by Aliyah Burke
Grudgingly she got to her feet and followed Roz. They ended up in the training room. Roz opened the cabinet and pulled out two staffs. Catching the one tossed to her, Aminta kicked off her shoes and walked onto the mat. Roz joined her in moments, barefoot as well.
“Talk,” Roz ordered as she attacked.
Aminta blocked and countered. “We’re not connecting. Something is missing.”
“How so?” Roz deflected her action with ease.
“I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem right. Before he left, he came out into the hangar where I was ripping out the stuff on the confiscated chopper. I know he saw the blood on the floor of it and he got all quiet and serious. Talking about how he’s in the business of saving lives, not taking them. As if that’s all I do.” She launched a flurry of attacks. “It’s not, you know.”
Roz defended. “I know that. You save people as well. It’s not the easiest thing for people to accept what we do, Mina. You need to remember that.”
“I know but that’s not all. There are times when I catch him staring off at the mountains. I think he wants to go back to Alaska and his life there.”
Roz stopped and frowned at her. “Leave you?”
She sank to the mat, staff beside her, and crossed her legs. “I think so. He misses his job. His training. Everything he’s done in his life was to do this, Roz. This being here is hard for him. Sure, Taggart will call him for calls but he’s not living the life. Not in the same manner anymore.”
“Why is it so important to him?”
“He watched his sister die because the rescue team couldn’t get her off the ledge they’d been trapped on. She insisted he go first and then it crumbled, taking her with.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t believe he’s ever forgiven himself for that. And he’s not going to let himself sit around and not be out there rescuing others, so a parent or sibling don’t have to endure what he did.”
Roz spun the staff in her hand. “He knows he’s your mate, right?”
“Yes. Didn’t seem to have a problem with it either, which shocked me, if I am going to be completely honest.”
Roz nodded. “I was the same way. Altair didn’t argue the point at all. I figure he thought it was hot that I was claiming him.” She shrugged. “No clue.”
“You two are good for one another. I like him a lot.”
“And I like Dex, Mina. There will be an answer to this. Maybe Lian can help.”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t need to involve him in my problems. Have you seen how tired he’s looking lately?”
“Yes and it scares the shit out of me. For so long I thought he was untouchable but now, he just… Well, he looks old.”
The women sat there for a bit in silence. In mutual agreement they rose and got back to battling. Two hours later, sweat covered, and exhausted in a good way, they returned the staffs to the cabinet and trudged back to their respective rooms to get cleaned up.
Aminta made her way to their briefing room and stepped in when the door slid open. She walked to the corner and fixed two cups of coffee then carried them to where Edmond sat illuminated by the computer screen glow.
“Here,” she said sliding on to him.
“Thanks. I found something you may be interested in.”
She drew up a zero-gravity chair and lowered herself in it. “Whadda we got?”
He typed a few keys and up popped five boxes. She arched her eyebrows but held her tongue and waited for him to enlighten her on what she was looking at.
“I found who bankrolled the chopper.”
She leaned forward. “Who?”
“A billionaire in California named Dell Gauyhwi, and here’s his address.” He enlarged the box with that information.
“I don’t know that name but I will be paying him a visit. What?”
“You don’t see it?”
She sipped some coffee. “See what, Edmond?”
“It’s an anagram.”
Aminta shook her head. “I don’t see it. What does it spell?”
“Haley Ludwig.”
Ice sank into her veins. “Haley,” she drew her name out in a low growl. Pushing to her feet, she kissed Edmond on the cheek.
“Thanks, Edmond. Shoot that addy to my phone.”
“Be careful.”
“Right.”
“Cale?”
“What’s up?”
“Are you busy?”
“Not really. Why? What do you need? I’m not taking your cooking detail tomorrow night. I want something edible and you make better food than I do.”
“Meet me at the chopper.”
“What’s wrong, Aminta?”
“Just meet me.” She broke connection and began running.
He arrived at the same time she did. His expression was serious. “What’s going on?”
“I had Edmond track down the bank roller for the chopper I commandeered.”
“And?”
“The name that popped up is an anagram for Haley.”
His face hardened and she could feel the waves of power from his sign as it blew over her.
“Let’s go.” The words were ice cold.
“I need to prep the helicopter.”
“Do it.”
“What about bringing the others? I don’t think she’s going to have the place unprotected.”
“The guards are your business. Haley is mine.”
“I’ll help.”
They turned to find Dracen standing there. Aminta didn’t need any more than that. She hurried to make sure they were ready to go. Soon they’d lifted off and were slicing through the evening sky toward their destination. She stopped once to refuel at an airport she used to fly from where she knew the proprietor.
The skies had long since gone dark when she flew over the property of one Dell Gauyhwi. Angling away to the back of the property, she scanned the ground as best she could.
“I’ll drop the two of you off over the house then fly back in this direction and land. Hopefully the ones guarding will come for me.”
In the dimly lit cabin she saw the man beside her nod and rise from his seat. “Let’s go.”
