Gifted with Hydrangea Page 14

  “Fuck, baby, you look so fucking sexy when you come,” Enzo grunted out. “I’m gonna love making you come again and again, every day, for the rest of our lives.”

  Enzo’s hips continued to snap forward, in and out, in and out. The sounds of skin slapping together chorused with their grunts and groans. Enzo kept his eyes focused down upon him, and Heath couldn’t look away from the intense stare. It thrilled him, making his stomach flip. Even though he’d had a release, with all of the stimuli, he felt another release building up. Enzo’s sweat rolled over his body. His hand that Enzo had gripped was numb, his ass felt on fire, but all he could feel was the pure pleasure that bolted through his entire being every time Enzo’s heavy member rubbed over his happy spot. He reveled in this powerful man’s desire for him.

  He saw Enzo lick his lips before leaning down to bury his nose in his neck. This is it, Heath thought to himself. He briefly wondered what it was going to feel like, and felt the weight of their future press upon him, as he tilted his head to allow Enzo better access. Enzo’s breath tickled his neck as he puffed out, and suddenly a sharp pain pierced his neck. Before he could respond, it morphed, with a powerful blast, into a pleasure like nothing he had every felt before. Dots exploded like fireworks behind his eyelids as his body locked up with another orgasm. His ears rang as he felt more heat splattering his stomach, and he barely heard a loud, throaty groan as the body above him jerked and tensed. He felt heat blasting in his rectum, and then darkness consumed him.

  Chapter Thirteen

  It was officially twenty-four hours since the raid. Ryker sat on a chair, looking through a clear plastic window, into the high risk exposure tent next to them. Everyone had been put into one of several separate isolation tents. Each had a risk level. Ryker’s was the only tent with the lowest risk level. One tent was filled with survivors they discovered already had the virus, so therefore they were the highest risk. And all the others were at medium risk.

  Ryker’s eyes were glued to one of the shifters in Alphy’s tent. She had been in an experimental surgery when they raided the lab, and she hadn’t yet awoken, which was a big concern to everyone. Beside her, keeping acutely vigilant, was one of the rescuers from Alphy’s old sleuth, who claimed she was his mate. He didn’t know what all was wrong with her, but got the impression she wouldn’t have survived the surgery if it had been completed before they arrived. That was enough to scare her newly found mate into a super, over-protective bear … figuratively speaking, since the man really was a bear, but not currently in his fur.

  Beside Ryker sat his team, none the least of whom was his beloved. Enzo watched via Skype on the tablet Neto held. Rye could hear him talking, but wasn’t paying attention to what he was currently saying. Movement drew his eyes away from the couple. Ryker’s brother, Seamus, walked into the tent, fully geared in a white HazMat suit. Alphy stood, turned, and greeted him before sitting back down. Seamus stood beside Alphy as they began their meeting.

  Alphy’s calm voice carried through the barriers. “I don’t know if you were able to tell, Enzo, but did you see the marks on some of the survivors?”

  “Like they’ve been in a fight?” Enzo asked.

  “Some of the dead bodies indicated that as well,” Seamus’s muffled voice informed them.

  “Yes, well Ryker has been keeping busy, and he found something out,” Alphy said.

  Ryker smiled and waved happily to Enzo. “Hi, Enzo. So, most of the information on the computers was already wiped out, probably as a precaution in case we were able to link them from the lab in Philly.”

  “They were right,” Enzo growled.

  “Yes, well, they either didn’t think these files were as important, or they just hadn’t gotten down to them yet, but after Sea told me about the marks, it helped me get a better idea what to look for, and I was able to find information proving they were fighting some of the shifters.”

  Enzo closed his eyes and swore. Similar sounds filtered through the connection from the others who stood out of the view of the camera.

