Keeper of the Peace (Graveyard Guardians #2) (27 page)

He closed his eyes, trying to process the
information. “Okay, so if you all are enemies, and Jack is the
Reaper prince, why is he here?”

“Jack came here to kill Lucy, but when they
saw each other …”

“Nothing else mattered, except keeping her
safe and making her mine,” Jack finished, for her.

“Jack,” Lucy whispered.

He shrugged. “What? It’s true. If you had
told me to go away and never come back, I would have done it, but I
would have been miserable for the rest of my life if I didn’t have
you with me.”

Hannah smiled and continued. “Anyway, when a
Keeper and a Reaper touch, there is a burn. It can be a weapon of
sorts, or a hindrance, but Lucy and Jack don’t have the burn. They
are meant for each other. Soul mates. Lucy was kidnapped by the
Empress and we got her back, but not until after Jack renounced his
title and his family for her … for us. That’s why Jack is with
us.

“But, there is still the issue of Lucy being
the Chosen One. We have to keep her safe until we figure out how
she will bring an end to the Reapers and fulfill the prophecy.
Until then, we fight the Reapers, chase them away from the souls
and try not to kill them in the process.”

Oh, well fucking hell. Everything clicked
into place at that moment. “The case … the murder, he was a Reaper,
wasn’t he?”

Hannah nodded. “It’s a risk we take. If I
hadn’t killed him, he would have taken my soul and killed me in the
process.”

“Shit.” He wished he had more words to
express exactly how that made him feel. He’d known that Hannah was
innocent to begin with, but he had also known that she was holding
something back from him and now he knew why.”

“You understand why I lied about that now,
right?” she asked him in a soft voice.

He nodded. “Of course I do. I understand why
you never said anything to me about any of this.” He glanced at Mr.
Estmond, who grinned at back at him. “It’s not something you can
just spring on someone.”

“Exactly.” She paused and then tilted her
head, her hood hiding her hair and shadowing her eyes. “Do you
still love me like you did before we started this
conversation?”

What the hell? Was that even a question? He
leaned forward and took her chin between his fingers. “I love you
the same, if not even more. You are a brave, warrior woman who
protects the souls from evil.” He grinned. “I guess you’re not the
only one who has a thing for protectors and guardians.” With that,
he leaned in and found her lips.

She eagerly responded, kissing him back with
fervor. God, he loved her so much. He practically dragged her into
his lap trying to get closer to her.

“Holy shit, man, her dad is
right
there!” Jack hollered. Hannah waved the Reaper away and wrapped her
arms around his neck. Jack shook his head and rolled his eyes.
“Forget it. Come on you guys, we have to get these holes dug even
faster now.”

After the group went back to the task at
hand he pulled out of the kiss and looked deep into her eyes. She
lifted her hand, bringing her fingertips to his cheekbone. “I still
think you should go to the hospital.”

“I’m fine. You can stitch me up if I need
it.”

“How will you explain it at work?”

“I don’t know yet.” He would figure that
part out when the time came. Right now, they had enough crap to
deal with. They needed to seal this deal with the bodies, get
Hannah cleared and get life a little bit back to normal.

“I was afraid you would leave me again when
I told you the truth.”

He pulled her tight again. “I am never going
to leave you again. I’m so sorry, for all the pain I caused you
over the years.”

Even though he saw sadness in her eyes when
she thought of it, she leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed.
“It’s over now. I know I said we can’t just forget what happened in
the past and start over. But, I think we can. It’s gone. It’s in
the past and now and you know the truth about me, so now we have no
lies between us.”

“I am yours forever, Hannah.”

She grinned. “There was never anyone else
for me anyway.”

He leaned back with her in his lap and
stared out at the shimmering variety of colors. The silver of
Keepers, red of the Reapers, and the glittering blue souls. Some of
the souls weren’t solid like her father was. They were like ribbons
of mist, weaving among the tree limbs and tombstones. “It’s so
beautiful. Will I always see them now?”

Hannah shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe. It’s
hard to say.

“I hope I do. It’s amazing.”

