He mouthed dickhead while saying, “Roger that, sir. That’s right. I’m your man, now.” Hanging up the phone, he turned his attention to Hale. Sabrina felt a surge of energy come out of nowhere. Hale moaned and stared to rise, and she blinked in shock. Had McKinley done that?
“Shit. No time. Use Rogers and take your mate out the way you smuggled the pregnant Circ out of here. You get me?”
She nodded, glued to the wavering expressions on McKinley’s face. Anger, frustration, then fury again. But never fear.
Hale stood on shaky legs and rubbed his hand over his face. “Who the fuck are you?” he asked and shoved himself between Sabrina and McKinley before she could blink.
“I still don’t see what he wanted,” McKinley murmured. He shoved Hale back and held up a hand. “You want to live, you take her and the asshole on the floor taking up too much space. Leave. Use the elevators.” He glared at Hale, who glared right back.
“Hale, we don’t have time,” Sabrina said, pulling at his shirt.
He growled but helped her lift Derrick. Between them, they would be able to move quickly enough.
McKinley followed them, as if strolling through the park. The alarm blared, making Sabrina wish for less sensitive ears. Hale swore up and down, but he moved like lightning.
They stopped in front of an elevator.
“This will go to the parking lot. You can take it from there.”
“What the hell’s going on?” Hale asked, his voice lower and more dangerous than Sabrina had ever heard before.
“Wish I knew, playboy.” McKinley chuckled at the shocked looks on their faces. “Don’t forget, you owe me when I come calling,” he directed to Hale. “Now, get the fuck out of here.”
He punched in a few buttons to access the elevator. They stepped in and waited for the doors to close, but before they could, McKinley added a parting shot. “Oh, and Sabrina? If I see you here again, I’ll kill you. Bet on it,” he promised.
The door closed. Derrick groaned, finally waking, and put a little bit of weight on his feet.
“I’ll kill that son of a bitch,” Hale seethed. He held on to Derrick and kept squinting, as if the meager light from the flickering elevator bothered him.
“Hale, it’s okay.”
“He threatened you in front of your mate, in front of me. A challenge. Son of a bitch is looking to get his ass handed to him. Motherfucker. I know he did this.”
“Did what?” She had no idea what had happened to him and Derrick, but she was bothered that Derrick still hadn’t fully revived.
Hale started laughing, scaring her. “Shit. What a day.”
“Are you okay?” Her beast woke, giving her added strength, though she maintained her human form.
“Never better.” His eyelids fluttered and he slumped over.
“Hale.” She shoved Derrick against the wall and held Hale upright with the other hand.
She couldn’t leave with both of them like this. “Derrick, wake up.” She kissed him hard on the mouth, relieved at the hungry kiss he gave her back. “Thank God.” No, thank McKinley, the confused part of her reminded.
“Princess?” Derrick shook his head, and his eyes opened wide. He glanced next to him and gaped like a fish. “Hale? Sabrina?” He stared from her to Hale, then noticed their surroundings. “What the hell is going on?”
“Later. Let’s get out of here first. We’re inside Pearson Labs, by the way.”
“The hell we are.” Derrick looked so strong, so solid standing there, even as he stared at her in disbelief. “What are you doing here? What happened?”
“Long story. Grab Hale before he falls down. Let’s get out of here, and we’ll share information. Okay?”
“Sounds good to me.” He held Hale up and frowned. “You know where you’re going?” She rolled her eyes. “Look, he-man. While you were snoozing in the executive suite, I was busy making plans.” A total lie, but it made her plan sound a lot less foolhardy. “Besides, this is kind of the way I helped Kelly escape, except I used the service elevators, not the executive ones. I can only be grateful this happened at night.”
“Why?”
“Because during the day, this place is packed with people. Now, come on.” They stole a vehicle, a nice tan SUV that Derrick seemed to like. He drove like a madman while Sabrina watched over Hale, who lay in the backseat with his head in her lap.
She still couldn’t believe Derrick had tried to fight McKinley.
“Derrick, you could have been killed.” She blinked rapidly and focused on Hale, not wanting to cry. If she started, she might not stop.
“Well, I wasn’t.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “That Circ’s not right. Something more to him. And you know, he never changed. Just remained as huge as a brick house with those funky, inhuman eyes.”
“That’s McKinley.” She swallowed hard, wondering if he’d believe what she had to tell him. “Pearl’s dead.”
