Chapter Eight #4
“Yeah, well, there’s only one that worries me, Rhi. That big bastard right over there.”
Rhi narrowed her eyes on the human male she could easily see striding over the lawn.
Like the rest, he wore all black, a shoulder holster and a hip weapon besides.
He was a center point. A leader. Most likely the man in charge of the security detail.
He never got more than a few feet at a time without someone running up to him to ask something, or his electronic devices calling his attention.
But all the while those eyes would roam not only the property but as far beyond as he could manage.
Those sharp eyes had encouraged them to move their vantage point back deeper into the tree line.
He’d come out of nowhere. In all the time they had been surveying the situation, they had never once seen him.
Not until about three hours ago when he had walked out of the house for the first time.
There would be no mistaking or missing a man of his size.
He was huge. And while that meant little to a Morphate, this was apparently the human who had set up this situation well enough to keep even Morphates away from their target within.
That deserved some respect and some caution.
“So you want me to take him out first?”
“That would be the best, though we’ll stay flexible to the way the situation presents itself.
” He raised his binoculars, studying the giant.
“You know, here’s what I don’t get. If Devona has invented all these bright and shiny weapons, why are these guys only armed with bullets?
Wouldn’t it make sense to arm your own protection forces with the new prototypes? ”
“You mean so we can kill the puny humans and steal the weapons off their corpses?”
He grinned at her. “Exactly.”
“I don’t really care why. Bullets and guns are something I can handle real easy. So we just thank our luck, you know?”
“Yeah. I know.”
“How damn lucky can you get, I ask you?”
Inez glanced up from her kneeling position at his feet, where she was helping him clean and inspect equipment. She frowned, her hands going to her hips as she squinted her eyes against the setting sun.
“What in hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about Liam,” Kellen said with an exasperated indication of his hand.
“Look at him! Healthy as a horse after getting envenomated only three days ago! What are the odds that he would get thrashed and end up in the care of the only person in all the world with an antidote? Hmm? Tell me that’s not luck. ”
“He’s also the only one of us to get tagged twice in their lifetime. Is that lucky, you think?” she countered with a snort meant to express her obvious feelings about the ridiculous things that impressed men.
Kellen frowned and looked down at her darkly.
Inez cocked her head and waited for his comeback.
Instead, he went just a little bit still, and stared at her for a long minute.
Inez lifted a brow at him in curiosity, glancing around herself as she tried to figure out what had caught his mind.
She usually could tell what he was thinking at almost any given moment, but she was at a loss this time.
To her surprise, he reached down and touched her forehead, his fingertips running over her tautly pulled back hair, following the line of her part.
Then he seemed to realize what he was doing and he withdrew with a jerk.
Kellen quickly crouched down so he was eye to eye with his partner.
“You got tagged. The only thing that saved you was that vest you had on.” His gaze dropped down to her breasts, once again hidden safely behind the light armor.
“Whatever you call it, I say it was luck and I’m damn grateful for it.
” He shook his head once, slowly. “I don’t like the idea of telling my little buddy his mommy won’t be coming home. ”
Inez gasped in a breath and her hands balled into fists.
“Kellen Gordon, don’t you dare! Christ! You are the only man I have ever worked with who hasn’t treated me like some special case just because I have tits and a kid!
” One of her fists struck him in the shoulder where she knew it wasn’t protected.
The strike knocked him off balance and he sat down hard on the ground.
“Hey!”
“Shut up! I swear to God, Kell, if you start opening doors for me and jumping in front of me to protect me from danger, I’m going to kill you myself!”
“I have always protected you! Just like you protect me! It doesn’t mean I think you are weak or a special case.
” Kellen ground out an especially ripe curse as they both rose to their feet.
“Inez, we’re best friends and partners! I’m allowed to be a little upset when you get hurt or have a close call. Wouldn’t you be?”
“But it was three days ago! Why are you doing this now?”
That made him pause, his entire face shuttering into an expression so blank, it was obvious he was hiding his feelings.
Inez bit the inside of her cheek in regret.
She’d yelled at him, and now he didn’t want to share his feelings with her.
She didn’t understand why she’d been so sensitive.
Why they were both being so sensitive. It was probably because they’d been separated when it had happened.
Kellen had been positive that his presence there would’ve somehow protected her and Liam.
But that was just Kellen. Taking responsibility for everyone in the world.
“I’m sorry.”
They both burst out laughing when their apologies came out in tandem. It was so like them, so normal a thing to happen. And just like that their uncanny harmony seemed to return, settling over them calmly and surely. He reached out and hugged her to himself tightly.
“You know I can’t pretend you don’t have a kid when the little booger is practically a son to me.” He grinned against her ear. “And with tits like yours, I can’t possibly pretend they aren’t there either.”
Inez instantly made like she was going to knee him, and he laughed as he caught the threatening uplift of her leg safely in his hand. He squeezed the arm wrapped around her tighter and kissed her loudly on the side of her neck in punishment. He knew it tickled her, and she hated to be tickled.
Inez squealed and shoved him away.
“Hey. No fraternizing on my time.”
Inez stumbled as she whirled around to face their Leader. As always, her perfectly attuned partner reached to provide the exact amount of counterbalance she needed to keep herself upright.
