Rheia and Colton jumped out of the car and raced into the building. Aiden and the other men of the Alpha Unit emptied out of their SUV right behind them. Quinn met them at the door and ran with them down the hall. They were almost to Adam’s office when ferals began to pour from the rooms on either side of the hallway.
‘It’s a trap!’ Darian yelled.
‘Kill the woman! Find the slides!’ A rough voice screamed from behind the pack of attacking ferals.
Rheia found herself sandwiched between Aiden and Colton each firing his weapon into moving targets, almost without even looking in their direction. When their ammo ran out, Colton and Aiden roared loudly and let their claws free. In a perfectly coordinated dance practiced over centuries, Colton rushed forward and blindly flung the enemy back to Aiden who would gouge the feral across the neck and drop the body. They moved fluidly together in perfect synchronization until a sea of ferals lay dead at their feet. Colton lifted Rheia past the gore and they hurried on to Adam’s office.
Ben looked up when they entered. ‘Where the hell have you been?’ He stopped and looked at their blood smeared clothing. ‘What happened?’
Rheia walked past him and knelt beside Adam on the floor. Someone had applied bandages to his midsection, but they were already caked in blood. Slowly she lifted the gauze and sucked in her breath, she could see his intestines protruding outside of a long, wide slash. She stood and ran from the room, Colton on her heels. She went to one of the empty examination rooms and began to pile the items that she needed placing them on a sterile tray.
When they arrived back in the office she looked around. ‘Clear the room. I don’t want any debris kicked up that could get into the wound. Ideally we’d be in a sterile environment, but we dare not move him.’ She looked over to Colton. ‘I’ll need you to wash your hands and put on a pair of gloves; you’ll need to hand me things as I call for them.’
Colton immediately went to the sink to do as he was told. Rheia arranged the tools she needed on the tray and then joined him at the sink as Aiden emptied the room. When they turned back Aiden stood by the door. He looked her in the eye. ‘I’m not leaving.’
‘If you’re to stay, don’t move from that spot,’ Rheia ordered. Aiden nodded.
Slowly she began the tedious process of putting Adam’s insides back on the inside. They lucked out in that he didn’t have perforated bowels. After about an hour of flushing the wound and sewing multiple internal sutures, Adam’s body began to heal itself. She watched in amazement as he turned the corner and the dissolvable stitches that she just put in began to melt before her eyes. In the end all she had to do was hold the flesh together long enough for it to heal and seal itself.
To be on the safe side she applied medical glue and taped his wound shut. Colton helped her lift him so they could wrap his midsection. Breathing a sigh of relief she sat back and checked his pulse. His heart was beating strong.
‘Can we move him?’ Aiden asked, startling her. She had forgotten he was even still in the room.
She nodded. ‘Yes, but be very careful with him.’
Aiden opened the door. ‘Darian, Oron, you’re on deck.’ Aiden moved out of the way as the two huge fae stepped in and carefully lifted the large bear shifter.
They loaded him into the back of one of the SUVs and they headed back to the Alpha estate. Meryn and Beth met them at the door and gasped at their clothes. Everyone was covered in blood and evidence of the carnage that had taken place at the clinic.
Rheia looked around. ‘Penny?’
Meryn pointed to the family room. ‘Mina and Gerard are keeping her occupied.’
Colton exhaled. ‘Good. We’re going to clean up. We’ll be right back.’ Colton grabbed Rheia’s hand and they headed up the stairs as Aiden and Meryn coordinated with the others to get Adam situated.
Once behind the closed doors of their bedroom, Rheia and Colton immediately headed to the bathroom and began to strip. They piled their soiled clothes into the separate tub and stepped in the shower together.
After working on Adam for so long the hot water on her muscles felt heavenly. Colton’s calloused hands gently massaged her neck and back.
Groaning she closed her eyes. ‘We don’t have time.’
‘Challenge accepted,’ he whispered in her ear.
Using a soapy hand he teased and pulled at her nipples, sending current after current to her clit. When his hand traveled downward she opened her legs wider to give him better access. At her back she felt the hot, hard evidence of his arousal. His slick fingers slid on either side of her clit bringing her right to the edge.
