Forbidden Call (New Breed Novels, Book 1) (8 page)

“
Excuse me
,” Reyn growled. “Get your fucking finger out of that gravy before I rip it off and hand it back to you.”

Diesel snatched his hand back. “Hey, I’m starving. And we’ve waited half an hour. Let’s face it, the dude ain’t coming.”

Pax shook his head. “Somebody needs to get Troy laid.”

SE barked a laugh.

“Or a Realdoll,” Diesel grumbled.

“Look, family stuff like Thanksgiving just isn’t his thing. We should probably just start, dig?” X said.

Holy shit.
SE could hardly believe his eyes. As if on cue, Geoffrey walked in to the large dining room carrying a platter with a partially carved turkey that looked like it weighed twenty-five pounds.

“Are we really going to eat all this?” he asked.

X smiled. “Not right now. But we come home hungry after being in the field, dig?”

“Besides, my mate’s eating for two.” Richard smiled.

“Seriously,” Adriana said. “Let’s get this thing rolling.”

As everyone ate and talked, the world around him was a blur. SE could only think about getting out of there ASAP. He needed a quiet place to think, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to get it here at the mansion, holiday or no. The pain was getting worse by the hour. At this point, it felt like the Roto-Rooter guy had sent battery acid flowing through his pipes instead of blood. By the time the pies hit the table, he was politely excusing himself and heading back to his room. He did a quick change out of his good clothes, partially armed himself, and gleamed to the Fens.

Generally speaking, walking through the Back Bay parkland wasn’t advisable at night for any human or shifter civilian. With any luck, though, there’d be nothing but a quiet drug deal or two happening tonight. He walked until the marshy crap started getting his new Frye boots all muddy. Of course they were meant to be ruined, but in honorable battle. Getting them muddy meandering in a park was just downright disrespectful. He swore to himself and gleamed out.

Materializing on the roof of the Hancock Tower, the wind whipping at his hair, SE looked out at the Charles River. His shifter senses registered almost nothing this high up. He was so grateful, he could have cried.
Peace.
It was so long since he’d had any, he’d almost forgotten what it was like. The pain in his head even abated a bit.

An instant later, SE picked up on another New Breed presence. Troy was standing nearby. He jammed his hands in his trench coat pockets and continued to take in the view. A few minutes passed and neither male spoke. When Troy finally broke the silence, what he said almost made SE want to put the building’s height to good use.

“Listen,” Troy said in his thick Boston accent. “Whatever female’s got your balls in a sling, you better do something about it.”

Caught off guard, all SE could do was turn his head and look at the brother.

Troy tilted his head. “Yeah, that’s right, I know. I recognized that look on your mug the first time I saw you. Don’t worry. I’m not gonna rat on your ass. This ain’t the fifth grade. But you need to take care of this, or Pax won’t be the only brother goin’ bullshit. Pull another stunt like last night and there won’t be a brother left who’ll trust you worth a damn. Trust me. Been there, done that.”

Then he dematerialized into the night.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Minutes later, Troy appeared in the deepest shadows of the little, pale blue house on West Fourth. Even though the backyard didn’t amount to more than a few blades of grass, he made sure to stay well hidden. His second form was Wolf, but at that moment, he wished he could be a fly on the wall of that kitchen. No, even that wouldn’t be enough. He turned around to light a cig and then went back to watching the family inside. The house was buzzing with family members cleaning up after the holiday meal.

And then he heard her name.

“Evelyn, would you slice the pies? I’d like to get a round of dishes in the dishwasher before dessert.”

Troy had never met Evy’s mother, but he knew the sound of her slight brogue.

Then she was there. Troy’s heart sped up. Under the kitchen light, her long dark curls and pale Irish skin made her look like Snow White in the light of the kitchen. As she started slicing the pies sitting on the counter, Troy moved a little closer to the window.

“Evelyn O’Donnell! No one is going to want to eat pieces that big!”

Troy smiled. Her older sister, Katherine, was always givin’ her shit.

