Nico's Heart (RARE Book 1) (11 page)

Chapter 36

Nico and the team had waited for Angel to come back for their meeting, but she hadn’t shown.   They had tried to call her, but there was no answer. 

Chase and Jenna arrived around 5:30pm and they brought Janie with them.  She sat back away from everyone, but watched them all closely.  Every once in a while she would smile at something the children did or said. 

At 6pm, Phoenix started the grill and the team sat out back watching the kids play on the swing set while
they chatted.  They still had not heard from Angel. 

Finally Nico asked Chase if he had any idea where she was.  Chase looked at him in confusion.  “No, I haven’t seen her since the hospital right after lunch.”

“She never came back,” Nico told him.  “We were supposed to have our meeting around 3pm, but she never showed up and isn’t answering her phone.  That’s not like her.”

As Chase picked up his phone to call the hospital to see if she was still there, Jenna said, “Here she comes.”  All eyes turned to watch Angel as she walked towards them holding two little bundles.  She walked over to where Chase sat on a glider swing and lowered herself down beside him.  The little girls had their heads buried in her neck and refused to look at anyone.

“Hey now,” Angel said softly.  “This is my family.  You are safe here.  I promise.”  They slowly raised their heads and glanced around.  They were trembling, but they bravely took everything in as they clung to Angel.  She gently kissed them both on the cheek and then turned them towards Chase.  “This is Chase.  He’s the alpha here and he will protect you.”  Their eyes widened as they looked at him.  “He won’t hurt us?” One of them asked.  “Never,” Angel promised.  “He will never hurt you, nor will he allow anyone else to.”  Chase slowly reached out and ran a knuckle gently down first one little girl’s cheek and then the other.  “No one will ever hurt you again,” he promised them.  They watched him for a minute and then one of them climbed over onto his lap and laid her head on his shoulder, the other staying with Angel. 

Nico watched them and felt fury roll through him.  These little girls were scared to death of everyone.  Janie was scared to be around anyone.  Flame was still in the hospital because of what had happened to her.  And his Jenna, his beautiful mate, just look at everything she had gone through.  What the hell kind of monster was the General? 
The kind that deserves to be sent straight to hell and will be just as soon as we find him
, Angel whispered into his mind.  He looked over at her and nodded slightly.  He knew his eyes had gone wolf, and he was trying to control it, but it was so hard. 

Trying to distract himself, he asked Angel, “What are their names?”  Angel glanced down at them and then back at him shrugging her shoulders slightly.

“We don’t have names,” one of the little girls said.  “Our mommy died and we didn’t get any names.”

Phoenix walked over and knelt down in front of them.  “Of course you have names,” he said with a gentle smile.  “You are Faith and Hope.”  The child’s eyes widened as she looked at him.  “We are?” she asked.  “Yep, little Faith, you
are,” he responded.  She smiled; a smile that lit up her whole face.  Her sister said, “My name is Hope.”  Phoenix nodded at her and grinned.  Chase snuggled Hope closer to him and said, “And what beautiful names they are.” 

Angel looked up at Chase and wanted to tell him what a wonderful man she thought he was and how she wished she could be what he wanted, but he didn’t even look at her.  That hurt.  Yes, she was
the one that had said she did not think she could be his mate, not now, not ever.  But his rejection hurt so much.  She wanted to lean into him, and for once let someone else shoulder her pain and responsibilities.  She wanted someone to share her burdens with.  Someone to hold her and tell her everything was going to be ok, that she wasn’t alone.  She wanted her mate. 

Angel sat there watching everyone else as they talked and joked.  And she watched the other kids as they played on the swing set.  She was so tired, just so exhausted.  She hadn’t snagged more than a couple of hours of sleep here and there in days.  So, she did the only thing she really wanted to do.  She leaned over into her mate and closed her eyes, sagging against him, praying that he didn’t fully reject her in front of everyone. 
It’s not that I don’t trust you, Chase
, she whispered into his mind. 
It’s just that I am scared to death that I can’t be what you want.  What you need.  I have too many issues, too many ghosts. 
Chase held himself stiffly for a moment and then he moved Hope over to his other shoulder and slipped his arm around Angel pulling her closer.  “Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”  He whispered.  Sitting there snuggling precious little Faith while Chase held her, Angel could not resist anymore and she slowly drifted off to sleep in her mate’s arms.  She dreamt of another precious little girl that she had held like this so many years ago.

Chapter 37

Angel woke up still snuggled in Chase’s arms, but the girls had been coaxed out to play with the other children.  They were running around in their jammies, but had jackets on that had obviously come from Lily.  It warmed Angel’s heart to hear their giggles.  “We need to find a place for them to stay,” she said.  “I don’t want them to have to live at the hospital.” 

Janie spoke up, “They can stay with me if you want.”  Everything in Angel rebelled at the idea and she stiffened in Chase’s arms. 
No, they are my babies. 
She knew she was being stupid, but she wanted the girls with her.  She had claimed them in that hospital chair where she sat for hours holding them.  It had been so long since she had opened her heart to anyone, but those little girls had stolen it within the first five minutes they had been in her lap.

