Burned In Shadows (Shadow Unit) (3 page)

Jes was resilient in her
quest to put a team together and go back out there and search for the man she loved. Dravaggio had been a complete ass and refused to use any more man power searching for what he claimed was the ghost of Draven. Everyone was thinking what he was thinking, but they were too afraid to say it out loud. Especially in front of Jes. She was able to move things with her mind, and was on the uphill of gaining more strength as the days passed. No one wanted to go head to head with a woman able to hurl things at you from across the room without ever lifting a finer. Every day there was something new. Today was floor training, and then a meeting they had to attend. All members including Jes and herself were set to meet in the conference room in fifteen minutes.

The door to the training room creaked open and in walked the light of all the team members’ life. Faith Stone, the pretentious five year old that was too wise for her own good.

“Auntie, mama almost done in here?”

“Yeah, where is Gabe? I thought he was escorting you around the facility today?”

Gabe, another member of the unit, had taken on the responsibility of keeping an eye on Faith. Mara and Antony were still in mourning, and as the packs alphas, they were expected to spend two months grieving their lost. The future of House Canidae rested on the shoulders of a five year old. A tough thing for a girl.
No tougher than what you went through.
True, she was the next in line to rule House Phoenix, once Surelle stepped down. There had been many things expected of her as the next Matria. Pack law was immensely different from theirs. Faith would have to fight to survive the brutality of the pack, and she’d be expected to take a mate once her time came to take over. Mara and Antony didn’t seem too concerned. Faith had at least another fifteen years to go.
Whereas you only have six months.

In six months, Belinda Raine Ignis would take over House Phoenix. Her death and rebirth would symbolize the reign of a new Matria.
No pressure there.
All she had to do was die.
The captain knew the details of her stay with the team and Surelle surprisingly had allowed it. Solon, her supposed half-brother, had been released into her mother’s care. It was something she didn’t have an opinion or feelings about. They didn’t resemble one another in the slightest. She was black hair and violet eyes while Solon was blonde hair and ice blue eyes. He’d be punished according to Phoenix law. Being a mercenary and killing your own kind was punishable by death across all houses. Solon was a peculiar case since his father Vivek was a Royal Vampiri and his father’s kind were said to have the blood of war demons in them. He’d been given an out. Killing was in his nature. The council would take that into consideration. Total horseshit, but whatever. If they wanted to drink the Kool-Aid more power to them, as long as they didn’t expect her to drink it too.

“Gabe said it was okay for me to come down here. I don’t like the secretary at the front desk. Her voice hurts my ears.” Faith whined.

Bells had to laugh at that. The woman did have an annoying voice. It made you want to jump out of a thirty story building, and pray landing on the concrete took you quickly. She motioned for Faith to come and sit in her lap, but the little girl shook her head no.

“What?”

“I’m a big girl now, auntie. I can sit next to you.” Her eyes bright and her smile even brighter, the lovely little angel was well on her way into maturity. Bells patted the seat next to her, and Faith sat. The fighting quieted, and all three sweaty fighters were now immersed in deep conversation. Ronin’s lips moved, and he seemed generally invested in the conversation, but his eyes were on her the entire time.

# # #

Ronin looked over the edge of his towel at the woman who kept him in a perpetual state of arousal. She was cagey and refused him and his brother at every turn. Why was she acting this way? He’d never had a problem getting women to fall on his dick before. Why her? Why now?
Because she’s your intended.
He wasn’t going to berate himself any longer. Six weeks and still they hadn’t touched her. Six weeks was too fucking long. What didn’t help matters, was his brother was the biggest horses’ ass on planet Earth. Royce was ignoring the situation. He thought head games would bring her to them. He was wrong.

“Good work today Jes.”

“Thanks Ro.”

