Zack and Ace

Chapter Nine

“My money’s on Zack,” Derrick said as he put a ten on the table. “Any takers?”

“Gimme a break,” Kelly muttered. Her dinner with the others had gone well toward restoring her faith in her mates. The guys stuck up for the pair, but Caitlyn spared Zack and Ace little sympathy, or privacy, as she paraded their feelings in front of the others.

“Seriously,” she said. “How could the rest of you not see how much Ace and Zack complement one another? Or do the rest of you have that guy/guy problem too? Like, if you love another guy, you’re automatically gay. As if there’s something wrong with that.”

“Caitlyn, enough.” Roane’s face turned bright red. Hale and Derrick avoided eye contact as well, and Kelly thought it was because they had been with each other sexually and didn’t want to talk about it. Talk about some guy/guy problems.

Caitlyn laughed. “Come on, Kelly. Tell them how sexy it is watching two hot guys like Ace and Zack going at it.”

“Hot guys?” Roane repeated, his voice menacing.

“Shut up, already, Caitlyn.” Derrick grimaced. “Roane, seriously. You need better control over your woman. Who wears the pants in your relationship, anyway?”

“We both wear pants. Really, Derrick. In this day and age…” Caitlyn’s voice grew louder as her rant continued. Poor Derrick took Caitlyn’s tongue-lashing like a champ. He rolled his eyes at Hale and Kelly, but Caitlyn saw it and verbally tore him to shreds.

“A true sacrifice. His ears for our sanity,” Hale murmured with a grin.

“Thank God.” Kelly agreed. She loved Caitlyn and the others like family, but there was such a thing as too much sharing. The guys obviously felt the same.

“Save me from a sharp-tongued Circ,” Roane said under his breath. “Okay, that’s enough, you little witch.”

“Little witch?” Caitlyn ceased berating Derrick and turned on her mate. Her eyes changed first, then her hands.

“Damn, now that’s hot,” Hale said.

Roane must have agreed, because he stood, swung Caitlyn over his shoulder, and left the table in a rush.

“Another ten says she’s purring the next time we see her,” Derrick challenged.

“You’re on.” Hale grinned. “Kelly, you want a piece of the action?”

Before she could answer, Diego called her from the study. “Kelly? Phone call.”

Thinking it had to be Ace or Zack, she gratefully left the dining room and closed the study door behind her. She picked up the phone, hoping for good news. “Ace?”

“Kelly Malloy, don’t speak. Listen. We have Ace Two Bears and Zack English. They’re drugged but alive…for now. If you want to see them again, don’t ask for help. Don’t speak to anyone at all. Come alone to Morey’s Pier, where we’ll be waiting for you. If we see anyone following you, your lovers are dead.”

The phone clicked, and Kelly stared in shock at the receiver. It had to be a trap. Not willing to react out of hand, she called her home, but no one picked up.

She needed to tell the others. Her beast roared with denial. Take care of your own mates. Don’t endanger them because you’re too weak-willed to protect what’s yours.

Then again, if she told the others, they’d demand to accompany her, and Ace or Zack might die. She thought quickly. Scribbling a note to Doc, who would probably see it, at the earliest, later tonight, if he stopped by his office to work, she figured she’d have enough time to do what needed to be done.

Composing herself, she rejoined the group in the dining room. “Good news. The boys are happy again. I’ve gotta go. Straight home, and I’ll call you when I get there,” she said to forestall Hale’s arguments for protection.

“Come on, Hale. Give the girl some privacy,” Derrick said on her behalf. “She’s got two

‘hotties’ waiting for her at home.” He snorted with laughter.

“Thanks. I’ll see you later!” She left before anyone could question her, waving at Diego as she practically ran from the house.

Crap. What car to take? She’d let the guys have hers. After she raced into the garage out back, she fished for a set of keys off the key rack and took Derrick’s. Careful not to draw undue attention, Kelly drove his red truck down the long-ass driveway and away toward Morey’s Pier in Wildwood. She’d do anything she had to for her mates.

