Phantom Wolf

Chapter 19

Shay grappled with the problem during the flight to Virginia. As a SEAL, he fought with courage, conviction and the sureness of knowing he did the right thing.

Now doing the right thing was wrong in his superior’s eyes. He stood to lose everything as a SEAL.

Curt’s voice echoed in his mind. “You’re too involved. Step back and let us handle this.” Hell, it sounded like Curt, even the clipped words. Was the man a doppelgänger?

He needed to see the man for himself.

At the airport, he flagged down a cab. He’d given a vague arrival time. Didn’t want to chance getting a little surprise.

But the surprise greeted him as he walked into ST 21’s ready room. Curt stood by the desk. In the front chair, Senator Robert Rogers. Next to them...

The entire Council of Mages, including Allen Shaymore, his dark gaze sharp as he nodded to Shay.

“Uncle Al. No retreat this year?”

“They cut it short.” Al scowled, tugging at the collar of his white starched shirt beneath the formal purple velvet robes of a Mage Elder. “Sent an air force jet to retrieve me so I could put on this damn monkey suit. What the hell’s the deal, son? You in trouble again?”

An air force jet? Shay’s heart dropped to his stomach. Rogers had pulled plenty of strings to make that happen. Unless the conspiracy went a lot deeper than he’d realized.

An expectant hush filled the air as the Mages looked at Lieutenant Commander Curtis.

“Where is Kelly Denning, Chief Petty Officer Shaymore?”

Curt never called him by his full title. Guess I’m in a little trouble, he thought humorlessly. Or maybe this isn’t Curt.

He shrugged. “Looks like a welcoming party. If I’d known you’d go through all this trouble, I’d have brought the beer.”

Al laughed, but Curt scowled. Rogers stood, his elegant frame trembling with rage. “Where the hell is Kelly Denning?”

“Chill, Senator. Don’t want to burst a blood vessel.” Shay kept his body loose and ready for action. If that SOB came at him, he’d get a fist smashed into his surgically altered nose.

“You’re a U.S. Navy SEAL and you were ordered...”

“I know my orders,” Shay fired back. “Yeah, I’m a SEAL. You call us adrenaline junkies, but we’re trained professionals. And part of any op is gathering good intel before we deploy.”

His gaze swept over the council. “I need information.”

“You are a soldier. You follow orders. Your job is to do what you’re told.” Rogers’s mouth thinned as he flexed his manicured hands, as if itching to wrap them around Shay’s neck.

“I’m not turning Kelly over until I know why she’s being charged, and what the formal charges are.” Shay narrowed his gaze.

Before Rogers could retort, he pushed on. “Section five fifty-seven, Code of Honor of the Executive Council of Honored Mages. And I quote, ‘If an Arcane is suspected of breaking Mage law, and bringing harm to Elemental Mages, the council will ensure due process is served and appoint a skilled attorney fluent in Code law to serve as counsel to the defendant. No Arcane shall be imprisoned without formal charges until such counsel can be found.’”

“You’re an arrogant son of a bitch,” the senator sputtered.

He considered. “Yeah. But we’re discussing Kelly Denning, not me.” He flashed a cold smile. “She deserves a lawyer. Are you trying to circumvent our sacred laws?”

“Of course not,” Rogers snapped. “We will, of course, see that she gets a fair trial. If she’s guilty, she’ll be executed.”

But the truth was carved on the faces of each Elder, except his uncle. Kelly was a dead woman.

“He’s right. The girl deserves representation. I’ll make sure she gets it.” Allen’s gaze was sly as he looked at his nephew, who grinned back.

Expecting Rogers to retort, he watched Curt signal to a waiting aide.

“We have a small surprise for you, Chief Petty Officer Shaymore. Someone who’s been missing all these years, who wanted dearly to see you again. Someone who will make you see reason.” Curt smiled.

Right. Not a fat chance. Shay’s hand dropped to his sidearm. And he nearly dropped with cold shock as a ghost strolled into the room. A gray-haired, stately ghost with hazel eyes like his own.

