Guardian (8 page)

“Ya just gotta keep pushing, don’t you, baby? Enjoy it while you can, Mallory.”

She couldn’t help herself. She laughed. “I think I will. Now, can we blow this popsicle stand or what?”

“They’re in position, boss,” Mason said.
 

Brax gave his blessing and she followed Aaron and Kai out of her office. There was a short argument over who was driving which she lost when Aaron pointed out she hadn’t had the same defensive driving training he had.
 

She didn’t see any sign of the black SUV, but it was impossible to miss the two cars Brax had sent to follow them home. She didn’t question how he got them in place so fast. He seemed to always have people all over the city, so he probably called them off another job. They made the drive in silence and the long trek seemed to fly by. Before she knew it, they were parked in front of Brax’s house and she was bracing for the confrontation she knew she’d have with Zach. Sighing, she got out of the car and went to deal with the explosion.
 

Zach knew he was making everyone crazy. They had varying levels of telepathic abilities. They’d have no problem sensing his rage and fear. He’d been pacing the entire forty minutes that Mallory was on the road. When they buzzed the gate, he spun around to race out, but Brax blocked him.
 

“Clear the room,” he ordered the others in the office. “Not you, Zach.”

He was frustrated enough he actually considered trying to dodge Brax, though he knew it wouldn’t get him anywhere.

“What?”
 

“Want some advice?”

“Hell no. I want to check on my wife.”
 

Brax shook his head. “You’re getting it anyway. You run out there like this? So angry you can’t control it? You’ll push her away for good.”

Damn it. He was right. Grinding his teeth to hold back angry words, Zach spun around, paced to the far wall and punched it hard enough to crack the plaster. Brax wore his serious leader expression when Zach faced him again.
 

“Feel better?”

“What do you think?” he countered sarcastically.

“If you really want her back, you have to control the side of you that makes you Elect.”

“Those are natural instincts for us. It’s part of what we are,” Zach felt obliged to point out.
 

Brax made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a snort. “It’s a dilemma, I know. But whether you like it or not, she’s a modern woman. She’s learned to be independent, and she likes it. Try to take that away from her, let that rage and fear get the best of you and you really will lose her. You won’t be able to apologize enough, you won’t be able to make up for it.”
 

This was a side of Brax he’d never seen before and he wasn’t sure he liked it. “You been watching
Dr. Phil
again?”

He laughed. “Let’s just say I’m learning the hard way.”
 

“Esme.” The woman Brax had recently mated with was no pushover.

“Esme,” Brax agreed with a smile Zach didn’t even want to try to interpret. But he sure would like to have what he saw between the two when they were together.
 

He heard a car door slam outside and took a deep breath, vowing to stay calm, to stay contained.
 

“Ready?” Brax asked.

“As I’ll ever be.”

He stepped into the foyer at the same time Mallory walked through the front door. She looked pale but otherwise fine. He didn’t hurry to her, though he saw the expectation in her eyes. After a moment she tilted her head to one side and frowned. He thought he saw a flash of disappointment in her eyes, but surely he was imagining that.
 

“Are you okay?” he asked, finally stepping forward. Slowly. Cautiously. He felt a spike of fear on the bond between them, but knew it wasn’t him that scared her.
 

“I’m fine. Really.”
 

She said the right words, but he was connected to her and he knew it was a lie. He held his arms open and she walked into them. “You’re safe now,” he whispered.
 

“Don’t get used to this,” she whispered back. “I won’t hide inside this compound forever. I won’t let you smother me with protection.”

He didn’t voice his first thought—
why the hell not?
“I know. But you can stay with me tonight, at least. Let me hover and be overprotective for a little while, baby.” He had no idea what she heard in his voice, what she felt from his mind, but he knew for sure she was only letting him have his way temporarily.
 

“Just tonight, Zach.”
 

He heard the uncertainty in her voice, and it broke something in him. Those bastards had shattered her confidence in herself. He could destroy them for that alone. If he knew who they were. Slowly, he let her go and looked down at her, brushing her hair from her face.
 

“Why don’t you go to the house and take a hot bath? I’ll bring you dinner.”

She gave him a suspicious look. “You’re not thinking of cutting me out of the loop here, are you, Zach?”

“No, baby.” He sighed. “I’ll tell you everything, but I need to take care of you first.”

She looked at the other men gathered in the foyer—Brax, Mason, Carter and her brother, Brad. They looked as determined as he felt. “Y’all never change.”

“Hey, I’m trying.”

She smiled. “Yes. You
are
trying.”

He heard the subtext. Trying her patience. Laughing, he nudged her towards the door. “Go. I know you think I can’t be redeemed.”

He waited until she left, her brother nodding and following her out. He knew Brad would see her home. “I want these assholes.”

“We all do,” Brax said grimly with a glance at Mason and Carter. “I think they have a plan.”

“Good. Fill me in while I make her a plate.”
 

They followed him into the kitchen and he rummaged in the fridge for sandwich makings.
 

“Mallory already verified the women we’re looking for are there, and we have the keycard. She seems to think we need to move quickly,” Mason said.

“Agreed,” Zach replied.

“How much time do we have?” he asked Zach. “When is she supposed to go back?”

“I’ll verify with her, but I think not until this weekend. Five days.”

“That’s good. We can work with that,” Carter said. “We need at least that for a workable plan.”

“And what
is
the plan?” Zach asked.