‘Colton, I’m there,’ she panted.
‘Stand on the ledge,’ his deepened voice sent shivers through his body. Without even looking she knew his eyes would be shifted and his canines would be out, she couldn’t get enough of his wild side.
She stepped up on the small ledge that kept the water from draining into the bathroom. It gave her just enough height that when he bent her over slightly, he was able to slide deep inside of her from behind.
‘Hands on the wall,’ he ordered.
She did as he asked. He thrust into her and twisted her nipple. With his next thrust his other hand teased her clit. The combination of pain and pleasure was driving her insane.
‘They keep coming for you. I can’t lose you,’ he growled and scraped the skin at her shoulder with his teeth.
‘You’ll never lose me because not even death could keep me away from you,’ she rested her head back against his chest as he plunged deep inside her.
Just as he brought her to the edge again he bit down. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. Her body flew apart as he emptied jet after jet of hot cum into her. She struggled to catch her breath. Gently he pulled from her body and began to wash them up in earnest.
Limp as a rag doll, she let Colton wash her hair and rinse her off. They got out, quickly dried off and got dressed. Rheia put her hair back up in a ponytail and fished another pair of jeans out of her suitcase. She prayed Ryuu would be able to get the blood out of her fleece pullover, it had been a favorite.
This time she opted for her college sweatshirt and another pair of sneakers. She watched Colton dress and took a moment to appreciate the beauty of his body.
‘I lied, you know,’ she said, as he pulled on his shirt.
He looked over at her uncertainty in his eyes. ‘Lied about what?’
‘I actually prefer blondes,’ she admitted.
Grinning, he held his hand out to her. ‘I know.’
They were walking down the stairs when the front door flew open and a lovely, blonde haired woman rushed in. She looked up and saw Colton. ‘Where is he? Where is Adam?’ she asked frantically.
Colton let go of Rheia’s hand hurried down the stairs. He wrapped an arm around the woman and steered her towards the family room. ‘He’s okay.’ Together they walked into the family room.
Rheia walked to the bottom of the stairs confused. Did Colton just forget her? Who was that woman? Was she Adam’s mate? Behind the blonde woman, Byron and another man stepped through the open door before closing it behind them.
‘Rheia,’ Byron said simply and pulled her into a bear hug.
‘Sir?’ she asked. She knew that he was Aiden’s father and an Elder, but had no idea how to address him.
‘Sir?’ Byron’s frowned down at her. ‘Please, call me Byron. I heard that you saved my son’s life, I can never repay you.’
The grey haired man stepped beside Byron and bowed in a manner similar to Ryuu. ‘Forgive the late introductions, my name is Marius Steward. I am Lady Adelaide’s squire. In case you missed her, Adelaide was the woman that sped past you a moment ago.’
‘That is Aiden’s mother?’ Rheia asked in disbelief.
Byron gave a booming laugh. ‘Yes, she looks too delicate to have mothered four hulking lads doesn’t she? Don’t let that fool you, she’s the strongest of us all.’
Ryuu walked towards them from the kitchen. ‘As I explained on the phone, Lord Byron, please let me know when you need to leave and I will lift the perimeter.’ Ryuu hung the brass key and circle next to another brass shape on the wall next to the door.
She pointed to it. ‘What’s the other one?’
Without missing a beat Ryuu answered ‘Fireball.’
Right, of course, what house isn’t equipped with a fireball? What was I thinking?
Chuckling, Byron looped his arm through hers and in a courtly manner escorted her to the family room. Inside, the room was a circus. Every chair and sofa had someone sitting on it.
All of the Alpha Unit was there, cleaned up from the fight. They stood around discussing what happened with Gerard. Adam was reclining, his eyes closed on the chaise lounge and at his side Adelaide fussed over him. Beth, Meryn and Mina sat next to the men, peppering them with questions. Rheia looked around until she spotted Penny. The small girl sat in Jaxon’s lap while he and Noah read her a story.
Colton looked up from Adelaide’s side and he grimaced. He quickly crossed the room and kissed her on the cheek. ‘I am so sorry, my love, but Adelaide is like a second mother to me …’ he started.
