by Ford, Lizzy
“What’s wrong?” she asked, her voice low with desire.
Sensing he had the upper hand in any case, Brady forced himself away from her. He sat back and rubbed his face, fighting the urge to touch her again and take their relationship to the next level. The Guardian’s relationship, he reminded himself. Lana didn’t know who he was.
Not like this. Regretfully resolved, he rose and fixed his uniform then picked up her belongings.
“Brady, what’s wrong?” Lana asked. Sensing the change in him, she sat up.
“I’ll think about it,” he said, walking towards the back of the tent with her things.
After a stunned silence, she asked. “What’s there to think about?” She followed him and stood several feet away, face flushed with different emotions this time: anger and embarrassment. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Maybe I doubt you’ll keep your word,” he said, admiring the fire in her eyes. “And maybe, I don’t want you tempting me to do something I shouldn’t. You should never offer carte blanche to someone who just might take you up on it.”
“Some things are more important than me,” she retorted. “I will keep my promise!”
“One night isn’t enough for this.” He held up the vault again, and desperation crossed her features. “We’ll deal with this later. In the meantime, I’ll keep this locked up.” He strode to the safe, placing the vault within.
Thoughts and emotions scattered, Lana watched him secure the vault in the safe and then leave. Her body shook with need. She meant what she’d said: she did trust him. She would’ve let him do anything to her on the couch. Her body wanted to feel his bare skin again, and aching desire pooled in her lower belly. She’d never thought desire could conquer her normally rigid self-control. With him, she had nothing to fear. He spoke like a rebel leader, but he touched her like she imagined the Guardian would: with tenderness and restraint.
She wanted to show her Guardian what he’d come to mean to her, before she thought him dead. Because he meant a lot more than she thought he should. Her skin burned from where he’d touched her, and her lips were plumped by his kisses.
Pacing, she tried to reclaim her composure. There were many things about him she couldn’t reconcile. The Guardian had some code of honor that seemed at odds with Brady’s quick trigger finger. If he wanted to kill her, to rape her, he could have done it with impunity many times over. But the same man who killed in cold blood had reassured her every day for over two weeks that he’d protect her. The man was more complicated than she liked.
And he’d walked away from her, even though she was serious about sleeping with him. Lana paused in her pacing, wondering if she’d done something wrong. Maybe he was only pretending to be interested in her. She’d thought him beyond the duplicity that made up the actions of the elite class. Maybe he feared his punishment would be worse when she told Mr. Tim what he did, for Mr. Tim would surely crush Brady’s PMF militia once he found out his friend was a traitor.
“Think of something else, Lana,” she ordered herself.
Elise would be horrified. Again. The look on Elise’s face when she realized that Lana had known something was wrong at the Peak. She didn’t expect it to happen as it did, and the accusation of slaughtering a thousand lives made her feel ill. There was been nothing she could have done, even if she knew when it would happen, even if she trusted her instincts enough to warn people without any proof to back her words!
Her gaze went to the safe where her vault was locked. Brady read her like a satellite image of his house. She’d never learned to lie; in fact, she would never dare lie to Mr. Tim, not with his rigid sense of integrity. She’d never purposely disappoint him. Yet, for the first time in her life, she wished she knew how.
She needed her micro and the vault. If someone was able to track her, she needed to flee, fast. The keypads had to be delivered somewhere safe, though she began to wonder if anyplace really was safe. Greenie had destroyed the Peak from the inside out. Was the Peace Command Center also at risk?
Restless, she rose and paced in front of the safe. She’d already tested the lock and found it to be beyond tampering. He’d all but rejected her deal to sleep with him and wasn’t about to hand her equipment over to her. She needed another plan.
She gazed at the safe again. She must access its contents! Desperation made her want to cry. She refused, knowing there was too much at stake for her to dwell in her emotions. Her gaze settled on the trunk where Brady kept extra equipment.
She knelt beside it, looking hesitantly at the dangerous weapons within. She doubted she could ever kill anyone, especially her Guardian, after seeing Donovan shot. She moved the guns and knives out of the way, unsettled by the thought of blood. He had a crowd control baton the size of her hand that expanded with a touch to the thumb pad.
She tucked it at her waist and rose, closing the trunk. The safe required the code from a key fob, which was probably in one of his pockets. He wasn’t the kind of man to leave it lying somewhere. No, he’d keep it with him.
If she could get the micro and the vault, she could escape. The micro would allow her to map a route west, and she could put on his tactical clothing and mask and leave the tent. Her thoughts came rapidly, and she refused to think twice. She’d escaped Greenie despite all his layers of security; she could escape him.
She sat down to plot, not wanting to think what would happen if she failed to deliver the Horsemen somewhere safe or how much her Guardian would despise her once she acted. She touched her lips, unable to shake the desire still running through her body.
The Horsemen were priority. She had to see them safe. Everything else, she’d deal with when the time came.
Chapter Eight
“WE’RE LEAVING IN forty-eight hours.” Brady’s voice awoke her from her uneasy doze a few hours later. Lana straightened in her seat on the couch, eyes following his powerful stride across the tent. He didn’t look at her.
