"Fuck, listen, I’m not going to be the only obstacle here as far as Zoey is concerned,” Kayden warned. “Senior, you need to get in touch with Milo. Something is going on between the two of them, and I think it would be in everyone’s best interest, that if we are even considering this, to give the man a heads-up."
Bas didn’t want to touch that statement with a ten-foot pole. He might not know Kayden all that well, but he did know Milo, Alpha of Zulu Team, having worked with him extensively while in the service. Milo Stern was a crazy mother fucker, and from the sounds of it, Zoey fits right in with the man. That pair would be a match in heaven, or hell, Bas just didn’t know. He also had no desire to witness the fallout or blessing that was sure to come.
Bas listened to Seniors’, “Noted.” The team went on discussing other information topics. Thankfully Zoey, Milo, and Kayden's issues were dropped. Bas didn’t know the woman of The Holly Group all that well except for Mia. She had spent lots of time with Ryleigh and Emma over the last couple of months. The thing was, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to get to know any of them. They might be a group of guys, but the gossip mill was alive and well within the Teams. And what he was hearing wasn’t all that good.
Jacks made a comment recently about Alpha turning into some soap opera, and Bas was inclined to agree. Maybe Senior should consider changing the NAC name to As the Shifter Turns or Guiding Your Genetically Engineered Mate. Snickering at his own joke, Bas almost missed the question Jacks asked Kayden. "Have you gotten any more information on the tranquilizers used at the Pandora facility Cassie was recovered from?"
Cassie Larson was a young girl that had been kidnapped while on spring break. She was also one of Franklin’s children. The Holly Group was able to determine that Cassie held only one set of Shifter genes and linked her back to Kayden’s line. The girl didn’t Shift to their knowledge, but what made her the prize everyone wanted was that they all believed she had the ability to birth Shifter children.
Shifter children births were not a guarantee in their world. A male Shifter could have multiple children, and only one of them would process the trait. The children that did get that trait were also always male. Dr. Franklin had finally found after years of experimenting how to increase the odds. Bas and the rest of the Teams wanted to kill the man, but regrettably God got to him first.
“Not to my knowledge,” Kayden answered. “That Mia chick from The Holly Group hasn’t been back this way. Shit, she ran out of here with you guys like her damn tail was on fire after she processed those women. I haven’t heard or seen from her since. She didn’t even have the common decency to tell me what the hell was going on before she left.”
Kayden continued, "I know this merger is new, but you might want to have Ryleigh inform her people of proper protocols. Like information sharing or universal respect. She treated my place and people like second-class citizens, not even offering them the time of the fucking day. Shit man, you guys seem to have her on speed dial. I think you’re gonna have to make that call and get those answers yourself."
Wow, as far as Bas was concerned, Mia was a part of their family. She played around with the guys, and they all felt comfortable with her. She was also Ryleigh's best friend and kept her and the rest of ladies happy and healthy. Hearing Kayden describe the woman that way didn’t compute in Bas’ mind. Mia was a damn good doctor. The woman had a way of calming everyone down around her and never once did he get the vibes Kayden was talking about with Mia. She was funny, smart, and most of all, levelheaded.
"I will arrange that,” Jacks responded. “Ryleigh and Cash are flying out tomorrow to meet up with her. I’ll have Ryleigh relay the message and ask her to report back when and if she has any further information."
Damn, that was new. Bas never expected Jacks to allow Ryleigh to leave Alpha base. The woman was six months pregnant and wanted by Pandora Davis and The Association. He hoped that everything was all right. Jacks continued the conversation like what he had just said was no big deal and that concerned Bas even more.
"The last thing we need to discuss is locations. Ryleigh, Peyton, and Wyatt have come up with a list of women we believe might be part of Franklin’s program. Since Alpha is temporarily out of commission for the foreseeable future, we need to forward those names on so someone can check them out."
