A tall form moved out from the darkened corner of the room, and Bennett stepped back to make room for the sinister-looking male.
Weston let the girl go, spinning her to face where Bennett once stood, but now Jace waited calmly.
She gasped, fear permeating the air, but Jace quickly calmed her, locking his ice blue gaze on her. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not even here.” His mesmerizing voice captured the woman’s attention, hypnotizing her. Bennett had to admire how much the Guardian had grown in his power. “When you leave here, you will think, you will remember, having sex with Bennett.”
She nodded mindlessly.
“You want to have sex with these guys?”
She nodded again.
“Go to it,” Jace finished, stepping aside.
Bennett moved to hang out behind the woman when Weston pulled her leggings down her thighs. As he sat down, she kneeled and unclasped the male’s pants.
It was critical that Bennett remain behind the woman, at least during this part, Jace had said when they were making plans for tonight. But it didn’t mean it was comfortable. It was not like he wasn’t used to being around others having sex, but he usually had a role. This felt…weird, just standing here, waiting for her to finish blowing Weston.
Jace settled in next to him, speaking low enough so the woman with her human ears couldn’t hear, “Everybody in place at the house?”
“Yeah, the boss said we do this for a few nights. If Sigma doesn’t hit us now, they’re planning a different move.” And that would be bad. An attack on Spencer and her house was something they could plan for, but he couldn’t hang out at the club each and every night. Bennett couldn’t come here each night putting on a show or eventually they’d get busted. “Cassie pissed about you doing this?”
“Nah, she gets it.” Jace blew out a breath, trying not to look at the couple while the smell of desire filled the air. “Besides, she has some continuing education to do and claims I keep distracting her.”
Bennett snorted. “What? She can’t study on her back?”
Jace chuckled wickedly. The male’s human mate had transitioned into their world pretty well, but it didn’t matter what the species, living with an alpha male shifter could be physically demanding.
“No man, her sitting there, with that studious look on her face, intent on the laptop…gets me going every time.” Jace directed his attention to the woman, using his mesmerizing voice to describe what she would remember Bennett doing to her, while Bennett himself never laid a hand, or any other body part, on her.
“You said you’re going back to school to get your master’s in finance. Does watching you study have the same effect on her?” Bennett’s tone was laced with humor, but he fought an all-out grin at Jace’s reaction to his question.
“She likes ’em smart. Why do you think I’m still taking classes?” Jace didn’t bother fighting his own grin, his fangs lengthening slightly.
“Dude, I’m so good, I don’t even have to touch her,” Bennett joked about the woman moaning.
“Right, only cuz I’m telling her how good you should be.”
Weston’s withdrawn groan signaled his finish and the high-pitched whine signaled the woman’s. Staring at the ceiling, out of the corner of his eye Bennett could see Weston pull the woman onto his lap, pull her leggings all the way off, and settle her on his length.
Most of Bennett’s role was done, but he couldn’t leave. Simultaneously, he and Jace turned around to stare at the other wall to give the couple a modicum of privacy.
“How many girls we gotta go through tonight?” Jace asked.
Bennett exhaled, thinking about his long, long talk with the commander. “At least two, but if we can do three, it would be best. Weston’s up for it.”
The commander’s phone call to Christian solved the dilemma of who would help thoroughly scent the girls with sex. Commander Fitzsimmons grimly said he would step in, but hated taking another Guardian from Spencer’s protection detail. Bennett suspected his commander just wasn’t interested in random sex and would’ve dragged his feet to the club out of a sense of duty.
Thankfully, the phone call to Christian planning this charade ended with him offering up a member of his pack who would be willing to play and could be trusted. Jace, having been a member of Christian’s pack before he met Cassie and was recruited by the Guardians, vouched for Weston.
When Bennett frequented The Den, he was known for going all night. Now he just wanted to go home. But in order for Sigma’s spies to question any assumption the hybrid they were searching for might be Bennett’s mate, he needed to act like a single Guardian.
“I would tell her to walk out like her legs were numb, but from the sounds of it, I think Weston is taking care of that,” Jace said wryly.
The piercing, deep shriek of climax, followed by Weston’s grunts, signaled the end to this woman. Bennett would have to be seen walking her out and recruiting the next candidate.
Gritting his teeth and gutting through it, he accepted the woman’s arm after she got her leggings back on and helped her back out to the dance floor. He quickly caught the next female’s eye but skipped over her. She was a shifter and their ruse wouldn’t work as well with her. Next up, a short, dark haired female he didn’t think he’d had before was looking his way.
Picking her up next, she followed him into the room. Putting the night on repeat, Jace wove his magic, Weston worked the girl, and hopefully any Sigma plants in the club would report back that Bennett was still hitting up the back rooms of the club so when Spencer died, they left her dead.
Chapter Twelve
There’s movement, get back here. Commander Fitzsimmons sent his mental thought to Bennett as soon as he felt the faint vibrations in the air. Rhys was sitting on front deck of Spencer’s house staring out into the night while she was stationed inside with her trusty shotgun. The light rain had quit before making the ground soggy, and that would be good in case there was fighting.