When Evy laughed, his heart nearly split in two. “I’m not done yet, silly,” she said in a cheerful voice. “Here, take the silverware out to the dining room, would you?”

“Yes, master.” Kate picked up the cutlery and walked away.

“Almost finished then?” Evy’s mother asked.

“Almost. I’ll be right out, Ma.”

Troy watched as Evy’s mother picked up two of the pies and left. He was finally alone with her. Not alone in the true sense, but he lived and breathed for moments like this. If he put his hand up just so, it was almost like he was touching her face. But that was never gonna happen. He took another drag off his cig. Suddenly Evy’s head shot up.
Shit.
She must have seen the flare.

It didn’t matter. If she came to the window, Troy was already miles away.

SE took one more look at the city lights, then phased into his Eagle form and dove off the Hancock. Finding a thermal to glide on, he rose in spirals high into the Boston sky. When he looked down below, his keen eagle eyes took in the city in a way his shifter eyes never could. He sped up, turning the front edges of his wings into the wind.

Freedom.

He moved into a dive, gathering speed until he saw the tall condo buildings of Midtown. Turning the wide surface of his wings into the wind, he let them drag through the air, slowing him down. He landed on the roof terrace of Dimitri’s penthouse and phased back to human form.

SE leaned on the railing, and looked out over the Common. It didn’t help much. Nothing did. He rubbed his temples and tried to get his head to shut the fuck up.
Anah.
The damn thing was starting to hurt like a bitch. Again.

He sensed her presence immediately.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said, not even turning around. Ana walked toward the open French doors, his hearing picked up on the noise her boots made on the hardwood.

“I needed to see you,” she said. “I didn’t know where else to look.”

As she came through the doors, her scent was overpowering. Lady of the night jasmine invaded all of his senses. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to focus. God help him, he wanted more of that smell. He wanted it all over him. He wanted to taste her everywhere.

SE finally turned around and looked into her emerald eyes. His head swam. Ana’s hands shot to her jacket as he stepped toward her. She actually thought he was going to attack her.
Nice.
“Why? Come to thank me for saving your ass and betraying my brother? Or maybe you came to finish the job?”

As he spoke, she drew her knives and backed into the condo. She took a triangle stance, ready on all sides if he attacked. But his daggers stayed where they were. He pressed his hand to his forehead and closed his eyes.
Fuck
. All he wanted was the yelling in his head to stop and the pain to go away. He wanted to sheath himself in her, just for a little while.

“I told you, I needed to see you. To talk to you.”

He dropped his gaze to her twin crescents. “Looks to me like you’re letting your steel do all the talking.”

“No! Listen to me. Victrixa’s gone insane.”

Soaring Eagle took another step toward her, then another, but she stood her ground. As he got closer, he was hit by the smell of her arousal. The heat inside him increased until his body was ablaze, his cock so hard it ached. “Don’t you mean
more
insane?”

“She doesn’t just want to use the mutants to build an army. She wants them to glean shifters’ souls. SE, she wants to
take
their souls!”

Everything she said got harder and harder to understand, until she sounded like an adult in a Peanuts special. What was she saying? Something about souls?

Without thinking he lunged for her.

And felt the bite of a crescent blade on his arm.

The tangy smell of fresh blood reached his nose. But instead of pulling away, he pushed forward, keeping his body well within reach of her blades. “Do it again.”

A deeper gash cut through his black T-shirt along his chest. Still, he moved toward her, his body accepting every defensive thrust she made. Not that he believed for a second she was giving him the same force she used in battle. Not even close. Powerless to stop, each sharp bite of her knife only made him want her more, until she backed up against the living room wall with nowhere else to go. He grabbed her forearms and squeezed until she let the knives fall. But she didn’t gleam out.

“Is this what you came for?” he whispered. He took her face in his hands and kissed her hard.

Electricity shot through him, his second soul taking over. He slid his tongue into her mouth, going in deep. Ana moaned and a chill ran down his spine. He shoved her against the wall, lifting one of her long legs. With one motion, he unzipped her leathers and tore the crotch out. They both shouted as he entered her, his length penetrating all the way to the pubic bone in one long, smooth stroke. She responded by raising her other leg until she was sitting on his hips. He took her hard, every thrust slamming into her, stretching her as she held onto his shoulders.

