The Storm That Is Sterling (28 page)

“You haven’t helped us yet,” Michael said. “So don’t count on being saved. Who is Iceman?”

“Hmmm,” she said, ignoring the question. “I like the rough types. I pick you, whoever you are, to save me.” She laughed. “Then again, if you don’t even know the name of the man in charge, you might be the one who needs saving. If you want to shut down ICE distribution, I’m the ticket to success.”

“And why exactly,” Sterling asked, “would you help us?

“Revenge,” she said with no hesitation. “I was loyal to Iceman. He has not been loyal to me. Nor has he been loyal to Adam. He’s been selling his own cocktail of enhanced ICE. It’s not only giving him his own cash flow, he’s creating what he calls Eclipsers, followers who he plans to use to stand against Adam when the time is right.”

Sterling and the rest of the Renegades went stone-cold still, a collective flash of shared glances colliding around the table—war with their own government, war with Adam, and now war with the Eclipsers.

“Eerily quiet there, boys,” Madame said. “Guess I got your attention.”

“What is it you think you can do for us?” Caleb asked. “What are you offering?”

“Depends,” she said. “Who are you?”

“Caleb,” he said.

“As in Adam’s brother?”

“The one and only.”

“Good,” she said softly. “I assumed when Sterling didn’t deny he was a Renegade, it was true, but confirmation is always preferred. And I’m of the belief that it’s going to take one brother to fight the other. So here’s the deal, Renegade leader. I can give you the ICE distribution center, the dealers, and a list of users. In exchange I want protection from the Trackers
and
a safe shelter to include immunity. I don’t go behind bars.”

Caleb shook his head no.

“Fine,” Sterling said, eyeing Caleb defiantly. “You can have what you want. So how does this go down?”

“Oh no,” Madame said. “Everyone knows Caleb’s word is gold. I want to hear a promise from him.”

Sterling, Michael, and Damion all stared at Caleb expectantly. Sometimes their leader was a little too much the golden good guy. Almost as if he needed to defy a connection to his brother by being something so extremely opposite, even when it wasn’t the best choice.

“I won’t give you immunity,” Caleb said, “but I will give you protection.”

Sterling balled his fist and came an inch from pounding the table. Madame was offering them the chance to slow down Adam, a chance they needed.

“Not even if I tell you that ICE didn’t kill those users who died?” she said. “It was the cocktail Iceman created. The one he just started pumping onto the streets in high volume a couple of days ago. And you can stop him with my help. I’ll call back in a few days when the body count gets higher.” She hung up.

Silence filled the room, expanding with tension, until Michael said, “Becca can help us end this.”

“She’ll die, and Dorian will get away,” Sterling said. “That solves nothing.”

“Which is why I won’t allow her to risk her life unless I feel she has adequate control over her abilities, enough to protect herself,” Caleb said. “But I have to work with her to evaluate that. You know me, Sterling. You know I wouldn’t throw her to the lions.” He hesitated and added, “But she deserves the right to choose for herself.”

Sterling narrowed his gaze on Caleb, those words ringing with the assurance that Caleb had seen them in Becca’s head, and that pissed him off. It also forced him to take notice. Becca wouldn’t likely forgive him for taking away her choice, but he wasn’t sure he could stop himself when taking away that choice was about protecting her. “Work with her, but don’t bring up Dorian. Not until we know if she can pull off defending herself.”

There. He’d agreed. Somewhat. And he could tell from the look in Caleb’s eyes that his friend knew that was all he was going to get right now—perhaps ever. Protecting Becca was becoming as necessary as breathing.

***

Standing in the lab a good hour after Sterling had left her in his bed to make herself “at home,” Becca was hard at work on an ICE immunization, making a list of common earth organisms and substances she believed to be the most worthy of a reactive evaluation.

The timer on the desk went off telling her it was time to dose. Sterling had left her a large supply in his apartment, and she dug into the lab coat she wore over her favorite black slacks she’d been thrilled to find in the items Cassandra had brought her and removed a vial.

