Scorpio Sons 4: Chase: (SF/Shifter Romance) (20 page)

Anna wasn’t sure why she was so angry with Chase’s wet blanket routine. Yes, it was annoying to have a dampener put on their deservedly high spirits, but her feeling went way beyond annoyed. Maybe it had more to do with the comment Conrad had made as he spun her around the room.

He’d said a new brother was joining them soon. She’d asked where he’d be housed, given how tight the rooming situation was. Conrad had looked at her as if she was crazy and pointed out there were rooms enough for a hundred brothers, if need be.

Which meant Chase had lied to her when she first came to HQ. And though it had all sorted itself out, and she was glad he’d made her stay with him, it still rankled that he’d lied so blatantly to her back then. And that she’d believed him. Surely she should have figured it out herself, once she knew Chase was hunting down the hundred test-tube babies. But it hadn’t entered her head to doubt his word.

While she tried to sort out her feelings, she wandered outside, where the rain had finally let up and the moon now shone down. The air was warmer out here than it had been in the caves, and she was glad she hadn’t put on her thermal coat again.

She watched as one of the brothers made a quick circuit of the farm yard. He did it at cat speed and she shook her head as she watched him. How long would it take her to get used to her own speed as well as theirs? It was like a video being played at fast forward, yet not jerky and comical. More elegant and sleek.

Suddenly a rough arm wrapped around her chest knocking the wind out of her lungs while a grubby hand closed over her mouth. The shock of the attack was such that for a full two seconds she didn’t react; couldn’t even think.

Then, as the man lifted her off her feet and began dragging her toward the barn, she came to life. Nobody was going to take her captive again. Nobody!

Kicking back with her feet shod in hiking boots, she felt the satisfying sound of heel hitting shin. The man grunted, his grip loosening for a brief moment. That was all the time she needed. Slumping forward, she then arched back at cat-speed, crashing the back of her head into her attacker’s nose.

This time the grunt was a louder cry of pain and the grip around her chest was reduced a little more. She shifted to the side and aimed an elbow at his diaphragm. That did it. He let her go on an agonised moan and doubled over.

Rather than run, as she’d been taught, Anna took a step away and spun into a roundhouse kick aimed for his lowered head. The side of her boot connected with his cheek and he went down like a ton of bricks.

Out of the darkness two brothers appeared, guns drawn. Her relief was immediate. She didn’t have to decide what to do next. The brothers would take charge.

How long had it taken for the whole incident to go down? Thirty seconds? It couldn’t have been much more than that, and yet it had felt like a lifetime. As she’d focused and reacted, her thoughts had returned to Chase. She might never see him again. He’d be devastated if anything happened to her. The thought of bringing him pain was the worst kind of agony.

What kind of an idiot didn’t pay attention to her surroundings, even when on home territory? Hadn’t Chase just been drilling that into her? They weren’t home-free yet. But she’d been so childishly mad at him she’d let her guard down. And for a few seconds there she’d thought they’d both be forced to pay for her stupidity.

Instead, she got to watch as one of the Sons dragged her assailant to his feet and began propelling him towards the farmhouse. The other bent to look at her more closely.

“You okay, sweetheart?” he asked in concern, pulling up his balaclava so she could see who was talking to her. It was Conrad, his diamond stud glinting in the moonlight.

She was shaken but remarkably unfazed by the physical aspect of what had just occurred. It had gone down like one of the scenarios she and Chase had worked on. That everything had worked as well in real life as it had in a training session only served to stabilise her further. It was her own stupidity that really got to her.

“Sure. But was he alone?”

“Yeah. Caleb saw something on his screen, that’s why he sent us out here to check. Good thing we did, although you had it handled. Girl, you have some moves! We would have saved the day, but decided to watch the beat-down instead. Chase’ll have our hide for that. But it was sure fun to watch.” He grinned at her, now that he knew she was okay. “I’ll take a closer look around but it appeared to be just one intruder on the cameras. You get back to the house and deal with the fall-out.”

She hurried back inside and ran smack dab into Chase. His chest was harder than a wall, and she would have bounced off if his arms hadn’t gone around her and pulled her in close.

“Fuck, Anna! What were you doing out there? When Chance dragged that guy in and said you’d taken him down I nearly swallowed my tongue. Didn’t you get anything I said about vigilance? That guy could have killed you!” He was angry and upset, and his cat was close to rising. Her own pushed to be let out, too.

But now that the adrenalin spike had reduced, she felt exhaustion claiming her. She didn’t want to fight. Chase was just being Chase, and he was right. A whole battalion of soldiers could have been out there and she’d walked blithely out to meet them. Did she have a death wish or something? And the lie about the rooms was in the past. It belonged to different people. A terrified girl and an overwhelmed man. Neither of those people existed anymore.

She clung to him as hard as he clung to her, and felt the tears stinging her eyes. “I’m okay. The moves you taught me worked. He was bigger than me, but it didn’t matter.”

“I’m gonna fucking kill the bastard for even touching you.” Kissing the top of her head, he then proceeded to draw her back a little so he could cover her face with more relieved kisses. “If he’d taken you I don’t know what I would have done.”

“Is he alone? Is he from the compound?” she asked, leaning back so she could look into his troubled eyes. The kisses healed wounds she hadn’t realised she carried. The glitch between them had been resolved and they were back on track again.

“We don’t know yet. Corban has him tied up in the living room and is prepping for interrogation. If he’s from the compound we’ll soon know about it.”

She wanted to see him; wanted to look her attacker in the eye and maybe deliver one more blow to finish off her anger. With sure, steady steps she headed for the living room at the front of the house, Chase close behind.

