Fatal Call (New Breed Novels Book 4) (7 page)

Diesel walked up Blue Hill Avenue in Mattapan with Pax at his side. Man, it felt good to be out on duty with his partner again. His accident had only happened a couple of months ago, but he’d been going batshit at the compound. He’d never been so jonesing for a fight as he was tonight. He’d even take a couple of
prank and ganks.
Anything. He popped a fresh piece of gum in his mouth and looked around. One thing he didn’t miss was how much time they spent in Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan. They had the distinction of having the highest homicide rates in Boston. Toltec was using that to its advantage by hiding the crimes they were committing behind the city’s statistics and stereotypes.

Typical Toltec bullshit. Buncha dicks.

Pax cracked his knuckles. “It’s quiet here tonight.”

“Let’s hit Roslindale next. I don’t think anyone’s checked it in a while.”

They gleamed out and materialized in the tree line of Adams Park. Washington Street was just ahead and they started for it.

Diesel sighed. “Why is it we’re never here for the farmers market?”

His partner shoved his hands in his pockets. “Is food all you think about?”

Diesel shrugged. “Food, my female, sex—”

“I’m sorry I asked. How’s the bionic leg coming?”

“I think the original leg is supposed to be available to the public in maybe three to five years. But you know X. He wants it done by next week and he doesn’t think that leg is good enough. He’s actually working with a shifter scientist to improve it.”

“That dude’s brain is unbelievable.”

Diesel stopped cold. “Did you just pick that up by Redd’s?”

Pax nodded. “Yeah. The bar’s been closed for hours. Let’s check it out.”

He started to jog forward as he signaled Pax to take the other side of the bar and the bank next door. Rounding the corner, he stayed close to the building as he made his way along the outer edge of the parking lot. Suddenly, he picked up on shifter energy on the bank’s rooftop next door. He gleamed up and found himself looking at a shifter soldier’s booty. It was another ambush. Time for a modified P and G.

He pulled his Beretta. “Hey, dickwad.”

The Tolie turned around and he shot him twice in the chest. Diesel hustled to the edge of the roof and found Pax having it out with a couple of
hellions.
Pax made quick work of dispatching them and joined him up on the roof.

He clapped his partner on the back. “Man, it is so good to have you back, Dies.”

“It’s good to be back, my brother. What the fuck is up with these weird little ambushes?”

“No idea, but they seem to like me the best.”

Diesel barked a laugh. “Quit braggin’.”

Pax smiled. “Now there’s a popularity contest you really wanna win. You ready to head in?”

Diesel put his head on the male’s shoulder. “I need you to carry me.”

“Fuck off.”

Rose sat curled up in the white wicker chair opposite her bedroom window and watched the sun begin to rise. She looked over at her mate who was still sound asleep in the soft morning light.
Mate.
Goddess, the mating had been… Heat hit her cheeks. She’d had the occasional run in with a male, but it had never ever been like that. Even though she ached everywhere, she knew she’d take him inside her again in a heartbeat. But that wasn’t what was bothering her. What was really worrying was how badly she wanted to be in her bed with him right now. Last night all seemed like a dream somehow. Mating was something that always seemed to be for other females. Never for her and certainly not now. God, she wanted those strong arms to pull her against that enormous chest of his. Damn it. She should never have been with him at all. This wasn’t fair. He knew nothing about her. She wasn’t suitable to be anyone’s female, much less the mate of a warrior. Her mind wandered back to the night before. Falling asleep in his arms had felt so natural. So right. Did the Goddess really make mistakes?

“Rose?”

She was sent back to reality with a jolt. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were awake.”

Xavier patted the bed. “Come here.”

She stood up and crossed the room, her feet sticking to the hardwood floor, her heart pounding faster and faster with every step. He sat up and she noticed his t-shirt was gone. Her eyes took in the beautiful, warm dark skin covering those pecs and abs. He was incredible. But the more she saw of him, the tighter her hand clamped down on the front of her robe.

Then the male put his hand on her shoulder blade and she did the worst thing imaginable.

She flinched.

X looked up into Rose’s eyes trying to understand what was happening. “Are you okay?”

He was pretty sure she hadn’t recoiled in disgust. Unfortunately, that pretty much left only pain. “Rose, did I hurt you last night?”

She quickly shook her head. “No, Xavier, of course not.”

He touched the side of her face. “You’re sure?”

Not that he would’ve known the difference. With the fucking protective instinct yammering away in his head, he could barely think.

She nodded and gave him a little smile.

He leaned back against the headboard and drew her into his arms. God, she felt good. They fit so perfectly together. In that moment, X couldn’t imagine what it was he’d been running from.

He dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I wish we’d had a chance to talk.”

“What about?” she asked.

“Just the whole New Breed thing. Any female that mates with one of us usually leaves a lot behind. Jobs, friends, family. I mean, you’ve got Harvard. You’re where I was headed at MIT when my second transition hit.”

She looked down at her lap. “To be honest, Harvard is pretty much all I have. I was the only shifter in my family, so I’ve outlived pretty much everyone. I have a couple of coworkers who are good friends, but that’s about it.”

For some reason Evy came to mind, and X found himself almost thankful Rose didn’t have a whole family to leave behind. He brushed her hair aside and looked at the mark of the Japanese Crane on the back of her neck. It was so delicate, as if rendered by the brush of an artist. The bird’s crown was in red. He’d never seen color on any other mark.

He traced it lightly with his finger. “Your mark is so unique. I’ve never seen one like it.”

She nodded and leaned back against his chest. “I haven’t either. I figured it couldn’t be genetic. For a while, I read a lot of the lore. Finally, I just decided I’m a freak of nature.”

A deep rumble of a laugh found its way up from his chest. “You’re definitely a freak.”

Rose turned around, covered her eyes, and laughed. It was just about the sexiest sound he’d ever heard. He dipped his head down and kissed her. Tongue to lips. Lips to lips. Tongue to tongue. On and on it went until they were both left completely breathless.

Troy walked down the second floor hallway with two plates of Mary’s waffles. His phone went off just as he made it through the door to his room. “Fuck.”

Luckily, Evy showed up just behind him and took the plates. “I’ve got them, my male.”

He glanced at his phone’s home screen and answered. “Well, well, well. I thought the Goddess took you with her by mistake.”

“Nah, man,” X answered. “Listen, I need a favor. You mind doing tonight’s duty with Reyn? He could use it and I’ve got some things I need to take care of.”

“Sure. That oughta take him down a couple of notches.”

“Thanks.”

“Lemme guess. Does this
stuff
happen to have anything to do with a certain professor?”

“I’ll be back sometime tomorrow. I’ll see you then.”

For a moment, Troy thought he might remind his boy that he was mated to the Seer, but he changed his mind. X had been so great about Evy and, second only to his mate, there was no one he respected more. So, naturally he’d wait to bust his chops on home territory.

“Okay, my brother. Stay safe.” He hung up the phone, picked up his plate and sat on the bed next to his female.

“Mated?” she asked.

“Yep.”

Evy gave him a knowing smile. “I’m so glad. He’s such a great male. He deserves to be happy.”

He fed her a piece of his waffle.

“Mmm. Blueberry. I should’ve gotten that.”

“Switch?”

“Yeah.”

They traded plates and he took a bite of Ev’s chocolate chip.

She popped a berry into her mouth. “So, I was thinking about names for the baby and I wondered what you thought about Patrick Aidan for your brother and my dad?”

Troy swallowed back the wave of emotion immediately lodging itself in his throat. “Are you sure, babe? I mean, what about your dad?”

“I thought about it. And, well, it doesn’t mean that much if he’ll never know. And this way, when we use your brother’s name, it’ll be like he’s here with us.”

He touched her cheek with the back of his hand. “God, I love you.”

“I–”

Evy was up and running.
What the…?
A moment later he was removing the offending food from the room before his mate came out of the bathroom. He hoped to hell it was the strawberries and not Mary’s waffles or he was going to have one pissed off mate on his hands.

“Ugh.” Evy made her way to the bed, plunked down, and put her head down in his lap.

Troy stroked her long, dark hair. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m the freaking See-r. And I couldn’t see
that
coming?”

Troy chuckled as he leaned toward the nightstand and grabbed the saltines. It was one thing to drop weight in the first couple of months, but Evy was petite and she didn’t have much to lose. “Do you see Helen tomorrow?”

“Yep. We’re meeting for lunch. I hope she likes saltines.”

Reyn sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. He felt like ass. He looked over at the clock on the nightstand.
Noon? Shit.
He never slept this late. Hell, he never slept more than four hours in a row, period. Then it all came crashing back to him. X had slipped him one mother load of a mickey after clocking him one.
Oh fuck.
Akina.
She was going to worry about him for sure now. God
dammit
. All he needed to do was keep it together until she was gone and he hadn’t even managed that much. Far from it.