She laughed and leaned back into him. “It’s
not always this amazing, but I think it’s great that you want
to.”

“Hey, love birds,” Dan called from one of
the holes. “Get your asses over here and help us!”

“Looks like we better get to work.” Hannah
slid off of his lap and held out her hand. “Come on.”

AIDEN

Just before sunrise, they all trudged back
to the Estmond house covered in soft wet earth from the graveyard.
Aiden had never felt so out of place as he did once they entered
the yellow farm house and fell, exhausted, onto whatever furniture
they came across first.

The bodies were buried and would hopefully
be forgotten by the world. At least that was one thing off his
plate for the time being. Not that it took care of his problems by
any means. His problems were actually just beginning. Somehow he
had gotten himself in deep with these Keepers and he wasn’t exactly
sure yet if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

He was going to come forward as a witness
for Hannah, and he didn’t know why the hell he had agreed to do
that in the first place.

For Jack, that was why, and for himself.
This was the beginning of his new life and part of that life was
making sacrifices for other people, and his sacrifice for the day
had been killing two would-be murderers to save a cop.

No big deal.

“Hey man,” Dan opened the fridge, “we’re out
of beer, but we have soda if you want one.”

“Nah,” Aiden shook his head, “I’ll just have
water.”

“Here.” Dan pulled out four waters and set
them on the table while he went back in for more.”

Greg, the oldest brother, had taken a seat
at the table and gestured for him to sit as well. “Grab a chair, we
have to talk.”

Lucy groaned. “Greg, can we do this in the
morning? I’m so tired.”

“We all are Luce, but we need to make sure
we have all this taken care of.”

Aiden pulled out a chair across from Greg
and balanced his large frame into it. “Look. I know you’re worried.
She already gave me the third degree earlier.” He motioned toward
Hannah.

“Oh, it’s not a matter of you proving to us
that you’re on our side.” Greg paused. “No, that’s a lie, maybe it
is. We know what you did today was an ultimate act of selflessness
and, as per the deal, we owe you protection from the Empress.”

Aiden shook his head. “You only owe me
protection after I come forward as witness for Hannah.”

“Well, it may as well be now,” Greg
countered, “if you are going to do it anyway.”

Aiden took a deep breath, hoping they
believed what he was about to spring on them. “I am going to do
this for her, you can trust me, but I can’t stay here. I may need
help later, but until then I think it’s best if you don’t have me
under your roof.”

James leaned on the counter next to his
twin. “Or near a graveyard full of innocent souls.”

“That too,” Aiden agreed. “I just don’t
think anyone would be very comfortable with this right now.”

Dan leaned on the table. “Honestly, dude,
I’m more worried about you not staying here, but pretending to be
our friend and going back to the Empress with every little tid bit
of information. You not staying here is the perfect set up to be a
spy.”

“I’m already a spy for you,” he told them.
“I should keep up that pretense until she figures all this
out.”

“Okay … okay.” Jack held his hands up “Hold
up. So, I think what Aiden is trying to say is that he is going to
be a double agent. Working from both sides … you know?”

Greg drew in a deep breath, releasing it
slowly as he rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know. It seems too
risky.”

Aiden sighed. He just wanted to go back to
the Napa compound and fall into bed. “It’s always going to be
risky. Listen, you’re just going to have to trust me.”

“Says the guy who knocked me out and
kidnapped my sister.”

“No, says the guy who just killed two guys
for your cop friend. Says the guy who is really fucking tired and
needs a good night’s sleep before he goes and lies to the
authorities about witnessing a murder committed by your other
sister. You are just going to have to go with this all right?”

Liv moved over to stand beside Aiden. “Trust
is earned. Both sides are hesitant to trust the other and you know
what, maybe one of us gets fucked over, but we have no other
choices right now.” She threw her hands up. “If he’s lying and he
goes to the Empress than we deal with it and we fight when it comes
time to fight. If that’s the case we will take him down then. Until
then, we will all have to earn each other’s trust.”

