Critical Intelligence Read online

  “They want to breed her,” Green said flatly.

  “They want to what?” Disbelief swept through him.

  “Breed her. That’s why they wanted to take her with them. It makes sense. They used human women during the first round of tests and managed to have a success rate. It stands to reason that they’d want to use the females born from the first experiments to attempt to create an even more powerful race of shifters. That explains the hormone they injected her with being one that increases sexual responsiveness in the shifter side of her. Missy is clearly highly sexual already. She naturally oozes it, the same as Peren and Melanie. They each have natural barriers. Missy, in control, can say no and determine who and what she gives her body to. Under normal circumstances, her shifter side would only kick up her sexual urges around her mate. Add a stimulant so powerful that it’s bringing all strands of her DNA to the point they need to mate and…”

  His words rushed over Roi, stunning him. “They want to inject her with different sperm and knock her up?”

  Green let out a shaky laugh that sounded anything but humorous. “I don’t think that would work. You see, Missy will be crazy, and I do mean the word in the clinical sense, if they continue to inject her with the hormones needed to keep her various strands of DNA in heat, without actually giving her sexual release.”

  Missy clawed at the back of Roi’s arms and pushed her hips up at him. He groaned as he held her in place. He wanted her more than words could ever describe, but he needed to hear Green out. He had to know she’d be safe.

  “So, they’d let her go nuts? They’d be lucky to get one child out of her that way,” said Roi.

  Green was silent for a moment. “Or they could intend on having her conceive the old-fashioned way, and in doing so, she would be able to continue to produce the number of offspring they require without fighting them.”

  Roi growled out and his hands began to tingle. If he didn’t calm down, he’d shift forms on top of Missy. “They were going to rape her?”

  “My guess is, if they manage to capture her, they’ll still try. Missy in her normal state of mind would never offer herself to them willingly. From what you told me, she stood by your side and protected you from being hurt. She didn’t run and leap into their arms. In her current state, she’ll do just that until she comes down off the injection. Keep her close to you. And keep other males away right now. Mated ones will be immune to her lure. I’m not sure about unmated ones.”

  He’d kill any man who dared to touch her.

  Green really wasn’t helping Roi’s little problem of keeping his temper in check. For a man who went out of his way to supply him with soothing-sound CDs to calm his anger issues, he was doing a bang-up job of infuriating him to the point Roi wanted to kill anything and everything in his path to the bastard who ordered this be done to his mate. “They attacked us on our home turf. That meant they were following us. And if they had enough balls to try to take her when they knew damn well the rest of the team was there to come to my aid, they want her bad.”

  Another thought hit him. “Peren needs to tell Melanie to be careful. Better yet, have Peren go to Eadan, Melanie’s brother. When I first met him, I didn’t understand how he was holding his own with me. I get it now. You told me that Melanie has a decent amount of Fae blood in her. It stands to reason he does too. He’s also really fucking pretty. Fae boys always are.”

  Looking down at Missy, Roi played Green’s words about the Fae DNA coating her protectively. His gut tightened. Eadan cared for Missy. “Have Peren get to Melanie’s brother fast. He needs to be on guard in the event they’ve caught on to what his sister is. And he, umm, he should be told about Missy. He’s some sort of handler for her.”

  “Understood.” Green was quiet for a moment. “But are you sure he can protect Melanie?”

  Roi could sympathize with Green’s concern and everyone on the team knew Green had it bad for Melanie. Roi still wasn’t sure why Green permitted Lance to be with her, when it was so painfully obvious that Green wanted her. The minute Lance passed away, duty and honor said that his “brother” would watch over Melanie as a mate would, a mate Roi knew Green had wanted from the moment he laid eyes on her. “Green, I think he’s been protecting Missy.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Roi swallowed hard. “The coating of Fae DNA in Missy, could that come from having sex with a Fae?”

  Please say no.

  “No, not from just having sex,” answered Green.

  Thank you, God.

  “But, Roi, if he’s anything like us and his semen is able to form bonds then yes, if he ejaculated in her and bonded with her at the same time then yes, I believe it could be possible. We’re not normal and we sure the hell aren’t human anymore. Anything is possible.”

  Roi’s stomach twisted into a knot. “If that happened, they would, umm, they would be married in the eyes of our people.”

  “Yes, but if he’s not her true mate, Roi, then the marriage is breakable. And we don’t know for certain that is how the Fae DNA was introduced to her. He may have shared his blood with her at some point. We also only know how shifters mate. Not Fae.”

  “Yeah,” Roi said softly, praying that was the case. “I need to keep Missy out of harm’s way until they lose interest in her.”

  Green snorted. “They won’t stop until they have her, Roi. Can you even imagine the time and money they put into creating her?”

  “They’ll never have her! She’s my mate and I’m not fucking letting anyone else touch her, ever.”

  “I understand,” Green said softly. “But you should know that even if you do mark her, they’ll probably still keep trying.”

  Roi aligned his hips with Missy’s and she wrapped her legs around his waist eagerly. “What if I beat them to it? What if I impregnated her?” At first, he couldn’t believe his own ears, but the more he thought about it, the more he was willing to do just that.

