Underground Guardians BOX SET: Includes 'Protector' and 'Healer'

by Lisa Renee Jones

His hand stroked her hair, and the warmth of their connection washed over him. “Goodnight, Marcella.”

  Chapter Ten

  Diego stared at the ceiling for a long while. He’d slept an hour, which was plenty. His body allowed him to go days with very little sleep. He knew he needed to go check on David. His mind was also heavy with concerns. Like how to get the child and Marcella together with the least amount of danger. Hopefully, David would be awake now so they could get the rundown on how to contact the family.

  He gently eased Marcella off his shoulder. She reached for him. “What? Where are you going?”

  He touched her hair, offering a reassuring touch. “I’ll be back. I’m just going to make sure everything is as it should be.”

  She looked like she would argue and then she eased back onto the pillow. He stood above her, staring down at her a long moment. At the woman who held his heart and his body. And silently he vowed to win her love. To give her time and space and never force an emotional attachment. They were mates. With the passing of days, she would accept what they felt for one another was natural. A gift most would never experience. What they shared was unique. He’d seen how the Knights’ leader, Mason, had changed with his mate by his side. He’d embraced his powers and grown into his potential.

  And with Marcella by his side, he would fight for the future with renewed vigor.

  He walked to the adjoining doors and quietly pulled the door open, careful not to wake anyone. But no one was asleep. Not even David. Diego shut the door behind him and stepped into the room. The tension in the air was thick.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked of them all.

  “Not one Arion to be detected,” Seth answered, running a hand through his long blond hair. “They must be underground.”

  “Waiting on us,” Diego said, feeling the certainty of his words.

  “Yes,” Micah said. “Waiting. I know she wants to heal this child, but we are risking a lot to make this happen.”

  Diego knew he was right, but if he didn’t make this happen for Marcella, he’d never win her heart. And the Knights might not win her help. “We’ll have to bring the child to us. We have to do this.” He looked at David. “What are the specifics of the meeting?”

  David pushed to a sitting position. “We’re to go to the family’s room.”

  “Which isn’t an option,” Seth said with a tight voice.

  “Right,” Micah said. “Unless…” His eyes went to Catherine where she stood by David’s bed.

  Her eyes went wide. “Me?” She swallowed and then nodded. “I can do it. You mean they can’t track me?”

  “You’re the only one in question,” Micah explained. “We know they can find all the Knights. We sense our kind automatically. But you are both human and perhaps unknown at this point. We need a good plan, but you might be the only one who has a chance of not being noticed. I don’t think they have your presence memorized yet.”

  Diego walked to a chair and sat down. “The Arions came to the hotel the day I arrived. They might have been following Marcella. Catherine was with her. I think it’s too risky.”

  “It’s our only chance of going unnoticed,” Micah said in a flat tone. “The girl has to come to us and we can’t risk the phone lines. That means Catherine has to deliver a message.”

  “We really shouldn’t be doing this at all,” Seth interjected.

  David’s head turned sharply as he fixed Seth in a hard stare. “Marcella will never agree to leave without helping that child.”

  Seth wasn’t one to back down. Diego knew what was coming even before Seth issued his challenge. “And if she dies trying, what does that do for any of us?”

  Catherine interjected. “I’ll do it.” Her eyes skirted around the room. “Whatever it is you need me to do, I’ll do it.”

  Diego let his elbows rest on his knees. What the hell was he supposed to do? He felt damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. Micah fixed him in a steady stare. “Can I talk to you in the hall?”

  Diego nodded and pushed to his feet. He walked to the door with both Micah and Seth following. He trusted them both completely. And so did Mason, their leader. They were his right and left arms. Micah tended to take charge. It was simply his nature. For Diego, it was about medicine, science and healing. He fought when necessary. A warrior by nature he wasn’t. This alone made him get along well with Micah. Neither stepped on each other’s toes. But at times they had different agendas. He feared this was one of those times.

  Once they were in the hall, door closed to the others, Micah spoke. “We have a problem.”

  Diego’s jaw firmed. “I know.”

  “No,” Micah said. “Another one.”

  Diego’s brow inched upward.

  “Holly is sick,” Seth offered. “Throwing up for twelve hours straight. Mason says she’s not doing well.”

  Diego’s gut tightened. There was no way to talk to Mason again for hours. They had set times they called. A timing device scrambled the phone line and kept it from being traced. It sent waves in the air that blocked the Arion detectors. A brilliant discovery by one of their tech men. But the Arions adapted anything that occurred on a constant level. It only worked at random interval settings and for two-minute windows.

  Diego took a deep breath. He’d recently added a junior physician to his team but this was beyond what normal medical experience prepared for. Giving birth to a child of another species was no small miracle.

  “Jason’s a good doctor,” Diego said, but he wasn’t sure if he was reassuring Micah and Seth or himself.

