by Jodi Redford
The unabashed interest in the man’s eyes intensified significantly. Teague stepped forward, wedging himself between them. “Where are Miles and Joe?”
“Joe’s fixing one of the solar panels out on the east range. Miles’s downstairs, tidying. He’s pissed you didn’t give a better heads-up.”
Teague’s mouth adopted a wry slant. “Next time I’ll call the second the shit hits the fan.”
Bemused, Ruby took in the odd camaraderie between Teague and his associate. Despite the tension in the air, there was an unmistakable bond the two shared. She’d have to be blind not to notice it. Catching her gaze, the man held out his hand. “Sorry, I was too dazzled by you earlier to properly introduce myself. I’m Sebastian. My friends call me Sabby though.”
She accepted his handshake and blinked. “Why would you be dazzled by me?”
“Because you’re beyond perfection.”
A noise sounding suspiciously like a growl came from the back of Teague’s throat. Sabby’s smile widened. A plume of dust appeared on the horizon, saving Ruby from coming up with a lame response to Sabby’s effusive praise. “What is that?”
“Likely Joe.” Sabby shook his head. “I’ve never seen him make the trip this fast.”
Within seconds, the loud whine of the dirt bike filled the air. Joe sped into the small clearing and nearly collided with the corner of the shack as he slid to a screeching halt. He leapt from the bike, letting it crash onto its side. His grin broad and slightly goofy, he rushed forward. Unlike the tall, dark-haired and suave Sabby, Joe was as farm boy as they came. Right down to his canvas overalls and youthful, freckled cheeks. He jerked to a stop in front of Ruby, his eyes wide and full of wonder.
“This keeps getting better and better,” Teague grumbled beneath his breath.
Patting his cowlick into place, Joe bowed in deference. “Ms. Ruby, it sure is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” A red stain crawled along his neck and he swallowed. “Shoot. I hope it’s okay I call you by your first name.”
Baffled, she nodded.
A disgusted noise shot from Teague. “I can see I’m going to be chopped liver from here on out.”
Sabby chuckled. “Well, she’s a lot prettier than you. What do you expect?”
Gnawing on her bottom lip, Ruby divided her focus between Teague, Sabby and Joe. “I don’t understand what’s going on.”
Teague grunted. “It’s simple. They’re nerds and you’re the daughter of Luna Light Fire. Basically that makes you their god.”
Sabby cocked an eyebrow. “I’m not a nerd.”
“You’re a guy living with two nerds. Even worse.” Teague gripped Ruby’s arm and steered her toward the shack. “I probably should have warned you about them.”
“Why? They seem very nice.” She shot a look over her shoulder and caught Joe’s worshipful stare.
“No, puppies are nice. These guys are pains in the asses.”
“I heard that,” Sabby muttered.
“Good,” Teague answered. “And stop ogling her ass.”
She peeked at Teague, who was still glaring straight ahead.
“How—”
“Take my word for it. He is.”
They reached the door to the shack, and Teague shoved it open. Actually, she was fairly certain if he sneezed, it would have opened on its own. Inside, the furnishings were sparse and required a good cleaning. Probably it would have been easier just to set them on fire and be done with it. Teague led her toward a beat-up tweed couch that’d seen better days. He stepped behind it and stomped his foot. A second later, a section of the scarred wooden floor planks flipped upward, revealing a trap door.
She gaped at the metal ladder descending into the bowels of the earth before giving Sabby and Joe an uncertain look. “You live down there?”
Joe nodded enthusiastically. “Don’t worry. We bombed for spiders last week.”
“Oh. Good.” She repressed a shudder.
“I’ll go ahead of you. Just watch your step.” Teague planted his boot on the top rung and began climbing down.
Sucking in a deep, steadying breath, she followed after him. Twenty rungs later, she stepped onto solid ground and turned slowly toward Teague, preparing for the inevitable claustrophobia. Instead of dank, uncomfortably cramped quarters, she was met by a large, spacious room paneled with some type of metal that reflected the fiber optics strung through the overhead cabling. Three long tables held various computers and other high-tech equipment.
