by I. T. Lucas
50
Arwel
Jin walking into his room was proof that sometimes wishes come true.
Arwel had been lying awake and thinking about her, wondering if she was okay and whether she was sleeping peacefully or tossing and turning as he was.
She looked adorable in the pink pajamas and Hello Kitty hoodie over them. But even in that getup, she was all woman, curvy in all the right places, and her breasts were pushing the fleece out just right.
He was glad that she had come, but he hadn’t expected it. If he had, he would have left his pants on and would have gotten rid of his worn-out fuzzy slippers.
Thankful for the dim light and for her human vision, he kicked them under the bed. Anandur was right. It was time to toss them in the trash and buy some sexy ones instead. Was there such a thing for men, though? Or were manly men supposed to walk barefoot or wear boots at all times?
Rubbing a hand over his stubbled jaw, Arwel stifled a chuckle. “Would you like some coffee? Or will it keep you up all night? What’s left of it, that is.”
“Usually, I can sleep no matter how many cups of coffee I have.” She sat on the couch, tucking her hands between her knees as if she was cold. “I think that I might be a little claustrophobic, and that room without windows makes me feel trapped. Or maybe it’s just the adrenaline still coursing through my body. This has been one hell of nearly twenty-four hours.”
“Whatever it is, I’m glad that you came. I couldn’t sleep either.” He took a bottle of water and poured it into the little machine. It worked on capsules, and there was an entire box of assorted flavors in the cabinet.
“Any preference as to strength? We have mild, medium, and strong.”
“Medium, please.” She pulled her knees up, tucking them under the sweatshirt.
He took two mugs and put them under the twin nozzles.
The small cell didn’t have a built-in minibar like the one Jin was staying in, but Ingrid had put together a makeshift one similar to the ones found in hotel rooms. A cabinet housed a mini-fridge on the bottom and a coffee maker on top. The fridge was stocked with snacks, water, several bottles of his favorite beer, and one bottle of good whiskey.
Since he was on duty, so to speak, he hadn’t touched the alcohol, saving it for when reinforcements arrived in the morning. Surprisingly, though, he wasn’t craving the booze.
What he was craving was the young woman sitting on the couch and hugging her knees to her chest. She was bracing the balls of her feet on the sofa and wiggling her dainty little toes, and he had the absurd urge to kneel on the floor and kiss them one at a time.
One day he would, but not yet.
This wasn’t about a meaningless hookup, and he couldn’t rush things.
On the other hand, he didn’t have much time. Kian was probably sending more Guardians in the morning, and the race was going to begin, whether he was ready or not.
Turning his back to her to hide his glowing eyes and elongating fangs, he concentrated on the coffee and tried to think about anything that might subdue his libido.
“I wonder how seriously they are searching for us,” Jin said. “Do you think they would go as far as putting an APB out on us? Or wanted posters?”
“I’m sure there is an APB. I can check if you want.” He pulled two creamers and four sugars from the cabinet. “And I’m pretty sure they are not putting up posters.” He chuckled. “One look at Wendy’s innocent face, and people will wonder what the hell a kid like her could have done.”
“Hey, what about me? Don’t I look sweet and innocent?”
Chuckling, he lifted the mugs from the coffeemaker and brought them over to the table. The thing was only a little over a foot wide and about two feet long, but that was enough for two cups of coffee and for the bag of cookies that he’d found in the fridge.
“How about mysterious, alluring, intriguing.” He sat next to her. “Should I go on?”
“Definitely.” Smiling, she put her feet down and reached for the packets of sugar.
“Beautiful, confident, assertive, comfortable in your own skin.” He could go on, but then words like sexy and hot would come out, and that was going too far too soon.
She stirred the creamer and sugar in and then brought her feet back up. “Usually, I don’t believe guys when they start gushing like that, especially when they’ve just met me and don’t know jack about me. But since you are an empath, I believe that you meant them. Thank you. Those were all very nice things to say.”
Arwel rubbed his hand over his jaw. “I have to confess. For some reason, I can’t feel your emotions as easily as I can those of other humans. In fact, yours are more muted than those of most immortals.”
She frowned. “Interesting. Maybe that’s because I’m a Dormant?”
“I’ve experienced that with only one other Dormant, and that was Ella. She is a strong telepath and can actually talk with her mother telepathically. But only with her mother. Since she was born with the ability, she built strong protective walls to keep her mother out of her head when she wanted privacy in there.”
“What about Mey? Could you read her easily before she transitioned?”
“During the entire time that I’ve known her, she has been so stressed out that this one emotion masked all of the others.” He smirked. “I felt her attraction to Yamanu, though. But then she wasn’t trying to hide it. The one who was doing his damnedest to ignore it was Yamanu.”
“Why?”
Arwel shook his head. “That’s their story to tell. I can only talk about my own observations.”
“I respect that.” Jin smiled and then yawned. “I’m wondering if Mey and I are just different.” She yawned again. “The freak sisters.”
He didn’t want her to go, but it was evident that she couldn’t keep her eyes open.
“I think you should go to bed.”
