S.A. Price (12 page)

~47~

was smart enough to figure out the cult’s last known residence, and it was close to here, near the great serpent mound. Which means we are closer than we think." She sighed and looked at all of them. "We are fucked if they manage to get any of those girls to shift."

"It's been a while since some of them were taken. If they haven’t changed then they’re either dead or it’s stress, the latter is entirely plausible."

"True, which is why we are now on a tight time frame I think. The only thing that gives me a slash of hope is something the witch told me. They don’t consider women part of the sect, but they keep them, and don’t kill them if they can help it, because they need sons."

"Sons..." He sighed praying his girls were alright, some of them were tough but there were a few of them that had already had traumatizing lives, some of them just wouldn’t be able to cope. "Then we'll find them."

"Exactly. Now what’s the goddamn plan? I got the intel, but I think we need a bit more."

"We need to find the specifics of the location." Aiden sighed, "Once we get that then we can look at the key factors in comparison to the abduction patterns."

"We have the abduction pattern, that’s more than a start."

Olivia sighed. "We will need an extraction team right? How many girls in total are we missing?"

"Around thirty maybe forty... depending." Mer said.

"Then I offer my boys for the extraction team. They have dealt with this kinda thing before. "

Marcus nodded. "Mine as well. Between the two of us we should have about twenty seasoned soldiers. That might help."

"I agree although there are a few people that I want to tag along with you, myself included."

Merrick said with utter finality.

Elise looked at him and then looked down, her mouth open to talk but didn’t. Geraldine nodded.

"I have a few intel people that might help out, but I’m more inclined to run the homecoming, in case medical is needed. Also, we will need to have the grounds here stocked with game. If they are alive they will need a change and a hunt before the healing can begin."

"Fair enough, so it’s agreed then. First we need to find the right locations to search."

"Then we should get to it don’t you think?" Elise asked and looked about. "I have a few calls to make, and Myra, I believe Beryl will need you in the library."

Aiden grinned standing and turning to Myra, "I'll go with you, see what I can gather."

Elise watched them and nodded to Myra, a small smile on her face. Olivia stood.

"I need to call my people and have them ready for an extraction. Once we find the location, I will have them there in under an hour." she turned and left without another word to them, her husband on her heels.

Ramona and Geraldine left soon after, followed by Elise who didn’t bother to look at anyone on her way out without her file in hand. Marcus spoke softly to his wife, who left thereafter, leaving him and Merrick alone in the room. "You have a long road ahead of you man."

He nodded gravely, "Tell me about it. At least I'm on the right one though."

"If she accepts you. I don’t envy you friend."

"Me nether... all I can do is try and hope it works out for the best."

"All too true. Notice Ramona didn’t offer anything. You think she got hold of Hannah?

"I doubt it, but knowing what I do about that woman I don’t think she cares much. She'd have wiped them out herself if she could have... not that I'm ruling that out. She's one to watch, thankfully she's not that clever."

"Agreed. Either way, I’m glad you aren’t dead man, and I’m glad she’s got a chance at what you denied her." He tipped an imaginary hat at Merrick, and walked out.

Merrick smiled, Marcus had risen a lot higher than Merrick's expectations of him. He was a good guy or at the least an ally for the time being. The trick now was to find the girls and win Elise back. He couldn’t force her to love him but he had the feeling he wouldn't have to. He'd need to speak with her again and hope that, now the major disaster was averted she'd think about forgiving him. He'd do

~48~

anything for that forgiveness, hell for even a glimmer of hope he'd crawl over hot coals. He would just have to wait until she was alone and with Aiden keeping the girls occupied he wouldn't get a much better chance.

~49~

ELEVEN

Homer couldn’t believe his good fortune. Here he was, hoping for the right kind of girl to help him with his plan, and one just fell in his lap. Evelyn Rose, whether she needed to be there or not, was that kind of woman. Where as he was sure that she was just someone that that sick fuck Cristof wanted to fill his so called harem, he didn’t think she had anything to do with their Lamia project. A woman like that, one so damn high profile, couldn’t possibly be right for it, and that was the trick. With her background, she would be their only shot.

