Protecting Medusa

by Elizabeth Andrews

  “Before the curse?”

  She nodded.

  Ryder considered that for a few seconds. He’d known she hadn’t been intimate with any of the men she’d dated in recent years, but so long? “What did he do to you?”

  She tipped her head so she could frown up at him. “What?”

  “He hurt you, whoever he was, reinforced your belief that all men leave.” He felt her quiver. “How?”

  She looked away, then put her head back down on his chest. “It doesn’t matter. It hasn’t mattered in far more than eight years.”

  “Bullshit. You know it’s not true for all men, but it’s been an easy way to avoid a relationship.” He rubbed his hand down her spine again and gave her ass a squeeze. “I told you I’m not going anywhere. I told you that the first night.”

  “I knew you were going to be trouble,” she muttered.

  He grinned and hauled her up so he could catch her mouth. “The best kind,” he agreed, nipping at her lower lip.

  They got checked out just before they had to, and Ryder let her drive. He’d navigate for a while.

  And plot his next move.

  If he had a better idea what the Harvesters were planning, he might be able to decide just what to do with Mena.

  He rechecked his email, but found nothing new from either Danny or Joel, and only a status report from Ken, who was monitoring from a distance. The rest of his guys were on paying gigs.

  Mena seemed happy to have something to do. She’d found a radio station that suited her and cranked the volume on some eighties rock and bopped along with the music as she drove.

  Ryder hid his grin by bowing his head over his laptop. He wanted more of these unguarded moments with her, when she didn’t worry about running from would-be murderers or her family’s safety. And a whole lot more of those moments like last night when she held him as if she didn’t want to let him go.

  To distract himself from the hopeful notion, he did a quick search on hotels in Knoxville for the night. They’d decided to avoid the bigger Nashville. Knoxville would be long enough drive for one day. They would make it into New Orleans the following day. “Hey, this place has waterbeds,” he teased, glancing over.

  Mena blushed. “It doesn’t matter what kind of bed, Ryder.”

  “As long as there’s a bed. And, really,” he continued, “we don’t even need a bed.”

  Color brightened in her cheeks. “This is true,” she agreed after a moment.

  Ryder ignored the way his body tightened. They’d just climbed out of bed a little while ago. He’d have to be patient now. Knoxville was a long drive.

  A very long drive, as it turned out. They got stuck in traffic in Louisville, then traded seats after a late lunch stop in Lexington. Now Mena was the one searching for a place for them to stay. She reserved a room as they drove into Tennessee, so when they arrived, all they had to do was check in.

  After checking in, before they even carried in their bags, they sat down in the lounge to eat a late supper.

  Mena sighed over her soda, faint stress lines around her eyes. “I need to call Jason. It’s already past his bedtime.”

  “Anytime you’re ready.” He put his hand over hers on the table.

  She nodded, then lowered her gaze to the table. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life running, Ryder.”

  He didn’t tell her the one way she could avoid that. She must have heard from Andi by now, so she already knew. He didn’t think reminding her would make it easier for her to let down the walls she kept around her heart. Reminding her might only make it harder for him to breach those barriers.

  “You won’t.” He squeezed her fingers. “So are you going to show me the website yet?”

  She smiled. “I have one or two more tweaks to make, I think.”

  He wondered if she’d even noticed his subject change. Or if she was simply so relieved by it she grabbed on.

  They dawdled over dinner, taking a break in the middle so she could call Jason, who didn’t sound at all tired despite the hour. Ryder stretched when they finished, then paused, his nape prickling.

  Mena saw him freeze, and shadows darkened her eyes. She looked around the room.

  He shook his head. “It’s okay.” I think. The prickling didn’t continue, and he frowned, scanning the room.

  She didn’t look like she agreed. Her hand dropped to the side of her leg, where he knew her dagger was strapped.

