9781618857835FrozenFuryBeckNC (10 page)

“Amelia,”
her mother stood and took her into her arms.

The
brief contact was a boost to her system. She smiled at the warmth coursing
through her.
“Mother.
I’m so glad you’re here now. I’m
sorry. I truly am sorry for the trouble I caused with my experiments. I meant
well.”

“Hush,
my daughter, your father and I are not upset. We know your intentions were
good. All will be taken care of now that you all have these strong mates to
care for you.”

Amelia
bristled a bit at the archaic reference to big, strong men, but she knew her
mother didn’t intend to infer the women were weak. Of all people, her mother
was aware of the powers women in the
Magdalena
Circle
possessed.

“Girls,
we have a Pronouncement to plan,” Mamma Santucci called out as she clapped her
hands and brought the group to attention. “I’ve been assured that Valentino
will handle coordinating all the travel. And the only parameter we were given
is that the celebration must take place within the compound. The rest is
entirely to your whim.” She smiled at Amelia.

“I’d
love to celebrate in the wedding grove in the vineyards where the others have.”

Both
Adelina and Chiara smiled and nodded pleased with the idea. Then the women
talked through the plans for a few hours and enjoyed lunch together. Those
who’d already experienced their own Pronouncement shared their memories. Then
each of the younger women took their leave to begin working on their tasks.

Within
the week, Amelia would be fully mated to Gage. It couldn’t be soon enough for
Amelia because a tornado was rolling in her stomach as her anger at Gage for
going away was fighting its way to the surface. She knew she couldn’t be mad at
him. She knew he needed to do this. Still, the fury was engulfing her and she
had no idea how to control it.

“I
think I can help you.” Davina sat beside her with Gracie on her other side. She
was surrounded by these strikingly different women.

“Help
me?”

“With
your anger.
 
Remember at breakfast when you talked about it
causing you trouble? Well, if you’d like, I can try a spell,” Davina whispered.

“You
do spell work?” Amelia was shocked. “It’s forbidden. We’re only to use our
circle magic, those natural abilities granted to us by the Goddess.”

“Yes,
well, we’re just taking our natural abilities to another level,” Gracie added.

“Our
natural abilities?
Gracie Sinster, are you doing these
spells too?” Amelia’s shock grew exponentially.

“We
do it together. We need each other to create the power we need,” Davina
explained.

Amelia
shook her head in disbelief. “I cannot believe this. Nothing in this world is
what I’ve ever thought it was.” She nearly laughed at just how crazy this past
week had been. Then she considered just what they were offering. “Okay. I’m
in.”

Gracie
and Davina shared a look. Then Davina held out her hands across Amelia’s lap
and waited for Gracie to place her smaller ones into them. They held onto one
another, their fingers intertwined, and spoke in tones too low for Amelia to
hear and too fast for Amelia to understand.

Amelia
glanced around the room but no one was paying attention to them. Actually, it
was almost as if they weren’t in the room at all. She looked back to Davina who
just shrugged.

Startling
Amelia, Davina’s voice wafted into her mind. “
I’ve cast a spell over us so they no longer sense us
.”

“You
are going to tell me about all these talents you have someday.” Amelia told
Davina, whispering. “And you too.” She peered over towards Gracie. “You’ve been
keeping secrets.”

A
warmth
touched Amelia in her stomach and spread outwards
as a calming presence overtook her. Slowly, she relaxed and could feel the
vibrations of the words they spoke over her.

* * * *

Everything
around him was going to pot. Leaving Amelia had been more difficult than Gage
had expected and he was distracted. That was something he’d never before dealt
with.

“Gage,
are you listening to me?” Madden’s voice, filled with anger, came over the
link.

“I’m
in position. I’ve got two guards in my sight and am just waiting for your go.”

Gage
wanted to see this through and be done with these bastards who could possibly
hurt his mate. He watched as the other TEU agents moved into position and
prepared to take the building. He forced himself to focus on the objective.

With
his scope on the door the agents would go through, Gage perched waiting to take
out the first guard. The building they surrounded showed over two dozen men
inside. With the nine of them, they should be able to clear the building within
a few minutes once they got inside. The object here was to use stealth, to make
the mission go under the radar. No national coverage on this or the government
would have questions they didn’t want to answer.

The
CIA sent orders that authorized TEU to extinguish all involved parties in order
to maintain the secrecy of the Valendite Breed existence, but not at the risk
of exposing their involvement. Gage was pleased by the authorization because
nothing short of killing all these bastards would make him feel better about
his mate’s safety.

It
was quiet until he heard Lucas count it down.
“Four, three,
two, one.”
He opened the door, the large man stepped into
view,
and with a single bullet, Gage laid him out.
One down.

Lucas
and Granger went in to scout. While waiting to hear Caedon over their comm
device, Gage moved to the back door location where he was assigned to enter. No
one spoke a single word as the men waited instruction.

After
long minutes of establishing the route, Caedon’s voice came across the links.
“Okay. Here’s what we’ve got. We’ll move in two teams, one from each exterior
door. Heat sensors continue to indicate two dozen people. There is only one
level and Granger reports a large number of the men are in a gathering space.
There’s just one objective here. Eliminate anything that breathes.”

Madden
interjected, “Good. Now on my count, we take everyone out. Team A follows me
from the front. Gage leads team B around to the back.” Madden counted off,
“One.
Two.
Three.” Each man did exactly as instructed
and moved as if completely synchronized.