Jacks continued, "All the women on the list have AB negative blood and were born within the last twenty-five years. They were placed either in foster care, put up for adoption, or placed in group homes. We need blood samples to check for Shifter DNA. If they test positive, we need to come up with a plan on how we are going to keep them safe. We are not the only people with the ability to locate them. Franklin’s drives yielded minute amounts of information and Ryleigh had all but abandoned their use. The group decided to go old school, narrowing our field. Again, if we figured it out, then one of the others would as well. We also need to determine what and if we are going to let these women in on our race and their possible roles in it. So far, our methods haven’t been all that stellar.”
Jacks looked at Cash and the man looked a little embarrassed. Bas could relate. If he had done what Cash did, he would have been embarrassed too. When Emma came to them pregnant and in labor, Cash Shifted in front of her to provide proof of Shifters existence. It freaked her out enough for her to pass out. Bas wasn’t privy to his sister’s reaction, but from the look of regret on Wyatt’s face, he would bet it didn’t go over much better.
Pop culture movies and books glamorized, glorified, or terrified the populace regarding Were-people, a name given to people that turned into animals. Bas and the others didn’t like it, but there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it either; it was what it was. They were Shifters, not Were. He chuckled to himself; at least they weren’t sparkly vampires.
"Sorry man, but my Team is pretty loaded down right now,” Kayden responded. “I hate to say it, but maybe our best bet would be to take a page out of Pandora’s playbook and contract a company on the guise of an experiment regarding blood type and try to gather the information without raising a bunch of flags."
"Yeah, I think that might be the best option at this point. Everyone is just spread too thin,” Senior said. "I will look into it. I will also get in touch with Zoey about the other stuff, and I plan on contacting Callum and Tristan to assist Mia with the tranquilizer analysis. We need a countermeasure if we are going to keep advancing on Pandora facilities."
Bas had heard of and respected Callum. He was an Elder and had a medical degree. Tristan was a bit of an unknown to him. Bas knew the man had a medical degree. One of the only members of the Teams that did. The only other thing he knew about the man was that he was a member of Charlie Team. Carter was Charlie’s Alpha, and a good guy. Bas hoped that Carter had vetted his men, as well as Jacks had.
Jacks answered for the group by saying, “Agreed. Listen. I almost hate to bring it up, but we also need to talk about all the losses the Teams have been taking lately. Milo has taken some major hits recently. Losing Rock and Greyson in battle was only the tip of the iceberg for that man. Has Matthias made his way through Echo yet? Shit, Charlie lost two as well. Are we planning on bringing more guys into the Teams, and if so, how are we going to about vetting them?"
Matthias was the boogie man of the Shifter community. He was the only one of their kind that could come and go without detection. Even with their enhanced senses, Matthias was a ghost. No one knew how he did it and none of them ever got the chance to ask. Bas didn't think that even if one of them got that chance, they could ask. The man was legendary. He was the Enforcer for the whole community, and he had a reputation of taking out his opponents quickly and lethally. If the Alphas or Elders couldn’t take care of someone, then Matthias was brought in. Bas had personally never met the man, and it was a fact he was grateful for. Rumor had it, if you met him then your time was up.
Senior rubbed his hand down over his face and answered, " I’m working on that, but you all know the Teams work becau
se of the bond you all have created, most of you since childhood. I'm not sure bringing in replacements is the right answer to the problem. I’m thinking of building a new team. The problem is, unlike the rest of you, this one would be a mix of animals and men. I don’t know if it will work, but I have a man in mind for the Alpha position. If anyone can pull it off, it would be him. I will keep you all updated."
"Sounds good. How about we plan another sit-rep for next week? Maybe by then we can answer some of the questions brought up here today,” Jacks commented.
"Sorry, but I’m going to have to bow out next week,” Senior said. “Matthias will take my place and give an update on what he has going on."
Bas heard the gasps, and he was pretty sure one of those sounds came from his own mouth. All the men around the room, including Kayden, looked shocked. Fuck, it seemed like the boogieman was going to come out of the shadows. Bas didn’t know if he should be scared or relieved. A person couldn’t fight a shadow. The problem was, why now? Shit was hitting the fan and they were all feeling it, but why was the veil finally being lifted? There were too many questions and Bas knew no answers were going to be forthcoming anytime soon. He would have to wait like the rest of them.
