Undercover in My First Love’s Arms

Rumor had it that the only people who ever left the Blackgate Pit were dead ones.

The prison had been converted from an underground bunker.Damp air mingled with the sickening stench of sweat.

The prisoners pounded on the octagonal cage,cheering and screaming,"Reaper!Reaper!Reaper!"

This was the prison's only entertainment:a fight to the death in the cage.

Prisoners placed bets,and whoever survived took the whole pot.

Shane Mercer stood bare-chested,every muscle taut,the Reaper tattoo on his back slick and gleaming with sweat.

For five years,he had been known as Reaper,the underground fighter.No one cared about his real name.

His opponent lunged at him with a toothbrush sharpened to a point,aiming to kill.

Shane caught the man's wrist and wrenched it outward.

A crisp crack of bone was instantly drowned out by a scream.

The toothbrush slipped from the man's grip.Shane caught it and pressed it against the prisoner's stomach.

"Who sent you?"

For five years,every opponent he had faced had been an assassin.

Without exception.

Pain brought cold sweat to the prisoner's face,but he gritted his teeth and held out."I'm here for the money!"

"The pot,or the price on my head?"

The prisoner clenched his jaw and still said nothing.

The toothbrush sank into the man's abdomen.Blood gushed out,soaking his prison uniform and dripping down the front.

"Talk!"

Shane pushed the toothbrush in another inch.

The prisoner's gaze slid past Shane to the monitoring room on the second floor.

Again.

Every assassin had looked that way as he lay dying.For five years,it had never changed.

At that very moment,Captain Vance was sitting in that monitoring room.

Was he watching Shane kill,or keeping an eye on the assassins?

"Was it really Julian Sterling who sent you to kill me?"Shane lowered his voice."Or is someone using Julian's name to turn me against him for good?"

The prisoner coughed up blood and sneered."Of course it was Mr.Sterling..."

Five years ago,before the ship exploded on the Mississippi River,Shane had put Richard Sterling and Julian onto separate lifeboats.

Before he lost consciousness,father and son had both been safe.

Yet Richard was dead,and Julian was paralyzed.

What the hell had happened?

The prisoner's hoarse shout cut through his thoughts."You bit the hand that fed you!Mr.Sterling wishes he could skin you alive with his own hands!"

Shane let out a cold laugh and rammed the toothbrush home.Blood sprayed across his face.

He didn't even blink,letting the prisoner convulse and collapse into a pool of blood.

He turned to the guard."Split the pot!"

The next second,the transparent sphere hanging above the cage split open.

Cash rained down into the blood pooling on the floor.

The prisoners swarmed in,clawing and punching at one another over the money.

Shane walked away over the bloodstained bills,and a guard led him into the monitoring room.

The moment the door shut,he was slammed against the wall,his back hitting the concrete with a dull thud.

Shane saw his own reflection in Patrick Vance's eyes.

Battered,desperate,vicious...a cornered beast in chains.

"The five-year deal is up.I'm free to go!"

Heat rose from Shane's body.A bead of sweat slid down his jaw,over his Adam's apple,and pooled in the hollow of his collarbone.

Patrick caught it on his fingertip and lifted it to his nose,breathing in salt and sandalwood.

Shane clenched his jaw and turned his face away.

His resistance provoked Patrick into raising his voice."Five years ago,I saved you!"

"For five years,I kept you alive,and now you think you can just walk away?What do you take me for?What do you think this place is?"

Shane seized his collar and pulled him close."You're going back on your word?"

Patrick looked at him,his breathing slightly uneven."Walk out of here with that face,and you won't live past tonight."

Shane's voice was cold."That's my business."

"If you listen to me,I'll have someone give you a new face and a new voice.Even if Julian were standing right in front of you,he wouldn't recognize you."

"What's in this for you?"

"I want you to go undercover at Julian's side and gather evidence of the Sterling family's crimes."

"You saved my life,but I'm not your puppet!"

With that,Shane let go.

Thinking Shane was about to leave,Patrick pressed a hand to his chest."Someone in the Sterling family has ordered a shipment of weapons from overseas.Three months from now,on the anniversary of Richard's death,they plan to send Julian to join his dead father.Can you bear to let someone else kill him?"

