by Amelia Jade
“What’s the game plan?” he asked at last, giving in as he knew he would eventually.
“Meet her at the airport. Stick with her while she’s in town, ensure no harm happens to her. Once she’s on the plane out of here in a few days, that’s it, according to Valen.”
Josh frowned. “One problem,” he said.
“What’s that?” Madison asked.
“With me gone, who’s going to keep these clowns in line?” he said, indicating the rest of his team.
Madison smiled while his friends groaned and threw leftover pieces of food at him.
“Their plane lands in two hours. They’ll be expecting you,” was all the leader of the Underground said to him.
He bolted upright. “Two hours? Cutting it kind of close, aren’t they?” he said, not waiting to hear a reply as he got to his feet and headed for his room.
“I’ll send the information to your phone,” Madison said with a smirk.
He thought about throwing up a middle finger to express his current mood, then decided she didn’t deserve it, despite the enjoyment she took in leveling that bomb on him.
He hurried to his room. It would take him a good hour and change to get ready, study the information and memorize it, and get to the airport. He didn’t want to be late.
Babysitting duty? Come on Valen, that’s not what we’re for!
His irritation at being chosen grew.
Chapter Two
Hannah
“Welcome to King City.”
“Thanks,” she grumped at the airline employee standing near the exit as they disembarked the plane.
“Now now Hannah, let’s play nice,” her older brother chided her.
“I’m hungry Chad,” she replied, all but stalking through the airport in search of the first restaurant.
“Luggage first,” he told her, grabbing her arm and steering her toward baggage claim.
“Yippee,” she said dully, but she followed him along.
“The in-flight meal wasn’t good enough for you?” he asked.
Hannah bared her teeth. “I want a steak.”
“It’s 9 a.m.,” he told her, as if she didn’t know the time.
“I’m well aware of how early it is,” she told him sternly, reminding him that it was he who had forced them into taking the five o’clock departing flight to get to King City. “That doesn’t change the fact that I am craving a steak.”
Chad laughed as they came to a halt in front of baggage claim. To her relief, it took less than twenty minutes for the conveyor belt to begin to move. As they had traveled first class, their baggage came off first.
“Now can we go get food?” she asked.
“We need to pick up one more thing,” Chad said.
She looked up at him as his eyes scanned the crowd in front of them. “What is it?” she asked, suddenly on guard, looking behind them to see if they were being followed.
“Oh, nothing,” he said, distracted. “Just trying to find—ah, there we are,” he said, and strode forward.
Hannah followed as they pushed their way through the throngs of people moving this way and that in no particular order. She hated airports.
“Mr. Terrik?” a deep, rumbly voice said at the same time her brother stuck out his hand.
“Chad, please,” he said, shaking the hand of the man in front of them.
Hannah just stared.
“I’m Josh.” She watched as his lips moved, the delightfully deep rumble of his voice rippling through her as he spoke.
“Hannah. Hannah?”
Her brother elbowed her in the ribcage.
“Huh? What?” she said, the spell broken as she finally yanked her gaze away from the pools of steel-blue that had captured her.
Now, as she spoke, those same eyes were drawn to her.
“Uh, hi,” she said, glancing up once again, but making sure not to stare. “Hannah.”
“Josh,” he said, giving her a lopsided grin. “I’ve been assigned by Valen to—”
“Ahhh,” Chad said awkwardly, his voice trailing off, but it was too late.
Hannah felt her eyes darken, a storm brewing in them. “No, please, continue,” she said dangerously, glaring at her brother.
The big man—he had to be a bear shifter—looked uncertainly between the two of them. “I was told you were expecting me,” he replied, looking angrily at her brother as well.
“Now listen,” Chad said, holding up his hands. “There’s a perfectly good reason for all this.”
“Were you hired to be my ‘bodyguard’?” she asked, all but spitting out the last word.
The tall muscle-bound man nodded, his eyes narrowing as he continued to stare down Chad.
“See,” her brother said with a shrug of his shoulders. “This is why I didn’t tell you, Hannah. Because I knew you’d overreact to it.”
“Overreact?” she asked incredulously. “Chad, I’m twenty-six, and...” she paused, glancing over at the other man. “And I don’t need a babysitter. You know full well that I don’t either.”
“Listen, Hannah, it’s just for a day or two, okay? Please?” Chad pleaded with her.
“Unbelievable,” she said, rolling her eyes. “It’s like I’m a damn child.”
“If it helps, I’m not a big fan of babysitting either,” he said, meeting her gaze once more. “But my boss, who is not a man I wish to cross, was very adamant that I do this. So if you don’t mind, I’d appreciate it if we could both just accept that we don’t want this, that we have other things we’d rather be doing, suck it up for a few days, and perhaps not entirely hate each other’s guts by the end of it.”
Hannah stared at him, trying to ignore the feeling in her stomach as she eyed his day-old stubble against his nicely tanned skin. It was weathered, indicating he spent a lot of time outside exposed to the elements, in a way that made her want to just reach out and caress him.
Which you are not going to do. That would be a gigantic mistake. He’s going to be bad news, and you know why. Don’t tempt fate.
