Delicate Beauty Read online

  He held out his hand. “I'm Triton.”

  I glanced at his hand, unsure if I should shake it, and then back to his eyes. When I stood and lifted my hand to meet his, I couldn't help but feel this was a defining moment.

  Smiling, I lied, “Lisa.”

  We both sucked in a breath when our palms touched. Warmth surrounded by a pulse of energy crackled between us. I tried to let go, but Triton held on. He drew me into him, and when our shoulders met, it was like a thousand tingles throughout my body, and my heart melted. It was a sense of rightness. A sense of belonging.

  Now, that was just plain crazy, I argued with myself. What would Triton's next move be? I sucked in a breath as he leaned into me as if he meant to kiss me. But then, he went to the side, and his cheek brushed mine. I shuddered with desire.

  This was crazy!

  His mouth brushed against my ear as he whispered, “I don't know what this is, Lisa, but I like it. I think you’re meant to be mine. If that was your boyfriend on the phone, end it.” He brushed a kiss over my cheek, close to my lips. “I'll find you again,” he whispered, and then he left.

  He. Left.

  And, I needed to do the same. I grabbed my stuff and hightailed it outta there. Nope. No way was I waiting around for that psycho to come find me. I had a job to do. I grunted as I walked out of the coffee shop.

  And, the nerve of him telling me to dump my boyfriend!

  Not that I had one anyways. . .but he must have come to that conclusion by listening to me talk to Melissa.

  Shaking my head, I hurried to get everything set up for tonight.

  Beauty

  Triton

  I couldn’t help it. I left the coffee shop and waited around the corner like a lovesick puppy willing to follow Beauty. That’s what she was. Beauty. Hair dark as sin, and eyes as exotic as fuck. My cold heart leaped in my chest when the universe granted me my wish. She appeared on the sidewalk only moments later, glanced over to where I hid, then turned the opposite way and strode down the street. I was disappointed, but not deterred. As the slow pulse of energy within me throbbed, I followed and watched her weave in between other people.

  Where did she park? Could she feel me like I could feel her? Was this thing between us caused by me or her? Then, I noticed how she moved. Standing slightly behind other pedestrians, it became apparent she was trying to blend in. With her beautiful raven hair and luscious curves, there was no way she would ever go unnoticed. She was unique, beautiful, and the way the guy across the street clocked her with interest made me burn.

  My attention returned to Beauty. What was she up to?

  I had another reason to follow her. Her laptop. It was nothing to laugh at, at least not to someone who knew technology. It had been upgraded with extra ports, along with a long-lasting battery, similar to mine. Who was she? Was she there to take my team out?

  My team was made up of exclusive talents. Ever since the Hero program shot us up with those experimental drugs, we were stronger and faster, but my team also gained other upgrades. I became a master with technology and had yet to find a firewall I couldn't break through. With permission, of course. My brother, Tristan, though, had a sixth sense. An acute intuition. He got a twist in his gut when things were about to go wrong.

  Our orders were to take down Nero Kovach’s organization. Those orders came from our boss, General Ammon Steal, who was a distant associate of Myter. When I looked into our targets database today, I found something shocking. Nero had someone on the inside of our base who had stolen a case of the serum that made us super soldiers.

  I notified the general of my discovery and came to the conclusion that there were two people who were stealing the serum. The first traitor was Myter, who was currently trying to take Nero down, and struck a deal with the drug dealer instead. The second traitor selling the serum to Nero we still hadn't found yet. With Edmund Myter and Nero in our sights, we were told to bring them in along with the elusive agent named Firecracker. But bringing them in was not going to be easy.

  Shaking out of my musing, I followed Beauty, staying about a block behind her sweet backside. My twin would love her, seeing as our tastes were similar. We’ve never shared, though. It would be too weird. We considered it once, but then it was just a fleeting idea I suggested when we were younger. Yeah. Weird, but with her? Maybe.

