by Lexi Ostrow
Only McKenna and Jacob were left standing in the slightly broken council room. Their breathing was loud, and Jacob’s was still tinged with the pattern of someone who had been terrified. Did she make the first move, or did he?
She couldn’t help but feel a little woozy as she looked at him. Just as when she’d been younger, she found him stunning. He was everything the royal men and women in paintings ought to be. His body was lithe, and she had seen him shirtless just once when she’d worked for the crown, but it was enough to leave her more than curious about what he looked like five years later.
Jacob’s eyes seemed to burn a hole in her, and she wondered what was going on behind those baby blue eyes of his. Could he suddenly be seeing her for the young girl she had been? Or did he only see the woman that he was now stuck with? She licked her upper lip and captured her lower lip betwixt her teeth.
“Jacob, I do think that we can—”
“I do not need a bodyguard. Contrary to what just happened, I can fend off regular attacks just fine,” he said as he pulled his goggles off.
Four
Her jaw dropped as she tore the goggles from her face and they fell to the floor. She appeared astounded by Jacob’s statement. “In case you hadn’t noticed, Your Royalness, these are not normal opponents. They are bloody demons!”
Jacob couldn’t resist the smirk that spread across his lips over her outburst. She was passionate, he had to give her that, and it certainly sparked a desire to find out how far her passion spread. She was definitely one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, and he had seen plenty.
However, he didn’t need her. His aim was horrid, but he had exceptional skills sparring and was good with knives and swords.
McKenna kept barking something at him, and it became apparent to him that she was so green as a hunter it was laughable. She thought, simply because she was trained, she could handle demons and he couldn’t. Certainly, it was a possibility, but she’d had her hand held. There was no telling if she could do anything on her own. He found her presence annoying now. It was a disrespect to him, and his character, being ordered to allow her to watch over him.
Yet, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. She wore plain cotton breeches and a black billowy shirt with her hair tied into a plait, and she was stunning. When they’d brushed hands outside the door, he’d been stricken almost immediately with the urge steal her away into a dark corner. She was beautiful, despite trying to hide it under a common guildworker’s attire. For a split second, he wondered what she’d look like in a hunter’s gear. The women wore corseted tops and long skirts to blend in with the ladies of the night. They hunted after dark, and anything less would cause suspicion about them walking around the streets of London.
Watching her throughout the catastrophic meeting hadn’t done anything to lessen his desire for her. In fact, it had merely added to it because there was a sense of familiarity about her that he couldn’t ignore. Jacob knew he’d never come across her inside the guild walls, but she looked so familiar to him—as if he’d already bedded her and couldn’t remember.
“Miss Caffry, please, don’t force my hand to lend insult to you. I am grateful to you for tending to me after the unfortunate lesson that was forced upon me. I do not, however, think it is proper for a man and woman to be left standing alone in a room without chaperones.”
The words hadn’t been false. The more Jacob stared at her, the stronger the desire to touch her became. Many women in the Alliance of Silver and Steam used their bodies to garner information, but something about the way she had frozen up when he’d touched her earlier suggested she didn’t. He might not want a bodyguard, but pissing off a beautiful woman was never on his daily agenda. Especially not one that could likely knock him arse over toes.
The thought sparked a spike of anger racing through him, all but extinguishing his sinful thoughts. He was to be guarded by a woman, a slip of a woman, who’d had trouble facing the bloody council barely an hour prior.
Her breasts rose and fell with her breathing, and Jacob couldn’t tear his eyes away from them. Lust sparked back to life and warred with his anger. A woman that can look like her and be considered a hunter is dangerous to any man, Jacob concluded. They were not going to get on swimmingly, and he knew it because he didn’t like being taken care of, and McKenna Caffry seemed more than ready to follow her orders.
