Dawn’s Awakening (15 page)

“Seth?” the temptress whispered.

“What, baby?” He had to grit his teeth. “What? Anything. Dawn, sweetheart, don’t stop.”

He opened his eyes and there were those sweet, cherry red nipples again. And he liked cherries. No, he loved cherries, and the ripest, sweetest ones in the world were right there for him to taste.

His head lowered. His lips opened, and a second later he was drawing succulent, heated flesh into his mouth. He was sucking her nipple like a man starved for the taste of a woman, lifting her against him and drawing as much of that sweet breast into his mouth as he could consume.

“Yes. Seth.” She arched into him. She wiggled that tight, sweet ass into the palms of his hands, and right there, he wondered if he would die with the pleasure of it.

Her hands were on his cock, her nipple in his mouth. He was drunk, drugged, dying with the feel of her.

“Seth. It’s so good.” She lifted, she moved. She undulated against him, and a second later he froze. Stock still, his head falling back to stare at her as he felt the head of his cock meet blazing, slick, wet flesh.

And then he saw it in her eyes, like a shock of cold, icy water. He watched her eyes dilate, watched the realization and the haunted fear begin to build in her gaze.

He swallowed tightly, his hands gripped her tighter, and then he lifted her, slowly, so fucking slowly and with agonized regret, away from the painfully erect flesh of his cock.

“No.” She clutched at his arms. “What are you doing?”

Seth shook his head; hell, his entire body was shuddering as he pulled her away from him.

“Don’t stop.”

He sat her on the bed jumped from the mattress and forced the unruly flesh back into his pants as her gasping breaths sounded behind him.

“How can you do this?” Furious, hurt, the question that broke from her lips had him turned, shrugging his shirt over his shoulders as the bite at his neck burned like wildfire.

“I won’t take you in fear, Dawn,” he growled furiously. “I won’t take you while you’re staring at me with fear in your eyes. I can’t fucking do it.”

Dawn blinked in shock as he turned on his heel and stalked out of her bedroom, back to his own room. She came from the bed in a furious burst of energy, anger and lust zipping through her veins in equal parts as she jerked her T-shirt from the floor, pulled it over her head and stomped after him.

“How dare you!” she snarled, catching up with him in the sitting room. “Damn you, Seth…”

She stopped, the scent of blood whipping through her system as Seth suddenly turned, tackled her and threw her across the floor.

Bullets slammed into the walls. The ping ping ping of silenced, automatic gunfire nearly without sound until a mirror shattered, raining glass around them.

“Are you hit?” she screamed. “Seth. Seth.”

She tried to roll him off her, terror lending strength to her muscles as she smelled the blood, so much blood.

“Seth!”

“Dammit, Dawn, stay still. I’m fine.” He grabbed her wrist and dragged her to the door before she could regain her feet, threw them into the hall.

Bullets slammed into the door behind them.

Then they were on their feet, moving swiftly through the hall as Dash’s door jerked open.

“I need a link.” Dawn slid into the room with Dash, scrambling to the side bar where she knew Dash’s link lay, while he rushed for another.

“Report. We have gunfire in the main room. I repeat, gunfire slamming into the main room. Report.”

Her unit reported in instantly. All present and rushing to locate the source.

“Weapon is silenced. Gunfire came from the north through the balcony doors. Suspect night vision and long distance,” she ordered fiercely as she caught a wrap Elizabeth threw at her as Cassie moved silently from her room.

Dash was checking the locks and the blinds on the balcony doors to the room and arming himself quickly.

“Cassie, I need clothes,” she snapped before turning to Dash. “I need your secondary weapons and utility belt.”

“I have them.” Elizabeth was pulling them from a bag she had carried from the bedroom, and Cassie rushed from her own room with clothes and shoes.

Dawn grabbed the clothes, rushed into the bedroom and within seconds had dragged them on and tied the hiking boots Cassie had brought her on her feet. The shoes fit perfectly; the jeans and top were a little snug.

She jerked the utility belt on, secured the weapon and rushed back to the sitting room as she secured the link back on her head.

And she came to a full stop.

“No!” Terror gripped her in blinding waves. “You lied to me.”

