by Jools Louise
“Turn around, Merc,” Fly encouraged. “Jump onto the porch roof, then you can slide off from there.”
Mercury eyed the distance nervously, which was unnatural, since he’d always been a daredevil, fearless of heights. Fly was frustrated that his mother had disappeared, because he really wanted to punch her for being such a moron, and apparently turning her son into a fraidy cat. Mercury turned on the ledge, then eased himself down until he was clinging by his fingers. He only had a few feet to drop onto the roof below, and landed with a thud, then lost his balance and tumbled toward the edge. Ryder lurched forward and grabbed him before he fell, then carried him to safety, placing him in the back of the first SUV. Fly was torn between going to his brother and staying with Noah, who was still in one place, not daring to move.
“Go to him,” Noah whispered, his eyes shadowed as he studied Fly. “I’ll be there soon.”
Fly stared, reading a flicker of something that truly scared him, and he tilted his chin stubbornly. “No,” he retorted sharply. “If you don’t make it, I won’t want to, either.”
“Chaps, please,” John said in a pained voice. “This is the tricky bit, but have some faith,” he added.
“There’s no way to stop this thing blowing up,” Noah said, looking resigned. “The second the pressure is released again, boom!”
Fly saw John gesture to Ryder and the rest of the team to pull back. Everyone waited tensely as the two large SUVs edged back the way they’d come, being careful to follow the same tracks they’d made coming in. Ghost had been smart, mining the exit, but keeping the entry route intact. Supposedly so that if they did manage to avoid all the traps, they’d still get blown to smithereens on egress. Breathing a sigh of relief that nothing blew up, Fly looked at Noah, grabbing his hand and squeezing tightly.
“I think it’s time for Plan B,” John said quietly, standing up and moving toward the porch. Fly watched him, then arched a brow as he moved about ten steps away before returning at full pelt, grabbing Noah and Fly around the waist in a hard tackle, and sending them flying several feet away as their feet left the ground and they went tumbling like skittles. A huge cacophony of noise erupted behind them, deafening them, and a second later a series of other explosions ripped through the air as the rest of the minefield ignited.
Fly was dazed, and shook his head to clear the ringing in his ears. He was covered in dirt and debris, and found he’d lost all ability to speak for a few seconds. Turning his head slowly, he saw Noah lying on his back, John on top, the pair gasping for air. John’s back was singed a little, but he had a huge grin on his face.
“Plan B made quite a racket,” Noah said dryly, barely audible after the percussion of the blast.
John laughed aloud and got up, dragging Noah with him. Fly sat up, glaring at John. “You have a screw loose, do you know that?” he said, brushing himself off as he got to his feet. “You could have killed us.”
“That bomb would have killed you if I hadn’t done what I did,” John said, still smiling as he viewed the little craters that now lined the driveway. “One good thing, though,” he said.
“What’s that?” Noah asked, taking the bait.
“At least the house is still standing.”
The next explosion lifted all three of them into the air, delivering them into the stand of bushes in the center of the drive as the house suddenly disintegrated in a shower of splinters, bricks, and mortar.
Fly vaguely heard a second, huge boom of noise, and then passed out.
* * * *
Noah woke up to a familiar scene. The clinic in Sage was almost like his second home, since he’d spent so much time there. He groaned, aching from every part of his body, as his mind gradually began to tick over again, and memories surfaced of him going airborne, right after John had saved him from a land mine.
“I may have spoken a tad hastily,” John was saying ruefully, from nearby. Noah forced his eyes open, blinking in the light streaming through the windows.
“Hastily?” another voice, Cameron, screamed at his husband, then there was the sound of crying, and a murmured apology.
Noah glanced over, and saw the two mates cuddling on one of the cots, Cameron obviously beside himself at the near catastrophe. John wore a bandage around his head, and had cuts and bruises all over, his right arm in a sling, and his left leg in a full cast from hip to toe.
