by Jodi Redford
“How do you know about that?” Confusion tinged Ruby’s voice.
Sabby grabbed a plate and piled on some salad. “Are you kidding? That surveillance vid is the most downloaded file on Shadow Pirate right now.”
Teague grunted. “So much for the net keeping this out of the spotlight.” Now the sons of bitches would really be gunning for his and Ruby’s asses. The last thing the Shadow would want was proof that there were Light Guardians roaming Earth. It’d only give hope to the few rogue citizens who’d managed to dodge the Shadow’s control. Far as the Shadow were concerned, a human with hope was a dangerous thing.
A sinking sensation settled in Teague’s gut as the ramifications of the leaked video hit him. It suddenly made all too much sense why Miles hadn’t pushed harder about Teague staying. It was likely a moot point. “There something I should know?”
Miles scratched the back of his head. “The queen’s put a ten-million-dollar bounty on each of your heads.”
All the color leached from Ruby’s cheeks. Joe patted her hand. “Don’t worry, she wants you alive.”
“Probably only so she can kill us herself,” Teague growled.
“Yeah. Imagine so.” Miles plopped a baked potato on everyone’s plate. Despite his apparent absorption in the task, a noticeable gleam of consideration glinted in his lowered gaze.
Every ounce of self-preservation Teague possessed screamed at him not to go down the white-rabbit hole he knew Miles was mentally building. Doing so would likely only land him and Ruby neck-deep in a pile of shit.
Miles tore his focus from the plated food and speared Teague with the full force of his stare. “You know, it might be precisely the in we need.”
Teague narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“You and Ruby. The two of you are the key to getting into the queen’s fortress.”
Teague’s grip tightened around the edge of the island counter. “Want to run that the hell by me again?”
“The queen wants you both brought in alive, so I say that’s exactly what we give her.”
While Ruby choked on a cough, Teague glared at Miles. “You’ve got one fucked-up sense of humor.”
“I’m not joking.”
“No?” Teague straightened and adopted a menacing stance. “That ten-million-dollar reward worth the ten thousand amps of electricity I’m gonna ram up your ass?”
“You know damn well I have no interest in the Shadow’s money. There’s only one reason for getting you and Ruby in that fortress.”
The rigidness remained in Teague’s shoulders. “Care to share with the rest of the class?”
“Simple.” Miles’s smile was slow and calculating. “You’re going to kill the queen.”
Chapter Eight
Ruby’s stomach flipped at Miles’s calm pronouncement. “Kill the queen? But that’s…impossible.”
“Finally you’re talking some sense,” Teague grumbled.
She ignored him and continued to gape at Miles. “No one has been able to successfully assassinate the queen.”
“Yet,” Sabby quantified. “There’s a first for everything.”
“Not with this,” Teague bit out. “Do you know how many damn minions she has patrolling that fortress? An army of Light Guardians wouldn’t be able to break through that level of security.”
“Hence the reason we’re going to pretend to turn you in for the reward.” Miles picked up a short rib and ripped off a bite. Once he was finished chewing, he dabbed his mouth with a napkin. “That’ll get us through the door. Afterwards, it’s only a matter of defeating the bitch.”
“Holy cow, that’s brilliant.” Joe’s eyes grew huge. “Ms. Ruby and Teague will be our Chewbacca!”
Ruby frowned. “Chewbacca? What is that?”
Joe, Sabby and Miles wore the same disbelieving stare. Sabby shook his head. “How could you have never seen Star Wars? It’s the second most downloaded vid on Shadow Pirate. Not watching it is a crime against humanity.”
Ruby’s shoulders hitched upward.
Miles crumpled his napkin and wedged it under the edge of his plate. “Luke Skywalker and Han Solo impersonated Imperial Stormtroopers and pretended Chewbacca was their prisoner in order to gain access to the detention level on the Death Star.”
Excitement flashed across Joe’s face. “Hey, maybe we could wear our Stormtrooper outfits.”
“That. Would. Be. Epic,” Sabby and Miles shouted in unison as they fist-bumped with Joe.