Shane instinctively gripped the saint medallion on his chest.

When Julian was eighteen,he spent a whole night kneeling in prayer at St.Louis Cathedral in New Orleans.He came away with two blessed medallions,but his legs were too numb for him to stand.

Shane carried him out of the cathedral.Julian kept one medallion and hung the other around Shane's neck.

He rose on his toes and kissed the corner of Shane's mouth,his fingertips brushing Shane's cheek,cool to the touch.

Julian's ears burned red,but his tone was fierce."Don't take it off unless I say so."

Shane still remembered that soft,warm touch.

He still didn't know what had happened after the explosion,or who had been sending assassins after him all these years.

Until he found out the truth,Julian couldn't die!

After a moment,Shane looked up at Patrick."I'll help you.But I have one condition..."

Before he could finish,he caught a glint of metal near his neck.

Numbness spread through him,and his body began to buckle.

"What did you do to me?"

Patrick caught him and pulled him into his arms."Be good and get some sleep.When you wake up,Shane,the Sterling family's adopted son,will be'dead.'"

Three months later.

Layer after layer of gauze fell away,and a stranger's face appeared in the mirror.

Deep-set eyes,a high nose bridge,hard,rugged features.

Shane pulled off the hospital gown.The old scars were gone.Not a trace of his past remained.

Patrick draped a shirt around his shoulders from behind,slipping his arms around him as he did."Remember.You're Reaper,the fighter everyone on the underground circuit fears.Shane,the Sterling family's adopted son,is dead."

Shane rolled his shoulders to shake him off and pulled the shirt on himself."What's going on with the Sterling family now?"

Patrick stepped in front of him and fastened the buttons one by one."Uncle Conrad controls the drug trade.Aunt Laura has the clubs.But the arms trade is the family's lifeblood,and they both want to wrest it from Julian."

Shane looked up."You're saying they both want to replace Julian?"

"Julian's turning his father's memorial into a trap."Patrick paused,studying his face."Which of them do you think will make it out alive?"

The memorial was today!

Shane grabbed his motorcycle jacket and turned to Patrick."Where's the file I asked for?"

Patrick picked up a folder from the coffee table and tossed it to him."The case file on the explosion five years ago.The names of the hitmen sent after you.It's all in there."

Shane caught it and leafed through.His release papers and a photo slipped out.

The man in the photo sat in a wheelchair,pale and aloof.

Years had passed since he'd last seen Julian.He was so much thinner now.

The top two buttons of his black shirt were undone,revealing the pale skin of his neck.A dark red cord lay just above his collarbone.

Ten years had faded the cords to dark red.Neither of them had replaced his.

In prison,Shane hadn't had a chance to change his.But Julian?Had he simply chosen not to,or couldn't he bear to let it go?

Shane's fingers slowly tightened around the photo.Patrick tipped his chin up.

He leaned in close,his breath brushing Shane's face."The memorial starts in two hours.If you leave now,Julian might just make it out alive."

Shane knocked Patrick's hand away,tucked the file into the lining of his jacket,and strode out.

Patrick studied the reddened back of his hand,then lowered his head to breathe in the sandalwood scent that lingered there.

Rain poured down in sheets.

With the memorial starting in two hours,Shane took a shortcut.

The motorcycle cut through narrow,rain-slick streets,sending up sprays of water.

Outside the Sterling family memorial hall,a brass band blared and the crowd packed in shoulder to shoulder.Wreaths of white chrysanthemums lined both sides of the street.

The downpour stripped petals from the wreaths until the street seemed carpeted in white.

Julian approached the memorial hall in his wheelchair.

Suddenly the wheelchair jolted to a stop,and momentum threw him forward.He caught the armrest just in time to keep from pitching onto the ground.

Everything fell unnaturally silent.Through the rain,Julian could hear his own heartbeat.

Something was wrong!

He scanned the wreaths and spotted black gun barrels through the gaps.

"Ambush!"

Bang!