The clattering of the metal ladder announced Sabby’s and Joe’s arrival. “This is our control center,” Sabby explained, his palm curving over her shoulder. “It’s where we do all the hard work. The rest of the place is nicer.”
Teague clamped his arm around her waist and prodded her forward, making Sabby’s hand drop. An open archway led them into another room, this one twice as huge as the control center. A leather sectional and matching recliners were arranged in front of a floor-to-ceiling wall of bookcases. A man with short-cropped, white-blond hair was busy polishing the coffee table.
He stopped his frantic motions and leveled Teague with a censorious look. “Three months? Really?”
A muscle ticced in Teague’s jaw. “I was going to stop by in a few weeks.”
Snorting, the man slid his attention to Ruby. His frown faded and was replaced by a beaming smile. “Ruby? I’m Miles.” He hurried toward her and pumped her hand in greeting. Like his roommates, Miles appraised her with apparent fascination.
She was beginning to feel like the bearded lady in a traveling freak show. “Err…I really appreciate you letting me stay here.”
“Any friend of Teague’s is a friend of ours,” Joe offered with an exuberant nod.
She shifted her attention to Teague. She wasn’t entirely sure they could be labeled as friends. That would entail Teague letting her close. She had a hard time picturing him doing that. “So how do you four know each other?”
Teague’s hooded expression returned. “We grew up in the same orphanage together.”
His flatly worded statement was the last thing she’d been expecting. “You were in one of the orphanages?”
“Southgate. Worst of the worst,” Miles supplied.
She shivered. Southgate was more of a concentration camp than an orphanage. The Shadow didn’t look favorably upon the rebellious few who managed to remain resistant to their mind-controlling substances. Their orphanages had been designed as the perfect tool to beat and demoralize every ounce of independence from those the Shadow viewed as troublemakers.
“I can’t imagine how horrible it must have been living there,” she whispered.
Joe flicked a piece of dried leaf from his shaggy brown hair. “We all escaped together, with the help of Linc.”
“Linc?” She sent the guys a questioning look.
Sabby glanced at Teague. “You didn’t tell her about Linc?”
Teague’s expression remained an emotionless mask. “Been kind of busy trying to keep our asses from being shot off the past eighteen hours.”
Sabby grunted. “Yeah. Likely story.”
Miles cleared his throat, drawing Ruby’s focus away from the tense interplay between Teague and Sabby. “Linc was friends with Teague’s parents. After they were killed, he searched all over the city for Teague. It took Linc six years to track Teague down at the orphanage.”
“Took another year for him to bust Teague and the rest of us out,” Joe added. “Linc wanted to free all of the kids, but there was no way to do that without raising suspicion. The plan was to find a big-enough place for everyone to hole up and slowly sneak most of them out over the next couple of months.”
Wow. And here she’d thought disabling a few soda dispensers had been an ambitious endeavor. “Did he get everyone out?”
“No.” Teague uttered the single word with zero inflection before pivoting on his heel. “I’m going to get the rest of our stuff from the saddlebag.”
She watched the stiff, almost angry way he
gripped the ladder and hauled himself toward the overhead shack before he disappeared from sight. Her shoulders sagged. “I’m amazingly adept at making him mad.”
“It’s not you. He’s angry with himself.” Miles stuffed the polishing rag in his jeans pocket. “Teague’s always blamed himself for Linc’s death.”
“Why?”
Sabby rubbed the nape of his neck. “After we escaped, the Shadow Queen sent a couple of her czars to look for us. Eventually one got lucky and trailed us to Linc’s place. Teague hadn’t yet learned to disguise his powers, and his energy accidentally discharged while the Shadow Czar was searching the house.”
“Linc fired off his own light show as a decoy,” Miles said, picking up where Sabby left off. “It did the trick. All too well. We had no choice but to watch from our hiding spot while the czar stabbed Linc with the poisoned blade of darkness.”
