Protecting Medusa

by Elizabeth Andrews

  Under her, the truck vibrated as it gained more speed. “Promise me anyway.”

  “Fine. But you can tell him yourself tonight.”

  She smiled into her lap and took a deep breath. “Just drive, would you?”

  His short laugh made her relax a tiny bit.

  Until something pinged off the roof of the truck.

  “Son of a bitch,” Ryder growled, accelerating even more.

  She tightened her arms around her knees, turning her head to look at him. “Is he shooting at us?”

  “Keep your head down.”

  She stifled a cry when something hit the back window, cracking the glass in a fine imitation of a spider’s web. She pressed her face hard against her legs.

  Ryder whipped the car into another lane, accelerating so the engine rumbled louder.

  Philomena shut her eyes and prayed to all the Gods.

  It seemed a very long time that they wove in and out of traffic, off the interstate, then more city driving, before Ryder slowed.

  Philomena turned her head to look at him.

  “We lost him.” Some of the tension had left his face, but not all. Not enough.

  The knot in her belly tightened. “Then what’s wrong?”

  “He was close enough behind us to get the license plate number. If they have the resources to track that, he’ll know about my business. Or they already knew, which is how he found us so easily. Fuck, I’m so stupid.”

  She considered that. Of course they already knew. They would have researched her thoroughly.

  “Which is why we’re getting a rental car. Carys should have one for us by now.” He slid a card from a spot on the dashboard and rolled down his window as he pulled into a parking garage entrance.

  Philomena eased up from the floor, her cramped legs screaming a protest as she slid onto the seat.

  “Our personal parking garage,” he said as he scanned the card in the machine at the entry. “For the business.” He slanted a quick grin at her.

  She waited until he parked, then slipped out, stretching her legs and her back.

  “You okay?” He set one big hand on her shoulder, rubbing a little.

  “I’ll be fine, as long as I can sit on the seat for the next leg of this trip,” she said lightly.

  He gave her shoulder a squeeze. “I’ll see what I can do about that.” He shut and locked the truck, then steered her to the elevator.

  Upstairs, they came into the lobby from the far side. Carys smiled at them when they emerged from the elevator. “Good timing. Abe said the car just arrived.”

  “Excellent. While we’re gone, the truck is going to need some work. We got winged, and the back window needs replaced.” Ryder tossed her the truck keys. “Anything I need to know?”

  The receptionist shook her head. “We’re good here. Be careful.” She waved at Philomena. “See if you can’t make him behave while you’re at it.”

  Startled, Philomena shot him a quick glance, finding him wide-eyed as well. “I wouldn’t know where to start,” she managed after a second.

  Ryder guided her this time into the main elevator, down to the front lobby, where the security guard rose and held out a set of keys. “First spot outside, sir.”

  “Thanks, Abe. I appreciate it.” He grabbed the keys and hustled her out the door and into the nondescript rental car waiting.

  Philomena sank into the seat and buckled up, closing her eyes. Her heartbeat had finally returned to normal, but her head throbbed.

  Ryder slid in and started the car. For such a boring looking sedan, the engine revved pretty loudly. She opened her eyes and turned to look at Ryder. He shrugged. “Our rental agency knows we sometimes need speed.”

  She smiled.

  “Rough day, huh?” He eased into traffic this time, unlike their earlier rush.

  “Kind of. At least he didn’t start shooting while we were running for the truck.” She wasn’t sure her heart could have taken that.

  Ryder grunted in reply, and she took a deep breath, shifting to find the most comfortable position. If she took a nap now, maybe she could head off the stress headache building at the back of her skull.

  Except behind her closed eyelids, she kept imagining what might have happened if the Harvester had caught up to her. Her pulse quickened, and her mouth went dry.

  “Don’t think about ‘what if’,” he said gruffly after a few minutes.

  She worried the inside of her lower lip with her teeth. Easier said than done.

  Her head pounded harder.

