Natural Selection Chapter 10

A/N: Thanks you for your reviews and constructive criticism, I appreciate both greatly. In response to a couple of those reviews, I am going to clarify a few points. 1) While I do not have the story written yet, I do have an outline that goes from beginning to end so I already know exactly what will happen at the end. 2) I always intended for there to be lots of twists and turns character wise, if not plot wise in this story, so characters may not always act as expected in each chapter. 3) I know Lissa seems to be handling everything way too well right now, but reality will set in soon for her in a major way. Not sure exactly what chapter it will happen in, but I think those of you who find Lissa to be too complacent or blasé will be a little more satisfied. 4)No relationship is without it's problems and no relationship with Victor Creed is ever going to be normal. J

This all being said, I find everyone's reviews extremely gratifying and helpful. Helpful because not only do they encourage me to keep going with the story, they also help me to see the characters and the story line from a reader's perspective. You are all awesome for reviewing!

Lissa woke up slowly. She turned over in her bed expecting to find Victor. He wasn't there. Confused, she sat up and looked around the bedroom. There were still books and knick knacks everywhere, so obviously last night had happened. Unless of course, she had had some sort of psychotic break with reality. What did it say about the situation that she almost wished that were the case? She could easily imagine what her friend and employee Carol would say. A man stalks you, breaks into your house, confesses a multitude of heinous deeds and you invite him for a nap? What the hell were you thinking? She cringed as she thought about it. Some of it realistically, she could blame on shock, but the rest? She sighed. She knew where the rest had come from, she just wondered if Victor did. How much did that dossier he had on her cover?

A sudden urge for coffee to help clear the cobwebs from her brain propelled her into the kitchen. She had expected to find Victor in there, or the living room, but he was in neither place. Instead of a dangerous, yet slightly reformed, giant of a man, she found a note on her kitchen table.

Lissa,

I know I said I wouldn't leave until we reached some sort of resolution, but Shield called. I have an emergency assignment. I will be incommunicado for the duration of the operation, but I will contact you as soon as I return.

Yours,

V.

She stared at the note. She read it three more times, hoping for some insight into this man who had pushed his way into her life. In a way she was relieved to not have to deal with him right away, but in another, she was annoyed and anxious. He would contact her? Did that mean a phone call? A meeting on neutral ground? Was he going to just show up at her house uninvited again? She sighed. She knew that some of this mess was her fault. She should have either kicked him out or made him sleep on the couch last night. Letting him into her bed had sent him a mixed message, one she didn't really intend to send.

She turned on her coffee maker and set about making herself something to eat. It was way past breakfast time, but she was one of those people who could eat breakfast at any hour of the day. She decided on eggs, bacon and whole grain toast . The smell of the bacon cooking made her stomach growl and she realized that she hadn't eaten in about sixteen hours. No wonder she was so hungry!

While she cooked, she thought about everything Victor had told her. She hadn't really had time to process it while he was there. He had said he would answer any questions she had, but honestly, most of what he had told her hadn't really sunk in. Then all the adrenaline from their fight in the bedroom had worn off and she'd been exhausted. She knew her seemingly easy compliance last night was going to cause problems later. Victor Creed was in for a rude awakening if he thought she was going to jump into some sort of relationship with him. She had been in exactly four romantic relationships in her life, and three of them had ended amicably. The one that hadn't ended amicably was the reason she hadn't dated anyone for a while. Her last boyfriend, who had proposed to her, had ended up proving to be a cheating lying asshole who thought that once they were married, Lissa would be his sugar mama, allowing him to basically lay around the apartment doing nothing, while she ran the store. She had found out by accident that he had been lying about looking for a job after he had been "let go" from the car dealership he worked for. It was shortly after that that she found out the reason he had been fired was because he had slept with his boss's daughter. The worst part of it all for her had been being lied to. She hated deception in any form. Not that she had been thrilled to find out he had cheated, but for her, the lying had hurt more. She had second guessed herself for months afterward. She had almost become a little paranoid about the world around her, expecting everyone to try and deceive her. If some one she lived with could lie to her consistently and she didn't know, then couldn't anyone? It had taken months to get back to some semblance of normal and now this. This definitely wasn't normal. What was she supposed to do anyway, call the police? He worked for Shield for God's sake! Shield was a part of homeland security, in point of fact they trumped homeland security and her local police department was supposed to do what,? Arrest him? Could they even do that? Did they have the authority? And even if they did, would Victor actually let them? Would she be consigning someone who had vowed to protect and serve to a bloody end? She sighed and rubbed her temples. This whole situation was insane.

Lissa was not a selfish person by nature, but she wasn't a martyr either. She had learned to use her wits to survive and take care of herself early on. She'd had to. She knew she would do whatever it took to try and survive. Some people might think her cowardly because of that, but she knew differently. As long as you were alive, there was hope that your situation could change. She was proof of that.

Victor had been beyond pissed when his vibrating cell phone had woken him. When he had seen that the call was from his handler at Shield, he was even more angry. He realized his anger wasn't at all rational. Shield was his employer, if they were calling him it was for business reasons, not to shoot the shit.

Now he was on an emergency extraction operation. Some idiot kids had wandered into the wrong night club in Israel and had been recognized as having high profile parents. Normally, negotiations would take place and ransoms would be paid and that would be the end of it. The problem was that the kids had been taken by some Taliban jack offs who had been planning to blow up the night club to make some sort of statement when they had seen the American college students and changed their plans. He wondered what sort of statement the terrorists had thought they were making by blowing up the Israeli discothèque. Disco sucks? And seriously, with the current situation in the middle east, why the hell would anyone jaunt off to Israel right now? Sure, it was a beautiful country, and the people were mostly friendly, but they were currently involved in a billion year war with their neighbors.

