Mason counted to ten from the first instant the jeep came into sight, just as he and Michael had planned. Then, he moved with the speed of wind and the lightness of air. He and Michael reached the jeep at the same time. Tad was driving, which put him on Michael’s side. Even in the midst of battle, Mason felt a sting of regret for missing that matchup.
Mason took McIntyre, who sat in the passenger’s seat, nailing him with three bullets to the chest. He heard Michael’s shots, felt the jeep jerk to a stop.
Michael had control.
McIntyre held his bloody chest, gasping for mental control of the pain, which he would get in mere seconds. Checking for Tad, needing to know with certainty he was down, Mason found him slouched across the steering wheel.
Michael had hit him in the temple with several bullets. Tad might not survive. Likely, wouldn’t. Even Arions, if hit in the right spot, died like everyone else. The head, the temple to be precise, was one of those spots.
Michael didn’t screw around. A good thing, since Tad was damn powerful. Of course, Michael knew that going into this mission and probably chose his mark accordingly when the opportunity presented itself.
Mason reached for Roger, who was in the backseat, whimpering despite the tape over his mouth. The man was a complete loser. No fight whatsoever. Why Holly cared about him, he would never understand.
Drawing a knife from his belt, Mason reached to cut the ropes around Roger’s hands. Roger dropped against the seat as if he thought Mason was going to cut him.
“What’s the holdup?” Michael said fiercely. “McIntyre is moving.”
“Give me your damn hands, if you want to live,” Mason spat at Roger through clenched teeth. And then, because he knew the man had probably been terrorized, but mostly because an image of Holly ran through his mind, he added a bit more softly, “I’m not the enemy.”
He still didn’t move. Mason lost patience. He grabbed him, lifting him out of the jeep as if he was a paperweight. He was a fairly small guy and did little to test Mason’s Arion strength.
Michael shot McIntyre again. This time in the temple. One shot, two shots. “Let’s go!” he yelled at Mason.
McIntyre wouldn’t be following.
But there could be other Arions nearby. They were close to Area 51. Again, Mason thought, too damn close for comfort.
Tossing Roger over his shoulder, Mason had speed on his mind. He could carry Roger and still escape faster than any human could follow. Especially since he was so damn scared he wasn’t doing anything but shake.
Taking off in the direction they had come, Mason was silently aware of Michael bringing up their rear, guarding them. Guarding him. Michael was acting like his damn bodyguard.
He didn’t like it. He didn’t need protection. He gave it.
Once they arrived at the location where they had left the bikes stashed, Mason sat Roger down on his feet. Fixing him in a hard stare, he said, “I’m going to cut you loose.” His tone was low but laced with hardness. “Then I’ll take the tape off but keep your mouth shut. We could have been followed. In case you haven’t figured it out, Arions have exceptional hearing.”
Roger nodded his comprehension but his eyes were wide with fear. Mason yanked his knife from his belt and cut the rope from Roger’s hands. He reached for the tape but hesitated, again thinking of Holly’s wishes. “This will hurt. No way around it. Faster is better.” He didn’t give him time to respond. He yanked. Roger yelled.
Mason growled. “Shut up!” he whispered through clenched teeth, his eyes flashing dangerously.
Roger shut up but tears rolled down his cheeks.
Michael appeared with a scowl on his face, took one look at Roger crying and rolled his eyes. A few seconds later, Michael appeared with Mason’s bike. Mason climbed on the familiar machine, feeling comfortable straddling a means to escape. “Get on before I leave you.”
Roger didn’t move. Mason revved the engine. Roger moved. He hardly had his leg over the seat before Mason took off. Michael appeared on his bike, bringing up the rear like a watchdog.
Mason let the wind’s energy wrap around him, feeling long-suppressed power inside him begin to come to life, knowing things were changing and so was he.
Wondering at the implications.
* * * * *
Holly still couldn’t believe the caves housed so many rooms. She pushed the safety glasses to the top of her head and stared at the target she had just shot a very big, very loud gun at. She had missed the mark horribly. She frowned. “I’m not very good at this, am I?”
Sterling laughed. “It’s your first time. You’re doing fine.”
She tilted her head and studied him. He was a good teacher, both patient and understanding. The more she was around him, the more she understood what Mason saw in him. “What color were your eyes before your transition?”
He looked surprised. “Blue.”
Holly grinned. “Blond-haired, blue-eyed stud, huh?”
He laughed. “I don’t know about that.”
She laughed this time. “Oh yeah, I get the feeling you were quite the ladies’ man. Probably still are.”
He stiffened. “No.”
She had started to put the goggles back on but instead pushed them back on top of her head. There was something in his tone. “Why not?”