  Ryker looked down at his screen and continued. “They were making big money on them, too. The good news is that the information on the fights links several alphas, including Smith, to the labs. And as for the corrupt councilmen, they seemed to have also made bets on the fights, so it gives us enough proof to point out who on the council supported all of this, including the head councilman. I am still deciphering all of the information, but I already sent a copy of what I have to the council, who has already ordered an inquisition, starting with Neto’s testimony.”

  “Yes. He’ll be gone a few days after the HazMat team clears him,” Alphy informed Enzo.

  “Do you know when that will be?” Enzo asked.

  “I’m keeping them for another twenty-four hours. Then after that…” Seamus shrugged.

  Neto finished for him. “After that, I will be picking Isa up first, and staying through her testimony, as well. So it could take a week or two, or a month. It depends on how long they take composing questions to ask us.”

  “How are they going to make judgments? Something like this would require the head councilman, but if he’s also being charged, what are they going to do?” Enzo asked.

  Alphy leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “Tyler told me they are making a committee comprised of several out-of-country councilmen. He said all of them are disturbed that several on one council were in on it. It is something they are more than eager to investigate. Some have even started investigating their own councilmen as a precaution to be certain it was isolated to the US only.”

  “Is Tyler going to be one of the judges on for the council?” Ryker recognized Kace’s voice through the link.

  Alphy answered, “No, because the Canadian Councilman Ghost is going to also be an official witness, it creates a conflict of interest. Also, the other countries where shifters were abducted, like the Philippines, where Maysa was abducted from, are also disqualified.”

  “Speaking of which,” Seamus said, “one of the infected survivors is her brother.”

  “Shit, I’m sorry to hear that, Sea,” Alphy said soberly.

  “Me, too,” Ryker added. “Is there a cure?”

  “Not as yet,” Seamus replied thoughtfully. “However, we’ve been insisting the captured scientists help.”

  Enzo snorted in disbelief. “I can’t imagine you are getting much help out of them.”

  “On the contrary, they are most helpful,” he said with a triumphant smile.

  Alphy shot him a look of disbelief. “How’d you manage that?”

  Ryker recognized the look that crossed over Seamus’s face. It was the one that he hated most. It usually meant Seamus had killed, or was about to kill, someone.

  “I simply told them if they don’t assist us positively, I was going to send them in to the tents with the infected shifters without protective gear. They, of course, didn’t believe me until I actually threw one in. I’ve learned quite a lot by watching the virus work its way through his body. It really does move through a human’s body quite rapidly. I believe he will expire soon.” Seamus’s voice sounded very matter-of-fact.

  Ryker fought hard to hold in his laugh. Seamus smiled smugly. Alphy had his head in his hands. Everyone had a shocked looked on their faces, and Enzo had his hand over his mouth, while his shoulders shook, most likely with mirth. In the background, he heard someone chuckling.

  Ryker held his thumbs up to his brother. “Awesome job, big brother.”

  Seamus gave a slight tilt of his head. “Thank you. I have not had troubles with the others since.”

  “Damn, Sea,” Enzo finally said, shaking his head, “and I thought what you did to that hunter was bad. I’m glad you’re on our side.”

  “I hope you get an antidote before Maysa’s brother dies,” Ryker told Seamus, seriously.

  “I do, too. She hasn’t been eating or sleeping well. She’s torn between staying beside her brother to comfort him, and working on a cure. Th
e best we have been able to do is figure out a way to slow it down. That has bought us a little bit of time, but I’m worried it isn’t enough.”

  A call from another man in a HazMat suit, who was leaning over one of the other guys, came from behind Seamus.

  “Excuse me,” Seamus said, as he stood up and walked back to the suited up doctor.

  The group started talking amongst themselves, so Ryker tuned them out and focused on the information he was digging up, on his screen. He was startled nearly out of his skin when strong arms wrapped around him and pulled him back, and alarms began blaring all around them. He didn’t look at who had grabbed him because he knew it was his beloved, but what he did see, through the plastic barrier window, made his blood feel like ice running through his veins.