And it didn’t help that he had a crush on her. When he had heard they had brought her in, he had called in his marker to be her counterpart, knowing it would be the only shot, but it didn’t stop him from being attracted to her. Cristof had readily accepted, citing he was going to suggest it himself.

Evelyn was top notch and devastatingly perfect, and there was no way in hell she was going to be seduced and used. Not like the other girls had.

There was no way for him to help them, aside from making sure no more harm came to their minds or their person and figuring out a way to save them all. He was but one man, and he needed an army or a special team to extract thirty girls and keep the body count minimal.

So Evelyn was their last hope. He had left her the night before, with a shower, and a soft bed and clothes, hoping that she believed him. He didn’t blame her for thinking it was all a mind fuck, but he would prove it to her that he meant what he had said, every word of it.

Now looking in the mirror in his own bathroom, staring at his freshly shaven face he frowned.

Women like Evelyn didn’t want anything to do with the kind of guy he was, even if they were the ones that were helping them through a crisis. Not that he was doing it to gain that gratitude, cuz Homer Maxwell was not the kind of guy to engage in any pity fuck. Women like Evelyn Rose needed to be taken care of, adored, and loved. Well he could do that he was sure, but after this ordeal lord knew what she would think of him.

The fact that he had to play her lover today killed him even more. He would be close to that perfection once again, but it would all be a game. Suppose I shouldn’t bitch though, when would I get the chance to ever be that close to her in real life?

A woman like that didn’t want a grunt, no matter how much of a heart of gold they may or may not have. It didn’t matter really. Homer had a job to do, and people to protect, and that came first.

Duty, honor, professionalism. They were all the ideals he would be upholding in this pursuit, and he could deal with his burgeoning desires at a later date. She did, however, say she would take him up on the date, and as innocent as the flirt was, it did give him hope.

He wiped his hand over his face once and then sighed, turned towards his room and quickly got changed. He looked down at the bed that was still unmade and his training grated at him. He had had a very restless night. Usually, before a mission he would be up, finding that he ran on pure adrenaline much better than a full night’s sleep, going over the plan in his head. This time, he was awake, but it was because of visions of Evelyn Rose scantily clad in little or nothing, in a myriad of positions that kept sleep from claiming him. That woman was sin incarnate and nothing could change that. He huffed, making the bed in record time and then sat on it, slipping his socked feet into his boots and

~50~

lacing them up. His green t-shirt fell over his torso almost tightly, and he hoped it would garner notice from his charge, along with the dog tags around his neck, and the fatigues, the same outfit he would be giving her later on that night for her escape.

Finished lacing up his boots he stood, ready to start his ruse. He would go to her, bring her some breakfast, and they would spend the day together. He was both dreading it and looking forward to it.

Everything about this woman screamed for him to take her, to keep her safe, but taking advantage of her wasn’t the way to do it. He had no idea where the hell the compulsion was coming from but he was in enough control of his body and his emotions that he didn’t have to worry overly much about acting on them, but it was going to be a slight struggle. After all this, if she was willing, he would set out to court her in the proper fashion, but until then, it wasn’t even an option.

He knew that they would be watching them, and that meant playing it to the bone, touches, and kisses and stolen glances. Luckily, Cristof wasn’t that much of a letch and didn’t position cameras in the project rooms. Homer figured it was either cuz he didn’t want to see some other guy’s naked ass, or that he was that confident of his men that he didn’t need it. Either way, it worked out in his favor, and for that he was grateful. When he was found later they wouldn’t question the girl overpowering him, after all they believed her to be a damn snake shifter, and his cover wouldn’t be blown. Or so he hoped. He had been playing it right since they started so there was no reason to suspect him, and he had made enough noise about having Evelyn that everyone just assumed that he was smitten, and therefore would do the job. After all, all they had to do was seduce and fuck, it wasn’t a bad racket.