  She might have long legs in those jeans, but… I narrowed my eyes when she slipped into a crowd of college students crossing the sidewalk, and picked up my pace. That was unusual. Maybe she was connected to all of this somehow.

  When I first saw her standing in line at the coffee shop, the feelings I had were soft. A delicate pull and pulse of need to be close to her. To touch her skin. When she bumped into me, lightning. It became more. The sensation of needing to keep her safe, owning her, but I didn’t have time for that. I was on a mission, but after it, I was coming for her.

  I followed her until she disappeared.

  “Run, Beauty,” I whispered to the bustle of people who crowded the streets, knowing she was in there somewhere. “It makes the hunt that much sweeter.”

  After I lost her in the crowd, my phone rang. “Yeah?”

  “Tron,” my brother said from the other end, “give me your twenty.”

  “Cafe doin’ that shit you asked me to do,” I told him as I turned around to head back to our temporary base.

  “Something’s not right.” His voice held a distinct edge of worry, not at all like my hard-ass brother.

  “Sixth sense thing again?”

  My brother's gut was never wrong. Ever. If he said something was wrong, all of us on the team needed to stop what we were doing. To change our direction, activities, or even change our food and drink, at that precise moment because something was off. And shit, things happened when things were off.

  “Yeah. In my gut. Something's not right. Mix it up, brother. Now.”

  I briefly wondered if this change, or this gut feeling, was about a certain raven-haired beauty that captured my attention, but I waved off the idea and answered him in an affirmative manner. “Yeah, man. Mixing it up, right now.”

  “Good. Get shit done and get back here.”

  I grunted in agreement, hung up, then pocketed my phone before changing my direction and heading back to pick up my truck and return to base camp another way.

  ***

  When I arrived at the rundown motel room, everyone had come back. In fact, Zane pulled up behind me with Kellan in the passenger seat.

  I stepped out of my truck just as Zane parked, and the two of them shot out of theirs.

  Kellan glanced my way with a frown. “You okay, man?”

  I avoided him and grunted. Kellan could read a person's mind and aura. Gauge their mood. I didn’t want to explain why mine was off. “I’m fine. Let’s get our plan worked out, and then, I’ll tell you guys what went down.”

  Zane narrowed his eyes on me before he nodded and opened the door. “Tristan, your brother’s keeping secrets again,” he called out before I shoved him through the doorway.

  “Dick,” I growled with little heat.

  I glanced across the small room littered with our gear and met my twin’s concerned gaze. I shook my head. Later. We had shit to do.

  ***

  Tristan

  I hunkered down against the short wall behind me as my team and I waited for the signal. It was way past midnight, and through the darkness, I could see Weston off to the right behind a tree. With his gun on hand, he pressed his back against another wall to stay out of sight of the cameras. I didn't need to search out my other team members. I knew they were right where they needed to be, but I had a bad feeling.

  Not only that, but Triton had some sort of a reaction to a woman at the coffee shop. What he felt when he bumped into her was a shock at first, but then the sensation never really went away. He wanted her safe, even though she already seemed fine. Then, him being Tron, he listened in on her conversation
and quickly became agitated when he realized she was probably talking to her lover. He then approached her! What was my brother thinking? I worried the sensation he felt was possibly a side effect of the experiment we were on. I told him to keep his head in the game and not run after some chick. We’d take him back to the doc when this mission was over. We had too much riding on this.

  Uneasy, I checked the blue glow of my watch once again. Almost time.

  All of a sudden, I felt a pulse of sorts. Like a crackle of awareness zipping through me. I froze and frowned. This was new. Was this what Triton experienced? Then my gut twisted, and a pull of some sort started in the direction of the trees toward the north. Unnerved, I heard the hum as a vehicle approached. Tensing, I flickered a signal over to Weston to alert the others.

  We weren't alone out here.

  On the Run

  Trisha

  I eased on my brakes, wincing when a short screech sounded. That was so not stealthy, Trisha! I put the vehicle in park and shifted in my seat to find my binoculars. Even miles away, in the next state over, I still felt the tingly sensation I experienced with the man in the coffee shop. I shivered as I thought of him.