  He caught her other hand and led her out of the restaurant. When they reached the lobby, the feeling returned, magnified, and his gut tightened in anticipation of a fight. “Car,” he breathed, keeping his pace steady and his fingers tight on hers.

  She nodded, just a tiny bob of her head, her gaze flitting all around.

  He hit the button on the keyring to unlock the car doors, and they both slid in, locking the doors behind them. He started the car fast and backed out of the parking spot.

  As he reached the exit from the lot to the main road, he saw a big, burly guy rush from the front door of the hotel, then run to a car several spots from where they’d parked.

  Ryder floored it and whipped into the light nighttime traffic. That would make it a challenge to lose this guy.

  “How do they keep doing this?” Mena asked, and in the light from the dashboard, he could see her clenched fists on her knees.

  “Just lucky this time, I think.” He patted her hand, watching the rearview mirror. The other car was out of the lot now and gaining on them. “Unlucky for us, though.”

  He pressed harder on the accelerator, his gaze scanning the signs for the highway. Making his choice, he slowed only a little, then turned onto the eastbound ramp and sped up again. There was more traffic on the highway, and he was pretty sure with his old intelligence job, he had more evasive driving experience than the Harvesters.

  He hoped so, anyway.

  The other car managed to stay in his rearview mirror for nearly an hour, until Ryder took a last minute exit onto another interstate, blending into even heavier traffic, then exiting to go in the opposite direction almost immediately.

  That took care of their tail.

  His pulse pounded steadily, if a little too quickly, but Mena was holding onto the door as if her life depended on it.

  He eased into the westbound traffic and patted her knee. “We need a new place to crash tonight.”

  She let her breath out. “Okay.”

  “It’s okay, baby. He’s gone.”

  She fished her laptop out of the bag at her feet.

  Ryder had to wonder, though, how the Harvesters kept getting so lucky. There couldn’t be enough of them to cover every interstate in the country, hoping they’d get lucky at a motel or hotel off of a highway. And since he’d already changed cars twice, it wasn’t as if they could track them that way.

  He frowned, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.

  “How about Nashville?” she asked after a few minutes.

  “Too big, remember? Or not big enough now.” He forced a laugh. “Find something further west, something smaller, and off the interstate.”

  She went back to work. “Okay, Columbia. It’s southwest of Nashville.”

  “All right.”

  Her fingers clicked over the keys as she searched. “Do you want me to take a turn again? You’ve been driving since mid-afternoon.” She closed her laptop and put it away.

  He shook his head. “I’ll take this shift, baby. Just in case.” He didn’t need to say in case what.

  Mena didn’t reply, but her fingers tapped on her knees, soundlessly. She was far more alert than when they’d stopped to check in at the last hotel.

  Ryder kept his attention on the road ahead and on the mirror for traffic behind them. It was unlikely the Harvester would find them again tonight. Not in the dark. Especially not if the guy was working alone in this area.

  But he didn’t really know what he was up against, and the uncertainty made him more than a little nervous.

  Ar
istotle noted the rage-induced shaking of his hand in his lap. They had lost her again. A chance sighting, and Georgios had lost her.

  Elek’s throat-clearing interrupted the angry flow of his thoughts. “I am sorry, Great-uncle,” his nephew began. “I have chosen badly. So badly.”

  The older man made a dismissive sound and linked his fingers beneath his desk. “It is not your fault. I have clearly been remiss in arranging training for our family. The fault lies with me.”

  Elek frowned. “But I--”

  Aristotle held up one hand, and his nephew closed his mouth. “We will make immediate arrangements for further training for some of your cousins. I need you to find options for intelligence training, something like this man would have had after he left the military.” He reached for his laptop. “I will see who we know who may be of assistance. You make a list of appropriate candidates in the meantime.”

  Elek understood it was a dismissal and rose, murmuring, “As you wish. Thank you, Uncle Ari. I will work harder.”

  Aristotle watched him go. He ought to have started training Elek sooner. Instead, he’d foolishly believed he could continue to manage everything himself. As if he would be around forever.

