by Amber Lynn
“The owners unexpectedly had to leave town a few months back. Didn't take a thing and didn't phone to say they were leaving. I can have a crew come in and toss everything within a few hours, and you could take another look at the raw materials, if you would like,” Sebastian says.
“This place is really grimy, are you going to send cleaners in as well?” Smitty asks glancing at an extremely large reddish brown spot on the carpet. The spot makes me wonder if the owners really left town.
“I can do that as well. I probably should have before bringing you in, but it was short notice,” Sebastian replies.
“I have seen enough for now, let's go check out the other place and then I will decide if this one deserves another look,” I say trying to exit the place as quickly as possible. I feel like there are bugs crawling all over me.
I know the way to Sins from here, so I start walking in that direction. Quickly, the guards are in place and I see Sebastian texting on his phone next to me. This reminds me, I really need to pick up a new one. I left my Collective issued one behind when we left Emerald Town. I still have the secure one, but I don't like using that often in case someone is able to pick up the signal.
When I reach Sins, I stop waiting for Sebastian to direct me to the location we are inspecting. I don't notice we are not alone until a figure detaches himself from the wall.
“Marcus, thank you for meeting us,” Sebastian says offering to shake the man's hand.
“You call, I appear,” Marcus replies taking Sebastian's and I watch some odd handshake between the two of them. “I heard the rumors that you had taken up with Slaughter. I see they are true.”
“Yes, my friend. That isn't really a new development, however. She has been with me now for three years. As you can imagine, our relationship has been kept a secret. Wouldn't have been good for either of us, if that information was leaked before she broke with the Collective,” Sebastian explains.
“I heard there is a bit of a fuss brewing about that. The Collective isn't exactly happy about losing her,” Marcus informs us.
“Really? Must be why they tried to kill me the other day,” I remark.
“I don't see them wanting to do that. From what I heard, they want you back on their side, alive,” he replies.
I look to Sebastian and he just shrugs. Maybe they don't know about Alex and me and were just sending in backup to secure him. Sebastian seemed sure that wasn't the case and I trust his instincts, so I am still leaning towards them wanting me dead.
“So, what can I do for you tonight, Sebastian?” Marcus asks. “Oh, nice to see you again Smitty, it has been a while.”
“I am in need of our strongest vampires' help in protecting a precious package,” Sebastian explains to him. “Long story short, Nyx here is a hybrid and is connected to both myself and Alex Monroe. As you can imagine if anything happens to her, our resistance movement will suffer greatly from the three deaths.”
“I can see how that would be an issue and will gladly help. I am guessing that is why you are walking the streets with the mutts. I am a little surprised that Alex chose Jonas to guard her. His distaste for all things Collective is well known,” Marcus answers.
“Whatever Alex's reasoning, it is his own. Against her will, Nyx is going to now have guards at all times to ensure she is kept alive. Since she isn't fully vampire or werewolf or even human, we don't know what will kill her. I would like to ask for your assistance in being one of her permanent guards opposite Smitty. There are few I can trust my love's life with,” Sebastian says.
“I am in between missions right now, so I am available,” he replies simply.
“Really? Just like that. No yelling about how it is impossible for me to be a hybrid or how stupid Sebastian has been for bonding himself to me?” I ask.
“I can smell that you smell of both Sebastian and a wolf, so I know what has been said is the truth. You are right that it should be impossible, but with the evidence in front of me, I feel no need to argue. As for Bastian bonding with you, I have known for some time he was infatuated with you, so that doesn't come as a surprise either,” Marcus comments.
“Infatuated? Sebastian? You have got to be kidding,” I say.
“Oh no, I have never seen him like this and we have known each other for close to six hundred years. I have been in meetings with him where he was all business and then your name would be brought up and the expression on his face would totally transform and it wasn't to the one of disgust like most people around the table were wearing. You could actually see how much he cared about you and Sebastian has never deemed it necessary to care about another. Sure, he has had women people would say he loved, but it isn't the same. The emotion I have seen on his face for you is borderline worship.”
“She did hang the stars and moon,” Sebastian says grabbing my hand.
“I think I am going to be sick,” I hear Jake say as he turns and makes gagging sounds.
“Now I am sorry I said anything. Let's leave the mushy stuff for behind closed doors please. I don't want Jake losing his dinner. Show me this other place, so we can get back home and start working on schedules now that we have more guards than I know what to do with,” I state.
“Sure, it is right there,” Sebastian says pointing at the building to the left of Sins.
On initial glance, I have to say I like it a lot. It is similar to the other one, but instead of clear glass allowing all to see inside, I can tell that the glass has been given a smoked over treatment. I may not like my men mysterious, but buildings I can deal with. Sebastian leads us in and flips a light switch right inside the door.