“You know, you don’t look very intimidating to the outside observer when you’re hugging on each other all the time,” Liam remarked dryly.
He looked down at the drop cloth spread out on the lawn and the dismantled guns and equipment lying on it.
“My weapons don’t look very intimidating in all these pieces, either.
Sun’s dropping, kids, and the shift won’t end for you until this is done. ”
“Yes sir,” they said.
“But since you two are taking a break, it gives me a chance to talk to you about something.” Liam’s face was set in such a way that he needn’t tell them that it was something serious.
By the time he finished explaining exactly how serious, Kellen was pacing hard, back and forth, in a short concise circuit.
His hands were curled around his weapon belt, the leather creaking in his agitated grasp.
Inez watched him, knowing exactly what was bothering him.
She folded her arms beneath her breasts and took Liam’s measure for a moment.
Her boss was standing fast, as still as a monument.
He was waiting for their responses and their input as well.
Negative or positive, he would listen to it all.
“Am I getting this right? You want us to jump into the middle of a war with the entire populace of Morphates?”
“We’re already in the middle of it,” Kellen ground out, gesturing to Liam.
“Didn’t you hear him? We’re guarding a woman who, in essence, is public enemy number one in the world of Morphates.
I mean, I knew she’d invented things and the Morphates were peeved, but a lot of them are going to think she’s a traitor to her people.
And the ones who think like that are all going to want a piece of her hide.
And you want us to stand in the middle of that? ”
“That about sums it up,” Liam agreed grimly, a muscle ticking tightly in his jaw as he repressed the urge he had to argue and press.
Every man in his unit needed to make this choice for himself, not because he felt ordered to or obligated to out of loyalty to him.
This was a cause now, and they had to believe in the cause in order to dedicate their lives to it with full enthusiasm.
“If we’re going to be fulfilling this contract here for a while,” Inez mused aloud, “we’re going to have to do some thing or we’ll be forever on the defensive.”
“We are fulfilling this contract no matter what,” Liam informed them.
“The nature of the principal and the identity of the enemy changes nothing contractually. I will expect each and every one of my people to continue on with this assignment just as they would any other. Personal prejudices have no place here if that is affecting either of you. Fear has no place here either, if you plan on surviving. This is no different from any other assignment with the exception of what’s at stake, our weaponry and that the need for caution is jacked up to the extreme.
The question I’m asking is about what will go on above and below those obligations.
Above and below the law, perhaps.” Liam shrugged and glanced at the low sun.
“But as you know, when it comes to Morphates, certain laws have … gray areas.” He dusted off his hands, although they were not dirty.
Not yet. “I’ll leave you to talk it out.
There’s a meeting at ten tonight where the day shift can discuss it with me.
I’m giving you time to think about it. In the end, the goal is to safeguard the life of our principal while keeping our own heads attached.
I’m not out to take unnecessary risks, but there will be risks out of the ordinary. ”
“That’s putting it very diplomatically,” Kellen grumbled a few beats after Liam had turned and walked away. “Christ, this is insane.”
“Actually, I think it’s pretty clever,” Inez argued with a shrug when he looked at her.
“Look, in the end we’re going to be beating Morphates off with everything we have, and they don’t exactly go down easy, as you know.
If a show of force does the trick, then I’m all for it.
It’s less risk in the long run. And there’s something poetic about the weak human mortals bringing the immortals back down to earth. ”
“Man, I want to know when you became the insane one in this partnership,” Kellen sighed.
“I mean, I’m as gung-ho as any other maniac in this outfit, Inez, but this isn’t the same as beating down a crazed stalker or even outfoxing the mob.
” Both of which their outfit had done in the past. “That Morphate in the alley was the first one I’ve ever heard of getting killed by anything, and I’ve heard of some rough stuff getting thrown at them.
If you hadn’t told me you’d seen it with your own eyes, I probably wouldn’t believe Liam had pulled it off, as disloyal as that sounds. ”
“I understand your concerns, Kell. I really do,” she said sympathetically, Jaying a soothing hand on his arm.
“I also hear what you aren’t saying.” She met his dark eyes pointedly.
“If you pull out of this, Kell, I won’t do it either.
I can’t fight this fight without my partner to back me up.
I won’t trust my ass to anyone else but you.
I won’t risk my son’s mother unless you’re there to back me up all the way. ”
Kellen chuckled under his breath, dropping his head and shaking it ruefully.
“Damn you, Inez, you can’t put the decision all on me like this. If I get us into this mess and something happens to that fine ass of yours, you know I’m going to be mentally scarred for life, don’t you?”
She grinned widely, striking a Marilyn Monroe pose, hands on her thighs and her lush bottom thrusting in his direction. “It is rather fine, isn’t it? Come on, partner, you’d never let anything happen to my ass, so what are you worried about?”
Kellen quietly watched her playful display, that shuttered frown falling over him again. She sighed and leaned into him with a nudge. “Come on, handsome,” she needled gently, “it’ll be a wild ride, but I could use the excitement.”
Kellen’s attention snapped onto her fully and an expression she had never seen on him before darkened his eyes. She made a sound of surprise.
“Be careful what you ask for, Inez,” he said, the tone of his voice so deep and velvet soft that it gave her a chill. “You might get more in the bargain than you expect.”