Patting her purse that held her favorite nine mil -- courtesy of her father-- she sped toward the meeting place, intent on saving the other pieces of her heart.

She remembered to call Doc’s a few minutes later to announce that she’d arrived home safely. A little white lie, but if it meant saving her men, she’d do whatever she had to. She parked as close to the boardwalk as she could. Running two blocks, she made her way up the boardwalk and onto the pier. Though not so crowded during the winter, the boardwalk still had several people milling about. And then she saw him.

Simon Dunn stared at her without smiling. “Not a word.” He quickly snagged one of her arms and dragged her back down the way she’d come, off the boardwalk, and onto the street. Before she could demand to see evidence that he had Ace and Zack, a jolting pain stung her neck. She turned to stare in surprise at the last man she’d thought to see next to a creep like Dunn.

“Stephen?”

Stephen Folsom didn’t blink as his gaze roamed her face with satisfaction. With possession. He tucked the syringe he’d used back into his jacket pocket. “Hey, Kelly. Nice to see you again.”

She stumbled into his arms, working hard to identify the suddenly garbled voices around her. She felt too weak to stand, no doubt thanks to whatever he’d given her.

“Easy, asshole,” Dunn reprimanded.

“Touch her again, and I’ll geld you where you stand.” She heard a growl. Stephen, growling? Even more confusing, Stephen trying to protect her? The man who could barely work up the nerve to kiss her good night or argue with his friend who’d once tried to cop a feel? That Stephen? “You don’t touch what’s mine.”

Then blackness overtook her, and she knew no more.

The next morning, Zack woke Ace with the same kind of massage Ace had lovingly given him a few weeks earlier. Except instead of using his finger in Ace’s ass, Zack fucked him slow and easy, his cock stroking with a precision that had Ace shouting his name as he came hard all over the bed.

“Now, that’s a massage.” Ace struggled to catch his breath. “I hate to suggest it, but I think it’s time to see Kelly again.”

“Yeah.” Zack pulled out and groaned. “Do we have to get up?”

“Actually, ‘we’ don’t. You’re the one that had all the issues. I think you should go fetch our mate.”

Zack glared down at him, not surprised when the lazy Circ closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep. “That you could sleep in your own cum is a little disturbing, not to mention gross. But you even think about leaving me to take care of our mess, and I’ll --”

Ace shot out of bed with a grin. “Kind of pissy, aren’t you? Not a morning person, eh, English?”

“Fuck off, cub.” Zack chuckled, caught by the playful gleam in his lover’s eyes.

Emotion hit him hard, the burgeoning love he felt for both Ace and Kelly so strong. Their future looked bright, all his dreams and hopes within reach…

The phone rang. “Yeah?” he asked as he picked it up. “Oh. Hi, Caitlyn.” He frowned.

“Why would you be calling here for Kelly? I thought she was staying overnight with you.”

Had she returned, and he and Ace been unaware? No. No matter how into one another they were, they would have caught Kelly’s scent the minute she stepped through the front door.

A dark foreboding stole his earlier joy as he raced through the house. “Shit. She’s not here. Tell me again what happened last night.”

As Caitlyn explained what she knew from the others, Zack headed into the bathroom to find Ace. “Caitlyn, tell the team to suit up. Kelly’s not here. So what you’re saying is that she’s been gone from eight last night until” -- he paused to check the clock on the wall --

“nine this morning. Thirteen hours. Shit. We’ll be there in twenty.”

He hung up and yanked the shower door back. “Ace, Kelly’s missing.”

Ace’s cocky smile disappeared. “Tell me.”

“Apparently, she left last night. Said we’d told her to come back after she took a phone call.”

“Bullshit.”

“Right. So why would she lie?”

“Good question. Let’s find the answers, fast.”

They cleaned up and arrived at the compound in under twenty minutes. Zack’s hair was still wet, and his clothing clung to him in spots, but all he could think about was Kelly in harm’s way. They found the others circled around the dining room table. No one looked happy.

