Because really, why would men as handsome and together as Gray and Bas want her? She was a mutant, an unsophisticated woman no better than a beastly killer at the best of times with nothing more than a GED and a handful of unsuccessful waitressing jobs on her résumé. She’d had a few sexual, meaningless relationships and barely two nickels to rub together. Oh, and she was a monster.
Her beast snarled at her to quit her pity party and concentrate on stopping the danger she could feel drawing closer.
After grabbing more munitions and another gun filled with bullets meant to kill, Ali threw on a jacket and trudged outside. For three hours, she looked for danger while covering her trail. An unfamiliar scent struck, pine and danger and something else that seemed recognizable. The spoor of power mixed with insanity. She trudged deeper into the undergrowth to a small clearing very few on the mountains knew about. There, she came upon the one mutant she’d managed to avoid for years.
Trenton’s right hand and a bastard too crafty to be caught unaware.
He’d masked his scent, or she never would have gotten close to him.
She entered the clearing before she recognized him. Now that it was too late to do anything but persist, she put on a brave face and waited.
Freakishly huge, he’d tower over Bas. He had to be nearly eight feet in height and must have weighed four hundred pounds. His skin, like hers, had streaks of black over normal flesh. His hair remained long all the time, as if he was in a perpetual state of
change
. His eyes had no iris or pupil to be seen. Colored entirely of red, they looked like bloody beacons leading to hell.
“Watts.”
He nodded, his gaze calm, his manner unthreatening.
Abnormally at ease.
His claws had turned black years ago, but his fangs remained white, sharp, and lethal. She’d seen more than one innocent die from having his or her throat torn out by those teeth.
“Alison. I’m glad to see you still alive.”
She scowled. “Save it, Watts. We both know you’re here for Trenton.
His fucking lackey.”
He narrowed his eyes. “A lethal tongue you have there.” He smiled, showcasing not only the few fangs she’d seen before but a whole mouthful of them. “I can’t wait to feel it up close and personal.” He licked his lips, and she barely controlled a shudder.
She pulled out her pistols and aimed them dead center between his eyes. He might survive a shot to the chest, but he wouldn’t walk away without a brain. “Say what you want,
then
leave.”
“I wasn’t lying. I want you. You know that. I’m also done with Trenton. In case you haven’t heard, you’re not the only one on his most-wanted list.” He laughed, and the sense of evil ruffled her beast.
“So all the rogues and mutants combing the area?”
“You’re the reward, but I’m the real prize. I guess I’ve made a few enemies over the years.”
She snorted. “No shit. You’ve killed when you didn’t have to. And don’t think I’ve forgotten seeing what you did to those women in the breeding cells.” She hated Watts almost as much as she hated Trenton. Except Watts had been turned into what he was; Trenton aspired to evil.
He shrugged. “I’m a slave to my needs. But then, we all are.” He took a deep breath and blinked at her. “You have to be kidding me. Don’t tell me you were won over by that fucking killer pretending to be a do-gooder?” He laughed, but there was no mirth in the sound. “Grayson Belle. No shit. You let
him
fuck you, but you say no to
me
?”
For all that Watts was a monster, he didn’t seem that canny. Nor did he seem to be anything other than shocked by her choice of bed partner. “What do you mean?”
“None of us were ever sent out here to kill you. But he was.
Him and that prick, Decker.”
She didn’t understand. “They weren’t here for me, Watts. They came to kill you and the other mutants in the area.”
“Tell yourself whatever you want, but the bastards came to kill mutants. Guess who was top dog on their list? Al Ross.” He dug into a pack by his feet and took out a letter. He crumpled it and threw it to her. “Take a look if you don’t believe me.”
Her hand shook, so she lowered one of the guns. She couldn’t believe it.
Didn’t want to.
But it made so much sense. Why men like Gray and Bas might want her. Why they’d come to the mountain in the first place. There weren’t that many rogues on the mountain at any one time. But she’d been here for months.