  So certain he would be there to see the Medusa killed.

  How arrogant.

  Rather than dwell on his own mistakes, he turned his mind back to the current problem.

  It had been eight years. Eight long years of training and hunting. By now he should have great-nephews who were equal in skill to those he’d lost in the battle for the last Medusa.

  Judging by the performance of his nephews in the past few weeks, that was not the case. Much as he’d hated how far Stavros pushed the boundaries, hated his unnecessary viciousness, he needed one of his nephews now to step up and be brutal, be as determined as Stavros had been to kill the monster. But Kallan had killed his cousin when he’d fallen for the last Medusa.

  Aristotle struggled to his feet and paced the length of his study. So far, none of the current generation of Tassos hunters seemed equal to the task.

  He glared out his window at the darkness.

  The longer they failed at this duty, the angrier the Goddess would become. And the more likely someone in the Medusa’s family would discover his family’s connection to theirs.

  He could not allow that to happen.

  He made his way to the desk and rested both hands on the edge. Somehow he had to ensure they didn’t fail again.

  Philomena bounced the pen off the notepad beside the phone in their room while Ryder brushed his teeth. She didn’t have quite the same urgency knotting her belly as last night, but nervous butterflies still circled. Even after Ryder had physically exhausted her, she’d lain awake into the wee hours of the morning, staring up at the darkness. Wondering when the next Harvester would cross their path.

  Worse, though, was Andi’s email from several days ago. Her cousin had been adamant about the cause of the goblet’s color-change. Philomena started shaking every time she thought about being in love with Ryder. One of them was going to be hurt badly when this ended.

  The only thing in Andi’s email that didn’t make her quake was the mention of old journals from previous Medusas their Great-aunt Lydia had been attempting to track down for several years. They should prove to be interesting reading. But she had more important things to worry about now than journals she hadn’t yet seen.

  “We probably shouldn’t go to New Orleans now,” she said when Ryder came out of the bathroom, finger-combing his damp hair.

  His dark eyes narrowed. “Why not?”

  “They know where we were last week, roughly, which means they know the direction we were heading last night, and it’s a fair guess to think you could get lost in New Orleans.” She’d made up her mind before she’d finally slept several hours ago. “I don’t think it’s safe for us now.”

  He inhaled slowly, his hands settling on his hips. “Is this what kept you awake last night?”

  She lifted one shoulder a little.

  “Are you sure?”

  She nodded.

  He tilted his head to one side, still studying her. “All right. Then we need a new destination.”

  “Either west or east, but not directly south.”

  A faint smile tugged up one corner of his mouth. “Like where?”

  “Texas or Florida, I’m thinking.”

  “It’s spring break time, isn’t it?” She could almost see the wheels turning in his head when his gaze shifted away from her, fingers tapping on one hip.

  Her gaze followed the movement of his fingers for a moment. “I think it might be.”

  “Florida then.”

  That made her feel a bit better. A very tiny bit. Plus Florida kept them closer to home, even though home wasn’t safe.

  “All right, baby. Are you ready?”

  She rose and gathered her coat. “Yes.”

  “You can navigate for a while, maybe take a nap, since I know you got less sleep than I did,” he said, catching her hand when she reached for her suitcase. He drifted a kiss on her lips, holding her gaze. “No arguments.”

  Philomena nodded slowly. Arguing with him would do no good. Arguing with him over anything seldom did her any good. The man was simply too bossy. She picked up the suitcase.

  “Maybe we can make a short stop to see Jason and Aggie on our way.”

  She sucked in a quick breath, startled. “Really?”

  He grinned at her. “We’ll be heading sort of in that direction anyway, so it’s just a little out of the way.” It was his turn to shrug.

  She dropped her suitcase onto the bed and threw her arms around him.

  His hands settled at her hips, and she felt his smile against the side of her face.

