by Tina Folsom
And to think that he’d made love to her and poured his power into her, his heart, his very soul. And she’d taken it all and tossed it to the dogs. As if it meant nothing to her.
He glanced at her as they entered the wine cellar. Her glow had dissipated. It was probably the one thing that had saved her and made her hold Zoltan off as long as she had. The demon Aiden had fought against had been stronger than others he’d encountered previously, and it had taken him longer to kill him than he’d expected. Hamish had had as much difficulty, and hadn’t been able to help Leila either.
But somehow Aiden could find no satisfaction in his latest kill, nor in the fact that Leila had fought so valiantly. Any other time he would have admired her for it. All he could focus on right now was that she’d betrayed him. He finally understood now how Hamish must have felt when he’d found out that his lover had deceived him about her feelings. How his heart must have shattered into a million pieces at the knowledge that he’d opened himself up to someone who didn’t deserve his trust.
As they stood in the portal now, he didn’t reach for Leila’s hand, but instead let Hamish guide her through the journey. He felt her shiver and recognized that her claustrophobia was encroaching on her again, but he couldn’t find it in him to pull her into his embrace. Too much fury and anger coursed through his cells, too much pain settled in his heart.
Transporting through the portal took mere seconds. As they stepped out of it, Aiden smelled the familiar smells of home. Without waiting for Hamish or Leila, he headed for the door and charged upstairs, leaving the basement behind. Their footsteps followed him, but he didn’t turn. From now on, she was simply a charge. He should have never wished for more. It was a mistake to allow his emotions to get the better of him. All it had led to was pain. The sooner this assignment was over, the better.
When he barreled into the kitchen, he instantly spotted Manus and Enya, who sat at the kitchen counter, eating. His second dropped his sandwich when he saw him and slid off the barstool. Enya had her mouth full and swallowed quickly.
“Where the fuck have you been?” Manus glared at him. “Did it occur to you that we might all be looking for you?”
“There was a raid—”
“I know there was a fucking raid. Why do you think I was leaving you messages? And you couldn’t even be bothered to send word back that you’re fine. Fucking asshole!”
Aiden hadn’t seen any messages on his cell. “What are you talking about? You never left a message!”
Enya’s eyes widened. “Hamish?” She jumped off her chair and ran toward the door. “Hamish!”
Aiden turned to see how Enya flew right into Hamish’s outstretched arms. “Hey little one.”
“I’m not little,” she protested and squeezed him before pulling back from his embrace.
Her expression instantly changed when she saw Leila, who stood a few steps back, clearly uncomfortable.
“What the fuck?” Enya hissed, tossing glares between Aiden and Hamish. “You brought a human here?”
“Are you fucking nuts?” Manus added. “Your charge, you brought your charge to the compound? Have you lost it?”
“Believe me, we had no choice,” Aiden replied. He knew this would happen. Still, he didn’t like the hostile looks with which both Stealth Guardians sized Leila up. The urge to protect her welled up in him out of nowhere. Nobody had the right to hurt her.
“There’s always a choice.” Enya scowled at him. “You’ve compromised us all.”
“But first things first,” Manus said calmly and pointed at Hamish. “What happened to you? No offense, but some of us here assumed you’d gone over to the dark side. Some even set the council on you.”
Hamish grinned and cast a sideways glance at Aiden, who could but cringe. He should have had more faith in his best friend.
“So I heard. Sorry to disappoint you guys, but you’ll have to continue putting up with me. I ain’t going nowhere, particularly not to the dark side; never quite liked that look.”
“Then why did you disappear?” Enya asked, her eyebrows snapping together, her lips pursing.
Hamish ruffled her hair, earning himself an impatient grunt from her. He’d always treated her like a younger sister, and she normally played along; but apparently she was at the end of her nerves, and told him so. “Hamish!”
“Well, it’s a long story, and it’s got a lot to do with why we’re all here. And why we had to bring Aiden’s charge.”
“I’m listening,” Manus announced and crossed his arms over his chest.
“There’s a traitor on the council, working for the demons.”
Both of their fellow Stealth Guardians gasped.
Aiden held up his hand. He wasn’t finished with the bad news yet. “And the demons now have the blueprint for the drug.”
“You’re fucking shitting me!” Manus stared at them in disbelief.
Enya’s protest followed. “That can’t be true! Tell us that’s not true!”
Aiden interrupted. “It’s true, but before we tell that story twice, where is everybody?”
“Pearce is in the command room, Logan is in his quarters. Sean and Jay are out on assignment.”
“I’ll get Pearce and Logan,” Enya offered. As she walked to the door, Leila took a step toward her.
“Excuse me, could you please show me the bathroom?”
Enya scowled, but then relented. “Come with me. And you’d better not be going anywhere else but the bathroom, or I’m on you like a bee on honey.” To underscore her threat, she put her hand on the handle of her dagger.
Leila nodded quickly and followed her out of the room. Aiden watched her disappear, then looked back at Manus.
“You said you left messages. I didn’t get any.”
“That’s not possible,” Manus protested. “Just admit that you didn’t want to let me know where you were, because you were too busy shacking up with your charge.”
