The Sigma Menace Collection

by Marie Johnston

  He reached for a weapon when Alex interrupted him. “Don’t worry, it’s just me.”

  Demetrius’ head whipped up and he broke into a big grin. “X!”

  She waved off her old name. “Alex.”

  He shut the door and strode to her. He was as devastatingly handsome as ever, and had already turned on his signature charm.

  “Is that your real name?” He sat on the stool next to her, facing into the kitchen while she still faced toward the door.

  “Close enough.” She still needed to protect her family. Going around introducing herself as Alexandria King was a huge no-go.

  “What can I do you for, Alex?” His voice had dropped a few notches into a seductive purr.

  “I need some information.”

  A chuckle rumbled through his chest and she saw a fang flash as he smiled. “My pleasure, love.”

  “I’m looking for more of a collaboration than an exchange.”

  His grin broadened, his fangs gleaming. “We collaborate so well together.”

  Alex propped her elbow behind her on the bar and turned to face him. “I mean, just talking. You and me, clothes on.”

  He adopted a seductive pout, but when she didn’t offer anything further, he sighed. “I knew that damn shifter would win out someday. Speaking of which,” his nostrils flared, “I don’t smell him on you. In fact, why didn’t I scent you coming in?”

  “Because I didn’t want you to,” she replied cryptically. She’d picked up her share of tricks working for Sigma for a decade.

  “So you have mated him?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  He looked at her, his pale-green eyes speculative. “The council has Fitzsimmons and they’re offering a sizable reward for you. And you’re here.”

  “Like you are doing with the Vampire Council, I think the Lycan Council needs a major overhaul.”

  “You realize when I win against our archaic government, I’ll be in charge. You’d answer to me, hybrid.”

  “Like hell I’m going to answer to anyone.”

  Amusement was written across his face. “Unless you’re going to form your own hybrid council, you need to come up with a proposal of how you, any kin of yours, and any future hybrids, should be treated by each species.”

  Dude had a point. She certainly wasn’t going to form her own government. What. A. Headache.

  “I’ll give that point to you. Why don’t you tell me what your plan for hybrids is?”

  “Same as the vampires,” he said easily. “Obey our laws and keep our existence low-key. The newer generations are tired of the constant war between vampires and shifters. They want to live in peace, be allowed to mate other species, not fear for their children. They’ve even asked me to help them integrate into society like the shifters are doing.”

  “Be allowed to mate another species? Have other vampires found their true mate outside of the vampire race?”

  “I’ve learned some interesting things since Sigma went down, Alex. For instance, this war between our species and how it’s escalated in the last several decades.”

  She nodded, interested to hear more. They had all assumed it was technology and its capability to permeate more destruction.

  “What if, like you and I sitting here collaborating,” he gave the word air quotes, “our councils had their own way of working together? I was sent to the equivalent of vampire boarding school, being a royal and all.” She had heard he came from a powerful family and was destined to sit on their own council, which explains why vampires were so willing to follow him as he took over. “Some of my fellow classmates and I would hit the town on the weekends, rip it up. But we started hearing talk. So we hit more towns, partied it up everywhere we could, kept our ears open. We started to see patterns in the tragedies that befell our people. Started noticing how vampires who took a heavy interest in a person outside their species often met a horrible fate, along with the human or shifter who had captured their interest.”

  Alex took a swig of her water. She knew her parents weren’t crazy to live in hiding, but they had never shared with her exactly why, other than that they feared each other’s council.

  “The two deaths were never connected, right? Vampires live in hiding and are rarely involved with another species. Unless we’re killing them, drinking from them, or fucking them,” he amended. “So my team and I looked into it further. Any humans met with an accident, any shifters killed by vampires, and the vampires who showed too much interest in them were killed by shifters.”

  So…shifters took care of problem vampires and vice versa. “Nice and tidy.”

  “Exactly,” Demetrius agreed. “The Vampire Council kept the Sigma networks in place to keep hunting shifters. Of course, they wouldn’t hesitate to dominate and enslave them, but until then, shifters had their uses.”