There were so many reasons he didn’t want to be standing in the empty room with the female before him, and they essentially all started and stopped with the fact that a woman was supposed to be his protector. Jacob hadn’t been on hunts, and he certainly couldn’t handle Lucius, but that didn’t mean he needed to be protected like some child. The action was no different from his father trying to block him from attending the mission in the first place.
One. Two. Three. Jacob forced himself to count slowly and remove some of the anger. McKenna had done nothing wrong. She had been just as appalled by the idea as he had been at first. She had also been in just as much trouble twice during the meeting. She was hardly a qualified candidate to keep him safe—if he needed one. Which he damn well didn’t.
He scrubbed a hand behind his head and let out an exasperated sigh. “Miss Caffry, it’s not that I find you detestable, quite the opposite really. I just do not need a bodyguard, especially not an inexperienced one who likely has no clue what it is like to be out on the sea.” He naturally left out that he had none himself.
“Please, McKenna is fine, my last name is irrelevant, as the Guild and Alliance are my only living family. Second, simply because I have never hunted alone does not mean I am not perfect at it. I killed whilst living on the streets. I am no stranger to inflicting death as a means to an end. Do I think you need protection on a bloody boat? To Hell with that. But I am loyal to my position, and I will do what Odette has ordered me to do. No matter how angry you make me.”
Jacob let out a cruel laugh. “I make you angry? McKenna, I had to open the door for you, put goggles over your bloody eyes and tell you to pay attention. If anyone has a right to make someone angry, it would be you upsetting me.”
She opened her mouth as if to say something, and then it snapped shut, the lines of anger on her face doing nothing to diminish her beauty. “I assure you, if you need to be watched over, I’ve got more than enough skills to see to it that you don’t fall over the side of the boat or accidentally fall prey to Lucius once more.”
Her tongue slid over lips with the last word, and the small amount of control Jacob had over his lust vanished. For the better part of an hour, he’d been contemplating the way her body would feel underneath his, and she had just undone any chivalrous part of him. He took a step forward, his boots hitting into her paltry slippers and forcing her to take a step backward.
“Who will protect you from me then, McKenna?” his voice was husky.
She chewed her lip then, and his hand shot out to her lower back, pulling her into him, but making sure her body did not touch his. She was breathing as heavily as he was as if the sensations rushed over her as quickly as they did him.
“I can protect myself from anything, including Lucius. We have been taught mental barriers,” her voice was soft, her lips barely moved as she spoke.
“Then let’s test it out McKenna, let me test you.”
Whether he meant to taste her, or to see if she would be able to stop him, he wasn’t certain. His head tipped to the side as his other hand rose to her chin and tilted her head to the side. Slowly, his lips touched hers. There was no giant punch of lust that accompanied the kiss, but he did like how soft her lips were under his.
She moved first, her hands wrapping around his neck as her lips parted, and her tongue flicked over the seam of his mouth. Jacob’s body roared to life. His mouth opened, and his tongue wasted no time dipping inside her mouth. He groaned as she matched his pace. McKenna was experienced in the art of kissing, and he wasn’t going to be through with her until he knew just how much she knew.
Hi
s hand slid a path onto the back of her head, and his fingers slipped into the tightly pulled back hair at the nape of her neck. With a single tug, the ribbon that tied the plait slipped out, and her curls tumbled over his hands. They were so much softer than he had been expecting—almost as if she had access to the same care items the ladies in the court did. He twirled his hand in her hair and used it to tug her mouth harder against his, to deepen their rogue kiss.
It was her turn to sigh into as their tongues swirled together, daring the kiss to deepen. Jacob felt her body close the distance betwixt them and growled low as her lips glided slowly with his. He let go of her waist, content that she wasn’t going to stop the kiss, and slipped a hand up the bottom of the black shirt.
Jacob almost came in his trousers. McKenna had no proper undergarments on. Many Alliance females skipped the corset, but the stunning woman had merely wrapped her breasts, and he could still feel the generous shape of them, despite the wrapping. His fingertips flicked and tweaked at her nipples through the compression wrap, and she arched into him. He was lost to anything but the feel of her mouth moving on his, it wasn’t life altering, but it was getting the job done.
