“What's a rogue?” She's heard Jules use the term while talking to Jesse, but as soon as he'd seen her approach, he'd clammed up.
“I told them we should tell you everything, but no one listens to me.” Kisho frowned and turned on his side to face her. “When we were first made, the first batch had problems. You remember the indictments on General Kohl and Senator Kuntz?” She nodded. “Supposedly they covered up a string of murders associated with an experimental program—Project Dawn.”
“Right. The press had a field day with tales of super soldiers and science gone screwy, but they were mostly right.”
Olivia smacked the arm of her lounge chair. “I knew it. The whole story was too bizarre to be fictional. Of course, now after meeting you guys, it makes more sense.”
“You don't know the half of it. My team spent a year in an underground laboratory headed by an evil genius. A real mad scientist.” Kisho frowned. “A lot of good men died there, less than human when they went.” He shook off the memory. “None of that made the papers. Claws and fangs are the tip of the iceberg.”
Her mouth dried. “Why are you telling me this?” The thought of her possibly going through such a transformation scared her to death. Olivia prized control. She chose what jobs she worked. She dated who she wanted, when she wanted. Even when the men she saw turned out to be less than ideal, she broke off the relationships and moved on.
Becoming Circ would change all that. Jesse claimed mating heats forced them into sexual orgies, or they'd go insane. God, Olivia wasn't an orgy woman! Though she'd fantasized a time or two, she'd never thought to engage in a ménage. And then she'd slept with not only Jesse, but Jules and Gunnar too.
But instead of the dismay she should have felt about their night together, she rumbled deep in her chest, a subtle murmur of satisfaction. A part of Olivia felt she deserved such treatment, an odd form of respect from worthy males, and most especially, from her mate.
“It's real, and it's perfectly normal, Olivia,” Kisho said quietly. “We purr when we're happy. We roar when we're mad. We feel deeply, and we instinctively know what we need. I'm telling you about our physical changes so that when they happen and you see them, you won't be scared. The vision I saw of you in the jungle? It hasn't gone away.” She swallowed. “But I'll be with Jesse and Jules, right?” He paused. “Right.”
“But you think I'll freak. Because they'll turn into that physical wildness I haven't seen yet,” she said slowly, understanding what he hadn't said.
“Yes.”
“But it's still Jesse. He's always aware of himself, right?”
“For the most part.”
Olivia sighed. Bad enough he'd become a cute but annoying bully. “Terrific.”
“There's just one other thing, Olivia.”
She didn't want to know. “What?”
“In the jungle, you're wearing that same bathing suit. And the guys who put you there are standing right behind us.”
“I don't want her here,” Fallon said for the twentieth time since they'd left the States. The suite they had here was nicer than the one he had at home. The damned thing even had a Jacuzzi in it. But Fallon couldn't appreciate anything but the danger surrounding his mate. His beast didn't like any of this, nor did the Navy SEAL ready for action.
Jules sighed. “We've been over this. Hayashi said she needs to be here.”
“Bullshit. His visions are possible futures, not definite futures.”
“You're talking to a brick wall, Jules,” Tersch grumbled next to them. “She has him by the dick.”
“Asshole. That's not the point.”
“That's exactly the point. You're not thinking straight. If we'd left her at home, Montaña's men would have grabbed her. Hayashi said so. She's safer here with us.”
Fallon's beast was screaming at him to protect his mate. Yet Jules insisted he leave her with Hayashi while they hashed this out. According to their unreliable seer, had they followed Fallon's decision to leave Olivia at home, she'd manage to leave the safety of the house and fall into enemy hands. How exactly, Hayashi didn't know. But Mrs. Sharpe had agreed they had to take Olivia with them into Trindade.
He moved through the open doors onto the balcony and looked down on his mate, the object of way too much male speculation for his peace of mind. The assholes he'd warned away had left, but too many men thinking with their dicks remained by the pool. “The fuckers are all watching her.”
“She's sexy. What do you expect?” Tersch retorted. “Hell, I can barely look away as it is, and I know that fine ass.”
“You're such a dick,” Fallon said with disgust, gripping the railing of the balcony with long fingers. “See if you come anywhere near her ever again.”
“Ease up, man. She likes me.” Tersch's broad grin annoyed him.
Especially when Jules added, “Not as much as she likes me.” Then he sobered. “Cheer up, Fallon. We won't let anything happen to her.”
“Oh really?” Fallon snarled. “Then what the hell's that?” He pointed below him, where four brutish men surrounded Hayashi and Olivia.
“Damn, he was supposed to wait.” Jules leaned over the rail.
“What?”
“Our contact insisted on meeting Olivia away from us. For some reason he doesn't trust Mrs. Sharpe.”
“I hear him on that.” Tersch grunted. “The transmitter's working?”
“Yeah.”
“Jules, so help me, leader or no leader, if you don't fill me in, I'm going to shove your balls up your throat.”
Jules had the nerve to grin. “Quite an image. Fallon, the reason I didn't mention this before is that you never would have gone along with the plan, and we need Olivia to meet with Gatito.
There's a transmitter sewn into Olivia's top so we can follow her. Discreetly,” he emphasized and caught Fallon's arm when he tried to leave. “We spook him; he'll bolt.”
“So those assholes belong to him?” Fallon watched as they led Olivia off the patio through the building and out of sight. Hayashi remained tense, standing by the lounge chairs. “How does our criminal contact plan to stay under the radar using those thugs?”
“Those thugs are state polícia and friends of our esteemed Mrs. Sharpe, though Gatito doesn't know that. Relax. We have it covered. Ask your girlfriend if you don't believe me.” Fallon felt like an idiot for not having thought of that sooner. “I'm so sorry, baby. I didn't know about this until now. Olivia, it's okay. We're tracking you with a transponder sewn into your suit.”
“I know, Kisho mentioned it before dropping this bombshell. Warn your Circs, I'm going to carve them into little pieces when I get back. There's such a thing as sharing information with your own team.”
He let out a relieved sigh and left the balcony, but not before warning Jules. “One of those fuckers touches her, and he's losing a hand. Let's go.” Tersch grinned. “I love when Fallon turns mean. Now let's have some fun.”
They followed the group by trading off. Tersch tracked her, then Hayashi, Jules, and finally Fallon. The polícia dropped her off near an isolated beach house off the beaten path. Run-down and buried in a thick tropical mess, at least its location afforded Fallon cover while he darted in closer.
He used his nose to lead him to Olivia, whose fear bothered him. He stopped when he caught clear sight of her standing across from a nervous little man who wouldn't stop fidgeting.
The guy seemed more worried than Olivia, which settled some of Fallon's fear that he would try to harm her.
“Obrigado por ter vindo encontrar-se comigo.” Olivia held out her hand, looking out of place in her yellow bikini and sun-kissed body. Beauty and the beast, he thought with wry amusement as the smaller fellow accepted her hand.