Teague rolled his eyes. “Sorry to break up this nerdgasm-o-rama, but did it ever occur to you that the Shadow Queen won’t go down without a fight? Hell, she’s got powers I’m not even sure how to defeat.”
Unfortunately Teague was right. The Shadow Queen wielded a black energy that was equal, if not more powerful than any Light Guardian’s.
Miles ping-ponged his gaze between her and Teague. “It’s always been a single Light Guardian who’s gone up against her. No one’s ever tried a tag-team approach.”
“For fuck’s sake, Miles. Ruby isn’t ready for that kind of showdown.”
“Maybe not yet. But you could train her. Like anything else, utilizing her powers is a learned skill. The two of you together will be an unstoppable force. The Shadow doesn’t stand a chance.”
She hated to display even a niggle of Teague’s trademarked pessimism, but if she were being completely honest, she was having a hard time wrapping her head around the concept of her and Teague singlehandedly taking down the entire Shadow. “You do realize that even with the queen dead, it still leaves several million in the network, right?”
Miles flicked his stare toward Sabby and Joe. The three men shared a cryptic look before Miles stepped away from the island. “There’s something you and Teague need to see.”
Bemused, she hopped from her stool and trailed Miles into the control center. He yanked open a file cabinet and picked up a tube resting in a clear acrylic holder. Holding out his palm, he revealed the dark, smoky contents suspended within the vial. “This is a sample of the queen’s blood. It acts like a parasitic host and infects anyone injected with it. She uses it to indoctrinate her human Shadow Czars, and it’s also what powers the blades of darkness.”
Ruby stared at the viscous, malevolent substance. This killed my mother and Linc. Nausea roiling in her belly, she instinctively backed away from the tube.
“Where the hell did you get that?” Teague demanded.
“A few months ago Joe had an unfortunate run-in with a Shadow Czar. The son of a bitch tried to get the drop on Joe while he was making a shipment run in the valley. Joe was able to nail the czar between the eyes with the bastard’s own blade. He brought the body back here, and we immediately noticed the oddness of the guy’s blood and ran some tests.” Triumph flashed across Miles’s face. “It’s the key to ending the Shadow tyranny. Kill the queen, and you kill the host. The parasite will die along with her, as well as her evil empire.”
A frustrated noise came from Teague. “You have no proof that’s the queen’s blood.”
“What else can it be?” Miles jostled the vial, making its contents swirl in a smoking cyclone. “Have you seen human blood that looks like this?”
Teague tossed up his arms. “Fine, I’ll acknowledge that it’s likely something alien, but that doesn’t automatically preclude it being her damn blood. There’re a thousand other things it could be, for shit’s sake. Maybe she developed a top-secret formula to keep her Shadow Czars in line. Who fucking knows?”
“My instincts have never failed me before.” Miles’s grip tightened on the vial. “I’m telling you, this is the answer to everything.”
Ruby couldn’t take her eyes off the substance. As much as it repelled her, it also fascinated her in a disturbing way. Something infinitely evil resided in the depths of that tube. The fine hairs prickling along her arms testified to the fact. Whatever that liquid was, it’d been implanted in her father. She knew it with all certainty because some cellular awareness inside her recognize
d it.
That vile stuff was inside her too. She shuddered and took another careful step away from Miles and the tube he held. “I’ll do it,” she whispered. “I’ll kill the queen.”
Four pairs of eyes slashed toward her. Teague scowled. “Ruby, you don’t—”
“I’ll do it,” she repeated, more firmly this time. Kill the queen, and you kill the host. She shivered again.
Teague shook his head wearily. “This is a moronic idea.”
Probably. But she’d rather be dead than carry that evil inside her.
While Teague returned topside to stash his bike with the other vehicles the guys had hidden on the property, Ruby helped Miles, Sabby and Joe clean up the kitchen. Once that chore was finished, she traipsed into the control room. The cabinet containing the Shadow substance beckoned from the corner. Shaking off her heebie-jeebies, she hurried up the ladder and sucked in a lungful of the fresh air stirring through the warped walls of the shack. The claustrophobia she’d feared getting earlier was finally setting in.
