Oracles' Light [PUP Squad Alpha 8] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (7 page)

BOOK: Oracles' Light [PUP Squad Alpha 8] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)
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“Let’s just get this assignment finished. We can make decisions after that.”

Dyson grinned like he knew exactly why Angus was shutting down the conversation, but he just nodded once and then closed his eyes. Within moments, Dyson was sound asleep, which left Angus alone with his own thoughts.

It was going to be a long night.

Chapter Five

 

Kristen smiled sleepily as Dyson held her close and led her into the main space of the holiday apartment. She’d never felt quite so relaxed in her life. Hell, if she’d realized the therapeutic effects of orgasm, she might have done a bit of self-exploring a long time ago. She almost couldn’t wait long enough to make breakfast before wanting to explore more of what they’d shared last night.

She tried to smile as they walked past Thomas, but it took a few more moments to realize something wasn’t quite right with the man.

“Kristen?” he asked, looking a lot less calm than he usually did, “do you know who the traitor is?”

“The what?”

Traitor?
Nobody had said anything about a traitor. How the hell had she gotten involved in this? Her life was a series of boring nonevents. It seemed nearly impossible that she would be dragged into a paranormal world, hunted by assassins, protected by werewolves, and physically loved by demons. Yet, somehow, here she was. She grinned at the fire demon beside her, but his focus was on Thomas, and he looked angry enough to throw a few punches.

“I’m sorry,” Thomas said to her quickly, seeming to ignore the man beside her. “It’s just that the other women the squad is protecting, the ones who share your birthday, all seem to have a skill they describe as ‘knowing’ stuff they have no memory of learning.”

Kristen shook her head, but pursed her lips a moment in thought. None of that made sense. They’d told her the other women they were protecting shared her birthday—day, month, and year—but that they were all human. “How would they know stuff they haven’t been taught?”

“We’re not sure,” Dyson said, sending a glare in Thomas’s direction that suggested he was very close to flattening the man, “but we suspect it’s something the Oracle passed on before she died. It’s not important now. Thomas shouldn’t have brought it up.”

Kristen gave Thomas a hard stare before turning her attention to Dyson. “Thomas wouldn’t have brought it up if it wasn’t important. Do all of the others have this skill?”

It was obvious that Dyson didn’t want to answer that question, but after a moment, when she feared he would lie to her, he finally nodded.

“Do they have any other skills?” Kristen asked, her gaze bouncing between the two men. A niggling fear was growing at the back of her brain. Despite the danger, the fact that something exciting was finally happening in her life was now being overshadowed by the worry that she wasn’t the woman they’d been looking for. If all the others had skills, then what did that mean for her?

“Yes,” Thomas eventually replied. He eyed Dyson warily as he elaborated. “Kali and Ava are telekinetic. I believe Hannah was, too.”

“Hannah
was
?” Kristen asked quickly, too quickly, judging by the anger now coming off Dyson in waves. Fear streaked through her like a lightning bolt. She mustn’t have done a very good job of hiding it, or maybe Dyson knew her better than she realized, because this time he really did lose his temper. He punched Thomas in the nose. Strangely, it seemed that Thomas saw the hit coming but didn’t bother to get out of the way. The fight that followed was fast, vicious, and brutal. Never, in a million years, would Kristen want to come up against men as dangerous as these ones. If these were the men sent to protect her, then the assassins after her must be even more dangerous. How much of the situation were they holding back from her?

“Enough already,” Angus said as he broke them apart. “You’re scaring Kristen.” He turned to her, and she tried to convey that she was more concerned than scared. Yes, frightened that she wasn’t the woman they thought she was, but not intimidated by men she believed would never hurt her, no matter how much damage they were inflicting on each other. Before she could say anything to calm the situation, Angus reached over and hauled her into his embrace. “Sorry, sweetheart, it’s been a long few weeks. Obviously, these knuckleheads need a break.” He turned his attention to Thomas. “Or they need to cool down.”

Thomas nodded, slowly raising his hands in a show of surrender. His eye was already swelling, but from the little they’d told her about werewolves he would heal quickly.

