Day (Stronghold Book 4)

by Erin M. Leaf

  Amy frowned, sensing he wasn’t really talking about the view from her mother’s house. “Are you okay?” she asked tentatively.

  Bruno’s arm fell, and he strode to the bed. He squatted in front of her. “Like I said, I have something for you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver ring.

  “The ring? But I just gave that to you,” Amy said, confused.

  He shook his head. “No. This isn’t Isaac’s ring. This is mine.” He reached for her left hand. Before she could protest, he slid it onto her ring finger. It fit perfectly.

  Amy jerked her hand from his grasp as the buzz of the metal zipped into her finger bones. “What the hell?” She stared down at the ring. It was heavy and shiny, and a small etched pattern repeated around its circumference. She brought it closer, squinting. That’s Earth, she thought, bemused. The other ring, Saige’s ring, had a carving of a pine tree on it. This one felt heavier. Warmer. It feels like it belongs to me, which is completely bizarre.

  “It will keep you safe,” Bruno said.

  Amy stared at him. “Are you crazy? We hardly know each other.” She closed her fingers around the ring. “I look like I’m married.” She tried to make herself take it off, but she didn’t really want to. She had a feeling that this ring was not at all ordinary.

  His face closed down. “All the better.” He stood up.

  What the hell does that even mean? Amy made herself slide it off towards her knuckle. This ring wasn’t hers. It didn’t belong to her any more than the other one had.

  “No.” Bruno’s hands stopped her from taking it off. He sat down next to her on the bed and gently pushed it back on. “Please don’t remove it. I’m giving this to you, to keep you safe. It’s a shield ring.”

  Amy tried to ignore the heat flashing through her. His left thigh pressed along her right leg like a brand. “I’m in danger?” Last she’d heard, there had been no recent Spider incursions on Earth.

  Bruno shook his head. “Not exactly.” He still hadn’t let go of her hand.

  “You’re not making any sense,” she said, disgruntled. His hand warmed hers, and she felt the tips of her nipples harden. Jesus, just sitting next to him is making me all hot and bothered. She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her.

  “If any Spiders come near you, the energy in the ring will expand and form a shield, protecting you from their corrosive exoskeletons.” His thumb rubbed circles against her knuckles.

  “Is that what that buzzy feeling is? The ring has some kind of energy cell?” Amy licked her lips. If he didn’t let go and move away, she wouldn’t be responsible for what she did next. Her gaze landed on his lips. They were full and soft looking.

  “You can feel that?”

  “Yes. Is that weird?” Amy asked. She met his gaze. They were sitting close enough that she could see the perfectly delineated silver shards that pierced his blue irises. They looked odd, but not cold. She liked them.

  He nodded. “Yes. It is a bit unusual that you can sense the energy, but it’s nothing to be alarmed over. The rings are made from a specialized nano-alloy.” He slid his hand under hers and pressed their palms together. “Perhaps someone tinkered with your family’s DNA a long time ago. You can sense Sentry tech.”

  Amy could hardly breathe. “What?”

  Bruno smiled. “You could be part Sentry.”

  “That makes no sense.” She leaned closer as his fingers tightened around hers. Is he going to kiss me? Her body heated up even more as his gaze darkened.

  Bruno stared at her for a moment, and then he dropped her hand and stood up. “It is rare, but not impossible.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Would you consider yourself intuitive?”

  Amy stared at him, disappointed. Her entire right side felt cold now that he was no longer pressed up against her. “Uh, no.” She’d thought he was going to kiss her, and he didn’t. Intuitive, she was not.

  He shrugged. “You likely had a great-great grandparent somewhere who might have had some natural mutation, then. It’s not important.”

  “Not important? I can feel your buzzy ring, and I don’t know what you’re doing here, Bruno,” she said. Amy didn’t want to piss him off, but seriously. He’d given off all the right vibes, and she was suddenly angry that it hadn’t amounted to anything. “What the hell?”

