by Amelia Jade
Hector’s jaw dropped open. “Nothing…personal?!” he yelled into the other shifter’s face. “How the fuck can you say it’s nothing personal? You set me up, and you killed Corvin.”
Martin started to shrug, then stopped when one shoulder wouldn’t respond, but his face conveyed the same disinterested emotion. “Was just circumstance. Didn’t matter who it was. Needed to get the next one out of the way.”
“The next one? What are you talking about?” Gray snarled.
“Gotta…move up,” Martin wheezed. “One rung at a time.”
Hector shook his head in disbelief. “Seriously? This was a power play for you? In an attempt to what…not be the junior guard?”
Martin laughed. He actually laughed. So Hector slammed his head into the concrete floor. Twice.
“This isn’t funny,” he said, his voice deathly cold. “Not at all.”
Martin’s eyes blinked rapidly for some time until he could focus them again.
“Now, explain,” he repeated once it seemed that Martin could understand them again.
“Think bigger,” Martin said hoarsely as Hector squeezed tighter around his neck, anger getting the better of him. “Work my way up. Senior guard. Ambassador. Then back to Cadia,” he burbled, laughing some more as blood ran down his chin.
“Unbelievable,” Hector said in disgust. “You killed someone who had exactly nothing to do with you, simply to try and advance yourself?”
Martin didn’t reply. It seemed he was done speaking for the night. Not that it mattered anymore; between him and Gray they didn’t need anything else. They had all the proof they needed. It must have been Martin then that jumped him outside the embassy earlier. He looked down at his rebroken arm. It was going to hurt like a bitch to set. That was for later though.
“What do we do with him?” he asked, looking up at Gray.
Murder looked back at him.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought you were going to say,” he replied. “But that would be too quick for him.”
Gray’s eyes tracked from Martin to Hector. “What did you have in mind?” he asked evilly.
“An eye for an eye.”
There was a moment of confusion, and then Gray got it. He grinned.
“What are you two talking about?” Rachel asked, looking back and forth.
“He dies,” Hector said simply. “No matter where he goes, what he’s done is enough to warrant death. We were simply discussing the…finer points, of how it would be done.”
Rachel shivered, but then her hands tracked down her sides and out and around her swollen stomach. Distaste coalesced into hatred, and she practically spat her answer.
“Burn the motherfucker.”
Martin’s eyes went wide, but he was in no shape to resist, let alone escape. In quick order the pair had him trussed up to one of the pillars between which Hector and he had fought.
“How do we start a fire?” Hector asked. “And will this burn?”
“I take back my earlier statement,” Rachel said. “I…I spoke in anger. I’m not sure I want his death on my hands.”
Hector nodded. “I understand. But even if we take him back, he will be punished by death. That’s unavoidable. But we don’t have to sink to his level. We can make it quick and painless.”
Even Gray nodded at that. “Yeah. Let’s be better than him.”
Rachel breathed a sigh of relief, and Hector felt something similar rush through him. Burning Martin alive was what he deserved, but it wasn’t something he could give to him.
“I…” he said to Gray, lifting his maimed arm.
“Take your mate,” Gray said in understanding. “I’ll handle this.”
He nodded in appreciation to his friend, bumped fists, and then collected Rachel, linking his good right arm with her left and escorting her from the warehouse.
“Are you all right?” he asked as they walked out under the night sky.
“I am now,” she said, leaning in to him. “I am now.”
Behind them there was a loud crack, followed by silence.
Beautiful, beautiful silence.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Rachel
They woke the next morning in his bed. The rest of the night had been…uneventful.
After their return to the embassy Gray had helped set Hector’s broken arm. It had been hard for her to watch as they first rebroke and then set the arm. Her mate had been tough, but he had still been sweating profusely by the time Gray said it was done. She’d wiped his forehead clean with a damp cloth after, much to his embarrassment and secret satisfaction. Rachel didn’t care. He was hers, and she was going to take care of him.
But there was still one question on her mind, one that hadn’t been answered.
“Do you think you’re still going to have to go back to Cadia?” she asked abruptly, rolling onto one side, propping her head up on her elbow as she used her other hand to stroke his chest lightly.
Hector leaned in close, kissing her gently on the forehead. “I…don’t know,” he said at last. “Maybe. It was still my choice to leave my post, even if Martin is the one behind all the damage that occurred. At the same time, there’s not much I could have done if he was intent on burning the place down to begin with.”
Rachel nodded, the motion a little more jerky than intended. Her hand brushed gently across the taut skin of her stomach, feeling the bulge inside of her. In a matter of just a few months the child within would be born. Rachel would do everything she could to raise it, giving her child every chance she could to succeed. But it would be infinitely easier if Hector were around.
It never even occurred to her to consider another man taking his spot. That simply wasn’t going to happen. She was Hector’s. Hector was hers. End of story.
He seemed to sense her concern. A strong, powerful hand reached out to cover hers, resting there against her stomach.
“I promise you,” Hector said fiercely, “that I will do everything in my power to find a way to stay here with you. To be what you need me to be, and more. I will fight with every tool in my arsenal to ensure that you and our child gets the life it deserves, no matter what. Do you understand me?”