Rheia went up on tip toe and kissed him. ‘It’s okay, I understand. I got to meet Marius and see Byron again.’
Colton shook Byron’s hand and nodded to Marius. Byron turned to Aiden. ‘What happened out there son?’
The room quieted and all eyes turned to Aiden. He turned to his father. ‘The ferals attacked Adam to set a trap. They made sure the injury was severe enough that he couldn’t be moved, but wouldn’t kill him right away, so Rheia would have to go to the clinic. When we got there, the leader gave the order to attack and to find the slides.’ Aiden turned to Rheia. ‘Do you know what slides he was talking about? Because whatever they are, they were willing to fight and die, down to the last man.’
Rheia stared, then remembered the small travel microscope case that lay forgotten at the bottom of her coat pocket. ‘Oh my gosh, yes. I have the slides I got from Adam the second day I was here, they’re of the Mystery Man.’
Colton shook his head. ‘Why would they attack now? Adam’s had those slides for weeks, they could have taken them at any time from the clinic. The body, too, for that matter.’
‘What changed?’ Meryn asked.
Rheia snorted. ‘The body went from being normal to a pile a goo.’
‘Then what?’ Beth asked.
Rheia thought about it. ‘Then I collected a sample from the goo form, we opened the windows to air out the room, then Aiden and Adam called the council while we came back here.’
Beth turned to Byron. ‘Did anyone else outside the council know that we had the body?’
Byron shook his head, then paled, realizing what that could possibly mean. ‘It’s not possible. I refuse to believe that any council member would betray our people,’ he said, adamantly.
Meryn pursed her lips. ‘That may not be the case Dad. Adam’s office phone could have been tapped.’
Darian crossed his arms. ‘It makes sense. All of this started after Aiden and Adam made that phone call.’
Meryn pulled out a legal pad and began to make notes. ‘So, chronologically. Elena and Brian are killed, Penny goes to live with Rheia, a year later ferals attack Rheia’s house. Why?’
Rheia was about to answer then looked over to where her daughter sat. ‘Pumpkin Dumpling, why don’t you go color on Uncle Aiden’s wall for a bit, okay?’ She knew they were about to discuss some pretty horrific things; her four year old daughter did not need to listen in.
Penny nodded and hopped off of Jaxon’s lap, she grabbed her backpack and headed towards Aiden’s office. When Rheia heard the door shut she turned back to the rest of the room. ‘Marco believes the reason why the ferals attacked was because of a news article written the week before. In it, the reporter links the murders of Penny’s parents to more recent murders in the area and lists Penny as a survivor and possible witness. It also mentioned that Penny was adopted by a local surgeon.’
‘Bastard,’ Colton grumbled.
Rheia grinned at him. ‘I’m pretty sure my brothers paid him a visit.’
Meryn took notes. ‘So after a year the ferals get intel that Penny survived and what? Could ID them? That doesn’t sound right. Even if she could identify them, so what?’
‘We’re missing something,’ Gavriel said, leaning against the wall.
Meryn twisted the pen in her hand. ‘Let’s keep moving. So, Penny and Rheia move here and then the clinic is ransacked and the gooey body is taken. After that, the ferals try to get to Rheia at the clinic but are subdued by Colton and Gamma. After that, ferals attack the Carmichael home, but according to Gerard and Mina, everyone was a target, not just Penny. Finally, Adam is attacked at the clinic as a trap to get to Rheia, because they believe she has these all important slides.’
Beth reached up and took Gavriel’s hand. ‘It’s not over, is it? Even though you killed all the ferals at the clinic, it’s not over yet?’
‘This is pissing me off! I feel like I’m missing pieces to the puzzle.’ Meryn scribbled back and forth on her notes.
‘I know how you feel. I told Radek the same thing earlier. It’s like the pieces aren’t fitting together right.’ Rheia crossed her arms frowning.
Adelaide sipped her tea then set the cup down on the saucer. ‘I may not know about reports or surgery, but I have raised four boys.’ Everyone turned to look at her. ‘I remember this once Adam and Aiden were assembling an intricate battle scene puzzle, but they couldn’t make anything fit. They argued for hours; it was nerve wracking.’
