Guild of Truth 02 - Shield from the Heart

by Mary K. Norris

  What was he thinking reading it at a time like this?

  She shook him harder. “Come on, Merrick, snap out of it,” she pleaded.

  “I thought I smelled vanilla,” a female voice drawled behind her.

  Sydney froze. She dropped her hands and curled them into fists. She knew that voice. Regina.

  She turned slowly, doing her best to block as much of Merrick as she could. She couldn’t let Regina see the journal. She had no physical powers, but then again neither did Regina.

  She had no one to help her this time and while that scared her, she wasn’t going to back down. This was the woman who’d had her hands on Merrick during his captivity. She’d touched Sydney’s man against his wishes. That alone was enough to have her seeing red.

  She wouldn’t let Regina get to Merrick. Now, like at the facility, he was helpless and she was all that stood in Regina’s way.

  “Is he trapped in a fantasy land again?” Regina tilted her head like a bird. “Did you distract him with your thoughts?” Her eyes roved over Merrick’s face greedily. “You know he’s most vulnerable when he’s trapped in a vision, right?”

  Sydney widened her stance and held her arms loosely out at her sides, ready for anything. She may not be a black belt but she’d watched Felix and Joel enough times to have some semi-confidence in how to throw a punch. “I’m not letting you take him. He’s mine.”

  Regina smiled. A yell came from inside the room but she didn’t so much as flinch.

  “Merrick belongs with us. I laid claim to him long ago. While you were snuggled up to your man back in that room, I was caressing all the hard planes of Merrick’s body.”

  Sydney ground her teeth.

  “He’s my pet and I let him off his leash to lead us to what we needed. His usefulness has ended and now it’s time for him to go back into his cage. I’ve been given orders to collect you as well.”

  That sent a jolt of fear straight through Sydney. She’d known Vander liked to “collect” people with powers, but that was back when he would harvest their life energy to expand his own. Now that he was limiting himself to keep the appearance of age she’d thought his kidnapping days were over.

  He’ll never stop, she realized. Once a monster, always a monster.

  And now he’d set his sights on them. They’d stepped on his toes for the last time.

  Sydney swallowed her fear and lifted her chin. “You’re not taking us.”

  Regina thrust out her hip and crossed her arms. “And you’re going to stop me? A child sized woman with no remarkable powers whatsoever?” Her casualness disappeared in the next second and a feral gleam came to her eyes. “I’d like to see you try.” Regina lunged.

  Sydney’s first instinct was to jump out of the way, but that would leave Merrick exposed. Instead she ducked down and shot forward with both hands fisted.

  Regina’s height ended up being her downfall.

  Sydney was able to get under her and drive her fists into her gut, right beneath her sternum.

  Regina cried out and stumbled back, hunched over. “You bitch,” she wheezed.

  Sydney didn’t wait for her to get her bearings again.

  If your opponent is injured and retreating, go on the offensive.

  With no idea what to do, Sydney rushed her. She tackled Regina like a football player and together they flew into the motel room and landed with a crash.

  Regina cushioned the fall. Her head snapped back, connected with the floor, and her eyes glazed over. Sydney shot to her feet but Regina didn’t follow.

  Sydney was breathing heavily. Adrenaline was rushing through her veins like fire and she stared down at Regina, unable to believe that she’d taken her out.

  “Holy hell,” she breathed, feeling invigorated. She wanted to jump and holler but refrained when her eyes caught on Joel. She cried out his name and ran to him.

  “Syd?” He still had two black eyes and a busted lip. His arm was wrapped in a horrible excuse for a sling that hadn’t been there before.

  Tears burned the backs of her eyes. “Oh Joel, I’m so sorry.” Her hands fluttered uselessly around his obviously broken arm.

  He cupped her face, his thumb brushing against her cheek. “It’s okay. I can’t believe you’re here. I can’t believe you took out that bitch.” Pride sparkled in his midnight blue eyes. “This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for today but happy three year anniversary anyway.” He tried to smile and grimaced instead.