She was so tight, her core gripping him as he pounded into her. He was covered in sweat, his release poised in his shaft. She called out his name as she climaxed, her nails raking into his back under his coat, the sweet sting touching off his own release. He groaned as his legs weakened and they both sank against the wall, gasping for breath.

As SE fell against her, his immense weight pinning her to the wall, she kept her grip on his powerful shoulders. She wanted to hold onto to him and stay that way forever. But this wasn’t about emotions, and she knew it. She closed her eyes as he filled her, memorizing as much of him as she could. She wanted to remember his scent, his body, the feel of him deep inside of her, because even if this was only instinct, he was the only one who could take away the emptiness.

When he finally pulled out and released her, he avoided looking into her eyes. “Ana, I—”

Fuck it. She reached up and took his chin in her hand. She wasn’t for hire. She was his mate. No cash would be waiting for her next to the bed. If she wanted to see his eyes, then she would see them. She needed to know that some part of the male she had known was still in there. But the minute she did, she wished she hadn’t. He looked down at her, his eyes ringed in gold, and she saw shame. He was ashamed of being with her.
Oh, God.
She let go of his chin and dematerialized.

Back at her apartment, Ana pulled off her tall boots and almost ripped her leathers off her body, which was a damn shame, because good leather pants didn’t grow on trees. She threw them on the floor and turned on the shower. While she stood there waiting for the water to warm up, a thought entered her mind. Shifters could become pregnant beginning around the age of twenty.
She
was twenty. What if she was…but she hadn’t had any signs of a cycle yet.

Shit, shit, shit.

Like she needed this on top of everything else?

“God
dammit!”
she yelled in frustration, kicking the bathroom door, cracking her foot hard against the wood. “Fuck!” She danced around until she could deal with the pain, then got in the shower.

After dressing in a new pair of leathers, she stormed out of the apartment.
This is so over
, she thought. Once she found a way out of Toltec, she was leaving. For good.

Knowing that female shifters would test positive for pregnancy almost immediately, she figured she’d just get it over with. She walked into the nearest CVS and wandered up and down the aisles until she finally realized she was going to have to actually buy something. She picked up four different kinds of tests. Couldn’t hurt. On her way to the counter to pay, she dropped two on the floor. Christ, what was wrong with her? She picked them up, paid the cashier and headed back to her apartment.

Somehow when she woke up that morning, she hadn’t envisioned spending the evening pissing on a bunch of sticks. No use putting it off. She opened the first box, glanced at the drawings on the back and christened the stick. Then she checked her cell and started to wait. How the hell had she ended up like this? It was like living in a bad Lifetime movie—
Deadly Instinct
or some shit.

When the first test showed only one line and the second showed a negative, she threw the other two out.

SE sat on the edge of the guest bed at Dimitri’s penthouse. Jesus Christ, what had he done? He was a lot of things, but he was not a user. At least, not until now.
Fuck.
Ana might be working for the enemy, but she didn’t deserve to be used. No one did. His body felt so much better. He hated it. It was almost worse than the pain. And there was no way out. He was just so goddamn tired. Suddenly something Ana said came back to him. Something about souls? She’d seemed totally serious. Urgent even.

SE gleamed out and materialized in his room at the mansion. He walked over to his bedside table and pulled the scrap of paper out. Calling her phone for intel an hour after letting her leave like that? Man, that was weak.
What an asshole.
He took a deep breath, pulled out his cell, and dialed the number. It rang twice and then someone definitely picked up. Silence.

“Ana?”

“Are you kidding me?” It was her.

“Ana, I need to find out what you came to the condo to tell me.”

“You do realize there are a fucktillion reasons I should tell you to go to hell?”

“I know, believe me, I know. But, look, it sounded important.”

“Hey, I don’t owe you anything. You got what you wanted. We’re not soul mates.”

Aw, Christ.
“Ana, please—”