“Glad you’re awake.” Noah looked around, and spied Fly, resplendent in a bright blue jacket, glittering with sequins which decorated the lapels. He had a fuchsia pink scarf around his throat, tied with a jaunty bow, and the rest of him was encased in a form-fitting jump suit with a bold exotic print. He looked bright and colorful, his face only a little bit bruised.
“Hey,” Noah said gruffly, reaching for his lover. Fly let out a low cry, and scrambled across the distance, and up onto the bed to curl against Noah’s big body. Fly was trembling uncontrollably, and Noah realized he was crying. “Looks like John got the worst of it, huh?” he said, grinning when John flipped him off, winking at him over Cameron’s head.
“You idiot, you both nearly died,” Fly said hoarsely. He lifted his head and kissed Noah fervently. “Don’t do that again.”
Noah snorted out a laugh, wincing as his ribs set up a throbbing drum beat. “Cracked ribs again?”
“Cracked ribs, and extensive bruising,” Fly retorted, peppering kisses all over Noah’s face. Noah gripped his hair, and dragged his mate in for a longer smooch, enjoying the taste of mint and a hint of chocolate. He heard Fly moan, and gently stroked his back, cupping his ass as their tongues partied.
“Enough of that, gents,” John complained. “Please remember where you are. I’m in a delicate frame of mind.”
“That’ll be a first,” Cameron said dryly, pecking him on the cheek as the pair shared a loving smile and a hot lip lock.
“Daddy!” Murray and the rest of John’s tribe of children came barreling in. Noah grinned at John and mouthed “cockblocked” to the man, who sent a pained smile his way before greeting his children with open arms.
“Where’s your brother?” Noah suddenly asked Fly, looking around at the empty beds in the ward.
“He’s fine,” Fly soothed, cuddling closer. Noah sighed, inhaling his mate’s sweet scent, enjoying Fly’s body against his. “My friends are taking care of him. Fleet and Haste moved him into their apartment, letting him rest, while I stayed with you. He was hooked up to an IV, but he doesn’t seem to be sick. Said he was tired, though, after being incarcerated for so long.”
“How is he?” Noah asked, curling his fingers through Fly’s thick hair, watching as it bounced into place as though spring loaded, once released.
Fly shrugged, then sighed, and lifted his head, staring into Noah’s eyes sadly. “He’s not talking much,” Fly said. “Not about what’s happened to him in the last ten years. I get the feeling he’s angry with me, though. As though he blames me.”
“He does,” John piped up, glancing over at Fly seriously.
The pain that flashed across Fly’s face ripped at Noah’s heart. He glared at John for hurting his mate, getting a steady look in return.
“Why?” Fly asked tremulously.
“Because you didn’t come back,” John suggested. “He came by earlier, and he’s conflicted, and seems to be struggling to come to terms with being free. Kind of like Aston, Kevin and Kieran’s mate, who spent a quarter of a century behind bars. Aston was afraid to trust again, scared to be happy in case it was taken away again. I think that’s probably the cause of your brother’s insecurity. He’s not sure what to do, now that he’s free. Your mother did a number on him, for years. Murphy is good at his job, though, and will make sure Mercury gets all the help he needs.”
“I don’t need help,” Mercury said firmly as he entered the ward, looking warily at Fly, who sat up and moved to sit on the edge of the cot. Noah kept a careful eye on the older brother, not liking the look in the man’s eyes. “I’m fine as I am. I had enough of
Mother’s psycho-babble, and I certainly don’t need your head shrinker probing around in my thoughts.”
“She told me you’d died,” Fly said, tears in his eyes. “She said you’d been killed, and the doctor agreed. I was never allowed near the house. When I left, I hoped to never return. I didn’t want to see her again.”
“She never wanted me,” Merc said tautly, moving closer, his eyes the exact same shade as his brother’s. Noah viewed the man intently, seeing the agony that lingered just beneath the surface of the calm exterior. “She wanted my money, not me.”
Fly gasped. “She stole the trust fund?”