Bennett convinced Apollo to stay at the cabin babysitting the kittens. They couldn’t plan the dog’s nature to rescue Spencer into this set-up. Apollo was too unpredictable in a scheme of events that were already a giant unknown as it was.
Kaitlyn was positioned at the edge of Spencer’s land, Mercury was camped on the back porch, Ronnie was waiting in the tree line, and Doc Garreth was on standby at the infirmary. Spencer’s brother had taken quite an interest in Doc’s business, and as for the healer, he seemed to enjoy researching the latest must-haves in research equipment and brainstorming ideas to obtain materials with Ronnie.
Dani said there’s at least seven bodies roaming the woods, three fast moving, possible vamps or maybe only enhanced Agents. Mercury’s voice drifted through the commander’s mind. After Dante’s birth, Dani lost the ability to talk with the rest of the Guardians, but at least her connection to Mercury remained. Maybe over time it would grow stronger again. Until then, she normally texted, but silence was golden for this mission so she sent her messages through Mercury.
Seven. Damn. They expected as much. Two failed missions striving to take Spencer in her house would cause Sigma to attack heavy. They didn’t waste their vampire Agents. The human Agents were getting to be a dime a dozen. Madame G was growing more frantic in her search for Spencer so she had no problem throwing away their lives due to lack of training.
Dani spotted Agents X and E, boss.
Fuck.
Just fuck.
Location? Commander Fitzsimmons couldn’t lose any more Guardians to the Agents and while he couldn’t see either X or E killing Spencer outright, they could cause enough of a problem that could end up getting her killed. Or maybe they’d capture her and let someone else do the dirty work.
A thought occurred to Commander Fitzsimmons. It had been awhile since he’d crossed paths with X and some things had changed. It was worth a shot.
Nice of you to join us.
A throaty, surprised laugh drifted through his mind makin
g his shaft tighten and that was a shitty problem to have with the Agent.
My, my Rhys, you have a shiny, new talent. She always called him by his first name. He hated the intimate feel to it. And he hated that it was probably the reason why she did it.
What are you up to? Mind-speak wasn’t a new trick, just one that didn’t work until recently.
I’m about six feet tall. Another husky chuckle at her own joke rolled through his brain straight down to his cock. He really didn’t need this tonight.
How’s Demetrius? Commander Fitzsimmons could get his digs in, too.
Silence followed for several seconds. Do you think you can keep this girl from getting killed? There was no hint of a taunt, she posed a serious question.
Yes.
You do that then. It was like a mental door slammed between him and his connection to her.
Commander Fitzsimmons rubbed his face and sighed. He should give up trying to figure out what X and her partner were up to, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was critical, to all of them.
***
Spencer was shaking in her cowboy boots. The Guardians kept her in on their mental transmissions and she heard how many Agents were out there. Was this going to work? Where was Bennett?
The lights in her house were off, darkness settled deep into the corners this far out of town. There had been no need for Sigma to cut the power, but it was meant to unnerve her and distract the Guardians. The problem with human Agents was that they strategized like humans. She could see as well as a full-blood in the dark. The Guardians took it all into account and it became part of the plan.
She walked out the back door carrying her shotgun, passing Mercury who was sitting on the back porch. “I’m going to fill the generator and start it up.”
“You should get back inside. I can do it.” He moved in a half-hearted effort to get up.
“No, I got it, just keep protecting me,” she reassured him, sticking to the script.
Leaning her shotgun against the outside of her house, she went over to the red gas cans and picked one up. Making a great show of filling the generator by the back corner of the house, utilizing her unique cussing method while creating a spectacle of spilling gas while trying to get the generator filled.
“Aw, heck, Mercury. I spilled gas all over myself. I need to go get changed before I start this thing up.” She attempted to make her announcement loud enough without being terribly obvious.
Mercury just grunted, facing out into the night.
Just as she was about to enter the backdoor, Mercury popped up with his gun raised, firing into the trees. “Get down, Spencer!”
She dove into the house, landing on her belly and rolling into the wall, knocking the breath from her. Dazed, she struggled to her hands and knees trying to get her bearings.
Sounds of gunfire surrounded her house. Commander Fitzsimmons ambushed from the front like Mercury was from the back.
Trying not to panic, Spencer strained to keep her breathing even, reminding herself that this was part of the plan, and these males and lone female were trained for this.
Spencer released a shriek that was more nerves than fear when a round of bullets shattered the kitchen window, destroying the decorations she’d hung on her wall. Not having much time to resign herself to losing everything, she certainly didn’t want to witness the destruction of her items. Not that she had much that was sentimental having lived a transient life, but this run-down house had been hers, and the items inside, while purchased used and well-worn, were also hers.
Keeping low, Spencer scooted against an interior wall. She didn’t know yet if she’d leave through the front door or the back, so she centered herself as best she could in the house waiting for the commander’s signal.
Oh, fudge! She’d forgotten her shotgun out back by the generator. It was more for show, but what if their plan took a detour and she found herself facing an Agent?
Spencer! The fear in Bennett’s voice shot through her head.
I’m okay. I think there’s a lot of them out there.
We’re almost there. Keep your head down.
