Angel/Hiss
BAYOU HEAT 13-14
By
Alexandra Ivy
and
Laura Wright
Copyright ©2015 by Alexandra Ivy and Laura Wright
Editor: Julia Ganis
Cover Art by Patricia Schmitt (Pickyme)
Formatting by Sweet 'N Spicy Designs
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author.
ISBN: (9780986064173)
ANGEL
by
Alexandra Ivy
CHAPTER 1
An electric buzz raced through the New Orleans hospital. The sort of buzz that could only mean one thing…
Dr. Angel Savary had just arrived.
With muffled giggles, the female staff scrambled to catch sight of the tall man, whose lean body was currently emphasized by a light cashmere sweater and black jeans. Not that the women gave a shit what he was wearing. All of them, even the elderly charge nurse, fantasized about tearing off his clothes to expose the chiseled muscles they could see rippling with every fluid movement.
Yum.
And if his lickable body wasn’t enough, he was also flat-out gorgeous. His hair was white-gold and clipped short while his eyes were as dark as polished ebony. A startling contrast that never failed to capture attention.
And his features…they were stunningly beautiful.
Not effeminate.
There was no doubt he was all male. Raw, dangerous, lethally sexy male.
But his features were finely chiseled and gorgeous enough to melt a woman’s heart, not to mention her panties.
Today, there was an extra buzz in the air as another man strolled down the corridor at Angel’s side. No one recognized the six-foot-plus male with golden hair and gold-green eyes, but he made more than one female sigh with pleasure.
Ignoring the avid gazes that followed him as he strolled down the hallway, Angel led his companion into his office and firmly shut the door.
Instantly he grimaced. The large room that was elegantly furnished with a heavy walnut desk and matching bookshelves had always seemed comfortable enough. Especially since he spent only a few days a month at the hospital, preferring to remain in the Wildlands as much as possible. Now he realized the space hadn’t been designed to accommodate two alpha puma shifters.
Leaning against the edge of his desk, Angel leashed his cat’s aggressive reaction to the prickles of heat that filled the air. Not easy when Raphael, the leader of the Suits, was prowling from one end of the office to the other.
“Have you found anything?” the older male demanded.
Angel’s lips twitched. Raphael was a skilled Diplomat, but the past few months had taken their toll on all of them.
A crazed goddess. The near extinction of their species. A traitor. And now a new enemy was creeping out of the shadows, threatening to be equally dangerous to the Pantera.
They were all twitchy.
“It’s only been two days,” he reminded his companion.
Raphael came to a halt, folding his arms over his chest as he studied Angel with a lift of his brows.
“Like I said. Did you find anything?”
“Pushy bastard,” Angel muttered. He’d returned to New Orleans after it was discovered that human women were being impregnated with Pantera semen. The medical community wasn’t that large. There had to be someone who knew something. Unfortunately, the laws regarding patient privacy meant that it’d been more difficult than he’d anticipated. “My searches haven’t produced any direct connection to the Haymore Center,” he at last admitted.
“But?” Raphael prompted.
“I traced a series of blood samples and reports being sent to labs in both New York and Miami.”
“Is that unusual?”
Angel lifted his hand to rub the tense muscles at the back of his neck. Damn. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept more than an hour or two. They’d been in constant crisis mode for so long it was becoming the new normal.
“There’s a rigid protocol that the hospital uses to protect their patients’ privacy.”
Raphael scowled. “Explain.”
Angel reached behind him to pick up a stack of papers from his desk. He’d gone through them a dozen times over the past forty-eight hours.
“They have specific codes in the computer system,” he explained, pointing toward the rows of numbers that lined the left side of the papers. “They use well-known, highly respected laboratories.” He shuffled through the papers to the delivery forms at the bottom of the stack. “And if they transport specimens they use the same courier service each time.”
Raphael gave a nod. “And the ones you traced?”
Angel replaced the papers on the desk, his expression grim. He’d nearly missed the orders for blood work, as well as DNA testing on a handful of patients. It was only because he’d specifically been looking for anything the least bit sketchy that he’d spotted the odd requests.
“They were listed in the computer with encrypted codes,” he said. He hadn’t actually printed off any of the paperwork, afraid it would alert whoever was going to such an effort to keep them secret. “They were sent to labs that aren’t listed in any directory and the samples were transported by a private company.”
“There could be a legitimate explanation—” Raphael shook his head, realizing what he’d just said. No hospital would go against policies and procedures. Not in this age of malpractice lawsuits. “Okay, it’s probably illegitimate, but it might not have anything to do with us,” he added.
Angel shrugged. He couldn’t argue. It didn’t matter how hard a hospital tried. It was impossible to avoid human nature. Creative accounting. Prescription fraud… “It’s all I got for now.”
Raphael resumed his pacing. Larger than Angel, the male was wearing a pair of black silk pants and white shirt that he chose in an effort to look more civilized.
