Tempting the Fire Read online

  Annika smirked for a second. “I’m not here about him. Although he’s a royal pain in the ass.” She shut the door—on Christine’s face—and Dev felt Gabe melt out of the room. Through the wall this time. Interesting. His lover’s skills were getting stronger, but Gabriel still wasn’t able to touch anyone, or anything, when he was invisible. He claimed that his hand—indeed, his body—would pass right through any object he attempted to reach out and grab.

  Every ability always came with its own issues.

  Which of course meant that Gabriel’s clothes were still on the floor. Dev surreptitiously kicked them under the desk.

  Annika clapped her hands together. “Earth to Dev. I’ve got a huge problem. Astronomical, bring-down-the-house huge.”

  Don’t tell me, Annika. Have some sense—think about how pissed Creed will be knowing you told me first instead of him …

  “Where’s Creed? I’m sure he’d want to help you.”

  At the mention of Creed’s name, she bit her lower lip and went silent.

  Dev took that opportunity to give her a subtle once-over; if he didn’t know about her condition, he wouldn’t have guessed. She still looked slim and strong, although her face did look slightly drawn. And there were some telltale circles under her eyes as well.

  If she was pregnant, it could be a real problem for her, mission-wise. And health-wise.

  He remembered what happened to Faith when she’d been pregnant—she’d nearly died on a mission because her powers had been affected, had grown progressively weaker with every month of gestation.

  They hadn’t been sure she’d even get her powers back after she’d given birth. Thankfully, she had … but they weren’t as constant a danger as Annika’s were.

  Dev had never thought any of this would be an issue. Annika had never ever wanted children and she wasn’t the type to change her opinions about things.

  Even now, as she stood in front of him, he could see that nothing had changed. That brought a slight relief, but he still held his breath as he waited for her to speak.

  ANNIKA’S STOMACH ROLLED OVER AS SHE STOOD THERE, DEV’S question about Creed hanging in the air. Fuck. She’d come storming in, unsure where else to go, prepared to tell him she was pregnant so she could beg for advice on how to deal with it. But at the mention of Creed, she froze.

  She and Creed had been through so much, and a big part of their problem had been Dev—Creed’s jealousy of her relationship with their boss, her dependence on him. For a long time, she relied on Dev when she should have leaned on Creed, and she’d caused her lover a lot of grief.

  And here she was, reverting to old habits.

  But what else could she do? Dev had saved her a long time ago, had taken her out of a life where she’d been nothing but a cold-hearted killing machine. He’d been there for her whenever she needed him, had been more of a parent to her than the people who’d raised her.

  Still, she couldn’t betray Creed like this. Not after all they’d been through. If she was going to tell anyone she was pregnant, it would be Creed.

  Shit. Now what? Dev was expecting her to say something.

  “It’s, ah, Baker. He’s causing all kinds of trouble at the firing range.” She’d actually planned to talk to both Ender, who ran the shooting program, and Gage, the Trainee department head, instead of jumping the chain of command to Dev, but she needed a cover for coming here, and fast.

  Dev buttoned up his shirt. “Shouldn’t you be talking to—”

  “Ender and Drummond. I know. But Baker isn’t in shooting instruction yet, so Ender can’t really do anything about this. We’re just on basic weapons training, and we’re cycling through the M16 right now. And Drummond is on a mission.” She swallowed a wave of nausea and continued. “Baker is a hazard. Every time he fires the rifle, he melts every weapon within ten feet of him.”

  “I know he doesn’t have control of his gift yet.”

  No, he didn’t. His pyrokinetic gift was a little unique. He couldn’t make flame. Instead, he created some sort of subsonic frequency that created intense heat. “It’s not that. I think he’s doing it on purpose. He’s, like, some sort of Greenpeace nut.”

  Dev cocked a dark eyebrow. “You suspect he’s a plant?”

  She blew out a long breath. Groups like that had been known to infiltrate the very organizations they protested against in order to bring them down from the inside. “I don’t get that vibe. I think he’s just trying to do little things here and there to protest.” She shrugged. “I could be wrong.”