Her vision was obscured as her eyes welled up, but even as she bit her lower lip in an attempt not to cry Rachel nodded once more, this time with more confidence. “Yes,” she said softly. She understood him. What he said made sense. But one thing that he’d said stuck out more than the rest.
Hector had said “our child.” Not hers. But “our.” Theirs. The two of them. Together.
“You want to be the dad?” she asked nervously, seeking confirmation that it hadn’t just been a slip of the tongue.
The twin brown circles burned brightly as he locked gazes with her. The hand on top of hers tightened slightly. “I will, if you’re okay with that,” he replied.
Rachel didn’t trust her words, but her head worked just fine, once again nodding up and down.
“I also wanted to tell you something,” Hector said, his tone changing slightly.
“What’s that?” she asked, her voice suddenly working now that the pressure was off her.
He licked his lips in one of the first displays of nervousness she could recall seeing from him. What could he possibly have to say that was more nerve-racking than him going back to Cadia, or discussing him being a father to her child?
“I…I just wanted to tell you,” he said, his voice catching at first. “That no matter what happens…” Hector inhaled sharply. “I love you.”
She blinked.
It wasn’t the reaction she wanted. It almost certainly wasn’t the reaction he wanted. But that’s what she did. The words caught her so off guard, she wasn’t sure what else to do.
“We haven’t said that yet?” she asked incredulously.
“Umm, no. Not yet,” Hector replied. “I just said it for the first time now. And, um, you haven’t said it at all.”
“I could have sworn we had,” she said, thinking back
over their conversations. But no, he was right. At no point had they actually exchanged the three little words. At some instant, for some reason, she’d started to think like that, to admit to herself that she loved him. But never had they spoken it aloud to each other.
“Nope,” he said, his voice tight. “Never.”
“Well,” she said, leaning forward until her face was touching his. “You should know then, Hector Gorchan, that I am in love with you. Madly.”
He grinned, and then kissed her again. “I was starting to get nervous there.”
She laughed and they embraced awkwardly on their sides around her belly.
The intimate moment was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“I’ll get it,” she said, being the one that was—mostly—dressed. She rose, tossed one of Hector’s huge T-shirts over her and walked to the door, stretching as she went, arms over her head.
“Yes?” she asked, reaching for the deadbolt.
“It’s Gray. Hector is needed in Andrew’s office. Immediately.”
“We’ll be right down,” she said, then turned away, not giving the other shifter a chance to specify that he’d meant just Hector. She wasn’t going anywhere without him at the moment, and they would just have to deal with that.
Hector was already rising, having heard. They got dressed together in peaceable silence, exchanging smiles and knowing looks, happy simply to be in each other’s presence. When at last they were both ready, Hector opened the door and escorted her downstairs, moving slowly at her side, not rushing her in the slightest.
“I’m not made entirely of glass,” she murmured softly, but on the inside she was appreciative of his support.
He just snorted and kept on doing as he was, right up until they stopped in front of Andrew’s door.
“Here goes nothing,” he said.
Rachel reached out and laid her hand on his shoulder, careful of his broken arm, while Hector rapped his knuckles on the door. The sound had barely reached her ears when Andrew’s voice came from within.
“Enter.”
Hector swung the door open and the two of them walked inside. Andrew didn’t even look twice at her. Either he didn’t care that she was present, or, more likely, he’d assumed she would be there no matter what he tried to do, so he’d simply been ready for it.
“Sit, sit,” he said, his manner relaxed and his face that of a comfortable friend, not a superior.
Rachel pondered that as Hector tugged a chair out from the desk for her to sit in, pushing it in behind her as she sat. Could it be that Andrew had good news for them? It seemed unlikely. Why else the formal summons? But maybe…just maybe, there was cause for a bit of hope.
“All right, let’s just get this out of the way,” he said. “I’m sure you’re wondering why I summoned you.”
“That would be fair to say,” she replied before Hector could speak.
“Well, I have news,” Andrew said, falling silent after he finished his sentence.
Rachel waited a solid five heartbeats before she lifted both eyebrows and did her best to glare without actually glaring at him. He was definitely enjoying this.
“Care to share?” she asked another moment later—it was at least three seconds, even pushing four. It was not right away; she waited an appropriate amount of time.
Andrew’s lips twitched in what might have been a smile, but he kept his poker face intact. Instead of replying, he reached down and lifted one of several file folders there were laid out on his otherwise clean desk.
“This,” he said, “is a report from the CLFD. They have analyzed the fire, and come to a conclusion about its origins.”
“Andrew,” Hector growled from next to her.
Rachel laid a hand on his, patting it gently to keep him calm, and to try and subtly remind her mate not to overreact. Andrew was just trying to make this as painful as possible for them. She didn’t want to give in any more than she already had, and needed Hector to work with her. He glanced over at her and she inclined her head minutely, letting him know she could handle this. He pursed his lips, then sat back in his chair, lifting his left leg and resting his foot on the opposite knee, the picture of relaxation.
