by I. T. Lucas
“Amanda has a mate. Bridget doesn't.”
Calypso threw him a puzzled look. “A mate? What does that mean?”
A slip of the tongue, but easily corrected. Calypso didn’t expect him to express himself clearly or correctly, which worked to his advantage in situations like this. “She has a life partner whom she didn’t marry in an official ceremony.”
“A live-in boyfriend.”
“No. A boyfriend implies a temporary arrangement. Amanda and Dalhu’s is permanent.”
Calypso sighed. “Nothing is permanent, not even marriage.”
“In their case it is.”
“You’re awfully sure of that. What if you’re wrong?”
Damnation. The woman was impossible. He would have to either lie or tell her that the discussion was over.
Unless he managed to deflect again. He was becoming an expert at it. “You can call your father now and let him know you’re no longer in danger.”
Calypso plopped down on the couch, flipped off her flip-flops and put her legs on the ottoman. “I almost did, but then thought better of it. I don’t know if Shawn’s body’s been found yet. I can’t call my dad and tell him Shawn committed suicide because how am I supposed to know that, right?”
“Good point. I’ll call my contact in the government and have him check if it was reported. Not every suicide makes the news.”
“You mean Andrew, Syssi’s brother?”
“Yeah.”
He didn’t know what game Amanda and Syssi were playing. They had blabbered freely as if Calypso was one of them and had divulged too much information. If he were ever forced to thrall away Calypso’s memories, it would be one hell of an impossible job. As long as he was the only one she remembered, the clan’s secret was safe. She didn’t know he was different, and Brundar wasn’t about to let her find that out. But his connections to Amanda and Andrew were like a trail of breadcrumbs. Someone determined enough could find where a professor named Amanda taught. Cross-referencing it with a government employee named Andrew would narrow the search.
“If your cousins and your tough boss’s wife can tell me people’s names, I’m sure you can too.”
“Not really. One is his sister, the other is his wife. I don’t hold the same sway over him.”
“Could be. But you no longer need to talk in code about things they already told me.”
That was true, but old habits were hard to break, as was remembering what she already knew and what not. The safest thing for her and for his clan would’ve been to keep them separated and for Calypso to know nothing about them. She already knew too much.
Tomorrow, he would ask Anandur to drive him back to the keep so he could have a talk with Amanda and Syssi. They meant well, but those good intentions might lead straight to hell.
“Did you call the steakhouse that you’re not coming to work for them?”
“No, I didn’t. Why would I? They don’t expect me for another week.”
“Now that you no longer need to hide, you can keep working at Franco’s.”
“You’re right. I didn’t think of that. It’s a hard decision, though. I like the people at Franco’s, and I don’t know anyone at the new place, but the pay is going to be a little better and so will the hours. I wouldn’t have to work late nights anymore. What will happen once the school year starts and I have early morning classes? On the other hand, a late shift means I have all day for studying.”
“You’re forgetting one thing. At Franco’s you have me.”
Calypso huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Yeah, right. You disappear into that basement, and I’m lucky if I get to see you after closing time.”
She had a point. Brundar wheeled himself closer to the couch, and using the armrest and coffee table to brace most of his weight, hefted himself to sit next to Calypso.
“What if I promise to come see you at least once during your shift?”
She shrugged. “Not good enough. Besides, I have my hearing to think of. I’m sure I’ve already done enough damage.”
“That’s what earplugs are for.” He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to him.
“I tried. But I can’t take drink orders when I can’t hear the customers.”
“There are special earplugs that filtrate certain wavelengths. You can still hear people talking, but the ambient noise is reduced.”
“Earplugs are uncomfortable.”
Calypso was proving to be a tough negotiator. There was something she was hoping to get out of it. Was it a raise? More shifts?
“Tell me what would sweeten the deal for you, and I’ll make it happen.”
Her triumphant smile proved that he’d been right. “I want to participate in the classes and demonstrations you guys hold down in the basement. I’ll schedule my breaks accordingly.”
“Only watching, nothing more.”
“That’s what I want.” She snorted. “I don’t want to be the test dummy for your whip.”
“I might allow it as long as you sit quietly and don’t ask any questions. I don’t want the club members to notice you.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Why? Are you embarrassed by me?”
Silly girl. “No, I’m proud of you. More than you can imagine. But I don’t want any members to get ideas about you. I don’t want them to look at you and imagine what they would like to do to you. If I catch them leering, I’ll have to kill them, and their blood will be on your hands.”
He’d meant every word, but Calypso thought he was joking.
“I wouldn’t want that. I promise to be as quiet as a mouse. I’ll slink in after the class or demonstration begins, sit in the back, and then slink out before it ends. No one will see me.”
He smiled and offered her his hand. “It’s a deal. You stay at Franco’s, and I’ll allow you to sit in on the classes and demonstrations but only if you keep your presence unobtrusive.”
