Circe's Recruits 1: Roane (14 page)

“Ew. Roane tried persuading me to wash his stuff a week ago. Needless to say, he’s now doing my laundry.”

“Nice one.” Kelly plugged in the power strip and stood, her gaze searching Caitlyn’s.

“Can I ask you something personal?”

“Sure.”

“You and Roane, you’re a couple now, right?”

“I guess.”

“So, um, is the attraction between you two super intense?”

“Yes.” Caitlyn had a feeling Kelly wanted to ask something else.

“But is it because he loves you, or because it’s a Circ thing?” Caitlyn started. “I know we’re affectionate with each other, but I don’t know I’d go so far as to say he loves me.”

“Please. Roane is giving you flowers and candy, and you’re already sleeping with him.

He’s always touching you, and he looks at you as if he could eat you alive at any moment. I swear, he’s growled more at the guys in the past few weeks than he ever has before. God forbid, one of them get too close to you. Face it. The guy is totally smitten.”

“You think?” God. Could Kelly be right?

“You love him, right?”

For days she’d been trying to convince herself her stay was temporary, that the feelings she had for Roane would fade. No one fell in love that quickly. Did they? The buildup of emotion she’d tried so hard to suppress spilled free. “Yes.” She sighed. “Even though it happened so fast, I love him so much. It’s like there’s no more me without him, and it’s scary.” Once the momentum started, she couldn’t stop.

“I’m an independent woman. I want to work and do my own thing. But without Roane in my life, there’s definitely something vital missing.” Much as she wanted to tell all this to Roane, she didn’t want to make things awkward between them if he didn’t feel the same way. “But to answer your earlier question, I’m not sure why the attraction -- the sex -- is so great. Being Circ is who we are. Maybe that helps the chemistry. I mean, I feel a connection to the others. But I don’t feel this intense love the way I do for Roane.”

“Hmm.” Kelly glanced away, her brow furrowed in thought.

“What about you and Stephen? How’s that going?”

“It’s not. He’s nice. He’s handsome. But he’s not…”

“Zack or Ace. Come on already, Kelly. Everyone in the house knows how you all feel about each other.”

Kelly blushed. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“They practically fall all over themselves when you’re around. They try not to curse in front of you, which for them is a stretch.” Caitlyn tugged at her shirt in frustration, annoyed at how Kelly denied her feelings for the pair, for Caitlyn’s men. “They hate carnations; they knew your favorite flower and how you take your coffee. Hell, everything they do is weighed by how it will affect you. I hear them talking. It’s ‘Kelly this, Kelly that.’”

“Then why don’t they ever make a move?” Kelly seethed with frustration, shocking Caitlyn with her sudden outburst. “Why don’t they ask me out? Why don’t they ever touch me? Kiss me? Buy me damned roses?” Her mouth opened and shut as she stared in horror at Caitlyn. “Oh, my God. Tell me I didn’t just say ‘they’ all over the place.”

“Oh, no. You yelled ‘they’ a lot.” Caitlyn grinned with smug satisfaction. Finally.

“I’m not some wild woman. I meant he, not they. It’s just hard to choose between them,” Kelly babbled, looking upset. “But Ace and Zack --”

“Are a set. Relax, Kelly. I’m not judging you.” Hell, no, I’m not. Not when I had sex with all five of them. A secret I’m taking to my grave. Talk about a wild woman. “Love --

affection,” she corrected before Kelly could interrupt, “is what it is. The guys have fallen hard. They’re probably just waiting for a signal from you. You barely look at them. When you do, you’re riding them for one infraction or another. Granted, they’re slobs, but you can’t be mad at them all the time. And Stephen’s existence in your life isn’t exactly welcoming them, you know?”

Kelly sagged into a chair. “Well, what should I do? I look at them, I want them. It’s that simple. Though I pretty much stay away from all the Circ stuff Doc’s involved in, I know there’s some kind of mating heat that takes the guys away for days.” She swallowed audibly.

“They’ve seriously trashed my house a time or two when the urge hits and they can’t come back here for whatever reason. I know that much. It makes me wish I could be the one to help them. I wonder who they’re with, and it kills me.” Kelly stared with misery at Caitlyn.

She has no idea the guys take care of each other. Oh, boy.

