Before Decker could ask any of his stupid questions, Gray interrupted. “The rogues won’t be our worry here.”
“Rogues are always a threat, Gray. You constantly underestimate them,” Decker said in that uptight Northeastern accent that annoyed him.
“True,” the admiral agreed. “Like you, Sebastian, they were injected with the Circe serum and at first, turned Circ. Soldiers able to transform into bigger, faster warriors with claws, fangs, and hardened skin. They sense danger and can repel small-caliber rounds when
changed
. But because they’re rogue, their strength is doubled, as you’ve no doubt experienced in the field.”
“Exactly.”
Decker nodded. “
Superstrength
too, so they’re not easy to take down, Gray.”
Gray didn’t need the history lesson. “That’s Circ 101, genius. But in the time you and I have been partnered, we’ve yet to run across a mutant. You don’t know what
they
can do.” He turned to Lonnie. “I thought they’d capped the last one in Brazil last month.”
Lonnie’s mouth turned grim. “So did
I
. The Circe’s Recruits team suffered a beating but managed to take care of a nest growing in the jungle. Problem is we have information that indicates the leader of this new group is turning fast. His name is Al Ross, and he’s gathering a following we don’t want.”
“Terrific, just what we don’t need.
A gang of mutants.”
Gray turned to Decker, conscious the man smelled faintly like cocoa. Though most Circs tended to have a unique scent all their own that any Circ could identify, Gray always detected Decker with little effort.
“So we have mutants.” Decker shrugged. “We take care of them like we handle rogues.”
Gray knew Decker had yet to face the real rough stuff, and he was curiously loath to subject the younger Circ to the ugly side of his condition.
Which made little sense, so he forced himself to continue.
“Mutants are
rogue
Circs who react even worse to the Circe serum. When they don’t satisfy their sexual urges with other Circs, the buildup of hormones mutates their genetic structure. So instead of looking like hulking weightlifters on steroids, they get seriously weird. Their skin grows black, their eyes turn red, and they kill everything in their path…after fucking it.
Nothing much human about them except their capacity to destroy.”
“Hell.”
“Yeah.”
Gray sighed. Maybe after this operation, he’d take a few weeks off. He was getting tired, exhausted by the constant cruelty he saw way too often in the course of his job. Lately, even time spent with his precious niece couldn’t nudge him from the depression settling into his bones. His beast felt restless, his need to shift into his more primitive, stronger form all-encompassing.
“Gray?”
He blinked at Decker, not surprised to see a measure of concern in the man’s eyes. “What?” he snapped.
Lonnie answered, “Your partner was asking if you needed to sit this one out. He said you took quite a hit saving him from a bullet—one he wouldn’t have been exposed to if you’d taken more care with yourself in the jungle.”
“Ah, I didn’t exactly say that, Admiral.”
Holy shit, Decker was blushing. Gray blinked, bemused at the sight of his partner looking less than reassured. If he hadn’t known better, he’d have thought himself attracted to the guy. But Gray had always favored women. Unlike most of the artificially created Circs, he’d been born this way. He didn’t undergo mating heats—periods of intense sexual arousal, when only sex with another Circ would do.
The Circ way of perpetuating the species.
Lonnie pierced Gray with his stare. “You might not have said it, Sebastian, but we both know it’s true.”
Gray refused to agree.
“Very well.”
Lonnie stood up and handed a folder to Decker. “I want you two to study up on your quarry. No picture, I’m afraid. This rogue was never part of an official project. But we have a name, his last location, and a few crime scenes. Your plane tickets are reserved for Friday, so you have three days to get yourselves together while we gather some last-minute
intel
from our sources out West.”
“Where West, Admiral?”
Decker asked.
“Bend, Oregon.
Center of the state, and in the Cascade Mountain Range.
Lots of mountains out there for our guy to hide in.
And lots of snow too.”
“In June?”
Gray asked.