The blade. It was one of the few things capable of killing a Light Guardian. The Shadow Queen had used it to end Luna’s life. A bitter lump of anguish lodged in Ruby’s throat as she imagined the pain Teague must have felt witnessing his friend’s murder. The need to go comfort him in some way tugged at her. More than likely he wouldn’t welcome anything she had to give, but her feet edged her toward the ladder anyway. “I’ll be right back.”
Leaving the guys behind, she climbed to the surface and strode toward the exit of the shack. She found Teague rummaging through the saddlebag. He set aside the sheaf of paperwork he’d brought with him and lifted something from the bottom of the carrier. Her cat suit. His fingers running over the slinky material in a way that made her skin flush, he draped the garment over the seat of the bike. He raised his head and their gazes locked. The same snapping chemistry she’d experienced when they’d kissed earlier at the safe house came rushing back. The air—already thick and sultry—seemed to heat by a thousand degrees.
She plucked the neckline of her tank top away from her damp skin. “I’m sorry about Linc.”
Teague’s gaze drifted up from her breasts. “It was a long time ago.”
“Some heartaches stay with you your entire life.” She knew that all too well.
Teague returned his focus to the cat suit. One corner of his mouth tipped upward. “Linc would have loved you. You’re exactly the type of mentee he should have taken in. Someone willing to put on the damn superhero suit.”
Something told her this wasn’t about Spandex. “You were just a kid, Teague. With unstable powers. You wouldn’t have been able to save him.”
“His life was worth more than mine.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Why? It’s true. He was everything a Light Guardian was supposed to be. I barely toe the line of being a decent individual.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Am I?” His expression turned shrewd. “You asked me why I went to work for your father.”
She scraped her teeth along her bottom lip. “You said you needed a job.”
“I lied. I did it to get close to the man who murdered Linc so I could kill the son of a bitch.”
A niggling ball of anxiety unfurled in her stomach. “What does my father have to do with Linc’s murderer?” Oh God, if Teague was about to reveal what she thought he was—
“The man I’ve hunted all these years is Hugo Winston. Your uncle.”
A tiny fraction of her nausea receded at the news that Linc’s murderer hadn’t been her father. “Why didn’t you mention this to me sooner?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Because telling someone that you plan to annihilate their relative tends to make things awkward.”
She exhaled a wispy breath. “Damn, you might have a point.” She rubbed her stomach in hopes of easing the knot of tension growing in there. The reminder of her villainous gene pool stirred her gloomy thoughts into overdrive. When you got right down to it, she and Teague were like two mismatched socks. He’d learned to forget he was one of the good guys. She was terrified she’d never be able to completely break her bad side.
If they were the only hope Earth had left, everyone was severely screwed.
Chapter Seven
Teague plunked the cat suit and bracelet on the end of the nearest table in the control center before dumping the rest of the things he’d brought down from the bike. He didn’t fail to notice the rapt way Miles, Joe and Sabby stared at the cat suit.
Joe shuffled forward and gaped at the Light Guardian cuff. “Whoa. Is that the actual one Luna wore?”
Ruby reached across him and picked up the bracelet. “You can touch it if you want.”
“Really?” Looking like he’d just been handed the Holy Grail, Joe hesitantly stroked his thumb along the shiny bangle’s silvered edge. “I can’t believe this. Guys, I’m actually touching it!”
Teague rolled his eyes.
Sabby leaned on the corner of the table and grinned at Ruby. “Any chance you could model the suit for us?”
Teague sent Sabby a death glare over the top of Ruby’s head. Her in that suit would be prime jack-off material for Sabby. “We’ve been on the road all day. Whatever happened to giving the guests of honor some damn lunch?”
“I’m already ahead of you.” Miles eyed Ruby apologetically. “Sorry, but with the short notice I only had enough time to whip together twice-baked potatoes, braised short ribs and an arugula, goat cheese and strawberry salad. There’s also peach cobbler for dessert.”
“That’s all?” Teague snorted. “Slacker.”
Joe handed the Light Guardian bracelet back to Ruby. “Can I show you your room?”
“I have a room?”
Miles nodded. “Usually it’s Teague’s.”
