Trace's Temptation (RARE Series, #3) (7 page)

Calming at Jinx’s explanation, Jade hung her head in shame.  She had let jealously get the best of her and become someone she was not proud of.  Even though she knew it was because their mating bond wasn’t complete, she was still ashamed of her actions.

“I got his location,” Jaxson interrupted excitedly.  “Holy shit, this place is huge.  It’s like a fortress.  I’m going to see if I can find blueprints for it.  Do you know where he is being held?”

“He’s in the basement.  That’s where all of the prisoners are.”

“Perez keeps his prisoners in his basement?” Phoenix asked incredulously.  “What jackass designed that?  Why would you want your enemies right below you?”

“Control,” Angel responded grimly.  “He wants to know that he has control at all times.”

“That’s just fucked up,” Phoenix spat angrily.  “This whole situation is fucked up.”

“I agree,” Angel responded.  “Now, Jinx, if you could please tell us what else you know so we can come up with a plan, I would appreciate it.” 

Acknowledging her request with a quick nod, Jinx went into detail regarding everything he knew about the place and people in the mansion where Trace was being held.  He had a lot of information, because no matter what he might have told Trace, he’d dug deep and came up with all he needed to know to infiltrate the place.  Jinx was a soldier.  He would use whatever means necessary to extract the information needed and take down an enemy.  He didn’t care who he crossed or pissed off in the process, as long as he got the job done. 

By the time the plane landed an hour later, a plan was in effect and RARE was ready to roll.  Jade insisted she be a part of not only planning the mission, but also the rescue itself.  They were not leaving her out.  With Jinx backing her, RARE had no choice except to agree, knowing the twins would go off on their own if they didn’t.  The only requirement Angel made was that Jade stick close to either Angel or Jinx.  Jade let Angel think she was in agreement, but if she had to get to Trace, she would do so no matter what.  She was not going to sit around and wait for someone to hold her hand.

T
race jerked awake to the painful sound of Gypsy retching.  She had somehow managed to drag herself to the far side of her cell and proceeded to empty her stomach of the small portion of food she’d forced herself to consume that morning.  The same thing happened when she’d eaten three days before.  Her body was rejecting nourishment now and she was slowly starving to death. 

As she sobbed quietly in the corner, her entire body shaking with chills, Trace whispered into her mind,
It’s ok, girl.  My friends are on their way.  We’re getting out of here soon.

Trace had discovered there was a reason the woman was named Gypsy.  She had certain gifts herself that she’d never been allowed to share with anyone, not even Sari.  Gypsy’s mother met her father at the young age of 17 and they fell instantly in love.  They were married just two years later and that’s when he shared his secret.  He had gypsy blood in his veins.  He thought of it as magic.  Magic that was passed to his daughter when she was born.  After her father was murdered by modern day witch hunters when Gypsy was four, her mother grabbed her and fled.  Eight years later, her mother met and came to care deeply for Sari’s father.  They were married within six months and Gypsy was legally adopted by her stepfather.  For the first time in several years, both Gypsy and her mother felt safe.  Then, several years later, Philip Perez killed Gypsy’s family, all except Sari whom he held as a mistress now, and ruined her life.

Although Gypsy hadn’t shared with Trace exactly what her gifts were, she’d slipped up and used telepathy with him on his first torture session.  That was now Trace and Gypsy’s preferred means of communication as long as they were strong enough to hold the link. There were cameras in The Dungeon and Trace did not want his father’s men catching them talking.

Did you hear me, Gypsy?
Trace asked. 
We’re getting out of here.  My friends are near.

It hurts,
Gypsy responded weakly. 
Everything hurts.  I just want the pain to go away.  Why are they doing this?  Why?

