Promises (Blood Brothers #1)
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Authors: B.J. Brandon
Promises (Blood Brothers)
BJ Brandon
Copyright © 2013 BJ Brandon
All rights reserved.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
ISBN 978-0-9962887-1-2
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Dedication
This book is dedicated to all those who believed in the impossible and went after it anyway. To the men and women of the U. S. Armed Forces who give their very lives and very breath for the freedom to allow freedom of expression. May your dreams be filled with sunshine and your fears always laid to rest by a loved one's hand.
Patricia Walsh and Del Kellogg, for going above and beyond in the support department. You guys rock! RD, thank you for a fantastic work on the
www.bjbrandon.com
. Without you, it would have remained a figment of my imagination!
And always, for my Irish inspiration, this one is for you, babe! You know why.
Cover Art - EBook Launch at
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| John, Adrian, and Dane
Table of Contents
Shadows wavered, quivering through the air before evaporating like smoke. Long fingers of ghostly mist slipped along the ground among the centuries old forest as it reached out to filter moonlight through the thick canopy above. Dawn was still hours away but the night was alive, nature's breathe soft as a lover's kiss and gentle against the skin.
The mist found its way hampered by the thick growth of oak, pines and maple as their branches whispered of secrets best forgotten like ghostly specters watching over those who invaded their realm. Evil stalked here, he could sense it, taste it. The oily, slippery feel of it moved over his skin as he silently felt his way to the edge of a clearing, halting as he listened to night sounds that were the essence of the forest.
Nothing moved that shouldn't be there. Kayne MacIntyre was sure of it. It was second nature for him to reach out to his surroundings with senses most humans had yet to develop much less recognize, soaking sensations into the tiny pores of his skin like a second nature to
know
who or what walked in the dark with them.
An owl sat patiently, perched high in the canopy as it waited for a snack to scuttle out of hiding. To the right some ten feet away Kayne spotted a small rustle in the brush, then movement and watched as the owl silently swooped down to pick off the late night snack.
Dew on the undergrowth kept the earth still and quiet for a moment as the owl munched but the night sounds quickly resumed their chorus. Just a small tussle and death contributing to life once more.
Tucked quietly into the dense ground cover, the hills around him lay gloomy and silent as Kayne searched for the hidden compound his Team had been sent to find and take out. Nothing so far and it seemed their Intel was flawed. However, there was no doubt in his mind that evil was here. His gift - his curse as some might call it, to sense the taint of evil that was too strong, too clear.
The small comm link at his ear clicked decimals lower than most people could detect, alerting Kayne his companions were close. He didn't need the device to sense them but since he couldn't directly communicate with all of them telepathically, it was a necessary evil.
"Do you feel it?"
the rumbled growl filtered through Kayne's senses, his twin's unease punching though on their unique telepathic link, pushing his already hyper senses into overdrive as a warning filtered through their unique bond, a sucker punch to his gut.
"Yeah,
" he sent back, letting Rafe "taste it." There… just to the left.
Something was pushing at the back of his uniquely heightened senses, just out of touch but there nonetheless. Almost touching, but not quite, like a quivering mass of nerves afraid to reach out. He mentally reached for it but it slipped away, causing Kayne to pause in mid-step. The touch wasn't one of his crew, he was certain of it. That could only mean one thing.
Moving like the predator he was, Kayne left no hint of his passing as his large body moved in the silvery mist. Black pants hugged his torso like a second skin while the black T-shirt stretched and moved over darkly tanned muscle and hard abs. He left no scent or sound until the enemy stared death in the face, then it was too late because death gave no mercy, granted no quarter.
Easing into place next to a massive tree trunk taken down by Mother Nature long ago and in the process of being consumed by his surroundings, he scanned a steep ravine below. Eyes the color of a dark blue sea closed. Kayne lowered his shields, reaching out with senses few human beings would understand or comprehend, feeling his way into the shadows below. The mountainous regions here in this remote section of the Rockies could be hazardous at the best of times, but death hung low over this particular ravine. Nature hadn't brought this abomination to the forest, only monsters could taint the air around them like this.
Again, that sense of evil mixed with something so different, so unique it raised the hackles of his neck as he strained to sort it from whatever stalked the forest. Then he felt it again, there!
Following his mind's eyes in an unwavering path further along the edge of the ravine, Kayne finally managed to get a clear sense of what hid below them. Just to the left of a deep stand of trees, almost invisible to naked eyes stood a rustic cabin set deep against a hillside.
"Damn it, I can taste it!" irritation laced Rafe's curse over the communications link at Kayne's ear. "Where the hell is that fucker?" He didn't bother answering since he was looking at it when another click sounded on the comm. link. Two clicks - Shit, they were in for it now.