  “And Madame G, and all the chaos she caused, was a handy distraction so they let her go without leashing her in.”

  “She was such a maniacal bitch.” He shook his head grimly. “I’m still finding disturbing evidence of the dark arts she was involved in. Good job on the kill by the way. Love how you rubbed in your heritage at the last minute. Gave it enough time to register, then finished her off.” He slid off his stool and went to the fridge to snag a beer. Holding it up to offer her one, she shook her head. He sat back down next to her and took a big swig. “I got stationed in Freemont’s Sigma chapter and used it as a front to keep researching our theory.”

  “The two councils were working together to exterminate trans-species mating?”

  “Yep. Another issue I aim to rectify is that shifters have Guardians and, except for a few corrupt exceptions, they protect packs, human mates and all. Vampires have no such protection.”

  “The Lycan Council’s been getting greedy lately and targeting more human mates.” Alex couldn’t imagine how the two species’ governments could work together in any capacity and get away with it.

  “I’d imagine two of the West Creek Guardians mating humans didn’t sit well. It’s one thing when it’s the lower ranks, but not the warriors.”

  Jace wasn’t a born Guardian, but he was an excellent one and Cassie was human. Their mating was followed shortly by Mercury and Dani. Obviously, Mercury’s DNA was special, so a human having his babies must have been like salt on the human-mating wound.

  “I need to prove it, or they’ll never leave me and Rhys alone.”

  “Love, I’ve been trying to prove it for years. I can’t manage to find anyone alive to act as witness.”

  “They kill every one they target, then?”

  “Not necessarily. They may leave the more powerful mates alone, hoping they’ll take a new mate and not question the death too much. When my vampires took down the other Sigma chapters, we found prisoners who had been slaughtered as soon as they heard we were coming. Made me wonder what they knew.”

  Shifters kept prisoners. Each Guardian chapter had their own jail and a small prison was at the council’s headquarters. Alex wondered what she might find there.

  She peeked over at the unconscious Scurn to make sure he was still out cold. “I’ll run all this by Bennett. We’ll keep you informed if we find anything.”

  “Ah, yes. Commander Young. I haven’t had the pleasure of dealing with him yet. He’s not as interested in trying to beat the shit out of me as the previous commander was.”

  Alex wanted to smirk at the thought of Rhys getting more than a few punches in on Demetrius, but her heart twisted at the reason why. Bennett was wrong. She had hurt Rhys. He was a rock, her rock, but she had given him a few chips.

  While her mind threatened to go all melancholy, Demetrius leaned in close. She could feel his breath on her neck.

  “Tell me, love, you’ve gone without for a while?” He rasped into her ear, tickling the short hair that stuck out behind it.

  “Demetrius, if one of your fangs so much as touches me, I’m going to pull them both out with my bare hands while I use my foot on your bal
ls for leverage.”

  He threw his head back and laughed deeply. “My word, Alex,” he wheezed between busting his gut, “I’m glad that shifter hasn’t made you weak.” Still chuckling and shaking his head, he finished his beer. “Ah, I wasn’t looking to end my dry streak anyway.”

  It wasn’t often the male surprised Alex, but Demetrius retaining some semblance of abstinence did it. “You goin’ soft on me, Big D?”

  He grimaced. “Lovely choice of words.” He turned to look at her, his pale greens solemn. “You know why I liked sex with you even though it was an ego-crushing event?”

  “Ego crushing?”

  “Please, love. It hits a male hard when his partner disappears inside her mind as he’s going at her.”

  Yeah, she never hid that. It’s not like she cared what he thought, she just needed the sex to serve its purpose. “Then why?”

  “Because it meant something. It was for a reason. I got your rich blood, you got some intel. All the club fucking…sure, at first it’s a good time. Then, it’s just empty. Feels like an itch that never gets satisfied, no matter how many screaming cunts rub on it.”

  “Nice, D. Nice.”

  He gave her a shit-eating grin. “Like that, did ya? I don’t always use that word, but when I do, it’s to a beautiful woman.”