“Dad,” he whispered. Couldn’t be. The council was playing tricks on him. Or maybe this was a doppelgänger, as well...but sweet hellfire, how could they have taken his DNA if his father had been dead for twelve years?

The room spun around like a top. Shay braced his hands on a desktop.

“Samuel.” The ghost offered a thin smile. “You’re here. I knew you would come.”

Only his father called him by his full name. Shay swung his gaze to his uncle, who stared at the floor and then back to the ghost. “I buried your remains...”

“You buried a servant who lost his life in the blaze. I’m here and quite alive. Samuel, my son. How I have missed you.”

“You’re dead.”

“Quite alive. I’ve been in hiding all these years. Too crazed with grief, living in the shadows.” His father’s face contorted with emotion. “In a way, I have been a true phantom, a ghost.”

The crack of a fist slamming into flesh. Shay watched in quiet satisfaction as the ghost stumbled backward.

“Don’t feel like a ghost to me,” he said, flexing his fist.

Colton wiped blood from his split lip. “Excuse me. I need a moment alone with my son.”

Shay fought for control as they walked to a nearby storage closet. Nothing ever surprised a SEAL. They had to adapt swiftly to sudden change. But all the hard training never prepared him for this.

Closing the door, Shay leaned against it.

“I will forgive you for hitting me because I owe you an apology for not telling you sooner.”

“Apology? You owe me a hell of a lot more,” Shay snapped. “Sooner? Twelve years ago would have been sweet! Why didn’t you tell me you were alive? Where the hell were you when the fire broke out? The day I fucking buried your body?”

Something flickered in his father’s eyes. “I had gone out the back door to sneak a cigar. Your mother disapproved and I didn’t want to upset her. The flames spread quickly and were too hot. I couldn’t try entering the hallway to save them.”

Shay had tried, and he had the scars as a result.

“Dad, how could you leave me?” Shay whispered.

Another flicker of emotion. Shame? Guilt? Hard to tell.

“I’m sorry, son. I went mad with grief over losing your mother. I ran away and by the time I regained some sense, you had gone.”

“And returned a year later, goddammit. What was your excuse then?”

Silence draped between them. Colton tensed, white lines bracketing his mouth. “I was on a blood hunt to avenge their deaths.”

Shay went still. “You went looking for Kelly’s father.”

“That bastard Arcane took my beautiful Annabelle away from me. I sought revenge against all his parasitic kind.” Colton’s eyes sparkled with rage. “And now I have the means. Those goddamn Arcanes, always trying to steal what is ours. No more. I met a most remarkable Elemental Phantom who convinced me to come out of hiding and put my skills to good use.”

“You couldn’t tell me? Enlist my help?”

“Not after I discovered you and the parasite’s daughter were having an affair.”

Guilt pierced Shay as his father regarded him with the look he knew well. Sheer disappointment. Even though he’d fought hand-to-hand combat with terrorists, his father still made him feel as if he was nine years old. “How did you know?”

“I found out a few days before Christmas. One of the servants saw you and Kelly go into the underground tunnels.”

They’d thought themselves safe, invisible to the world. And all the time, someone had known.

“I knew you were sneaking off with someone, so I sent her to watch you.”

Shay’s mouth twisted. “Nice touch, Dad. Spying on your own flesh and blood.”

“You worried me, Samuel. No discipline, restless and disobedient, more headstrong than ever. If you were in trouble, I needed to know.” Colton rubbed a hand over his face, and suddenly Shay saw how much he’d aged.

“An Arcane. Really, son. I understand the fascination. But what in the hell were you thinking?”

“Watch it, Dad,” he softly warned. “Don’t you dare insult her.”

“She’s a slut like her father.”

Shay jerked the door open. “This conversation is over.”

He wanted to scream but clamped a lid on his temper as they returned to the ready room. Sickened, he watched his CO put a hand on his father’s shoulder. “Colton heads a new civilian committee to assess an Arcane threat. We’re going to work with him, Shay. All of the Phoenix Force.”

