Fallen Protector

by Tl Reeve

  Gabriel frowned. “We might have a supply chain around here, I’ll ask.”

  “If you don’t,” Shax said, sticking close to Natalie. “We’ll go.”

  The doors to the elevator opened a moment later, and Rafe started down the hall to the room. It was nothing special. They’d requested a long table which ate up half of the space, but with the doors connecting their rooms open, it gave some breeze way. Rafe opened the door and stood aside, allowing Caim and Shax along with Natalie and Gabriel to enter the space. Again, the scent of the wolf curled around Rafe.

  It drove him to the brink.

  Nevertheless, he kept himself in check. If he couldn’t decipher whether his reaction to the man was his own or the drugs talking, he couldn’t act on his wants. He led them over to the table and motioned for them to sit, then did the same. On the table, were a few crime-scene photos from other shallow graves. All of them were related to the broader investigation, like Kendrick said, but couldn’t be put together. He hoped Gabriel could shed some light on their precarious situation.

  Gabriel pulled out his phone. “Give me five minutes. I have to talk to my uncle.”

  Rafe nodded as Gabriel stepped into the bathroom.

  “You like him, don’t you?” Natalie glanced at Rafe. “It’s okay if you do, but,” she sighed, “he gets used.”

  Rafe stared at her, not sure how to answer her statement or her question. “Used?”

  “Mmhm,” she murmured. “They know he’s a wolf. So, it goes without saying.”

  “Goes without saying what?” She piqued his curiosity.

  Shax snorted.

  “You know.” She lowered her gaze to his crotch then back up to his eyes. “Wolf peen.”

  “I—” She struck Rafe dumbfounded. “I don’t—”

  Caim clapped him on the shoulder and chuckled. “This is one of those instances when you say nothing, my brother.”

  “We’ll have a cooler of milk in an hour,” Gabriel said coming out of the bathroom. “Along with new paperwork.”

  Rafe glanced up at him. “What paperwork?”

  “Who’s signing?” Natalie glanced at her brother.

  “I am.” Gabriel’s determined gaze locked with Rafe’s. “I’m her guardian.”

  The hell. She was an angel before she was a wolf. “I don’t think—”

  “You’ll be her secondary guardian,” Gabriel announced. “Deal with it. For now, she is a Raferty.”

  Shax whistled. “He’s got a pair of balls on him.”

  Yeah. Rafe didn’t know if it turned him on or pissed him off or both.

  Not even an hour later, a knock came at the door. When Rafe opened it, the bellboy hurried into the room with one of the luggage carts piled high in baby items, and like Gabriel had said, a large cooler marked ‘perishable.’ A few seconds later, a courier arrived with an envelope for Gabriel. The shifter tipped both men, then he and his sister went to work cleaning the baby up and feeding her. Natalie then placed the little girl into a burgundy sling, so she could hold her while they stepped back over to the table to get to work. The efficiency between the twins astonished Rafe. They worked in tandem, complementing each other’s skills without having to say a word as they went. It was a sight to behold for sure.

  “PBH, or commonly known as Paranormal Bounty Hunters, have been around longer than Natalie and I have been alive,” Gabriel stated, while looking through the photographs. “Our aunts Keeley and Danielle were once hunted by them. My father was imprisoned by them. Our older siblings, Hayden and Bodhi were procreated in that lab. The Raferty pack until my brother turned eleven, took care of Bodhi, then my fathers and mother raised him. They found out about Hayden when she and our—”

  “Holly,” Natalie finished for Gabriel. “Raised her. Then at fourteen, Hayden and she turned up in Window Rock as well. Holly was also PBH.”

  “Fuck.” Rafe didn’t have any other answer than the expletive.

  “Raised her?” Caim cocked a brow. “How do you know this Hayden isn’t also an agent for PBH?”

  Gabriel growled.

  Natalie touched her brother once again. “Because, a few years after we were born, Holly’s brother, Henry Worthington kidnapped Hayden and attempted to rape her. Had her mate, our mated-brother not stopped him.”

  “Hayden,” Gabriel snarled. “Was the one to take down Holly and provided the testimony along with our uncles’ that sentenced her to death.”

