PROLOGUE
Steven Proctor stood outside the fence that protected the public from the ruined stadium, wondering if it had only been six months since he’d been forced to take the job as Dean of Parkhurst College. It felt more like six years; first, he’d had to do damage repair after the former Dean had been exposed as a criminal, then there’d been the vandalism on campus, quickly followed by the bombing of the stadium. When they’d found the old ruins under the stadium while cleaning up the debris, he’d been sure that could only be a good thing, but that seemed to have backfired on him as well.
Now he had two missing students instead of one, angry parents and professors, a board of regents who were less than helpful, and the clan breathing down his neck. He would have loved to chuck it all in, write a letter stepping down and walk away, but his debt to the clan was too big for that. His only choice was to stick it out and do his best to get control of the campus.
With that thought in mind, he watched the big black car pull into the parking lot and head for where he was standing, the tinted windows making it impossible to see who was in the backseat. He didn’t need to see his visitor to know who it was,however. He’d been woken at the crack of dawn by a phone call arranging the meeting, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still nervous.
The car pulled to a stop, and a second later, the back door opened. Marcus Reynolds stepped out and walked over to him, a frown on his face. “That got messy, but no one will ever discover the truth. I just wish they’d blown the whole thing away like I instructed,” Marcus said, shaking his head. “These kids today have to respect their elders.”
“It isn’t over yet, and it might get even messier. There’s another student missing; he was tangled up in all this somehow, although I’m not sure how. The boys don’t exactly confide in me,” he said. “When Diego disappeared, it was easy enough to claim he left on his own, but Sebastain is a totally different story; his grandfather isn’t going to rest until he finds him.”
“I’ll deal with old man Marbury,” Marcus said. “You just worry about the boys, we need them to graduate. Our plan won’t work if they don’t. I hope I don’t have to remind you that’s your job. You need to keep closer tabs on these boys, catch them before they get themselves in trouble. That was our agreement.”
It took him a second to answer as he wrestled with a burst of anger. “It wasn’t an agreement so much as an order,” he finally said, his voice level. “And it’s a bit difficult for me to be involved with them from the dean’s office. Maybe you should think about getting someone else to step in.”
“We’ve been over this, you’re the man we’ve chosen,” Marcus said, shutting him down. “Get it together, Proctor, the clan is depending on you. Our very existence depends on these eight boys and their special talents.”
“You don’t have to remind me, this battle with the Marbury clan has been going on since I was a child. I’m doing the best I can,” he said, then let out a long sigh. “I’ll try to get closer to theboys again, but there’s just so much on my plate that it’s difficult to find the time.”
“Have you spoken to Dr. Warner about staying on full time?” Marcus asked. “I think the regents made their wishes clear, we want her here permanently. This is a chance to expand the college, and we need this after the disaster last year. The boost in enrollment is just the thing we need to invigorate the school; we need new blood, new students excited to be here. I understand young Cooper and Dr. Warner are…involved. Keeping her here will make him happy as well. I don’t want to risk him taking off after her.”
“I don’t think it will be hard to convince her to stay. I’ll talk to her as soon as I can,” he said. “I’d just like a few weeks of peace and quiet. Do something to keep the Marburys busy just long enough to get us to Christmas break.”
“I can’t make any promises, but I’ll try,” Marcus said. “Just try to find out what happened to Diego and Sebastain, the council would really like to know.”
“You mean you’re wondering if the weapon you’ve been creating is already functional,” he said, shaking his head. “I can’t answer that either, but I hope this doesn’t blow up in your face, it could be really ugly, and you’ll only have yourselves to blame.”
“You let us worry about that,” Marcus said, striding over to the car and opening the door. “Just do your part like you’ve been asked.”
The door slammed and Marcus drove away, leaving him with just as many headaches as he’d had before and with a long sigh, he turned and headed for his office, hoping Mindy had the coffee ready.
CHAPTER 1
***MALCOLM***
Malcolm raced over to the idling car, threw open the door, shoved his backpack into the backseat, then jumped in and slammed the door. “Go, go, go,” he shouted, heart pounding, adrenaline racing through his system as they peeled out of the parking lot.
They were only a block away when they heard the explosion, and they both turned around in their seat to look, wincing when they saw the huge plume of smoke. “Was that supposed to happen?” he asked, turning back around. “No one said anything about a bunch of smoke. I think something went wrong.”
“Where the hell were you?” Walker demanded, shooting him a dirty look. “One second you were behind me, then I was getting into the car by myself. We should have been out of there five minutes ago.”
“We’re fine, we didn’t get caught, so just relax,” he said. “I was lugging that backpack with all those tools in it and then…well…I ran into someone.”
“You ran into someone?” Walker asked, looking over at him again. “What the hell does that mean?”
He didn’t answer right away; he was suddenly swept back to the moment, and the rush of desire shooting through his bodymade it impossible to speak. He’d been following right behind Walker, keeping up with no problem, then the tools in the backpack shifted, and he was forced to stop and rearrange them. When he looked up, Walker was gone, and he was sure he heard footsteps behind him. Fighting off a wave of panic, he’d started running while still looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was following him.
Just as he came out of the trees onto the sidewalk that ran around the parking lot, he crashed into something soft and warm that let out a little cry of surprise as they went down in a tangle of limbs. It took him a second to absorb what had happened, then he became acutely aware that it was a woman under him. She smelled like sugar cookies and something even more appealing he couldn’t describe. Her breasts were pressed up against his chest, and her breath was tickling his ear.
Desire roared to life with no warning, sending waves of need coursing through his body and waking the creature inside him, who was instantly curious about all the commotion. The woman began to squirm under him, her grunts of distress finally breaking through the turmoil going on inside him, and he tried to roll off her, but the backpack had him pinned firmly in place. He finally managed to shift it and tumbled into the snow next to her, doing his best to ignore the creature’s unhappiness at the loss of contact.
When he looked over at her, a pair of very shocked hazel eyes stared back at him, and another wave of desire washed over him. He was frozen in place for several seconds. The melting snow soaking into his back finally broke the spell, and he scrambled to his feet, the backpack almost taking him down again. He managed to stay on his feet and held out his hand to the woman, unable to walk away and leave her on the ground.
When she put her hand in his it was like putting his finger into a light socket. Energy traveled up his arm, making his entirebody begin to tingle, and by the shocked gasp the woman let out, he was sure she felt it too. Her hazel eyes got even bigger, then she quickly pulled her hand out of his and backed up a couple of steps, shaking her head.
Over her shoulder, he could see Walker already at the car. “I’m sorry, I hope you’re okay,” he said. “Just pretend you didn’t see me.”
He turned and headed for the parking lot, fighting the urge to turn and look back at the woman who’d affected him more than anyone ever had without even speaking a word to him. Now sitting there next to Walker, the whole experience had begun to take on a dreamlike feeling, and he wasn’t even completely sure it had even happened.
