9781618854704HolidayGemBeckNC (12 page)

Within seconds, gun
blasts were going off toward where the other team disappeared. Seamus knocked
in each door as they came to it. It was a series of medical rooms. He found
syringes, test tubes and shit he couldn’t even identify. No people were in any
of the rooms though so they continued down the hall. Every room garnered the
same result. He’d give the all clear and move on to the next.

At the final door, Gage
held up a hand in signal that he’d heard something. Pointing to himself and his
gun, Gage took position along the left hand sidewall and nodded. Seamus opted
for a straightforward approach and kicked open the door. It wasn’t like a
bullet could take them out. It would take more like a full out explosion to
bring a Valendite Breed down. The door splintered off its hinges and dropped
while Seamus sprung against the wall to his right. Gage fired four shots.

“And that wasn’t even
with my favorite gun,” Gage grinned and nodded to Lucas.

And fuck if he hadn’t
just taken out all four men in the room with those four shots. That boy was a
genius with his guns. Gage’s preferred kills happened long-range. He was
usually their high-top sniper; but today he sported his new toy, the MK23.

Lucas and Seamus
stomped into the room where the men lay dead to confirm they weren’t breathing.
The room was a bunkroom with four beds. They’d obviously caught the men
completely unaware and sleeping.

“What the hell did you
hear?” Seamus asked Gage.

“One of them was
snoring,” Gage shrugged. That boy didn’t get enough recognition for his skills.
Always the younger brother, Lucas and Madden seemed to shine brighter than
Gage.

“Four down,” Lucas
talked into his comm device.

“Eight here. That’s all
of them for this level,” Madden’s voice came through his earpiece.

“There’s some rooms
over here Caedon might be interested in.”

“I’ll send him your
way.”

As they relayed
information to Madden’s team, they moved to meet at the only entrance into the
basement. This would be more difficult. By now, the downstairs residents had to
know they were here. A few taps on the door told Seamus is was solid steel. It
reminded him of the one in the warehouse where Caedon’s parents had been held.

“It’s solid,” Seamus
told Madden.

“Blow it.” Madden’s
response was short and curt. It was an order.

Without wasting any
time, Seamus set about applying the explosive putty as Madden and Lucas briefed
the others. “We’ll assume they have Donovan held somewhere out of the way so we
should be able to make our way down with limited risk. We’ll take out whoever
we come up against until we secure a better location at the bottom of the
stairs. Then we’ll move into our two teams and clear the floor.”

“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
putty to minimize the sound, but the blast would still throw off fucking fierce
heat. Not even a Valendite Breed wanted to mess with that. They all ducked into
the other hallway and waited for the blast and smoke to clear.

They heard the shouting
before they could see clearly. One asshole actually came barreling up the
stairs. Gage took him out in a single shot, twirling his gun and blowing on
like a wise ass.

Seamus saluted him and
began to lead the way down the stairs.

Lucas held him back.
“Get behind me. I’ll be the front man.” Seamus thought it odd since he’d always
led. He was a scout on top of being the pilot but there was no time to argue.
All he wanted was to get to his friend and get the hell out of this creepy
place. Those mini-labs upstairs spooked him.

“Granger, watch the
door for any back-up they might be able to call in. No one lives.”

“Got
it.”
Granger took his position at the top of the stairs
while the rest followed Lucas down. A man in a white lab coat rounded the
corner. Quicker than any mortal eye could’ve seen, Caedon drew his gun and took
the man out. Lucas came to the bottom of the stairs and turned into an empty
room with Seamus and Gage on his heels.

“All
clear.
There’s a hall to the far side. We’ll take the
right. Madden has the doors on the left,” Lucas broke out the plan and looked back
at Seamus. “When we get to Donovan, assess any injuries. We’ve got Nico on
alert about a block over if we need him for medical.”

“He’ll need blood if
he’s sustained injuries.”

“Nico can do that as
well,” Lucas said and when Seamus began to argue, he put his hand on his arm
and spoke softly, “Now that you’re mated, you can no longer feed a brother. You
know this.
It’s
how it is supposed to be.”

Seamus nodded and went
in search of his best friend. As opposed to the upstairs, there seemed to be a
man in each of these rooms. The rooms were set up with a single cot and a near
comatose man. Windows on the doors allowed them to easily look inside and
dispatch each one in order. Still there was no sign of Abdul-Nassir.

Gage marched back up
the hall to where the rest of them stood. “It’s clear. No sign of humans left.”

“Then where the fuck is
Donovan?”

Bangings of metal came
from the large room they had walked through. Backtracking, they all searched
and found another metal door behind a curtained off area. Again, there was
medical equipment and an exam table.

Seamus pounded on the
door three times and received three knocks back. It was Donovan. He was sure of
it even without being able to see him. Banging on the door once more to establish
that he was going to blow the door out, Seamus set to work putting the
explosives in place. Donovan would know to back away. Moving to the other side
of the room, Madden, Gage, Seamus and Lucas all watched as the door
disintegrated.

Donovan looked like
shit. He was dirty and his clothes were torn, but his eyes were clear. “It’s
about time you idiots got here,” he said with a grin. “What took you so long?”

“If someone hadn’t
ditched his GPS, we could’ve gotten to you sooner.”

“Yea, well, then I
wouldn’t have all this information to share,” Donovan tapped his head, “now,
would I?”

“You can tell us about
it later,” Seamus said as he noticed Lucas moving around them.

“Don’t touch her,”
Donovan growled.

“What the fuck?” Seamus
couldn’t believe his eyes. Curled up in a tight little ball was a woman. She
looked small and frail. “Who is that?”