She popped the lid, and her hands shook, a bit of the drug spilling on the pink shirt peeking out from her lab coat. She brushed it off, grimacing. The shirt was a favorite that she’d gotten from one of the NASA school tours, with “science is moon juice” on the front—some sort of knowledge is brain food kind of theme. She loved the crazy looks on people’s faces when they saw it and didn’t have the courage to ask what it meant.

She could use some of that amusement right now as she started to tip back the vial and hesitated, wondering why she was shaking so badly. She did have that tattoo on the back of her neck. The minute Sterling had left she’d raced to the mirror to see if it had faded, but sure enough, it was still there.

Becca eased the vial away from her lips and popped the lid back in place. What if the combination of the three—a partial Lifebond, cancer, and the ICE—had somehow changed her dosing requirements? She needed to draw blood before and after she dosed, because she didn’t feel right at all. In fact, she felt pretty darn nauseous.
You
need
to
eat
, she told herself.

But deep down, the woman and the scientist knew it was more than that. What if what she was feeling had to do with her partial Lifebonding with Sterling? But she had no one to talk to… not if she wanted to keep this bond a secret. Becca walked to the cabinet and pulled out the supplies to draw blood. A few minutes later, she placed the blood under a microscope and analyzed it.

Her breath lodged in her throat at what she saw, and she leaned back. Everything was not as it had been before the Lifebond mark. She’d been right. She had to talk to someone. Kelly or maybe Cassandra. Kelly. She’d simply have to claim doctor-patient privilege and pray that in this world of Renegades that still meant something.

An hour after his abrupt departure from the Cityscape meeting, Sterling had exchanged a phone call with Eddie over the still missing Clanners from the club; unsuccessfully tried to reach Marcus and finally given up; and then did what any good, respectable soldier did when he was going to see the woman driving him insane—he picked up doughnuts. He didn’t bother going to his apartment. He knew where he’d find Becca—already at work in the lab—and he was right. He shoved open the door and brought her into view.

Even before she turned to face him, awareness ripened in his limbs. He wanted her with the kind of hunger that ravished him inside out. And not merely her body. He wanted
her
. To wake up next to her… to kiss her good morning… to know what she felt, what she liked and disliked—things he swore he’d never allow himself with a woman, things his duty, his responsibility, had made impossible. No, her cancer, and now the ICE made them impossible, not his career. His chest swelled with the heaviness of regret and anger.

The instant she heard the door, she pushed off the lab stool and turned to him, lazily stretching beneath the oversized lab coat hiding the curves his memory was plenty ready to conjure up. He wasn’t sure he could ever get enough of her.

“Hi,” she said, blinking away a glazed look that told him she’d been in deep concentration for quite some time.

“Morning again,” he said, walking toward her and indicating the box of doughnuts and coffee in his hands. “Brought breakfast since I knew you weren’t likely to eat before you came to work.”

“I’ve trained you well in such a short time,” she teased. “And you’re right. I didn’t eat. I was eager to start testing my theory for an immunization.”

He sauntered to a halt in front of her, and before he could stop himself, leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss—the kind of “hello” kiss a couple shared, the kind of kiss he didn’t give women. And he enjoyed it, even wanted to repeat it. Right now, he’d be good with tossing the doughnuts on the table, stripping Becca naked, and finding his way back inside her.

“You taste like chocolate,” she said, licking her bottom lip and accepting the coffee he offered her.

“Chocolate-covered glazed doughnuts,” he corrected and set the box on the desk.

Her eyes lit, little specks of yellow swirling with amber, like a sunset pressing against a dark sky. “I love chocolate-covered glazed,” she said, sitting down in a leather chair. “You saw my doughnut preferences while you were in my head too, I guess.”