Trace had shared parts of his past with Gypsy.  There was nothing to do but talk on the days they were left alone over the past few months.  They talked to try and focus on something besides the pain and heartache they were enduring.  They talked to remind themselves they were still alive and could.  He hadn’t told her everything about his past.  She didn’t know the details regarding his escape with his mother and Starr.  She also didn’t know how deeply involved he’d been with his father’s cartel before his escape.  Some information he trusted no one with.  Not even RARE.  However, he did tell her what it was like growing up as the son of a notorious drug lord.  He’d told her about barely making it through some days.  How when he was just eight years old, Trace’s father ordered his men to beat the hell out of Trace; to do whatever it took to make him a man.  Trace suffered weekly beatings until finally he was strong enough to fight back.  Gypsy knew Trace was a shifter.  He couldn’t hide it from her after she was moved into the cell next to his.  Trace had to fight his cat not to take over during the torture sessions, and when he was put back in his cell he couldn’t fully keep his cat in.  Sometimes his eyes went panther or his claws would come out, but Trace would fight it.  The chains surrounding him were bound too tight to allow Trace to shift.  He would only injure himself and possibly not be able to shift back.  Trace also told Gypsy about Jade.  She knew Trace was fighting to get back to his mate and she vowed to help him get to her.  Gypsy constantly encouraged Trace to fight, to survive.  Now she needed someone to encourage her.

They’ll be here soon, Gypsy.
  Trace promised her.
  Then we will take you home.  There’s a doctor there, Doc Josie.  She’s with the White River wolf pack.  She will take care of you.  You push through that pain, Gypsy.  You show me how you fight.  You show me that gypsy magic.

I’m too weak,
she whispered back. 
I can’t use my magic.

Yes you can,
Trace promised. 
You can use it if you need to defend yourself, and you will.  You are stronger than you think, Gypsy.
  Closing his eyes tightly, Trace took a deep breath.  Fighting to push away the roaring pain in his head, he continued.
  Let me tell you about my team.

Team? 
Gypsy asked confused.  With everything they’d discussed, Trace hadn’t mentioned RARE.  But he figured now would be the time to do it since his team was about to make an appearance.  She needed to know she could trust his teammates to get them out of there.  She’d been through so much already, he didn’t want her to be terrified of them too.

Yes, my team. We call ourselves RARE.  It stands for Rescue And Retrieval Extractions. That’s what we do, Gypsy.  We find people that have been kidnapped and we rescue them.  My team will find us.  They’ll get us out of here
, he promised.

You never told me about them,
she said softly. 
You were protecting them.

They’re my family,
he responded.
I will protect them with my life. 
Slowly, Gypsy raised her head and looked at him.  Reaching out, she carefully, painfully, inched her way back over to his cell.

Tell me about them,
she said weakly as she pushed herself into a sitting position and leaned back against the hard concrete wall. 
Tell me what they are like.

Well, Angel is our leader, our Alpha,
he started. 
She’s tough as nails and you obey her orders or you are out.  But she’s fair and she is the first one there if anyone messes with her family.  That’s what we are, a family.
  Smiling ruefully, he said,
Angel is also the first one to kick your ass if you mess up.  Nico is her right hand man.  He found his mate back in April when her daughter, Lily, was kidnapped by the General...

The General?
Gypsy interrupted in confusion. 
Aren’t generals good guys in the army or something?

Growling lowly, Trace said,
Normally they are, but this guy is as messed up as they come.  A psychotic son of a bitch that gets off on having his men beat and rape women.  He has some kind of breeding program going on... 
At Gypsy’s startled gasp, Trace decided he’d better start at the beginning.  As he told Gypsy about their first encounter with the General he silently prayed his team would get there soon.  He didn’t know how much longer he could hold out. 

R
ARE fanned out, making their way silently through the jungle under the cover of the night.  Jade made sure she was on Jinx’s six like he’d taught her years ago.  No matter what anyone else thought, this wasn’t her first mission.  She’d gone with Jinx on several ops, none sanctioned by the General, of course.  The General had no idea what Jade was capable of.  If he did, he would be fighting a lot harder to get her back.

They were a mile out from the mansion and the closer they got, the harder it was getting for Jade to control her wolf who wanted to get to Trace now. 
I need help,
she admitted reluctantly to Jinx.  As much as she wanted to prove to the team that she could handle the mission, right now if she didn’t get her wolf under control she would blow the op for everyone.

