Federal Paranormal Unit Bundle: Shape Shifter Paranormal Romance (34 page)

ELEVEN

After introductions were made and Trent and Erica were informed that Jane and her guests were aliens, the ladies fixed lunch while the men sat in the front room. Tony eyed the competition for his mate. He didn’t look particularly strong or big. He could take him any day. Adrenaline pumped through his body. He was ready to throw down, right here, right now. Kick this motherfucker back to his own world. His legs tensed to jump to his feet.

“Hey, Tony, right? Are you going to screw my sister?”

Tony’s adrenaline turned to flames and shot to his face.

Ruveen lifted a hand. “Oh, sorry, dude. Our people are much more open to joining than you are here. It’s not taboo to talk about it. Quite the opposite. We’re encouraged to ‘reproduce for the regrowth of our planet.’ And my sister’s right about me picking up too much Earth slang.”

Happy to change the subject of screwing Jane, Tony gladly played along. “What happened that made regrowth necessary?”

Ruveen slumped in his chair. “It’s a long story. But basically a thousand years ago or something, our planet battled for control over natural resources as our population exploded.”

His voice became angrier. “It’s like how your tropical jungles are being cut down and your oceans polluted with toxins. The air in some countries is so bad, people are warned to stay inside. You know about greenhouse effect, yet you do nothing.” His fist pounded the arm of his chair. “Sorry. I get passionate about nature abuse, and the dumbasses who continue to destroy our planet.

“History says the planet’s situation became so dire, our ancestors sent out a fleet of ships hoping to find a suitable place to live or integrate into. Few returned, and none were successful.

“So after two-thirds of the population died, the balance between available and used sources evened out. Our people’s intent became to secure against that happening again. Now we have highly efficient technology. In some cases, we’ve eliminated the need to take from nature by producing it manually.”

Jane stuck her head around the corner. “Lunch is ready in the dining room.” Everyone plowed down the hall toward the food. Nyl came to stand behind the chair next to where Jane stood. A low, throaty rumble had the men glaring at Tony. He grabbed Jane’s arm and dragged her to the other side of the table.

Jane rolled her eyes. “Men. Good god.” She scooted her chair back. Tony realized she was directly across from his competition. Same growl, same grabbing of the arm and dragging. She sighed. “It’s a really good thing I understand your kind or your butt would be at the bottom of the cliff by now.”

Tony gave her an innocent look. “But he—”

Her hand cut through the air. “No buts. Sit yours down before I change my mind.”

Everyone ate silently; the only sound was silverware clinking on plates and an occasional bottle fart from the almost empty ketchup container.

Erica patted her mate’s hand. “Did you boys have a nice chat?” Trent had a mouthful of food, so Ruveen answered.

“It was fine. Discussed Jane and Tony having sex—” More than one person gasped, two mouths gaped, and one snorted water out his nose. One set of eyes glared death at him. “Sorry, sis. Forgot about the no sex-talk rule.” He stabbed a potato on his plate. “You people really need to chill out.”

“Well,
bro
, you need to stop acting like your shoe size.”

Erica again saved the day, well, lunch anyway. “Ruveen, Jane, what’s it like on your planet?”

“We live much simpler lives. There is very little stress. I don’t know how you humans survive. You’re in constant battle with each other, with nature, with daily routines. You’re always in a hurry to get somewhere, to get something done. I’ve spent a lot of time on your planet, and I have to say, it sorta sucks.”

Jane glared at her brother. “Ruveen,” she gasped, “I can’t believe you said that.”

“It’s the truth,” Nyl interjected. “This planet is going to shit much faster than ours did.” Eyes turned to him.

Trent turned to Nyl. “So, what does that mean?” Nyl kept his eyes on his plate.

“What he means,” Ruveen began, “is that Earth is on the same path as our planet before we destroyed our natural resources.”

“What path is that?” Erica sounded worried.

Ruveen swallowed the last bite of his sandwich and sat back. “Have you stopped to consider that in 1900, the horse and buggy was your means of transportation? And in 1969, sixty-nine years later, you landed on the moon.” The room was quiet with shocked faces.

“The technology that has come about on this planet worries me. It is the same ground work that led to our planet’s destruction. It took us many years, each generation learning from the previous and advancing a few steps for the next generation to learn then progress and build better, improved machines. Then taking that and creating better things yet. But on Earth, that same span of technology has been created within fifty to sixty years.”