  “Okay, we’ll keep an eye on him. I’ll send him to Samantha and see if she can get into his head and look around a little.”

  A sudden wave of nausea rolled over Annika, and she threw out a hand to brace herself on Dev’s desk. Instantly, he was there, catching her—even though she was still on her feet, thank you very much.

  “I’m fine,” she ground out, though the room was spinning a little.

  Dev gently guided her toward the couch. “Have a seat. Let me get you something to drink.”

  “I said I’m fine!” She shrugged out of his arms. Her skin was suddenly sensitive and her eyes were watering and she wanted only to climb into bed, with Creed holding her.

  Dammit, the waterworks were truly starting now. She dashed away her tears with her BDU sleeve.

  “Annika, maybe you should see a doctor.”

  She scoffed. “It’s nothing. I just missed dinner.” She’d thrown up dinner, actually. “Look, I need to go. I have a class tonight.”

  “Ah … no, you don’t.”

  She spun around. Forced herself to not fall over. “What?”

  Dev squared his shoulders and spread his legs as though preparing for battle, and she knew this would not be good. “You are no longer going to be teaching self-defense and offensive combat.”

  “Say again?” She could not have heard that.

  “Annika, you’ve been teaching those subjects for two years. It’s time to rotate to a classroom setting.”

  Her blood pressure was going through the roof, making the backs of her eyes throb. “You did not just say that.”

  “Akbar has been asking to take over—”

  “Akbar? He’s a pussy.” Okay, that wasn’t true in the least—the guy had trained in Pakistan before joining Mossad, the Israeli intelligence and special operations organization. He was an incredibly skilled fighter, and that, when coupled with his poisonous wrist spurs, made him fucking deadly as shit.

  But physical training was her baby. And— Her baby. She sucked in a harsh breath. Did Dev know?

  “Dev,” she said slowly, “what are you not telling me?”

  “Nothing. I’ve been contemplating this move for a while. You know you should have rotated out months ago.”

  That was true, but the coincidence didn’t sit well. Or maybe she was being paranoid. Everything else inside her was fucked up. Why not that?

  “No. I’m staying where I am.” Which was basically being a stubborn bitch.

  “I’m putting my foot down on this. People already think I indulge you too much.”

  “Since when have you given a shit about that?”

  He ignored her. “And let’s face it, you and Gabe are butting heads—”

  “Gabe?” Her rage hit the next level. “This is about Gabe? You’re kicking me off the job so your boy toy isn’t inconvenienced? Why not him? Why doesn’t he have to go? Oh, right. Because he sucks your dick.” Yeah, she knew she’d gone way over the line, was heading straight to Irrational City, but hey, this was starting to be normal for her. “What are you going to do when Akbar pisses off Gabe? Fire Akbar too, just to make your lover happy?”

  “Enough.” Dev’s voice was low and sharp, a tone he rarely used with her. “You’ve now earned a suspension of your mission status, until further notice, as well.”

  She stopped breathing. He’d just spanked her, harder than he ever had. “Fuck you, Dev,” she whispered. “Go to hell.” Tears spilled onto her cheeks
as she stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind her. Christine stared, wide-eyed, but wisely kept her piehole shut.

  If this wasn’t the biggest piece-of-shit day she’d ever had, she didn’t know what was. All she could do was thank God she hadn’t told Dev she was pregnant, because in addition to taking away her classes and mission status, he’d probably have revoked her armory pass, restricted her work hours and relegated her to a wheelchair.

  She’d die. Die. He’d gotten so weird after Faith’s near-fatal attack while pregnant, but the thing was, she’d been on a support mission only. No action. And she’d been on her home turf, just outside TAG headquarters in England. All she’d been doing was taking a walk. It was a freak incident, but Dev suddenly seemed to think that pregnant operatives had eggshells for skin.

  Well, Annika’s skin might be extra-sensitive, but it wasn’t fragile. Dev could kiss her ass.