Stopping abruptly, Jinx faced her and put both hands on her shoulders.  Looking directly into her eyes, he growled deeply, once again letting out some of his power and forcing Jade’s wolf back.  After several precious minutes, Jade rested her hands on Jinx’s and squeezed lightly.  Without a word, they continued on as one to their destination.

When they were 500 yards out the team slowed their pace, moving stealthily and keeping an eye out for the enemy.  Taking her sniper rifle, Rikki scaled a tree, finding a place to hide in its branches just a couple hundred yards from the main gate surrounding the estate.  Storm took up residence in another tree just south of Rikki.  Normally Storm preferred to be in the middle of the action, but even though Doc Josie cleared her for duty, she stressed that Storm needed to stay as much on the sidelines for this mission as possible.  That was okay, Storm rocked at sniper duty as well.  Both women were locked and loaded and ready to start picking off guards when Angel gave the order.

The team had decided their best course of action was to take out the guards on the back side of the mansion, then scale the fence to gain access. 
Now,
Angel ordered.  Rikki and Storm made quick work of the guards, before scurrying back down the trees and moving to new positions at the front of the mansion and on the West side.  Ryker was already in position on the East side.  The object was to surround the building with snipers and take out as many guards as they could while the rest of RARE infiltrated through the back.

Take them out,
Angel ordered.  As guards started falling, Angel growled,
Go!
  Not waiting for the rest of RARE, Jade swiftly followed Jinx up and over the fence and stayed on his six until they reached the backdoor of the mansion. Glancing back, she saw the rest of the team had also scaled the fence.  Phoenix and Jaxson quickly moved to separate sides of the building and started setting the bombs, rigging it to blow.

Knowing she wouldn’t be able to keep Jade from finding her mate once they breached the walls of the mansion, Angel had given Jinx, Jade and Flame instructions to go directly to the basement for Trace and Gypsy.  Angel and Nico were going to find Sari.  Silently, they entered the mansion, Jinx quickly snapped the neck of the guard standing right inside the door.  Motioning for Jade and Flame to follow, Jinx headed down a long hallway with plush, dark red carpet.  The sound of a television greeted them as they reached a living room.  Jinx stopped, holding up his hand.  Jade and Flame waited as Jinx slipped his sword from the scabbard on his back.  Silently he crept up on the two men standing by a window.  One was looking out it while the other was frantically talking into a cell phone, gesturing wildly with one arm.  They were obviously aware the estate had been infiltrated.

Jade watched unemotionally as the blade of Jinx’s sword severed first one head and then the other.  These men hurt her mate.  They deserved exactly what they got.  Wiping the blood off his sword on one of the men’s shirts, Jinx turned and continued into the kitchen area right off the living room, a stunned Flame following.  Stopping at the door leading down to The Dungeon, Jinx looked back at the women.  “There are three men down there right now, unaware of what is happening up here.  They are getting ready to work Trace over again.” 

Jade palmed her Glock and growled, “I’m ready.” 

“We got this,” Flame snarled, pulling out a knife from a sheath on her leg.  Jinx tried the door, finding it locked from the inside.  With one last look at Jade and Flame, he slammed his shoulder into the door smashing it inward off the hinges.  Scaling the stairs in two leaps, he took the head of one of the men fighting to get Trace on the table with a quick slice of his sword.  Shocked, one of the other men dropped a clamp he had in his hand and ran past Jinx to the stairs.  Flame took him out on her way down, with a knife to the heart.  The last man standing snarled, “Bring it on you sons of bitches,” as he pulled out a gun to shoot.  Jade put three bullets in his heart before he could pull the trigger.  The gun slipped from his fingers as he fell lifelessly to the floor.

Jinx sheathed his sword and grabbed Trace before he could drop to the ground.  Trace struggled as Jinx tried to lift him onto the table to get his chains off.

Running to him, Jade framed Trace’s face with her hands, tears streaming down her cheeks.  “It’s okay, Trace.  It’s okay, my mate.” 

Trace slowly stopped struggling at the sound of her voice.  Forcing his swollen eyes to open, he drank in the sight of Jade standing in front of him.  “You’re here,” he whispered huskily.  “You’re really here.”  Slowly he collapsed to the ground, dragging Jade down with him.