A Touch of Fate

  “Do you have intel on the scientist? Is he ready to flip, work with us?”

  “We don't know, so you should go in expecting a hostile. But, we need that scientist’s knowledge and skills, so no killing anyone.” Titian grinned, knowing that would irritate the twins.

  They were good at catching and killing bad guys.

  “Ah, you're no fun.” Dunn pounded his fist against the side of the ship.

  “Get in, get out with the scientist and then we’ll deal with the rest.” Titian wasn’t normally the one giving orders.

  Russet didn’t entirely trust him. But, Passion and Black did, even if the fox was a pain in the ass.

  “We’ll get him here. You flip him. If you can’t, then I get to kill him, right?” Anyone who worked for those scumbags didn’t have a long life ahead of them anyway.

  “Just get him here. Passion thinks the TFO has been keeping all but the upper ranks in the dark about the spectrals, so any scientists or pencil pushers they have working for them may not know who or what they’re doing.”

  Yeah, right. How could anyone not know the spectrals meant the end of all that was good in the universe?

  “There’s something else you aren’t telling us.” Russet knew the fox was hiding something. “Where’s Fed in all of this?”

  The lion-shifter was a quiet but deadly operator. “Scarlet sent me separate orders. I cannot and will not divulge them until the mission is complete and we debrief.”

  Not exactly surprising. Lions were like that.

  “We’ll meet you back in Magic.”

  The twins boarded their ship again and engaged the stealth mode for their trip across the desert. The people of New Mexico might not be bothered seeing a spaceship, but they didn’t need the TFO knowing they were coming.

  Russet worked through his part of navigating the ship by rote, finding it hard to concentrate on the mission ahead, which was stupid of him.

  His head was still back at that motel. Not on the woman, but on the fact that he’d been wrong about her.

  Wrong about them all.

  “Don’t think that way, brother.” Dunn slapped him on the shoulder. They couldn’t exactly read each other’s thoughts, but they’d been inseparable from birth, so it wasn’t hard to know what was going through the other’s head. “I feel it too, but we are not giving up. Not when we are this close to finding her.”

  “We shouldn’t even be thinking about mating with anyone. Passion didn’t send us to Earth to fuck around.”

  “Maybe not, but she didn’t send Black here to find a mate either. Sometimes, Passion isn’t in charge. The Fates are.”

  Fucking Fates.

  Two: Ash’s Fate Shows Up

  Ash hummed as she tinkered with the math on her latest calculations. A little tweak here and move this over here and maybe, just maybe the containment field she’d been working on for months would work this time.

  She’d continued to sing a tune while she put her experiment back to work. Studies had linked math and musical genius. She was a genius, according to some dumb tests, which didn’t really matter to her. Music helped her think. She always had a song stuck in her head anyway. Like always. Today it was the theme song to Scooby-Doo.

  Saturday mornings were no longer for chores and beatings, like they had been in her foster home. It took more than a few bruises to learn her lesson not to let anyone catch her watching TV.

  To this day, she refused to believe that there was anything bad about a group of friends catching the bad guys.

  Friends were not her strong suit. She was a little too weird for most people, and she kept too many secrets for real friends. No matter how hard she tried to fit in, she simply didn’t.

  Not really knowing who she was didn’t help.

  Ash pushed her glasses back up her nose and punched in some new numbers, making adjustments to the gold nanotube array she was using to create her Bose-Einstein condensate. She needed the matter to last more than picosecond if she was going to use it to contain the... creatures.

  The first time she’d seen one of the non-photonic beings was outside of her own home. Something had been beating against her window, forming cracks over the glass, but not on it. The scientist in her wanted to investigate.

  Another instinctual part of her told her to pray. She’d lost any faith in a higher power long ago, but there was something to asking the Universe for help. That’s what she did.

  It wasn’t the first time she’d used her magic to protect herself. It wouldn’t be the last.