“A committee? You mean a hate group.” Shay swung his gaze over the silent council, including his uncle, who glowered at Shay’s father. “You approve of this, all of you?”

“It’s necessary,” Rogers said tightly. “If there is a threat against our people, we need to be prepared to destroy it. Just as you and the other SEALs do.”

The meaning became clear. “We fight to keep our country safe, not kill innocents.”

“Self-preservation,” Curt put in. “Protecting our people so they can thrive. Arcanes are like cockroaches...they breed incessantly and unless you wipe out their numbers, they will always be underfoot.”

His father nodded. “Only more dangerous, ready to seize everything dear to you. You must accept the truth, Samuel. These Arcanes threaten the very fabric of our lives. Bring them Kelly Denning. She is key to uncovering their plans to destroy us.”

Toss Kelly to the wolves. Shay felt off balance, his world splitting open beneath his booted feet. But one surety remained. “No way in hell. She’s innocent.”

But Curt spoke up. “Since you refuse to comply, Chief Petty Officer Shaymore, you are formally charged with unauthorized absence.”

“Curt,” he protested.

“Bring in Kelly Denning and turn her over to the Mage Council Elder or you face court-martial. Those are your orders, soldier.” His CO glowered. “Shay, I warned you. You crossed one too many lines and left me without a choice.”

Anguished, he felt trapped. If the navy discharged him, he’d lose everything.

But neither could he hand Kelly over to Rogers, knowing the bastard would make her quietly “disappear.”

Racing over possibilities, he said, “I’ll do as you ask, on one condition. Show me one scrap of evidence you have that she wants to hurt Elementals. You have nothing.”

Put the brakes on all this. But Colton took a brown paper bag and tossed it to Shay.

“I’m sorry, son, but here’s your proof,” he told him. “This was found among Kelly Denning’s belongings when authorities searched Sight Finders’ offices. She must have kept it as a trophy after her father set the fire.”

“Just as serial killers often keep trophies to remind them of their victims. We believe she conspired with her father to commit arson,” Curt added.

Colton’s jaw tensed. “Now that bitch is working with the rebel Arcanes to hurt others of our kind. She’s leading the Arcane rebellion to destroy our people.”

Shay opened the bag.

Shock punched the breath out of him as he fished out a partly scorched teddy bear. One eye was missing. Pete had plucked it out to use as a spare marble when he was six.

It was his little brother’s favorite toy.

Sawdust puffed out from a rip in the bear as he squeezed it. Shay loosened his grip, wrestling with rage and grief. He looked at Rogers and his wife, then the waiting council. Shay couldn’t bear the sorrow in his uncle’s eyes. Or bear to see his father’s expression.

He squared his shoulders. He was a U.S. Navy SEAL, tough as Kevlar, even when his heart shattered. With extreme care, he placed the bear in the paper sack and tucked it under his arm.

“That’s evidence. You can’t take it,” Rogers protested.

Shay thought about telling the senator to kiss his ass. Instead he nodded at the council members.

“You’ll hear from me.”

For a moment, he struggled to find words for his father. But knowing he’d faked his death sent razors slicing through his heart.

“Son.” Colton placed a hand on his shoulder. “Do the right thing. Bring her back here to face trial. Don’t lose your head over a woman and risk your career. I’m so proud of what you’ve accomplished. You’ve grown into a fine, courageous man, everything I had hoped for.”

A lump formed in Shay’s throat. He could only nod. I still love you, Dad, he thought. But you’ve changed.

Just like me.

The door slammed behind him as he left.

When Sam returned that night, Kelly could tell that something was dreadfully wrong.

Eyes red-rimmed, expression tight and distraught, he looked like hell as he sat down on the sofa. Kelly ached for him.

“That bad?” she asked.

Instead of replying, he handed her a worn paper sack. A shocked gasp escaped as she drew out the battered, scorched teddy bear.

