Chapter 14 Asher #2
"More than decent. To start with, she's spent months helping us locate sleeping survivors buried underneath the Entity's citadel without asking for anything in return.
We finally got them out, but now the fae elders have taken issue with her, dug up her past, gotten the media involved, and now her life story is making headlines and blowing up on social media. I need her kept safe."
"From cameras?" I scoff. "I think she'll survive."
Everett's jaw clenches so hard that a muscle jumps in it. I expect him to snap at me or freeze me, but his shoulders slump, and he just looks bitterly defeated.
"She almost didn't, this morning. She got hit by a bus while trying to get away from some journalists who were harassing her."
No wonder this guy's in rough shape.
I squint at him. "How old is this top-secret sister of yours, exactly?"
"Twenty-two."
"And what House is she in?"
"Shifting."
The fuck?
"A twenty-two-year-old shifter should be perfectly able to fend for herself from some journalists," I point out. "What the hell do you need me babysitting her for?"
Everett grimaces. "Heidi's situation is…unique. Firstly, she was born a type four empath."
"Rare," I admit, shrugging it off. I've never really met any empaths. I know some primitive-minded asshole legacies call anyone with that gift weak, but I've never paid it much attention. "So what? That doesn't explain why she can't protect herself if she's also a shifter."
He hesitates, seeming torn. "I'm only telling you this because you'll be her bodyguard—"
"If I take the job," I assert, mildly annoyed that I'm starting to entertain the idea.
"Heidi can't protect herself as well as other legacies, because…"
"Because…?" I echo, waving him to get on with it.
"She's—" The scarred elemental huffs, fidgeting with his sleeve. "She's a deer shifter."
I stare at him. "A deer?"
He nods, serious as hell.
"You're telling me a ridiculously powerful top-tier ice elemental killer freakshow like you has a prey shifter for a sister? A fucking deer?"
A bark of laughter escapes before I can help it.
Ice crackles up my legs before I can move, freezing me solid from the neck down so Everett can lean closer. His glacial eyes have gone from tired to lethal.
"Don't mock her again."
"Not mocking," I clarify, unable to move my arms as I feel cold sinking into my bones. A few more seconds of this and I'll have frostbite in my hands and feet for sure. "But come on. You've gotta admit, the juxtaposition's pretty damn laughable."
"Not from where I'm standing," he mutters, rubbing his temples.
As he does, the ice covering my body melts at once, leaving me shivering.
I don't handle cold well, so it's ironic that I ever took up with this asshole.
"I already thought I lost her once. I'm not taking that risk again, so take this job and protect her with your motherfucking life. "
Despite the burning cold still lingering in my body, I consider everything Frost has told me. Prey shifters are extremely rare these days, thanks to legacies “culling the weak” for so fucking long. Someone being born as a prey shifter and an empath?
I finally tip my head. "Why doesn't she just come here? Your quintet could protect her."
"Heidi made it clear she wants to stay at her place. She doesn't want to intrude on my quintet, and...we tend to rub her empathic abilities a little raw," he adds. "Even with mytherun.”
As someone who's had to feel the pain of anyone I healed for most of my life until I woke up without a curse, I know secondhand feelings can be rough as hell. Having to experience the freaky-ass Amato quintet's over-the-top emotions just by being around them? I can’t even imagine.
“Not to mention, my quintet and I will be a little…occupied, for a while,” he adds.
“Gross.”
He rolls his eyes. “Not like that. One of those sleepers from under the citadel is on the loose and presumed dangerous. We’re going to be hunting him down once Maven returns.”
“Hunting shit is my specialty,” I point out. “Just send me for that.”
Everett shakes his head. “You already know I think you got back into mercenary work way too fucking soon for being in a coma so recently. Besides, I’d rather have you protecting my sister from any more possible harm.”
“How long would you want me to guard her?" I ask.
"Until things settle down. A couple of months, possibly."
I make a face, still irked by the idea of a twenty-two-year-old female version of the legacy in front of me. "Yeah, I'm gonna pass. A couple of months guarding some spoiled, bratty elite legacy as she prances around Everbound? I'd rather take another bullet to the head."
Everett finally pushes away from his desk to sit in his office chair.
"She's not spoiled, not even close to bratty, and she's not at Everbound.
She's been blending in with humans for the last several years, living a peaceful life like one of them.
At least she was before the fae elders took that option away from her," he adds, murder briefly flashing across his cold features.
"They've turned Heidi into a big story for the entire godsdamned world to gawk at and speculate about—and don't even get me started on the people out there who hate anyone connected to the Frost name.
Now that they know Heidi exists, it's just a matter of time before they try to ransom her or worse.
Just another reason I need you to make sure no one else hurts her. "
I rub my arms to warm them back up as I think.
He's offering me a shit-ton of money just to keep an eye on some little deer shifter.
I'm no Frost businessman or trust fund baby, but I could've retired comfortably years ago from what bounty hunting has gotten me.
I just never really stopped. The hunt is the part I like, and extra money is nice as hell.
My little, broken family never had it when I was a kid, so maybe hoarding it subconsciously makes me feel better now.
But as much as I like combat, taking down targets, and adding a few more zeroes to my bank account…Everett’s not wrong. The subtle ache left in my head and the soreness in my body remind me that in a lot of ways, I'm still recovering from that damn coma.
A low-key job could be a good change of pace, at least for a bit.
It'd give my bounty hunter comrades a chance to catch up on some targets without me hogging all the good ones.
I sigh heavily, wondering if I'm going to regret this. "Ah, fuck it. Why not?"
Everett's exhausted face fills with stark relief for an instant before he gets a hold of himself. "Great. Then you'll start—"
"Yeah, yeah. Tomorrow. I'm on it. The reindeer will be safe with me."
"Deer," he corrects.
"Whatever."