by Amelia Jade
His eyes, despite a frantic mental effort, strayed back toward Hannah. The morning, and now afternoon, that they were going through would have been enough to leave anyone frazzled. Yet somehow she still managed to look gorgeous, even with her hair disheveled and her minimal makeup smeared from the tears she had shed earlier.
“Yes?” she asked.
Josh started, looking away rapidly. Shit. He had been staring at her for far too long to just ignore it now.
“Just thankful that we managed to come out of that unhurt, for the most part,” he said, nodding at her slowly.
Hannah’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he thought she was going to call him out on his obvious bullshit line, but then she relaxed slightly. “Yeah, seriously, it could have been so much worse. But that poor driver…” she trailed off, her eyes taking on a faraway look.
Once more, Josh felt his curiosity stir. His life had exposed him to death time and time again. It was a constant companion of his now. Though he hadn’t gone through the same personal struggles that Justin had with accepting the fact that he had killed before, it was still not something that Josh liked. He was good at it, and accepted that role, but he would never enjoy being the harbinger of doom that he was.
So when he had found out that one of the drivers today had been killed, he felt sadness and guilt. If it weren’t for him, that man would still be alive. It looked like a freak incident so far, at least, and Josh was able to accept the fact that he could never have predicted something like this would happen.
His curiosity was piqued, however, by the reaction from Hannah. More accurately, the lack of reaction. She had cried, true, and he could tell that she was upset by it. It was the calmness about it all that was throwing him off. Most people, when confronted with a dead body, would freak out. They would be in an unnatural state of hyperactivity, or on the opposite end of the spectrum, go into an almost comatose state.
Not Hannah. She had shown emotion over it, but the shock of exposure to death was lacking in her attitude. That told him something interesting that he never would have expected.
Hannah had seen death firsthand before, enough times that she had become used to it.
He leaned back in his chair, trying to figure out what he was missing. What wasn’t he being told? It was doubtful that Hannah would share with him. Not yet at least, and if Valen had wanted him to know, he would have included the information in the briefing sent to Madison.
Interesting. I’m going to have to keep my eyes open both in front and behind me. Something else is going on here.
Josh was still racking his brain, trying to come up with a question that would give him some more insight into Hannah and who she was, when a nurse emerged from a room just down the hall.
“Ms. Terrik?” she asked, coming up to stand in front of Hannah.
“Yes?”
“Your brother is resting now. You may see him if you wish.”
“Thank you,” Hannah said graciously and climbed to her feet.
He prepared to follow her, but something about the rushed way she took off for the room told him that he would be better off giving them a few minutes alone.
Instead he relaxed back into the chair and prepared to wait until Chad was discharged from the hospital, at which point he would escort them back to the hotel.
It was going to be a long day.
***
“Please tell me you have something,” he said as someone finally answered the phone.
“Josh,” Madison said coolly from the other end, unimpressed with his blunt tone.
He rolled his eyes. “Yes, of course it’s me, don’t act surprised.”
The leader of the Underground sighed audibly. “I’m not surprised at all. Not by the fact that it’s you on the phone, or the fact that you can’t take the three seconds for proper niceties either.”
Now it was his turn to sigh—he only exaggerated it a bit—and spoke more calmly. “Morning Madison, how are you today? It’s Josh.”
“I’m good Josh,” she said with false politeness.
“Now can we get to business?” he pleaded.
The secrecy surrounding his mission was getting to him already. He wasn’t quite ready to confront Madison about it though. Not until he had something a little more concrete to go on at least. Not only that, but he didn’t actually know if she was keeping anything from him, or if that was happening from Valen himself.
“The pair of them are safe?” Madison inquired, ignoring his question for the moment.
He nodded, then shook his head, remembering he was on the phone and she therefore couldn’t see him. “Yes, they’re in their rooms right now, resting after the events of yesterday.”
“Good. Now, as for the crash, Jared and Connor stayed there for quite some time after they dropped off your truck. I had them canvass the area, asking people what they had seen, and they even managed to get the driver alone to, ah, question him.”
Josh knew she meant they had come closer to interrogating him, trying to figure out if he was working for the Agency or not. If that was who he was going up against, then one bodyguard was unlikely to be enough. This would be the boldest move they had made in weeks, and he didn’t like what that might hint was to come.
“And?” he pressed when she didn’t immediately continue.
Madison sounded frustrated, but not with him. “It seems like it was a legitimate accident. The truck driver was looking at his phone, and ran the light. They were convinced by his story.” She made an unhappy-sounding noise. “Pure coincidence, I think.”
He cursed violently for several seconds. “Someone died because of that coincidence. That’s bullshit. Are charges being pressed?”
“You know I don’t know that. That wasn’t something we cared about, but I would assume that at a minimum the limousine company and the families of the two drivers will press charges, yes.”
“Good, they deserve it,” he said, still angered by the unjustness of it all.