  The very next day a team from Task Force Omega looking like the Men in Black had shown up and told her they were fighting against aliens who’d brought the beings to Earth bent on destroying the human race and that she could help.

  Kapow. That was the day her head exploded. Beings from outer space, Area 51, secret government missions to save the world. All of it – real.

  She had a hard enough time believing in her own magic. No matter how many experiments she did on herself, there was no explanation for the weird things she could make happen. But, astrophysics and secret government operations, that was pure science.

  Well, except for the government part.

  No one had ever asked for her help before. There was no way she was saying no to that.

  Omega had paid off her mountain of school loans. Doctorates in particle and condensed matter physics hadn’t exactly made her Richey Rich. They’d funded this lab outside Roswell, New Mexico and put her to work in it. Unlike her colleagues working at universities all over the world, her work was well beyond theoretical.

  Now she got to catch bad guys. Or, well, she worked for the people who did anyway. Which was why she was back here in the lab on a Saturday morning trying to channel her inner Bose and Einstein.

  It’s not like she had anything else to do. No hot dates for her. These days she was too busy for relationships anyway. Cartoons, comic books, and her cat One-eyed Jacquie, kept her happy. Mostly.

  A couple more taps at the computer and she was ready to try again.

  “Come on my little PEPs. Be good and show me your light today.”

  Ash kept a close watch on the screen, the data flying by. Yes. There it was, a spike in the numbers showing the formation of the condensate. The numbers crashed a millisecond later.

  She sighed and noted the results. A millionth of a second was a lot longer than a katrillionth of second, so there was that. Maybe she should go back to using the supercooled environment and the rubidium.

  “Are you sure you wouldn’t be wiser to be working with the new data on superfluid quasicrystal states?” A woman with red, like fire engine red, hair spoke from behind Ash, scaring her enough that she fell right off her chair.

  “Holy Satyendra Nath Bose. Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

  “It’s my lab, I can sneak wherever I need to.”

  Her lab? Ash glanced to the badge hanging from the lanyard around the women’s neck. Uh, no. Wait. That wasn’t any kind of identification she’d seen on anyone at Omega. Was it even a badge? Looked more like jewelry.

  “I’m sorry. You are?”

  “Waiting for you to live up to your reputation. I assumed you’d have the weap— containment field ready by now.”

  Two men in black, wearing their stupid sunglasses inside came into the lab behind Red. “Ma’am. We have incoming.”

  “Those stupid bastards.” She held up a small tablet, punched at it and then glared at Ash. “Secure this lab and prepare for evacuation. When we get you to a new secure location, you get your ass into gear. I need that,” she pointed at the area that contained the experiment, “to work, like yesterday.”

  She hurried out of the room and Ash followed her to the door. Once Red and the MIBs were out she swung the heavy metal door shut and punched the keypad to lock the emergency deadbolt.

  If they were under attack, she needed to back up her data and erase everything else. If the aliens or whoever it was that had brought the non-photonic beings
to earth were to get their hands on her or her experiment... it would be bad. Like Batman Vs Superman bad, like Tesla vs Edison disastrous.

  Ash rushed around, punching codes into computers, riffling through drawers to find a stupid external hard drive, and swearing.

  She swung the bottom desk drawer open and was met by a hiss and a growl.

  “Sorry Jacquie. I didn’t mean to disturb your nap.” The cranky kitty she’d gotten from the shelter when she was in her witch phase in high school, had been clingy and needy lately. Ash had started sneaking her into work.

  Jacquie spent the majority of the day curled up in the blanket Ash had put in the file drawer of her desk. It had never shut right anyway, and Jacquie easily pushed it open to come and go as she pleased.

  Ash picked her cat up and snuggled her under one arm while rooting around under the blanket.

  “Aha. I knew I had a spare drive lying around here somewhere. Thanks, Jacquie.”

  “Meow.”

