“I told you not to do that,” the rogue by them growled. “It's not helping.”
“But Hale—” Paige said.
“Is fine.” Hale yanked the rogue back, relieved when Paige retracted that scent.
Holy hell, but she packed a punch. “If you have to, beat them back. But don't attract them to you!”
Robbie fought through a mass of bodies toward them, tossing Circs and mutants back into the rooms they spilled out of. “Hawkins. What the hell are you doing here?” The rogue next to Hale answered back, “Kohl ordered us to capture your doc.
Dunn took off with him and ordered the rest of us here to put an end to Circe's Recruits.
Against
Kohl's orders.”
Robbie grinned, his teeth wickedly sharp. “Dissension in the ranks. I like it.” Paige growled low in her throat and swiped her nails across a rogue's jugular when he pushed past Hawkins. Hale wanted to help her, but he had his hands full trying to stay upright amid the bodies piling up.
“This is ridiculous. Paige, come on.” He shielded her as they made their way to Robbie. They were forced to step over groaning bodies, the hallway overflowing with the enemy. A stabbing pain hit him in the side, but he ignored it and pulled Paige with him, thrusting her at Robbie. “Take her out of here.”
“What the fuck?” Roane roared beyond them and started to charge into the shrinking corridor.
“No, stay back,” Robbie said as he caged Paige between him and Hale. He continued to backstep toward Roane and the others now with him. “Take Paige out of here.”
“Dammit.” Roane grabbed her and quickly pulled her behind him. “She's good.
You two, get out of there.”
Hale looked over his shoulder, relieved that one of his mates was out of harm's way. His beast nudged Robbie to also move in her direction.
“I
know
you did not just try to push me back there.” Robbie punched a mutant in the face, cracking its jaw. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I don't know.” Hale felt dizzy but shook it off. “Look. They're just about done.” Only two more mutants were actively fighting. The rest littered the floor, along with a few rogue Circs. Three of the rogues remained standing, using stunners and lethal fangs and claws to dispose of the mutants still struggling.
Hale couldn't believe how many bodies fit in the hallway. It was like a living, or dying, carpet. The sight made him queasy.
Robbie swore and tucked Hale under his arm. “You're injured, you idiot.”
“I'm fine.” Circs healed with amazing speed. Even if he had been wounded, he'd soon be on the mend. Too bad his body hadn't gotten the memo.
“Roane, playboy's bleeding all over the place.”
“New venom in the mutants' claws. You'll need to see to that.” Hawkins joined them, breathing hard. He was covered with blood, both his and the darker stuff that leaked from the mutants. But as Hale watched, his body healed itself. “We're immune.”
“Great. Just when we need Doc. And he's where?” Zack said from over Roane's shoulder.
“Can we get out of this stinking hallway?” Hale tried to push away from Robbie, feeling like a pussy for not standing on his own two feet. But Robbie wouldn't let him go. He glared, and his mate glared back.
“Those guys friends of yours?” Roane asked Robbie, looking at Hawkins and the other rogues with him.
“You could say that.”
Roane wiped the sweat from his forehead, and Hale noticed the healing wounds on his forearms. “Come on, then.” Over his shoulder, he said, “Derrick, bring Sabrina down here to see to Hale. Zack, make sure every one of these fuckers is dead.” Zack passed Hale, carrying one of Doc's special guns. The ammunition had been doctored to counteract Circ healing. A bullet to the brain would kill anyone living.
“Zack, Kelly's safe in the lab with Ace,” Hale heard Paige say.
“Thanks.” Zack started shooting at the ground, one bullet per body. He stopped and reloaded just as Hale left the hallway.
Paige quickly wormed her way under Hale's arm as everyone congregated in the family room and kitchen, where Sabrina stood in a ragged shirt. Her black hair was messed, and a scratch was healing on her cheek. At Hale's raised brow, she shrugged.
“A bunch of rogue Circs took me by surprise upstairs. But Derrick killed most of them.”
“Except for the ones Sabrina tagged. A few got away,” Derrick admitted.
“Damn.” Hawkins leaned against the kitchen counter. “They'll get word back to Dunn about us sooner than I'd hoped.” He looked over his shoulder at the other rogues with him. “Fallon, Tersch, take care of our problem, hmm? And tell Hayashi to bring his ass back here when you see him. He's not answering his cell.”
