7. Sword and Shield
Chapter 7
Sword and Shield
Instead of the usual hotel or motel, Kris had the good sense to rent a temporary house in the area. Because she said it was the least she could do for a girl uprooted from life and forced to live in a cave for over two weeks was to offer a comfortable place to stay.
So, I got my own room.
It was a necessary barrier after everything Sloan and I had done when we were alone together. In a house together, it’d be hard enough. Sharing a room would’ve been torture.
Kris explained that she’d be out of the house the first night gathering more intel, and so I needed as many doors between us as I could manage.
I was issued a phone, a standard high-security laptop, and given the necessary weaponry and armor to take on a mission this complex. But at least what we were up against seemed like coming home after being out in nothing but wilderness. Crazy to think I was thankful to fight vampires, but I was.
Unfortunately, taking down a coven with only the four of us would take some careful planning. Covens could have anywhere from a few to an entire society in terms of numbers. Every Hunter was taught to err on the side of caution in these cases. Though, after discovering the strength and just crazy shit I could do, I doubted any vampire, young or old, would pose much of a challenge to Sloan or I.
But again, caution was always encouraged.
First, we needed to determine how many vampires there really were. Then we’d figure out the best way to wipe out their numbers—either by attacking while they were forced to stay out of the light, or ensuring they had no place to return at dawn.
Seeing how everyone evil-inclined and their sister were after me, I suspected that all the precautions stemmed from that more than what we may find out with the coven. Who knew what other beasties waited in the shadows for their chance to take a shot at me? Regardless of what awaited me when I stepped out that front door, I was thankful for the distraction.
Sloan was already fast at work planning our next move, and everything that occurred before with Eros and between the two of us faded away to duty.
Thank fucking Buddha.
Teasing back dark hair, which fell forward in a manner far too gorgeous to be natural, Sloan swiped from one image to the next on the tablet he was holding. His jaw worked before our eyes met. “Hungry?”
For a second, I worried I might be drooling because the man was truly delicious to look at, and it likely showed on my face. But I quickly discovered he only meant to suggest I hadn’t consumed blood in a week or two. I’d nearly forgotten myself, that I was the same thing I hunted.
Sloan touched my knee, smiling, and rose from his seat. He retrieved a blood bag and used a special warmer to heat it up. Then he poured it into two separate mugs before returning to the sofa we’d spent the morning on. The Brit motioned for me to come closer and sit next to him. Unfortunately, I hesitated long enough to get a smirk out of him, and then he drew my noncompliant self over to the sofa and painted our sides against each other.
And just like that, my heart lost its rhythm. The work I’d put into forgetting about his heat, his smell, the way his lips perfectly melded over mine, the way our bodies fit seamlessly together was lost in the instant his warm flesh met mine.
I didn’t need to look over to know that Sloan easily saw through my weak charade. Mostly because I struggled to temper my body’s reactions to the incubus’s mere presence. I could practically feel his amused smile from where I sat. Running away wasn’t an option, so I opted for pretending to be engrossed in my blood-filled cup.
No matter how often I drank the thick liquid that sometimes tasted sweet, sometimes savory, I’d never get used to it.
“You know, at some point you’ll need to look at me,” Sloan teased, and I outright groaned in response. His happy laughter hit my ears a second later, and it took everything not to whine for him to have mercy on my poor overworked heart. “I must admit, your reactions tickle an urge inside of me I was never aware I harbored,” he admitted in a soft whisper, as though he worried we’d be overheard.
Great. Just great. I’d basically encouraged Sloan’s inner sadist into existence.
The air between us was highly charged with something I’d rather not acknowledge; the same way it was the night I climbed onto his lap and let him have his wicked way with me. The hair on my body rose to attention, and it was the first sign that I needed to find a way to escape .
But how? Kris was out for the day, and the two of us were very much alone now. Feigning exhaustion wouldn’t work because of who Sloan was. He’d see through any poor excuse I gave him. It was in moments like these where it really sucked to have such clever men around me.
I couldn’t get away with shit!
Of course there was always the alternative. Give in. Touch him and lose myself in his gorgeous body. Ugh. And I wanted to. It was all I thought about these days. I didn’t owe Phillip anything. What we had was never exclusive, only distracted fun. So why shouldn’t I? Besides, we’d already done it. What was one more time—or five? Seven? Well, we could figure out an exact number later.
Says the nymphomaniac.
I offered the front door a wistful glance before finally peering at the incubus beside me. His smile hit, and it was all he needed to claim victory. I’d never win against him. “I don’t know if you’re trying to make things worse, but spare me, Sloan. Please, for the love of Buddha or whatever deity is listening, spare me any more embarrassing epiphanies.”
