“Very paranoid, aren’t you?” said Vander.
“I like to think of it as being careful.”
Vander nodded to Regina and she zipped open the bag, exposing a shiny new laptop. Vander held his hand out and she carefully handed it over.
He limped back into Merrick’s apartment.
Merrick slammed the door in Regina’s face. He’d never get tired of that.
Vander set the bag on the coffee table and remained standing. “You have your prize, now where is mine?”
Merrick lifted up the tail end of his shirt and pulled out the notebook.
Vander smirked. “How very like a cop you are.”
Merrick shrugged. “Some habits are hard to kick.”
Vander came forward and gingerly took the journal. “I know the feeling,” he said before latching on to Merrick’s exposed forearm.
A mad gleam came to Vander’s eye, a gleam that Merrick knew all too well, but it was too late. Pain ripped through him as Vander stole his life energy into himself. Vander moaned. Merrick’s knees buckled and he fell to the floor.
• • •
Sydney brought her phone up to her ear.
“911, what’s your emergency?”
“I-I’d like to report a break-in.” She forced shakiness into her voice. A few seconds later she hung up and pulled her bag of goodies into her lap. She readied three syringes and slung the strap over her head as she made her way across the street to Merrick’s apartment. For the past two days she’d been staked out. She’d refused to let him go without a fight, without explaining that what he’d heard had been out of context. After the first night, she’d seen Regina scouting out the place so she’d gone back to her clinic and picked up a few supplies. It was obvious that Vander was still after Merrick.
Now he was trapped in his apartment with Vander and the trio from San Francisco. She’d be damned if she let them get the better of Merrick. As she climbed the stairs to Merrick’s apartment she pulled out a bottle of Felix’s cologne and sprayed herself.
No need to give Regina a heads up.
She spied the backs of their legs first. She readied her syringes, her heartbeat hammering in her chest.
You can do this.
She crawled up the stairs slowly, hoping Regina wouldn’t notice her smell coming up behind her. She’d only wanted to disguise her scent so Regina wouldn’t identify her. She was tempted to use her powers but if she used her Shield then that would give her away faster than her scent.
Her plan was working as she reached the top of the stairs. Regina didn’t even turn. A moan and a grunt came from inside and all her fear vanished as her concern for Merrick overtook her.
“Looks like Vander made his move.” Regina went to open the door.
Sydney sprang. She got both men in the thigh and shoved the plunger down without mercy. Both men screamed like little girls.
Regina whirled, Merrick’s apartment door swung open, forgotten. “You.” Regina’s eyes glittered with hate.
“Me.” Sydney charged. She was out for blood.
Regina tried to duck but there was nowhere to go. Sydney crashed into her and they fell into Merrick’s home, Sydney on top. She held her syringe in both hands, struggling to push it into Regina’s chest.
Regina’s face was bright red with exertion as she held Sydney off. Both their arms where quaking with the effort. “You bitch,” Regina ground out. “If you inject that into my heart, you’ll kill me.”
“I’m a vet, you fucking moron. I know dosages — and how do you know I don’t want you dead?”
For the first time Sydney saw true fear in Regina’s eyes.
Sydney gained a few inches. She was so close.
Regina was starting to sweat.
Sydney could see her victory. She just had to find Merrick —
She looked up.
Big mistake.
Vander hovered over her Mirror Mate like a giant spider sucking the life out of its prey.
“Merrick!”
She threw up her Shield. Regina took advantage of her distraction and flipped Sydney over her head.
She landed with a grunt. Pain exploded in her chest as air was forcefully expelled from her lungs.
Numbly she flexed her fingers and found the syringe still within her grasp.
Regina lunged for her.
Sydney rolled. Not far enough.
Regina landed on her back and grasped her hair. She drove her face into the hard floor.
Sydney cried out. She threw her arm back and stabbed Regina right in her trapezius. She screamed.
Sydney shoved the plunger down. Regina threw her face back into the floor and Sydney lost her grip on the syringe. Her vision wavered in and out. The back of her neck tingled then stopped.
No. Must protect Merrick.
She forced her Shield back up and threw her head back with everything she had.
A sickening crunch met her ears and Regina groaned in pain.
Something hot and sticky drenched the back of Sydney’s neck and shirt and copper tinged the air.
Blood.
Sydney rolled and Regina fell like a rag doll onto the floor next to her, the needle still sticking out near her neck.
Despite her dizziness, Sydney plucked the needle out and got to her feet. The world spun but she forced herself to focus. Vander was nowhere in sight.
Sydney ground her teeth but there was nothing else to be done. She ran to Merrick’s side.
“Merrick.” She cradled his head.
His eyelids fluttered open. “Syd?”
She kissed him. “Are you all right? Can you stand?”
She helped him into a sitting position and got him onto the couch. “I should be okay in a few minutes,” he said. “That fucker tried to kill me.”
“Vander has a nasty habit of doing that,” she said dryly.
“Sydney, what the hell are you doing here?”
“You mean besides saving your life? I’ve been staking out your house for the past couple days. There’s something I have to tell you, something I think you need to hear in proper context. But right now I have to take care of something.” She left his side.