The rogues nodded and left on silent feet.
“They're solid.”
“Great. Now, who the fuck are you?” Roane snarled. “And why is our house littered with rogue Circs and mutants? What happened to our alarm system?
Where the
hell is Doc
?”
“Shit,” Robbie muttered. In a louder voice, he said to Roane, “This is Hawkins.
He's one of the Circs they tapped at Pearson Labs. A Navy SEAL, right?”
“Yeah.” Hawkins looked uncomfortable around the females. “McKinley, please tell me Doc made some headway with our problem. Torrence looks fine.” He nodded to her.
She blinked up in surprise. “Julian?”
“Julian?” Derrick echoed, less than pleased. “You know this squid?”
“Hell. What were you? Not Air Force. Army? No.” Hawkins sneered. “A jarhead, right? Figures. Marines. All muscle, no brains.” Derrick made a move to go at him, but Roane held him back. “Cut the shit.
Hawkins, I want answers.
Now
.”
Hale had to admit, Roane was impressive in a rage. He tried to move to his friend's side when his knees buckled, and he slipped out of Paige's arms to the floor.
Paige knelt by his side, worried. “Hale?”
Sabrina motioned to Derrick. “A little help here. Get me a towel and come here.” Derrick did as ordered, no questions asked.
“Sorry.” Hale didn't understand why he felt so weak. “Not sure what happened to my legs.”
“Stanch the bleeding,” Sabrina ordered her mate, as mean as ever. “Dammit, Derrick. Hold the towel here.” She shoved Derrick's hands over his side, and Hale couldn't help squirming to avoid the intense pain.
“That really fucking hurts.”
“Shit. Hold on, Weston,” Hawkins said to Roane. Hale heard him talking but couldn't see him from his position on the floor. “I called, and this time Hayashi picked up. He's going to bring some antivenom with him. He's at the labs right now.” Hawkins paused. “There's some serious shit going down. A special task force just breached security.”
“Dammit.” Robbie crouched down beside him, staring hard into Hale's eyes.
“Mike told me he wouldn't move until I could be there.”
“He probably knows you'll try to rip out Kohl's guts. Can't have one of his men up on charges of murder,” Hawkins offered.
“Who said anything about murder?” Robbie said through extended fangs. “I'm talking extermination. Plain and simple.”
Hawkins chuckled. “Nothing simple about you.” Caitlyn appeared in the dining area, and Hawkins stared at her a minute too long. When Roane growled, he cleared his throat and looked away. “About that headway…?”
Robbie answered, “Sabrina, do you know if Doc's gotten any closer to settling the rogue Circs using my blood? Some of the guys manage to last up to a year without going off the deep end. But with all the experimenting Pearson Labs has been doing lately, it's hard to know where the guys stand. Packard's blood helped you a good bit.
Maybe it would help Hawkins and his men?”
Hale watched Sabrina and Robbie interact as if watching a movie. Everything seemed dreamy, scripted, and disconnected from him.
“I don't know. Doc speculated that Derrick helped me because we were mated.
The nature of a Circ is to keep in tune with his or her own survival. By healing me, Derrick ensured the possibility of a future generation of his DNA. I don't know if the procedure will work for you, Julian. I'm sorry.”
“Doc will know,” Roane said firmly. “As soon as he gets back, he'll know exactly what to do. And if he doesn't have the answers now, he'll work until he gets them.”
“Actually, he's a lot closer than you might think,” Kelly volunteered as she ambled into the kitchen ahead of Ace.
“Ma'am.” Hawkins nodded respectfully but took a step back when Ace threatened him with bodily harm. Zack entered behind them, equally as wary.
“Ace, relax. My beast doesn't sense a threat. And I'm very sensitive to anything that might harm the baby.”
Zack rumbled something.
“Julian Hawkins. Nice to meet you,” Hawkins said. “So about this progress?” Kelly responded. “I think Robbie is the key to a lot of the problems the labs initially had with the Circe serum. I overheard Doc talking to someone on the phone, and I was curious, so I asked him.”
“Robbie?”
“McKinley,” Hale rasped. “My mate.”
“No shit. Found someone who would have you, eh? What about the female?” Hawkins asked Robbie, glancing at Paige.
“She's ours too,” Hale answered for him. “Disobedient female who needs a good spanking…” His voice faded as the room went dark.