He was hit. She watched as Elizabeth tried to staunch the blood running in rivulets down his arm.

Seth’s head jerked up, and she realized he had been listening to the reports coming through another link. He held a weapon in his hand, one of the heavy handguns Dash carried that were equipped with laser bursts.

She moved to him quickly, ignoring the silent, warning look he was giving her. As though she had no right to be angry with him.

“We have bigger problems.” His jaw clenched furiously.

“Bigger problems than you bleeding to death in front of me?” she snapped.

“Much bigger.” He rose to his feet as Elizabeth tied off the bandage. “It wasn’t just my blood you smelled in there. We have a body. One of my board members, and one of the few who supported me.”

CHAPTER 9

Dawn crouched by the body and lifted her gaze to watch Dash’s expression as he surveyed the dead board member as well.

“Seth has contacted the authorities on the mainland,” she murmured. “They’re on their way in.”

Dash nodded slowly, his amber eyes narrowed as he stared at the blood that stained the carpet and the expression of blank shock on the dead man’s eyes.

His name was Andrew Breyer. He had a wife and two children who were currently being comforted by Elizabeth and Cassie in another room. He was fifty-two years old, robust and in good health, and he had three holes made by a high-powered, silenced rifle buried in his chest, dead center to his heart.

“He’s close to Seth’s height, though wider, a bit thicker in the middle,” Dash murmured. “There’s no doubt the shooter was after Seth.”

Dawn swallowed tightly. That shooter had managed to lay a gouge along Seth’s shoulder before he had thrown them both to the floor.

She stared around the sitting room, feeling the bile gather in her stomach and in her throat. The shades were drawn across the balcony doors now, the windows closed tight, but Dawn knew that if an assassin could get his hands on a silenced high-powered rifle then one with penetrating night vision could have easily picked Seth out through something so paltry as shades.

“There are storm shutters at the side of all the windows and doors.” She rubbed her hand over her face and stared around the room again. “He won’t leave his suite; we can secure it. That would ensure his safety here.”

“Did your team find the shooter’s nest?” He lifted his head, his gaze penetrating, icy.

Dawn shook her head tightly. “It couldn’t have come from the island, Dash. My team has checked everywhere. The angle of the gunfire, the complete stealth. I suspect one of the tour ships that leave the mainland and pass by. The shooter had to be there. There’s just no way to achieve the same angle in a smaller craft.”

“There are plenty of trees, plenty of cover around the house,” he pointed out.

Dawn nodded. “That’s true, but neither Styx nor Noble can find a hint of the scent. And you can silence a weapon, but you can’t cover its scent, especially once it’s fired. It would have been there, somewhere. The entire team has canvassed the area and there’s nothing. I’ve called Callan and asked for reinforcements. We’re going to have to have another team out here. We don’t have enough agents.”

He stared at her silently for long moments. She was only second command, but she was in charge under his supervision. Calling in more agents was her prerogative, but she knew if he felt they weren’t needed, they would be called back.

Finally, he nodded. “You’re right. We need two full teams to cover this. Amazingly, none of the other board members or their families are requesting transportation off the island. Rabid curiosity.” He shook his head. “God save me from it.”

Dawn shook her head and moved back from the corpse to get a better look at the middle-aged board member. She had met him the night before, wandering the gardens alone. And now he was here, dead.

Lowering herself, body flat, she ignored Dash’s curious gaze as she inhaled the scents closer to the floor.

Thankfully Seth was in the hall with the other board members. If he had been closer, her senses would have been so swamped with him that she could have never sifted through the scents here.

She wanted to turn the body over, wanted to do her own investigation. She was hampered by the authorities, who had demanded preservation of the scene. As though Breeds didn’t know how to conduct an investigation. Prints had already been dusted for; ultraviolet had already swept the room, and a collection of fibers, hairs and other assorted evidentiary items had been collected.

Her eyes narrowed as her gaze was caught by something lying close beside the hand that was tucked partially beneath the victim’s body. She could barely make out the tiniest hint of a piece of paper.

“I have something here, Dash. Paper. It’s under the body.”

