Lover Mine (Blood Brothers 1) Page 2

  "Let me know if I need to put a narc patch on her before she comes to all the way. She isn't respective to my mental pushes. We can't have her giving away our location yet, and I don't want her more terrified than she already is." He knew Rafe understood. Even badly injured men trained for this type of work barely managed to keep quiet and usually required sedation, must less a slip of female.

  Suddenly the skies behind them lit up, as the ravine seemed to imploded. The concussion took several seconds to hit them, but when it did the noise sent animals screaming in all directions.

  No fire, no debris.

  The team ducked, unsure what was happening until they saw the destruction left behind. Total annihilation of everything that had been in the ravine. Only a thin trail of smoke gave evidence that the cabin had even existed, the contents of the structure obliterated. Whoever had been there had not intended for there to be any witnesses, including the guards that had been left behind.

  Chapter Two

  He stood in the library sipping brandy, gazing out the tall windows as he contemplated the reports sitting on his desk. Everything was supposed to have been destroyed in the small valley, every shred of evidence including the two hostages. However, the idiots had somehow messed up when setting the detonation sequences. Once again, Alpha Team had interfered where they shouldn't have and he was going to have to deal with it.

  Suddenly the brandy sniffer flew across the room and into the quiet fireplace, shattering the silence of the room. He was getting tired of their interfering.

  Circumstances were at a critical stage and he couldn't have those freaks continue to impede progress, not if he was to meet his deadlines.

  "Robert!" he yelled, summoning his second-in-command.

  "Yes sir?" The tall ex-Marine stood at attention, waiting for instructions as if he were still in the military, which in reality he was.

  "It's time for Operation Daisy," he whispered. The seasoned Marine visibly swallowed, his eyes never showing his concern.

  "Are you sure, sir?" the Marine chanced the question only to wince when his superior turned blazing eyes around to look at him.

  "Don't question me, Marine! Do it!"

  "Yes sir." The solider did an about face and left the room to follow orders, never seeing the sadist smile on his employer's face or the calm that returned.

  "Now we'll see who is superior, won't we?" he whispered to the empty room, reaching down to stroke his hardening cock in anticipation of the plans he had just put into place.

  Chapter Three

  The light hurt her eyes.

  It was the only thing Chayle Olsen could concentrate on. She struggled to open her eyes to find the constant annoyance of beeping nearby. Through the haze and sluggishness of her brain, someone was loudly whispering in the background and it wasn't a voice she recognized.

  "There are multiple contusions, deep bone bruises that will take a while to heal, but no permanent damage that I can find so far. She has also been sexually assaulted both anally and vaginally, and I've had a rape kit sent per your instructions in hopes of gathering any DNA." The person seemed to hesitate before continuing.

  "Stop looking at me with murder in your eyes! I wasn't the one who did this to that poor young woman, so get your ass out there and find out who it was because they are sadist assholes. They intended to inflict as much pain as possible while having their fun. And they almost killed her. If you had been any later, I can assure you that she wouldn't have survived another day." The talking stopped, then Chayle heard them quietly closing the door as they left.

  She reached up to rub her temple, finding something attached to her wrist. She could only stare at it for long seconds before she could finally focus. Once the fog cleared and she could see enough, she realized there was an IV leading to the side of the bed, then up to the bag hanging from the pole. Instinct had her trying to jackknife away from whatever danger was nearby, but strong hands gently held her in place.

  "Easy, sugar. Nothin' to worry about." A deep drawl so low it whispered over her senses soothed her jingling nerves, yet didn't penetrate the fog or terrible memories crowding her mind.

  How had they moved her to this place? What did they want now?

  She struck out with everything she had, slapping and struggling to move away as her body screamed that it couldn't move this fast yet, but instinct had her fighting to get away or die.

  "Damn it . . . . Stop it or you're going to hurt yourself again! They just finally got you cleaned up!" A male voice cursed long and low again as strong hands held her still.

  Something made her hold still . . . something primal.

  She stopped fighting those strong fingers, frantically searching for the source of the velvety voice, needing an anchor before the panic took over. When she found sparkling navy blue eyes watching her closely, Chayle stopped breathing.

  "Now don't you go and pass out on me again. If you do, Rafe will be pissed with me and I just don't want to deal with one of his temper fits right now." A quirky grin tilted at the corners of lips that should have been on an angel's instead of the giant gently holding her arms pinned to the bed. The darkest blue eyes fringed by the sexiest long, black lashes she had ever seen drew her in and made her chest ache.

  Her first coherent thought was a man shouldn't have eyes so beautiful. Chayle caught her breath and felt it hitch with pain. A military haircut didn't hide the fact that the color was as blue-black as the lashes, and Chayle had to stop herself from wanting to touch it to see if it really was as black as a raven's.

  "Where . . . where am I? Who are you?" Was that really her voice? Scratchy and dry, it sounded like an old lady's whisper rather the normally bold Chayle most of her friends knew.

  She licked chapped lips, realizing it must have been since the sound came from her throat. Chayle forced herself to look away from those assessing blue eyes and tried to concentrate on her surroundings. The quiet room was small, light filtering in from the one window that now didn't seem quite so bright as it had a few minutes ago. Or was it only seconds? It was obviously a hospital room of some kind, but where?

