Raines, Elizabeth - Covert [Wicked Missions 7] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (2 page)

Chapter 2

Tanner
tried
to pay attention. He really did.

He’d always been a fantastic student. Third in his class at the North American Law Enforcement Academy. Trained under some of the toughest agents in the Earth Bureau of Investigation. Youngest guy ever recruited for the Interplanetary Drug Enforcement Agency. Since his father and all four of his brothers were involved in law enforcement, he’d always assumed it was in his blood.

Now, he’d been asked to participate in the most important assignment of his career—to infiltrate one of the largest chemical distributors in the Prime Sector to try to discover the Fraiquan company’s reputed connections to organized crime and the manufacture and distribution of patrile. He’d even agreed to genetic manipulation, a drastic measure so he could “become” Fraiquan, since that species only trusted its own kind. His mind should have been focused solely on his role in this masquerade.

Yet all he could think about was getting his hands on Alayna Wilson and fucking her brains out.

Since when did his dick take control of his brain?

Glancing over at her for what seemed like the millionth time, he sucked in a hissing breath.

“Mr. O’Brien!”

He snapped up out of his seat and to attention, sending his chair flying backward. The sound of it clattering against the tile floor echoed through the classroom. “Yes, ma’am?”

Betinsa now stood in front of his table, her hands set against her hips. Her stare rivaled any of the drill sergeants at the Academy, and he’d been conditioned to respond with the utmost obedience. “What did I just say?” she asked.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I…um…I didn’t—”

“Didn’t what, Tanner? Didn’t pay attention?” she snapped. “What could have been more important than learning about the company you are preparing to infiltrate?”

Like he’d tell
her
that. “Sorry, ma’am.”

Betinsa shifted her gaze to Alayna and then back to Tanner, obviously knowing what he’d been thinking. Since his stiff cock was pressing against his gray jumpsuit, it probably wasn’t that difficult for her to discern. “Sit down, and please pay attention from now on.”

Hard to do when he could smell Alayna even though she sat at the other end of the table. He whirled to grab his chair, still a bit shocked to see his own blue hands as he reached out. Every time he walked by a mirror he stopped to stare, and he wondered if Alayna and Will had the same problem. Setting his chair back on its legs, he plopped down on the seat, scooted up to the table, and grabbed his e-tablet. “Sorry, ma’am.”

With a weary sigh, Betinsa folded her arms over the baby bump on her stomach. Judging from the size of her, she had to be due to deliver soon. Like many pregnant women, she walked back on her heels, looking a little like a duck waddling. That thought would have brought a smile to his face if he hadn’t been trained to conceal his emotions so completely.

“Now,” she said, “your contact has made all the arrangements for the jobs for the three of you, but it will be on your shoulders to find the financial trail.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ve done a lot of forensic accounting.”

“Which is one of the reasons you were chosen for this undercover assignment, but you will also need to let them know you are willing to hide any illegal payments in their books.” She turned to Will. “We have achieved the level of security clearance you will need under your new name. Thanks to that new résumé, you will appear to be a shipping worker whose family is deeply in debt and ripe for the picking.”

Will nodded. “I’m still concerned about using a pseudonym, though. Last time I went undercover, the guy they sent with me kept fucking up and not responding when someone called him by his fake name.”

Betinsa leaned forward to press her palms against the table, leveling a hard stare at him. “You believe we haven’t considered that? We are allowing you to use your familiar names.”

He shot her an incredulous frown. “You are? Hell’s bells, you people need to get this debriefing moving faster, or we’re heading into this operation entirely unprepared.”

Her indigo eyes drilled into him. “That, Will, is why
I
am here now.” Standing back up, she settled her hands against her enormous belly again. “Fraiqua has been a closed society for so long, no one outside of the planet knows nearly enough about the culture to assimilate for an undercover assignment. I was brought in by the E.B.I. to help prepare you. What I need from all three of you now is to put your sexual attraction aside and focus on the job.”

“So we can keep our first names?” Tanner asked.

Betinsa nodded. “All of them can be considered nicknames for common Fraiquan names. Your family name will be Pariago. The false credentials we created were more than enough to get you hired in at Cosenki Chemicals.”

Setting down his tablet, Tanner picked up the mock-up of the translator chip she’d given them earlier and stared at it. He’d had so many things done to him recently, one more procedure shouldn’t have meant a damned thing. But it did, because this time they were jamming one of those chips into his brain. “Are we still getting this installed tomorrow?”

Betinsa nodded again. Her blue finger pointed to her left temple. “Directly into Broca’s area in your left frontal lobe. Trust me on this—Fraiqui is one of the most difficult languages to master. This chip will allow you to speak it fluently, plus we are adding an old Earth language—Hungarian—so that the three of you may communicate without being understood.”

“Won’t that make people suspicious?” Will asked.

“Not really. Fraiquans master languages so easily, they often learn nearly dead languages or even invent their own simply to keep family secrets. Speaking only to each other in such a way would not seem unusual. Don’t use it too often, however, or one of them might pick up your meaning. Save it for very important messages only.”