  Several moments of silence passed.

  “Well, the bottom line is we have a lot of reason to get the hell out of here,” Seth said.

  “Right,” Diego agreed. He pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose and thought a moment. “If we don’t make this happen, Marcella isn’t going to come with us willingly. And she might be exactly what Holly needs. Besides, she has new powers since mating with me. She can help us I think. Meditation of some sort is her control point. We can learn from her.”

  “You’re sure she can heal?” Seth asked. “I’m concerned about Holly and the impact losing her would have on Mason.”

  “Positive.” Diego didn’t have to say more. They all knew she was his mate. It was something that males sensed. They knew their mate and they knew when someone belonged to another.

  Seth sighed. “I say we send Catherine.”

  With heaviness in his heart, Diego had to agree. “Right. It’s our only option.”

  “Agreed,” Micah said. “The question is where do we meet up with the child?”

  Seth added, “And when.”

  Not quick enough, Diego thought. He had a bad feeling about all of this. The sooner he had Marcella back at their main lab, the better. And if anything happened to Catherine, he worried about how Marcella would respond.

  He could only hope and pray nothing went wrong. Because losing Marcella would not only kill him, it could destroy Mason. Without him, the Knights would be weak and the Arions strong.

  * * * * *

  Diego stood with his entire team, including Marcella and her aunt, in the hotel parking garage. It was just before sunrise, and they were ready to set a plan into action. Nerves were on edge. Tension was high. Expressions sullen.

  A mud-stained van sat beside them. Seth and Micah had acquired it from a border town equipped with an abundance of toys. The kind made for games of war. The doors stood open, exposing a gutted interior and walls lined with weapons.

  Catherine had just been wired with a bug. Diego found her to be a woman of strength. She showed no fear for the task ahead of her. Only courage and readiness. Well hidden beneath her blouse, the device would allow them to know what was happening to and around her as she experienced it. The expensive audio equipment tucked neatly in the front dash of the van would keep her in range.

  “Just remember,” Diego said, placing a calming hand on Catherine’s shoulder. “Everything you say or hear we
will too. We are always only moments away from helping.”

  “That’s not true,” Marcella argued, distress etched her tone. “You said you can’t get close or they will sense your presence.”

  Diego looked at her, ensuring she saw the truth in his eyes. “We have exceptional speed. I wouldn’t promise what we can’t deliver.”

  Seth focused on David. “Shoot them in the head or they don’t die.” He handed David a standard Glock 17 9mm semiautomatic pistol. “Anyplace else just pisses them off. And they travel with the wind. You blink and they will be on your ass.”

  David took the weapon and then stuck it in a vest he’d strapped to his body. “Meaning what exactly? How fast are they? What am I dealing with?”

  “With the wind was quite literal. We, like the Arions, can become the wind but only for short distances.”

  Marcella turned to Diego and spoke to him with their mental connection. Can you—

  He was pleased to have her speak to him so privately. It was acceptance of their bond whether she recognized it or not. Yes.

  Her brows dipped. Can I?

  Not yet.

  Unless he did a blood exchange with her she would remain half human. He wanted that to be her choice. He’d decided the night before, he’d been small minded about their mating. A partial bonding was for her safety. Complete joining would be her option. It was a hard decision because she would be safer with full GTECH enhancements. But would she be happier?

  Marcella looked as if she might question him further, but David was talking again, pulling her attention. “I’m supposed to shoot someone in the head that has claws,” he held up a finger, “I know this from firsthand knowledge, I remind you. And now I find they also travel with the wind. Right?” His lips thinned. “Exactly how the hell am I supposed to get to their head before they’re on me?”

  Micah pulled a gun from his jacket. It was one of many strapped to his body in various places. “This shoots tranquilizers.” David took it. “The trick is to stun them so they can’t use their powers and then shoot them in the head.”

  Catherine was staring at Micah’s wrist. “Your bandage is gone. And your arm…”

  “Is healed,” Micah answered.

  Diego walked to the van and grabbed a belt and turned to Catherine. They didn’t have time to explain their differences. Right now they needed to talk about things that would save lives. “Strap this to your waist. Have you ever fired a gun?”

  “She’s sixty, Diego. This is crazy. She can’t do this.”

  “I know how to shoot,” Catherine said and then fixed Marcella in a look. “I’m fine, hija. Trust me.”

  “What?” Marcella asked, surprised. “You know how to shoot?”

  “Yes,” Catherine said. “And I should have made sure you did. I was foolish to think I could shelter you from the world. It didn’t work for your mother, and it has failed you as well.”

  “I don’t want to learn how to shoot. No.” She hugged herself. “I heal people. I don’t kill them.”