  He stepped back. “I’m sorry.” He rubbed his eyes. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

  Join the club, she thought bitterly, but then she caught him staring at her again. “What? You don’t like my pjs?” She gripped the soft fabric. If she held on to herself tightly enough, she wouldn’t throw herself at him and beg for a freaking kiss, right? The metal of the ring bit into her finger, abruptly draining her anger. I’m overreacting, she realized. She took a deep breath. “Look—” she started, more mildly, but he interrupted her.

  “On the contrary.” Bruno stepped closer and cupped her cheek. “I like them too much.” He leaned down. “I know you’re a serious and intelligent young woman, but the whimsy of your sleep clothes shows your sweetness, too.”

  Amy froze, shocked by his words. His hand warmed hers, and he smelled like cinnamon. Heat flashed through her, but then Bruno stepped back again. He pivoted and headed for the door.

  “Wait!”

  He paused, looking back at her. His eyes burned blue fire, and Amy blinked, shaking her head. She was hallucinating now? She bit the inside of her cheek, hard, as she realized he was waiting for her to say something. The pain helped a little. “What am I supposed to do with this?” She brandished the ring.

  “You’ll know if you ever need it,” he said cryptically, and then he opened her door and walked out of her room.

  Chapter Three

  Bruno cursed under his breath as he steered his motorcycle north along the rural road into southeast New York from New Jersey. He didn’t want to go back to Manhattan. The thought of facing the clamor of all those minds surrounding his penthouse filled him with dread. He didn’t want to visit any of his brothers, either, and especially not now, not when his first meeting with his paired mate was so fresh in his thoughts. He wanted peace. Silence.

  Like that’s an easy wish to fulfill. He laughed, then slowed and eased into a turn, taking the road that led to Harriman State Park. There’d be hikers on the trails since it was mid-afternoon, but not so many that he would feel trapped by their emotions. He parked in the lot, then headed north along one of the lesser-traveled trails. When he reached the middle of the forest, he stopped and inhaled deeply. He’d told Eileen to clear his schedule for two weeks, but the truth was, that had only freed him from the daily meetings. He had a plethora of other tasks he’d been putting off for several years. When the Sentries had gone public, the opportunity to strategize and plan for long-term campaigns against probable Spider incursions had become more difficult to manage. And they needed his expertise, now more than ever. He planned on developing several possible scenarios they could use to protect Earth over the next few weeks. Right now, he only had a few hours to spare, and then he needed to get to work, but he’d learned to take what comfort he could, when he could.

  He stared at the dirt mottling his shoes, and then took another deep breath, letting it out slowly. Gradually, the birds around him came back to life, no longer startled by his frantic movement. Green leaves rustled overhead. He released the iron control he held over his empathic ability and let his senses expand, gratified when he only encountered a few humans at the edge of the wood line. He rarely had the opportunity to be completely alone. The solitude soothed his mind more than he’d expected. His shoulders relaxed, and he closed his eyes, reveling in the quiet, until the sound of his cell phone ringing destroyed his fragile-won calm. Snarling, he snatched it out of his pocket and pressed the icon on the screen.

  “What?” He gripped the phone tightly. Too tightly. Plastic creaked.

  “Bruno, Isaac just contacted us. The Spiders at Alpha Centauri are swarming,” Solomon said, his voice hard and low.

>   Bruno went perfectly still as adrenaline crackled through his entire body. This was the news he’d never, ever wanted to hear. “When?” He didn’t bother asking why Isaac hadn’t simply contacted him directly. It was likely he’d sent a text message through the Stronghold net and Solomon saw it immediately since most of his work was done via their pillar technology. Sometimes a text message took a few minutes to filter from the net and into their cell phones.

  “The message? Or the swarm?” Solomon asked.

  “Both.” Bruno forced his fingers to relax. The last thing he needed was to break his cell phone, now of all times. He inhaled through his nose, holding his breath for a slow count of three before exhaling. He needed to calm down.

  “The message came through a few minutes ago. When you didn’t reply, I responded. Isaac said the Spiders started swarming sometime in the last twelve hours. He was already on the way back, so the data from the sensors he’d just set up reached him first,” Solomon explained.

  Bruno knew he should be heading back down the trail, but he couldn’t bring himself to move. “Did you implement Protocol A?” he asked Solomon, referring to the last plan he’d managed to cobble together, over a year ago.