“All I can say is that if you have questions, ask them,” Caitlyn offered, hoping Kelly would take her up on the suggestion. “I know I’m new, but I have eyes. Those two are so into you, it’s not funny. If you gave them the slightest notion you wanted them, they’d be all over you. Seriously.”

Kelly bit her lip. “You think? But look at them. They could have anyone they wanted.

They’re so hot.” She groaned and rapped her head back against the wall. “Why would they want me?”

“Are you kidding?” Caitlyn stared in astonishment. “Kelly, everyone who looks at you takes a second and third glance. Dark red hair and blue eyes? Guys love red hair. And you have boobs!”

Kelly blushed. “Cut it out.”

“Well, they’re bigger than mine. I’ve seen both Zack and Ace staring at those buggers when you aren’t looking.”

“Shut up. Those buggers. Geez.” Kelly laughed for some time, relaxing into the chair.

“You’re good for my confidence. I knew I liked you.” She pursed her lips. “It’s been a while since you’ve been anywhere but the compound. Isn’t that bugging you?”

“You have no idea. But Roane told me not to leave. I think he’s worried the PPA might bother me again.”

“Really?” Kelly arched a delicate brow. “I may not be involved with Doc’s lab findings, but I do provide a measure of security when the guys aren’t here. I’m as aware of the threat as they are. You can’t stay locked up forever. Look, I’m an expert marksman with the tranq gun, as well as my own nine mil.” Kelly grinned. “Military family, what can I say? How about we do a little shopping today?” She dug into her pocket and held up one of Roane’s credit cards. “Roane’s treat.”

“Kelly! I can’t take Roane’s money.”

“Yes, you can. He told me to buy you whatever you needed. While he’s gone, I have orders to get you jewelry and flowers and whatever else I think you might like,” Kelly said with a sly grin.

“Why are you smiling like that?”

“I just happen to know that Roane is desperate to hear three little words from you. He’s been poring through women’s magazines and hitting me up for help at every opportunity.” Kelly laughed again. “It does my heart good to see Mr. Hard-ass falling over himself to hear the words ‘I love you.’ And you had no clue?”

“Ah, no.” Dazed, Caitlyn wondered how she could have been so blind.

“So let’s celebrate with some shopping.”

“But…” Her independence reasserted itself. After all the lessons she’d gone through in changing , in how to control her beast, could she really still fear thugs like Simon and Vincent? She imagined taking them apart with her strength. Then there was the matter of Kelly’s gun… “Okay. Maybe you can show me where you got your hair done.” She looked at her nails. “A manicure wouldn’t be too out of the question, either.” Kelly hooted. “Now you’re talking my language. I’ll leave Doc a note.” Kelly stood and moved to the door. “Trust me, Caitlyn. You need this. I know the danger out there, but you can’t let them rule your life. Not if you want to be in control of it.”

“I agree. And with what Doc and the guys have taught me, if the PPA wants to screw with me, they’re in for a real treat.” She lifted a hand and changed it into a clawed weapon.

“Man. I’ll say.” Kelly stared, wide-eyed. “Here’s a thought. Maybe we shouldn’t go for a color on those nails. Pink claws just wouldn’t be as threatening, you know?”

“How about blue? Or steel gray?”

“Much better.”

They stared at each other and burst into laughter. The ache around Caitlyn’s heart eased. When Roane returned, she’d have a heart-to-heart with the big guy. It was time to stop straddling the fence. To love or not to love was no longer an option.

* * * * *

A week later…

“Seriously, Roane. Flowers?” Derrick complained as they readied to take out the subject they’d been watching. Confirming her location had taken a little time, especially since the PPA had been swarming all over the city. They even had a contingent of agents around the woman’s secluded house in the woods. “You’re pussing out, big time.”

“Shut up, D. I think it’s refreshing to see Roane courting,” Hale said with a shit-eating grin.

Ace snickered beside him, and Roane closed his eyes, praying for patience.

“Did she say it yet?” Zack asked from behind them.

As the group changed and dressed in their battle armor, made out of a light Kevlar blend courtesy of Doc, Roane clenched his jaw tight to keep from roaring his displeasure with the entire situation.

