Burned In Shadows (Shadow Unit) (5 page)

“Fuck it.”

“Fuck what?” Hawke asked.

“Just fuck it.”

“Whatever.” Hawke walked in and took a seat at the table and let out a series of curses himself. They were all on edge. They’d been attacked, okay well they’d been robbed was more of a justified statement. But still, that shit didn’t sit well in his gut. How the hell had the guy gotten through all the damn wards? Why didn’t they go off? Why was it only the wired security system that alerted them?
Somehow he knew about the wards.
The wards were set for specific entry into the underground facility. Unless you were a member of the unit or escorted by a member of the team, you were unable to gain entrance.

“Any of you wondering how the masked avenger got in?” He asked no one in particular.

There were a lot of heads shaking yes in response.

The women bust through the door, Bells helped a limping, bleeding Jesminda to a chair.

“What the fuck happened to you two?” Royce and Ronin both said at the same time. Fucking twin gene.

“He’s alive.” Jes said between breaths.

“Who?”

Bells sat down next to Jesminda. She had a bruise forming on the side of her face.

“What the hell happened to your face?”

“It was Stone. Draven was here.
Jes and Draven grappled in the stairwell.”

The entire room became silent. Dravaggio walked over and sat next to Bells and looked her in the eyes.

“Say that one more time.”

“She’s not stuttering,” Jes said around a mouth full of fangs.
What the fuck is that shit!
Now the girl had fangs? What next?
Please do not develop a dick.
Ronin hit him on the back of the head and placed a hand on Jes’ shoulder. She flinched and moved away.

“He didn’t recognize me, his eyes were all wrong. First green, then black, then green, and then black again. Just like Oliver. I didn’t know it was him until I pulled off the mask.” Her voice was shaking, and her shoulders shook as silent sobs racked her body. Why would Draven come here and attack them and take Marcus? It explained how he’d gotten past all the wards, they hadn’t removed his signature.

“What do you mean his eyes went from green to black?” Hawke asked. Adam got up from the chair and walked over to the water cooler to get her some water. Over the six weeks she’d been in the infirmary, Adam, along with Draven’s parents, had sat by her side day and night. Royce knew the guy had a crush on her. Adam wasn’t new to the group, but he socialized a lot less. The only time he pulled out the killer dimples as he’d been known to have were during meetings that were held with the Agency or when he had to do press conferences. He enjoyed his time away from the team when he went out on missions. But because of Jes, he stayed close to base now.

“Just what I said.” Jes reached for the glass of water Adam was holding in front of her and took long gulps. The lights in the building finally came back on, bathing the room in its bright white glow. They weren’t little fangs. She had some serious meat
grinders, skin puncturing, blood sucking fangs. What the fuck was she?

“When were you going to tell us about the fangs?” Dravaggio asked. He was irritated. Normally there was a don’t ask, don’t tell policy. But that had all been blown to shit. Not that Royce needed to hear each man say what they were. He and Ronin knew from day one. Well,
except for Gabe, no one knew not even Dravaggio. But they’d all signed affidavits in blood. If you didn’t want to tell, no one would ask. It was up to each of them to decide. But after the debacle with Jes, Royce asked Dravaggio to retract the policy. With the onset of Jes’ new found gifts, all attention had been focused on her. The only one who hadn’t stepped forward was Gabe, but then he wasn’t a field man like the rest of them. His job was to sit behind a bank of computers and provide information.

“Just found out tonight. It happened when I touched him.”

“Touched him?”

“Did I stutter fool? Yes, when I touched him,” her eyes flashed a brilliant gold. Damn chameleon changing eyes, shit was freaky as hell.

“Alright, I get it. When you touched him.” Dravaggio said as he stood back and leaned against the wall. Everyone was out of sorts.

“We need to find out what’s going on around here.” He looked around the room to each man, his stare was penetrating. He didn’t have time to mess around. Unexplained shit was happening, especially now that they knew they were dealing with the ridiculously named villain, The Red Hand or Sun, some shit like that, who cared?