“Where are you going?”
She grasped Regina under the armpits and heaved. “I have to stage a break-in one floor down.”
Despite Merrick being weakened by Vander he helped Sydney break into an unsuspecting neighbor’s apartment where they threw Regina, Dennis, and their buddy inside.
Sydney could already hear the sirens and dashed back up the stairs with Merrick to hide in his room. “I need to shower in case they come asking questions,” she said.
And ask questions the police did.
Dressed in nothing but a robe with wet hair, Sydney stood by Merrick’s side in his doorway as they explained the commotion they’d heard downstairs.
“And you didn’t report it?” the officer asked.
“No sir,” said Merrick, his arm wrapped around Sydney’s shoulders. To the officer it would look like a sign of affection but Sydney knew that if it weren’t for her, Merrick would be swaying on his feet.
The officer made a few more notes. “And what happened to your face, miss?”
Sydney’s hand instantly went to her face. It throbbed from Regina’s abuse but she’d hoped the heat from the shower and the flush on her face would cover it up. But it looked like their officer was a little more perceptive than she’d anticipated. She quickly sought out an excuse.
“When I heard the sirens and then the pounding of footsteps downstairs, I was given quite the fright. I slipped in the shower and bashed my poor money maker into the tile.” She used her best bubbly voice to convey that she was an accident prone bimbo.
It worked.
“Very well, thank you for your time.”
Merrick shut the door and they turned around to both stare at the large blood stain on his floor.
“Good thing he didn’t want to be invited in,” Sydney said as she helped Merrick over
to the couch. “I’ll clean that up right away.”
Merrick remained eerily silent the entire time she cleaned. By the time she finished her whole body was on edge. She could feel the tension building in the room.
She drained the last of the water down the sink and nearly jumped out of her skin when Merrick’s voice spoke right in her ear. “What are you doing here, Sydney?”
The bucket clattered in the sink as she spun on him.
His face was dark and haggard. He looked horrible. Vander’s attack on him didn’t help either. Anger simmered in his ice blue eyes, but there was also a flicker of vulnerability. A spark of feeble hope.
Her heart lurched.
“Why did you leave Felix’s that day?” She needed to know what he’d heard, what he was feeling, and deal with it accordingly.
He crossed his arms. “I had my reasons.”
Sydney’s temper sparked. He was going to pretend that he hadn’t heard anything? Fine. Two could play at this game.
“So you just decided to leave us high and dry for no good reason? I thought you were better than that.”
His jaw bulged.
“I don’t know what made you want to leave,” she continued, “but the least you could do is give us back the journal.” She held her hand out.
If possible, his face grew darker. “I don’t have it.”
Her little act crumbled. “What? What do you mean you don’t have it? You left with it!”
“I traded it to Vander for information on my sister.”
Sydney’s world spun. All she could think was that Greg had been right. They never should have taken the journal. “You idiot!” she exploded and shoved him. “What were you thinking?”
Merrick snapped. “I was thinking how stupid I was to fall for your lovey dovey act. That’s what! You played me. You never wanted me as your Mirror Mate, you said as much to Joel. I heard you. All that time together you had me tagging after you like some whipped puppy! Why bother stringing me along? Huh? You wanted another man on the side, was that it?”
Sydney’s hand flew before she knew what was happening. She punched him in the gut.
Merrick grunted and clutched his abdomen. He chuckled before speaking in a deadly voice. “Get out of my house.”
She trembled.
Merrick would never hurt you.
“No.” She raised her chin stubbornly. “You want to know why I’ve been staked outside your house? It’s because I care about you. You said you overheard me telling Joel I didn’t want you as my Mirror Mate, well, if you would have stuck around you would have heard me tell him that at one point in time I used to wish Joel was my destined soul mate. But not anymore. I broke things off with Joel. You would have learned this if you hadn’t run off. I broke up with him just like I said I would because I don’t love him anymore.”
Merrick’s brow furrowed.
She tried stepping closer to him but he backed away from her. “I don’t want to hear your lies. Save them for someone more gullible than I because I’m done.”
“I’m not lying, you jackass.” She finally understood Cali’s need to resort to name calling. Men just seemed to respond better that way.
Merrick blinked. “What did you call me?”
“You heard me. Now are you going to listen to me or not? I don’t love Joel.” She dug deep inside herself for courage and plowed onward. “I love you, Merrick.”
His eyes wavered and right when she was sure he’d cave, he turned his back on her. “If you won’t leave, then I will,” he said gruffly.
Her heart shattered.
She watched him make his way toward the door. With a finality that made her want to cry, she knew that once he stepped through those doors he’d be gone from her life forever.
Please don’t leave me, she whispered in the deepest part of her soul. Something fragile inside of her reached out. Merrick …
Merrick stopped dead with his hand on the knob of his door.
In the recesses of her mind she heard a tentative and hopeful, Sydney? before everything was enveloped in heat and whiteness.
Chapter 28
Merrick awoke to a fierce burning inside his chest. He blinked up at his ceiling before jackknifing into a sitting position.
