She grabbed the silky edge of the blanket and rubbed it between her fingers, a self-soothing habit left over from childhood. She wasn’t sure how or if she should tell Finn. If she didn’t tell him, he’d never feel the pain that she was feeling right now at the thought of losing him. One moment he’d have these memories and the next moment he wouldn’t. You couldn’t miss something you didn’t remember. And yet, wiping such a substantial amount of memories didn’t seem right either.
He’d been absently stroking her hip with the back of his hand. But he looked at her now as if he wanted to experience the pleasure all over again.
When his hands gently urged her, she acquiesced and rolled to her back. Even though they’d just made love, an all-new thunderstorm of excitement pounded in her head, electrifying her body. He positioned himself on top of her this time. Bending her knees, she wrapped a leg over his hip, and the tip of his erection easily found her center.
In one purposeful, fluid movement that made her gasp then cry out in pleasure, he pushed his way inside.
Chapter Six
The next morning, Finn waited for Brenna to step into the shower before he left the suite. He’d spent too many days cooped up inside that damn cabin, and like hell was he going from one confined space to another. He was pretty sure she’d insist on coming with him, but there was no way he’d let her continue thinking she had to protect him.
He recalled passing a large workout facility on the way to their room last night. What he needed was a good sweat to help clear his mind. He’d be lucky if his muscles weren’t completely atrophied by now. He also wanted to talk to one of the Guardians and demand to know what they’d discovered about the man who’d held him prisoner.
Coiling the silver chain around his hand, he thrust it into the pocket of the nylon jacket he wore. Knowing he might be surrounded by vampires who thought he’d make a good snack, he’d brought it from Lily’s car just in case. He could protect himself. He didn’t need Bren to do it for him.
He imagined being in an interrogation room with the little freak tethered to the wall this time. Just the two of them. He’d watch the bastard’s dead fish eyes go wide in horror when Finn took out the silver chain. See how he felt being tortured and at the mercy of someone he’d thought he could control.
The passageway was longer and more confusing than Finn had remembered. As he entered each new section, his movements caused the lights to turn on ahead of him and to click off in his wake.
Where was the gym anyway? He could’ve sworn he’d caught a glimpse of weight machines and mats as they’d been ushered to their room. Should he have turned to the right back there?
“Mr. McKentry, what can I help you with?”
Finn stopped and took a few steps backward, peering down the corridor he’d just passed. Xian, the field office manager, approached. He wore a chef’s apron and carried a tray of food. Did the guy do everything around here?
“Are you looking for me? I was just bringing you and Miss Stewart something to eat. I would’ve brought it sooner but…” Xian dropped his gaze to the tray and realigned the tiny salt and pepper shakers.
“Don’t worry,” Finn said, flashing a grin. “We’ve been a tad occupied back there anyway.” No doubt Xian had tried to bring the food but had heard them through the door.
They’d made love several times last night and once again this morning. What a beautiful way to start the day. A man could totally get used to that.
Finn glanced at the tray, suddenly hungry. “I’m headed for a quick workout. Do you mind?”
“Help yourself.” Xian set the tray on the edge of a side table.
“Oh, and call me Finn. Mr. McKentry sounds like my father or grandfather.” They’d both passed away long ago, but it still sounded strange.
He grabbed a piece of bacon and studied Xian. The man was a good three or four inches shorter than Finn, with short black hair and a wiry but athletic build. Either a bicyclist or into martial arts. He had a very…normal vibe. “You’re human, aren’t you?”
“I am.”
Finn chewed thoughtfully and reached for a glass of orange juice. “How is that possible? I mean, why didn’t they wipe your memory?”
“I’ve worked here in the Seattle field office ever since Guardians saved my life. Although I do not have the sweet blood myself, several members of my family do, which made us targets. I work here now and manage all the day-to-day affairs of the field office.”
“Are there other humans here at the field office, too? Humans who know about vampires?”