The admiral nodded. “Oh, and before you think about doing anything ‘we’ll both regret,’ you screw with this mission at all, you answer to Alicia from now on. You go by the book on this.
My orders, my way.
We clear?”
Gray wanted to stay far away from the matchmaking woman. Lately, Alicia’s answer to everything involved mating and babies. Gray had a career to think of, that and a life he chose to live. He’d be damned if he’d let some ancient mystic tie him up in fate and destiny with a great big bow.
Even if she was his grandmother.
Gray left with the admiral’s blessing, but Bas—as Sebastian referred to himself—stayed behind at his superior’s request.
“Sir?”
Personally, he liked Admiral London. The man had been straight up with him from the get-go, unlike the pricks at the laboratory where he’d been kidnapped and injected with that nasty serum that turned him Circ—involuntarily. He could only be glad he hadn’t succumbed as so many others had. The mating heat had never affected him, much to the bemusement of the admiral and the myriad doctors who’d studied him.
But he feared he might be more like the Circs of Circe’s Recruits and Dawn Endeavor than anyone thought. Lately he had…
needs
. Sexual needs that his beast wanted only one particular man to satisfy. The scent of Grayson Belle lingered like
a fine
cologne.
Wild and earthy and uniquely male.
A mug on the admiral’s desk trembled, a residual of Bas’s telekinetic energy escaping, and he hurriedly tamped it back down. Another problem he’d been trying to handle lately—his unstable and unwelcome psychic ability. Fortunately, the admiral didn’t notice.
“Tell me, son, how is he?” The older man nodded to the closed door through which Gray had exited.
“Honestly?” Bas continued when the admiral motioned for him to speak. “He’s like a time bomb waiting to explode. It’s like he’s craving the excitement. I can’t explain it, but I can feel him tensing, sizing me up, and it’s all I can do not to attack him first.”
He hadn’t wanted to share Gray’s problem, but he worried about his partner. Truth was he lusted after the guy with a hard-on that wouldn’t quit.
That caramel skin, those hazel eyes, the black hair that kissed the nape of his neck and framed a face too wild to be classically handsome.
Yet Gray captivated all the same. He was Circ to his bones. A fact Bas’s beast never let him forget.
“At each other’s throats, hmm? That’s good.” The admiral smiled.
“Sir?”
Did the man
want
them to kill each other?
“We’ve been waiting for these reactions from Gray for some time.
It’s
okay, Sebastian. He’s not quite like you and the others. Gray is different, special. He just needs to release his beast every now and then. When you’re in Oregon, keep an eye on him but encourage him to let go of that wildness. It’ll help, trust me.”
Bas did trust the admiral, as much as he trusted the admiral’s wife, Alicia Sharpe. She had a presence about her that heralded great power and soothing peace.
Beautiful, graceful, and never a hair out of place.
And she was Gray’s grandmother. How could he not like the woman? Besides, his beast accepted her, and he heeded his beast’s instincts. They’d kept him alive on more than one occasion.
“Now go on. Make sure you two read that file before you leave the building. Oh, and I’ve found you a place to stay for the night. I know you have a place in Alexandria, but I want you and Gray to be tighter, to trust one another. Yes, I realize the trust issue is on his end, not yours. Still, if I order you two to get along, he can chafe, but he can’t refuse.” The admiral tossed another paper at him. “That’s the address and directions to your shared temporary lodging. I’m sorry about the suddenness of this new mission, but it’s necessary. Now track down Grayson and find our rogue Circ.”
Bas nodded. He gripped the folder and paper and left the room. It didn’t take him long to find Gray. His beast easily picked up the trail of anger and exotic jungle, that rare scent that made him ache in the most inappropriate of places.
Though at ease with his bisexuality, since becoming Circ, Bas had been more and more drawn to men, or one man, in particular.
Grayson Belle had become his sole focus. He dreamed about him, to the point he couldn’t think the word
sex
without an image of Gray popping into his mind.