Calypso squealed happily, wrapped her arms around his neck and jumped on him, brushing against his knees as she straddled him.
Brundar winced.
Her face fell. “I’m sorry. I forgot about the not touching rule.” She dropped her arms to her sides.
“It’s not that.” He lifted her arms and put them back around his neck. “You brushed against my knees.”
Her eyes widened in horror. “I’m so sorry. It was so careless of me. What can I do to make it better? Do you need an ice pack? Painkillers?”
He shook his head. “Your lips will do.” He pulled out the scarf he stashed in his pocket just for such occasions. After their afternoon lovemaking session, he’d been struck by the brilliant idea of always having it with him. “But first, the blindfold.”
Chapter 24: Roni
“Do you really need me in there?” Roni asked William.
William patted Roni’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. He is not going to eat you for breakfast. You’re too skinny.”
“And sour. He is going to eat you first.”
William laughed.
Kian wasn’t on Roni’s list of favorite people. Not that the dude was evil or anything. Roni had met his share of self-entitled pricks, and Kian wasn’t like them either. But he made Roni feel like a nuisance.
Maybe he was like that with everyone, but that didn’t make Roni any happier about having to sit in front of the guy again.
No one had treated him like a nuisance in his previous job. They might have not liked him, and some had resented a teenager holding so much power, but everyone had respected him and vied for his services.
He was one of a kind, goddamn it, an irreplaceable asset any organization would have killed for, and he deserved to be treated as such.
William knocked on the door and then pushed it open and walked in. Roni followed behind him.
This time Kian wasn’t alone in his office. A tall, gangly guy was sitting at the conference table with several files spread out in front him.
“Hi, Shai.” William and the guy clapped hands.
Kian pointed at the two chairs in front of his desk. “You have two minutes. Talk.”
William took a seat and looked at Roni.
Damn it, he’d been hoping William would do the talking. He was older, loved to talk nonstop, and he knew Kian better. Maybe that was why he wanted Roni to present their request. He knew Kian was going to be nasty about it.
Roni pulled out the list of supplies he needed and handed it to Kian. “William’s lab is a mess and a health hazard. He’s also missing some components. This is the list of what I need to transform it into a decent workspace. At the bottom is a rough estimate of how much it is going to cost.” His presentation had taken about thirty seconds.
Kian took the list, skimmed through it, and then handed it back. “Approved. Shai is going to take care of the rest. Good day, gentlemen.”
“Thank you.”
Well, that had gone well. Kian had been curt, but he’d approved the acquisition request, and that was what they had come for—not to socialize over coffee and canapés.
As they stood up and turned to Shai, William cast Roni an appreciative look, but it wasn’t until they were done with Kian’s assistant and on their way back to the lab that he commented on Roni’s performance. “From now on you are in charge of dealing with Kian. He likes you.”
Roni snorted. “If that’s how he treats people he likes, I don’t ever want to go on his shit list.”
William rubbed his chin. “He is not always like that. When he is not so stressed, he even jokes around. But there is a lot going on right now.”
“The move to the new place?”
“Yes. It’s a very complicated project, and it’s taking longer to complete than Kian would’ve liked. Then there are the murders that are keeping the Guardians busy. Other than that he still needs to run the business side of things, and one of the two people he hired to manage parts of it couldn’t handle the pressure, and quit.”
Roni shook his head. “I feel for him, but you know that it’s all in his head.”
William gave him one of those condescending looks adults tended to throw at him before realizing that Roni wasn’t a typical teenager. “Those are real problems, Roni. He is not imagining them.”
“What I meant wasn’t that the problems do not exist but that the urgency is in his head. He can slow down on everything except the murders. Nothing will happen if the village is completed a month later than scheduled. And all the corporate crap can be done at a slower pace as well. Other than that, he should wait with further expansion until he has the current business running smoothly with good people at the helm.”
“Good advice, kid. But not as easy to implement. Good people are hard to find. But you are right about one thing. Kian is a perfectionist, and a lot of the stress he is under is his own doing. I wish I could help. I can design programs that would make his life easier. But to do so I need his input, and he doesn’t have the time to spend.”
“What about his assistant, Shai? The dude probably knows everything that’s going on.”
William stopped and turned to Roni. “Why didn’t I think of that? It’s such an obvious solution. I can have Shai explain how they do things and work from that.”
Roni felt incredibly smug but covered it up with fake modesty. “Sometimes it takes an outsider to see things those on the inside are blind to.”
Chapter 25: Kian
“What’s new with the murder investigation?” Kian opened the Guardian meeting by addressing Onegus.
“There were no new murders in the past week.”
Interesting. It wasn’t because the Guardians were patrolling the streets, because they weren’t. They were waiting in a central location for the command center to alert them to suspicious activity caught on the surveillance cameras.
But there had been several false alarms. Two involved street-walkers getting into an argument with clients, and the rest were drunk couples making out on the streets. Could the murderer have seen a Guardian arrive at the scene?