“This is the evidence the council has against you. They say you kept it as a trophy after your father set the fire. They’re even suggesting you helped him. It was found at Sight Finders.”

No emotion in his flat voice. Kelly placed the bear in his lap. She had to step carefully or risk splintering the fragile trust between them.

“That was low of them, Sam. Seeing the bear must have torn you apart.”

Tension knotted his spine as he looked away. Instinct warned his hard-won control was ready to shatter like glass.

“There’s nothing I can do to bring him, or your parents, back. I wish I could. I’m sorry for all the pain you’ve suffered.”

Sam’s brow furrowed. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t set the fire, Kel. No matter what the council or anyone else says, I know you didn’t do it.”

“Maybe I didn’t strike the match, but I’m the one who insisted on you meeting me instead of spending time with your family. If I hadn’t, you’d have been there and could have saved them.” Kelly drew in a trembling breath. “All these years I’ve tried to save kids because it was my fault Pete died.”

Anger darkened his gaze as he lightly shook her shoulder. “Stop it. It was my decision. You’re not at fault. I tried to get to them in time, but the flames were too much. I should have found a way....”

“And you’d have died. There’s a reason you’re still here, fighting the good fight, Sam. Don’t ever forget that. They’d be so proud of you if they were here.”

“One of them is.”

She could only stare.

“My father’s still alive. I saw him.”

Words escaped her. Kelly blinked hard. “Impossible,” she managed.

“Very possible.” Sam punched a pillow and told her what happened.

Colton Shaymore, alive. And hating her people more than ever. Resolve began building. She’d stop it, fight for justice, fight to shut that bastard up before he hurt anyone....

And then she glanced over and saw Sam’s face.

Sam’s jaw locked so hard, he had to be hurting. Sam needed her, just as he had after the fire. She would not forsake him for her crusade.

Kelly covered his hand with hers. “I’m sorry, Sam. I can’t imagine how shocked, and disappointed, you felt.”

Silence draped between them. He heaved a sigh. “One day, maybe, I can forgive him for abandoning me.”

“But now he’s back in your life. If you want any chance of moving forward from this, you must forgive him.”

“He lied to me.” Sam looked shattered. “All these years I worshipped him, idolized him as a man of strength, honor and integrity. And then mourned losing him. His life has been nothing but a lie.”

“Was it? All the qualities you idolized in him, you sought those in yourself and that’s why you became a SEAL, right?”

At his nod, she continued. “He made a huge mistake, but he had a huge success...you. You brought those qualities to life. His life was not all a lie.”

Muscles tensed in his spine. “When I saw him, got over the shock...part of me kept hoping maybe my mother and Pete were alive, too, and all this had been a sick, fucked-up joke.”

Kelly waited.

“But they’re not.”

His haunted look wrenched her heart. All she could offer was meager comfort.

“No, they’re not. But I am. I’m not leaving you.”

Kelly wrapped her arms around him. Muscles locked and tensed. Then, with a small groan, Sam pulled her tight, his head buried in the soft curve of her neck.

When he lifted his head, his gaze softened. “I have to say something to you, Kel. About what I said back in La Aurora. All my years I had it wrong. Being tight with my team, fighting as a single unit, I thought it would fill all the empty spaces inside me. A real man was a navy SEAL—strong, courageous and willing to die for his country.”

Sam tucked a stray tendril of hair behind her ear. “Being a real man is much more. It’s being strong enough to know I was wrong, courageous enough to admit I am afraid and willing not just to sacrifice my life, but my heart.”

Kelly brushed his knuckles with a kiss. “I know what was missing in my empty places, Sam. Fill them again.”

“I need you badly, Kel,” he whispered. “I need to forget every lousy thing that happened today. I need you close, your arms clinging to me. I need to watch your face as I make you come.”

A sharp intake of breath as she imagined Sam’s face hovering above hers as they made love.

“I need you, gods, to help me forget everything I remembered when I saw my father standing before me.”

Desperate hunger shimmered in his gaze, twining with rage and grief. Kelly took his hand and pressed it to her cheek. “I can’t offer much, but I give you all I have, Sam.”

