Tainted Souls: A Shadow Creek Novel Read online

  Grunting, she shook her head. “Not really, just my pride I guess. And I can't say I feel all too comfortable with this bomb strapped to me right now. Other than that, life's peachy.”

  He smiled weakly at her bravado. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

  “I heard the guy talking on his cell. Saying something about taking her to HQ and I don't know… my gut instinct told me he was up to something.”

  Standing to his full height, Jack put away his weapon and took out his cell. “I'm gonna step outside and make a call. I'll be right back, Okay?”

  Gabrielle nodded at him. He was nice. She'd met the Chief of Police at the compound briefly during her first meeting with Ryker. She looked around, watching the officers and other military dressed men searching for a secondary device. They wouldn't find the guy, he was long gone. Even though he should be lying here dead on the floor.

  Even wearing Kevlar, a full clip would've, should've kept him on his ass for a few minutes at the very least. Something wasn't right. Gabrielle bit her bottom lip, sure that she hadn't felt any body-armor on the guy.

  Suddenly she heard a familiar voice and her heart jumped into her throat.

  Damn it! She wasn't going to cry!

  NO WAY!

  Christopher Warden wanted to put an end to his brother's life. After all, Alex had crossed an unforgivable line. But as the Overseer, Christopher couldn't do such a thing. The Society had laws, and if he went against those laws, he'd be just the same as his brother.

  After everyone had left him alone with Alex, he'd had his hand in his brother's neck holding his carotid together. It would've been so easy to let go, let Alex bleed out, and he'd been tempted.

  Instead, Christopher stayed there in his office, holding his brother's life in his hand, until he could feel the healing process begin. The throbbing pulse began to knit together. The spurting blood slowed and when it was safe for him to do so, Christopher removed his fingers clamping the vein together and took a step back.

  Alex moved back out of his reach, his hand shooting up to his neck and lifting the flap of skin that still had to heal, pushing it tight against the gaping hole in his throat. “You should have finished me off while you had the chance, Christopher,” he said, the words garbled against his healing throat.

  The Overseer shook his head. “Just tell me why, Alex?”

  He laughed, blood bubbled from out of his mouth and nose. “Because I could!” he yelled. “Because I want more than what the Society can give me!”

  The Overseer slipped out of his blood-stained jacket and threw it onto the desk. Meeting his brother's frenzied gaze once more, he said, “Then explain, Alex, what it is that you want exactly?”

  Alex flopped into the seat next to him. His washed out complexion and his heated glare made him look like a zombie. “After all these years, you're still so clueless,” he grunted. “I loved her first, you know. I've always loved her. But it was you she wanted, wasn't it?” his voice held a bitter edge. “Why don't you explain why you let her go?”

  The Overseer's eyes tapered, turning his questioning look into a deadly scowl. “Maria?”

  “Who else?”

  “Are you telling me all this, everything you've done… is for Maria?”

  His smile was weak. “You know how persuasive she can be,” he wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. “To be truthful, brother, you would have done me a great service ending my life.”

  Closing his eyes, the Overseer shook his head in disbelief. “You will have to answer for your crimes, you and Maria, both.”

  Alex stood up on shaky legs, closed the gap between them. “She had no real part in this, Christopher, only that she wanted to see her estranged grandson. The child you kept a secret all these years. For the death of your son, the reason she wanted you and everything you stand for, dead.” Their eyes locked as the Overseer's head reared back up to look at him.

  “You would've killed me… for Maria's affections?” His voice was low, and powerful vibes rippled off his trembling body as he took a step closer to his brother. “All those innocent people?”

  Alex went to speak, but the Overseer cut him off. “You will pay for this. And so will Maria. You'll give me the names of any accomplices… do you hear me?”

  When Alex failed to respond, the Overseer leaned in close to his brother's ear, “Do. You. Hear. Me?” he growled low in his throat, exaggerating every syllable. Pulling back, his expression bleak, he grabbed his brother's arm and yanked him forward.

  “Where are we going?”

  “You'll be put in a cell until your trial.”