  Trembling all over, feeling like she was flying apart and barely grasping a rapidly unraveling thread of sanity, she headed for her Jeep. All she wanted was bed. Maybe tomorrow she’d wake up and find that this big nightmare was over.

  CHAPTER

  Fourteen

  Finally, camp loomed in front of them, and Logan felt himself sway. The last twenty feet seemed to take hours, but then Dax was rushing toward them, calling to the other men over the walkie-talkie. “Jesus, Lo, you look like shit.”

  “Yeah, thanks,” Logan mumbled, his grip tight on Sela. She held him even tighter than before and that made all of this worth it.

  “I’ve got men looking for you—everyone was worried, wanted to search for you last night, but I followed your orders,” Dax continued while he got on the other side of Logan and took on most of the weight Sela had been carrying.

  “Call the men back now. We need a better plan,” Logan said as the three of them walked to the med tent.

  On the way, he caught a glimpse of Shep. “What the hell happened to him?”

  Dax shot him a worried glance. “There were some problems while you were gone. Some experimentation.”

  Logan stopped dead in his tracks. “I didn’t order any experimentation.”

  “No, but your father did,” Dax said. “He’s here—arrived yesterday, late morning.”

  “And Chance?”

  “He’s been better.”

  “What about Marlena?” Sela broke in, but before Dax could answer, Logan pushed both of them off him and walked toward the med tent, the familiar rage sending enough adrenaline through him to propel him forward.

  His father must’ve been alerted that Logan made camp—he rushed out of the med tent toward him. “Logan, what happened to you?”

  “What the hell did you do?” Logan growled.

  “Please, we can talk about everything later. For now, you don’t look well,” his father reasoned.

  “Logan, you need to come with us, let us patch you up,” one of the doctors urged.

  Logan knew he was right, felt the uncontrollable rage skimming the surface. He’d fought it all night with Sela’s help—but now the wound was sucking too much of the serum, when the rest of his body needed it. He felt stiff and weak and angry—so angry.

  He walked into the med tent with Dax and Sela, and that’s when he saw Chance. The man was chained in a corner on the floor, Marlena curled next to him. He looked battered, bruised. “What did you do to him?”

  “We ran a few tests,” a doctor began hesitantly, cutting a look at Logan’s father, who’d refused to answer the question himself.

  “Under whose authority?” Logan asked.

  “Your father’s.”

  “He’s not in charge here!” Logan picked up a chair and hurled it across the room. Chance startled and sat up and Logan forced himself to regain control, for the injured man’s sake. “I’m sorry, Chance. It’s okay. There will be no more experiments conducted on you without your consent. You have my word on that.”

  He glanced at Sela, who wore the same expression she’d had in the cave when he’d lost control. She was scared of him, maybe even disgusted, and he couldn’t blame her. Fuck.

  “Logan, you need to let us help you,” the doctor said, glancing between Logan and Sela.

  Sela, who’d saved his life, who’d made love to him and made him feel fucking whole.

  Sela, who already knew far too much about his bioware. And the company’s mission here in the Amazon.

  “Dax!”

  Dax was by his side in seconds. “Yes, sir?”

  He didn’t hesitate. “Take Sela and Marlena and put them in lockdown together. Two men guarding at all times. From the outside. And they don’t come out until I say so.”

  He heard the sharp intake of breath from Sela at the sudden betrayal, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Marlena rub Chance’s arm in an effort to keep him calm.

  “If you have to sedate Chance to get Marlena out of here, do it,” he barked. And then he stared down at his arm and mumbled something even he couldn’t understand, as the world began to shift out from under him.

  ONCE LOGAN FAINTED, EVERYTHING WENT TO SHIT FAST. Chance reacted quickly, rising to his feet and taking Marlena with him as Dax and the doctors picked Logan off the floor and placed him on the table.

  Logan was Chance’s only shot at getting out of this hellhole without further experimentation. But once the man had ordered Sela and Marlena contained, Chance knew his own reaction would not be a good one.