The gunshot drowned out his shout.A bullet grazed his cheek and left a line of blood.

His men closed around him,forming a human shield as they tried to get him to the car.But a wheel had wedged in a gap between the paving stones.The chair wouldn't move.

Gunfire rang out from every direction.His men fell one after another,and the blood pooled at Julian's feet,staining the petals red.

Only Sonny Pruitt was left beside him,still holding the umbrella.

Julian quietly palmed a remote detonator.

Let's see whether it's Uncle Conrad or Aunt Laura who made the move!

The gunfire stopped abruptly.

Julian's uncle,Conrad Sterling,walked up with a cigar between his fingers and an umbrella over his head."Julian,give up your seat as head of the family and I'll spare your life."

Julian's lips curved faintly."Uncle Conrad,before I agree,answer me one question."

Certain he had already won,Conrad didn't mind sparing a few minutes.

He took a pull on his cigar."Go ahead."

Julian brushed rain from his sleeve."The family code bars you from the family plot when you die.Have you picked somewhere else to be buried?"

Conrad's chest heaved with rage.He threw down his cigar,snatched a gun from one of his men,and aimed it at Julian."You're about to die and you're still putting on airs!"

"You should've died five years ago!Now I'll send you down myself,so you can go keep your old man company!"

Conrad's finger moved to the trigger.Julian's hand moved to the detonator.

VRRRM!

A black shape tore through the crowd and was in front of them in the blink of an eye.

The motorcycle dropped into a low drift,sweeping sideways into Conrad and several of his men.They hit the ground,their guns flying.

Shane caught a falling gun and fired.Several thugs took bullets between the eyes before Conrad's men hauled him up and dragged him aside.

Seizing the opening,Shane flipped up his visor,bent low,and caught Julian around the waist.With one arm,he lifted him onto the bike in front of him.

Shane put his lips close to Julian's ear."Hold on tight,Mr.Sterling!"

Julian instinctively threw his arms around his neck.A stranger's face was right in front of him.

The faint scent of sandalwood,those eyes...

Both were so much like Shane.

The heat of his body made Julian's heart skip a beat.His voice came out hoarse."Who are you?"

"Remember the name.Reaper.I just saved your life."

Reaper's voice was low and rough.

Surgery on his vocal cords had stripped the richness from his voice,leaving a low rasp like coarse sandpaper.

The man had arrived at exactly the right moment,as if he had known Julian would be ambushed.

Julian's upturned eyes narrowed."Reaper,who sent you?"

Reaper was about to answer when,out of the corner of his eye,he caught Conrad shaking off his men and getting to his feet.

He raised his arm and fired.

The bullet struck Conrad's knee,and he dropped to the ground with a thud.

Clutching the wound,Conrad roared,"Kill them!Leave no one alive!Whoever kills Julian gets fifty million dollars!"

Reaper took aim at Conrad again,but Conrad's men already had their guns trained on Julian.

He pulled Julian tight against his chest and squeezed the trigger first,taking out the first thug to charge in.

Sonny drew both guns and opened fire,pinning down the men behind them."Get Mr.Sterling out of here!"he shouted.

Reaper twisted the throttle.The heavy bike roared,plowed through the crowd,and sped toward the end of the street through a hail of bullets.

"After them!Don't let them get away!"Furious,Conrad raised his gun and took aim.

Steering one-handed,Reaper twisted around and fired.

Bang!Bang!

The two shots rang out at the same time.

Conrad took a bullet in the chest,coughed up blood,and collapsed.

Reaper's shoulder jerked hard,and warm blood splattered across Julian's face.

Blood rolled down Julian's cheek.His gaze wavered."You've been shot!"

Reaper glanced down and sped up again."It's nothing.Just a mosquito bite."

Behind them,Conrad's thugs,some in cars and some on motorcycles,were about to make it out of the Old Quarter.

Murder flared in Julian's eyes.He lifted his hand and pressed the detonator.

Boom!Boom!Boom!

One deafening blast followed another.A wave of burning heat surged from behind,scorching Julian's face red.

The firelight lit up Julian's smile.