  Alex tried to break free. “No! I won't go!”

  The Overseer tightened his grip and ignored his brother's pleas and the boiling rage pulsing through his own body with the urge to kill him. That would be too easy. Too quick. No, he wanted Alex to suffer for the pain and deaths he had caused and they would find whoever had helped him.

  Including Maria.

  The rest of the ride into Shadow Creek was in silence. Ryker felt as though he was going to throw up, the pain in his chest freezing like Arctic frost across his lungs. He jumped down out of the SUV.

  “Hey, Ryker, my man. You don't look so hot.”

  Zipping up his vest, Ryker shrugged off the comment. “I'm good. Have you located the IED?”

  Jack ran a hand through the thick dark waves of his hair. “Ah, yeah. We've found two.”

  Okay, he had Ryker's full attention.

  “When we got here, we found a woman. She's FBI and strapped to a chair rigged up with some kind of explosive device.”

  The pain in Ryker's chest went all cardiac on him then, he had to grit his teeth. “Where is she?”

  Jack glanced to his right. “In there. The other device is planted in the air vent above the bar.”

  A sudden sense of urgency came over him as he made his way into the building. A familiar scent struck him, melted away the ice chilling his heart.

  Then he saw her.

  “Gabrielle?” He didn't give a flying fuck about the club going up in smoke, saving Gabrielle was his first priority.

  His expression turned somber as he approached her.

  “Surprise!” she said with a feeble laugh.

  He took off his cap and wiped his brow with the back of his hand. “Ah, you could say that.” Crouching down, he replaced his cap back to front.

  She had bruises on her face and a split lip, and everything male in him wanted to kill whoever had done that to her. He just wanted to grab a hold of her and kiss her. Right now, though, he needed her to stay calm, and he needed to focus.

  “Listen, I'm just gonna take a closer look at this thing, 'kay?”

  “Yeah.”

  Using a flashlight he moved around her, inspecting the explosive device strapped to her body with wires running through it all. He moved behind her.

  Shit.

  The device would have a remote detonator. Which just got confirmed when the small digital clock beeped and 1:00 minute flashed up in the display. “Mmm, okay.”

  “Is that Mmm okay, good? Or Mmm okay, we've got a problem?”

  0:59.

  Moving back around to face her, Ryker kept his expression level. “I ain't gonna lie, this is… complicated. But we've got time.”

  “Ah, how much time… exactly?”

  “Enough. Hang in there, Gabrielle. I'll be back.”

  A tear rolled down her cheek, and he knew she would be cursing it for betraying her. Women like Gabrielle didn't like to show weakness, especially in front of other people. Reaching up, Ryker wiped it away with the pad of his thumb. “I won't let anything happen to you. I know just how tough you are, but it's okay to be afraid sometimes.”

  Standing to his full height he turned to walk away, but not before he bent down to lay a gentle kiss on her quivering lips. He might not be sure of a whole shit load of things right now, but one thing was becoming clearer. He had feelings for this woman whether he wanted them or n
ot.

  Now all he had to do was save her.

  Twenty-Three

  “What are we looking at?” Jack asked Ryker as he came level with him.

  Ryker sucked in a lungful of fresh air. He watched the swarm of military-garbed shifters and police patrolmen securing the area and getting bystanders out of the way.

  “Whoever put that thing on Gabrielle has the remote and he's just activated the timer.” His eyes darkened as he turned to look at the chief of police. “I've got roughly 0:50 seconds to disarm the thing and I'm guessing the secondary device will go off moments later. So I strongly suggest you and everyone else better get the fuck outta' here right now.”

  Jack ran a hand through his hair and muttered a ripe curse. “You got this?” he asked, his hand coming to rest on Ryker's shoulder.

  “Yeah, man. Go on.”

  With a sharp turn on his heel, Ryker grabbed the black box of equipment Jack had fetched for him and headed back inside.

  “I didn't think you were coming back, soldier.”

