Alpha Hunter (24 page)

Trust.

She smiled and turned to face the spray. That pesky emotion seemed to be at the heart of all her hang-ups. She trusted Blayne. She’d been in his mind too often not to know for certain that he was noble and honorable and he genuinely cared about her. No, that wasn’t accurate. He was in love with her and she needed to find a way to return his love or she needed to let him go.

A strange sort of panic cramped her belly as she thought of life without him. She’d been isolated and lonely most of her life.
It was her own fault. She continually pushed people away. Only with Blayne had she felt safe enough to open up, to really let him in. Now that she’d experienced the completeness, she wasn’t sure she’d survive without it.

She turned off the water and reached for one of the folded towels on the shelf next to the shower. The problem was
, in her heart of hearts, she didn’t feel worthy of his love. Understanding the problem was the first step toward working through it, she supposed. But her self-loathing ran so deep she wasn’t sure she could ever overcome it.

After wrapping the towel around her damp body, she paused. Finding out her darkest secret hadn’t changed Blayne’s feelings for her.
And today he’d shared his darkest secret with her. What more could he do to earn her trust? If he was foolish enough to settle for someone so…emotionally weathered, why should she argue with him?

She smiled at the mental tug-of-war.
She’d only known the man for two weeks and look at the progress they’d made together. She needed to stop beating herself up and just revel in the madness.

He was waiting for her when she
stepped out of the misty bathroom.

“I had to guess at your size, but we can exchange them if I was way off.”

He knew her body better than she knew herself. It was highly unlikely that he’d get it wrong. “You remembered underwear.” She gave him a quick hug and kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll love you forever.”

He laughed. “I wished I’d known
it was that easy to earn your undying devotion.”

They were joking, but heat erupted in his gaze. Her undying devotion was what he really wanted and they both knew it.

“The kitchen closes in half an hour. If you’re hungry, we need to hurry.”

“I’m too wound up to eat right now.” She pulled on a pair of panties under the towel then dug through the messy pile of clothing. “No bras?”

“Sorry. You’ve never worn one before.”

“Not by choice,” she cried. “Jorden took off with my suitcase.”

“Does this mean I’ve lost you already?”

She smiled at his silliness. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

“Glad to hear it. We can swing back by the commissary after we meet with Morgan.”

She pulled
on a black T-shirt and grinned. “Hope it’s not too cold in Morgan’s office.” He chuckled as she finished dressing and dragged a comb through her wet hair. If Morgan could face the world without makeup, so could she. “That’ll have to do. Let’s go.”

Morgan was conversing with a tall dark-haired man when Blayne led her into the situation room. If not for the massive displays that dominated the front wall, the room would ha
ve looked like any other office space. Most of the cubicles were empty at the moment, but all of the technology looked human.

“That’s Eli
as Bertram, her second-in-command,” Blayne told her as they approached the other two.

“I’ve asked Eli
as to join us, unless you have an objection to his participation.”

“Not at all.”
Blayne motioned from Elis to Angie as he said, “Elis Bertram meet Angie Logan.”

“The long lost Angie Logan?” Elis’ smile accented the brackets framing his mouth and made his hazel eyes appear more green than brown. He wasn’t classically handsome like the Ontarians, more ruggedly attractive.

“Guilty as charged.” She shook his hand.

“I’m glad you’ve finally been recovered and you appear
no worse for wear.”

Recovered?
She fought back a laugh. He made her sound like a stolen object, but the formal phrasing fit his military bearing.

“Let’s go to my office.” Morgan
led them to the office tucked away in the back corner of the situation room. There was a small table with four chairs along with her desk, so they sat down around the table. “Lor mentioned something about a psychic connection between you and Nazerel. Lor assured me that Nazerel couldn’t activate it. Can you?”

Angie refused to let Morgan’s directness rattle her. This was important. There was no reason to beat around the bush. “I needed to learn how to control my abilities before I even tr
ied to activate the link. If he senses what I’m doing, I’ll only get one chance at it.”

“We’ll offer whatever support we can,” Elias said.
“Let us know when you’re ready to try. Finding Nazerel is top priority.”

“Understood.”

“Do you still have eyes on Jillian?” Blayne wanted to know. “Lor and Odintar are convinced she’s not in danger, but I’m not so sure. When Nazerel couldn’t find Angie, he targeted Tori. Jillian’s connection to the sisters might be enough to make him overlook her injury. This isn’t just about finding a mate anymore. They’ve challenged him and he won’t stop until he’s bested them. That’s the nature of a Shadow Assassin.”

“I agree,” Angie said. “Tori seemed satisfied that Nazerel would just leave
Jillian alone, but Blayne’s right, he’s more obsessive than that.”

“I’ve had a team on her round the clock since she was admitted
. But honestly, I was about to pull them off,” Morgan told them. “No one has seen any sign of Nazerel.”

“Which doesn’t mean he wasn’t there,” Blayne reminded
her. “Shadow Assassins can manifest invisibility shields. Please, leave your team in place.”

Elias leaned forward, resting his forearms against the tabletop. “I’ve wondered about that since I
first heard the term. Do they just fool the eye or do they actually dematerialize?”

Blayne shrugged.
“Depends on the man. There are a number of ways to render oneself invisible.”

Elias shook his head, looking a bit
incredulous. “I’ll have to take your word for it.”

The differences in their reactions were subtle, but it seemed likely that Morgan had been dealing with Mystics longer than Elias.
That and the fact that Morgan was in charge of the project.

“Did Lor tell you about the disappearances?” Morgan asked.

