by Moxie North
“I don’t get it, Bliss. In public, and with everyone you meet you’re a strong, confident woman. But when you’re in there with those assholes?” Eden shook her head.
“Eden, she’s my mom.”
“She’s a leech. If she really wanted to be your mom, she’d stop being your manager and just focus on supporting you. Instead, she seems to have forgotten that you’re a human being and not a walking ATM.”
Bliss looked sad and Eden hated when she got that kicked dog look. She pulled the pop star into her arms and gave her a squeeze.
“I won’t be here to watch you. I’ll send one of the guys.” Eden wanted Bliss to hear her, so she pulled back their hug and held her arms tightly. She looked into Bliss’s bright blue eyes, noting that they shimmered with tears despite the heavy eyeliner and false lashes. “Don’t let them sell you off to the tabloids, okay? You’re worth more than that.”
“You’ll come back, won’t you?” Bliss asked softly. “When I get them to forget about this?”
“I’ll be back the second you ask for me.”
Eden knew Bliss didn’t want her to leave, but she also knew that it was going to take more for her mighty mouse to stand on her own. With a final squeeze, Eden released Bliss and gave her a reassuring smile that she hoped was effective before turning to stride back down the hallway. She knew her call with King wasn’t going to be easy. Maybe she was getting too close to her assignment. It was more than just protecting Bliss now. It was about making sure she had someone on her side. Before that call she needed to pack and she needed a stiff drink.
Chapter 2
King of Clan Rekkr leaned back in his chair as Eden yelled at him. He listened like he always did. He knew that Eden had one of the toughest jobs at King Security. His computer screen set off to the side of his desk showed Eden’s face up close and he watched as she took a drink from a glass filled with dark amber liquid.
The rest of his bodyguards had rotating shifts that provided protection to different individuals. Driving details that were short-term, the occasional kidnapping retrieval, and sometimes other jobs that were more about being willing to do what it took to get the job done than just standing around looking slick.
Eden paused for breath and he tried to get a word in. “You know that I can get you back there. Though you’re usually asking for a break by this time in a tour,” he reminded her.
“Usually, but they’ve never been this stupid before. A topless stunt? It’s crass and dangerous,” Eden yelled.
“Where are you?”
“Airport. I’m waiting for my flight in the bar.”
“Eden, come home. I’ll have Luca hop on the next available flight tonight.”
“Bliss is scared of him!”
“Everyone is scared of him. But he might just show Amber and Geoff that you are the lesser of the two evils.”
“Hah, I’m a kitten compared to Luca.”
“Exactly. Give it some time. Are you going to take a break, see your family?” King didn’t know if shoving her into a new assignment was the best idea. She was pissed off and he didn’t want her worried about Bliss when she was supposed to be focusing on someone else’s safety.
“I should, but…”
King knew that she loved her family. Her Clan was well respected, but Eden had always been the odd one out. It wasn’t something she could seem to work around. She’d been through so many lives already. When he met her in a bar covered in soot with an axe leaning against her barstool, she’d been a hotshot firefighter in Wyoming.
On that particular day, she hadn’t been happy, and everyone else in the bar was giving her a wide berth. King wasn’t scared of anything so he started talking to her. He expected her to say that she hated her job, or that she’d lost someone
To his surprise, she’d said she was bored.
Bored of fighting fires.
He’d bought her another drink while she told him about her family: her older brothers, and her parents who had supported every choice she’d made with her life. That included when she joined the police academy. She was great at being a cop. She’d walked the streets of Seattle for two years. Until she got bored.
After a bit of soul searching, Eden had decided she needed more action in her life, so she joined the fire academy. That only lasted another two years until the restlessness set in again. After a fourteen-hour shift, sitting exhausted and covered in soot from fighting wildfires, Eden was at a crossroads again. There was something missing that both she and her bear needed.
King had offered her a job right there in that bar in Wyoming. A job protecting people, a job that meant you always needed to be aware and anticipating danger or a potential threat. There were adrenaline surges on a frequent basis and downtime was optional.
“You should,” he interrupted her pause. “When was the last time you saw them?”
“Couple of months. One of my brothers just had another cub. Haven’t met her yet.”
“Which one?”
Eden shrugged. She had four older brothers but King wasn’t convinced that she didn’t know which one had welcomed a cub. New cubs were a big deal, and the whole Clan was usually involved in the presentation of a new member.
“Go visit them on the way to your new assignment.”
Her eyes narrowed. “New assignment? I’m going back to Bliss. She’s a pain in the ass but she’s my responsibility. Her mother and manager are going to get her killed.”
King didn’t disagree. “Let’s let that settle for a bit. You can download to Luca and he’ll scare them into not acting for now.”
Eden nodded. She knew that Luca was a good choice to replace her. Even if it was only for a few weeks while they sorted their shit out. From what King had heard, those two deserved his grumpy ass for what they were trying to pull. “What’s the new assignment?” Eden asked.
“I just sent it over. It came in this morning and I think it’s right up your alley. You like New York, right?”