They all waited to see if Senior would say anything else. When he didn’t, Jacks ended the meeting, "Okay then. I guess that is all for now."
Chapter 3
Bas really couldn’t take much more. The meeting had been torture for his bear. He constantly had to adjust his breathing and stance just to maintain. It was now or never. He needed to talk with Jacks and get the hell out of there. Wyatt had slapped him on the shoulder on the way out of the room, and Bas lunged at the man. It was instinct, but the look on Wyatt’s face, like he had hurt him, nearly gutted Bas. He wanted his life back to normal.
The problems with his bear had gotten mildly better when Peyton and Wyatt moved into one of the empty cabins. At least now Bas was getting a little sleep because he didn't have to listen to their nighttime antics. Sometimes having enhanced senses just sucked. When Peyton would try to talk to him, his beast would smell Wyatt all over her and the fucker would go off, tearing him apart on the inside to change and go after Wyatt. Bas knew he was hurting Peyton's feelings by walking away from her most times, but he didn't have any other choice.
It was almost worse when Wyatt walked into the room. He started to avoid him too, trying his damnedest never to be where either of them was. But that was pretty damn hard when his job required him to have daily contact with Wyatt. Peyton was a little easier to avoid, but he felt like shit for doing it.
The bruin in his body thought of her as a little girl, not a grown woman that was happily mated. As far as the beast was concerned, it wanted to lock her away like a princess in a tower. The whole thing was just fucked up, and he was the first one to admit it.
Shit, this whole thing was probably his fault. His mind had created separate boxes for all the things that mattered to him in his life. Peyton was one, his human brothers another, the Team and NAC, and then everything else. Maybe if he hadn’t kept everything so separate, his beast would realize how wrong its feelings were.
Wyatt had asked him if he had thoughts of Peyton as anything other than brotherly, and the truth was he didn’t. That was why his beast’s reaction was freaking him out. Neither the beast nor the man wanted Peyton as a mate, but the beast also didn’t want her with anyone else either, and that didn’t make any sense.
He could only think that if maybe he had introduced Peyton to the Team sooner, not kept her separate for so long, his bear would have had the time to acclimate to others being around his sister. Shit, maybe he should have just brought one or two of the guys and brought them along on one of his trips to visit her. Bas still felt ashamed of himself for allowing and keeping Peyton hidden for so long. The members of Alpha Team were a part of his family, but he also had two other families. One with Peyton and one with his brothers. What he couldn’t figure out was why he had the need to keep them all so separate in the first place.
Peyton didn’t even know his human brothers by blood, and they lived less than a half an hour away from the house she had lived in for years. His brother knew about her but kept their distance to appease Bas. His brothers on Alpha Team met a couple of his blood brothers while in the service, but that was just a fluke. Bas could remember wanting to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible. Not because he was ashamed of any of them, but because he honestly believed that all his lives needed to be separate.
The bitch of it was he never once considered how any of them felt about it either. Ethan had human brothers, and he and the guys often hung out with them if they were in the area. Shit, they had even spent time with Eli’s brother before the whole betrayal thing. Maybe he needed to work on more than just his beast and figure out why the hell he kept putting people he cared about at a safe distance.
The fact of the matter was that Bas was afraid his mind was slipping, that the process of going rogue was starting. It freaked him the hell out. His first instinct was just to end it before one of his brothers and teammates had to do it for him. His second was to run to get away from the cause of his malfunction and try to get a handle on it. His third was to do his best to stick it out and deal with it. The latter one was the one he had initially chosen, but he didn’t know how much longer he could keep it up.