Aiden gritted his teeth. “I got no fucking message from you.”
Manus narrowed his eyes. “If that’s true then we’d better have Pearce look at your cell phone. Because I swear, I left you three messages in the last twenty-four hours.”
He knew his friend wasn’t lying. Which could only mean one thing. “Somebody must have tampered with my phone.”
Hamish tossed him a look. “Do you think that’s how the demons would have found us in Sonoma, via your phone?”
“It was switched off the entire time. And I’d already disabled the GPS tracking device before we even went to the Thai massage parlor.”
“Somebody could have reactivated it,” Hamish guessed.
“Let’s ask Pearce,” Manus suggested.
The door opened. “Let’s ask Pearce what?” the man in question answered. He motioned his head toward Hamish. “Good to see you back in one piece.”
“Good to be back.”
“So what do you guys need to know?”
Aiden pulled out his cell phone. “Manus says he left me three messages. I never got them. Which makes me think somebody did something to my phone. Can you check it out?”
Pearce accepted the phone. “Can you be a little bit more specific what you’re looking for?”
“We were attacked by demons this morning. There was no way they could have traced us to our safe place. My cell phone was off, and my GPS was disabled. Is there any way somebody could have reactivated it?”
“Hmm, let me comb through all the software you’ve got on it and see whether anything shakes.”
“How long?”
“A few hours, at most.”
“Thanks.” Aiden let out a relieved breath. They would need a few hours anyway to formulate a plan and get everybody on board.
“Oh, and while you’re at it, can you see who might have put a tap on Leila’s parents phone line? She called her parents from the Thai parlor, and we believe that’s why they set the dogs on us.”
“Ah shit, after all we told her?” Manus cursed.
> Aiden felt the inexplicable urge to defend her. It was his own fault as much as it was hers. But his anger over her lies won out. He ignored his friend and patted Pearce on the shoulder. “Can you do it?”
“Piece of cake.”
“Thanks, man.”
A moment later, the door opened and Enya and Logan entered.
Hamish cleared his throat. “Well, since we’re all here, let’s get you guys up to date.”
***
Zoltan pressed the cell phone to his ear and looked around him before answering. He already knew who was calling him—very few had this number.
“Yes?”
“Did you get it?” the Stealth Guardian’s voice came through the line.
He felt fury rise up through his stomach. His last mission had been a bust. And he knew exactly who to blame.
“You neglected to tell me he had help. Because of your useless information I lost two men.” Two men who were entirely expendable, and he would have not batted an eyelid about the loss had he come away with his prize.
“Aiden defeated you?”
“Did you the fuck not listen to what I said?” he barked into the phone, angry for having to deal with such an imbecile. “There was a second Stealth Guardian helping him. And the human was strong, she had virta in her. You didn’t mention that either.”
“I didn’t know, I swear,” the man stammered.
Zoltan could fairly sense the fear in him, and it only fed his anger more. He let out a growl, not caring that he sounded like a wild beast. It was best for the Stealth Guardian to know how displeased he was.
“I want results, not excuses,” he hissed. “Now, you go back and get me information I can work with. Do you understand?”
“Yes. I’ll make sure of it. And once you have what you want, you’ll hold up your end of the bargain?”
Zoltan kept his chuckle to himself, listening to the nervous breaths of the man on the other line.
“We had an agreement.”
“Yes, we agreed,” Zoltan confirmed. Didn’t mean he had to keep to his word. Not to a conniving Stealth Guardian who sold out his own race to gain power and world domination.
The Stealth Guardian continued, “I will reward you well for it later when I’m your leader. When we’ve overthrown the Great One together and I have taken the throne of the Demons of Fear. You’ll be my right hand then. Together we’ll wield real power. With me at the helm, this world will finally see what it means to be ruled by a powerful leader. They will bow down before me.”
“As you say, this world will have a new leader soon.”
But it wouldn’t be a Stealth Guardian. And Zoltan would make sure of that.
THIRTY
It took almost an hour for Hamish and Aiden to convey everything they knew to their fellow Stealth Guardians and to answer their many questions.
“So what now?” Manus asked.
“Our highest priority is finding Zoltan and getting the pendant back. It’s well disguised as an ordinary necklace. I myself never suspected otherwise. And Leila said it’s not easy to open and figure out what’s inside, so he might not even know yet what he has in his hands,” Aiden announced, hoping he was right. “Pearce, you know what to do. Whoever tapped Leila’s parents’ phone must have set the dogs on us at the Thai massage parlor; and if somebody tampered with my phone, it should lead us to the traitor on the council. The traitor is our first priority. He’ll lead us to Zoltan.”
Pearce rose and walked to the door. “Let me get on that right away.”
“And you’re sure we’re looking for two different people?” Enya nudged forward on her seat.
Hamish answered in Aiden’s stead. “Yes. It makes no sense for the demons to want her dead, and clearly somebody has been making attempts on her life—”
“Which reminds me,” Aiden interrupted, turning to Manus. “Did you find anything out about the neighbor who delivered the bomb?”