It was bewitching,enough to make a person's scalp prickle.

In the rearview mirror,flames engulfed both sides of the street through the Old Quarter,leaving the center clear.

Something didn't add up,but Reaper's worry overrode the thought."Were you planning to die with them?"

If he hadn't come,Julian would have died here!

Throwing his life away over a traitor like Conrad.Was he insane?

"Vertical blast.The lateral spread is under ten feet."Julian leaned against his chest and let out a contented sigh."The Old Quarter's main road is thirty feet wide.A ten-foot safe zone is plenty!"

"You chose the spot where your wheelchair got stuck!"Reaper's mouth curved in a self-mocking smile."Looks like you didn't need saving after all.I'll get you somewhere safe,then I'm leaving."

Before he had finished speaking,cold steel flashed.

A throwing knife pressed against his carotid artery.Julian caught the back of his neck with his other hand."You think you can come and go as you please?What do you take me for?"

Reaper's Adam's apple bobbed."What do you want?"

"We'll talk when we get there."

Half an hour later,the heavy bike rolled into an estate screened by trees on the banks of the Mississippi.

Richard Sterling had given it to Shane for his eighteenth birthday.

He never would have imagined that Julian would turn this place into a safe house.

Once the bike came to a stop,Julian wrapped both arms around Reaper's neck."Carry me inside."

Even after he was settled in his wheelchair,Julian still didn't let go.

"Mr.Sterling,I should go,"Reaper said quietly.

Julian crooked a finger at someone behind him,and a tall subordinate hurried over.

Reaper assumed Julian was going to have the man see him out.

Instead,a sharp pain exploded at the back of his neck.

Everything went black,and Reaper fell stiffly into Julian's arms.

Before he lost consciousness,he stared straight at Julian.

All he saw was Julian's cryptic smile.

***

When Reaper woke again,he found himself lying shirtless in bed,his left shoulder wrapped in gauze and an IV running into his right hand.

The wound had already been treated.

His initials were engraved on the back of the saint medallion.Good thing he'd removed it beforehand,or his cover would have been blown before the job even began.

A breeze lifted the sheer curtain.As it settled,Julian's expressionless face came into view.

He wore silk pajamas,the collar slightly open,showing pale,delicate skin.

Reaper's heart leapt,and he instinctively looked away.

Julian caught his jaw and forced him to meet his eyes."You have two choices.Feed the alligators in the Mississippi,or stay by my side."

Of course Reaper would choose to stay.

Before he could answer,Julian pressed a finger to Reaper's lips.

Julian leaned down,his breath fanning across Reaper's face."Before you give me your answer,answer my questions."

"Go ahead."

Julian's touch was cool,yet it made Reaper's heart race and his throat go dry.

The murderous look in Julian's eyes brought him sharply back to his senses.

He was Reaper.

To Julian,he was a stranger,someone not to be trusted.

"Why did you save me?And where did you hear that I'd be ambushed?"

Julian pinched his wound,slowly pressing harder.

Blood soaked through the gauze.Reaper gritted his teeth and let out a muffled grunt."I saved your life,and this is how you repay me?!"

"Convince me,or you die."

Julian kept pressing down,and the blood spread across the gauze.

Reaper gritted his teeth."Your father supported the orphanage where I grew up.I owe him my life."

"Which orphanage?"

"St.Mary's Orphanage."

He,Patrick,and the original Reaper had all lived at that orphanage.

The original Reaper had been adopted at six and hadn't left behind a single photo.

He and the original Reaper were about the same age.As long as the real one never showed up,the fake was safe.

"Your father's gone.Protecting you is how I repay him."

Before he had finished,Julian released the wound and wiped away the blood with a tissue.

He hadn't answered the second question.Why didn't Julian ask?

While Reaper puzzled over it,Julian took a file from the nightstand and slapped it against his chest.

It was Reaper's file.

Reaper frowned."You already looked into me.Why ask?"

"A file can be forged.A man can pretend to be someone else.But..."

Julian pressed one hand against his abs and reached across him with the other,peeling back a corner of the tape on the back of his right hand.