His only hope was to get through this meeting without drawing blood and ask for a reassignment for a while. Shit, it didn’t even need to go that far if he could get granted some leave time. Then, just maybe, he could figure all this out. He hoped that his Alpha would understand and agree, but looking at the man currently staring at the ceiling like it held all the answers, Bas honestly doubted it. Jacks had one mission now, and that was to keep the women of Alpha Team safe. Bas believed in the mission himself. Shit, one of them was his very own sister, but that also caused the problem. If he went rogue, then Peyton would have to witness it, and he didn’t want that.
That’s why he was standing in the conference room, looking down at his feet, trying to get the courage to tell Jacks what was going on. Bas needed the advice and guidance. He just felt like a pantywaist for having to ask. Bas wanted to go to Cash, but the fucker was acting all strange and broody. That left him with only one option; Jacks.
The bastard was an excellent Alpha, but besides his mate, Ryleigh, he had zero compassion. His motto was and always had been to take it like a man. Bas usually got behind that, but this time taking it like a man meant hurting both his best friend and his sister. How the fuck was he supposed to deal with that?
Bas needed a second before he approached Jacks and made his request. Not wanting to look at the man in question while he gathered his thoughts, Bas focused on his scuffed-up combat boots. After a few moments, Bas looked up and noticed that Jacks was watching him but had remained quiet, allowing Bas the time to make up his mind about what he was going to do. He had two choices; ask or leave, and Jacks wasn't going to influence his decision either way. The fucker didn’t even say anything, just raised his eyebrow. It was like he was saying, “get on with it, or get the fuck out,” typical Jacks. Damn, he knew Jacks wasn’t going to make this easy. Once Bas told him what he had planned, he was pretty sure the big guy was going to go off. Jacks had one main thing on his mind lately, Ryleigh, how to protect her and keep her safe. He was even willing to let Dalton give up his true mate, Emma, to make that happen. How was he going to feel about Bas’ little problem?
"What’s going on, Bas, I can feel your beast, and I got to tell you, I’m not liking the aggressive vibes he is putting off. I thought if I gave you enough time, you would get it under control, but that doesn’t seem to be happening."
Time to nut up, Bas thought to himself. Fuck, this was going to suck.
"Yeah, about that… Listen, I know we are on lock down and that all the girls are a priority right now, but I need to take some time away."
The fucker didn’t even say anything, just looked at Bas wi
th that scowl like he was trying to figure out if he was insane or something. The truth was that Bas wasn’t that far off from thinking the same thing.
Bas continued, "Listen, I get it the timing sucks, but if I don’t get out of here one of two things is going to happen. Here is the deal. I’m not stable and if I stay here blood will flow, or you’re going to have to take matters into your own hands. My bear is tearing me apart."
"What do you mean,” Jacks demanded. “Why is your bear tearing you apart and why in the hell would we bleed Wy? Fuck, you two have always been close all your lives and you gave those two your blessing. What the hell, man, do you have a thing for your sister?"
"Fuck no, asshole! I fucking knew this was a mistake." Bas turned around to leave but couldn’t get his feet to move; he needed this. He needed Jacks to understand and agree with what he had planned.
"Peyton is my sister and I don’t have any other “feelings” for her beyond that. It’s the fucking beast. He thinks of her as his in a very platonic way. I don’t get it either, but I need a fucking break. The walls around this place aren’t that thick and every time I hear them together, or shit, when one of them walks into the fucking room, it takes everything I have in me to keep the beast under control. I don’t expect you to get it. Fuck, I don’t get it. I just know that if I can’t break this tension with the beast soon, the alternatives will be much worse. Get me?"
Jacks rubbed the back of his neck and started shaking his head. Bas was just about to leave the room. Goddam Alpha always thinking he knew better.
"Okay, why don’t you head on down to see your brothers for a week or so,” Jacks suggested. “You can even hitch a ride with Cash and Ryleigh. They are headed that way in the morning anyway. Mia and Ryleigh have some tests they want to run on the baby, and they need to document the pregnancy or some shit. They can’t do that here because our supplies and equipment are limited. It will make me feel better with two of my men in the area since I have to stay back here with Kenna."
Sebastian: NAC & The Holly Group (Alpha Team Book 4) Page 5