She kept her eyes on Watts while she stooped to pick up the paper. He didn’t move.
“Go ahead and read it,” he growled. “You’re one of us, whether you like it or not. Those assholes don’t care who they kill. If it has red eyes and black skin, it’s a target. I thought you were smarter than that.”
He sat on a rock and waited.
She
uncrumpled
the paper and read a classified mission statement from one Admiral G. London to an Alicia Sharpe.
A Pentagon missive.
Some of the lines had been blacked out, but she read enough to recognize
Agent Belle
and
Al Ross
—the supposed threat—with the express order to eliminate said threat.
Shaken and trying hard not to show it, she dropped the paper. It fell onto the snow-covered ground as swiftly as her heart broke and crashed at her feet. When she felt she could speak without crying, she said to Watts, “This still doesn’t change the fact that Trenton is a walking dead man.”
“No, it doesn’t.” Watts
stood,
his power both impressive and awesome to behold. When he crossed his arms over his chest, his muscles bunched with lethal energy. “But sometimes enemies can become allies. I’m in hiding, and I’m fucking sick of it. Deer meat is stringy, and I’m not so far gone that I’m turning cannibal.” He sneered. “The mutants and rogues hunting you down aren’t nearly my caliber or yours. Pitiful challenges.”
“True.” She wanted to return to her home and put a bullet in Gray’s handsome head. Then she wanted to rail at him and kill him all over again. He’d been crueler than Trenton. At least the doctor had never tried to pretend he had her best interest at heart. He’d been all cold science, trying to better himself. But Bas and Gray had made her feel things. Hope that the future might not be so bleak. And they’d planned on killing her all along.
“Why didn’t they just kill me, then? They knew my name.”
“Fuck if I know.
Though if it had been me, I’d have gotten my fill of you before offing you.
Prime piece of Circ ass can sate a mating hunger. No offense.”
God.
I’m so stupid
. They would have killed her soon enough. She should have saved them the trouble and told them of her intentions. She’d never planned on a long life anyway.
Mates.
Ha
. Her beast roared with inner pain, and the agony woke her mutant into a froth of brutal hate. It wanted blood, death, and destruction. And it wanted them now.
Watts watched her warily, no doubt sensing the kindred spirit awakened within her. “I propose we join forces. Once we kill Trenton, we can go back to being enemies if you want. You know I’m stronger and faster. I’ll kill you someday, Alison. But I’d rather not.” He tilted his head, studying her. “There’s something about you.
More than your ripeness.
More than that hot cunt I want.” He seemed confused, and she felt a moment’s pity for him, despite his crudity.
“Thanks, I think.”
He laughed. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll be fucking you.
If not now, then after Trenton’s dead.
And I don’t particularly care if you’re willing.”
“Be hard to fuck me if I cut your balls off.”
“True.” He nodded. “But the thing is
,
we don’t have to be enemies. Once we kill Trenton, the larger threat to us is gone. We can erase evidence of our existence. Bring down his lab. Hell, we let the government in on it, and they’ll clean up the problem in two shakes. Once we’re free, we can be together.
You and me.
Live away from all this, or live here if you want.”
Watts wanted to live. He wanted freedom, and he’d kill again and again, hurting those around him because he couldn’t help himself. The mutant and beast in her knew the truth, and it knew she was just like him. She just hadn’t reached her limit yet, when she’d no longer be able to differentiate right from wrong.
With her world ripped out from under her, she had little choice in the matter. “Call me Ali, Watts. If we’re going to partner up, we might as well become friends.” She lowered her weapon. “Now let me tell you what I know.” She gave him the laboratory codes she’d used to escape, codes no one knew she had. They’d blamed another rogue and killed him for “allowing her to escape.” Or so she’d heard.
After some time, Watts nodded. “With that, and with what I know about the rest of his security, this will be a piece of cake. But don’t fuck me on this, or I’ll kill you, Ali. And I’ll make it last.”
