Page 53 of Covert Affections (Shadow Agents/PSI-Ops #5)

He turned his head, looking down at the bed that was positioned between he and Samuel.

The woman was lying in the bed. It was clear from the state of her that she wasn’t alive.

While she was clean and in a simple off-white dress, her long hair spread out around her—there were visible claw marks on her throat, indicating it had been slashed open wide.

It took him a second to realize her arms were folded onto her chest and someone had put yellow wildflowers in her hands, just like the ones that had been on the kitchen table.

Seeing her there, unmoving, pale, and clearly dead, shook him to his core.

He felt gutted. Like a piece of him had died along with her.

Samuel smoothed a stray piece of hair back from her brow, his expression tight. “I’ll track the evil bastard, Momma. When I find him, I’ll make him pay for what he did to you.”

Jesse touched her hand gently, sorrow filling him.

Samuel dipped his head, his shoulders heaving as he gave into his emotions. Tears tracked down his face.

Jesse smoothed the woman’s hair back from her face and bent, kissing her forehead gently. “You’re at peace now, Momma.” He then looked up at Samuel. “This is my fault. Tom Culbertson is my blood. I’ll hunt him down. I’ll put him in the ground. I’ll make this right. I swear.”

Samuel shook his head. “No. You’ve got orders.

They’ve got you riding out with that gang outta Laramie.

” His jaw set, annoyance evident. “I don’t like that they moved you over to the Shadow Agent division.

They’ve got you running undercover with criminals, pretending you’re one of them. It’s too damn risky.”

Jesse stood his ground. “It’s in my blood…being a criminal.”

“Hog wash!” spat Samuel before swallowing hard and adjusting the woman’s hair again.

“Folks believe I’d turn bad, Samuel. Look what my blood’s already done—to Momma.

” Jesse stared down at the woman. “Evil is part of me. Don’t matter if you agree or not.

And we both know that gang outta Laramie is with The Corporation.

We need eyes on the inside. You think I like pretending to be one of them? I hate it, but someone has to do it.”

Samuel looked as though he wanted to argue, but he refrained. “You get that new handler yet? The vampire.”

“Not yet.” Jesse stared down at the woman in the bed. “When I told her about it, she said you’d have plenty to say. Then she laughed.”

Samuel grinned slightly. “Yeah…she knew me well.”

Jesse tensed, his gaze colliding with Samuel’s. “I’m sorry this happened.”

“Wasn’t your doing. You got nothin’ to be sorry for,” stated Samuel. “You need to get back to Laramie. I’ll see to Tom Culbertson.”

Jesse exhaled hard. “Laramie can wait. Tom Culbertson can’t.”

“Jesse…” Samuel’s voice dipped as he looked down at the woman.

“She wouldn’t want this for you. Living like an outlaw.

I know you never told her the truth of it all.

Had you, she’d have snatched you by the ear and dragged you outta there.

You’re runnin’ with killers. You’re out there alone, brother.

If this goes bad, no one is there for you. ”

“I handle myself just fine.”

Samuel grunted. “Keep on talkin’ like that and I’ll sign up with the Shadow Agents too. Can’t have my little brother out there without backup. We Eyres stick together.”

Everything around him spun, and the old bedroom faded away, taking the woman and Samuel. His surroundings blurred and reformed.

Don't question the process.

Obey orders.

Keep your head down.

He was in a training room with Samuel, Nick, Benat and several other men. All of wore black fatigues stamped with a familiar insignia—PSI’s.

“Paccioretti,” said a tall man with long dark hair as he stood before another operative. “Repeat after me. Don’t question the process. Obey orders. Keep your head down.”

The other man repeated the phrases verbatim.

“Sounds like someone lobotomized him,” muttered Benat partially under his breath. “Can’t wait for my turn.”

The tall man with the long hair glanced toward Benat and Jesse, and that was when Jesse saw the man’s eyes. They were solid black.

Vampire.

The vampire turned back to Paccioretti. “Do you know these men?”

Nick let out a dry laugh. “He better. He owes me fifty bucks.”

“Never seen them before in my life,” said Paccioretti, a hint of an Italian accent present.

Samuel stiffened. “How long does this mind control thing last?”

“Depends on the person,” responded the vampire, his eyes still black.

Samuel clenched his fists. “We’re letting you mess with our heads. I want more than a vague-ass answer.”

Jesse placed a steadying hand on Samuel’s shoulder. “Easy, brother. I trust him. It will be fine. We need to do this. The Corporation’s started bringing in Fae and vampires to do memory sweeps on their personnel. This will keep them from finding the truth.”