Cale might typically be an easy-going one who reminded many of a surfer boy but he was one hell of a warrior. And he had even more reason to want to get Haley, for she’d kidnapped and tortured Taylor.
“Ready?” she asked.
Two confirmations had her cutting through the air back to the mansion. She flew fast and low, skimming the tree tops. Over the house, Cale and Dracen jumped, using their power to protect them when they hit the roof. Aminta continued on straight for a bit then veered right and swung back around toward the rear of the property.
She settled down in a clearing and shut off the power. After slinking out, she climbed a tree and waited. She didn’t have a long one before men dressed solely in black arrived. Their staggered formation told her all she needed to know. More New Order mercs.
The green lights in place of their eyes, courtesy of the night-vision goggles, scanned over the helicopter and when they learned it was empty, they moved out—except for four. One on each side of the bird, in an attempt to keep her from taking it back.
Nice try, but it won’t work. She slunk down the tree and used her own NVGs. She didn’t have to have the green light emitting from hers, again, courtesy of Edmond, who had managed to put hers in her glasses.
She would wait until the man was out of sight of his companions before she took him out. Within moments, all four were down and she had one of their radios attached to her. Turning so she could go after the others in the wood, a flare of power stopped her. She whipped back in time to deflect a demon strike.
He glanced off her and she rolled into a tree with the force of his blow. Ignoring the radiating pain, she threw spikes at him as she ran nearer. At the last second, she called on a blade and severed the being’s head from his body. Her skin burned from the acidic blood that splashed on her.
“Get the chopper here, Aminta
. We need to leave now!” Dracen’s order slammed into her mind.
“On my way.”
She bolted in and turned on the engine, the whine of the rotor irrelevant. They needed her and she would go. Another demon attacked and ripped her out of the cabin. The bird was ready when she finally got free of him. Gunfire tore through the woods and she jumped back in, gave it some gas and got airborne.
“Where are you?” she asked them.
“Pick us up on the roof,” Dracen said.
“Be ready. I’m coming in fast.” She monitored the gauges as she neared the mansion.
Lights cut through the dark as muzzles spit bullets. She dodged them best she could but knew the bird took some hits. She dropped low and nearly dragged the skids on the roof itself as she halted before the trio she was there to pick up.
Haley lay over Cale’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Without ceremony, he tossed her up in the chopper before he and Dracen followed. Immediately Aminta took off, rising high, leaving the bullets behind as they streaked away.
Chapter Eighteen
“I have to get more fuel or we’re going to conk out somewhere over southern Oregon.”
“She’s out and won’t say a word,” Cale issued the statement.
“I’ll find him to fill it up,” Dracen said once they landed. She opened the door and hopped out.
Cale put his hand on her shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me you got hit?”
“Seemed more important to get us out of there.”
“Come back here and let me heal you.”
She listened to him. Seated, she stared at the woman lying in a crumpled heap. “What are you going to do to her?”
“Haven’t figured that out yet.” He crouched beside her and touched the two entry wounds she’d sustained.
Warmth pulsed through her, pushing the pain away with soothing waves. She closed her eyes and waited as Cale healed her.
“Are you going to tell Lian?” she asked.
“We both know he most likely already knows. Ain’t a damn thing we have been able to pull over him, not since we set foot on the vineyard.”
The sounds of a fuel line being hooked up reached her. She still didn’t move, familiar enough with Cale to accept he would tell her when she could.
“You okay, Aminta?”
“I’m fine, Dracen.”
“Cale was right. You should have told him you’d been injured.”
“He knows now,” she replied, still not opening her eyes.
“She just worries,” Cale interjected, and the waves began to fade.
“I know, but unless the two of you are pilots that I don’t know about, seemed kind of pointless to say anything. I was bleeding. I’ve flown with worse injuries before so I didn’t feel it was an issue.”
“We know that. But haven’t you noticed Dracen’s changing, the worse Lian appears?”
She lifted her lids and met his gaze. “So you’ve seen it as well.”
“We all have and none of us know what to do.”
They simultaneously glanced to the door.
“Not even Tiarnán,” Cale added.
Words that scared her more than she’d ever admit. Tiarnán at times—most times—was their unspoken leader and had answers even when they weren’t ones people wanted to hear. For her to hear he didn’t even know what to do scared her.
“Have you given thought to the final two artifacts?”
Cale turned and sat beside her, taking away the warmth she wouldn’t ever tire of having around her. Even her sign appeared to relish having the waves around it.
“No, trying not to. Just been practicing as much as I can. Even upped my training with Tiarnán. I don’t know how much time is going to be between them finding the last two and whenever this battle will be, but to me it seems like it’s not going to take long especially since they have been trying to push onto the estate more.”
“Right, telling them all sorts of lies to get The New Order dimwits to go with it.”
They shared another look and said at the same time, “Vampires.” Soft laughter filled the air.
On impulse, she leaned over and kissed his cheek then rose to make her way back to the cockpit. Her ears hadn’t deceived her and she knew the fill up had completed. She waved to the man as he drove away. Hooked in, she glanced over her shoulder in time to see Dracen leap gracefully to the floor of the interior. Aminta started the engine, knowing the door was about to be closed.