Beside the needle,against the pulse point near his wrist,lay a card the size of a SIM card.

"A miniature lie detector.If you lie,it sounds an alarm."

Reaper's gaze darkened."And then you kill me."

"But it didn't go off."

Reaper shot upright and clamped a hand around Julian's throat.

With the slightest pull,Julian fell against his chest.

Julian braced a hand on his chest and tipped his head back to look at him.

If Reaper lowered his head,their noses would touch.

The smell of blood mingled with sandalwood.

The scent was strangely familiar,and Julian felt a little dazed.

Reaper's face stayed blank."It's just you and me in here."

"If I'd wanted to,I could have snapped your neck just now.You sure you can kill me?"

Short of breath,Julian flushed.He glanced toward the IV bag.

"What if there's poison in that?"

Reaper's pupils contracted.He let go of Julian at once and reached for the needle.

Julian leaned into him,using his weight to push Reaper back onto the bed,and pinned his hand."Don't move.You'll make blood back up into the line."

With Julian pressed into his arms,Reaper couldn't bring himself to push him away.That did nothing to quell his anger.

"If you want to kill me,kill me.Why play games?"

Reaper pried his hand off,yanked out the needle,tipped his head back,and let a drop of the fluid fall into his mouth.

Salty!

"Saline!"

Reaper paused,the corners of his eyes reddening with anger."If you'd really used poison,one drop would've been enough.Why bother with a whole bag?Why play me like that?"

"It was a test!"With that,Julian laughed out loud.

Reaper turned away in irritation,hiding how much it hurt to see Julian like this.

The Julian he remembered had seemed aloof in public.In private,his eyes lit up,and when he smiled,he seemed to glow.

Now he was cold-blooded and paranoid,like a madman!

Julian pressed a cotton swab to the bleeding puncture."Without you,Conrad's bullet would've gone straight through my lung.Why would I poison you?"

"Still,even if you'd gotten me to a hospital in time,I wouldn't have survived."

Reaper ground his teeth."But if I'd failed your test,you'd still have killed me."

Julian tipped his chin up."Aren't you curious why even a hospital couldn't save me?Or...do you know something?"

Reaper froze for a beat.

Years ago,the Sterlings had taken him in because he and Julian both had Rh-negative blood.

If anything happened to Julian,Shane was there to keep him alive.His own personal blood bag.

He'd reacted far too calmly just now.A stranger shouldn't have known any of this.

Reaper feigned disdain."Shot through the lung?Who survives that?"

Julian leaned close to his ear."Because I'm Rh-negative.You and I are the only two left in New Orleans with that blood type."

A jolt ran through him.

So that was why Patrick had put the Reaper tattoo on his back five years ago and made him use the name.

So Patrick had known all along that the real Reaper was Rh-negative too!

But why would Julian say they were the only two left in all of New Orleans with Rh-negative blood?Could it be...

"Be my personal bodyguard.From today on,you don't leave my sight."

The demand cut through his thoughts.Reaper turned toward Julian's voice,and his lips brushed the corner of Julian's mouth.

Their breath warmed each other's faces.Neither pulled away.

Reaper looked at him,his expression complicated."You don't want a bodyguard.You want a blood bag."

"You can refuse."Julian pulled out a bank card and tossed it in his face."Conrad offered fifty million dollars for my life.I'll give you fifty million as a thank-you.Take it and get out."

With that,he braced his hands on the bed and shifted himself toward the wheelchair.

Reaper jumped off the bed,scooped Julian up,and gently set him in the wheelchair.

Bracing his hands on the wheelchair's armrests,Reaper handed back the card."Fifty million won't cover it,Mr.Sterling.If I'm going to keep you alive,I expect more in return."

Julian pressed his fingers against Reaper's shoulder,and Reaper took the hint and dropped to one knee.

"How much do you want?"

Reaper pressed his lips together."I don't want money.I just want to get someone into the Sterling family's private medical center."

"Why do you care so much about the Mother Superior of St.Mary's?"

Reaper hesitated."I was always ill as a kid.I only survived because she looked after me."

At the orphanage,both he and the real Reaper had received special care from the Mother Superior.