Nodding gruffly, he led her to the bedroom downstairs. This wasn’t making love as much as making each other’s pain evaporate, she realized.

They tore at each other’s clothes, sending them spilling to the bedroom floor. Kelly twined her arms around his neck and pressed against him, feeling the hardness of his chest muscles. Erotic need spilled through her as he kissed her, hard and deep, his tongue thrusting into her mouth as if imitating what his lower body intended. She was burning up now, the coolness of the air-conditioned room forgotten in the heat he created.

I need you inside me, Sam.

Smooth muscles flexed beneath her questing palm as she caressed his broad back. His penis was huge and hard against the softness of her belly. It twitched, as if impatient to be inside her once more. Kelly rubbed her breasts against Sam, feeling her overly sensitive nipples turn rock-hard again. Every kiss was hot and urgent, as if he wanted to devour her. Need pummeled her as she ground against him and felt his penis respond with another violent twitch. Kelly lifted a leg, curling it around one of his narrow hips. Against the wall, that would suffice. But Sam lifted her by the bottom and, still kissing her, gently tumbled her backward onto the bed.

He stood over her, breathing heavily, his gaze dark and focused utterly on her. With one powerful thigh, he nudged her legs open and then dropped to his knees and stared at her core. A faint flush ignited her cheeks. He looked at her as if she were the most beautiful sight in the world.

Sam rubbed her folds with a finger and then sank the digit into her swollen vagina. “Are you too sore for this?”

Unable to speak, she shook her head. A moan flitted from her lips as he licked her, a slow stroke of his wicked tongue across her soaked folds. He kept pleasuring her, teasing her higher and higher until her muscles contracted and her back arched. Kelly felt the climax shimmer out of reach, a distant star winking teasingly at her.

“C’mon, sweetheart,” he crooned against her soaked flesh. “Come for me. Come for me.”

The husky command pushed her over the edge. Fisting her hands in the tangled sheets, she climaxed hard, sobbing out his name.

Breathless, she watched him stand and backhand his mouth, his gaze filled with sharp sexual excitement. Then Sam bent over her and pushed his hard, heavy penis deep inside her.

Remaining frozen for a moment, his gaze fiercely held hers as her swollen tissues struggled to accommodate him. Kelly wriggled and he surged inside her, burying himself deeply and sealing them to the hilt. Every sensation seemed heightened, from the feel of his hard penis embedded inside her to his chest rubbing against her sensitive nipples to his face inches above hers, his fierce gaze searing her with heat.

Kelly dug her fingers into his thick shoulders, feeling sinew and muscle flex. She pumped her hips upward in a silent plea. He was hot inside her, and her body was burning.

Her fingers found his tattoo and stroked over it, over the bullet hole that had given him life. Sam’s big body jerked with awareness. Closing his eyes, he took a quivering breath. Then he began to move, pounding in her, hard deep strokes that she met with eager pumps of her hips.

His expression was fierce with arousal, his mouth tight as his hips jackhammered into her wet, pliant body. This was not lovemaking but a reclaiming of what he’d lost, the possessive stamp of a man whose primal urges indelibly marked her as his own.

Kelly froze as another orgasm tightened her muscles. Heart hammering against her chest, she concentrated on the exquisite pleasure.

Sam went still as she screamed his name. And then he threw back his head and answered her cries, her name on his lips.

Lost deep inside her, wanting to forget.

Much later, they ate the sandwiches Sam had picked up at the local deli. After, he cleared the table in silence.

Sensing he needed a little space, she went into the living room and picked up the abandoned, sad teddy bear from the sofa. Sudden insight struck her.

“Sam, where did you say the bear was found?” she called out.

“Your offices at Sight Finders.” He appeared at her side, drying his hands on a dish towel.

“That’s impossible.”

Tossing the towel on the cocktail table, Sam joined her. “My father claims you took it.”

“I did take the bear. But after I found the bear, I put him in our secret hideout.”