“How are your charges doing?” Madison asked.
“No change from last night. Broken leg, bumps and bruises, that’s about it,” he said with a verbal shrug.
“Okay, keep me up to date,” Madison said, sounding like she was about to hang up.
“Wait!”
“Yes?”
He hesitated, unsure of how to phrase his question, then decided to just ask it bluntly, as was his style. “Did Valen give you any reason as to why Hannah might react extremely negatively to me being assigned as a bodyguard to her for a few days? Because she was absolutely livid about it. Her brother hadn’t even told her, which means he knew she wouldn’t like it.”
“No, I’m afraid he didn’t, Josh.”
He swore. “I was afraid of that. There is definitely something else going on here. Are you keeping anything from me about this mission because Valen said to?”
“Not this time,” she said without hesitation. “Why, what’s going on?”
Josh opened his mouth to reply, but he was stopped by a firm rapping on his door.
“I’m not sure yet,” he said instead. “But I intend to find out. I’ll keep you in the loop. If you speak to Valen, do me a favor and pressure him for whatever it is he isn’t telling us?”
The person knocked again.
“I gotta go,” he added before Madison could respond, hitting the End Call button and shoving his phone into his pocket.
“Who is it?” he called, approaching the door.
“I’m hungry,” Hannah said without preamble.
He pulled the door open. “So?” he asked with a frown.
“Instead of just going downstairs to have breakfast, I’m trying to make amends for my attitude yesterday by letting you know, so that you can come with me.”
She eyed his lack of shirt, her gaze lingering for several seconds longer than was necessary.
“Though it doesn’t look like you’re ready,” she said with a cough, trying to cover up her smile and embarrassment.
Josh resisted the urge to flex.
Barely.
“Yeah, that would be nice,” he said with a smile. “I’d love to get off on the right foot with you.”
Hannah smiled, a genuine-looking expression. “Well, I’m not waiting. You had better hurry up, mister.”
She turned and strolled toward the elevators.
Josh slammed his jaw shut as he eyed what her stride did to her assets and ran back into his room for a shirt. He pulled it over his head, heading out the door as he struggled to stick his arms through the holes.
“Wait!” he cried as she stepped into the elevator at the end of the hall.
A smirk crossed her face as she stood aside, letting the doors close on their own.
“Oh, it’s going to be like that, is it?” he said, stopping next to the door with the stairs in it. He knew he would never make it in time.
“See you down there!” she said as the doors closed completely.
“It’s on,” he said, taking up the challenge and throwing himself through the doorway.
They were on the eighth floor. There was no way he would beat her just racing down the stairs, and besides, he would be out of breath if he did so.
Josh peered down the gap between flights of stairs. It was too far to jump all the way.
Hmm, I wonder.
“Fuck it,” he said, and threw himself over the edge.
His hands grabbed the railing, holding him out. Judging his distance, he let go.
Josh plummeted two stories down, until the next rail was close by. His ultra-strong fingers latched onto it, stopping his progress instantly.
“Excellent,” he said, and dropped another two stories, repeating the feat.
He reached the ground several seconds later, straightened his shirt, and strolled out into the lobby, not even breathing hard. It had been blatant cheating, using his supernatural shifter strength and disregard for injury to his advantage, but he didn’t care.
Winning was what mattered.
He reached the door to the elevator a full three seconds before it dinged to announce her arrival, and by the time Hannah emerged from it, he was leaning against a column pretending to file his nails in boredom.
“Cheater,” she said instantly, walking up to him with a smile on her face.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said with a shrug. “With all my spare time here, I was able to read and reread the fine print. Nothing there said I couldn’t beat you down here.”
She laughed, and for a moment he thought she was going to lean into him, but Hannah seemed to catch herself and stood upright as they walked into the restaurant serving breakfast.
“I’ll make sure to be a little more specific on the rules next time,” she told him.
“Doesn’t matter,” he said, puffing up his chest. “I’ll still win.”
“Oh dear,” she said with another laugh, the trilling sound sending his stomach into knots.
“Well, hopefully today we can give you a proper introduction to King City,” he said as a hostess guided them to a booth away from everyone else.
Josh was surprised at that, but he didn’t complain. A little time alone with Hannah was okay with him. There seemed to be a whole different person underneath the angry shell he had met the day before. This person had spirit and a sense of humor.
The windows were on the far side of the restaurant. Despite it being morning, the dark wood paneling of the walls and the redwood furniture throughout served to absorb much of the light. Overhead, recessed potlights ensured they could see and read the breakfast menu, but it was a much more intimate atmosphere. He assumed that in the evenings, this side of the bar would be preferred by many couples over their dinner.
“It sure is dark over here,” Hannah said, her words mirroring his thoughts.
“No kidding,” he agreed. “Do you want to move?”
“Please,” she said with a grateful slumping of her shoulders.