Alayna crooked her finger at Betinsa. “Ms. Nungio…may I speak to you?” She glanced over to look at Will and then at Tanner. “In private.”

“We have a lot of work to do, Alayna. Can’t it wait?”

“I suppose…” Her gaze caught Tanner’s, the heat there unmistakable, and he felt his cock surge back to life.

Damn, but he wanted her with an intensity he’d never felt before for any woman. This blinding need for Alayna was drowning him. Every time he caught her scent, all he wanted to do was grab her, throw her on the table, sink his dick inside that tight, hot pussy, and—

“Mr. O’Brien!” His instructor’s angry eyes were hot enough to melt Canada in January.

“Sorry, ma’am.” Tanner shifted in his seat, trying to get his erect cock into a comfortable position without touching himself too obviously.

Alayna shook her head. “
That’s
why I need to speak to you in private.”

“Because Tanner can’t seem to stop staring at you?”

“Yes. I mean no. I mean…” She clenched her hands into fists and pounded them against the table before erupting like a volcano. “Why can’t I stop smelling them? I’m dying here! Every time I see Tanner or Will…every time I catch their scents…I…I…” Throwing her hands in the air, she let out a moan that sounded so incredibly sexy, Tanner’s libido responded, making him lick his lips simply thinking about how much he wanted to fuck her.

A knowing smile spread over Betinsa’s face. “You want them.”

Such a matter-of-fact statement
. If Alayna was half as affected by his and Will’s scent as he was by hers, she had to be going out of her mind. He certainly was. Every thought was wrapped up in her—all the erotic things he wanted to do to her, all the erotic things he wanted Will to do to her. All the erotic things they could do to her
together
.

If he stayed around Alayna too much longer, breathing in that intoxicating, feminine perfume, he was going to cream his jumpsuit.

Alayna groaned. “I don’t understand this! I’ve never been this…I don’t think about…” She took a deep breath that didn’t seem to help much. Then she shouted, “All I can think about is sex!”

From the moment Betinsa had come into their lives, she’d been nothing but business. Her expressions were severe, her manners abrupt, and every word out of her mouth about the mission. Yet at that moment, the Fraiquan looked as if she was going to burst out laughing. Such an odd reaction. “I understand.”

“You understand? How?”

“Alayna,” Betinsa said, putting her hand over one of Alayna’s, “I, too, have been through the
comchi
. I know how strong the need to mate can be. I wasn’t sure whether you would face it or not. Evidently, the genetic change truly made you Fraiquan.”

“What’s a
comchi
?” Will asked, beating Tanner to the punch.

“All Fraiquan females must take mates when they reach the age of the
comchi
.”

Only one word registered. “
Mates?
Did you say—”

“Mates.” Betinsa kept on smiling.

“Oh, I get it. You’re talking about them pretending to be my husbands.”

“No, Alayna. I mean
mates
—men who are bonded to you for the rest of their lives. I have two husbands because all Fraiquan women marry their two mates.”

“But we’re humans!” Will insisted. “And we’re not really getting married.”

“None of you are fully human any longer,” Betinsa replied. “Alayna, we can talk to Dr. Morton to see if perhaps we can control the
comchi
by blocking all your hormones. You have much to learn before we send you to Fraiqua. If you do not deal with the
comchi,
you will not be able to concentrate.” She nodded at Tanner and then Will. “Your pheromones will keep distracting them as well.”

This whole thing seemed ridiculous. They were humans, not animals. “It can’t be pheromones,” Tanner grumbled.

Their instructor arched a black eyebrow. “You believe not? Then tell me, what did I teach you this morning about how to react if Alayna tells you to
bis mitard
?”

She had him there. All he’d been able to think about since the moment he’d stepped into Alayna’s room after the genetic change was burying his cock inside her. He finally answered with a shrug.

“And you, Will? What would you do if your wife tells you to
bis mitard
? You learned it less than an hour ago.”

Will heaved a sigh. “Beats the shit outta me.”

Betinsa chuckled. “Pheromones. You must face the
comchi
or control it.”

“You mean by doing something like lowering my hormones?” Alayna asked.

“Actually,” Betinsa replied, “we would probably have to block your hormones altogether. By doing that, you could find some relief and perhaps give Tanner and Will some as well. Of course, we don’t want you going through the
compassa
…” A delicate shudder shook her shoulders. “Ah, well. We can—”

“What’s the
compassa
?” Alayna’s blue eyes flew wide open.

Betinsa seemed to think it over before she said. “It’s the change of life for older females. Very…distracting. Hot flashes. Night sweats. Sudden chills.” She waved her hand dismissively. “I imagine suffering all of those would be better than resolving the
comchi
with two men you’ve only just met.”

Alayna blinked a couple of times, not believing what she was hearing. Was Betinsa actually telling her she’d be happier going through what sounded like the Fraiquan version of severe menopause rather than resolving this stupid horniness? Or was she playing her for some reason?