Phoenix's Fate (RARE Series, #2) Read online

  PHOENIX’S FATE

  Dawn Sullivan

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by means mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission from the author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events or persons, living or dead are purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names or featured names are assumed to be the property of their respective owners and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement of any of these terms are used. Except for review purposes, the reproduction of this book in whole or in part, mechanically or electronically, constitutes a copyright violation. Published in the United States of America in September 2014; Copyright 2014 by Dawn Sullivan. The right of the Authors Name to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by them in accordance with The Copyright, Designs and Patent Act of 1988.

  Published by Dawn Sullivan

  Cover Design: Kari Ayasha-Cover to Cover Designs

  Photographer: Shauna Kruse-Kruse Images & Photography

  Model: Tj Dooley

  Copyright 2014 © Author Dawn Sullivan

  Language: English

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Author Bio

  Dedication

  To my husband and family for all of their love and support. Without them, I would not be where I am today.

  Chapter 1

  Shudders racked her body. The pain in her chest was excruciating. Where was she? What had happened? Serenity could not remember. Wait...she had been shot. That’s right. No, she was not the one that was shot. Another woman had been shot. There had been a rescue attempt at the facility where Serenity and several other women were being held by a psychopath known only as the General. He had started a breeding program pairing men and women with various psychic abilities, many of which were also shifters. The reason for his fascination with the program was unknown to others. The General had several facilities where he held the women. The largest one was where Serenity had been. He kept the women in the larger facility until they were pregnant and then moved them to a smaller facility until after the children were born. During the chaos of the attempt to free the women, Serenity was once again captured by the General after a guard had previously knocked her out with a drug making her defenseless. Not only had Serenity been taken, but the other woman had been shot and captured as well. Serenity had helped her by using her healing gift to mend the broken flesh made by the bullet wound, and taking away her pain. Unfortunately, Serenity had failed to fully heal her. She had not been strong enough with the drugs that the guard had given her still in her system. Now she was paying for what she had done. This was why she resisted the urge to use her abilities most of the time. When Serenity healed, she took the pain from the other person and it became her pain. It left her weak and vulnerable, and she was unable to protect herself. But the woman had been in so much pain, and Serenity had not been able to resist helping her. She had been human and might not have made it if Serenity had not healed her and provided relief from her suffering.

  Serenity had avoided using her healing abilities since being captured by the General. She had been hiding it from him. He thought she was just a wolf shifter, and Serenity had been happy to let him think that. The General also did not realize that she was telepathic. As far as he had known, she did not possess psychic abilities. Serenity would not have been able to stay out of the breeding program for as long as she had if he had known the extent of her gifts. And Serenity would do anything to get away from being groped, pawed and fucked by every man around. The General used her more as an experiment than anything else. The scientists took her blood, among other things, and she let them. It was better than the alternative.

  Shudders continued to rack Serenity’s body as she struggled to remember everything that had happened. It was all so foggy in her mind. As she lay there in pain, she tried to figure out what the hell was going on.

  Phoenix. She remembered Phoenix. Ashley, one of the other women being held with her, had told her about a vision she’d had. Phoenix was Serenity’s mate, and he was coming for her. Wait, he had come for her, but he wasn’t there now. That’s right, the General had taken her. Oh God, the General still had her. Phoenix, where was Phoenix? She needed him. She was so scared. She was defenseless right now, and she knew it. With Phoenix the last thought in her mind, she passed out again.

  The next time when Serenity came to, the pain was bearable. It still hurt, but it was slowly ebbing away. This she could handle. Serenity knew if she shifted once she would heal even faster, but she refused to shift in front of any of the guards or scientists, and especially not in front of the General. First of all, she would have to take off her clothes to shift or they would be shredded. But more importantly, the General loved to watch them shift and she refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing what she looked like in wolf form. She had taken several beatings over her refusal, but it was worth it to piss the General off. The only time she had ever allowed her wolf to come out was late at night when everyone else was asleep. The video cameras in her room would somehow malfunction a couple of times a month, thanks to one of the scientists in the facility, and she would allow herself to spend a few hours in her wolf form.

  “Why did you do it?” she heard a voice say. “I could have handled it. You shouldn’t have taken the pain from me. I would have been fine. Why did you do it?”

  Serenity slowly opened her eyes and looked at the woman staring down at her. “For Phoenix,” she whispered weakly. “I did it for Phoenix.” As the other woman’s dark brown eyes widened in surprise, Serenity slipped into a deep healing sleep.