He found his partner in a nearby break room, empty except for Gray.
“Hell.
Now what?”
Gray asked. Another soul blinked at him through Gray’s eyes, and Bas let that creature see the inner beast chafing within himself.
Like called to like, if only Gray would acknowledge the fact.
But Sebastian’s partner had a bit of a chip on his shoulder when it came to Circs created outside of the government’s official projects. Circe’s Recruits and Dawn Endeavor were two teams of Circs who consistently—though unofficially—did Alicia Sharpe’s bidding. The admiral had entrusted Bas with the information when he’d brought him on as Gray’s partner. Yet Bas wondered how much Gray knew about those teams, or how Gray actually fit into the Circs.
“Well? I’m not getting any younger.”
Or sexier
, Bas’s beast whispered to him. He couldn’t help a small growl, which further irritated his partner. In an effort to make peace, Bas held out the paperwork the admiral had given him.
“Our lodging for the next three days.”
He nodded at the paper Gray glared at. “The folder contains the info on our next mission. So let’s study the documents then get out of here to—”
“Wait a second.
This address.
You sure the admiral gave it to you?”
Bas couldn’t mistake the suspicion on Gray’s face.
“Yeah.
Why? What’s wrong?”
Gray looked from the paper to Bas and back to the paper. Then he muttered a few choice swearwords under his breath. He grabbed the folder from Bas’s hands and breezed through it in a few seconds, then closed it and handed it back to Bas. “Take that back to the admiral and meet me at the admiral’s spot in the lot.”
Bas had questions, but the shuttered look on Gray’s face kept him silent. He left and scanned the folder before turning it over to the admiral’s secretary. Then he looked for Gray at the specified area in the parking lot, only to find Gray behind the wheel of a dark SUV.
“Get in,” Gray ordered through the open window.
Surprised at the curbside service, Bas entered. “Thanks.”
“Shut up.”
“And there’s the Gray we know and love.” Bas gave him an overlarge grin. For the life of him, he didn’t understand why Gray’s peevishness made him more attractive.
“Look. I don’t know if you and the admiral set this up or what, but let’s get something straight. I’m not into sharing.”
“Ah, o-
kay
.”
What the hell was he talking about?
“So don’t even think this is my idea.”
“Right.
Look, hero, why don’t you just tell me what the hell crawled up your ass and died?”
Gray clenched his jaw tight. Bas knew he absolutely hated it when Bas called him
hero
.
Which was why Bas made sure to call him that several times a day.
“You do know where we’re staying?”
Bas sighed. “Long as it has a bed, I’m game. It’s been nearly eight months of nonstop action. I barely remember where home is. Honestly, I don’t give a rat’s ass where we go. I want to sleep, eat, and take a nice long hot shower without interruption. Think you can handle that…hero?”
Gray growled at him, and Bas wanted to purr. Gray was so damn sexy when he scowled.
All dark and broody.
The power just bunched up inside him, waiting to be sprung free.
When Gray continued to sulk beside him, Bas slouched down in his seat. He closed his eyes while his partner drove, honest about being tired. The pace they worked had been incredible. Righting wrongs and cleaning up science gone wrong from Ecuador to Norway to Mexico had been more than tiresome, yet still exhilarating, being able to be so close to Gray. The man moved like the wind, had a mind that never quit, and the tenacity of ten bloodhounds. They’d occasionally routed rogue Circs but normally found
themselves
cleaning up drug wars. Only the drugs they found weren’t the illegal kind but the experimental kind.
Remembering how many times Gray had saved innocents and nearly gotten himself killed while doing so aggravated his beast until Bas reminded him that the man sat safely beside him, close enough to reach out and touch.
“Wake up, Sleeping Beauty,” Gray’s familiar voice rasped. “We’re here.”
They parked in front of a nice-looking brownstone in an upscale neighborhood. Expensive cars sat along the street, and the surrounding landscaping screamed money. A real step-up from the last hotel they’d stayed in.