9781618857835FrozenFuryBeckNC (5 page)

“Sweetheart,” Gage groaned
with his teeth clenched. “Come for me now. Let’s come together.”

Amelia raised her head
from his neck and it was the first moment he could recall locking eyes with
her. She rotated her hips, grinding her pelvis into him.
Her
muscles tensed and then suddenly shook and in that single moment, Gage lost all
illusion of being in charge. He simply let go.

“Yes. Oh Goddess, yes. You
are mine,” he called out as he closed his eyes and clung to Amelia. The tears
in her eyes went unnoticed.

Chapter Three

“Madden is waiting for
you.” Nicolaus looked up from the comm desk when Gage walked through the doors
to the TEU office. It still felt odd not to see Caedon at his post and he wished
the agents would return soon from the overseas office.

Knocking once, Gage
entered Madden’s office without pause. His brother looked up from a file he was
reading and nodded. “We need to talk.
There’s
some
questions you might be able to answer.”

Gage shrugged. “I’ll
give it my best shot.” He hoped this wouldn’t take long.
After
a quiet night with Amelia, he’d left to go for a run and a quick check in at
TEU, but had no intention of staying away long.
“What is it?”

“I spoke with the lab’s
director to go over the events of the other night.” Madden shook his head
again. “She was surprised to hear that Amelia was in the lab in the evening and
wondered what she was doing. Since she couldn’t get in touch with her last
evening, she went to the lab to look around and found compounds she herself
couldn’t explain.”

Gage shifted in his
seat, curious now just where Madden was going with all this.

“Under normal
circumstances, we wouldn’t bother a newly mated couple. But obviously, with so
much happening and still no resolution on Nassir’s purpose, it seems cause to
question Amelia.”

“Wait, question her?
You think she was doing something wrong in the lab?” Gage ran his hand through
his short hair and shook his head in disbelief. “What the hell, Madden?”

Madden held out his
hands in surrender. “I know nothing except that your mate might know something.
And if she does, I want that information.”

“I’ve just gotten her
to talk with me and try to connect. Shit, she just agreed this morning to let
Paige bring her a suitcase of clothes.” Gage shook his head, frustrated that
once again a wrench was thrown into his Claiming.

“How
about over dinner then?
We’ll make it seem casual.” Madden
was interrupted by the phone. He clicked the intercom button.
“Yeah?”

Nico’s
voice was strong on the other end. “It appears Amelia is on the move.”

Madden locked eyes with
Gage before replying to Nico, “Have them follow her and report in when she
arrives at her destination.” He clicked the button once more before turning
back to Gage. “Was she going out?”

“Not that I knew. She’s
still recovering. Hell, I had to carry her to the bath tub this morning.” Gage
was worried now. He’d told her he’d return for lunch and would only be gone a
few hours.

“Well, little brother,
I’d say she’s walking fine now.” Gage wanted to punch the smirk right off
Madden’s face.

“I’m going with you
when you find out where she is,” he said.

“I expect nothing
less,” Madden agreed. Then they sat in silence, waiting.

* * * *

 
Amelia stumbled as she made her way for the
door to MagCircle Lab. She shouldn’t be up yet with her injury still not fully
healed, but she needed to get to her lab. This was the first chance she had and
she wasn’t wasting any time. Gage would be back to his house by lunch and she
planned to be waiting there for him when he returned. He’d be none the wiser.

She shuddered at the
mess in her lab. The blood—or any signs of the altercation—were washed away,
but all of her supplies that were usually neatly stored away before she left
remained out on the counter. Some bottles were still open and she was sure
there would be unsalvageable samples to dispose of. Setting to her task, Amelia
worked anxiously to put her lab to rights.

When the door opened a
half hour later, she was surprised to see Gage, Madden, and Dr. Whitner
standing in her lab. This was an almost certain sign that someone saw the
compounds she was working with and had questions. And those questions would
most definitely be ones she didn’t want to answer.

She swallowed and
plastered on her most convincing smile. “I’m afraid it’s not quite as clean as
I’d like for hosting guests.”

“We’re not worried with
cleanliness,” Dr. Whitner said in way of greeting. “I do hope you are well
though, Dr. Sinster.”

“Yes. Thank you. My
recovery is going remarkably fast.” Amelia couldn’t stop her eyes from roaming
to Gage who stood still and silent.

“Dr. Whitner, have you
been introduced to my mate, Gage Santucci? He works with his family’s security
company.” Amelia groped for a way to turn the focus from herself, but without
success.

“Yes, we’ve been
introduced. I’m also very aware he’s the man who shot you.” Her lips quirked
up, “I suppose that made things awkward.”

Amelia looked away but
answered quietly, “Well understated.”

The silence in the room
as they all stood assessing the lab was driving Amelia to alarm. “Do I dare ask
why you’ve come to see me?”

Madden spoke up. “We
want to know what exactly you were doing in the lab the other night. You
weren’t signed in—no one was. The director here wasn’t aware you were keeping
evening hours. So, naturally, it made us curious.”

Dr. Whitner added, “I
visited your lab yesterday after Madden phoned me. I thought I would help by
seeing to your supplies but what I found was most questionable. It didn’t have
anything at all to do with your current project and when I tried to determine
the elements, I couldn’t.”

“Well, I’ve been
spending some of my own time on an experiment.” Amelia explained vaguely.

Dr.
Whitner’s
eyebrows shot up. “Please tell us. Perhaps we’d be interested?”

“Yes. I think we’d all
like to hear.” Madden pulled out a stool on the end of the island they now
stood around. It looked as if Amelia had no choice.