“We’re gonna hijack a truck. Then Gabe is gonna hijack their security,” Mason said smugly as the other man joined them.

“I thought you said you couldn’t get into their system.”

“Not from here. But if I’m inside? Piece of cake.” Gabe held up the copied keycard he’d made.
 

“Do I want to know how you think you can pull this off?”

Mason shook his head, but there was something in his expression that made Zach uneasy. “What?”

“A lot to work out still,” Mason said. “Give us a day or two to come up with the details.”

“Fine, but I want Mallory out,” he said.

He knew by the look Brax and Mason exchanged that wasn’t likely. Brax shrugged and Zach resisted the urge to punch him. “If she wants out, but we’ll probably need her at least one more day.”

Zach didn’t respond. They knew how pissed the idea made him. He shoved a stack of sandwiches in a bag and grabbed a couple of Coke cans. He needed to get to Mallory. He had to see she was safe and try to talk her out of this insanity, though he feared even with her recent scare it was a lost cause.
 

Nodding to his so-called friends, he backed out the door. “Fill me in later.”

Now it was time to comfort his woman.

Chapter Eight

Brad was with her every step of the way, so she didn’t rush to the house, but once there she waved him away and locked the door. Alone, she leaned back against it. That was when the shakes started.
 

Adrenalin,
she told herself.
Just a delayed reaction to fear and excitement.
A hot shower would help, Zach was right about that, but no bath. She was afraid if she got in the big tub she’d never want to get out. She felt like an old woman, tired and drained and all used up, as she made her way through the living room, then the upstairs to the master bedroom.
 

Zach hadn’t changed anything from her plans for the house, and as near as she could tell, everything she’d left at the old place had been moved here. She approached the closet with trepidation. After her hospitalization, her brothers had brought a few of her things. She’d never mentioned what was missing. Makeup, perfume, books. Clothes. The things Zach had always liked to see her wear.
 

She’d spent a few days in this house. Resisting Zach and the change she sensed in him. Living out of her suitcase. Which would be a problem unless the laundry fairy had come while she was at work, and she was pretty sure that hadn’t happened. She had a gym bag in the trunk of her car and considered going to search for it, then decided that was probably a waste of time and energy. She’d bet the contents of her retirement fund that somewhere in this house were several boxes of her things.
 

They weren’t hard to find. There were two closets in the master bedroom. She knew which was Zach’s because he never shut the door all the way. She opened the other. The boxes were stacked against the back wall. The first she opened contained what she was looking for. She ignored the dresses and found a pair of soft purple lounging pants and a matching tee to wear with it.

In the bathroom she set the knobs to hot in the walk-in shower, ignoring the big soaking tub, and stripped off her scrubs. She only stayed under the spray long enough to wash and warm up.
 

She found Zach waiting for her in the living area after she got out, dried and dressed. The look he swept over her was pleased and scorching hot, and her body responded against her will. He couldn’t miss the way her nipples hardened. He’d scent her sudden arousal too. But he didn’t say a word about them.
 

“I brought sandwiches. You should eat something, baby.”

An hour ago the thought of food would have made her stomach roil, but now she found she was starving. She sat on the sofa in front of him and reached for one.
 

“What’s going on?”

He snorted. “I’m not sure. They said something about hijacking a truck. Getting Jamie and Merilee out. Breaking into the computers at Stirling.”

She interrupted when he started talking about hacking into files. “How does Gabe think he’s going to pull that off?”
 

Zach reached for a sandwich and shrugged one shoulder. “I have no idea. You know Gabe, though. If anyone can do it, he can. He seems to think that card he cloned will help.”

“I guess.” But she wasn’t so sure. Stirling was serious to the point of paranoia about security.
 

“You can’t go back there, Mallory,” he said softly, seriously. “And you need to take leave from the fire department too. It’s harder to protect you outside the compound and right now Brax needs those resources focusing on Stirling.”
 

So he thought he could just ease into taking over her life?
 

“I won’t quit my job.”

“I know. I’m not asking you to.” He reached over and squeezed her hand when she would have protested. “Two weeks, baby. How long has it been since you took time off?”

Judging by his expression, he knew she never had. Oh, she took a few days off from the department, but she used them to volunteer at the free clinic. She’d never taken that length of time for herself. Never even thought about it. She didn’t have any burning desire to go anywhere and she couldn’t face a week of silence in her condo. Two would be hell.
 

“And you need to stay inside the compound while we figure this out.”

That ignited her temper as nothing else had. She jerked her hand away. “Think you’ve maneuvered me pretty well here, don’t you?” She stood. “My parents are gone right now. I’ll stay at their house.” It was a ridiculous suggestion, and she knew it. She’d been staying with him, but that was temporary, damn it. What he wanted… He wanted her to surrender and she refused to do it. Not on his terms.

“We’d be more comfortable here. In our own space. But if you insist, fine. We’ll stay at your parents’,” he said calmly. Like he wasn’t trying to totally disrupt her world.

Hell no. She shook her head. “One of my brothers can stay with me. Not that I need a babysitter,” she said scornfully.
 

“They have their own lives. Their own duties.”

Oh, he was pushing his luck. “I’m a duty now?” she asked sweetly.
 

A look of confusion crossed his face. “I didn’t say that.”
 

“You implied it,” she snapped, and then cocked her head to one side and studied him. “Is that what I am, Zach? This sudden new interest of yours? A duty you haven’t been fulfilling?”