“To where?” she asked.
“Not your concern.”
“Is Elise coming?”
“Yes,” he replied. “Everyone is going.”
She watched him to see if she could see where he kept the key fob she needed to enter the safe. It was near midnight. Her hands felt clammy, her nerves fluttering. He peeled the tac suit down to his waist, revealing a snug T-shirt beneath whose sleeves were tight around bulging biceps. He wore identification tags, and she looked closely without seeing the key fob. He’d changed since their incident on the couch, grown more distant. He was once again the rebel commander and not her Guardian.
“I’ll need the locations of all the emerops facilities in the morning,” he said.
“Very well,” she replied. She went to the kitchen to get a meal bar, nibbling on it as he settled near the trunks containing his gear. His back was to the living area as he pulled off every one of the dozen weapons he wore on his body and lined them up in front of him to start cleaning.
One of his knives had blood on the hilt.
“You killed someone,” she said in a hushed voice.
“That’s what happens when someone tries to kill me,” he said in bemusement.
“Doesn’t it bother you?”
“The choice is between him or me,” he glanced at her. “I don’t expect someone like you to understand.”
She frowned.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he said without looking at her. “You killed a thousand people. I might be close, but I think you beat me.”
“I didn’t kill them. I couldn’t have known what was in his head,” she replied, agitated by his harsh words. “Or how far he’d go.”
“Greenie?”
She didn’t answer but returned to the couch, perching on the edge. She reached down with one hand to retrieve the baton.
“Not sure I believe someone like you. For all I know, you stole something that’ll cause your enemies to destroy my people,” he said. “You knew enough to escape.”
“Someone like me
? Your performance on the couch makes me think you’re not above taking what you want, either,” she reminded him. Her face flamed with hurt anger. She’d thought the couch incident meant something to him, like it did her. If nothing else, she wanted to correct him about the Peak, to tell him she’d thought she’d been saving everyone on the mountain by taking the very keypads that might kill them in the hands of a traitor. Her mistake was not realizing Greenie had a back-up plan.
“I made a mistake.”
His words stung but bolstered her decision. She rose and approached him, the baton behind her back.
“Elise’s still pissed at you. Dan’s got her chained to a tree, she’s so mad,” Brady said.
Guilt and pity trickled through her as she thought of her friend. Elise had been loyal enough to help her. She didn’t deserve to be chained to a tree. Lana raised the baton when she was within arm’s reach and held it out.
“You probably won’t—”
The pulse that burst from the baton’s tip dropped him. Her heart soared, and she dropped it, kneeling beside him. She searched his pockets, surprised when she didn’t even find her micros in the cargo pocket where he’d kept them. There was no key fob, either.
“No, no, no!” she whispered, panicking.
She bounced to her feet and searched the dresser she’d already searched earlier. She retraced his steps since he entered, seeking anything she might have missed. She moved his weapons, pushed his heavy body out of the way to see if he hid them beneath one of his muscular thighs.
Nothing.
She stood and stared at the safe. She searched everything again then went to the kitchen, opening all the drawers and cabinets.
Brady groaned. Lana froze, turning to see him moving. He pushed himself up.
She knew Brady was merciless but hoped her Guardian wouldn’t kill her for this. Her hands began trembling, and she moved quickly to put one of the chairs in the living room between them. Brady straightened, the baton in hand. He drew a breath and looked at her.
“Next time, crank this up all the way. It’ll only drop a man half my size for five minutes. You see this button?” Despite his calm words, his gaze displayed his anger.
She looked where he indicated.
“Swipe your thumb over it once, and it stuns. Twice and it kills. Got it?”
He tossed the baton and approached her, glaring down at her with dark eyes as hard as his chiseled frame. She sucked in a breath and moved away, flinching as he pushed over the chair separating them. He didn’t grab her; he didn’t need to. He used his body to back her against the wall.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“I’m just glad you didn’t know how to use it right,” he said. “You’re looking for this.” He held up the key fob in the space between them, close enough for her to grab, if she wanted.
“I have to have the vault,” she said, embarrassed by the desperation in her voice.
His gaze moved over her face, resting on her lips.
“Attacking me isn’t the right way to get it. I’m the only thing standing between you and whatever hell is chasing you.” He moved away, and she released her breath, resting her head against the cabinet in relief. She’d expected him to explode. Her gaze went to the safe again, the despair within her swirling.
“Brady, you said one night wasn’t enough,” she said. “I’d even … I’d even consider becoming your … companion.”
He stared at her then chuckled. “You say that like it’d be the worst thing you ever did.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be far off.”
“Women don’t normally dread climbing into bed with me. I’m sorry the idea is so repulsive to you.”
“Not repulsive,” she said. “I don’t think I could kill someone, and I’ve got nothing else to trade. And you’re the one who walked away from me earlier.”
“I was giving you a chance to reconsider. So you’d give yourself to me indefinitely in exchange for your tech toys?” he asked. She heard a note of hesitation alongside the consideration in his broken voice.
“Yes,” she said, confused about his on-off moods.