The situation was complicated by the fact that two of the kid's parents were in positions of power in Washington. They had also been recently photographed with their families, hence the terrorists recognizing the most likely overly entitled youths. The terrorists weren't asking for money either. They wanted to trade the kids for some of their people. Obviously, that wasn't going to happen. The United States had a policy of not negotiating with terrorists, regardless of the reason.

Shield had been notified of the situation twelve hours ago. They had called him eight hours ago and he and a team of six had been deployed five hours ago. The plan sounded simple enough, He and the rest of his team were going to be dropped off roughly two miles from the Gaza strip. Their contact, who was with Israeli intelligence, had information on where the terrorists and the kids were believed to be holed up. Kids. He kept calling them kids, but the oldest was twenty one. Back when he was a kid the average twenty one year old was already married with kids and established in some sort of job. Now though, it seemed like childhood was extended for anyone who didn't choose some sort of military or public service position at eighteen. He sighed to himself about the general unfairness and stupidity of the world.

He had tried to refuse this mission, but Fury had said he was the only one he trusted to get the job done. The mission had two objectives: retrieve the hostages and eliminate the terrorists. Fury did not want a single one of them left alive once the rescue portion was taken care of.

The timing was horrible though. He had been sleeping next to her, completely relaxed for the first time in forever. Her scent had surrounded him and he had felt completely calm and at peace. He knew it was too good to be true, He knew that when he got back, things weren't going to be easy. She was going to have time to think about all of the things he had told her. She would come to the same conclusion that he had: He was not a good man. In point of fact, he was the opposite. He was a scary motherfucker who had no right to try and involve himself in her life. Unfortunately for her, he couldn't bring himself to care about that. He needed her. He needed her like he had never needed any other woman in his long life. He knew that inflicting his will and himself on her was wrong, but he didn't have a choice. Right or wrong, now that he had met her, now that he had lain beside her, he couldn't be without her. He knew Sean would be completely disappointed in him for discounting Lissa's feelings and hell, her constitutional rights for that matter, but there was only some much Victor could do to fight against the will of the beast inside of him. He didn't know what would happen if someone tried to separate him from Lissa, but her knew it wouldn't be good. The last thing he wanted was to hurt her, or to see that look of horror he had seen on so many other people's faces. He could only hope that she would eventually choose to be with him because he honestly wasn't sure if he was strong enough to tell the beast to fuck off, and let her go.

She had finished eating and was absentmindedly cleaning up her kitchen when her phone rang. Her heart thumped in her chest. It couldn't be him already, could it? Just calm down, she told herself. Just be calm and firm. Try to sound like you're in control even if you're not. She took a deep breath and answered her phone.

"Hello?"

"Lissa, it's Carol. Have you seen the news today?"

She frowned. "No, why?"

"Turn to channel seven," Carol ordered.

Lissa rushed into the living room, quickly turned on the television and turned to the proper channel.

The on scene reporter had a grave expression on her face as she said, "This is Porter Prescott reporting from outside Berkeley General Hospital, where two teenagers have just been rushed here from a slumber party. They were apparently experimenting with a new designer drug called Bath Salts, and either had an extremely adverse reaction, or overdosed. While the doctors can't release any information, one of the teen's parents has revealed that at least one of them is in critical condition. "

Lissa gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. She barely heard the reporters next words.

" The city council had been informed of a possible problem earlier this month by a concerned small business owner, but had been unable to take steps because there was no current legislation regarding Bath Salts. There will be an emergency city council meeting tomorrow to discuss what measures can be taken to protect the community from this threat. In the meantime, teenagers are urged not to try this dangerous product with the very misleading name. Regardless of what it says on the label, there is nothing natural about this product. Parents and teenagers are both urged to visit both and bath_salt_ for a list of the dangerous ingredients and their effects."

This had been Lissa's worst fear. Her heart went out to the parents to the parents of both teens.

"Carol," she said shakily." Close up early. I don't want anyone near that shop next door. Who knows what is going on there? None of the other businesses are open, just us and New World Organics. If we're closed, maybe less people will hang around. Then those pricks will have less chances to try and hand out free samples of their poison to kids."

"Okay Lissa," Carol said. "Call me if you need anything."

"I will Carol, thanks for calling me and letting me know about this."

Lissa hung up the phone, feeling the beginnings of a killer migraine. Her life had been wonderfully drama free for months, and now this. She immediately chastised herself for having such selfish thoughts. Yeah, the situation with Victor affected her personally, but the situation with the Bath Salts, while annoying wasn't really about her.

She could feel the anger building inside of her. She was always angriest when she felt powerless to do anything. She couldn't stop them from selling drugs to children. She couldn't stop Victor from stalking her, and while he said he wouldn't force her, she knew first hand what monsters men could be. Her stomach turned and clenched. She pushed the memories away. There was no point in making herself sick. She took slow deep breaths. She wasn't completely powerless, she told herself. She had options. She just had to come up with a workable plan.

If she did end up being his mate or whatever, it wouldn't be the worst fate. As she thought that, she realized that she was still attracted to him. Even with all he had done, and all she knew he was still capable of doing, she still felt a flash of heat when she remembered him in his towel. Even more so when she thought about what was underneath that towel. It doesn't matter, she thought, I am not lead by my libido. Maybe that could become her new mantra.