“Can I sleep here on your couch? I really hate being alone in that room. That thick door makes me feel as if I’m being locked up in a safe.”
Taken by surprise, Arwel was nevertheless delighted that she felt safe with him. “Of course. But you can sleep in my bed. I’m going to sleep on the couch.”
“No way. I’m not taking your bed.” She glanced at it. “But if you don’t mind, we can share it. It’s big enough for two.”
Jin closed her eyes and leaned her head against his bicep.
This was going to be torture, but he couldn’t tell her no. She would either get offended or think that he was an old-fashioned prude. A moment later, there was no one to talk to anyway because she was already asleep.
When he picked her up and carried her to his bed, Jin mumbled something, and when he tucked her in, she smiled and snuggled into the blanket.
Standing next to her, Arwel debated what to do. Now that Jin was already sleeping, he could go lie down on the couch. All he needed were three to four hours of sleep, which meant that he could wake up before her and then join her in bed. She wouldn’t know that he hadn’t spent the entire time there.
Except, that wasn’t what he wanted.
Arwel wanted to lie next to Jin and look at her beautiful face, smell her alluring scent, and feel her warm body snuggled against his.
That was well worth the torture of a raging hard-on and pulsating fangs.
51
Jin
Jin hugged the pillow, sniffed it, and smiled. The delicious male scent was the best reminder of where she’d spent the night.
This was Arwel’s bed.
Except, he wasn’t there, and as she opened her eyes, she saw that the door was partially open. Had she chased him out of his own bed?
She would die of embarrassment if he’d run away because of her snoring. It didn’t happen often, and usually only when she was really tired, which she had been last night.
Where had he gone? Maybe he had slept in her bed? As a Guardian, he probably had the codes to all the doors on the dungeon level.
And were the others awake as well? Anyone
passing by Arwel’s room could peek inside and see her sleeping in his bed.
It wasn’t that she was embarrassed about spending the night in his room, but she didn’t want to advertise it either. People would jump to conclusions and talk. She’d just broken things off with Richard, and even though their relationship had been the result of compulsion, it wouldn’t look good for her to jump into bed with someone else the following night.
With a groan, she pulled the blanket over her head and then put the pillow on top for good measure. If she couldn’t hear or see anyone, she could pretend that they couldn’t see her either.
It was an ostrich move, but whatever. She was still tired and wanted to sleep a little longer. Or at least that’s what she was going to tell anyone who asked why she was hiding under the blanket.
“Good morning, or rather good afternoon.” The bed sank as Arwel sat on it. “I brought breakfast.”
“You shouldn’t have left the door open,” she said from under the blanket.
“Right. I wasn’t thinking. Sorry about that.”
She put the pillow aside and lifted the blanket off her head. “I’m not embarrassed or anything. But you know people. They make assumptions, and they gossip.”
He chuckled. “No worries. The only ones awake aside from me are Yamanu and Mey. Your friends are still sleeping.”
Jin pushed up on the pillows. “Did Mey see me?”
“No, she is still in bed. Yamanu and I decided to pamper you two with breakfast in bed.”
That was so nice. Oliver had never done that for Mey, and Mitch hadn’t gotten the chance to do it for Jin. She’d never slept over at his place and had always gone back to the dorms for the night.
“What did you make?”
“Coffee.” He handed her a mug. “And a turkey sandwich.”
“Yummy.” She took a sip from the coffee and sighed in delight. “You made it just the way I like it. Thank you. You are the best.”
Looking embarrassed by her compliment, Arwel shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. I saw you fixing your cup last night.”
“Yeah, but you paid attention and remembered. Most guys don’t bother. Not even married ones who should.”
“Really?” He arched a brow. “I would think that people who cared about one another would pay attention to their partners' likes and dislikes.”
Jin cupped the mug in her hands. “Don’t underestimate people’s selfishness. They only think about what they want and what they think they deserve.”
“I wouldn’t want to be with a person like that.”
“Me neither. But that was how Mey’s ex was. I have no idea why she tolerated him for so long. But I shouldn’t talk about it. After all, it’s her business, right? It’s just that I was so mad.” She made an angry face and fisted one hand. “I wanted to punch him so badly.”
Arwel chuckled. “You look adorable when you try to look dangerous.”
“I am dangerous.” She mock pouted but then sighed. “For real. Maybe I can’t do much damage with my fists and beat scumbags up, but I can spy on them.”
Arwel tilted his head. “You don’t like doing it, though.”
“I definitely do not. When I first discovered my ability, I thought it would be great to keep an eye on the people I loved and know that they were okay. The full potential of what I could do didn’t even occur to me, and when it did, I felt really lousy. It’s like discovering that you are good at killing people, like being a sniper with a perfect aim. I don’t want that.”
“What do you want?”
Jin smiled. “Mey and I dream of having our own business. I have a good head for money, and Mey has great design ideas.” She leaned closer to him. “Do you think I can persuade Amanda to invest in it? She is obviously rich, and she has excellent taste. Not only that, we want to make a fashion line for tall women, and Amanda is tall.”
