Nico's Heart (RARE Book 1) Read online

  Ryker got on his phone and contacted the council immediately, while Storm told Jaxson where to send the information. When Ryker was done he told them, “The council is in. Send the information to us. We will be ready to hit the places within two days. Storm and I need to go and get everything set up on our end now, but we will be in touch.”

  As they walked out, Storm glanced back at Phoenix, but he would not even acknowledge her. That ship had sailed. He wasn’t wasting his time on the wrong ones anymore. He wanted to find the right one, and he now knew for sure that it was not her.

  “Alright everyone, it’s late. Let’s get out of here. Meet back at 10 o’clock tomorrow morning so we can come up with a plan. Phoenix and Nico, take my SUV. I won’t need it tonight.” As Angel started picking up the pop cans and snacks everyone had, Rikki waved her away. “I got this, girl.” She grabbed a trash can and started throwing everything into it, so Angel followed everyone else up the stairs to kick them all out. When Rikki came up, she took the trash out with her towards the dumpster Angel had, and Angel shut and locked the door. Going into her bedroom, she collapsed on her bed, not even bothering to remove her clothes. She was exhausted. She fell asleep dreaming this time of Chase, Hope and Faith, and of the family she wished they could be.

  Chapter 39

  Jenna sighed as she felt Nico crawl into bed behind her. She snuggled up closer to him and moaned softly when she felt his hand trail down her naked breast, stopping to lightly tweak her nipple. She felt his hard cock pressing against her and growled softly wanting to feel it inside of her. She tried to position herself so that he could slide easily in, but he grabbed her by the hips and held her so she couldn’t move. “Nico, please,” she breathed. He laughed softly, “Slow down, love.” He softly kissed her behind her ear and trailed more kisses down her neck to her shoulder. She groaned, “Nico, I need you. Please, I need to feel you inside me.”

  Nico growled softly and bit down gently on her shoulder holding her in place. Then he pulled one of her legs up and pushed slowly inside of her. Continuing to move slowly, he pushed in and out of her. She jerked her hips back to try and get him to move faster but he refused. “I’m making love to you this time, my sweet mate. I want to show you how much you mean to me,” he whispered.

  “Nico,” she cried out as she felt the pressure building inside of her. He reached down and massaged her clit, and she reached her arm up and behind her grabbing hold of his head, pulling his lips back to her shoulder. “God, Nico,” she begged, “bite me. Please, bite me.” He could not resist. As his fangs entered her shoulder, he felt her squeeze tightly around him and he couldn’t hold back. He grabbed her hips and slammed into her once, then twice and then came hard.

  “I love you, my sweet mate,” he whispered. “I love you so much.” Jenna froze and then she leaned back and looked up into his eyes. “I love you, too, Nico,” she whispered. He turned her around to face him and then snuggled her close and kissed her softly. As she drifted off to sleep, she felt him gently stroking her hair and heard him whisper, “Never forget how much I love you.”

  The next morning Nico woke her up and made love to her again. This time she felt what seemed like desperation in him. It was fast and hard, and so different than the night before. But when she asked him about it afterwards, he just shrugged it off. “Come on, sweetheart, Phoenix is cooking again,” he teased. “Do you think he made you a bunny?”

  Jenna laughed, but she felt the underlying tension in him. She had no idea what was wrong and it was driving her crazy. As they walked out of the bedroom, Nico stopped and turned towards her. Placing a hand on her cheek he whispered, “I do love you, Jenna.” Her eyes filled with tears as she looked up at him. “Talk to me, Nico,” she said. “What’s wrong?”

  He leaned his forehead onto hers and sighed softly. “We are leaving on a mission very soon. You never know what could happen. I just want to make sure you know how I feel.”

  Jenna stared at him in silence, watching him closely. “You do know, Nico,” she said. “You know. What’s going to happen? Talk to me dammit!”

  “Nothing is going to happen,” Phoenix vowed from behind Nico. “Nothing. We are going on a mission and Nico will be home in a couple of days.”