Dash growled at the inconvenience of the position. They couldn’t touch the body in any way and risk the authorities’ ire in this matter. The situation was too tricky.

Dawn adjusted the latex gloves on her hands and waited until Dash could move in beside her. He flattened himself to the floor and peered at the area Dawn was pointing to.

“Merc, get the forceps from my bag,” Dash murmured.

A second later the surgical steel forceps were in his hand and Dash flashed her a smile. “Never know when you might have to extract something in our line of work.”

Then he was wedging the forceps beneath the body and slowly pulling the paper free. They were lucky; the dead man wasn’t gripping the paper. It had fallen from his hand as he fell, and it was marred by only a spot or two of blood, sheltered as it had been between the arm and the body.

“Here we go,” he muttered, taking it from the metal grips and slowly unfolding it.

Dawn read it, then looked back at Dash in concern.

Tell Seth now! the note read.

“Someone is paranoid,” Dash said softly. “Hard copy rather than e-message. I’d suspect Breyer found this note in his room rather than having it passed to him.”

Tell Seth now. Tell Seth what? Dawn rose to her feet beside Dash as he had the note stored in an evidence bag, then tucked it easily into the inside, hidden pocket of his military-style shirt.

“Dash, Callan just contacted. He’ll have four additional agents flying in within the hour.” Merc’s leonine features were harsh, the dark, gold brown eyes flat and cold. “Satellite also pinpoints a large vessel anchored within line of sight of this room, for four hours prior to the shooting. It pulled anchor and moved out just after the shots fired at Seth and Dawn. We have no reports of the vessel docking at any of the nearby harbors, and all indications are it was stealth equipped. It wasn’t on our radar.”

“Not a tour ship but close to it,” Dawn snapped, furious. “Son of a bitch, how were they able to stealth equip such a large vessel?”

“They couldn’t, unless it was military,” Mercury rasped. “We almost missed it with the satellites, and identification of it is going to be impossible.”

“Council.” Dawn pushed her fingers roughly through her hair as fear began to brew in her stomach. The Genetics Council still had ties to the military in every section of the world.

“Why would the Council target Seth?” she growled, looking back at Dash. “He isn’t the only one funding Sanctuary. Why him and not others?”

Dash’s eyes were narrowed as he stared around the room.

“Merc, Dane Vanderale is in residence. See if you can convince him to get his people to loan us one of the Vanderale sats. If we combine it with the Lawrence sat we’re using, then we can possibly keep this from happening again.”

“They’ll find a way onto the island next,” Dawn muttered. “This didn’t work, so they’ll be pissed. They’ll come in closer.”

“And when they do, we’ll have them.” Dash’s smile was cold. Hard. “I want this suite secured, doors and windows shielded at all times. And you’re off the team now.” He turned to Dawn as she blinked back at him, shock and anger slicing through her.

“Not because of performance, Dawn,” he snarled quietly. “I want you close to Seth at all times. I want your attention on him, your focus on him. Besides the fact you’re now in full heat and that compromises your focus, I know if you’re with him his chances of surviving this increase. You’re at his back, watching every breath he takes. Is that understood?”

She swallowed tightly. He was right. Her focus was compromised and she knew it. Already she could feel her insides shaking, her need for Seth’s touch, his smell beginning to undermine her strength.

She nodded tightly before she sighed in agreement and looked around the room again, searching for Seth. She was furious with him. He had not only lied to her about being hit, but once dressed and armed he had joined the team to search for the shooter. And he had ignored her objections, only staring at her with those cold, steel gray eyes before turning away and doing as he pleased.

“Civilian authorities are flying in,” Moira reported through the comm link. “We have two official helis with six heat contacts inside.”

“Direct them to the private heli-pads,” Dash ordered through the link. “Sanctuary is due in approximately eight hours. Contain and secure until reinforcements arrive.”

“Contained and secured.” Noble came through. “We have visual, four points. No other air traffic, and all water traffic is being redirected for the next three hours only.”

Dash blew out a hard breath and stared back at Dawn. “Time to dance, Cougar. Let me do the talking; you smile and be pretty.”

She stared at him in surprise. “Excuse me?”