Tony had been silently listening, comparing Earth to their planet. Everything he said about Earth was true. Especially about the last sixty years. “What do you think is happening with us gaining such knowledge so quickly? Extra-smart humans? Advanced brain cells?”

Ruveen drew his brows down, eyes fixed on nothing. “I think one of our space crafts crashed on your planet and your people are finally at a point you can figure out how our technology works and are recreating it.”

Jane groaned. “Please don’t go into your conspiracy theories.”

Ruveen sat up straighter. “I’ve vowed to protect our leader in any way possible. That includes knowing facts not brought to light and making an educated guess--”

“
Guess
, being the operative word,” Jane quipped.

Ruveen frowned. “You will never know the truth if you don’t search for it.”

“Right. The truth is out there and all that,” Jane snickered. “We’ve proven it is. Come on, Veen. We
are
the aliens. Your other conspiracy theories are just that, theories.”

Erica glanced at her watch. “Absolutely not trying to go off topic here, but shouldn’t Brock call anytime?”

Jane’s brother turned to her. “Who’s Brock?”

Jane dropped her chin to her chest. “I was hoping not to bring you into this.”

“What’s the problem?” Brotherly love poured from his voice. Too much. “Do you have someone to call in case you can’t orgasm?”

Jane’s eyes widened.

“Hey!” an angry Tony cut in. “My mate has no problem with her orgasms.” Jane whipped her head around, her face a bright, burning crimson.

Ruveen smiled. “Oh, that’s right. We heard her outside the front door earlier.” She snapped to her brother, then slammed her hand on the table, making forks jump then clink on landing.

“You said that on purpose! You didn’t forget.” She growled as she glared at his smiling face. That was the first time Tony worried about Jane actually hurting her brother physically.

Ruveen didn’t appear concerned. Instead, he winked. “You bet I did. You’ve gotten shy over the years.” He blew her a kiss. “Love you, princess.”

“Don’t call me that.” After a couple wordless seconds, she got up with her empty plate and went into the kitchen. “Have you called Mom yet to tell her you’re here?”

He chuckled. “I’ve been with you every second I’ve been here. Have you seen me call her?”

A frustrated sigh came from the kitchen. “Ruveen, stop being an ass. I’m so telling Mom you’re picking on me again.”

“I doubt she’ll send me to my room anymore. Unless it’s at my house, in which case I’d gladly go and get naked with my mate.”

“Dammit, Ruveen. Shut up!”

* * *

After all the dishes were done and the kitchen was clean, Jane pulled out her comm and set it on the coffee table in the living room. Everyone gathered around and watched Jane work the device. Before long, a feminine voice came through the speaker. “Hi, Mom. I’m with Ruveen at the cabin. Unfortunately, he made it in safely, along with Nyl.”

“I see you’re both acting like loving siblings still.”

Jane frowned. “Sorry, Mom. I’ve had a rough twenty-four hours.”

“What’s happened?” Mom and Ruveen said together. Well, shit. She did it again—mouth working without the brain. Tony scooped her into his lap. She had to admit, it felt good to be held. More than that, it felt good to be held by him. After so many years of wanting this very thing and not being able to have it, it now felt like she’d won the lottery. She didn’t understand humans and their obsession with gambling, but the happiness generated by getting something you wanted was priceless.

“Well, when I got to the cabin yesterday, there was a dead man in the kitchen. From there, it got worse.” Jane told everybody of her experience in the underground bunker. “That’s where Brock and Cynthia are now, scoping out the Wasteland.”

“The Wasteland? Are you sure?” Jane glanced at Ruveen, hearing the stress in their mother’s voice. “Ruveen…” Her voice trailed off.

Ruveen sat back in his chair. “Jane, tell us about this dead man.” Jane looked to Erica, who gave them a run down on her vision. Her brother left his chair and paced the room. He looked very disgruntled.

“Mom, does the name Liand sound familiar to you?”

“The only Liand I know was in the premier guard before he disappeared.”

Ruveen sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. “Same here.”

Trent looked to Jane with raised brows. “Disappeared?”

Ruveen turned to face him, his jaw tight and his mouth pressed into a thin line. “That means we have a traitor on this planet. And he’s from the ruler’s private guard.” Nyl rustled in his chair. Obviously, he was not happy with the private guard traitor either.

Ruveen looked at Erica with confusion. “You’re sure the other man’s name was Fladoq?”

Erica shrugged. “That’s what I heard.” Ruveen grumbled and continued to pace.