  “These aren’t people,” Micah said, pulling another gun from his jacket. “They’re Arions. Cold-blooded killers.” He held the gun out to her. “Kill or be killed. You choose.”

  She stared at his hand. Diego resisted pressing her. He was thankful Micah had posed this issue rather than him. He felt he had been the bad guy in her eyes far too much.

  “Take it,” Catherine said. “Do not be a fool, child.”

  Marcella looked at her aunt for several long moments and then reached for the gun. “Tell me what to do.”

  Diego grabbed a vest from the van and held it up behind her. Marcella allowed him to slip it around her. He turned her to face him and he clipped the front into place. His hand slid to the metal in hers. “I’ll show you after everyone is in position. We’ll have some down time.” He then slid the weapon into her vest. And then he reached for his tranquilizer gun and stuck it in the opposite side of the jacket. “Left you have bullets. Right is to stun. For now get used to thinking about what is what. Right first. Left second.”

  “I’m not a killer,” she whispered.

  “Neither am I. But I’m a survivor and so are you.”

  * * * * *

  The parking garage was pitch-black. You’d never know the sun had just shown itself beyond the concrete walls. Marcella sat on the floor of the broken-down van, knuckles balled by her sides. Diego sat directly across from her. He, like her, wore jeans and tennis shoes. He’d insisted she dress in clothes that would be easy to move around in. She knew he was anticipating trouble. His uneasiness hummed like a live charge.

  “I can’t believe we’re making this child travel,” she said, wishing this was over.

  “It’s the only way,” Diego said in a low voice.

  “I should have gone to her.”

  “The Arions would have grabbed you before you got to her.”

  Seth guarded the outside along with two newly arrived Knights. David was in the driver’s seat of the van ready to make a fast escape. Micah and Marcus had gone with her aunt along with several other Knights she’d met only a few minutes ago. “Are you sure we can trust all of these people?”

  “Micah knows them. That’s enough for me.”

  Marcella nodded. Words wouldn’t come. She’d learned to shoot a gun the best she could in a short lesson. Wanting to use it was the hard part. “It’s been a long time since my aunt went inside the hotel. Shouldn’t we know something by now?”

  Before Diego could answer, a thundering noise sounded on the side of the van. Marcella jumped, heart beating at double time. The door flew open. Seth was the first thing she saw. And in his arms was the child. Long black hair hung around her pale face. Marcella’s chest tightened as the girl’s pain wrapped around her heart.

  She pushed to her knees and waved him forward. “Bring her to me.”

  Seth laid her on the floor of the van and Marcella moved to her side. Her finger brushed wispy strands of hair from her eyes. “It’s okay, little one.” She looked up at Seth. “Where are the parents?”

  “I made them wait in their car.”

  She nodded. “Good. Their fear will distract me.”

  He gave her a quick bob of his chin and shoved the doors shut. Marcella placed her hand on the child’s forehead and her breath caught. The poison was potent. She felt it like acid in her veins. Fear clenched at her heart. As tired and distracted as she was, she wasn’t sure she could do this.

  But then Diego was there in her mind. I’m with you. Tell me what to do.

  At first she resisted the intrusion. Even wanted to scream at him for daring such an invasion. But a warm feeling of control came over her, making her limbs tingle. Like a calming drug. A breath, then two and she knew Diego had just made her stronger.

  She relaxed and went to work reaching inside the child’s body with her mind.

  * * * * *

  “Now?”

  Damion looked at the man to his left. “Not yet. Let her finish with the child.”

  Damion smiled from the far corner of the parking garage. Things were going just as he planned. The woman would be weak after she healed the child. He’d done his homework. Nothing this big should be approached unprepared.

  Soon he would take his prize to his king.

  Chapter Eleven

  Diego had never experienced anything like this before in his life. Marcella had placed her hand on the child’s head and he had felt what she did. When she had accepted his assistance the feeling had doubled. He had nearly doubled over in pain, so raw was the ache in the child’s body. And somehow, someway, Marcella had absorbed it into her body and then poured the disease into the air around them. Like smoke being burned off a flame.

  When she had finally lifted her hand, he had found himself breathing heavily. It had taken him a moment to pull himself back to the present. “Call for the parents,” Marcella whispered, easing herself against the wall of the van. Exhaustion etched her face. “She needs to sleep but she’ll make it.” />
  He nodded, but he too felt the heaviness of what had just occurred though not to the extreme Marcella did. A few minutes later, Seth shut the doors to the van as another Knight carried the child to her parents. Diego went to Marcella and pulled her close. They relaxed into each other.

  “Thank you,” Marcella whispered. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

  But then Seth yelled. Diego stiffened, but Marcella was too weak to respond. The door to the van jerked open but Diego was prepared. He shoved Marcella behind him and rose to his knees. Both guns drawn, he aimed at his target.

  He wasn’t going down without a fight.