Forbidden Call (New Breed Novels, Book 1) (7 page)

Her mother moved her lips slightly. Ana couldn’t help but think it might be the nerves in her face remembering how to smile.
Nah.

Her mother turned back to Roman. “Are they still attacking civilian shifters to take their
k’ul?”

He nodded. “Oh, yes. It seems to present as an almost addictive behavior.”

“Perfect. Let’s keep them addicted and aggressive. The Order is far outnumbered and irreplaceable, while we can create mutants at will. It won’t take long for us to far outpace them. Still, let’s work on that libido issue. They all seem to practice denning. Let’s see if we can’t get them to breed. Nothing would make me happier than to make all of you obsolete.”

Roman paused only briefly. “Ah, yes. Of course, Victrixa.”

“That will be all. You are dismissed.”

Everyone in the room flew out of there faster than a flock of avian shifters. Ana was right on their heels when—

“Ana, I need to speak with you.”

So close.

“Yes, Victrixa?”

“You’ve been doing a lot of fighting along with the
hellions
lately, correct?”

Ana fidgeted. “Some.”

“As you’ve just heard, we’ve discovered that the
hellions
have almost nonexistent levels of
k’ul
. Through some combination of instinct and need, they have discovered that they can live off the
k’ul
of other shifters. However, unless given the opportunity, they never seem to take more than they need. I want you and the rest of the warriors to give them more opportunities.”

“I…you want us to help them drain shifters of all their
k’ul?
But won’t that—”

“Take their souls? Yes.”

Bile rose in Ana’s throat, burning her vocal chords.

“Have I made myself clear, Ana?”

“I understand,” Ana managed.

“Good. You’re dismissed.”

Ana turned and left the room. Once outside, she leaned back against the door, her heart pounding, her chest tight. After taking a breath, she turned the first corner in the hallway and grabbed a cup from the water cooler. She downed three little cone cups of cold water before she could get her head together. Had she just been told—no, ordered by—her psychotic mother to help the
hellions
keep the shifters souls’ from moving on during battle? Victrixa wanted to glean their souls? This was so not good. She knew the bitch was deranged, but this was just…suddenly, she felt the protective instinct flare in her gut.
Oh, God.
She had to find SE. But how?

“Wow, check you out, SE. You look like one badass motherfucker.” Pax grinned. “Diesel will hook you up with the best steel every time. Ain’t that right, X?”

X poured himself a glass of vodka at the bar. “Fucking A right.”

Diesel sipped his drink. “Aw, come on now. You boys’re making me blush.”

“Nervous? Need one of these?” X swirled the alcohol in his glass. “Dimitri turned me on to this shit. Good stuff, man. Expensive as hell though.”

“Why? Do I look it?” SE asked. The truth was he didn’t really feel nervous. He was just plain pissed, which was about the same mood he’d been in pretty much since he got there. A nice fight should at least get rid of the headache he’d had all day.
Jesus
. It was like a damn vice. Maybe some action was just what the doctor ordered.

Pax handed him the glass of vodka. “Actually, you don’t, but you’d be a goddamn idiot not to be.”

X looked up from his laptop. “Just remember, the knives are the most important. You can shoot a
hellion
, but that’s only going to slow it down. Your daggers are your main weapons. The only thing that’ll kill Frankenshifters is taking off their noggins. It also sends them home to the Goddess. No messy clean-up.”

“Got it.”

Diesel went to the bar for a refill. “Yeah. And don’t get ganked.”

SE drained his glass. “Sound advice. Anything else?”

“Yeah. Don’t get me ganked.”

SE nodded and started for the elevator to meet Dimitri and Richard. “Thanks for the steel, Diesel,” he called back.

“No problem, dude.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Soaring Eagle walked into the foyer where Dimitri was waiting for him. The change in the brother was astounding. He’d swapped his usual designer clothing for steel-toed boots, old jeans, and a black leather duster. SE could only imagine the weapons that full-length coat hid.