She lifted them off and headed on their last part of the journey. When she landed, it surprised her—although she couldn’t say why—to see the rest of the Guardians waiting there.
The three who’d been left at the vineyard all had somber expressions as they stood by the hangar. By the time she’d powered down the helicopter, Tiarnán, Roz and Billy had approached. They’d already seen Haley and were talking in low voices to Dracen and Cale.
Roz shoved a hand through her curls and ran a critical gaze over her. “Are you okay?”
“Of course,” she said with a smile. “You know Cale is thorough.”
They shared a hug.
“He’s something,” Roz said.
Aminta let it go, well aware they had their own way of interacting with one another. Those two were the poster children of sibling rivalry. They could—and often did—argue about the most trivial of things, but when it came to it, they were always there for each other.
Her sign rippled and she glanced around. Dex stood there, leaning against the hangar wall with his arms crossed and ankles hooked. Thunderclouds brewed in his eyes, making them even more iridescent.
She knew he was waiting for her. Cale looked between them both and said in a low tone, “Someone’s in trouble.”
“Jackass,” she retorted.
“But I’m Taylor’s jackass, and she loves me.”
“Thank God, she does,” she sassed.
He punched her in the shoulder as he and Tiarnán stepped up and withdrew the still-unconscious Haley. They took her away and she knew the woman was going to end up in their dungeon. Even if she’d wanted to search for some, there would be no sympathy found for the woman who’d tortured Taylor.
When it was just the two of them, she let him stay there against the wall and completed her post-check. You’re just delaying the inevitable. She knew it to be the case and couldn’t bring herself to do anything else. She also recognized she wasn’t the only one who had a lot of patience, and he would be there when she stopped putzing around.
Dex stared at Frost, well aware she was doing her best to avoid him. Anger surged through him as he watched the small woman who worked diligently on her helicopter. He saw the moment she finished and pushed away from the wall. He respected her dedication to her flying and wasn’t going to interrupt her finishing up her routine, but she was done now.
“A word, Frost,” he said, cornering her against the open door of the chopper.
“What do you need?”
“Is this what it is like?”
Confusion spread over her features. “What, what is like?”
“This”—he gestured with his hands between them—“what our relationship is?”
“I’m not following.”
He saw the truth of that in her eyes. Dex rested the flats of his hands along the helicopter and put his head closer to hers. “Is this how it is being a mate to a Guardian, is my question?”
“Did something happen?”
She doesn’t get it. I can’t believe she doesn’t get it. “Yes,” he said with more than bit of frustration. “Something happened.”
“They didn’t say. What happened?”
He grabbed her shirt and put his fingers in the holes along the side. “You. Got. Shot.” Anger adhered to each word like it had been dipped in honey.
“Yeah, that did happen.”
“That’s it?” he exploded. “Just it happened?”
“What do you want me to say, Dex? I can’t promise it won’t happen again. Men attack with gu
ns. Sometimes there are injuries. What’s the problem? Cale was along and I’m healed up, with the exception of two new scars.”
“So because the great and powerful Cale was along it means I, the man who loves you, shouldn’t be worried when you go off like this and not say a word to me you’re even leaving? I had to hear it when Roz was talking about it to someone else. That’s not a relationship I’m willing to be in, Frost. I told you, we don’t have secrets and this”—he moved the shirt—“and you slipping out are secrets. I don’t need to be coddled but I would like to have felt part of the team. You’ve made it clear, I’m not. I don’t need it shoved in my face all the time. I’ll be gone by morning.”
He walked off, never once looking back or slowing. Part of him—a large part—wanted to stay and talk it through. The man he was, however, wasn’t big on talking. He was more of an action guy and tonight, her actions had proved what he’d been worried about ever since he’d gotten here.
His anger hadn’t faded by the time he’d reached the mansion. Still, he was undisturbed as he jogged up to the room he shared with Frost. Why wait until morning? I’m sure I can get a ride to the station from here—or to Taggart’s place and can crash there.
He shoved his few items in his bag and turned back to the where he froze. Lian stood there.
“You are leaving us.”
“I think it’s for the best.”
Lian flexed his fingers around the ram’s head of the cane and cocked his head slightly to the side. “Is that so? Might I come in before you leave?”
“Please.” He gestured him in.
“You know, Aminta was sickly when she arrived here.” He sat in the large overstuffed chair. “She spent many days hooked up to monitors and machines, unsure if she would survive. I knew she would, but she wasn’t quite as strong in her belief.”
Dex sat on the edge of the bed. “I didn’t know. She doesn’t talk much about her childhood.”
Black eyes held his. “We all have parts of our childhood that are painful to both remember and discuss.”
Thoughts of his sister flashed in his mind. “I know.”
“When she did get better, she was always the small one. While maybe not a huge height difference between her and Rosamund, they are built very differently. She went through not believing in herself once more. I told her repeatedly, even the most fragile of flowers can bloom if treated right.”