She needed more distance between herself and that tube downstairs. Stumbling across the floor, she staggered outside and leaned on one of the rotting posts that supported the awning fronting the shack. A scuffing noise drew her focus to the left, and she eyed Teague’s approach.
He frowned at her. “You okay?”
She swiped the back of her hand across her perspiring forehead. “Yes. I…I guess I’m just nervous about what I’ve committed to.” At least that wasn’t a lie.
Fortunately Teague seemed to take her answer at face value. “You should be. You don’t have a damn idea what you’ve gotten yourself into. Jesus, Ruby. A newborn Light Guardian has more control over her skills than you. How do you think you’re going to be able to take on the queen?”
His words stirred up every nagging doubt festering inside her. “You could teach me.”
“Teach you what? How to hand your ass to the queen on a silver platter?”
“I’m going to do this whether you help me or not.”
Teague’s big, powerfully built frame bristled with barely contained tension. “You’re willing to kill yourself over Miles’s half-assed suppositions.”
“I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in hiding.” Or with that evilness lurking inside her like a ticking time bomb.
Frustration darkened Teague’s face. “Fine. If you’re so damn suicidal, who am I to stop you?” He gave an angry nod toward the path he’d just come from. “Better if we do this away from the shack. Though shit knows, a misfired energy bolt wouldn’t make the damn place look any worse for wear.”
Despite his obvious surliness, immense relief swamped her. “Just give me a sec to grab the Light bracelet.”
“No.”
“But—”
“You don’t want to become dependent on the cuff. Ultimately, your light energy will be stronger if you develop it without artificial aid.”
She wrung her hands. “Really?” She couldn’t completely hide the uncertainty in her wavering voice.
“Yeah. Now come on.” Not giving her any other choice, he stalked toward a cluster of scrub pines in the distance. He halted a good thirty yards back from the trees and waved his arm. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
“But…we’re too far away.”
“You might not even get this close to the queen before she fries your ass.”
Her stomach clenched. Determined to prove to them both that she wasn’t entirely inept, she lifted her shaking hands and directed a bolt toward the shrubs. The charge hit at least ten yards short, fizzling ineffectually into the parched dirt.
“Try it again.”
She repeated the maneuver, this time landing the strike even farther from the target. Embarrassment and defeat caved her chest.
“You’re not focusing.”
“I am. I’ve been aiming for that middle tree each try.”
“I’m not talking about outward focus.” He moved behind her. “It’s as much about the mental as physical. To properly handle your energy, you first need to understand it. Connect with it.” His warm, calloused palms glided along her arms, positioning them in a straight horizontal line. “This is the best way to ground yourself. The energy resides as much within your environment as it does inside you.” His fingertips grazed the sensitive undersides of her forearms, causing her to shiver in pleasure. “Do you feel the build-up starting?”
A sharp tingle shuttled through her clitoris. Oh yeah. She was definitely feeling something. Probably not what he’d been referring to though. “I—I’m not sure.”
Teague pressed into her, the firm, muscular planes of his chest and abdomen contouring to her back like the delicious, masculine version of memory foam. “How about now? Feeling anything?”
She gulped, not entirely certain he wasn’t referring to the thick bulge of his erection prodding the base of her spine. “Err…possibly.”
“Good.” His hands coasted along her upper arms and over her shoulders. He continued following the slope of her neck, his fingers a maddening butterfly dance along her overheated skin. She shook as he traced the shell of her ears before combing his fingers through her hair, sifting the strands over her shoulders. His deep inhalation stirred the fine hairs at her temple, and she closed her eyes on a shaky breath.
“Do you feel it, Ruby?” His hands retraced their path, this time moving beneath her arms. “Do you feel our energy weaving?”
Oh my God. She did. Teague’s power was a sensual caress along her synapses. It licked at her own energy, engaging it in an erotic tango that felt…like sex. She bit her lip to stifle a moan. Teague’s bold hands roved inward, and her eyes snapped open as they closed over her breasts. A blast of energy showered from her, acting as a turbo boost to the discharged bolt. It slammed into the center tree across from them, sheering it in half.