Jesminda had taken to calling him Ro instead of Ronin, he’d been called worse. It didn’t bother him, but if any of the other team members tried that shit, he was going to have a serious one on one; up close and personal with their face. It made her feel like a member of the team, and he understood that. He remembered what it was like to be an outcast. Deemed unsafe. The guys still hadn’t gotten over the fiasco of eating Oliver’s brain. It wasn’t that they feared him, but they saw him for what he truly was. An animal. He showed more of his animalistic traits than his twin did, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have human feelings. He knew they’d retreat into their corners. At first there’d been a steady stream of tension that lingered between them all. But now they had Jesminda to contend with. She seemed to level out the playing field. He used his towel to staunch the flow of sweat dripping down the sides of his face and arms. The woman gave him and Royce a hell of a workout. She was progressing along nicely too. Her skills as a fighter improved with each session. Dravaggio made her talk to a counselor twice a week about the abuse she’d suffered at the hands of that fucker down in lock up. It was helping. Ann was also their doctor as well, why the captain felt they needed a head doctor was puzzling. Jesminda wasn’t scared in the presence of the team, and that helped the men settle in nicely. She was interacting with everyone. A lot of it had to do with confidence in herself and her new abilities. She was tougher than most women, human or immortal, and they were only touching the tip of the iceberg with her capabilities. He wouldn’t let her think she was weaker than the others, and he gave her his all. She appreciated it too.

“Alright, stop making kissy face with my girl bro.” Royce snagged Jesminda around the neck and walked her over to where Faith and her friend were sitting. Gods, Belinda drove him crazy. Today she was wearing a tank top, and yoga pants that hugged her skin at every curve. She was next up on the mat. But first they had that meeting with the team. After that, she’d be fair game and then he’d get to put his hands all over her creamy, delicate flesh.

“Hey Ro
Ro.” Faith smiled up at him as they made their way over to the chairs.

“S’up small fry,” he pulled on her pig tail and she giggled. She was a stunner just like her mother. It was a fucking shame about her father. The little girl still had nightmares, but Dietrich was trying to control those. The fucker claimed he didn’t have a heart, but everyone else knew different. Faith jumped up and swatted him on the leg as she walked over to her mother and wrapped her arms around her waist.

“Hey Faithie.”

“Mama, I missed you today, and Gabe was nice enough to let me come down. Can I go to the meeting to huh, please?”

“No baby girl, you’re gonna have to stay up front with Miss. Ellie.” Faith let out a moan. Everyone felt sorry for her. Ellie was a nasty piece of work. She was hot, but that voice was just awful.

“Faith just put your iPod on that I gave you last week, remember sugar plum?” Royce tried to distract her with her newest toy.

“Okay, but you have to take me up and then make Ellie do something funny mkay.”

“You got it.” His brother hefted the little girl up on to his back and made a dash for the front of the office.

“You guys spoil her way too much.” Jesminda remarked.

They absolutely did, she was the only kid he’d ever let swat him and call him Ro
Ro. Faith had the purest thoughts he’d ever heard, he needed her around for the sake of his sanity.

He looked down at Belinda who still sat in her chair. She hadn’t moved the entire conversation. He’d offer his hand, but he knew she wouldn’t take it.

“Ronin,” Belinda gave a slight nod of her head.

“Belinda.”

He was tired of the formalities, being a gentlemen sucked. He was feral, an animal. The laws of human society shouldn’t apply to him most days, if any at all. Back home, if she was in his line of sight, he’d take her and be done with it. Feral women knew the score, they didn’t fight or argue, they submitted. She was proving to be a puzzle he didn’t think he’d ever solve.

“You two need to get it out of your system and do the damn thing.” Jes said as she grabbed a bottle of water and chugged it down. She wiped her mouth with the back her hand. “I mean, I get tired of hearing the both of you moon over the other. Be like Nike and just do it.”

“Come on trouble maker.” Ronin grabbed Jesminda by the arm and tugged her into the hall. Belinda followed. He’d handle his own damn battles. People around here would start to think he was soft. He was not a softie.