“I called her father. He hasn’t heard from her since last week. She’s not in Maryland,”

Doc said before Zack could speak. “Derrick’s truck was missing. Using the vehicle’s tracking device, he found it this morning parked down by the pier. No sign of Kelly.”

Diego cleared his throat. The short male looked far too sober for Zack’s frame of mind.

“I gave her the phone.” He shoved his hands down the pockets of his neatly pressed shorts. A peer of Doc’s, as well as Doc’s good friend, Diego always wore a ready smile that beckoned others to feel his joy with life. That he wasn’t brimming with optimism spoke volumes. “A man asked for her. It wasn’t either of you, but with that relationship she has with that Folsom fellow, I didn’t think twice to ask her about it. I left her alone to take the call.”

“Folsom,” Ace snapped. “We need to find him.”

“If it was even him.” Zack’s frustration boiled over. “Fuck this. It’s the PPA. I know it.”

“Yeah.” Derrick exhaled slowly. “What say a few of us stake out our usual suspects? If we’re near the labs, we’ll be that much nearer to Kelly, I’m sure.”

Roane took charge. “Hale, you check out Folsom. You find him, you make him tell you what he knows. The rest of us will check with our sources around Pearson Labs. But, guys,”

he said, narrowing his gaze on Ace and Zack, “we don’t move on the labs until I give the say-so. We don’t have the manpower to rescue you two if Pearl decides he wants to get his hands on you while you play cowboy holding up the lab. We need to focus on finding Kelly and getting her back safely.”

“No shit.” Ace exploded into action, shoving his fist through the drywall in the kitchen.

“Right.” Zack put arm around his mate and pulled him close. “Simmer down. Focus on Kelly. Think about what we need to do.”

Ace growled but nodded and stepped away, trying to regain control.

“What about me? What should I do to help?” Caitlyn blinked rapidly. Zack could see the tears in her eyes. “I want to do something.”

Roane kissed her. “Stay here. If by some chance Kelly calls or needs help, she’ll need you available. Doc might need a hand as well. We know a lot of people out there.

Somebody’s bound to have seen something.”

Caitlyn nodded. “Okay.” She shooed them with her hands. “So go already. Find Kelly.

She promised to take me shoe shopping once her men wised up.”

Guilt choked Zack, though he said nothing. Kelly should have been home with them last night. Instead, she’d been without her mates because he’d had intimacy issues.

Motherfucker.

Ace pounded him in the arm. “Not now,” he hissed. “Don’t you lose it. We have to find her, together. Don’t leave me,” he said. “Not again. She needs us, Zack. We both need you.”

Zack nodded. Ace was right. They had no time for recriminations. He followed the group out to the garage and into the hidden vault that held their defenses. Throwing on their light armor and arming themselves, they jumped into two vehicles and sped for the northern portion of the state, where Pearson Labs thrived.

Promising himself it would be okay, Zack reached out to his frantic beast and pledged his life to finding and protecting his mate. An arm sought him from the front seat, and he glanced up to see Ace looking at him with worry.

“We’ll find her.” Ace tried to reassure his mate.

“We will.” Zack nodded. Now wasn’t the time for doubt. Only one thing mattered: finding Kelly.

“No matter what it takes,” Derrick muttered from the driver’s seat. “The two of you need to dig out those cell phones and make some phone calls. Between your contacts and mine, we’ll find her. And don’t count Harry out. If he hasn’t seen her near the labs, she ain’t there.”

“Homeless” Harry saw everything, for the right price. He and a few of his friends lived outside the abandoned industrial area near Pearson Labs. His network of informants was vast, and he particularly liked Derrick. They had an arrangement, of sorts. No matter how many times Derrick had tried to find Harry a place to live, food, and employment, Harry would only work for money. And he only accepted it from Derrick.

“What’s with you and Harry?” Zack asked.

“It’s a black thing.” Derrick shrugged.

“But he’s white.”

“How can you tell with all that dirt on his face?” Ace asked.

“Good point,” Zack conceded.

Derrick grinned. “Maybe it’s because I’m black and bad and I impress him. More than you skinny-ass white boys.”