  “Excuse me, sir, but could you put Geoffroi Majors back on the phone? You know, the man who wears two condoms while he’s with one of his endless stream of women? The one who can’t commit for an entire night let alone a lifetime? The one who is so selfish and full of himself that the idea of him having a child and a wife to care for is almost laughable?”

  He deserved everything Green was saying about him. That was exactly how he’d always been. Missy changed that. “Green, I…”

  “Roi, it needed to be said. It was best it come from me before the rest of the men start in. You would have killed Wilson the second the comment came out of his mouth. I’m not sensing any anger in you now.”

  “I want her safe and I want her with me,” Roi whispered. The very idea of one of them touching Missy, hurting her, ate away at him, beating down his ability to control the beast he’d carried for so long.

  “Do you think a child mixed with royal lycan DNA and all that she carries would be any less appealing to the enemy? It seems to me that may be exactly what they’re looking for.”

  “She’s mine!” he shouted, disconnecting the call and throwing his cell phone across the room.

  Roi wanted to sink his cock into Missy then and there, forever cementing their bond, but he didn’t. He held back. She wasn’t in control of herself and Roi wouldn’t take advantage of that. Looking into her eyes, he watched as they swirled back to their normal brown. “Missy doll?”

  She blinked and stared up at him. The fear on her face stabbed at his gut even more. “Geoffroi?”

  His Missy was back. Part of him wished she’d start verbally sparring with him again. “I know that I’m the last man you want above you, but I sort of need to hold you down right now, hon.”

  Her eyes swirled to ice blue and then went to brown instantly. Unshed tears filled her eyes and broke Roi’s heart. He’d failed her. He’d let them get their hands on her. He’d let them inject her with whatever in the hell it was they put in her. “I’m so sorry.”

  Missy’s body tightened as she arched her back
. “Shhh, I’m not upset with you. Whatever is happening hurts.” She bit her lower lip and winced. Banging her head lightly on the floor made more tears form in her eyes. “Make it stop,” she pleaded. “My body burns. Please, Roi. I think we both know what I need right now.”

  Roi wanted to end her suffering more than anything, but he didn’t want to hurt her. Without a guarantee that she’d be safe accepting his semen, he wasn’t about to enter her. “I can’t.”

  “Please help me.”

  Sighing, Roi shook his head. “You have no idea how much I want to be with you, Melissa, but I can’t. It’s hard to explain.”

  She narrowed her gaze and her nostrils flared. “Help me or I’ll find someone who will!”

  The threat in her voice was real. The idea of Missy licking another man’s cock before opening her legs for him infuriated Roi. He pinned her harder against the floor, knowing that he was most likely causing her discomfort, but the alpha in him demanded she obey. He let his eyes swirl with flecks of yellow and gold in a raw display of power. “You will not let any other man touch you! You are my mate. Do you understand?”

  Missy’s eyes flashed to ice blue as she stared hard at him. “Pfft, clearly I’m not your anything. But I can tell you this. If you don’t help me, I swear to you that I’ll find someone who will.”

  Roi fought hard to keep the beast within him from rising up and laying claim to what it knew was his. Hell, Roi wanted to take her too but knew better.

  I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything, but you don’t want me.

  “I can’t, sugar,” Roi said, refusing to confess his true feelings to her.

  Missy blinked up at him and her eyes quickly returned to brown. “I want you to be the one who helps me, Geoffroi. Help me,” she pleaded, her voice finally sounding like her own.

  It was her, she’d managed to fight through her beast. “Missy, honey, I want to help you, but if I… If we have sex, I’ll most likely get you pregnant, and it’s not like you don’t hate me enough already, but trust me when I say that taking my seed is the equivalent of signing a marriage agreement. Ain’t a condom in the world gonna protect you from what I’m packing at the moment.”

  The irony of attempting to talk the one woman in the world he wanted most out of having sex with him was not lost on Roi.

  Oh yeah, the Fates were having a field day with him.

  Must be sweeps week where they are.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Green ran his hand through his hair, staring at his cell phone.

  Lukian set a cup of coffee down next to him and tapped his phone. “What did he want?”

  “I think you know.”

  Lukian nodded. “Yes, to know if he could mate with Melissa safely.”

  “Yes,” Green said, sighing. “I won’t be able to deal with this if we lose another one. I hate taking chances. You know that we have to be certain the female can handle our DNA in her before we allow our semen to enter them.”

  The last woman Green had loved had died during childbirth. He’d lost her decades ago, and had loved her greatly. Elizabeth’s loss was what alerted the team that their DNA was potent and could be transferred in their semen. A normal human woman couldn’t handle such a thing, and if she was lucky enough to survive the first night, but became pregnant, she would still die as the supernatural child within her drained her of her very essence. Their offspring needed so much more than a human woman could provide, and Green had vowed to never make that mistake again. That’s why he hadn’t had sex since then. Sixty years was a long time to go without release, but it wasn’t nearly enough to forget the pain of loss his seed had caused.