The mental communication was shut down, and Spencer couldn’t wait for Bennett and Jace to arrive. She was onboard with making a scene of dying in front of all these Agents, but not if it meant one or more of the Guardians getting killed. With these odds, it wasn’t looking like one could happen without the other.
I’ve lost track of the vampire. A woman’s voice mentally warned everyone, including Spencer. Son of a gun, a vampire! That one would be harder to kill and its heightened senses might be harder to fool about her faux death.
The commander’s voice filtered in, strong, but grim. That makes eight Agents total, one’s a vampire, X is a shifter, and X’s partner E. The other five might not be so highly trained. I took down one in the tree line but I don’t know if he’ll stay down.
I’ve hit two, but one’s started twitching. We need to roast ’em soon before I have to put them down again. This time it was Mercury.
Injuries?
Nothing serious, boss. You?
Superficial, the commander responded. Kaitlyn, you got eyes on the side of the house Mercury and I can’t cover?
That’s where the vamp was stalking. I can’t see him anymore. I’m moving closer. The female Guardian was concealed deep in the trees, and apparently the vampire was closer to the house than the rest thought.
Signs of X and E?
Dani only spotted them once, she hasn’t seen them cross her surveillance since, came Mercury’s reply.
The Guardians had briefed her on Agents X and E after the car chase. Spencer’s parents had taught her about Madame G’s complete domination of her people. The other Sigma chapters didn’t always use a letter system for their Agents, and they weren’t nearly as sadistic to their own people as the madwoman in charge of this chapter. Yet oddly enough, she never ran out of recruits offering themselves up to her.
Spencer almost jumped out of her skin when the back door opened and Mercury slid in her gun. The handle sailed toward her so she only had to scoot back a short distance to grab it, instantly feeling better once the familiar wood hilt was in her hands.
Spencer, signal us immediately if you sense anything at all.
Yes, sir.
Except for a few spurts of gunfire, everything was quiet. Spencer almost preferred the mayhem of the shoot-out. This was too quiet.
Trying to think strategically, she had figure out how and where a vampire would get into her house. Her kitchen window was obvious, but Ronnie was hidden in the tree line on that side of the house and would’ve alerted them if he saw anything. Otherwise, the commander and Mercury could both cover that end of the house from where they were stationed.
The bedroom windows were on the back of the house where Mercury was, so that left the end with the attached garage. The far wall of the garage had no window, that’s why with only three Guardians, they left it undefended. She rigged a bell to the door into her house from the garage. So far, that had remained silent.
Where would a fast-moving paranormal creature gain entrance unseen into her house? One of the windows, maybe when the Guardians were distracted in a different direction? It would be hard, even in the dark to sneak into a high window—
Oh, crap! The basement windows. Her dank, rundown basement, that was barely a step above a root cellar, had small rectangular windows. The shoot-out was to distract Commander Fitzsimmons and Mercury, so the vampire could flash next to the foundation and slide through the window.
Spencer jumped up and spun to bring her shotgun up to aim at the basement door. She had almost forgotten it was there because the rest of the house had demanded so much of her attention.
A tall, thin figure loomed in front of her and pushed the shotgun barrel out of the way just as she pulled the trigger. The recoil from the new angle of her gun pushed her back, and she bumped up hard against the wall. Chaos erupted from outside. She heard Mercury and the commande
r simultaneously dive for cover as a barrage of bullets pelleted the house, keeping them from coming to her rescue.
The male vampire hissed at her, displaying his fangs, probably to scare her. But while she smelled human, he’d forgotten she had a set of her own.
Letting them drop, she hissed back at him and he snickered at her.
“You will be fun. I can’t wait to taste you, hybrid.” His greedy, red-glowing eyes bored into her.
An explosion rocked the house. Both her and the vampire swung their heads toward the back corner.
Flames flickered through the windows down the hall. They hit the generator and gas stockpile with some kind of explosive. Her house would be toast in a few minutes, and she couldn’t get out yet.
Flipping her gun around and catching the barrel, she used her superhuman speed to swing it like a baseball bat at the vampire’s head.
The hilt of the weapon caught the side of his head. Since it had been years since she’d unleashed her strength, the power of the blow caught both of them by surprise.
The vampire flew into the wall but righted himself immediately, shaking his head.
Between Spencer’s strength and the vampire’s hard head, the handle of her gun split. Seizing the offering of an impromptu stake, she wrenched it apart to pry a piece free.
The male lunged for her, fangs bared, aiming for her neck when a loud bang stopped them both short.
Hunched over her gun, she spared a look around. The gunfire came from inside the house. Had one of the Guardians come to her rescue?
A red dot bloomed in between the vampire’s eyes, and he toppled over at her feet.
Mouth open in shock, Spencer glanced up and her heart sank. Standing at the entrance of her basement was not Commander Fitzsimmons, nor Mercury. Nor was the tall, wide male any other Guardian. That meant he was one of the bad guys.
This male didn’t smell quite human, but he wasn’t a shifter or vampire, that much she could tell over the smoke building inside the house. The fire licked at the walls. Double dang, she had no weapon and nowhere to run. If she ran outside and got shot, she should heal, and although she was willing to test it, it would threaten their plan.
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