Ancient Protector

by Savannah Verte

  Pushing off, he stood for a moment before turning to do what he had come for. At the door, he tapped lightly, hoping not to startle her. He failed. She jumped as soon as she turned to see who was there. It was all he could do to stand still. His insides squirmed, and his outsides were making a bid to follow suit. “May I come in?” he finally managed.

  She didn’t speak, only nodded. The apprehension was easy to read across her delicate features. It did nothing for his confidence. His mind went blank. Everything he had planned to say disappeared as though he hadn’t thought through the conversation every day for the last couple of weeks. Instead of coming out consoling and friendly, he fell back on official. “I’m Supervisory Special Agent Fedya Afanasi with the FBI. I was hoping to talk to you about what happened. Do you feel up to some questions?”

  Her one shoulder shrug response was not remotely close to the answer he’d hoped for. Then again, it was better than ‘no,’ and as he’d started with the company line, he could hardly blame her for being less than enthusiastic.

  He tried to soften the conversation before getting to the details. It wasn’t what he wanted to do, but even he knew that he couldn’t just blurt out that she was his destiny and hope for her to take that well. “Do you recall what happened, or has anyone spoken with you about it yet?”

  Her eyes closing in reply as she dropped her head gave him no clue. When she opened them and looked up, he saw the deep sadness. He suddenly didn’t know what to say.

  Remembering the bag in his hands, he stepped forward to place it on the bed at her feet. “I know you have been here some times, and they said you asked for clothings. I had a friend of mine choose some things for you. I hope they will be pleasing for you.”

  She brightened at the package, even as it remained closed. She startled him when she verbally replied. “That was so kind of you.”

  Fedya blushed. “I…we…I was hoping it would make this things better.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I understand if you do not wish to see them with me here. I didn’t look. I am promising.”

  Her head canted sideways. “I’m sorry?”

  “I didn’t peek,” he whispered.

  Her eyes flew wide. He could only imagine what she was thinking. “I gave a list of things that you needed and waited for deliveries,” he fumbled.

  “I’m sure whatever it is will be lovely. I’ll look later,” she said softly. “You asked to talk about what happened?”

  Fedya chastised himself for hoping she would look at his gift, and perhaps even try them on for him to see, but that was another part of the conversation, and officially, not the big part. Though personally, it was one of the only parts that actually mattered to him anymore. “Yes. But first, can you tell me who you are? We were not able to find your name.”

  He saw her wince before answering. “My name is Marietta.”

  Finally, a name! he thought to himself.

  “It is so nice to be knowing you Marietta. Can you share anything you are recalling before you woke up here?”

  She was quiet for a long few moments before she spoke. Fedya was fighting not to prod her the longer it took.

  “I remember a voice over a loud speaker, and shouting.”

  Fedya roughed his beard. “Were you on the boat, or in the waters?”

  “Both.”

  “Both boats, or the boat and the water?”

  “I was on the boat, but I remember being thrown to the water. I don’t know anything after that.”

  “Can you advice me on why you were on the boat?”

  Her look was confusing. He couldn’t tell if she didn’t know, or didn’t want to say. When she wet her lips, he knew. He was going to have to be delicate. “Were you on the boat by choice?” he nudged.

  He watched her process her answer before she gave it. There was a lot more story than what she was going to share, he could tell. But, perhaps with what she gave, he could learn the rest. “I chose.”

  “So, you were not brought to the boat by others?” he questioned, trying to find an opening to the issue of trafficking.

  “No,” she replied quietly.

  “Did you know there would be others being brought to the boat?” He couldn’t decide if he believed her or not when she shook her head ‘no,’ but didn’t actually answer. “Did you know where the boat was to be going when you boarded?” he followed up.

  Her answer surprised him and made him question how much she actually knew. “To shore.”

  “To shore? We were not thinking that it was ever going to docking, but only into the channel,” he dropped as casually as he could manage.

  Her defiant streak surprised him over again with her next words. “It had to go to shore eventually. It would need fuel.”

  Fedya contemplated his next words, trying to wrap his head around what wasn’t being said. He was fairly sure that she hadn’t known about the pick-up, though what she’d thought remained elusive. The alternate possibility latently struck. “You were on another boat,” he stated more than asked.

  Her affirmative nod was her only reply. He realized he had a whole new set of questions, but needed to refine them. That, and he wanted to show compassion, not only because she was his, but because it was the right thing to do. She’d only woken up yesterday. He made a show of checking his watch before dropping what he knew was partly a lie. “I would very much like to be speaking with you again, but have to be to elsewhere just now. Would it be good with you for me to come back later?”

  He knew she’d not anticipated the change by the look that crossed her face before she regained her composure to reply. “That would be fine. I think I’d like to sleep now.”

  “You have had a large event. I will leave you to sleep and check in with you later. Thank you for speaking at me, Marietta,” he closed, savoring the feel of her name across his tongue.

  Her smile and nod were his cue to leave. He needed to make an exit before something he was not saying took an opportunity to come out.