“Who you calling white?” Ace asked. “My blood’s darker than yours.”

“Please. I’m ebony, you’re --”

“Not ivory. The cub’s Cree,” Zack interrupted with a snort. “I agree you’re bad, though.” Zack grinned, despite his worries. Derrick had a way of pissing him off and making him feel lighter at the same time. “A bad dresser, bad tipper, bad with the ladies…”

“That’s pushing it.” Derrick huffed.

“Actually, D, Zack has a point. And you know, my mate’s never wrong.” Ace finally said it out loud. My mate.

Derrick smiled, a sincere grin that turned his stern countenance into a face of masculine beauty. “About damned time, pretty boy.”

Ace frowned. “I hate it when you call me that.”

“I know. Now give me the phone.” Derrick took the phone and pressed a button. A few moments passed. “Yo, Harry. It’s D. I have a situation, one that’ll have you rolling in green if you have the answers I need. Here’s the deal…”

Sabrina Torrence stared down at the unconscious female Circ strapped to the gurney as she pushed it along the hallway. Bile rose in her throat as she realized what she’d done. No more pretenses. Pearl would know who’d sabotaged this latest lab work. But there’d been no hope for it.

The woman was pregnant.

The likelihood of Kelly Malloy passing on sane, rational Circ genes to her progeny was about an 89 percent surety. She’d done the math. With the blood and tissue samples Elliot had already collected, and his plans to remove the woman’s embryo now, Sabrina couldn’t wait. Even though Elliot knew he might risk this offspring by grabbing it at such an early state, he wanted complete control over its development. Not a rational decision for Pearson Labs’ top scientist, but then, she’d had her doubts about him for some time.

She rolled the gurney faster, nodding at the colleagues she passed. No one would question her. Not with her new clearance level. The CEO had seen fit to promote her, regardless of Pearl’s ambivalence. She knew Pearl respected her intelligence, but the man didn’t like the way she treated him. Well, fuck him. She hated his guts. If it hadn’t been for him, she wouldn’t be in this mess right now.

So much for a promising career in biochemistry. Her chance at leapfrogging from the Navy to something more lucrative in a state-of-the-art scientific lab, courtesy of Project Dawn, had tanked the minute Pearl created psychotic killers.

Sabrina still agreed with the project’s original intentions -- to help the military, her fellow sailors and soldiers, be less vulnerable. She’d already lost friends due to the current conflicts the military was thrust into. Why sacrifice hardworking troops when science could do what so many peacemakers couldn’t? Rid the world of evil one dreg at a time by force. A superior force. Unfortunately, an unstable, murdering, superior force.

Five of Circe’s Recruits had survived, and it killed Elliot that he didn’t know why. It also aggravated him to no end that Dr. Evan Dennis held the men’s loyalty. That his nemesis had the means to continue research on viable test subjects, while he made do experimenting with failure, time and time again.

“Where are you going?” a low voice rumbled, shooting tremors of fear through her every pore.

Sabrina stopped as McKinley stepped out of the shadows. Just twenty more feet, and she’d have made the elevator and freedom. The giant Circ’s yellow eyes gleamed with a predatory intent. She never felt safe in this environment, not with what she knew and what she’d done. But Sabrina felt positively hunted whenever she was around McKinley. She’d swear he knew all about her, except he’d never acted on her misdeeds. Yet the man was aware of everything. More psychic than any of the Circs they’d ever seen.

Even Folsom and Dunn’s new partner, Colins, didn’t possess McKinley’s ability to blend with the shadows, and they were Pearl’s new, top-of-the-line Circ generation. They’d both lasted weeks longer than any of the others and showed no signs of regression.

“Torrence?” McKinley hissed, growing impossibly larger. He towered over her, nearly brushing the ceiling as he radiated hostility.

“I’m taking the patient to the subbasement levels after more testing. Dr. Pearl wants me to harvest her embryo first.” Which wouldn’t explain why she’d be near the service elevators instead of the level two shafts she’d already passed.