He picked up his phone and checked for texts. Hmm. Apparently Troy needed a partner. That worked. He wasn’t going to mind taking out his mood on a few dozen Toltec scumbags. He sent a quick response and headed for the shower. He was only under the hot spray for a few moments before his head started to swim. His mate’s scent was everywhere. It was a constant reminder that she was out there somewhere, alone, with no one on her side and a whole slew of divine dicks just loving the hell out of the whole fucking thing. And here he was. A New Breed. A warrior. He existed to protect and his inability to watch over his mate was suffocating him.

There was a knock at the door. “Just a sec.”

He pulled on some pants and threw on a sweatshirt. He was just about to open the door when he looked down and realized he was barefoot. Nah, he wasn’t losing it. Much. He slipped into some running shoes and went out into the study.

“Hey, if it isn’t the Ivanov boys. What can I do for you, my brothers?”

“Hey, boss. Viktor and I have been talking and, well, we need your take on something.”

Somehow he had a feeling this was going be good. “Shoot.”

Viktor cleared his throat. “Long story short, I mated into the wrong family and now there’s an assassin on my ass.”

Reyn looked from one to the other. “I’m sorry, what?”

“They think I had a hand in killing their daughter, Elena, my mate. Either that or they just think I know too much.”

He ran his hand through his hair by force of habit. “So, who’s this assassin?”

“A shifter named Ekaterina Spanov,” Dimitri answered.

“She good at her profession, Viktor?”

“Yeah, but I’m more worried about what she could discover while trailing me. She could potentially find out the Order’s location or other Intel. I know you need the manpower, but if she sees me out fighting with the brothers, what’s to keep her from selling that to the other side?”

Reyn looked over at Dimitri. “What do you think?”

“I think he’s right. Spanov probably knows I’m his brother. She could recognize me as well. But I don’t think we can afford to lose two in the field just to firewall this shit.”

He nodded. “Agreed. Viktor, would you mind giving us a sec?”

“Not at all. I’ll see you at dinner.”

Reyn sighed. “Look, I know he’s your brother and I don’t want to get in the way of that, but if this Spanov female gets a lead on you and follows your trail back to the Order, the sitch could get bad for us.”

“All parties seem to feel the same way. Viktor’s asked me to stay out of it and I will. For now.”

“Okay. And, if for any reason you see a change of status in your future, you’ll let me know ASAP.”

“Will do, boss.”

Rose looked across the kitchen table at her mate. She smiled as she watched him try to roll the cucumber, crab, and avocado into his California roll. His hands were so big. She couldn’t figure out how he was managing it. A piece of avocado popped out of one end.

He tried to pop it back in. “Whoops. Okay, we’ve got an issue.”

She laughed. “You’re just using a little too much pressure.”

She finished slicing her Philly roll and stepped in front of the male. “Here, follow with your fingers while I roll it.” Goddess, his hands felt good. They were surprisingly soft. “See? Nothing to it.”

He kissed the top of her ear and picked up the Quintarelli wine, along with the glasses. “I think I’ll let you carry it.”

He followed her up the stairs to the bedroom and they settled onto the bed. The day should have been perfect. They had spent the afternoon watching a Homeland marathon and they still had several episodes left. Unfortunately, all she could think about was what would happen when he found out about her. After all, they were mated. This wasn’t some casual thing. He would find out, one way or another. Her stomach clenched at the thought.
Oh, God.
What the hell was she thinking? She couldn’t run away from it. This was wrong. She had to tell him.

Rose watched as he poured them each some wine and put the bottle on the bedside table. She was impressed when her mate ignored the chopsticks and used his fingers to dip the sushi into the soy sauce fish side down.

“Oh, my God. That’s amazing. Here.” He held up a piece of the Philly roll, but she didn’t open for him.

“I’d like to try yours first, please.”

X barked a laugh. “You’re kidding. Alright, the choice is yours.” He picked up a piece of his handiwork, dipped it, and held it out for his female. As that mouth of hers came around his fingers and took the food from his hand, her lips looked just like a ripe strawberry. Without even thinking about it, he brought his fingertips to his mouth and sucked them gently so he could taste her. He closed his eyes, savoring her for a moment. “Mmm. That’s nice.”

At this rate, they weren’t even going to make it through dinner. When he opened his eyes, Rose was waiting with another piece of his sushi.

She held it out and fed it to him, watching him chew it with a look of satisfaction on her face. “See? Good, right?”

He picked up his glass and took a sip of wine. “It’s actually surprisingly edible. Rose, listen. I don’t want to interrupt your life. I don’t want to be a complication. The thing is, I don’t just want you to be at the compound for protection. I really do want you with me. But I can see why you’d want to stay here. You’ve worked hard to build a life for yourself. I totally get that. Whatever you decide, I promise I’ll try like hell to make it work. Okay?”