He shrugged and picked up a gun, not bothering with goggles, firing at the target until he emptied the weapon. He was on his mark every shot. She looked at the target and then at him. “Want to talk about it?”
“No.” He sat down the gun.
Holly did the same. Her arms hurt from holding it up so long. “Why not?”
No response. After a minute, she made a frustrated sound “Are you always so stubborn?”
His tone was clipped. “Yes.” Abruptly, he laughed but humor had little to do with it. “I hope Mason knows what he got himself into.”
Holly stiffened. That hurt. She didn’t even know how to respond.
He looked at her, his expression showing he sensed her change of mood. “Hey, now,” he said with a different tone. “I was joking.” Then in a softer voice, he added, “Mason is lucky to have you.”
Holly sank down in a chair. “Talk to me, Sterling.”
He sighed and seemed to contemplate what he should say. “Mason and I have always felt it unfair to involve ourselves with human women.”
Holly thought of how Mason had fought their attraction. “I think that’s very honorable but it makes for a long, lonely life.”
“We take the hand life deals us and do the best we can with it,” Sterling said with a shrug that didn’t fool her into thinking he was as nonchalant as he wanted her to believe.
But she agreed and respected his feelings about making the most out of things. She just didn’t want him to be alone forever. “If you knew more about what you are, would that help you feel more comfortable about relationships?”
He took a long time to answer. “Maybe, I don’t know.”
“Maybe is better than no,” she said, meaning it, feeling for Sterling and others like him. They were victims of power hungry people. They deserved a solution. “I commit to do my very best to give you as much normalcy to your life as I can. You have my word.” Her voice held heartfelt conviction.
Sterling smiled though there was sadness in his eyes, contradicting the lift of his lips, making them seem even blacker, even haunted. His voice, deep and a bit raspy, echoed in her ears, filled with just the slightest hint of defeat. “I believe you, Holly Heart. I believe you.”
At least he believed she would give it her all. It was better than not believing in anything.
* * * * *
Holly paced the floor in front of the fireplace as Sterling sat on the couch watching. Worrying her bottom lip with her teeth, she turned desperate eyes on him. “Shouldn’t they be here by now?”
He didn’t hesitate. “No.”
Holly glared. “Don’t you have any other word in your vocabulary?”
H
e didn’t say anything but he suddenly seemed more alert. Holly noticed. “What?” she asked urgently and, before he had time to respond, she added, “What?!”
“They’re back,” he said, pushing to his feet and walking toward the elevator.
Holly followed on his heels. The elevator opened and Roger stood there, looking meek and scared and incredibly small, between the much larger bodies of Mason and Michael.
A quick look at Mason reassured her he suffered nothing more than irritation. Holly held her arms out to Roger. “You’re alive, thank God.”
Roger stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her and dropping his head to her shoulder. His posture was that of a child.
Holly met Mason’s eyes over his shoulder. She could actually see a muscle in jump in his jaw. Her eyes narrowed with realization. He despised Roger holding her. His feelings were so intense she could feel them as if they crawled across her very own skin.
His dark eyes met hers and she saw a warning in them. One she would have ignored except she got the distinct impression Roger would pay for her actions, not her. She released Roger’s arm and stepped back from him. Assessing him, Holly thought he looked thin and pale. The distinct shaking of his hands only added to the impression of fragility he made.
Holly asked him, “Are you hungry?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“Let’s get you some food and then I’ll give you a checkup.”
She linked her arm through his and pulled him forward, ignoring the scowl on Mason’s face and the disapproval on Michael’s. But then she changed her mind. She was angered by Mason’s behavior but the things he was now facing were tremendous.
Holly stopped walking. She turned to Sterling. “Could you take Roger to the kitchen and make sure he eats?”
Sterling gave her a quick nod. Roger hesitated, as if he didn’t want to leave Holly’s side. “I’ll be there in a minute,” Holly told him with a reassuring smile.
Michael took the hint. He followed the others. Or maybe she took his hint. He had truly given her the evil eye. Coming from Michael, it wasn’t to be taken lightly.
Mason stood utterly still, his expression etched with anger and something else she couldn’t quite identify. He looked big, untouchable and incredibly masculine. Her warrior. Holly took several steps until she stood directly in front of him. Without hesitation, she wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her thighs to his and hugging him tightly. He kept his hands by his sides.
“Please don’t look like that,” she implored. “He’s just my friend. Nothing more. A friend who has been through hell.”
His tone was stiff and cold. “A friend who wants you as a man wants a woman.”
“As I am sure many women want you. And I can’t stand the thought of anyone else touching you,” she said honestly. Before he could respond, Holly laid her head on his chest, listening to his heart beat, loving having him so near.
His hands settled in her hair, as his body seemed to relax. “I’m not used to feeling this way about someone,” he admitted quietly.