The truck veered. Hale snapped his eyes open and stared up at Sabrina, lingering on her breasts. She stroked his hair to make him, and herself, feel better.
“Hot damn. This is the way to live.” He grinned, and she couldn’t help laughing.
Derrick joined in, and the three of them laughed so hard, they cried.
“Okay, princess. Say it again,” Derrick demanded once they’d calmed down.
“Elliot Pearl is dead.”
Hale sat up and clutched his head. “Tell me you said that bastard’s dead.”
“He is. I saw it with my own eyes. Not his death, his dead body.” She described the condition of his corpse.
“Poetic justice,” Hale murmured. “Killed by one of the rogues he created.”
“Yeah.” But if so, why had McKinley shot two holes where Pearl’s eyes should have been? She smelled a cover-up. And just who had McKinley been talking to? Pearl’s boss?
She’d tried for years to figure out who he answered to, only to be told she didn’t “need to know.”
“There’s so much we need to know,” Derrick said with a weary sigh.
Nice choice of words. But what I really need to know is where I go from here. Would the files she’d copied give her the answers to solve her problems? Could she stay with Circe’s Recruits? And did Derrick know how much she loved him? Would he care?
Only time would tell.
Hours later, after a short night’s sleep, hot showers, and changing into clean, comfortable clothes, the three of them met with the others in the living room. They had returned to a very sober household. Doc was not to be disturbed, sequestered in his office.
The others hovered over Ace, who complained that Diego had shot him. Mild-mannered Diego, Doc’s best friend and lover for the past eight years.
Sitting on the couch with Sabrina tucked by his side, Derrick boomed, “What the fuck happened while we were gone?”
“Chaos,” Zack said through clenched teeth. “Diego shot Ace with some kind of super tranq and knocked him on his ass. The bastard and Doc had words, but Doc won’t fill us in.
Oh, and apparently, Ace and Doc concocted some whacked-out plan to heal Sabrina.” Zack punched Ace in the shoulder hard enough to leave a bruise.
“Zack, don’t,” Kelly said in a soft voice, sitting next to him. The glint in her eyes spoke volumes. “Save that for when we get home.”
“Dammit.” Ace winced.
Sabrina rose from the couch and approached Ace. “What’s Zack talking about?” She surprised Derrick when she took a good, hard whiff of his friend.
“That’s what I’d like to know.” Distracted by his mate sniffing his friend, he asked,
“What are you doing?” Surprisingly, he felt no jealousy, only curiosity.
“He no longer smells wrong.” Sabrina returned to her spot next to him. Where she belonged.
“Hey.” Ace glared. “I smell just fine.”
“Like a rat,” Kelly added with heat.
“Come on, baby, don’t be like that.”
He said it with such a plaintive voice that Derrick and the others couldn’t help laughing. The humor of the moment helped ease the tension, until Ace explained what had happened up to his getting shot.
Derrick stood, prepared to pound him into next week for putting Sabrina in danger, when Roane intervened.
“Hold on. Doc would never have endangered her. And Ace, despite being a total asshole at times, wouldn’t hurt her, when we know how much she means to you.” Derrick felt Sabrina’s keen stare like a laser between his eyes. “Yeah, well, why the fuck did he do it then?”
“To save her life, dumbass.” Ace glared, then sank back into the couch when Derrick promised payback with an upraised fist. “Look, Doc and I came up with the perfect plan.
Sabrina needed to change to heal, but she refused to. And you’re so messed up in love with her, you wouldn’t do what was best for her. Instead you agreed with whatever dumb shit -- ah, stuff -- she wanted,” he corrected when Kelly turned a disapproving glare his way.
Derrick met Sabrina’s startled gaze, then looked back at Ace. So what? Derrick loved her. It was the truth. He saw no point in denying it. She could accept it. She would accept it.
Damn, but Ace had a big mouth.
“So Doc needed me to change?” she asked softly.
“He only told you so every day. But you wouldn’t.” Ace shrugged.
“I didn’t want to hurt anyone.” She looked at Kelly’s belly.
“They weren’t here.” Roane spoke up. “Zack and I took Kelly and Caitlyn away for a few days. On vacation.”
“Vacation, my ass.” Caitlyn glared at her husband. “You planned this all out. Keeping us away for our own good, hmm?”