  Triton. That was his name. Then, I frowned. Right now, the feeling was more intense.

  Ignoring it, I checked my watch. Seven minutes until three A.M..

  Come on, Melissa. Hurry up.

  Something was wrong. I didn't know what, but I was sure Triton, who had been at the coffee shop with me, was here, and I didn't want another encounter with him. I peered back down at my watch. Five more minutes. A second later, Melissa ran toward me in a blue dress. She was early, and she wasn't alone.

  I quickly unlocked the car as I rammed the car into reverse. She was coming in hot with men in black fatigues chasing her. The tingles grew stronger as the men drew near.

  If this wasn’t such a dangerous situation, I would laugh at the sight of the men chasing after her.

  She hopped in. “Go, go, go!”

  I floored it, whipping us around and flying away, leaving a spray of rocks in our wake.

  Once we cleared the trees and made it back onto the road, I knew we only had a moment until they were on us. Whoever they were.

  “We need a new car,” I told Melissa. “Like yesterday. They've seen this one.”

  “Take the highway to the next exit.” Melissa kept an eye on the side mirror as she stripped out of her blue dress and dragged out clothes from a small duffle bag she’d been carrying.

  I glanced toward her for a second. “Are you all right? Did you get hit?”

  She leaned back and slipped on her jeans. “Yes, I'm all right. No, I didn't get hit.”

  “Great! Now, what the hell is going on Melissa? Who's gone rogue, and who were those men chasing you?”

  Melissa finished pulling her shirt on and laced up her boots before she blew out a breath. “Myter was at the compound. He’s gone rogue, and I have no clue who those men were. Nero’s hired a hit on us. Myter can no longer be trusted.”

  “Shit! What was he even doing there? Are you sure it was him?” For him to go rogue meant we were all in danger.

  Melissa nodded grimly. “Bullet in the head kind of sure.”

  “Proof? You have proof, right?”

  “Trisha, I saw him shoot another trusted agent in front of me. I'm a witness. Yes. I'm sure. Those men I was running from, though, shouldn't have been there. They weren't part of the organization.”

  Shock rushed through me. Did the grief of his dying daughter drive him mad? I didn’t want to believe the man who recruited me to the agency fresh out of high school, who I’d trusted for three years, would crack. To shoot a fellow agent then go after the rest of the team? Why? What was his motive? Sure, he was overbearing and headstrong, but this? This wasn’t like him.

  Melissa points to an upcoming cross street. “Take this turn off and then turn left. There's a storage unit coming up. Turn in. I have a car here, and we can hide this one.”

  We traded cars, made our way out of Oklahoma, and back into Texas as we tried to figure out what to do.

  ***

  Early the next morning, we stopped for coffee at a truck stop diner in Mount Pleasant, Texas to try to sort everything out.

  I took a sip of my coffee to take off the edge. “Melissa, do you have any idea who those men were who chased you?”

  Eyes hollow with confusion, she shook her head, her red curls following the movement. “I have no idea, Trish. But…”

  “But?” I prompted, pretty sure I knew what she was going to say.

  She looked conflicted as she took a sip of her coffee before admitting, “But, they were just there, and I felt something.”

  I nodded knowingly. “The tingling. The spark or current? All over.”

  Her eyes widened in shock as she set down her mug on the tabletop. “Yes!” She leaned in closer. “But how? Why?”

  She wanted answers, and I did, too. “I don't know.”

  Then, I told her about Triton in the coffee shop and my experience.

  “That's crazy,” she whispered, her green eyes wide. “So, you think that guy Triton was in the group chasing me?”

  I shifted in my seat. “It only makes sense, right? The tingles with him at the coffee shop and then at your pick-up point. It's the only explanation. Triton was there in the group chasing us, but what side is he on? And what do we do about Myter? Do you know why he was even there? His daughter…” I paused, worried. “What about the women and children? Were you able to get them out?”