Eden’s face turned from interested to annoyed as she read through the documents she’d opened on her tablet.
“Clan Odal? Aren’t they wolves?”
King paused before saying vaguely, “Mostly.”
“They’re hiring us to what? Protect this human?”
“More like guard duty. They think he stole something from them.”
Eden’s eyes shot back to the video screen. “Did he?”
“Not our concern. Our concern is that he’s protected while they sort it out.”
“Why is the address a hospital?”
“Did I mention he’s in a coma?”
“I can’t see why you had to hire security,” Beau said through gritted teeth.
“Because you’re blinded by friendship,” his father, Ritch, replied.
Beau couldn’t help but glare at his father. His best friend, Kellan, was lying in the Intensive Care Unit in a coma. How the hell did his father look at the man he’d known for years and think he’d concocted this illness to hide his embezzlement?
“No, it’s because I know the man that he is. He’s worked for us for years. A non-pack member that has been nothing but loyal,” Beau hissed back. He was trying to keep his voice down, it being a hospital and all, but it was hard when he was talking to his father.
“Stop being naïve. That much money goes missing and he ends up sick? We’re talking about millions, Beau. The coincidence is too close to be real.”
“So he risked his life for money?”
“You say that like you can’t imagine it. You’ve never not had money. The Clan has always been well-off. There are others, humans especially, that are jealous of what we have.”
“Maybe, but not Kellan.”
When Kellan and Beau met as college freshmen, their friendship became a chance for Kellan to step into a world he’d only ever seen from the outside. Kellan had mentioned many times that the most amazing thing to him was the absolute trust Beau had in his Clan. Even more than his family. Beau also knew that th
eir friendship was a way for Kellan to have some fun. Good grades and business were the only thing his father wanted to talk about. There weren’t amazing family vacations or fun family cookouts. There were business trips where the family got to tag along and all-business backyard cocktail parties that were catered and very little fun.
Kellan’s father’s desire for a son to follow in his footsteps altered. His father was a businessman before anything else, and his son being friends with the son of the Head of the Odal Clan was a big deal in the human world.
Not that Kellan ever treated Beau any differently. That was one of the reasons he was his best friend. They’d bonded over fathers that were overbearing and never listened. They liked the same things, had many of the same ideals and became as close as brothers over the first four years of college. Even when they went for their Masters programs, they chose schools close to each other and Kellan spent every summer with Beau’s family.
Beau’s father was largely absent, caught up in Clan duties and unable to devote the time he should have to his own family. When he was fourteen, Beau’s mother died. With his father unable, and unwilling, to give up his duty to the Clan, Beau and his little sister Harlow were left to be raised by staff and those Clan members that were close enough to the family to help out. Kellan was someone Beau could rely on outside of the Clan. Someone that didn’t care about his father and didn’t care about Clan politics.
After they both got their Masters degrees, it was Beau’s father who helped Kellan get an internship at a company that did business with the Clan. Kellan learned that there was a place for him in the banking world, and that there was also a place for him to excel. It only took a few years before he was looking for another position that would allow him to really stretch his skills. Kellan had a marketable skill and it satisfied his father’s desire to keep his son under his wing.
It was Beau that convinced his father to let Kellan take over the Clan’s cryptocurrency division. Kellan was one of those amazing people that understood the concept of how it all worked. In the four years he’d worked for the Clan, he’d tripled the value of their accounts and up until the last few days, Ritch thought he was a boy wonder.
But that was a few days ago, and Beau’s father’s opinion had changed in a heartbeat. He seemed to fill the small room with his bulk, and with his arms folded and his chest puffed out, Ritch growled. “I have to answer to the entire Clan. It’s not just our money. The Clan’s future relies on the money we make and the money we keep. They want blood for this. A human stealing from us? Can you imagine what they’d do with him if they got their claws on him?” he said, gesturing to Kellan. His hand shook slightly with anger and Beau gritted his teeth.
“Then it’s your job to make sure they wait until there’s been a full investigation!”
Before his father could answer there was a knock at the glass door that led to the nurses’ station.
Beau’s eyes widened as he took in the woman and the man behind her. They had to be bears. They were huge and looked like they’d fill the room if they shifted. The woman was pretty, her dark hair was pulled back from her forehead in a severe braid and her eyes were a shocking shade of green. Behind her was a man that had at least six inches on her. His teak complexion was smooth and his shaved head made him look fierce. The lack of expression in his calculating eyes almost made Beau want to step back. Sometimes, instinct was hard to avoid.
“Excuse me, are you Ritch of Clan Odal?”
“I am, you must be from KSI.”
Eden took in the men standing around her. The room smelled of anger, anxiety, and fear. She could tell that they had just interrupted something. Any human would have been able to tell that the two Kindred had been arguing, but she and Zion had heard them from down the hallway. Even though the men were trying to be quiet, no shifter could have missed their conversation.
They looked alike, clearly father and son. The father, Ritch, held himself like he was the most important person in the room. Granted, he was the head of a powerful Clan, but he also dressed and projected that in case someone might have missed it. Back against the wall was a very pretty woman, with strawberry blonde hair and big gray eyes. She was standing out of the way, but resembled Beau and his father.