  Chapter 2

  It had been four days. Four fucking days, and they still had no leads on where Serenity and Rikki were being held. Both his mate and his sister had been kidnapped. That bastard, the General, had them. Phoenix sat in a chair on Angel’s back porch with his elbows on his knees holding his head in his hands. All he could think about was Serenity and Rikki and how he had failed them. If only he could have saved them

  Phoenix was part of an elite mercenary group that went by the name of RARE; Rescue and Retrieval Extractions. They were a team of six lead by Angel Johnston. RARE found out the General was holding women with the intention of breeding them for their shifter and psychic abilities. For what purpose, they still had no idea. Jaxson, RARE’s resident electronics expert, was working on the puzzle night and day, hacking into any site he could find that might have some answers. But there were none. All the team knew, at this time, was the General was a sick bastard who got off on hurting innocent women.

  Gathered intel showed there had been
one large facility in the Shenandoah Mountains and several smaller ones in various locations where women and children were being held. While RARE hit the larger one, the shifter council sent a number of their enforcers to hit the smaller ones with the help of the area shifter communities. Unfortunately, the General had found out RARE’s plan of attack, and he moved several of the facilities before the attacks could take place. The council enforcers were only able to take down four of the smaller facilities. The General had also moved all but nine women out of the biggest facility.

  In the end, it had been a huge cluster fuck. Seven women were saved but two were still missing. One was Rikki, a member of RARE. She had given up her freedom, and possibly her life, so Nico could go home to his mate, Jenna and child, Lily.

  The other was Serenity, who Phoenix later found out from one the women that were held in the larger facility, was his mate. After having a premonition, one of the women had told Serenity about Phoenix and that he was coming for her. Before RARE had made it to the facility, a guard had tried to force himself on Serenity. She had fought him, slicing his chest open with her claws. The guard had beaten her, drugged her and had thrown her in a room by herself. When the General left the building, he’d grabbed Serenity and ran, using her as a shield to get to a waiting helicopter. At the time, Phoenix had been so hell bent on saving Nico that he had not paid much attention to the woman with the General. He had just gotten a glimpse of a tiny woman with long dark hair. Since hearing Serenity was his mate, Phoenix wished he had paid more attention.

  God, all Phoenix had wanted was to find that special someone, a woman who would complete him. He wanted someone who would always be there for him, no matter what. Phoenix was so tired of the fast hookups that were going nowhere. He was lonely, so damn lonely for so long. Then when Nico and Jenna found each other, he discovered that when shifters mated, it was like merging their souls together. Once they found each other, they would always be together and would never stray. He wanted that for himself. Phoenix was human, but he knew shifters mated with humans, too. He had also known chances were slim that there was a mate for him, but he had been holding out, praying he would get lucky enough to find out what being mated to a shifter was like.

  Well, he was finding out it was pure hell. Serenity was out there. That psychotic bastard had her, and who knew what was happening to her now? Serenity, his mate. Phoenix was going to find her. He was going to save her. Then he was going to hunt down every last motherfucker that had hurt her and make them pay because she was his, and nobody touched what was his.

  Chapter 3

  Angel cursed as her phone rang once again. She did not have time for this. She was not taking on any other missions until she brought Rikki and Serenity home. Jeremiah Black, a man that RARE contracted jobs with, had been trying to get a hold of her for the last 24 hours. Angel knew she needed to talk to him, but she refused to answer the phone or even listen to the messages yet. Someone obviously needed rescued, but as far as Angel was concerned, that was not her problem. Her family was her number one priority. Right now the only thing she worried about was finding out where the General was hiding Rikki and Serenity.

  As her phone went to voice mail, she looked up at Jaxson and asked, “What do you have? Anything?”

  “Nothing. I’ve gone through everything we got from the computers in that last facility, and there’s nothing here. Not a damn thing! I can’t find any other locations where that bastard is holding women. We have hit them all. I have no clue where the new facilities are. I have nothing,” Jaxson growled in frustration, raking a hand through his short blond hair.

  Angel had been trying to connect telepathically with Rikki, but she had not been successful...yet. It didn’t feel like Rikki was gone, Angel just could not connect to her. Rikki could be drugged or unconscious. Unfortunately, there was no way of knowing what the real reason was.

  Just then, Phoenix came through the door. “Tell me ya got something, Angel,” he demanded.

  “Nothing,” Angel said. “Nothing. I can’t connect with Rikki. I tried again this morning. For some reason, I just can’t. It is like there’s a block.”

  “What about Serenity?” Trace, one of RARE’s team members, asked. “Can you connect with her?”

  “I doubt it,” Angel said. “I only saw her the one time. I would need something of hers like a piece of clothing. Without anything, there’s no way.”

  “Please, try,” Phoenix said. “Please, for me.” Angel looked over at Phoenix and the pain in his eyes. She could not imagine what he was going through right now. To Angel, Rikki was like family; but Phoenix had not only lost Rikki, whom he had loved like a sister, but he had lost his mate too. She just could not imagine it. “Yeah, Phoenix,” Angel sighed, “Yeah, I’ll try.”