His breathing grew ragged, and his control was slipping entirely. With every caress of McKenna’s tongue in his mouth, his body screamed for him to lower her to the floor and show her what a man with his upbringing could do in bed. The thought that he was already comparing her to his bedmates as if she was nothing more than a passing obsession briefly sobered him.
Why wouldn’t she be? She flashed those innocent eyes at you, and suddenly, you can’t even remember you dislike her because she is to guard you. All you can think is the way your member would like you too.
Mewls of appreciation slipped passed her lips and urged his body on. He took control, backing her up until her back hit the podium chair Odette had recently sat upon. His hips continued a slow circular roll against hers, maddening him further.
He felt as his prick grew thick and jutted fully out, in anticipation of what could come next, and he tore his mouth from hers. All thoughts of anything further vanished. He couldn’t bed a female, not one that could put his life in danger. No matter that he could feel how badly she wanted it in her kiss. Jacob accidentally shoved McKenna backward, and she let out a cry that he hoped was frustration and not pain.
Looking at her, he wanted to cross the distance betwixt them and start again. Her hair was falling out of its plait. Blonde curls clung to her neck where a small amount of sweat had built up. Her blue eyes seemed to glow with lust, and her lips were a darker shade of pink than they had been before he’d kissed her. Everything in him was shouting at him to finish what they’d started.
Everything but a tiny section of his brain reminding him that sleeping with her would give her the wrong and idea, and seducing an Alliance member could get him kicked out, not to mention killed. He needed to only represent the Royals and sleeping with a hunter could tarnish his opinions and votes.
“Miss Caffry, McKenna, please forgive me. I lost myself. You are tantalizing, if they do not use you for seduction here, they clearly should.”
“Excuse me?” she huffed, and her hands immediately went to adjust the wrapping over her breasts that he had almost taken off. “I am untouched, despite this display. I think it would be best if you see to it the king sends another. I will not back down from my first mission, and I am fairly certain you attempted to make me weak enough, make me wet with desire and putty in your hands so that you could have me removed.”
The idea had never even occurred to him, though he shouldn’t have told her that. “Actually, all I thought of was how bloody sensual your lips looked every time my eyes fell on you. Or how that blasted man’s outfit hides nothing of your curves. I assure you, McKenna, the only thing I thought of is how I am a man who takes what he wants, and you were the woman I decided I wanted.”
A dagger was in her hand and biting into his throat the moment the words were out. She was skilled. The blade drew a tiny trickle of blood, and he swallowed, trying not to comment on the pain.
“Remember, the next time you try to take something, especially me, that I am a hunter. I will play babysitter to any man but you. Touch me like that again, Sir Tresay, and I promise you, your head will roll.”
She turned before he could apologize for his mistake and stormed out of the room. His shaft was still throbbing, desiring nothing more than her body, even as his mind told him to walk away and let Mikal take the post after all. He didn’t doubt that McKenna Caffry would seduce him to the point of stupidity, and he rather liked his head intact.
Five
McKenna sucked in a deep breath and knocked somewhat gently on the Guildmaster’s door. It had been months since she’d last gone before Odette, but her issue could be ignored no longer.
“Please enter, but make it quick, there is a hunting party coming in to give a report,” Odette’s voice chimed through the thick door.
The door opened easily, and this time, McKenna wasn’t as taken by the beauty of the office. There was a new item on the desk—a scale model of the underwater vessel Eliza was building. For a moment, McKenna wanted to look at it more than she wanted to speak to Odette.
“McKenna, what brings you down here? Don’t you have training to look into?”
“I wish to speak to you about an interaction betwixt Jacob and myself. One that I think needs to be aired before the mission.”