Not likely.
Something else was going on. But what?
“Let’s keep the rotations for another week. If nothing happens, we can assume that’s the end of it.”
“What if it is not?” Onegus asked.
”We can’t keep it up forever. We knew that at some point the rotations would have to stop, I just hoped we would catch the murderer first.”
The guys looked grim. With Brundar out of commission, they’d each had to take on more hours. Anandur had volunteered to do both his and Brundar’s shifts, but Kian had forbidden it. Everyone shared the burden equally.
He needed more Guardians.
The thing was, when nothing was going on, there was barely enough work to keep the seven he had busy. But then when something happened, they were short on warriors. The retired Guardians would not come for anything less than a full out war or a rescue operation. Kian had had a hard time convincing them to come in for one week of training a year to keep up their skills.
He needed more Guardians on a permanent basis, and if they had nothing to do, so be it.
“Onegus.”
“Yes, boss.”
“I want you to stay after the meeting.”
Onegus nodded.
Later, when everyone was done reporting and had filed out of his office, Kian walked over to the fridge hidden behind the wooden doors of the buffet and pulled out two beers.
Onegus took one with a raised brow. “Beer for breakfast?”
“Are we Scots or are we not?”
“Aye, we still are.” Onegus took a swig.
“I want to get at least two more permanent Guardians. Any ideas on who might be open to negotiation? I’m willing to pay handsomely.”
“You can’t pay them more than you pay the other Guardians. It wouldn’t be fair.”
“So I’ll pay everyone more. What else?”
“More vacation time. Especially after weeks of rotations.”
“If we have more people, then they can take vacations whenever they want. Unless there is a crisis, that is.”
“How many do you want?”
“As many as I can get, but I’ll settle for two. Give me names of possible prospects.”
Onegus regarded him with a frown. “Don’t tell me you want to make the phone calls yourself.”
“I’d be more than happy to leave that job to you.”
“Good, because you’re too grumpy to convince anyone to join.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Onegus scratched his head. “If anyone needs a vacation it’s you.”
“If you can find someone to do my job, I’ll gladly take one.”
Chapter 26: Brundar
Fucking crutches. Brundar dropped his butt on the couch and threw them on the floor in disgust.
He’d thought they would make moving around more manageable, but they were a nuisance and made him feel even more disabled than the wheelchair had. Sitting in one was not so much different from sitting in an office chair with wheels.
Not really, but he could pretend.
It wasn’t only that, the inactivity was getting to him. For a man who was used to long grueling days, doing nothing was maddening.
So yeah, he’d made love to Calypso four times yesterday and then had felt guilty as hell because it was too much for a human girl to take, especially one who was recovering from an ordeal herself.
She hadn’t complained, but that didn’t mean it had been okay to exhaust her like that.
He should’ve asked Anandur to bring him a book. Except, Brundar was too agitated to focus on anything. Even the stories of epic battles that he usually enjoyed reading would probably not hold his interest. It was an activity reserved for the end of a satisfying day in the field. That left the television, which was the only form of entertainment in the apartment, and he hated the thing. He couldn’t find anything worth watching. Even the news reported nothing of substance. It was mostly sensationalized nonsense.
; Calypso emerged from the bedroom, her hair wet from the shower. “I called Franco and told him I’m coming back to work today.”
Brundar couldn’t blame her for wanting out of the apartment. “I’ll come with you.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Bridget said not to overdo it with the crutches.”
“I’m going to sit in the wheelchair with a beer in my hand, watching your sexy bottom as you run around serving drinks.”
Calypso sauntered closer and leaned over him, her ample cleavage on display in the flimsy, low-cut shirt she had on. “It’s been a week.”
“It’s only Wednesday.” His injury had happened Friday night.
“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the birth control. We can throw the condoms away, or donate them to a worthy charity.” She winked.
His male anatomy responded with enthusiasm, but his male ego not so much. The first time he made love to Calypso without a bloody rubber between them, he wanted her under him, which was impossible at the moment. On the other hand, he didn’t want to wait another week and a half either.
Her smile wilted. “Why are you frowning?”
“It doesn’t feel right to celebrate our first time while I’m like this.” He waved a hand over his knees.
“Oh, baby.” She cupped his cheek and kissed him.
It didn’t escape Brundar’s notice that each passing day she was touching him more and more, or that he was getting more and more comfortable with her doing so.
In fact, he craved her touch.
That didn’t mean that he wouldn’t tie her up as soon as he was back to normal, but it would be for fun, not because he couldn’t do it any other way.
Calypso was healing him.
Without breaking the kiss, he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her to sit next to him. She moaned, and he pushed his hand under her shirt and cupped her breast, thumbing the stiffening nipple.
Eyes hooded with desire, Calypso arched into his hand. “It would be silly to keep using condoms until you get better,” she said when he let go of her mouth.
It was. But the only way they could have sex now was with her straddling him, and they both craved more than that.