  He met Gabrielle's jade eyes, glistening with tears she was struggling to hold on to. “What and let you have all the fun? Besides, I like to cut these things pretty fine,” he teased, but neither his voice nor face held any humor. Falling to a crouch behind her, he flipped open the box and palmed a pair of wire cutters.

  00:30.

  He had to be quick about this. The guy was probably out there waiting to see his handy-work send the building up in smoke and the two of them along with it.

  Red. Black.

  00:25.

  Fuck.

  His eyes narrowed as they locked onto the wires and followed them from the timer, over the vest and under it. It was spaghetti-fucking-junction and Ryker had to admit, whoever had designed it knew what the hell they were doing.

  00:20.

  “Ryker? Please tell me you know how to get us out of here, preferably still alive?”

  He smiled. “What? I'm deeply offended that you could even doubt my abilities,” he paused, bringing the cutters up to the black wire. “If, I dunno,” he shrugged, “for some reason this doesn't go as expected, I want you to know… I think I was actually ready to get serious with you.”

  “Serious?” she asked, and he could sense her frown without being able to see it. “Like, dating seriously?”

  00:15.

  He snorted, his hand hovering over the black wire. “Dating? Is that what you women call serious?”

  “Ah, yeah.”

  Pursing his lips, he stood up and came around to the front of her. He bent over and kissed her hard, his tongue tracing the seam of her mouth until her lips parted and she kissed him back with a slow whip of her own tongue.

  “I don't date,” he said pulling back from her. “If you're with me, then you're mine.”

  With her eyes still wide and her mouth gaping he went back to work.

  00:10.

  Red. Black. Red. Black. Red. Black.

  Fuck it.

  Red was too obvious.

  Maybe that's what he's meant to think.

  00:05.

  “Ah, fuck,” he muttered, frustrated.

  “Ryker?”

  00:03.

  Red.

  00:02.

  He squeezed the wire cutters.

  00:01.

  Ryker closed his eyes with relief as the clock stopped and quickly got to his feet. Grabbing his bowie knife, he carefully cut Gabrielle free from the vest. “Come on,” he said, pulling her to her feet they ran toward the exit.

  The sound of the secondary explosion was a deafening blow behind him. Ryker pushed Gabrielle through the door and lunged on top of her to take the brunt of the blast and debris. As the dust settled and the ringing in his ears subsided to a hum, he moved aside to check Gabrielle was okay.

  Rolling her over and moving the hair from her face, he saw her eyes flicker open.

  “I'm okay. I'm okay,” she reassured him.

  Paramedics rushed over and Ryker made sure they took care of Gabrielle.

  “She needs to go to Grace Valley General,” the paramedic said after inspecting the bruising and grazes to her face.

  “What about you?” she asked Ryker getting to their feet.

  “Nah, I'm good.” Cupping her jaw softly, he kissed her. “I'll come get you later?”

  She'd smiled, flinching with the pain and it made his heart swell when she said, “Thank you. I think I'd like that, soldier.”

  Twenty-Four

  Madeleine took Jared straight to the infirmary. They were both covered in blood, but she was glad to see his wounds were already healing.

  “Come on,” she said, supporting his massive frame the best she could as they walked and occasionally stumbled. “I need to check those bullet wounds before they heal over completely.”

  “I'm fine.”

  “I'll be the judge of that.” She helped him onto a gurney. “Can you strip?”

  His eyes flashed up, a glimmer of something flared in their depths. “You sure?”

  Madeleine swallowed. She'd seen every one of the Shadow Pack males in the nude. It never affected her, at least, not in that way. Jared's lips curved in the corner. He was playing with her, but even she had to admit the thought of him naked suddenly made her feel… hot.

  “I've seen everything there is to see of the male form, Jared. Don't flatter yourself.”

  He chuckled with a nonchalant shrug and turned around. “Okay, then.”

  Tugging at the torn sweatpants that were too tight, he finally ripped them off, the material shredding as they left his body. Oh… and his body was beautifully male. His thighs were thick and his ass…

  He turned back around to face her slowly. “I think you should get out of that bloodied shirt… Madeleine.”

