Aside from being the only nice one around here, Ralston seemed to be the only other person that shared her love for reading as well. Before being brought here, she’d survived by consuming every book she could get her hands on. And thanks to her godfather, who insisted on at least appearing refined and educated, it meant there were a lot more options for her to choose from.
“Thanks, Ralston,” she said with a smile.
“You’re welcome, miss. And if I may be forward, I will certainly miss having you around the house. You’re the only ray of light that’s come through those doors in all the years I’ve been here,” he said, his head bowed slightly.
In many ways, Ralston had been more of a father to her in these past weeks than any other man she’d known for years. She felt a twinge of sadness deep inside, but it was interrupted when a party of guards walked into the room.
“You’re needed downstairs,” the lead instructed.
“Thank you for everything,” she said to Ralston.
She was about to join the men (she had quickly learned it was better to just obey than question everything that was asked of her) when Ralston turned.
“Oh, and one more thing. That man from last night. He’s an odd one, but I get the feeling you can trust him,” he said, rolling the luggage over. One man came forward to grab it, and then they began walking out of the room and into the hall. All Sofia had time for was a quick wave, and then Ralston disappeared behind the heavy wooden doors of her room as she followed the guards down the hall and toward the stairs.
As they reached the basement, which to Sofia’s recollection led to the wine storehouse and a variety of other rooms she hadn’t been told about, they approached a heavy steel door with two men in front of it.
Her godfather and the man from last night.
He was even taller than she remembered.
As they came close, her godfather waved away the guards, and they headed back down the hallway they’d just come from, leaving just the three of them.
“My daughter, I’m going to miss you,” her godfather said, coming forward and embracing her in a hug. It felt cold, but Sofia also knew she had a problem trusting people, so despite his best intentions, Sofia didn’t really know what to make of it.
Once he was done, he motioned to the man at his side.
“Kel here is going to see to your safety for the next little while. Think of it as a vacation. At least you’ll only have one bodyguard. Isn’t that nice?” he asked, turning to the steel door behind them and pulling out a string of keys to unlock a large padlock that hung from it.
As he did so, Sofia could feel light-blue eyes on her, and she looked back at the man with the curious name. Now that the awkwardness of being brought in like some debutante last night had dissipated a bit, she got a good look at her new protector.
Firstly, he was tall. Really tall. Probably higher than six and a half feet. He had short, blond hair that was spiked up on the top and closely shorn on the sides. His muscular jaw gave way to a strong chin and high, refined cheekbones. His brows were only slightly darker than his hair, and he had piercing blue eyes, like a summer sky or sparkling zircon stones.
And that same scent from last night, too. She hadn’t known he was a cat until her godfather had said he was a tiger, but that made sense based on his size and the feral, intensely controlled aura that seemed to radiate off him. She had heard of tigers but never seen one. But the fragrance was delicious, exotic, and luxurious, like an expensive cologne that made her think of spices from far-off places and waters from the purest mountain spring.
After a moment, Sofia realized her breath had caught in her throat under the man’s gaze, so she swallowed down whatever it was she was feeling and composed herself.
“Nice to meet you again,” she said.
“Likewise,” he replied, his voice deep and masculine.
“There we are,” her godfather said as the lock clicked and he swung the steel door open. Behind it was a small garage, surrounded by concrete and no discernible exit. There was one car, a black SUV with windows tinted so dark she could barely see inside.
While she was looking into the curious little secret garage, Kel appeared from behind her, towing the small suitcase that held her belongings and startling Sofia. How had he gotten back there without her noticing?
“Everything you need is in there. I had my best men customize this vehicle a few months ago, and for the past two weeks, Ralston has been outfitting it with any additional supplies you might need.”
“And the things I requested?” Kel asked as he made his way to the vehicle.
“Already there. In the glove box, there’s a burner phone that only Ralston and I have the number to, and it has my number on it in case of emergency,” he said. “But I don’t anticipate you needing to use it.”
With that, Kel clicked a button on a key ring, and the car unlocked. He opened one of the rear passenger doors and plopped the suitcase in with several other bags in the back, closed it, and got into the front seat.
“I guess this is good-bye, for now,” Sofia said to her doting godfather, who seemed to be experiencing a mixture of emotions.
“Yes. But you’ll be back soon. Don’t worry. And then everything will be perfect,” he said with a grin as she walked over to the car, not wanting another hug.
It’s not like she was ungrateful for having been found and brought from conditions of squalor to opulence such as this. She just had a hard time accepting it as readily as her godfather seemed to expect her to. It was going to take time.
And a week or two away from it all couldn’t hurt.
She got into the passenger side, quickly noting the soft leather of the interior.
Then she became keenly aware of the fact that she was all alone in the car with only one other person. Her heart skipped a beat, but it wasn’t from fear.
For the first time in a long time, she could sense the jaguar inside her close to the surface.
And it was purring.
* * *
As Kel got into the car, he surveyed the layout of the vehicle and quickly adjusted the seat. Thankfully, the car was fairly spacious. Otherwise, he could look forward to a long drive with his head pressed into the ceiling.