Mercury gave a bitter smile in response. “She was angry because I’d rebelled, and after the accident I was at her mercy. She pushed you away, because you wouldn’t have tolerated her abuse. You’d have stood up to her, and we’d both have run away, leaving her penniless.” He laughed ironically. “It never occurred to her that if she’d shown either of us love, for even a second, we’d have given up that money willingly, every penny of it.”
Fly nodded slowly, his tears overflowing as the siblings shared the misery of their early years in a single glance. “She just never got that,” he agreed. “I always wondered why she hated us so much. What did we do that was so bad?”
“She wanted little robots that she could control,” Mercury retorted, sitting on the chair beside the bed. “You were never amenable, even when you were a tiny tot in diapers. You used to shift at any given moment, racing around the house like a lunatic, and she hated that she couldn’t do a thing to stop you. The more she screamed, the worse you became, as though you were taunting her. But you were just a baby. We were just kids.” Mercury shook his head, rubbing a weary hand across his jaw. “I wanted to be like you, so I did stupid stuff, running in the woods, and getting into mischief.”
Fly grinned suddenly. “You were such a doofus,” he said with a husky laugh, sniffing and reaching for a tissue to blow his nose. “Always getting into scrapes, and we’d all have to get your butt out of trouble.”
Mercury smiled, as well, the edge of anger in his eyes dissipating slightly. He looked at John, who was watching the exchange intently. “You’re wrong, you know. I’m not angry at Fly for getting away. I’m angry at myself for not following when I could. It would have taken a simple phone call, or a jump from that window, and I would have escaped…one way or the other,” he said with a wry reference to the explosives planted everywhere.
“You’re not a coward,” Noah cut in, fixing Mercury with a hard look. “You didn’t give up, but stayed strong. That’s not cowardice, it’s survival. She didn’t break you, did she? You’re not a quivering wreck, cowering in a corner. If you were, you would never have plucked up the courage to jump from that window.”
Mercury stared at him, then blinked slowly, as though hit by a revelation. “I should have escaped earlier.”
“Well, duh,” Fly said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
Mercury grinned suddenly, his eyes twinkling with mirth. “Understatement?” he asked, smirking.
“Of the century, doofus,” Fly shot back, punching his brother’s shoulder lightly. “Why on earth would anyone who raced trains, and always had to win everything, why would that person suddenly become a recluse?”
“She kept tabs on you,” Merc replied seriously. “She threatened that if I didn’t stay, she’d harm you. While you were at college, she had someone spy on you. When you took those massage and beauty therapy classes on the quiet, she knew all about it. She tried to stop you, had her spies interfere, trying different ways to make you quit.”
“The bullying,” Fly said quietly, looking pensive. “There was this one guy who kept showing up everywhere I went. I thought at the time it was a little too contrived. Some of the things he said to me were as though she was speaking the words.”
“Someone bullied you?” Noah asked, somewhat irrelevantly, getting a snarky look from both brothers. He smirked back. “Fine, I’ll just shut up, then.” He crossed his arms over his chest, mock pouting, and heard Fly’s little giggle.
“You don’t sulk worth a damn,” Fly said, giggling again when Noah shoved his lower lip out further, for effect.
“You know that the trust fund was split into two?” Mercury asked, shaking his head at their antics. Fly nodded. “That’s the reason she came here, after you. My money’s gone, and she needed more. She said something about a payment she had to make. She was getting desperate. It was the first time I ever saw her scared, right after that guy, Ghost, came by and planted the mines. He was controlling her somehow, but I don’t know how.”
“We managed to rescue some stuff from the house,” John said. “In the basement, there was a hidden computer room. It survived the blast.”
“You mean Plan B?” Noah asked dryly, grinning at the big Brit.
“Exactly,” John replied calmly, ignoring the dig. “Ryder says that the files on there are pretty valuable. They highlight who Meredith was tangled up with, financially speaking, and the trail leads to an organization which operates out of London.”
“London?” Fly asked sharply.
“You know someone in London?” Noah asked, scooping his mate closer, not liking that his lover was not touching him. Fly sighed and snuggled into him.