He claimed the seat next to her. “Nope,” he said, teasing her. “No probing head games this morning. I just happen to like them, and we seem to mesh well when it comes to pleasure.” He took a bite. “Hmmm… if this isn’t pleasure, I don’t know what is.”

She shook her head. “You can’t make me blush anymore. You used up your blush quota several hundred outrageous comments ago.”

He wiggled a brow at her. “Want to bet on that?”

“No,” she said quickly and took a bite of her own doughnut. “I’ll go with your ‘no gambling’ rule.”

He finished off the one in his hand and brushed the crumbs away. “Ever heard of ICE Eclipse?”

“Not until Kelly called me about an hour ago,” she said. “Adam knows nothing about this, or I’d know since I was testing for the cause of ICE fatalities.” She sipped her coffee. “Kelly’s working on the tox screen now, trying to identify what’s in the Eclipse boost.” She shook her head. “How ironic though that it’s ultimately a human concoction of drugs that’s killing people. We humans love to destroy ourselves. Not that I think ICE is safe. I simply think the side effects are going to manifest later with far more menacing consequences than death.”

A knock sounded on the door, and Sterling went completely, utterly still. The doughnut he’d eaten rolled in his stomach. After the conversation he’d had with his fellow Renegades about Becca, protectiveness surged inside him.

“Must be urgent for someone to risk coming near me,” Becca said, attempting a light tone and failing.

She felt isolated, and she didn’t like it, he realized. And who could blame her? If only teaching her to control her abilities meant freedom rather than the danger of being used as bait.

With a few long strides, Sterling yanked open the lab door and did a double take when he found Damion standing there. Sterling gave his buzz cut and desert fatigues a once-over—Mr. All-American soldier, his ass, always preaching about rules and honor. He didn’t even know what honor was. “You have a lot of balls coming here. What do you want?”

“For you to stop saying shit like that to me,” he said. “I want to talk to Becca.”

“I already asked her if she remembers you, if that’s your plan,” Sterling said. “She doesn’t. And you know that, or you wouldn’t be here.”

Damion ran a hand over his hair. “See. There you go again.” He ground his teeth. “I
did
not
hand Becca over to Tad. Let me talk to her. She was scared when she saw me, reacting to fear. Give her a chance to remember me, so I can put your damn accusations in the grave where they belong.” He lowered his voice. “Unless you’re afraid she’ll remember something you don’t want her to remember.”

“Pissing me off isn’t helping your case,” Sterling growled. “And news alert, smart guy—you can’t come near her without passing out.”

“Caleb said she has more control now,” he said. “And I’m willing to take the risk of passing out to end this.”

“Does Caleb know you’re here?”

“No,” Damion said, “but I’m all for including him if you want to. This thing between us needs to end, Sterling.”

“Sterling,” Becca said from behind him.

Too close to Damion for comfort. Sterling glowered at Damion. “Go away.” He went to shut the door.

Damion’s foot blocked it from closing. “Not until I see Becca.”

“Sterling?” Becca said again.

Damn it. “Wait outside while I talk to her.” Damion didn’t move, his jaw set in stubborn determination. Sterling made a frustrated sound. “Surprising her is not the way to meet her and stay standing on two feet. I need to prepare her.”

“I’m not leaving until I talk to her. Eventually she has to come out of that lab.” Reluctantly, Damion released the door and stepped away from it.

Sterling shut the door and turned to face Becca.

“I heard part of what he said. He wants to talk to me. Who is he?”

“The guy with the knife from the backseat of the car,” Sterling said. “Damion.”

“Right,” she said, her expression thoughtful. “You asked me if I remembered him from the day I was abducted.”

“Yes,” Sterling agreed, hesitating as he selected his words cautiously. He didn’t want her to start breaking glass and floating things in the air again. “Something happened that day. He insists it didn’t. I know it did.”

“Something bad, I guess.” He nodded, and she asked, “Can’t Caleb just look in his head? Or feel out his emotions. Or whatever it is he does. Can’t he figure it out?”