  The pale green wall softly absorbed the light to keep the glare down and the blinds were barely open to blunt the brightness from outside. Chayle could tell it was daylight but what time was beyond her.

  She felt her chest squeeze, her stomach roll as panic filled her. The men, the pain - oh God, where was she?

  Frantic now, she slapped at huge hands trying to hold her still her, hearing an animal's cry somewhere nearby, not realizing it was coming from her.

  "Easy . . . you're in a private hospital!" The stranger eased toward her, whispering as if to a wounded animal, "My name is Kayne MacIntyre. Can you remember anything?"

  Chayle could only stare at the stranger as the nightmares came to life, reality replaced by the men who had held her. The lancing pain, the terror and the raucous laughter all came slamming back through her mind as they told her what they were going to do to the other girl once they finished with her.

  She had fought them, dared them to do their worse, and prayed. God, she had prayed that someone would find them before she lost the battle and those monsters started on the other girl. In the end, it had been too much. Her body had shut down and her mind drifted to a place where she could rest without the pain as the last session with a lunatic had taken everything she had to stay semiconscious.

  "Oh God!" she choked out, curling into a fetal position away from him so he couldn't see her, couldn't know. Chayle couldn't give them what they wanted so they had kept hurting her, they wouldn't stop. She had known it was only a matter of time before they killed her.

  She felt the giant of a man reach for her and instinct had her recoiling before she could stop it. Chayle's hands flashed out with lightning speed in spite of her injuries, slapping the hand coming at her so hard a crack could be heard in the quiet room. The man who called himself Kayne cursed, his frown turning stormy.

  "What the hell are you doing to her?
" another male voice cut the silence as Kayne stared at the fighting spitfire in the bed.

  "Shut up, Rafe, and get in here. You're better at soothing females than I am. Do it!" Kayne growled, rubbing his wrist where it still smarted, lucky he had gotten it in place before her foot had landed on his cock.

  He shook his head, his lips twitching slightly. Damn, she was barely awake and still fighting. "And watch out. She's as mean as a snake with those hands and feet."

  Rafe moved to the side of the bed slowly, raising both hands so Chayle could see them. He kept an eye on her hands and feet, watching her face to make sure she understood his non-aggressive movements.

  It took everything in her to remain motionless and watch both men. There had to be brain damage, a concussion, or at least drugs still in her system. Because there was no God in the universe that could have made two men that looked so much alike, so handsome and so dangerous looking as the two who stood next to her bed. Chayle shook her head, trying to clear it of whatever was messing with her brain.

  Long raven black hair and devilish blue eyes twinkling with a sense of amusement as this new stranger stood watching her while the other looked like he wanted to kill someone. The hint of anger and danger surrounded him like armor.

  Both men sported wide shoulders and massive chests sitting atop trim hips and thick thighs the size of tree trunks that didn't come from working out in a gym. No, Chayle recognized military when she saw it and that physique came from long hours of hard dangerous work.

  Both men had to be well over six and a half feet tall if an inch. Chayle wasn't short by any means coming in at almost five eight, but next to the two giants she felt tiny.

  "You'll have to excuse my twin for his manners, but most of the time he doesn't have to deal with the opposite sex. I'm afraid he's lost his touch!" The smiling giant with the amused eyes was trying to soothe her. How ridiculous was that?

  Chayle looked at the two men as if they had lost their ever-loving minds!

  However, for some reason Chayle could suddenly feel the tension easing from her muscles, the fear, and pain pushing back to barriers where she could deal with it for now. Her heart rate slowed and the trembling in her chest and body slowly began to ease.

  "Now," the nicer of the two men whispered, "breathe for me and tell us what you can remember."

  Chayle took a deep breath, not even realizing she was holding it. She kept her gaze on the smiling one because the other man's eyes did something to her stomach. She didn't want to look at him; she didn't want to think about him. It was too much, it ached somewhere she didn't want to think about.

  She had never met him before she opened her eyes a few minutes ago, but all she could think about was not looking at him. Licking dry lips, she closed her eyes and tried to think, tried to understand what had happened and when. He had asked what was the last thing she remembered?

  Leaving work, walking outside into the late afternoon heat outside the small research center in Denver thinking she just wanted to get home to her nice quiet little house, change clothes, and relax for the weekend. Chayle remembered walking across the street to the employee's covered parking area, past the guard posted there and waving to him, entering the cool underground area where her car was always parked. It wasn't that late for a Friday but no one had been around, no one heard her scream when someone grabbed her from behind.

  She had fought, God she fought them. All of the self-defense training over the last few years kick boxing to stay in shape and taekwondo as a means of self-defense with meditation had been useless against rough hands grabbing her mouth, others twisting her breasts to hold her still while someone else knocked her feet out from under her and picked her up.