Brady’s hormones surged at her proposition. He’d barely managed to walk away from her earlier. He could think of so many things he’d do to her sweet little body. And then he recalled his promise to Tim, and looked away from her.
“I can’t,” he said with regret.
“What do you mean?” she asked, surprise in her voice.
“I’m not willing to consider it.”
“But I’ve seen how you look at me. You could’ve fooled me with how you kissed me.”
“It would be a mistake,” he said.
“Brady, I don’t understand you.” Anger was back in her voice.
Lana approached him and paused within arm’s reach. Brady met her gaze again, taking in the array of emotions crossing her features. The wounded look bothered him most, the same vulnerable expression that had disturbed him twice before. He didn’t want Angel to feel that way, not when it was his duty to take care of her. As the Guardian, he’d been her emotional support, and he’d imagined this look when she discussed how scared she was of what was going on outside the Peak. To see the expression in person both touched and frustrated him.
When he took a step towards her, she reached out to him. He moved closer, her small hand on his arm, until they were toe-to-toe. Her breathing quickened, her body tensed. Her eyes flickered up to him then down again. He reached out with one hand and lifted her chin before crossing his hands behind his back. She looked from his eyes to his lips and moved closer. He lowered his head and caught her lips with his. He kissed her gently, plying her warm lips until she responded. She opened to him once again, reminding him of how she’d yielded to him earlier.
She tasted like honey, and her hot mouth soon became more demanding. She leaned into him, her warm, soft body molding against his. He kept his hands behind his back and tasted her, enjoyed her, tested her without pushing either of them over the edge. She was responsive, hungry and yielding, a combination that lit his blood on fire.
When he withdrew, she weaved against him, face flushed and eyes glazed.
“Go lay down,” he ordered in a husky tone and walked past her. “I need to think.”
He’d had a lot of women throw themselves at him, most of them more interested in the genetically altered body that made him as good in bed as he was in battle. He didn’t normally turn them down, unless he didn’t have the time. Of course, he’d never felt so personally responsible for any of the women that passed through his life. Most of them were no more than one night stands.
But he couldn’t let himself do it, no matter how much he wanted her or how willing she was. He didn’t need more emotions to hamper his decision making, and he didn’t need Tim to disown him at the end of this mess for exploiting the girl Brady was charged with guarding.
He watched Lana from the corner of his eye, returning to his weapons, this time with his back to the wall and not towards her. His head hurt from the shock of the baton, and he couldn’t help hoping she was a better shot than she was figuring out the baton.
Brady’s body was hot, his mind racing. He took his time with his weapons, needing to keep his hands occupied so he didn’t take her up on her offer. He couldn’t take her as his companion, no matter what he felt for her. The world was falling apart around them, and he couldn’t risk either of their mental states in a relationship that may not see both of them surviving.
He finished and laid out his clothing and weapons in neat piles for the next day then stood at the bed. Lana was curled into a tight ball on the far end, asleep. As much as he ached to crawl into the bed beside her, he pulled a blanket from a trunk and went to the couch.
The next morning, he woke before dawn and before she did. He toured the progress of the camp before going to the exercise area. He spent an hour on a punching bag before joining a few others sparring. Dan appeared soon after, and they sparred until Dan finally signaled he
was finished.
“You okay?” he asked, gaze intent.
“Yeah, good. Let’s go again,” Brady said, swiping the sweat from his face.
“We’ve been at it for an hour, and you’re still rarin’ go to.”
Brady straightened from his sparring stance. He was hot and sweaty, but he’d not yet been able to rid himself of the wired energy humming through his blood. He felt like sparring until noon.
“I thought you wanted to hit the comms site today,” Dan added. “Save a little in case you run into any bad guys.”
Brady gritted his teeth but nodded. Dan was right. He had a four-hour helo and hiking trip ahead of him to their nearest secure comms facility tucked into natural cave a few ranges over. The way things were going lately, he’d be lucky to make it there and back at all.
“You taking me?” Dan asked.
“Not this time, in case I don’t come back.”
“Think happy, man.”
“You’re awfully chipper today,” Brady said with a grimace.
They walked into the camp from the designated exercise areas. The camp was being broken down quickly, with pallets already loaded and sealed, awaiting evacuation. Despite his less-than-serious nature, Dan was detail oriented and quick to execute, two traits Brady found priceless over their years together.
“We’ll have everything down by tomorrow morning,” Dan said, following his gaze to a pallet.
“Good man. As usual, you deliver.”
“Yep. I can move the girls tonight so they’re not stuck without a tent to sleep in.”
“One night wouldn’t hurt ’em,” Brady grunted.
“It might hurt me.”
He gave a sidelong look at Dan. “You and Elise?” he asked, surprised. “I thought she’d slit your throat.”
“I’m not saying she didn’t try,” Dan said with a snort. “I put up a fight, but it was useless.”
Brady ignored Dan, eyes taking in the progress of their preparations to leave. Dan’s estimates were always conservative. It looked as if the camp would be packed up—if not evacuated—before dark.
“Move them to the nearest underground site today.”