“I’m going to put a team together. This one can’t be solo. We have too much at stake here. We cannot and will not compromise this building.” Each man around the room nodded. Jes and Bells did as well, there was no way the girls were getting a piece of this. Hell no.

Chapter 4

“
W
e need to follow him, something!” Jes threw her hands up in the air and continued to pace the room. She was agitated and still out of sorts. Draven would never betray her, never. The fact that he threw her against a wall, and they actually had to come to blows was mind boggling. But she knew it had something to do with his eyes changing color. Somewhere in all this mess, he’d been tampered with. He wouldn’t jump ship and join the other side. She needed to talk to Ann before she exploded, it wouldn’t be pretty if she did. In her last session with the doctor, she’d done what Ann called a ‘look back’. The doctor had taken her into hypnosis, and when Jes regained consciousness, Ann’s entire office had been destroyed. She’d apologized repeatedly, and the other woman assured her it came with her job description. Moving objects with her mind was scary, but when she was under, she had no control over her new found abilities.

“We need to think this through Jesminda,” Dravaggio said calmly. He was trying to soothe her with his words, but in her current state, it had no effect on her. She glared in his direction and knew her eyes were changing color. All the men in the room were over talking her, throwing ideas out that didn’t make sense.

“We should track him down.” Adam was saying.

“How shit head?” Royce said back.

“Didn’t we all get one of those bug things?” Adam quipped back. He was holding the bridge of his nose and tilting his head back like he had a nose bleed, all while he was teetering back on his chair. All this chaos was bullshit!

“No, his body would have released the bug
six weeks back. Without regular check-ins here at the building, it would automatically disengage. It’s a safety mechanism.” Gabe said as he stretched his long arms out grabbing hold of the table.

Everyone was trying to come up with a feasible plan. And none of it was making sense. None of
it. Bells sat quietly in the corner, watching. Jes would have walked over to talk to her friend, but all she’d been able to picture was Draven and his black eyes. Eyes that stared back at her in recognition. It had crushed what little was left of her world she was managing to piece back together. She knew he was still alive. Every day it felt a little more of him would disappear. Pieces that meant the world to her. They didn’t have many memories for her to hold on to. When something from their past did slip by, it killed her a little more each time.

“I think he’s a traitor.”

All heads turned to Dietrich. He sat calmly in the chair at the head of the conference table with his sun glasses still attached to his face and smoking a Black n Mild. No one said anything, but they were all thinking it. Jes knew they were, saw it all over their faces. The finality of a lost brother in arms was ground in their faces; etched into the corners of their mouths in a lasting frown. They were processing what D had said, but Jesminda wasn’t about to stand there and let them bash her mate.

Something was wrong with him, she didn’t know what or how, but she was going to find out.

“Wipe those pathetic looks off your faces. You act as if he’s already lost to us.” Jes slapped her hands down hard on the table, trying to stop the tears from leaking down the sides of her cheeks. So many emotions were swirling, and she knew Royce picked up on them, but she didn’t care. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Bells approach, her friend touched her shoulder and Jesminda stopped her motion with a growl.

“Don’t you dare give me that pitying look? None of you believed he was alive-“

“Jesminda.” Dravaggio said calmly. She wasn’t trying to hear what he had to say. She was ready to explode. If one more person deemed her mate a traitor she would tear them to pieces with her bare hands.

“Don’t fucking Jesminda me! Put a team together, come up with a solid fail proof plan and make sure that I am on that fucking team.”

Jes turned on her heels and pushed through the conference room doors. All of them were lucky she didn’t take their heads off. Dietrich and the twins might prove worthy adversaries, but the others she would decimate them one thought. She wanted to rage, blow up the inside with everyone in it, she didn’t care anymore. All she wanted was Draven back. She needed him, Faith needed him, his pack needed him and so did his backstabbing team members. Regardless if they didn’t have faith in his loyalty. This was done against his will, and she knew it. He would never betray her or the team.