He heard her calling his name. He smiled, but he didn't open his eyes. He needed the rest. Once he gathered his strength again, he'd teach her not to worry her mates. In just…a little…while…
* * * * *
Evan struggled against the ties binding his wrists. The rank office they'd thrust him into was filled with gore. Several mutants had apparently revolted, because scientists, rogue Circs, and the PPA were running all over the place trying to sort out the madness. Simon Dunn had definitely been playing with things best left alone. He had greasy hair and splotchy skin. A foul odor wafted from Simon's body with his every movement. The rogues he'd used to infiltrate the compound and capture Evan obeyed him, but Evan could tell it was only a matter of time before they completely turned.
At home when learning as much as he could about McKinley, Evan had been startled to find several properties in the Circ's blood that he'd also found in the men of Circe's Recruits. Comparing McKinley's samples with Caitlyn's, he'd discovered a potential method to creating an antigen to combat the viral strains of EP12 that he suspected caused the mental breakdown in Circs. He would have been more active in his discovery were it not for Paige. He wanted her to stay with them, so he'd been using most of his free time to show his niece he wasn't an ogre. He wanted her to trust him, to feel safe. Except she apparently wasn't safe, because he sat bound and gagged in Pearson Labs. He prayed Dunn only wanted him, and that he'd left the rest of those at the compound alone.
The only redeeming thing about his capture was that Dunn's thugs had isolated him from the chaos outside. He sat in an office three floors above the main level. An executive wing, if he wasn't mistaken, hopefully away from the experimental portion of the labs.
The door opened slowly. When Diego Santana stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, Evan's pulse jumped, and his heart raced.
“Damn, Ev. What did they do to you?” Diego's soft voice carried in the empty room. “
Dios
, this is all my fault. I never should have left.” Evan couldn't speak past the gag in his mouth.
Diego slipped a knife from a sheath at his ankle. He wore a white lab coat over dark trousers. Had Evan not known him, he would have assumed Diego worked here.
Making short work of the gag and the ropes around his wrists and ankles, Diego knelt next to him. Before Evan could speak, his ex-lover wrapped him in a tight embrace.
“I know you probably hate me. I know I don't deserve a second chance. But let me get you out of here. You can hate me from the safety of the compound, okay?” Evan squelched the automatic joy he felt just seeing Diego again.
He betrayed you.
He put your people in harm’s way. He deliberately lied to you for years
. But the sight of the wiry older man sent his heart racing. Those same dark brown eyes that had once regarded him with love now looked at him with concern. Diego appeared tired, stressed, and thinner than he'd been. Dark circles underlined his eyes. But the apparent stress didn't affect the steadiness of his hand, wrapped around that gun.
“Come on,
querido
. Let's go.”
Pain lanced him at the endearment, but Evan said nothing. He had to get out of there before he was found. Dunn had plans for him that Kohl, apparently, wasn't aware of. And most of it had to do with keeping Dunn knee-deep in drugs, “freak pussy,” and helping him to stage a coup as he tried to become the new CEO of Pearson Labs. Talk about a nightmare.
“I'll follow you,” Evan said quietly.
But I won’t trust you again.
As if Diego heard what went unsaid, he gave Evan a sad smile and moved swiftly out of the room. He kept Evan behind him, a hand on his person at all times, his gun at the ready. This lethal side of Diego startled Evan, but he had to admit, it intrigued him as well. Diego had always seemed just on the rough side of dangerous. Now, he all but shouted it.
He stopped suddenly and fired a round. A body hit the floor.
“A tech with a stunner. Not a friend,” Diego muttered. They left the hallway via a corner stairwell and descended in a run. Diego shot twice more, killing or wounding Circs, Evan wasn't sure. They didn't stop to check but instead raced toward the basement exit.
“We exit on three,” Diego whispered. “Whatever you do, stay behind me, and stay with me.”
Evan nodded. To his shock, Diego pressed a hard kiss to his lips.
“I still love you. So much,” Diego sighed. He counted back from three, then shoved open the door.
And all hell broke loose.
* * * * *
Robbie paced outside under the clear night sky, too full of nervous energy to sit still. Hawkins's announcement that Pearson Labs had been raided shocked everyone.
Circe's Recruits, and even Robbie, had always expected to be in on the assault when the labs fell. To sit here on the sidelines, fucking
ordered
by Shields not to interfere, pissed him the hell off.