Aiden blushed. ‘That’s a nice story, Mother; what was your point?’
Adelaide looked at Aiden then over to Adam and sighed. ‘I really thought I taught you better than that. Do you remember why you had such a hard time putting the puzzle together?’ she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Adam glared at Ben. ‘It was because Ben dumped his puzzle in with ours in a rush to go out and play.’
Meryn gasped. ‘Adelaide you’re a genius.’
Rheia chuckled. ‘Good one, Lady McKenzie.’
The men all stared at each other with blank expressions.
Adelaide smiled at Rheia. ‘Please dear, call me Adelaide, I practically helped raise Colton, he’s family.’
Aiden leaned down next to Meryn. ‘What?’ he whispered.
Meryn rolled her eyes. ‘We’ve all been assuming that everything is connected. That the that the ferals who went after Rheia and the ones who stole the body are connected, what if they aren’t? What if the puzzle pieces aren’t fitting together because there are two separate puzzles?’
Aiden stood and smiled at the unit members. ‘Our women are amazing.’
Gavriel and Colton nodded in agreement.
Rheia sat down on the arm of one of the chairs. ‘So back to the initial attack, why would they go after Penny?’
Mina waved her hand in the air. ‘Maybe for the same reason they went after my Elena, because Penny is half chameleon.’
Meryn and Beth exchanged dubious looks. ‘Mina, I don’t think that’s the reason why.’
Mina looked around. ‘Why else would she be attacked? Chameleon’s are extremely rare. Some shifters hope their children mate with us so that their grandchildren and their bloodline gain our abilities.’
Meryn held up her hands forming a ‘T’. ‘Okay, timeout. What do you mean Penny is only half chameleon?’
Rheia stared at Mina. She was wondering the same thing, she had always assumed she was chameleon like her mother.
Mina blinked. ‘Didn’t I tell you? Elena was pregnant when she left Lycaonia. Penny is the child she had with her wolf boyfriend.’
‘No wonder she was able to get past the units during the training drill,’ Colton said looking a bit shell shocked.
Meryn’s head whipped back to Mina. ‘When you say chameleons are rare, how rare?’
Mina sighed. ‘We’re almost extinct. That’s why we pushed Elena to try and find a mate among other chameleon families. How ironic that she did exactly what we wanted in the end. Since her mate ended up being a chameleon, their baby, had they lived would have been the first pure blooded chameleon shifter born in a decade.’
Meryn let the legal pad drop and scrambled for her laptop. ‘No, no, no, no, oh no,’ Meryn muttered under her breath as her computer booted up.
Rheia stood. ‘What did you figure out?’
Meryn tapped away and then the color began to drain out of her face. She swayed a bit in her chair. Ryuu and Aiden were instantly at her side. ‘Meryn, what?’ Aiden demanded.
Meryn shook her head as if trying to erase what she’d seen. ‘After breakfast, while you guys had your showdown at the clinic I ran a wider search. All of the US, going back twenty years, you know, a huge sample, just in case.’ She swallowed hard. ‘I know why chameleons are so rare. They’ve slowly been hunted to extinction.’ She flipped her laptop around to show a map of the US. Red dots were scattered everywhere. ‘Over eighty-five percent of all reported paranormal murders in the past twenty years have been chameleons.’ Meryn began to shake so hard Rheia thought she was going to hurt herself. Suddenly, she stood. ‘Excuse me.’ Covering her mouth she ran from the room. Rheia stood and darted out right behind her.
Sure enough she headed straight for the bathroom. Rheia held her hair back as Meryn threw up her breakfast. She rubbed her back and wet a washcloth to lay across the back of her neck.
‘I’m okay,’ Meryn whispered.
‘Of course you are, you’re doing beautifully,’ Rheia said removing the washcloth. ‘Feel like heading back?’
Meryn shook her head. ‘Not really, I bet Aiden’s lost his shit. I really don’t want to deal with him right now.’
‘I have my son under control Meryn, you can come out,’ Adelaide’s amused voice said from the other side of the door.