  “How would you like a change of scenery?” he asked a little later.

  She forced a laugh. “This one didn’t work out so well. Maybe not.” She kept her eyes closed, concentrating on making her headache go away.

  “That’s not exactly what I meant.” He caught the hand she had resting on her leg and laced their fingers. “I meant, let’s check out of the cabin tomorrow and go somewhere else.”

  Philomena opened her eyes to look at him. “Where?”

  “Somewhere farther away from Philly than the Poconos.”

  She couldn’t argue with that. If there was more than one Harvester in the vicinity, it was bad for her, and she’d bet they could call in reinforcements to help them fan out to look for her outside the city. The mountains weren’t nearly far enough away from Philadelphia right now to suit her. She shuddered and pulled her coat tighter around her.

  Ryder squeezed her fingers, but it didn’t make her feel better.

  She wondered if they could get far enough from here to stay out of the Harvesters’ reach.

  Elek refrained from punching Gregos in the face, but his fingers still curled tight at his side. “Explain to us exactly how you lost them,” he managed. Anger rushed along his veins, heating, settling in his gut. Burning like lava.

  Gregos shifted his gaze from Ari to Elek, a dull flush climbing his neck. “Something spooked them. They were already running when I reached the building.” He looked away.

  “And you didn’t shoot them.”

  Gregos’s face turned redder. “It was lunchtime and there were people on the street.”

  “Or disable their vehicle.” Elek could feel the edges of his nails biting into his palms.

  His cousin shook his head. “I did get off a couple shots at the truck, but it was too fast,” he muttered. “And he drives like a maniac.”

  Elek really did want to punch Gregos. His muscles quivered with the fury coursing through him. “Get out,” he managed. “We will deal with you later.”

  Gregos didn’t wait to see if Elek changed his mind, pivoting on his heel and striding from the room, head down.

  “You exercised far more restraint than I believed you had, Elek,” Ari said. “Well done.”

  Despite the praise, he still couldn’t unclench his fists.

  “Go to the workout room. We can talk later about our next step.” Ari patted his shoulder. “Go. You’ll feel better.”

  Elek went, mind spinning as he changed into shorts.

  He wouldn’t have let the monster escape, no matter how crowded the street. And if he had to go to prison, even died himself, it would be worth it.

  Gregos? He was unworthy.

  Elek went directly to the heavy bag in the corner and slammed his fist into it, imagining his cousin’s face. Again. Harder. Over and over until he couldn’t see through the sweat burning his eyes, until he couldn’t breathe. Until he sank to his knees on the mat, then dropped flat on his back, swiping his wet forearm across his brow, not that it did any good.

  As he caught his breath, he realized his hands throbbed. He hadn’t taken the time to put on the sparring gloves, or even to wrap his knuckles before attacking the bag. He opened his eyes and lifted his hands.

  Scraped, swollen and bruised. As Gregos should be.

  Elek growled and slapped his hands on the mat. His cousin was an imbecile, not clever enough or brave enough to fully participate in the hunt for the Medusa, so he would be removed, given a
non-essential assignment to serve as punishment for this monumental failure.

  He took a slow breath, then released it, feeling some of his anger dissipate. Uncle Ari believed he could do this, and he would. Somehow.

  Chapter Seven

  Ryder didn’t like the pallor in Mena’s face. She’d been quiet for the duration of their drive back to the cabin, where she’d kicked off her boots, popped a couple of aspirin, and curled up on the sofa beneath a heavy blanket.

  He left her alone, starting his computer to look for a new refuge. It only took him fifteen minutes to find somewhere within driving distance, someplace they could blend in. Then he fired off emails to Danny and Joel to let them know what had occurred that afternoon and to tell them he was taking Mena to a new spot in the morning. When he finished, he shut down and moved to stand behind the couch.

  Mena still lay with her eyes closed, but she wasn’t sleeping. A faint frown marred her brow, and every once in a while, she rubbed her temple.