She nodded. “Okay.”

When they were finished, Rose brought the plates downstairs. Her hands started to shake as her thoughts began racing once again and she promptly dropped a plate on the floor. She stared down at it. It had broken into four almost perfectly even pieces. In Japan, the number four was considered very unlucky. The Japanese used the same word for both
four
and
death.
Rose sighed. Perfect. She picked up the pieces and threw them away before taking up the sponge to wash the lone survivor. The whole thing with Xavier was such a huge risk. She had no idea what he would think of her after she told him. What if he shunned her? As the male, it was his right, no matter how archaic the tradition was.
Oh, God
. If he did, then she would be left with nothing. Her job long gone. Nowhere to live. The truth was, she wanted so badly to be with him. She had no idea how she could deserve such a worthy male. For whatever reason, the Goddess wanted them together. She needed to trust in her. She had to tell him tonight, for both their sakes.

Goddess, give me strength.

When Rose she came back in the room, her energy was somehow different. She sat down on the bed facing away from him. Xavier reached over and moved her silky robe a little farther up her leg before lightly stroking her smooth thigh. “What is it?”

She didn’t answer him. Instead, she loosened the tie of her robe and let the top fall off her shoulders so that he was looking at her bare back. She swept her hair out of the way to reveal markings on her right shoulder blade. They were coal black and patterned. They were unlike anything he’d ever seen before.

She turned her face to the side and a tear fell onto her shoulder. “I’m a
hibakusha
.”

Hibakusha.
He knew that reference. World War II. Japan.
Oh, Goddess, no. Please, no.
When he tried to speak he found his voice barely worked. “You were there.”

“Nagasaki,” she whispered.

He looked at her back and suddenly realized what he was seeing. It was a flash burn. The dark pattern of her kimono had been burned into her skin like a brand when the bomb hit.

She gathered the front of her robe together. “I understand if you don’t want me. Really. It’s okay.”

“What? Rose.”

It physically hurt to see the look of shame on her lovely face. The
hibakusha
had been ostracized from Japanese society—rejected by their own race. He could only imagine how she would have been made to feel. And on top of all that, she was a shifter. Heat hit behind his eyes as they welled up.

Her voice trembled as she spoke. “I mean, I was five when it happened. So that makes me seventy-five. I know in human years that would only make me a little over forty, but you don’t need an old lady like me around.”

“Rose, stop. Look at me.” He lightly took her by the chin and turned her face to his. “I want you.”

“You don’t have to say that.”

He leaned down and gently kissed her burns. His female put her hands to her face and began to sob.

“Oh, my Rose.” He draped her robe back over her shoulders and pulled her in close, tucking her against him. “It’s okay. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”

He covered her with his body as much as possible, like he could somehow shield her from her past. If only he could.

Ana was at a full-out run with Dimitri at her side. She pointed left down an alleyway and her partner continued on his own. She turned in and when she hit the end, she hopped the fence and went flat against the brick wall of the building. She looked down at her torn sleeve and swore under her breath. Brand new leather. Fuckers. She should start sending Toltec the bills from her tailor. At that moment, she picked up on the soldier and
hellion
. She gleamed to the building’s roof and looked over the side. They had a young female shifter with them and from the look of things, she wouldn’t be around much longer.
Damn.
If she was fast enough, she could still save the
nagual.

Quickly, Ana drew her crescent knives and gleamed behind the mutant. In one sure blow, she took off its head and it burst into a shower of sand. She turned to the Tolie who had just capped his evil little bottle and was replacing it around his neck. She could see the
nagual
spirit glowing inside it. The Tolie drew his nine and she kicked it out of his hand, pushed all her weight forward, and decapitated him. She caught her breath for a moment. Time to release the spirit energy and dump the bodies. She sheathed her knives and bent down over the soldier’s body. She could see the shining coyote inside the vial and she bent down to release it. She unscrewed the top and watched as the
nagual
took to the air. It seemed confused somehow. Usually they were gone in mere seconds, but this one kept to the air, buzzing around like a firefly. Why wasn’t it crossing into the Otherworld?

“
Elanh
.” She encouraged in Mayan. “Go on.”

Instead, the tiny form began to glow brighter as it came toward her. It leveled its flight in front of her and flew straight into her body, vanishing from sight.
What the…?
She checked first left, then right, panicking. Where the hell was it? A warm sensation filled her chest and she tried to swallow past the lump forming in her throat. She slowly turned her head and looked over her shoulder. Reyn was standing at the entrance to the alley, his mouth agape, his eyes wide with shock.

Oh, Goddess. What have I done?