Licking her lips in frustration, she nodded. “Fine. I guess.”
The two men breathed very noticeable sighs of relief, bringing a smile to her face. “So what’s the plan?”
Josh stood up straight. “I have two cars waiting for us, ready to take you to your hotel.”
“Good,” Hannah said, gesturing for him to lead the way. Inside, she was impressed with the crispness of his response. She wasn’t sure what he was normally, but he was a professional, which earned him a bit of respect from her.
She followed him through the airport, his size ensuring that others moved out of their way, making the journey quick and painless. During it she steadfastly ignored her brother, and promised to herself that she was ignoring the way her “bodyguard’s” butt looked.
They emerged outside into a warm, but not oppressively hot day. Her jeans and V-neck gray T-shirt kept her at a perfect temperature. The sun was rising, with the perfectly clear blue sky promising a beautiful day to come.
“Mr. Terrik, you’ll be in car one,” Josh said, pulling open the door to a luxurious-looking four-door airport limousine.
“Chad, please,” her brother said as he slid inside, nodding politely in her direction.
Hannah just sniffed and lifted her chin loftily, still unhappy with her brother’s decision to hire her a bodyguard. It’s not like she needed one, and he damn well knew that.
“Mrs. Terrik, you’ll be in the second car,” Josh said, bringing her out of her reverie as he indicated the door he now held open.
“Hannah. Seriously. Don’t even think of ignoring the fact I just said that either, okay? Besides, it’s just Ms.,” she said, leaving her luggage on the sidewalk and getting in the car.
Josh quickly put their two bags in the trunks and then climbed in the back seat with her. He nodded at the driver and the two vehicles departed, her brother leading the way as usual.
“Phew.” The audible sigh of relief came from next to
her. “That was not how I envisioned all that going down.”
She glanced over at him, planning on ignoring him at first, before giving in. He seemed genuinely thrown off by her reaction.
“Listen, I’m sorry for tearing your head off earlier,” she said. “I just hate it when he acts like I’m fifteen and gets me a hired gun for the weekend because I’m in some sort of mortal danger or something. Which I’m not.”
“Why would he think you’re in danger, and he’s not?”
Hannah frowned. “Because secretly he’s a sexist pig?” She laughed at the reaction on his face. “I’m sorry, I’m just joking. That’s not true. I mean, he is protective of me, but that’s just natural older-brother syndrome I think.”
“So you have no idea why I was directed to protect you while you two are here?”
She shrugged. “Not really. I mean, I guess he could think that there might be trouble in the city, but that wouldn’t be a first. I’ve proven I can handle myself before. I’m not sure why this would be any different.”
Around them the landscape began to speed up as they got on the highway, heading in the direction of a slew of skyscrapers ahead of her. Downtown. She desperately wished they were heading in the opposite direction. The lure of the forest she had seen was strong.
“What are you and he here for anyway?” Josh asked.
Hannah looked at him skeptically. “Wow, they really didn’t tell you much, did they?”
He shook his head. “No, all I got was ‘Go meet Chad Terrik at the airport. Ensure that no harm comes to his sister while they are in town. No harm, understood?’,” he said, using air quotes to emphasis the last sentence. The shifter shrugged. “So, here I am.”
“I see,” she said, wondering if he was telling the truth. If he knew more, he was doing an admirable job of hiding it from her. “Well, my brother does a lot of public speaking. He’s got two speeches planned here before we move on to the next town.”
“Speeches about what?” Josh asked immediately, and she could see suspicion forming in his eyes.
“Equal rights for all, that kind of stuff,” she said, trying to brush it off.
“Ah,” Josh said, leaning back in his seat, seeming to relax at that comment. “And you? What do you do in it all?”
Hannah hesitated, looking away. “Nothing,” she said at last. “I’m still trying to figure out what to do with my life. So I just go around with him,” she said, staring out the window.
There was a brief silence as Josh digested that news. “Why don’t you do what he does?”
She shook her head violently. “No, that’s not for me. I know what he does is valuable, that it needs to be done. But I just couldn’t do it. Too much talking, not enough doing,” she said with a harsh laugh.
Josh nodded thoughtfully as he sat back into the seat next to her. Hannah very carefully did not react to the not-so-covert glances he continually sent her way as they drove on.
Was he checking her out?
No, there had to be another reason. She wasn’t sure what it was, and their departure from the highway distracted her for a moment. Now, driving through city streets, she wondered what it was that he did that had gotten him sent to babysit her for the weekend. He must have screwed up massively to draw this job.
“What is it that you—”
She never completed the question.
“Oh shit!” Josh shouted, throwing himself toward her.
He never made it. In front of them the first car, the one with her brother in it, slammed on the brakes, tires squealing.
Hannah screamed as a pickup truck flew into the intersection they were crossing and collided with her brother’s car. The smaller vehicle wrapped itself around the bumper of the truck. Windows shattered and glass flew everywhere.