Blayne nodded. “There had been three when we left for Bilarri.”

“Technically the count is still three, but now we have two bodies.
One was horribly disfigured as if her body had…mutated.”

“
Resequencing DNA is one of the Rodyte’s favorite pastimes.” Blayne sighed, his thumb tapping out an unconscious rhythm against the edge of the table. “They’re actually rather good at it. These failures indicate that this is new territory for them.”

“
The two victims, as well as the three still missing, were all in the notebook,” Morgan told him. “They’ve focused entirely on the prescreened females now.”

“Can we use that to our
advantage?”

Morgan’s professional mask slipped for a second
, revealing her frustration. “We could if we had the staff needed to cover each one, but we don’t.”

“How many are you able to cover.” Angie
had no idea how many people were stationed at the Bunker or if the Bunker was Morgan’s only facility.

“It depends on the level of coverage needed on each target.”

Angie knew an evasion when she heard one.

Morgan must have read
annoyance on Angie’s face because she clarified. “Even if we stick to minimal surveillance, we can only cover twenty, maybe twenty-five percent. There’s no option. We have to prioritize.”

“Has Odintar finished the translation so the notebook can be analyzed?” Elias asked.

“Sorry,” Blayne muttered. “I didn’t think to ask.”

“Well, I have a damn good profiler on staff. If Lor will trust us with
a copy of the translation, we should be able to narrow down the most probable targets.”

“I’ll talk to him about it.”

“Good.” Morgan’s assessing gaze moved over Angie for a moment then she looked back at Blayne. “Elias offered our support, but I’m making it mandatory. You will notify me before she tries to locate Nazerel. If that goes sideways, he could end up locating us and that can’t be allowed to happen.”

“We’ll probably try tomorrow morning. We’re both exhausted now.”

“I’ll have a support team ready.” She pushed back from the table and stood. “Rest well.”

Elias stood too and smiled at Angie. “It was nice meeting you.”

“You too.” He walked from the office before she could say more. She waited until they were alone and then looked at Blayne. “Do you really think I’m ready to do this? You hadn’t said anything to me about trying to activate the strand.”

“I was about to have you try on Bilarri
when Lord Drakkin interrupted us.” He stood as well and pulled out her chair. “And for the record, you won’t be activating the connection. You’ll use your farseeing ability to follow the dormant strand into his mind. That should minimize the chances that he’ll even be aware of your presence.”

“Then I just hang out in his
head until he looks at a landmark or something with a return address on it?”

“Basically.
The simpler we keep things the less can go wrong.”

* * * * *

“So this is where you’ve been hiding?”

Nazerel’s smug voice jarred Sevrin out of her
exhausted sleep. For a moment she forgot where she was and what she’d been doing until the wee hours of the morning. The light slipping through the ill-fitting blinds was still hazy, so it couldn’t be much past dawn. “What are you doing here?” She sat up and the rumpled sheet slipped to her waist.

“Is that an invitation?”

She glanced down and gasped, snatching the sheet up to cover her bare breasts. “Get out!” She shoved against Zach’s shoulder, but he just muttered under his breath and rolled to his stomach.

Nazerel smirked. “I’d get in, except I don’t like sloppy seconds
. Or would it be thirds?”

“You’re disgusting.” Dragging the sheet with her, she crawled off the side of the
bed, leaving Zach sprawled on the lumpy mattress still oblivious to their uninvited guest. Thank the gods Nazerel couldn’t see the strips on her ass and thighs. Zach had punished her for neglecting his needs then punished her for enjoying her punishment too much. He’d kept her suspended on the razor’s edge between pleasure and pain until she craved them equally.

Nazerel looked around the shabby hotel room and his lip curled.
“Charming accommodations. You’re really moving up in the world.”

“What do you want?”

“I want to know why the rotation we all agreed to has been abandoned.”

She tensed. Everything she’d tried to temper his insolence had failed. He was shrewd and logical and by far the most interesting of the alpha hunters. And he wasn’t
in the least bit intimidated by her even though she held his life in the palm of her hand. It was infuriating—and arousing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Moving so fast he literally blurred, he shoved his fingers between her breasts and fisted the sheet. Then he yanked her forward and sneered, “I don’t have time for your bullshit. Hunting rights were supposed to rotate between the teams
so there weren’t too many disappearances in too short a period of time. The last three females have been captured by Zach’s men. That’s unacceptable.”

“That’s not true.
” Zach had finally awakened enough to join the conversation. He was sitting on the bed, blurry-eyed and unconcerned about his nakedness. “The most recent catch was made by Team East.”

Without releasing Sevrin, Nazerel looked at the other alpha. “Darrian sent one of his men here or the
y’ve begun hunting in the new location?”

Zac
h just shrugged and motioned toward Sevrin. “Ask her. If it doesn’t directly affect Team West, I stay out of it.”

Nazerel shoved her back as he released his hold on the sheet. “Do you have another medical facility or are all three females here?”

She crossed her arms under her breasts, intentionally increasing her cleavage. The effort was lost on Nazerel. His hostile gaze remained on her face. “You can’t have it both ways, Naz.”

“My name is Nazerel.”

She’d only used the diminutive because she knew it pissed him off. “You ignore my summons and refuse to keep me informed of your team’s movements. You basically took over the Team West house after Zach selflessly offered to take you in. How can you expect to be treated with respect when you are dismissive and rude to everyone?”

“I’m not rude to everyone, just you. And my concern remains. If three women were taken, one of them should have been hunted by Team South.”