My hands held onto my cup like it was a lifeline, and to some degree, in that moment, it was the only thing keeping me from throwing myself at the Casanova beside me. Only one topic ever sobered both mind and body, and it was all I had. A last ditch-effort to save myself from the disgrace of lunging at a man in a horny, YOLO madness.
“Has Phillip gotten in touch?” I asked, swallowing blood down alongside the guilt in my throat.
Sloan’s smile faded. “As fate would have it, he rang just this morning. ”
My eyes shot over to the gorgeous man beside me, and I recovered the cup I nearly dropped in surprise. “How is he? Did he tell you anything? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
Though Sloan didn’t physically react to the barrage of questions, his smile was gone. I’d stolen it from him. Bringing up Phillip was low, but I was too upset I hadn’t been told right away to really care what the other Hunter thought of my abrupt change in topic.
The Brit brushed back his silky hair before putting his silly cat mug down. It was one of my favorites because the tail acted as a handle and its puckered butthole was right there for all to see. I mirrored him by setting my own cup beside his—a dog whose tongue served as the handle of the cup—and then pivoted Sloan’s direction.
The other Hunter’s light eyes traced a path from my eyes to my lips, then he took hold of my hands and brought them into his lap like it was the most natural thing in the world to do. My heart startled back to life. Something about the way he touched me suggested what I was about to hear was going to set me off.
I sucked in a breath as the silence grew. “Sloan…” His hands tightened around mine, and I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. “What are you not telling me?”
The other Hunter looked down at our joined hands, then he sighed and the slump in his shoulders signaled a defeat I’d never seen on him. My heart all but came into my throat. “He’s asked that I partner with you. Permanently.”
His words hit like a blow to the chest. “What…?”
Sloan’s thumbs gently caressed mine. “I should say, he’s no longer working under the Organization. In order to obtain information necessary for our cause, he made a target of himself. There was no other way. He knew what he risked when he accessed that information.”
“He’s…being hunted?”
For the first time, Sloan’s face projected the grief he felt. “He is.”
Words fled. The pound in my head was so loud I couldn’t hear anything Sloan said afterwards. It was like being abandoned by Grams all over again. The loss hit so hard that I didn’t even realize until Sloan had me in his arms that I’d collapsed.
“Why go through all the trouble if you’re just going to abandon me now?!”
“Phillip can be reckless with himself, but when it comes to you, he’s measured and would never risk your safety. If he were to come back, it would put you at great risk.”
Tears burned unforgiving paths down my cheeks as I fought to get a hold on my emotions. It hit so hard so fast, I couldn’t get a handle on my reactions.
So fucking embarrassing.
“So what, we just leave him to fight alone?” My throat hurt, and I struggled to get the words out. “You may be okay with leaving him out there alone, but I’m not.” I pulled away, angry. I fixed my posture and lifted my chin. “Tell me where he is, Sloan.”
Sloan touched my face, smiling softly. “This may not make sense to you, but the information he holds right now is the only way we’re going to find out what’s different about your blood. Until we know, it’s too risky to stay together. Just trust him. Phillip may be stupid in love, but he’s a genius when it comes to staying alive and achieving a goal. ”
I didn’t want to, but I laughed. He was severely stupid in love, and I’d be the first one to tell him when I got to see that smug face of his.
“But—”
“One month,” Sloan interjected, his gaze staying with mine. “That’s all I ask, V. One month, and then we’ll go find him.”
“One month?”
Sloan’s lips teased upwards. “One month is all he’ll need. If he hasn’t done it by then, we’ll go save his ungrateful ass from whatever trouble he’s gotten himself into.”
I giggled, the thundering hammer of my heart still wreaking havoc on my ears. “Okay.”
“But if we do this,” the Brit started, no longer smiling, “we can’t go back. Once we become an enemy of the Organization, it’ll be a great deal harder to achieve our end goal.”
If we went against the Organization, it’d ruin all the plans Phillip had to implode it from within. Could I risk all the hard work he put into it? Yes. Phillip saved me, and I’d save him if it came down to it. We’d find another way to topple the Organization. Without Phillip, there wasn’t a rebellion. We needed him. I refused to leave him behind to die.
Sloan’s warmth enveloped me, and I absently leaned into his firm body. “He doesn’t deserve you, and I’m going to make him regret leaving you in the first place,” the Brit pledged in a soft whisper.
I loved Phillip. The love he had for me may not be the same and I may never get the chance to be with him the way I wanted to, but I wouldn’t abandon him.
I’d fight for him.
I’d be his sword and shield .
I’d always be there, like a shadow, no matter whether he loved me back one day or not. Because that was just who I was. I refused to become what the Organization trained me to be.
I refused to be a heartless, soulless weapon.