  “Yes…” She paused, her eyes casting down onto the table to trace a small crack in its surface. “I don’t know. I passed them off to the other agent after I got the evidence. I left the room to get ready for my extraction but then went back. I wondered why Myter and the others were staying there…” Melissa shook her head. “From what I saw, it was an exchange. Nero had a vial, and Myter wanted it. Wanted it enough that he killed one of our agents.” Her voice became the barest whisper. “I didn’t think. Didn’t move. Couldn’t believe it. He shot one of our own.”

  “Who was it, Melissa?”

  “I only saw one of them go down.”

  “What if that’s what the military men were after? The vial?”

  Melissa’s gaze stayed steady on her coffee mug as she thought. “That could be a possibility.”

  I pulled out my laptop, but Melissa stopped me with a hand on my arm. She leaned in and whispered, “You know what we need to do, Trish.”

  I stared at my laptop disgruntled. “Aw no. I could take out the tracker.”

  My friend shook her head. “You know better. We’ll call in to…”

  “Who, Melissa?” I snorted. “Our boss, Edmund Myter, the traitor?”

  “Keep it together, Trish! Think. Who can we call?”

  “Well, we could call Director Lindsey. There’s no one I really trust but her.”

  Melissa sat back and sighed, turning her head to gaze out the window. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail and under a baseball cap in an attempt to hide her red locks. She was worried. We both were. If Myter somehow blamed this all on us, we’d be toast. The two of us needed to find a safe place.

  “We can’t go back,” I whispered.

  She turned back to me, her green eyes determined. “And we can’t go home. But there’s one place we can go. We need to dump everything.”

  She stopped, her head cocked to the side. I felt it, too. The tingles started again. I looked at Melissa and realized we only had a few minutes before they arrived. Time to run.

  Whoever Triton was, whoever those people in black were, they were involved in this, and they’d found us.

  Melissa leaned in, confusion written on her face. “Do you feel–”

  “Move. It's time to run.” I grabbed her arm and stood as some of the hottest men came through the door of the truck stop.

  One of them was Triton.

  I pulled Melissa towa
rd the back of the diner and heard her whisper from behind me, “I know him.”

  That's when all hell broke loose.

  Feet rushed toward us as the guys noticed our retreat. They never yelled as they pursued, just pushed chairs and people aside as they tore after us.

  “Oh, crap!” Melissa exclaimed. “Hurry!”

  We made it out of the side door exit, but the guys weren't far behind. We needed a plan and rushing to the front to get to our car was not the best game plan we had at the moment. They probably left someone at the front to watch for us in case we came that way.

  Melissa and I ran toward the tree line of the woods. “Shit. Plan, anyone?”

  “Sure, of course,” Melissa drawled as we ran. “Ask me for a plan, now. Great timing, Trish. Just a shit, fantastic time to be asking me for a game plan. And, I can't let them see me. They can't know who I am, Trish. They can't.”

  I followed her as we came up to a neighborhood with brick-fenced yards that lined the block. “Who? The guys?”

  We jumped up on the brick fence line and walked it. “Yeah,”

  We wanted the houses to shield us from the street as we made our way down the road. We kept quiet and never slowed down.

  Melissa pointed out a house with a ‘for sale’ sign. “There. We'll regroup there. Let's hurry.”

  I let out a controlled breath when the tingly sensation diminished. We were out of their range for now, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t find us. I searched the dark shadows as we hurried toward the empty house.

  I slowed my retreat on the fence for a brief second to pull my phone from my pocket. “I'm going to call a cab to the house next door. Hopefully, they didn't see us run into the tree line, and we'll have some time.”

  “Why don't we just get a car?” Melissa whined. “We'll return it.”

  “No. We can't draw any more attention to ourselves.”

  We jumped the house’s fence into the backyard and ducked down. We sat with our backs against the wall waiting. It was the perfect sharing time.