know what to do for himself. Then he had an idea. “Do you want to talk about Lana?”
Talin slugged down the rest of his beer and tossed the can into the backseat. “Yeah, I do,”
he said, his voice choked. “She was the most gorgeous shade of blue. A deep, dark, navy blue.
Absolutely gorgeous. And she was so damn smart . . .”
For the next hour, Cohen listened as Talin talked about Lana. Both had been scientists
recruited by the SR44 military to help design weapons. They had worked together for a short
time before the attraction was too strong to ignore, and they quickly mated. They had spent all of
their time together—both in work and play—and Talin couldn’t imagine it any other way. “I was
so blessed. I spent every waking moment of my day with her and all resting hours with her. I
hated being away from her.”
When Talin had been sent on the mission to eradicate the Colonists, he hadn’t wanted to
go. Unlike the other Warriors, he didn’t care about the fanfare of being a Savior; the only
concern he had was being away from Lana. He had gone up the chain of command begging to
not be sent, for them to find a replacement. “They wouldn’t do it,” Talin said. “They said that the
mission needed the best intelligence officer, and I was it. My brains got me into this mess.”
And they couldn’t get him out.
“I used to go out of the silo at night and look up at the sky. I’d have conversations with
Lana sitting out there by myself—full conversations with her in my head. And it made me
happy.”
Cohen decided this little chat wasn’t helping his guilt. He couldn’t imagine himself
staring up at the sky talking to Mia, and the dedication that Talin had for Lana made him feel like
an even bigger loser.
“So what do we do, Talin? How do we get passed all this shit we’ve got rolling around
inside us?”
Talin shrugged. “I don’t know. I tried keeping my mind occupied and that didn’t work, so
I thought I’d try your coping mechanism for a while.”
“You mean, drowning yourself in booze?”
“Yeah. How’s that working?”
Cohen sighed, smashed his can, and tossed it in back. Reaching for another beer, he said,
“It’s not. Sometimes I wonder if it’s making things worse.”
Talin nodded, and they sat in silence for a few minutes while looking out over the desert.
“Do you know what Shalom means?” Talin asked.
Cohen shook his head.
“Hebrew is an interesting language. Words don’t just mean something. There’s also
feeling beyond the words. They convey intent and emotion. So Shalom translates to complete
peace, where your soul is calm, you spirit free. It’s harmony within, total contentment.”
Cohen nodded, wondering if that was even possible to achieve.
“I do believe I had that with Lana,” Talin said.
Cohen thought about Mia. He had it good, and he loved her fiercely, but they had
definitely had their ups, downs and disagreements. Nowhere near Shalom levels. “Well then, you
were lucky, Talin. I certainly didn’t have that with Mia, and I doubt there are very few who reach
that level of peace and contentment with their mates.”
Talin nodded and sucked back the rest of his beer. He held out his hand for another one.
“We’re out of beer,” Cohen said.
“That sucks. We better head back.”
“Do you think we should be driving?”
Talin shook his head and started the car. “Definitely not. But at least we don’t have to go
on any populated roads. We’ll just go back the way we came and catch the dirt road back to the
silo.”
They traveled in silence for a moment. “And if we’re lucky, maybe we’ll run over a
scorpion or two,” Talin said. “I wish someone could come barreling through my life and kill a
few of my scorpions.”
Cohen stared out the window. “I’m with you on that one, my friend. Totally with you on
that one.”
Chapter 14
“Okay, people, let’s get this meeting started.”
Annis sat back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. She saw nothing but
blackness as she intently listened to Noah.
The male voices in the room ceased.
Annis did a mental seating chart of where she suspected everyone was. Blake was to her
talking a minute ago. Rayner was most likely next to Jovan, and then on the other side of table
would be Cohen, Hudson, and Talin. She was pretty certain she was right because they all
seemed to gravitate toward the same seats at every meeting.
“So, as we all know, Annis and Blake took a trip to New York that didn’t turn out quite
as planned. The end result, the death of a Colonist’s offspring wasn’t quite the way it was
supposed to go, but what’s done is done.”
There were a few grumbles around the table.
“Thanks to Blake and Annis,” Noah continued, “we were able to confiscate Susan
Kresper’s laptop.”
“Nice work, guys. I mean, guy and girl. Aw, hell. You know what I mean. Nice work.”
Annis smiled in Rayner’s direction, recognizing his voice.
“So, the laptop has also revealed some very interesting stuff, and I’m afraid we are in
way over our heads here.”
Annis knew that Blake had found an encrypted file, but she didn’t know the code had
been broken or that its contents had been revealed. Apparently, her best friend Blake had been
holding out on her, which agitated her a little bit, as it seemed they had shared so many things
over the past ten months. He had rescued her. He had been the first to let her into the Warrior
realm of fighting, and he had introduced her to so many things: good action flicks, the bonding
of talking to another late into the night, and a nice bottle of Chardonnay.
