms over her head and purring.

  “God, I love when you stretch like that. It does outstanding things to your breasts.” Seth kissed her stomach.

  “You always seem to think my breasts are outstanding.” She placed a han
d on her belly. “Especially now.”

  “Well, they’re huge.” He gently stroked and kissed her belly. “I still can’t believe it. You said it wasn’t possible.”

  She smiled and stroked his sandy unkempt hair. “Lisa’s trying to figure out the how. You and I need to figure out how we’re going to keep the little guy out trouble.” She frowned. With both of their powers, any child of theirs could be the next Clark Kent. And Lisa, while a great doctor, was no geneticist like Cassie’s brother.

  Seth studied her. “You look worried.”

  “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t.” She shifted her gaze.

  “Come on, Cassie. Something else is bothering you. I might not be some great mind reader, but I know you. Spill.”

  She frowned as she met his gaze again. “It’s just since I told you, you refuse to touch me. I’m not fragile you know.”

  “Don’t be silly. I’m touching you now.”

  “Bullshit semantics, and you know it.”

  He withdrew his hands and sat up against the headboard. “Cassie, I’m thrilled, but I’ve lived in fear of this for the last couple of years. The idea that I can lose you at any moment is something I go to bed with every night and something I wake up with every morning. I don’t know if I can protect you.”

  “So you withdraw from me? After everything we’ve been through, you somehow think that’s the best course of action?”

  He shrugged. “Shit. I don’t know. I’m scared shitless. All right? Is that what you want me to say?”

  “No. What I want you to say is you love me, and no matter what we deal with it together. I want you to say that you have faith that I can do this. Be a mother and a soldier. I want you to say you stand by my side.”

  “Cassie Reeser Adams, I always have faith in you. You’ve been mother hen to this house of ruffians for nearly two years and you’ve done a great job.”