Mom’s voice came over the speaker. “Well, at least we know what happened to him. He was such a good man. His wife will be devastated. I need to see about someone watching the four younger children. The older five should be—”

“Mom.” A shudder went through her thinking about a woman so dependent on her man, and now he was gone, leaving her helpless with nine children to care for on her own. The very thought made her hyperventilate. At least on their planet, unlike Earth, there would be others to give the widow help with her children. Tony hugged her tighter, placing a kiss on her temple.

“Sorry, darling. I’ll inform your father and see about getting the premier guard involved. But it’ll take a couple days to get there.”

“There seems to be a lot going on here. Tell father I will call him later. Let us look into a couple things first.”

Jane heard her mother’s sigh. “Don’t take too long. We want the girl home safely.”

Jane answered. “We won’t, Mom. We’ll keep you updated. Bye.” She pushed a button on her comm unit and settled back in her mate’s lap. 

“What is your theory on all the artillery?” Trent asked Ruveen.

“Has Jane said anything about the situation with a new race coming to our planet?” Erica and Trent turned to Jane and shook their heads.

“Within the last year,” Ruveen sat in his chair, resting his ankle on a knee, “we’ve had visitors from another galaxy who said they were contacted by us. The only scouting mission we’ve sent out was when our planet was in serious condition. Their people look friendly, but we’ve seen signs otherwise also. Intercepted some questionable messages between their ship and home planet.” He looked at Nyl as if wanting him to expand. Nyl continued looking at his shoes.

Ruveen continued. “Some on our planet believe the visitors’ intentions aren’t peaceful. I guess you could say it’s a conspiracy.”

Tony drew his brows down. “What’s that have to do with the weapons?”

“Conspiracy experts suggest there is a group on Earth building an army to take over our home planet and fight the invaders.”

Jane gasped. “You’ve got to be joking.”

“Sorry, sister. Worse yet, they intend to use Earth as target practice.”

TWELVE

The mood in a cabin was grim. The sun headed west, bringing a warmth no one felt through the wall of windows.

The room sat in silence, everyone in their own thoughts, until Tony’s phone rang. He picked it from his pocket, pressed a button, and laid it on the table next to the comm unit.

“Hey, bosses, what have you found?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” they heard Brock grunt.

Tony raised his brows. “Try me. You’d be surprised right now.”

“We found the warehouse Jane was talking about. It has a hole the size of a crater in its side. There are several paramilitary with dogs patrolling the area. Lots of movement. We wanted to get inside, but that is going to be hard.

“We headed to the guard station at the front gate when a semi-truck pulled in. We heard them say to pull around to the warehouse entrance on the other side of the mountain. About a mile through the woods, we came to the highway going through town. On the outskirts there is a cement mixing company. But on closer inspection, the cement mixers do not look used in a long time.

“As far as we could see, they unloaded crates from the truck and disappeared farther back than the building appears to be. We couldn’t get a good look, but what we did see didn’t make sense.”

Trent looked at Tony. “Could the whole facility stretch from one side of the mountain to the other, all underground?”

Ruveen ran his hand through his hair and whispered. “Holy shit. What have you gotten us into now, little sister?”

Jane’s mouth dropped open. “
Me
? I’m on vacation.”

Brock came back on the phone. “Who’s there? I don’t recognize that voice.” Ruveen raised a brow and leaned toward Jane and Tony. “He’s got good hearing.”

Tony nodded. “Yeah, and don’t piss him off. He’ll throw you across the room without touching you.”

“Would you two hush up.” Jane turned to the phone. “Brock, my brother and a friend dropped by to visit.” She glared at Ruveen. “They aren’t staying much longer. Are you?”

Her brother shrugged. “I think we need to rescue the girl now that we know where she is.”

Static hissed on the phone, drawing everyone’s attention. “All right. We’ll meet when we get back. We’re going to check out a few things and head your way. We shouldn’t be too long.” With that, the phone turned quiet. 

Jane chewed on her lip. Tony pulled it out with his thumb and said, “Let me do that for you.” Jane’s face flushed, and she poked Tony with her elbow. She had to give him credit, he was persistent. That’s one thing she liked about him. She could always trust him to follow through and care for victims like she did.

Erica turned on Trent’s lap. “Do you think that is where they’re keeping the girl?”

“It has to be,” Jane said, starting to move from Tony’s lap. “We’ve got to get her now.”

Tony’s hands clamped around her waist and pulled her toward him. “Where do you think you’re going,
mi amor
?”