It was at that moment she realized that she had given very little of herself to him—or to
anyone for that matter—yet she had taken freely. She had never shared much of her life on
SR44, and she certainly hadn’t confided on what had happened after the FBI had captured her.
She wondered if he knew how much she cared for him and how much easier he had made her
transition into this human world. She decided that she would tell him how wonderful he was and
how much he had contributed to the person she was today.
She listened as Noah continued to speak. Yes, Susan Kresper had been convicted of child
endangerment, but she had also been involved in child trafficking. None of that was a surprise.
But what was revealed next did shock her.
“According to the file that Talin and Blake were able to break into, the child trafficking
ring spans thirty-two states and four countries.”
Annis heard the gasps among the others. Their little hunt for the Colonist offspring had
indeed proved fruitful.
“Obviously, this is way out of our jurisdiction,” Noah said.
“I wasn’t aware we had a jurisdiction,” Hudson said.
“Well, we kind of do. We stay out of human problems unless they can help us catch a
Colonist.”
“That’s kind of a load of shit, Noah,” Cohen said. “I’m looking around the table at two of
you who are mated to humans, and you, Noah, are mated to a fucking half-breed.�
�
Annis wished she could see so she could witness Noah’s reaction to Abby being called a
half-breed. When she felt Blake tense up next to her, she imagined Noah burning a hole through
Cohen with his stare.
“Nothing wrong with being a half-breed,” Blake said. Annis guessed he was trying to
diffuse the situation. “At least Abby got the better half and not the shit that I’ve got pumping
through me.”
“Damn straight she got the better half,” Hudson said, and everyone laughed because
Hudson was Abby’s father.
“Okay, then, now that Cohen is done insulting my mate, let’s get back to our discussion.”
“I wasn’t trying to insult anyone, Noah. I was simply pointing out that—”
“Cohen, shut up while you still have your overused liver where it belongs, because I’m
about two seconds away from removing it, making paté out of it, and feeding it to the cat,” Noah
said.
“Don’t do that to Neptune,” Rayner said. “The poor feline would probably die from
alcohol poisoning.”
Laughter broke out around the table, but Annis was confused. She leaned over to Blake
and asked, “What’s paté?”
“Some call it a delicacy, but that’s up for debate. It’s like a cracker spread that’s usually
made out of mashed up liver.”
Annis put it all together and laughed along with the rest, relieved the tension that Cohen
brought to the table had been calmed.
“Nice one, Rayner,” Hudson said, and Annis heard what sounded like palms slapping.
Perhaps a high-five?
“Yeah, it was,” Noah said, still chuckling. “Just riding you a little bit, Cohen. You need
to chill, my man.”
Cohen was silent, and Noah began to speak again.
As she listened to Noah, she felt Cohen’s gaze on her. It was intense, as always, studying
her, and the hatred he felt for her was palpable. She inhaled deeply and tried to concentrate on
Noah.
“We need to turn the information over to the proper authorities,” he said.
“Agreed. We don’t need to be messed up in this,” Rayner said.
“But the question is, how do I explain that we are in possession of a dead woman’s
laptop?”
There was silence for a moment.
“Might as well tell whoever you’re going to tell that you also know where the ex-FBI
agent is who broke into Area 2 down in Arizona,” Jovan said.
“Hey,” Blake interjected.
“Why don’t you just meet him at sundown and get your glow on in front of him, Noah?”
Rayner said.
Annis joined the laughter. The secrets they shared were truly remarkable.
When the laughter died down, Noah said, “Okay, you assholes. Enough of the sarcasm.
We’re keeping our shit on the down-low. I’m only telling what needs to be told, no more, no
less. But I’ve got to figure out who to tell. I’ve got a lot of contacts around the country, but
which one do I go to? Second, I need to figure out how to tell them without them wanting a
bunch of information.”
Annis listened to them talk a little longer, wondering when it would be sundown. It had to
be getting close, and she was getting antsy to get her sight back for the night.
There was a beat of silence, then Noah said, “You guys keep thinking about how this is
going to go down. In the meantime, I’m starved. What’s for dinner, Hudson?”
“Not paté,” Hudson said.
As he listed off the dinner menu of chicken breasts, mixed vegetables, baked potato, and
a salad, light began to shimmer before Annis’s eyes. A minute later, forms took shape, and her
sight was crystal clear.
She looked around the table and smiled. Hesitantly, she met Cohen’s gaze. The hate
wasn’t present. It was an emotion she couldn’t quite place.
He looked away quickly and focused on Noah.
Annis, however, didn’t.
As Cohen leaned back in his chair and placed his hands behind his head, she couldn’t
help but stare.