“Explain,” I say taking in an office space that is everything I ever hoped it could be.
There is a nice waiting area to the right as you enter the space with a half dozen comfy looking black chairs, similar to the ones in Sebby's office. On the left, there is a nice size desk where a reception type person would sit and greet customers. On the wall opposite the entrance, is a door leading to what looks like an office, judging by the desk and computer I can see from here.
“I redecorated about a year ago with you in mind. You know I always hoped you would leave the Collective and this was to be my gift to you when you did,” Sebastian says.
I wander back into the office and see the desk matches Sebastian's with its green marble top. On the wall behind the desk, is a collection of medieval looking weapons. I see swords, daggers, maces, bows and arrows and a couple axes. It is really an impressive collection and I imagine it is pretty expensive.
I look down at the desk and see a phone and a pile of business cards. I pick one of the cards up to get a better look. On the left of the card, there is a picture of a smoking gun that looks an awful lot like my Colt 1911. To the right of it is my name in an elegant type that looks a little funny next to the gun, but I still like it. Below the name, it says 'Have ax will travel'.
I glance up to see Sebastian staring at me expectantly. “It is perfect, but way too much. I cannot believe you did all this.”
“One of these days, you will realize I will do anything for you. Since you seem to like it, the signage guys will be here in an hour or so to put your name on the building. As promised, you cannot hear the music or noises from next door. All I need is your word that you are ready to go to work and my network of people will start spreading your name around. I am sure that will bring customers to your door within a day or two,” he states.
“I don't know how I can ever thank you,” I say picking up the cell phone.
“I am sure some day we will figure out a way,” he says with a naughty looking smile on his face.
“Perv,” I tell him and make my way towards him. I stand on my tiptoes and place my lips on his. What I planned to be a short and sweet kiss, transforms into something a lot steamier.
His tongue immediately asks entrance by tracing my lower lip. I give up and allow him in. Neither one of us wants to give over to the other, so we battle for control of the kiss unaware
of what is going on in the outside world. I finally relent and allow him to take control. Eventually, we both decide we need air to breathe and separate. I am a little surprised to find that I have climbed up Sebastian and have my legs wrapped around his waist. A very persistent and hard piece of him is knocking at my core.
“Oops,” I say making motions to climb down him.
“Just a second,” he says holding me tight and breathing in deeply. “We are going to have to be more careful.”
“It would seem that kissing should be avoided,” I reply.
“I wouldn't say that, but we should probably plan it out a little bit better. Poor Alex probably just achieved a very unexpected hard on. Being in a triangle as connected as ours makes everything more difficult.”
“I still don't get how this is going to work between the three of us. I mean the dating part will be doable, even though it will suck because I will always feel like I am betraying you when I am with him, but the actual physical relationships are what have me really worried,” I say.
“As you get to know him, I don't think you will feel as bad. He is as much a part of you as I am. I knew when I started the bond there may be a time where I would have to share you. I have told myself that as long as the other guy cherished you as much as I do, then I will be happy. You deserve all the greatest things in this world, Nyx. I am hoping between me and Alex we can provide them to you,” he answers.
He finally loosens his hold and I climb down keeping eye contact the whole time. Sebastian is really too good to be true and I am just afraid one of these days, the other shoe will drop.
The rest of the night is spent going over things with the guards. Where they were sleeping, who was following me around when, and general rules on how to not get on my bad side are gone over. Overall, they seem like an interesting group. Jonas still dislikes me with a passion, but I realized long ago I was never going to win any popularity contests.
After our discussion, I am done for the night, so I decide to hit the hay. The guys stay awake and if Sebastian wasn’t with them, I imagine they would be plotting my demise. I, on the other hand, fall asleep wondering how long it will take me to lose them.
Chapter 18
Duty calls
I wake up the next day at four in the afternoon. At some point, Sebastian joined me in bed, but is on his stomach facing away from me. I think it will be funny if he ever does decide to try to cuddle when I am already asleep. I am a relatively light sleeper and don’t tend to like to be touched all that much. Ryan tried to wake me up once and ended up getting a black eye for his troubles. Maybe I should suggest Jonas be my wakeup call one of these days.
I carefully make my way out of bed to not disturb Sebby and notice black curtain type things separating the bedroom area from the rest of the penthouse. I have to say I like the idea, but right now, I really need to use the bathroom.
I turn to the living area after I finish my business. Jonas looks to be napping on one of the new couches and Jake is watching something on TV.
“Anything good on? I usually don’t wake up for a few more hours, so I don’t know what is on now,” I say.
“Nothing really good. I am just channel flipping until you get up. Jonas has been out for a few hours now and I will be waking him shortly, so I can get a nap in,” he replies as he powers off the television.