  Several of the men were trying to hold down two others as several more people in bio suits rushed in to help. He heard shouts and gruff screams. Another man in the room began to shift. Alphy tackled the shifting male, throwing them both over a bed.

  “What’s happening? Someone tell me what the hell is going on!” he heard Enzo shouting through the tablet.

  Ryker held on tight to his beloved’s arm. It was an anchor in a storm of chaos. His laptop lost and forgotten, Ryker couldn’t take his eyes off the scene. He couldn’t think, except the sole thought of how grateful he was he was secure in his beloved’s arms.

  ****

  Rudo sat quietly and listened to the others around him talk, but his mind wasn’t focused on it. It calmed him to hear the tapping and clicking noises his mate made as Ryker did his magic on his laptop. He would forever be amazed by how smart his little mate was. He was proud of Rye, and could hardly believe his good fortune that fate had chosen him to be his mate.

  He looked over to where Seamus had gone. His body slightly tensed as he saw the shifter they were working on start to get a little combative with Seamus and another man in a HazMat suit. A hand, partially shifted, shot up and clawed Seamus through his suit. He heard Seamus shout to the other doctor to sound the alarm. The sound hurt Rudo’s ears, but he ignored it as he grabbed his mate around the waist, and began pulling as far away from the other tent as possible. The others in his tent followed, all huddling against the far end, away from the chaos. He now had both arms wrapped around Ryker as he heard Neto finally answer Enzo, whose shouts weren’t helping their nerves any.

  The minutes felt like hours as they watched helplessly. He felt his mate shaking in his arms, but it wasn’t fear he sensed, as much as it was sorrow.

  “Shh, everything will be all right, little mate.” He rubbed one hand up and down Ryker’s arm. He didn’t want to lessen his grip with the other hand, so he just used his thumb to rub Ryker’s side. And even though he wasn’t using vocal words, he dipped his head, lightly grazing the shell of Ryker’s ear with his lips.

  “My brother’s suit was compromised. I can see blood from here. He’s bleeding. If that shifter was infected, then now my brother is, too.”

  Rudo continued to watch silently as everything began to get back under control. Alphy had a little bit of blood on him, as well as the other guy he had tackled, who now lay limply over the nearby up-turned bed. The alarms were finally shut off, which had Rudo breathing out a sigh of relief.

  Slowly, everything was put back into place. All of the suits and Alphy congregated together, discussing something. Finally, Seamus and Alphy walked over to the window. Everyone approached to hear what they had to say, but they didn’t sit down or make themselves comfortable.

  Seamus removed the top of his suit. The tips of his strawberry blond hair stuck to his sweaty skin in places. The look on his face was somber, and Rudo tried to mentally prepare for the undoubtedly bad news.

  “Three of these men are infected,” Seamus began. “When a host becomes infected, there is an incubation time where the virus doesn’t cause any symptoms until it matures, and becomes active. When the virus becomes active, the first part of the disease causes the patient to be crazed, and if they are a shifter, their animal takes over. The human scientists neglected to tell me the shifter’s animal takes over violently.”

  Alphy growled low, and his look, though it wasn’t directed at any of them, made Rudo feel intimidated.

  “They said they forgot, because they always gave the shifters a shifting inhibitor to prevent that from occurring.” Alphy nearly spat the words out.

  “What happens now?” Enzo asked.

  “Now,” Seamus continued, “Alphy and I are going to start the serum that we have created so far. Maybe if we get it early enough, it will stop it from progressing.” But the look of doubt on Seamus’s face indicated that the chances of that were highly unlikely.

  Rudo hadn’t let go of his mate, and it was a good thing because Ryker’s legs buckled, and he felt his mate’s sobs rack through his slim body. Rudo turned him and held him close to his heart.

  ****

  Alphy paced their confined space, growling. He felt his bear grow restless, wanting to shift. To his right … or left, depending which direction he was pacing, Seamus sat, calmly. Calmly!

  “You’re working yourself up. That will only make things worse,” Seamus said in a clinical tone.