Dimitri gave him a nod. “We’ve got a lead on a possible mutant den in an abandoned triple-decker in Dorchester,” he said. “You and I are meeting Pax and Diesel there in a few minutes. Just remember, whatever you do, don’t let them bring you down. Gleam out if you have to. If they’re jonesin’ for
k’ul
, you’ll sense it. They’ll be almost empty, registering even less than humans do, so if they get to you, they’ll suck it right out of you, and you’ll feel like shit for a couple of days. We can’t afford to lose you right now.”

SE nodded. “Got it.”

“You ready?”

“Let’s do it.”

Dimitri gleamed out and SE followed, materializing on the roof of a building in Dorchester. SE gave the boarded-up triple decker across the street a gander. A minute later, Diesel and Pax materialized in an alley next to the place, but didn’t try to enter.

SE looked at Dimitri. “Are they using themselves as bait?”

“Pretty much. It’s better to draw them out. Fighting them outside means more maneuverability. We also have no way of knowing how many of those bastards are in there. They’ll sense the brothers any second, so keep your eye out in case it’s time to party.”

SE nodded. Shit couldn’t happen fast enough, as far as he was concerned. He was so fucking tight he thought his head was going to explode. Which wasn’t such a bad idea if he could take a few mutants with him on the way out.

A split-second later SE thought he caught a slight movement in the darkness. And then he sensed it, a being so devoid of
k’ul
he wasn’t sure the thing was actually alive. A chill did the Macarena down his spine. The huge shadow poked its head out of the second floor window and then dropped down behind Pax and Diesel.

“Steady,” Dimitri mumbled.

Too late.

SE gleamed out and materialized between the mutant and the brothers. The scumbag was bigger than he’d imagined, but nothing he couldn’t take. He fell into a sprint, charging the bastard head on. As the wind blew past his ears like the roar of a locomotive, he barely felt his feet hit the concrete. At the last moment, he sprung at the mutant, catching it around the shoulders, his hands and forearms twisting and tearing into its neck until its head left its body and fell to the ground at SE’s feet. In an instant, body and head were no more than a small pillar of sand.

“I’d say he’s ready,” Diesel said.

“Christ, what are you, in heat?” Pax asked.

Diesel unsheathed his daggers. “Here comes the welcome wagon.”

“Let’s dance,” Pax drawled.

Three more mutants passed through the window one at a time and leapt to the ground. SE reached for his knives as one of them closed in and backed him against the wall of the neighboring building. The
hellion
led with its switchblade, the edge splitting SE’s upper lip as he tried to get out of the way. He swept the enemy’s legs out from under it and sliced through its neck. A second
hellion
jumped him from the right. Caught off guard, SE lost his balance and it knocked him to the ground. The mutant grabbed the sides of SE’s head and leaned in, trying to get close to his eyes.
Fuck that.
He pressed both hands against the thing’s chest and shoved. At the same time, a blade cut through enemy’s torso.

“You trying to be a mutant Happy Meal?” Dimitri growled. “What the fuck did I say about not letting them get close to you?”

As Dimitri dispatched the douchebag home to the Goddess, SE turned around just in time to see two Toltec shifters turn into the alley. He flew at the one on the right, all two hundred and fifty pounds of him slamming the enemy into the side of the vacant house. The shifter shoved him off and reached around SE’s throat with a knife. He elbowed the scumbag in the stomach, then whirled around and punched him in the jaw. The blow sent him reeling across the alley.

SE smelled her before he saw her.

Ana’s jasmine scent came to him on the cold November wind. He looked up, and there she was. At first, he froze stone cold, totally intoxicated as Ana engaged with her twin crescents. God, she was beautiful when she fought. Her long, elegant limbs moved with such precision, as the wind whipped through her dark hair. Everything seemed to go on without him, but then SE noticed a flash of steel that brought him back to earth as Pax started to pull his Beretta from its holster.

The protective instinct hit SE like a punch in the gut, leaving him senseless. Before he could think, he gleamed to Pax’s side and knocked the pistol clear out of his hand. He looked into Ana’s eyes, and his second soul cried out from deep inside of him. With a curse, he looked away and gleamed his sorry ass back to the mansion. Covered in blood and sweat, SE leaned back against the ornate wall of the drawing room, the hard-on under his clothes throbbing. God
damn
. His second soul was screaming at him. As his pulse raced, he fought to get his breathing under control.