Away from Caitlyn for the first time since they’d mated, he felt out of sorts, lost, and on edge with everyone and everything. Like an idiot, he’d contemplated his relationship with Caitlyn to death. They hadn’t been together long enough. She was a new Circ, likely still in shock about how her world had changed. The threat of danger loomed over her with the PPA’s constant presence. They had fantastic sex. He courted her at every opportunity, and the woman still hadn’t told him what he wanted to hear. None of which accounted for how much he fucking loved the female. God. The way she organized everything of hers in his -- their -- room to the nth degree. Her penchant for chocolate and horror movies. The way she stroked him with her thumb when they held hands. She wasn’t moody at all. An adaptable woman with a temperament that totally complemented his own. Not to mention that just breathing in her scent gave him a hard-on from hell.

Was it any wonder he loved her?

He fumed as he checked the gun at his side, a specially constructed weapon that fit his overlarge grip.

He’d given her time, hadn’t he? How fucking hard was it to say “I love you, Roane. You are my everything?” Maybe that was pushing it, but couldn’t Caitlyn see how he felt? He’d given her damned flowers. He’d picked his shit up around her, tried to calm down the swearing, and even did her fucking laundry.

So desperate to find out what he’d done wrong, he’d done the unthinkable and asked the one guy on their team who had more experience with women than any of them. He glared at Hale. The playboy with the charming smile. The asshole with the biggest mouth.

Belatedly realizing the futility in getting an answer out of their resident Lothario, Roane had done the smart thing and turned to Kelly for answers. The flowers had worked, if that kiss Caitlyn gave him was anything to go by.

“She’ll say it when she’s ready,” he growled, caught up in woman problems.

Zack shook his head with amused sympathy. “Now you’re brooding. Damn, Roane.

You have her in bed. She’s in your life, you’ve mated with her. What’s the big deal about a few words?”

“So if and when you finally get the balls to approach Kelly, how will you feel if she doesn’t say them?”

Zack’s grin faded. “Point taken.”

“Right. Now let’s leave my love life alone and focus on the job. Hale, Derrick, and Zack, you three handle the PPA. Got your tranqs?”

They nodded.

“Ace, you’re with me. With some luck, maybe this chick isn’t too psycho. Maybe Doc can save her.”

Gunshots followed several deep, guttural shrieks coming from inside the house. A body flew through the glass window to lie on the back lawn. The blood over the man’s ravaged face looked ink black under the waning moonlight. His broken body didn’t twitch, and probably never would again.

“Then again, maybe Doc can’t save this one,” Ace muttered as the team tore through the woods.

“What a fucking mess.” Hale pushed two bodies aside as they stepped gingerly through the bloodbath inside the house.

Apparently, in the week it had taken them to pinpoint her newest location, Sherry Thomas had done some damage. There were a dozen bodies littering the floor, all mangled and bloodied. It looked as if an animal had ripped through them. Computer equipment and recording devices were blinking and sizzling, courtesy of what looked like an acid that had been thrown over them. Great. The PPA hadn’t left anything to chance, except for their lives.

Roane studied the poor woman on the ground in front of him. In death, she’d resumed her normal form, no longer able to sustain the energy her inner beast needed. Looking as she did, an innocent young woman, no one would place her as the butcher behind so many bodies. Yet she’d taken them all out, savagely so.

The bullet between her eyes had been a merciful death.

She’d begged him to end it while ripping a PPA agent in half. Which had made it all the sadder. She’d retained enough of her sanity to know she was a monster.

“Shit. Roane, come here.” Derrick signaled the others over as well.

Ace whistled. “Hell. Maybe something good did come of this.” Vincent Hoff stared sightlessly at them from his position on the floor. His neck was broken, his body ripped in half. A trio of hunting knives stabbed his groin.

“I don’t think it would be a far guess to say Sherry didn’t like Hoff much.” Hale shook his head. “I wouldn’t put rape past the bastard.” The thought that Hoff had violated this woman, that he might have done the same to Caitlyn, stirred the beast to rouse. “Good riddance,” Roane rumbled and clenched the pistol in his hand.

“One less PPA asshole to deal with,” Derrick agreed. “By the looks of things, Sherry did the organization some damage. I count eleven other bodies.”

“Plus the ones I found in the bedroom,” Zack said, reappearing from the hallway looking somber. “This place wasn’t hers. It belonged to the Foyer family, as we knew from our surveillance and research. But they never had a chance to finish moving out.” Much of the small house’s furniture was gone. A few pieces remained in the garage and at odd places throughout the house. “How many?” Roane asked.

“Four bodies.” Zack paused, his eyes bleak. “One was a kid.” Silence fell over the room.