“There are a few, yes. Like the blood mate of our field-team leader, Dominic Serrano. In fact, she has the sweet blood too. You just missed her. She was at target practice in our shooting range.”
The leader of this whole compound was in love with a sweetblood woman? Finn wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “And this is…allowed? Humans can know?”
Xian shrugged his shoulders. “Circumstances warrant it sometimes. While I understand that wiping a human’s memory is often necessary, I am glad that it didn’t happen to Mackenzie and equally glad it didn’t happen to me.”
Surprised that his muscles weren’t weaker, Finn finished up a short workout in the large but very empty gym. He placed the dumbbells back onto the rack, grabbed a white towel from the stack on the edge of the weight bench and wiped his forehead. God, it felt good to sweat. He was almost back to his old self again.
Which meant what? he wondered. Would he have any clients left after having been gone for so long with no explanation? Since his helicopter-tour business was still so new, people had probably thought he was a total flake when he didn’t return their calls and emails.
Tossing the towel over his shoulder, he left the gym and headed back to the suite, mulling over Xian’s words as he walked.
So it was possible for humans to know about vampires and keep their memories intact. Why hadn’t Brenna told him that? Surely she had to know about Serrano and Mackenzie. Did she not deem him trustworthy? Was she not as serious about him as he was about her?
A knot formed in his throat. He swallowed, but it remained. Maybe she didn’t feel the same way about him. He considered that possibility.
Given everything that had happened, maybe the universe was trying to tell him something. Was it time to leave Seattle? He had no family here. His Scottish cousins had been encouraging him to move back there anyway. Hell, he could probably run a helicopter-tour service just as easily in Scotland as he did here. He didn’t believe in signs or karma, but in this case, maybe everything pointed to the fact that he wasn’t meant to stay.
As he reached for the handle of the suite’s door, his heart rate sped up and a vague sense of unease fell over him. He knew that strange, out-of-the-blue sensations were common symptoms of PTSD. Shortly before the end of his deployment, his CO had brought in a shrink who had sat them all down and apprised them of the warning signs. Was that what this was—stress brought on by the trauma of captivity?
The sound of a man’s voice on the other side of the door snapped him back to attention. And then he heard a woman crying.
It was Brenna.
He barged through the door to find her on the loveseat with her face in her hands and Lily sitting next to her. A menacing bloke with a ponytail stood nearby, arms folded across his chest and a frown plastered on his face.
“What the hell is going on?” Finn brushed past the man, knelt at Brenna’s feet and drew her hands into his. “Are you okay, Bren? What happened?” Her eyes were red and teary.
“We came to tell you we caught the man who held you captive,” Lily said.
She introduced the man behind him as Dominic Serrano, the field-team leader of the Seattle office. Finn nodded curtly.
Lily continued. “Philip Creighton was the longtime personal assistant to Mr. Westfalen. He got the old man addicted to Sweet so that he could control the vast Westfalen holdings. You’re not the first sweetblood he held captive there.”
“And it wasn’t only humans,” Serrano said. “He’s held vampires as well.”
“Yes, poor Mr. Westfalen.” Lily shook her head.
“Where is he now?” Brenna asked.
“We’re having him transported up to Region headquarters,” Lily explained. “My mom and her staff will be trying to rehabilitate him.”
“And what about Creighton?” Finn interjected. “I want to see that little bastard. Make him suffer. What I wouldn’t do to put a silver chain around his neck and—”
“Too late,” Serrano growled. “Staked himself before we could bring him in.”
Finn cursed, pounded a fist on the coffee table. He hoped to hell the bastard had suffered. “And the guy who attacked us in the woods—he looked military. Did you catch him, too?”
“He was on the Westfalen security detail and, yes, I got him,” Lily said with a smirk. “He was the first casualty of the night as I waited for the rest of the team to arrive.”