  She rolled her eyes and he laughed again.

  “I think I like our new relationship, Alex. This whole friends with no benefits thing.”

  Smiling, she tipped her water bottle to his beer for a quick “cheers” and stood up. Time to go. She had to sneak into Bennett’s cabin, after knocking loudly so she didn’t catch him and Sarah at it again and pass along all the information she got tonight.

  Pointing to the big vampire guard still passed out in the entryway, she said, “He should wake up shortly. Doc said it’d knock him down for a couple of hours.”

  “I’ll drag him back out to the hallway and let him piss himself thinking he fell asleep on the job.” Demetrius grinned wickedly. “It’ll be fun to mess with him.”

  “Nice chatting with you, D. I’ll go out the way I came.”

  “Which is? I’d like to know so I can tighten up security.”

  She waved him off. “Your security’s not bad. But you’ll need to reactivate the alarm by the west windows. And your interior cameras aren’t three-sixty. Just sayin’. On the difficulty scale of B and E, I’d give it an eight.”

  “Noted.”

  Chapter 12

  The beefy fist nailed him in the gut again. Rhys doubled over, or at least tried to, being tied up as usual.

  Mastiff stepped back. “Has she contacted you yet?”

  “Yeah, we have mind sex every night.”

  Another blow to the gut. Rhys coughed, his jaw stretched wide in pain. Months of the same old, same old didn’t make it any better. Mastiff hated him more and got a little more brutal every time. Sometimes it took Rhys days to grow teeth back and keep food down before his body healed properly.

  It was worth it.

  They would be even more ruthless to Alex if they got a hold of her. They might not start out as brutal, but her mouth would get them there. He felt powerless not to be able to help her and the issues she had to go work through on her own. He could do this. He could absorb their anger toward her.

  As Rhys’ gut throbbed, a soothing wave flowed through his mind. His brows furrowed, his eyes strained to refocus. Letting his senses flare out, he got…nothing. Something? Wait. It seemed like nothing, but something was there, making his inner wolf rise and take note.

  Whatever it was didn’t feel threatening. Rhys forced himself to look at Mastiff’s ugly face sneering at him. If he scanned around the room, Mastiff might get suspicious. Was there anything to get suspicious about? His gut told him yes, but he had no fucking clue why.

  “Reach out to her.” The Guardian pawn of the council growled, raising his fist in a threat.

  “All right, let me try.” Rhys closed his eyes and tipped his head back. “Okay. She says fuck you.” Rhys opened his eyes so the body part that got nailed next wasn’t a surprise.

  Mastiff’s sneer coiled his lips as he pulled back for more force. Before his anvil fist could reach Rhys’ face, it was jerked back and twisted. Mastiff’s body angled with it, thanks to the strong feminine hand on his shoulder. Using the momentum of the male, Rhys watched as Alex pushed him head first into the wall. Not waiting for the rebound, she booted him in the kidneys.

  Rhys was shocked to see her, but not at all surprised that she was able to get in unnoticed. He wrenched at his chains. He’d been in them often enough, and long enough, to get a good feel for them. Not only were they solid, they were lined with silver. But damn, if he needed to sacrifice a hand to help Alex, he would.

  Before Mastiff could recover from being thrown into the wall and then kicked, Alex withdrew a dart gun and shot a tiny red arrow into the goliath’s flank. With a snarl, Mastiff spun, lashing an arm out that Alex deflected and danced away from. The male gritted his teeth together and charged at her, his fists ready to fly.

  Rhys’ rage launched him at the guard, chair and all. With a yell, he took to his feet and barreled into the male right before he reached Alex. Mastiff stumbled to the side, while Rhys kept toppling until he hit the floor. The force of the hit turned him enough that he fell onto his side. After he landed, Rhys used his feet to spin and kick a leg out to trip Mastiff when he made another lunge for Alex.

  Alex had another dart ready. When Mastiff hit the floor, she pumped the red dart into his back. He struggled to get up and she booted him in the head.

  “Just to be sure,” she said, as Rhys heard the male’s body thud limply onto the floor.