Chapter 2

T
he men were all gathered in the room as Bells, and a freshly showered Jesminda took a seat at the table. She was excited, today was going to be interesting. Dravaggio of course looked way too tense. But the man was a sight for all who dared to look at his savage masculinity. He wore ass hugging jeans and a white button up rolled to his elbows. Why did he have to be so damn hot? It was the eyes and voice that made him so edgy and virile. Bells ignored him and his sexy and tried to focus. Sitting to her left was Ronin and to her right Royce. Buffoons! Always blocked her in. Why did they keep doing that? Her eyes were on Dietrich as he sat across from her, arms relaxed behind his head a leg crossed at the knee. Good thing the twins couldn’t read her thoughts.
Or could they?

“I’m not one for holding my tongue.” Dravaggio purred, Belinda and Jes both closed their eyes at the sound of his voice. Did he ever turn off the sexy? The twins both threw their captain a look that said, ‘take it down’. He needed to do more than that. That man could fuck any woman twelve ways from Sunday, and they’d still want more. She, on the other hand, wouldn’t be fucking anyone. Her house forbade the next Matria to sex anyone or anything until after the rebirth. Stupid rules! She’d been horny for the last ninety days, twelve hours and forty six minutes. How was that for forced celibacy? She’d had sex, plenty, with B.O.B and one other person. Did her mother expect her to stay unsexed for more than two hundred years? Maybe. But Belinda had been full of surprises, and when she found there was an out clause to the celibacy rule, she jumped and held on for dear life. But since her rebirth was quickly approaching she had to adhere to the ‘no sex’ rule until her consort triggered her rebirth. Bells squeezed her thighs together. She would do her best to h
old out.
You sound sex starved Ignis. Snap out of it!
She’d heard rumors about Dravaggio. He frequented the Lotus on a daily basis. He was an incubus but had perfected his skill to harness energy from the sound of his voice. Maybe she’d ask him to voice her into an orgasm. Would her Sharma be able to tell the difference?

“First, I’d like to say welcome to Jes and Belinda. You two are formidable additions to the team.”

Royce quickly interjected as usual. Bells didn’t know if he was truly that stupid, or truly that arrogant. He was wearing his diesel jeans and a white tee-shirt that said, “Suck It,” in stark black letters. The men usually dressed for work in their standard uniforms of black BDU’s and grey shirts. But today must have been casual wear day because all the men were dressed as if they were lounging.

“Dude, don’t forget their super-secret code names or the infamous decoder ring.” He reached into his pocket and gave both women a Ring Pop. Hers was pink, and Jes’ was green. What a dork, she thought to herself, but it was sweet to. He had that effect on her a lot lately. There were times Belinda couldn’t stand him, and other times she wanted to crawl into his lap and rest her head on his shoulder. He looked supremely pleased with himself as he went on about absolutely nothing. He smiled, and his entire face lit up with mischief. He was up to something, and as usual no one would know what until it happened. Royce Zaraides was sex on a stick times ten. His funny sense of humor and active imagination is what took him over the top. The combination was deadly to her female parts. The captain was hot, but if you were to take Royce’s charming personality, then add in his panty dropping swag. Dravaggio paled in comparison. His charm was dark, and his voice was seductive, but Royce seduced you with his entire being. He walked, talked, and he fucked sex. She knew that whatever Royce had to give was darker than what Dravaggio would offer. The girl he’d brought to the building a couple of weeks back,
was unable to walk or speak right. Her voice had carried through the walls into her quarters late into the night, and again in the early morning.
Jealous much?
Yeah, she was totally jealous. Utterly and quite perplexed at her emotions for him. With Royce and Ronin she ran hot and cold, at the same time.

“Okay, let me introduce you to the real Shadow Unit.” Royce walked around the room and stood behind Hawke. He had black hair, black eyes, and hard lines, chiseled into a finely tuned killing machine. He was a water dragon from House Tatsu and Clan Kuzuryu, and his real name was Ryu. He constantly chewed gum but somehow managed to look hot while doing it. Hawke was always dressed in tight grey shirts with his black BDU’s, but today he was wearing sweats and a hooded sweatshirt, still chewing his gum. He ignored Royce’s comment and sighed loudly, popping a
bubble inside his mouth. Hawke, like Ronin was the quiet one.

