Holy fuck. I sense this is epic. I’ll wait, but be prepared I’ll be waiting when you land, and I’ll want answers. Give me five on the plane. I’ll need to wake up Todd and hope a dragon doesn’t want to use my ass as a chew toy.
Duron stood and looked up at the sky. The blue was cloudless, and the heat was as oppressive as ever. Yet as he inhaled, he focused on the fact he was alive, as was his mate. He could thank the Fate’s for that. Despite what they’d done to him, without it, they’d have not survived today, physically and mentally. He hated those who’d deemed him nothing more than an asset. However, it gave him the ability to give Beaumont what he needed most—the strength of his animal spirits.
His phone vibrated and his gaze dropped to it as he swiped to open the message.
They haven’t needed it since you arrived in Paraguay, so they left it there. It can be ready in an hour for take-off. That work?
Tell them we’ll be there. And thank you.
Duron didn’t wait for a reply; he walked back inside clutching his cell phone, initially pissed to have to wake Beaumont. That eased when he recalled the enormous bed on the plane, and that they’d be gone before Kylo returned, wanting more answers.
Whatever Beaumont shared would be his decision and no one else’s. And Duron would make sure it stayed that way, because protecting Beaumont was his new lifetime mission, and he’d always come first.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Beaumont
“It was a fuck fest.” Beaumont glared at the Thalassa brothers and their mates sitting around the huge conference table. They were all there, Marvin and Ajani, as well as Conrad, too. The only ones missing were Ben and his mates, Teilo and Nico. Beaumont made a mental note to send the man a report of what they’d found—to a point—as soon as he had five minutes to breathe.
His body still ached, unused to the extra activity both back at the death house, and the subsequent “comforting” Duron clearly believed was helpful. His mate would have no idea just how right he had been. If anyone, and Beaumont meant anyone, had shown him one ounce of sympathy or compassion, in those hours after they left the carnage behind, Beaumont knew he would shatter into a million pieces and never recover. Duron did the right thing, and Beaumont was grateful for that.
He’d sensed through their bond that Duron was leaving exactly how much they shared with the Thalassa brothers up to him. And that level of trust went a long way to keeping his mood even. Now all he had to do was to get through his debrief and not lie. There were far too many shifter noses in the room.
The remains of the meal provided were sitting in the middle of the table, but everyone was focused on him and Duron—it was time. Beaumont inhaled sharply. “From what we could work out from records found, and the events that followed, the original compound Nico and Teilo were kept in was started by the shifter council as part of Urt’s organization.
“However, unlike those facilities still under council control recently, the place in Paraguay was compromised, for the want of another word. A single individual, another hybrid from a different facility and we don’t know where they trained originally. From what we can guess, the man escaped, much like Marvin did, and found his hidey hole in the jungles of Paraguay. Unlike Marvin, this individual wasn’t compassionate, nor considered the needs of other hybrids as was evidenced as he gradually took over all criminal activities in the area, and over time, roughly twenty to thirty years ago, the council compound, too.”
Fuck, this is so hard.“Anecdotal evidence, and the papers Kylo found both at the house where Nico and Teilo were rescued, and at a lion shifter’s office in the police precinct, all point to the fact the facility had been operating for some time, with the Devil taking his experimentation to extremes, in his bid to create what can only be described as a private army. To what end, that’s not known.”
“Did anything you find suggest who this hybrid, this Devil as you call him, who he was, or where he came from originally?” Todd was tapping on his keyboard, his fingers still working the keys as he spoke.
Isn’t that a loaded question?Beaumont’s heart skipped a beat because there was no way he was prepared to answer that honestly and lying was impossible.
He didn’t have to. Duron spoke up. “There have been hundreds, possibly thousands of hybrids—children who they abducted and then experimented on—across a multitude of facilities in the US, Canada, and apparently South America, too, over decades. A huge number of those captives died at various stages of their training or as a result of those experiments. The number of adult hybrids currently working for the council as assassins is less than fifty, which leaves a huge number of individuals who survived and have either been set free, or who escaped, and are living goodness knows where. It would be impossible to say.”
Thank you, mate.
“Incredible,” Todd said, still focused on his screen. “When you think of the damage those experiments did, and the training which by it’s nature was designed to strip all humanity and emotions from those poor subjects, it’s a testament to human nature that we haven’t found more instances of those hybrids turning rogue.”
“I think the important question here is, has this unit in Paraguay been completely disbanded?” Alexi said slowly. “I know the original compound Nico and Teilo were rescued from was destroyed, and I’m assuming Ben’s brother will forward the records they found so we can add them to our database, but how were things left? You were keen to get back here. Do we have to worry about this Devil as you call him, starting up again somewhere else?”
Beaumont shook his head. “First off, the records are useless to you. The person warding Putney’s home, where the records were, tampered with them, removing the information. And No. That’s absolutely not possible.” He knew that deep in his soul. Wyatt would have his hands full, but he would make sure the Devil never dabbled in genetics again. “It’s not to say someone else might try to take over the criminal activities in the local area. There’s a leadership vacuum, but I’m confident Kylo and his brothers will take care of that if it happens. Feel free to liaise with him for any of the details you’re missing,” he added to Todd. He even managed to grin. “Duron and I got a bit frisky after the confrontation. I left a check for furniture damages, but I don’t think Kylo will welcome me and my mate to their family home anytime soon.”
That made everyone laugh, which was Beaumont’s intention. He stretched, saying with a yawn that was fake, but the brothers could read into that whatever they liked. “I appreciate the use of the plane, thank you. It has been a really long trip and I hate to presume on your good nature any further, but do you have a computer we can use? Duron and I are going house hunting.”
That was his signal that as far as Beaumont was concerned, the briefing was over. Todd, Alexi, and the others could liaise with Kylo, who only knew what he and Duron had left them to find. The brothers and their mates left, probably glad to get back to their children and the normality of daily life. Marvin looked sad, and seemed to want to stay, but Ajani murmured in his ear, and they left with the others.
Only Conrad remained. As soon as the door closed on the last Thalassa, he said, “Your man makes a superb politician, Duron, saying a lot without saying anything at all.”
Beaumont didn’t have any response to that. He didn’t want to lie to Duron’s friend, and when it was all said and done, given how he and Duron had barely any time to get to know each other at all, he didn’t know how close the bond between the assassins were. He could imagine they’d had to trust each other over the years, given what they did… but yeah, Beaumont wasn’t going to tread on any toes.
“There were some complications with the mission,” Duron said, and Beaumont noticed he was looking Conrad straight in the eye. “Things we didn’t foresee, things that weren’t planned for. We adapted on the fly, the way they have taught you and me to.”
“You taking cues from your mate now? You said I’d have answers when you got back and all I’m getting is the same political speech about nothing happened, the same as you gave the Thalassas.” Conrad got out of his seat, and he seemed frustrated. “What the hell happened in Paraguay? Where the hell is Wyatt?”
“Wyatt’s safe. Last I checked, he has histracker on.” Getting up, Duron went around the table and gripped Conrad’s arms, and Beaumont could see his bear vying for dominance. “All you have to know, all I can tell you is that absolutely without question if anyone, and I meananyone at all,tells you to go after Wyatt, you say yes sir, and then leave it alone. You get me? Go through the motions but you leave that shit alone, and make sure you tell Ekon to do the same thing.”
“Bloody hell, big guy. What the hell happened in the jungle?”