“Jonathan? Well, I’m afraid he’s a dead end. I had a word with him, if you know what I mean. He almost peed in his pants.” Manus let out a bitter chuckle. “Turns out, some woman approached him and asked him to give the present to Leila.”
“Excuse me?” Enya asked. “What kind of dufus wouldn’t see through that thin veil?”
Manus shrugged. “Apparently, Jonathan is susceptible to sob stories. She told him that she was an old friend of Leila’s, and that they’d fallen out over some guy. And that she wanted to make up, but Leila would never take the present if she knew it was from her. Yada, yada, yada. The guy ate it up like Banana Cream Pie.”
“Idiot!” Aiden cursed. “Could he at least describe her?”
“Average height, average built—”
“—average looking.” Aiden knew the drill. It could have been anybody, probably just a human who’d been hired by a Stealth Guardian. There were plenty of them in their service. “So that’s not going to lead us to the guilty party. Anything else?”
“I’m still working on getting the right body to stage Leila’s death,” Manus answered.
“Hold off on that for now,” he instructed, an idea forming in his head. “Once Pearce has got some data for us, we’ll regroup. And I believe I don’t have to say this, but nobody outside these four walls can know that Hamish and I are back. Is that clear?”
“We’re not daft!” Enya rolled her eyes.
Then Aiden suddenly looked around the room. Shit, having concentrated on getting their friends up to speed had made him forget one thing. “Where the hell is Leila?”
Enya rose. “I think she threw up in the bathroom. Came out white like a sheet. So I put her in your quarters to lie down.”
Aiden shot up from his armchair. “You what?”
“I locked her in—”
Without listening to the rest, he charged toward the door and rushed into the corridor.
***
Leila dried her face with a towel that smelled like Aiden. It didn’t make her feel any better. At least her bout of nausea had passed: the terrifying attack by the demons and then the claustrophobic journey through the portal had caused that. The first time she’d used the portal, she hadn’t felt sick, but then again, Aiden had kissed her when he’d realized how frightening the prospect of hurtling through dark space was for her.
This time, however, he’d shunned her. She couldn’t even blame him. Everything he’d said was true: she’d lied to him, she’d kept the existence of the data hidden from him. But he didn’t really understand why she’d done it. He could never understand it: he wasn’t the one about to lose his parents. She would be all alone now. It would take her years to reconstruct the blueprint for the drug from memory. By then, her parents would be too far gone for her drug to be of any use.
She left the bathroom and walked back into the bedroom. There was no doubt about who this suite of rooms belonged to. Not only was Aiden’s masculine scent imprinted on the bed she’d briefly rested on, but there were pictures of him and his family. And a shrine of sorts, a special place over the fireplace, where the picture of a beautiful dark haired woman was framed. Dried white lilies surrounded the frame. She didn’t have to be a brain surgeon to figure out who this was. Clearly, he’d worshipped Julia and reminded himself daily of her death. Almost as if he wanted to keep the pain alive.
Her hand reached toward the picture, compelled to stroke the woman’s beautiful features, so much like Aiden, yet so much softer, mischief in her eyes, and a smile on her face.
“You shouldn’t be in here.”
Startled, Leila spun on her heels and faced Aiden. She hadn’t heard a door opening, but then again, he probably never used a door.
“Enya brought me—”
“She had no right!” Aiden glared at her, his eyes shifting to Julia’s picture behind her.
“I didn’t mean to invade your privacy. I’ll go then.” She took a couple of steps, but he blocked her exit by stepping into her path, his body only a foot away from hers.
“And where
do you think you’re going?”
“Out of your way until you’ve calmed down.”
“Calmed down?” He narrowed his eyes and drew closer. “I’m calm, I’m very calm right now.”
Leila swallowed the lump in her throat. She might as well face the music now. There was no need to drag this out any longer. “Go ahead then. Tell me what you think of me: tell me how much you hate me for what I’ve done! I’ve got nothing more to lose. I’ll never get my parents back! Are you happy now?”
Aiden grabbed her shoulders. Instinctively, she took a couple of steps back, but he didn’t let go. Instead he pressed her against the nearest wall. “Happy? I wish I’d never met you! I wish I’d never known what it feels like to be betrayed like this.”
“What did you expect me to do?” she yelled back. “Hand over the last copy of my data so you could destroy it? So you could squash all my dreams of saving my parents? Of preserving my family? You of all people should understand that I couldn’t do that. You know what it’s like to lose someone.”
His head snapped to Julia’s picture over the mantle, then back to her. “Hamish!” he cursed. “He had no right to tell you!”
“I’m glad he did.”
“Julia is not up for discussion here. I won’t let a human—”
“So that’s what this is about: you hate me because I’m human, because I’m not as strong as she was.”
He pressed her harder against the wall, his fingers digging painfully into her flesh.
“I told you to keep Julia out of this. This is about you deceiving me.”
She was beyond fear now. Whatever he did to her, it didn’t matter anymore, but she wouldn’t go down without a fight. “Do you think she’d be happy knowing what you’re doing to yourself? How you keep blaming yourself day after day?”
A flash of pain sparked in his eyes, but a second later, he had himself under control again.