“I’m Eden of Clan Dagaz. This is Zion of Clan Kenaz,” she said by way of introduction.
“King said he was going to send me his best,” Ritch said, trailing off like he wasn’t sure that’s what he was getting.
Eden looked over her shoulder at Zion who barely twitched. Bringing her attention back to Ritch she said. “He did.”
“Eden, Zion, it’s nice to meet you,” Beau stepped forward and extended his hand. Eden shook it and Zion followed suit. “I’m Beau, that’s my sister Harlow.”
Eden glanced at the woman whose eyes were darting between herself and Zion. Her gaze lingered on Zion before coming back to Eden as she lifted a small hand to wave. A very shy, “Hi,” was squeaked out.
“My dad hired you to watch over Kellan because he thinks he’s going to magically awaken from a coma and walk away with Clan money. I hope you can keep him safe from anyone that would want to harm him before he has a chance to prove his innocence.”
Eden looked from Beau to Ritch. “Is there proof he did it?”
“It was his account and his log-ins during the hours he worked. We know the transactions went through, but then the accounts they hit disappeared. They had to have been dummy accounts. How much more evidence do you need?” Ritch responded.
“Father, Kellan would never steal from us. He’s family,” Harlow urged. Eden was proud of the shy woman for speaking up to clearly dominant men.
“It doesn’t matter who he was, all I can see is what he did,” Ritch shot back.
Eden watched Harlow attempt to sink into the wall, it made her feel bad for her.
Eden made sure she spoke firmly when she replied, “I don’t need any evidence. I’m not here to clear him or accuse him. We’re here to watch over him until he wakes up. That’s what we were hired to do. As long as we’re employed by Clan Odal, he’s under our protection.”
“That’s what I needed to hear,” Beau said quickly. “He has the entire Clan against him and we don’t even know why he’s in a coma. Kellan is a good guy. I’ve known him for years and so has my father. Assuming he did it is jumping the gun, to say the least.”
“We’ll set up rotating shifts. Zion or I will be here at all times. We’ll also need a list of people that are allowed to visit him. Has his family come yet?”
Beau shook his head. “They’re coming, but I’m not sure when. They’re on a cruise and getting here is going to take some time. I told them we’re handling things for now.”
Zion stepped around Eden to get closer to the man on the bed. “Police?”
“We’re handling the theft within Kindred law. Unfortunately, the local police have come to investigate since they think we might have poisoned him or something,” Ritch scoffed.
“How else would you explain the coma?” Zion asked, looking back at his father. From where Eden stood, it looked as though Zion wanted Ritch to know that, Clan head or not, his word wasn’t law.
Ritch shrugged. “Maybe he took something to draw attention away from himself. Maybe it was just a coincidence. They haven’t found anything physically wrong with him. No aneurysms or strokes.”
“Only because I demanded they check for those things,” Beau added.
“Wow, lots of visitors!”
Eden spun around to see an attractive man in a white lab coat behind her. He smiled at her and she caught herself before smiling back. He had one of those handsome faces that blinded you at first glance. She caught herself just in time and gave him a hard look up and down. “Who are you?” she demanded, standing in his way.
“Dr. Wilson, and you are?”
“Security hired by Clan Odal. I’m sure my boss has cleared it with the hospital already,” she replied crisply. King would have paved the way for them b
efore they even got on the plane to New York.
The man’s smile faltered just a bit. “I’m sure. We’re very Kindred friendly,” he stammered.
Eden didn’t like men that stammered. Say what you meant and you never have a reason to falter in your speech.
The doctor swallowed nervously and looked away from Eden. “How’s our patient today?”
Beau stepped back and the group made room around the bed. “The nurse was in a little while ago. She said the results of his toxicology aren’t back?”
“No, we’re running full tests. We want to make sure we aren’t missing anything. Humans don’t usually just drop into a coma without some physical sign as to what happened. His brain scans are fine, so we’re left to wait for the blood work to come back.”
“Isn’t this confidential information for his family?” Zion asked from his position against the wall.
The doctor looked awkward again. “I… uh, we know Clan Odal, and if this human is important to them, then we bend the rules a bit. I’ve spoken with the patient’s father. He said we can do what we need to for his care,” Dr. Wilson tried to explain away his complete violation of patient privacy.
Zion grunted, and Eden knew that meant he didn’t like the doctor’s excuse. Information was power, and this man was throwing it around like it was confetti.
“I’ll follow up with the nurse and let you know if anything comes up,” Dr. Wilson said.
He smiled at Eden and she resisted the urge to flinch again. Stupid, pretty boys.
“Now that KSI is here, I have work to do. The Clan wants an update on the situation,” Ritch turned to leave.
“How about you tell them we have no new information because the accused is on death’s doorstep and it would be hard for him to spend any of the money he’s accused of stealing? Also, you might want to consider hiring some forensic accountants. I’m sure they can see that he didn’t have anything to do with this,” Beau said, barely controlling his anger.