“I was hoping to head to my new shop and see if I can start getting things organized. Sebastian should probably head into work himself tonight, so I want to keep busy,” I tell him.
“Hey Jonas, time to wake up,” Jake says causing Jonas to immediately sit up and focus on his surroundings. Can you say creepy?
“Good morning, Jonas. I trust the new furniture is more comfortable than the old,” I say.
“I have no problem sleeping on frozen ground, so anything is comfortable to me when I sleep,” he says as his reply. Obviously, he didn’t have warm and fuzzy dreams about me.
“Slaughter wants to go into work. I can last a few more hours until the bloodsuckers wake up, but we have to be in pairs. You good to go?” Jake asks Jonas.
“Sure. This place gets pretty boring. I sincerely hope there are a couple more rooms Sebastian neglected to tell us about. There is supposed to be a gym, but I haven’t seen it,” Jonas replies.
“I have heard that rumor, too, but have yet to be introduced. We will have to remedy that the next time Sebastian is vertical. I am going to go get dressed and then we can head out, if that is okay with you guys,” I say.
“Sounds good. That old scar never did heal very well, did it?” Jake asks looking at the scar that runs the length of my inner leg. Most people don’t see me in my sleeping shorts, so really only the people who were there when it happened know about it.
“Were you there or just heard about it?” I question.
“There. Tommy always was a jerk. He was huge compared to you and had full use of his werewolf strength. Why he decided to slice you has always eluded me,” he answers.
“You haven’t seen his best work,” I say spinning around and lifting my shirt to expose my back.
“Holy shit!” Jake yells. “That isn’t something I ever heard about.” I am used to seeing the deep T shaped scar that spans across my shoulder blades and down my spine in a mirror, but other than Tommy, no one else has seen it. It is something I have had to look at for the past four years.
“It was a private lesson in how big of an asshole he really is. He claimed he didn’t want me to ever forget him. One of these days, we will meet outside the Collective and I will see just how tough he really is,” I say heading towards the bedroom to get dressed.
There are a lot of demons from my Collective past that one day will need to be exercised. Today isn’t that day, so I have to keep focused on what is right in front of me and not waste time planning gruesome deaths.
I get dressed in my usual black pants, but just to mix things up I wear the red version of my black top. I don’t see myself having to go into stealth mode tonight, so a little color is nice. I put on my holster and throwing knives, then add a boot knife and my sawed off shotgun that I wear on my back.
I know supposedly I am this weird hybrid and shouldn’t need to hide behind my weapons, but until I have verified extra strength and speed, you are going to find me armed to the teeth. Plus, I don’t really know how good my bodyguards are. Yes, they are huge and could probably juggle cars, but can they fight? Until that is verified, I feel I have to protect them as well.
“Ready,” I say emerging from bedroom. Sebastian is obviously a real deep sleeper because he still hasn’t moved.
“Good, so are we,” Jake says looking up. “Your car or ours?”
“Mine is loaded with my gear, so I prefer it,” I explain.
“Fine, but I am driving,” Jonas says.
“Umm. No. I am the only one allowed to drive the Suburban,” I tell him.
“I rode with you yesterday and you drive like a human grandma. We would like to get to your place of business sometime tonight, so hand the keys over,” Jonas replies.
“If I drive like a grandma, I am terrified to see how you drive. I was going over the speed limit the whole time,” I counter.
“Then there is something wrong with your speedometer, because you were going probably ten under. If you promise to go at least ten over, I will allow you to drive. I like to have my arms free, just in case,” he states.
“Fine. Sebastian never mentioned this and he has ridden with me a few times,” I state twirling my car keys around my finger.
“Sebastian is probably the person that adjusted it for you, so you were forced to go slow. Fang face, evidently, has been overprotective without you knowing for a while now. He even had operatives in the Collective to ensure your safety there,” Jonas claims.
“I don’t think we were supposed to tell her that,” Jake says.
I shrug. “He has himself to worry about. Anything happens to me he feels it and I am guessing he didn’t want to run in
the Collective personally to make sure I was protected. I haven’t had an issue fighting my own fight for about three years, so I am hoping those operatives were able to gather other information.”
I walk towards the door to indicate we are done standing around. The boys follow in line and we quickly make it to the Suburban. They stop me from getting in while they survey the vehicle.
“Looks clean,” Jake reports and opens the door for me.
“Thank you,” I say as I get in. The guys situate themselves with Jonas in back and Jake riding shotgun.
The few minute ride is over without a word between us. I park in front of the new building and admire the new signage. In a script that matches my business card, it says Nyx Slaughter big and bold on the left window. Underneath it, in block letters, it says Private Investigator. I like the sound of that.