  He’d done a shitty job keeping her safe today. If she hadn’t felt like they were being watched, the Harvester might’ve killed them both. He had to do better from now on. Much better. “Sit up,” he said finally. He walked around and helped her upright. He sat behind her and started massaging her shoulders and neck, lightly at first, then pressing a bit harder into the tight muscles there.

  When he hit a particularly tender spot, she made a soft sound. “You need to relax, honey.” He kissed the back of her head. “Don’t you have anything stronger than the aspirin?”

  She shook her head.

  He made a mental note to find something. “What are we going to do for supper tonight?”

  She sighed. “I don’t care.”

  He returned to the spot that had made her wince before, gently working the knot there until her shoulders relaxed a bit. “I’m thinking we ought to try the Chinese place we passed on the way in earlier.”

  “Okay.”

  He frowned. She was being rather agreeable. “Maybe after, we can come back and try the bathtub again.” He waited.

  One of her shoulders lifted in a shrug.

  He stopped his massage, frowning. “Talk to me.”

  “I don’t want to talk right now.”

  “Talk to me anyway.” Ryder started to stroke her nape next, feeling her muscles there gradually relax as well. “Are you still imagining what might’ve happened?”

  “How can I not?”

  The tension in her voice was echoed in her shoulders once more. He sighed. “We had a little brush today, Mena. I won’t lie to you. But it wasn’t nearly as bad as what we almost had at your mother’s.” It wouldn’t help to tell her he was imagining it, too.

  She jerked under his hands, a quick tightening of her body, a defensive gesture.

  He pulled her against his chest. “The thing is, you’ve lived with this threat for years. You just never had any close calls.” He wrapped his arms around her middle to keep her from fleeing as she seemed to want to do. “Now you have, and you’ve got to be prepared for more.”

  “It sucks.”

  He smiled at the back of her head. “I know. There’s nothing I can say to make this better for you, Mena, but you need to stop thinking about it. Stop thinking ‘he might have killed me today’ and think instead ‘he didn’t get the chance to kill me today’.”

  She bowed her head. “I suppose you want to take the credit for that,” she said after a moment, her voice strained despite her effort at a light tone.

  “I’ll share, since your instincts told you we were being watched.” He frowned. “He got lucky today.”

  “Or they really did already know about you and were watching the office in the hope we’d show up eventually.”

  He didn’t like that idea. He should’ve thought of the possibility already. How could he have missed it?

  Mena sighed deeply. “I need to call Jason.”

  “Okay.” He didn’t release her, though. “Then we’ll go get dinner, and when we get back, I’m going to strip you naked and see how long it takes to make you scream.”

  She shot him a quick glance over her shoulder. “Why is everything a competition with guys? Why how fast? Why not, how long can you last instead?”

  His body hardened at the images in his head now. “Are you complaining about my technique?” he growled.

  She shook her head. “Just making an observation.”

  “Bet I can hold out longer than you.”

  “There you go with that competition thing again.” Her lips curved finally. Just a little, but it was something.

  He kissed her lightly. “Fine. No keeping track for tonight? Better?” He released her.

  “Great.” She pushed to her feet, then turned around and braced herself on his shoulders. “Thank you, Ryder. For keeping me alive today.” She bent and brushed a quick kiss on his cheek.

  He let her go, watching the sway of her hips as she made her way to her purse, where she took out her cell phone and dialed her mother. He didn’t tell her he hadn’t wanted to keep her alive just for Jason, or for her mother.

  He needed to keep her alive for himself, too.

  Philomena tried not to think about yesterday as she folded her belongings into her carry-on bag in the morning. Her headache was mostly gone, but there were still faint twinges every now and again that warned her not to think too hard. So she attempted to keep her mind on her packing. And wondering where they were going, since Ryder hadn’t told her. She hoped it was somewhere with a laundromat, because she’d nearly run out of clean clothes.