If one didn’t count the bunched muscles of his shoulders and biceps as he crossed his arms and stared at the other shifter across the table. Rachel was mostly positive that he wasn’t going to cause a scene and try and fight his boss right then and there if he dragged it out any longer. Mostly.
“They’ve determined that, as we suspected, the fire was intentionally lit. Someone used a catalyst, like gasoline or something similar to cover the one wall. Once it had that much fuel, the rest of the building went up like a matchstick, as we all obviously saw.”
“Martin,” Hector snarled quietly, his muscles bunching even further.
“One would assume,” Andrew agreed.
“So is Hector off the hook?” she asked without hesitating. “We know he was framed now, that it was all set up to take him down. We’re not going to let him get away with that, are we?”
Andrew regarded her, and this time the corners of his mouth definitely lifted slightly. “Thanks to your insight, Rachel, I called in a favor back home in Cadia. They exhumed the body of Corvin and went over it with some help from the local coroner here in Cloud Lake. As it turns out, you were also right about that.”
“I was?” she asked, then shook her head. “I mean, of course I was. It made too much sense.”
“Just so,” Andrew agreed. “They found a knife wound in his back.”
Hector’s growl filled the room. “Treacherous bastard,” he fumed, his fingers flexing and unflexing. “I’d kill him again if I could.”
“As would we all,” Andrew said, his voice softer, and yet somehow more filled with fury than Hector’s. Perhaps it was the icy calm about it. Rachel wasn’t sure, but she knew she didn’t want to cross him.
“So what does that all mean?” she asked.
“It means that none of this was what it really seemed,” Andrew said, shoving aside a second folder, which she assumed contained the coroner’s report.
Then he picked up a third folder. It was rather thin.
“What’s that?” she asked immediately.
“This is a classified report from a friend back home,” he said. “I don’t have many of them in positions of power, but I do have several.” He thumbed through the dozen or so pages contained within. “It would appear that Martin wasn’t all he told us. Apparently, before applying for the job as guard here, he’d tried a similar path back in Cadia.”
“I take it that it didn’t work out too well for him,” she said dryly.
Andrew’s lips curved up slightly, but not enough to classify as a smile. “I think that’s safe to say. Better than his time in Cloud Lake though. But suffice to say this wasn’t the first time he tried to work his way up the ladder for political gain. But he failed miserably, and was actually nearly run out of politics in general, before deciding to take a ‘break’ to come to Cloud Lake.”
“Politicians,” Hector spat. “I hate the lot of them.”
Andrew arched a single eyebrow at him.
“Present company excluded,” Hector added after a pause just long enough to show Andrew he was doing it on purpose.
“Anyway, I just thought you would like to know more, so that everything sort of made sense, I suppose.”
“Thank you,” Rachel replied, meaning it. It was nice to have some closure, to understand why things had happened the way they did.
The baby started to kick in her stomach and she started to rub gently, thinking soothing thoughts. It was tough, because she felt the same way: anxious. Andrew still hadn’t answered her original question.
“So, what about Hector? This should clear him of everything, correct?”
“No,” Andrew said, all business once more. “No it doesn’t. Not quite. Hector did leave his post, albeit however briefly, but that part is unavoidable.”
She saw her
mate’s head droop as he realized where the conversation was going. Andrew had no choice in the matter. He didn’t want to send him back, but orders were orders.
“There is no way I could avoid punishing him for that,” Andrew continued. “The outcome was just too public, what with the fire and Corvin. Someone had to take the blame.”
“But now you have the real culprit,” she protested.
“Yes, we do,” Andrew replied, and for the first time, she saw a crack in his poker face. “Which is why there is a full investigation ongoing into the source of the information that resulted in his recall in the first place. For the time being, Hector is to stay in Cloud Lake as I see fit.” He grinned. “The person investigating the information is quite confident that it will turn out in Hector’s favor, at which point he will be reinstated to the ambassador’s guard.”
She turned to look at her mate, but he just stared, stunned at the turn of events.
“Who’s in charge?” Hector asked.
“An old friend,” Andrew said. “The commandant of the Green Bearets, Garrin Richter.”
“You’re positive it’s going to work out?”
Andrew’s smile became a grin. “I am. It’s all just a formality at this point, Hec. You just need to wait for it to be wrapped up officially, and then you’ll be back on the job.”
Rachel leaned over and flung her arms around him, holding him as tight as she could. Tears of happiness shone in her eyes, but they never fell, as she was broadsided by a kiss from Hector as he whooped in joy.
“We’re staying!” he shouted. “We’re staying!”
Yes, my love. We are staying. All three of us.
Chapter Thirty
Rachel
She heaved herself up out of the cab and to her feet, using the roof of the blue and white vehicle for support. Her stomach was huge now, almost ready to pop. Less than a month to go, and boy was she ready by this point.
Totally done with pregnancy…for now. Bring on motherhood!
The two of them had yet to have an ultra-serious conversation about it yet, but both she and Hector had expressed at one point or another the desire for more children. But for now they wanted to concentrate on the one they had. A daughter.