Suddenly, Pax was in front of him, his eyes glowing bright amber in his fury. He grabbed SE by his jacket and shoved him back against the wall, slamming his already pounding head into a brass sconce.

“What the fuck were you thinking? You could’ve gotten us both killed!”

He slammed SE against the wall again.
Fuck.

Okay, so what he’d done was indefensible, and they both knew it. But he wasn’t above giving Pax a little reminder.

“I also saved your ass, as you may recall.”

Richard came in the far door, his face tense. “What the hell’s going on?”

“Ask Harriet here. Apparently he can’t stand to see a female cut down in the field. Pansy-ass motherfucker.”

Richard nodded toward the door. “Out, Pax.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Just go.”

“Whatever. This is bullshit.”

SE watched as Reyn passed by Pax on his way out the door. “What happened?”

“Ask psychic wonder over there. His buddy was a total fucking liability tonight.”

Richard rolled his eyes.

Reyn leaned against the long table and looked back and forth between the two males. “Well?”

Soaring Eagle dropped his head. “Pax went to take out a female shifter and I knocked the damn gun out of his hand.”

A muscle flexed in Reyn’s jaw. “Why in the name of the Goddess Akina would you do that? You got some kind of death wish?”

Pretty much.

“It was the female. I…I recognized her. Richard, it was Ana.”

“Ana? Ana Mata?” Richard asked.

SE nodded, doing his best to keep eye contact. So he was keeping a few details to himself. It wasn’t a lie, exactly. It just wasn’t the whole truth.
Yeah, just keep telling yourself that, asshole.

“As in Victrixa Mata?” Reyn asked.

Richard shook his head. “Dammit. I knew she’d been seen out in the field. I’m sorry, SE. I should have warned you this might happen.”

Reyn started for the door. “I’ll go find Pax.”

Richard sighed. “SE, why don’t you take a shower and call it a night? We’ll see you in the morning.”

SE nodded, walked out of the drawing room and hiked it up the main staircase two steps at a time. He shut the door to his room behind him and paced back and forth. Richard’s apology stung him right to his core. Jesus, now he was lying to his friend? Funny thing about
La dama de noche
jasmine. It could also be poisonous.

He picked up a vase from the bedside table and slammed it against the wall. He was seething with rage. He was furious at the Goddess, hell, at the whole fucked up universe for this cruelty; for all the days he spent missing Gabi, for the fact she wasn’t the only one he missed.

Anah
, his second soul whispered the ancient Mayan.
Ana.

Ana leaned against the tile wall of the underground at the Park Street T station. She wasn’t even sure how she’d gotten there, other than the fact the warmth attracted her like it did the homeless in the middle of a Boston winter. She could gleam, for Chrissake. What use did she have for mass transpo?

She kept going over what happened with SE the night before. It played like an endless movie in her head. His hair was short now. She almost didn’t recognize him at first, until she felt him. Then every last nerve in her body woke up. He knocked the pistol from the other brother’s hand. Yeah, sure it was to protect her, but that was pure instinct. He couldn’t have stopped himself if he tried. But then, just before gleaming out, their eyes had met. There had been something there in those beautiful Native American browns of his. And it wasn’t anger, even though she totally deserved it. She sighed. Not recognizing his expression didn’t really surprise her. In her profession, she was trained to ignore emotion and get the job done.

A train pulled up and the noise blasted her out of her thoughts. As the crowd moved every which way, a feeling of emptiness crept over her, and with the life she lived, that was saying a lot. As ordinary humans and shifters hustled around her, she wondered what could possibly be so important at this time of night.
They’re all going home. They can’t wait to be with their families for the holiday.
A family. Something she’d never had, and now something she would die without. She was a mated shifter whose male had rejected her. No other male would touch her now. Not that it mattered.

She walked into the shadows by the stairs and gleamed back to her Allston apartment. Once in her bedroom, she stripped down to her black wife beater and panties, slid under the covers and closed her eyes. In that moment, SE’s face came to her, just the way it had looked before he left the fight. This time his expression was clear. He was in pain. He was suffering. Where the hell was Bastion with that Intel? Almost as soon as she thought it, her cell rang.