“Was there a pattern?” the older male at last asked.
“Women of childbearing years. And infants.”
Raphael sucked in a sharp breath, fully understanding why Angel had been so interested.
They didn’t understand exactly what the Haymore Center had been trying to accomplish before Stanton Locke had burned it to the ground, but it certainly involved Pantera, pregnant human women, and babies.
“Shit.”
Angel gave a sharp laugh. “Trust you to sum it up in one word,” he drawled. “No wonder you’re a Diplomat.”
Raphael flipped him off. The two had been friends for decades despite the fact they were both alphas. They’d been drawn together by their mutual devotion to their people and their willingness to sacrifice whatever necessary to protect the Wildlands.
“Any clue who might be responsible?”
“It has to be an administrator at the hospital,” Angel readily answered. He’d devoted hours to deciding who could be secretly testing the patients. “Only someone with a high security clearance would have the clearance to access every step of the procedure without alerting someone along the way.”
Raphael cocked his brow. “That narrows the process.”
Angel nodded. It did.
“There are five I intend to investigate further.”
Raphael glanced toward the desk that was stacked with files. Angel had taken a temporary leave from accepting new patients, but there was a constant flood of
paperwork. Sometimes he suspected humans made shit up that he was supposed to fill out just to piss him off.
“Do you need Xavier?”
“No.” Angel wasn’t a computer whiz, but he had enough training that he could run the necessary searches. “It’s better if I try to do this internally. Besides, Xavier has enough to do with tracking down Hiss.” He studied Raphael’s grim expression, noticing the lines of stress etched on his friend’s bronzed face. No one took the disappearance of the traitorous Pantera any harder than Raphael. Wait. Maybe Parish, the leader of the Hunters. That male had nearly lost his fucking mind when it was revealed that someone had managed to slip past their guards and take the male who had betrayed them. “Any luck?”
“Nothing so far,” Raphael admitted, his voice thick with frustration. “Payton is working with Lydia to track and sort through Locke’s finances to locate any other properties where Hiss might be hidden.” Angel nodded. Stanton Locke was the human who owned the Haymore Center. They all hoped that by finding the man, they could not only locate Hiss, but the bastard would reveal his nefarious plans toward the Pantera. “And the Healers are trying to work with both Reny and Séverin to try and recover their lost memories.”
Both the Pantera had been held in secret labs, although both struggled to recall precisely what’d happened during their captivity.
There was the potent stench of perfume before the door was shoved open to reveal a tall woman with bleached blond hair and a lush figure.
“Dr. Savary.”
Sashaying into the office, the woman came to an abrupt halt as she caught sight of Raphael standing in the center of the room. Her eyes widened, a blush stealing to her cheeks before she sought out Angel’s amused gaze. The woman didn’t know she was in the room with two puma shifters, but her body was reacting to their potent pheromones.
“Hello, Elan,” he murmured in a low voice that made her visibly shiver.
“Forgive me, I thought you were alone.”
He offered a regretful smile. “Perhaps we can speak later?”
“Yes,” she breathed, obediently backing out of the office. “Of course.”
Waiting until the door closed behind her retreating form, Raphael sent him a mocking glance.
“No wonder you don’t mind working overtime.”
Angel shook his head. The woman was beautiful. And she’d made it painfully clear she was available. But she was nothing more than a tool.
“Elan happens to be the personal assistant to the Director of Finance for the hospital,” he said. “She has the codes I need to get into the man’s computer.”
Raphael heaved a deep sigh. “Damn.”
“What?”
“I hoped you’d decided there was more to life than duty.”
Angel gave a snort. Like any cat, he loved to play. And there’d been more than a few females who’d warmed his bed over the years. But from the day he’d watched his mother die from a rare Pantera disease, he’d focused all his energies on his work as a Healer.
He hadn’t been able to save his mother, but he could save others.
“Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black, or some such shit?” he demanded.
Raphael shrugged. “I might have been a little obsessed with my responsibilities.”
Angel folded his arms over his chest. “A little?”
The older male’s lips twitched. “But I managed to have enough fun to end up with a gorgeous mate and a precious daughter.”
“Which is exactly why I prefer to concentrate on duty,” Angel drawled.
He was happy as hell for his friend. The male was clearly besotted with his mate and daughter. But Angel had no intention of ever committing himself to another.
“It happens to the best of us,” Raphael assured him.
Angel waved aside the warning. “It clearly hasn’t happened to the best of us and if I have any say in the matter, it never will.”
Raphael chuckled, an unbearably smug expression on his face. “Luckily you don’t have a say. Fate is a ruthless bitch who will bite you in the ass every time.”
Angel ignored the tiny shiver of premonition that inched down his spine.
Nope. It wasn’t going to happen. His duty as a Healer was all that mattered.
“Is there anything else?” he asked.