  Rafe sighed. What a fucked up family.

  “If you ask Kalkin, Holly had always betrayed our pack,” Gabriel added. “Kalkin figured she’d been working behind the scenes. Hayden, when she was little, was kidnapped. Then again, a year after she arrived in Window Rock. I suspect it was all orchestrated by Holly–including the incident with Worthington. I can’t, and I am sure my—our uncle can’t prove it either, but it doesn’t matter now, Holly and her reign of terror are no more.”

  “So, this is a personal job for you?” Rafe couldn’t allow emotions to cloud their ability of getting a job done.

  “The Psychic Retrieval Agency was created to combat the abduction of children, teens, and adults. Most of the people we save are orphans. For too long, PBH has run amuck of things. So, yeah, it’s personal, but not for the reasons you might think.”

  Rafe tapped his chin as he stared at Natalie and Gabriel. “Who is Adrian Geithner to you?”

  “Step-brother of sorts, I suppose,” Natalie answered. “He is the half-biological brother to Hayden and Bodhi.”

  “See, a fucked up family,” Shax said.

  What. The. Fuck? Rafe snorted and shook his head, unable to process what they’d told him. “You’re fucking kidding me? He was the head mother fucker in charge at PBH, and he is Bodhi and Hayden’s illegitimate brother?”

  “Well, technically, he was working for our uncle Kalkin,” Gabriel stated.

  “How?” Rafe held up his hand. “Do you ever look at your family and say, ‘we’re fucked up beyond all repair?’”

  Gabriel chuckled. The rough sound skirted down Rafe’s spine and settled low in his belly. His cock hardened. The front of his pants grew painfully tight. “All the time. Kalkin found Adrian after his mother and father died. He took the boy in, raised him in our community, and then put him to work. With Adrian with us, he figured we could curb what PBH was doing.”

  “It didn’t work for long, though,” Natalie said. “A few years ago, he showed up in town needing a place to hide out. Someone on the inside knew who he was the whole time. Kalkin never found the link, though.”

  “Then you got this case, and both agents were your friends?”

  Both Gabriel and Natalie nodded. “We’re hoping this case will put us on the right track to finding the snitch.”

  “What can you tell me about this particular case?” Rafe prodded.

  “Usually, we find where a group of children or teens are hiding out, or in some cases, being held and go pick them up,” Gabriel stated. “A couple of agents have posed as adoptive parents. Some agents will direct the kids to safe houses, and, on the rare occasion, children are rescued from really shitty situations. I read the file we have on Aurin and Bane during the flight here. These children ran away from a group home in Maine and were alone; they needed help. In situations like this one, Keeley and Danielle have setup simple systems to locate children. Aurin and Bane were dispatched to assist and bring the children to Window Rock.”

  “What is it about Window Rock that makes it so special?” Rafe had been curious about that aspect since he arrived on scene.

  “It’s like a no-fly zone for PBH. When our aunts Keeley and Danielle arrived in Window Rock, they were being stalked by Simon—Adrian’s father. He eventually kidnapped Keeley and almost killed Danielle. After everyone was safe, Kalkin found out that Simon and Hazel were disavowed. They made the mistake of killing a senator’s daughter. However, they continued to work and with no real set of checks and balances. Senator Jefferson Winters shut down the secret branch of the govern
ment—for the moment. Kalkin also announced that Window Rock was a sanctuary for all shifters who needed it. It was also a place PBH wasn’t welcome.”

  “So, you bring these shifters and kids with abilities back to Window Rock, and—”

  “They are registered with the orphanage our aunts started as a non-profit, then adopted or fostered in our shifter community,” Natalie said. “Or in cases where the agent “adopts” the child, they usually stay together.”

  Rafe sat there for a moment, digesting everything Natalie and Gabriel told him. It made perfect sense now why Kendrick wanted them to work together. They had the missing pieces of their investigation. “Well, shit.”

  “And your aunts run it—the orphanage alone?” Caim sat forward. “How many children do they have?”