  “Sorry. You’ll have to go back in the kitty carrier bag. I promise some extra treats when we get home.” Ash pulled out the bag that looked more like a big pink purse than an animal carrier, and after some maneuvering got Jacquie inside.

  “Meow.”

  “I know. Sorry about that. Tuna for you tonight.” Assuming they survived the alien invasion.

  She shoved the cord for the external hard drive into her computer, her fingers flew over the keyboard and her data began its arduous download.

  “Miss. You need to evacuate this area.”

  Ash continued to watch the bar showing the percentage of her download creep across the screen. “Yeah, yeah. Be there in a minute.”

  “Now.”

  God. They pick now to be alphaholes? Usually the MIBs left her alone to do her job. “I’m not going anywhere until I get my experiments backed up. There’s no way I’m starting over. Trust me, you don’t want the aliens getting their hands on my research.”

  She heard the men cross the room but kept her eye on the data dump. Eighty-nine percent. Almost there.

  “Meow.”

  The screen flickered. Uh-oh. Had the attack started?

  “You’re the physicist?”

  “Yes. It’s the twenty-first century. Women can be smart too.” Blockheads.

  Ninety-two percent. Come on, come on.

  Before the bar hit ninety-three her chair spun around, and she was looking up at two of the tallest, muscley-est, beardiest hot Men In Black she’d ever seen.

  All the MIBs were tall, but these two were taller, and wider, and beardier, and tanner – like golden. Wait. She’d never seen one of these sunglasses wearing lunkheads with any facial hair or tans. She didn’t think beards or vacations were even allowed in Task Force Omega.

  “Are you the one working on the weapon that slows the speed of light and can harness the spectrals?” The one on the left asked her.

  What were spectrals – did they mean the non-photonic beings?

  The MIB to her right grabbed her arm and something that felt like a shock, but not painful, shot through her body. A burst of light exploded from his chest, blinding her for a minute.

  Whoa. What was that?

  Ash felt like she’d been wrapped in a warm blanket and fed every aphrodisiac on the planet. That was the only explanation she could come up with for the zings zipping through her body.

  “Mine.” His voice was a low deep growl that sent all kinds of naughty thoughts spinning through her mind. “She’s the one.”

  God, how completely inappropriate. Her chest went itchy with warmth as her body lit on fire in a combination of embarrassment and sexual alertness. That needed to stop right now. She didn’t know what the hell was wrong with her, besides not having a sexy-times relationship, but she would not allow herself to fantasize over a coworker.

  Even if he was ultra-hot. Like a super hero power – Super Duper Hotty McHottsalot.

  Geez. Stop.

  “Sorry guys, I think you’ve got the wrong department. I’m working on a containment field for the non-photonic beings. I don’t do weapons. So, let go.”

  Instead of releasing her, the one who had her arm ripped off his sunglasses, hugged her to him and kissed her.

  He kissed her.

  In her lab.

  Right in front of the other guy.

  In the middle of an alien invasion.

  Ash pressed her hands up against his chest to push him away. This was not supposed to happen. It had to be the adrenaline.

  She’d seen a million disaster movies where people randomly hooked up with someone because they thought it was the end of the world. She doubted that was the case now. Task Force Omega was a big, bad, well-funded government organization. They were going to stop aliens and their monsters from taking over the solar system, maybe even the galaxy.

  Instead of pushing him away, she found her hands slipping over his shoulders and around his neck. What a kiss it was.

  He pushed his way into her mouth, but not all bossy like some guys. Gently, like he was asking for her permission, but fully expecting her to give it. She did.

  He tasted like bourbon and chocolate and shooting stars. The more she kissed him, the more she wanted to.

  How, what? She’d obviously gotten caught up in the burst of chemicals her brain was dumping into her body because of the danger and her sex-deprived body was like – yippee!

  “Enough. Whether she is the one or not, she has the knowledge the Star Rangers need. We have to get her out of here.”

  Star Rangers? Must be a division of the MIB.