Belinda was following closely, but at a safe distance, her friend knew she needed time to calm down. She’d give everything she had to get her mate back. That last piece of sanity that
teetered on its pendulum was threatening to bring her house of carefully constructed cards crashing down. She’d been slowly piecing things back together. The thread was wearing thin, and the weights unbalanced for far too long. She’d go over any minute at the slightest provocation. Jes slowed her pace as she came to the bank of elevators. Faith was with Ellie, and she knew her daughter would want to know what was going on, but before she saw her daughter she needed to take her anger down to a slow simmer. Otherwise, she’d upset her little girl.

“Is it safe to talk to you now?” Bells asked.

“No, but you’re going to talk anyway so whatever.” Her friend rolled her eyes and lightly bumped hips with her.

“That’s what besties are for.” Bells said with a wink.

“Well?”

“You were an ass, for a minute there I thought I was looking at Draven’s twin.”

Jes smirked at that. She had taken to getting pushy with everyone around her, but it was only because they all thought they knew what was best for her. She was tired of people deciding what she did or how she said things. She was going to do whatever the hell she wanted when she wanted.

“I’ll try and work on my delivery next time.” Jes said sarcastically. The men were still in the conference room trying to come up with a
plan. She knew because she could hear them going back and forth over what would work and what wouldn’t. She even heard Adam make a comment about her being bat shit crazy and maybe Ann needed to dose her.
Let her try it
.

“How about we get some coffee, or something before we go see small fry? You
need the caffeine, and I want to tell you about my shitty day.”

“Your shitty day?”

“Yeah, you know, my best friend in the whole wide world had fangs. Fangs! Didn’t even tell me. I don’t know if I want to keep her around much longer, with her keeping secrets and shit.”

Jes grinned.

Bells wrapped an arm around Jes’ waist and started to pull her towards the front of the building. Belinda had it easy, she had two not one, but two gorgeous men fawning over her. Jes rested her head on Belinda’s shoulder as they made it to the front door of the building. The Glass reflected the two of them standing together, and what she saw, brought both women to an immediate halt.

“What the fuck?” Bells whispered.

Another new trait. Obviously this one would come in handy.

# # #

She’d been seeing Ann now for a little over a week. The petite doctor always made her feel comfortable and welcomed. Her technique wasn’t what Jes thought it would be. She wasn’t cold and distant, she was warm and friendly. Her office had pictures of beautiful places she’d been or wanted to go. There was a picture of Ann at an Ice Hotel. She was all comfy and cozy in a bed made out of pure ice. There were pictures of Ann’s family scattered across the walls and lined up on her desk. There was a chaise lounge in the corner and a bookshelf filled with books. Romance books, Paranormal Books and of course there was the occasional therapy book; things on coping and counseling. What Jes loved best was there were no certificates on the walls to showcase Ann’s brilliance. Just things you would find in someone’s home office.

“You’re a bit early today.” Ann said as she came out of an adjoining bathroom. Jesminda watched as the doctor quickly put on her cardigan, but not before Jes noticed the tattoos. Her eyesight was better now that she’d changed.
She saw the intricate designs clearly. Ann was human, but she was deeply immersed into the immortal community. Dravaggio brought her here to council her and help her cope with her past as well as things happening to her in the present. There were a few symbols on Ann’s arm, and there was an image of a peacock wrapped around the Ann’s arm and elbow, which rested on the branch of a Japanese Cherry Blossom tree.

“That’s a very beautiful piece.” Jes commented as Ann quickly righted herself. Maybe the other woman didn’t like to reveal her body art. Or maybe she felt it was improper. 

“It’s an addiction of mine. I have to admit. There is something about inking the skin and then covering it up, I find it immensely intimate. But enough about me and my vices. How’s this week been for you?”