  Natalie and Gabriel looked at each other before Natalie spoke. “Well, they have help. Maria and Shelby stay at the orphanage most of the time, and we have a new intake/case manager, Violet. We like her. Plus, our aunts; well, Dani mostly.” She then pointed to the photographs. “Are these photographs recent?”

  Natalie touched one of them. The grave was small maybe only eight by five. Inside, were two sets of bones. At that moment, the FBI and FAs were still trying to determine who the persons were and how they died.

  “Yes. A couple of months old. I am convinced these are all related,” Rafe replied.

  “I see,” Gabriel said. “Looks like we’ll be joining you on the full investigation. Not just Aurin and Bain.”

  Chapter Four

  If they were going to work together, Gabriel needed to give them all of the truth of what he and Natalie saw. Rafe, once Gabriel got past all the Alpha bullshit, was a nice guy. His teammates? Not so much. He didn’t like the way Shax looked at his sister—like a wolf sizing up its prey, especially while she’d been holding the baby. However, he pushed down his worries for his sister and shook Rafe’s hand when they came to an agreement of terms for working with one another on the unsolved cases, including Aurin’s and Bain’s.

  A bolt of electricity shot up his arm and sent tendrils of bliss throughout his body. He retracted his hand and noticed Rafe stared at the appendage as though it’d been Gabriel who’d caused the reaction on purpose. Mate. He frowned. Gabriel didn’t have time for that bullshit. If they didn’t figure out who was killing the kids, more would die, and being a mate would be meaningless.

  Gabriel pushed aside the spark of arousal. They had work to do. “The map shows several different sites.” He glanced over at Rafe. “All related?”

  The man rubbed the back of his neck with the hand he used to shake Gabriel’s. “Not sure. This is the first case we were called in on. But, before we left, our boss gave us the information on seven more cases that could be related. On the drive down, I looked them over. They could be considered occult cases. But, some of the markers we’d see in those types of incidences aren’t there. No pentagrams. No bones or blood. No markings on the bodies per se. Which leads me to believe me these are related.”

  Natalie frowned. “Not good.”

  “Why?” Rafe eased over to Gabriel’s sister.

  “Well, it would mean either we’re slacking at our jobs or those who have been captured and killed, didn’t get a chance to use our system.” She pushed aside the stack of photos and glanced at the map. “And, if they did use our routes, it could also mean someone knows the direction these children are going and where they’re coming from.” She pointed to several different sites on the map. “They all follow I-95 or some version of it. Then once they’re in Connecticut, they branch out. Some follow I-80 some take I-84. It depends on where they want to be.”

  She was right. Gabriel grabbed his tablet from his bag then pulled up the locations of Keeley and Danielle’s emergency safe locations. “There are five near here” —he pointed to a spot south of Hartford— “and here” —he indicated an area west of New Haven. “They could be lying in wait for them. Like Natalie said, figured out our routes.”

  “Then you’ve been compromised,” Rafe replied. “They’ve tracked your movements, which would explain how the kids are being caught and how they found Aurin and Bain.”

  Gabriel growled. “I fucking hate these people.”

  “Can’t say I like them much, either,” Rafe grumbled.

  “I’ll put the call in to our aunts and make them aware.” Natalie touched Gabriel’s shoulder. “We’ll get this fixed. If anyone can do it, it’s Keeley.”

  Gabriel nodded while he continued to look at the map. There had to be multiple transactions from the banks associated with PRA working in conjunction with those who needed help. Yet, as of that moment, to their knowledge, none of the safe locations where shifters and humans could stay, were compromised. What the hell was he missing?

  “They’re being lured in,” Caim murmured. “Have to be.”

  Gabriel put himself in the shoes of those who were looking for freedom. They’d be frightened, reclusive. Being given new identity gave them a new lease on life. It could allow them a sense of freedom they’d never known. Let them be without worry. Sure, not all of them would feel the same, but the ones who did?

  “What do you know about Éviel?” Gabriel glanced up at Rafe.

  Rafe jerked. His eyes widened, and his face went pale. The scent of his fear clogged Gabriel’s senses before Rafe banished it. “Nothing, why?”