  The kisser broke with a quick nip to her bottom lip and pressed his forehead against hers. Then he pulled away, stared into her eyes a minute and winked at her.

  “She’s the one.” His eyes twinkled so beautifully when he said that.

  She shook her head. She wasn’t anybody’s one. Except maybe One-Eyed Jacquie. “I don’t think I am whoever you’re looking for. But, thanks for the kiss. I’ve got to get back to downloading my information and erasing these hard drives.”

  The computer dinged, and the screen showed the bar filled to one-hundred.

  She reached for the little black box and something like bolts of electricity shot through the room. That wasn’t an accurate description, but Ash didn’t know what else to call them.

  “Meow.”

  Damn, this was not the time for her magic to go all haywire. It had never acted like that before.

  The wisps of light swirled over and around the computers, her experiment, and encircled the whole lab. Then it erupted, and electricity did spark as every electronic device went haywire, exploding and going dark all over the place.

  “That’s one way to erase your information.”

  Ash grabbed the external hard-drive, which didn’t seem to be affected and shoved it into the pocket on the outside of Jacquie’s bag.

  “Meow.”

  “Okay, let’s go. Lead the way MIBs, Star Rangers, whatever.”

  The non-kisser gave her a funny look but turned and headed toward the entrance. He pointed a weapon she just noticed he was carrying into the hallway and declared it clear.

  Hey, hadn’t she deadbolted that door? How had these two gotten in here?

  They got about a hundred yards toward the stairwell to the next level up toward the surface and two more MIBs met them.

  Instead of joining forces, kisser shot them with his weapon. The men fell to the ground, groaning, but not dead.

  Uh-oh. She recognized one of the fallen men, even with his sunglasses. He’d been in the lab earlier with Red.

  Ash glanced over at kisser, then non-kisser. Non-kisser’s face had changed, fangs extending out of his mouth. Not like vampire fangs, but more like a big animal, a predator. That and the claws coming out of his fingers had her blood pressure spiking, or maybe dropping. Whichever one made you feel faint.

  She swallowed and looked over at kisser. He grinned and a golden light, similar to what had shot out of her hands in the l
ab shimmered over his body.

  Right in front of her eyes, he transformed into a giant brown bear.

  Holy X-Men.

  These two were the aliens.

  The bear roared and charged up the stairs tossing two more men down over the railing before shifting back into human form. It was like he’d become the animal just to mess with everyone’s heads. Just for fun.

  These were not the little green men, or even the big gray-skinned asexual beings portrayed on TV and in the comics.

  Shape-shifters.

  Ash stared. She knew she should turn and run. But, logically, what good would that do her? They were alien bears, with advanced technology and fangs.

  The non-kisser grabbed her hand and that same warm shockwave washed over her again. Time seemed to slow down for a second, like she was in a slow-mo shot in an action movie. “Come on, mah wah. Let’s get you out of here.”

  He tilted her head and stared at her. Would he kiss her now too?

  And why did she really, really, really want him too?

  What the hell was wrong with her?

  Why wasn’t she running from them screaming, trying to defend herself. They were aliens, she was a human with a cat. If they kidnapped her she was definitely getting anally probed and Jacquie would get eaten.

  Or vice versa.

  Oh no. Mind control. That had to be where the warmth and attraction she experienced every time she touched one of them came from.

  She hadn’t seen them use any ray guns or other weapons on her. They had to be doing it with their big alien brains.

  Or their beards.

  Probably the beards.

  Screw that. Time to use her own brain and get away.

  Ash turned tail and sprinted back down the hallway. Okay, she sprinted for about ten yards and then had to slow, breathing hard. She really needed to get out of the lab more and get some exercise.

  Just as soon as the alien invasion was over.

  Jacquie, who normally only meowed at her screeched and scratched and clawed inside her bag.

  “Whoa, Jacquie, shh. It’s okay. I’ll save us.” She patted the side of the bag, but her cat did not calm down.