Jes took her seat on the couch across from the chaise and went into her daily habits with Faith and her workout sessions with Royce and Ronin.

“Are the team members treating you well? Do you feel threatened at all with the men?”

A month ago she would have said yes, but now everyone made her feel welcomed. She didn’t know if they walked quietly around her or what, she didn’t think so. Ronin and Royce
wouldn’t hold back their punches with her. At first they did, but she’d been rapidly growing in strength and the extra muscle helped. Sometimes they hurt her and other times she hurt them. This wasn’t at all threatening to her. Not how Marcus was. No, these men were giving Jes the tools and knowledge to protect herself. It’s the same thing Draven promised to do once the entire debacle with the Vampiris had come to a close.

Her heart ached for her beloved. They didn’t have time to cement their relationship. And now he was out there, working for the other side. Why? If all went the way she wanted, she was going to find out. 

“Jes?” Ann was talking to her.

“I’m sorry, can you repeat that?”

Ann crossed her arms and rested them in her lap. The doctor didn’t take notes during their sessions, but she did record them.

“How is the discovery of Draven affecting you?”

“I feel conflicted. I want to scream to the rafters in happiness. Knowing that he’s out there has lifted something heavy off my shoulders I didn’t realize I was carrying around. I’m soothed but at the same time I am tormented.”

Ann
didn’t understand. She didn’t think any one person was able to relate to how she truly felt.

“When I saw that it was him dragging Marcus around, two things went through my mind. One, I thought maybe he broke Marcus out
in order to kill him himself. That he’d been trying to stay away so that he wouldn’t hurt me when he did. Although why I don’t know, he knew I didn’t love Marcus. But when I saw that same cold reflective stare that Oliver had, right before Ronin ate his brain, I knew it was useless. I knew that everything I wanted with Draven was somehow lost. To him, to me. The second thing that went through my mind was dread. I thought to myself, what if he did change sides, what if he’d been on the other side and had played me. Played the team.”

“But the others claim that Stone’s eyes changed back that you even saw the change? Do you think you imagined it? Do you think it’s possible that it’s not Draven at all?”

“Ann,” Jes said in warning. “I know what I saw, Belinda saw it too. When I took off the mask it was him.” Jes shook her head and slouched further in the couch. “I know what everyone is thinking, but it’s the only logical explanation. He didn’t trip any of the wards coming into the building. Dravaggio said as much. It was set to go off for foreigners. Draven is not a foreigner. His body was scanned prior to the warehouse mission. So tell me how it’s someone else?”

She knew that was going to be the next question posed to her. What if it had been a shifter, someone pretendin
g to be Draven so that they’d get past the wards?

Jes waited for Ann to come up with something, but when the woman didn’t say anything, she continued.

“If it was a shifter, the alarms still would have sounded. They can shift, but their body’s physical makeup remains the same. It’s like they are temporarily wearing the skin, but just the first layer. Not the blood, the scent, or any other thing that would make Draven, Draven. It was him Ann, and when he saw me, his eyes did change from Green to Black.”

She was breathing heavily now. Air was rapidly entering and exiting her body, making her head swim in pain. She needed to get a grip quickly. Ann recognized her aggravation and immediately did what she always did. Soothe the hurt she
was unable to push away. Her cheeks were hot with fresh tears, and she knew if she didn’t stop now, this would turn into one of her crying sessions, and she didn’t want that. She wanted to talk to Ann about her own new abilities and the plan her and Belinda were thinking of asking permission to put into place. The plan Bells was already presenting.

# # #

“You want to run that by me again?” Dravaggio said in a disbelieving tone. He was saying that a lot today. Bells couldn’t believe it either. They’d literally walked into some super Sci-Fi weirdness. Her friend was morphing into shit. First the fangs and then the incident in front of the glass doors of the building. All Jes had done was rested her hand on her shoulder.