Odette put down the quill she had been holding and lifted her head once more to look into McKenna’s eyes. She gestured to the big white chairs opposite the desk. “Sit, but you will have to conclude when the hunting party returns. The Fallen they tracked down put up quite a fight, and Tate will be coming as well.”
“We were inappropriately engaged. He did the noble thing and stopped it before things went too far, but I fear the interaction put a strain on our relationship. On our ability to work together.”
Odette chuckled and moved her long brown hair out of her eyes. “I can assure you, anything that you two did will not be judged here. Whilst the guild might follow common rules, you know the Alliance’s rules of propriety are somewhat, well, hampered. I do not doubt that you had a moment, I watched him watching you much of the meeting. I also think what is straining your ability to work together is the assignment. You are a whelp in his eyes, hardly old enough to be alone with a man of his age, let alone to protect him.”
McKenna shifted uncomfortably in the chair. She had been hoping Odette would find fault in the interaction and call the alliance off. The king had not given in to Jacob’s request to be removed, and, for months, they had been forced to play nicely together. She couldn’t stand him after the way he’d likened her to a piece of property. What was worse, she fantasized about him at times, and it angered her.
“I just do not feel I am the right hunter for the job at this time. I think he would benefit from working with someone with a stronger personality.”
Odette laughed once more. “I assure you, the more time you spend together, the distaste for one another over the assignment will lessen. I wanted to throttle and tie up Philippe for the better part of a month before I warmed up to him.” She smiled as she clearly thought about the man she loved.
“Yes, but we are looking at almost six months now. Nothing has changed. The things he said to me, I cannot forgive them.”
“You have no need to forgive, or even like him. What you have to do is train and protect him. You are there merely as a safety net. Felicia and Philippe will be in quarters near his on the ship. They have plans to discuss and likely will not enjoy watching over Jacob whilst they are planning a rescue. I am sorry, McKenna, my mind cannot be swayed.”
McKenna had been itching to ask a question since the moment she’d known her assignment, but fear had kept her from doing it. She could not embark on a journey that could take the better part of a season without knowing the answer. If Odette grew angry over her inquisition, perhaps she would have a way out of the
trip. Even if she didn’t honestly want to go back to being a workless hunter.
“Why me? I have no skills, and I am a female.”
Odette snorted, stood up and walked around the desk to stop in front of McKenna. “Is that how you see yourself?”
McKenna nodded. “How could there be another way? Until recently, I had never been assigned a hunt, and there are so few females anywhere in the Alliance, my thoughts are logical.”
“Logical perhaps, but nonsense. Look at Felicia and myself. I dare say the men cower before us and not just the ones that we have taken as lovers.” Odette winked at her playfully. “We are proof that the women here are as strong and as qualified as the men. However, your background is why you were selected.”
McKenna frowned. She’d been tossed around after her parents’ untimely death. From the streets of the London Underground to the castle, and finally, to the Guild. She had no ties to anything, and maybe that made her expendable. “So I was chosen because I will leave no one behind if something goes wrong?”
“Do not be foolish. You were chosen because I know you spent time directly serving Jacob. I had hoped it would make you a more agreeable pair. However, perhaps that is why he has fault with you,” Odette chided hastily.
“Oh, he has no recollection of me. I can promise you that,” McKenna said bitterly.
“I can promise you, the mission will bring you a clarity about your place in the world that you will not get hunting in the streets. I may not seem as if I care for you, but I watched in the days following my father’s death. You are tenacious, and like Eliza, you do not put up a false feminine front. The Alliance of Silver and Steam needs you. You just need to learn not all missions are danger and thrills, and the ones that oft leave you screaming in the middle of the night. Both Eliza and myself can contest to that.”
McKenna let the words wash over her, and she tried to comprehend the warning. It seemed impossible to believe that doing what was good, killing the demon bastards, could ever result in anything wrong. Slowly, she nodded her head, not having any words because she wasn’t completely in agreement with the Guildmaster.