They gathered up the laminated menu sheets and motioned to the man behind the bar that they were moving over into the light. He just nodded, not seeming to care. Josh didn’t figure he would. At this early of an hour, there were perhaps four other groups of people in the spacious place.
As they walked around, he admired it. They had entered from the south wall of the room and then been seated up near the northwest corner. A huge oval-shaped bar occupied the center of the room, stretching from floor to ceiling and filled with decorative displays of empty alcohol bottles with clever lights hidden within them, using the natural coloring of the bottles to cast a glow.
But on the far side of the bar, huge windows let in sunlight, and there was even a small patio, though neither of them felt like sitting outside today. The wind had picked up, threatening a storm later, and he could see gusts whipping the tied-down umbrellas around like crazy. The sky was still clear, but he expected that to change before the day was out. The forecast was calling for rain the next few days.
He hoped that Chad was planning on speaking indoors.
“So much better,” he said as they slipped into a table in the middle of the room. The chair groaned under his bulk, sending a brief stab of panic through him, but it held without a wobble, allowing him to relax.
“How often does it happen?” Hannah asked.
He frowned. Had he missed something? “How often does what happen?”
“The chairs,” she said with a teasing smile. “How often do they break under you?”
“Too often,” he said with a shake of his head. “I’m so used to my size, and the places I normally reside in have furniture that can withstand us. But when I come out into public...” he trailed off, giving her a helpless shrug.
“Now that,” she said with a happy smirk. “Is something I would be okay seeing.”
Chapter Four
Hannah
She dropped her head with a silent laugh at the look on his face, thankful for the arrival of a server to take their order. Hannah scanned the menu quickly as Josh sputtered and shook his head at her blatant desire to see him embarrass himself. He recovered smoothly, however, and placed his order with a speed that told her he had decided long ago.
“And what can I get for you?” the server asked, turning to face Hannah well before she was ready.
Touché, she thought, dipping her head slightly at Josh as he riposted and now she was the one to seem awkward.
“I’ll take the eggs benedict,” she said, settling on her decision. “Can I get an extra side of bacon and some breakfast sausage as well?” she asked.
“Of course,” the server said with a smile. She tucked the notepad away in her pocket and then departed.
“What?” she asked, seeing a look pass over his face. “I’m hungry.”
He innocently held his hands up. “Okay.”
She snorted. “So, Mr. Josh, bodyguard man. Why you?”
“Why me? As in, what could I have done that was so horrible that I got stuck with having to come and chaperone you around?”
Hannah smiled. “Yes. That. How badly did you fuck up?”
“Honestly,” he said, his eyes looking over her shoulder into thin air for a moment, “nothing. It came down the pipeline from the very top with my name attached to it.” He shrugged. “I’ve been wondering the same thing though, to be honest.”
“Don’t kick yourself over it,” she said. “I don’t want it, but neither do you. So let’s try and make it go as easy as we can for each other. Before you know it, I’ll be on a plane out of here and you’ll never have to see me again.”
Hannah tried to sound as blunt as she could, but there was no hiding the stab of unhappiness that shot through her as she talked about them never seeing each other after her time in King City was up. Was it her imagination, or had a similar look passed over Josh’s face? He had covered it up so quickly Hannah wasn’t sure if she had seen it or not.
Let’s try to be a little happier.
“So, you didn’t screw up to get
here,” she mused. “What did you do to make people think you could do the job then?”
She was asking him who he was. His story, but trying to cover it up. There was something about him, something that told her he had seen a lot—the calmness of his reaction the other day, the way his eyes had scanned the crowd for possible threats, even as he held her against him.
Josh was no ordinary bear shifter. He was something else, and she wanted to know what.
“That’s a long story,” he said, leaning back slightly to look at her as he spoke.
“We have time,” she said. “And my brother isn’t going anywhere today with his leg the way it is. Humor me.”
For what felt like the millionth time that day they both smiled at each other, and Hannah resolutely tried to calm her heart down so that it didn’t explode at the way his grin seemed to affect her.
“How much do you know about Genesis Valley?” he asked casually.
Hannah wasn’t convinced for a moment at the seeming nonchalance of his question. He was digging for information for some reason. What was he searching for, she wondered? She contemplated how much she felt like revealing.
“Not a whole lot,” she said carefully. “We’ve been exposed to the shifter world before. I know it’s a veritable paradise for shifters. Other than that, not much. I’ve never been there myself.”
And never will, and that’s all you need to know.
He nodded, and she wondered what was going on behind those silvery-blue eyes of his.
“It is,” he said. “I was taken there a number of years ago, when I could no longer be trusted in regular society.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” she said, frowning at him. “Should I be worried about you?”
His lips split wide in a lopsided grin that threatened to stop her heart with its brilliance. “Not at all. That was an old me, one that I look back on now, but not something that haunts me anymore. You’re safe,” he assured her. “When I arrived in Genesis Valley, I was put in a training program that covered many things.”