McKinley studied her. Then he stared at the woman on the hospital bed. He leaned down to sniff her, and his gaze darkened. He straightened and stepped closer to Sabrina.

She couldn’t help backing away, but his low growl stopped her in her tracks. He sniffed her, nuzzling her neck. Shocking the hell out of her, he proceeded to lick her there, the rasp of his tongue like lightning against her skin. She felt the heat spiral to her sex in an instant.

McKinley rose, staring into her dark eyes. Nose to nose, they considered one another.

Will he kill me now or toy with me first? Oh, God, please don’t let him rape me, too.

“You took this route because the elevators are busted, right?”

It took a minute for her to understand. The level two elevators weren’t working? The perfect excuse. “Yes. Right. Not working. Exactly why I was…going to go this way.”

The woman beside them moaned, the sedatives beginning to wear off.

McKinley shook his head and stepped back, his hands fisted into claws. “Get your ass moving. Dr. Pearl wants results fast on this one.” Yet his words didn’t seem right. McKinley should have asked more questions. Even if the level two elevators were inoperable, it made no sense to use this elevator leading to the outside.

“Well then, let me get on it.” Sabrina tore past him, relieved beyond measure when the doors opened right away and she hustled her patient inside. She watched McKinley as the doors closed. Bemused, she thought she saw him murmur “good luck” before she lost sight of him.

Once on the ground level, she hurried down the nearly deserted hallway toward the back lot. With the keys to a white, nondescript medical van the PPA used when working Circ cases, Sabrina loaded Kelly into the vehicle with the slowest pneumatic lift known to man. Once Kelly was inside and the gurney locked down, Sabrina flew into the van and drove away.

It took every ounce of discipline she had to make small talk with the gate guard and to drive the fifteen-mile-an-hour speed limit off the property. She nodded at Mary, one of the homeless who lived outside the grounds. A nice woman, one who used the information Sabrina gave her all too willingly.

Sabrina knew where that information went. She could only hope it did more good than it seemed to lately. Because she wouldn’t be able to pass any more. Not now when she’d stolen Elliot Pearl’s greatest treasure.

A dark black sedan came out of nowhere behind her. She swore when she saw Simon Dunn in the driver’s seat, sitting next to another PPA agent. “Son of a bitch.” She veered sharply into him when he tried to pass. Unfortunately, they both sped along an unused street between deserted warehouses. The industrial section in this part of town hadn’t been used in a decade, which made it the perfect place to create monsters.

Gritting her teeth, Sabrina knew she wouldn’t be able to outrun them. She needed to drive carefully, concerned about the pregnant Circ in the back. Rummaging through her pockets, she found the syringe she’d love to stick in Dunn’s neck. I’d watch while you seize to death and enjoy every minute of it, you creep.

A high-pitched scraping sound scared her spitless as another vehicle rammed her from the other side. A red truck sandwiched her against Dunn. It was driven by a man who looked more savage than McKinley. Dark brown skin surrounded eyes that glowed like gold.

Surprisingly, Sabrina could see an arresting face despite the grimace he wore. She wondered where her head was that she noticed something like that, or that she could concentrate enough to see him through a blurred window and at such distance.

Shots fired, scoring her temple and lodging in her shoulder. She slammed on the brakes.

The truck and sedan continued past her. Her head throbbed, but thankfully, the bullet hadn’t done more than graze her there. Her shoulder felt on fire. Not sure who to trust with Malloy, Sabrina turned the vehicle around and raced in the opposite direction. In the rearview mirror, she saw three men exit the red truck to confront Dunn, Folsom, and Colins from the sedan.

“Maybe we’ll get lucky, and they’ll kill each other.”

Not going to happen.

Her cell phone rang, scaring the shit out of her. Answering cautiously, she waited.

“You got her?” Harry asked.

“Yes.” Relief made her light-headed. No, that was the bullet currently stuck in her arm, in addition to the blood loss from her forehead.

“Bring her to the warehouse with the broken fish outside.”