Giving in to the inevitable, she held out her hand. “Same goes.
Partners?”
Until we kill Trenton; then I kill you.
And finally, me.
“Partners.”
His large hand dwarfed hers. A hint of lust appeared on his face, but he wisely took a step back. “Now let’s go hunting.”
Bas had a hard time functioning by the time he returned to the cabin. He’d done his best to mask his tracks, but the dread growing in his breast became impossible to ignore. Something bad had happened to one of his mates, maybe both. He’d already shifted into his beast to make the return trip faster, but he was too late. He’d been calling out to Gray repeatedly in his mind. Gray wouldn’t answer. And no matter how much Bas tried, he couldn’t sense Ali.
Though they hadn’t truly bonded together, he knew she was his. The way Gray was. But he and Gray had forged those emotional and physical ties. Bas and Ali hadn’t. Not yet, because they needed Gray to pull the three of them together.
He tore through the cabin and found it empty. So he headed for the area underground.
Gray lay tied to the bed, unconscious. Two darts were buried in his chest. Of Ali, there was no sign.
Sincerely freaked, he removed the darts from Gray. Then he grabbed water and splashed it in Gray’s face. He tried to waken him, the way Gray had pushed through to him before. He opened himself on every level and poured his heart and soul into Grayson Belle.
After a minute, his partner—his
mate
—woke.
“Thank God.” Bas kissed him hard on the mouth and dragged the key out of Ali’s hiding spot. After releasing Gray from the restraints, he carried him upstairs and placed him on the couch. He grabbed some leftover rogue clothes from her armoire and tossed them at his lover. “Well? What did you do to Ali?”
He hated to jump to conclusions, but the scent of sex, joy, and confusion, not to mention Ali, lingered over Gray like a perfume.
“Huh? Ali?” Gray called out.
“She’s not here.”
Gray held his head. “That little witch.” His growl turned into a roar as he stood and looked around. “She fucking held me with that scent. Then she
tranq’d
me.
Again!”
Gray pulled on the clothes Bas gave him, to include his own boots that sat in the bottom of her armoire. “You filled in the admiral?”
“Through Keiser.”
Bas didn’t want to, but he had to acknowledge Gray had been right to send him. “He’s as arrogant as you are. And he’s hiding a lot behind those cold gray eyes. Secrets I don’t even wanna know about. But he’s solid. Gave me this sat phone and a bunch of supplies and a truck I left at the base of the mountain. Now tell me about Ali.”
“I don’t know. We made love, we bonded, and I told her we were mated. She seemed happy about it.” Gray frowned. “I think. Maybe she was a little annoyed.”
Bas groaned. “What did you say to her?
Idiot.”
“Hey, I told her the flat-out truth,” Gray snapped. “We’re mated, and we’re going to be together. So she got a little touchy about the future. I told her not to worry. I’d handle it.”
“You handled it, all right.” Bas paced the living room, needing to find her
now
. “Think about it. The woman has been through hell with men, and Circs in particular. Then we come in here out of the blue to kill her. But instead we fuck her. Two guys she doesn’t know from Adam.”
“Her beast knows,” Gray argued. “Instinct doesn’t lie. You know our intuition is there to protect us, self-serving to ensure the survival of the species. I felt her, Bas. Ali’s beast is mine, as much as it’s yours.
So’s
the damn woman under
all that
mutant DNA,” he ended on a growl.
“Well, apparently the ‘damn woman’ doesn’t accept that yet. Asshole,” Bas muttered, knowing it was partially his fault for not warning his mate to go easy on the woman. Gray tended to take charge, and he didn’t have a lot of tolerance for those not following his orders. Bas knew that better than most.
“I’m not a child to be warned how to behave.” Gray glowered.
“Then don’t act like one. You should have used more patience. Admit it.”
“Maybe.”
He threw open the door and lifted his nose. “Come on. Let’s find her so we can talk some sense into her.”