  Jenna looked at Phoenix, “Promise me Phoenix.” Phoenix looked her straight in the eyes and said, “I promise you. I give you my word, Jenna. Your mate will be home as soon as the mission is over.”

  Jenna looked back and forth between Phoenix and Nico, and then she nodded. “Now, where’s my bunny?” she asked. Phoenix laughed, “Lily is saving it for you along with a pile of bacon. Go eat.”

  Once she was in the kitchen, Nico turned to Phoenix and punched him in the arm. “What the fuck man?” he growled. “How can you promise her that? I told you about my vision. And you know they always come true.”

  “Not this time, Nico. No fucking way is this one coming true. You have a gorgeous mate and a beautiful daughter. You will be coming home to them. I promise you that. No brother of mine is going down that way.” Phoenix turned and walked back to the kitchen. Well shit, he hoped Phoenix had a good plan, because he hadn’t come up with anything yet.

  Once breakfast was done, Nico and Phoenix got ready to head back over to Angel’s. Nico threw a packed bag on the bed and grabbed his bag filled with all of his other gear, adding it to the pile. “When will you be back?” Jenna asked. He sat down on the side of the bed and pulled her between his legs. “It’s going to be at least a couple of days. We found several places where the General is holding more women, including what looks like a main building that has several women in it. We are thinking that is where he breeds them and then he ships them out to the other places to be monitored by scientists. RARE is hitting the main facility; the council is handling all of the rest. We can’t wait, Jenna. We have to hit hard and fast before he realizes we are on to him and he moves everyone.”

  Her eyes filled with tears as she pulled him closer to her. “Be safe,” she whispered. “Come home to me. Please come home to me, Nico.” He stood up and cupping her cheek, leaned forward and kissed her softly on the lips. “I will, sweet mate, I will.”

  He turned around and grabbed his bags, heading toward the door. Lily came running after him. Nico dropped both bags and reached down, scooping her up and holding her close. “I love you, Daddy,” she said. “Don’t worry, I will take care of Mommy. And you will come home. But someone else won’t.”

  Nico froze, “Who, Lily? Who won’t come home?” But Lily just shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s too fuzzy.”

  Phoenix appeared behind Lily with both of his bags in one hand and Hunter by his side. He reached down and ruffled Hunter’s hair. “We gotta go, cub.” Hunter looked up at him, his eyes full of tears. “You will be fine, buddy. You stay here with Jenna until I get back.”

  “You will come back, too, Phoenix. You think you won’t, but you will.” Nico and Phoenix looked at each other. Angel, they both thought at the same time. Shit, they were going to have to watch her closely. There wasn’t anything Angel wouldn’t do for the people on her team. They were her family. Nico and Phoenix knew she could connect with them easily and they would not even know it had happened. She was that good. She probably knew everything that they knew. But there was no way in hell they were leaving her behind. Anyone on the team would have taken Nico’s place if they could have, but Angel was the only one with the ability to connect to them without them knowing and pull out the exact information she needed. When Nico had told everyone about his vision, he had neglected to tell them exactly where he was standing when he was shot and taken. But if Angel had wanted to know, she could have easily found out. She could be where she needed to be to take the shot for Nico. Because even though Nico knew where he was going to be at the time, he could not avoid it. There was a reason he was in that spot, so when the time came, he would be there again. But he would not allow Angel to take his place. That was not going to happen.

  Chapter 40

/>   The team was back in the basement conference room at Angel’s house. They had been throwing around ideas for hours on how to infiltrate the large facility and free all of the women. They had finally narrowed it down to one, along with a backup plan. The problem was that they had no idea how many guards they were up against. With the building having 23 women being held in it, they assumed the number of guards was at least half that. They needed the element of surprise on their side.

  The women were being held in the Appalachian Mountains, on the Shenandoah Mountain in Virginia. They had decided to have pilots fly them in and drop them about ten miles out. They would have to beat feet all the way in, but they could do it. Phoenix was going to have to triple the amount of explosives he normally took in if he was going to demolish the whole place, but he was looking forward to it. Women were meant to be cherished, not raped and forced to have babies. It made his blood boil to think about what those women were going through.