She wiggled on his lap. “Tony, stop. We have to find her.”

“And we intend to, but we just can’t run down there. We need a plan. Which does not include you.” Jane sucked in a deep breath, ready to argue. Tony put his hands up. “Just listen to me for a second. Less than twenty-four hours ago, I dragged you out of a river and you were unconscious with cracked ribs.” She breathed again, ready with her comeback. “I’m not done yet. If we take you on this mission, you could pose a threat to us if anyone recognizes you. We can’t have that.”

Jane crossed her arms and growled. “Fine.”

Ruveen sat forward in his chair. “Is there any food around here? I’m starving.”

Jane gave a little grunt. “When aren’t you?” This time, Tony let her up. “Erica, would you give me a hand in the kitchen, please?” Erica scooted from Trent’s lap and followed Jane down the hall.

From a kitchen cabinet, Jane pulled a multi-sectioned tray and sat it on the counter. She turned to Erica. “There is cut-up fruit and veggies in the refrigerator. We can make a tray to hold us until dinner.” The ladies washed and chopped broccoli, then opened a bag of edamame.

“How was your honeymoon? Did you guys have a good time?”

Erica smiled. “We did. The ocean was fabulous. Luckily the food was just okay, so I didn’t put on any extra weight. But who knows. Soon I may be putting on weight for another reason.”

Jane put down the ranch dressing bottle. “Are you pregnant now?”

Erica laughed. “I don’t think so. Not yet.”

“So you and Trent are having children? Are you going to quit the department?”

Erica shrugged. “I may cut back my hours, but I’m not quitting. Then in a couple years, I will come back full-time.”

Jane gasped at the new possibility. “You really can do that? How can you work with children to take care of?”

“It’s not that hard. Between Trent’s mother and sisters, I have full-time babysitters when I need to come into the office. Plus, a lot of my stuff I can do from home. I can Facetime anywhere on my phone.” She gave Jane a thoughtful smile. “You could, too. If you needed to.”

Jane ignored the comment. “What if you decided to have more children?”

“It’ll be more of the same. We don’t plan to have them back to back. I would like one out of diapers before the other one comes. Makes things easier, I think.”

“What if you had multiples?”

Erica scrunched her nose. “It would be a little harder but nothing we couldn’t work out. Children aren’t meant to be hindrances. They are supposed to make your life fuller.”

Jane pressed her lips together. “What if you decide to have ten children?”

Erica giggled. “Ha. Tell me who on this planet has ten children these days. I’m thinking three tops.”

That was true. People didn’t have that many children on Earth. Maybe it could work. And if she had three in one shot, she could stop there. Then again, she still had the option Nyl gave her: to have a baby for the chemical and have someone else raise it. 

That would solve all her problems. But…that option felt wrong, so wrong. Why? It would be ideal. She wouldn’t have to worry and yet the thought of having a baby by the only man she had ever cared about and giving it away twisted her stomach in knots and made her nauseous.

With toothpicks, dessert plates, and a couple bags of chips, the two ladies made for the living room. The men had gathered closer to the coffee table, talking among themselves. As Tony pulled her to him, she asked, “What are the plans so far?”

Trent rubbed his hands together. “We’re either starting at the warehouse or the cement place.”

Jane smiled wide at the intelligence of the plan. “Brilliant. Let me write that down so I don’t forget.”

“You’re not going.” Tony squeezed around her waist from behind. 

Jane sighed and rolled her eyes. “I’m just saying.” Tony nuzzled behind Jane’s ear, placing a tiny kiss on her neck. Holy freakin’ lord, that felt so good. The last time anyone did something so intimate was the night she spent with Tony. A hot shudder skipped down her back. Her heat came roaring back. Ruveen and Nyl glanced at her with a worried expression. She shook her head, wordlessly asking them not to worry about it.

Tony rubbed his hands up and down her arms. “You okay? I feel your body radiating. What can I do to help?”

Jane pulled away and headed toward the bedrooms, Tony behind her. “Look, Tony, I’m going to take a shower to get this mud off me and then lie down for a bit in my bedroom.” He opened the door to her bedroom and stepped in behind her.

“That sounds like a great idea—”

“Hold up there, tiger.” She bit back a grin and placed her hands on his chest. “This shower is sans animals. Aliens only.”

He gave her a shocked look. “But—”

“Eh, only one butt in the shower.” She couldn’t help but outright laugh at his wounded expression. Tony leaned in and brushed his lips over hers. Her breath caught in her throat. Never before had a kiss made her feel so much. She quickly slid her hand behind his neck and pulled him to her. She kissed him hard, conveying with the kiss how much she felt for him.