Grinning at each other Rheia helped Meryn to stand and they walked out.
Meryn turned to Adelaide. ‘How is he?’
‘I made him sit on his hands in a chair. He’ll be fine once he sees you up and around.’ Adelaide wrapped an arm around Meryn and led them back to the family room.
When they entered Aiden went to stand but Byron cleared his throat. Meryn took pity on her mate and went directly to him. He pulled her into his lap and it looked like he wasn’t letting go.
Rheia turned to Beth. ‘Have they figured it out yet?’
Beth shook her head. ‘Not unless they’re keeping it to themselves.’
Colton turned to her. ‘Please, oh wise women, show us the light.’
‘Goofball,’ Rheia said, and nudged him gently in the ribs.
Meryn leaned back against Aiden’s chest and closed her eyes. ‘It means that ferals have been systematically collecting chameleons, for whatever reason, for the past twenty years. It means that they are larger and more organized than we ever feared.’
Her words silenced the room.
Adelaide sipped her tea. ‘And that’s just one puzzle. What about the other one?’
Rheia turned and looked at Adam who was trying to get comfortable on the sofa. ‘Adam had the body for weeks before I showed up. I removed the necklace and it went from solid state to liquid state in the matter of moments. But the ferals didn’t know Adam had the body until he contacted the council to report the change.’
‘Did you notice anything when you looked at the slides?’ Beth asked.
Rheia shook her head. ‘Nothing that Adam didn’t explain. The first slide was from a normal paranormal, the second was from our Mystery Man before he, disintegrated. The third was from our Mystery Man after he became goo and the last slide was from a regular feral.’
Meryn shrugged. ‘Does it matter? I mean, dead is dead, right?’
Rheia shook her head. ‘Not according to Adam. He said, that even after death paranormals decompose slowly, which is why he believed the Mystery Man was a normal paranormal because he was decomposing at the same rate as a paranormal. It only accelerated after the necklace was removed.’ Rheia stopped as a horrible thought began to take shape in her mind.
Rheia slapped her forehead. ‘I had it all wrong! But in my defense, it’s partially Aiden’s fault.’
Aiden sputtered. ‘How … what’s my fault?’
Rheia stood and began pacing back and forth. ‘At the clinic you told me that the necklace masked the smell of the ferals, making them undetectable. In my mind, I didn’t question the necklace further, so we had no idea why the body began to break down, but it’s like I just said, the decomposition only accelerated after the necklace was removed. That’s why they wanted the slide samples; they knew we would figure it out.’ She faced the room and realized that not even Meryn was following along.
‘Okay. Slide one, normal paranormal right? Slide two, Mystery Man before he went supernova. Adam and I assumed that the cellular decay that we saw was due to the body slowly decaying, because it was an assumption that he was a normal paranormal. Slide three, Mystery Man, the gooey state. All cells were in the process of breaking down simultaneously. Slide four, regular feral, all cells had some form of decay.’ She took a breath and continued.
‘What if the decay we saw in slide two wasn’t because he was decomposing slowly like a normal paranormal? What if the decay was there before he put on the necklace? What if he was already a feral and when he put the necklace on it stopped the cellular degradation? That necklace acts as more than just a Glade air freshener, it actually halts cellular decay, that’s why there’s no smell.’
Beth gasped, bringing a hand to her throat. ‘So if a feral were to put the necklace on right after turning, there would be no way to detect what he was.’
Gavriel looked between Aiden and Byron. ‘It would also explain why we suddenly have different types of ferals. In the past they acted like mindless beasts, relying on brute strength to create terror and cause pain. But we are now seeing them starting to band together, laying traps, and acting with caution.’
Rheia nodded. ‘It makes sense. If the cellular decay is stopped, they would retain higher brain functions.’
Meryn stared down at her hands. ‘So to recap; we have an unknown and growing force of intelligent ferals that cannot be detected by scent who have been operating in secret for at least the past twenty years collecting chameleons to further make them invisible and have only recently grown big enough balls to start attacking unit warrior mates.’ She looked up and around the room.
‘We are so fucked.’
