“At each other’s throats, hmm? That’s good.” The admiral smiled.
“Sir?” Did the man want them to kill each other?
“We’ve been waiting for these reactions from Gray for some time. It’s okay, Sebastian. He’s not quite like you and the others. Gray is different, special. He just needs to release his beast every now and then. When you’re in Oregon, keep an eye on him but encourage him to let go of that wildness. It’ll help, trust me.”
Bas did trust the admiral, as much as he trusted the admiral’s wife, Alicia Sharpe. She had a presence about her that heralded great power and soothing peace. Beautiful, graceful, and never a hair out of place. And she was Gray’s grandmother. How could he not like the woman? Besides, his beast accepted her, and he heeded his beast’s instincts. They’d kept him alive on more than one occasion.
“Now go on. Make sure you two read that file before you leave the building. Oh, and I’ve found you a place to stay for the night. I know you have a place in Alexandria, but I want you and Gray to be tighter, to trust one another. Yes, I realize the trust issue is on his end, not yours. Still, if I order you two to get along, he can chafe, but he can’t refuse.” The admiral tossed another paper at him. “That’s the address and directions to your shared temporary lodging. I’m sorry about the suddenness of this new mission, but it’s necessary. Now track down Grayson and find our rogue Circ.”
Bas nodded. He gripped the folder and paper and left the room. It didn’t take him long to find Gray. His beast easily picked up the trail of anger and exotic jungle, that rare scent that made him ache in the most inappropriate of places.
Though at ease with his bisexuality, since becoming Circ, Bas had been more and more drawn to men, or one man, in particular. Grayson Belle had become his sole focus. He dreamed about him, to the point he couldn’t think the word sex without an image of Gray popping into his mind.
He found his partner in a nearby break room, empty except for Gray.
“Hell. Now what?” Gray asked. Another soul blinked at him through Gray’s eyes, and Bas let that creature see the inner beast chafing within himself. Like called to like, if only Gray would acknowledge the fact. But Sebastian’s partner had a bit of a chip on his shoulder when it came to Circs created outside of the government’s official projects. Circe’s Recruits and Dawn Endeavor were two teams of Circs who consistently—though unofficially—did Alicia Sharpe’s bidding. The admiral had entrusted Bas with the information when he’d brought him on as Gray’s partner. Yet Bas wondered how much Gray knew about those teams, or how Gray actually fit into the Circs.
“Well? I’m not getting any younger.”
Or sexier, Bas’s beast whispered to him. He couldn’t help a small growl, which further irritated his partner. In an effort to make peace, Bas held out the paperwork the admiral had given him.
“Our lodging for the next three days.” He nodded at the paper Gray glared at. “The folder contains the info on our next mission. So let’s study the documents then get out of here to—”
“Wait a second. This address. You sure the admiral gave it to you?”
Bas couldn’t mistake the suspicion on Gray’s face. “Yeah. Why? What’s wrong?”
Gray looked from the paper to Bas and back to the paper. Then he muttered a few choice swearwords under his breath. He grabbed the folder from Bas’s hands and breezed through it in a few seconds, then closed it and handed it back to Bas. “Take that back to the admiral and meet me at the admiral’s spot in the lot.”
Bas had questions, but the shuttered look on Gray’s face kept him silent. He left and scanned the folder before turning it over to the admiral’s secretary. Then he looked for Gray at the specified area in the parking lot, only to find Gray behind the wheel of a dark SUV.
“Get in,” Gray ordered through the open window.
Surprised at the curbside service, Bas entered. “Thanks.”
“Shut up.”
“And there’s the Gray we know and love.” Bas gave him an overlarge grin. For the life of him, he didn’t understand why Gray’s peevishness made him more attractive.
“Look. I don’t know if you and the admiral set this up or what, but let’s get something straight. I’m not into sharing.”
“Ah, o-kay.” What the hell was he talking about?
“So don’t even think this is my idea.”
“Right. Look, hero, why don’t you just tell me what the hell crawled up your ass and died?”
Gray clenched his jaw tight. Bas knew he absolutely hated it when Bas called him hero. Which was why Bas made sure to call him that several times a day.
“You do know where we’re staying?”
Bas sighed. “Long as it has a bed, I’m game. It’s been nearly eight months of nonstop action. I barely remember where home is. Honestly, I don’t give a rat’s ass where we go. I want to sleep, eat, and take a nice long hot shower without interruption. Think you can handle that…hero?”
Gray growled at him, and Bas wanted to purr. Gray was so damn sexy when he scowled. All dark and broody. The power just bunched up inside him, waiting to be sprung free.
When Gray continued to sulk beside him, Bas slouched down in his seat. He closed his eyes while his partner drove, honest about being tired. The pace they worked had been incredible. Righting wrongs and cleaning up science gone wrong from Ecuador to Norway to Mexico had been more than tiresome, yet still exhilarating, being able to be so close to Gray. The man moved like the wind, had a mind that never quit, and the tenacity of ten bloodhounds. They’d occasionally routed rogue Circs but normally found themselves cleaning up drug wars. Only the drugs they found weren’t the illegal kind but the experimental kind.
Remembering how many times Gray had saved innocents and nearly gotten himself killed while doing so aggravated his beast until Bas reminded him that the man sat safely beside him, close enough to reach out and touch.
“Wake up, Sleeping Beauty,” Gray’s familiar voice rasped. “We’re here.”
They parked in front of a nice-looking brownstone in an upscale neighborhood. Expensive cars sat along the street, and the surrounding landscaping screamed money. A real step-up from the last hotel they’d stayed in.
“The admiral went all-out on our digs, eh?” Bas sat up, stretched, and bumped his head on the ceiling of the SUV. “Damn.”
“Just remember, inside, you break it, you bought it. And don’t even think of taking a step into the master suite. I’m not kidding.”
The way Gray talked about the place, he made it sound as if…
Bas followed him out the door of the vehicle and up the steps of the nearest building. Gray pressed a button on the keychain and locked the car door before using a different key to open the brownstone. “Wait here.” He slammed the front door shut after entering and then opened it a minute later. “Had to deactivate the alarm. Well, come on in.”
Bas blinked, amazed and excited to be able to see this more intimate side of Gray. “This is your place.”
“No shit, Sherlock. Well, come on. I’ll show you all the places you can’t be.”
Art from countries all over the world graced the walls. African masks, South American throw rugs, a German cuckoo clock. An eclectic mishmash that should have seemed thrown together instead looked sophisticated surrounded by dark brown woods and black leather furniture. On one hand, the place looked like a friggin’ museum, but on the other, Bas thought he could easily sink into the oversize furniture and not get up until the next morning.