“Look.” Roane raised his voice. “We wanted you safe. You’re safe. You have no idea how strong Sabrina is when changed. Doc was worried. I had no idea Ace and he were planning an elaborate strategy to save her, though.” He frowned at Ace. “What? You were going to chase her all the way to Pearson Labs? Then what?”
“No, no.” Ace sighed. “She was supposed to change and break out of the room. The elevator wasn’t supposed to be there. Diego interfered.” Ace shook his head. “He shot me with something. Hell, I thought they were real bullets. Instead he sedated me. I woke up, Sabrina was long gone, Doc was crying, and Diego had packed up and left. Doc won’t talk about it.”
Silence filled the room. The thought of Doc crying hurt Derrick deeply. He liked the older man. Doc was a decent -- hell, a loving -- friend. Diego’s defection must have really hurt him.
“So you want us to hunt Diego down and gut him?” Derrick offered Roane.
“Not a bad idea.” Roane rubbed his chin and ignored Caitlyn when she rolled her eyes.
“No.” Doc spoke from the kitchen. He’d finally left his study. “The situation with Diego is over. He’s not PPA, and he doesn’t work for Pearson Labs.”
“Then who is he?” Roane asked what they all wanted to know.
“No one.” Doc shook his head and wiped his glasses with shaky hands. At the sight, the room went quiet. “Now, tell me exactly what happened with you three,” he said to Derrick, Hale, and Sabrina.
Eager to change the subject, Derrick told his and Hale’s version of events, then Sabrina told hers. No one could believe it when they heard that Elliot Pearl was dead. Doc took his second big blow of the evening, or was that this morning?
Though he was exhausted, Derrick was too keyed up to sleep. So much had happened over the past twenty-four hours. He hugged Sabrina closer.
“So Elliot’s dead. A rogue Circ killed him, but this McKinley made it look as if Elliot had been shot and not mauled?” Doc asked.
Sabrina nodded. “McKinley is really, um, strange.”
“No shit,” Hale muttered, rubbing his head.
“He sniffed me, then he bit me, I think.” Sabrina flushed, and Derrick felt a definite threat to his mate.
“Where? What did he do?” He pulled her sweatshirt to the side but saw nothing there, not a mark, not even the scent of the bastard lingered, which was odd.
“Derrick.” Sabrina blushed again and tugged her sweatshirt back over her shoulder.
“McKinley told me what files to copy. He even gave me the memory stick, so you might want to download the files onto a computer not connected to anything, Doc,” she said softly.
“He also seemed to understand what you were doing with Derrick’s blood. McKinley said he recommended a full-body transfusion.”
Doc blinked, a sure sign he was lost in science land, which was probably for the best.
The poor guy had been through his own hell with Diego. God, Derrick couldn’t imagine losing Sabrina, let alone after eight years. She meant too much to him.
She squeezed his hand, as if sensing his turmoil.
“That might just work. Not a special formula, but Derrick’s actual blood. I have enough of it, and you’re both the same blood type.”
Doc had found a process to store Circ blood through artificial means. Though red blood cells only lasted forty-two hours, plasma for five days, Doc stored their blood in special bags in tanks filled with a preservative agent. The blood lasted for months, not days. With the Circs’ regenerative powers, they could donate blood every other week without any ill effect should the need arise.
“The fact that you were so fixated on Derrick’s blood seemed key to me,” Doc explained to Sabrina. “Your inner beast knew what you needed, even if we didn’t. Something in Derrick’s blood is working like an antibody to rid you of the mutated toxins that cause you to feel so out of sorts.” A nice way of calling her a mutant killing machine. “That syringe I injected you with in the lab was a shot of Derrick’s blood mixed with some of Caitlyn’s, who, as you may or may not know, was the first Circ ever born.”
“Not the first,” Caitlyn murmured, and Derrick recalled she’d had an older brother who died a long time ago. Roane rubbed her shoulder, and she leaned back into him.
“Well, the only one we have here now,” Doc corrected gently. “But how would McKinley know to use Derrick’s blood?” He looked at Sabrina, who shrugged.
“I have no idea. But I don’t plan on asking him.” She shivered and explained their entire encounter again, but her vague mention of the creep sucking her blood bothered Derrick. “He told me if he catches me at Pearson Labs again, he’ll kill me.”
“The hell he will.” Derrick seethed. “But it’s just as well. I don’t want you anywhere near that place ever again.”
“Good. Because I don’t want to be near it, either. So I’ve made up my mind not to go back.”