"Are the two of you going to play hide and seek all night, or get with the program?" came a growl so deep it rumbled across their stretched nerves, causing the hair on the back of Kayne's neck to rise even higher. He turned his head toward the north in the direction of his team, knowing they felt it, too.
"Found it, Merc!" he whispered, wondering if he could do a sneak and peak any closer to what he was sensing.
"Don't even try it!" Rafe's blistering whisper was barely heard over the communications link, but Kayne knew by that tone that the rest of the team was included in the threat, warning them of other dangers he felt. His brother was running too hot as it was and any additional push could make it worse.
Normally the calmer of the two, this mission had somehow been darker, more deadly than both of them had expected. Not that they weren't use to it, but without their usual down time over the last three months, the team was running low on reserves and desperately needed to recharge. This mission had come at a bad time, one that didn't allow for any serious down time for any of them before a risky mission against known and unknown threats that risks their identities.
Suddenly, images rushed at Kayne, nightmares, and demons emerging from the cold depths where he usually had them locked down where the demons couldn't eat his soul. Where the screams and blood wouldn't coat his skin and leave him shaking with cold and death. His gut almost cramped until a soothing wave filtered over his mind.
"Stop it!"
The command came softly, Rafe's growl almost gentle and opposite from the previous surly outburst. "
There is nothing we can do about the past, Kayne. We're free… don't give it back or it will eat away your soul!"
Thankfully, he was saved a reply. "I see one small shed, looks like a one or two room cabin, with what could be a kitchenette and small living room. Two hostiles on the front porch." Merc's observations continued to pour over the communications link to the team as he reviewed their options. Mercury Slater was as strong as Rafe and Kayne at sensing what was going out there, and once he linked with the rest of team they were almost unstoppable. Almost!
They were a unit built for military use that had backfired when some scientist had decided to build a bigger, better solider using alien DNA to enhance their genetics. The program was strictly voluntary and as the McIntyres found out later, strictly off the books. The program failed as far as the government was concerned. They weren't the killing machines scientist had expected and were considered a “liability” of their own government. Their service to their country had been beyond reproach, so the group of men had left but their superiors felt they shouldn’t be turned loose on the general population once it was revealed what had been done to them or why.
An entire colony of soldiers, men and women who were enhanced to some degree or another by genetic manipulation using classified technology were considered outcasts by their own government and were considered a completely different species. Now they formed an alliance of sorts, banding together to find a means to survive, use the skills they had honed and enhanced along with other natural ingrained abilities to ensure the survival of mankind the only way they knew how… by protecting the innocent.
Kayne forced his mind back to the present as he sensed rather than felt his brother ease into position nearby, waiting for further Intel from Merc on the targets down below. They were in the best position for the snatch and grab, get the precious cargo out of the hands of the hostiles and get the hell out of these mountains pronto before more bloodshed and havoc rained down on these backwoods, before other innocents died.
"I count four, Merc. There are two more hostiles out back," Davey, the youngest of the group reported in a whisper across the communications link. Suddenly a deep sound of agony of which Kayne had not heard in a lifetime came across the link.
"Oh my God!"
"Davey, what is it?" Kayne growled, the order was brisk, short and hard but necessary since he recognized that sound. They couldn't afford for the kid's nightmares to haunt him now, not when they were in the middle of nowhere and with an innocent depending on them. When no answer came he hissed, "Davey - report!"
"The cargo is inside, I can see it through a small window. However, there are kennels in the back, Kayne. They have a young one locked down back there. I can smell her, Kayne, it's a kid!" The silence on the link pulsed as the information silenced the other three men.
Death fell cold and dark across Kayne's dark blue eyes, turning them arctic. Anyone who knew him would know there would be only corpses left in the grove when the team disappeared.
"Davey - you have the little one!" Merc stated with steel in his voice as he gave the order. "Slow and easy, my friend! Try not to terrify her any more than necessary!" There was no answer, only two clicks and silence.
"Team one - move. Take them out." Kayne didn't need any more push and neither did Rafe.
On the breath of the night they moved, silence was their ally, surprise their shield. Not a footstep was heard as large bodies moved like the dark specters they were, the only sound being the hush of night creatures as the men moved into position.
The two hostiles reclining on the front porch never felt the poison darts that struck their necks, instantly taking them down. The bodies never made a sound as they were caught and gently slipped off the side of the wooden porch to avoid making any sound and laid on the damp ground. The two brothers easily slipping into place with no one the wiser. It took only seconds for the others to take out their targets, not a breath of sound or hint of unease made it past the front door. They slipped inside like silent death.
Kayne slid left into the room, his first thought being they had the wrong place. Rafe followed to the right canting both directions and using hand signals to indicate the all clear, but both men sensed the strangeness of the situation. There was a feeling of emptiness about the room, no vibrations or living pulse anywhere except in the back room through the door to the left, and it set Kayne's nerves on end.