Ruby frowned. “I don’t feel right taking his room.”
“It’s okay. We’ve already set up a sleeping bag for him in the laundry room.” Sabby’s lips twitched.
Assholes. Silently grumbling, Teague watched as Joe escorted Ruby to the adjacent hallway. Once they were out of sight, he narrowed his eyes at Sabby. “I’m going to warn her to keep the bedroom door locked.”
Sabby’s smile turned wily. “Good idea. Wouldn’t want you sleepwalking and disturbing her in the middle of the night.”
Miles coughed pointedly. “You are planning to stay, right?”
This was the part Teague had known was coming. And dreaded. “You know I can’t do that.”
“There’s nothing keeping you in Neon City anymore,” Miles wheedled.
“Never said I was going back there.”
Sabby crossed his arms over his chest. “So what? You’re planning to skip town and disappear off the face of the earth?”
Teague shrugged. “Maybe.”
“I’ve got a better idea.” Miles’s eyebrows slashed low. “How about you stop being stubborn for once and join us.”
Teague averted his gaze from the familiar challenge in Miles’s eyes. Three months ago those exact words had passed Miles’s lips. It was the same every time. No amount of arguing would convince the guys their mission to bring down the Shadow Network was a fool’s quest.
“Linc is probably turning over in his grave at the way you’ve turned your back on your heritage.”
A cold awfulness gripped Teague’s heart and squeezed. He bared his teeth and jabbed a finger in Miles’s sternum. “Don’t you dare manipulate me by using Linc.”
“Damn it, you muleheaded ass. Don’t you see that you’re not giving me any other choice? Besides, it’s true. Linc would never understand how you can walk away.”
The damnable part was Miles was right. Linc would hate how Teague continually turned his back on the guy’s pleas to join their puny ranks. Linc always believed there was power in numbers. But five people didn’t add up to dick against the over-bloated legion that amassed the Shadow’s vast network. Taking them on would be a suicide mission. “This conversation is closed. Now are we going to go eat some fucking lunch or not?”
He and Miles exchanged fierce glares. With considerably less argument than he usually offered, M
iles tossed up his arms. “Fine. But you’re not getting any damn dessert.”
They left the control center behind and headed toward the kitchen. Ruby and Joe were already in there, chatting at the kitchen island. Joe—the sap—was hanging on every word that fell from Ruby’s lips. Not that Teague necessarily blamed him. He knew firsthand precisely how luscious those lips of hers were. In fact, if the guys weren’t in the room, he’d be tempted to bend Ruby over the island counter and plunder her mouth—along with a few other of her no-doubt-delicious parts. Hell, who needed dessert when he could sate his appetite with Ruby?
She looked up and caught his stare. The crackle of awareness constantly orbiting between them buzzed with an electrical charge. She licked her lips, and he imagined that soft tongue swirling along the length of his cock. Barely stifling his groan, he poured a glass of water and drained it in one long chug.
“I was just telling Ms. Ruby about our hydroponic garden.”
Teague grimaced. “That must have been exciting.”
Joe nodded toward the enormous bowl of salad. “She was wondering where we got our greens. So I told her.”
“The system sounds amazing. I’d love to see it in person.” Ruby reached for a fat strawberry and bit into it. A trickle of berry juice glossed her lips.
Teague discreetly adjusted his fly. Glancing sideways, he noticed Sabby doing the same. Fucker.
“I’d be happy to show it to you after we eat,” Joe said, oblivious of the uncomfortable boners in the room.
Ruby smiled. “That’d be lovely.”
Miles pulled the foil back from the pan of short ribs, allowing a garlicky cloud of steam to escape. “We grow everything ourselves. The beef comes from a trusted source a few miles down the road from here. It took them almost ten years to crossbreed cattle resistant to the Shadow mind-control. Now we use most of their meat for our shipments.”
Lines of worry bracketed Ruby’s brow. “Isn’t it dangerous running the black market?”
“No more so than frying a handful of the Shadow’s minions.” Miles waved his basting brush in Ruby’s direction. “Nice work with that, by the way.”