Finn turned his attention back to Brenna, who clearly didn’t seem relieved by this news. “So what’s wrong?” He rubbed her hand between his, wishing he could erase her sadness. Then it dawned on him. Was it her scholarship? Were they putting a freeze on the Westfalen assets? If so, then her hopes of attending medical school had just been dashed. She had been counting on that money. “There must be other ways to pay for tuition. Let me help. I’ve got money from—”
“Finn, it’s not about the money.” She rubbed her fingers on the nylon cuff of his track suit. “I couldn’t care less about the damn money.”
“Then what? Bren, look at me.” When she didn’t, he lifted her chin. The pain he saw in her blue-gray eyes twisted his gut. He’d do anything to ease her suffering.
“We’re here to escort you back to your old life,” Serrano answered, evidently sensing that Brenna couldn’t.
A sob escaped Bren’s lips, jabbing a huge, gaping hole in Finn’s chest. She wasn’t crying about the scholarship. She was upset because she didn’t want him to have his memory taken away—which was surely what Serrano had been implying would happen. She wasn’t ready to let him go. Maybe she did love him after all.
He drew her into his arms and kissed her deeply, not giving a rat’s ass that they had company. Her lips, salty from tears, matched his fervor and her fingers raked his scalp. Elated by her reaction, he felt strangely empowered. He loved this woman and would fight tooth and nail to keep her. Together, they’d figure something out. If others could do it, so could they.
Serrano cleared his throat.
“I love you, Finn,” she murmured against his lips. “I will never, ever forget you.”
She was letting him go? He pulled back, first staring at her then glaring at Serrano. The vampire stood a few feet away, arms crossed over his chest, his expression inscrutable.
It wasn’t her, it was Serrano. He was forcing her to agree to this. Bloody bastard.
Finn jumped to his feet and faced Serrano squarely. “You mean to wipe my memory of all that happened, of the truth about all of this. Vampires? Guardians? Bren?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“You are such a goddamn hypocrite.”
Serrano’s eyes narrowed and the muscle in his jaw tensed, but Finn continued. “I know all about you and your—what do you call her?—your blood-mate?”
The vampire drew himself up to his full height, a good three inches taller than Finn. “You’d better shut that trap of yours, soldier-boy, or you’ll be wishing you hadn’t said a word.”
Finn wasn’t intimidated. Instead, he pulled the silver chain from his pocket, wrapped it around his hand like a back-alley brawler and advanced toward Serrano.
“I love that woman more than life itself and I’m not about to go peacefully.” He thought he heard Brenna gasp, but his attention was on Serrano. “If you want to erase my memory, you’ll have to deal with this first.” With his right hand, he swung at the bastard and followed it up with a quick left hook. Only the hand without the chain made contact.
Little good that did, because in a flash, the vampire had him pinned against the wall, his hands immobilized.
“You’re reckless and foolhardy,” Serrano said, baring his fangs. “Two dangerous characteristics for a sweetblood.”
“Yeah, so bite me.”
“Stop!” Brenna yelled.
Finn gritted his teeth. Serrano’s grip on his wrists felt like two iron vises getting tighter and tighter, and his pupils had taken over his irises. Finn was pretty sure that meant he was pissed. “Tell him that.”
“Doesn’t look like you have a choice, soldier-boy.”
“Oh for godsake. You’re acting like children,” Lily said, putting a hand between them. “Let’s talk this out rationally. We’re adults here, eh? Like it or not, Dom, Finn does have a point.”
Serrano’s nostrils flared, his black gaze unwavering. “So I’m outnumbered here, is that what you’re saying?”
“Impressive,” Finn said through clenched teeth. “The vampire can count.”
A low rumble came from Serrano’s throat.
“That’s precisely what I’m saying,” Lily answered, ignoring Finn’s jab.
Serrano glared at Finn one last time before he released him and wheeled away. Without pocketing the chain, Finn rubbed his wrists as the two woman talked in hushed tones. Serrano stormed over to a cabinet, wrenched open the door and poured a couple of fingers of amber liquid into a highball glass.