She drove her tongue into his mouth, letting it roam over his. Her body temperature shot out of orbit. Lust rumbled awake, heating her blood to boiling. He took her lips, curled his tongue over hers and rubbed her so sensuously, it made her eyes roll to the back of her head.

Emotions she’d tried to deny flooded her heart. Love, lust, need. They filled her to near bursting and reminded her she deserved to be with Tony. How much she’d denied herself and him already. It was time for her to finally take a chance on love, on them.

Crunching rocks from the driveway brought them back to reality. She wasn’t sure if that kiss helped or hindered her heat. Yup, hindered. She started to close the door on him. “Brock and Cyn are back. Talk with them and get a plan together. Come get me if I’m not up by dinner. I want to know what the plan is to get Sariana out.”

Tony licked his lips and her mind shot to the gutter. Not that the fucking hormones controlling her heat didn’t permanently live there already anyway. “Sariana? That’s her name?”

She cleared her throat and sighed. “That’s the name I gave her. Tony, she’s so traumatized she can’t even talk.” Remembering the pain and suffering the child had gone through brought tears to her eyes. “I did as much as I could to soften the memories, but that only goes so far.” 

He wrapped his arms around her. “I love how caring you are. All you sacrifice for others. For years, I’ve watched you work through the night, only resting when your body demands it. You spend all your time working to bring back missing people, and if you can’t bring them home, you give all you have to find justice for the wronged. You’re such a good person. And I love you more than you realize. I almost don’t deserve you.” He winked. “Almost. But there’s no way in hell I won’t take your love and treasure you for the rest of my life. You’re mine, baby girl.”

Jane laughed, sniffling back tears.

Tony gave her a peck on the cheek before stepping into the hallway. On his way to the group, he scratched his hands through his hair. She was killing him. His tiger wanted to roar. Maybe after dinner he’d go for a run, see if Trent or Brock wanted to get out.

In the front room, Nyl stood, nervous and shaky looking. “Ruveen, if you’re going to discuss fighting and killing, I think I’ll hang out elsewhere. Read a book maybe.” He left as Brock and Cyn came in.

Ruveen made his way toward the newly arrived. “Hello, I’m Jane’s brother, Ruveen, and my friend who doesn’t like to participate in war games is Nyl Ward.” Each shook hands.

“Glad to meet you, Ruveen.”

A slight blush came to Cyn’s cheeks. “Did you by chance…travel in space to get here?”

“Yes, ma’am. We did.” Ruveen looked at what would normally be a wristwatch. The gadget had a bigger face than the usual timepiece. He pushed a button.

Cyn’s curiosity was obvious. “What do you have there?”

“This is a remote communicator to the ship. It links me to the control systems. I can get into the databanks from outside the ship, plus it warns me if the ship starts up without my authorization code.

“Everything seems fine with the ship. We have a place built at the base of the hill where we house the craft from prying eyes. We shouldn’t park in the driveway. It could draw attention from the neighbors.”

Cyn laughed at his words and Tony realized she’d been trying to figure out where the heck they’d parked their spaceship, but hadn’t wanted to ask. Tony stepped toward the living room. “Come in, we’re starting to discuss a rescue plan for the girl. We feel sure she’s in the underground compound.”

Brock bunched his brows. “Cyn and I came to the same conclusion. There’s a lot more going on there than meets the eye. We need to figure it out and get the hostage ASAP.”

* * *

In the master bathroom, Jane stepped out of the shower and dried off. She felt so much better, and her heat had lowered to a tolerable state. She snorted. Tolerable as long as Tony McFurry Pants wasn’t around. Why was it he was the kitty, but the moment he touched her, she was the one purring?

She slipped on the clothes she set on the counter before the shower, then picked up a toothbrush and paste. A noised sounded in her dark room. She should’ve turned the light on before she took the shower.

“Tony, I’m so going to kick your ass into next week.” She set the paste on the counter, then stepped into the room and eased down the wall toward the switch. “Turn the light on so I can see to kick you.”

A cold, hard hand slapped over her mouth and she felt a pin prick her arm. With practiced instinct, she threw her elbow back into her captor’s ribs. The lights in the bathroom dimmed more and more. Her arms felt heavy. Her legs wouldn’t support her. She realized what the pin prick was as she succumbed to the drug, her vision tunneling to black.