Struggling to speak past the lump in her throat, she pressed on. “I wanted to put him in a safe place. I thought if you returned, you’d see the bear and remember the good times you shared with Pete.”

“I never went back inside the tunnel. I nailed the door shut when I returned to Tennessee, before I joined the navy.”

Their gazes met, his filled with firm resolve.

“Whoever found this bear found it inside the bunker...” she began.

Grabbing the toy, he turned it over in his hands. “Look.” He pointed to a thumb-size bandage on the bear’s scorched paw. “Did you do this?”

Kelly frowned. “No. I wouldn’t bandage a toy. And not this one, because it belonged to Pete. I know how special it was. Maybe Pete did?”

“No, the bandage is new.” He examined the bear. “Pete did like to bandage his toys, it was something he always did as a kid...”

“And he’s probably not the only one. The bandage is fresh, Sam. Which means another child did it.”

Sam bolted off the couch. “That’s where they’re holding the missing kids. Dammit! Right under my nose. Curt must be in on it. His double, I mean.”

Cutting through the hope racing through her was a chilling thought. “You couldn’t tell if your CO was a doppelgänger?”

Clutching the bear, Sam paced the room. “He didn’t act like Curt, but there’s no way to tell. Only if we find the real Curt’s body...”

“Not necessarily. Sam, you had a doppelgänger. All it takes is a touch to absorb your DNA. If an Arcane stole a Phantom’s powers, he could imitate you, Curt, anyone, as long as he had your DNA.”

Crazed hope flared on Sam’s face.

“If the doppelgänger killed Curt, he’d have a Death Mask.”

He scowled. “No way in hell am I taking you near the base. They’ll toss you into prison, or worse.” Sam rubbed his chin. “What about video?”

“Live stream if possible.”

“You haven’t seen even a fifth of what’s possible to a SEAL.” Sam pulled out his cell phone. “Yo, Dakota, I need a favor...”

An hour later, Sam opened his laptop and clicked on an internet link. “Live stream from ST 21’s base. Courtesy of Greg.”

He grinned. “Tiger boy likes toys. This one’s a jacket button that’s actually a small camera. It transmits through a wireless receiver hidden in the next room. Then Tiger did something guaranteed to bring him into Curt’s office.”

They watched a red-faced Lieutenant Commander Curtis yell at the camera.

“What did Greg do?” she asked.

“Soaked Renegade’s underwear with juice.” His grin widened. “I believe the juice of certain distinct jalapeño peppers.”

Kelly laughed. “Wonder where he got that idea?”

Sam spread his arms wide, looking surprised. “I’m innocent.”

“Poor Renegade, taking one for the team.”

She concentrated on the feed, the furious commander yelling at the SEAL.

“That’s not Curt. He never loses it. Let’s us fight our own battles.”

Her heart beat faster. “He’s an impostor, but I don’t see a Death Mask.”

At her nod, he shut the laptop. “There’s a chance Curt’s still alive.”

Sam dialed a number. “Admiral Keegan Byrne,” he stated quietly.

He waited, tense and grim, and then his expression smoothed out. “Admiral. Sir. It’s Shay.”

Shay. No titles, not even his full name.

Sam flashed a boyish grin. “Yes, sir, I was on that op, three of us. Cakewalk. No thanks are necessary. Just doing our jobs.”

He glanced at Kelly. “Admiral, we have a sitch here. I need to know why you gave those orders for my team to deploy to an LZ south of the base in Honduras to deliver Kelly Denning to Mage authorities.”

No change in his expression.

“I see. One of us will be in touch. And, Admiral, watch your six. I can’t say right now, sir, but soon as I have more intel, someone will be in touch.”

He thumbed off the phone.

“The admiral didn’t give that order. Which means Curt’s double did.”

Sam nodded, his spine tensing.

Kelly squeezed his forearm. “Your CO has to still be alive. Don’t lose hope.”

His steady, reassuring gaze gave her strength. “Hang tight. I’m calling Dakota.”

Time to call in the troops.