  Alphy growled again and looked directly at the friend he was all too tempted to let his bear chomp on. “You didn’t hear Gale break down. I can’t even comfort her!”

  “You are absolutely right,” Seamus said sarcastically. “I didn’t hear Gale, because I was talking to my beloved, though our link. A link through which I feel her pain, and hear her pain. I will remind you she also has a brother to worry for.”

  Alphy let his bear growl again, but he toned it down, feeling moderately contrite. “I’m sorry, Sea. I shouldn’t have taken my frustration out on you. At least you can talk to your mate without the use of electronics, and you can comfort Maysa through your link, which is better than I can comfort Gale.”

  Seamus shrugged one shoulder. “True.”

  Alphy reached the end of the isle, and before he turned around, he spotted Ryker leaning against his mate, and working on his laptop.

  “What did you tell Rye, to help him calm down?” he asked. “Maybe it can help Gale.”

  “It will not help Gale, I assure you.”

  Alphy didn’t stop his urge to roll his eyes. “Tell me anyway, if it isn’t too personal.”

  Seamus sighed. “Fine. I told him, and Maysa, that we do not know if the virus can infect a vampire, so I could still be all right.”

  Alphy growled, again. He looked down at Sea on his way past. “Ass. Hole.”

  “You asked. Wait, correction, you ordered.”

  Yep, my bear is going to have a chew toy. Not one to sit idly by, Alphy let his mind play over what they knew. What do we know?

  “So what do we know about this virus? Dumbed down, mind you,” he asked Seamus.

  “The virus is airborne. It works its way through humans, killing them within about twenty-four hours, but takes several days, at least, in a shifter. However, we estimate we’ve been able to double that time. We’ve been running into many of the same walls as the original scientists.”

  Alphy paced some more. He reached the end and did an about-face, walking by Seamus on his trek to the other side of the tent. He rubbed his hands together as he mulled the information over in his mind.

  “Tell me about the symptoms,” he asked.

  “No symptoms during the incubation time. Once it reaches maturity, it goes active all at once. Think of it as Christmas tree lights. They don’t light up until you plug them in. Once the virus activates, it attacks the body simultaneously from all directions. I’m thinking that the initial activation triggers nerves in the brain, making the host go crazy. Humans seem to just thrash about and shout. Not so problematic with their strength, but for shifters, whose strength is far greater, add that it causes him to shift, and then go feral, it can be a very big problem.”

  “What about the shifters with that shifting inhibitor? I didn’t get
the impression they were going crazy.”

  “Well, no, they are very subdued and in a lot of pain. I haven’t heard them speak the entire time we’ve been here. The notes I’ve just read said that after the initial freak-out, they don’t need any further sedation after that. The humans as well.”

  Alphy’s brow knitted. “Have you’ve been using the scientists’ notes?”

  Seamus huffed, as if it was a stupid question. “Of course. It has saved us a lot of time, as otherwise we would have taken us much longer to figure out what we were dealing with.”

  Alphy waved a hand back and forth, as if dismissing him. “What if they’re wrong about something? They are humans who probably don’t know a lot of real things about us. They consider us as if we’re animals, for crying out loud.” Alphy held his hand behind his back as he continued talking and pacing.

  “I had a disagreement one time with one of my math teachers when I was young. He told me my answer was wrong, but I was sure it was right. I had the problem worked out right there. I was so angry at him, I bit him.”

  Seamus did well not to laugh, but Alphy saw him cover his smile.

  “My dad came to pick me up. He listened to me, and I sat out in the hall while he talked with the teacher. Later, when we got home, he sat me down at the dining room table. He told me sometimes it isn’t that the answer is what’s wrong, but the intel. He pulled out the math sheet and walked me through it. It turned out to be my lousy handwriting that was the problem. I misread the four for a nine, but my mind was so stuck on the answer, that I didn’t see the problem. If you keep using the wrong number, you’re going to continue to get the same wrong answer. You need a fresh look at it.”