  “Nico,” she called out. “Get a hold of Jenna and see if she can talk to the women who were at the facility with Serenity. See if they have anything, anything at all, that belonged to Serenity. Hell, anything she even touched might help. Get me something that will help me connect with her.”

  “I’m on it,” Nico said as he grabbed his cell phone and walked over to a quiet corner of the conference room.

  “I know it’s a long shot, but thank you for trying, Angel,” Phoenix said. Angel nodded, as she pulled out her cell phone to listen to Jeremiah’s messages. He needed an extraction of course. Unfortunately for him, RARE was not available. Since it was the third message he had left, she decided she had better call him back.

  Chapter 4

  Jeremiah Black tugged on his tie and then adjusted the collar of his white button down shirt. He hated dressing up. He hated the bureaucratic bullshit of his job. He was tired of manipulating everyone and everything in the system to get things done. But where else could he track down bad guys and make them face justice the way that he did for the FBI? Fuck, he was just trying to save lives.

  Yeah, he was tired of it. He was tired of a lot of things. Most of all, he was tired of staying away from his mate. His sexy, gorgeous, tough as hell mate. Jeremiah had met her just over a year ago, but he had not allowed himself to follow through on the mate bond, not yet. His mate seemed so young, and he could tell that she had ghosts in her past. She had not been ready for him, and she definitely had not been ready for his bear. So, he had decided to wait. But he could not fight the bond any longer. No, Jeremiah refused to fight the bond any longer.

  The funny thing was, she had no idea that Jeremiah was her mate. She was human, and while shifters instantly recognized their mates, humans were slower to acknowledge the bond. She would feel a pull towards him, but probably did not know why. Chances were she thought it was just attraction, and if that were the case, there was no way in hell she would ever act on it.

  Jeremiah had met his mate the first time RARE had contracted a mission for the FBI. After he realized who she was, he had delved in her background. Jeremiah found out that she had grown up in foster care. She had constantly been moved to different homes until she had run away at age 15. She lived on the streets until she enlisted in the army at age 18. She had served two terms, becoming one of the best snipers the army had ever seen. After an honorable discharge from the Army, his mate joined Angel’s team. That was two years ago. She lived a life of danger now, and he knew without question, she would continue to work with Angel even after she and Jeremiah bonded. The question was, how was he going to get her to recognize their bond? She was so damn stubborn, but Jeremiah liked that about her. He liked, no loved, so many things about her; he loved her loyalty to her team, her courageousness, her expressive dark brown eyes, her beautiful long brown hair, her plump fuck me lips that he wanted wrapped around his dick. Jeremiah groaned softly.

  Yeah, the next time Jeremiah saw her, he was not going to be able to hold himself back. He didn’t want to, and neither did his bear. He could not wait to see her again. Just then his desk phone rang. “Black here,” he barked into the receiver.

  “Jeremiah, it’s Angel. Sorry I haven’t answered you
r calls.”

  “It’s alright, Angel. I got a job for RARE.”

  “I’m not taking any jobs, Jeremiah. Not now, not for a while.”

  What? What the hell was she talking about? “I need ya on this one, Angel. A well-known government official was kidnapped two days ago and we haven’t been able to locate him.”

  “I can’t do it, Jeremiah. I’m sorry, but I have to pass. One of my team members has been taken. Until I get her back, no jobs.”

  Jeremiah froze. “Taken?” he ground out through clenched teeth. “Who?”

  “Rikki,” Angel whispered. “Son of a bitch got her. We couldn’t get to her in time. We have been trying to hunt her down, Jeremiah, but we haven’t been able to find her.”

  “What the fuck,” he roared. “Talk to me, Angel. Tell me what’s going on with my mate!” Ah shit. He hadn’t meant to acknowledge to anyone Rikki was his mate. Especially since Rikki didn’t know.

  “Your what?” Angel asked in shock. “My mate,” he growled. “Rikki is mine. You tell me what the fuck is going on.”

  Angel just sat there. “She’s yours? Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “She wasn’t ready. Where is she? Who has her?” Jeremiah growled, trying to get his bear under control as his fangs threatened to drop.

  “You better come to my house. The team and I will tell you everything. It’s not good though, Jeremiah,” Angel whispered. “It’s not good.”

  Jeremiah replaced the receiver, and immediately picked it up again, calling to have the plane ready for takeoff as soon as possible. He was going to get his mate back. No one was taking her from him. And when he got her back, he was not letting her go.

  Jeremiah got up and walked out of his office. “I’m leaving,” he told his agent, Cord. “I’m not sure how long I will be gone. You’re in charge for now.”

  “What are you talking about?” Cord asked. “You can’t leave. We have this huge case on the verge of exploding and..”