Marie Harte - Gunnar's Game

If she believed half the things both men and women said to her, Ava had a breathtaking beauty, a figure that put swimsuit models to shame, and an astonishing capacity to render the male of the species speechless with a smile.

Funny, but none of her positive attributes seemed to make an impact on her absent, stubborn-as-hell mate.

She stomped from the kitchen, where Olivia and Sheridan, Jules's new mate, soon-to-be bride, and expectant mother, were laughing at something her grandmother said. Sure, the younger women could afford to be happy. They were mated, pregnant, and looking forward to their men returning today.

Lately, Ava had only to meet Gunnar's gaze to send the man racing away in a panic. “Tough guy, my ass,” she muttered as she strode down the hall toward her own office.

“Yo, Ava, wait up.” Keegan Price, one of the dozen psychics now assigned to the protection detail working the house, called out to her.

Ava swore under her breath as she slowed down and turned. Keegan wasn't a bad guy. Hell, a few years ago, they'd even dated once or twice. It wasn't his fault he reminded her too much of the man currently avoiding her. Keegan had height, brawn, intelligence, and the psychic wherewithal to tear a body apart with nothing more than his mind. Her grandmother's new favorite secret weapon. Ava thought Alicia might like Keegan almost as much as she liked the Circs. What that really meant, she had no idea, nor did she want to know.

She sighed. “Yes?”

“Now, honey, don't be like that.” Keegan grinned, and she imagined him tipping up a cowboy hat if he'd been allowed to wear one in the house. Regulations stipulated that the guards all wear a standard uniform of black boots, trousers, and black shirts. As if Ava or the others would have a hard time distinguishing their new bodyguards from the Circs that lived in the mansion.

“What do you want, Keegan? I have things to do.” His good-old-boy grin faded. “You okay?”

She wished he would stop being nice. Ava didn't do well with nice, which was probably why she and Mr. Avoidance complemented each other so well. “No, I'm not.

I have to deal with the fallout from the Keisers. Remember them? The husband-and-wife handyman and housekeeper who tried to kill Morgan over two weeks ago?”

“Yeah, about that—”

“I have several meetings between Mrs. Sharpe, Mr. Anderson, and a few House Committee lackeys in DC to coordinate.”

“Right, but—”

“And the Circs are due home today, so we need someone to cook, clean up around here, and make sense of all this housekeeping shit.” She glared when his eyes narrowed. “So if you're here to whine about the new tasks set before your team, don't bother.”

He opened his mouth and closed it with a snap. “Fuck.” He swore more under his breath as he turned on his heel and walked away. In his wake, a vase on a nearby table shattered, dribbling water, flowers, and pottery shards to the floor.

Terrific. One more mess for his boys to clean up.

Ava understood his plight but didn't have time to care. His men had been assigned to Circ central to protect the Circs and their mates from the outside threat intent on killing and/or using them for further Circ experiments. Unfortunately, until Ava found a replacement for the Keisers, Keegan's men were currently cooking and working as handymen as well as protecting. Their one trustworthy housekeeper could only keep up with so much.

She hurried to her office before someone else stopped her. Most of the guards Admiral London had assigned them had even tempers, but a few put her on edge.

She could deal with telepaths and empaths. Guarding her thoughts and feelings from others came naturally. But the telekinetics and pyrokinetics took skill to deal with. Men who could move things with their minds or start fires with a thought made powerful enemies. Keegan had a temper but had the self-control to handle himself. She glanced at the vase and amended. He usually had self-control.

Unlike some people I might name . Bright blue eyes set in an unforgiving face stared back at her in memory, and she sighed, more than missing Gunnar, that arrogant idiot.

Once inside her office, Ava moved immediately to her desk chair and began working. For an hour, she made appointments, cancelled meetings, and coordinated with Mr. Robert Anderson, Alicia's new favorite contact in the Pentagon. Lately they'd been meeting weekly. What her grandmother and Anderson talked about was anyone's guess, but Ava had too much to concentrate on in this place to worry about the grand scheme of things.

Schemes were why they paid her grandmother the big bucks.

She snorted. If the men up north knew just who they were talking to, they'd shit a brick. Alicia might look like a professional woman in designer business suits and pearls, but the older woman could kick serious ass any day of the week.

Knowing that helped keep Ava's temper in check, because every time she thought about all she'd endured waiting for Gunnar to catch up to her, she wanted to pound something. She knew it was unfair to blame Olivia or Sheridan for having slept with him. Hell, the entire Circ team had fucked Gunnar. Ava should have been incensed, and she was…at herself. If she'd claimed him all those months ago, she could have spared herself the jealousy. But she hadn't, and her mate had needed Circ contact. Who was she to blame him for seeking ease in the Circs who loved and accepted him? Oddly enough, she didn't begrudge Gunnar the time he spent with his team. It was the intimacy he'd shared with the females that bugged the crap out of her.

Alicia Sharpe, you seriously owe me for this.

“Ava, dear, you have work to do. Focus on today, and tomorrow will come.”

“Dammit.” Ava hadn't intended for her grandmother to hear that. Trust the old woman to know every damned thing that happened in this place.

Ava tried to throw herself back into work, but after another twenty minutes, she gave up. She couldn't concentrate past Frederik Gunnar Tersch. The biggest pain in her ass she'd ever met, and the only man she wanted more than life itself.

Tall where she was short, fair where she was dark, his contrasts fascinated her. He was the most powerful Circ she'd ever encountered. Though he and his team had been created by science, Ava and her kind had lived long before the Circe serum came to be.

Her unique abilities made her the perfect mate for Gunnar, if only the stubborn man would stop running from her. She'd thought that revealing herself as a Circ would have relaxed him. Instead, he took her existence as a personal affront.

“Asshole,” she muttered.

Her phone rang, distracting her.

“Yeah?” she answered.

“The men are home.” Mrs. Sharpe disconnected before Ava could say anything else.

Anticipation filled her from head to toe. The men had left to follow a lead on the rogue Circs that had attacked the mansion two weeks prior. Raul LaGarda was their ringleader and an unstable Circ her brother had been investigating. To hear Grayson tell it, Raul wanted money, women, and power, and not necessarily in that order. She wondered if the team had found him and the others.

A sixth sense told her Gunnar had fared well, so she didn't worry about his health. But she couldn't deny how much she wanted to see him again.

She joined the others in the large family room attached to the kitchen. The mansion boasted fourteen thousand square feet. It had the requisite pool, gymnasium, and an assortment of high-class amenities she would never have associated with a navy-run program. The laboratory in the basement had been specially designed for the team, in addition to the state-of-the-art security system they'd recently upgraded.