So this guy was the leader of the whole facility? Finn wondered how many people reported to him. He strode to the center of the room and pocketed the chain.
Without looking up, Serrano held out a glass to him.
Finn took it and downed the contents in one gulp, trying to determine if it was whiskey or bourbon burning his throat right now. He inhaled the fumes from the empty glass. Scotch, he decided.
Neither said a word for a full minute. Serrano seemed to be particularly interested in lining up the glassware in the cabinet perfectly. The women stayed quiet.
“You’ve been through shit,” Serrano finally said.
“Aye.” Finn plunked down the glass and Serrano splashed another inch or so of Scotch into it. “And with the blood loss, I’m gonna be blootered in a minute.”
Serrano capped the crystal decanter. “So…you former military?”
“Ten years, with two tours in Iraq. Flew supplies in and dropped troops behind enemy lines.”
“That’s intense.”
Finn thought about the times he’d almost been shot down and shrugged. “Sometimes.”
A knock sounded on the door. It was Xian, with a tray full of cheeses and meats. “Thought you could use a little protein.” He set it on the coffee table and left.
A half hour later, over baked brie and Italian sausage, they learned all about Serrano and his blood-mate, Mackenzie.
“Being with a sweetblood isn’t easy, but it can be done,” Serrano said to Brenna as he spread hot mustard on a slice of meat. “That is, if you’re serious about him.”
Brenna turned to Finn, her eyelashes still damp. She reached up and stroked his jaw. “I love him, and I’d do anything if we could stay together.”
“But it’s not without its risks.” Lily pulled out the pimento from a green olive and popped it into her mouth. “Right, Dom?”
“Yes, but some risks are worth the price,” Serrano said, staring pointedly at Finn.
“Listen,” Finn said. He kissed the palm of Brenna’s hand then turned to face Serrano. “I have a proposition for you.”
Serrano raised an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”
“Because you owe me, I was thinking—”
“I owe you?”
“If you were held captive by some puny little bugger, wouldn’t you want revenge?”
Serrano’s jaw muscle flexed. Bingo. The guy was a warrior and knew exactly what Finn was talking about.
Finn continued. “I dreamed for weeks about what I’d do to him if he made one little slip-up, but
now he’s gone. And I didn’t get the satisfaction of seeing his face when he realized I had escaped him. Besides, killers like him are out there and if you wipe my memory of them, I’ll be defenseless again. I won’t know to be wary, to watch my back.”
Serrano looked at Finn, sizing him up, and slowly nodded his head. “And what do you think I owe you?”
“I want to come to work for the Agency. And before you give me some song and dance again, I’ll remind you that you do employ humans here in the field office. I want to do my part in preventing what Creighton did to me from happening to other humans.” Finn told him about his qualifications, the various kinds of birds he was certified to fly.
“A human as a Guardian? I’m afraid that’s not possible.” Serrano brushed nonexistent crumbs from his pant leg.
“Consider me a member of the support staff.”
“He’s got an excellent point, Dom,” Lily said. “Just think how much easier it’d be for us to get out to the islands or over the mountains. No more waiting for ferries or driving over the passes. And if we ever needed any air support, we’d have it.”
Serrano looked first at Brenna, then Finn, his jaw muscle twitching. Finally he said, “I’m not making any promises, but I like you, McKentry. I’ll consider it.”
Chapter Seven
For the next hour, Dom and Finn discussed the particulars of Finn coming on board with the Agency. Finn would research what it would take to put a helipad on one of the buildings and find a bird that would suit the Agency’s needs.
He and Brenna were welcome to stay at the field office or move into one of the adjacent high-rise condo units.
“I’ll let Brenna decide what’s best for her given her work and school schedules,” Finn said. “I’m easy. I can live anywhere as long as it’s with her.”
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