Raphael stepped forward to grab his shoulder. “Be careful, mon ami.”
“I’m not a Geek, but I have enough skill to keep my investigations from being discovered.”
Raphael’s fingers tightened on his shoulder. “I don’t question your abilities, Angel, but this new enemy has training, discipline and contacts in high places,” Raphael said, his eyes smoldering with a fierce frustration. They’d all hoped that life would return to a simple existence once the goddess Shakpi had reunited with her sister. Now they were forced to accept that peace was still nothing more than a distant dream. “Worse, we have no idea what their endgame is. We’re all in danger.”
“I have no intention of taking unnecessary risks,” Angel promised his friend. “No one in the hospital suspects I’m anything but Dr. Savary.”
Raphael grimaced. “That’s what we hope.”
“What do you mean?”
“We have no idea what Hiss might have revealed.”
Angel flinched. It didn’t matter how many times he reminded himself the male Pantera was a traitor, it didn’t get any easier to accept.
“I know that Hiss was a part of the disciples who were helping Shakpi, but you don’t think he’s working with this new enemy, do you?”
Raphael’s face hardened to a bleak mask. “I’m not going to make the mistake of taking anything for granted.” He shook his head. “Not again.”
“Understandable, but Hiss seemed as baffled as the rest of us when the bastards revealed they were willing to trade Rosalie and Mercier to get their hands on him,” Angel reminded his friend.
Angel had been in the Wildlands clinic when they’d brought in Hiss, and while the traitor had refused to speak to anyone but the elders, he’d genuinely appeared confused by the fact the newest enemy had been so anxious to get their hands on him.
“He could have been faking his response,” Raphael pointed out. “He’s proven he can live a lie for years.”
“I suppose,” Angel muttered, not convinced.
Raphael shrugged. “Or he might have been unaware of them and now has decided they’re his best shot at destroying us.”
Angel gave a grudging nod. There was so much hate inside Hiss it was impossible to guess what he might do.
Still…
“I hoped he could be redeemed,” he muttered.
“We all hoped.” Raphael gave his shoulder a squeeze before he dropped his hand and stepped back. “For now, however, we have to be realistic. The bastard betrayed us once. There’s no reason he wouldn’t betray us again.”
Painfully true.
“Shit,” Angel growled.
***
The elementary school had been shabby before hurricane Katrina had slammed into the red brick building, leaving behind utter destruction. On the plus side, the outer structure was reasonably intact, the electricity and water still worked, and a large playground kept it isolated from the rest of the neighborhood. Which meant no one came around poking their noses into things that were none of their business.
Indy had located the place when they’d first arrived in New Orleans from New York six months ago. At the time she’d hoped they would be in and out of town in less than a week. Which meant the need for secrecy had outweighed the desire for comfort.
Now she was glad she’d found a place where she could hold a prisoner without attracting unwanted attention.
Pausing in front of a mirror in the bathroom, Indy brushed her teeth and ran a comb through the short strands of her midnight black hair. She even took time to make sure there was no dirt marring her thin, pale face that was dominated by a pair of dark blue eyes and a mouth that always seemed too large for her face. One
of the few men she’d briefly dated had called it ‘lush.’
She grimaced. Although she was a grown-ass woman, she appeared to be in her early teens. An image that was only reinforced by the fact she barely topped five foot two and had a boyish frame.
Pulling a leather coat over her white muscle shirt that was tucked into a pair of faded jeans, she shoved her feet into a pair of motorcycle boots and headed out.
So, she looked like a biker pixie doll.
It was better than being mistaken for a pubescent boy.
She walked down the hallway that was filled with broken lockers and assorted rubble, entering the room that used to be the nurse’s office.
Instantly a woman with long red hair and light brown eyes turned from the narrow bed, her face still beautiful although she looked older than her thirty years.
“How is she?” Indy demanded, remaining beside the door as her gaze slid to the tiny girl lying motionless on the bed.
Karen bit her lower lip. “Willa is a fighter, but…”
Indy’s heart clenched with pain as Karen’s voice drifted away.
“She’s fading,” Indy spoke the words that everyone was thinking.
Karen gave a slow nod, her eyes filling with tears. “Yes.”
Indy squared her shoulders, her decision made. “I can’t wait any longer.”
With a glance toward the sleeping child, Karen crossed the cracked linoleum floor to stand directly in front of her.
“Indy, it’s too dangerous,” she whispered in urgent tones.
Indy shrugged. She’d been doing things that were too dangerous for the past ten years. Okay, she’d never tried to kidnap a full-grown Pantera male before. But she’d risked her neck a dozen times sneaking into the labs of her enemy and releasing captives.
How much harder could this be?
Unwilling to actually consider the question, or the odd flutter of excitement, she nodded her head toward the bed.
“What choice do we have?” she demanded. “The human doctors haven’t been able to help Willa. We have to hope a Pantera can do better.”