  Gabriel stared at him for a moment. Rafe knew more than he was saying. “PBH uses it. Often. They experiment on shifters and psychics to see how they will react to the drug. In the beginning, it was used for procreation. A false mating drug to simulate the magnetic pull between two shifters during the full moon or estrus. Basically, it would send shifters into rut.”

  “So, what you’re saying is—”

  “Our father was one of the first shifters to ever be given the stimulant. It was how Bodhi, and Hayden were conceived. Our father still experiences the side effects of the drug every month.” Natalie took Gabriel’s hand. “From what Natalie and I gathered at the scene, I believe PBH has refined it for other uses.”

  Rafe’s knees went weak. He grabbed the back of the chair to steady himself. Éviel... The small patch he found on the back of his thigh. The one he held in his evidence bag had been used against him.

  He swallowed hard.

  “Are you okay, Rafe?” Natalie’s soft voice drew him back to the present. “You look a little pale.”

  “Rough night,” he said. “Too much work, not enough sleep.”

  Caim snorted.

  Gabriel narrowed his eyes but didn’t say anything.

  “I understand.” She gave him a small smile. “We’re not making this case any easier, either.”

  “It’s not your fault. Don’t sweat it.” Rafe scrubbed his face at the same moment his phone rang. He pulled the device from his pocket then slid his finger across the screen and put it on speaker phone. “We’re all here.”

  “Good,” Raum said. “We found the building. Lix, and Hauser are at the morgue getting ready to start the autopsies, while Maxwell, and I are sitting outside this burned-out carcass of a warehouse.”

  Gabriel narrowed his eyes. “Guess they didn’t want to leave a trail.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” Maxwell grumbled. “Looks like they didn’t do too good of a job covering their tracks.”

  “We’re on our way,” Rafe stated. “Seal the perimeter and wait for us.”

  “On it,” Raum replied.

  After Rafe ended the call, they gathered up their things and headed out. His head spun with the information Natalie and Gabriel provided to him, including the tidbits about Éviel. He’d have to tell them the truth. He, too, had been given the fucking drug, which begged the question, why him? What would someone want from him? He couldn’t have kids. It was one of the curses of a fallen angel.

  So, why?

  “I think you should stay here, Natalie. We don’t need to bring a baby to a crime scene,” Rafe said then added, “I’m not trying to be a
dick about it.”

  She laughed. “This precious gift is just fine. So am I. If you want to get to the bottom of what’s going on, I have to be there.”

  Gabriel grunted. “She’s right. We’ll protect her. The baby’s mine after all.”

  Something about the way Gabriel said, “mine,” turned Rafe on. The protective side of his wolf sat up, accepting his mate’s assessment. “Fine. If anything goes sideways, I want both of you to get out of there, understand?”

  Natalie and Gabriel nodded.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Natalie said, as they exited the hotel after gathering their things. “What if they’re turning Éviel into a street drug?”

  It would make a fuck-load of sense. “Could be.”

  “Our friends, before they died, were experimented on,” Natalie added. “PBH could be entering a whole new realm of doing business. Just think, if they refine Éviel properly, it could be the new Molly or Ecstasy or Rohypnol—GHB.”

  Fuck. The knot in Rafe’s stomach tightened. “For shifters?”

  “For anyone,” Natalie answered. “It lowers inhibitions. It would also make it easier to catch one of us.”

  Rafe unlocked the vehicle for them. “Sounds like this case just became a cluster fuck.”

  “I think it has been for a while,” Gabriel said with a chuckle. “We have to get to that warehouse and hope something is salvageable.”

  He agreed.

  The unsettled feeling in Rafe’s stomach didn’t abate during the drive to the site, nor when they finally pulled into the parking lot of the abandoned and now burned-out warehouse. Raum’s blacked-out SUV sat near the entrance to the office area while caution tape had been wound around several support poles near the ruined area. The dance of flashlights against blackened walls gave away his team members’ locations, and Rafe pointed at them. “Looks like they started without us.”

  They grabbed their gear then made their way over to the pile of debris. Natalie and Gabriel joined Maxwell while Shax, Rafe, and Caim met up with Raum. Rafe watched as Gabriel spoke to the other man. Their conversation was subdued. He’d expect nothing less. They’d lost two important people.