The guy was in his mid to late thirties and had the look of a peasant: thick featured and heavy bodied. A shock of thin fair hair stood up to attention on the top of his head. Blood was flowing from his smashed nose, and it was flowing into his mouth. He spat it out onto the plastic Corban had so sensibly provided to cover the wood flooring and bright carpet. They didn’t need to leave evidence of their violence behind them for the forensic guys, if there were any such thing out here.

“Who are you?” A brother she assumed was Corban pushed his masked face into that of his captive. All the brothers in the room had their balaclavas on so their identical appearance couldn’t be identified.

The man shook his head from side to side and tried to pull back from the intimidating face. He blubbered something in Polish that was hard to understand because of the mess she’d made of his nose. It sounded like, “Donspeakenngush.”

As none of the brothers spoke Polish she decided it might be up to her to do the interrogation.

Stepping forward she tapped Corban on the shoulder. “He says he doesn’t speak English. It’s likely true. Let me try.”

Nodding, Corban stepped back without even glancing at Chase for approval. That felt rewarding. These big, hardened soldiers were accepting her as one of them, not just as Chase’s mate.

“Who are you? Why did you attack me?” she asked in Polish.

His expression of surprise would have been funny if the situation hadn’t been so dire. Any minute the rest of his outfit might arrive. The Sons needed to know what they were up against.

His words, when he answered, were still hard to understand, but their message was clear.

“He says he’s Jurek Bosko and, as the smallest, I was his best choice for getting the answers he needed.”

Chase growled. He was the only brother with his face uncovered, and Bosko shuddered when he looked at her mate’s feral expression. His cat wasn’t out, but if her own was any indication, it wouldn’t be long before it broke free.

“Who sent you? How many are there of you?” she demanded in Polish.

He lifted his chin and stared into her eyes. His were bloodshot and he had to blink away blood from the leaking cut on his brow. That gave her a great deal of satisfaction.

His answer, when it finally came, surprised her, and she quickly relayed it. “No one sent him. He lives on the next farm and had been told by the owners of this one to keep an eye on their stock while they were away on vacation. When he saw military men he followed us up to the hills. He thought we were from the compound, looking for the entrance to the caves.”

“What does he know about the caves?” Chase demanded, echoing her own thoughts.

Anna relayed the question. When he stayed stubbornly silent, Corban prepared to beat the answer out of him, but she stilled his hand, a new thought entering her head.

“We are the enemies of the men in the compound. We used the caves to get inside the perimeter fence.”

Bosko’s eyes flew open in surprise while he cautiously shook his head. “Nobody knows how to get into the caves anymore.”

“I do. My father taught me. He was Aleksander
Makarowski.” She used the Polish version of her father’s name.

Again the man looked stunned. Stumbling over his next words, he was clearly confused by her revelation. “None of my mother’s family still lives. They were all taken away many years ago.”

“Your mother’s family? She was a Makarowski?”

He nodded vigorously and then groaned as the movement caused him pain. Anna pulled a tissue from her pocket and gently wiped the blood from his eye and from under his broken nose.

“We are family. Do you know the way into the caves too? Are you Résistance?” She heard Chase growl at the use of that word. But she had to follow her hunch. If whatever was buried in the mountainside had been there a long time, maybe the Résistance had used the caves initially to keep an eye on it? Over time, it had become a
secret
passed down from generation to generation. Maybe nobody really knew why anymore.

Again the eyes brightened, and then became blank, suspicion taking over once more. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She grinned. “My father was Résistance, and so it seems are you. So are these men. We fight the Guild, those who own that compound.”

She’d said the right word. Immediately he started nodding again, this time ignoring his obvious pain.

“I wasn’t shown the way into the caves. My mother was never shown. Girls were never shown. Why were you?”

“Because there were so few of us left who knew about the caves by then. My father learned them with his cousins who were all taken away. Or maybe he did it because I’m special. He knew I’d have a special role to play one day.”

The man scoffed at that last idea, clearly unimpressed by a woman having a role in their precious secret society. Her hackles rose and she encouraged her cat to come out. Another risk. But Anna needed this man’s assistance. Needed him to respect her.

His gasp told her that her eyes had turned, and she grinned again, revealing her elongated canines. That drew a moan of fear from his throat. Scaring members of her family was no more acceptable than beating them up, but if it got her the results she needed then she’d do it.

All of the conversation had gone on in Polish, Anna not taking the time to translate. Now the growls around her told her that the brothers were unsure of her tactics and the reason for them.

She turned from her second cousin and quickly recounted their conversation. Just as she was finishing, Bosko blurted out more information.

“I know the way into the underground complex.”

She spun and stared at him. “I thought you said your mother wasn’t taught the caves?”

“She wasn’t, but she was shown the entrances and which one led to the buried secret of the Guild. That’s how the secret was protected. The women knew the last stage. They learned it by rote, mother to daughter, but never went in. The men only knew the first stage. My mother told me what she knew, and I spent all my life exploring those caves, trying to find the path my male family members would have taught me.”

“And you found it? You found your way into the interior complex, not just the outside compound?”

“Yes. I was worried your people were going to blow it up and I’d lose the knowledge I’d taken my whole life to uncover.” He sounded like a child deprived of his supper.

“Jurek, cousin, I am
very
glad to meet you!” she said with a delighted little laugh as she clapped her hands.

After passing on this wonderful news, the brothers released their prisoner.

“This is the best news we’ve had since Amy found out she was to be trained by the Alpha!” Chase exclaimed as he hugged her to him and kissed the top of her head.