She looked to Gage who
stood rigid. His deep brown eyes appeared cold and edgy. Amelia couldn’t tell
what he was thinking, but there was a definite vibe of anger rolling off him.
That was one emotion she could easily tap into. Pushing a strand of hair that
fell loose behind her ear, she sighed and sat down across from the others.

“I’ve found an anecdote
to Valendite Breed life sustenance.” Amelia looked at Madden while she spoke
these first words, but then turned to Dr. Whitner to explain further, “Remember
when we tested the fertility drug for humans? Well, I noticed some of the
auxiliary benefits included renewed energy. When I tested blood samples from
the subjects, I found a complex compound formed when the drug was mixed with
human blood.”

Dr.
Whitner’s
brows shot up. “What you mean to say is that we inadvertently created a drug to
prolong life.”

“Correct,” Amelia
smiled. “And when given to a Breed, I hypothesize we can sustain life without a
mate. It will benefit those who can’t find a mate.”

“Wait. Wait a minute
and talk so Gage and I can follow this. What drug?” Madden leaned forward
scowling. Amelia knew he couldn’t understand.

As Amelia began a
simple explanation, Gage interrupted, “Holy Goddess, you’ve created an
artificial drug to take the place of natural mating.” He didn’t sound as
thrilled about this as Amelia and Dr. Whitner were.

“Essentially, yes,” Amelia
assented.

“Why?”

Gage’s question
surprised her.

“Well, at first it was
an accidental discovery but then I thought about how so many of the Magdalena
women are missing.
So many of the Breed are going longer
without finding mates.
This could essentially fool their body to
increase life expectancy.”

“And if a mate should
come along?” Madden asked.

“Well,” Amelia paused,
“I’d guess everything could proceed as normal but that would need to be
tested.”

“Again, I’m going back
to the question of
why
.” Gage’s voice
was raised and he was shaking his head.

“It has the potential
of helping people,” Amelia defended her project.

“Or the potential to
hurt a whole hell of a lot more,” Gage growled before he turned his back on
her.

Honestly confused,
Amelia looked to
Madden
who placed his hand over her
own. “Here’s the part you don’t know. The clincher, if you will. We’ve been
pursuing a man believed to have
intel
on the Valendite
Breed.”

“The
man who held Ella?”
Amelia had met Lucas’s mate and
knew the story of her captivity as well as any.

“Yes. The piece we’ve
kept quiet, for obvious reasons, is that the men who held her are seeking a way
to create their own Breeds,” Madden explained.

“W-whatever
for?”
Dr. Whitner asked

“War.
Destruction of our race, the breeds and then humans as well.”
Gage glared from the window as he answered.

Amelia sank into
herself at his words and looked for Madden’s confirmation. At his nod, she
bowed her head. “But they need to find this first. I can destroy it. This is
the only sample and I’ve not shared with anyone what I’d found. I hadn’t
planned on it until I was certain.”

“Well, given this new
information, I suspect Dr. Whitner was right in adding extra security. My guess
is somehow these men found out about our research facility.” Amelia noticed her
supervisor blanch at her words. She had to be devastated her lab could possibly
be breached.

“She’s in danger,” Gage
came to Amelia then and placed his hand on her shoulder.

Without thought, she
shrugged him off and scowled. “I can take care of myself.”

“You are my mate. I
will take care of you.” Gage’s anger radiated from him as he held tighter to
her shoulder. Amelia said nothing.

Madden broke the
silence. “You understand that this must disappear. No records. Aside from
telling my team, no more people learn about this compound. With any luck, we’re
going to make this disappear.”

“Very
well.
Dr. Sinster, dispose of the jar of compound. Place
everything as it was for the fertility drug experiment.” Dr. Whitner stood and
then turned to Madden. “And the possible security breaches into the facility?”

“My men and I will stay
on surveillance.” Madden informed her as he shook her hand. “Gage, you’ll need
to stay with Amelia obviously. If someone knows anything, they’ll likely
already have her connected to the facility. Being a Sinster sister, she already
has a target on her back.”

Gage nodded and Madden
walked out of the lab with Dr. Whitner.

“Do what you need to
and then get your things. We’re going home,” Gage told Amelia once they were
alone.

“Yours
or mine?”

“Yours
or my what?”

“Home.”

Gage didn’t answer. He
simply growled and then waited in silence while she got everything together.

* * * *

Amelia looked up from
where she sat when he walked into the room after his phone call with Madden. Gage
admired how good she looked curled into his leather sofa. The long curls that
fell down her neck and across her cheek hid her cat-like green eyes, but he
could tell by the tilt of her head that she’d looked up at him. She returned
quickly to the magazine on her lap and ignored his presence though.

Amelia had been quiet once
they left her lab to return to their house. Gage wondered what she was thinking
but wasn’t so sure knowing was worth the asking. He was still reeling from his
call with Madden. Trevor, one of the newer TEU recruits, had turned up
satellite images of what appeared to be Nassir’s men near the lab within the
last month.

His mate was definitely
in the middle of this and now he was assigned to keep her safe. At the same
time, the urge to claim her hadn’t subsided. They needed more time together and
it didn’t look likely Amelia was willing to oblige him anytime soon. What he
really couldn’t figure out was just why it was that it seemed her sin hadn’t
gone away when they exchanged blood. Amelia was still roaring angry over
everything he did.

Gage ran a hand through
his hair and called out to her.
“How about something to
drink?
I’m having a beer but we’ve got a fully stocked fridge.”