  “Yes. Greyson is already making more shield net anchors. I called him first so he could get started. I can program them as fast as he can manufacture them, however…” Solomon paused.

  Bruno knew what his brother was going to say. He turned back down the trail, walking slowly. “But we don’t have the energy to embed them into the shield net, or the power to activate them.”

  “Precisely.” Solomon sighed worriedly. “I’m not sure what we’re going to do, Bruno.”

  Bruno stopped and rubbed the back of his neck. “We have time,” he said, knowing exactly what he had to do. The knowledge broke his heart. He’d foreseen this problem over a century ago, but he’d hoped that particular vision hadn’t been real. Not all of his foretelling visions came true, after all. But I have to work with the hand I’m dealt, and so will she, he reminded himself. She’ll understand.

  “Yes, we have time, but not much. We can’t afford to waste it,” Solomon said reasonably.

  He doesn’t yet know about Amy, or about me and the hidden legacy of power our parents gave me. God willing, he will never need to know. None of them will. Bruno nodded. “We won’t waste it. I’ll be home tonight, and we can discuss our options. In the meantime, can you continue to coordinate for me? My connection to the Stronghold net is spotty.”

  “Of course,” Solomon said. “Where are you, anyway? I don’t think you’ve ever been out of reach of the Stronghold net.”

  Bruno grimaced. “I’m in the middle of a state forest. I had an errand to complete, and decided to take a few hours downtime afterwards.” He laughed shortly. “Clearly, I should not have.”

  “I’m sorry, Bruno,” Solomon said quietly. “You, of all of us, deserve some peace.”

  “I will be fine,” Bruno replied.

  Solomon sighed. “I know you say that, and I know you’re the strongest of all of us, but I worry. You spend most of your time up in that tower of yours, in the middle of Manhattan. I can barely stand it there for longer than a day before the weight of all those minds gives me a migraine.”

  “I am used to it,” Bruno replied, already thinking ahead. “There’s no need to worry. I’ll contact you later. I have another task to complete before I return home.”

  “A task? Why don’t you send your assistant to do it for you? If you need downtime—”

  “No.” Bruno started jogging. If he was to convince Amy, he needed as much time as he could manage. “It is my task to complete,” he said firmly, not elaborating.

  Solomon sighed again.

  Bruno smiled wryly. “You will understand in due time.”

  “I hate it when you get all cryptic like this, Bruno,” Solomon said.

  “Worry about the shield net anchors. I will handle the rest. This is why we divide tasks. All of it would be more than one of us could handle alone, but we work together. We are a family,” Bruno told him. The trail widened, and he slowed his pace. It wasn’t far to the parking lot. Involuntarily, he glanced up at the sky, concentrating his energy. The electric green shimmer of the camouflage net wrapped around the planet reassured him somewhat, but he knew it wouldn’t keep the Spiders out if they came en masse. It was merely concealment, not a true barrier. The Sentries needed to boost its efficacy with a sturdy energy shield. To that end, he needed help. Special help.

  “Yes, but you’re my brother, and you can’t stop me from worrying about you,” Solomon said, resignation in his tone. “But I will stop nagging you. Time is short. Take care of yourself, brother.”

  “And you, also,” Bruno replied, tapping the End icon on the screen. He broke out of the tree line and headed for his motorcycle. It would take him an hour to reach Amy. He had no idea how many more hours it would take him to convince her to help them.

  ****

  “You’re going on a cruise? Like, now? Today?” Amy asked her mother, hands poised over the dishwasher’s start button. She’d just finished loading the machine when her mother had casually mentioned that she planned to go on vacation at the last minute. For a month. Amy didn’t know whether to applaud her mother’s impetuousness or question her sanity. “That’s crazy. It’s already three o’clock in the afternoon!” She gestured to the windows. “And you’ll have to pack, drive to Manhattan, get your tickets—”

  “I have the tickets, I’m already packed, and Judy’s picking me up in…” Her mother checked her cell phone display. “Ten minutes.” She looked up and smiled. “I haven’t done anything this spontaneous in years!”

