A few seconds later, Caleb was coming, too, growls rumbling up through his broad chest. This time, hedidsink his fangs in her shoulder, hard enough to leave marks, she was sure. But rather than being painful, the sensation was so pleasurable that it nudged her orgasm to the next level.
She barely realized what was happening when Caleb suddenly flipped them both over, letting her ride out the last of her orgasm from on top, his hands gripping her hips as she collapsed on his chest, gasping for air and trembling like a kitten.
It was only afterward, when she was draped happily across his body, his warmth seeping into her like a drug, that Brielle realized exactly how much trouble she was in. She’d only slept with Caleb once and already couldn’t imagine ever being with anyone else.
Chapter 13
New York City
Caleb tugged at the rough collar of his off-the-rack dress shirt as he looked around the expansive but crowded lobby area outside the United Nations General Assembly Hall, biting his tongue to hold in the growl of discomfort.
“I don’t understand why you get to be the debonair diplomat while I have to play the part of the hulking security goon,” he muttered.
Forrest let out a snort as he casually adjusted the jacket of his much nicer, much more expensive suit and took a sip from the crystal flute of champagne he’d been carrying around as he toured the hall. Champagne that Caleb couldn’t drink because he wasworking.
“Maybe it’s because I look like a debonair diplomat,” Forrest said without looking in his direction, “while you look like a hulking security goon.”
Caleb would have punched his teammate if it wasn’t for the fact that Forrest was completely right. Caleb probably could have pulled off Forrest’s role right up until he opened his mouth. Smooth talking wasn’t his thing. Especially at a huge international humanitarian conference like this one, where everyone would expect him to be knowledgeable on all the latest environmental and social issues going on around the world. Now was one of those times he missed not reading those newspapers.
McKay was fully aware of Caleb’s shortcomings, which explained why the boss had sent him undercover as one of the extra security guards brought in to supplement the UN staff for the big event. Then again, McKay had also slipped Harley in as a member of the security force, and she certainly couldn’t be described as big and hulking. So maybe, it was merely a coincidence.
Forrest moved away, leaving Caleb standing there alone against the wall. Well, not really alone, since he was surrounded by at least five or six hundred well-dressed snobs of both the foreign and domestic variety. With so many people around, he couldn’t help but feel a little worried. Jake, Jestina, Sawyer, Misty, Hudson, and Genevieve were all down in the Financial District sneaking into the Harrington Group’s business offices, leaving Caleb, Brielle, Forrest, and Harley here in Midtown on their own to keep an eye on Xavier Harrington and let Jake know if the billionaire left the UN. Jake also wanted Brielle or Harley to get close enough to Harrington to figure out if the guy was human or supernatural, but only if they could do it without risking themselves or causing a scene.
“We don’t want a confrontation in the middle of the frigging United Nations General Assembly,” Jake had warned, looking directly at Caleb the entire time.
Still, as low risk as this part of the mission might seem, Caleb knew that if something went wrong, the four of them would be on their own, because there was no way Jake and the rest of the team could provide backup.
Caleb glanced around the huge atrium, keeping his face as expressionless as every other security guard in the place. From the corner of his eye, he could see Harrington standing maybe a hundred feet away, holding court with a group of fawning dignitaries. It wasn’t hard to understand why. Fifteen minutes earlier, the man had stood at the podium in front of the entire United Nations and committed the Harrington Group to donating a billion dollars for water treatment, sustainable food, and renewable energy throughout Africa, the Middle East, and Indonesia. Other business leaders had practically fallen over themselves in an effort to try and match his offer.
Harrington was tall—six foot two at least—with dark hair that had the slightest touch of gray at the temples and the quintessential aristocratic features that gave him a distinguished look. While not overly muscular, he seemed fit in a wiry kind of way. His most defining characteristic had to be his eyes. Pale green, they reminded Caleb of jade. They made you either want to stare at him or look away as fast as you could, Caleb still wasn’t sure which.
What he did know for sure was that Xavier Harrington was rich beyond belief. It was hard to say exactly how wealthy, since most of his money was tied up in the Harrington Group, which almost seemed more like a family business than a major corporation. But it was safe to assume the man was probably among the top five richest people in the world. That billion dollars he’d just donated was probably a proverbial drop in the bucket to him.