  Rhys let her rich voice roll through him, relaxing him in all the right places, tightening him in even better ones. The throbbing agony in his gut was a distant memory with her in the room.

  He couldn’t see her from the position he was now laying in. But what he did see before he fell was that she looked like Agent X—dressed in tight black leather and armed to her pearly whites with blades and guns.

  “Sweet Mother Earth it’s good to see you.” Rhys was glad he could say that. If Alex hadn’t gotten there when she did, his mouth would have been shredded.

  “I noticed you were a little tied up.”

  He heard her move over Mastiff, confirming he was really out. Then her footsteps moved next to him. She yanked him upright with the back and seat of the metal chair and set all four legs on the floor.

  “Damn, he must keep the keys outside the room. I’ll have to get your chains off the fun way.” She squatted down to pick the lock on the chain around his torso that secured him to the back of the chair. He used the moment to look her over.

  She looked fine. Damn fine. Her eyes were still their normal brilliant green, but a calmness had settled into them that he hadn’t noticed before. Her new hairstyle was edgy, but ultra-feminine, just like she was.

  “How did you flash in here?” Vamps couldn’t flash somewhere they’d never been before. Rhys was outraged thinking she had been in the interrogation room before.

  Those vibrant green eyes rose to meet his as she finished her work on the first lock. “Malcolm gave me your beating schedule after he supplied a detailed outline of the council’s facilities. I made sure to step in here and peak around before you arrived.”

  Alex moved behind him to work on the cuffs around his wrists. The heat of her fingers and just having her close was screwing with his senses.

  “How do you keep your scent tapered down like that?” His mind and body knew she was close by and his mating instincts flared, but he wanted to be enveloped in her scent. It dulled the agony of his time spent with Mastiff.

  “It’s a trick Sigma taught us. It’s like using my hypnosis to amplify the other scents around us, so ours becomes camouflaged. Mentally taxing, but effective.”

  He felt tugs on his wrists as she worked on the lock. “Can you teach my pack that?” Then Rhys remembe
red he was no longer in charge. “I mean, Bennett might think it’s a good idea.”

  She leaned up to speak softly into his ear, causing heat to spiral down to his groin. “Don’t worry, Rhys. Bennett hasn’t warmed up to the commander position at all.”

  He turned his head toward her, his lips inches from hers. The cuffs dropped away. He didn’t waste any time snaking an arm around her waist, drawing her up and across his lap. Draping one leg over, Alex straddled his lap and rested arms over his shoulders.

  Wrapping his arms around her waist, he leaned into her neck to breathe in her subtle wildflower scent. “The council won’t reinstate me.”

  Idly running her fingers in patterns on the back of his head, she unconsciously rocked her hips into him. “They won’t have a say if they’re not around anymore.”

  Rhys jerked his head back. “The council, or the males on it?”

  Alex shrugged casually. “Both. Either. Whatever works.”

  Narrowing his eyes on her, he tightened his hold and rocked his own hips up into her, seeking a margin of relief from the strain behind his zipper. “What does my beautiful mate have planned?”

  A small smile touched her lips at his compliment. “Getting you out of here. Then searching their secret prison.”

  Rhys frowned as he thought it over. “Wouldn’t it have been better to leave me here while you searched the prison? Then my absence, or the attack on Mastiff, wouldn’t set off any alarms.”

  She drew her lips back slightly, baring a tiny amount of fang. The view went straight to his manhood, because his last memory of seeing her fangs was when she ran one down his length. Most. Erotic. Experience. Ever.

  She leaned down to nip his bottom lip. “Did you leave me hanging at Sigma?”

  Rhys groaned and pulled her closer. “Mastiff’s a big pussy cat. I’da been all right.”

  Alex chuckled, running her tongue along his lower lip to catch the drop of blood she drew. Rhys could no longer take it. He captured her mouth with his own. Surprising even himself, he didn’t go further. His lips on her lips. Contact with his mate. It was what his body craved after six months, any sort of contact. Being deprived of her dreams had been the toughest part of his confinement, of her being gone.