Unable to believe her own eyes, she released an excited whoop of joy. It took a moment to realize that Teague was no longer touching her. Disappointment smothered her brief happiness. Pivoting, she met his guarded expression. Painfully aware of the tight ache in her nipples, she hugged her torso. “You stopped.”
“It was the end of our first lesson.”
She frowned. “That was a lesson?”
“Our energy often brings with it a sexual charge for us. Tap into that essence, and it can trigger a power surge similar to a climax.”
Her cheeks heated. “I thought you were touching me because you wanted me.”
A dark intensity entered Teague’s eyes. “I want to fuck you so badly, my balls are blue. But giving in to that urge would be stupid.”
Heaviness sat like an elephant on her chest. “Why?”
“We’re as different as two people can get, Ruby. You want to save the world, and I just want revenge and to save my own ass. You’re better off without me.”
“Don’t I get a say in this decision?”
“No. One of us has to keep some damn sense.” His jaw locked into a rigid line, Teague strode past her and headed to the copse of trees.
She stared at his retreating back, the ache in her heart increasing with each step he took away from her. The fierce pull she felt toward Teague was even more overwhelming than the one she’d encountered with the Shadow substance. He should be the last person on Earth capable of tying her emotions into a tangle of messy knots. He was absolutely right about them being wrong for each other. The smartest thing she could do right now was walk away.
Her legs wobbly, she started across the dusty plain, her unwavering sight set on Teague. She reached the ring of trees, and he turned to face her, his mouth a grim line. “Ruby—”
Planting her palms squarely in the center of his broad chest, she shoved him against the trunk of the nearest oak. “You said what you had to say. Now it’s my turn.” Before he could interrupt or argue, she stood on tiptoe and caught his bottom lip between her teeth. A harsh breath rattled from his lungs, and she slid her hand behind his neck. The next second, the lush, we
t heat of his tongue thrust inside her mouth as he grasped her ass and hauled her up against him. Locking one leg around his waist, she rubbed against his thickening erection and whimpered.
Re-angling his mouth for a deeper, hungrier kiss, he swung her around until her back was the one pushed against the rough bark of the tree. Gripping her thigh higher, he ground his pelvis into hers. The friction tore a moan from her throat. Scraping his teeth along her jawbone, Teague slid a hot, open-mouthed kiss toward the sensitive crook of her neck.
Her insides melting, she shivered. She wanted nothing more desperately than to feel the thick, hard length of his cock slide deep in her core, filling the emptiness and banishing her ever-present worries for a blissful moment. “Please, make love to me.”
A tremor racked Teague’s body. She sensed the tension in him. The struggle for his control. She gyrated her hips, earning his rasping groan. “Damn it, Ruby. I’m not fucking you against this tree.”
She pulled him in for another devouring kiss and gloried in the lusty moan that rumbled through his chest. His hand slipped between them and fumbled with her zipper. An instant later his palm was cupping her mound and two fingers were buried in her pussy. She gasped at the unexpected stretch. “That isn’t what I want.”
Ignoring her, he pumped his fingers and ghosted his thumb over her clit. She sank her nails into his rock-hard biceps and fought for breath. “N-not this way.”
He increased the pressure on her inner walls, hitting the sweet spot that brought stars dancing in her vision. She bowed her back, trying to stave off the approaching climax. His gaze hot with determination, Teague hooked his fingers, his aim precise and devastating. She opened her mouth on a strained cry, her body convulsing as the orgasm slammed into her. Once the last quake trembled from her limbs, she slumped out of Teague’s hold. “You’re a son of a bitch.”
His grin was wicked. “Don’t worry. You’re getting another lesson later tonight.”
Chapter Nine
Teague mentally willed away his erection as he escorted Ruby back to the shack. The desire to rip her clothes off and fuck her senseless in the dirt pounded in his blood. He’d never wanted a woman the way he did Ruby. Resisting her was more of an impossible quest than killing the damn Shadow Queen. God knows his sanity would be better off keeping his distance from Ruby. But now that he knew firsthand the hot, wet heaven that was waiting for him between her legs? No force on this planet would keep him away.