  He pushed the painful memories of losing his wife out of his mind and concentrated on the task at hand. “I did some digging. It turns out that Gisbert Krauss has been funneling money throughout Europe and Asia for the last thirty plus years. Just about every contact we have said the same thing, that he’s fascinated by the idea of immortality and power. He’s also rumored to have teamed up with Pierre Molyneux.”

  Lukian dropped his cup of coffee and stared at Green. “Why the hell would a master vampire team up with that stocky little paranormal wannabe?”

  Green shrugged, the very question had been bothering him since he’d found out about it. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

  “Krauss deals internationally right?” Lukian asked.

  “Yes,” Green said, unsure where the conversation was going.

  “It would look good on paper then to have a front to hide behind.” Lukian glanced up at the briefing room map. “With the right name, Pierre could move just about anything. Including an army of supernaturals. The blond vamp that showed up with the shifter intruders… Do you think he was one of Pierre’s vamps?”

  “I have no idea, but it would explain what a vampire with that kind of power was doing here. Pierre has a longstanding history of siring powerful vampires. The one that was in charge of the attack on us managed to mask the enemy’s presence from us all. That takes some skill. You know,” Green said, lowering his voice a bit, “if they manage to get their hands on any of us they’ll not only dissect us for experiments, they’ll have additional clues in creating a stable super race of supernatural hybrids that could wipe out mankind.”

  Lukian nodded. “That’s why we don’t get caught.”

  “And if we do?” Green questioned.

  Lukian cast him a wary look. “They can’t be allowed to study us. Dead or alive. Getting caught isn’t an option.”

  The briefing room phone rang and Green knew who it was. The colonel would be looking for an update on the situation. Lukian grabbed the phone and Green sat quietly, listening to Lukian give the abridged version of what was going on, and then folded his hands as he caught the strain in Lukian’s voice to remain calm.

  Lukian hung up the phone, shaking his head.

  “That bad, huh?”

  “Apparently the Director of Paranormal Security and Intelligence—you know, the one who we’ve never even met—is sending an agent in and we’re to follow his orders, assisting in any way we can. Supposedly, this guy is one of the best they have. Some of his specialties include intelligence and assassination when needed. They want us to find out what the enemy knows and how far along they’ve gotten in their experiments. They’re also concerned about the new weapons they have.” Lukian sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. “The colonel also wants Melissa brought in for questioning. Apparently, big brother found out about her because of the surveillance cameras outside. Jon thought of that this morning, but when he got down there the tapes were already filed into the vault.”

  Outraged, Green shot out of his chair, sending coffee spilling everywhere. “He wants to do what? We can’t do that. She’s Roi’s mate, not to mention Peren and Melanie’s best friend.”

  “Calm down, old friend. I’ll figure something out. There is no way I’m letting my future sister-in-law and my mate’s best friend be subjected to any of their interrogations. Tell Roi to keep her there for now. We are the only ones who know where the safe houses are. PSI has no clue. I’ll accept the heat on this gladly. I know in my gut that Melissa isn’t working for the other side. She’d have killed Peren long ago or let Roi die last night. And when I talked to her on the phone, before I even met my wife, all I could sense from her was concern for Peren’s happiness. She knew that Peren wasn’t human before Peren knew. She also warned Roi about the weapons and told him how Peren’s blood could protect the rest of us. Roi, the dumb ass, told us about it after the fact, but still. I’ll march into the enemy’s camp and sort this out on my own before I let them harm one hair on that girl’s head.”

  Sensing the truth in Lukian’s words, Green gasped. “Captain, you can’t be serious. Sir, that is exactly what they want you to do. Don’t you think Parker filled them in on how we operate?”

  Lukian nodded. “I know, but it all boils down to critical intelligence. They have it. We need it.”

  “I’ll
get the others.” Green turned and stormed out of the room. This was not only a suicide mission, it damn well could end mankind if their secrets fell into the wrong hands.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Missy sat with her legs folded on the edge of the dock, looking out at the water. It was so calm there, so serene. Sitting out near the lake seemed a far cry from the way she’d behaved earlier. Roi, surprisingly enough, had been a complete gentleman, not taking advantage of her when she’d been more than willing to allow him free access. She wasn’t sure what scared her more, wanting to have sex with Roi or his newfound honorability.

  “You hungry?” Roi asked, scaring her with his sudden presence.

  No, I’m mortified.

  “I’m fine, thanks though,” she said, pushing the shirt he’d loaned her down in front, afraid that it wasn’t covering all of her. “I’d like to go home now.”

  Roi sighed and she took that as a bad sign. “Yeah, about that. You kind of need to hang out with me for a while.” He sat down next to her and tried to touch her back.

  She pulled away from him. “I need to go home, Roi. I haven’t checked in with Eadan or any of my other contacts. Eadan didn’t realize you were an I-Op. All the PSI coverts know the team exists or at least have a strong sense of it. But none are given your location, names, and so on. The same goes for us as well. We know about other agents on a need-to-know basis. He’s got to be worried. Hell, he may be trying to track you down now. I can’t make contact with him mentally for some reason.”

  “You can communicate telepathically with Eadan?”

  Missy bit her lip and stared up at Roi as she nodded her head. “Yes, but not now. Something’s wrong.”