Awakening (Promiscus Guardians Book 1)

by Brianna West

  “Hey, Nattie,” I answered, keeping my body turned away from Lucas.

  “Hey,” she started in a strained voice. “How are things with your beau? Do you like London?”

  I sighed and made my way out of the room, ignoring the eyes that were sure to be watching me as I did. “Wonderful. I really like London. It feels like there are things to do every day. How have you been?”

  “Well...” her voice trailed off. “Not so great.”

  I suddenly felt a solid heaviness in my belly. She didn't sound right. There was something about the tone of her voice that was disconcerting.

  “Why not?” I asked hesitantly.

  “There are these men...” she started in a slightly hushed voice. “They have come by and stated that if I didn't have you come here they would...”

  Oh, god.

  “Nattie,” I started seriously. “What did they say?”

  “They said that you are to come alone...” she was breathing heavier, and I could tell by the way her voice was shaking that she was probably crying. “And if you didn't...they would kill me.”

  Suddenly, the call cut out.

  “Nattie!” I immediately tried to call her back, but the call went straight to voice mail. I was shaking violently as I attempted again and again to reach her.

  “Izzy, what is going on?” Lucas asked from behind me.

  “Nattie...” I started, but the tears were already rushing out of me. I was having trouble saying much else.

  Lucas pried the phone away from me and immediately took his own from his pocket. He dialed with inhumane speed and then spoke in Russian. He ended the call only minutes after and ushered me back into the bedroom. I was handed tea before he spoke to me again.

  “Pavel and the others are investigating,” he started with a serious tone. “Her guards were found unconscious near her home while the others were away. It would seem we underestimated how quick they would locate her.”

  “Lucas,” I began firmly despite the shaking in my hands. “I have to help find her.”

  “You will not,” he replied harshly. “The others will find her, and you will remain here until they do.

  I grated my teeth in frustration. “If it were someone you cared for, wouldn't you want to go and help find them? I'm the reason she is in this situation. I have to find her.”

  Lucas pulled me tightly into himself, curling his body and arms around me as if to imprison me rather than comfort me. “I understand, Izzy. It is the reason I refuse to let you leave. I would not knowingly allow you to endanger yourself so that you might help locate her. I trust the team and their ability to recover her. You know to what extent they are talented. You can trust they will find her, unharmed, in no time at all.”

  I hated how logical it all seemed. My emotions were always getting the better of me. I wanted nothing more than to escape these arms and search for my friend. Instead, I was wrapping my own around Lucas and pressing my face into his calming scent.

  I guess I had been more tired than I originally thought because I was suddenly jolting awake in a dark room, covered in cloud sheets and tucked tightly against a hard form. The arm securely around my waist was probably Lucas' way of ensuring I wouldn't escape.

  I bit my lip in frustration and tried to pull the offending arm away but to no avail. It was securely caging me to the slumbering vampire-angel.

  A phone rang, causing me to jolt with surprise. The arm around me was immediately gone, and Lucas was answering his phone within no time at all.

  “I will relay the message to her,” he said finally in English after a long conversation in French. “And Cecile, you have our deepest gratitude.” I felt a rush of relief at the words. My tightly clenched fists relaxed at my sides. Lucas was chuckling. The deep husk of his voice was suddenly very comforting. “I hardly think it wise to give her a makeover so soon after a kidnapping. Let her rest.”

  I was sitting up, the pillow cradled in my arms as I smiled at their conversation. Nattie was well enough for a makeover? Well, that was amazing news. I was starting to wonder if Cecile would use any opportunity to give someone a makeover. It certainly seemed so.

  I pressed my face into the pillow and breathed out the remainder of my anxiety. Nattie was safe. It was just like Lucas had said. They found her relatively unharmed, enough so for a makeover, and only hours after her kidnapping had been first discovered.

  Even though I knew to the extent these individuals were talented, it was never put into so much perspective until this incident. I was reminded of just how powerful Guardians were.

  I only wish that someday I might be half as talented so that my loved ones may never know the danger that lurked beneath the surface of their understood reality.

  --

  It had been over a week since Nattie's kidnapping. While I had wanted to see her safe for myself, I knew that at the moment, we were in hiding for very good reason. There was a traitor in the Guardians.

  Since Lucas discarded our phones, so that they couldn't be tracked after the Nattie incident, I wouldn't be getting any more phone calls from her. Lucas explained that we needed to use a laptop that used random IP addresses so that we wouldn't be tracked to our location.

  He only corresponded with Victor every few days, but the emails were short and most of the time contained little to no information. It would seem there wasn't much going on in the investigation of the traitor thus far. At least, not that I understood. Their emails were, of course, encrypted.

  To my chagrin, Lucas and I had not touched, kissed, or done anything in the realm of intimacy since the night Nattie was kidnapped. Not that my thoughts weren't still as suffused with fantasies about being conquered by the less that brute-like Captain Lucas, but he was keeping a clear distance between us. I was once more frustrated by his every action.

  I couldn't blame him entirely though. I was mainly at fault here, having given him the message that I wasn't ready to couple, which of course was completely untrue.