“We’ve got this,” Dyson said in a clear indication that he wanted Thomas to leave. As Kristen understood it, Thomas was the lead agent on this assignment. She had no idea why he backed down, but Adam simply nodded in agreement to Dyson’s demand and indicated for Thomas to follow him out the door. A moment later, she was pressed between her men.

“Are you okay, baby?” Angus asked, touching her face in a way that had quickly become achingly familiar. She closed her eyes against the tears that threatened.

“What happened to Hannah?”

“She was murdered the same day pixie assassins came after you. Her protectors failed, but it was because of the traitor. We still don’t know who the traitor is, but you’re completely safe with us. Nobody knows where we are. Not even our boss.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I promise you, baby, we’ll keep you safe.”

“I know,” she said, truly believing it. She had no doubt in her mind that all four men protecting her would lay down their lives to keep her safe. But she was beginning to suspect that they were protecting the wrong woman.

“You said there were nine of these Oracle’s receptacles, is that right?”

“As far as we know,” Angus said, looking confused by her question.

“Is it possible I’m not one of them?”

“No, it isn’t possible,” Dyson said quickly. “Of the three women who were murdered before Hannah, one was born before you and two after. You are definitely in the middle of the group.”

“But if all the women possess skills that I don’t, how can I be one of them?”

Kristen pulled out of their arms, wanting to see their faces. She had the distinct impression that her words were affecting them far more than their verbal responses suggested.

“Sweetheart,” Dyson said as he grabbed her hand and led her to the sofa, “we don’t know anything for certain. Our squadmates found Amber the same day we found you, but we know nothing about her. It’s possible that she isn’t showing any skills, either.”

“It’s also possible that she is.” Kristen rubbed at the ache starting to grip her heart. All her life she’d been the odd one out, the person nobody noticed, but when Angus and Dyson had explained what was going on, as weird as it sounded, it had felt good to be a part of something—even if it was deadly. For the first time in her life, she’d actually had a feeling of belonging. Even without meeting the other women she’d felt part of a group, a someone, not just the invisible person using the desk at the back of the room.

“I think I might go lie back down for a while,” she said, trying to ease away from the sofa. Both men rose to go with her, but she held her hand up in a signal for them to stop. “I…um…you don’t have to come. I’d actually prefer to be alone if that’s okay with you.”

“Sorry, sweetheart, that’s not okay with us,” Dyson said, searching her face before glancing at Angus. “We still need to be close in case we’re attacked.”

She didn’t really want to argue with them, but the idea of falling asleep in their arms like she’d done so many nights recently now just seemed so wrong. They’d held her and protected her when they thought she was one of the Oracle’s receptacles, but it was becoming pretty obvious that hers was simply a case of mistaken identity.

She felt like a fraud.

“I…um…”

“No arguments, baby. No matter what the future holds, right here, right now, we are in charge of protecting you. If you’re not in the mood to have sex this morning, that’s not a problem, but we will do our jobs regardless.” She could barely look at Angus without her eyes filling with tears, but she somehow managed to hold them back and nod her capitulation.

As dishonest as it made her feel, she’d soak up every moment of their attention while she had it, because when the truth was revealed and she was found to be no one special it would take all of her memories to get her through the rest of her life.

 

* * * *

 

Dyson lay on the bed, his arms curled around Kristen, her back pressed to his front. For the past three nights she’d had been the most energetic lover he’d ever known. Even between the two of them, he and Angus were struggling to keep up. It was rather surprising considering the way she’d tried to push them aside after the fight with Thomas a few days ago.

Angus was flat on his back, staring at the ceiling as if he was too exhausted to move. Considering that Dyson felt the same way, it wasn’t really surprising.

Unfortunately, it was also Dyson’s turn to contact head office. He didn’t want to get out of bed, but just like other situations in his last fifty years working with PUP Squad Alpha, he didn’t have to like it, he just had to do it.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” he said as he nuzzled the back of Kristen’s neck, “but duty calls.”

