TOGETHER FOREVER
(Circle of Ghadan #2)
by Kimberly Cummons
Paranormal/Suspense
Blurb:
The sequel to Paranormal Romance Guild’s
2016 Reviewer’s Choice Nominee “Forever Love”
“At least I’m not sick, just halfway to immortality, but now
it seems like halfway may be as far as I get.”
Although
rescued from her kidnappers, Sidney Sheppard isn’t safe. She’ll soon be immortal, but there’s a catch. A
vial containing the immortality drug was removed from where she was held and
the clock is ticking to replace it. Bastien St. Clair has been tasked to
translate Thales’ notes and synthesize Sidney’s last dose. If he fails, the
woman he loves dies.
To complicate
matters, the others kidnapped with Sidney are also in the process of becoming
immortal. If three scared and confused women with out-of-control paranormal
abilities isn’t enough of a distraction, add in
Bastien’s thirteen-year-old daughter who can start fires with her mind and his
growing love for Sidney. Bastien has just six days to translate nearly
unreadable journals and synthesize the proper drug. All this while falling
deeper in love with the woman he’s wanted for years.
Sidney
never wanted to be immortal. If given a choice, she would have politely
declined the offer. But she wasn’t
given a choice and the longer she’s around Bastien, the more she wants to live
forever with him. However, if Bastien doesn’t succeed, that won’t happen. It’s
a good thing, then, that she has all the confidence in the world in his
abilities. Too bad he doesn’t.
Excerpt:
Crouched behind the barracks of an abandoned military base outside
Miami, Bastien St. Clair watched the man enter the building across from his
position.
At a little past midnight, the clouds obscuring the waning moon
provided all the cover he required. Too bad the evening didn’t include cooler temperatures. It was still too
damn hot and humid. Removing the night-vision goggles, he wiped sweat from his
forehead, and shoved his damp hair back before storing the goggles in the small
pack slung over his shoulders. Except for the crickets and occasional vehicle
on the highway nearby, no sound broke the almost tangible silence.
Behind him, his bodyguard, Caiden Drake, checked his phone for the
tenth time, the glow from the dimmed screen unusually bright. Despite their
growing need for action, they’d remain where they were until Micah, head of Circle Security,
gave the word.
Micah Windwalker and the five men he brought along had already
swept the area, finding only the main building occupied. If Thales, Bastien’s father, hadn’t lied in the email he’d sent
that morning, there were four women being held in there.
Bastien clenched his fist, resisting the urge to smash it into the
rusted-out corrugated metal beside him. If Thales was correct, one of those
women was Sidney Sheppard.
Dammit.
Beautiful, vivacious, life-loving Sidney should not be in there.
Bastien and Caiden had traveled to Sidney’s apartment the moment Micah alerted him she’d
been taken, but all they’d discovered was her cat, Zephyr. Frustrated, Bastien
returned home with her pet along with most of Sidney’s belongings and moved
them into one of the guest rooms.
Over the following three days, Circle Security and Bastien had
contacted anyone who might have knowledge of her whereabouts, but they’d remained in the dark until Thales’ email
appeared that morning. Now all he wanted was to get her out of there and home
with him and her cat.
Micah approached, crouched next to them and spoke softly. “From what we can see, it appears there are five
men. According to Thales, they’re holding four women. I doubt they need any
more security.”
Bastien nodded. “I just saw a man go in, did you count him?”
“He’s the fifth.”
“Are we movin’ now, lad,
or do we need to wait for something?” Caiden asked, his Scottish burr stronger
than usual.
Micah shook his head. “No, we’re good. My men are in place, we just have to join them.
They discovered a broken window at the back of the building. Looks like our
best way in.”
Bastien stood, stretching out the kinks in his legs, happy as hell
to get moving. He wanted Sidney out of there, preferably before anyone got a
needle in her. He didn’t hold out much hope for that, however, since Thales assured him
the change was why the women had been abducted. According to the timetable used
on Cassandra more than a year before, Sidney should be halfway through the
transformation from mortal to immortal.
The formula better be in there, as well, or they’d be in deep shit. No, he wouldn’t think of
that now. They would deal with that problem later if they needed to.
Caiden’s
hand landed on his shoulder, holding him back. “We’ll find her, Bastien, never
doubt that, but don’t go rushin’ in there and getting yourself killed. That
won’t do either of you any good and the Circle would rip me a new one.”