“Mother talked about someone, a contact there, who she said was connected to the aristocracy. I forgot about it, until just now. She was afraid of him, from what I could gather. She only mentioned him the one time, when I called her, after we were rescued from the mine in Colorado. She said something about me not making waves, and to mind my manners, or I’d know what real pain was.”
“His name is Aaron Fielding,” Mercury said quietly, frowning. “He might be the one who she owed money to, but I’m not sure. She was definitely afraid of him, though. Before she came here, she told me that if her plans didn’t pan out, she probably wouldn’t be back anytime soon.”
“We need to speak to Ryder,” John said. “He’s getting together his task force, his Warriors Brigade, and he’ll want to know there’s a British connection now. That’s why the Brigade was formed, so we can start taking the fight right to our enemies, rather than waiting for them to pounce, and having to defend ourselves.”
“We do seem to be playing catch-up a lot,” Noah agreed. “A couple of successful forays overseas might be the thing to shake the bastards up. You think this has something to do with Flashpoint, this guy in London?”
“Flashpoint?” Merc asked curiously. “That wasn’t the name I heard from Mother, but Ghost mentioned them a time or two.”
“What did you hear?” Fly asked.
“She said the man she knew headed up a club called The Fortress. She talked about how powerful they were, and how dangerous.”
“Did she know they hurt shifters?” Fly asked. “Did she realize who they were, and how many of our kind these bastards have hurt? Cullen’s family have been murdered by them.”
“I don’t think she cared,” Mercury said bitterly. “She was only interested in how they could help her. Ghost knew what she was, but I could see that he was using her to get to people here. He was unhinged the last time I saw him. He’d just escaped that secure psychiatric facility, and wasn’t exactly tracking right, if you know what I mean. He threatened Mother, and she was scared of him. She didn’t even try to defend herself when he assaulted her, just took the abuse. It’s weird, though, because she seemed to have a split personality. One minute she was scared of him, but last time I saw them, they were acting like best friends.”
Ryder walked into the ward, along with Pace, looking their usual serious selves.
“We just got the forensic analysis back,” Pace said to Fly.
Fly glanced from one to the other, frowning. “And?” he asked slowly, as though with a sense of foreboding.
“It wasn’t your mother’s DNA at the site.” That came from Ryder. “We’re still sifting through the debris, but for now it looks as though, from the evidence we have, that
she wasn’t killed.”
“So she could have been working with Ghost all along. Why?” Fly asked, looking nauseous.
“Perhaps she had no choice. Maybe she was scared, like Mercury said. Maybe she thought she was protecting you somehow,” Ryder said. He shrugged uncomfortably when everyone looked at him in astonishment. “Mercury said she was scared, I’m just trying to help.”
Fly scowled at that.
“It makes no sense at all!” Fly cried out, lurching off the bed. “She abused us worse than if she’d beaten us every day,” he said, crying now. “She never once had a good word to say, to me or my brother, but played us against each other, talking to us as though we were nothing but excess baggage. Scared? Protecting us? Try, protecting herself!” Then he shoved past Ryder’s chair and raced out of the clinic as fast as he could.
“We have evidence that she had contact with the British Government’s Shifter Affairs Department. Perhaps she was more than she seemed.” Ryder shrugged again, when Mercury snorted. Even Pace looked at him with disbelief.
“You think because she wrote a few little anecdotes on her computer that she was doing what she did because of altruism?” Mercury asked, standing. He glared around at everyone. “She wasn’t built that way. Have you considered the fact that she was a double agent?”
“This didn’t come from her computer,” Cullen said softly.
“We made contact with our sources in London,” Ryder added. “We have proof of their leverage against her, documents that show she was forced to choose between her work for them, and her family’s safety.”
“Read this,” Mikhail said, grabbing the file that Ryder held and handing it over to Mercury. “Show it to Fly. He’s angry and hurt right now. But once he calms down, maybe he will see the truth, as difficult as it is to believe.”