Harrington and his group had an extremely diverse portfolio. They were involved in banking and finances, real estate, energy, construction, communications, and food production. Surprisingly, the one area the group was not into was arms and weaponry. Between his generosity and violent opposition to the defense industry, it was difficult to believe that the man could be behind a scheme to steal twenty nuclear weapons and apparently use them to power a laser strong enough to destroy half the world. No matter how hard Caleb tried, he couldn’t make sense of the dichotomy.
Not that he thought there was a snowball’s chance in hell the man wasn’t involved. Misty and Genevieve had found enough evidence to confirm it several times over.
First, there were pictures of people from one of Harrington Group’s advanced research teams arriving and departing from a small airport only a few hours away from the underground facility in Siberia. Next, ownership of one of the ships leaving the port near Incirlik had been connected to Harrington through a complicated series of shell companies. That ship had sailed straight to New York City, where it had been met by people from the Harrington Group, who had unloaded crates that looked perfect for holding the stolen nukes. And if those two pieces of evidence weren’t good enough, just this morning, STAT had confirmed that the satellites used to redirect those laser beams had belonged to a communication company that essentially answered to Harrington.
Once Misty and Genevieve laid it all out, Caleb had a hard time believing it had taken so long to get to this point. Shouldn’t the combined resources of three intelligence agencies have been able to figure this out faster?
Unfortunately, while they might know for sure that Xavier Harrington and his international conglomeration were involved in the theft of the nukes, that didn’t mean they had any idea where the man might be keeping them or what he intended to do with them next. Hence Jake’s scheme to sneak into the Harrington Group offices so Misty could surf her way through their secure computer servers while Xavier was at the UN conference.
Caleb moved a little closer to Harrington and his entourage, hoping to pick up the man’s scent…and failing. Unfortunately, he didn’t know if that was because Harrington wasn’t a supernatural or simply because his nose was so worthless.
“Uriel Cerano and about a half dozen members of his security team just arrived,” Harley announced softly over the radio in Caleb’s ear. “But right now, they seem content to wait in the parking garage with Harrington’s limo. I’ll stay out of sight and keep an eye on them so I can let you know if they head your way.”
Caleb breathed a sigh of relief at that announcement. If they wanted to avoid that confrontation Jake had been worried about, staying out of sight of the supernaturals they’d fought in Moscow was obviously necessary.
While they were still digging when it came to learning the identity of most of Harrington’s bodyguards, Misty and Genevieve had come up with quite a bit on the telekinetic supernatural who ran the security team. Uriel Cerano had been born and raised in Palermo, Italy, where he’d lived until he was in his late teens, when he’d gotten into some kind of trouble and had abruptly fled his hometown to join the French Foreign Legion.
Caleb skirted the perimeter of the atrium, the well-dressed and the well-to-do ignoring him for the most part but still subconsciously making room nonetheless. Caleb almost laughed out loud when he thought about Uriel being in the Foreign Legion. Honestly, he’d thought the legion wasn’t even a thing anymore, but as it turned out, he was wrong. Uriel had fought in a few dozen battles in Africa as part of the global war on terrorism, even earning himself French citizenship when he’d been seriously wounded during one of those battles. That was another thing that had surprised Caleb. It didn’t matter where a person was from. If you bled for France, you became a citizen. He had to admit that was kind of cool.
But then something happened four years ago that got Uriel dismissed from the Legion. Misty and Genevieve were convinced it had something to do with him coming into his telekinetic abilities. There was no way of knowing for sure, but regardless, a few months later, the man had begun working for Harrington.
Caleb stopped when he reached an alcove along the wall where the UN staff had set up a temporary bar. With the crowd of people waiting for their orders, he wasn’t too worried about Harrington noticing him standing there staring.
Harrington was talking with a stocky, blond-haired man in a language Caleb didn’t recognize. A few moments later, he turned and addressed a dark-skinned woman in yet another language, all three of them laughing at whatever had been said. The people standing with them joined in. Apparently, Harrington was an expert at working a crowd. Maybe that was his supernatural gift, Caleb thought. He supposed that was possible, assuming the guy actually was a supernatural and not simply a smooth talker.