“Thanks, Janie,” Chase said, “I appreciate the offer, but I think I will have them stay with me for now.”  He had heard her, and he would keep the girls for her.  Angel was in so much pain. 
It was pain that she hid from everyone, but he knew.  He did not know what had happened to her, but he was hoping that he would get the chance to find out.  He knew she was the badass leader of RARE, but he also knew there was a softer, deeper side to her, too.  And he wanted all of her. 

Jenna looked over in surprise.  “Are you sure, Chase?  They could stay with us.”

“They will stay with me,” he repeated firmly.  “They will be fine.  I will get a live in nanny…”  Before he could finish that thought Angel’s claws were out and digging into his leg and her growl was deadly.  “Or not,” he said chuckling.  He wasn’t sure if she was upset because she did not want the pups around another woman or if it was because she didn’t want him around one, but he knew which one he was hoping for.  “While I’m at work, they can go to the daycare unless Angel is around and wouldn’t mind keeping them company.”

Her nails retracted and the growling stopped.  Damn, he was hoping it was him she was jealous over, not the pups. 
It was both, asshat
, he heard.  His laughter shook his whole frame at that.  He leaned over and nuzzled her cheek and then kissed her softly on the forehead.  And just like that he felt her retreat.  Well, wasn’t that great.

“Let’s eat,” Phoenix yelled.  As everyone grabbed plates and filled them with food, Angel got up and moved away from Chase erecting the shield around her heart once more.  She said, “RARE has a meeting at 8pm.  I need Ryker and Storm there, Chase.  Please find someone to take their places on Jenna and Lily’s security detail until we get back.”  She saw Phoenix stiffen at that.  Interesting.  As she watched him out of the corner of her eye, she caught him glancing at Nico with a determined look on his face.  Even more interesting.  Nico glanced over at Phoenix and shook his head once.  Ok, she was all over that shit now.  She had always tried hard to stay out of her teams’ heads, but if they didn’t spill their little secret tonight, all bets were off.  When it came to the safety of her family, she would do whatever it took.

Angel wasn’t the only one that was watching Phoenix and Nico’s exchange.  What was up with those two?  More than one person on the team wanted to find out…and they would, in their own ways.

Once everything was cleaned up from dinner, the team piled into the SUV and headed out to Angel’s house, Storm and Ryker following on their motorcycles.  It was a good 40 minutes away, but they needed somewhere private where they could come up with their next plan of action without the distraction of cubs, pups and mates.  And if Angel was honest with herself, it was away from Chase and the confusion he made her feel.  She knew he had kept the girls for her.

  And Angel wanted it all.  She wanted her mate, she wanted the girls, and she wanted the white house with the picket fence.  But she just did not know how to make that happen.  Even if she could somehow get over her messed up past, how would she ever keep them all safe in her line of work.  She made enemies.  Granted, most of the time they ghosted in and out and no one had a clue who they were.  But, they had made a name for themselves.  And there was every chance that someone could come hunting for them at any time. 

Chapter 38

Everyone sat down at the huge ass table in Angel’s basement.  The room looked j
ust like a conference room.  It even had a large dry erase board across one wall.  This was their planning room.  It was where they met, tossed around ideas and came up with their plans to kick ass and take names.  It was not the most comfortable room, but they weren’t there to kick back and watch movies.  Comfort did not really matter.

Nico watched as Storm and Ryker took it all in.  They had worked with them in the past, but they had never been a part of the team before.  They had always been on the sidelines, helping out as needed.  Nico had a feeling that was about to change. 

Jaxson set up his computer and Angel threw everyone else a pen and a pad of paper.  “Alright, first things first.”  Angel looked directly at Nico.  “Are you and your BFF gonna tell us all what is going on or do I need to find out for myself?”  Well fuck.  That was just like Angel.  Don’t hold anything back.  “Not much to tell,” Nico responded. 

“You really don’t want to go there with me right now, Nico.  Everyone in this room knows something is going on.  I want to know what it is and I want to know now.  We don’t keep secrets on this team.  We can’t survive that way.”  Crap, Angel was pissed.  He had really been hoping that none of this would come up.  He could handle it.  He didn’t have a solution yet, but he would. 

“Just a vision Nico had, Angel,” Phoenix said.  “And?” Angel persisted.  Phoenix glanced quickly at Nico and then back to her. 

“Nico is going to
get taken,” Storm said.  All eyes turned towards her.  And just like that, Phoenix was done with her.  Nico and Phoenix had each other’s backs no matter what.  And any woman that he ended up with would understand that.  Storm was giving away information that they had wanted to keep from the team.  Phoenix would have taken Nico’s spot and everything would have been fine, which was exactly what Storm had told him to do.  But now that the whole team was aware of what was going on, shit was going to hit the fan.  Yep, his dick wasn’t getting hard for her again.