Aiden didn’t know if Liv was sticking up for
him or not, but what she said was true. He switched his gaze from
Greg over to Jack and Lucy. “She’s right. We are going to have to
work this through over time.”

“So you don’t want to stay here?” Lucy
asked.

He couldn’t, not yet. “I don’t think it’s a
good idea yet.”

“We understand,” she assured him as Jack
reached over and took her hand in his. Boy, it still blew his mind
to see Jack so taken by a woman. The guy had never cared that much
about anything his entire life. That was probably one of the
reasons the two of them had gotten along so well.

“Look,” Aiden leaned back in the chair and
ran his fingers through is hair, “I’m not usually a sentimental
guy, but I feel it’s worth mentioning while everyone is in one room
that I am not, nor have I ever claimed to be, a good guy. But when
I took Lucy, I didn’t know the extent of crazy the Empress had
gone.

I have done a lot of shit in my time and I’m
not going to apologize for any of it now, it was how I lived, how I
was brought up and I won’t be sorry for my life. However, I
can
admit when I’ve done something wrong … and I was wrong
for taking Lucy to the Empress.”

Lucy rolled her eyes. “Among other things.
That’s over now.”

“Yes, it is. In any case, I’ll stay here
tonight, but after talking with the lawyer and the police tomorrow,
I’m going back to Napa.”

Greg yawned and then stretched his arms
wide. “All right, if that’s what you want. I don’t think I need to
give you the whole ‘if you fuck us over speech’ … or do I?”

“Nope, I’m good.”

Dan pushed away from the table and rubbed
his eyes. “I’m going to sleep on the couch. I don’t think I can go
any further than that anyway.” He rose from the table and gave the
room a wave. “Night y’all.” He stripped off his shirt as he pushed
open the door leading into the living room.

“Don’t get dirt all over the couch, Dan!”
Lucy shouted as the door swung shut behind her brother.

“Fuck off,” he yelled back.

Aiden liked the way this family interacted.
He admired their loyalty and the love that came along with that. He
smiled to himself as he lay out a blanket on the floor and then
practically fell down on top of it as exhaustion finally began to
take over his body.

He could get used to being around these
people. Maybe this lifestyle change wouldn’t be so bad after
all.

CHAPTER

28

DAVID

One Month Later

Beep, beep, beep.

“Turn that thing off,” Hannah mumbled into
his shoulder.

He pushed the covers off and leaned over to
give her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Sorry, I have to get up for
work. Go back to sleep.”

She rolled over and mumbled, “Love you,” as
she turned away.

Every day he went through the same dilemma,
and had to force himself out of bed instead of wrapping his arms
around her and snuggling in close, which almost always led to more.
Nope, today there was no time for that.

After a quick shower, he quietly slipped
back into the bedroom and donned his Summer Hollow Police
Department uniform. Yeah, he caved to love and wanted to be as
close to Hannah as he could, which meant moving in with her and
taking the job the sheriff had offered him.

He enjoyed the small-town cop job more than
he thought he would. Sure, it had its downsides, but what job
didn’t. He worked alongside Sheriff Davis, who had been more than
happy to sign him on. Mrs. Davis, was just as ecstatic as her
husband, probably more so, and honestly, he was glad to be back in
their lives. He’d missed Darcy something fierce, the way a son
should miss his mother.

The Estmond family had forgiven him, even
Dan, who had been the hardest to crack. The family claimed he was
one of them now. He was a guardian in his own right. Though, in his
mind it was hard to agree with them when he had needed saving. He
was supposed to be the one who did the rescuing.

He buttoned up his shirt and stared down at
Hannah. Her dark red hair fanned across the pillow behind her and
her bare shoulder peeked out from underneath the blankets, exposing
her Jedi tattoo. She was his Jedi Knight, trained from birth to
protect the innocent from evil.

The trial had just ended, but she wasn’t
scheduled to go back to work just yet. The hospital had to do their
own judging to decide if they wanted to continue to employ her.
Regardless of the reasons, she had performed an autopsy on a man
she had killed. It was ethically wrong for her to do so and the
board would be making the final decision whether she stayed on or
not.