She didn’t have time to watch, however, as the car with her in it tried to swerve to the left around the rear of the truck. They were traveling too fast, and clipped the backside of the vehicle. The momentum of the turn plus the impact up front flipped her car upside down, and spun it across the intersection on its roof into oncoming traffic.
Josh barked in pain as metal shrieked when another vehicle couldn’t stop in time and T-boned her vehicle, spinning it around some more. Hannah cried out as she realized it had impacted on the same side Josh was sitting on, slamming the door into him.
The car spun around crazily until it hit something on her side, and then the entire wall of the car collapsed in on her. The last thing she remembered before darkness claimed her was look of horror on Josh’s face.
***
She came to, blinking rapidly.
The world was upside down.
“Ow,” she said woozily, slowly realizing that she was still stuck in the car. “How long was I out?” She hoped the words were intelligible to Josh.
“Thirty seconds, perhaps,” he said, his voice stiff with pain.
She twisted her neck to look at him, muscles screaming in pain from just that little movement.
Her eyes widened as the big man pressed his hands against the door that was pinning him to his seat, and then began to push. His incredible strength bent the metal frame out and away from him. She gasped in horror when it pulled a chunk of metal from his side, covered in blood. Almost immediately she heard the sound of dripping as more of it began to spatter against the top of the vehicle below.
“Are you okay?” she said, still reeling from being hit by her own door.
“I’ll live,” he said with a grunt. His seatbelt snapped and he fell to the ground, the last of the metal removing itself from his side with a meaty thwack that set her stomach rumbling with disgust and horror.
“Maybe,” he finished a second later, grimacing in pain, both from the fall and the gaping wound in his side. “You, on the other hand,” he said with a look out her window, or what remained of it, “you should be dead.”
“What do you mean?” she asked as he inched his way over to her.
“That,” he said with a nod at something outside her field of view, “is a telephone pole that we seem to have wrapped ourselves around. Or a light pole, maybe. I can’t tell from in here. Either way, you’re lucky it didn’t crush you.”
He reached up, wincing as the movement pulled at his wound, and repeated the same feat of strength with the door on her side. Then he ripped her seatbelt off and caught her as she fell into his arms.
Hannah very, very carefully didn’t tremble at the power contained in his arms, the thick muscle bulging as he set her down, hands as gentle as could be. He waited to see that she could stand before he turned and kicked his door free, giving them an exit from the vehicle.
She followed behind him, gratefully taking his hand as he helped her up once she ducked out from the wreck.
“The driver!” she said, suddenly remembering the other man.
“You get him,” Josh said, looking over the top of the vehicle. “I need to go see to your brother.”
Hannah followed his gaze just as the first flames burst into appearance. “Chad!” she shouted and started to run to the car, intent on ensuring he got out safely.
“You stay here,” Josh said, grabbing both her shoulders and jamming his face in front of her, his eyes harder than steel as he gave her a gentle shake so she focused on him. “You help our driver. Stay safe, I’ll get your brother. I promise,” he added, then turned and vaulted himself over the car and made a beeline for the other one.
Hannah cursed and moved to help her driver down from his seat and out of the vehicle. He yelped and held his arm. He was bleeding from a dozen cuts, but otherwise, like her, he was mostly unharmed.
With him safe and in the hands of nearby bystanders, she turned and ran for the other vehicle as she saw Josh dragging two people free, his face a mask of pain. She ran up to him and grabbed the driver by the armpits, dragging him away from the burning wreck.
In the distance, sirens began to ring out.
She had taken no more than four or five steps before sev
eral more bystanders came and took over, forcing themselves between her and the driver, urging her to go sit down. One of them also went to help Josh, noticing the blood-stained shirt he was wearing.
“I’m okay,” he rasped, not letting go of her brother. His arm was bent at a weird angle, but besides that, he also seemed okay. Even now, he blinked and regained consciousness as they moved far enough away from the burning car to be safe.
A pair of broken arms and some cuts and bruises out of all this?
Hannah wasn’t complaining.
“Shit,” Josh said.
“What?”
“He didn’t make it,” the big shifter said, pointing to the driver of the first car.
It was only then that she noticed the way his head was twisted, and the blank, empty stare on his face. How had she not seen that when she first tried to haul him away?
Hannah felt her legs wobble, and she saw the ground rush up at her.
Then Josh was there, once more his strength providing her support when she needed it. He lowered her gently to the ground, then sat down next to her, his arms around her shoulders as tears sprang to her eyes at such a senseless death.
She pulled herself tight, pressing her face into his neck before what she was doing registered, but by then, it was too late. His arms had wrapped around her back, holding her close as he rubbed one hand up and down, slowly caressing her.
“Why?” she asked as the tears began to dry up several minutes later.
“I don’t know,” he responded as the sirens grew louder. Seconds later the first police car and ambulance arrived on the scene, followed by a firetruck moments later that immediately set to work extinguishing the blaze.
Paramedics ran over to them, but Josh waved them off. He pointed at the driver who was still alive, and her brother, who was now holding his leg and growling in pain.
“Chad?” she asked, getting his attention. “Are you okay?” she gave him a knowing look, glancing at his leg, then at everyone around them.