“It’s nothing,” Nico growled.  “Phoenix and I are going to handle it.”

“No, you aren’t,” Angel said.  “We are all going to handle it.  Now talk.”  Nico and Phoenix stared at each other for a moment, then Nico talked.  He told them of his vision, told them everything he had told Phoenix, except for one thing.  When they wanted to know exactly where he was when all of this happened in his vision, he answered them very vaguely.  They would have known if he was lying, but technically he wasn’t.  He just didn’t give them the detailed description he had given Phoenix.  When he was finished, Angel grimaced and said, “Ok, this is one vision that definitely is not going to happen.  You will not be taken, Nico.  I refuse to let your mate and child lose you.  I refuse to lose you.”

Nico swallowed hard and nodded once, taking a long drink of his soda.  “That’s good, Angel, cause I don’t want to be lost.”

Angel stared at him for a moment, then turned and looked at Jaxson.  “Ok, Jax, your turn.  Talk to us.”

“I sifted through almost everything that I got off of the computer in Tijuana.  It took
a while because it was encrypted.   But it looks like he has women stashed in different areas around the globe.  The sick fuck is trying to breed them.  I’m not sure what he is hoping to accomplish.  It looked like at first he was just breeding psychics to psychics, but then he found out about shifters.  Now he is focused on breeding shifters with psychics.  I honestly don’t know what his end game is.  It seems like he is breeding his own army.  But, I’m not know why.  I can’t find any proof that the government is actually involved.  It looks as if it is all him.  But that doesn’t make sense.  Where is he getting his backing from?”

“That’s something we need to look further into.  How many different places have you found where he has women?” Angel asked.  “Looks like 18 places so far,” Jaxson responded.  “There could be more. 
Wait, make that 17.  Phoenix blew one of them up already.”

“Looks like I got 17
more to go,” Phoenix said.  “Point the fuckers out.”  As the rest of the team loudly agreed, Angel held up a hand.  “How many women are out there, Jax?  How many women are in these places like Flame and Janie?”

“Most of th
em are smaller and only have two to three women in them.  But there is one that is a lot bigger, and it looks like it has 23 women in it right now.  I think that is where he is holding them until they get pregnant and then shipping them off to the other places to be monitored by scientists until the children are born,” Jaxson responded.

“Fuck me,” Trace growled.  “We are hitting that place first.  You put me and Rikki in place, Angel.  We will go hunting.”

“I’m right there with ya,” Rikki said.  “That sick bastard.  I can’t believe he is doing that to all of those women!”

“Look,” Angel said.  “I understand how you feel, I really do.  But I think it would be smarter if we went in and picked off the smaller places one by one first.  Take out the tentacles of the monster, then go after him.”

“What about all of those women that are being raped right now,” Rikki insisted.  “We have a chance to get them out of there before they become pregnant.  We need to move before they are sent to one of those places where we found Flame and Janie.  They could be raped again while they are pregnant, this time suffering even more.”

“And what about the women that are already pregnant and in the smaller facilities?  The ones that
are currently being hurt, possibly raped and are scared to death that they are going to lose their babies?” Storm argued.

“If we hit the smaller facilities first, they will know we found out where they all are and could possibly move the main facility,” Nico pointed out.  “Of course, if we hit the bigger facility then they could move all of the smaller ones, too.”

“It would be harder to relocate all of the smaller ones,” Jaxson pointed out.  “If we hit the bigger one first, it will take longer for them to move the smaller ones.”

Angel sighed, “This is bigger than us, guys.  We are going to have to ask for help on this one.  Storm and Ryker, we will
get you the locations of the smaller places.  Get a hold of the council.  See if they will send enforcers to all of them.  RARE will hit the biggest one.  I want to move on this as early as the day after tomorrow, so find out if they can be ready by then.  We need to hit them all at the same time.”

Ryker got on his phone and contacted the council immediately, while Storm told Jaxson where to send the information.  When Ryker was done he told them, “The council is in.  Send the information to us.  We will be ready to hit the places within two days.  Storm and I need to go and get everything set up on our end now, but we will be in touch.”

As they walked out, Storm glanced back at Phoenix, but he would not even acknowledge her.  That ship had sailed.  He wasn’t wasting his time on the wrong ones anymore.  He wanted to find the right one, and he now knew for sure that it was not her. 

“Alright everyone, it’s late.  Let’s get out of here.  Meet back at 10
o’clock tomorrow morning so we can come up with a plan.  Phoenix and Nico, take my SUV.  I won’t need it tonight.” As Angel started picking up the pop cans and snacks everyone had, Rikki waved her away.  “I got this, girl.”  She grabbed a trash can and started throwing everything into it, so Angel followed everyone else up the stairs to kick them all out.  When Rikki came up, she took the trash out with her towards the dumpster Angel had, and Angel shut and locked the door.  Going into her bedroom, she collapsed on her bed, not even bothering to remove her clothes.  She was exhausted.  She fell asleep dreaming this time of Chase, Hope and Faith, and of the family she wished they could be.