Within
seconds, gun blasts were going off toward the front of the building and men
were streaming in their direction, away from the gunshots. Gage hung back,
stroking his MK23 and waiting. The others would take the men out by hand. The
preferred method was a simple squeeze to break the neck. Gage would shoot
anyone who got through. Guns were his friends.

He
went to make his final shot when he recognized the eyes peering out at him
under the hooded robe. It was Dr. Whitner. He just barely held his finger as it
went for release.

“What
the hell are you doing here?” Gage insisted, grabbing onto her arm and shaking
her. “You’re obviously not a prisoner.” Gage’s fury at the possibility that his
mate’s colleague would be part of this ignited a rage inside him. He shook her
again.

Lucas
and Granger stomped into the room and pulled her from him. “There was a woman
in here?”

“She’s
not just any woman,” Gage explained, “She’s the Director of MagCircle Lab.”

Madden
rounded the corner and stopped to stare at the scene in front of him. The
disbelief in his eyes mirrored that of Gage.

“What
the hell?” Madden asked.

“I
caught her trying to escape.”

“Fuck,”
Madden growled and everyone present unconsciously took a step back.

“We
need to know what they knew and if anything else has been relayed to others.
Start the search. We have twenty minutes before the call is made for the
building to be swept. I’ll take Dr. Whitner with me back to the rendezvous
point.” Madden’s intentions were clear. He would also be looking for
information.
Goddess help
the doctor.

Gage
and Seamus made their way to a door clearly marked as their lab. The door was
locked and not budging. “It’s solid,” Seamus told Gage as Caedon came up behind
them.

“Let’s
blow it.” Caedon’s response was short and curt. He wanted whatever was in there.

Without
wasting any time, Seamus applied the explosive putty. “Ready,” Seamus spoke as
he backed away from the door.
The explosive had been
developed to disintegrate the metal.
It was muted by specially designed sound
minimizer, but the blast would still throw off fierce heat. Not even a
Valendite Breed wanted to mess with that. They ducked into an alcove and waited
for the blast to clear. In case there were hidden men inside, Gage positioned
himself to enter first.

They
heard the shouting before they could see clearly. One shithead came barreling out
of the lab and Gage took him out in a single shot, twirling his gun and blowing
on it like the wise ass he could be. It felt damn good to get rid of these
fuckers.

Seamus
saluted him just like always and led the way into the lab.
“All
clear.
Let’s crack these systems and see what we find.”

* * * *

After
the men settled in for their flight back, Caedon began debriefing on his
findings. This group had been close to discovering the serum, but they hit the
jackpot when the doctor agreed to a payout. A one million dollar payout was
enough for her to turn from the Valendite Breed. The information the group had
on the Sinster sisters was extensive, right down to the DNA matches of the
pairings and projections on the final matches. There was discrepancy in one—something
Gage didn’t understand and Caedon said was unimportant right now—but otherwise,
it seemed this group had garnered this information from Dr. Whitner.

“It
makes no sense. What’s the final objective? If they wanted an army of breeds
like we thought, why worry about the Seventh Prophecy and the Sinsters?” Lucas
asked, running his fingers through his unkempt hair.

“No
one knows exactly how this prophecy plays out in the end. Some suspect it’ll
change the structure of DNA itself which means in the future, our sons won’t
have this strength.”

“Or
this extended lifeline,” Madden added.

“Right,
which means should the prophecy truly eliminate the Breed and ultimately, the
chance to determine the correct additives for the serum…”

Gage
cut him off, “they’d be out of luck.”

“Fuck.”
Donovan jumped to his feet. “So they’d need to eliminate the possibility of the
prophecy coming true.”

Trevor,
their newest TEU agent and secondary pilot, walked in then from the cockpit
where he sat with Seamus. “Madden, we’ve just received a message that Sadie
Sinster is missing.”

All
mated males looked at one another in silence until Gage spoke. “
and
the other shoe just dropped.”

Security
measures on their mates—the Sinster sisters—just notched up to a whole new
level as Madden got on the phone and began making the arrangements. Caedon
picked up his computer and gathered
intel
.

“All
women were scheduled to fly into the compound over the next two days to get
ready for the Pronouncement. That’s how they found out she was missing,” Caedon
reported to the group.

“They
don’t know yet how long she’s been gone for,” Trevor explained. “She’d been on
tour for the past month.”

“Anton
is with the other sisters, at the compound, and their mother is contacting the
tour company to see what they can find out.” Madden placed his hand over the
phone to fill them in.

“What
tour? Why can’t I remember Sadie?” Granger asked.

“She’s
a stage dancer. Her current show is performing in Las Vegas. According to
Paige, she doesn’t have much to do with the Circle of Magdalena rituals. She’s
around when they need her but otherwise, they call her a free spirit.”

“What’s
her soul sin? We know based on the prophecy that each sister has a different
soul sin. What’s left?”

“Sloth
and Gluttony,” Lucas chimed in even while he was scanning the data on his
tablet.

Ignoring
their side conversation, Madden continued his phone call. “Ok. The rest have
arrived so we’ll close up the place tight. No one leaves, period, and no one
enters without a security check. Transfer me to the main house to talk with
Anton.”

“Our
arrival time is eighteen hundred hours. I’ll head back up with Seamus,” Trevor
told them before heading back to the cockpit.

“We’ve
got three hours flight time. Let’s get a start on this. Lucas, call our
government contact and see what they can do. Assume we’re on our own in this
one though, Caedon, and get us as much information as you can. Donovan and
Granger can do some surveillance searches.” Madden gave the orders and moved
into his office at the back of the plane.