  I wanted nothing more than to have his powerful body colliding with mine in white hot passion, but I was afraid of what would transpire following.

  Would we become a couple? Somehow that definition didn't quite fit with the romantically inexperienced Lucas. The guy had a serious complex when it came to love relationships.

  I blame his parents.

  I sat with my romance novel bookmarked with my thigh as I pondered the hot and cold relationship I had with Lucas.

  If love were simple, they wouldn't write books about it.

  I knew that what I felt for Lucas went beyond lust. If it didn't, I wouldn't have any problem setting my sights on someone else. I mean, dear lord, I was surrounded by amazingly gorgeous and awe-inspiring men.

  I was sure it was a requirement, that they so sweetly discarded for me, to be attractive to become a Promiscus Guardian.

  I drummed my fingers against the book on my thigh.

  If I could, I would relieve myself of these feelings I harbored for Lucas. The infuriating back and forth; it was as if we were circling this drain and never fully falling into it but never truly coming out of it either.

  It was giving me a serious headache.

  Lucas strolled purposefully into the room, causing my thoughts to slip away for a moment to admire his powerful body.

  “I'm starting to get cabin fever,” I admitted grouchily.

  Lucas took a seat beside me and gave me his usual look when he thought I was complaining too much. “It won't be much longer.”

  “You've said that before,” I pointed out. “I don't want to hide the rest of my life. At least start training me again.”

  “You have trained enough,” he quickly admonished. “You are powerful, Izzy. Even I fear what the true extent of that power is, but it is not enough with a traitor in our midst.”

  “Does Victor have an inkling as to who it might be?” I asked.

  Lucas looked away from me for a moment, his body coiling. “Yes,” came his clipped response.


  “And?” I prodded.

  I did my best to keep the excitement from my voice. If they knew, we could capture that person and then I could return to my normal life. Well, as normal as it could be with all these new developments.

  “And we have not confirmed it,” he replied evenly. “I will know more in a few days’ time,” he continued cryptically.

  “Who do they think it is, Lucas?” I asked, growing impatient.

  Lucas was stiff beside me. His body was so tense that I was almost inclined to comfort him, but since our last interlude, he felt too far away for such an action. However, I knew with the intensity of his body's reactions that it was someone close to us. It was someone he trusted.

  It could only mean one person.

  I broke the expanding silent between us. “Pavel...”

  Lucas turned towards me, his usually stoic face falling away into one that expressed betrayal; a betrayal that ran as deep as the one that had first exposed him to the cruelty of the world.

  My eyes dropped, and without a thought, I placed my hand over his and squeezed tightly.

  Chapter Eight

  You might be wondering to yourself how I somehow concluded that Pavel may be, in fact, the double spy in question.

  Well, call it a feeling.

  A lot of Pavel's actions until now had always seemed just a little out of place. Granted, I hadn't been with them long enough to see how the Russian acted without my being there.

  So far, copping a feel and inappropriate outbursts were the only way I could efficiently describe Pavel's character. However, it would seem that Pavel's unusual actions had become noticeable enough to Lucas.

  Back when we investigated Arcata, I noticed that Lucas was particularly invested in keeping an eye on Pavel. After the incident at the demon house, I was no longer left alone with or near Pavel. Pavel had also seemed a bit too eager to keep me very much included in the investigation.

  I had thought, at the time, he was simply thinking that my powers could be of great use to them, but now I had to wonder if the ulterior motive was to keep me involved enough to be kidnapped.

  Pavel was also one of few that knew about Tristan's well-hidden home. I knew this only after Lucas disclosed that Pavel and Tristan kept in contact throughout my stay there.

  When the Sicarius attacked, Lucas was sure that it had been sent by someone on the outside.

  Something didn't quite match up though.

  I sat thinking beside Lucas as he tapped vigorously on his laptop.

  If Pavel was the agent, there had to be someone he was reporting to. I doubt that Pavel was heading all of this. Pavel was elusive, sure, but I had a feeling that he was not the leader in all of this.

  There had to be someone else.

  Lucas huffed in frustration before closing his laptop with a slam. He threw it to the side with another angry grunt. I turned towards him, now having lost my train of thought, and implored him with a questioning gaze.

  “They have brought Pavel to the council,” his voice was strained as he started. “They suspect that he was acting alone. Pavel is talking. It would seem he would also like to come clean and ensure your safety.” His laughter was without humor.

  Obviously, he found that hard to believe.

  I didn't though. Deep down, I knew without a shred of doubt that Pavel cared for me. Call it a woman's intuition.

  “This doesn't feel right,” I stated softly. “If he was truly behind it all, he wouldn't be so eager to talk.”

  There had to be someone bigger in charge. Someone that was on the inside that was able to reach all corners of the Guardian network. I wasn't terrible knowledgeable about these things, but I had read enough detective and mystery novels to conclude that Pavel just didn't have enough network to pull this all off.

  “For once,” Lucas started with a small smile, “I agree with you.”