  Sydney’s heart ached and she couldn’t hold the tears back anymore. “Happy three-year anniversary,” she whispered back to him.

  Arms grabbed her from behind.

  Joel shouted.

  Sydney kicked back blindly.

  “I remember you,” a voice hissed in her ear before pain tore through her body. She screamed.

  “Sydney!” Merrick’s roar echoed through the whole room.

  The pain suddenly ceased and she dropped to the floor, limp. She blinked back the spots in her vision as she tried to get to her hands and knees.

  Grunts came from behind her.

  A hand appeared in her line of vision and she looked up into Joel’s eyes. “We need to get out of here, quickly, while everyone is distracted.”

  She grasped his hand and he helped her to her feet. She swayed and turned around to see Felix battling it out with Vander and his guards while Cali helped an innocent woman in RN scrubs. Merrick was fighting off the man from San Francisco.

  Her eyes dropped to the floor and she smirked in satisfaction as Regina still lay there.

  Sirens sounded out in the distance.

  Cali was at their side within seconds. The woman in her nurse’s uniform tucked under her arm. “We need to get the hell out of here before the authorities arrive. Where’s the journal?”

  “Merrick still has it.”

  Cali nodded. “Looks like we didn’t have to barter Joel’s ass for it after all.”

  Joel looked too exhausted to comment. Sydney wrapped his arm around her shoulders and together they made their way to the door. Cali paused and shouted back at Felix as she launched a sound wave right at Vander.

  He flew into the wall and Cali smiled viciously.

  “Wait.” Joel paused at the door.

  “Why are you stopping?” asked Sydney. “We need to leave.”

  Joel refused to move. “Get everyone out and I’ll Lock the rest inside until the authorities get here.”

  Sydney exchanged looks with Cali. Cali shrugged and bellowed into the room. “Felix, get your ass out here, now.”

  “Merrick,” Sydney shouted. “Hurry.”

  Both men finished with their opponents before booking it out of the room. Merrick grasped the door, slammed it shut, and held it that way as Joel placed his hand on the rotten wood.

  Sydney held him steady as he finished. He felt so weak and fragile. It frightened her. “We need to get you to a hospital,” she said.

  “Not yet,” said Joel.

  Felix’s Hummer came screeching around the corner. Luke leaned across the seat and opened the passenger door for them.

  Joel smiled at Luke. “Skywalker,” he drawled. “They got you working as a driver now?”

  “It’s better than being used as a human shield.”

  Joel laughed but it turned into a cough.

  Cali opened the back doors for them and Sydney ushered Joel inside as the sirens grew closer.

  “Stay close by,” Joel instructed once they were all packed into the Hummer. “I need to be able to keep the door Locked.”

  Luke nodded and steered the vehicle into the next driveway over, which happened to be a 24-hour donut shop. “Anyone want donuts?” he called.

  The only answer was the hysterical mumbling coming from the woman Cali had saved. Cali tried to keep her calm and even offered her a donut but she just kept repeating how they wanted her to heal Joel and how she couldn’t and how they kept hurting him. “It’s all my fault,” the woman sobbed. She started to cry in earnest and Ca
li looked to Sydney, lost.

  Sydney didn’t know what to tell her. They needed to get that woman to a hospital just as much as Joel.

  In the safety of the donut parking lot they watched as the police surrounded the motel and were led to the room in question. Joel was watching it carefully and at the precise moment the police went to open the door, he released his Lock. The door flew open as those inside tried to flee.

  They all watched in silence as Regina, Vander, and his goons were all taken into custody.

  “You think it’s finally over?” asked Sydney.

  Felix and Cali exchanged looks. “Truthfully?” said Cali. “Vander won’t stop until he’s dead. But I’d say this is a major setback.”

  “But there is the bonus that we didn’t even have to give him the journal,” said Felix optimistically.

  “Journal?” Joel asked groggily as he slouched in his seat and rested his head against a window.