He stood, gathering his pack and smiled. If nothing else, he would get to feel those perfect lips on his for just a second, and that would be tortuous heaven. Granted he was a letch for even thinking it, but a guy did have to have something to look forward to. He turned towards his door and walked out into the corridor, making a left and down a flight of stairs to where he knew Evelyn would be waiting for him, hoping to god she really did have the right stuff to save everyone, including him.

~51~

TWELVE

Aiden followed the sexy snake into the library. He had to admit to himself, if no one else, that her scent was alluring as hell. Deep down somewhere he knew it was the taint of chemicals. Aiden was nothing if not a sucker for highly flammable accelerants. He was sick and he could accept that, he’d had to. Things had not been easy for him, a were-snake with an actual fear of snakes. It was a little too ironic even for him, but he managed along with Mer’s help and guidance. They’d decided that a little bit sick was better, an improvement from reckless pyromaniac.

Myra was a feisty little thing though and definitely up for something at least and that was all he was looking for. A little fun before jumping into the fray was just what he needed. He didn’t think it would take him long to get them both together. He could tell that kind of woman a mile away, and they were that kind of women. They were both up for it and they knew it.

Myra had sat through the whole meeting letting him travel his hand up and down her thigh tracing light patterns all over her. He knew she was aroused. Maybe no one else had picked up on it but his nose couldn’t be fooled. The way she tried to move, adjusting her seating to try and get comfortable, he knew that dance and on her it was sexy as hell. He couldn’t wait to watch her with the other one. Her scent mingled with the others as she opened the library door.

He smirked to himself as he followed her further in towards the computers, “You know ladies, I know what’s on your mind.” He told them starting to unbutton his shirt. “We should just get this over with now and then you can set your minds back to finding those missing girls.”

Myra turned to him, a smirk on her face. Beryl was engrossed in the computer screen in front of her oblivious to both Myra and Aiden's entrance. Myra looked at her then back at Aiden. "Good luck getting Beryl to do anything while she has a job to do."

He finished his buttons letting the shirt hang loose around him. "Ah well I don’t need her full attention."

Myra laughed. "So sure of yourself. Beryl won’t be in any way available for the next few hours, not till she hits a breakthrough. But I’m free... or as free as I can be with battle plans to go over and intel."

"There's nothing to stop us talking shop while we're at it... I'm a fan of multi tasking." He stepped in close to her smiling. "That and there’s something about a woman who knows what she’s talking about."

Myra put her hands on her hips and then cocked her head. "Trust me, if we are at it, as you say, you won’t be able to do anything else." she said smugly.

"Now that's what I'm talking about." He stepped in closer to her feeling the heat radiate from her.

She placed her hand on his chest and pushed slightly, smiling. "I’m not that easy Aiden. That stolen kiss this morning, the little tag and touch at the meeting was invigorating, but I’m not the kinda girl to just jump in the sack with a strange snake, no matter how good he smells."

He chuckled at her, she was a little tease but she liked his scent and that was a start, he'd dealt with teases and flirts before. "Who said anything about a sack? There’s a nice sturdy desk right there."

He nodded to the desk behind her keeping himself still. She'd kept her hand on his bare chest her smooth fingers resting against him.

~52~

"An anywhere kinda guy. You’re the guy my mother would have warned me about if she had lived aren’t you?"

"I've known a few mothers in my life and not one of them had any complaints."

"Something tells me you ain’t fibbing. Still, you’re a problem waiting to happen... a ticking time bomb."

"Which is why I think we should get it all out in the open now, that way we can concentrate on the other things later... unless you’re one to get off on delaying the moment." He grinned at her taking a step forward her hand sliding upwards on him. He dropped his voice a few octaves knowing that it would leave her quaking, "That I can do too... though I can't promise my full attention to the cause while I'm thinking just how good you’d look writhing on top of me. Those full breasts of yours bouncing deliciously for me."