“Meet Fiyah… not fire, but Fiiiiyaaah.” Royce said in a sing song voice. The guy was a regular joker at all times.

He walked to Adam’s chair next. He was GQ, complete with stylish loafers and a perfectly cut suit. He was the public face of Shadow Unit. The pretty boy who was able to warm his way right into the hearts of the press. Copper brown hair and warm whiskey eyes, Adam was not hard to look at. His face was all sharp angles with strong, aristocratic bone structure.

“Meet half pint. We’d call him full pint, but he can’t seem to stomach more than half.” Jes laughed, and Bells tried to hold
hers in. Everyone knew he was Vampiri, and he was from a Royal house. He just wouldn’t say which one. Adam’s hair was pushed back from his face, by a pair of dark shades. He reached his arms above his head and stretched. It was his way of ignoring Royce while watching Jes. He had it bad, and the poor guy had no idea he’d never have a shot with her friend. He’d been slowly trying to make his move, and Jes ignored him at every turn. Whether she did it on purpose, Bells didn’t know, but she was always polite about letting him down.

Next up was Gabe, the Golden God as Jes and her joked behind his back. He kept his blonde hair short and watched everyone with his eerie eyes. They were a champagne color, pale but vivid with a subtle orange tinge. He was wearing cargo pants and a white tee-shirt that threatened to rip at the seams.

“Meet sunshine, his eyes will light any dark passage at any given time.” Gabe moved his chair out of the way as Royce stood behind him and spread his arms wide. Oh lord, what was he going to do now?

“Gabe will come out, tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow Gabe will shine. Just thinking about tomorrow, cleans the cobwebs and the sorrow.”

The entire room burst into laughter, except for Gabe. He looked over his shoulder at Royce, and keeping his voice low he said.

“Sarcasm is anger’s ugly cousin. It’s not my problem you don’t like yourself.” He looked serious, but Bells couldn’t tell, some days the two were best of buds, but other days they were at each other’s throats.

A grim look passed over Royce’s eyes for a second and was quickly masked with mirth. He was hurt but only for a second.
Or he’s got a remarkably adept poker face.

“Not my fault you can’t get laid Gabe.” Royce shoulders shook as he laughed. “Dude, I totally rhymed right there.”

Next he walked over to Dravaggio and pulled out his phone. He scrolled through it for a second, looked up at both women and winked. He was searching for something. When he found it the corners of his mouth tilted up in a grin.

“And this, dear ladies is JT,” his finger hit the button on his phone and on came Justin Timberlake’s Sexy Back.”

The room was silent for a moment and with valid reason. The captain was known for his temper. There were times when you were able to tell when he would explode, other times, not so much. Since joining the members of the Shadow Unit, Belinda only witnessed him out of control once. That was the day he’d called off the search for Draven. It hadn’t been pretty either, but the incubus was going to anger management counseling and it seemed to be helping a little. His nostrils flared as he took in air. His fingers drummed to the tune of the music, and even Royce took a cautious step back.

“I believe Justin stole that from me.” He drawled with a lazy grin on his face. The other team member’s stifled their laughs with coughs as Royce was momentarily silent. He recovered quickly and moved to Dietrich next. D sat across from her with his shades still in
place. For all she knew, he was sleeping. He looked comfortable in his baggy jeans and Whiz Khalifa tee that said, “Wake up Drunk Go to Sleep Fucked up.” His beautiful sienna skin had a strong reddish-orange undertone. She remembered that skin and how it looked next to her own. She needed to clear her head before she thought back to a time that was long forgotten.

“I would say he’s the ghost with the most, but that would imply he’s better than me.” Royce winked. Dietrich didn’t move a muscle, nor did he think the joke was funny. Instead, he kicked his leg out and pushed against the table, trying to cause Royce to fall into the wall behind him.