  They had every confidence that they could get in, get the women and get out, but the problem they were coming up with was how to get that many women to safety. They didn’t know what kind of shape the women were in and could not expect them to run all of the way down the mountain. Which meant they were either going to have to make that extraction point closer, or figure out something different.

  Jaxson was the one that came up with the plan. Angel was the one that had to make the call to Chase. When Chase showed up at her home, she took him downstairs. She explained everything that was going on from the information they found on the computer at the place Flame and Janie were held, to the council having enforcers invading the smaller facilities and RARE taking on the biggest one. Then Angel and her team laid out their plan for him and explained to him what they needed him to do to help with the extraction. Chase sat there for a few minutes taking it all in and then just got up and walked out.

  Angel found him upstairs in the kitchen, hands clenched tightly on the kitchen table. He was obviously pissed off. “Chase?” she inquired softly. All of the sudden he let out a roar and the table went flying across the room hitting the wall and landing in pieces on the floor.

  “I am not sitting down at the bottom of a fucking mountain waiting for my mate while she is at the top of it fighting for her life and the lives of her team and 23 women. Not gonna fucking happen. Do you understand me, mate?” he growled.

  “Back off, Chase. I can’t take you with me and you know it. RARE is going in and only RARE. I am not going to risk the lives of my team just because you have a problem with me doing my job. I have been doing it for years without you. You are not going to go in and hold my fucking hand now. Do you understand me, mate?” she growled right back.

  Chase stood there glaring at her, but there was no way Angel was backing down. “I need you as far up that mountain as you can get with those SUVs, Chase, not at the bottom of it. I can get those women to you, but I need you there waiting for me. I am asking you for your help. I am trusting you to do this for me.”

  He swallowed hard as he watched her. Then he grabbed her and yanked her to him covering her mouth with his. Threading his fingers through her hair, he ground his mouth against hers. Just as quickly, he pulled back breathing heavily. “When do you need me there?”

  “I need to talk to the council enforcers to see when they will be ready to go. For this to work, we all need to strike at the same time. I will call you.” Angel pulled him back down for one more quick kiss, then pulled away and headed back downstairs.

  “Angel,” Chase called out. She stopped and glanced back up at him. “Stay safe,” he ordered. She nodded, and with a jaunty wave, turned around and headed the rest of the way down the stairs.

  “He’s in,” she told her team. “Nico, get on the phone with the council enforcers and get them here to go over the final plans. We need to be in position tomorrow night.”

  Chapter 41

  By the time Storm and Ryker showed up, RARE had their final plan fine-tuned and ready to go. Once they knew what the council had planned, Nico would contact the pilot to set up the drop point and time and Angel would contact Chase about the extraction point.

  As the council enforcers took their seats, the team filled in the rest of the chairs. “What do ya got for us?” Angel asked them. “We had to enlist the help of shifters in territories close to the facilities. Sixteen places is a lot to hit all at once. It would spread our enforcers too thin. We need some to stay behind to protect the council.”

  “That’s understandable,” Angel said. “When is everyone set to go in?”

  “Tomorrow morning, 6am,” Storm said. “We do not go in during the day,” Angel said. “We always hit at night. You know this.” Storm nodded, “I know, but we didn’t have a choice this time. The council wants the women out now. They refuse to wait.”

  “We asked the council for help this time, not the other way around. They don’t tell us what to do. We go in at night. It is too dangerous to go in during the day. Do they want to lose shifters?” Angel was pissed. Who the hell did they think they were taking over? Oh yeah, the fucking council. They didn’t have to answer to anyone.

  “I’m sorry, Angel,” Storm said. “It’s all set up for tomorrow morning at 6 o’clock. I work for the council. To me, what they say goes.”