  Ryder was on his cell, talking in a low tone on the other side of the room.

  Those calls were starting to annoy her. It couldn’t be he didn’t trust her with the information. After all, who would she tell, the Harvesters? Not so much. She felt pretty certain he just didn’t want her to be any more stressed.

  She ought to tell him she couldn’t possibly get any more stressed than she already was. Unless an armed Harvester was in the room with her.

  She folded a sweater into the bag, then went to the bathroom to make sure she hadn’t left anything there. The mirror over the sink reflected a pale face surrounded by untidy curls. Philomena tried to finger-comb her hair into some sort of order, but it didn’t work, so she gave up and pinched her cheeks instead. Even that didn’t help, so she collected the tube of toothpaste and toothbrush sitting there and went back to the main room.

  Ryder was waiting, arms folded on his chest as he studied her. “You should take a nap when we hit the road.”

  “Is that your way of telling me I look like crap?” she asked dryly, putting her things into her suitcase.

  “Maybe it’s my way of saying I’ve been keeping you from your sleep too much the last few nights.”

  Warmth rose into her cheeks, and she bent to zip the bag, avoiding his gaze. “Sounds like the same thing to me.”

  He stepped nearer, catching her wrist when she started to lift the suitcase. “I’m sorry about yesterday, Mena.”

  She frowned. “You didn’t know we’d run into a Harvester, Ryder. It isn’t your fault.”

  His dark eyes were troubled, and she realized he had faint smudges beneath them from lack of sleep. Her protector was tired, too.

  She touched his face with her free hand. “You aren’t responsible for them.” She patted him, then pulled away, taking her bag to the front door.

  “But I’m responsible for keeping you safe, and I didn’t do a very good job yesterday.”

  “I’m still alive.”

  He glared at her. “That isn’t what I meant.”

  She sighed as she straightened. “Fine. You’ll do a better job today then.” She set her hands on her hips. “Where are we going?”

  His mouth pursed a little as he watched her. “North.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Keep it a secret. As long as there aren’t more heart-shaped beds there.”

  He smiled, though it wasn’t his usual cocky grin. It was a start, she
figured.

  Ryder parked in front of the drug store, frowning. He hated to wake Mena, now she’d finally fallen asleep. But she needed something stronger than the aspirin she’d taken last night for her headache, so he’d had Carys find a doctor to call in a prescription for a stronger painkiller, and this was where they were to pick it up. He debated with himself for just a couple seconds more, then touched her shoulder, lightly.

  She startled awake, pushing herself upright in her seat. “Are we there yet?” she teased after a second, her voice husky with sleep.

  It made him think of the way she sounded in bed at night, and his blood heated. He cleared his throat. “Almost. I need to get a couple things.” He jerked his chin in the direction of the store.

  “Oh.” She frowned for a second, then her expression cleared as her cheeks pinkened. “I should, too, if we’re going to be gone too long.”

  He considered that. “How’s the stress level?”

  She swallowed. “Pretty high. It’s been less than a week, but Andi said it didn’t matter if the stress level was high enough. ‘Worse than perimenopause’ was what she said.”

  “Okay. Let’s go.” He grabbed the keys and pushed his door open, taking a moment to stretch when he climbed out of the car. Mena did the same on her side of the vehicle, bending from the waist to her right, then to her left, and rolling her shoulders.

  He considered her statement. Kallan and Andrea had told him the same thing, a long time ago. His gaze slid to her hair, and he wondered how she dealt with that aspect of the curse every month.

  He followed her into the store, one hand at the small of her back. “Lead the way.” He scooped up a basket when they passed a small stack.

  Mena blushed faintly again, leading the way into an aisle he’d never before had occasion to visit.

  He grinned as she selected the items she wanted, avoiding his gaze. When she would have taken the basket from him, he kissed her lightly instead, holding tight to the handle. She lifted wide eyes to his face. “It’s all right,” he whispered.