  Panic raced through her bloodstream, her heartbeat loud in her own ears as Chayle tried to focus on anything other than the terror as she remembered the snickers behind the blindfold that had fallen over her head, or felt the sharp stick to her neck shortly before darkness had fallen over her mind. The true nightmare had begun once they pulled her out of the Humvee and pushed her into the cabin with the younger woman. Their captors graphically explaining just how they would be used as guinea pigs for some new drug their bosses were developing for their "merchandise."

  Her eyes popped open, a silent scream forming on her lips before the giant standing next to the bed, Rafe, touched her. Chayle jumped, but his strong hand pulled both of hers' into his large one and held on.

  "What did you see, Chayle? Who was it and what do you remember?" he whispered.

  "Everything!" she whispered.

  "Tell us." Rafe's thumb gently stroked her wrist, calming her as her panic still rose at the nightmares inside her head.

  "They came at me from behind," panting, she stared into those bottomless blue eyes the color of a dark Caribbean ocean and felt the fear dissolve leaving only the tightness in her chest. "They . . . someone put a cloth over my nose and mouth."

  Chayle swallowed, forcing back the bile rising from her stomach at the thoughts raging in her mind. "Someone grabbed my feet when I started fighting; I think another had my waist." The words were mere whispers as she relived the nightmare for the men, trying to describe the kidnappers the best she could but knowing she wasn't doing a very good job of it no matter how hard she tried.

  Tears stung her chapped cheeks, her lips dry and leathery from dehydration as she fought back tight sobs that hurt her chest. Frantically she forced her eyes to look anywhere so she couldn't see the pity, feel the shame, but her wild eyes continued to lock with the silent twin standing in the shadows. She was mesmerized by haunted eyes that reminded her of a savage animal who was caged and unable to find its freedom, his face ridged as he stood with huge arms crossed over a massive chest like a dark guardian, reminding her of a kind of dark fallen angel.

  The dark guardian suddenly moved, reaching up to touch his ear, his eyes never leaving hers. "Rafe, we need to book. We've got to debrief in twenty, and Merc wants the Intel on our girl ASAP."

  "Where are you going?" she whispered as they moved toward the door but received no answer. They turned to leave, moving out the door so quietly they could have been a figment of her imagination if not for the fact that she could still feel the fallen angel's touch on her cheek.

  She might not have known who they were or why they were there, but something deep in her subconscious remembered. Her body remembered even if her conscious mind did not and they were the only known safety she had, and now they were walking away.

  "No. . . ," A scream echoed down the hallway and into the corridor, causing Kayne to freeze and his twin to turn in shock. "Don't leave me!"

  She moved faster than either of them could anticipate, especially in her present condition. Bolting from the bed, taking IV and sheet with her as she moved, Chayle used what little strength she had left to stumble past either of them before they realized she could move that fast. Granted, she only made it a few paces before her legs gave out and her eyesight began to turn gray, but she fought. Hands, teeth, feet kicking out at anything that came close . . . everything to keep anyone from taking her again.

  "No, not going back . . . not again you bastards! Never again!" she continued to scream as darkness consumed her. The last thing Chayle saw as she slipped into oblivion were angry blue eyes and a savage mouth reaching for her as her screams echoed throughout the building.

  Chapter Four

  "Sir, we've found one of the subjects."

  The man stood just inside the study with hands barely trembling in the presence of his master, eyes on the floor as he waited for further instructions. This room had always made him nervous but lately it was even worse due to the heavy sense of foreboding that hung in the air.

  "Well, don't just stand there, dumbass. What have you found out?" The low voice did nothing to hide the contempt his master held for most of his employees as he watched the man fidget.

  "Sources have tracked them to a private hospital in the Dallas area. We aren't sure how they managed to get t
hem out of the mountains so quickly. However, with that type of equipment it means they must have had military resources."

  "Of course they do, you moron. This is a war, haven't you been listening?" Master tapped long fingers on the tablet on his desk, absorbing the news. "Observe and nothing else for now unless they start to move, I don't want to scare them out of there or they will go to ground. I need those test subjects eliminated, not walking around in daylight!"

  "Yes sir."

  "Then what are you standing there for? You have your orders!" He watched the man leave, smug in the knowledge that a hardened military man was so uncomfortable around him. It had taken a long time to ensure those around him were loyal, conditioned, and willing to do whatever he ordered. Now his small army was almost invincible.

  Almost!

  He just needed the next components and they would realize just what it meant to be a leader. Never again would they take his projects away from him and call him crazy. They would learn who was the true leader and strategist, and who held all of the power.

  Chapter Five

  It had been three days since Chayle had last seen the breathing taking twins. It had only taken one day to realize she had bodyguards outside her room after her embarrassing episode, and she still wasn't sure if they were actually bodyguards or guards. The hospital staff came to check on her, watching her with wary eyes and refused to offer much information when she tried to ask simple questions like where she was and who were the men who had brought her to the hospital. It was as if she was under arrest and it was starting to seriously piss her off.

  Her mood actually lightened once and caused her to chuckle after the last episode when the young nurse basically told her to stop asking questions. Chayle's natural curiosity and sense of humor had finally resurfaced, which meant she must be feeling somewhat better. Those bastards couldn't keep her down no matter the circumstances. However, if she didn't get some answers soon someone was going to have some serious trouble once she was able to move again.