  Excitement quickened her heartbeat now. “Thank you, Ryder.”

  He kissed the top of her ear. “But we should hit the road.”

  She released him, planting a hard kiss on his mouth before she stepped back, smiling.

  “So,” he said, after they’d settled into the car, “we need to plot a route from here to Hammondville, Alabama. Should take us a few hours.”

  She started her laptop and found them a fairly direct route while he called Danny to tell him of their new plan. The thought of seeing Jason and her mother made her eyes sting with happy tears.

  Ryder caught her hand a long time later, linking their fingers on the seat between them. “Soon, baby.”

  She smiled at him through her tears and squeezed his fingers. “I know.”

  The thought that she could see her family pushed out any remaining worry over running into Harvesters.

  Chapter Eleven

  Ryder had barely stopped the car before Mena was out, running across the brownish winter lawn. She scooped up the little boy who’d raced toward her from the rustic cabin. Ryder pulled the key from the ignition and got out, stretching. Watching her. Her black curls were loose, so the cool breeze made them stream out behind her like ribbons as she spun a giggling Jason in a circle.

  His son’s arms wrapped tight around her neck, and even from this distance, Ryder heard him chattering away. He shut the car door and started toward them. He wanted homecomings like this for the rest of his life--minus the hunters trying to kill her.

  Danny stood on the porch, and Aggie in the open doorway behind him. His friend looked alert, but not overly concerned, his shoulders relaxed as he slid his hands into his jeans pockets. Aggie, however, had worry lines fanning out from her eyes and wrinkling her forehead.

  Before he had time to think too hard about possible causes, he reached Mena and patted Jason on the back.

  “Daddy!” His son released Mena and leaped at him.

  Ryder caught the boy and gave him a squeeze. “Hey, buddy. It doesn’t look like you’re having any fun on your adventure.” Gods, he’d missed Jason. He kissed his son’s forehead.

  “Ha! I’m havin’ more fun than I ever had in my whole, whole life!” His son pecked a kiss onto Ryder�
�s cheek. “Didja know there’s horses here, too? I been ridin’ again.”

  He watched Mena skirt Danny to get to her mother, who gave her a hug nearly as tight as Jason’s. He turned his attention back to his son. “Again?”

  “Yeah. Will you ride with me?”

  “Not this time, Jase. This is a quick stop for us.” He strode up the gravel path, hefting his son to one side. “Danny.”

  His friend nodded. “I have some things for you to take a look at when things calm down some.”

  “Anything urgent?”

  Danny shook his head. “Nah. But Carys shipped us paperwork to set up trusts for your girl and her mother.” His gaze shifted to Mena. “She looks tired.”

  “So does Aggie.”

  The other man huffed out a breath. “She’s worried about everyone. Had an email from one of the cousins that Desi was going to visit.”

  This was the second time he’d heard that now, which meant Desi might really be heading toward her mother’s. Which could be a very bad thing for her.

  “She leave a number with anyone where she could be reached?” His son wriggled, and Ryder let Jason slide to his feet, patting him on the head before the boy darted inside.

  “What do you think?”

  Ryder laughed shortly. Planning never had been Desi’s strong suit. He shifted his gaze to Mena and Aggie, who were both wiping tears from their faces. He could worry about Desi later. “Let’s move this reunion indoors,” he said to Danny, who stepped with him toward the women.

  Aggie had been cooking. And baking. Ryder smelled the cookies before they crossed the threshold.

  “Did you eat lunch?” she asked when he walked into the little house.

  He laughed. “Are you kidding? Once she knew where we were heading, this one wouldn’t even let me make a pit stop.” He loved the color that washed over Mena’s face at his teasing.

  Her mother tsked, moving away. “Philomena, honestly. You’d think it had been a year since you were away. Give the man a break.”

  He tugged lightly on one of Mena’s curls, and she smiled at him, a gentle curve of her lips that made his heart swell with affection.