  “Get out,” Angel growled at them. “We will hold a vote without either of you in the room. I will send one of the team members up to tell you our decision. Wait on the front porch.” That was her way of letting them know that they were not a part of her team. They worked for the council. They were loyal to the council. Her team was loyal to her, not the council. But unlike the council, Angel would not make this kind of decision on her own. All of the team would have a choice.

  Storm and Ryker moved out of the room and up the stairs. As soon as Angel knew they were out of the basement, she got up and shut the door, locking them all in the sound proof room. “Talk to me,” she said.

  “Doesn’t look like we have a fucking choice,” Phoenix said. “I prefer to go in at night, but if we don’t go in with the rest of them, it gives General Dickhead a chance to move the women.”

  “He’s right,” Rikki said. “I say we get dropped in at midnight. That will give us time to get up the mountain and scope everything out. Trace and I can pick our trees to camp out in and get up in them and get camouflaged while it’s still dark.”

  Nico nodded. “I agree with them. We have to do this. We don’t have a choice. We need to get those women out of there.”

  “I’m in,” Jaxson said. Trace nodded his agreement. “Let’s do this.”

  Angel took a deep breath. Against her better judgment, she agreed with her team. “Phoenix, go tell them we will be ready to go in at 6am. Nico, call and set it up with the pilots. I will call Chase. He is going to have to fly in and rent vehicles now. There is no way they will get there in time otherwise. Jaxson, set him up with SUVs and have them waiting for him to pick up when he gets there.”

  As Phoenix pulled the door open, he said, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this, boss.”

  “Yeah,” Angel said. “Me, too.” She grabbed her cell phone and made the call to Chase.

  Phoenix headed up the stairs and out onto the front porch to talk to the enforcers. What he found was Storm. She turned towards him when he walked in and stopped. “We will be at the facility at 6am,” he said and turned to leave.

  “Wait,” he heard her say. He turned back with his eyebrows raised. “Yeah?” he asked. “Phoenix, please,” she said.

  “Just let it be,” he told her. “It’s done.” As he moved away again, she reached out and grabbed his arm. He shrugged her off and turned back. “Look, Storm, it would never work. I want someone that is loyal to me. Not to my team, to me. Someone I can trust. You proved that someone isn’t you.”

  “Dammit Phoenix,” she growled. “Angel asked a question and I answered it. Don’t give up something we might have just because of that.”

  “Am I your mate?” he asked h
er. “What?” she asked. “Am. I. Your. Mate?” he ground out. “Well, no,” she responded. “Then once again, don’t waste my time or yours. I refuse to settle for anything less than the woman I plan on spending the rest of my life with. I’m tired of the endless fucking with no emotions. I want something real, Storm. And I will remain faithful to that woman now even though I haven’t found her yet. Why would you even think of settling for less than your intended mate?”

  Storm turned around and walked to the door. Turning back towards him she said, “I have waited for my mate for over 100 years, Phoenix. I would have liked you to be that mate, but you aren’t. It gets lonely waiting.” As the door closed behind her, Phoenix took in a deep breath. Yeah, he had originally been attracted to her, but he had known she was not for him. Not long term. And long term was all he wanted now. He wasn’t wasting his time on anything less than the real deal.

  Chapter 42

  The team spent the rest of the time cleaning their weapons and getting ready for the rescue mission. Nico debated on saying something to Angel about what he suspected she might be planning, but decided to wait. He could be wrong and if he was, he didn’t want to raise her suspicions. Phoenix agreed with him.

  Phoenix was back in the armory that Angel had in the corner of her basement loading up on all of the explosives he needed. It was going to take three bags this time instead of the normal one, but that was fine. Nico had agreed to carry one of them until they got to the building and Phoenix took off on his own to set up. He was going to set them all up under the cover of the night. No way in hell was he waiting until dawn and risk being seen.

  Trace was cleaning his sniper rifle and Rikki had gone out back to sight hers in. There was a reason she never missed her mark. Her rifle was her baby. It was always cleaned and sighted in. Always.