Despite his worry, Bastien smiled at his friend. “Thank you, mon ami, I will not do anything stupid.” At
least not intentionally.
“Aye, lad, see that ye
don’t.”
Moving silently in the still night, they joined Micah’s men. Bastien swallowed hard. He refused to
contemplate any outcome except Sidney’s safe removal from this building.
Tonight.
She frustrated him, irritated him and drove his libido crazy, but
he’d missed her ever since
she’d moved out. He should have been more insistent on her staying with him.
She was too damn independent. But with her father incarcerated and no further
Daughters harmed after Cassandra, there’d been no reason to stop her from
returning to her condo. He’d chosen to believe Thales’ promise that he had the
formula under control.
Besides, at twenty-six Sidney was still too young to be changed.
Or that’d been their belief
until he’d received Thales’ email revealing his most recent research proved a
Daughter could be changed at any age. Damn, that was going to cause a
shit-storm once it was made known. For millennia the Aeterni race had consisted
solely of first-born sons. Then sixteen months ago a drug created by Thales had
made a female Aeterni.
They reached the back of the building without incident. As Micah’s men entered first, Bastien shook his head.
His father never had the damn formula under his control, and once again he was
forced to admit it’d been stolen. When Sidney was safely ensconced in his home,
he would find a way to contact his father and insist he give the formula to the
Circle of Ghadan for protection since he was incapable of keeping it safe.
Micah touched Bastien’s arm and indicated he was to go next. He nodded and climbed
through the window. As soon as his feet landed on the floor, he pulled out his
Browning 9mm and held it firmly in his left hand. Grabbing the flashlight out
of his backpack, he held it in his right hand without turning it on.
Caiden stood beside him gripping a gun, his sword strapped against
his back. Everyone knew there would be Aeterni present and beheading was the
only way to ensure death. If they had no other choice, they’d kill any Aeterni they located, but capture
was preferable because they needed answers. Besides, death would only be lawful
if the kidnappers were declared Mortuus
and so far they hadn’t
been.
The room was dimly lit by battery-operated camp lights placed on
scattered tables abandoned when the base was closed. Disturbed insects of all
sizes darted about in the dim light. Dust and the musty smell of the building
made Bastien’s nose itch and he
pinched it, aborting a sneeze. The closed-up room was a good ten degrees hotter
than outside. His black long sleeved t-shirt clung to him as sweat ran down his
spine and his feet were too damn hot in the heavy boots.
He shoved hair from his forehead with the back of his hand, wiping
sweat away before it ran in his eyes. It’d been a while since he’d been on this type of
mission as he’d spent most of the last hundred years secluded in his home with
his books. No matter how long it’d been, he was ready and knew precisely what
he had to do. First up was ignoring the heat and any other discomfort caused by
weather or environment. That included the buzzing mosquitoes abandoning the
lamps in favor of fresh blood.
The man Bastien had seen entering the building earlier was sitting
on the floor, propped against the back wall, his arms and legs tightly secured.
A gag made sure he couldn’t warn his companions.
One of Micah’s men stood by an open door, indicating a stairway down. Micah
nodded, motioning the man to go. Without a sound, they filed down the steps. To
Bastien’s surprise, no one was on duty at the foot of the stairs. Micah’s brows
snapped together and he signaled for them to spread out.
The hallway split left and right at the bottom of the stairway.
Bastien and Caiden turned to the right, easing down the hall. Humidity and
external heat collided with the cool concrete and caused moisture to run down
the peeling, institution-gray walls, staining the floor dark. Cold air chilled
his sweat-coated skin and caused Bastien to shiver. The smell of mildew and rat
droppings overpowered him. He heard a sound to his left and pointed his gun and
flashlight as a rat scurried past, disappearing into the shadows in front of
him. Merde, he wanted Sidney out of
this hole now.
“Lovely accommodations
our friends have given the lassies.” Caiden’s whisper carried the same disgust
Bastien felt.
Sporadically placed bare light bulbs hung from the ceiling
illuminating the area directly beneath, leaving the walls in shadow. Bastien
carefully opened doors as Caiden stood ready at his back. Sweeping the rooms
with his flashlight, the beam revealed nothing but random pieces of discarded
furniture.