  Amy stared at her mother, and then shook her head. I should be glad for her, right? Not worried. She’s a grown woman. She honestly didn’t remember the last time she’d seen her mom look so happy. “A vacation, at the last minute?” she asked weakly. She could feel herself caving, dammit.

  “Yes! Judy brought it up at lunch. She had an extra ticket because Lorinne backed out, and so, here I go.” She pursed her lips. “You’re not upset, are you?”

  “No, I’m not upset,” Amy protested, not wanting to ruin her mother’s joy. I’m shocked. And I’m confused, she admitted privately. “This is just so unexpected. You caught me off guard.” She smiled uncertainly. “Well, um, have fun, I guess.” She pushed the dishwasher button and closed the door firmly. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  Her mother laughed. “I know exactly what you did in college, my dear. Don’t worry, I’m not nearly as adventurous as you.”

  Amy snorted. “I wasn’t that adventurous.”

  “I know about that guy with the beard. And the other guy with the eyebrow piercing, my dear,” her mother pointed out.

  Amy flushed. “They were just hookups. They didn’t mean anything.”

  “I know. And I didn’t torment you about them, did I?” her mother asked, grinning, hands on her hips.

  Amy rolled her eyes, face burning as she struggled to comprehend that her mother remembered her blathering about the guys she’d slept with. Why did I ever think telling her about them was a good idea? Oh, yeah. I was drunk. “No, Mom. You didn’t torment me.” She leaned back against the counter. “But you’re supposed to forget I ever did stuff like that in college.” She wrinkled her nose. “You’re not supposed to remember every last detail.” She scowled. “Heck, even I forgot about the eyebrow piercing dude, and I was the one who dated the guy.”

  “Ha, as if you could keep a secret from me. You shouldn’t have drunk dialed me that one time.”

  Amy frowned at her mother. “One mistake. Just one, and you hold it over my head for the rest of my life.”

  “Of course! That’s what parents are supposed to do.” Her mom smiled. “Relax. My friends and I are going to drink watered down margaritas and sun ourselves by the pool on the ship. And we’re going to go shopping in the islands. It’ll be relaxing,” her mother said, tilting her head.
“Don’t worry about me, sweetie.” She walked over and pulled Amy into a hug. “I’m more worried about you.”

  “Me? Why? I’m fine,” Amy said, still vaguely unsettled. Her mother never did stuff like this. “You promise you won’t do anything crazy?”

  Her mom laughed again, then released her. “Which one of us is the daughter in this relationship?” She pointed at Amy. “I should be asking you to promise me that.”

  “You know my life is totally boring, Mom.” Amy snorted. “I’ll probably spend the next few weeks doing the same thing I’ve been doing for the past few weeks: job hunting and binge-watching reality television.”

  “You know those shows will rot your brain.”

  “Mom.” Amy rolled her eyes.

  “Okay, okay.” Her mother grinned and held up her hands as if in defeat, but then her expression sobered. “You should keep an open mind. You never know what might happen. Maybe that handsome Sentry will show up again. He seemed to like you. And if he does show up, you should ask him out and take him to dinner. It’s not every day that the leader of the planet shows up on a girl’s doorstep. You always told me you were a feminist. Prove it.”

  “Oh. My. God. Mom, stop!” Amy crossed her arms. “He’s Bruno Day. He’s not going to come back, okay? He just came by to get Saige’s ring, and that was already weird.” She frowned. “And he’s not the leader of the entire planet. He’s just the leader of the Sentries. It’s a totally different thing.”

  “Mmm-hmm. If you say so. But I saw that he gave you another ring.” Her mother tapped a finger on Amy’s wrist. “Don’t think I didn’t notice.”

  “I don’t know why he gave it to me. I’m only wearing it because I’ll lose it if I take it off,” Amy immediately said. “I’m going to give it back to him.”

  “Uh huh. So you are seeing him again?”

  Amy scowled at her mother for the second time in two minutes. “Mom.”

  “Amy.” Her mother’s brown eyes twinkled.

  “You’re killing me,” Amy said, face hot. She put her hands over her cheeks. Could her mother be right? Was she unconsciously hoping to see him again? If so, she had to get her head straight. He’d never see her as anything other than his sister-in-law’s best friend.