Dawn Endeavor 5: Grayson's Gamble by Marie Harte Read Free Book Online Page B

a mission, but one of those fucking tests his grandmother loved to throw his way.

    He sighed as the hot water in the shower turned cool. No doubt Bas was soaking away his anger in the other shower, hogging all the hot water. The man might be a few scant years younger, but he seemed worlds more vulnerable. His sense of humor, his forgiving nature, his ability to smile when the shit hit the fan, made him not just a decent partner, but a person Gray actually liked being around—a truth he’d take to his grave.

    The thought of Bas’s smile warmed Gray and alarmed him, because the notion of Bas forever in his life seemed right. As he let the water cleanse him, he couldn’t shake the idea that no matter what he did, he’d never be free of Sebastian Decker.

    * * * *

    Friday afternoon, Ali pulled aside the curtains and watched the sun peer through the green pines and firs surrounding her grandfather’s— her —cabin. Once again she’d routed the scavengers sent to rape and torture her into submission. She glanced down at her scarred and healing arms, wishing she could just end her existence now. But until she took out the head of the labs who’d done this to her, she’d never know peace. Nor would her grandfather.

    She shivered as a sensation her grandfather would have called Ross Intuition crept over her. The knowledge that change was coming settled into her blood and bones. The rogues she expected. But this feeling told her something new approached.

    She glanced at her dwindling supply of ammunition on the nearby counter and sighed. If she wanted to survive the summer, she’d need to find more ammo. But that meant a return to the warehouse. A place that practically seethed with negative energy.

    Granddad Dill had cursed her father up and down, but to no avail. Dan Ross had sold them out. His days in the army had amounted to little, except that his good friend Caleb Trenton had kept in touch after they’d both discharged from the military. Good old Caleb had given him a job, had even let him bring his daughter around after her mother passed. With childcare hard to come by with no money and no job, Dan Ross had been more than willing to do whatever Caleb said. He’d even allowed Caleb to test a special vaccine on his only daughter, his baby girl. She’d been a goner since she’d turned five. She just hadn’t known it then.

    Ten years later, when her father had died and she’d gone to live with her mother’s parents, the shots stopped. But the damage had been done. And then in her early twenties, Trenton and his goons had returned with a court order to take her back to the labs. The first two sessions she’d spent there had been odd but not threatening. Months of tests, physical and mental, had bored her but not harmed her. But the last time, they’d kidnapped her grandfather as well. And they’d done…things…to her. Things she didn’t like to think about too hard, or the rage that made her blood mutate faster grew stronger. Her veins throbbed as the black disease spread to her forearms. The palms of her hands grew darker, and she drew in a deep breath and let it out to relieve the tension.

    Peace. Find it. Own it . She could almost hear Granddad’s voice, and she smiled. Then the knowing came back full force. Danger, a new path, a new life . She’d have to make some choices in the next few days. And those choices would determine everything.

    Tired of all the drama, she dressed, took a nice walk through the woods, and made sure to cover her tracks. She’d seen a few people near the area a few weeks ago. They weren’t like the odd tourist who sometimes wandered too close. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she’d known to steer clear of the big man, and a good thing. He could, impossibly, change his shape. He’d come in many different forms, but in each he smelled the same.

    The others with him called him Jack or boss. She’d wanted him gone, but she’d made sure to secretly unleash her