  Sydney spent the car ride to the hospital filling him in on their adventure finding Kevin’s journal and the significance behind why he wanted it. Of course, this was all shielded from the woman in the back, courtesy of Cali’s powers.

  There wasn’t much talking once they reached the hospital. The woman disappeared as soon as they walked her into the emergency room. Joel was taken into the ER after waiting for three hours. Apparently a hysterical, sobbing woman came first as opposed to a man with a broken arm.

  After he was tended to the doctors instructed him to get lots of bed rest.

  “Niella will be waiting for us.” Felix took over driving duties and drove them all to his house, and just as he’d predicted, Niella was waiting.

  “It’s good to see you in one piece,” she said to Joel.

  “I’m happy to be in one piece,” Joel said.

  Sydney escorted him back to the guest room where he passed out as soon as his head hit the pillow. She watched over him for a good hour until she was satisfied that he’d be all right. From the outside he didn’t look too roughed up but that wasn’t what worried Sydney. She feared what kind of scars were on the inside. Time in captivity with Vander, no matter how short, always left a mark.

  She didn’t want to think about what they could have done to him, especially with that man who caused the worst kind of pain imaginable with nothing but a touch. She shuddered and jerked when a blanket was carefully put over her shoulders. She grasped the fabric and turned to find Cali waiting there.

  Cali’s obsidian eyes moved from Sydney to Joel. “He’ll be okay,” she said. The sympathy on Cali’s face was an oddity and it was a painful reminder of when she had been held captive by Vander for a week. “When are you going to tell him?” she asked after a few moments of silence.

  Sydney could have pretended ignorance but she wouldn’t do that to Joel. He needed to know that she’d found her Mirror Mate — that Merrick was it. Her heart ached. “I don’t know,” she answered truthfully. “Today is our three-year anniversary. Even with all the chaos going on around us, he took the time to tell me happy anniversary.”

  “I know today seems like the worst day to do it, but you can’t go around pretending that everything’s okay. This would be the worst day to do that to him. He wants to celebrate three years together. He thinks you’re still in love with him and you’re not. You have to bite the bullet and tell him about you and Merrick before he’s really hurt.”

  “I know, but I’m not going to wake him up just to break his heart. That would be cruel.”

  “True. As soon as he wakes up then?”

  Sydney nodded miserably. Why couldn’t Joel have found his Mirror Mate at the same time so that their parting would have been a mutual agreement?

  Because nothing works like it does in the movies.

  “What should I say?” she asked Cali.

  Cali combed her fingers through her hair a couple of times as she thought. “You know I’m not very good at that touchy feely shit, right? Under normal circumstances I’d say just tell him how it is. This, however … ” She waved her arm to encompass his injured state. “This calls for a different kind of delicacy. Maybe ease into it? It’s not like you hate his guts or something. Everyone can still see how much you care for him. It’s not your fault that the love you felt turned into platonic love. Maybe explain that to him. As weird as this is going to sound, maybe tell him how happy you are with Merrick. Joel was always the kind of guy who’d rather chop off his own arm then see you upset or hurting. He’d do anything to help you — this time that just happens to include letting you go. He’ll understand. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but eventually he’ll realize that you have to be with your other half.” She pulled her gaze from Joel to regard Sydney. “Speaking of which, have you guys bonded yet?”

  Sydney studied the carpet. “No, and I’m not sure how. You said that we’ll bond when there are no more barriers between us, right? I feel like I’m ready but what if Merrick’s not open to this?”

  “Have you ever thought that maybe it’s your unfinished business with Joel that is holding you back? You may think you’re ready to bond, that you’re open as open can be, but even the smallest doubt can hold you back. It took me forever to learn I loved and trusted Felix with my life, that I’d do anything to keep him. It wasn’t until I was being dragged away from him that the deep dark part of myself believed it too and cried out for him. I don’t think it’s something that can be forced.” She placed her hand on Sydney’s shoulder. “It’ll come. You don’t have to bond instantly, trust me. That was the one fear that Collette exploited when she was trying to break my spirit. It’ll happen, just have faith.”