“That wasn’t nice, meat head,” Royce said as he walked to the head of the table. The others at the table were waiting for the explosion, these two fought at every turn, verbal and physical ones. Pissing contests for who was the biggest prick as far as she was concerned. D wasn’t interested in her, but made sure to annoy Royce at every opportunity. If the twins knew the real reason he was acting that way, well things would go south real quick.

“Are you done?” Dravaggio asked in a tired voice. There was a slight urgency to the captain’s tone, and Royce seemed to take the hint and returned to his seat.

“Now that’s done, I’ll move forward if it pleases you.” The captains voiced dripped with authority. It soaked up the attention of every person in the room including Bells. His way with words was legendary in the panty department. Here in the conference room it commanded acknowledgement and respect.

The lights in the building flickered on and off momentarily. Which was nothing new, but
something didn’t feel right. A few seconds later alarms began blaring, and the men were on their feet and headed for the door.

“You two stay here,” Ronin said to Belinda and Jes. Who was he to tell he
r to stay put? She and Jes was able to fight like the rest of them. Together, they’d take on almost anyone.

The room immediately emptied as the men headed for the basement. Someone had broken into Marcus’s cell
. Ellie, who manned the front desk would have noticed an intruder, so how did someone get past her? The lights were out, and the red flashing of the alarm system was dull and annoying.

“Let’s go check on Faith, she’s probably scared.” Jes calmly walked from the conference room feeling her way down the corridor of the hall. With her new found power and strength, maybe she
was able to see in the dark, maybe she couldn’t. But she didn’t seem to have a problem navigating her way down the hall towards the front of the office. So Bells took that as a good sign. Faith and the receptionist sat behind the desk. Her niece didn’t seem worried, but she looked a bit concerned.

“Everything okay here sugar?” Jes asked her daughter.

“Yup, lights just went out mommy.”

Bells looked over her shoulder to the front entrance. No one had entered through that way. Must be a faulty alarm, wards had been set in place after the debacle of the last assignment. Dravaggio said as much. He’d made sure that everyone was scanned into the security system’s main frame with their body signatures. Silent alarms would go off if anyone was in any area of the building they didn’t have access to. That was everyone including Ann.

“Let’s get them to one of the other rooms just in case.” Belinda said motioning for them to follow her.

Jes nodded, and the secretary who hadn’t utter a word, followed them to the back where other offices were located. Bells pulled the door open and ushered them all in. Once Faith and the secretary where inside she closed the doors and turned to her friend. They needed to see where the rest of the team had gone off to.

“Let’s see what the racket’s all about.”

They both made their way back to the stairs leading down to the holding cells. The entrance to the stairwell was bathed in a faint red glow at each interval on the stair’s landing leading down. Which meant every other flight was covered in darkness. Visibility wasn’t hard for her,
but the red did throw off her sight a bit.

“Can you see anything?”

“Yeah, I can make out the stairs and of course the exit signs, why? Can’t you?” Jes asked. Well she saw something, but her friend obviously saw more. Funny thing about being immortal, they weren’t truly immortal. Long lived, yes, but they bled and died with the best of them. Jes stood silently waiting for her to answer.

“Of course I can see.” No reason to say otherwise. If something was coming at them, she’d see it.
You sure?
She wasn’t about to doubt herself or her skills. They began taking the stairs two at a time. Their steps were light and silent. She couldn’t hear anything as she and Jes took the stairs to its bottom. It wasn’t quite the bottom as the building was set on top of a hive of sorts. It was a system of caves and passages that led to other things. Dravaggio had given them an overview of what lay beneath the building, but it was high-level information. Nothing too detailed as they didn’t have access to the lower-levels.

The sounds of
men shouting at the bottom on the other side of the door told her they were in the right area. There was scuffling and loud grunts and fists connecting to bones.

“Let’s go.” Jes said over her shoulder.