She knew just the one. An old cannery at the entrance to the industrial park. She disconnected and drove back a quarter mile, zigzagging through the complex. Aware she was still too close to the PPA for safety, she nevertheless had to rely on Harry. His Circ friends would help. From what Sabrina gathered, they were the good guys in this fight -- or at least, a helluva lot less bad than Pearson Labs.

Parking in the darkened building with the engine running, Sabrina quickly moved into the back to check on Kelly. To her surprise, the woman had revived.

“Where am I? What did you do to me?” Kelly cried out.

“Nothing.” Sabrina held up her hands. “Shh.” Crouched as she was, her balance was off, and she wobbled. Her wounds were weakening her. She needed to leave, but she had to make sure Kelly Malloy was protected first.

“You’re that woman from Pearson Labs. Pearl’s assistant,” Kelly hissed.

“In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m bleeding here,” Sabrina said dryly. “I’m going to unstrap you. I think your buddies are on the way. Three big Circs just stepped out of a red truck, and they didn’t look happy. They’re duking it out with some PPA guys right now.”

Sabrina caught her head and tried to overcome the dizziness.

“You’re bleeding,” Kelly said.

“A master of the obvious.” You don’ have time for wit, Sabrina. “Don’t attack me when

I get closer,” she warned. Strapped or not, this woman was a Circ. She’d only been given mild tranquilizers to knock her out, and she wasn’t injured and normal, like Sabrina. “Some key 120

Marie Harte

points. One, you matured faster than normal. Pearl arranged for a mutated Circ to infect one of your lovers with an aggressive virus.”

“What? When?”

“That mission in Glen Falls. A rogue Circ bit one of your team, who in turn infected you. The virus was designed to jump-start a female Circ’s biological clock. Once activated, the virus soon died. Don’t worry, only you were impacted by it. Which leads us to key point number two. You’re pregnant and extremely valuable to Dr. Pearl right now.” Sabrina moved her left arm and grimaced at the pain.

“Pregnant?” Kelly sounded shell-shocked as Sabrina released her.

“You have to leave. Go back to your Circs and make sure to stay away. Tell them.” She paused. She’d once dreamed of a better life, of being someone important. Now her “career”

was nothing more than a dirty, shaming mess. Then again, all that had really ended three years ago with the crumbling destruction of Project Dawn. “Tell them Pearl isn’t running the show. He hasn’t been for a long time. He’s making a new batch of Circs.” Time was running out. She was fading fast. “He has female Circs who aren’t crazy. He’s started a breeding program. Not with you, but he’ll use you to make sure they conceive.”

Kelly reached out to help steady her, and Sabrina jerked back. A knock on the back of the van door scared her, not helping matters.

“Hurry up in there, dammit.”

She breathed a sigh of relief, recognizing Harry’s voice. “Go. Harry’s a friend. He knows your buddy, Derrick, I think.”

“Derrick. Right.” Kelly inched toward the doors, then looked back at her. “Come with me.”

“No. I’m as good as dead. You don’t need that right now. Not with a baby on the way.

Now tell them what I told you. And give them this.” She handed Kelly a small disc. “It’s password protected. But the password is --”

The van shook, and bullets whined through the front windshield.

“Dammit. Get out of here!” Once the shooting stalled, Sabrina crawled back into the front seat. The minute the back doors opened and she caught sight of Harry and Kelly racing for safety, she floored the accelerator. Sabrina tore out of the warehouse and went straight, then left, away from the red truck and Simon Dunn. In minutes she had four of the PPA’s company cars on her ass. With a determined grimace, she stepped harder on the accelerator, aiming for a way out of this maze.

“Doc” and his pals could find a hacker to get into her encrypted files. Maybe he could do more with them than she’d ever been able to do. Then again, she was just a woman, just a stupid phlebotomist, as she’d often heard Pearl refer to her.

“Yeah, well, fuck you, Elliot Pearl.” She wiped a hand over her face, clearing the blood from her eyes. “Now the enemy has your secrets. And I’m not done with you yet.”

Not by a long shot.