  Cali left the room.

  A few minutes later Niella rolled in. “I can watch him for a while,” she offered.

  Sydney nodded and went out to find the others. They were all sitting around the TV. Cali was next to Luke on one sofa while Felix was in the kitchen cooking. Merrick sat alone and Sydney went to join him. His arm came around her shoulders and drew her near. Her body instantly relaxed into his but her mind continued to war with itself.

  Shouldn’t she feel guilty about being in Merrick’s arms when Joel was lying injured in the next room?

  The guilt she thought she’d overcome came back full force and she didn’t know how to deal with it this time.

  The moment was upon her, but it wasn’t what she was expecting. It wasn’t how she had planned it. Spontaneity was not her friend. She needed order. She needed Joel to be perfectly healthy in both mind and body, but now he was neither and she felt horrible for having to add to his pain.

  Remember Cali’s words, she reminded herself. Joel would do anything for her, he understood how amazing finding your Mirror Mate was and she didn’t think he’d try to stand in her way.

  I’m sorry, Joel, but it looks like our three-year anniversary marks our beginning and our end.

  Chapter 26

  Joel didn’t surface into complete consciousness until two days after his rescue. Enough time for the guild to learn through Merrick that Vander had gotten out of police custody without a hitch.

  Sydney sat at Joel’s side, her jaw aching from how hard she’d been clenching it.

  They’d never get that bastard.

  Vander had slipped through the authority’s fingers again without them even knowing it. His appearance had only played into his cover that he’d been kidnapped by Regina and her goons and beaten. The police had arrived and seen an old man at the mercy of young thugs.

  Sydney had the sudden and surprising urge to hit something. She was also terrified that sometime during the night Vander would come for her. Or any one of her guild members.

  After he’d been released Merrick had no way of tracking him. Vander had officially disappeared once more. She bet it was only a matter of time before he surfaced. The question was where would he pop up next.

  Joel started to stir at her side. His eyes opened slowly and he stared at the ceiling for a few moments before he turned his head. “Hey.”

  Sy
dney offered him a watery smile.

  “I look that bad, huh?” he asked.

  She laughed. “I was just really worried about you.” She brushed back some of his hair. It was getting shaggy again. Like always, Joel had forgotten to make a hair appointment. She remembered all the times she’d had to schedule haircuts for him and how most of the time he’d protest cutting his longer than average locks.

  A small part of her ached at the thought of never doing that again, but there was a much bigger part waiting in anticipation to start making those kinds of memories with Merrick.

  Would Merrick protest if she asked him to cut his hair now? It was down to his shoulders and fell around his head like a messy inkblot. Her heart tripped in her chest at the thought of those raven locks sliding through her fingers.

  The ache in her chest was mild but she still felt Merrick’s absence, even with him in the kitchen of Felix’s home.

  Fingers snapped right in front of her face. She jumped.

  Joel laughed softly. “Are you with me? Maybe you need to get some sleep. How long have you been watching over me?”

  Not as much as you’re probably thinking.

  “On and off,” she answered evasively. “Niella, Cali, and Felix have been taking shifts. Even Luke and Merrick have been watching over you.”

  The second she said Merrick’s name, something came over Joel’s face. His expression shut down. A small difference, but one Sydney recognized instantly.

  “He’s a really nice guy, isn’t he?” Joel said quietly.

  Sydney swallowed past the lump in her throat. “He is,” was all she managed to get out.

  “You know I wanted to hate him for the way he looked at you. For the way you seemed to look at him instead of at me.”

  Her lungs constricted.

  “But he helped save my life and that’d make me a real asshole if I begrudged him for it, wouldn’t it?” His eyes, which had been downcast, rose up to meet hers.

  When their gazes locked she felt no shiver in her soul, no answering yearning to reach out and touch him. With a finality that went all the way down to her bones, she realized that it was over with Joel and it was cruel to let him think anything else.