Holly looked up at him. “I’m not either. Half the time I don’t know what to do with all the feelings you provoke in me, Mason. The intensity is overwhelming.” Then trying to lighten the mood, she teased, “My first reaction to your anger over me and Roger was to hit you.” She laughed as his brows inched up. “I didn’t figure that would go over well. You had Sterling and Michael to protect you.”
He smiled down at her, laughing lightly. “Do you know something?”
“What?” she asked, smiling back at him. She liked it when he smiled.
His hand stroked her hair. “I’d forgotten how to laugh until you came along. Now, I go from angry to laughing in mere seconds.” His hands cupped her face. “You do that for me.”
“I do?” she asked, a bit stunned by his words. No one had ever made her feel so special. Like she personally impacted their life. Oh, she knew her scientific abilities had helped others. But Mason made her feel like she, the woman and person, made a difference for him.
He nodded, a tender expression on his face. Holly looked at him, stunned by his transition. He no longer looked the warrior. He looked like a man in love.
His voice, a soft caress, wrapped around her heart. “Yes, you do,” he said. “I also want you to know, that as Roger whimpered and cried, I contained my irritation. For you, not for him.”
Holly inched her hands up around his neck. “I was so worried about you.”
He caressed her cheek with his thumb. “Let’s go take care of Roger and get him settled. I want to be alone with you.”
She nodded, smiling at him and making sure he saw the love she had for him in her eyes. He needed to know.
Holly slipped her hand into Mason’s as they started walking toward the kitchen. Abruptly Mason stopped in his tracks, pulling Holly around to face him. He fixed her in an eye level stare. “I don’t want you to talk to Roger about any of our plans. Not your ideas, not our strategies to defeat the Arions, none of it.”
Her brows dipped. “You can trust Roger.”
He hated how damn protective and blind she was about Roger. “Arions have ways of dragging information out of people. He’s weak, Holly. Even if he didn’t intend to give away information they could make him. He might not even know he did it.”
“Well, they could do the same with me,” she said, obviously defensive.
“No,” he said. “They couldn’t. You’re different.”
“How can I be different?”
He stepped closer and mentally assessed how to tell her what she wanted to know without revealing what he wasn’t ready to tell. His hands settled on her shoulders. “You know I’ve touched your mind, Holly. I know who and what you are. You are nothing like Roger. Some people are more susceptible to hypnosis, intimidation and power, the three favorite tools of the Arions.”
She looked like she might argue. He almost laughed. No one argued with him when he gave orders. But Holly was Holly and she would always fight for her opinion. She wasn’t a soldier trained to take orders. And he liked her that way.
Most of the time. “Please trust me on this, Angel.”
Her expression softened instantly. “I do trust you.”
She said the words so easily. Not telling her about their mating was a betrayal she didn’t deserve, a form of breaking her trust in him. He could only hope she would see things through his eyes and understand.
He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Thank you.”
When they walked into the kitchen, Michael and Sterling sat on either side of Roger as he ate what appeared to be soup. They were each asking him questions. Mason released Holly’s hand, letting her go to Roger. He didn’t like it, but what could he do?
He motioned toward the door as he looked at first Michael and then Sterling. Knowing they would follow, he turned and left the room.
Chapter Twenty-One
Standing in the surveillance room with Michael and Sterling, Mason said, “Something isn’t right.”
“Agreed,” Michael and Sterling said in unison.
“It almost felt too easy, taking Roger back,” Mason said thoughtfully, his mind racing through option after option.
“I don’t know about easy,” Michael said. “We left two dead Arions behind. I doubt that was in their plans.” He frowned. “But I agree. Something doesn’t feel right.”
“Roger seems like he’s hiding something to me,” Sterling input.
“But what?” Michael asked. “I can’t get a good sense of what. Usually I can.”
Sterling continued, “He seems nervous. Yet when I ask him questions he has a perfect answer for everything.”
“He seemed afraid of us when we took him,” Mason added.
Michael dismissed that idea. “That doesn’t mean anything. He was scared, period. I think the man walks through life jumping at his own shadow.”
Mason shrugged. “Maybe it’s simply that he wants Holly and I have her.”
/> Sterling let out a bark of laughter. “If he would have seen the look on your face when he hugged Holly, he’d be terrified for certain.”
Mason fixed Sterling in a hard, go-to-helllook. “I told Holly not to tell him anything. Not even her ideas to fight the Arions. At least, not until I figure out what’s bothering me.”
“Good idea.” Michael pulled out a chair and sat down at the table. “Let’s talk about taking over 51.”
Mason sat down. “Yes, let’s. I’m tired of being on the defense. It’s time to take an offensive position.”