  FOURTEEN

  Their world shifted in less than two days. Once she was able to coordinate the crutches and get her body to respond, there was no keeping Taylen down. She was adamant to get out of the hospital and back on the case. It was all Andrej could do to keep up, or keep her from going too fast.

  Tired of waiting for blessings that were not coming, she signed out against medical advice, promising as an afterthought that she would not be alone to the doctor and nurses who obviously did not believe her. Only Andrej knew that she absolutely would not be solo. If he had to tape himself to her hip he would be going everywhere she went, except perhaps the rest room. He had not asked for permission, but would not ask for forgiveness as he followed her through her small home upon arrival, moving obstacles out of the path as she pushed herself trying to walk with only one crutch. Eventually, tired of being reactionary he decided to go on the offensive, hoping perhaps to knock her off balance enough to get her to slow down. Stepping in front of her, he didn’t announce his intention, even as it went against his other nature. He carefully but firmly placed his hands on her shoulders and his lips on hers.

  A scant inch apart, it was awkward to be staring into her eyes as they bored into his which he hadn’t closed. Even so, he was unprepared for what came next. There was no warning, but it was unmistakable. A piece of himself settled into the core of his being. Though his eyes were open, they grew wide in the moment. He pulled back, grudgingly giving up the kiss to be able to speak. “What have you done?!”

  “I tested a theory,” she replied matter-of-factly.

  He managed not to shake with fury at her actions, barely. “We said we would find out together. You testing a theory is not together,” he challenged.

  Her responding shrug grated against every one of his finer sensibilities. “It was a small test. I just knew I could do it.”

  It took him several moments to be able to respond, his emotional fury surprising him. “And what of me? Do you have any idea what w
ould have happened if you were wrong? If you had dropped here in my arms again? Did you think about it? I’m not a science project, and neither are you!” he charged through gritted teeth.

  She stood firm as he rebuked her. She didn’t know what it would mean before she did it. Still, she had to try. Her sense of absolute right, and absolute wrong, would not abide her keeping that which did not belong to her. She had to find a way to return it. If that meant in small pieces, so be it. If that meant that she would cease to be because of it, she was okay with that too. It meant that the world would return to the way it was supposed to be. If she was to remain, it had to be because the Goddess willed it. She could not stand on borrowed time at someone else’s expense any longer. The guilt would eat her alive. She just needed a way to make him understand. “I know why you believe that. I need you to believe that the opposite is also true. I cannot keep that which is not mine. If giving it back returns the course of events to where they were before, I cannot undo that. I won’t.”

  She watched him wince at her words. “We will find a way, but please don’t do that again without discussing it with me first. If there’s a chance that I’m going to lose you again, I don’t want it to be a surprise.”

  She wanted to rebuke him but couldn’t once she saw the pain behind his eyes. Her words lodged in her throat as she gasped when he dipped down to pick her up, moving to set her gently upon the sofa. As if somehow everything that had been said and everything that hadn’t been needed to be set aside, she reached up, deftly unbuttoning his shirt, resisting the urge to simply pull the two sides apart. She noted her alter over his shoulder, and somehow everything was right in the moment. The awkwardness of their conversations did not translate to the language of their bodies.

  Given half of a second to wonder, she might have considered why they hadn’t started there to begin with, but that was more time than she was willing to give. His hands were sure, certain, and gentle as they moved over her, liberating her from her garments. She chuckled when he failed to resist the same urge that she had experienced earlier, tearing the waistband of her pants wide instead of pulling them down to free her over the obstructive leg braces.

  He stayed her hands when she moved to take the upper body immobilizer off. “Leave it,” he said softly. “I would sooner stop than hurt you, and I don’t really want to stop.”

  Relaxing as best as she could, she involuntarily moaned at the hypersensitivity of her flesh everywhere his fingers trailed. He was exceedingly gentle, but every place where their skin made contact carried a charge of undercurrent from the surface to a knot deep within her that was growing tighter by the moment. When he traded brushing kisses for skimming fingers, she thought she might explode. Her eyes flew wide as he nuzzled her throat when a flash fire began at the cleft of her sex. He had not seemed to move, yet he was expertly teasing her toward a climax she had not recognized was coming.

  Remembering his earlier reaction, she resisted the urge to give back more of himself when he kissed her. As it was, they seemed to be breathing for one another as she panted between kisses. The ministrations of his fingers were a delicacy she could not help but surrender to. Reaching down, she liberated him from the loose pants that he wore, his state unmistakable. Teasing the tip, rolling the moisture around and down his shaft, she grasped firmly trying to pull him toward her. She’d expected he would resist, and was surprised when he didn’t.

  The logistics of the act were awkward if she thought about it, so she didn’t. One moment, she was perched on the precipice of orgasm, and the next, a new inferno from deep within engulfed her senses. He was deliberate in his actions, moving slowly, but determinedly. She was nearly crazed to know that there was little she could do but burn. She cried out when, once fully seated, he stopped. She could not name the myriad emotions that crossed his face as he pulled his head back to look at her.