“They held her here for
me to feed from. They knew and they’re trying to re-create the original vaccine
we were given that transformed us.”

“Shit,” Madden mumbled.

Lucas drew closer to
the woman and kneeled. “She’s barely breathing.”

“They drugged her but
I’ve been monitoring her vitals. She’ll be all right if I can get her some
fluids. But the
things is
, she knows. She saw
everything.” Donovan explained.

“You didn’t,” Lucas’s
words caught in his throat, “You didn’t feed from her, did you?”

“I had no choice. I
knew you’d get here and I knew you’d wipe out the complex. If I hadn’t done it,
they were going to kill her.”

“It’s one person. You
risked our entire existence for a single human?” Madden’s voice had risen and
the woman opened her eyes suddenly with a sharp intake of breath and looked at
Lucas.

 
“Oh Goddess, no,” Lucas said before he scooped
her up and carried the woman from the room.

“I couldn’t let her
die. She’s got the mark of the
Magdalena
Circle
,” Donovan gave the one answer that would make every man in the room
understand what he’d done.

Then in unison, they
each watched Lucas stalk out of the room with the woman in his arms cradled as
one would hold a child. Lucas spoke to her in a hushed voice. It was clear he
was speaking to her in their native tongue.

Caedon rounded the
doorway, “Who does Lucas have?”

“I have a bad feeling
it’s going to be a long story. Let’s clear out. You can tell us about what you
found when we get back to the island.” Madden’s control looked like it could
snap at any moment. Each of the men noticed, bowed their heads and got the hell
out of dodge.

* * * *

Gemma jumped and ran
from the front porch when Seamus stepped out of the car. She couldn’t wait
another moment to touch her mate. The recounting of the mission had terrified
her. Despite the fathers’ attempt at keeping quiet, Gemma had caught enough to
know they had been up against at least two dozen men. And that those men were
trying to recreate the virus which caused their creation to begin with, that
they essentially had created a medical facility and that they were well on
their way to the discovery.

“Oh, beautiful,”
Seamus’ breath tickled her neck as he hugged her to him and twirled them
around. “
It feels good to hold you again
.”

She felt incredible to
be in his arms again, to feel her mate hold her. Bright and colorful swirls
surrounded her as her feelings swamped her. Too busy to control them, she
allowed her powers free. She’d been fighting to hold them back, but now, it was
clear she’d come into her full powers in the two days he’d been away. They were
nearly stronger than
her own
will.

“Your powers are incredible
,” Seamus’ voice was full of reverence and
embarrassed her. She blushed and averted her eyes to the ground.

She always knew she would
gain these powers of the
Magdalena Circle
but to experience them was simply amazing. Gemma felt like a completely
different person. Her mate had changed her irrevocably.

“Gemma, beautiful, you
are an amazing woman. You transformed in these two days.”

“I know,” Gemma laughed, “Our mothers encouraged me. Mother saw me
suppressing them and decided it was time for them to help me. It’s all a bit
overwhelming but now I’m glad you’re here with me.”

“Me too,” Seamus whispered into her ear as he pulled her tight against
him again.

“I missed you terribly
this time,” she admitted aloud.

“But you had all this
company.” With that, Seamus kissed her nose, placed her back down on her feet
and moved to shake her father’s hand.

“Sir,” Seamus nodded as
he reached out his hand.

“Son,” Gemma’s father
took his hand and then embraced him in what could only be called an awkward man
hug. She shook her head at the absurdity of what she was witnessing.

Gemma had sensed the
parents all come out of the house too, but hadn’t wanted to let go of Seamus
yet to include them in their welcome. She wanted him all to herself again. Now
that Seamus was wrapped up in both of his parents, Gemma stood with her own
parents to give them time and hoped it wouldn’t be too much longer before they
could be alone.

Chiara, her mother,
wrapped Gemma in her powers to soothe her. “I know what you need from him and
he knows as well,” Chiara paused when Seamus looked at them over his shoulder.
“He won’t keep you waiting to nourish you. He’s incapable of allowing you any
discomfort that he can prevent.” Her words were reassuring, but it was that
comforting cloud her mother used when they were just babies that soothed her
most.

Seamus’ family joined
hers after only a few more minutes. Gemma turned to lead everyone inside but
her parents’ hands on her shoulders kept her in place. Then she watched in awe
as Anthony dropped onto one knee.

 
“
Che
bella
donna
,” Anthony spoke while he looked up at
Gemma. “I welcome you into our family. Seamus has at last found his treasure.”

 
Gemma couldn’t speak. She was caught up in
such emotion she had never felt before. Anthony took her smaller hands in his
much larger ones and kissed first one and then the other. When he rose to his
feet again, he drew her hands into Seamus’ and cupped them with his own. “You
will have many years together of happiness.”

“And now with the traditional
mating acceptance completed, we have a Pronouncement to plan,” Seamus’ mother,
Abigail, added.

“I don’t want the fuss
of what my other sisters had. I thought we could celebrate here with just our
family. We could host my sisters of course and their mates. Please don’t insist
on a big ritual in the vineyard,” Gemma implored her mother.

“
Gemma,
that
was never me. That was all your sisters’ choosing. Well, in Layla’s
case, it was also a bit of Adelina,” Chiara laughed. “I think your idea is
perfect. Let’s have a quiet holiday and then ask them to travel for the next
full moon.”

“That happens to be
just two days later so it’s absolutely perfect,” Abigail clapped her hands
together. “Let’s have Anthony and Valentino
make
the
travel arrangements while we plan a menu.”