Then Sofia had gotten into the car and his thoughts took an altogether different direction.
From the second she settled in and closed the door, her scent bewitched his senses. Something about her was so different yet somehow so familiar that it distracted him. And in his peripheral, he could make out her curves beneath a smooth knitted sweater and soft thighs encased in jeans. Her hair was put back in a loose ponytail, and errant strands stuck out in wayward curls around her face.
Damn, there was something about this girl.
He had to get his head together and focus on the mission at hand. That much was certain.
He pressed a button on the key ring to the car and a trap door lowered from the ceiling, allowing light to pour into the small garage as it created a ramp for the car to go up.
Fancy.
He put the vehicle in gear and drove forward into the sunlight. Above ground was a quiet drive that snaked away from the property.
Probably an escape route in case of emergency.
Once they left the property, Kel made his way to the interstate and headed north.
They had a long way to go.
Once they reached the highway, Sofia turned around and reached into her bag, producing a worn-looking book and finding her place, which had been marked by a blank sheet of paper.
Kel defaulted to silence in every situation, but he got the feeling since it was going to be just the two of them, it would be better to get to know his client a little more. Perhaps try to break the ice a bit.
That and he couldn’t shake a niggling curiosity to know more about this gorgeous woman that apparently half the underworld was after.
“So… big fan of reading?” he asked, feeling awkward as he spoke. Kel was never one to ask the questi
ons. People asked him questions.
And he ignored them. Usually.
“Yes. And?” Sofia said, not turning from her book to look at him, seemingly intentionally so. She just turned another page.
“Just trying to clear the air a bit, seeing as you got forced into this,” Kel said, trying to sound inviting, but not sure he was coming across right.
Kel had been personal bodyguard to a lot of people over the years, including women and cat shifters. He knew how to be professional, how to deflect a woman’s advances or dodge questions that got too intimate. But he’d never dealt with someone being colder to him than he was to them.
“As far as we’re concerned, you’re just one of my godfather’s cronies. So don’t be surprised when I don’t jump for joy every time your mouth opens,” she said, closing her book and looking up at him defiantly.
He turned to look at her, but as their eyes met, he didn’t find disdain. It was something else.
“Ouch. Gotta love the warm welcome. Chip on the shoulder, perhaps?” he asked, raising an eyebrow and looking over at the rebellious kitty of unknown kind and origin. But as soon as he looked down at her, she turned away from him again, opening the book back up and putting it up to hide her face.
Was she attracted to him?
Sofia responded to him by mumbling something unintelligible from behind the cover of the book.
That only further sparked Kel’s curiosity.
But the best approach with this one was probably going to be taking things slow and easy. He got the distinct impression whenever he saw her that she had been through some stuff in her life, starting with the fact that her parents had been killed. And when someone goes through a lot of crap, they can develop a hard outer shell.
Kel knew that from experience.
“I apologize,” he said placatingly, trying to soften his tone. “It’s just habit. When I’m protecting a client, I like to try to get to know them a little bit.”
That was a lie, though only partially. He could go a year guarding someone and know all their habits and routines and personality quirks without ever having exchanged a single word with them. So in a way, he got to know his clients almost better than they knew themselves, but by observation alone.
But she made him very curious for some reason.
“Really? You don’t strike me as the chatty type,” she said, lowering the book slowly and observing him suspiciously.
“Hey, can’t judge a book by its cover, right?” Kel joked shamelessly as he shrugged.
At first, Sofia winced at the painfully ridiculous remark. Then a smile slowly crept up the side of her mouth as she shook her head, as if unable to help herself.
Oddly enough, it was the first time he’d seen her smile like that since they had been introduced. As she did, her whole face and demeanor seemed to brighten, like a break in a patch of dark clouds, letting a single ray of sunlight through.
Kel could tell it had been a long time since she’d smiled.
He wanted to see it again and again.
Just as he was about to remark on her affinity for bad jokes, Kel noticed several black dots trailing behind the car. As he watched, the dots got closer, and he could make out four vehicles, all pitch black, fast approaching.
Not normal, given the fairly abandoned stretch of highway they were now on. Aside from passing the odd semi truck here and there, nobody was headed north this time of year and at this time of day.
Kel accelerated the heavy SUV, increasing their speed to a little over ninety MPH, but the cars behind them only quickened their pace in order to overtake them.
Dammit, they were going to have company.
So much for a quiet drive.
He looked at the RPMs of the engine and quickly realized their armored, luxury SUV, laden with supplies for their trip, probably wasn’t going to be able to do more than a hundred or a hundred and ten on this road. And at that speed, they’d be more likely to get killed by a bump or pothole than pursuers. And even if they didn’t, Kel could start to make out the vehicles following them better and saw they would be faster and more nimble.
The only option now was prepare for the fight.
“Buckle your seatbelt,” Kel instructed Sofia.
“Why? Planning on crashing anytime soon?”