  He stood with Marlena tucked protectively against him, staring at Dax. “Put the gun down, asshole. I know you’re not going to shoot me. Even if you do, it won’t kill me.”

  Not that Chance knew that for sure, but hell, he’d shot at the chupa who’d attacked him, and nothing happened.

  “Chance, listen to me, I’m going to be fine. Please don’t get angry or upset, don’t do that to yourself.” Marlena stared at him steadily. “Let me go with them.”

  “I’ll make sure she’s okay, Chance,” Sela assured him. “Really.”

  Okay, yeah, he could play this. The monster inside of him was strong as shit, but he, the man, was still damned smart. And so he nodded and moved aside, watched as Sela and Marlena were escorted out of the tent.

  Dax was watching him warily, gun still drawn. Behind him, a doctor was holding a syringe, one no doubt filled with tranquilizers.

  Chance’s jaw tightened. “You don’t need that. I said I’ll stay put. As long as you don’t touch Marlena, I’ll be fine.”

  He sat in the chair and let Dax drag over the long chains for his ankles and wrists. When Dax was done, he took the syringe from the doctor and told Chance, “We’ll be outside with this, just in case.”

  They carried Logan out as Chance watched, and then he was alone in the tent.

  These men had to realize that they had nothing in this camp that could hold him for long—and if they didn’t, he’d bring it to their attention.

  CHAPTER

  Fifteen

  Creed breathed deeply and tried to slow his roll as he strode across the parking lot toward Devlin’s office and was seriously glad he did so when he caught sight of Ani fuming her way to her Jeep.

  She stopped when she saw him and then continued her pissed-off stride until she ended up toe to toe with him.

  Ah, the memories of the old days came flashing back to him—the fights, the Annika anger, the never knowing if he was on solid ground.

  Fuck, he loved this woman more than he’d ever thought he could love anyone. Could take her right here in the parking lot—that’s how much she turned him on.

  She, however, seemed less than enthralled to see him.

  “What are you doing here?” she demanded. “What, did Dev call you in so you could comfort me?”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” he asked, keeping his voice low to avoid drawing stares from some of the other ACRO employees.

  Jesus, he hoped Dev didn’t say anything about the preg—

  “He’s treating me like I’m suddenly breakable or som
ething, just because I almost fainted.”

  “You almost fainted?”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m fine. But Dev took me away from teaching martial arts with some lame excuse that I’ve been in the position too long.”

  No, Ani wouldn’t take that well at all.

  “So I told him I knew Gabe was getting special treatment.”

  “Aw, Ani, you didn’t go there, did you?”

  “I might’ve said something about Gabe sucking his dick.” She shrugged, like it was no big deal, but Creed knew it was, to both her and Devlin.

  “If anything, Dev indulges you a hell of a lot more than any other agent here—including Gabe.”

  She eyed him with a pissed-off look, but he’d take that over crying any day of the week. Pissed-off Annika could be handled. “Why are you here?”

  “Devlin wanted to see me. I’m assuming it has something to do with my job, because I do fucking work here, okay? You’re not the only agent in this relationship.”

  “Actually, you are.”

  He frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “Dev suspended me from mission status until further notice. Because of my comments about his lover, I’m sure.”

  Oh, man, this was not good at all. Dev didn’t even know about Oz’s prediction, and he was still freaking about Annika’s pregnancy. He felt Kat’s hands on his shoulders, her insistence that he confront Annika, and shrugged her off.

  Now wasn’t the time to tell Annika he knew … better to let her tell him in her own time.

  Unless she got too close to the end of her first trimester.

  “Do you really think Dev makes more concessions for me than he does for Gabe?” she asked.

  “Absolutely.” He put an arm around her shoulder and guided her toward her Jeep. “Ani, look, you’ve definitely held your position longer than you were supposed to. You’d be the first one to bitch if it was someone else.”

  Reasonable and calm … and a small prayer helped.

  Maybe Oz was wrong about this. Maybe the pregnancy would be a good thing.

  Tell her, Kat insisted.