  “Well, thanks, I guess,” I replied with feigned insult. “So where do we go from here?”

  Lucas leaned backwards onto his large hands, his body and face tense with contemplation. “We will need to find evidence that suggests that this does not stop with Pavel. While I do believe he should be held accountable for the part he played in this, I do not think he could have managed it without help in a larger degree. There must be another that has a greater influence. And it is very possible that he was persuaded into helping.”

  “Yeah,” I concurred, leaning back in the same fashion as Lucas. “But who could possibly have the influence to do it?”

  “I have an idea,” Lucas proposed slowly. It would seem he was still having difficulty deciding if he should share it with me. I turned my head towards him, offering him an encouraging look. “If I am correct, then it would mean everything that we believed to be true, until now, was fallacy.”

  He was talking cryptically again which was making my hands curl into the bedding with frustration.

  I hated how guarded he still was with me. Instead of saying so, I simply waited as patiently as I could for him to continue. As I was a woman, however, this would be set aside for a fight another day.

  Finally, as if the silence had coaxed it from him, he said, “I believe the only person with enough influence and networking to be able to successfully remain hidden and in the shadows is Tristan.”

  Tristan.

  It was like a light had gone off above my head and everything suddenly made sense.

  Of course!

  An angel capable of being Dark and hiding his true nature since he was the only person that could possibly see the true nature in others. Of course he would be the only one capable of remaining hidden in plain sight.

  He was also on the council and considered in every decision that was made. He was a good friend to Victor who was one of few that was above him in influence—or so I understood when Victor introduced me to Tristan.

  Convincing anyone would mean we'd damn well have our ducks in a row.

  “Fuck,” I cursed breathlessly.

  “My sentiments exactly,” Lucas concurred in defeat.

  –

  Since the spy was supposedly caught—meaning they had caught Pavel, and he was now imprisoned with all the other Dark affiliated persons wherever that was, not that I was worried about Pavel or anything—Lucas and I had been given permission to return to my hometown.

  I silently hoped that Pavel didn't face what normal humans faced in our criminal facilities. He was much too pretty for prison.

  Even though I should feel betrayed, there was a large part of me that wondered if there was another reason he had done it; you know, spying and nearly having me killed on several occasions.

  I never once felt ill-intentions from Pavel. I didn't think he could hide that sort of feeling. Tristan may be capable of concealing his true nature, but I doubt that Pavel had such an ability.

  Besides, contact would often intensify the feeling. When I touched Pavel, on the many occasions as he had taken every opportunity that was offered to make it so, I never felt any sort of Dark feeling that I associated with evil intentions.

  Lucas had hesitated quite dramatically when he received the call that would send us home. We knew, despite their assurance that Pavel acted alone, that there was another person pulling the proverbial strings.

  I mean, Pavel was definitely a smooth talker when it came to talking his way into a woman's pants, but he was no mastermind. Of that I was sure.

  Lucas spent minutes arguing that he felt that, despite Pavel's capture, I was still in danger of being found there.

  Despite the closing of several known portals, and the slaying of vicious, calculating arch-demons, there was no real assurance that we would be safe there.

  His overbearing protection was still very much intact it would seem, to my chagrin.

  “Lucas,” I said for the fifth time as he argued his case to Victor over the phone.

  He waved me away once more and effectively caused my temper to boil over.

  Women, especially as quick to fire as m
yself, could only take so much jerk before snapping. I stole away the phone and ended the call. His eyes grew wide with shock before narrowing in anger.

  Yeah, well, you pissed me off too sweetheart.

  “We need to get evidence that Tristan is involved. If they believe that Pavel acted alone, then anything that occurs after this will only prove otherwise,” I stated angrily.

  I couldn't keep the smug expression from my face when Lucas finally admitted defeat with his overall body language. It was the sigh that had me internally fist pumping in victory.

  Winning against Lucas was a beautiful thing.

  “Must you always have your way?” Lucas asked, defeated.

  “Only ninety-nine percent of the time,” I replied in self-satisfaction, “but the remaining one percent is all yours.”

  “How generous of you,” he replied sarcastically.

  Lucas quickly redialed Victor and agreed that we would return on the condition that he was to remain my sole Guardian. I wasn't surprised by this condition because it was very Lucas-like to suggest it.

  I guess Victor wasn't surprised by it either since he easily permitted it, assuming by the short time between the request and Lucas ending the call.

  “I never found an appropriate moment to ask you,” Lucas started as he helped me prepare to leave. “What it is that you did before we met? What about your family?”

  “I thought you could find this all out with that handy government hack you told me about?” I said, smirking.

  “Yes,” he agreed while taking a shirt from the floor and storing it in my bag, “but I would much rather hear such things from you.”

  If I wasn't already flattered by his asking in the first place, I would definitely be now. I turned my face away, disguising my embarrassment by picking up several items from the floor.

  “I worked in a library,” I started as I stuffed the items into the luggage. “However, due to lack of funding, the library I worked for closed down. Modern technology has made it easy to get books right to your laptop or tablet, making libraries harder and harder to keep funded.”