“Just do it,” he said more sharply, his head racing with preparations. He didn’t have time for explanations.
Sofia glared at him cautiously but did as he asked. As she did so, Kel reached behind him to the passenger seats (which was made much easier by his incredibly long arms) and lifted, revealing a foam-padded case with firearms inside.
Good, just as he’d asked for.
He pulled a pistol and a small assault rifle from the pad and checked both to ensure they were loaded as he held the wheel with his knees.
At that, Sofia looked up with worry and shock. “What the hell is going on?” she asked.
“It appears someone saw us leave the mansion,” Kel said as he methodically stashed the pistol in the cup holders between them, along with extra magazines from the stockpile behind them.
“What do they want?”
“You,” he said, pulling back the metal lever on the assault rifle and chambering the first round.
In the rearview mirror, he could make out the cars perfectly now—two sedans and two smaller SUVs, all black with dark-tinted glass. He couldn’t make out how many passengers, but he was more than willing to bet they were all loaded and armed to the teeth. They were driving side by side, two deep on the double-lane highway, and they were almost on top of them now.
Kel backed off on the accelerator, bringing them to sixty MPH, and turned on the cruise control.
Time to get down to business.
“Hold the wheel for me,” he said as he pressed a button for his window to roll down.
“What? But I—”
“Please, I need your help right now.”
She did so, reaching over and holding the steering wheel steady as Kel leaned out the window and looked behind them. They were close enough he could see the fake license plates on the front bumpers. Now that they were doing sixty, they would be within shooting range in seconds.
Which was why Kel wasn’t going to wait for them to take the first shot.
He fired three shots at the lead sedan on the right side of the road, aiming for the driver, the deafening sound of the gun dissipating into the wilderness surrounding them. But instead of the sound of glass breaking, the bullets stopped as they hit the windshield with a muted thump, thump, thump, making white pockmarks upon impact.
Dammit, their vehicles were custom outfitted, too. Just splendid.
In perfect unison, the four vehicles slid behind each other into a line, with one of the black SUVs taking the lead. Then all at the same time, they accelerated toward them.
Kel fired two more shots at the car in front, but the bullets ricocheted off the hardened, bulletproof surfaces.
These weren’t your everyday kidnappers. Not by a long shot.
Until they opened a window or showed him their tires, he was just wasting bullets at this range and on an enemy that had him outnumbered and outgunned.
He’d have to outdrive them for now.
Kel leaned back into the car and took the wheel, accelerating. But just as he did, their vehicle lurched forward to the sound of metal scraping on metal. In his rearview mirror, Kel could see the lead SUV ramming into the back of their own. As it did, Kel had to hold the wheel as the tires lost traction and slipped on the cold asphalt.
As he tried to accelerate out of the SUV’s range, two cars approached closer, one close on their left and the other behind them to the right. Kel saw the windows of the sedan next to him lower, revealing men in the front and back seats with guns pointed at them.
In an instant, the men opened fire on Kel’s side of the car, aiming for the driver’s seat. Everywhere bullets hailed upon the left, popping and scraping and crashing into the armored metal siding and bul
letproof windows.
But even though they weren’t using particularly high-caliber guns, even thick bulletproof glass could be punctured after sustained fire.
“Get down,” Kel yelled above the deafening cacophony of gunfire as it peppered their car.
Sofia ducked down and put her hands over her head but otherwise remained surprisingly composed. As she did, Kel heard a loud thump at the back of the car and looked over to the black sedan on their right side.
On the side of their car, toward the back, was a large harpoon that had struck through the rear passenger door, anchored by a heavy steel cable that trailed to the window of the black sedan.
It was obvious they were here to take Sofia. Had they been trying to assassinate her, they would have just started using explosives by now. But instead, they were trying to take out the driver and then reel their car in like a three-ton sturgeon.
Little did they know they were dealing with a catch far deadlier than they could have ever expected.
The gunfire ebbed for a moment as the enemy’s guns ran out of ammunition and they reloaded. By now, Kel’s driver-side window was a foggy white sheet covered with black marks, the bulletproof glass all but spent. With a swift motion, Kel punched through the polycarbonate and took aim with his gun. He fired four shots, two at the front and two at the back, to take out the men firing at them. Then he jerked on the steering wheel, ramming it into the car to the left. It pushed off, creating enough space so Kel could see their tires, and with trained precision, he fired again, letting the bullets rip into the front and then rear passenger-side tires of the sedan.
Both blew out, and the vehicle careened off the road, catching the asphalt on the shoulder and rolling several times. Even as their cars zoomed past, he could hear the sound of metal crunching.
One down. Three to go.
3
This wasn’t how Sofia had expected this morning to go.
Being forced out of bed? She was used to that. Being sent on a trip to nowhere with someone she’d never met? That could be handled. But being shot at while her newly appointed guardian-for-hire singlehandedly took on an armed blockade of vehicles full of people that were after her? That was a new one for the record books.
A Tiger's Destiny (Tiger Protectors Book 3) Page 2