Angus reached over, snagged Kristen from Dyson’s grasp, and cuddled her close. Reluctantly, Dyson rolled off the bed and onto his feet. He dragged his clothes on quickly, nodded at the huge wolf sitting by the entry, and then headed outside to the nearest pay phone.

“Hello,” Benjamin said casually as he answered the phone. There was no indication that Dyson had just rung the commanding officer of PUP Squad Alpha.

“It’s Dyson,” he said quickly, fully expecting the usual “no change in the situation” response they’d been getting for the past three weeks. But Benjamin’s hesitation brought him to full alert.

“I need you to come in. I’ll meet you at the border.” Dyson knew exactly where Benjamin was asking to meet him. He just had no idea why. And he sure as hell wasn’t comfortable with it.

“Why?” he asked, not really wanting to defy a direct order but unwilling to put Kristen at any sort of risk.

“Because we know who the traitor is.”

“So tell me,” Dyson said as acid churned in his stomach. Benjamin’s demeanor suggested that it wasn’t somebody from Deeks Security, but someone far closer to them all. Dyson took a deep breath and steeled himself for bad news. In the end, it didn’t matter who the traitor was. That person’s betrayal was going to hurt all of them for a very long time. It had already damaged their trust in each other.

“Dyson,” Benjamin said in a sad voice. “I’d really prefer to discuss this face-to-face.”

And like a lightning bolt, it finally struck Dyson who Benjamin was talking about. “Jason,” he said as pain lanced through him.

“Jason,” Benjamin confirmed quietly. “I’m sorry, Dy—”

“Are you certain?” Dyson asked, cutting his commanding officer off even though he knew his boss would never lie to him. That was probably the most concerning part—that he would believe Benjamin over the man he’d worked most closely with for the past fifty years. Dyson had spent a good part of the past three weeks trying to avoid thinking too deeply on who might have been their traitor. In some very small place inside him, he’d suspected Jason all along. The timing of his family crisis had been suspicious, and it was no secret that warlocks, for the most part, had little time for humans.

“We’re positive. Amber identified him when he opened a bounce tunnel into the middle of the PLA headquarters. If Wilson had stepped through…” Benjamin left the thought unfinished, but it was obvious what the outcome would have been. Landing in the middle of the Pixie League of Assassins was the very last place any of the Oracle’s receptacles needed to be. “The evidence is overwhelming,” Benjamin said in a tight voice. “We can go over it when you get here, maybe talk to Darian and Wilson, but it’s unfortunately not going to change anything. Once Jason realized Amber was onto him, he tried to force her and Wilson into the bounce tunnel. When that failed, he dived through it himself.”

“So Amber has the same ‘knowing’ skill as the others?”

Benjamin hesitated for a moment, perhaps trying to understand Dyson’s quick change of topic. “Yes, Amber had some skills, but since meeting Kali, Ava, and Hannah, she has developed many more.”

“Hannah’s alive? You lied to us?”

Benjamin cleared his throat. “It was necessary to protect her.”

Inside his head, Dyson understood Benjamin’s reasons why. He would have done exactly the same thing under the circumstances, but it didn’t change the fact that the man he’d assumed mere moments ago would never lie to him, had lied to him. Fortunately, before Dyson could say something he’d regret later, Benjamin cut him off and started giving him orders. It wasn’t often that Benjamin actually gave orders—mostly, he trusted his team to do what they do best—but today Dyson sought comfort in following his boss’s directives. If nothing else, it gave him a chance to keep moving when a part of him just wanted to stop and sit still. It didn’t seem possible that a man he knew better than a brother would betray them all, but at the same time it almost seemed like Dyson had been waiting for this exact news.

At least by following orders, he didn’t have to think about what that meant just now.

Benjamin wanted them all to return to Sugarvale because recent happenings had proven that the Oracle’s receptacles were safer together than separately. Dyson considered explaining Kristen’s lack of skills, but decided to wait until he was face to face with the man. They were going to Sugarvale via slip travel, so it would be less than an hour anyway.

BOOK: Oracles' Light [PUP Squad Alpha 8] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)
8.97Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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