The muscles grooved like small mountains out of the sleeves of his shirt that read,
Warning: If Zombies chase us, I’m tripping you. His brow furrowed while he listened to Noah, as
though he were in deep concentration. His mouth was a straight line—not smiling, not frowning.
She longed to see a rare smile from him. It lit up his face, and she had heard Abby and Faith
describe his laugh as deep and throaty, but no one had heard it in over ten months. A twinge of
guilt surfaced within her as she looked at the vicious, purple bruise on his jaw.
His eyes shifted to hers, and their gazes locked, his purple stare assessing her. There
wasn’t the hatred that was usually present, but more of a desperation, a pleading. But for what?
She had no idea. At least he wasn’t staring daggers of hatred at her. After a moment, a
new emotion came over his face that looked a lot like desire. Annis had witnessed the same look
from the Warriors around the table when they looked at their mates. The couple would usually
disappear shortly after.
Annis wanted to look away, but she couldn’t. Heat flushed in her cheeks and her body
warmed, as she looked at the most beautiful male she had ever seen, and the one with the worst
disposition—especially toward her—she had ever met. Why he affected her physically, she
didn’t fully understand. His hatred of her was crystal clear.
“If I can make a suggestion, Noah,” Blake said, laying his hand over Annis’s. She still
couldn’t break the stare between her and Cohen, but anger flared in his face. Why? She didn’t
understand Cohen or his feelings.
“Sure, what’s up?”
Blake squeezed Annis’s hand, and Cohen’s cheeks turned red. He broke the stare and
looked down at the table.
Annis turned her attention to Blake.
“It looks like the entry point for the transportation of kids coming up from South America
is Arizona. They’re brought in on Mexican produce trucks, and are usually left at a guarded drop
house in Tucson or Phoenix. Do you have any police contacts down there?”
Noah studied the table for a moment. “Sort of. There was a guy a couple years ago who
needed some help on a case. That was when Rayner met Faith.”
Rayner nodded.
“I haven’t talked to him since then, but I could make a call. What should I say to him?”
“Tell him you have information. Big information that could make his career, as well as
stop some sick asshole. Tell him you’ll turn it over, as long as he doesn’t ask where you got it.
We don’t have to turn over the whole computer, just the file, which we can do by CD. If he starts
questioning you, pull his bluff. Tell him he was number one on your list, but you’re more than
happy to go to number two.”
“I don’t have a number two in Arizona.”
Blake nodded. “I know, and I find that hard to believe, but whatever. He’ll go for it.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“We move to Plan B.”
“And that is?”
Blake shrugged. “We can figure it out later.”
“Wow. I hope Plan A fails just so we can see Plan B in action,” Cohen said, sarcasm
lacing his voice.
There was silence and a brief stare-down between Blake and Cohen.
“No need to be an asshole,” Blake said.
Cohen shrugged. “Just my nature.”
“You’re very proficient at it.”
“What can I say, half-breed? You bring out the best in me.”
“All right. Cohen, quit being a dick; Blake, quit egging him on,” Noah said.
“Why don’t we just send the CD in anonymously?” Hudson asked, turning the
conversation back on the right path.
“We could,” Blake said, “but I kind of want to make sure that someone has their hands on
it. That someone is expecting it and has a vested interest in it would be best in my book.
Remember, it took me a year to do something with the anonymous letter that was sent to me
about you guys, and that’s only because I had a vested interest in it.”
Noah nodded, as did a few of the other Warriors.
“I agree with the half-breed,” Hudson said.
“He may be a half-breed, but he’s not a half-wit,” Jovan said.
Everyone chuckled.
“Sounds solid, Blake. I’ll make the phone call tomorrow. In the meantime, when the fuck
is dinner going to be ready, Hudson? I feel like I could eat . . .”
“A horse?” Cohen said quietly.
All eyes turned to him. Cohen usually remained quiet, or was being nasty to someone.
There was finally something out of his mouth—a cliché—that resembled the Cohen of long ago,
the Cohen she had heard so much about.
Noah smiled. “Exactly, my friend. Exactly.”
Chapter 15
Blake kept pace with Noah as they ran through the Nevada desert. Although it was the
end of fall, they were having a bit of a warm snap, so both he and Noah opted for shorts and a
tank top. Once again, he was surprised by how much his physical endurance had improved since
living with the Warriors. As far as he was concerned, he was running on all cylinders and in top
form.
His life had changed a lot over the past ten months. His whole existence had been a secret
since that day he’d shot his father in the heart and watched him turn to ash. He had kept his
distance from everyone and gone through a string of girlfriends fifty miles long, most whom had
left him because he would never “let them in.” Although he had been surrounded by people in
his job as an FBI agent, he had truly been alone.
Not any longer though. He was now surrounded by people who understood him, who
knew his secret, and accepted him. He even appreciated the half-breed razing he received on a