How the hell had he gotten on the floor?
He rubbed at his chest absently. Heat blazed from within, like a mini fire. It filled him up — made him feel whole.
Sydney —
He spotted her a few feet away on the floor just like he’d been.
“Sydney.” He rushed to her side and cradled her against his chest. With her in his arms, the heat in his chest turned into a deep warmth that seeped into every pore of his body. He stared down at her beautiful face in awe.
Could it be possible?
Had they … bonded?
He shook her gently. “Come on, Sydney, open those beautiful green eyes of yours. Even if all you do is glare at me, which I might add, I deserve. I was such an asshole. I should have believed you. I wanted to — I just — ”
“You can quit babbling.” She spoke without opening her eyes. A smile curled her lips. “I accept your apology.”
He crushed her to his chest, vowing to never let her go.
“Merrick,” Sydney squeaked. “Can’t breathe.”
He released her instantly and she inhaled deeply.
“I see you got your strength back.”
He quickly took an assessment of his body and found that he felt great. Better than great. He was rejuvenated.
“How do I feel so fantastic?” He pulled back far enough to stare into her eyes.
Her emerald eyes shone up at him with such love it made his heart hurt. “Because we bonded.” She placed one hand over his heart and the other over her own. “I’ve never felt anything like it before,” she whispered.
He covered her hand with one of his. That oh-so-familiar jolt skittered through his body. His cock tightened and his eyes dipped down to take note that Sydney was clad in nothing but a bathrobe.
When his eyes wandered back to hers, he found stark desire flaring bright. “Have you ever been taken on the floor?” he asked her roughly.
She visibly shivered. She undid the belt of her robe and shook her head. “No,” she said breathlessly.
Merrick hissed when the robe fell open, exposing her perky breasts. Her nipples were already hard and begging for his mouth.
Easy, he calmed himself.
He rolled onto his back and dragged Sydney atop him. There was no need for her to suffering being on the bottom. He hadn’t cleaned the floor in a while and he didn’t mind a little dirt and grit.
She straddled his waist and pulled his shirt up and over his head. He kept himself in check as her hands ghosted over his chest, light as a fairy. He cupped her breasts in his hands and gently kneaded.
He groaned when she raked her nails along his skin and he couldn’t help but ground himself against her bottom.
He cursed his jeans. They were all that stood in his way of sliding deep inside Sydney.
As if sensing his distress she leaned down until her chest was flush with his and fused their lips together.
Merrick’s control was slipping. He hadn’t sampled her in so long and she tasted so good. He wrapped his hand in her hair and pressed her closer to deepen their kiss.
She slid herself against him wantonly.
Merrick forced his attention to their kiss, lest he come in his pants.
He forced his tongue past her lips and stroked deep into her mouth. She met him stroke for stroke, lick for lick. His body was driven to a fevered pitch. His cock strained against the fly of his jeans and he didn’t know how much more he could take.
Sydney broke their kiss to trail her lips down his neck, her hands questing further south until she reached the waistband of his jeans.
Finally.
Merrick dropped his head back as she worked his pants down his thighs, just enough to free him.
She inhaled sharply, as if sh
e’d forgotten how big he was.
Merrick smirked.
He pushed her robe the rest of the way off her body until she was blessedly naked atop him. The sight was erotic as hell.
They were both breathing heavily by the time she pushed herself down onto him. They both moaned and the heat inside Merrick felt near to bursting. He arched his back and slid deeper inside her.
Her fingers bit into his chest where she was using him like a balancing board. Slowly she started to rock, then she rose up on her knees to sink back down on him.
Merrick bit his tongue to keep from shouting. She was so wet and hot around him.
Eventually she found a rhythm that had him meeting her halfway. When she started to tire he grasped her hips and helped her, driving himself up into her over and over as she rode him.
He felt his climax building.
Sydney’s inner muscles clenched around him and she came with a muffled cry.
Merrick drank in the sight of her: her head thrown back, her blonde hair a messy halo around her head. Her green eyes glittered with satisfaction and he’d been the one to give it to her.
“I love you,” he told her right as he was thrown over the edge.
His hands tightened on her hips, pulling her close as he shoved up off the floor to empty himself inside her.
He must’ve temporarily blacked out because when next he blinked, Sydney’s head was pillowed on his chest. She traced lazy circles along his biceps and from time to time he could feel her lips press delicate kisses to his flesh.
“I love you too,” she whispered against him.
He ran his hand through her hair, down her spine, and cupped her bottom. “I’m so sorry I was an asshole to you earlier.”
She picked her head up to rest her chin on her arm. “I’m sorry you heard what you did and thought I didn’t love you.”
He traced his finger down her cheek. “I should have never doubted you. I was hurt. Ever since my powers manifested I’ve never been able to trust another. I should have realized I could trust you, but I was too fucking stupid.”
She kissed him tenderly. When she pulled back her eyes were filled with sadness. “Greg was right, we should have never taken Kevin’s journal. Now Vander has it in his clutches.”
Guild of Truth 02 - Shield from the Heart Page 26