  “Huh?” Shaking her head, she came to her senses. “I will, but I want to check your injuries first. Hop back on the gurney.”

  “Are you always so bossy?” He did as instructed.

  Lips curved, Madeleine walked over and scrubbed her hands and arms with the antibacterial soap over the sink. She dried and grabbed an instrument trolley, making sure she had some sterile dressings.

  “Yes,” she said, coming back to him. “Now… let's take a look.”

  After ten minutes of inspecting his magnificent body, Madeleine was sure there were no bullets lodged anywhere. She added some of her own healing power to a couple of deep lacerations and was satisfied he'd be just fine.

  “You'll be all right after a day or two's rest,” she finally said, snapping out of her latex gloves and throwing them along with the used swabs into Haz bin.

  She felt his body behind her, his fingers at the hem of her T-shirt.

  “Off… now, Madeleine.”

  “Are you always so bossy?” she teased.

  He lowered his head toward her ear, “Always.”

  Madeleine's eyes fluttered shut as his voice caressed her skin sending a shiver of anticipation through her body. After several heartbeats, she raised her arms and allowed him to remove the sopping garment. The strange burning of her scar started again, it wasn't painful, so she did her best to ignore the sensation. Covered in blood, it was over her body and her face, it had even dried and matted in her hair.

  Letting her arms fall back to her sides, she glanced at him over her shoulder. His eyes were luminous and her own became heated. An ache for something so strong, a pull of gravity so needful toward this male made it impossible for her to deny it. Whatever it was about Jared that had her wanting him, felt so natural and right that everything else faded away.

  Slipping her fingers into his hand, she led him to the washroom.

  “Let's shower.”

  Jared wondered how the hell his life had zero to one-eighty in the space of a few days. Right now he'd go through it all again and worse. Much, much worse, if it meant he'd be standing in this walk-in shower with her. His body felt like it'd been run over by a cement truck and he had more holes in him than a strainer, but none o
f it mattered.

  Together they stood beneath the multi-jets washing away the hurt. The hot water poured over him, he had a hard-on that kept rubbing up against her back that he knew she could feel. But he wasn't about to rush this. He would let her take control.

  “Can you wash my hair?” she asked, untying the messy, wet braid.

  Can I wash your hair? Oh, Holy Christ, I want to wash every part of you…

  He palmed the bottle and squeezed a large drop into his hand. Smoothing it over her curls from head to tip he lathered it all up. Suds ran down her neck, her back, his cock.

  “Mmm, that feels so good.”

  The sound of her pleasure made his fingers knot in her strawberry, gold locks. He lowered his hands, helped her rinse the remaining bubbles from her hair.

  Then she turned around.

  “Here, let me do yours,” she said, with a sultry timbre to her voice.

  His eyes devoured her. Her breasts were perfect, pretty mounds and the nipples hard and puckered as rivulets of water rippled over and around them. Everything in him throbbed to the beat of his quickening pulse. He met her gaze, needing to know if the signal he thought he was receiving, mainly with the erection between his legs, was, in fact, the right one.

  Yeah. Those cinnamon eyes are on fire.

  Lowering his head, she slipped her hands into his hair, working the shampoo over his scalp. His lips kissed their way over her collar bone, down to the tight buds begging for his attention. She gasped as his tongue flicked over one and he drew it into his mouth. The pain of his injuries was the last thing on his mind as he dropped to his knees before her. His hands falling with male possessiveness onto her hips as the water drenched their bodies clean.

  “I want you, Madeleine. Right here, right now.”

  You're mine. Mine.

  Her fingers knotted in his hair, pulled him into her sex. His tongue shot out, eager to taste the core of her. He felt her heat, took her in his mouth and sucked while a hand stroked her inner thigh until she parted her legs for him. He slid a finger into her, tiny muscles coiled and clenched and her nails bit into his shoulders. Jared's fangs had inched into his mouth. She trembled against him and he supported her with his other hand. He wanted her to unravel, wanted to feel her come apart for him.