  She let a small grimace bloom as she wiggled her hips to prod him. His returning smirk was conspiratorial. Before she could anticipate his intentions, he withdrew and pushed forward, driving even deeper than she thought he could go. Mentally, she cursed her condition as she longed for a wild, driving ride. As it was, she would have to settle for restraint. It was nothing she wanted, even as it was everything she wished for.

  In the moment before she spun out, shock waves driving her body to writhe and contort, she made herself a promise to return the ecstasy torture he was delivering. As she noticed the deep satisfaction on his face, she was too wrung out and panting for breath to be able to speak when it changed. She had to get herself under control before she could speak, but forced the words long before her limbs stopped contorting. “What has happened? What’s wrong?” she demanded.

  Andrej needed a moment of his own before he could reply. He knew what she was seeing, he could imagine the look on his face. One moment everything was exactly as it should be, and the next, it was everything else. “I can…” he stammered, unsure if he wanted to actually speak the words for fear that it would pass.

  “You can?”

  “I can see color,” he said with wonder.

  The comment made no sense to her, though his tone belied the significance. “And?”

  Unwitting tears tracked his cheeks. “And… I thought they were gone.”

  “Why would they be gone?”

  He thought to withdraw. He thought to make them more comfortable too, but selfishly, he hesitated, not knowing what the actions would mean to the moment. Vacillating, he opted to brace himself on his forearms above her, staying firmly, deeply inside to deliver his truth. “My life was black and white until I found you. The colors only came to me then. The explosion, and losing you, took them away again. But now, in this moment, I can see them.”

  She heard her own gasp, understanding clearly what he was describing. The truth was easily discerned. “We…” she hesitated. “Uhmm, Andrej?” she tried to fathom how to say the next words. “We cannot stay like this forever.”

  His responding grin smacked of male chauvinism. “I could.”

  FIFTEEN

  Marietta fingered the gauzy lace of the gown. It was in stark contrast to the soft fluffy robe that she had removed from the bag first. Absently, she wondered just exactly what the agent had asked for. Near the bottom were underclothes, thick socks, and a pair of slippers. In her mind, she couldn’t decide if she would have use for the gown. The other things, she had a deep appreciation for.

  When nothing else was in the bag, she resisted the urge to be disappointed. It was already far more than she had hoped for, though traveling clothes or sweats would have been better. The items spread across her lap were lovely for someone who was bedridden or would remain hospitalized, but she knew she could not stay. Suddenly, she knew she was not alone. Looking up, it was the male nurse. Her hand came to her throat as she noticed the predatory glare with which he watched her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you come in.”

  “Distracted were we?” he baited.

  Marietta took a deep breath to steady herself. Hooked up to so many monitors, there was no way to disguise if her heart rate kicked up. She could not give him the advantage. Thankfully, Tawny came up behind him. “Terry? Did you need something? I thought you were on the other hall today.”

  His face changed as Marietta watched, the savage determination she had seen switching to calm and collected before he turned. “I am. I just stepped in as I was going by.”

  “Thanks for that,” Tawny clipped in reply. “I was just going to take Marietta here for a break in the courtyard if she wished,” she added brightly, looking around Terry.

  Marietta nodded, not quite certain she wanted to go to the courtyard, but absolutely convinced she did not want to stay behind alone. She had more than a passing fear that should she decline Tawny would not linger. She slid the puffy robe on before pulling the sheets back, cinching it at her waist tightly before snapping the tags off. “Is that what Agent Afanasi brought you?” Tawny questioned.

  Marietta blushed, pointing
to the other items across the bed. “This and others.”

  Tawny’s eyebrows shot up as she noticed the lace gown. “If I didn’t know that he asked someone else to shop, I would be very curious about that particular piece,” she whispered with a giggle.

  Marietta nodded, reaching for lighthearted banter over the nervous concern she felt. “Yes, but do we know what specifically he requested?”

  Tawny’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my… Do you think?”

  Marietta shrugged. “I do not know him to answer.”

  Tawny tapped a finger at her chin. “He has been here nearly every day since the incident. He has also been most concerned for your care during that time. What I know of him, is limited, but I do know that much.”

  Marietta pursed her lips together. “It would be rude to ask, or to insinuate one way or the other. Perhaps I will simply say that it did not fit.”

  Tawny eyed the garment. “Yes, but if it fits, it is of impeccable quality. Are you sure you don’t want to keep it?”

  Marietta didn’t want to think too hard about the implications of the gift, instead electing to change the subject. “I thought you were taking me outside,” she challenged with a grin.

  Tawny snorted. “Get your socks and slippers on, I’ll get your chariot.”

  ***

  Back at the nurse’s station, Terry ducked around the corner to send a text.

  ::She is well enough to move::

  SIXTEEN

  Agent Marcos glided high above the channel. He’d seen the reports and knew that there was a small submersible missing from the equation. Never having seen it, or noticing it the night of the explosion, he wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but if it were anywhere nearby, he would certainly be able to spot it. Spreading his wings, riding the draft, he circled back to the remains of the small boat. Much of the craft had been hauled away, but there were still pieces along the bottom to demarcate a ground zero.