Another rat darted down the hall, hugging the wall, and
disappeared into the darkness behind Bastien. On second thought, please do
not let Sidney be down here. Don’t let any young lady be down here.
When he reached for the next door, Bastien cautiously pushed it
open. The smell hit him before his flashlight illuminated the decapitated man
lying in a pool of blood. It had to be one of the kidnappers based on his dark
clothing and mask covering his head.
Caiden entered behind him. “What the hell?”
Bastien couldn’t agree more. Watching his friend remove the mask and search the
body, he pushed the button on his Bluetooth mic and whispered, “Micah, we have
company and he is killing who I believe are the kidnappers.”
“Shit, yeah, I just
stumbled across one and there’s no doubt whoever’s doing it knows about
Aeterni. Take care, Bastien, this makes the situation doubly bad.”
“Agreed.”
Caiden stood, wiping his hands on his jeans. “Nothing, the man’s clean and I dinna recognize
him. Do you?”
Bastien shook his head as they left the room slowly closing the
door and continued down the hallway. With more caution than before, he opened
first one door then the next, but they didn’t run into any more men, dead or alive.
A beep sounded in his ear followed by Micah saying, “Bastien, we’ve found the cells, but only two
women so far. They’ve been drugged and are out for the long haul. When we
touched them, they didn’t flinch, let alone wake.”
“Where are you? What
about the other three men guarding the women?” Bastien fought to keep his voice
low and even.
Micah sighed before answering. “We found them dead, heads cut off.”
So they’d
been right, the kidnappers were all Aeterni and they weren’t the only ones
aware of it. Since they were beheaded, Bastien hoped they were dealing with
another immortal, because if a mortal knew enough about them to know how to
kill them, it could mean bigger problems for the Aeterni.
His thoughts were interrupted when Micah continued, “According to the blueprints I downloaded, go to
the end of the hall you’re in, you’ll meet up with us. Be careful, we still
don’t know what the unknown’s intentions are.”
“On our way.” Bastien
picked up his pace, gun ready, searching every shadow with his flashlight for
any trace of movement. Behind him he heard the slide of steel as Caiden pulled
his claymore from its sheath. Bastien couldn’t blame him. At that point, he
wished he’d brought his sword along as well. As Second Drakōn,
it was his job to hunt rogue Aeterni.
He shoved open the door at the end of the hall and was immediately
blinded by the bright glare of ceiling lights. The door closed behind him and
one of Micah’s men called, “I’ve got
a blonde in here.”
“Sidney,” Bastien breathed. Cursing, he picked
up his pace and Micah stepped aside to let him pass. He entered the cell just
as Micah’s man neared the cot where she lay face down. His heart lurched. Dieu, she was
such a whirlwind of irritation and seeing her lying like the dead caused his
breathing to stutter.
The man reached for her but Bastien said, “I have her, go see if you can help them locate
whoever killed the guards.”
Turning to face him, the man nodded and left to join Micah.
Crossing the room, Bastien carefully turned her over and stopped
short. The woman with dark-blond hair wasn’t Sidney. He swallowed his disappointment.
Someone must have located her by now.
Bastien scooped the girl up, agreeing she was heavily drugged as
her head flopped to the side. He braced her against his shoulder and exited the
cell to find Micah waiting at the end of the hallway.
The Native American’s face fell when he saw the woman in Bastien’s arms.
“Non, this is not
Sidney.”
“Damn, including this
young lady, we’ve located three. Sidney’s not here, but I found a recently
occupied cell. I’m hoping our mystery man’s a friend. Regardless, we’ll start
searching for them both once we get these women to safety.”
BOOK 1 of the Circle of Ghadan also available!
BUY LINK FOR BOTH BOOKS
Link to my book page for purchase sites http://tinyurl.com/jqu473e
About Author:
Kimberly
Cummons wrote her first Gothic romance novel while still in high school.
Believing there were more profitable ways to earn a living, she turned away
from her first love and earned a Bachelors’ Degree in Business
Education. Over the years, she’s worked at a number of interesting small
businesses. Her favorite job will always be the local historical society where
she met her own personal hero. Never forgetting her love of writing, Kimberly
continued to write romances in different genres, but paranormal, fantasy and
suspense have proven to be her favorites.
Kimberly, her
husband and their cat live in Michigan.
Facebook: facebook.com/
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