“That we hate their guts?” asked Nick, grinning as he did.

“That we’re not really with them,” corrected Jesse. “That we’re Shadow Agents.”

Samuel locked eyes with the vampire. “This will wear off, right?”

“Yes. With time,” said the vampire with a shrug. “But it matters not. I will lift the compulsion in one year’s time regardless.”

“What if something happens to you?” asked Benat before lifting his hands. All eyes came to him as if he was threatening the vampire himself. “I mean, you’re tough, Anatole, but everybody meets their maker at some point.”

The vampire fixed Benat with a cold stare. “Pray you never meet mine.”

Benat blinked. “Uh, I don’t think we’re talking about the same maker.”

The vampire—Anatole—titled his head slightly. “That may be so.”

“You didn’t answer the question,” said Samuel. “What happens to us if something happens to you?”

“As I said,” Anatole replied, his tone edging into irritation. “The compulsion fades over time.”

“How much time?” demanded Samuel.

“That depends on the person. On how much they want it to wear off. They have to want to remember,” returned the vampire. “Okay, who is next?”

Jesse stepped forward. “Me.”

“No,” said Samuel fast. “Not you. I’ll go next.”

Jesse grinned and winked. “Thanks for trying to protect me again…brother, but I’ve got this. It’ll be fine.”

Anatole’s gaze narrowed. “When I do this, you will not know him as your brother.”

Samuel growled.

Jesse sighed. “Samuel, it has to be this way. They can’t know how deep our bond is.”

“Pfft, good luck with that,” said Nick. “You two are thick as thieves. The vampire better build in some bad blood between the two of you if this is gonna work.”

The area around Jesse shattered into what seemed like a million pieces, taking with it the training room and the other men, before reforming into the back of the grocery store. The same one he’d encountered Efren behind years ago. Efren was there with the teenage girl pinned to the dumpster.

Something about it all felt different this time, clearer somehow—more significant, but he wasn’t sure why or what it was. He tried to soak it all in, desperate to make the connections his brain was clearly trying to show him, but the moment slipped away like sand through his fingers.

The world dissolved again, and when it became solid once more, Jesse found himself standing in the sterile halls of the lab.

Unlike when it all actually happened, the lab was nearly empty.

Void of Samuel, Benat, Nick, and most of the children—save two—Samuel’s daughter and the little girl with black hair and blue eyes with hints of violet in them. They were identical to Lindy’s eyes.

He knew she was the same girl as the one from behind the grocery store but could it be that Lindy was also the little girl from the lab?

He remembered the overwhelming urge he’d had to protect the little girl.

To make sure she got free of the facility and far from harm.

Then he thought of how protective of Lindy he’d felt when he’d seen her behind the grocery store with Efren, years ago.

And how the second he’d heard coyotes through her webcam, he’d dropped everything and run to her.

His mate.

His wife.

Danger!

His shifter side stirred within him, and he was vaguely aware of a rustling noise and a low growl—an sign of a predator being close. The sound was quickly masked by thunder so loud and so strong it shook Jesse.

He came awake with a jolt and found himself wrapped around Lindy’s sleeping form. He sniffed the air, and for a second thought he smelled cigarette smoke. It was quickly replaced by the smell of Lindy, of honey and melon.

He relaxed slightly and lay there, his mind spinning as it tried to make sense of the dreams he’d just had.

They reminded him of when he’d been forced to be a lab rat for The Corporation and test their serum.

He’d had strange dreams then too. Nightmares he couldn’t make sense of, but this had felt more intense than that even.

More real.

Jesse swore he could still taste pancakes from the meal with Samuel. Could still feel the weight of grief from standing over the woman’s bed. What did it mean? Why would he dream such a thing and why in the hell did it feel real?

Was it all true?

Had his mind been messed with by a vampire? Had his memories been altered? If so, did that mean he and Samuel really were related? That at one point they’d been close? And what about everything he saw with Lindy and the little girl from the lab over twenty-seven years ago?

Before he could think harder on it all, the smell from the lab from years ago and the same rage he’d felt at seeing Efren pinning the teenage girl to the exterior of the grocery store returned tenfold, as if someone was ripping open curtains in his mind.

Flashes of blue eyes with purple flecks filled his head and he drew Lindy against him tighter, inhaling the scent of her hair, trying to calm his nerves. Was his mind playing tricks on him, making him believe her eyes were the same exact color as the little girl from the lab?