Lifting the sandwich, he handed it to her. “I think that it’s a great idea. But you should eat first.”
That hadn’t been the response she’d been hoping for. Arwel seemed as enthusiastic about her idea as if she’d been talking about plans for doing laundry.
“You’re making fun of me.” She took a bite. “But since you make great sandwiches, I’ll forgive you.”
“I’m not making fun of you. I think it’s admirable that you have a dream and that you are tenacious about following it. But you should hurry up and eat your sandwich, and then get dressed. Kian is going to be here in less than an hour, and he is bringing the heavy artillery with him.”
Jin paused with the sandwich an inch from her mouth. “Heavy artillery? What do you mean by that?”
“One is Edna, who has the ability to dig deep into a person’s hidden layers and figure out their motives and their core makeup. The other one is Andrew, who is a lie detector. Jacki’s immunity is not going to protect her from either of them. Their abilities seem to work on different wavelengths than ours.”
“Mine works on Jacki. Perhaps Mey and I are more like these two.” She took another bite of the sandwich.
“That’s an interesting observation. I didn’t know that Jacki is not immune to what you can do.”
“Do you suspect her?”
“I suspect everyone who wanted to come with us. That was an unexpected turn of events. Given what you have told me, it wasn’t that bad in the program, and it didn’t make sense for these people to be so desperate to want to leave it and go into hiding. Not only are they saying goodbye to a lot of money, but they are also leaving behind their families and everyone they know. After the six-month training was over, they would have been allowed to see them again. I don’t know when and if it will be possible now. That’s why it seems suspicious to me. But we had no choice. We had to take them or risk them spilling the beans.”
Even though the same thing had occurred to her, Jin still felt as if it was her duty to defend her friends. Besides, the same suspicions applied to her.
“What about me? Do you suspect me as well?”
“Of course not.”
“Why? You said that I’m mysterious and that I don’t look innocent. What if I have a hidden agenda?”
She wanted him to deny it, to say that he trusted her implicitly and that he could feel how good she was on the inside. Instead, he smiled and patted her leg. “Finish your sandwich. If Edna is going to probe you as well, you will need your strength. I hear that the experience is draining.”
Great. It seemed like she was a suspect too.
52
Kian
As Anandur parked the Lexus in the lowest level of the high rise across the street from the keep, Kian waited for the gate to roll back in place before getting out.
This space was reserved for the clan’s use, but officially it was called storage. Empty crates and cardboard boxes were stacked against the far wall to reinforce the illusion.
“Would you like to take the golf cart?” Brundar asked as he opened the back passenger door for Edna.
“If you don’t mind, I’d rather walk.” She glanced at Andrew.
“Same here.”
“Then let’s walk.” Kian punched the numbers into the fake storage room’s keypad, and the five of them went in, only to step out into the tunnel on the other side.
“It’s cold in here,” Edna said.
If he were wearing a jacket, he would have offered it to her, but it was the weekend, and Kian had forgone it.
“Here.” Brundar shrugged off his leather coat and handed it to her.
“Thank you.” She smiled at him. “But aren’t you going to be cold?”
He shook his head. “I only wear it to conceal my weapons.”
“So that’s why it’s so heavy.”
It was late afternoon on Sunday, and Kian felt bad about taking Andrew away from his family, but he didn’t want to wait. The sooner it was done, the better.
Other than Jin, he didn’t trust any of the newcomers, not even the innocent-looking nineteen-year-old. In fact, after he’d give
n it some thought, he trusted her the least.
Jacki knew about Mey coming for Jin, so if she was cooperating with the government, she would have told the higher-ups about it, and security would have been tighter during the mall outings.
Richard was a suspect too, but he might have jumped on the wagon to be with Jin. He could have had feelings for her that hadn’t been the result of the compulsion, so its removal wouldn’t have changed things for him.
Wendy was the only one who hadn’t had a strong enough motive to join them. Still, it was possible that she was the impulsive type and that she hadn’t thought through her decision to run.
“Where do you want to conduct the tests?” Edna asked.
“In my old office. William arranged it so they could move freely around several of the underground levels.”
“Is it clean?” Anandur asked.
“Okidu was there yesterday, and he even restocked the bar.”
“I might not be able to conduct all three tests in one day,” Edna said. “If any of them is as complicated as Lokan, the session is going to exhaust me.”
“Who are you going to test first?” Andrew asked.
“Wendy.”
Anandur’s brows lifted. “Why her?”
“A hunch.”
Kian pulled out his phone and called Arwel. “Bring Wendy to my office.”
“Jin is asking if she can come with her.”
Kian glanced at Edna.
“If Jin’s presence would help the girl calm down, I’m all for it.”
“She can come.”
“I heard. Also, are you sending more guardians in?
“Not yet. I want the testing done before I expose our guests to more of our people.”
“Good thinking. I’ll get Wendy, and we will head to your office.”
Smirking, Kian closed the phone. Arwel had sounded relieved to hear that no new Guardians were coming in. Obviously, he wanted some time with Jin before competition showed up.