Even if Julian checked,the story would hold up.

Better to give Julian something to hold over him than endure endless tests.It would help him secure his place sooner.

"She has ALS.The drug your medical center developed can slow its progression.So...I paid for information on the black market.When I learned Uncle Conrad planned to attack you today,I came running."

Julian hadn't pressed him,yet the man had answered his second question and offered up a vulnerability of his own.

There was more to this man than met the eye!

Julian peeled off the lie-detector card and tossed it into the trash."I'll have someone take her to the medical center and put the best medical team in charge of her care."

Reaper bowed his head."Thank you,Mr.Sterling."

"There's a small room off the master bedroom.You'll move in tonight."

"Yes,sir."

Julian turned his wheelchair and left.

Only once he was gone did Reaper dig the lie-detector card out of the trash.

The instant he got a good look at it,he nearly ground his back teeth to dust.

It was a SIM card!

It wasn't Patrick's clever planning or his own nerve that had gotten him through the test.No...

Julian had played him again!

***

By midnight,wind drove sheets of rain against the glass.The air smelled damp and faintly of the river.

The house was so well soundproofed that he couldn't hear the rain.

The crash from the master bedroom rang out all the more sharply.

Reaper sprang out of bed and,without stopping to pull on a shirt,grabbed his gun and kicked open the master bedroom door.

A scatter of broken glass lay in front of the bed,and a large wet stain spread across the carpet.

The dim yellow glow of the bedside lamp fell across Julian's face.

It was pale and slick with sweat.

He was curled up under the covers,both hands clutching the edge of the comforter so hard his fingers left deep creases in the silk.

The moment their eyes met,he raised a gun."Get out!"

Reaper tucked his own gun into the back of his waistband,walked straight to the bed,and yanked back the covers.

Julian's legs were spasming uncontrollably.

Documents lay scattered beside the pillow.One title was visible beneath the others:Devil's Bend Waterfront Development Proposal.

The ship that exploded five years ago had sunk at Devil's Bend.

The currents there were treacherous,and in all these years the police had never raised the wreck.

Julian had leased the site to investigate the explosion!

Before Reaper could think further,a gun muzzle pressed to his forehead.

"Get out,or I'll shoot you dead!"

Reaper clamped one hand around Julian's ankle and,with the other,pressed hard on a pressure point on the sole of his foot.

Pain shot up from Julian's foot,raising goosebumps all over his body.

He slapped Reaper hard enough to snap his head to the side.

"Did I say you could touch me?"

A bead of blood welled at the corner of Reaper's mouth and slowly rolled down.

Reaper lowered his head and wiped the blood away with gauze."If you can feel pain,there's still a chance of treating it."

He sat on the edge of the bed,rested Julian's feet across his thighs,and began massaging upward from his ankles,inch by inch.

"You're an underground fighter.What would you know!"

Julian pressed on Reaper's wound,trying to make him stop.

Blood seeped through again.

Reaper didn't flinch."A SIM card for a lie detector.Is playing me that much fun,Mr.Sterling?"

"So you're using this to get even?"

Reaper said nothing.He only pressed harder.

The massage forced a response from nerves that retained only a trace of sensation.Julian arched in pain,biting his lip to stay silent.

But his ragged breathing and heaving chest gave him away.

"How does it feel,Mr.Sterling,having to take it while I settle the score?"

Julian lunged and bit down hard on his shoulder.

Already drained by the pain,Julian gradually lost his grip,leaving only a damp ring on Reaper's skin.

The bitten spot burned faintly.Reaper's heart hammered.

Julian slumped against Reaper's shoulder,his breathing even.He seemed to have fallen asleep.

His pajama top hung open,and his hair was plastered wet against his face.

Worried Julian would be uncomfortable,Reaper supported the back of his head and carefully settled him in the bathtub.

Water began to trickle,and Julian slowly opened his eyes.

"Call me when you're done,Mr.Sterling."Reaper started to rise.

At that moment,the door swung open and a figure slipped inside.

Julian raised his hand and fired.

The shot cracked beside Reaper's ear.